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

[lebeau]

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?

I expect it will be every bit as magical as the gala celebration of the Magic Kingdom's 40th anniversary...

 

[njDizFan]

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

That is a definate possibility. Maybe the social media people actually saw how popular the Eddie Sotto thread over here has become. If their chat was anywhere near as thought provoking and interesting a read as our thread it would be great.

Though the likelyhood is impossible, since that thread occasionally runs rather negative and Disney doesn't allow anything but positive comments.

If you transpose those 2 threads its almost a complete bastardization...

 

[wdwmagic]

I think they should just go back to the old days of announcing something and then saying nothing until it opens.
People wouldn't be upset then that they didn't get all the details they wanted.

 

[devoy1701]

I think they should just go back to the old days of announcing something and then saying nothing until it opens.
People wouldn't be upset then that they didn't get all the details they wanted.

I would actually be ok with this.

 

[raiden]

I think they should just go back to the old days of announcing something and then saying nothing until it opens.
People wouldn't be upset then that they didn't get all the details they wanted.

Great so Disney could be behind the times in social media too.

 

[jt04]

That is a definate possibility. Maybe the social media people actually saw how popular the Eddie Sotto thread over here has become. If their chat was anywhere near as thought provoking and interesting a read as our thread it would be great.

Though the likelyhood is impossible, since that thread occasionally runs rather negative and Disney doesn't allow anything but positive comments.

If you transpose those 2 threads its almost a complete bastardization...

Yes. It would be tough to surpass the way Mr Sotto interacts with us here. He has great insticts for never getting drawn into negativity for the sake of it but he does not hesitate to tackle tough questions. And he never gives the impression he is talking down to folks. Always a professional.

 

[lebeau]

I think they should just go back to the old days of announcing something and then saying nothing until it opens.
People wouldn't be upset then that they didn't get all the details they wanted.

I think fans would be okay with that. But Disney wants to control the tone of the conversation. And they only way they can do that is to actively participate.

Empty gestures like this one don't help them put a positive spin on the conversation. It just creates a backlash.

There are any number of ways this could have been handled that would have been embraced by most fans. This "chat" was about as inept as Disney could be without actually saying something offensive.

 

[devoy1701]

I suspect that it's comments like the one that just got posted to the Live-Chat Blog page is the reason Disney thinks they can treat fans the way they do concerning Social Media and that the majority of the followers will be ok with it. Some people are just uneducated, uninformed, and don't know how to use social media or the internet to their benefit.

Francine on November 10th, 2011 at 7:50 am
I was wondering for the holidays, what is there to do with a 2 year old? I heard that Mickeys house’s are closed, so what is really opened to do?

:lookaroun

 

[lebeau]

I suspect that it's comments like the one that just got posted to the Live-Chat Blog page is the reason Disney thinks they can treat fans the way they do concerning Social Media and that the majority of the followers will be ok with it. Some people are just uneducated, uniformed, and don't know how to use social media or the internet to their benefit.

Francine on November 10th, 2011 at 7:50 am
I was wondering for the holidays, what is there to do with a 2 year old? I heard that Mickeys house’s are closed, so what is really opened to do?

:lookaroun

Yeah, I saw that. Poor thing.

In a way, it just goes to show how much further Disney needs to reach out. The casual tourist is so easily overwhelmed. Disney really does a lousy job of communicating with its fan base.

 

[Atomicmickey]

Yeah, I saw that. Poor thing.

In a way, it just goes to show how much further Disney needs to reach out. The casual tourist is so easily overwhelmed. Disney really does a lousy job of communicating with its fan base.

That's an interesting quote in the face of an encounter I recently had with a first time visitor. We fans tend to forget how overwhelming it can be.
Not to derail the thread, but, she took her daughter to WDW with little or no planning. Of course, we all nod our head at the mistake, there. But she honestly figured they'd have some way to help her out while there. Her comment was "everyone kept telling me how magical everything was, and I just felt confused. I was TOLD I was having a good time, but I wasn't actually."

I really wish I could have sat with her for a few hours before going, I hate to hear things like that.

Perhaps her case is what next-gen is all about, really. She's not the only one I've run into that has these problems. We laugh at people who think that Universal and the Studios are the same thing--but for Disney, I'd think they need to take that stuff seriously.

 

[Magenta Panther]

Well, glad I didn't clear my schedule to attend THAT.

Honestly--it sounded like the whole thing was canned. Almost like it was a robot. "Chris, mind if we use your name? We're going to have an intern cut and paste stuff from our press releases in a fake live chat! There's no money in it for you, but you'll get a nice check mark on your next review."

DISNEY! Yeesh, in today's internet fan-world, you just can't do that anymore.

When it's too fake, too canned--it TAKES AWAY from the magic. When will they get that?

This reminds me of that Muppet chat at Google the other day that my little cousin tried to get in on. There WAS no chat. The puppets just asked questions of each other, and according to my cousin, it wasn't funny either. He was pretty disappointed and now has no interest in seeing the movie (too bad, because if I WAS going to see the thing, he was the kid I was going to take with me so I wouldn't look too silly.) Pretty cynical hype gimmick if you ask me.

 

[njDizFan]

It's so true. I recently let one of my relatives have my O-Town timeshare to visit the parks. They had no idea that there was seperate admission for WDW and Uni.

I guess we forget that for uninformed first time visitors that the whole experience can be overwhelming.

 

[Pioneer Hall]

I think they should just go back to the old days of announcing something and then saying nothing until it opens.
People wouldn't be upset then that they didn't get all the details they wanted.

But then how would we be able to hate the projects long before they even break ground?

 

[NORMNB8S]

But then how would we be able to hate the projects long before they even break ground?

I like that... :lol:

 

[WDWFigment]

That is a definate possibility. Maybe the social media people actually saw how popular the Eddie Sotto thread over here has become. If their chat was anywhere near as thought provoking and interesting a read as our thread it would be great.

Though the likelyhood is impossible, since that thread occasionally runs rather negative and Disney doesn't allow anything but positive comments.

If you transpose those 2 threads its almost a complete bastardization...

Disney already does let Imagineers interact with people via social media--they're all over Twitter.

I think they should just go back to the old days of announcing something and then saying nothing until it opens.
People wouldn't be upset then that they didn't get all the details they wanted.

I'd have no issue with this. It's a different story when things are billed as offering discussion or details of a project, and then nothing is delivered.

Like I said before, I think Disney is in a difficult situation here. The company has a lot of Guests who (somehow) manage to find the Parks Blog, but may not even know there are four Walt Disney World theme parks. On the other side of the spectrum, you have the "power users" (more akin to many of the posters here) who are quite knowledgeable.

Obviously, how to use the Parks Blog is up to Disney, but I think there are certainly ways of appeasing both groups without marginalizing the other.

Maybe I am just an ornery person, but I tend to not have much sympathy for people who are unwilling or unable to figure out basic things for themselves. There are so many questions asked on the Parks Blog that could be easily answered with a LMGTFY.com response. Heck, if the person asking the question Googled it they could have likely found the answer in less time than it took for them to type out the question.

 

[danlb_2000]

But then how would we be able to hate the projects long before they even break ground?

Hasn't stopped people for hating on Avatarland.

 

[HMF]

But then how would we be able to hate the projects long before they even break ground?

Because if the concept is flawed, the execution does not matter.:animwink:

 

[RandySavage]

Because if the concept is flawed, the execution does not matter.:animwink:

Maybe you're kidding (not sure what the emoticons mean), but if the concept is flawed, execution matters much more. It is, in fact, the flawed-concept's saving grace. See DisneySea's Turtle Talk as an example of superior execution rescuing a flawed-concept.

 

[Pioneer Hall]

Because if the concept is flawed, the execution does not matter.:animwink:

If Disney has just announced "Expanded Fantasyland" with no mention of anything else you would still call that a flawed concept? If that is the case, then I don't know what positivity you can find in anything.

 

[menamechris]

I really wasn't expecting much from the chat, and I do give the blog credit for posting some of the more critical comments of it from readers.

That being said, I would have no problem with Disney going back to a "no info released" way of handling projects - although I do think they know their limitations in today's technological world. Before - the Imagineers could probably speak freely with friends and cast members about upcoming projects - and the secret was pretty well kept, because, well - those people didn't have the internet to broadcast what they were told to get attention.

My only irritation is that Disney has seemed to have a real desire to tease and mislead the fanbase. They are lucky to have such a fanbase - but instead of being forthcoming with often trivial information - they feel the need to build things up (only for us to be let down often times), or to give the impression that information will be released or announced, when in fact, they have no intention. I don't see any reason why this Q&A chat couldn't have been been openly promoted as "A Review of the New Fantasyland with Chris Beatty". But, of course, that probably wouldn't have done much for anticipated website traffic.

Anyways, my expectations as far as any "chats" or "exciting announcements" are extremely low for Disney. The things I would really care about - or be remotely excited about - seem to blindside us, like the Avatar announcement. Everything else is just Disney tickling the fans, trying to get them to pay attention and get excited about old news and old information.