Spirited News, Observations & Thoughts IV

[lebeau]

Maybe you missed those posts a few days back from The Mom about the relevancy of the tangents to the FORUM the thread is in... rather than just the thread topic itself.

Take it for what you will...

I think she also announced this thread was no longer being moderated for relevancy.

 

[Soarin' Over Pgh]

Maybe you missed those posts a few days back from The Mom about the relevancy of the tangents to the FORUM the thread is in... rather than just the thread topic itself.

Take it for what you will...

Fine. Here's a recap.

No news on Avatar.

Some kind of construction for FotLK going on in AK. Nothing noteworthy.

Star Wars Land? Galaxy? Maybe.

Cars Land? Maybe.

Muppets? Maybe.

Something or other about D23? Sure.

Now that we're relevant again, can we go back to talking about Star Wars? Its making my stupid day at work a lot less stupid.

Thanks.

:\

 

[rael ramone]

The latest off-topic diversion: about off-topic diversions.

Lots of amateur mods out there it seems. Why are these people reading the thread?

It's off topic because 1. The topic was never really defined and 2. There is literally no news or rumors about WDW worth discussing. So hey, let's talk movies until 74 gets back with some news.

He probably should start a new thread when he's ready though.

I just started a new 'movie/star wars/superman/thread drift' thread over in Chit Chat. People who are interested in my thoughts on those can take a peek over there...

 

[lebeau]

I just started a new 'movie/star wars/superman/thread drift' thread over in Chit Chat. People who are interested in my thoughts on those can take a peek over there...

I liked your post over there a lot. I also posted some great WDW News and Rumors if anyone is interested.

 

[PhotoDave219]

Try Hampton Roads. You cannot look anywhere without a air base, sea base, shipyard, etc. You know how it goes.

I'm familiar. Pretty ships & planes!

 

[ScoutN]

I'm familiar. Pretty ships & planes!

Nothing like headed over the James River Bridge and watching the Carrier's progress. Seeing the Ford go up has been outstanding. Painting the hull was scooting along until a month or so ago when it nearly halted. One patch starboard side is still bare metal. That thing is going to be an amazing boat when it is done. Or boating the James near the HRBT and seeing all of them docked down to the chilling sight of seeing the subs. Needless to say I cannot go anywhere, at all, without driving over a bridge and seeing those things. So gorgeous.

 

[nytimez]

I view this thread as in "intermission." Some people stand around and BS, others can go use the bathroom. It's also a great time to get a drink. But we'll all focus on the show once it starts back up.

Most of us, anyway.

 

[PhotoDave219]

This thread is way too big to moderate like that. I've mentioned to 74 that if he really wants things to stay on topic, he needs to create separate threads for a point, rather than maintaining a news chit chat thread. Huge threads are not really the way forums are intended to work.

No, I agree with that.

I think the biggest problem is that there isnt any news. What hopeful news we had seems to be bogged down in typical Disney bureaucracy. So we're wandering off topic...

 

[wdisney9000]

Its laughable how some people are sooooo disturbed by this thread drifting in and out of different topics. Then blaming 74 for leaving us hanging or calling upon the mods to do something about it. LOL. Its like the upset child taking his ball home and crying to mom that the other kids werent playing fair. Like @lebeau said, why keep reading it? Im glad 74 drops anything at all for us to drool over. He could post the color of his poop and it would be a 10 page thread within an hour. Its not his fault we go crazy over it. I mean no offense to those who have posted complaints. This thread is in beast-mode, and I like it.

 

[flynnibus]

Needless to say I cannot go anywhere, at all, without driving over a bridge and seeing those things. So gorgeous.

My problem is you can't gawk too much while driving! I should make my wife drive and bring binoculars

 

[Clever Name]

I have never seen any of the Star Wars films. I am not a fan of soap operas.

 

[ToTBellHop]

Its laughable how some people are sooooo disturbed by this thread drifting in and out of different topics. Then blaming 74 for leaving us hanging or calling upon the mods to do something about it. LOL. Its like the upset child taking his ball home and crying to mom that the other kids werent playing fair. Like @lebeau said, why keep reading it? Im glad 74 drops anything at all for us to drool over. He could post the color of his poop and it would be a 10 page thread within an hour. Its not his fault we go crazy over it. I mean no offense to those who have posted complaints. This thread is in beast-mode, and I like it.

Thankfully, once we all have our MagicBands and submit to Disney's Jedi mind tricks, it will be much less unruly around these parts. One toe out of line and JediMickey+ will light saber it off.

 

[Bolna]

Growing up in NoVa was fun, all sorts of targets around there.

Try Hampton Roads. You cannot look anywhere without a air base, sea base, shipyard, etc. You know how it goes.

Try growing up somewhere that was 10 miles from the iron curtain - knowing that you would in any case behind the line of first defence (which was at the Rhine) in case of a Soviet invasion...

 

[IHeartArt]

Complaining about '74 being away and calling for him to come back while he's mourning the loss of a friend is incredibly shameful. He'll come when he comes.

Do any of you have any rumors that you've heard?

 

[ParentsOf4]

Do any of you have any rumors that you've heard?

Feeding into The Spirit's narrative, how about this?

It wasn’t until I read The Walt Disney Company Q3 earnings call transcript that I realized what a nice snow job Iger & Rasulo had achieved with WDW attendance.

Initially CFO Jay Rasulo reported:

“During the quarter, attendance at our domestic parks was up 3%, with Walt Disney World and the Disneyland Resort each setting new Q3 attendance records”

Sounds great right? Record attendance, awesome right? At both WDW and DLR, right? But what exactly is does that mean?

When asked to expand on park trends, CEO Bob Iger let the cat out of the bag:

“Magic Kingdom in Florida had record numbers, as Jay mentioned, in the third quarter.”

Rasulo didn’t say “Magic Kingdom”, he said “Walt Disney World”. The Magic Kingdom is part of Walt Disney World so, in a sense, the Magic Kingdom setting an attendance record means Walt Disney World set some sort of attendance record but did Walt Disney World as a whole? It doesn’t seem so according to Iger who clearly identified the Magic Kingdom and the Magic Kingdom only. In fact, in his fuller answer to the question, Iger only spoke of the “Magic Kingdom”, never “Walt Disney World”.

Iger’s words align with observations. Guests reported tremendous crowds at MK last quarter but considerably less so at the other theme parks, especially during the latter half of the day.

And that’s WDW’s big problem. Attendance has become horribly lopsided with the other parks, particularly DHS, suffering badly as a result. MK is cannibalizing attendance from its own parks; not bringing new guests to WDW as a whole. WDW has the same problem today that DLR had 2 years ago.

Don’t forget that DLR attendance is up, way up. Carsland opened on June 15, 2012 and the quarter being reported ran from April to June. As it so happens, this was the last quarter with the “Carsland bump”. If combined domestic park attendance was up only 3% for the quarter and this was the last quarter with the “Carsland bump”, what exactly is going on at WDW?

Let’s not forget domestic park revenue was up only 7% for the quarter, and that’s with the “Carsland bump”, higher prices (e.g. MYW tickets up 7%, DDP up 12.5%), and the Flower & Garden Festival being transformed into another revenue-generating booze & food fest.

This is consistent with the premium now charged for Magic Kingdom tickets. If all four parks were performing well, why not have an across-the-board price increase?

It’s difficult to dispute that the Magic Kingdom is Orlando’s most popular park.

However, perhaps all is not well at the rest of WDW. Perhaps The Spirit’s latest news concerning DHS is supported by Iger’s & Rasulo’s attempt to paper over WDW’s institutional problems.

Perhaps Iger & Rasulo have a big mess on their hands in Orlando.

 

[WDWFanDave]

Feeding into The Spirit's narrative, how about this?

It wasn’t until I read The Walt Disney Company Q3 earnings call transcript that I realized what a nice snow job Iger & Rasulo had achieved with WDW attendance.

Initially CFO Jay Rasulo reported:

“During the quarter, attendance at our domestic parks was up 3%, with Walt Disney World and the Disneyland Resort each setting new Q3 attendance records”

Sounds great right? Record attendance, awesome right? At both WDW and DLR, right? But what exactly is does that mean?

When asked to expand on park trends, CEO Bob Iger let the cat out of the bag:

“Magic Kingdom in Florida had record numbers, as Jay mentioned, in the third quarter.”

Rasulo didn’t say “Magic Kingdom”, he said “Walt Disney World”. The Magic Kingdom is part of Walt Disney World so, in a sense, the Magic Kingdom setting an attendance record means Walt Disney World set some sort of attendance record but did Walt Disney World as a whole? It doesn’t seem so according to Iger who clearly identified the Magic Kingdom and the Magic Kingdom only. In fact, in his fuller answer to the question, Iger only spoke of the “Magic Kingdom”, never “Walt Disney World”.

Iger’s words align with observations. Guests reported tremendous crowds at MK last quarter but considerably less so at the other theme parks, especially during the latter half of the day.

And that’s WDW’s big problem. Attendance has become horribly lopsided with the other parks, particularly DHS, suffering badly as a result. MK is cannibalizing attendance from its own parks; not bringing new guests to WDW as a whole. WDW has the same problem today that DLR had 2 years ago.

Don’t forget that DLR attendance is up, way up. Carsland opened on June 15, 2012 and the quarter being reported ran from April to June. As it so happens, this was the last quarter with the “Carsland bump”. If combined domestic park attendance was up only 3% for the quarter and this was the last quarter with the “Carsland bump”, what exactly is going on at WDW?

Let’s not forget domestic park revenue was up only 7% for the quarter, and that’s with the “Carsland bump”, higher prices (e.g. MYW tickets up 7%, DDP up 12.5%), and the Flower & Garden Festival being transformed into another revenue-generating booze & food fest.

This is consistent with the premium now charged for Magic Kingdom tickets. If all four parks were performing well, why not have an across-the-board price increase?

It’s difficult to dispute that the Magic Kingdom is Orlando’s most popular park.

However, perhaps all is not well at the rest of WDW. Perhaps The Spirit’s latest news concerning DHS is supported by Iger’s & Rasulo’s attempt to paper over WDW’s institutional problems.

Perhaps Iger & Rasulo have a big mess on their hands in Orlando.

Listening to those comments, what I bolded and underlined above is exactly what came to mind. The numbers for the MK had to be such that they felt they could increase the entry price without having any impact on demand...and they will continue to do so, whereas with the other parks, there is likely little doubt that they cannot do the same. Increase the price on any of the other three, and with the exception of F&W coming up, I'd bet they would become even less populated by guests.

Yes, it is a big mess. And without some real bold moves from an investment standpoint, a willingness to stand up to the board and Wall Street and spend some significant cash to rapidly respond with changes in those three parks that will bring guests back in droves...well, it's hard to imagine it will be anything but worse as we head into the next several years, IMO.

 

[StarWarsGirl]

I have never seen any of the Star Wars films. I am not a fan of soap operas.

It's not a soap opera; it's a space opera!

 

[culturenthrills]

It's stylized. Reeve's take on Clark harkens back to His Girl Friday-style of comedy. Donner's whole take on the Daily Planet was old school screwball comedy. It was a throwback then so its even more of a throwback now. Not a lot of actors can pull that off. Reeve did so while also showing Clark's vulnerability. But yeah, it's not meant to be taken as realistic.

The DCUA is just the best representation of super heroes in any medium other than comic books. And arguably, it's better than them too. Certainly more accessible.

The DCUA is the best. Batman:TAS changed everything about the way animated superheroes were done. It is over 20 years old and it is still one of the best version of Batman and is why all the other Batman animated series since have paled in comparison.

I just finished rewatching all of Batman, Superman(remember when Darksied killed Officer Dan Turpin, that had was mind blowing that someone could die in a cartoon like that), Batman Beyond and I am in the middle of watching Justice League. They are the pinnacle and many of the the animated movies are amazing. The Dark Knight Returns Part 1 and 2 is one of the best Batman movies ever made and I just watched Flashpoint last night and that was excellent. They are really on a role with the movies however not so much with the TV series lately. I could go on but this is one area that DC blows Marvel away. I am sorry but the new Avenger's Assemble sucks. The previous Avenger's:Earth's Mightiest Heroes series was really good. I hope the new Hulk series is good since Paul Dini is doing it. But Marvel has a long way to go to catch up to the DCUA.

Hey and it's my 500th post. I know way to much about pop culture and Disney.

 

[crispy]

I think your reasoning for the bump in MK prices only is very sound. Seriously, at this point, what incentive is it to go to the other parks?

Do you think the new Fantasyland had any impact on the MK's numbers at al?

 

[culturenthrills]

Feeding into The Spirit's narrative, how about this?

It wasn’t until I read The Walt Disney Company Q3 earnings call transcript that I realized what a nice snow job Iger & Rasulo had achieved with WDW attendance.

Initially CFO Jay Rasulo reported:

“During the quarter, attendance at our domestic parks was up 3%, with Walt Disney World and the Disneyland Resort each setting new Q3 attendance records”

Sounds great right? Record attendance, awesome right? At both WDW and DLR, right? But what exactly is does that mean?

When asked to expand on park trends, CEO Bob Iger let the cat out of the bag:

“Magic Kingdom in Florida had record numbers, as Jay mentioned, in the third quarter.”

Rasulo didn’t say “Magic Kingdom”, he said “Walt Disney World”. The Magic Kingdom is part of Walt Disney World so, in a sense, the Magic Kingdom setting an attendance record means Walt Disney World set some sort of attendance record but did Walt Disney World as a whole? It doesn’t seem so according to Iger who clearly identified the Magic Kingdom and the Magic Kingdom only. In fact, in his fuller answer to the question, Iger only spoke of the “Magic Kingdom”, never “Walt Disney World”.

Iger’s words align with observations. Guests reported tremendous crowds at MK last quarter but considerably less so at the other theme parks, especially during the latter half of the day.

And that’s WDW’s big problem. Attendance has become horribly lopsided with the other parks, particularly DHS, suffering badly as a result. MK is cannibalizing attendance from its own parks; not bringing new guests to WDW as a whole. WDW has the same problem today that DLR had 2 years ago.

Don’t forget that DLR attendance is up, way up. Carsland opened on June 15, 2012 and the quarter being reported ran from April to June. As it so happens, this was the last quarter with the “Carsland bump”. If combined domestic park attendance was up only 3% for the quarter and this was the last quarter with the “Carsland bump”, what exactly is going on at WDW?

Let’s not forget domestic park revenue was up only 7% for the quarter, and that’s with the “Carsland bump”, higher prices (e.g. MYW tickets up 7%, DDP up 12.5%), and the Flower & Garden Festival being transformed into another revenue-generating booze & food fest.

This is consistent with the premium now charged for Magic Kingdom tickets. If all four parks were performing well, why not have an across-the-board price increase?

It’s difficult to dispute that the Magic Kingdom is Orlando’s most popular park.

However, perhaps all is not well at the rest of WDW. Perhaps The Spirit’s latest news concerning DHS is supported by Iger’s & Rasulo’s attempt to paper over WDW’s institutional problems.

Perhaps Iger & Rasulo have a big mess on their hands in Orlando.

I am beginning to wonder if taking away the park hopper and charging extra for it is hurting the other parks. We the price increases for tix and the park hopper add on it seems like people aren't bothering with DHS or DAK whereas before they could start there day there and then go over to Epcot or MK in the evening. Or vice versa. Either way you may have had people in the park for a half a day but at least spending money on food or merchandise but with making the park hopper so ridiculously priced you are losing that. Remember when they used to advertise about how you could park hop. Don't see them doing that anymore. So in there greed they may have helped things get so lopsided. I know when we used to go on vacation we park hopped everyday. We never spent the entire day in the same park. Now people may be getting to MK first thing in the morning. Splitting in the afternoon and then coming back in the evening. So instead of them going to another park they are leaving completely which means they aren't spending money in the park. I think taking away the park hopper may finally be blowing up in there face.