Studios entertainment cut over the last few years.

TrainsOfDisney

TrainsOfDisney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
While this applies to several parks after attending the 30th anniversary it’s pretty crazy how much live entertainment has been cut in the last few years.

- Daily Parade
-mulch sweat and shears live band with equity actor host
- Hollywood public works - 3 equity actors per day
- Citizens of Hollywood has been cut from 8+ actors per day to I think 3? (Only saw 3 on the day of the 30th... let me know).
- 4 for a dollar acappella quartet for pre-show of Beauty and Beast.

The current Star Wars Show is more of a replacement of former hub shows like high school musical and monsters university.

Some of the citizens are being used to host the Dance party in the incredibles Street. That’s somesthing I guess?

And there’s drummers in toy story land....
But weren’t there soldiers That used to do walk around back in the day?
 
danlb_2000

danlb_2000

Premium Member
TrainChasers said:
While this applies to several parks after attending the 30th anniversary it’s pretty crazy how much live entertainment has been cut in the last few years.

- Daily Parade
-mulch sweat and shears live band with equity actor host
- Hollywood public works - 3 equity actors per day
- Citizens of Hollywood has been cut from 8+ actors per day to I think 3? (Only saw 3 on the day of the 30th... let me know).
- 4 for a dollar acappella quartet for pre-show of Beauty and Beast.

The current Star Wars Show is more of a replacement of former hub shows like high school musical and monsters university.

Some of the citizens are being used to host the Dance party in the incredibles Street. That’s somesthing I guess?

And there’s drummers in toy story land....
But weren’t there soldiers That used to do walk around back in the day?
Click to expand...

I have seen videos and live streams from Toy Story Land recently and the soldiers have been there.
 
TrainsOfDisney

TrainsOfDisney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Sorry I meant that the soldiers were something that is still around, but they aren’t an addition because the park used to have them back in the day. (They used to ride around in a truck... I think they even had the old playskool microphone? Or am I thinking of the toy story parade?)
 
bUU

bUU

Well-Known Member
I think any evaluations of the Studios at this point are pointless. Since 2014 the park has been in active transition, which won't be completed until mid-2020. Any variance in the level of entertainment, real or perceived, can be attributed to that, and therefore can be considered transitory.

Also, you seem to want to measure entertainment in the currency of actors. You may have a preference for live entertainment, but there is no reason to believe that Disney guests in general reward the company with business so much more for live entertainment as compared to entertainment grounded in other media. If anything, the trend in society overall is much more rapidly toward alternative media and away from live performers. Disney can perhaps be accused of lagging behind the trend in that regard.

A better way to measure entertainment is by how many guests favor the entertainment they encountered, and in the case of Hollywood Studios, comparing 2021 to 2013 would be an interesting comparison.
 
TrainsOfDisney

TrainsOfDisney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
You are correct in that I said “entertainment” when I should have said “live entertainment cuts”

You make some interesting points. I can’t imagine the average guest doesn’t want to see a parade.
 
bUU

bUU

Well-Known Member
TrainChasers said:
You are correct in that I said “entertainment” when I should have said “live entertainment cuts”
You make some interesting points. I can’t imagine the average guest doesn’t want to see a parade.
Click to expand...
I can't imagine the average guest wants to stand around waiting for a parade in the beating sun and heat during the day.

See how that works?

It is easy to try to turn what you personally want into a baseless claim about what motivates guests to spend money. That's no way to run a company. You run a company based on the actual facts derived from research, and with decisions based on what best serves the interests of the owners.

Incidentally, my family only enjoys nighttime parades. If Disney were to make decisions based on my preferences the way you would perhaps make them based on your preferences, there would only be nighttime parades.
 
marni1971

marni1971

Park History nut
Premium Member
bUU said:
I think any evaluations of the Studios at this point are pointless. Since 2014 the park has been in active transition, which won't be completed until mid-2020. Any variance in the level of entertainment, real or perceived, can be attributed to that, and therefore can be considered transitory.

Also, you seem to want to measure entertainment in the currency of actors. You may have a preference for live entertainment, but there is no reason to believe that Disney guests in general reward the company with business so much more for live entertainment as compared to entertainment grounded in other media. If anything, the trend in society overall is much more rapidly toward alternative media and away from live performers. Disney can perhaps be accused of lagging behind the trend in that regard.

A better way to measure entertainment is by how many guests favor the entertainment they encountered, and in the case of Hollywood Studios, comparing 2021 to 2013 would be an interesting comparison.
Click to expand...
I can categorically state the cuts are due to cuts. Not transitioning. Some was down to pay disputes. Most was for cost saving.

Only ten years ago we had Block Party Bash with a huge cast. They wouldn’t pay for that today.
 
C

celluloid

Well-Known Member
Universal has had a lot of live Ent performer and crew. cuts as well, but still has a large cast and crew between the two parks.

Also, I like that someone states that anyone who evaluates the park is pointless, and then goes into evaluating why the park would have less live entertainment or why it might have it as pure speculation. The park is open, charging people, you don't have to give them a pass or not evaluate because things are changing. If you like less performer roles that is cool, and it could be a trend, but the original poster was stating a fact of Less live entertainment means less live entertainment.(in theme park operation lingo, Entertainment is the department that would be the performers and crew of all live entertainment)

To the earlier posts with cases, like Green Army Men in Toy Story Land, just got a "cut" by changing what category of performer they are. Hence why you will soon or now be seeing them in a different form than when Toy Story Land opened.
 
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T

tracy o'connor

New Member
TrainChasers said:
While this applies to several parks after attending the 30th anniversary it’s pretty crazy how much live entertainment has been cut in the last few years.

- Daily Parade
-mulch sweat and shears live band with equity actor host
- Hollywood public works - 3 equity actors per day
- Citizens of Hollywood has been cut from 8+ actors per day to I think 3? (Only saw 3 on the day of the 30th... let me know).
- 4 for a dollar acappella quartet for pre-show of Beauty and Beast.

The current Star Wars Show is more of a replacement of former hub shows like high school musical and monsters university.

Some of the citizens are being used to host the Dance party in the incredibles Street. That’s somesthing I guess?

And there’s drummers in toy story land....
But weren’t there soldiers That used to do walk around back in the day?
Click to expand...
It was a real loss to the park when they cut Mulch... that was such a great piece of entertainment... shame on Disney that all they seem to care about are big $ draws... a lot of us like the nostalgia and tradition... it’s not all about the new and shiny
 
bUU

bUU

Well-Known Member
celluloid said:
Also, I like that someone states that anyone who evaluates the park is pointless, and then goes into evaluating why the park would have less entertainment.
Click to expand...
Why? Is there some difficulty in discussing two aspects of the issue at the same time? First, evaluating a park in transition is pointless. Second, once that transition is over a rational evaluation has to factor in changing guest preferences. What is so confusing about that?
 
C

celluloid

Well-Known Member
bUU said:
Why? Is there some difficulty in discussing two aspects of the issue at the same time? First, evaluating a park in transition is pointless. Second, once that transition is over a rational evaluation has to factor in changing guest preferences. What is so confusing about that?
Click to expand...

I never said it was confusing when you share an opinion and then tell someone else they can not or theirs has no value.
 
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bUU

bUU

Well-Known Member
celluloid said:
I never said it was confusing when you share an opinion and then tell someone else they can not or theirs has no value.
Click to expand...
That's a misrepresentation of what I wrote, indicating to me that you're just looking to distract attention away from points you don't like but for which you don't have a legitimate response.

Try again:
1) Evaluating a park in transition is pointless. What is your counter-argument?
2) Once that transition is over a rational evaluation has to factor in changing guest preferences. What is your counter-argument?
 
Casper Gutman

Casper Gutman

Well-Known Member
bUU said:
That's a misrepresentation of what I wrote, indicating to me that you're just looking to distract attention away from points you don't like but for which you don't have a legitimate response.

Try again:
1) Evaluating a park in transition is pointless. What is your counter-argument?
2) Once that transition is over a rational evaluation has to factor in changing guest preferences. What is your counter-argument?
Click to expand...
The “park in transition” thing is nonsense, a red herring. Yes, MGM has been undergoing significant construction for years now. But logically you don’t cut entertainment when you lose attractions and their attached capacity, you add entertainment in order to give guests something to do and attempt to distract them from the unfinished nature of the park. What’s more, MGMs entertainment as a whole certainly isn’t “in transition” as part of this project - even after SWL opens the park will still be relying on a series of creaky shows that debuted prior to the fall of the Berlin Wall. This amorphous notion of “in transition” is akin to the mythical “next phase” WDW fans always talk of when a lackluster, cost-cut land opens - a dodge to avoid discussing or even thinking about a disappointing aspect of the park.

The notion of “changing guest preferences” is also usually a disingenuous dodge relying on a notion of WDW as omniscient and unbiased. There is no larger cultural shift that suggests guests don’t want entertainment. Certainly Uni, which is beefing up its still underwhelming slate of parades and shows, doesn’t see increasing guest hostility to entertainment. I don’t know that WDW has even blamed “guest preferences” for the cuts, but If they have its meaningless. Disney can get any results they want from surveys, and claims of “guest preference” are almost always a smokescreen for execs with irrational biases, other priorities, or, most often, a desire to cut costs.

Oh, and I don’t know if you’re unfamiliar with these boards, but Marni is perhaps the most trustworthy source for Disney news around, much more so then Disney’s own press releases or most media coverage. If he says entertainment is being cut due to costs, it almost certainly is.

So... entertainment at all Disney parks is getting much worse. This is almost entirely due to Disney’s increasing concern for the budget and decreasing concern for guest satisfaction.

PS: I love that you mention a cultural shift away from live entertainment to other media as accounting for Disney’s cuts, pointing to a phenomenon that has been defining pop culture since the advent of radio in the 1920s. It’s about time WDW took that into account. Pretty soon Disney may want to think about investing in film and television.
 
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bUU

bUU

Well-Known Member
Casper Gutman said:
The “park in transition” thing is nonsense, a red herring.
Click to expand...
If you believe that having what is more than a third of the park closed doesn't affect the amount of entertainment that a reasonable person would expect from the park, then we have nothing to discuss.
 
Casper Gutman

Casper Gutman

Well-Known Member
bUU said:
If you believe that having what is more than a third of the park closed doesn't affect the amount of entertainment that a reasonable person would expect from the park, then we have nothing to discuss.
Click to expand...
How much did that reasonable person pay for admission? Why would fewer attractions and lower capacity convince execs to reduce rather then increase entertainment in reaction?
 

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