Official Disney Parks Blog to host live chat with Fantasyland Imagineer Chris Beatty

[RSoxNo1]

As I said earlier - this shouldn't have bothered me as much as it did but this was such a b.s. move I'm still pi$$ed about it.

 

[RSoxNo1]

I just opened the Mickey Monitor today which is more revealing than this chat.

A sneak peek of Fantasyland's fantastic first phase

The first in a series of spectacular new wonders will literally "take off" in early 2012, when Dumbo, one of the most beloved Walt Disney Pictures animated features, inspires a colorful new area of Fantasyland aptly named Storybook Circus.

This glittering first chapter of the new Fantasyland will dazzle Passholders with classic Disney Characters and storytelling. Big-top circus tents lead to the first of "twin" versions of the Dumbo the Flying Elephant attraction, complete with a new interactive queue experience. (The attraction will eventually feature a second "twin" added in the near future!)

Guests will also be able to make a splash in a new water play area filled with surprises. Here, Casey Jr., Dumbo's hardworking locomotive, will offer little ones a chance to cool off at his roundhouse, as they're splashed by playful circus animals.

Also in the tradition of classic air shows. Guests will giggle to a spiraling stunt plane version of a classic family coaster run by "The Great Goofini", the daredevil "stage name" of good ol' Goofy.

"This new area is particularly exciting because it will enable us to tell treasured stories in new ways," said Mark Kohl, Director, Project Management, Walt Disney Imagineering. "Guests will have the opportunity to interact with some of our most beloved characters like never before."

In the largest expansion in Magic Kingdom history, Fantasyland will eventually double in size with initial phases beginning to open throughout this coming year. Be sure to check out disneyparksblog.com regularly to stay up-to-date on new magic coming to Fantasyland. And make sure to keep your email current for exciting ways for Passholders to experience these updates. Visit us at disneyworld.com/passholder

 

[Bolna]

Hey, Bolna, kind of sounds like the kind of the thing that might've been discussed in a social media thread somewhere one time...hmmm

Indeed, it does! :wave: However, one would think that the Disney Parks Blog would have learned something in the meantime... :brick:

 

[Bolna]

As I said earlier - this shouldn't have bothered me as much as it did but this was such a b.s. move I'm still pi$$ed about it.

That's what you feel like when you realise how someone is trying to manipulate you. And that's just what they set out to do: manipulate the fans. They thought by using buzz words like "Imagineer" "Live" and "Chat" people would be so impressed, excited and in awe by just those elements that they would not mind the content.

It's the trend with all of Disney's marketing and social media strategy: focus just on creating emotions. To a certain extent Disney is about emotions and that's one of the reasons I love it and I think many other people here, too. But the problems start when those emotions become just a facade, not backed up with any hard facts. It becomes empty and meaningless.

And that's just what happened here: instead of delivering at least a little something there were empty answers to questions which already were picked for being as generic as possible.

Considering that they pay consultants real money to come up with events like that, it is rather embarassing... :hammer:

 

[devoy1701]

I was very tempted to post a question as Lou as a test.

I find it interesting that Thomas took the time to respond to respond to Lauren's comment on the Blog but not Tim's or my own. He also used the term "Cool Imagineer" in his response, again apparently communicating to us in the way you would a young kid? And his "have a great night" response almost sounds spiteful.

I agree with what everyone else has said, this was a very poor excuse of a "live-chat" and a great waste of our time. Disney wants to start trying to "control" the social media aspects of Parks and Resorts discussions that the Fan Forum communities have had for over a decade now? Well they're going to have to do MUCH better than that to make us believe they're actually trying. They are a LOOOONG way from absolutely any credibility. The only thing the Blog is good for today is the retro images and achive pieces.

Follow your dreams, follow your passions? Get Real...

 

[RSoxNo1]

I agree with what everyone else has said, this was a very poor excuse of a "live-chat" and a great waste of our time. Disney wants to start trying to "control" the social media aspects of Parks and Resorts discussions that the Fan Forum communities have had for over a decade now? Well they're going to have to do MUCH better than that to make us believe their actually trying. They are a LOOOONG way from absolutely any credibility. The only thing the Blog is good for today is the retro images and achive pieces.

This is a good point regarding the retro images. They change the cycle of banner photos every few days or so and when I see that they're on retro images I'll refresh the page and save the pictures. I've increased my photo collection quite substantially by doing this.

 

[jt04]

I find it interesting that Thomas took the time to respond to respond to Lauren's comment on the Blog but not Tim's or my own. He also used the term "Cool Imagineer" in his response, again apparently communicating to us in the way you would a young kid? And his "have a great night" response almost sounds spiteful.

I agree with what everyone else has said, this was a very poor excuse of a "live-chat" and a great waste of our time. Disney wants to start trying to "control" the social media aspects of Parks and Resorts discussions that the Fan Forum communities have had for over a decade now? Well they're going to have to do MUCH better than that to make us believe their actually trying. They are a LOOOONG way from absolutely any credibility. The only thing the Blog is good for today is the retro images and achive pieces.

Follow your dreams, follow your passions? Get Real...

The whole exercise is rather meaningless and harmless. They are not going to release news in this manner ever. That is what events like D23 are for. I just think it was an experiment and if people do not care for it they will not continue it. How have other companies in the theme park business done these type events better? Or have they even tried?

I can hear it now," but, um, um, but, we expect clouds of pixie dust and dancing elephants with our Disney chats"!

Get real....

Too much whining about nothing important. It is an epidemic of the entitlement (gimme because I am me) mindset :lol:

 

[GLaDOS]

They are not going to release news in this manner ever.

And yet you posted a thread before this chat that implied you were expecting news.

 

[lebeau]

As I said earlier - this shouldn't have bothered me as much as it did but this was such a b.s. move I'm still pi$$ed about it.

I'm with you. I had very low expectations. I wasn't expecting any announcements. But I figured they would at least answer questions with some detail. We're fans. We'd have been happy to hear about those trashcans and bodies of water if they had provided even a little bit of insight.

When Chris decided to reluctantly share a "secret" and that secret turned out to be that there was going to be a picture posted on the blog later this week, I wanted to punch somebody. Preferably an imagineer.

I got home and I vented to my wife. I felt stupid for being so bent out of shape about it. But I was. And I'm still annoyed this morning.

An effort this weak is worse than no effort at all.

 

[Bolna]

...per the OrSen, the DPB will be hosting WDI concerning the FLE. Possibly even talking about added details.
*fingers crossed*

So they mentioned we may get more details. My theory lives!

:zipit:

He will move this or delete it if he sees fit. It will get much more visibility here so hopefully it will stay until Wednesday to get the news out to the widest audience. I am really encouraged by this news BTW. It seems odd they would do this unless they were giving new details. Perhaps phase dates or something else. :veryconfu

The whole exercise is rather meaningless and harmless. They are not going to release news in this manner ever. That is what events like D23 are for. I just think it was an experiment and if people do not care for it they will not continue it. How have other companies in the theme park business done these type events better? Or have they even tried?

I can hear it now," but, um, um, but, we expect clouds of pixie dust and dancing elephants with our Disney chats"!

Get real....

Too much whining about nothing important. It is an epidemic of the entitlement (gimme because I am me) mindset :lol:

:veryconfu

I just made some sentences to appear in bold letters, otherwise nothing was edited...

 

[lebeau]

That's what you feel like when you realise how someone is trying to manipulate you. And that's just what they set out to do: manipulate the fans. They thought by using buzz words like "Imagineer" "Live" and "Chat" people would be so impressed, excited and in awe by just those elements that they would not mind the content.

It's the trend with all of Disney's marketing and social media strategy: focus just on creating emotions. To a certain extent Disney is about emotions and that's one of the reasons I love it and I think many other people here, too. But the problems start when those emotions become just a facade, not backed up with any hard facts. It becomes empty and meaningless.

And that's just what happened here: instead of delivering at least a little something there were empty answers to questions which already were picked for being as generic as possible.

Considering that they pay consultants real money to come up with events like that, it is rather embarassing... :hammer:

Well, they succeeded in creating emotions all right. But I doubt anger in their most loyal fans was what they were hoping to achieve.

 

[jt04]

And yet you posted a thread before this chat that implied you were expecting news.

I thought there was a chance he would try to slip something past the "censors" and he may have. There was the possibility he was hinting at something extra being built into the forest. Possibly an interactive feature or something. There is a thread in the Fantasyland forum speculating on this.

But I suspect that is as close to "breaking news" as we will ever get with this type interaction. The numbers of participants are just too small. I do think Disney would like to create a way to short-circuit leaks and speculation on forums like this. But I think that may prove impossible.

 

[Atomicmickey]

A couple of questions/thoughts on awakening today:

WDW1974: "I think I will be making some calls to SoCal later tonight!"

Well? How'd that go?

JT: "They are not going to release news in this manner ever. That is what events like D23 are for."

That's not true. The only thing lamer than this chat was the D23 Parks and Resorts presentation. Remember all the stunning news from that one? The one that Tom Staggs basically had to apologize for?:lookaroun


Yeah, that SeaWorld presentation looked cool! They went all out on it.

I hope that what WDW1974 says is true, and this stuff is being read. Constructively, I just want these events to be actual events and not cut and paste robot press release stuff. I think we all felt talked down to, and that's just not right.

 

[jt04]

:veryconfu

I just made some sentences to appear in bold letters, otherwise nothing was edited...

And you see the results right? I do think it is odd as this was exactly the backlash anyone could have predicted if it was just a simple chat with nothing new announced.

It was the OrSen that suggested there may be new details. I was doubtful personally but hoping.

 

[njDizFan]

I, like many of the posters above expected little information to be diseminated during this little chat. I'm not quite sure what the intended focus group was supposed to be? The answers given would be news to the most rudimentary fanbase. I would assume the people that participate in Disney social media would know all the answers given months ago.

It was just a very curious exercise and mindless to the point of being insulting.

 

[jt04]

I, like many of the posters above expected little information to be diseminated during this little chat. I'm not quite sure what the fgocus groups was supposed to be? The answers given would be news to the most rudimentary fanbase. I would assume the people that participate in disney social media would know all the answers given months ago.

It was just a very curious exercise and mindless to the point of being insulting.

I still think it may have been a trial run. Perhaps they are or were considering letiing Imagineers interact with fans as Eddie Sotto does here. If so all the carping has probably destroyed that possibility.

I just find the entire episode very strange. :veryconfu

 

[Atomicmickey]

I didn't care if there was anything new announced. I just wanted to hear from a real person, saying real things.

How about something about digging around in the old submarine lagoon? Find any plastic plants?

Any particular challenges as they excavate for the Mine Train?

Tell us about reskinning the tents?

How many people are working the site?

Someone did ask about how they are going to open the new attractions and keep going on the Mine Train . . . that's going to be a challenge, isn't it?

Things like that. Real world stuff. See--at this point, it isn't about how magical the experience will be--it's about, "hey, guys and gals, we're doing this! We're working on it!"

Let the park brochures and the TV commercials and the must-do-Disney in room videos take care of that when it opens.

Right now, you're working on it. I think we all want to know, how's that going for you?

Sincerity. That would go a long way. Humanity. These are real people working hard to build a whole new experience. Let them speak. We're interested, really!

 

[lebeau]

I still think it may have been a trial run. Perhaps they are or were considering letiing Imagineers interact with fans as Eddie Sotto does here. If so all the carping has probably destroyed that possibility.

I just find the entire episode very strange. :veryconfu

I don't think there's any doubt this was a trial run. They wanted to see what they could get away with. I am very happy to see the response is almost uniformly negative. Hopefully Disney will get the message that they have to try harder.

If they decide not to do this again, I'm fine with that. Like I said before, I'd rather they not make an effort than do something that is just insulting to our intelligence.

 

[lebeau]

I didn't care if there was anything new announced. I just wanted to hear from a real person, saying real things.
How about something about digging around in the old submarine lagoon? Find any plastic plants?

Any particular challenges as they excavate for the Mine Train?

Tell us about reskinning the tents?

How many people are working the site?

Someone did ask about how they are going to open the new attractions and keep going on the Mine Train . . . that's going to be a challenge, isn't it?

Things like that. Real world stuff. See--at this point, it isn't about how magical the experience will be--it's about, "hey, guys and gals, we're doing this! We're working on it!"

Let the park brochures and the TV commercials and the must-do-Disney in room videos take care of that when it opens.

Right now, you're working on it. I think we all want to know, how's that going for you?

Sincerity. That would go a long way. Humanity. These are real people working hard to build a whole new experience. Let them speak. We're interested, really!

You have hit the nail squarely on the head.

 

[devoy1701]

I didn't care if there was anything new announced. I just wanted to hear from a real person, saying real things.

How about something about digging around in the old submarine lagoon? Find any plastic plants?

Any particular challenges as they excavate for the Mine Train?

Tell us about reskinning the tents?

How many people are working the site?

Someone did ask about how they are going to open the new attractions and keep going on the Mine Train . . . that's going to be a challenge, isn't it?

Things like that. Real world stuff. See--at this point, it isn't about how magical the experience will be--it's about, "hey, guys and gals, we're doing this! We're working on it!"

Let the park brochures and the TV commercials and the must-do-Disney in room videos take care of that when it opens.

Right now, you're working on it. I think we all want to know, how's that going for you?

Sincerity. That would go a long way. Humanity. These are real people working hard to build a whole new experience. Let them speak. We're interested, really!

I agree. We didn't necessarily need new secrets or concept art or information on the what's going to be in the expansion. We would have been fine with talking about the kind of stuff that you outlined above.

And that was me who asked about the Mine Train. I'm still very curious on how well they're going to be able to pull off opening the rest of the expansion and making it all new and welcoming and exciting when in the middle of everything the will be opening in 2012 will be a construction zone for another 18 months which basically cuts off the entire expansion from Old Fantasyland with the size and footprint of the Mine Train. How are they going to have a "Grand Opening" with this?