Rumor Bye Bye (Tiki) Birdies?

[Pixieish]

Thats how capitalism works.

A business can still be extremely profitable and make the people who patronize it happy. The guest experience at WDW is declining rapidly...that's not a good sign. Honestly, I'd rather they finish the projects that are in the works and start showing some appreciation to their front-line employees that are there to help make the magic.

 

[Pixieish]

Let's revisit this after TSL and Pandora have opened to guests.

I'll be honest, at first I was really excited for TSL, but after seeing the model and each of the attractions/venues, I'm not overly impressed.

 

[Pixieish]

There are plenty of us who have stopped going as often as we used to. Until last fall, it had been 5 years since I'd been in the WDW parks. My theme park time had shifted to Universal. I decided to get the lowest AP in part to see the new stuff that's opening.

So I stayed away for years and spent money at the local competitor. It's not a question of swearing off Disney; it's giving Disney less business, which I sense a lot of older fans have started doing.

Another thing that your flippant comment overlooks is the fact that WDW is not winning the lifelong devotion of customers like it used to. My wife had never been to WDW until I took her in the mid-2000s. She, like a lot of younger parkgoers, prefers Universal to WDW. She thinks it's fresher, more exciting, the rides feel newer. To her WDW is for kids, a place overcrowded with strollers.

That attitude among people who weren't raised on the parks in the pre-2000s days should worry the execs, but it doesn't. Nothing worries them as long as the bonuses continue to roll in.

You might be interested in a Forbes article I read this morning...Google "forbes highest paid ceos worst performers". It was very enlightening and may signal the demise of the CEO pay package with no ceiling.

 

[Frankie Nova]

We went to the tiki room 3 weeks ago on our trip. The attraction was empty and I've been a handful of times, but honestly this time the show just seemed old and lack luster. The two 5 year olds with us enjoyed the show, but they weren't enamored with it. It definately not anything they bring up when they bring up their trip. I think a Moana overlay done right would really revitalize the show and get more people to see it. And yes the clack clack of the older animatronics was very annoying.

the problem we deal with now is innovation and because technology is continuing to out do itself we allow classics to be thrown in the closet as has beens. it just happens. take for instance battlestar galactica and an old show I grow up watching, or even the old hulk series try to watch it now. it was may favorite stuff as a kid . I was enamored by the graphics! try to watch it now, I have been conditioned so differently with growth it was painful! guess its part of life. but tiki birds will never get old like the memories that I have of my dear grandmother whom I have lost many years ago.

 

[ohioguy]

I'll be honest, at first I was really excited for TSL, but after seeing the model and each of the attractions/venues, I'm not overly impressed.

Glad to know I'm not the only one. It looks like we're getting, at most, two attractions. Shouldn't Space Ranger Spin be re-located here?

 

[ohioguy]

Check back in 2021.

I expect we'll have a refurb and overlay, but not the complete removal, of Tiki Birds. The speedway is going nowhere. Even TRON couldn't get rid of it (to be honest, it's always fairly popular with the young ones)

 

[Dizknee_Phreek]

I expect we'll have a refurb and overlay, but no the complete removal, of Tiki Birds. The speedway is going nowhere. Even TRON couldn't get rid of it (to be honest, it's always fairly popular with the young ones)

A rethemeing of Speedway is long overdue, though. I've never understood a modern looking race track in a futuristic setting. At least make the bodies of the cars look cooler.

Glad to know I'm not the only one. It looks like we're getting, at most, two attractions. Shouldn't Space Ranger Spin be re-located here?

Definitely not the only one. Especially after I saw via YouTube what Paris has at their Studios. I'm just hoping what their showing us is a phase 1? But...I dunno.
As for Space Ranger Spin, it would make sense themeing wise. But it's pretty much the same kind of ride as Toy Story Mania. So I don't know if they'd want two similar attractions in the same land. But I don't pretend to know what TDO is thinking any more.

 

[RoysCabin]

Completely anecdotal on my part, but since 2013 I've been to the WDW Tiki Room twice (both times in mid-August, a "value" season) and the DL Tiki Room this past July; it wasn't full any of those times, but they were far from empty, each show had a nice bit of a queue outside for the preshow.

Basically, while it wasn't exactly drawing the types of lines it would have during its E-ticket heyday, it wasn't anything like a ghost town or what have you, and a couple of those trips were during seasons where crowds aren't packing the parks to the brim.

 

[njDizFan]

I expect we'll have a refurb and overlay, but no the complete removal, of Tiki Birds. The speedway is going nowhere. Even TRON couldn't get rid of it (to be honest, it's always fairly popular with the young ones)

You sure about that?

 

[Pixieish]

And especially after the recent news of roaming characters at Star Wars Land. I kinda of envy people who visited WDW from the 70's till the 90's that were able to spot any character randomly.

Not to mention that Mickey's meet in the theater has the most awful lighting for taking pictures. That's pretty sad for the iconic Mickey.

Don't forget - they had to ditch Characterpalooza in HS because people just couldn't behave themselves...that's pretty telling of American society. If I were in charge, I would bring back the wandering characters, but I'd also crack down on people misbehaving. Disney puts up with way too much from people in general (I've got some pretty specific ideas of who in my mind, but won't mention them here).

 

[Pixieish]

No it wasn't.. but you're on a roll so why stop now.

Actually, the entire look of the park was themed after Old Hollywood. Granted some of the rides were more modern on the inside, but even the exterior of RNRC matched the overall feel of the park.

 

[flynnibus]

Actually, the entire look of the park was themed after Old Hollywood. Granted some of the rides were more modern on the inside, but even the exterior of RNRC matched the overall feel of the park.

Celebrating something from history is not the same as Nostalgia. The France Pavilion is not about Nostalgia just because the effiel tower is over 100 years old. Nostalgia is typically about stroking personal associations. Celebrating the golden age of hollywood was not about personal associations - but was about celebrating the past greats and creating a fantasy environment to take people out of their daily environment. To create a 'to a Hollywood that never was—and always will be'

In 1990... very few of the target audience would have any personal connection to Hollywood of the 1920s and 30s... since it was 60+ years prior and from an era where few traveled. It was about creating that 'myth' of hollywood, making it into a real place that people could be immersed in and get caught up in the magic that was created by those past greats.

And only hollywood blvd.. and then sunset were themed to this. The rest of the park was attempting to be a studio and backlot in modern times. And no, just because you put a cadallic from the 50s on the sign, doesn't make RNRC themed to old hollywood.

 

[PizzaPlanet]

But it's often empty and that fact illustrates that the attraction is not very popular. Or, to put it another way, the attraction is not much of an attraction any longer.

That's fake news, I've never seen it anywhere near empty. I'm tired of people using the excuse that attractions are "always empty" or that there's "never a line" to justify it's closing. Just because people don't rush to attractions like the Tiki Room or even GMR (RIP) at gate drop doesn't mean they don't pull in a decent amount of visitors every day.

 

[Haymarket2008]

I've said it before: If they're hell bent on changing the show, let's make Orange Bird the star. About the only change I could get behind. That, of course, would never happen.

 

[Musical Mermaid]

That's fake news, Iv'e never seen it anywhere near empty. I'm tired of people using the excuse that attractions are "always empty" or that there's "never a line" to justify it's closing. Just because people don't rush to attractions like the Tiki Room or even GMR (RIP) at gate drop doesn't mean they don't pull in a decent amount of visitors every day.

Yes! Some attractions have long lines because they don’t have the best capacity. I don’t want every attraction to have hr long lines. There are days I’ve gone to the parks without fastpasses because I don’t want to plan every second of my day. Those days I just go wherever I feel like it at the moment and if I don’t have long to wait, even better. Pirates of the Caribbean is a classic attraction I’ve rarely had to wait over 5 minutes for and this goes back to my childhood. When I went in July, I even forfeited my fastpass for it, because the stand-by line was walk on and quicker. So since I’ve seen that empty, should Disney close that? I don’t believe so.

This is Walt Disney World. They have land. They have room for so many ideas. It could be so much better if they had brighter people updating and adding some quality to their parks instead of replacing stuff with whatever is popular at the moment and taking the easiest or cheapest way to more profits.

 

[999th Happy Haunt]

I've said it before: If they're hell bent on changing the show, let's make Orange Bird the star. About the only change I could get behind. That, of course, would never happen.

The one bird that can't sing words lol

If he popped out of the center every once in a while during the show to applaud could be fun. Not like there's a fountain there now anyway.

 

[Pixieish]

Crush and Monsters are a boring waste of space.

Just pointing out how opinions can vary.

Crush is one of those few moments where kids can get to feel special - my oldest son was picked first to talk to him on our last trip, and it made his whole vacation!

Monsters is cute in a cheesy sort of way...neither of my boys could sit through it though.

 

[Pixieish]

Following up on this thought with another ignrant and arrogant CEO over at United I heard this on the radio yesterday afternoon:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39675265

Basicly he is no longer in the running to be CEO and chairman of the board something that was supposed to happen soon. They are also rewriting their executive compensation package so that it ties into and is directly affected by guest experience.

Personally sounds like something people around here have been calling for for years, and want to see at Disney. I would be interested to see if this works and would like to see it implemented at DIS as well.

Just sad to see that it takes a media disaster to make serious change in the culture at the top while the bottom rots out in the meantime. That being said if someone needs to volunteer as tribute to be "reaccomidated" to the next available monorail to make this happen... Well then I guess I'm your guy lol.

It's interesting to see your post from 5 months ago, and I read this article this morning: https://www.forbes.com/sites/susana...worst-performers-new-study-says/#49a893e87e32

What it boils down to is that all the CEOs with the ridiculous salaries and bonus packages are making worse decisions than those on a reasonable pay scale because they just believe they're right, regardless of what anyone else says. Hmmmm...wait a second! That sounds kinda familiar, doesn't it?!? *cough-Iger-cough*

 

[Pixieish]

The fact that WDW is nowhere near where it was in the 70,80,90's is the basis for the 'Doom and Gloom' brigades complaints. Compound that with current TWDC manangements attitude that theme parks are 'stupid entertainment for stupid people' and TWDC's focus on Wall St as their customer you have a toxic brew which results in the constant downgrade of the park experience in the US parks.

Contrast that to the ad in question. The ad was all about the girls relation to the park as a fun place to be in all stages of life from wide eyed toddler. To young girl where we saw the ONLY character interaction but character was NOT the focus of the segment. To high school girls hanging out in front of IASW where she meets boy and the inevitable progression takes place. This ad is not about characters or upcharge experiences.

Its about a girl's relation to a place where she finds joy in multiple forms over the years.

That concept more than anything else is the at the core of what has been lost at WDW.

We've gone from creating joyful and uplifting experiences to 'meeting characters' and thats a huge difference

Not only that, but the meets feel very cookie cutter and no longer special at the parks. Hell, even the meets at restaurants feel more authentic.

 

[Pixieish]

The ads worked well for the target audience. The dancing guy for Six Flags may have been more memorable but did it sell park tickets? Six Flags also has a different target demo and wanted to appear "hip" for teens and young adults. When you turn on Disney Channel and see the way they market the parks it's done quite well (again for that target demo). FLE was heavily marketed there and at least based on available public info it worked. There was a bump in attendance even though many people here felt the expansion lacked substance. Disney is still world class in marketing their products...except online. Their websites are just embarrassing.

Disney's websites are stinking awful. The navigation is poor and the speed is ridiculously slow.