The Spirited 11th Hour ...

[EPCOTCenterLover]

Welcome back Spirit! Tell me, did you ride Ratatouille? If so, what did you think?

 

[david10225]

This reminds me of something about first impressions so it is time for a Spirited Parisian Aside:

Not sure how many here know it but Disney has been on a major rebuilding/renewing/rehabbing kick in Paris once it became clear that they would be able to wrest full control and ownership of Euro Disney, after years of largely letting it languish.

They have redone the mid-level Sequoia Lodge (where I just stayed for the second time in three years) and the budget Santa Fe. And they just completed work on the Newport Bay Club, which basically included a total residing of the buildings from wood (or rotten old wood) to a composite material better able to take the harsh climate.

The resort looks amazing. From the lovely yellow exterior to the brighter reds, blues and golds used in the halls and rooms to the concierge club that has taken the space of the resort's shop (yes, imagine a Disney resort that currently has NO shop at all ... don't worry as they are replacing the current lobby bar with one in the next 18 months, but for now not even a kiosk to sell you a Coke or a collectable pin!)

So, Spirit you ask (you did ask, right?) if things looked so great why do I sense a big BUT coming? Ah, because you know me better than I know myself, my friends.

The problem IS the first impression. Coming in from Lake Disney to the ground level (where the two restaurants have bee redone and look amazing, didn't eat at them because not enough time) you enter through the original 1992 wooden doors. I really, really hope that when the folks at TWDC who monitor me online read this, they send new DLP head Tom Wolber for a walk. The doors and the entrance are ghetto ... still ... like it is 2011 and the doors haven't ever been sanded down and repainted. That is your first impression to a pricey upscale Disney resort that has just come out of a massive two-year rebuild.

Then take a walk down the halls. So bright. So fresh. Even painting the ceilings a sky blue to help brighten what had been a dark and dingy place. Between it and the new carpeting and wall treatments, it looks phenomenal. Just don't look at a door if you are entering a guest room because, apparently, doors do not count in Paris. So brand new halls, brand new rooms ... but 1992-era white doors with gouges in them, uneven surfaces, marks ...they didn't even throw a new coat of white paint on them. They just redid the rooms and halls and pretended the doors didn't exist.

It's all about first impressions, and no matter how nice the new rooms are (and I have seen them, they are quite nice), what you see first would be ghetto doors. And don't even look at doors to CM only areas in the hotel ... they literally are rotting and have chunks of wood missing since 2001.

In my world, we call that a very half-arsed job. They did a 92% perfect job ... and then failed miserably to bring the project home.

Paging Tom Wolber to the thread!

We were at DL Paris yesterday......heading home early because of the east coast storm.....I have to say there are a ton of repairs that still need to be made. Buzz was a mess..broke down several time.....Space Mountain didn't open till about Two....still showing Ant man in the Discovery land theater.....Dragons lair closed.....of course we knew BTMR was down...so was the island.....my daughter said it need about 4 or 5 more attractions.....Ate at the Crystal Palace and it looks original..needs a return......old school Star Wars...etc.....But at 70 euros a day for two days the price is right..

 

[BlueSkyDriveBy]

I'd say Miles is better suited for a family friendly "Let's make this an actual full pavilion" expansion to Mission Space

Excellent idea!

I just don't understand P&R not embracing IPs like Miles. It's a perfect fit for FW. Family-friendly and more in line with FW's original mission of "edutainment."

 

[FigmentJedi]

Excellent idea!

I just don't understand P&R not embracing IPs like Miles. It's a perfect fit for FW. Family-friendly and more in line with FW's original mission of "edutainment."

It's more of an issue of Disney not liking to do anything with their television properties long-term. In the parks or otherwise. Like their adamant refusal to do complete full season DVD releases of most of their animated TV library. It took forever for them to finish TaleSpin and Gargoyles (or at least the important stuff, Goliath Chronicles being so bad that the creator of Gargoyles disowns it in favor of the shortlived comic series he did) and that was only because they did a limited run for the Disney Movie Club and decided to make it a little wider.

 

[david10225]

Thanks for the update on EuroDisney. Can't believe the door situation, what a load of crap. Glad to hear the resort is starting to turn around, definitely on my bucket list.

My question about the resort concerns security. Seems like of all the Disney parks the one in France would be the most vulnerable to a terrorist attack since France seems to be on front lines lately. Don't know how recent your trip was but did you notice a increase security presence while on your visit? Do you know if Disney execs are concerned about a possible attack at one of the parks?

AT the train station near the park..when we left after Disney Dreams there must have been some kind-of scare.....police everywhere.....mean muzzled German shepherds....some kind of machine guns....and the opened all the train gates to get the crowds out

 

[Goofyernmost]

AT the train station near the park..when we left after Disney Dreams there must have been some kind-of scare.....police everywhere.....mean muzzled German shepherds....some kind of machine guns....and the opened all the train gates to get the crowds out

When I was there in October (well before the situation on 11/13) that type of showing was all over Europe. France and Italy in particular. I didn't notice any huge amount in Spain.

 

[wishiwere@wdw]

There's plans to update Paris' Village according to their CEO of Operations:
http://micechat.com/117514-inside-disneyland-paris-meeting-daniel-delcourt-deputy-ceo-operations/

• -Disney Village is no longer in line with Disney’s vision of an upbeat family place, refurbishment is in the planning stage

I'm guessing they have bigger tasks getting the parks up to scratch first

The sidewalk enthusiast side of me hopes they plan to actually repave or at least install new pavers because it amazed me just how destroyed these walkways were. Especially between the parks. Seriously, Sixflags has far nicer pavement . These are the kind of things I realize FL and CA still get right and I use it as a gauge to know when things are REALLY getting bad in the swamps lol. Thankfully the sidewalks are still not hitting DLP standards.

It's awesome having you back Spirit and for various personal reasons, this change really hits home for me and we couldn't be happier

 

[Cesar R M]

Like Princess Zelda and Princess Peach lap dances at the proposed Club XXTENDO?

 

[Cesar R M]

I am not the moral police, but, do yourself a favor and stay out of that missive pile of irrelevant BS. What happened, happened years ago and isn't important to anything anywhere. It's just gossip and never should have been on these boards to begin with. It was just mean and useless justification of hate.

And since it was discussed already ( I think). Its like beating a dead horse when the horse wants to have all the 'back in the days" attention to themselves again.

 

[Rodan75]

http://www.laughingplace.com/w/news/2016/01/21/walt-disney-world-reorganizes-operations/


Hmmm more changes

I'm assuming this structure has been used before? Was it better?

 

[Hakunamatata]

I'm assuming this structure has been used before? Was it better?

I see this as a positive. You may see more unique offerings in different lands. Merchandise, food, etc. I think this is the way it was prior to the "Disney Parksification Homoginizing" that has taken place.

 

[Iwerks64]

Any thoughts on their new 10th anniversary offerings? Or anything else on Lantau?

There's really very little 10th anniversary hoopla. Small small signage added to the gazebo in town square. A big God-awful plywood cutout storybook and fab five that you can take a selfie in front of that hey plopped down right inside the castle in front of the carousel. Not much 10th anniversary merchandise either. More Chinese New Year merch (including a rather cool looking stuffed Albert from Mystic Manor in traditional Chinese garb as next year is the year of the monkey).

Two new items - Fairytale Forest (presented by PANDORA) and Mickey and the Wondrous Book stage show that replaces The Golden Mickeys show. Fairytale Forest (presented by PANDORA) is a walk through garden with small interactive princess vignettes. Kids turn a crank and something small happens. It was nicely landscaped and well done for what it is, but nothing to plan a trip for. I did sit on a bench for a while and do some work email.

I tried to see Mickey and the Wondrous Book 3 times, but getting to the show 45 minutes early, each time was already full with CMs telling you to come back for the next show. Sorry, but I'm not going to stand and wait for 90 minutes. As the Golden Mickeys was very well done, I had hopes that this show would be as well. I assume it's very close to the DL show.

The park was actually more crowded than I thought it would be on a cold, rainy January Sunday two weeks before the start of Chinese New Year.

Also, still waiting for the perpetually under construction Iron Man Experience to finish its slow plod to opening. It's really cramped up that corner of Tomorrowland.

 

[WDW1974]

Just a bit more on Chappie, because while I like the Bob Weis move, that came from Iger and/or Staggs.
Chappie has been going about learning his job and one can question yet again with all the talented parks and hospitality execs out there (and there are plenty) why this dude was given reign over Disney's kingdoms.

I did have an interesting anecdote passed to me by someone with intimate knowledge of the man. Here's a bit of what said individual had to say: ''Chapek has had and still has a tremendous amount of learning to do -- about the basics of his core businesses. It was clear he had absolutely no working knowledge about DL or the theme park industry in general. Even as a Guest. The average tourist staying across the street at the Best Western knows far more about Disneyland than Bob Chapek does.''

That doesn't mean he is a bad guy or even a bad choice to run the division. It does give one pause as to how these decisions are made, though. Imagine a similar scenario in your own lives? How likely would it be that you'd get to run a division with absolutely no experience in it whatsoever, not even teen internships or part time jobs while in college? It's sorta like being the head of nutrition at a hospital and suddenly you are the head of neurology. Why? Are you detecting a pattern that in these "decisions'' there are really no choices to be made at all?

 

[NearTheEars]

Making people park a mile away from the gates and not providing any kind of transport is a dumb proposal.

Alrighty.

 

[BrerJon]

They have redone the mid-level Sequoia Lodge (where I just stayed for the second time in three years) and the budget Santa Fe. And they just completed work on the Newport Bay Club, which basically included a total residing of the buildings from wood (or rotten old wood) to a composite material better able to take the harsh climate.

Don't you think Sequioa makes a mockery of Disney's US hotel prices? It's basically Wilderness Lodge, yet is much cheaper than you'd ever pay stateside and is only considered a 'moderate', because the French compare themselves to actual luxury hotels.

Unlike WDW, where you can take an average hotel, give it the label 'Deluxe', and people will pay hundreds of dollars a night just because they gave it a fancy category name, regardless of how it stacks up to the competition.

 

[BrerJon]

It seems reasonable to me to say that basically destroying large quantities of a park, removing existing infrastructure, and building new attractions in under 4 years is impossible.

How about draining a swamp, building foundations, and building an entire park, parking lot, attractions, a lake, corporate lounges and CM facilities in less than three years, with 1970s technology? They did it with EPCOT Center.

 

[Mike S]

How about draining a swamp, building foundations, and building an entire park, parking lot, attractions, a lake, corporate lounges and CM facilities in less than three years, with 1970s technology? They did it with EPCOT Center.

"It's kind of fun to do the impossible."

 

[Hakunamatata]

Just a bit more on Chappie, because while I like the Bob Weis move, that came from Iger and/or Staggs.
Chappie has been going about learning his job and one can question yet again with all the talented parks and hospitality execs out there (and there are plenty) why this dude was given reign over Disney's kingdoms.

I did have an interesting anecdote passed to me by someone with intimate knowledge of the man. Here's a bit of what said individual had to say: ''Chapek has had and still has a tremendous amount of learning to do -- about the basics of his core businesses. It was clear he had absolutely no working knowledge about DL or the theme park industry in general. Even as a Guest. The average tourist staying across the street at the Best Western knows far more about Disneyland than Bob Chapek does.''

That doesn't mean he is a bad guy or even a bad choice to run the division. It does give one pause as to how these decisions are made, though. Imagine a similar scenario in your own lives? How likely would it be that you'd get to run a division with absolutely no experience in it whatsoever, not even teen internships or part time jobs while in college? It's sorta like being the head of nutrition at a hospital and suddenly you are the head of neurology. Why? Are you detecting a pattern that in these "decisions'' there are really no choices to be made at all?

I have the same questions about some of the leaders being chosen in the large organization where I work. People put in positions to lead others and they have no working knowledge of what people under their charge do. When you ask why, the answer is something like "you don't have to know how to do the job of the people you lead, you just have to know how to lead". Honestly it's a bogus philosophy that helps to foster cronyism.

 

[Cesar R M]

"It's kind of fun to do the impossible."

"Not anymore.. it costs money..." Bob Iger.. probably..

 

[Andrew C]

I have the same questions about the leaders being chosen in the large organization where I work. People put in positions to lead others and they have no working knowledge of what people under their charge do. When you ask why, the answer is something like "you don't have to know how to do the job of the people you lead, you just have to know how to lead". Honestly it's a bogus philosophy that helps to foster cronyism.

Ehh. I'm okay with this. Great corporations make these types of moves as well. it's good sometimes to put a fresh set of eyes on a department or team. In certain times you want someone who sees things differently. The key obviously that this person is a great leader and is willing to learn some of the daily operations of the team as well.

I was in a similar position myself a few years back. Becoming a leader of a team I hadn't worked directly with before. I only partially understood what the team members did on a daily basis but I made an effort my first few weeks to learn more.