Spirited News, Observations & Thoughts IV

[bubbles1812]

@WDW1974 how much will the recently announced Artemis Fowle movie cost in hopes of it being the next Potter?

Fowl was/is a decent series or at least of the books I read, I found most were decent. Think was 3 or 4 before I "outgrew" the series, and had no interest in finishing it. It always struck me as much more childish than Potter. It didnt go as "dark" as Harry went in the later books, which is fine, but it thus didnt have the same grab for me. The stakes werent high enough. And the characters and their motives were never quite as complex.

While its certainly a popular series, I see it more along the lines of the Percy Jackson series in terms of how movies would do. Successful but not spectacular. Pulling its main audience from the teen and under crowd. Not able to grab a huuuuge chunk of adults needed for mega success the way Potter, or something like The Hunger Games, or (ick), even Twilight managed to do.

I guess we will see, but it's definitely not a series Id see as getting a section in a theme park, even in the long term future.

EDIT: And actually when I think about it, if Disney wanted to even try making Fowl into a mega success, the first thing they need to do is kick their curreng movie marketing team to the curb... Man they suck.

 

[Voice of Disney sanity]

Then why are Six Flags' parks not the most visited in the world? Story enhances rides. Dark rides such as FJ or PPF could not exist if they did not tell a story. If you take the story away from ToT or Splash they would be average rides at the most. All people care about story yet many are unaware of it because they do not notice the correlation between story and the thrill or fun they have.

Cedar point is pretty darn busy with coasters and no story!

 

[Jeffxz]

Can anyone explain at this point how MM+ is supposed to have a positive ROI? Through the last few months, these are the main points I have seen discussed, and reasons why they don't make sense to me.

• Data-mining: Truly what data can be mined from a WDW guest? They can tell how long you were in a particular store? With the exception of Downtown Disney, almost every store in WDW sells the exact same things. Can they tell that I prefer to buy a Duffy from a circus themed store instead of frontier themed store and somehow target me more accurately for advertising? Also, does the average visitors vacation spending habits really match up to everyday spending habits? What new information can they get now that they couldn't before from tracking my KttW or credit card?
• Ease of Use / Impulse buying: Is tapping a wrist band and entering a pin really easier than swiping a KttW or credit card? I still need to pull out my AP for a discount at a store, or pull out my ID when buying alcohol, not to mention I still need to wait in line to get to the cashier to complete my purchase.
• Bringing in new guests: As discussed in this thread, people won't come to WDW for FP+, they come for new attractions.
• Increased Guest Satisfaction: I think that FP+ and MM+ could go either way. Plusses are that FP+ stops people from waiting in lines, but could also cause people to not need a full day at the park and feel that admission prices weren't justified.

I can see how this was planned to help back end costs with integrating legacy systems, expanding capacity, and probably covering some technology upgrades that were going to be required anyway. But at this point I just can't see how this is expected to generate new revenue.

 

[IHeartArt]

There is a story to Haunted Mansion. The story is "Hey guys, I'm a ghost. You want to see ghosts? Okay, I'll show you ghosts. This is a house for ghosts. See? Ghost in glass orb. Ghost in coffin. Ghosts behind doors. Ghosts at a party! Creepy bride ghost in attic, don't know what her problem is. Ghosts like you, that's why they're showing up more often. In fact, some ghosts like you so much that you're haunted now. Hurry back! We got ghosts!"

The difference is that a lot of this is done more with imagery than dialogue. A story that's subdued is still a story.

 

[artvandelay]

The pay-to-play FP-type system in use at Six Flags and Universal is perhaps the best way to recuperate investment. That system is relatively easy to use, requires no preplanning, and provides obvious benefits to the customer along with immediate financial reward to the supplier. Even today, it amazes me how many purchase these systems after arriving at the parks.

Bingo! The Six Flags system was very easy to use and effective. You had a hand held device with a small screen that showed you rides that were available, and their current wait times. You selected your ride and it would tell you when you could enter the special queue (usually a side entrance or the exit). Return times were from now to 20 minutes. I was thinking this system would be a great replacement for the current GAC system. People with special needs could still bypass the lines, but the immediate line jumping for abusers would be eliminated.

 

[doctornick]

Another DL note:

No Fastpass on Peter Pan = Peter Pan line never longer than 45 minutes.

Stopped by at least a half dozen times last week and was almost always 20-25 minutes.

Oh, and they don't have falling off foil in their volcano that looks worse than my kids' elementry school projects.

Of course, DL's Fantasyland has a ton of rides as well, spreading out the crowds in the area.

That still to me is the biggest complaint I have about the FLE for WDW -- not adding some smaller, traditional "dark rides" to increase capacity. They could have easily added something themed to Sleeping Beauty or Tangled to the forest area (or had an actual BatB ride); instead they closed SWSA. Furthermore, having Casey Jr be a splash area instead of a smallish ride like the train in DL.

 

[wdwmagic]

Can anyone explain at this point how MM+ is supposed to have a positive ROI? Through the last few months, these are the main points I have seen discussed, and reasons why they don't make sense to me.

• Data-mining: Truly what data can be mined from a WDW guest? They can tell how long you were in a particular store? With the exception of Downtown Disney, almost every store in WDW sells the exact same things. Can they tell that I prefer to buy a Duffy from a circus themed store instead of frontier themed store and somehow target me more accurately for advertising? Also, does the average visitors vacation spending habits really match up to everyday spending habits? What new information can they get now that they couldn't before from tracking my KttW or credit card?
• Ease of Use / Impulse buying: Is tapping a wrist band and entering a pin really easier than swiping a KttW or credit card? I still need to pull out my AP for a discount at a store, or pull out my ID when buying alcohol, not to mention I still need to wait in line to get to the cashier to complete my purchase.
• Bringing in new guests: As discussed in this thread, people won't come to WDW for FP+, they come for new attractions.
• Increased Guest Satisfaction: I think that FP+ and MM+ could go either way. Plusses are that FP+ stops people from waiting in lines, but could also cause people to not need a full day at the park and feel that admission prices weren't justified.

I can see how this was planned to help back end costs with integrating legacy systems, expanding capacity, and probably covering some technology upgrades that were going to be required anyway. But at this point I just can't see how this is expected to generate new revenue.

Agreed, I really cant see how it will increase revenue. A MagicBand is really no easier than a credit card, and at the end of the day, there is a limit to what people will spend. That is not suddenly going to change with a band. I do see it perhaps allowing easier spending at waterparks, where guests may not have cash or a credit card at hand. However, is spending at water parks ever going to be that high? I don't think so.

 

[Hakunamatata]

Agreed, I really cant see how it will increase revenue. A MagicBand is really no easier than a credit card, and at the end of the day, there is a limit to what people will spend. That is not suddenly going to change with a band. I do see it perhaps allowing easier spending at waterparks, where guests may not have cash or a credit card at hand. However, is spending at water parks ever going to be that high? I don't think so.

Sometimes I wonder if there is support that having charging ability almost at your fingertips feeds into succumbing to impulse buying a lot easier than even having to pull a card out of your wallet.

 

[wdwmagic]

Sometimes I wonder if there is support that having charging ability almost at your fingertips feeds into succumbing to impulse buying a lot easier than even having to pull a card out of your wallet.

Yeah for some people maybe. It certainly isn't going to impact my spending.

 

[alphac2005]

That's just genius! I shall never cease to be amazed by your way with words and rhetoric.

It's exactly how large areas of WDW, indeed central FLA, make me feel. Who are these people who look like their check bounced at Walmart but who populate WDW's TS restaurants and luxury resorts?

This actually gets back to one of the observations that my wife and I made at Portofino Bay and actually all the resorts at Universal, the vast majority of people that were guests there, looked the part. People looked a lot more respectable, had manners, and dignity. I'm not traveling down the wormhole of the whole class system, per se.

For example, I'm a business owner and don't deal with wearing formal attire in my workplace, so I'm never one to be too dressed up, at all. However, whether it's a well cut polo style shirt or properly fitting Lacoste type of tee, that's my general appearance. I take pride in presenting myself well and that's what I noticed with the majority of the guests. It didn't mean that everyone was dressed to the nines, rather just put together and respectful. To be honest, it was very refreshing. It wasn't all too long ago that being well presented wasn't something that was an attribute to only the wealthy, it was a universal thing that the majority of people did.

 

[kittybubbles]

I am not a fan of MM+ or FP+. Our daughter's AP ran out in MAR, ours expired in July. I do not see returning to WDW anytime in the near future. Our last two trips to Orlando were spent at UOR.

I just wanted to mention one aspect of NextGen that might be ok for guest and should have an ROI for Disney.

A guest staying on-site is sent their magic band ahead of time, they link their tickets and such. When they arrive in Orlando, they should be able to go directly to a park w/ no need to stop by their resort. When their room is ready, an E-mail or text message will tell them their room # and give them a map the show them where their room is....no need to ever stop by the front desk....Disney will reduce the front desk staff to one person (saving on labor cost).

Some guest will find this convenient (as long as they do not need to talk to someone). The reduced front desk help will push everyone to 'opt in' to MM+ and on-line check in.

As for ever being able to use FP+ in multiple parks, how could that work today? Think of DHS, every guest needs to FP TSMM...then maybe RnR and ToT....what else is there? So, in my mind, you need to save those slots for the guest in that park for the day...you certainly do not want to give someone TSMM and then Space and Splash as it does nothing to keep someone at the studios for more than a couple of hours...

Just my take.

 

[wdisney9000]

Another opinion from an average guest at WDW. I was speaking with my brother who has been going to WDW as long as I have. (20+ years) He brings his wife and 2 children exactly once a year. They are the VERY HARD CORE planning type. He does not keep up with Disney news as I do so I explained to him (unbiased) how NGE will work. I thought they would be the type to LOVE what this has to offer. Not at all. They immediately recognized the fact that they would constantly be on their smartphones checking for ride closures or changing their FP's due to having two young children that could either have a melt-down, get tired, sick, or just want to go back to the resort on a whim. They both agreed it wasnt anything they felt was going to help them. Best part was that while they were researching online and learning about the new system they came across news for Uni and whats going on over there and got pretty excited and started telling me how cool everything looks and that if you stay at a Uni resort you can get or purchase the "front of the line pass"! The irony was too funny. A family that was made aware of MM+, NGE, MDE, goes online to research it to understand what Disney is doing and winds up learning about what Universal Studios is doing and is now very excited to go there instead. How many other families do you think this will happen to? Most WILL go online to research NGE because lets face it, it is very confusing for the uninitiated. They may just come across news for Uni and decide that they have a much more easy system to understand and its more rewarding to the guest. Its a slippery slope Disney may be on.

 

[Cody5242]

Fowl was/is a decent series or at least of the books I read, I found most were decent. Think was 3 or 4 before I "outgrew" the series, and had no interest in finishing it. It always struck me as much more childish than Potter. It didnt go as "dark" as Harry went in the later books, which is fine, but it thus didnt have the same grab for me. The stakes werent high enough. And the characters and their motives were never quite as complex.

While its certainly a popular series, I see it more along the lines of the Percy Jackson series in terms of how movies would do. Successful but not spectacular. Pulling its main audience from the teen and under crowd. Not able to grab a huuuuge chunk of adults needed for mega success the way Potter, or something like The Hunger Games, or (ick), even Twilight managed to do.

I guess we will see, but it's definitely not a series Id see as getting a section in a theme park, even in the long term future.

EDIT: And actually when I think about it, if Disney wanted to even try making Fowl into a mega success, the first thing they need to do is kick their curreng movie marketing team to the curb... Man they suck.

I'm a big Percy Jackson fan and the first movie made me want to pull my eyeballs out! It was god awful and wasn't even close to being faithful to the source material. Not looking forward to to the second movie

 

[Black Pearl]

You are absolutely right, we are in a new generation. This new generation expects everything to be on their iPhone. If it isn't, it is old fashioned. Walking around the park to machines grabbing bits of paper is going to seem very old-hat soon.

You know, this is sad but true. When writing, I typically do it on an ipad now. Just the other day I grabbed a pen and a notebook to draft an early concept of a children's book and it felt nearly foreign to me.

The ticket and admission system has been evolving for years, just not quite as expensively. Those booklets of individual tickets gave way to one single ticket for every ride, which later became cards that could open rooms and be used for charges, and now there are these bands that are still a bit mysterious. I'm not thrilled at the unknowns, but there are some interesting possibilities.

We scoff at the choice of funding these things over avatar/star wars/cars/marvel/-insert other thing here-, which I get because we would all make a call based on our own personal preferences.... Disney could announce tomorrow that Star Wars is coming to Hollywood Studios in a huge way with 3 new rides, a cantina restaurant, and a new show.... But guaranteed there would be people that scoff at that too. Same goes for Cars, Marvel, or anything else. Of course there are those that want to see "anything at all as long as they are new attractions", and maybe they'd be satisfied, or maybe not.

 

[Clever Name]

This actually gets back to one of the observations that my wife and I made at Portofino Bay and actually all the resorts at Universal, the vast majority of people that were guests there, looked the part. People looked a lot more respectable, had manners, and dignity. I'm not traveling down the wormhole of the whole class system, per se.

For example, I'm a business owner and don't deal with wearing formal attire in my workplace, so I'm never one to be too dressed up, at all. However, whether it's a well cut polo style shirt or properly fitting Lacoste type of tee, that's my general appearance. I take pride in presenting myself well and that's what I noticed with the majority of the guests. It didn't mean that everyone was dressed to the nines, rather just put together and respectful. To be honest, it was very refreshing. It wasn't all too long ago that being well presented wasn't something that was an attribute to only the wealthy, it was a universal thing that the majority of people did.

Many people with BMI's over 30 must dress in flip-flops, cut-offs and tank tops to avoid heat prostration. Sweating helps to lower body heat and high speed ECV runs are sometimes needed for overall temperature stabilization.

 

[Beholder]

This actually gets back to one of the observations that my wife and I made at Portofino Bay and actually all the resorts at Universal, the vast majority of people that were guests there, looked the part. People looked a lot more respectable, had manners, and dignity. I'm not traveling down the wormhole of the whole class system, per se.

For example, I'm a business owner and don't deal with wearing formal attire in my workplace, so I'm never one to be too dressed up, at all. However, whether it's a well cut polo style shirt or properly fitting Lacoste type of tee, that's my general appearance. I take pride in presenting myself well and that's what I noticed with the majority of the guests. It didn't mean that everyone was dressed to the nines, rather just put together and respectful. To be honest, it was very refreshing. It wasn't all too long ago that being well presented wasn't something that was an attribute to only the wealthy, it was a universal thing that the majority of people did.

Great point. There was actually a time when people dressed up to go the hardware store. Times have changed, it's no longer the era in which Grace Kelly said that as a lady, she would NEVER wear pants in public, but, taking a little pride and self respect in how we present ourselves is still how things SHOULD be. Rich, poor or somewhere in the middle, dignity or looking like you care may be a dying thing.

 

[tirian]

Can anyone explain at this point how MM+ is supposed to have a positive ROI? Through the last few months, these are the main points I have seen discussed, and reasons why they don't make sense to me.

• Data-mining: Truly what data can be mined from a WDW guest? They can tell how long you were in a particular store? With the exception of Downtown Disney, almost every store in WDW sells the exact same things. Can they tell that I prefer to buy a Duffy from a circus themed store instead of frontier themed store and somehow target me more accurately for advertising? Also, does the average visitors vacation spending habits really match up to everyday spending habits? What new information can they get now that they couldn't before from tracking my KttW or credit card?

That's a huge point! Good call.

 

[Jeffxz]

Agreed, I really cant see how it will increase revenue. A MagicBand is really no easier than a credit card, and at the end of the day, there is a limit to what people will spend. That is not suddenly going to change with a band. I do see it perhaps allowing easier spending at waterparks, where guests may not have cash or a credit card at hand. However, is spending at water parks ever going to be that high? I don't think so.

Glad to see I'm not the only one who can't figure this out.

I kinda agree on the waterpark issue, but think it is going be very minor. Lunch isn't really an impulse buy, most people that were going to eat lunch had a plan already. The impulses will be snacks, desserts and alcohol. With alcohol having the drawback or requiring ID anyway.

 

[PhotoDave219]

Are we really arguing the story for Haunted Mansion?

 

[IHeartArt]

Are we really arguing the story for Haunted Mansion?

There were people arguing earlier that narrative meant a ride didn't have a story. I'm just pointing out the false idea that narrative != story. They're one in the same.