Spirited News, Observations & Thoughts IV

[novawildcat18]

But WDW is unsinkable. No matter what Disney does WDW will always be #1. With that kind of confidence, you can see why they haven't added an E Ticket to the MK in my daughter's lifetime and she goes to college next year. There is no reason to improve the guest experience when you're 11 feet tall and bullet-proof.

Unless those Orlando sinkholes get to it

But to continue on with this topic, I can see why Disney hasn't felt the need to add E tickets.However, if the rumors are true about WDW losing days, attendance, and consequentially revenue to other attractions in Orlando, I don't know why they aren't willing to spend the money to build these new rides.

 

[TP2000]

Over the years since , I can't help but notice all the military helicopters that fly over and around DL. Is DL getting daily flyovers from our military? Or are they just part of the military presence on the left coast and I am noticing them now when I never did pre-2001?

I think you're just noticing them now because you are conscious of it.

Disneyland sits right under the main flight path between two big and very active military air fields; Joint Forces Training Base at Los Alamitos about 10 miles directly due west of Disneyland, and the massive March Air Force Base in Riverside County about 40 miles directly due east of Disneyland. Walt Disney's Magic Kingdom is directly under any and all flight paths that would take military aircraft, mostly helicopters, to and from those two key SoCal bases. Throw in any USMC aircraft that would be moving between the two big bases in San Diego County and Joint Forces in Los Alamitos, and there's plenty of military aircraft moving over central Orange County on any given day.

There were even more military aircraft overhead back in the 1990's, before they decommissioned MCAS El Toro south of Disneyland.

The choppers are just commuting between those bases on the shortest route over central Orange County. It helps that it's also fun for the pilots to fly over Disneyland and Cars Land.

 

[Nubs70]

The technologies of large group tracking, modeling, and extreme scale tagging I'm sure are all technologies that spying agencies would be interested in. So its not shocking to see contractors that work with, or have funding from those agencies involved in a project like this for Disney.

It's the agency that originates the technology/project. The technologies described above were part of a DARPA program originated in 2003.

 

[Darth Sidious]

One anecdote that I shared with @Lee earlier and I sorta feel like it belongs here.

In Nov. 2001, I paid my first post 9/11 visit to DLR. One afternoon I was having lunch with George Kalogridis and a friend in media and talk went from plans for DCA's first holiday season and the new Luminaria show to the state of constant fear our nation had been under.

George didn't hesitate in telling me that I was safer at DL than anywhere else, despite the fact that it has likely been a target for wackos as long as I have been alive. In hindsight, there seemed to be more to the statement than wishful thinking. Over the years since , I can't help but notice all the military helicopters that fly over and around DL. Is DL getting daily flyovers from our military? Or are they just part of the military presence on the left coast and I am noticing them now when I never did pre-2001?

I do wish I had pushed George for an answer back then, but I was trying to escape the reality.

California has that big military presence as you know. I doubt they are getting flyovers but at that time there were a few articles on Disney security in papers such as the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. Basically their facial recognition technology and security was ahead of times and they were asked by the federal government to discuss how they could use similar technology in airports. I would imagine that's why but yeah DL and WDW are definitely at risk areas because of their iconic status and heavy tourism.

EDIT: just saw after that you had actually posted an article that spoke on some of the consulting work based on biometrics.

 

[Darth Sidious]

Well, that was fun.

Oh, and as to the Muppets' profitability:

The unit's revenue for the quarter was $1.6 billion. That was roughly the same as a year earlier but shy of the $1.8 billion analysts had expected. Disney said DVD and Blu-ray sales of "John Carter" and "The Muppets" fell short of last year's sales of "Tron: Legacy" and "Tangled."
http://articles.latimes.com/2012/aug/08/business/la-fi-ct-disney-earns-20120808

Oh wow, John Carter! Well at least the puppets are in good compan...oh, wait...

There is such a lack of logic in your hypothesis.

 

[Lord_Vader]

I just saw this picture posted on a website showing off 2014 merchandise. The obnoxious hat is gone

Can I like more?

 

[WildcatDen]

No one is asking the questions that need asking. And they aren't about when can I get my MAGIC Band.

OK. I will ask the big question. When do you think they will come out with Disney/NCAA themed Magic Bands? NFL? MLB? If you have to have the band, you might as well have it 'themed' as well, right?

 

[Darth Sidious]

I just saw this picture posted on a website showing off 2014 merchandise. The obnoxious hat is gone

For 2013 we also saw the retro logo and no hat but its just merch. Seems they are just doing it again.

 

[WildcatDen]

Uni accomplished more spending $265 million on Harry Potter than Disney will ever accomplish spending billions on MyMagic+.

That is assuming we all know the MORE that Disney is seeking to gain from this. Do we know? Really?

 

[Darth Sidious]

OK. I will ask the big question. When do you think they will come out with Disney/NCAA themed Magic Bands? NFL? MLB? If you have to have the band, you might as well have it 'themed' as well, right?

Probably not themed not non Disney IP but you better bet they will make products that create a new revenue stream based on something that it just a revenue generator.

 

[Darth Sidious]

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/daniel-loeb-takes-stake-disney-606665

This could be bad... This guy stirs $&@# up. He recently pushed strongly for Sony to spinoff it's entertainment arm.

@WDW1974 thoughts? It does say that he doesn't plan on stirring the pot with Disney though.

 

[flynnibus]

Don't doubt for a second they won't sell it in some form, whether it be through raw data or speaking engagements/seminars about what companies should do.

It would be a competitive edge for Disney... it would not do them any favors to try to share the experiences and promote it to other companies. Additionally in this space, raising awareness of what you are doing and to what degree will only invite more scrutiny.

I fully expect Disney to be MUM about it and not be the promoter as you suggest.

 

[doc_holiday3500]

But WDW is unsinkable. No matter what Disney does WDW will always be #1. With that kind of confidence, you can see why they haven't added an E Ticket to the MK in my daughter's lifetime and she goes to college next year. There is no reason to improve the guest experience when you're 11 feet tall and bullet-proof.

They didn't build a new e-ticket in MK but added an entire park (AK in 1998) and built other great shows and attractions in other parks. It's not like there have been no attempts to grow and improve the guest experience. Hopefully the focus on expansion will shift from the west coast to the east and we will see some new improvements here.

Whether Disney is truly unsinkable is a whole other discussion but I don't think even a company as large as they are would operate and make a multi-billion dollar investment based on an assumption. My bottom line is that without seeing the system in action and without more details that acting as if the entire disney experience will be ruined is premature.

On a side note I do hope the add a ticket option for same-day fast passes as currently exists which would work in conjunction with FP+.

Again, we will see what comes of it all.

 

[ParentsOf4]

That is assuming we all know the MORE that Disney is seeking to gain from this. Do we know? Really?

Please consider thinking of it this way:

Before the opening of WWOHP, Universal was in an awful way. To even suggest that WDW and Universal were in the same league would have required ignoring Universal’s many issues.

WWOHP completely turned Uni around, driving attendance growth that infused it with much needed cash, allowing it to address its institutional problems. Now, Uni has a robust business. WDW and Uni are viewed increasingly as equals. Today, Orlando’s theme park buzz is at Universal, not WDW.

One of the major goals of MM+ is to keep “guests” at the WDW parks longer or, as Rasulo so bluntly put it, to “get a bigger share of their wallet.” Disney is trying to squeeze more money out of its existing customer base, not drive growth in its customer base. This is something WDW’s been guilty of focusing on ever since Iger took control. Disney has been operating under the assumption that theme parks offer limited growth potential. Therefore, they’ve focused on reams of surveys of their existing customer base, trying to find new ways to get those same customers to spend more. Everyone has seen WDW being turned into a kiddie park over the last few years as Disney focused on a shrinking demographic. Today’s Disney management doesn’t understand what it takes to appeal to a wider audience (except for selling more booze at Epcot), something they used to do very well.

As a result of Disney’s narrowing focus, no matter what you think MM+ might be capable of, it will never have the profound “game changing” effect that the $265M investment in WWOHP had on Universal.

 

[Disneyhead'71]

Yes, I covered it.

For a Travel news story, I'm shocked that I didnt see any of those Disney Bloggers out there. No free Goodie Bag.

I was out there too.

 

[rael ramone]

And let's not forget or fail to point out that The Weatherman blatantly lied to a member of Congress when he said that people wouldn't be punished for not opting in,they wouldn't have a diminished product/experience..

But with all the 'enhanced' queues, aren't the guests that have the privilege of more MAGICal time spent in standby getting a more 'enhanced' experience than those guests, while they may have a 10:30 Space Mountain 'experience' reserved, don't get to play the Atari 2600 games in line

I wonder if Mr. Markey or one of his staffers reads this....

 

[alphac2005]

As CFO Jay Rasulo said, "So if we can get people to plan their vacation before they leave home, we know that we get more time with them. We get a bigger share of their wallet."

Nice to know Disney thinks of us as a wallet.

I used to think that we were officially known as specs on a spreadsheet, but that was apparently that incorrect, as Rasulo has cleared the air with that rather all so warm and fuzzy wallet. A cynic might look at that and question their motivations as to whether they really care about the quality of their product.

 

[alphac2005]

This is mostly but not entirely true. There are still some very good and very smart people working in TV news... and most of them are being minimized and/or forced into early retirement and/or laid off.

I have been very interested in some of the hirings in Al Jazeera's soon-to-be-launched US operations, because some of these people are sharp and smart journalists (and many of them are cast-offs from the nets and cables).

Also, there are some excellent journalists on PBS Newshour.

Al Jazeera International is very much fashioned after BBC News and if the U.S. product follows that model, we're going to have a quality, hard news channel, which hasn't existed in the States for many, many years.

 

[COProgressFan]

Spirited MISSED POINTS:
.....

Points like, forgetting the data mining and the billions, that before a CM running a check through had 2-3 steps. Now, with MM+ he/she has 10. Does this not sound like the antithesis of making things quicker and easier?

Sounds like it was designed by someone who has no actual experience working the field (in this case, the restaurant). It's obvious this entire NextGen initiative is crafted by people who have never actually set foot in a theme park, or at least without a CM ushering them from place to place as a VIP. These folks have no idea what it's like for a family to plan a trip and actually visit WDW as a tourist. And they absolutely have no idea what it's like to be a CM working there.

Disney used to pride itself on folks who worked up through the ranks in the company (like our friend George K. the Contemporary bus boy). But in practice, this no longer happens. You might think, wouldn't a person who's worked the front lines for years in various roles have a good understanding of what works and what doesn't, how to improve processes, etc.? In Disney's world today, however, that's not important. It's seemingly better to hire folks who are skilled in the art of being executives (at any company) rather than being skilled in the art of actually running a theme park.

Or how about this notion that you'll be able to obtain FPs day of. YOU WILL NOT. Disney is making FP+ a strictly reserve in advance system. This was confirmed at D23. Ask @RSoxNo1 if you do not believe me due to whatever ails you. Once there is FP+ live 'for all', there is no longer FP for anyone.

This is just crazy. My general understanding was the FP+ ressies would be able to be booked day of via kiosk or smartphone. However, this was tempered with the expectation that on the day of, there wouldn't be any really left (unless you want one for the Tiki Room). But if they really are not even going to offer them at all...well, I would anticipate many people are going to be upset by that.

Again, I really think they are completely out of touch with their product and their customer.

 

[alphac2005]

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/daniel-loeb-takes-stake-disney-606665

This could be bad... This guy stirs $&@# up. He recently pushed strongly for Sony to spinoff it's entertainment arm.

@WDW1974 thoughts? It does say that he doesn't plan on stirring the pot with Disney though.

If there is a guy in finance that has earned the acronym PITA, it's Loeb. Sony just told him to off with his idea to break the company into two pieces, which isn't about the health of Sony in the long-term, just a short-term move that would line his pockets with a healthy return on his investment.

It's hard to even type this, but a guy like him stirring the pot, that's simply awful because he can make Igervision look stunningly wonderful. They claim he doesn't plan to make a scene yet, but he's buying the stock on a high, which means there is some long-term play that he's looking at because TWDC's share price isn't going to suddenly skyrocket and this guy doesn't buy to make a couple bucks a share. He plays hardball and loves the notion of media companies breaking into pieces, ala what News Corp. did, what he tried at Sony because it can fatten his return on investment.... Very interesting story today and don't forget it because Loeb has only just begun.