News Disney plans to reboot Voyage of the Little Mermaid stage show at Disney's Hollywood Studios

[TrainsOfDisney]

Regarding the animation, though, I'd be curious how much of that work was tweening vs. keyframe drawing, on average.

Mulan, Lilo & Stitch, and Brother Bear were primarily animated at the studio in Florida.

It was a VERY legit animation studio at one time.

Live Action for both Universal / Nickelodeon and Disney both had some moments - “the new Mickey Mouse Club” was filmed there which of course starred Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, and Christina Aguilera.

Similarly over at Universal they were filming shows like All That with current SNL star Keenan Thompson.

I think both Disney and Universal were a little ahead of the times and should have continued to build on what they had.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Especially since most of that old Hollywood theming is just the facades now -- Sid Cahuenga's is gone and the shops generally sell the same generic Disney merch you find at Disney Springs and the resort gift shops. That area doesn't have remotely the level of theming it did 25-30 years ago.

Killing Sid Cahuenga’s is one of those utterly stupid, unforgivable moves.

Similarly over at Universal they were filming shows like All That with current SNL star Keenan Thompson.

For a moment there most of Nickelodeon’s live action production was produced at Universal Studios Florida. They were so cheap though that the actors didn’t get access to the park. In his memoir Keenan briefly talks about sneaking into the park with fellow cast members Kel and Josh Server. But even Nick, which wasn’t spending on elaborate productions, still ended up moving more and more of their production to California.

 

[celluloid]

For a moment there most of Nickelodeon’s live action production was produced at Universal Studios Florida. They were so cheap though that the actors didn’t get access to the park. In his memoir Keenan briefly talks about sneaking into the park with fellow cast members Kel and Josh Server. But even Nick, which wasn’t spending on elaborate productions, still ended up moving more and more of their production to California.

This is somewhat not true. Nick stars were allowed in the park all of the time in terms of cost. The reason they had to "sneak" was because of tight times for breaks between takes and call times as well a their safety.

The filming of both Studio parks and the lower volume of filming (although Universal still has far more than zero) is because of the state' incentives changed.

 

[DarkMetroid567]

I think both Disney and Universal were a little ahead of the times and should have continued to build on what they had.

I agree that they could have, but it would have been an uphill battle. People, especially talent from the West Coast, do not want to live in Orlando.

 

[Comped]

The filming of both Studio parks and the lower volume of filming (although Universal still has far more than zero) is because of the state' incentives changed.

This is likely to change, at least from an Orlando/Orange County level. There's been movement on the state level to reintroduce heavy incentives, but locally it's far morel likely at the moment,

 

[celluloid]

This is likely to change, at least from an Orlando/Orange County level. There's been movement on the state level to reintroduce heavy incentives, but locally it's far morel likely at the moment,

Yes. For years now. Here is hoping. It constantly get voted against.

 

[MrPromey]

Killing Sid Cahuenga’s is one of those utterly stupid, unforgivable moves.

Couldn't possibly agree more.

 

[Bocabear]

Couldn't possibly agree more.

The shopping at Disney MGM was always great...now almost all park shopping is boring... The merchandise is not special enough... The shopping venues are not engaging.... Disney really needed to take a hint from what Universal did with Harry Potter and their specialized shopping...It really made you want to shop... With Main Street becoming one big World Of Disney store, and the other shops just offering repetitious crap, I really don't care to shop much at Disney anymore... I hope they turn a new page when they get to the new things that they are currently building... Specialized shopping is a great thing they need to get on board with again... Get rid of the homogenous "Disney Parks" brand and bring back the specialized custom location merchandise and even paper goods in the restaurants.... If we are continuing to pay more and more for our park experiences, they can afford to do better..

 

[MrPromey]

The shopping at Disney MGM was always great...now almost all park shopping is boring... The merchandise is not special enough... The shopping venues are not engaging.... Disney really needed to take a hint from what Universal did with Harry Potter and their specialized shopping...It really made you want to shop... With Main Street becoming one big World Of Disney store, and the other shops just offering repetitious crap, I really don't care to shop much at Disney anymore... I hope they turn a new page when they get to the new things that they are currently building... Specialized shopping is a great thing they need to get on board with again... Get rid of the homogenous "Disney Parks" brand and bring back the specialized custom location merchandise and even paper goods in the restaurants.... If we are continuing to pay more and more for our park experiences, they can afford to do better..

They can afford to do better in a lot of ways but they don't.

Why?

I have my own thoughts on this but if providing more unique location-based merchandise was a way to get people to spend more on souvenirs, why do you think current management, outside of a few isolated situations, would seem so unwilling to?

 

[doctornick]

They set the bar very low recently at DCA with rebranding the main path as "Performance Corridor", so here's hoping they can figure out something for TLM and Walt Disney Presents and that area

My suggestion has been to have those combined with Pixar Place and call that area "Animation Alley". Not a lot of substance, but seems a reasonable enough name and then Animation Courtyard goes away to be part of Monstropolis.

 

[doctornick]

If Monsters goes to AC, is it safe to assume Disney Junior becomes the sushi restaurant? It would make sense since it used to be a restaurant, already has a connected kitchen, etc.

There's also a CM cafeteria attached there so I would think using both Disney Jr and that food service to be combined into a new guest used Harryhausens makes a lot of sense.

 

[UNCgolf]

They can afford to do better in a lot of ways but they don't.

Why?

I have my own thoughts on this but if providing more unique location-based merchandise was a way to get people to spend more on souvenirs, why do you think current management, outside of a few isolated situations, would seem so unwilling to?

I'm almost positive they could get people to spend more -- but not necessarily enough to justify the extra costs in production, stocking, etc.

Which is probably what you were implying anyways.

 

[MrPromey]

I'm almost positive they could get people to spend more -- but not necessarily enough to justify the extra costs in production, stocking, etc.

Which is probably what you were implying anyways.

Yup.

I'm sure they've figured out it's more profitable to provide less compelling shopping options, even for the people willing to spend more for that, than to provide better options people would spend more for but spending more to do it.

Sure they'd still make money and they'd have happy guests but if someone figured out they could make more money by doing less and have less happy guests, which way is this short-sighted group going to go?

You want unique? Go to Disney springs and pay their tenants for that.

The guest experience really seems to no longer be a serious consideration for managements choices.

Lets not kid ourselves, this was always a for-profit-venture but current management has somehow found a way to completely divorce guest satisfaction from their business decisions on so many levels, it's crazy... actually, it's machiavellian.

 

[UNCgolf]

Yup.

I'm sure they've figured out it's cheaper to provide less compelling shopping options, even for the people willing to spend more for that, than to provide better options people would spend more for.

Sure they'd still make money and they'd have happy guests but if someone figured out they could make more money by doing less and have less happy guests, which way is this short-sighted group going to go?

You want unique? Go to Disney springs and pay their tenants for that.

The guest experience really seems to no longer be a serious consideration for managements choices.

Lets not kid ourselves, this was always a for-profit-venture but current management has somehow found a way to completely divorce guest satisfaction from their business decisions on so many levels, it's crazy... actually, it's machiavellian.

Yeah, Disney used to have shops that they didn't expect to turn a profit -- they existed for theme reasons.

They had a holistic view. Now every individual location is treated separately, as though they're in a strip mall.

 

[MrPromey]

Yeah, Disney used to have shops that they didn't expect to turn a profit -- they existed for theme reasons.

But now the rides that exit into those shops have to turn a profit to justify their existence, too.

I'm waiting for the day they go full Roller Coaster Tycoon on the restrooms.

Maybe it'll start with premium restrooms - cleaned more frequently and with bidets. Once they get people paying for those, they can slowly expand while reducing regular restrooms and allocating less staffing to maintaining the "free" ones.

Wonder what the minimum legal requirements are for free publicly available restrooms in a facility with a capacity the size of MK offering food and beverages in central Florida.

In any event, nothing says "This is outrageous but take my card!" like lunch at Pesos Bills and a 40 minute standby wait for a toilet.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

The shopping at Disney MGM was always great...now almost all park shopping is boring... The merchandise is not special enough... The shopping venues are not engaging....

Used to spend lots of time looking through Sid's, the animation gallery, the Villains store and now they're all gone.

Every year I spend less and less on official Disney merch, but I guess someone else is picking up the slack.

 

[BrianLo]

Yeah, Disney used to have shops that they didn't expect to turn a profit -- they existed for theme reasons.

They had a holistic view. Now every individual location is treated separately, as though they're in a strip mall.

Oh trust me, it can still fall further.

 

[aladdin2007]

Used to spend lots of time looking through Sid's, the animation gallery, the Villains store and now they're all gone.

Every year I spend less and less on official Disney merch, but I guess someone else is picking up the slack.

adding in Writers Stop, the indiana jones store and outside merch camp, and even the movie store that was at the end of the tram tour in its final years. Even al's toy barn. I think thats what it was called.

 

[Bocabear]

It is sad when you consider that shopping was one of the things people enjoyed in the Disney parks... Discovery special things in each shop that were unique to the area/attraction... In this current money-grab world it is crazy that destination shopping has fallen by the wayside and replaced with lesser quality homogenous shops that all carry the same crap. They should really re-think that... This is one of the things that Potter does very well...

 

[JD80]

I also dislike the homogenous shops all over property. But Disney knows merch so if there is an opportunity to sell more they will.