Spirited News, Observations & Thoughts IV

[Goofyernmost]

Yes but Facebook only gets you so far with information.

It's vitally important to the CIA what part of the populace is in WDW on any given day. Anyone that heads for Stitch's Great Escape will be immediately labeled subversive and ray gunned into a smoldering pile of dust as a suspected alien. Why else would someone go there?

 

[Californian Elitist]

Nope, I don't. Neither does almost anyone else posting here. I can only judge by his words. They are light on content, heavy on personal opinion, and dripping with negativity.

Look, that's his right and that's fine. Just don't make out like you are a deep WDW insider. You're just a passionate guy with an opinion, like the rest of us.

I've actually hung out with '74 (yes, in public), and boy, you couldn't be more wrong. He's the best Disney fan to talk to because he speaks the truth and he's not on some bulls*** like the apologists and fanbois that continue to poison the company. You said it yourself, you're judging by his words, only, which I don't understand entirely, because you'd see he's just being truthful.

You're no one to claim if he's an insider or not, so that's all I'm going to say about that.

 

[asianway]

Monopoly money....that sounds like you. Always playing games.

Because Disney isn't ruthless about laying people off after projects are complete.

 

[pixargal]

I read an article in the newspaper this morning about Dollywood. Dolly is planning on investing $300 million into the park over the next decade. This amount includes a resort hotel, which sounds amazing, btw. It will also include money for new rides and entertainment. The resort is scheduled to be open in 2015. I am already planning a visit. Dolly gets it, why doesn't TDO? This is what draws new visitors.

 

[rael ramone]

IF I visit the parks again my 'Magic Band' will be in one of these

http://www.ramayes.com/RF_Shielded_Pouch.htm

With the changes to the experience DW and I are giving serious thought to letting our PAP's expire this year

I just dragged that link to my desktop. thanks...

 

[Nemo14]

I read an article in the newspaper this morning about Dollywood. Dolly is planning on investing $300 million into the park over the next decade. This amount includes a resort hotel, which sounds amazing, btw. It will also include money for new rides and entertainment. The resort is scheduled to be open in 2015. I am already planning a visit. Dolly gets it, why doesn't TDO? This is what draws new visitors.

This was mentioned here yesterday too:

even Dollywood is doing big things and much quicker than Disney:

DOLLYWOOD TO GET $300 MILLION UPGRADE [DOLLY PARTON ANNOUNCES DREAMMORE RESORT IN 2015 AND FIRE CHASER EXPRESS IN 2014]:
"In the near future, Parton sees a resort hotel lobby with a three-story window that frames Mount LeConte — one of the tallest peaks in the Smoky Mountains. Guests will be able to book a grand suite in the hotel that the entertainer uses when she stays in the Pigeon Forge theme park that bears her name.

All of that is future tense, but not very far away. The park plans to open DreamMore Resort in 2015. It's part of a planned $300 million expansion to take place over the next decade.
...
A new roller coaster, this one aimed at families, is scheduled to open in 2014....

"The thing we're most excited about is finally building our resort," Parton said Friday by telephone from the park in the Smokies foothills....

There will be a lot of "front porch spaces" at the resort. Parton noted that during her upbringing nearby, people tended to congregate on front porches or in the kitchen.

A fishing pond will be on the property where children can catch their first whopper and there will be fire pits where families can roast marshmallows.

People walking into the lobby will be greeted with a glass of lemonade in the summer and a cup of hot chocolate during winter months.

The total dollar investment in the next decade will exceed the company's spending on Dollywood so far, said Craig Ross, president....

The first of the new attractions will be Fire Chaser Express, scheduled to open next year....

Leon Downey, executive director of the Pigeon Forge Department of Tourism, emphasized the importance of the Dollywood expansion....

The Sevier County where Parton grew up was mostly hardscrabble farming and a few summer forays into selling trinkets to tourists.

She is proud to be part of the transformation of the mountains gateway community."

http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/wireStory/dollywood-build-resort-add-shows-rides-20022025

http://www.today.com/travel/dollywood-get-300-million-upgrade-6C10965283

http://smokymountainviews.com/Dollywood_Events.html

I totally agree. It sounds awesome!

 

[Tim_4]

What is your point? You are getting into a ing match that they are technically not over budget today but will be tomorrow. The fact is that they ARE and WILL BE over budget. What point are you trying to make saying that they are not quite there but will be? You make no sense sometimes most of the time.

The only point I was making is that people throwing around $3 billion are way off. That's all.

 

[doctornick]

Sorry Tim but it IS true. Instead of making accusations please list the facts and proof of your argument if you are going to try to discredit his claim. It is yours to prove due to YOUR disagreement...not his.

So...lets see the facts.

The reality is that no one has "facts" to support their claims. At least not facts that are easily accessable and able to be posted on a public message board.

I don't see any reason to call Tim_4 out for this any more than there is to call out WDW1974 out for any claims that are made. You can choose to believe who you want to believe.

 

[WDWDad13]

Monopoly money....that sounds like you. Always playing games.

???????

 

[rael ramone]

we have to get out of jail first lol

Nah, they've got the Mouse Arrest program planned for our incarceration

(and you don't want Boardwalk - the Oranges are what you want - 6, 8 & 9 spaces past jail which means everyone lands on it, plus $900 gets you 3 houses a piece). Boardwalk is as overpriced as......Boardwalk

MM+ - as far as the family with kids upset about not getting a prime seat for a parade - they will pay for that seat (assuming that they get them before they are all taken) by artificially long lines for everything else (and we know young kids who are used to spend all day in front of the TV + overstimulation + crowds + hot temps + long slow moving lines for everything = nothing good) - never mind the confusion of the whole system. A better way to handle this is to set up a number of special places for people who these parades, etc are really important, and let them get a Legacy Fastpass for it day of.... Cost a whole lot less, too...

 

[alphac2005]

Then leave. Why do you lurk and read if you do not like him? Promoting himself for what? Has he asked the population for money to get a new computer like other blogs? Is he selling insurance? Is he selling DVC? Promoting for what? He is not getting paid to post stuff here (even though from reading his posts he probably would for a Perkins milkshake!).

Please explain how and why you feel he is promoting himself.

I've read Disney message boards for twenty odd years going back to the alt.*.* Usenet groups and simply put @WDW1974 has not had anyone come close in the rumors and behind the scenes rumbling departments outside of Al Lutz. A long time ago to a lesser extent Jim Hill (before he incredibly obviously became the shoveler of Disney PR spin) has had the goods and our source on the boards is simply gold. His accuracy is uncanny (far greater than about anyone else I've read outside of Al Lutz) and if people don't like a dose of sarcasm, or snark, then at least acknowledge that his track record is outstanding.

Just like you said, where's the promotion here? As far as the average reader of the board is concerned, @WDW1974 is an anonymous face on the internet, who happens to be plugged into The Walt Disney Company, and he shares sometimes brilliant information that isn't found elsewhere..... and nearly always pans out to be correct. What's he promoting? He has no site that we know of, no business that he's promoting. What's he promoting, his posts? At WDWMagic, we're lucky that there is akin to a whistleblower amongst us and many of the nuggets are very interesting for all. If someone is offended by his banter, that's one thing, but the information being provided is quite solid.

 

[Captain Chaos]

It's vitally important to the CIA what part of the populace is in WDW on any given day. Anyone that heads for Stitch's Great Escape will be immediately labeled subversive and ray gunned into a smoldering pile of dust as a suspected alien. Why else would someone go there?

Actually, is it possible we can request one of those armed drones to, instead of taking out an American, take out Stitch's Great Escape?

 

[Captain Chaos]

Nah, they've got the Mouse Arrest program planned for our incarceration

Now we get it... Disney is in bed and spooning the government so anyone who does not cough up money they don't have to fill Disney's already bloated pockets (and no, there is nothing wrong with Disney making a profit but HOW they are making it), Iger will have his finger on the button ready to strike down anyone who dares NOT spend extra cash or who dares LEAVE property to visit the new exciting offerings elsewhere... We figured the whole plan out... That is why the President was there a few times, hiding the truth by talking about Brazilian/International tourists who are already coming... We are on to you Disney!!!!

 

[Rodan75]

I am not sure Jim Hill would know the truth if it came on the same plate as his 4000 calorie lunch.

Well that was an un-called for low blow.

 

[Rodan75]

most of it is monopoly money... more juggling resource allocation (time) v/s writing checks out the door

big difference


I don't work for disney and I didn't stay at a holiday inn express last night... but I have managed several 1mil+ IT related projects...

Also think of the affiliate costs. Disney Consulting charges TDO $150/hour for resources it only pays $50/hour. so there are real 'green' dollars going out the door, but the project is being charged for 'blue' dollars and that is what gets discussed in these boards, the charges for TDO, not the 'green dollar' charges to TWDC. This is a common corporate activity for groups that could sell services both internally and externally.

 

[Tim_4]

I know it is inconceivable, but you could both be right. The project is over budget, but not sitting at $3B, that syphons money from DAK and other projects.

Correct. All in, the project will probably be somewhere in the $2B neighborhood when all is said and done. The problem is, when people say $2B, others interpret that as "$2B SO FAR, with more to come." That's where the misconceptions come from.

 

[MattM]

The problem is, when people say $2B, others interpret that as "$2B SO FAR, with more to come." That's where the misconceptions come from.

But it's more fun.

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

Not a critique or statement of fact, but, just a question/observation. Unless I'm misreading your meaning, if I ran a company and I contracted with outside sources to achieve a goal, the first thing I would do would be to write up specs., detail the end result needed and send it out for bid. The company that bids on that project is then insured (bonded). They are also saying to the customer that they can and will produce the desired product at the bid price. Usually, when a problem happens that causes delay's, in this case, the inability to get the programs to work in the desired fashion, it is up to the company that bids to deliver, without additional cost, what the customer originally asked. The only time that additional expense is incurred is if the customer adds features not originally specified to the contract. I'm sure that "electronic" outsourcing is different then say, building a building, but the company that says that they can deliver will have a massive responsibility, financially, to deliver what they said they could.

My whole point is wouldn't Disney have an avenue to recapture or just not pay a large part of the unanticipated expense from the people they contracted with? Again, unless Disney made massive changes that threw the monkey wrench into the works, the people doing the work would have to eat the additional costs to deliver what Disney requested. If Disney did it all in-house, then Disney has to eat the expense completely.

The gov already has a mass tracking program in place, its called Facebook! Ever look at the copyrights for Facebook? They are copy written to the CIA!?!

The CIA want photos of me getting ratted with my mates? Well given some of our previous employment activities Im sure we are on files somewhere.

 

[stevehousse]

The CIA want photos of me getting ratted with my mates? Well given some of our previous employment activities Im sure we are on files somewhere.

Watch the documentary "terms and conditions may apply"

It scary how much information is out there!

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

Watch the documentary "terms and conditions may apply"

It scary how much information is out there!

I think its about 20 years too late for me to worry about that.