Rumor Disney To Remove "Magic Carpets Of Aladdin"

[Animaniac93-98]

That's the crux of this - it's not enough for them just to vaguely recognize they can't get away with "whatever". They need to have a clear vision for what to be doing instead. Does anyone here see any evidence that they have that?

No, and who knows how long Chapek or Josh will be in their positions at this point.

Right now Chapek's still trying to get out of Iger's shadow and prove to investors and the media he has what it takes to call the shots.

 

[yensidtlaw1969]

As you know (because we’ve all discussed it many times ), attendance had indeed been falling for years. Disney hid it by pushing money around and refused to release official numbers.

Back when Spirit was on these boards, he frequently mentioned that Tokyo’s attendance was higher than Florida’s, yet the company would fudge the numbers to keep WDW in the #1 spot. (It’s easy if you count Disney Springs, water parks, hotel restaurants, etc.)

I just don't understand the impulse that the healthy investing they do at the other resorts is, like, nice for them but some sort of liability for WDW.

MDE showed like nothing else how desperate they are to spend no money on improving the guest experience, despite the fact that it's been a historically successful model for WDW and continues to be a winning model for every other resort. Pandemic notwithstanding.

 

[tirian]

How often have you heard people say "WDW guests get what they deserve"?

I had hoped this would be the breaking point. WDW deserves better than its guests accept.

But to be fair:

When I was a CM, California-based WDI said that about WDW and Paris. Sometimes it merely sounded spiteful because, after all, Disneylanders also went nuts over GlowFest Nights and ElecTRON-ica. They also line up for hours for popcorn buckets.

But I kid. I know that’s not what you mean. There’s still something to be said for the way Al Lutz (or a GHOST!) almost single-handedly embarrassed TDA and forced the company to refurbish Disneyland and invest in the property again. Meanwhile, WDW hasn’t had a night parade in years and the Pixie Dusters say, “Oh joy, I don’t have to walk around crowds to buy another Dole Whip!” Then they take selfies in front a puke-colored castle and filter the h3ll out of it to make it attractive on Instagram.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

I just don't understand the impulse that the healthy investing they do at the other resorts is, like, nice for them but some sort of liability for WDW.

MDE showed like nothing else how desperate they are to spend no money on improving the guest experience, despite the fact that it's been a historically successful model for WDW and continues to be a winning model for every other resort. Pandemic notwithstanding.

DLP and HKDL are still playing catch up. Tokyo is someone else's money. Shanghai was Iger's pet project and WDI is biased towards DLR.

WDW seems to make money no matter what happens and there's few in the company left who have a specific passion or interest in it.

 

[lazyboy97o]

DLP and HKDL are still playing catch up. Tokyo is someone else's money. Shanghai was Iger's pet project and WDI is biased towards DLR.

WDW seems to make money no matter what happens and there's few in the company left who have a specific passion or interest in it.

Even Hong Kong and Shanghai are majority money from someone else who also pays licensing and operating fees. Keep them happy to keep their cash flowing.

 

[Jrb1979]

To add to this. I see it on a few Disney sites a lot. The amount that keep going on about pent up demand for the 50th and crowds returning quickly by fall. I don't get it at all. The reason is I look at parks around the US that will be debuting new attractions let alone the new coaster coming to the park down the road from Disney.

 

[yensidtlaw1969]

But to be fair:

When I was a CM, California-based WDI said that about WDW and Paris. Sometimes it merely sounded spiteful because, after all, Disneylanders also went nuts over GlowFest Nights and ElecTRON-ica. They also line up for hours for popcorn buckets.

But I kid. I know that’s not what you mean. There’s still something to be said for the way Al Lutz (or a GHOST!) almost single-handedly embarrassed TDA and forced the company to refurbish Disneyland and invest in the property again. Meanwhile, WDW hasn’t had a night parade in years and the Pixie Dusters say, “Oh joy, I don’t have to walk around crowds to buy another Dole Whip!”

Oh for SURE - and listen, the last investment I saw come to DL that I had no real reservations about was probably 8 years ago now. They kicked things back into gear in a big way for the 50th, carried on for a mile, but then pretty quickly seemed ready to let a wheel fall off. Though Rise wasn't open when I visited DL's GE (I have reservations about GE being in DL, but I consider Rise to be a pretty unqualified success, so).

DLP (the Parc, at least) seems to have benefitted from lack of investment in new product, if only because of the high liklihood that new offerings would have bismirched what is otherwise a sparkling attraction menu. Buzz replacing the Visionarium is the kind of unfortunate move that we would probably have seen left and right. But that so much of DLP's integrity has been retained (if not always maintained) is sort of a fortunate side effect of poor investment - we should be able to expect them to spend in ways that respect the nature of the park, but unfortunately we've seen enough elsewhere to know better.

WDW, by comparison, has actually made some seriously winning investments in the last 20 years - just nowhere near enough of them. Not enough to outweigh the deep cuts they've made to the guest experience. For every 15 okay-to-weird-to-bad moves they make, one or two of them really sing. Which shouldn't be the case, but imagine Disneyland or Disneyland Paris operating on this model - the parks would feel like a shell of themselves. They couldn't bear it. WDW is at least big enough that it's harder to notice because the problems aren't all in front of you at once, you know? Which isn't an asset, but I think is part of why guests don't all see what we see.

 

[Brer Panther]

Galaxy's Edge is approaching 2 years of being open (in its incomplete form) at Disneyland.

Wouldn't that technically be one year of being open, seeing as Disneyland spent most of 2020 closed?

 

[larryz]

Disney doesn't learn from mistakes anymore. They point fingers, look for a fall guy (or girl) and move on go right back in and make the same mistakes.

FTFY

 

[yensidtlaw1969]

Wouldn't that technically be one year of being open, seeing as Disneyland spent most of 2020 closed?

Well, heh . . . arguably. But on the timeline of projects developing since GE's opening, it still applies.

This was the project they most considered a sure thing, where they let out the purse strings and finally swung for the fences . . . and it failed to generate any of the interest they were certain would be pouring in. Rise made up for it a bit, but the rest of the land still hangs around it like an albatross.

Nowhere in the past 20 months have we seen any evidence of Disney doing a big rethink of anything in the pipeline as a result of GE's tepid opening at Disneyland. That should be a big, red flag - do they think it was a fluke, and not a problem with their pipeline?

They should be taking it REAL seriously.

 

[Movielover]

FTFY

You can tell just because they decide to keep the same market research guy around. First predicted massive crowds for the opening of Euro Disneyland, crowds so huge that thousands will have to be turned away from the gate... And that didn't happen.

But it's okay, he got a second chance with the opening of DCA. Once again massive crowds will be swarming the gates, nothing will stop the masses from getting to experience the major attractions of a big golden hubcap and a motionless tractor! Mass hysteria and...
Well we know how successful DCA was...

But it's fine, I heard he had a third chance with predicting the opening crowds for Galaxy's Edge...

 

[TikibirdLand]

Well, heh . . . arguably. But on the timeline of projects developing since GE's opening, it still applies.

This was the project they most considered a sure thing, where they let out the purse strings and finally swung for the fences . . . and it failed to generate any of the interest they were certain would be pouring in. Rise made up for it a bit, but the rest of the land still hangs around it like an albatross.

Nowhere in the past 20 months have we seen any evidence of Disney doing a big rethink of anything in the pipeline as a result of GE's tepid opening at Disneyland. That should be a big, red flag - do they think it was a fluke, and not a problem with their pipeline?

They should be taking it REAL seriously.

Seems they justified the luke-warm response as not having ROTR open. Indeed, they saw a huge spike in interest once that did open. IMO, having 15 acres devoted to two rides is the bad move here. Fans justify that by saying, "you need to count experiences" and point to Olgas', Savi's and Doc Ondor's. I don't count myself in that group.

 

[deWild]

CONFIRMED: In 2022, they will be opening a fifth gate. Official name: Chapekland. It will contain only merchandise locations.

You mean Disney Springs?

 

[yensidtlaw1969]

Seems they justified the luke-warm response as not having ROTR open. Indeed, they saw a huge spike in interest once that did open. IMO, having 15 acres devoted to two rides is the bad move here. Fans justify that by saying, "you need to count experiences" and point to Olgas', Savi's and Doc Ondor's. I don't count myself in that group.

The problem is that even with Rise open the rest of the land is still the rest of the land. If they'd built Rise as a standalone and skipped the rest of GE I bet guest satisfaction would be the same, and they would have spared themselves a lot of space and a LOOOOT of expense. Interest spiked, but it's not like the land became an overnight success story. It just finally had something worth writing home about.

Not that I hate GE, but it clearly failed to connect with an audience on its merits outside of Rise. They spent a billion dollars to have only one corner of the land that didn't register with the greater population as a big "meh".

It seems easy to say, but it's aaaaall about balance. Disney's been building these expansive environments on huge plots of land in WDW and forgetting that they need to give people real things to do while they're in them. Acreage ain't impressive if there's nothing worth doing there. It can be nice to have space to breathe - EPCOT Center was known for its sweeping vistas and rolling landscapes amonst which the Pavilions were scattered - but you've got to balance that out by giving people something equally as impressive to actually do when they really want to get lost in something.

OG Future World had 3 of these around every corner; massively involved attractions that really make you feel like you DID something that day. Rise fits this bill. Flight of Passage manages to strike that chord for people. But the next nearest things that do that are clear across the park.

If you go too long between courses it no longer feels like a feast. Disneyland doesn't suffer this - neither really does The Magic Kingdom. Tokyo Disneyland and Parc Disneyland in Paris are similar. And for $ooooome reason every other park has this problem to one degree or another. Either because they failed to invest upfront or failed to invest over time. And wouldn't you know it, every other park feels like it's playing catch up. Even Tokyo Disney Sea relies a little to heavily on too few tentpole attractions.

And when you tout that you spent a billion dollars on a land but only give guests 1.75 rides for all that money . . . they notice!

 

[Tom P.]

You mean Disney Springs?

No, no, no. This will be totally different from Disney Springs. This will charge admission!

 

[deWild]

No, no, no. This will be totally different from Disney Springs. This will charge admission!

Sounds like they’ll be charging for parking as admission