Disney Quest to close in July 2017

[indyumd]

Nothing healthy about claiming a Cirque show is worn and tired when, in reality, its not.

I can't speak for others, by my references have been to the excitement and interest in the show by locals and tourists, not to the quality of the show itself.

 

[flynnibus]

I understand that and agree with that. I was more or less just giving an alternative to his view.

Although i'd disagree, at least on the restaurant side of things, that stuff being built in DS isn't pretty unique. Most restaurants only have a few locations or possibly the only location in the US.

But again.. no one travels to orlando just to experience Bongos... They work as a unit to make a destination desirable to visit.. and each then tries to vie for the dollar. They need to be 'unique' to make you want to eat there 'tonight' while in the area... not that you'd get on a plane to go eat there. They need to be 'unique' to help boost the experience to help justify the prices.

Point is.. none of them have to be globally unique to work.. just desirable enough to get people to chose that business for their needs that trip.

 

[flynnibus]

Show me where you can buy heavily discounted tickets for a traveling Broadway show. You can't compare Broadway itself with a single theater in Orlando.

This isn't a temp location - but a fixed one that needs to fill the seats with a transient crowd in a tourist destination. It's far more like broadway than it is your local theatre in Cleveland. The customer demo and their patterns is what will drive the ticket model.

Cirque discounts their fixed shows all over.. the venues do what they need to do to make things work in the long run. There are no universal laws of physics here.. they'll work it out.

 

[flynnibus]

That's my point. The show has lost its energy but it still makes enough money to continue

Funny.. what I read was 'floundering'

You put it down saying it's floundering and can't afford to invest to update... drawing the conclusion that no new show could work either because of that. Instead of acknowledging what a new show could do for demand...

Clearly, Cirque doesn't believe they can make the economics of a new show work, otherwise they would have done it by now. We'll see if they eventually get to the point where La Nouba is doing so poorly they have no other choice.

Wow.. never new things were so clear.. when you have no data or points of reference. Clairvoyant this one is..

 

[flynnibus]

Tragically ignorant. Cirque just brought in two new acts to celebrate the show's 18th anniversary. It is now better than ever. At least, unlike Disney, Cirque takes pride in keeping its signature offerings fresh

You are talking about updates to the acts... yet 99.9999% of the people who are being courted to buy tickets to the show have no idea that has happened or is happening. So for the discussion at hand -- which is 'can you sustain an audience' -- those updates are irrelevant because the buying audience is unaware of them. The guests just see the same Cirque show name year after year. Even Disney doesn't advertise updates to it's captive audience..

So even with that crippling.. they've kept the show running for 18 years. I think that clearly debunks the claim of 'they can't sustain an audience', and if they actually advertised and promoted the refreshes.. things would be stronger.

By the logic, Phantom of the Opera should have closed ages ago. How do you explain the 23 year success of Mystere then? Also, since you seem to be oblivious to this as well, Cirque pulls the plug on its creations when they feel the time is right

Instead of being so defensive.. you should try following the actual conversation. The point was the show has sustained even WITHOUT major changes as the audience has known... (that is a positive for cirque) and that things could be even better with known changes to drive more repeat business.

Shows like Phantom and Mystere persist because they have tens of millions of new visitors ever year to attract from and the show still seems to work. Nothing wrong with that if you can keep new people coming in. But if you can't, and don't change... you wouldn't say the business can never work because you refused to change.

 

[PhotoDave219]

Well they have, at least, attempted to market the new acts to the local population, http://www.orlandosentinel.com/ente...-du-soleil-la-nouba-acts-20151209-column.html

Cirque has never excelled in the marketing department, at least in terms of La Nouba. All you got to do is compare their Facebook page to other shows to see that. I agree with you, however, that they need to market the show better. Its not all about the Green Bird (it's not even HER story!!) yet she's all you see on billboards across down and online. Only superfans know the show has changed and that's sad.

The show has changed?

 

[FigmentForver96]

Not "changed" per say, more like refreshed. They removed the opening jump rope act and replaced it with a break-dancing trio. The high wire act was replaced with an aerial bamboo act (which I lament immensely). The music accompanying acts was also refreshed too, meaning its the same basic song as before but with new instrumentals etc. A few performers also received new costumes and some addition background elements were added during various scenes.


Don't be sad. The rumors at this early stage point to a possible re-staging of ZED.

I could do that. I guess it means I need to get in some for showings though

 

[flynnibus]

Well they have, at least, attempted to market the new acts to the local population, http://www.orlandosentinel.com/ente...-du-soleil-la-nouba-acts-20151209-column.html

Cirque has never excelled in the marketing department, at least in terms of La Nouba. All you got to do is compare their Facebook page to other shows to see that. I agree with you, however, that they need to market the show better. Its not all about the Green Bird (it's not even HER story!!) yet she's all you see on billboards across down and online. Only superfans know the show has changed and that's sad.

All in all.. I think it's viable to have a broadway level show (at least in terms of creating draw). I mean come-on... if Disney can pack that F! theater every night, or B&tB.. imagine if they had a REAL show. La Nouba has proven it can be a separate ticket as well. Disney has proven itself in the production category for these shows.. make it happen and bring in touring shows to draw both the tourists and locals. Would sure be better than whatever latest stupid hat store in DS...

 

[flynnibus]

And again, the prices and economics of Disney now vs. 18 years ago make it much harder to pull off an expensive new show.

economics of Disney? You mean the record profits and attendance? Or are you referring to the fact they now have a proven record creating broadway shows.. both touring and resident?

What are these economics you refer to? The fact Disney would have to spend money to make it??

 

[Next Big Thing]

Back on topic a bit, is there anyone in the know who has heard anything to verify this? I feel like we've gone on for 17 pages about something that could be totally false.

 

[BrianV]

Back on topic a bit, is there anyone in the know who has heard anything to verify this? I feel like we've gone on for 17 pages about something that could be totally false.

Exactly! I would love if they actually bagged the NBA thing and just refurbished DQ instead.

 

[dizda]

Just put the titanic exhibit on I-drive in there.

I like the idea of converting DQ into travelling exhibition space.

 

[PhotoDave219]

Back on topic a bit, is there anyone in the know who has heard anything to verify this? I feel like we've gone on for 17 pages about something that could be totally false.

Nope. But then again, I'm not going to any of my spies for something this minor....

 

[ToInfinityAndBeyond]

Nope. But then again, I'm not going to any of my spies for something this minor....

Many Bothans lived happily in their lives, not caring about this information.

 

[doctornick]

Can I just that I think having a broadway style theater would IMHO be a nice addition to DS. They are doing a lot to try to make the area more upscale and have more nightlife that having a second large scale show (to go with Cirque) would I think help to draw in the convention crowd and make WDW more of a destination for adults like it used to be.

Many complain that new additions to WDW recently always seemed to be geared to the pre-school set but I think there is a growing inclinations to have more all ages or even adult focused options (e.g. Trader Sam's and DS nightlife, in park restaurants like Tiffins and Skippers Cantina, RoL, upcoming attractions like Pandora and Star Wars).

 

[indyumd]

economics of Disney? You mean the record profits and attendance? Or are you referring to the fact they now have a proven record creating broadway shows.. both touring and resident?

What are these economics you refer to? The fact Disney would have to spend money to make it??

The economics of what it costs a family to come to Disney for 4 days to a week, the economics of how much Disney has demonstrated they are willing to spend, the economics of what Disney would charge for this kind of show, all of it. I'm being realistic.

 

[flynnibus]

The economics of what it costs a family to come to Disney for 4 days to a week, the economics of how much Disney has demonstrated they are willing to spend, the economics of what Disney would charge for this kind of show, all of it. I'm being realistic.

The going entry point for these kinds of shows is about $100 or so. Have you not seen what Disney charges for it's upsell events like Desert Parties, fireworks showings, etc. Heck, the aquacars at Disney springs cost $100 for 20/mins.

Disney already popped that cherry long long ago when it comes to sticker shock. (and Disney's ticket prices for Lion King touring.. just to have a comparison.. Feb in Durham.. $39-$109)

I had similar thoughts when I recently saw the Mythbusters on tour.. at $80/seat it wasn't cheap and I only took one of my kids because of it. I was floored when I got there when probably 1/3 of the audience was under 8yrs old.. and it was quite common to see a mom towing around 3-4 kids. That's some serious cash drop on something that kids relate to simply from TV and isn't even aimed at juniors.

What people will spend will surprise you.. (which is bad at the same time.. for tightwads like me )

 

[Tony the Tigger]

The going entry point for these kinds of shows is about $100 or so. Have you not seen what Disney charges for it's upsell events like Desert Parties, fireworks showings, etc. Heck, the aquacars at Disney springs cost $100 for 20/mins.

Disney already popped that cherry long long ago when it comes to sticker shock. (and Disney's ticket prices for Lion King touring.. just to have a comparison.. Feb in Durham.. $39-$109)

I had similar thoughts when I recently saw the Mythbusters on tour.. at $80/seat it wasn't cheap and I only took one of my kids because of it. I was floored when I got there when probably 1/3 of the audience was under 8yrs old.. and it was quite common to see a mom towing around 3-4 kids. That's some serious cash drop on something that kids relate to simply from TV and isn't even aimed at juniors.

What people will spend will surprise you.. (which is bad at the same time.. for tightwads like me )

Well-argued.

 

[FigmentForver96]

Exactly! I used to question my friends for spending $160 on a basic cotton t-shirt from some high end designer. But, then I thought about how I routinely drop between $85-$120 on tickets to a musical/concert and it all made sense. People value different things, and that's okay! So while I may judge you for buying that t-shirt, I'm sure you're rolling your eyes big time when you find out I'm going to see Wicked....for the 5th time.

When we visited New York, we stopped in at Sak's Fifth Avenue to look around, ironically before our showing of Wicked. I almost died when I saw a basic white tee going for 250 dollars! Once we found the 3000 dollar jackets everybody was literally scared to touch anything lol but point being was plenty of people were inside buying things like it did no mean anything. One older lady even rolled her eyes after I made a comment about the tee.

 

[GoTheDistance]

The going point for Broadway shows and Equity touring productions usually in the $120-150 range for orchestra and front mezz seats, $50-$90 for mid mezz, and sometimes as low as $27-$45 for rear mezz. That being said, I see absolutely no reason why this has to be a theatre doing shows like that. The space is absolutely huge and they could bring theatre to the space in ways that aren't just "Let's put up Beauty and the Beast! Mary Poppins! Lion King Forever!!" Personally, I think this space could be handled more like a cruise ship's theatre where they have a company that can perform a rotating schedule of different shows each night. Assuming it follows a typical 8 show a week schedule, it could do 3-4 different shows a week and appeal to a wide range of people. This would also allow them to do things other than just musicals, if they wanted to. Heck, the space is big enough that they could even put two smaller theatres in the same building, and a restaurant. These shows could be shorter in length, say around 90 minutes, and could be priced topping out at $80 for the top tickets, if they wanted to. There are plenty of ways to do theatre without it being a huge Broadway House with Huge Broadway Expenses and a Broadway contract. There are already touring houses in Orlando that do that and do that well. Disney can do something else and have it still be very profitable.