Spirited News, Observations & Thoughts Tres

[PhotoDave219]

So @WDW1974 is getting a cushy advisory role from his pal Georgie K? That's true SPIRITED change!

Just a home in golden oaks.....

 

[Lee]

Oh nah I don't but Lee and Spirit do.

Hahahahahahaha.........no.
Not ever.

At least...not me. I'll not speak for the Spirit.

 

[crispy]

Here's a question ... a serious question ... but how much of the defending of WDW (not the Mongellos and assorted social media whores who have a financial interest in it) is based on flat out mental illness? Being in love with a BRAND at all costs and minus any sense of reality. In essence, the 'I like what I like and don't care whether it's good or not'.

I'm very interested in reading perspectives because well ... I'm tired of being told I should write a book on mental health and the Disney fan community. I know what my feelings are. And I'm trying to gather as many opinions and perspectives as I can.

I think Disney does attract a special brand of crazy. I used to post on The-Board-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named, and it was almost cult-like. There were many people who were in debt up to their eyeballs to pay for their Disney trips. They would refinance their homes and max out their credit cards. It was kind of scary (and one of the reasons why I quit posting over there). I guess the part that got to me most was that there was no voice of reason. Instead of people saying, "Hey, Idiot, quit jeopardizing your family's future for a vacation you can't afford!", this type of behavior was encouraged. It kind of creeped me out.

 

[IHeartArt]

I wonder if there's another factor we're not considering. Disney is sort of the "standard vacation" for the middle class in our culture, isn't it? It's there with the Grand Canyon and New York (another expensive trip, mind you). So it's quite possible that people sinking themselves into these kind of trips at the cost of jeopardizing themselves financially are also doing so because it's a way to tell themselves that everything's alright with their current situation. "I can afford a trip to Disney while putting myself into debt and taking a second mortgage on my house. My family's doing fine. I don't need to worry about my retirement, or my kid's college. The money will come. After all, I can afford a trip to Disney."

 

[SirLink]

So just to set the mood back - been out and have seen arguably the funniest/greatest film of the summer....

THE WORLD'S END ... OMG where do I start Simon Pegg was great ... Nick Frost was great .... Martin Freeman was great.

Greatest film of the summer... so far best film of the year.

 

[the.dreamfinder]

Bad news potentially on the Parisian front.

http://d-log.nl/nieuws/104/157195/breaking-news-toekomst-disneyland-paris-stuk-minder-zeker#English
BREAKING NEWS - FUTURE OF DISNEYLAND PARIS A LOT LESS CERTAIN
The Walt Disney Company has ceased all future investments of Disneyland Paris as of today. Internal sources tell us all future project after the Ratatouille attraction have been put on hold.

The last announced expansion for Disneyland Paris is of course the Ratatouille dark ride, opening next summer. This high-tech, state-of-the-art attraction with trackless motion-base vehicles and larger-than-life 3D projections has been in development for a number of years. At the beginning of this year EuroDisney S.C.A. itself finally confirmed the rumours: the rat is coming.

But on the projects Disneyland Paris has in development for after the opening of Ratatouille is a lot less certainty except for some very persistent rumours. Until today. Internal sources within Disneyland Paris have been able to tell D-log that parent company The Walt Disney Company has ceased all future investments for projects after Ratatouille, taking effect at once!

Since The Walt Disney Company has taken over the debt structure from the banks through the refinancing plan set into motion last September, they have gained more control over the decision making process of the French resort. Where EuroDisney S.C.A. previously needed the approval of various banks before construction on a new attraction could begin, now The Walt Disney Company in the U.S. has the final say. This could be good news, or bad news.

Internal sources at Disneyland Paris have exclusively confirmed to us that parent company The Walt Disney Company has shut down all future investments of Disneyland Paris for the time being; with the exception of Ratatouille which is in development and far stages of construction. In other words this means all rumours on future plans for attractions, shows and entertainment will be put on hold for now. Rumours such as Star Tours 2, a complete mini-land with Star Wars theme, a successor to Captain EO, the addition of Captain Jack Sparrow to Pirates of the Caribbean, the extension of Hollywood Boulevard at the Walt Disney Studios Park, introducing Marvel characters at the Walt Disney Studios Park, Soarin’ Over The World, The Little Mermaid dark-ride at Fantasyland, etc. Countless rumours which have been circling the Internet for a number of years, but which have a notion of truth for some. Until today.

This decision doesn’t come easy for Disneyland Paris. The future plans of the resort are suddenly a lot less certain. What will the implications be for the resort in the years after the opening of the Ratatouille ride? According to our analysis it could go into two directions: either this is an indication The Walt Disney Company is acknowledging the current course set by Disneyland Paris isn’t sufficient to solve the fundamental problems of the resort which calls for a larger master plan, or it will mean the years after 2014 will be a lot more quiet in terms of expansion.

Personally we hope, like everybody, they have secretly been working on a large-scale rescue operation like for Disney California Adventure and Hong Kong Disneyland. For both parks, which have been performing below expectations, large-scale rescue plans were announced that have fixed the decline in quality of the parks tremendously in a few short years. A plan Disneyland Paris desperately needs, especially since the quality of the resort has slowly been declining in the last few years. Parcorama recently managed to sum up a list of clear indicators why the resort was slowly but steadily handing in on its quality. It wouldn’t take long or Disneyland Paris couldn’t measure itself with the “Disney Standard” the parks in the U.S. and Asia happen to carry out so well.

What it needs is a big masterplan fixing the identity and capacity problems of the Walt Disney Studios Park and extending the attraction and entertainment offerings in the Disneyland Park. The Walt Disney Company can do this, has proven it can do this and has sufficient financial needs to make it happen. Let this internal message be a first indication of large-scale plans that are about to happen!

 

[PhotoDave219]

MKPony on Twitter said that over the next ten years WDW is getting big money dumped into it and that SDMT/Imagination/SW/Avatar could just be the start of it. DCALover then said that it's 100% true. Can an insider back this up?

Yes. My best friend's sister's boyfriend's brother's girlfriend heard from this guy who knows this kid who's going with the girl who saw Ferris pass out at 31 Flavors last night. I guess it's pretty serious.

 

[the.dreamfinder]

Yes. My best friend's sister's boyfriend's brother's girlfriend heard from this guy who knows this kid who's going with the girl who saw Ferris pass out at 31 Flavors last night. I guess it's pretty serious.

Also, there was this tweet

I caused the Twitter to go all spin-spinny. Don't take my word for it folks, I'm not an "insider".

 

[PhotoDave219]

Also, there was this tweet

Trolled. We got Trollolololed.

 

[danlb_2000]

MKPony on Twitter said that over the next ten years WDW is getting big money dumped into it and that SDMT/Imagination/SW/Avatar could just be the start of it. DCALover then said that it's 100% true. Can an insider back this up?

I believe Disney will do some strategic spending on the parks in the next 10 years, but I don't believe for a second that they plan to dump major money into WDW.

 

[the.dreamfinder]

Trolled. We got Trollolololed.

[media]

 

[Animaniac93-98]

What DLP needs to due is sell off the two "cheap" hotels (and maybe the campground) to a 3rd party company. They don't bring in the same revenue and meeting business the other four do, but cost a lot of money to staff, operate and maintain. Taking that burden of WDC and making some money in the sale would make it easier for funds to be used for the parks.

 

[ChrisFL]

I think Disney does attract a special brand of crazy. I used to post on The-Board-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named, and it was almost cult-like.

I still visit that pixie dusters board once in a while...as a study in pixie duster mentality more than anything, but check out their community section...just read a post from lady trying to rent an apartment in Florida for her and her......13 cats!!!

 

[Captain Neo]

I think Disney does attract a special brand of crazy. I used to post on The-Board-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named, and it was almost cult-like. There were many people who were in debt up to their eyeballs to pay for their Disney trips. They would refinance their homes and max out their credit cards. It was kind of scary (and one of the reasons why I quit posting over there). I guess the part that got to me most was that there was no voice of reason. Instead of people saying, "Hey, Idiot, quit jeopardizing your family's future for a vacation you can't afford!", this type of behavior was encouraged. It kind of creeped me out.

Wow that's scary that means whenever the economy goes south those are the first people to fall on their face

 

[ChrisM]

Here's a question ... a serious question ... but how much of the defending of WDW (not the Mongellos and assorted social media whores who have a financial interest in it) is based on flat out mental illness? Being in love with a BRAND at all costs and minus any sense of reality. In essence, the 'I like what I like and don't care whether it's good or not'.

I'm very interested in reading perspectives because well ... I'm tired of being told I should write a book on mental health and the Disney fan community. I know what my feelings are. And I'm trying to gather as many opinions and perspectives as I can.

This is actually an interesting question....and one I can actually comment on from personal experience.

Back in the late 80's there was a pretty vigorous war amongst home computer companies. Although the business market was already dominated by DOS (and soon to be Windows) PCs, there was a massive battle amongst Apple, Commodore, and Atari for the home computer market. I became a fanboy, irrational supporter, and something of a de facto online evangelist for the Atari Computer Corporation.

Although I wasn't paid, per se, and I wasn't given any directives by Atari employees, I was given all manner of perks and free gifts from the company as some sort of unofficial recompense for the innumerable threads I participated in on Compuserve and GEnie while advocating for the company and their products. It was pretty hard to explain to my parents as to why, as a 14 year old, I was receiving free computer hardware, and occasional nasty phone calls from folks all over the country. (My profile pic is a personal inside joke a out the whole thing which I always thought was almost too perfectly appropriate for a Disney forum.)

All of that being said, I've had a long time to look back on what drove me then and analyze my mistakes and misplaced faith now that the company has long since ceased to exist. The short analysis is that people go into these things with the best of intentions - they think a company provides a superior product, is somehow ideologically aligned with their beliefs, or some combination of the two. In the case of Atari, I truly felt they offered a superior product at a market beating price...and to an extent, they did. But as brand warfare gets intense, tribalism sets in and it can be easy (for some people) to double down on their defense of something they enjoy (or even truly love). Once this tribalism sets in, however, it can be astonishingly difficult for some of these people to see the true warts of the company...so much so they will simply refuse to acknowledge the decline of what they have so vigorously defended.

At the end of the day, knowing now exactly what went on in the decline of Atari Corp, I feel sort of like a fool for having ever supported such a dysfunctional, and in some cases audaciously stupid, corporation. It was run by some very flawed people who made some horrid decisions and that's a primary reason why they went out of business. These Disney Lifestylers are just sliding down that same slippery slope...it's simply what they've chosen to grab onto in an "us" vs. "them" worldview. It would take some sort of massive betrayal or bankruptcy to every snap them out of it.

 

[spaceghost]

It's a lie.

Also:

 

[ChrisM]

As a brief addendum to my post above, I'd also be remiss in not pointing out how heady of a thing it probably is for the Disney Mommy blogger brigade to be recognized in any official capacity by the company. As a clueless 14 year old, I thought it was incredible to have employees of a company I, quite frankly, idolized communicating with and encouraging me. And they'd send me free stuff, too?! Amazing.

I'm much more mature and world weary now, but I'd guess that a lot of Lifestylers aren't much more clued in than I was at 14. Or their circumstances in life are such that something like this really is one of the best and most unique things that has ever happened to them.

 

[luv]

Very well said! Bravo! I like the posts that "spirit" does...

I do, too. I don't necessarily agree with him on everything, like i don't agree with anyone on everything (except Nemo so far, unless you count her preference for Manta over Kraken, but she'll come around!) but he seems like a nice guy and has been very nice to me.

I was in no way attempting to personally attack him. He said he wanted a bunch of viewpoints and I posted mine. I seriously hope it didn't read that way.

And that's "Brava." , but thanks for the accolades.

 

[crispy]

As a brief addendum to my post above, I'd also be remiss in not pointing out how heady of a thing it probably is for the Disney Mommy blogger brigade to be recognized in any official capacity by the company. As a clueless 14 year old, I thought it was incredible to have employees of a company I, quite frankly, idolized communicating with and encouraging me. And they'd send me free stuff, too?! Amazing.

I'm much more mature and world weary now, but I'd guess that a lot of Lifestylers aren't much more clued in than I was at 14. Or their circumstances in life are such that something like this really is one of the best and most unique things that has ever happened to them.

And, hey, they were giving you free stuff! I would have given my left pinky toe away in college for a free T-shirt or a meal (I was poor!). Apparently, my price was a lot lower than the Disney lifestylers - they at least get free vacations out of the deal.

I love Disney and freely admit that part of the reason why is because I had a fairly dysfunctional childhood and visiting Disney was a dream that I had as a child. When I finally visited WDW as an adult, I had such a great (and yes, magical) time that I did want to repeat the experience. I think it gave me back a piece of childhood, and I will always appreciate that. We have continued to visit because it was always a vacation that we were guaranteed to enjoy. I think that's why I am so sad at the decline I see.

Everyone has their "thing" and Disney happens to be mine, but Disney is something I enjoy, not my life. I think that is the distinction between it being a fun past-time and being an obsession.

 

[BryceM]

@WDW1974, is that possible Toon Lagoon replacement you mentioned a while ago still on the drawing boards?