Spirited News, Observations & Thoughts IV

[lazyboy97o]

I left thinking I hoped that Lego keeps pumping money into it, because you can tell the attractions they are "keeping alive" vs the "new things"...

Lego divested themselves of the Legoland properties a few years back. They're now owned and operated by Merlin Entertainments (wholly owned by The Blackstone Group) who is also behind the anchors for I-Drive Live, so they definitely have an interest in the Central Florida market.

 

[englanddg]

Lego divested themselves of the Legoland properties a few years back. They're now owned and operated by Merlin Entertainments (wholly owned by The Blackstone Group) who is also behind the anchors for I-Drive Live, so they definitely have an interest in the Central Florida market.

It's all the same at the top. I strongly doubt the board of Lego doesn't at least peer at balance sheets of the worldwide lego parks (or their consumer impact)...

Though, I could be way off base.

 

[71jason]

OK, so I just have to quote fully from the Universal investor call. It's just too good not to share:

"The thing that we’re most excited about, what really transformed our park in Orlando was opening Harry Potter, which happened a few years ago.​

​

I know everyone wants to give the glory to Potter, and no question The Boy Who Lived is what got everyone's attention. But Potterland taught Universal to rethink the existing theme park dynamic.* To build highly themed shops with unique merchandise and highly themed restaurants with unique menu offerings that make the land--not just the new ride--an attraction onto itself. They duplicated this formula with Springfield, and seem to be doing the same with Jurassic Park and Diagon Alley ... and Toon Lagoon after that?

In other words, they invented a new theme park paradigm that none of the competitors had yet created, and are now reaping the benefits of being the only game in town to offer it. UNIVERSAL ORLANDO' NEW STRATEGY IS "BLUE OCEAN" THEORY INCARNATE! All the MBAs in TDO clutching onto that book, studying it like it's the Torah ... their main competitor up the street figured out the secret. And now they're stuck with a $1.2 - 2+ billion white elephant.

* [An argument can be made one W.E. Disney invented the model WWoHP is based on. But his theory was lost to the mists of antiquity by the time Potter Land was actually built.]

 

[englanddg]

​

I know everyone wants to give the glory to Potter, and no question The Boy Who Lived is what got everyone's attention. But Potterland taught Universal to rethink the existing theme park dynamic.* To build highly themed shops with unique merchandise and highly themed restaurants with unique menu offerings that make the land--not just the new ride--an attraction onto itself. They duplicated this formula with Springfield, and seem to be doing the same with Jurassic Park and Diagon Alley ... and Toon Lagoon after that?

In other words, they invented a new theme park paradigm that none of the competitors had yet created, and are now reaping the benefits of being the only game in town to offer it. UNIVERSAL ORLANDO' NEW STRATEGY IS "BLUE OCEAN" THEORY INCARNATE! All the MBAs in TDO clutching onto that book, studying it like it's the Torah ... their main competitor up the street figured out the secret. And now they're stuck with a $1.2 - 2+ billion white elephant.

* [An argument can be made one W.E. Disney invented the model WWoHP is based on. But his theory was lost to the mists of antiquity by the time Potter Land was actually built.]

Actually, I'd argue they rediscovered what W.E. Disney already knew...but Disney Parks have largely forgotten.

As I said, they learned that all they needed to do was mend the net.

 

[stevehousse]

How is $80 mil a success? They had to have spent at least half of that on marketing. But yeah, it'll probably kill it on home video.

Cars was a religion in our family. Cars 2 was atrocious. IMO, the critics have always been way too hard on the first flick. If anything, they weren't hard enough on the second.

Cars 2 was darned near a franchise killer.

I think you have to realize that Planes was made relatively on the cheap and was to be a direct to DVD release, so the fact that it already has a "head start"on the home video front is very telling. The sequel coming out next year( also was suppose to be DVD only) will no doubtly make a good amount of money.

 

[lazyboy97o]

In other words, they invented a new theme park paradigm that none of the competitors had yet created, and are now reaping the benefits of being the only game in town to offer it.

Universal did not invent this concept, Disney did. Universal rediscovered what Disney and everybody else abandoned as too expensive and too nuanced for the masses.

 

[71jason]

My footnote was tongue in cheek--absolutely Walt got it. Potter is the first time in, what, 20 years, 30 years, someone went back to those principles. Not surprisingly, it worked gangbusters. Truly one of the most brilliant, creative minds of the 20th Century.

 

[englanddg]

Want examples? No one is impressed by the new "Walmart" version of Main Street...

No one wants the same merch at each and every store.

No one wants marketing crap shoved down their throats every chance they get (yes, I'm looking at you DVC).

All that being said, I am actually a fan of MM+ and FP+ having used it...but I wholly admit that it takes away from the experience.

Why?

The reason is simple.

I know exactly what I'm going to do and when. Instead of having amazing new experiences I didn't expect to have.

 

[lazyboy97o]

An example of how committed Disney once was to themed merchandise, Main Street Motors at Disneyland Paris once sold antique cars because it was supposed to be an early 20th century car dealership. Today, it's a clothing store...

 

[Ignohippo]

Easy enough! And I'll even pit Tangled against BatB.

1 When Will My Life Begin. Rapunzel and Pascal upbeat routine beats Belle reading her book.
2 Mother Knows Best. The 'psychedelic scene'. Beats Be Our Guests for visuals, if not for memorable showbizz.
3 I See The Light. What a beautiful song, and what a mesmerising scene with the lantarns. One of the all-time greatest Disney scenes. Then again, so is the BatB song scene. Beast all dressed up, Belle in her gorgeous yellow dress on the staircase, the tenderness of the song - it can scarcely be beat for romance.
But Mandy Moore is a better singing voice than old Paige o'Hare.

I also know the Duck bar song, 'I have a Dream', but that's one of my less favourite scenes.

I didn't look any of that up!


/grown men talking Disney princess movies. I demand a mob calling me mentally ill, fat, and a boi, even though I'm none of the three!

Of course there are going to be Disney geeks (and I hope you know I mean that with the very upmost respect, as I am one too) that know all of the songs in Tangled. My point is, the original poster and the general public wouldn't be able to name them, but they could name songs from the classic 90s flicks.

 

[71jason]

An example of how committed Disney once was to themed merchandise, Main Street Motors at Disneyland Paris once sold antique cars because it was supposed to be an early 20th century car dealership. Today, it's a clothing store...

Even just the Smuckers preserves and jellies in Liberty Square. The little details add up. Be it unique, themed merch or the realization every store is selling the same baby princess dolls. The best E-ticket needs support from its surroundings. Universal is coming to terms with this.

 

[englanddg]

Of course there are going to be Disney geeks (and I hope you know I mean that with the very upmost respect, as I am one too) that know all of the songs in Tangled. My point is, the original poster and the general public wouldn't be able to name them, but they could name songs from the classic 90s flicks.

Tangled had none of the overall social impact that BaTB had. A lot of that has to do with when it was released. The world was far different in the early 90s. Also there was a very popular USA show at the time that was based on Beauty and the Beast.

You really can't compare the two.

BaTB was a masterpiece released at the right time to a willing audience. Tangled was a very good movie released amongst another splurge of summer flicks.

 

[englanddg]

An example of how committed Disney once was to themed merchandise, Main Street Motors at Disneyland Paris once sold antique cars because it was supposed to be an early 20th century car dealership. Today, it's a clothing store...

This is what they don't get. By "immersing" the guest, they actually make us purchase more.

When we come across a T-Shirt, we want to get it, because we feel that we can't get it elsewhere. When we find out that most of it is available easily online and that shops carry largely the same merch, we start to ignore it.

 

[Ignohippo]

I think you have to realize that Planes was made relatively on the cheap and was to be a direct to DVD release, so the fact that it already has a "head start"on the home video front is very telling. The sequel coming out next year( also was suppose to be DVD only) will no doubtly make a good amount of money.

Even on the cheap, it cost them $50 mil. Marketing had to have been an additional $40-50 mil.

$80 mil in tix with costs of $90+ mil? After international release and home video, it'll certainly turn a profit, but it's hardly a "success".

 

[Ignohippo]

Tangled had none of the overall social impact that BaTB had. A lot of that has to do with when it was released. The world was far different in the early 90s. Also there was a very popular USA show at the time that was based on Beauty and the Beast.

You really can't compare the two.

BaTB was a masterpiece released at the right time to a willing audience. Tangled was a very good movie released amongst another splurge of summer flicks.

I'm strictly speaking of the music. The film IMO was every bit as good as those 90s flicks.

The music was good, just not on the same level. Even if it had come out in the 90s, the music still wouldn't have gotten the traction that the music from those other flicks received.

 

[HMF]

I felt they were the best of the recent lot, but still aimed at the younger set. If parents enjoyed them, fine. But they weren't made for that ... I also felt Tangled's merits were highly overblown as I saw it months after it came out. A lot of folks want to make it on par with Disney's 90s fare and I didn't feel it. I thought it was safe.

I think the issue is that the demographic minded marketing department is interfering with the creative process.

 

[englanddg]

Trip Reports 1971 - 2012

Wow, we discovered this!

Wow, we didn't even know they had characters here, and Tigger played with the kids for a bit!

Wow, this ride was amazing, I didn't even know it was here!

Trip Reports 2012+

Meh, we scheduled this restaurant and it was merely ok. I have better food at home.

We did our ride exactly when we expected to...neat.

Meh, we were supposed to meet the princesses, but Snow White wasn't there. I'm so ed.

Oh boy, they have a new bathroom! At least I can relieve myself in luxury. Oh wait...it's dirty.

 

[englanddg]

I'm strictly speaking of the music. The film IMO was every bit as good as those 90s flicks.

The music was good, just not on the same level. Even if it had come out in the 90s, the music still wouldn't have gotten the traction that the music from those other flicks received.

I don't disagree. It was a very well done film. It wasn't Menkin, but very well done.

 

[englanddg]

I think the issue is that the demographic minded marketing department is interfering with the creative process.

Overly educated people making simple stuff complicated.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

Here's one for all you fellow Tangled fans. The Rapunzel scene from DLP's dreams. It's magical.



As we all know, the 'lantarns over the castle' scene is subliminal marketing to imprint Disney imagery into young minds, just like the New Orleans imagery from Princess and the Frog. Still, it is a marvel to behold those lantarns float up over an actual Disney castle.


The point of this post is also to show the impact Tangled has had. It is no mistake that those (theme-wrecking) bathrooms are Tangled themed, and that the new FL m&G will have for its two princesses Cinderella and Rapunzel. This one's here to stay.