Anyone else sad Mickey+Minnie's houses are going?

[WDW1974]

Spirit...is there any hope for the WDW parks? The days of Nunis are long past but do you expect anytime soon that there will be a change for the better?

There's always hope.

And, like I said, the MK will be a much nicer place to visit in 2014 than it is now.

But the days of Nunis and that type of mindset (one that came from Walt) are over ... and they aren't coming back. Management doesn't have the mindset, creativity, vision and fearlessness to invest in a vision that puts quality at the forefront. They also (get those flames ready) have a fan crowd and guest makeup that doesn't notice or doesn't care what they get.

Things are just not the same now. And while WDW is still a very nice place to visit, it isn't close to being what it could be, what it once was and even what Disney offers elsewhere.

 

[WDW1974]

Quote:
Originally Posted by unkadug
I still see acreage that will be put to use that was NEVER used in the past as guest areas. How you can say that it's not an expansion when that is taken into account ?

Eh...yeah, I guess technically they are using some previously backstage area, but in all honesty that little tiny piece doesn't really say "expansion" to me in anything but the most nit-picking sort of sense.

If they had kept 20K, and kept SWSA and were adding TLM, Mine Train and BATB on top of that....yeah, maybe I'd call it an expansion.
What we have now I call more a slight addition rather than a real expansion.
New Orleans square was an expansion of Disneyland. Toontown was an expansion of Disneyland. This....eh...not so much.

Don't get me wrong, I think it'll be very nice and certainly an improvement. Just trying to keep it real 'round here.:wave:

And that's why there will one day be MAGICal monuments to you (or at least plush and LE vinylmation) ... but I'm glad you wrote the above. I don't really want to keep going back and forth on an insignificant point.

I've seen the blueprints. I know the area. I've talked to people at WDI.

Birthdayland was an addition because it was all new on land never used before. This simply is very much (OK, maybe not 100% ... maybe 96.3%) using the same land just repurposing it.

Thanks ...

 

[tirian]

But the days of Nunis and that type of mindset (one that came from Walt) are over ... and they aren't coming back. Management doesn't have the mindset, creativity, vision and fearlessness to invest in a vision that puts quality at the forefront. They also (get those flames ready) have a fan crowd and guest makeup that doesn't notice or doesn't care what they get.

Yep, Disney is a corporate conglomerate now. Its era as a creative force is gone forever as long as they have to answer to Wall Street. Sad, but true. At least they lasted longer than the other old-school studios; MGM and Warner fell and never recovered. At the very least, Disney got to enjoy a renaissance in the late 80s/early 90s.

I don't accept poor quality, but I do accept that the current WDC would never have built EPCOT Center, monorail lines, or anything else that couldn't be supported by a cross-divisional franchise. That's just the way it is now.

Things are just not the same now. And while WDW is still a very nice place to visit, it isn't close to being what it could be, what it once was and even what Disney offers elsewhere.

And its executive team continues collecting its bonuses while the other Disney Park properties perform significantly better. Heck, they're so focused on keeping attendance high, they're choosing to overlook the massive discounts necessary to artificially inflate the numbers.

 

[tirian]

I don't see it in O-Town at all. I want to ... but it's not there.

I still see cutting and a general trending downward (even as small things improve).

Well, in Eddie's thread we were discussing the Disney Company overall, not WDW itself. I think everyone here knows that Florida needs a whole new executive team.

 

[mharrington]

Id much rather have Storybook Circus be part of Fantasyland and we'd just have 6 lands.

And Im extremely pleased with the new Fantasyland. I think its going to be amazing. Im most excited about the atmosphere and theming than the rides.

So wait, does that mean Storybook Circus is its own land?

 

[Lee]

So wait, does that mean Storybook Circus is its own land?

In as much as Toontown Fair was, yeah.

 

[SeaCastle]

There's always hope.

And, like I said, the MK will be a much nicer place to visit in 2014 than it is now.

But the days of Nunis and that type of mindset (one that came from Walt) are over ... and they aren't coming back. Management doesn't have the mindset, creativity, vision and fearlessness to invest in a vision that puts quality at the forefront. They also (get those flames ready) have a fan crowd and guest makeup that doesn't notice or doesn't care what they get.

Things are just not the same now. And while WDW is still a very nice place to visit, it isn't close to being what it could be, what it once was and even what Disney offers elsewhere.

What I'm concerned about is that the Magic Kingdom will indeed be nicer, but how much longer of inflated ticket, food, beverage, merch, hard ticket event, hotel, etc. prices followed by extensive discounting, corner-cutting, dumbetc. will we be subjected to?

Superficially, the parks are looking better, mostly due to reactions to the mistakes made in the past 15-16 years of park operations. But change needs to be on the inside and out and at all levels of management, not just a fresh coat of paint on a facade.

 

[mharrington]

The other thing that bothers me now is that the Expo Hall's new name is the Town Square Theater. Yet there are no shows here anymore. So how can it be a theater when all there is to do here is meet-n-greets?

 

[WDWGoof07]

The other thing that bothers me now is that the Expo Hall's new name is the Town Square Theater. Yet there are no shows here anymore. So how can it be a theater when all there is to do here is meet-n-greets?

As I understand it, the building will be themed to a theater for stage shows as opposed to films.

 

[mharrington]

As I understand it, the building will be themed to a theater for stage shows as opposed to films.

But it's not being used for actual stage shows, is it?

 

[WDWGoof07]

But it's not being used for actual stage shows, is it?

No, but it will be themed to a live theater. Perhaps guests will greet Mickey and Friends backstage in their dressing rooms.

 

[disnyfan89]

No, but it will be themed to a live theater. Perhaps guests will greet Mickey and Friends backstage in their dressing rooms.

This is correct. The meet and greet room is being themed to Mickey's Dressing room. The queue line will prob be themed to a theater and run a film similar to DL's "Now Filming" in Mickey's Barn but will instead feature previews for stage productions.

 

[chargerag]

That would be pitiful if the played that same video that they played in toontown

 

[mharrington]

That would be pitiful if the played that same video that they played in toontown

Well, maybe, but they should play some film loop similar to it, if not identical.

 

[tirian]

What I'm concerned about is that the Magic Kingdom will indeed be nicer, but how much longer of inflated ticket, food, beverage, merch, hard ticket event, hotel, etc. prices followed by extensive discounting, corner-cutting, dumbetc. will we be subjected to?

Superficially, the parks are looking better, mostly due to reactions to the mistakes made in the past 15-16 years of park operations. But change needs to be on the inside and out and at all levels of management, not just a fresh coat of paint on a facade.

Bingo. This isn't the thread to discuss this, and I'm afraid that if you start a new thread it'll be overrun with well-meaning comments that degrade into mud-slinging; but you're right. The current business model is to offer extreme discounts and inflate everything else so that (a) the discount looks more substantial, and (b) guests without the discounts make up the difference.

Why not just reduce prices to normal levels and cut the discounts? Sure, they'd have to explain it to Wall Street; but do you think investors would rather see free dining plans and 45% hotel discounts, or normal prices that consistently make a profit? This is Business 101, people. You don't need an Ivy-League MBA to see it, and most of WDP&R has that. Heck, imagine the free publicity—"Disney reduces prices in response to the recession"—and the Company could quietly drop the discounts.

Iger has already said he intends to drop the discounts, yet there's a catch: a Disney vacation without incentives is grossly overpriced. Disgustingly. The food prices have climbed in response to the DDP. The daily admission prices have skyrocketed to cover the underpriced MYW structure. Hotel rack rates are outrageous to cover the 25%-45% discounts the majority of guests use. (Over $500/night for a regular old room at Animal Kingdom Lodge during peak season!) If you paid rack rate for everything at WDW, you'd actually save money on an all-expense-paid trip to a tropical resort.

 

[DisneyNut2007]

Yep, Disney is a corporate conglomerate now. Its era as a creative force is gone forever as long as they have to answer to Wall Street. Sad, but true.

No, it is not!

Anyone who says something as stupid and idiotic as that has no brains. And that includes you, Mr. Tirian!

 

[mharrington]

Let me get this straight: the new Town Square Theater is Mickey's home now? It does look nice and all, but his home away from home (at Disneyland, as everyone insists) is a theater? If this is his new home, shouldn't they at least make some kind of loving quarters in it, and maybe Toon the place up a bit (design parts of it to look like the architecture from Toontown)? Maybe make half of it penthouse apartments for Mickey and friends attached to the theater? Or why not make it look like the whole gang lives their in separate rooms and they act on stage there, too (even though there probably won't be a stage)?

But still, it's not as good as Toontown. At all.

 

[Enchantâmes]

Let me get this straight: the new Town Square Theater is his home now? It does look nice an all, but his home away from home (at Disneyland, as everyone insists) is a theater? If this is his new home, shouldn't they at least make some kind of loving quarters in it, and maybe Toon the place up a bit (design parts of it to look like the architecture from Toontown)? Maybe make half of it penthouse apartments for Mickey and friends attached to the theater? Or why not make it look like the whole gang lives their in separate rooms and they act on stage there, too (even though there probably won't be a stage)?

But still, it's not as good as Toontown. At all.

Mk's Toontown was a piece of crap compared to Dl's Toontown.

 

[WDWGoof07]

Let me get this straight: the new Town Square Theater is his home now? It does look nice an all, but his home away from home (at Disneyland, as everyone insists) is a theater? If this is his new home, shouldn't they at least make some kind of loving quarters in it, and maybe Toon the place up a bit (design parts of it to look like the architecture from Toontown)? Maybe make half of it penthouse apartments for Mickey and friends attached to the theater? Or why not make it look like the whole gang lives their in separate rooms and they act on stage there, too (even though there probably won't be a stage)?

But still, it's not as good as Toontown. At all.

The characters will not be living at the theater. It's implied that, similarly to Walt's apartment in Disneyland, Mickey and Friends live somewhere on Main Street guests can't go. The gang will be cast as actors at the Town Square Theater, and guests will be meeting them when they're not rehearsing or performing.

The concept art on the Disney Parks Blog doesn't give any indication of how "Toon" the place will be on the inside, but this meet-and-greet would still be appropriate in a non-cartoony Victorian environment because, as I have discussed earlier, Mickey and the Gang can fit anywhere in the Magic Kingdom.

 

[mharrington]

The characters will not be living at the theater. It's implied that, similarly to Walt's apartment in Disneyland, Mickey and Friends live somewhere on Main Street guests can't go. The gang will be cast as actors at the Town Square Theater, and guests will be meeting them when they're not rehearsing or performing.

The concept art on the Disney Parks Blog doesn't give any indication of how "Toon" the place will be on the inside, but this meet-and-greet would still be appropriate in a non-cartoony Victorian environment because, as I have discussed earlier, Mickey and the Gang can fit anywhere in the Magic Kingdom.

At least you could see Walt's apartment. You couldn't go into it, but you could see it.

Shouldn't guests be able to at least see where Mickey and company live?