Journey Into Imagination 2007

[mousermerf]

DCA is a not a financial failure.

A) It has had capacity days.

B) It takes 10,000 people per day to make Epcot profitable. DCA is a fraction of Epcot's size, but regularly gets more than 10k a day.

C) DCA was not designed to be DL-2. It has a smaller capacity and smaller anticipated crowd levels.

 

[Lewis Carroll]

I like how YOUR telling me and the rest of us that DCA is a sucess and that im mistaken about disney making bad decisions when Bob Iger, CEO of the company has made the following statements:

"It just struck me that we have had ten years of real FAILURE"

concerning DCA:

"In the spirit of candor, we have been....challenged"

It should tell you something when the new CEO of Disney spends 7 billion dollars to acquire pixar primarily so that the creative people there (Jobs, Catmull, Lasseter) can come fix the problems with the Walt Disney Company.

 

[wannab@dis]

I like how YOUR telling me and the rest of us that DCA is a sucess and that im mistaken about disney making bad decisions when Bob Iger, CEO of the company has made the following statements:

"It just struck me that we have had ten years of real FAILURE"

concerning DCA:

"In the spirit of candor, we have been....challenged"

It should tell you something when the new CEO of Disney spends 7 billion dollars to acquire pixar primarily so that the creative people there (Jobs, Catmull, Lasseter) can come fix the problems with the Walt Disney Company.

If I'm not mistaken, the 10 years statement was concerning WDFA and not the parks or the overall company. Challenged doesn't mean that it's a failure, it means there's more work to be done. No park is ever perfect when first opened. Why do you want to see everything as failure anyway? That doesn't make much sense.

The purchase of Pixar was about buying Pixar and not about "fixing problems at WDC."

 

[imagineer boy]

I have not been to DCA, but would love to go. From people I know and those that have been, they really liked the park.

Good for them. Ask any other Disney fan who has been, or any Anaheim resident and they'll tell you how much they detest the park. It has even been joked about on the Simpsons. For me, I only liked Soarin and Grizzly River Run. The rest of the rides were either clones ( muppets, ITTBAB ), unapealing or too intense ( Paradise Peir carnival rides ), too kiddie ( Bugs land rides ), or too boring ( vinery movie, Golden Dreams ).

Of course, they probably wouldn't argue that PotC in DL is out of place, either.

Um, what?

 

[Pongo]

Good for them. Ask any other Disney fan who has been, or any Anaheim resident and they'll tell you how much they detest the park.

Malibu isn't Anaheim, but it's close enough. I know someone from Malibu who loves DCA way more than DL.

It has even been joked about on the Simpsons.

So has Epcot :wave:

For me, I only liked Soarin and Grizzly River Run. The rest of the rides were either clones ( muppets, ITTBAB ), unapealing or too intense ( Paradise Peir carnival rides ), too kiddie ( Bugs land rides ), or too boring ( vinery movie, Golden Dreams ).

Well that's why you don't like it. You didn't do anything there! You didn't even give anything a chance!

 

[nelsonj3]

Yes, I've been there. My wife and I both loved it, and we're both huge Disney Fans if that makes any difference. I really think it is just "popular" to hate DCA. I guess I just wasn't so quick to jump on the bandwagon. I really enjoyed my time at DCA. Monsters, Inc is excellent, and Soarin' is obviously excellent (since it was the first). Granted, ToT is not nearly as good as the WDW version, but that was really the only attraction in which I was disappointed.

I really enjoyed Screamin' and the whole Paradise Pier Area, even though some might feel that it is tacky. It is very well themed to what it is supposed to be.

Now, as others have said, it certainly isn't Disneyland, but it wasn't supposed to be. If it didn't have any attractions that interested you, then obviously you didn't like the park... but that doesn't mean that the park is a failure. In fact, it was quite crowded when I was there, and people seemed to be enjoying themselves.

If you didn't like it, you're entitled to your opinion, but in my opinion, it is a nice park. Granted, it is by far not the best Disney Theme Park in my opinion, but I thought it accomplished its goal of giving visitors a little taste of California.

Now... back to getting Imagination Revamped and Returned to its original theme... :wave:

But they weren't extremely poorly concieved ideas that happened twice a year.



Have you ever been there? Trust me, it is worth whining about. I only liked one ride that wasn't a clone, the themeing is drab, and it was flat out boring.

 

[FigmentJedi]

So has Epcot :wave:

But California Adventure's been joked about twice: Once saying that a prison was a better place for children to visit then California Adventure and another time when Homer tries to hide his mother where nobody will find her: Disney's California Adventure.
The Epcot episode made more fun out of old Tommorowland. They got the House of the Future and an If You Had Wings parody in there(in the form of the Eastern Airlines takes over the world one)

 

[imagineer boy]

Well that's why you don't like it. You didn't do anything there! You didn't even give anything a chance!

Yeah I did. I gave Soarin, GRR, Muppets, Disney Animation, Moholland Madness, ITTBAB, and Golden Dreams chances. I don't need to give Carnival rides chances, since I've been on rides like those several times at local carnivals and amusment parks. And as for the bugs land rides, they're just too kiddie. They were rides for kids, and nothing for a teenager such as myself to be caught dead on. We literally walked though bugs land and Paradise Peir without doing anything because nothing looked appealing or fun at all.

 

[nelsonj3]

I agree that several mistakes have been made, but I think the fact that they are now owning up to them is a sign of hope. Also, everyone makes mistakes. In my opinion, it is better to be bold and make a mistake instead of being cautious and never doing anything that might be considered risky.

In fact, Walt himself believed in the power of failure as a learning tool. He said (quoting from a book) "It is good to have a failure while you're young because it teaches you so much. For one thing, it makes you aware that such a thing can happen to anybody, and once you've lived through the worst, you're never quite as vulnerable afterward." Obviously, he was talking about having Oswald the Lucky Rabbit taken away from him and having to start from scratch again.

However, as most Disney Fans know, Alice in Wonderland was ripped apart by critics and considered to be a failure by many people. However, it is now a classic.

I'm just not sure why Disney Fans are so quick to criticize the company they love. Everyone is an armchair quarterback. Unless you've actually been in charge of a multi-billion dollar business like Disney (in some decision-making capacity), then you can't really criticize them. Also, anyone that has been in charge of a large business has made mistakes. No one has EVER run a business perfectly... EVER. The business leaders who are successful are able to learn from their mistakes and push forward to correct the mistakes and advance the business.

I am very hopeful about what Disney is doing now, but at the same time, I'm not too quick to criticize what was done before, because I have no idea how I would have reacted given the same circumstances. No one really does.

Purchase of Fox family and Go networks?

Oversaturating the market with Stitch merchandise to the point that the charecter is now on the verge of being viewed as annoying by the general public in the same vain as paris hilton?

Making the decision to get rid of all equipment to make 2D animated movies which will now cost the company alot of money to reacquire?

Promoting the wrong people such as Paul Pressler, Cynthia Harris, and David Stainton. Who do not understand what Disney is all about and have helped run the company into the ground.

Spend Millions of dollars on a carnival attraction that supposedly "simulates" space travel (yea right) which has now turned into a black eye for the company.

Disney's California Adventure anyone?

I have seen Disney make tons of stupid decisions in the past few years.

The only thing that gets old are the people who refuse to except that the Walt Disney company has been going down the wrong path these last few years and it is high time to change course and correct its mistakes. So far, they seem to be doing the right thing especially with the acquisition of Pixar and the management shakeup that enables John Lasseter to call the shots at Feature Animation as well as the revamping of the film studio that will involve laying off tons of dead wood including bigshot executives that were promoted by former oppressor micheal eisner.

 

[Lewis Carroll]

I like how there is only like 5 people in the world that have zero to no problems with the past 10 years of Disney and coincidentally they all hang out together on this site. Wannabedis you can keep living in a fantasyland concerning the last few years but the majority of disney fans know the truth and so do the investors. Regardless, the past is merely a prelude. In this brave new world we may yet see the Imagination pavillion redone to boost attendance AS WELL AS to please the fans like me.

and Nelsonj3, you bring up some valid points. However the company was being run very well when Frank Wells was President of the company. BOLD REAL e-tickets like Splash Mountain and Indiana Jones were greenlit, high quality films like Little Mermaid, Who framed Rogger Rabbit? and Nightmare Before Christmas were coming out in theaters.
Disney was experimenting in other media..like television with ORIGINAL charecters and ideas like Gummi Bears and Darkwing Duck as well as dusting off and revamping old properties like Ducktales and Rescue Rangers. Back then they didnt do stupid things like turn Tiki Room into some "hip and edgy" show, replace attractions with INFERIOR attractions (the fate bestowed to the peoplemover, carousel theater, Captain Eo, Alien Encounter, Imagination pavillion, Universe of energy, etc., etc.) Sure they had failures back then like ________ Tracey, The Rocketeer, etc. but even the failures were so minor and even they had redeeming qualities. Back then they didnt build parks on the cheap (Compare Disneyland Paris at opening to Hong Kong Disneyland...you can see a complete difference in quality)

I can keep going on but I don't think I have to. You get the idea. Unfortuantly, Frank Wells died in 1994, and micheal eisner, the incompetent bigmouthed ceo, destroyed a wonderful thing.

 

[autumndawn1006]

I like how there is only like 5 people in the world that have zero to no problems with the past 10 years of Disney and coincidentally they all hang out together on this site. Wannabedis you can keep living in a fantasyland concerning the last few years but the majority of disney fans know the truth and so do the investors. Regardless, the past is merely a prelude. In this brave new world we may yet see the Imagination pavillion redone to boost attendance AS WELL AS to please the fans like me.

Make that six :wave: . And I don't believe myself or wannabee really thinks there have been no problems with Disney. i just believe the collective great minds can overcome obstacles and we need to show some trust and patience. Disney has had to deal with some major problems in the past decade including terrorism, hurricanes, and skyrocketing gas prices. These all make a huge impact on tourism. Some quick decisions have to be made sometimes such as scaling back a second park for Disneyland. This does not indicate a downward spiral.

End of rant--weren't we talking about the imagination pavilion?

 

[nelsonj3]

As I said above, I do personally have problems with things that Disney has done in the past 10 years or so. I'm just not sure if I would have done any better if I had been in charge. I'd like to tell myself that I would have, but who really knows.

I guess the "mistake" that bothers me the most is Imagination. The first time I rode the new JIYI after it opened, I honestly was able to state for the first time ever that I actually hated a Disney Attraction. I still miss the original Journey Into Imagination, and I hope they can restore it to its former glory or even exceed its former glory. However, even though I have been upset about some decisions make in the past 10 years, I still don't feel right jumping on the Disney Bashing Bandwagon.

I like how there is only like 5 people in the world that have zero to no problems with the past 10 years of Disney and coincidentally they all hang out together on this site. Wannabedis you can keep living in a fantasyland concerning the last few years but the majority of disney fans know the truth and so do the investors. Regardless, the past is merely a prelude. In this brave new world we may yet see the Imagination pavillion redone to boost attendance AS WELL AS to please the fans like me.

 

[nelsonj3]

and Nelsonj3, you bring up some valid points. However the company was being run very well when Frank Wells was President of the company. BOLD REAL e-tickets like Splash Mountain and Indiana Jones were greenlit, high quality films like Little Mermaid, Who framed Rogger Rabbit? and Nightmare Before Christmas were coming out in theaters. Disney was experimenting in other media..like television with ORIGINAL charecters and ideas like Gummi Bears and Darkwing Duck as well as dusting off and revamping old properties like Ducktales and Rescue Rangers. Back then they didnt do stupid things like turn Tiki Room into some "hip and edgy" show, replace attractions with INFERIOR attractions (the fate bestowed to the peoplemover, carousel theater, Captain Eo, Alien Encounter, Imagination pavillion, Universe of energy, etc., etc.) Back then they didnt build parks on the cheap (Compare Disneyland Paris at opening to Hong Kong Disneyland...you can see a complete difference in quality and standards) I can keep going on but I don't think I have to. You get the idea. Unfortuantly, Frank Wells died in 1994, and micheal eisner, the incompetent bigmouthed ceo, destroyed a wonderful thing.

I agree. Great things happened under Mr. Wells. I loved everything you mentioned above. My wife and I were talking earlier today about how we wish Disney would come out with some truly great movies like those mentioned above and also Lion King, Aladdin, and Beauty and the Beast. I hope Lasseter is able to bring the animation department back to its former glory.

 

[Pongo]

micheal eisner, the incompetent bigmouthed ceo, destroyed a wonderful thing.

I don't like to take sides in the Eisner discussions, but I feel the need to bring up some points.

In many ways, Eisner created the wonderful thing you are saying he destroyed.

Disney did have drastic improvements in the time period you are describing, but this was all while the "incompetent, bigmouthed ceo", Michael Eisner was in office. We owe the renaissance of WDFA to Eisner's reign. Movies like BatB, TLK, TLM, or Aladdin all occurred under Eisner.

Furthermore, the Disney Decade occurred under Eisner. We owe the WDW that we know today to him. Most of the resorts, Animal Kingdom, D-MGM, all of that. WDW wouldn't be nearly the international destination that it is today. We wouldn't have world-class attractions like ToT, RnRC, EE, or KS.

Even FURTHERMORE, we owe the initial negotiations with PIXAR to the Eisner reign. I won't get into the latter part of his CEOship regarding PIXAR, but there wouldn't even be the Disney-PIXAR films or attractions if it weren't for him.

Oh, and his reign also begat Alien Encounter, which you so quickly claimed was dethroned by him. Yet he was also the one to create it :veryconfu

People are so quick to blame one person/thing/company/mistake, when in fact, that person/thing/company/mistake has brought such great things that (IMHO) outweigh the bad.

But that's just me.

EDIT: He also brought back Wonderful World of Disney and bought ABC.

 

[RedFoxRunner]

I don't see why this rumor is too unreasonable. I have never gone to Epcot & thought, "Hey, I really need to see HISTA & JITI. When I was younger we rarely missed it before JITI changed.. but now, it's outdated & not overly excited. We go to it to get out of the sun, mostly.. & for some mild entertainment.

I think HISTA is well passed its dying point. Honey I Shrunk the Kids was released in 1989 & HISTA was opened in 1994. This attraction is well beyond its time!

Imagination Institute is not too bad, but it could be 100x better. I think it would help Epcot's image to have a "main character" or someone unique to that park. Bringing Figment back in a large attraction would do that.

I think it's very probable for this rumor to happen in some form. :sohappy:

 

[marni1971]

The company has made "mistakes" they were warned about before construction;

DCA

Rocket Rods

WDSP

ToT DCA

By mistake I refer to an issue that staff flagged up concerns about before construction, or the public perceived image of it. A loose term, but one that results in a negative image.

Perhaps we were just used to every attraction being better than the last one, from a company that could do no wrong. Now we are in the real world. A real world where spending over a billion dollars in one go just can`t happen anymore. Where shareholders and corporations are more heavily involved and better informed. A world of synergy and where hard fact replaces word of mouth, and a world where the guest is better informed, educated and expects more. In short, "mistakes" are easier to make in the public eye today.

 

[Scar Junior]

The company has made "mistakes" they were warned about before construction;

DCA

Rocket Rods

WDSP

ToT DCA

By mistake I refer to an issue that staff flagged up concerns about before construction, or the public perceived image of it. A loose term, but one that results in a negative image.

Perhaps we were just used to every attraction being better than the last one, from a company that could do no wrong. Now we are in the real world. A real world where spending over a billion dollars in one go just can`t happen anymore. Where shareholders and corporations are more heavily involved and better informed. A world of synergy and where hard fact replaces word of mouth, and a world where the guest is better informed, educated and expects more. In short, "mistakes" are easier to make in the public eye today.

Don't forget the "handshake deal."

My great grandfather merged his printing company with another man around the early 1900s on a handshake. It grew to be the largest printing company in MN. One of his (6) sons bought the other guys cars and other luxuries, he helped pay for some of them to get houses and had each of them sign a "paper" saying he did so. What they didn't realize is that they were giving him their share in the company.

While I applaud his mind, I hate his heart. Contract deals: another form of "progress" I guess.

 

[comics101]

I don't like to take sides in the Eisner discussions, but I feel the need to bring up some points.

In many ways, Eisner created the wonderful thing you are saying he destroyed.

Disney did have drastic improvements in the time period you are describing, but this was all while the "incompetent, bigmouthed ceo", Michael Eisner was in office. We owe the renaissance of WDFA to Eisner's reign. Movies like BatB, TLK, TLM, or Aladdin all occurred under Eisner.

Furthermore, the Disney Decade occurred under Eisner. We owe the WDW that we know today to him. Most of the resorts, Animal Kingdom, D-MGM, all of that. WDW wouldn't be nearly the international destination that it is today. We wouldn't have world-class attractions like ToT, RnRC, EE, or KS.

Even FURTHERMORE, we owe the initial negotiations with PIXAR to the Eisner reign. I won't get into the latter part of his CEOship regarding PIXAR, but there wouldn't even be the Disney-PIXAR films or attractions if it weren't for him.

Oh, and his reign also begat Alien Encounter, which you so quickly claimed was dethroned by him. Yet he was also the one to create it :veryconfu

People are so quick to blame one person/thing/company/mistake, when in fact, that person/thing/company/mistake has brought such great things that (IMHO) outweigh the bad.

But that's just me.

EDIT: He also brought back Wonderful World of Disney and bought ABC.

:sohappy: :sohappy: :sohappy: :sohappy: :sohappy:

While I understand how some people can not like some things Eisner's done, I think all the good things he's done for the company out weigh all the bad stuff. Remeber people were comparing Eisner to Walt Disney. Though I don't think you can do that anymore, I do think he can still be called the Man Who Saved Disney.

 

[Dagger]

I hope they don't get rid of Figment, but at the same time, I wouldn't mind it changing....it wasn't very memorable to me

 

[OliveMcFly]

WOW...sounds like a really great dream. I'm not going to get my hopes up. When I read the official release I will get excited...although, I do believe there is going to be a pin released sometime this year that features Dreamfinder so who knows, it could be a way of re-introducing him. The best part of this whole thing is the talk of re-opening Image Works upstairs. Boy do I miss that.