The Miscellaneous Thought Thread

[lazyboy97o]

-Midway Mania is getting a disproportionate amount of hype and screentime for its quality.

Well, it does use a lot of ethernet cable.

-"But an unexpected detour occured when the Imagineers found out Pixar was producing a movie about cars." Guys. You JUST showed us footage of the proposal in 2007. Cars came out in 2006. Let's not be intentionally misleading.

Cars had been publicly announced by at least late 2003 as it was part of the very public fight between Steve Jobs and Michael Eisner. Does anyone really believe that, at a time when Michael was making it clear that he was going to fully exploit Disney's rights to Pixar's characters, that Steve was giving the Imagineers previews and encouraging them to exploit the rights he was angry about? The previous story was that Lasseter pushed the changed after the acquisition.

-Why are we talking about HMH now? It was neither the first overlay, nor was it introduced during Iger's time. The only reason can be to reinstate the IP-trumps-all narrative that Iger loves so much. "Not to mention, it was only temporary. Fans could rest in peace." Disney wishes death upon their fans, news at eleven!

Not only that, but Haunted Mansion Holiday was done by the park and not Walt Disney Imagineering.

-Only after the film shows Ratatouille (and implies that it's revolutionary by showing the work of programming it, etc. despite showing Mystic Manor earlier in the same episode with no mention of Hunny Hunt, both of which used the same technology before and better than Rat)

How many people realize the trackless technology was developed for Aquatopia? Pooh's Hunny Hunt opened first but the development was actually for Aquatopia.

 

[PiratesMansion]

I'm not 100% sure that Bob Weis intended to say that there was no value in the Pirate ride if you didn't grow up riding it...but that is what he said. The attempt to parallel Iger and Walt by juxtaposing their Disney park opening speeches was also unneeded.

But overall, Episode 6 did not offend me nearly as much as episode 5 (with the caveat that I have basically stayed away from everything GE and I was watching less intently than before), perhaps mainly because there is FAR less of the condescending "SEE?!?!? We were 100% RIGHT to meddle with this good thing!!!!!!! You fans are WrOnG!!!11111111" toxic energy that smothered Episode 5.

 

[Mac Tonight]

I'm not 100% sure that Bob Weis intended to say that there was no value in the Pirate ride if you didn't grow up riding it...but that is what he said. The attempt to parallel Iger and Walt by juxtaposing their Disney park opening speeches was also unneeded.

But overall, Episode 6 did not offended me nearly as much as episode 5 (with the caveat that I have basically stayed away from everything GE and I was watching less intently than before), perhaps mainly because there is FAR less of the condescending "SEE?!?!? We were 100% RIGHT to meddle with this good thing!!!!!!! You fans are WrOnG!!!11111111" toxic energy that smothered Episode 5.

Any positive comparison of Walt and Iger is just...

 

[Brer Panther]

-Ratatouille is introduced as being akin to a modern day Mr. Toad's Wild Ride,

The depressing thing is that Ratatouille COULD'VE been akin to a modern day Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, with its premise of running around the kitchen and trying to avoid humans' feet, cooking utensils, etc. Instead, it's just a simulator posing as a dark ride.

 

[DrAlice]

I've been avoiding the pixar story documentary for fear it would be too cringy. Has anyone watched it?

 

[Curious Constance]

I've been avoiding the pixar story documentary for fear it would be too cringy. Has anyone watched it?

So many Disney created shows are cringy lol Haven’t watched that one yet. I’ll add it to my list. We can have a cringe fest after together

 

[Rich T]

...It's hard to get worked up about Splash when I anticipate the park will be going through far more nuanced changes that impact the park experience in subtle yet significant ways over the next five years.

I’m expecting the nuanced changes to be accompanied by far more brutal and short-sighted disfigurings of The Happiest Place on Earth. I honestly don’t think anyone calling the shots at Disney understands or cares about the parks beyond “What decisions can I make that will help my career after I leave this company?”

I try to be optimistic, but... (points to rotting People Mover track). That kind of says it all. That’s exactly how much today’s Disney “cares.”

 

[SuddenStorm]

I know you are. What are you anticipating as far as all the other changes long term when capacity is back to normal?

I expect park entertainment to look very, very different. And offerings like the Main Street Vehicles to be offered less often. And with so many people getting axed, more subtle changes like park hours, entertainment schedules, the best way to set up crowd flow during the evening shows, etc will likely be changed. There's a lot of generational knowledge and experience behind every aspect of how Disneyland operates, and losing so many people at once, many of whom I expect won't come back, will likely lead to changes down the road both small and large for the park.

Of course, in 10 years the Cast Member 'purge' could end up being a good thing in the sense it revitalized the park, allowed it to operate with a leaner management hierarchy, allowing better decisions to be made quicker and easier.

 

[mickEblu]

I expect park entertainment to look very, very different. And offerings like the Main Street Vehicles to be offered less often. And with so many people getting axed, more subtle changes like park hours, entertainment schedules, the best way to set up crowd flow during the evening shows, etc will likely be changed. There's a lot of generational knowledge and experience behind every aspect of how Disneyland operates, and losing so many people at once, many of whom I expect won't come back, will likely lead to changes down the road both small and large for the park.

Of course, in 10 years the Cast Member 'purge' could end up being a good thing in the sense it revitalized the park, allowed it to operate with a leaner management hierarchy, allowing better decisions to be made quicker and easier.

Good point on the generational knowledge. Im expecting some of this well but was hoping only during the next “couple” years with lower capacity. I’m hoping that things go back to normal when capacity goes back to normal.

 

[DrAlice]

The original Muppet Show is coming to Disney+ in Feb. I'm super excited about this! We've been having fun watching the old movies, but we just can't get into the "new" Muppets. I know my daughter will like the old show.

 

[George Lucas on a Bench]

They were never the same after Jim Henson died and the more original cast departed, the worse it got.

 

[DrAlice]

They were never the same after Jim Henson died and the more original cast departed, the worse it got.

Still better than the reboots, IMO.

 

[Okee68]

Here's a really nice photo of Fantasyland circa 1969 or so, very shortly after those wrought-iron fences and arches around the Mad Tea Party were installed. This photo captures the color of pre-1980s Fantasyland brilliantly.

 

[Curious Constance]

The original Muppet Show is coming to Disney+ in Feb. I'm super excited about this! We've been having fun watching the old movies, but we just can't get into the "new" Muppets. I know my daughter will like the old show.

A good idea for a thread would be “What’s good/new/coming soon on Disney +?”. I’m always looking for new things to watch.

 

[George Lucas on a Bench]

I get Disney+ with the Hulu bundle I use to watch the classic FX original series. I almost never use Disney+ and they don't seem to add any good content. I'll check out the Muppet Show, however.

 

[PiratesMansion]

The problem with Disney+ is that when Netflix (especially) or Hulu flood with content, Disney+ content drips.

It's not entirely their fault, as they haven't been able to film as much new content as was planned, but you would think they would at least move faster on getting some of the older stuff out that is just sitting in the vaults. Will most people care? No, but it's something. As opposed to their current "well we'll release four TV episodes a week total and that's just fine" model.

The Muppet Show is probably the last big thing that's still in the vault, and only for another month or so. Then what?

I get that there's always going to be an audience of parents who need to entertain their kids, and those kids might be fine watching the same content over and over again, but if they really want to grow their audience (and keep it, once those sweetheart signup deals run out), they need more. If they can't create new, then they need to dig into the vaults.

Then again, it's very much the WDW strategy of parsing out the bare minimum to lavish praise and it seems to work just fine for them in both cases, so...

 

[George Lucas on a Bench]

They could at least add the Ewok movies

 

[Sharon&Susan]

With a Pinocchio remake coming in the near future, I wonder if there's a chance of Geppetto's Workshop or the Village Haus returning?

 

[truecoat]

The Muppet Show is probably the last big thing that's still in the vault, and only for another month or so. Then what?

Walt Disney's Disneyland
Walt Disney Presents
Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color

 

[George Lucas on a Bench]

The Ewok movies