News Pacific Wharf to be Reimagined into San Fransokyo

CaptinEO

CaptinEO

Well-Known Member
mickEblu said:
The pre booking the rides i think was a nice advantage for vacationers. I can’t keep up with the Genie + system in Florida but when I was flirting with a WDW vacation last year I think the alternative was waking up really early and running to the park to book your first return time as the return times book up really fast and you may only get to use Genie + on 2 rides otherwise. I’d rather wake up one time at 3am a couple months in advance than worry about running to the parks everyday at 7am while on vacation.

Maybe I’m not not remembering all the details but it would be nice knowing you have the Top 2-3 rides at every park waiting for you with minimal wait times. Then you can loosely plan the rest of your day around those pre-booked rides.
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Another poster mentioned it but the rides were in tiers with limits. So 3 rides per day, one is the top ride tier. It isn't like a "plan a whole day" scenario.

I still like getting to the parks at opening even with the prebooking. It just adds an unneeded layer of pre planning.

Keep in mind also it was a scam to sell Disney Hotel rooms. You needed a Disney Hotel Reservation to book fastpasses 60 days out, without a hotel it was 30 days. All the good fastpasses would be gone at the 60 day mark after 15-20 minutes.

So without a Disney Hotel stay and being up right when things become available you get a bad experience at the parks.

In addition to this dining is booked 6 months out. So there are now 2 different days you're waking up in the middle of the night, 4 months apart, to gamble with booking something for your vacation.

And remember you have to plan your fastpasses you book to not overlap with the dining plans you booked four months earlier.

In my case I was up at 2:50am 2 months before my Honeymoon and My Disney Experience (the service for reservations) crashed at exactly 3am. I basically refreshed every minute or so until about 4:30 when it started working again. Then at 7am had to drive in to work.

It's just too much. Luckily I was savvy and did a lot of research before planning. But I would always think how many visitors there have no idea any of these planning options exist? They just show up early morning to night to deal with huge lines.
 
CaptinEO

CaptinEO

Well-Known Member
TP2000 said:
The issue there is that the stuff that was added to DCA in 2010-2012 was all designed and funded back in 2007 when Jay Rasulo was the Parks Chairman. Not that Jay Rasulo was a fun guy, but that was still when the non-creative execs knew their job was just to give the creative execs enough money to do good work in the parks.

Tom Staggs just happened to land in his Parks gig as the final touches were being put on DCA's rebirth. The fabulous glitter that TDA offered up in 2015 for Disneyland's 60th should be credited to creative execs in the Entertainment department.
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I see what you mean. Thanks for the clarification. Sad when a leader doesn't know when to delegate their work. And the 60th certainly was a great time, easily Disneyland's peak of the last 10 years.
TP2000 said:
Agreed, and Bob Chapek really took the Parks division in a weird direction as he tried to wring out as much money as possible from the suckers guests as he could. It didn't help that Bob Chapek clearly knew nothing about theme parks or their basic operational needs, and that he came off as a charmless and unlikable person in interviews and D23 Expo appearances.

Bob Chapek is like that boring, grumpy uncle at Thanksgiving that no one really wants to sit next to. But if he had taken a Jay Rasulo route with the creatives and trusted his Operations leaders to make the right calls for the guests, he could have been forgiven and ignored. And probably would still have a job.
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Your comments about him being clueless with themepark operations are so true. And yikes those interviews were awkward, won't miss those at all.

I remember reading a CMs story about Chapek touring the parks pre opening after getting the job. He was being shown Big Thunder's loading process. When a CM explained how they check the height of young riders Bob chimed in saying "why don't we make height adjustable seats so everyone can ride?" and apparently everyone just went silent.

To me this sums up his themepark knowledge. I don't buy the "my family would go to Disney World every year" thing that TWDC made up for his backstory.
TP2000 said:
Josh is an interesting story. He's Mr. Cool, and the ladies love him. He does seem genuinely like a nice person (you can't fake that), and he comes across as very likable. But he's had his job long enough that we should have seen more improvements now than we have. He hasn't really fixed anything that Bob Chapek did with the parks in the 2010's, and now there's no new construction happening on either coast.
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I will say in terms of personality he does come across as the opposite of someone like Bob Chapek. That being said, for him to even move this high up in TWDC means he has to operate in the same way leadership is currently operating in the company.

It isn't like he is going against the status quo. The forcing IP and cutbacks mandates since the late 90s seems to be the trend. He certainly isn't a savior but at least he can do good PR.

TP2000 said:
If there's no new night parades or park expansions (not just reskinning existing stuff, real acreage expansions) announced and it's all just fluff and another round of vague WDI concept art for blue sky stuff that hasn't been approved, then I think that seals the deal on Josh D'Amaro and his ability to bring real change and improvement to the parks.

Or perhaps his inability to bring real change and improvement to the parks. Tune in Saturday morning to find out. 🧐
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I had forgotten the last D23 where he awkwardly spent 20 minutes showcasing WDI concepts of what could or couldn't happen but wasn't actually greenlit or funded. That was just embarrassing, as it would be for any company in a public facing presentation admitting that they can't make decisions.

You are right though this D23 will be the true showcase for what he is capable of now that he has been in the role for some time.
 
McMickeyWorld

McMickeyWorld

Well-Known Member
TP2000 said:
Ah, Mexico City. Although you don't get the Locals discount tickets for Disneyland, still one of the world's great capital cities.

I apologize, but my Spanish is very bad. Like an old white guy fresh off The Love Boat hailing a cab in Ensenada bad. 🤣

But I became a permanent fan of Mexico City after the great temblor of '85. Some friends and I sponsored a family there who needed help rebuilding their life. Truly lovely and appreciative people. I still get, and send, a Christmas card from/to that family's son and his family. Mexico offers a wonderful culture and inherent kindness to the world.

As the kids say now, I was apparently "Paying it forward" back in 1985. When the Big One hits SoCal and people here are in need, I have no doubt some of the fastest prayers and relief will come from our good neighbors to the south in Mexico.

But I'm mostly familiar with northern Baja California, Mexico. Incredibly gracious and attractive people, fabulous food, gorgeous weather, beautiful Talavera pottery, and a wonderful outlook on life is to be had there. I must be honest with you, years ago when Disneyland started offering the Locals discount to residents of Baja California in zip codes 21000 to 22999, but NOT offering it to Americans living in Las Vegas or Arizona zip codes, I chuckled at that. 😁 I think Southern Californians sometimes have more in common culturally with a Mexican from Baja California than with an American from Phoenix or Las Vegas. Funny how that works. Sometimes state borders are more impactful than international borders.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on DCA's only Mexican restaurant, Cocina Cucamonga Mexican Grill, becoming part of San Fransokyo and existing in a fictional world that is Japanese-American.

I'm a huge fan of both traditional Japanese and Mexican cuisines. But combing them? I'm not so sure.
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Thank you very much for all the support for my country. It's wonderful to see the strong friendships that have developed, and meeting people from all around the world is a truly enriching experience. 🫶
You are absolutely right about the borders, and the remarkable cultural diversity between regions is quite common here.
Unfortunately, I haven't had the chance to try Mexican grill yet, but I'll definitely give it a try on my next visit. I don't expect it to be 100% authentic, but it will surely be an interesting experience.🤔
I'm also a big fan of Japanese cuisine, with its amazing flavors and textures. It's truly a culinary gem for the world.
A big hug from Mexico, you are always welcome. Have a beautiful day.😺🌸
 
TP2000

TP2000

Well-Known Member
CaptinEO said:
I remember reading a CMs story about Chapek touring the parks pre opening after getting the job. He was being shown Big Thunder's loading process. When a CM explained how they check the height of young riders Bob chimed in saying "why don't we make height adjustable seats so everyone can ride?" and apparently everyone just went silent.
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Bob Chapek is truly an idiot. How he got to where he did is a mystery.

It almost makes you wonder what the vetting process is like for the job of CEO of a theme park and movie company, when the top dog has no idea about theme parks or movies.
 
D.Silentu

D.Silentu

Well-Known Member
TP2000 said:
Bob Chapek is truly an idiot. How he got to where he did is a mystery.
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My playful tin foil hat answer used to be that he was a patsy. Iger's unexpected departure, Chapek's promotion, and the national onset of covid happening within weeks of each other put the idea in my head. If you can't avoid the iceberg, why not just elect a new captain to take the heat? I thought it was an amusing notion, so imagine how I felt when Chapek was shown the door and the original Bob stepped back into his office!
 
CaptinEO

CaptinEO

Well-Known Member
D.Silentu said:
My playful tin foil hat answer used to be that he was a patsy. Iger's unexpected departure, Chapek's promotion, and the national onset of covid happening within weeks of each other put the idea in my head. If you can't avoid the iceberg, why not just elect a new captain to take the heat? I thought it was an amusing notion, so imagine how I felt when Chapek was shown the door and the original Bob stepped back into his office!
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If you read the new CNBC article you can see that he was literally set up for failure and sabotaged by his own staff from the start, which adds credibility to this theory. It's evident that Iger was always supposed to come back.
 
SSG

SSG

Well-Known Member
It isn't an outlandish conspiracy theory that Iger had early warnings about the pandemic and how bad things would get.

My best friend's step-dad worked in corporate intelligence (after a lengthy career in Army intel). These aren't industrial espionage situations like in bad movies, but focus on corporate security and part of that is paying attention to what's happening on the ground in countries where the corporation operates. He told me Disney's intel team (and he knew for a fact Disney has such teams as he had interacted with them in the course of his own work) would be monitoring local conditions at the very least in Shanghai and would know pretty early about COVID and the Chinese response.

It could well be a conspiracy theory that Iger chose to act on his early knowledge, get out of Dodge and leave Chapek holding the bag. But it's not out of the realm of possibility.
 
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J

J4546

Well-Known Member
the fit finish of the bridge is def not acceptable, i have to believe disney is aware and are working on a replacement shell or something. someone messed up some calculations it seems
 
Disney Analyst

Disney Analyst

Well-Known Member
J4546 said:
the fit finish of the bridge is def not acceptable, i have to believe disney is aware and are working on a replacement shell or something. someone messed up some calculations it seems
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I would also think this has to be true because they have plain screws visible... you'd think if they were done, happy... those would be plugged, covered, blended in?
 
PiratesMansion

PiratesMansion

Well-Known Member
TP2000 said:
Bob Chapek is truly an idiot. How he got to where he did is a mystery.

It almost makes you wonder what the vetting process is like for the job of CEO of a theme park and movie company, when the top dog has no idea about theme parks or movies.
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It's very simple-Iger predicted (correctly) that Covid would cause a significant disruption for Disney and didn't want it to blemish his legacy.

Chapek just happened to be the most readily available fall guy.
 

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