Spirited News, Observations & Thoughts IV

[wogwog]

This is the upper management spin of course in the WDW current cast magazine shared with me by a cast member.

A lot of puff praise to the cast is omitted but this is the one guest quote included.



"... Guest testing of MyMagic+ is under way.

MyMagic+ is the next generation of the Guest experience, and
with it we are taking another step forward to evolve “how” people
experience our parks by making it easier than ever before for Guests
to have the best possible Walt Disney World vacation.

Thanks to this summer’s testing period, we know that we are on
the right track. Thus far, Guests who tested MyMagic+ have
overwhelmingly indicated that using My Disney Experience, making
FastPass+ selections, and using MagicBands made their experience
even better. One of my favorite quotes came from a Disney Vacation
Club Member who said that MyMagic+ had “given me my vacation
back” because she could relax knowing that her family’s favorite
experiences were planned.... ."

"overwhelmingly" really? More spin than a ride on the teacups.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Even if that were true, and is not, the idea that people have to be technologically savvy and even own certain devices in order to not have a subpar/unequal vacation experience at a theme park resort is simply absurd. Disney says this is all about making vacations easier and less stressful for guests when they are patently lying about that. Only the experts and the OCD addicts largely are finding this system an improvement.

As someone that probably meets both the expert and OCD addict, I don't see this system as an improvement. However, with some very simple changes it could certainly be an improvement for everyone.

• Only 1 FP+ reservation can be booked in advance. Eligibility is for Resort Guests, DVC, and Annual Passholders.
  
• No more than 50% of an attraction's Fastpass availability should be distributed prior to that day.
  
• Distribution of day of Fastpass should be done based on the rules of the current system and acquisition can be done through smart phones or through in park kiosks. The benefit of this is the elimination of back tracking. The in park kiosks should issue slips of paper that tell you your reservation time, but the slips of paper are nothing more than reminders, you still need your pass or magic band to get in the Fastpass line
• Attractions with a lower demand for Fastpass+ (basically the majority of the new FP+ additions) will not distribute day of Fastpasses except on busier days.

 

[Nubs70]

Two pages since I post the real explanation of what NextGen is and we're back to arguing about Wifi, RFID, and MagicBands. For your reference, so you don't need to backtrack:

I hope people will take the time to read this because (at least in my opinion), it answers the question of why the heck Disney would be shelling out over a billion dollars on the NextGen project. The logic is all here, in a Harvard Business School case called "Hilton Hotels: Brand Differentiation through Customer Relationship Management." Some highlights follow.

http://faculty.mu.edu.sa/public/uploads/1361962401.026customer relationship95.pdf








Over double its original budget. Hmm.








And there's the rub. Can they execute?

HBR has a recent article on The Chasm Between Strategy and Execution. Based on the postulations contained, WDW will be in for a tough ride.

 

[scout68]

The most offensive aspect of the Next Gen initiative is the fact that it's so blatant an effort to squeeze money out of guests without providing any substantive benefit in return -- there's absolutely nothing subtle about it. And the lies on which Next Gen's marketing is premised are so obvious that it should be an insult to the intelligence of any park guest who thinks about what he or she is really getting out of it, versus what Disney's getting...

Next Gen scheme.

Well stated...bravo!

Next Generation Scheme

scheme
skēm
noun

1. 1.
   a large-scale systematic plan or arrangement for attaining some particular object or putting a particular idea into effect.
   
   "a clever marketing scheme"
   :
   plan, project, plan of action, program, strategy, stratagem, tactic,game plan, course/line of action; More
   • 
     
     
   • verb

1. 1.
   make plans, esp. in a devious way or with intent to do something illegal or wrong.
   
   "he schemed to bring about the collapse of the government"
   plot, hatch a plot, conspire, intrigue, connive, maneuver, plan More

 

[Nubs70]

You can try try and try again to try to lead me into the trap you want.. but it isn't going to work. Make your claim or move on. You might as well be trying to lead people to think that The John Carter flop is what directly caused P&R to reduce EMH hours.

Go.com didn't shape P&R's behavior - Eisner and friends were not even shaken by these flops... and is in part why people were calling for their heads. The missteps continued time and time again with no consequence or attempts to stop the stupidity.

Point 1 - I am not leading you into a trap. I am trying to have a discussion.
Point 2 - It is yourself who is leading the John Carter/EMH linkage.
Point 3 - Since NGE is a WDW P&R project, P&R needs to recoup the cost of this project. The costs will be recouped through a combination of increased revenue, decreased operating expenditure, and decrease in SG&A.

 

[RSoxNo1]

You may be right but I'll reserve judgment on that particular issue until full rollout. I'm no civil engineer but my guess is that the same number of guests riding the same number of rides will result in the same wait times.
If folks like you used to get a dozen Fastpasses and will now only get three, shouldn't that actually SHORTEN standby times per your point above?

This is a system based on deception and perceived value. That's the reason behind adding FP+ to attractions that don't need it. A Guest doesn't see that value if the line hasn't been artificially inflated. There is a benefit for Disney to having the standby lines longer at these attractions.

In their mind, it's easier to deceive guests by creating a new normal of longer lines at attractions like Pirates, Mansion, etc because in their convoluted thought process it's a more effective way to keep people on property. Comparatively, Universal is building new attractions that truly generate those longer waits and that is succeeding in taking guests away from Disney. Take off your company glasses and look at the two approaches, then tell me which one is better for the guest?

 

[danv3]

IMHO, the best solution would be to completely eliminate FP/FP+. Let everyone stand in line the old-fashioned way. With any express line system, customers inevitably end up waiting for frustratingly long amounts of time, watching hundreds "cut" ahead of them. It's not conducive to customer satisfaction. Just ask a CM working the merge point: Are guests in the Standby line happy? If Disney truly wanted to improve customer satisfaction, they would eliminate FP/FP+.

However, you can't sell "no fast pass lines". FP+ is all about advertising a false benefit. FP+ is nothing more than a billion dollar sales pitch with little actual substance for the average guest.

Quoted for truth.

 

[Castle Cake Apologist]

Wait... now Next Gen is a government conspiracy? Seriously? What exactly does the government stand to gain from the knowledge that I hang out in the UK pavilion at Epcot a lot?

I can't even...

 

[flynnibus]

Point 1 - I am not leading you into a trap. I am trying to have a discussion.
Point 2 - It is yourself who is leading the John Carter/EMH linkage.
Point 3 - Since NGE is a WDW P&R project, P&R needs to recoup the cost of this project. The costs will be recouped through a combination of increased revenue, decreased operating expenditure, and decrease in SG&A.

all of which has absolutely nothing to do with the line of posts you jumped into. So I have no idea what discussion you are trying to have.

Let's recap... the first post in the tangent...

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

You keep trying to tie this back into showing how expensive gaffs are going to lead to cutbacks or increased prices... when I have twice told you that wasn't the case back then. In fact, the size of the gaffs continued to increase! While your logic is practical -- it's not what happened because the company wasn't operating in a logic fashion. It was being lead by a defensive egomanic making irresponsible decisions.

These acquisitions and failures are examples of poor leadership and absolute disregard for the value of the company's dollar... not examples of cash drains impacting operations.

 

[flynnibus]

I really don't want to get into another numbers battle, but your numbers don't add up with what I know to be true (feel free to correct me with evidence). EC, if I recall, had a budget of $650 million that was upped a bit and the project came in at $800 million. The 1983 adds made it an even $1 billion.

Either way, it doesn't negate the fact those projects HAD budgets and NGE seemingly does not.

The numbers are not concrete cites.. but FWIW.. the # I was referencing for EPCOT was 600 million to 1.4 billion. But looking more, I see Jim Korkis quoting 1 billion which I am comfortable as a source.

The precision isn't as important here as much as the point that 'excessively over budget.. even into double or more' is not virgin ground for Disney. So in answering the original post..

"Percentage wise, has any Disney project been that much over budget?"

I would say the answer is 'yes' - by a long shot.

 

[Computer Magic]

But Disney does charge for FP/FP+; it's just built into the price like (for example) DME or EMH. Disney would rather have everyone indirectly pay for FP+ than offer it as an upsale.

Eventually, FP+ will be sold to the public as the replacement to DME. "Our guests tell us that FastPass+ offers them the opportunity to experience their favorite attractions during normal park hours rather than arriving unusually early or staying unusually late. Our guests tell us FastPass+ is a more relaxing way to experience our theme parks." So, expect DME to go bye-bye within a couple of years.

The reality is FP+ is just a repackaged FP and WDW wants to eliminate the (for them) expensive EMH perk.

Yes, Disney hides their cost in the "package"' purchased. Just like you pay for Magical Express and theme park transportation whether you use it or not. However, a charge for FP+ will come along in some form. The base package may be included but you can enhance your stay for a price. I could see the FP+ go along the ways of the dining plan. I bet they won't decease your package when that that day comes.

 

[PorterRedkey]

But they are going backwards with 35mm, aren't they? Why aren't they filming it in 70mm?

From Wikipedia:

In the 1980s the use of these "blow-ups" increased with large numbers of 70 mm prints being made of some blockbusters of the period such as the 125 70 mm prints made of The Empire Strikes Back (1980).[8] However the early 1990s saw the advent of digital sound systems (Dolby Digital, DTS and SDDS) for 35 mm prints which meant that 35 mm could finally match 70 mm for sound quality but at a far lower cost. Coupled with the rise of the multiplex cinema, which meant that audiences were increasingly seeing films on relatively small screens rather than the giant screens of the old "Picture Palaces", this meant that the expensive 70 mm format went out of favour again. The DTS digital sound-on-disc system was adapted for use with 70 mm film, thus saving the significant costs of magnetic striping, but this has not been enough to stop the decline, and 70 mm prints are now very rarely made.

In recent years, the use of 65 mm negative film has also been drastically reduced, in part due to the high cost of 65 mm raw stock and processing. The only recent films shot entirely on 65 mm stock are Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet (1996), Ron Fricke's Baraka (1992), and its sequel Samsara (2011) and Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master (2012). Other films used 65 mm cameras sparingly, for selected scenes or special effects. Films with limited 65 mm footage include Terrence Malick's The New World (2005) and Christopher Nolan's latest three movies, The Dark Knight (featured 28 minutes of IMAX footage), Inception,[9] and The Dark Knight Rises (over an hour in IMAX).

For home theater, VHS and DVD did not offer enough resolution to carry the full image quality captured by 70 mm film, and VHS and DVD video transfers were usually prepared from 35 mm reduction elements. The high-definition Blu-ray format, in contrast, can potentially reveal the quality advantage of 70 mm productions. Although telecine machines for 70 mm scanning are uncommon, high-resolution transfers from high-quality full-gauge elements can reveal impressive technical quality.

 

[flynnibus]

Infrastructure doesn't sell tickets, but it seems that Disney no longer cares

tell that to every 'monorail expansion' thread poster...

While no one visits disney just for it's efficient 'xyz' - these work as contributing factors to make you enjoy your experience and make you prefer your experience in Disney vs somewhere else.

 

[Goofyernmost]

Wait... now Next Gen is a government conspiracy? Seriously? What exactly does the government stand to gain from the knowledge that I hang out in the UK pavilion at Epcot a lot?

I can't even...

You are liable to hear the same thing if you stand on a big city street corner listening to a guy wearing about 17 layers of clothing carrying on a conversation with air molecules. If the government relies on the 4 day average I spend at WDW, to get something on me, my file is going to have a lot of blank pages.

 

[flynnibus]

Frankly, whether the project is $400 million over budget in the end or $4 billion is of no moment to me at all.

So leave that poker out of the fire when trying to raise the heat

 

[Lee]

As someone that probably meets both the expert and OCD addict, I don't see this system as an improvement. However, with some very simple changes it could certainly be an improvement for everyone.

• Only 1 FP+ reservation can be booked in advance. Eligibility is for Resort Guests, DVC, and Annual Passholders.
  
• No more than 50% of an attraction's Fastpass availability should be distributed prior to that day.
  
• Distribution of day of Fastpass should be done based on the rules of the current system and acquisition can be done through smart phones or through in park kiosks. The benefit of this is the elimination of back tracking. The in park kiosks should issue slips of paper that tell you your reservation time, but the slips of paper are nothing more than reminders, you still need your pass or magic band to get in the Fastpass line
• Attractions with a lower demand for Fastpass+ (basically the majority of the new FP+ additions) will not distribute day of Fastpasses except on busier days.

That would be an excellent start.

 

[Goofyernmost]

Point 3 - Since NGE is a WDW P&R project, P&R needs to recoup the cost of this project. The costs will be recouped through a combination of increased revenue, decreased operating expenditure, and decrease in SG&A.

Reality check time: Disney is not spending money on NGE as a WDW project only. It is using WDW as a launching point and perhaps the place where the problems will be more likely to surface quickly, but, and I feel you can take this to the bank, this is meant for all of Disney parks and even parks other then Disney. They have all the incentive in the world to continue until it works, there is a lot of money to be made with this system and it is NOT from just Disney Guests.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

For home theater, VHS and DVD did not offer enough resolution to carry the full image quality captured by 70 mm film, and VHS and DVD video transfers were usually prepared from 35 mm reduction elements. The high-definition Blu-ray format, in contrast, can potentially reveal the quality advantage of 70 mm productions. Although telecine machines for 70 mm scanning are uncommon, high-resolution transfers from high-quality full-gauge elements can reveal impressive technical quality.

Quoted for truth. Comparing the Blu-rays and DVDs of 70mm titles like Ben-Hur, Hello Dolly or the Sound of Music reveals an amazing contrast. Nothing looks better on Blu-ray than 70mm content IMO.

 

[flynnibus]

If I remember correctly from Disney War, Eisner actually was against having Pat Robertson affiliated with the Disney brand but Strategic Planning talked him into it. The whole ABC Family mess was just dumb and much of the television IP acquired has since been sold back to it's original owners so... I guess it is still considered one of those taboo subjects the Company does not like to publicize as I am sure NGE probably will be in a few years.

In the 'happliy ever after category tho..' ABCF has finally been turned around for the most part. Once the meddlers got thrown out, and all the artificial constraints went away...after they blew BILLIONS.. many years later a phoenix rose from the ashes. Much smaller, and probably never able to recoup the dollars thrown at it early.. but a healthy product now with a resemblance of an identity. I think that is why you don't hear much about it now... time heals all wounds if there is a healthy output.

 

[Lee]

Wait... now Next Gen is a government conspiracy? Seriously? What exactly does the government stand to gain from the knowledge that I hang out in the UK pavilion at Epcot a lot?

I can't even...

Clearly, the government would have no interest in your in-park activities.

However, it is not inconceivable that the technology being used and the manner in which it is implemented may be of interest to any number of outside organizations, including the government(s).

I'll leave the dot-connecting to '74, but there are clearly some very interesting...relationships...going on behind the scenes.