Spirited News, Observations & Thoughts IV

[truecoat]

Thanks for posting this video.

Could Joe 's last words in the video be a clue as to what the new land will be named? "I hope to see you in the World of Pandora". I think this would be a good choice actually, and convey the proper theme. What the Avatar haters misunderstand (and yet paradoxically instinctively get right) is that while the movie "Avatar" would be a horrible fit for Animal Kingdom, the "World of Pandora" could be a spectacular and excellent fit. Who cares if no one can name any characters from the movie, the World of Pandora
doesn't need them anyway. Animal Kingdom isn't about human (or other sentient) characters, it's about the animals and the environment, and Pandora provides quite an impressive environment.

You hit the nail on the head. Pandora was the main character in Avatar.

On a merchandising note, I'm pretty sure Cameron will have some sort of cool exotic food in the next movie just to give the snack bar a product to sell. Probably at Iger's urging, no doubt.
.

 

[JenniferS]

Hopefully Avatar land will bankrupt TWDC blowing 700Mil on something nobody cares about or wants to see again and finally TWDC may get back to it's roots under new leadership

Really, you would wish that, based on the fact that YOU don't care for the movie or the proposed attractions?
What arrogance.

 

[SirLink]

No it has to do with other than eye candy Avatar was a complete blank as a story, The novelty drove the box office now every crappy movie is done in 3D to try to overcome its stylistic problems (Michael Bey im looking at you)

Was it a bad story, not really. Was it 100% cliche - absolutely - but again maybe its just me but that to me that thinks cliched stories are the best. But again its easy to look and remember names

 

[SirLink]

No doubt they'll try. But does anybody WANT a Mickey Na'vi action figure?

Nah why even waste the plastic - have a native Nav'i hut selling unobtainum jewellery made in Thailand.

 

[ParentsOf4]

Really, you would wish that, based on the fact that YOU don't care for the movie or the proposed attractions?
What arrogance.

Was it a bad story, not really. Was it 100% cliche - absolutely - but again maybe its just me but that to me that thinks cliched stories are the best. But again its easy to look at remember names

As fans of WDW, we all should be hoping Avatarland is a success.

Just because some (many?) of us think corporate Disney has made some incredibly dumb decisions recently when it comes to WDW and wish some Disney senior executives would just fade away, that doesn't mean we don't want WDW to get better. Quite the opposite; we want them to go away so WDW does get better.

I'm not asking for the world, just make the parks as good as they were 10 years ago, when prices were a little bit more reasonable, commitment to quality was a little bit better, and a steady stream of new attractions could be anticipated.

 

[JenniferS]

Nah why even waste the plastic - have a native Nav'i hut selling unobtainum jewellery made in Thailand.

Not every ride can be (or needs to be) translated into figurines, stuffed animals and pillow pets.
The Briar Patch, which serves as the gift shop for two of MK's biggest rides sells little more than ride photos, t-shirts and picture frames.
Consider also, Haunted Mansion, the one ride that could have the absolute best gift shop, barely has a merchandise cart.

 

[ford91exploder]

You sure there is no "fan fiction" for Avatar? You really want to go that far out on a limb and state that as a fact? Think twice...

Show me - and not a vanity blog with 3 readers

 

[George]

Not every ride can be (or needs to be) translated into figurines, stuffed animals and pillow pets.
The Briar Patch, which serves as the gift shop for two of MK's biggest rides sells little more than ride photos, t-shirts and picture frames.
Consider also, Haunted Mansion, the one ride that could have the absolute best gift shop, barely has a merchandise cart.

Perhaps, now is not the best time to mention that I've sold Disney the rights to my Beanie Boo dark ride design where the ride actually takes you through one side of a brightly lit Beanie Boo gift shop and drops you off at the other end where surprise Beanie Boos that you couldn't view from the ride vehicle are revealed...What really put my proposal over the top were my renderings of every Disney character from every Disney owned ip as a Beanie Boo with little cockroach from Wall-E getting the most oooohs and aaaaahs. The Kang the Conqueror Beanie Boo was also a surprise hit. I've heard that TDO is now salivating over this "important piece" of the New Fantasy Land puzzle.

 

[Darth Sidious]

As fans of WDW, we all should be hoping Avatarland is a success.

Just because some (many?) of us think corporate Disney has made some incredibly dumb decisions recently when it comes to WDW and wish some Disney senior executives would just fade away, that doesn't mean we don't want WDW to get better. Quite the opposite; we want them to go away so WDW does get better.

I'm not asking for the world, just make the parks as good as they were 10 years ago, when prices were a little bit more reasonable, commitment to quality was a little bit better, and a steady stream of new attractions could be anticipated.

As usual, spot on.

 

[culturenthrills]

Yet they won't make quality unique products and they won't make decent Christmas ornaments anymore.

Yeah, the Christmas ornament selection sucks now. I remember when they had that 50% off sale 4-5 years ago all the different kinds of ornaments they have now its a joke and the prices especially on those ear hat ornaments is ridiculous.

 

[ford91exploder]

As fans of WDW, we all should be hoping Avatarland is a success.

Just because some (many?) of us think corporate Disney has made some incredibly dumb decisions recently when it comes to WDW and wish some Disney senior executives would just fade away, that doesn't mean we don't want WDW to get better. Quite the opposite; we want them to go away so WDW does get better.

I'm not asking for the world, just make the parks as good as they were 10 years ago, when prices were a little bit more reasonable, commitment to quality was a little bit better, and a steady stream of new attractions could be anticipated.

Exactly, But it's NOT getting better it's getting exponentially worse, Imagination shutting down in EPCOT, The Osborne lights going the way of Spectromagic, Now a SW land would be great but what WILL happen is no Osborne lights and the SOA area will be closed for renovation for about a decade.

Gordon Behune when his group bought Continental from Frank Lorenzo's Texas Air stated 'How much cheese can you take away from a Pizza before it stops being a pizza" Continental was at the 'No longer a Pizza' point, Disney is flirting with the 'No longer a Pizza' point as well as the miserable experiences brought about by NGE during my last trip to WDW illustrated.

Disney needs to bring back the things they have taken away, the attention to detail, the small shows that used to exist all through the parks, Bring back decent food - not 'Golden Corral' quality at Morton's prices, Maintenance in the DVC's so they dont smell like mold. Fixing the DVC availability issues.

Not this Oooh Shiny "Blue cat people movie", A steady stream of B - C ticket attractions would be better than this tentpole approach

I have no faith in TDO, Personally I think they would rather shut most of the FL parks down and build a Casino complex as that simply requires a steady supply of alcohol and the occasional swapout of slot machines.

 

[George]

Yeah, the Christmas ornament selection sucks now. I remember when they had that 50% off sale 4-5 years ago all the different kinds of ornaments they have now its a joke and the prices especially on those ear hat ornaments is ridiculous.

My guess is they ran out of stock a few years ago and then TDO(this is partly based on my eyeballs detecting Christmas decorations and then my brain processing the information and doing a comparative study with past years) started to sell the decorations that were typically used to decorate WDW to keep up with demand and free up storage space. Now, they've got nothing to sell and I hear that EPCOT's decorations may consist of one 6 foot long garland festively strewn at the base of a Spaceship Earth footer.

 

[ford91exploder]

Really, you would wish that, based on the fact that YOU don't care for the movie or the proposed attractions?
What arrogance.

Do you see any chance of getting park management who actually care about the parks in other than a crash scenario? I think bankruptcy is the only way of removing the current senior management of TWDC.

The only way TWDC has been 'growing' has been price increases on P&R and their Cable properties, TWDC has not had organic growth in years. DVC has also harvested a huge amount of cash which was obviously not spent on the most recent properties.

BLT sales generated over 800 Million in revenue and the furniture is shot not even 5 years after hotel opened.

Where is the good management here, other than the management bonuses??? where is the long term strategy???

 

[The Visionary Soul]

Thanks for posting this video.

Could Joe 's last words in the video be a clue as to what the new land will be named? "I hope to see you in the World of Pandora". I think this would be a good choice actually, and convey the proper theme. What the Avatar haters misunderstand (and yet paradoxically instinctively get right) is that while the movie "Avatar" would be a horrible fit for Animal Kingdom, the "World of Pandora" could be a spectacular and excellent fit. Who cares if no one can name any characters from the movie, the World of Pandora
doesn't need them anyway. Animal Kingdom isn't about human (or other sentient) characters, it's about the animals and the environment, and Pandora provides quite an impressive environment.

I have it on extremely good authority that the only name for the land is:

PANDORA: The World of AVATAR

That's it. Take it or leave it. Normally I'd say to wait and see what the final name will be because things change, but this title doesn't seem like it will change one bit.

 

[The Visionary Soul]

What exactly did he say to you?

Besides that? He likes a good gin and tonic.

 

[SirLink]

Not every ride can be (or needs to be) translated into figurines, stuffed animals and pillow pets.
The Briar Patch, which serves as the gift shop for two of MK's biggest rides sells little more than ride photos, t-shirts and picture frames.
Consider also, Haunted Mansion, the one ride that could have the absolute best gift shop, barely has a merchandise cart.

Facts about Theme parks there will be merchandise, the easier thing to do is native jewellery and Cameron would respect that ideal.

For the record I don't why your arguing with me.

 

[JenniferS]

Facts about Theme parks there will be merchandise, the easier thing to do is native jewellery and Cameron would respect that ideal.

For the record I don't why your arguing with me.

Not sure what you found argumentative there.

I thought I was actually agreeing with you, but okay ....

 

[SirLink]

Not sure what you found argumentative there.

I thought I was actually agreeing with you, but okay ....

You could said "I agree ..." first though

 

[lazyboy97o]

As fans of WDW, we all should be hoping Avatarland is a success.

Just because some (many?) of us think corporate Disney has made some incredibly dumb decisions recently when it comes to WDW and wish some Disney senior executives would just fade away, that doesn't mean we don't want WDW to get better. Quite the opposite; we want them to go away so WDW does get better.

I'm not asking for the world, just make the parks as good as they were 10 years ago, when prices were a little bit more reasonable, commitment to quality was a little bit better, and a steady stream of new attractions could be anticipated.

I know what I'm about to say is a case of "damned if they do, damned if they don't" but I'm not too keen on this succeeding either because I don't think it'll be good for Walt Disney World. If successful I think Disney will give the credit to it being an intellectual property and it will only encourage more dropping in of properties wherever there is physical room.

 

[JenniferS]

I know what I'm about to say is a case of "damned if they do, damned if they don't" but I'm not too keen on this succeeding either because I don't think it'll be good for Walt Disney World. If successful I think Disney will give the credit to it being an intellectual property and it will only encourage more dropping in of properties wherever there is physical room.

But, if it's a great ride, brilliantly executed, and enjoyed by the guests; who really cares if it's based on an original Disney creation, a purchased franchise or an acquired IP?

DAK, DHS, and Epcot (to a lesser extent) all need more things to do.
I just returned from 10 days in the parks, and for the first time ever, I felt that we had done all that we needed/wanted to do within the first 7 days. By the last few days, we were only attending parks based on ADR's, not on the need to tick certain rides off our list. With very few exceptions, we had done them all - multiple times.