Disney Springs Plans: What do they mean?

[WDW1974]

You're not psyched for Disney Burger? Just take the same burgers served property wide, with the same toppings that you can get at Cosmic Rays, and give each burger a character name (why use IP for attractions when you can name a burger after them). All with Cockerell Fries, of course.

The absolute worst mass-produced fries I have ever had.

How I remember the great fries that Roaring Fork and The Mara opened with.

Everything that Lee did was to homogenize the product. And guess who is going to be moving up the ladder toward Daddy's old position?

 

[lazyboy97o]

Interesting post because it brings up two points that don't really have much to do with the above, but popped into my head when reading it:

1.) The entire purple, red and white signs were largely the work of John Hench and while some folks loved them, I always found them tacky. They made their debut in 1989 to go with the resort expansion and major additions like Disney-MGM, EPCOT resort area, Typhoon Lagoon, Pleasure Island, final phases of CBR and start of OKW construction.

Personally, I preferred the national park like white on brown signs that WDW had from 1971-1989. Simple. Basic. Classy.

The idea of something distinctive makes sense, but that whole purple-based color scheme, even if picked by Hench, is just awful looking and needs to be ditched.

2.) I haven't put this out yet, so take it as VERY informed rumour, but rumour nonetheless. That is that Disney is planning on reclassifying resorts based on location and not value, moderate, deluxe, villa etc. ... So, for instance GF, Poly, Contemp, WL would be MK resorts. CBR, AoA and POP would be WWoS resorts. All Stars and Coronado would be Blizzard Beach/McD's resorts (yes, that IS how they are listed).

No idea what level of thinking this is at. But my gut says that yet again it's a way to raise prices across the board. There are fools out there who already pay $100-150 a night for a basic Disney motel room, I'm sure the thinking may be that Disney can squeeze more revenue out of the resorts by losing terms like 'value' and 'moderate'.

I wonder if it might having anything to do with a certain "Value" resort under construction up I-4. Shared terminology invites comparisons.

 

[WDW1974]

@WDW1974 how much blame would be put on Iger if OZ doesn't make a profit?

Not much. It would be put on the departed Rich Ross.

 

[John]

2.) I haven't put this out yet, so take it as VERY informed rumour, but rumour nonetheless. That is that Disney is planning on reclassifying resorts based on location and not value, moderate, deluxe, villa etc. ... So, for instance GF, Poly, Contemp, WL would be MK resorts. CBR, AoA and POP would be WWoS resorts. All Stars and Coronado would be Blizzard Beach/McD's resorts (yes, that IS how they are listed).

No idea what level of thinking this is at. But my gut says that yet again it's a way to raise prices across the board. There are fools out there who already pay $100-150 a night for a basic Disney motel room, I'm sure the thinking may be that Disney can squeeze more revenue out of the resorts by losing terms like 'value' and 'moderate'.

So I am thinking that associateing AoA and POP with CBR means they will want to charge a moderate price point and vice versa with AS and the Coronado being a.......hehehehe McD's resort being a value price point. I can not think of one logical reason this is being done. If your going to raise prices....just raise them. Playing the shell game dosnt change the fact that POP and All Star are just bad. I dont care how much lipstick they put on those pigs I will never stay at one again....never.

 

[stlphil]

And the beers not bad either.

Beat me to it.

And don't forget the chocolates.

 

[WDW1974]

All that PLUS the hucksters inside harassing me to try their clip in hair extensions, hair straighteners, hand lotions, jewelery cleaners and cell phone plans lol

Wanna know what's sad? ... That I was trying to formulate a fanboi joke about the above post.

I was at the FLA Mall about two years ago and while it wasn't the shining upscale star it was when it opened in the mid-80s, it wasn't a dump or scary by any means. I just think Mall at Milennia has stolen O-Town's shopping thunder (rightfully as it is a beautiful mall).

 

[PhotoDave219]

2.) I haven't put this out yet, so take it as VERY informed rumour, but rumour nonetheless. That is that Disney is planning on reclassifying resorts based on location and not value, moderate, deluxe, villa etc. ... So, for instance GF, Poly, Contemp, WL would be MK resorts. CBR, AoA and POP would be WWoS resorts. All Stars and Coronado would be Blizzard Beach/McD's resorts (yes, that IS how they are listed).

No idea what level of thinking this is at. But my gut says that yet again it's a way to raise prices across the board. There are fools out there who already pay $100-150 a night for a basic Disney motel room, I'm sure the thinking may be that Disney can squeeze more revenue out of the resorts by losing terms like 'value' and 'moderate'.

Thats completely insane. Although I did not find the "Deluxe" at the Y&BC or Boardwalk to be anywhere near a true "Deluxe" room, such as the Hilton SanDestin.

 

[WDW1974]

Mine's umpteen years old, but it doesn't look to me like it's faded any. Of course, I'm usually only looking at it before I've drained it of its heavily caffeinated contents: that might just make it look brighter than it is.

It took me a long time to find 20oz replacements for those really old Aladdin mugs (the company, not the Disney character). There's a woman at work that has one of the old Wilderness Lodge mugs that looks like the day she bought it -- mine is pretty beat to heck.

All of my mugs except a Pop Century mug date to 2001 or earlier with many back to Mid-90s. All of them have lasted and not faded through multiple trips and MANY free sodas (thanks Mickey!) And I have probably 12 of them, everything from All Star Music to Por Orleans to those original WL ones!

 

[WDW1974]

The idea of something distinctive makes sense, but that whole purple-based color scheme, even if picked by Hench, is just awful looking and needs to be ditched.

It is very 90s in look. If you stayed at the Contemporary or just visited after its 1991 (I believe) makeover, the one that added the CC out front, the rooms were very much done in purples, reds and blacks. The signs always reminded me of that. ... And while John Hench was a genius and contributed more to what we see as a Disney park than anyone else ever (Walt included), he had missteps and I think those signs were one.
Of course, if he were alive maybe he would have had them changed by now himself.

I wonder if it might having anything to do with a certain "Value" resort under construction up I-4. Shared terminology invites comparisons.

Interesting thought. Certainly possible. To me, the All Stars/Pop are a value when I want to stay on property and I can stay there for $30-60 a night. Anything more is totally ridiculous ... and with some of the deals I have found on Priceline.com I have a hard time even paying the upper range of that. Just not worth it.

 

[WDW1974]

Thats completely insane. Although I did not find the "Deluxe" at the Y&BC or Boardwalk to be anywhere near a true "Deluxe" room, such as the Hilton SanDestin.

I've long said that Disney takes advantage of many guests who don't know what a deluxe (even typical 4-star hotel) resort is supposed to be like.
That's the only thing I can believe when people are spending $300-400-500-600-do I stop? for a standard 'deluxe resort room' at WDW. These people largely have to be simple folks who don't travel much and don't understand what that price is supposed to buy you.

 

[PhotoDave219]

I've long said that Disney takes advantage of many guests who don't know what a deluxe (even typical 4-star hotel) resort is supposed to be like.
That's the only thing I can believe when people are spending $300-400-500-600-do I stop? for a standard 'deluxe resort room' at WDW. These people largely have to be simple folks who don't travel much and don't understand what that price is supposed to buy you.

All I know is the best deluxe I've stayed at was in a king bed at the Contemporary, south garden wing. That was really nice. The newer "Deluxes?" Not much difference between them and the moderates. Even Wildy Lodge (that I love) wasnt fantastic until you hit concierge

 

[JenniferS]

Heh - it's not American's shopping today, either. The Brazillians will always save us.

And the Canadians.
We cross the border in droves with pockets full of at-par dollars to buy cheaper American goods.
Just look at the overflowing garbage cans at the Walden Galleria in Buffalo. Store bags, clothing tags, discarded used clothing and shoes, and piles (and piles) of empty shoe boxes stacked beside the cans. We Canadians like to shop, but some are less willing to pay duty.

 

[JenniferS]

I just keep promoting the idea of someone bringing in a waffle stand to DTD that sells the real deal. I am convinced it would make billions.

It should look like this.....

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q...E1F2A09677743B469557ED8FC5885&selectedIndex=4

Yes please. Looks an awful lot like a beaver tail, but puffy (and waffley).

 

[Cosmic Commando]

Interesting post because it brings up two points that don't really have much to do with the above, but popped into my head when reading it:

1.) The entire purple, red and white signs were largely the work of John Hench and while some folks loved them, I always found them tacky. They made their debut in 1989 to go with the resort expansion and major additions like Disney-MGM, EPCOT resort area, Typhoon Lagoon, Pleasure Island, final phases of CBR and start of OKW construction.

Personally, I preferred the national park like white on brown signs that WDW had from 1971-1989. Simple. Basic. Classy.

I'm sure Hench was involved, but so were these guys. I don't think they'd show it off if in their portfolio if they were just yes-men for Imagineering:
http://www.sussmanprejza.com/portfolio/project/walt-disney-world-euro-disney
http://www.sussmanprejza.com/sites/default/files/Disney.pdf

2.) I haven't put this out yet, so take it as VERY informed rumour, but rumour nonetheless. That is that Disney is planning on reclassifying resorts based on location and not value, moderate, deluxe, villa etc. ... So, for instance GF, Poly, Contemp, WL would be MK resorts. CBR, AoA and POP would be WWoS resorts. All Stars and Coronado would be Blizzard Beach/McD's resorts (yes, that IS how they are listed).

No idea what level of thinking this is at. But my gut says that yet again it's a way to raise prices across the board. There are fools out there who already pay $100-150 a night for a basic Disney motel room, I'm sure the thinking may be that Disney can squeeze more revenue out of the resorts by losing terms like 'value' and 'moderate'.

I'm surprised it took them this long. I'm not totally up on the rack rates now, but I know if you go back five years or so, Pop and the All-Stars were shackled to each other even though Pop probably had much higher demand.

If you want a guess on where this will all end up, I say look at Disneyland. I can go online right now and tell you the rack rate for every WDW hotel for every day of 2013. Here's the Grand Flo. Now try to do the same thing for the Disney-owned hotels in CA. I don't think it can be done. I think in the near future, you'll just get your quote from Disney, decide if you can afford it or not, and book. You won't have 17 spreadsheets of data in front of you to tell you if it's a good price or not. You want to leave on a Wednesday when we probably won't fill that room until Saturday and we think we can still sell that room to someone who will stay the full week? Gonna cost you.

 

[Cosmic Commando]

And the Canadians.
We cross the border in droves with pockets full of at-par dollars to buy cheaper American goods.
Just look at the overflowing garbage cans at the Walden Galleria in Buffalo. Store bags, clothing tags, discarded used clothing and shoes, and piles (and piles) of empty shoe boxes stacked beside the cans. We Canadians like to shop, but some are less willing to pay duty.

Our homeless people here in Buffalo have all the Roots clothing they can handle! They actually changed some kinda legal thingy (personal exemption?), so there's a lot fewer shoes in our parking lots now.

P.S.: Are you in the Golden Horseshoe? We're neighbors!

 

[JenniferS]

Our homeless people here in Buffalo have all the Roots clothing they can handle! They actually changed some kinda legal thingy (personal exemption?), so there's a lot fewer shoes in our parking lots now.

P.S.: Are you in the Golden Horseshoe? We're neighbors!

Howdy neighbour.
No personal exemption for visits of less than 24 hrs. ie - daytrippers.
$200 per person for 24 hours or more - no alcohol or tobacco products.
$800 per person (SCORE!!) for visits of 48 hours or more.
Hubby and I do 2-day trips a couple of times a year. Before they raised the personal exemptions, we used to reach our max. within a few hours, and would have nothing left to do but hang out at Regal Cinemas.
Dinner at Salvatore's is a must one night, and the second night is usually at Famous Dave's.

 

[marni1971]

Parking at DtD was only a problem back in the old days when the buses still ran direct routes to the parks.

Yet a DTD parking structure (as you Americans call them) was planned for TDOs overflow 4,5,6,7, years ago?

 

[Funmeister]

Yet a DTD parking structure (as you Americans call them) was planned for TDOs overflow 4,5,6,7, years ago?

Unfortunately "Clever Name" has been misinformed. The problems go much deeper than just direct busses to the parks. Parking problems have been a constant issue since the rebranding of downtown Disney. Busses were and are only a small portion of the problem.

 

[John]

I've long said that Disney takes advantage of many guests who don't know what a deluxe (even typical 4-star hotel) resort is supposed to be like.
That's the only thing I can believe when people are spending $300-400-500-600-do I stop? for a standard 'deluxe resort room' at WDW. These people largely have to be simple folks who don't travel much and don't understand what that price is supposed to buy you.

Nailed it!

 

[scpergj]

Yet a DTD parking structure (as you Americans call them) was planned for TDOs overflow 4,5,6,7, years ago?

Yeah, well....

See, some people define parking as the availability of a parking spot SOMEWHERE around the DTD area. As I've said before, my family and I are not adverse to walking - I regularly run 3+ miles two or three times a week, and my wife runs and rollerblades regularly; we are all pretty well physically fit. There are times, however, when we really don't want to park all the way over by Cirque to go the the Lego store and The Earl of Sandwich on our way home (when we are there for long weekends, that is our last stop to pick up some Lego and sandwiches for the trip home) - that trip would be quite difficult with food and a large Lego box!

A parking structure to allow the majority of customers to park closer would be a very welcomed addition.

On a seperate (but related) note, the city of Jacksonville recently announced a partnership they are building with a company that deals with parking. There will be an application (or website, can't remember the details) that will show people trying to find parking in the downtown area just where open parking spots are just by checking their phone. THAT would be a useful addition to a Disney app!