Little Mermaid Clone a Go! (Maybe)

[Figment632]

Ha!

He just explained why what he's saying has merit IN HIS OWN POST, naming people we all know who are closely involved in the process. What more do you want?!?!?!?!?!?

NOTHING IS A SURE THING. That much I would give you, and would agree with. But these people are people that generally should be believed completely.

With the exception of Corrus saying the wand wasn't coming down. :lookaroun:lol:

So because he says that it makes it true?

 

[Master Yoda]

Ha!

He just explained why what he's saying has merit IN HIS OWN POST, naming people we all know who are closely involved in the process. What more do you want?!?!?!?!?!?

NOTHING IS A SURE THING. That much I would give you, and would agree with. But these people are people that generally should be believed completely.

With the exception of Corrus saying the wand wasn't coming down. :lookaroun:lol:

Just proves that even the most well informed people can be wrong when it comes to a company as large and complex as Disney. Projects that are green lit today could be shelved tomorrow. Personally, I believe the rumors when the heavy equipment shows up to the job site.

 

[jt04]

Welp I hate to rain on everyone's parade but I just got confirmation this is NOT happening.

If you head on over to lp.com Lee, a REAL insider, has confirmed that nothing of substance will be heading to the Magic Kingdom within the next FIVE years. Even more disturbing is that the company is planning to reduce WDI to a glorified consulting and contracting firm very similar to Universal Creative.

For those that don't know Lee is a consultant for Walt Disney Imagineering and is the publisher of the "Tales from the Laughing Place' magazine. It is very terrifying that this info is coming from him because over the past years he has done nothing but DEFEND every single decision Disney has made and rarely says anything negative about the company.

I'm sorry guys but i'll take Lee's word over Lance's any day of the week since he is actually employeed by the company. This news also backs up what Corrus/Tim G. (a former imagineer) has said many times.

So TWDC is reducing WDI down to a "glorified consulting and contracting firm". In other words, Disney is ending WDI as we have known it and will now be outsourcing attractions with third parties and WDI will only consult and contract.

I think this is a possibility. Of course Lee may be refering to WDI at WDW only, and it is a rumor that is being spun. I've been speculating for awhile that WDI at WDW responsibilities are being transfered to Glendale. Could that be what Lee is talking about? By the way is "Lee" our "Lee"?

 

[rooneymouse]

So because he says that it makes it true?

I read it online on someone's blog so it must be true! :lol:

 

[Figment632]

Personally I dont mind if we dont get TLM for 5 years, TL is in much worse shape than FL.

 

[The Conundrum]

By the way is "Lee" our "Lee"?

Sorry I should have made that clear in my first post. The Lee on Lp isn't the same. His name is Lee Macdonald.

And to answer your other question he was talking about WDI as a whole not just WDW. Here is one of his posts discussing the matter:

There are plenty of us that are frustrated with the way things are going but it is mandated from senior management. I've always maintained that WDP&R can do what it likes providing it doesn't impact WDI. In the '90s WDI and WDA were hand-in-hand driving change at the parks. Now WDP&R drives everything and WDI is nothing more than a service provider. It is devastating to those who have dedicated their lives to Imagineering. I was hopeful that Bruce Vaughn would be able to defend WDI's place at the table. Instead he has become Jay's hatchetman within 1401F. WDI's influence has been chipped away until it is literally a shell of its former self. I know most fanbois and observers have little positive to say about Tom Fitzgerald but he would NEVER have allowed this to happen under his watch. He resolutely defended WDI (often to his own detriment) and did the best possible job to ensure its independence from the rest of WDP&R and Burbank. He had little say in what could be done in the parks in terms of new production but he was able to find a way to "enhance the classics" as WDP&R management weren't interested in enhancing attractions like Haunted Mansion at MK or getting new movies into World Showcase. People complain about the fact that a lot of footage in the new O Canada comes from other sources - that isn't WDI's fault. They did the best they could with the budget they had. When you no longer have any say in the budgetary requirements of projects you can only do the best you can with the resources at hand. SAP means that every single person is accountable for their time - including PAs and administrators. So when you have people like that adding $80 per hour to your cost center for a project it eats into your available budget. That adds up to about $125k annually for the lowest grade. Middle management imagineers (think directors) run to over $1m annually on SAP - that is a huge burden on your cost base. WDI should be a sunk cost - a cost center as WDP&R's creative heart. You need WDI to generate your content.

Mark my words - we will end up as an outsourcing enterprise. WDI will become a lean mean machine run by administrators who use outsourced creative and engineering contractors. The Universal Creative model is exactly where we are heading unless there is a drastic change in tone of management at the top.

 

[Glasgow]

Screamscape is reporting the Little Mermaid clone and Fanasyland overhaul has or is about to be greenlighted! :xmas:

*In Frye's voice*

"That proves it!"

 

[jt04]

Sorry I should have made that clear in my first post. The Lee on Lp isn't the same. His name is Lee Macdonald.

And to answer your other question he was talking about WDI as a whole not just WDW. Here is one of his posts discussing the matter:

Thanks for the post. I have noticed that Theme Park attractions development has become a cottage industry in the last few years and WDI no longer has a monopoly on the art. Of course, given proper budgeting, nobody has been able to match WDI in quality. I don't care what anyone says.

But, third party outsourcing and independent contracting are the future and so such a move would not suprise me. However, TWDC needs to be very very careful. Because once you destroy an institution as accomplished as WDI, it can be very difficult if not impossible to recreate.
So if the "third party" route doesn't work out, the theme parks could be in trouble. Secondly, if TWDC fuels third party firms, well then those third parties can create for anyone, and that is the kind of competition the mouse may not want.

But on the bright side, people like Eddie Sotto could be contributing to Disney parks again as an independent contractor.

As for me, my days of on-line "Armchair Imagineering" are over. Time to start considering the consulting possibilities. I'll just say, that my ideas for "The Living Seas" revival would be more compelling than what is there now, would be substantiallly cheaper to operate and would generate more revenue. So, bottom line, I see opportunities.

And, the parks may be seeing fresh ideas! And I'm sure there are a bunch of former classically trained Imagineers dusting off their drafting tables.

 

[jt04]

*In Frye's voice*

"That proves it!"

That is why I used the word "maybe" in the thread title.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

That is why I used the word "maybe" in the thread title.

And the phrase "a go" with an exclamation mark...

 

[VillanovaBlue]

Im surprised so many people want this attraction becuase usually most people on these boards dont like cloning.

Cloning is morally and ethically wrong...poor sheep...

 

[jt04]

And the phrase "a go" with an exclamation mark...

It's called satire. I can't dumb everything down to your level.








:lol: Kidding.

 

[Glasgow]

That is why I used the word "maybe" in the thread title.

Joke from Futurama ..

 

[marni1971]

Oh god, shut up.. Really... I've had enough of the Space Mountain is going to suck after refurb , crap.... you don't know the plans, you don't know whats being done...

Some of us know enough....

As for the OP, Mermaid is more green than red. Not so for the whole land rehab.

 

[EpcotServo]

*In Frye's voice*

"That proves it!"

"It's a Widely believed FACT!"
:lol:

 

[hrcollectibles]

Oh god, shut up.. Really... I've had enough of the Space Mountain is going to suck after refurb , crap.... you don't know the plans, you don't know whats being done...

Damnit, some of you people LIVE to be negative... we need a damn negative forum for you to all hang out in and gripe about a missing bolt on a drink cart.

:sohappy::sohappy::sohappy:

A lot of message boards not just this one are filled with those that are completely negative out look on attractions before they even start building them.... And just because one person Doesn't like.. Lets Say Stitch for example.... No matter what Disney does with the character they already think it will be the worse attraction known to man. BUt ones mans trash is another person's treasure

 

[hrcollectibles]

"It's a Widely believed FACT!"
:lol:

Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true!- Homer Simpson

 

[Exprcoofto]

Some of us know enough....

As for the OP, Mermaid is more green than red. Not so for the whole land rehab.

Thanks for the info.

I'm actually hoping for a Fantasyland makeover more then the LM Dark Ride. After going to Disneyland a few times and coming back to see MK's Fantasyland it makes me wan to barf.:hurl: The medieval-type theme really needs to go.

 

[sittle]

... third party outsourcing and independent contracting are the future and so such a move would not suprise me. However, TWDC needs to be very very careful. Because once you destroy an institution as accomplished as WDI, it can be very difficult if not impossible to recreate.
...

Look what happened with Walt Disney Animation.... They cut a tonne of jobs from 2000 to 2006, recently the more successful Disney films has Pixar in their name.... Hopefully the Princess and the Frog will begin to change all of that... Outsourcing is lame...

We don't actually produce anything in North America anymore... We hardly make any of our own cars, we don't even make our own toys anymore... Can't we at least make our own entertainment?

 

[The Conundrum]

Oh god, shut up.. Really... I've had enough of the Space Mountain is going to suck after refurb , crap.... you don't know the plans, you don't know whats being done...



Damnit, some of you people LIVE to be negative... we need a damn negative forum for you to all hang out in and gripe about a missing bolt on a drink cart.

:sohappy::sohappy::sohappy:

A lot of message boards not just this one are filled with those that are completely negative out look on attractions before they even start building them.... And just because one person Doesn't like.. Lets Say Stitch for example.... No matter what Disney does with the character they already think it will be the worse attraction known to man. BUt ones mans trash is another person's treasure

Again people who have NO idea what they are talking about .

How long have you been involved in the Disney fan community? and how much do you know about the way Disney operates?

How many times do we have to go through this? When press release and art for Stitch was released people said it didn't look good and it wasnt, same thing with Monsters inc. laugh floor, same thing with the pirates refurb, same thing with SSE, and now Space Mountain. Conversly, the concept art of the Haunted Mansion refurb and the art for tokyo disneysea told us they would be good and sure enough they were. The only reason people are negative is because TDO/WDI/WDC are making extremly poor decisions in Orlando. If they start making good ones (and that aint happening tomorrow ) I will be the first in line to say this was a smart decision (like when the wand was removed, HM got a decent refurb, soarin replacing food rocks).

As for Space Mountain, a simple understanding that $12 million is insuffiecient to make SM good again would help. (It needs more like $30-50 million to do it justice).

These posts seriously don't even warrant a response but since I have some free time today I decided to be polite and respond.