Spirited News, Observations & Thoughts IV

[jensenrick]

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By the way, great to see a new thread, Spirit. Your posts are always quite thoughtful and fun to read. Keep up the good work!

LOL! Love that turn of phrase. Does that mean you are already thinking about this year's HHN? I am eagerly anticipating it myself.

 

[WDW1974]

thats the really painful part of all this...i think it was initially pegged at 2 billion...now it's at 3 billion. i remember hearing about this after our last trip in 2011, and was excited to think we'd likely be using it in 2013. we are 2 weeks away, and unless we are getting a surprise at check-in....not a chance.

can you fathom how many new rides, and how many amazing refurbs, could have been funded for three billion dollars?

i am honestly struggling to understand exactly where all that money went....its not like RFID is bleeding edge anymore.

it is not $3 billion ..yet anyway.

 

[Pixiedustmaker]

@WDW1974 if they are telling you that you can't post the news, does that mean that an announcement could be imminent?

WDW74 said that a 2015/6 time frame is now what would happen with a major project. This is where I'm coming from (well before the crazy D23/DHS mass fervor), given Iger's departure around this time, actually, 2015-2020 is probably all you can read in the tea leaves for WDW, and there will be a reassessment of WDW resort needs around 2015 . . . they might well decide they need more guests space, or an E-Ticket plugged into a park . . .

Looking at Avatarland, Iger sort of broke the model by announcing the land before much of any conceptual work was done . . . and this was done (only in my opinion), as it put some pressure on George Lucas when the StarWars deal was going on, to sort of show George that maybe Avatar is the next Star Wars . . . George wants to see Star Wars, his legacy, live on in the parks, Avatarland must have rankled him.

 

[RSoxNo1]

everytime I load espn and it redirects to espn.go.com - millions are reminded of the types of gaffs that was Disney in the 90s/00s

What was the go.com issue?

 

[RSoxNo1]

I'm going to D23 next week, and while still looking forward to it, I can't help but notice the gaping hole in the schedule left by the absence of a Parks and Resorts presentation. To me that speaks volumes about 1) How unready-for-prime-time NGE and MM+ is, 2) The lack of decision-making by the Board for new investment in WDW (sorta understandable, given the potential disaster that NGE is looking like it might be) and 3) the head-in-the-sand attitude that TDO seems to have about Uni. It's like they keep pressing their hands harder and harder over their ears, convinced that the noise about someone who does it better than they do will simply just go away.

And of course it goes without saying that specific discussion of NGE and MM+ -- TDO's brilliant idea -- is nowhere to be seen on the schedule... not even a nerdy panel discussion about how the "magic" will happen. You'd have to think that if they had any confidence in the technology there would be *some* display of it and its supposed power for Expo guests to try out.

Easily half the D23 schedule is composed of artist meet and greets.

Now, there is a large space carved out on the show floor map for the Parks and Resorts pavilion... perhaps they have some surprises up their sleeve that they will spring on us in that space... but I must admit, surprised would be quite the understatement -- more like shocked if that comes to pass. If there is any mention of MM+ at all --it will probably be a few MagicBands on display in a sealed lucite box, tucked away in a corner near the emergency exit.

I'm still holding out hope that there's a last minute schedule addition on Sunday afternoon. There is an open Sunday afternoon at the Arena, and there are Imagineering presentations all day.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Well, that's all fine and dandy but they aren't going to get a parks increase by 10%, so that figure kind of included that.

So what do you think they'd really get paid for that info? I think a few million would be optimistic. And any info that they could find out on you for their other departments, like film and television, aren't going to pay enormous dividends either. A 10% increase in film would only amount to around $150 million, for example.

Yes, it'll be in the millions (heck, maybe even hundreds of millions), but that doesn't come close to the $2-3 billion spent, or the hundreds of millions it'll cost to keep it going each year.

Well they're not getting 10% more in guest spending either so it doesn't matter. Growth can happen if spending happens. This has been proven without a doubt in the last 3 years.

 

[RunnerEd]

For those of you who still think NextGen is a good idea (yes, both of you). If/when this thing hits $3,000,000,000 that is 30 Expedition: Everest size/scope attractions that have not been built. I'm about to do some research on the Board of Directors and begin a 1 man letter writing campaign (with envelopes, stamps, letter carriers with goofy socks, and everything). It may do nothing but make me feel better but at least that will be worth a $.75 stamp or whatever they cost these days. BTW, is Disney's Dining Plan indexed to the Postage Stamp rate or vice versa?

 

[the.dreamfinder]

What was the go.com issue?

As you might recall web portals like Netscape, AOL and Yahoo were big in the late 90's. Disney was offered the opportunity to buy a sizable chunk of Yahoo, but instead partnered with and later bought a lesser known portal called InfoSeek. DisneyWar devotes a nice little bit to the GO network.

 

[Sam Magic]

For those of you who still think NextGen is a good idea (yes, both of you). If/when this thing hits $3,000,000,000 that is 30 Expedition: Everest size/scope attractions that have not been built. I'm about to do some research on the Board of Directors and begin a 1 man letter writing campaign (with envelopes, stamps, letter carriers with goofy socks, and everything). It may do nothing but make me feel better but at least that will be worth a $.75 stamp or whatever they cost these days. BTW, is Disney's Dining Plan indexed to the Postage Stamp rate or vice versa?

Can you send a petition with you, I want to sign it!

 

[RSoxNo1]

First, I'm sorry that you haven't joined the swelling (always ever swelling) ranks of my fans. But I am not in this for fans or even to make friends, with in and out of the business, even though I have.

As to your comments and questions, I think Disney absolutely could compete with UNI IF it was actually building new things and opening new things (I'm talking quality, not new fantasyland). But it is sitting back and saying collectively 'what do we do? What do we do? What do we do?'

I can say that right now, knowing what I do, that the above is not going to be enough to compete with UNI down the road. Not by a long shot. Even Niger knows this, but he'll be long gone by the time Disney truly has to stand up to the challenge.

There is nothing wrong with New Fantasyland if it was built alongside the other additions that were needed in the other three parks. There were no other additions so it now has to serve the purpose of the Potter response... It didn't do that.

 

[RunnerEd]

Can you send a petition with you, I want to sign it!

They don't do much good because fake signatures are easy to come by. In today's electronic communication world, you would be surprised how effective a simple, concise business letter is. Both my US Senator and Representative told me this. A phone call or email require very little effort but taking the time to actually write and then spend money to send it really gets their attention. I asked both of them in a recent visit what the best way to register my opinion on issues of the day so that I would be heard and considered. I'm hoping that it works on BOD members.

 

[IHeartArt]

LOL! Love that turn of phrase. Does that mean you are already thinking about this year's HHN? I am eagerly anticipating it myself.

You know it. Not entirely eager about all the zones being themed to The Walking Dead, but I always have fun at the event. Plus, Evil Dead and Cabin in the Woods being two of the houses (with Resident Evil highly likely to be another one) have me hyped for the event.

 

[bubbles1812]

Once again, there are several competent people that are on these boards, have business degrees, and could have told them that roughly 2 billion dollars ago.

I don't even have a business degree and I could have told them that...

 

[JenniferS]

Crap, you take one day off to help your brother move, and you log on to find a brand new 19 page Spirit thread.

Take a shower, and poof, we're up to 23 pages.

Oh well, at least I know what I'll be doing tomorrow.

 

[HMF]

There is nothing wrong with New Fantasyland if it was built alongside the other additions that were needed in the other three parks.

In addition to actually completely refurbishing and plussing the existing Fantasyland plus another dark ride where the glorified cafeteria was built.

 

[Pixiedustmaker]

For those of you who still think NextGen is a good idea (yes, both of you). If/when this thing hits $3,000,000,000 that is 30 Expedition: Everest size/scope attractions that have not been built. I'm about to do some research on the Board of Directors and begin a 1 man letter writing campaign (with envelopes, stamps, letter carriers with goofy socks, and everything). It may do nothing but make me feel better but at least that will be worth a $.75 stamp or whatever they cost these days. BTW, is Disney's Dining Plan indexed to the Postage Stamp rate or vice versa?

There's some crazy numbers floating around out there with regards to NextGen, the whole project once implemented probably costs around $1 billion . . . but that is for all Disney resorts worlwide, as well as some of the interesting stuf they've been working on for ride queues. Given that NextGen helps the resort save money via automation, (less time spent repairing/stocking FastPass machines, repairing hotel card entry), it has already increased spending at WDW and is being touted as a success. Development of the tech was probably $25 million, maybe less, and what WDW got probably costs around $175 million, maybe a bit more . . . so no need to get freaked out thinking they could have added tons of E-Tickets. Disney makes money, and saves on infrastructure, and it is a cool way to lure guests to the resort.

I'm all for new lands and attractions, but NextGen didn't steal money from this area of the company, and it will make the investment back . . .

 

[ChrisFL]

This is somewhat self serving, but I remember back when I was doing the podcast, we discussed Disney's inability to successfully build something technologically advanced. NGE is seemingly no different, other than it's more costly then their other recent failures.

Agreed, using very similar technology, the new Test Track 2.0 should be running flawlessly by now, but from many guest reports here and elsewhere, the interactive build your own car sections are still in very questionable shape.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Th8s will cost multiples of what it was expected to, will not drive revenue like Disney promised the Board and will never be fully implemented as originally planned. It also won,t be exported to Anaheim and Paris as planned either.

This is fabulous to know. Thank you so very much for that. Whew! What a relief!

 

[Magenta Panther]

I'm not either. I saw one or two when it first came on the air and part of the movie. Not really a fan (at all.) BTTF, the movie - huge fan. Still love it.

But The Simpsons ride is, IMO, so much better than BTTF was...the Simpsons is still one of my favorites in Orlando...I am always astounded when someone says they prefer BTTF. Like saying you prefer Stitch to Everest. Boggles my mind.

(But I do believe you! And you're certainly entitled to your opinion! )

If I may jump in here, I like the Simpsons a lot. Especially the movie. But that ride...it's pretty darn...weird. I still don't now if I like it or not...

 

[Voice of Disney sanity]

I told myself I wasn't going to wade into yet another messy discussion of NGE, but couldn't resist the temptation. [Huge Sigh!] That, and I didn't want to cloud this discussion any further away from WDW1974s postings, there's just too much to try and read thru all of this to try and keep on top of. In reality, I think it would be best if this were part of a whole other discussion, but since it's not, I'm curious if anybody knows what the original pitch was for NGE? Why did they buy into it?

In the end it sounds like there was major scope creep on the project, and marketing jumped into the mix of it because they saw value in extracting the data

Think about it. They know how you tour the parks, what rides you like, what characters your family loves, what kinds of souvenirs your family buys and what kinds of foods you like. They can send you a postcard next year with a pitch that includes an iteninerary right down to the souvenir Luke skywalker doll that talks to your kid Timmy by name. The NGE upside is a game changer. It's pretty obvious to me why they tried it. Not so obvious why they are neglecting the parks though