The Miscellaneous Thought Thread

[CaptinEO]

Annual pass expires tonight at midnight and the wife is already having withdrawls but I’m holding on strong. On another note, I walked into Eudora’s for the first time yesterday and was pleasantly surprised. I kind of forgot it was back there. They did a great job with the decorations and overall just really enjoyed the vibe in there. It also always pleases me to see something that you think would be roped off/ lawyered be available for guest use. Even something as small as those steps they have going up to a fake dressing room door or whatever it’s supposed to be. Oddly enough, the store actually gave me a little bit of optimism for the Tiana ride. Also, I thought Tianas palace came out pretty nice. New paint, awnings(?) and popcorn lights look nice. Of course I could do without the smokestacks and think the size of the marquee is a bit out of place for NOS but I’m very thankful they didn’t cut down any of the trees and kind of surprised/ pleased they didn’t trim any of those branches blocking the view of the facade. I still wouldn’t rule that out though.

View attachment 738513View attachment 738514View attachment 738515

We're actually thinking of getting APs for the first time since the 2020 closures.

I remember the last time I had an AP visiting March 7 2020 and us going to Steakhouse 55. Of course at the time not realizing that a week later Disneyland would be closed for a year the following week and that Steakhouse 55 would never return.

It's good to take a break though IMO! One point we took a break in 2019 cause it felt like a chore to "get our value" after having an AP for 4 years straight.

In addition to finding other fun things to do in the world we also got a lot more things done around the house.

That being said I'll take those Magic Key's when you're ready .

 

[mickEblu]

We're actually thinking of getting APs for the first time since the 2020 closures.

I remember the last time I had an AP visiting March 7 2020 and us going to Steakhouse 55. Of course at the time not realizing that a week later Disneyland would be closed for a year the following week and that Steakhouse 55 would never return.

It's good to take a break though IMO! One point we took a break in 2019 cause it felt like a chore to "get our value" after having an AP for 4 years straight.

In addition to finding other fun things to do in the world we also got a lot more things done around the house.

That being said I'll take those Magic Key's when you're ready .

Lol. They should have a way to forward the passes to others when they aren’t for sale. Yeah I’m good with a little break. Even if it ends up just being 6 months to a year. That’s exactly it. With 3 Believe Keys you have this sort of subconscious pressure to go like 2x a month. Imagine Keys on the other hand are priced at a point where I would be ok just going 5-10 times a year but you don’t get any weekends. Enchant passes never made sense to me because the cost difference from Believe isn’t big enough for how many fewer weekends and Saturdays you get. Not to mention that those weekend days end up being the busiest.

My wife is making me feel bad because my daughter has never had more fun at the park. She’s turning three next month. With that said my 7 year old picked my uncles pool over Disneyland a couple weeks ago and just the other day was jealous of a friend going to a neighborhood Kid Play zone while we were in our way to Disneyland lol.

 

[DCBaker]

So, does anyone know if the CHOC walk actually took place this morning?

The CHOC walk did take place - see the thread below.

 

[D.Silentu]

I walked into Eudora’s for the first time yesterday and was pleasantly surprised.

Eudora's is great; I love the New Orleans merch they have in the shop

I have yet to see it, but earlier in the year my sister went to the park for her birthday. On her return she surprised me with a box of Cafe Du Monde beignet mix from Eudora's and naturally I was thrilled! It was very thoughtful and it's gotten me excited to check out the shop in person. I love beignets, but even more the notion that Disneyland is selling more unique and tailored merchandise again, if only at one store.

 

[mickEblu]

I have yet to see it, but earlier in the year my sister went to the park for her birthday. On her return she surprised me with a box of Cafe Du Monde beignet mix from Eudora's and naturally I was thrilled! It was very thoughtful and it's gotten me excited to check out the shop in person. I love beignets, but even more the notion that Disneyland is selling more unique and tailored merchandise again, if only at one store.

Yeah it’s a nice nod to the past in that way. It’s maybe the only store in all of Disneyland outside of the Magic shop selling appropriately themed non Disney/ non IP merch. Most of it is still PatF stuff but they have the beignet mix boxes, cookbooks etc. Overall the store has a pleasant feel to it. I hope they somehow tap into that energy (harder task than theming a small store) for the attraction and throw in a little suspense/drama. I’m a little more pessimistic about the latter.

 

[CaptinEO]

Lol. They should have a way to forward the passes to others when they aren’t for sale. Yeah I’m good with a little break. Even if it ends up just being 6 months to a year. That’s exactly it. With 3 Believe Keys you have this sort of subconscious pressure to go like 2x a month. Imagine Keys on the other hand are priced at a point where I would be ok just going 5-10 times a year but you don’t get any weekends. Enchant passes never made sense to me because the cost difference from Believe isn’t big enough for how many fewer weekends and Saturdays you get. Not to mention that those weekend days end up being the busiest.

My wife is making me feel bad because my daughter has never had more fun at the park. She’s turning three next month. With that said my 7 year old picked my uncles pool over Disneyland a couple weeks ago and just the other day was jealous of a friend going to a neighborhood Kid Play zone while we were in our way to Disneyland lol.

I totally know what you mean about the pressure and needing to break even. Where you believe key holders?

We're still debating what pass level to get.

I think you're doing a good thing by opening up your children to have other experiences, its not like youre never going back there again.

Funny about the 7 year old though choosing a pool over Disneyland, they've had enough LOL.

Honestly you won't miss it for a bit and its not like you can't go to Disneyland again or can't get tickets. Think of cool places to go instead in the mean time or fun activities.

 

[DrAlice]

My daughter was asking about watching Elemental this weekend. I thought I saw that it was streaming, and turned on Disney+. Nope, not streaming there. Poked around a bit on my Firestick and saw that I can purchase it on Amazon Prime. This made me scratch my head a bit. Why can I get it on Amazon's streaming service, but not Disney's? Then I looked up the Disney+ release date: they haven't announced it yet. All we know is that it is NOT coming in August. There was some speculation that it might not even come to D+ in September!

This really makes me question what Disney is doing with their streaming service. It's losing money and not getting or keeping the number of subscribers they want. They should be doing everything they can to entice new subscribers and keep their current ones. When I saw that I could get this movie on Amazon, and there was no timeline for when it was coming to D+, I started to question why I'm paying for D+ at all.

I'm sure Disney gets a cut from Amazon if I purchase the movie that way. But then, that begs the question: why are you sinking resources into your own service that isn't succeeding? It seems like they could just return to licensing their content to other successful streamers (like Netflix) and focus on making quality content and enhancing their theme parks.

Just a thought I had.....

 

[lazyboy97o]

My daughter was asking about watching Elemental this weekend. I thought I saw that it was streaming, and turned on Disney+. Nope, not streaming there. Poked around a bit on my Firestick and saw that I can purchase it on Amazon Prime. This made me scratch my head a bit. Why can I get it on Amazon's streaming service, but not Disney's? Then I looked up the Disney+ release date: they haven't announced it yet. All we know is that it is NOT coming in August. There was some speculation that it might not even come to D+ in September!

This really makes me question what Disney is doing with their streaming service. It's losing money and not getting or keeping the number of subscribers they want. They should be doing everything they can to entice new subscribers and keep their current ones. When I saw that I could get this movie on Amazon, and there was no timeline for when it was coming to D+, I started to question why I'm paying for D+ at all.

I'm sure Disney gets a cut from Amazon if I purchase the movie that way. But then, that begs the question: why are you sinking resources into your own service that isn't succeeding? It seems like they could just return to licensing their content to other successful streamers (like Netflix) and focus on making quality content and enhancing their theme parks.

Just a thought I had.....

It’s not on Amazon’s streaming service, it’s available for purchase or rental. Just like how they’d go to pay-per-view and video before ending up on TV. Elemental has found incredibly strong legs in theaters despite its horrible opening, why would Disney undermine that continued performance by putting the movie on Disney+ now?

 

[Consumer]

It’s not on Amazon’s streaming service, it’s available for purchase or rental. Just like how they’d go to pay-per-view and video before ending up on TV. Elemental has found incredibly strong legs in theaters despite its horrible opening, why would Disney undermine that continued performance by putting the movie on Disney+ now?

Was surprised to see the movie has made $458 million worldwide. Of course, it also cost $200 million to make, then double that for marketing and take out the theaters' cut, it's still a financial bomb.

 

[DrAlice]

It’s not on Amazon’s streaming service, it’s available for purchase or rental. Just like how they’d go to pay-per-view and video before ending up on TV. Elemental has found incredibly strong legs in theaters despite its horrible opening, why would Disney undermine that continued performance by putting the movie on Disney+ now?

Oh, I understand the difference. To answer your question, I don't think they should. My point is the same: why have their own streaming service? They make money in theaters and Amazon pay-per-view. They aren't making money with their service. As a subscriber, it just hit me oddly to find a digital version of the movie somewhere other than Disney.

 

[mickEblu]

My daughter was asking about watching Elemental this weekend. I thought I saw that it was streaming, and turned on Disney+. Nope, not streaming there. Poked around a bit on my Firestick and saw that I can purchase it on Amazon Prime. This made me scratch my head a bit. Why can I get it on Amazon's streaming service, but not Disney's? Then I looked up the Disney+ release date: they haven't announced it yet. All we know is that it is NOT coming in August. There was some speculation that it might not even come to D+ in September!

This really makes me question what Disney is doing with their streaming service. It's losing money and not getting or keeping the number of subscribers they want. They should be doing everything they can to entice new subscribers and keep their current ones. When I saw that I could get this movie on Amazon, and there was no timeline for when it was coming to D+, I started to question why I'm paying for D+ at all.

I'm sure Disney gets a cut from Amazon if I purchase the movie that way. But then, that begs the question: why are you sinking resources into your own service that isn't succeeding? It seems like they could just return to licensing their content to other successful streamers (like Netflix) and focus on making quality content and enhancing their theme parks.

Just a thought I had.....

They re trying to retrain us to go to the movie theatres again. You buying it on Amazon Prime is probably is necessary for the long term health of their box office numbers as well as D+

 

[lazyboy97o]

Oh, I understand the difference. To answer your question, I don't think they should. My point is the same: why have their own streaming service? They make money in theaters and Amazon pay-per-view. They aren't making money with their service. As a subscriber, it just hit me oddly to find a digital version of the movie somewhere other than Disney.

Then why conflate them? Disney+ isn’t making money right now, but remains relatively on its projected course, because it is buying content. That content would cost more without other revenue sources. It seems more that the solution would be for Disney, which created the service, to integrate a storefront and Movies Anywhere into Disney+.

 

[mickEblu]

I totally know what you mean about the pressure and needing to break even. Where you believe key holders?

We're still debating what pass level to get.

I think you're doing a good thing by opening up your children to have other experiences, its not like youre never going back there again.

Funny about the 7 year old though choosing a pool over Disneyland, they've had enough LOL.

Honestly you won't miss it for a bit and its not like you can't go to Disneyland again or can't get tickets. Think of cool places to go instead in the mean time or fun activities.

Yes we ARE Believe Key holders… for another four hours. Lol. With that said, didn’t expect to get so much push back from my wife. Imagine Keys could be an option. Not only do you save a lot of money (about a 60% discount from Believe) but feel much less pressure to go so often. I think 8-10 visits a year would be the sweet spot for me. Going every 6 weeks or so instead of every two weeks. Of course none of this even gets into the other reasons I dont to want to renew like Splash being closed etc.

The push back from my wife got me thinking about my plans for Knotts APs a little deeper and I don’t think Knotts works for my family yet. They don’t have many family attractions. Meaning a day at Knotts would pretty much mean my son and I ditching my wife/ daughter for the coaster/thrill rides or hanging out in Camp Snoopy which my son won’t have any interest in. And we’d have to drive one hour + from our house for that experience.

How many times a year would you like to go to the parks? How far are you from DLR? How important are Saturdays/ weekends? Believe Keys were good for us. We didn’t need Inspire and I just didn’t see the value in Enchant passes as they have less weekend days and are typically busier days because three tiers of passes are not blocked.

 

[DrAlice]

It seems more that the solution would be for Disney, which created the service, to integrate a storefront and Movies Anywhere into Disney+.

This is really what I'm getting at, and wasn't putting into words well. Amazon must be taking a cut of the $$ for hosting the paid streaming version right now, right? Why is Disney letting that happen? Why is it available ANYWHERE that isn't a movie theater or Disney+ (even if pay-per-view)? And from the consumer viewpoint, if I can get the Disney goods elsewhere, why am I paying for an additional streaming service?

 

[DrAlice]

They re trying to retrain us to go to the movie theatres again. You buying it on Amazon Prime is probably is necessary for the long term health of their box office numbers as well as D+

How does buying it on Amazon Prime help their box office numbers? (A real question - not sarcasm.)

 

[mickEblu]

How does buying it on Amazon Prime help their box office numbers? (A real question - not sarcasm.)

Sorry wasn’t worded very well. It doesn’t. Removing the expectation of new movies being on D+ 30 days after they’re released in theatres will help future box office especially if they regain our trust with good movies like Elemental. Now to your point on why its on Amazon Prime but not on sale/ pay per view on D+, that’s a good question. I’m not sure but there must be a good reason. Maybe because the cut Disney gets from Amazon is some nice revenue and Elemental being on D+ won’t produce the same $ at least not directly. Just guessing though. D+ still contains a huge library of Disney movies, shows etc. I think they can get away with having the latest movie streaming just a bit later than other platforms like Amazon.

 

[lazyboy97o]

This is really what I'm getting at, and wasn't putting into words well. Amazon must be taking a cut of the $$ for hosting the paid streaming version right now, right? Why is Disney letting that happen? Why is it available ANYWHERE that isn't a movie theater or Disney+ (even if pay-per-view)? And from the consumer viewpoint, if I can get the Disney goods elsewhere, why am I paying for an additional streaming service?

How does buying it on Amazon Prime help their box office numbers? (A real question - not sarcasm.)

Disney isn’t actually a singular monolith. It is separate business units. The studio’s job is to sell the movie. They sell it through theaters. They sell it through digital storefronts. They sell it through home media. They sell it to TV channels for broadcast. And they sell it for Disney with there being a mandate that they sell to Disney+. Selling through digital storefronts doesn’t help the box office numbers, but it is revenue for the movie. Streaming on its own doesn’t pay that well, so the studio wants to go through all of those other avenues of selling the movie first.

Disney+ could possibly* offer to pay more to get exclusivity but that is going to cost more. They’d have to pay enough to offset the loss of those other revenue sources. When the big issue for reaching profitability is the cost of content, then that’s not an additional expense they can afford.

Disney as much as it does make coordinated, cross-business decisions isn’t going to force a change that generates less overall revenue. Going quickly to Disney+ undermines those other revenue streams because people have been showing a willingness to wait for movie to come to a home viewing format for some time now. Those willing to wait to do cost should logically be made to wait if others are willing to pay a premium first.

*Possibly because the specifics of contracts with various individuals, unions, etc. can also have a big influence on how movies are distributed and sold. See the fight with Scarlett Johansson as an example.

 

[MoonRakerSCM]

I had the same thought.... trying to wean people off the "I'll watch it when it's on Disney+" mentality. Even if they released it for 'rent' on Disney plus, just seeing it on there would keep people in the mind set of "It'll eventually be here for 'free', I can wait."

 

[CaptinEO]

Yes we ARE Believe Key holders… for another four hours. Lol. With that said, didn’t expect to get so much push back from my wife. Imagine Keys could be an option. Not only do you save a lot of money (about a 60% discount from Believe) but feel much less pressure to go so often. I think 8-10 visits a year would be the sweet spot for me. Going every 6 weeks or so instead of every two weeks. Of course none of this even gets into the other reasons I dont to want to renew like Splash being closed etc.

The push back from my wife got me thinking about my plans for Knotts APs a little deeper and I don’t think Knotts works for my family yet. They don’t have many family attractions. Meaning a day at Knotts would pretty much mean my son and I ditching my wife/ daughter for the coaster/thrill rides or hanging out in Camp Snoopy which my son won’t have any interest in. And we’d have to drive one hour + from our house for that experience.

How many times a year would you like to go to the parks? How far are you from DLR? How important are Saturdays/ weekends? Believe Keys were good for us. We didn’t need Inspire and I just didn’t see the value in Enchant passes as they have less weekend days and are typically busier days because three tiers of passes are not blocked.

I did some calculations on things and was surprised that after calculating the cost of food and parking into the mix how the high up passes can start to make sense with fewer visits than I thought.

For example the break even of the highest up pass is only 9 visits when adding in 50 dollars of food and 30 dollars of parking each day.

Of course only one needs the discounts though. We will probably do something like 1 inspire pass and 1 believe pass.

I was initially thinking of Enchant since my wife gets Fridays off and I earn a lot of leave hours but realized its best to do Saturdays and keep my hours.

Of course that being said this is for calculating one day parkhoppers. If you were to calculate one park tickets or multiday passes the numbers would change too.

I think we'd like to go 10-12 times a year about.

Another option is the multiday and socal tickets, those are pretty good and lots of people dont realize the multiday tickets are good for 13 days after you use the first one, so you can make it a mini season pass.

I think you are right about Knotts being mostly thrill rides, but that being said it's so cheap even just having the little ones hang out and go on some rides and shops it probably can be worthwhile. It would probably pay for itself in 2 visits.

Just avoid Magic Mountain it is a trash fire at this point and way less to do for kids. I read someone state how they had to pay 25 dollars for a slice of pizza.

 

[Phroobar]

I had the same thought.... trying to wean people off the "I'll watch it when it's on Disney+" mentality. Even if they released it for 'rent' on Disney plus, just seeing it on there would keep people in the mind set of "It'll eventually be here for 'free', I can wait."

Disney hasn't put out anything worth seeing in the theaters right away. See their box office receipts.
Universal put out stuff that people wanted to see in the theaters and didn't want to wait until it was on Peacock.