Eddie Sotto's take on the current state of the parks (Part II)

Eddie Sotto

Eddie Sotto

Premium Member
This makes no fiscal sense, they will never do it, but I want to see a B&B on Bay Lake at WDW. Just to make things special. So here goes.. The "Liberty Lighthouse" Hotel like the one you see here, only done at a Disney level of quality. Maybe on Discovery Island as long as were being impractical.
http://www.saugertieslighthouse.com
I'd stay there in a heartbeat, and with a small boat could handle most all of my own trans problems..There could be more than one guest cottage too, so it's not a one room idea, but it's not a 300 room idea either.
 
lazyboy97o

lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
It's amazing to look at promotional materials from early Walt Disney World and see the lack of children. The Vacation Kingdom of the World was not some kiddie land. Maybe part of it is a societal shift. Even at Walt Disney World, a parent would not be well viewed "ditch[ing] the kids in the Arcade." One thing it seems Disney really does not want people to know when talking about Disneyland being something built by a dad for his little girls is that Sharon was 18 when Disneyland opened and Diane was already married with a child of her own.
 
Eddie Sotto

Eddie Sotto

Premium Member
lazyboy97o said:
It's amazing to look at promotional materials from early Walt Disney World and see the lack of children. The Vacation Kingdom of the World was not some kiddie land. Maybe part of it is a societal shift. Even at Walt Disney World, a parent would not be well viewed "ditch[ing] the kids in the Arcade." One thing it seems Disney really does not want people to know when talking about Disneyland being something built by a dad for his little girls is that Sharon was 18 when Disneyland opened and Diane was already married with a child of her own.
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Excellent point. The TOTW looked as close to Vegas as they could get. Like the Cruise lines they had figured out experiences that were family and then had escapes for the parents too, although kids could go as they were clean shows. I went to the TOTW at 14 and liked it.
 
steve2wdw

steve2wdw

WDW Fan Since 1973
Eddie Sotto said:
Excellent point. The TOTW looked as close to Vegas as they could get. Like the Cruise lines they had figured out experiences that were family and then had escapes for the parents too, although kids could go as they were clean shows. I went to the TOTW at 14 and liked it.
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I also visited as a teenager in the mid 70's and saw Peggy Lee. It was a great show! I think I wore my "church" clothes :)
 
tirian

tirian

Well-Known Member
steve2wdw said:
I also visited as a teenager in the mid 70's and saw Peggy Lee. It was a great show! I think I wore my "church" clothes :)
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I remember bringing "church" clothes for the finer restaurants, too. Of course, I also recall when each meal included WDW-branded chocolates to help support the Vacation Kingdom atmosphere.

It's amazing that Olive Garden can still include after-dinner Andes mints, and Disney can't.
 
misterID

misterID

Well-Known Member
steve2wdw said:
I also visited as a teenager in the mid 70's and saw Peggy Lee. It was a great show! I think I wore my "church" clothes :)
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My parents ate there all the time (they never took us with them to TOTW, we got the Disney babysitter!) and they saw Pat Boone there once. They told me this not to long ago and I asked, "Well, was the meal good, at least?"
 
Eddie Sotto

Eddie Sotto

Premium Member
I received my copy of Marty's book, but it wasn't from Amazon as ordered, it was from MARTY! Wow! So surprised to get a signed copy from him. I have not begun to dive into it yet, but did see that picture you guys mentioned. Marty is a wonderful writer and inspired me as a kid with his Disneyland books. He really defined and set the tone for the brand and expressed what Disneyland was to all of us in print. "Every guest is a VIP". I think that's Marty. The script in the back of the book looks really great and I'm dying to get that far into it. Enjoy!
 
Eddie Sotto

Eddie Sotto

Premium Member
tirian said:
Yesterday afternoon I recorded a special about the Arthur Freed unit at MGM. As I watched it this evening, I was amazed at how much those old musicals clearly influenced Main Street, USA.
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Good observation. I spent many a lunch with old set designers and trying to understand stylistically what they did with the design. There is a romanticized looks in all of that and I tried my best to capture it. In the end, you just hire 80 year olds, they know! You had to have been there!
 
Eddie Sotto

Eddie Sotto

Premium Member
For those of you who are now in that 1971 frame of mind, here's a really rich 20K Sub page to take you deep into the world of that attraction. I only rode on it a few times and recall that in it's later years that the water was pretty cloudy and the show a bit worse for wear, but the star in my mind was the Sub itself and Nemo as our host. We will always miss those shows that could not be reproduced at today's dollars and attention spans. Having just said that, they do go the extra mile in Japan at TDS. Look at the merchandise alone for 20k!
http://www.20kride.com/photos_other_t.html

Back to the past.... I enjoyed the deep dive read.
http://www.omniluxe.net/wyw/20K.htm
 
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DisneyDad1977

DisneyDad1977

Well-Known Member
That was amazing Eddie. Thanks! I only got to ride the WDW 20K Leagues ride once before it closed but I have been a huge fan of that and the movie ever since I read the book growing up. I can't wait to bring my children to TDS to experience Mysterious Island. Maybe then they will understand my fascination with the movie with the "rubber sea monster"! I know there were plans for an updated film but I hope if nothing else they would stay true to the pseudo-futuristic technology that TDS created so well for the attractions. The pictures in that link were amazing!
 
Eddie Sotto

Eddie Sotto

Premium Member
Are we regressing?



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Playskool%20Busy%20Bee%20Tumble%20Top-500x500.jpg
 
BlueSkyDriveBy

BlueSkyDriveBy

Well-Known Member
Eddie Sotto said:
This Miceage picture at the DCA Starbucks says it all.
Nothing like great presentation techniques. Resting their "chins" on the signs. No napkins,showbiz,nothing. LOL. This is the kind of thing that makes the Starbucks folks go nuts. I have toured their design studio and they are very brand and display conscious. Impressive group. I would guess they are more worried about Disney messing up their brand than the opposite.


IMG_2461-610x381.jpg



Here's the real Starbucks...Real china to suggest real food, each on a wire grill to make them look warm, handmade menu tags to suggest homemade. One example shows that you care to some extent and the other begrudgingly "slings" it out there. To me this small observation says alot and in the case of the latter, you don't pay anything to experience it.
Starbucks-Food-Display.jpg
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The saddest part for me are the price signs. Given the presentation of the food, the signs should be swapped. The tiny boring sandwiches on plastic plates should be the cheaper ones, not the larger offerings on china. One of the myriad of reasons I basically detest theme park food. :grumpy:
 
Eddie Sotto

Eddie Sotto

Premium Member
BlueSkyDriveBy said:
The saddest part for me are the price signs. Given the presentation of the food, the signs should be swapped. The tiny boring sandwiches on plastic plates should be the cheaper ones, not the larger offerings on china. One of the myriad of reasons I basically detest theme park food. :grumpy:
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Good point (and always nice to see you here). To me, details and how they are executed or even omitted speak volumes about led to them. It can mean that there is a lack of leadership, perhaps a case of apathy, uneducated staff, or even a hint of greed depending on what is "off". They are clues or symptoms of creative erosion, and that's why we discuss them here as they are important and not just a knitpick. I'm sure that display will not be there for long and Starbucks will get involved. In the end, enough bad details subconsciously erode the success of the product itself. Having said that, Starbucks is such a welcome product compared to Nescafe, it's unlikely that any thematic sin can overcome the guests desire for a good triple Espresso, although this comes at a high creative cost.
 
Eddie Sotto

Eddie Sotto

Premium Member
Here's a closer pic of the Carousel theater model shown in Marty's book. Now you can see what George Lucas was staring at. The steaming mock engines are in the foreground with the big "feet". The Skyways station is looks "moveable" as if it drove up to the Ship at a Spaceport.
tomorrowland-concept-500x372.jpg
 

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