Spirited News and Observations and Opinions ...

[tomman710]

Especially seen as it looks like they cut the werewolves out of Lone Ranger...

Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

 

[SirLink]

Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

Well it was the whole motivation as to why the Lone Ranger legend shot silver bullets...but apparently it is more about trains and how law and order came to the west...so...well acted sure...other than that not much!

 

[BigThunderMatt]

Well it was the whole motivation as to why the Lone Ranger legend shot silver bullets...but apparently it is more about trains and how law and order came to the west...so...well acted sure...other than that not much!

I don't understand why they keep attempting to revive the Western. I don't think anybody really cares anymore. There's a reason why Pirates was looked at as an anomaly in an otherwise dated genre.

Look how long it took for live action musicals to make it to theaters again, and now the only formula that really works are films that are based off of popular Broadway shows. Anything original bombs spectacularly.

And to be perfectly honest, I'm not excited by either Oz or Lone Ranger.

 

[SirLink]

I don't understand why they keep attempting to revive the Western. I don't think anybody really cares anymore. There's a reason why Pirates was looked at as an anomaly in an otherwise dated genre.

Look how long it took for live action musicals to make it to theaters again, and now the only formula that really works are films that are based off of popular Broadway shows. Anything original bombs spectacularly.

And to be perfectly honest, I'm not excited by either Oz or Lone Ranger.

I'm looking forward to Oz, I'm half-hearted about Lone Ranger, the problem is some of these are still Dick Cook affairs( where is my Haunted Mansion scary film) and Disney Channel guy who green lit Oz.

It is almost like Disney doesn't know what to produce for it's live action slate, apart from more Muppets which is awesome sauce...

• Tron 2, which could of worked and would of worked if Disney wasn't scared
• John Carter, which that would never work today - unless you update the story, and not have cartoonish aliens. BTW how can males think that a dude in loin cloth as a relatable character - there were easy ways to update the story and not make it come off as the movie did ... but went with the book wholesale...
• Pirates 4 was terribly boring and I loved the last 3 films - I adored 3 - it was a value engineered version of what Jerry Bruckheimer wanted.
• Then the princess well of Alice, Malificiant, etc. Yawn.

I'm don't have a problem with Disney wanting to revive Westerns, but they have to be violent to make them work nowadays - Django Unchained - is how you revive a western for a modern audience ... but Disney never seems like they want to commit to anything seen as edgy with the Disney brand ... and that is the direction they should be going in...

 

[tomman710]

I'm looking forward to Oz, I'm half-hearted about Lone Ranger, the problem is some of these are still Dick Cook affairs( where is my Haunted Mansion scary film) and Disney Channel guy who green lit Oz.

It is almost like Disney doesn't know what to produce for it's live action slate, apart from more Muppets which is awesome sauce...

• Tron 2, which could of worked and would of worked if Disney wasn't scared
• John Carter, which that would never work today - unless you update the story, and not have cartoonish aliens. BTW how can males think that a dude in loin cloth as a relatable character - there were easy ways to update the story and not make it come off as the movie did ... but went with the book wholesale...
• Pirates 4 was terribly boring and I loved the last 3 films - I adored 3 - it was a value engineered version of what Jerry Bruckheimer wanted.
• Then the princess well of Alice, Malificiant, etc. Yawn.

I'm don't have a problem with Disney wanting to revive Westerns, but they have to be violent to make them work nowadays - Django Unchained - is how you revive a western for a modern audience ... but Disney never seems like they want to commit to anything seen as edgy with the Disney brand ... and that is the direction they should be going in...

The main problem with John Carter is they messed up Dejah Thoris wardrobe ... or usual lack there of.

 

[SirLink]

The main problem with John Carter is they messed up Dejah Thoris wardrobe ... or usual lack there of.

...and the cartoonish martians...

 

[awoogala]

Just repeating a great post because why not get the post count up, right? I'm still chasing that @EPCOT Explorer brat who is off hiding in the Twitverse and crying his eyes out at Wishes, but he did write one helluva blog post on Tron Track!

On another matter, anyone know if that strangely shaped/placed Rapunzel restroom marker isn't really just some sort of beacon or reader (techies, lay off, I am no tech expert if this isn't the correct terminology) tied to the MAGICal banding of guests hidden in plain sight? It sure seems like it. Maybe Lou Mongello can ask Phil Holmes since Phil seems waaaay into those facilities.

I would assume it had a cell tower or something of that sort in there, it does make sense! If nextgen was prepared before the new fantasyland, I wouldn't put it past beast's castle to also have some "beacon" or rfid tech in it (as you can tell, I am no IT expert)

 

[dhall]

Do you mean World Showcase DVC or FW DVC?

The latter was definitely being considered. The former was at least through blue sky.

Of the two, a World Showcase DVC seems a lot more feasable: it'd be like scaling up the dream suite in Cindy's castle to suite (or five) in each pavilion. I guess that the same could be done in FW by converting the upstairs areas/corporate lounges, but I can't see as much demand for that. Would they consider a FW resort at the entrance, like a scaled down version of the hotel in Paris?

 

[danlb_2000]

I would assume it had a cell tower or something of that sort in there, it does make sense! If nextgen was prepared before the new fantasyland, I wouldn't put it past beast's castle to also have some "beacon" or rfid tech in it (as you can tell, I am no IT expert)

I doubt there would be RFID antennas in either Beast's Castle of the Rapunzel's tower. RFID has a fairly short range and you wouldn't want to waste that range by having it so high up.

 

[dhall]

I wonder how much of this blame will go back to Cisco/Accenture.

The suits will put all the blame on Cisco/Accenture -- but they're the same suits who had to ask outside consultants how to run their core business. There are reasons that you should always keep your core competencies in house.

 

[flynnibus]

I would assume it had a cell tower or something of that sort in there, it does make sense! If nextgen was prepared before the new fantasyland, I wouldn't put it past beast's castle to also have some "beacon" or rfid tech in it (as you can tell, I am no IT expert)

There is limited value in putting it up and far away like that. They can be hidden right nearby.. just like speakers are done today. A painted panel in a wall and you'd never know it was there.

The 'beacon' in the tags can be picked up without line of sight.. all that matters is the signal strength and antenna directions. The bracelet is likely an omnidirectional antenna.. meaning all I need to be is within range without blocking interference between the receiver and the band. These things can be hidden virtually right in sight without people noticing them too..

 

[awoogala]

So many times members here say...."we need more attractions" which I wouldnt disagree with. IMO so much more would need to happen first. Adding CL or AvLand would be nice but does that really really improve the guest experience? Still the dining experience is abysmal. I can not tell you how disapointed I was last week
I seen an elderly CM at HM raiseing his voice at people in queue to hurry up and move along. Gone is the time where the CM's were in character....which was a major part of the attraction. These are the small things that made the Disney difference....the magic.....not some cute wristband that we are tol;d are going to make our visit so much more Magical.

New attractions would be great but the over all guest experience is so much more then a 90 second thrill ride. The issues I have mentioned among so many more need attention way more then building a couple rides. These are the things that are driving me away. Once again the whole calling me by my name...or my child.. How many times does it happen beffore its no longer a novlety? It might be cute once....twice, but how long does it take to just become the norm and we become numb to it?

When WDW opened there were not even half as many rides there are now but the guest experience is what made WDW what it has become today. For me....sadly my love affair with my mistress is comming to an end.
She has changed into something I no longer recognize. I dont know about you but I am hurt. I feel cheated. My last trip will be just that.....my last trip....for the forseeable future.

We were there last week. Customer service was awful. I wrote a strongly worded email to guest services. Servers at the restaurant were rude, unhelpful. Even at BBB, which is supposed to be a ton of pixie dust, the women seemed tired, and like they were doing hair in the local mall. At downtown disney, we were ignored while cm's chatted loudly in groups of 3 or more in other languages. Almost every cm we encountered was not "disney". In fact, only 3 cm's in our week outside of the resort were good. The guest services people were concerned enough t contact me during our trip, but nothing can make up for a week of crappy service. I am in shock, honestly that service has gone to the dogs. Perhaps they should have saved some of that 1.5 billion for training and hiring- spending money so animatronics talk to me, but not for human employees to talk to me, doesn't work.

 

[dhall]

There is limited value in putting it up and far away like that. They can be hidden right nearby.. just like speakers are done today. A painted panel in a wall and you'd never know it was there.

The 'beacon' in the tags can be picked up without line of sight.. all that matters is the signal strength and antenna directions. The bracelet is likely an omnidirectional antenna.. meaning all I need to be is within range without blocking interference between the receiver and the band. These things can be hidden virtually right in sight without people noticing them too..

I wouldn't be shocked if there were wifi access points in either or both, but since they're on the fringe of both the guest areas and the usable backstage area, that may not be the case, either. Depending on where the server room(s) is/are, there might be repeaters up there.

I think it's no coincidence that practically every shop & restaurant has had a complete facelift in the last couple of years, and that every park seems to be getting some sort of interactive game that requires small bits of interactive technology be installed in most every corner of the park.

 

[awoogala]

I doubt there would be RFID antennas in either Beast's Castle of the Rapunzel's tower. RFID has a fairly short range and you wouldn't want to waste that range by having it so high up.

but cell towers? for all the smartphones to work- would that make sense?

 

[Darth Sidious]

We were there last week. Customer service was awful. I wrote a strongly worded email to guest services. Servers at the restaurant were rude, unhelpful. Even at BBB, which is supposed to be a ton of pixie dust, the women seemed tired, and like they were doing hair in the local mall. At downtown disney, we were ignored while cm's chatted loudly in groups of 3 or more in other languages. Almost every cm we encountered was not "disney". In fact, only 3 cm's in our week outside of the resort were good. The guest services people were concerned enough t contact me during our trip, but nothing can make up for a week of crappy service. I am in shock, honestly that service has gone to the dogs. Perhaps they should have saved some of that 1.5 billion for training and hiring- spending money so animatronics talk to me, but not for human employees to talk to me, doesn't work.

I was there a few weeks ago and had an unusually high mix of CM who weren't the usual friendly and very pleasant crowd. Don't get me wrong they weren't rude or anything but they didn't seem like they did in past trips, where virtually all CM went above and beyond.

 

[flynnibus]

I was there a few weeks ago and had an unusually high mix of CM who weren't the usual friendly and very pleasant crowd. Don't get me wrong they weren't rude or anything but they didn't seem like they did in past trips, where virtually all CM went above and beyond.

This is also a period of turnover for the college program kids...

 

[Goofyernmost]

Well it was the whole motivation as to why the Lone Ranger legend shot silver bullets...but apparently it is more about trains and how law and order came to the west...so...well acted sure...other than that not much!

Really?? I used to listen to The Lone Ranger back when it was on the radio. Yes, I'm older than dirt! I always knew about his using silver bullets, but I don't recall the thought of werewolves ever entering the discussion. I just always thought that it was because he was a classy dude and what could be classier then shooting someone with silver bullets.

 

[SirLink]

Really?? I used to listen to The Lone Ranger back when it was on the radio. Yes, I'm older than dirt! I always knew about his using silver bullets, but I don't recall the thought of werewolves ever entering the discussion. I just always thought that it was because he was a classy dude and what could be classier then shooting someone with silver bullets.

Nope the werewolves bit was a new, because why would a cowboy shoot silver bullets as opposed to regular bullets, that the west may not be what it is ... but first script had werewolves then was rewritten no supernatural stuff and maybe a cameo of a werewolf if that ...

 

[awoogala]

This is also a period of turnover for the college program kids...

yup. wasn't that. I saw the college trainees, and understood when every ride we went on was backed up and confusing, since one cm would be loudly training 3-5 other "new" college cm's. That was obvious, but understandable.
Honestly, I was amazed at how many cm's were imported, as well. Most of the cm's we encountered were from venezuela or columbia, followed by korea and many others. much older than college program, too. 30's, 40's plus. I had to look hard to find cm's from florida! I wonder if this is part of the laying off, rehiring/ or doing mass outsourced hiring with other hiring firms?

 

[COProgressFan]

yup. wasn't that. I saw the college trainees, and understood when every ride we went on was backed up and confusing, since one cm would be loudly training 3-5 other "new" college cm's. That was obvious, but understandable.
Honestly, I was amazed at how many cm's were imported, as well. Most of the cm's we encountered were from venezuela or columbia, followed by korea and many others. much older than college program, too. 30's, 40's plus. I had to look hard to find cm's from florida! I wonder if this is part of the laying off, rehiring/ or doing mass outsourced hiring with other hiring firms?

It is a result of Disney constantly looking to lower labor costs. Bottom line is that CP's and International CP's work cheaper than full time cast members. And many of them aren't as concerned about the pay, as they go to WDW to build their resumes, or get work experience or spend a few semesters in the Florida sunshine before heading out of town (among other lecherous pursuits).

Recruits from Central America, South America, the Caribbean, and Asia are much cheaper as well, and there is an enormous supply of folks in those locales who will gladly accept the lower wages for the opportunity to come to the US on a work visa.