Disney and Universal: Two very different paths

[Voice of Disney sanity]

Btw intellectually dishonest was a polite way of saying "pixie duster"

 

[Voice of Disney sanity]

It also sounds like you are saying that refurbs automatically make things improved, but when you refurb the Polly and remove the fountains to save cash it isn't better for most guests. Or remove the skyway to make room for restrooms or get a giant cash payment from Starbucks and replace a bakery with a coffee franchise. Or any number of other refurbs that make more cash but lessen the WDW EXPERIENCE.

I know I know, you don't see it

 

[Tom Morrow]

Since all you have said in the line of detail about the major decline in maintenance lately is just that there is a major decline, I will respond and say no there hasn't been a major decline, without any further detail. In fact, when you look at the list of closures and work in progress things I'd have to say that there has been a major jump in maintenance as of late.

I do kind of agree here. A lot of improvements have been made and many things/areas are looking much better than they did a year or two ago. There's still a lot of areas and rides that need attention, though, but maintenance and upkeep might just be on an upswing. *fingers crossed*

 

[Lexxweb]

Gatorland?

You caught me.

 

[Voice of Disney sanity]

I do kind of agree here. A lot of improvements have been made and many things/areas are looking much better than they did a year or two ago. There's still a lot of areas and rides that need attention, though, but maintenance and upkeep might just be on an upswing. *fingers crossed*

As I said in another thread and touched upon it earlier in this thread... I was last there in April
We rode splash mt on our first day and there was a plastic water bottle floating in the pots that shoot drops of water up. On day 3 we rode again and it was still there! The carpet in our Ak room was ripped. Saw fountains not working properly in front of imagination and on and on. I used to be a fanboy who has been visiting since 1980 and have visited dozens of times and it was NEVER like this before

 

[GoofGoof]

It also sounds like you are saying that refurbs automatically make things improved, but when you refurb the Polly and remove the fountains to save cash it isn't better for most guests. Or remove the skyway to make room for restrooms or get a giant cash payment from Starbucks and replace a bakery with a coffee franchise. Or any number of other refurbs that make more cash but lessen the WDW EXPERIENCE.

To give credit where credit is due the Splash refurb this year was pretty solid. Way, way, way overdue but they got most of the issues cleaned up. This summer/fall has a ton of refurbs scheduled. Some of it is just adding interactive elements for the magic bands but there appears to be some actual clean up being done as well. Don't get me wrong, there is a long, long way to go but this could be the beginning of a step in the right direction. There is a new president and all. It's too early to be cautiously optimistic, but once all the work wraps up it will be interesting to see if the differences are noticeable.

 

[Goofyernmost]

Hmmm "I'm not lying mom!"

Sorry! What??? Don't speak in a code known only to yourself. It's making you sound disconnected. BTW, Disconnected is a polite way of saying intellectually challenged.

 

[Goofyernmost]

Btw intellectually dishonest was a polite way of saying "pixie duster"

Polite way? Try the opposite of polite way.

 

[Disneyhead'71]

I am the biggest Uni Fanboi here, but even I have to admit that in the past 18 months, at the MK, there has been significant work done on the facades on Main St. And Adventureland. Along with quality refurbs to Splash and BTMRR. Things are improving from their low point concerning maintenance at the MK. Epcot is a different story.

 

[WDWDad13]

I agree over the past year it seems they are beginning to have more refurbs than before

 

[Tom Morrow]

As I said in another thread and touched upon it earlier in this thread... I was last there in April
We rode splash mt on our first day and there was a plastic water bottle floating in the pots that shoot drops of water up. On day 3 we rode again and it was still there! The carpet in our Ak room was ripped. Saw fountains not working properly in front of imagination and on and on. I used to be a fanboy who has been visiting since 1980 and have visited dozens of times and it was NEVER like this before

I know. There's a long way to go, but speaking as someone who is always around the parks and pays very close attention to show quality, things have improved somewhat compared to a year or 2-3 years ago.

 

[devoy1701]

All I ask is for Disney to build/open one new attraction a year...we have twice as many parks and 3-4 times as much space in those parks. It shouldn't be that hard.

 

[ford91exploder]

I never said it was the same people making the decisions, punkin'.

In fact you misquoted me. I didn't say "innovators that got them to where they are today" -- Do you know how to properly use quotes?

They're still a forward thinking company and still remain innovative no matter who is running things or how. Spreadsheets and focus groups do tend to get things done. Have you used a spreadsheet before? They're useful. How else would you like Disney to run their business? What's your game plan?

Oh, you do realize this is a Disney fan site..correct? Not saying you need to drink the kool-aid, I respect all opinions, but Disney isn't run by the Devil despite recent popular belief. You chose to join this site, why are you acting like Disney is so horrible? You're posting here on your free time, unless you're the most active member of the UO section. Doubt it.

Sidebar- it's weird that everyone on here knows so much about how this place is run. Please tell me more about your MBA and management history with the company...oh wait..high school? That's what I thought.

While I don't work for THIS company, I do know a thing or two about theme parks. Wink wink..nudge nudge.

Peace and love,

The only innovation coming out of Disney these days is of the financial variety. Trouble is that kind always blows up in the end

 

[ford91exploder]

I know. There's a long way to go, but speaking as someone who is always around the parks and pays very close attention to show quality, things have improved somewhat compared to a year or 2-3 years ago.

I'd have to agree but is it the ship changing course or is it sprucing up for sale or outside investment is the question.

 

[ford91exploder]

It also sounds like you are saying that refurbs automatically make things improved, but when you refurb the Polly and remove the fountains to save cash it isn't better for most guests. Or remove the skyway to make room for restrooms or get a giant cash payment from Starbucks and replace a bakery with a coffee franchise. Or any number of other refurbs that make more cash but lessen the WDW EXPERIENCE.

Agree - the fountains and waterfall is one of the things that MAKE IT THE POLY, Without it you have a hilton garden inn with an elaborate roof

 

[Goofyernmost]

I'd have to agree but is it the ship changing course or is it sprucing up for sale or outside investment is the question.

I think you can rest assured that no one wants to buy WDW at this time. They might take it for free though. Either way, it is a plus for the rest of us for the time being.

 

[fosse76]

As former Chicago mayor Daley said regarding Chicagos struggling status as a major convention/ conference hoster "Its hard to beat the mouse"

Struggling? It's 2nd, behind Orlando. Vegas comes behind Chicago in conventions.

 

[ford91exploder]

Its heavy because its huge, they wouldn't overbuild it, that would just be stupid of them. To make it lighter other than rebuilding it out of Carbon Fiber, which would never ever ever ever ever ever ever be worth the cost, you would have to start removing the internal components that are responsible for motion and result in a loss of motion. And yes the fur is way too heavy, maybe they could remove the fur from the unseen side of the yeti, saving maybe a ton. If you want to lose weight from the yeti you will end up with a loss of motion, thats really the only way to do it. Shedding weight from an incredibly complex machine isn't as easy as unzipping the fur and just ripping things out. And reducing the weight isn't guaranteed to keep the base from cracking anymore.

No machine design is not easy, That being said one of my ancillary responsibilities is the design specification of industrial robots so do understand the details here, Constructing Yeti out of steel would have probably saved on the order of 1-5 million dollars - Not knowing labor market and that Disney would have been competing with companies on the spacecoast for welders/fabricators of advanced materials, It is LIKELY that Disney chose heavy and cheap, but used a base designed for a lighter weight machine as the stress calculations for the base are standardized and can be computed by a Sophomore in a civil engineering class with 100% reliability.

The explanation is that TDO cheaped out - further proof being is they created no maintenance access - ie removable rockwork not so it could be opened with a button push but that it could be opened with use of heavy equipment. Now they would need to destroy about 10-20% of mountain to gain access

 

[doctornick]

All I ask is for Disney to build/open one new attraction a year...we have twice as many parks and 3-4 times as much space in those parks. It shouldn't be that hard.

I would go a step further and say 1 attraction per park every other year. With 4 parks, that means each year there would be ~2 new attractions a year most years. But the lack of new stuff in recent years at WDW -- and in the near future -- is not acceptable.

 

[fosse76]

Disney did their massive expansions of hotels and parks in the 80s/90s when the property was under-developed, in my opinion the MyMagic+ thing is going to need to happen anyway so they may as well do it now. If Disney didn't do it first, then Universal would have done it first and everyone on here would be complaining about it anyway that Universal is doing it before Disney.

What are you talking about? Exactly how did MyMagic+ "need to happen anyway"?

The truth is MM+ is Disney taking what their customers saying seriously and putting their money where their mouth is. Obviously planning a Disney vacation is easy for you and me, but the average family from Ohio it can be completely overwhelming. ADRs, tickets, hotels, fastpass, etc. MM+ makes it so you can do it all very easily from your computer before even leaving home. Actually IMO its long overdue.

Oh please. It's overwhelming because Disney made it that way, and MM+ makes it eve more so. Now you have to practically schedule every second of your trip, whereas without MM+ there could be spontaneity. And by the way, you can book your tickets, hotel room AND Express Passes at your computer through Universal too. And it didn't cost them $2 billion dollars. And you don't need ADRs since the restaurants always take walk-ups (though don't take that to mean they aren't crowded, there can be a wait). And you don't need to preplan with Express Pass...you just walk-up whenever you want and use it (and if you have the unlimited, you can go on as many rides as many times as you want, in BOTH parks on the SAME day!)

And honestly I think in the next few years we're going to start seeing a lot of new stuff coming to WDW. We all know it takes Disney a long time to plan and build things, so they probably didn't have a ton of staff for major projects that would be taking place now because of the economy tanking (and a lot of them i'm sure were working on China's new park and DCA redo). But now that they've seen how resilient the parks have been and people are starting to get used to this new economy they can bring in more people to take WDW projects and can go in with more confidence.

Of course. The funny thing is you Pixiedusters can say that with impunity because at some point it has to be true. Yes Disney will build in the future. But will it be anything of significance? And saying they are busy with other projects is a cop-out. They could easily add to WDW while these other projects are going on.

Disney needs to focus on removing, replacing, and updating things that are out of date. There is no lack of things to do at WDW, but attractions like Great Movie Ride, Imagination/EO, Little Mermaid show, etc all are way outdated. Star Tours went from being outdated and corny and now it's an awesome ride.

They seem to be incapable of it, and I find the new Star Tours to be rather boring (particularly in the middle when the ride comes to a dead stop for a scene with Yoda or Princee Leia, or whoever).