The Spirited 11th Hour ...

[WDW1974]

Is the DLR version of Star Wars Land bigger than the planned WDW version?

No. They will not be completely identical, just mostly, and will both eat up the same amount of real estate.

 

[WDW1974]

Does being the former CEO of Disney give you some kind of unlimited access? If so, he should abuse it like crazy. I would

I believe, like the Disney family, he has lifetime free admission for himself and family.

 

[WDW1974]

The walk from the Anaheim parking lot looks like it will be no worse than the "you are so close staying on property" walk from the Paradise Pier Hotel to the Esplenade. Maybe they should install a walking sidewalk through the course of DTD?

Are you really going to defend this? Why don't you defend cheap toilet paper too? Or paying CMs less? Or raising prices to $200 a day and $75 a tee shirt and $11 a Coke? Yes, posts like this is why myself and others often say "why bother?"

 

[matt9112]

I agree. I stayed at the All Star Movies resort a few years ago and was very impressed. After reading the general consensus on here, I thought I'd be rolling up into a shady looking Red Roof Inn on Elm Street or something. I actually had better CM service there than I've had on my last few stays at the so-called "deluxe" resorts across property. But I digress.

the only complain that seems to be wide spread is if you are there when a tour group or football team ect are also there...those large groups tend to be very loud.

 

[WDW1974]

Yup. Wells gave Eisner the balance to allow Eisner to focus on the creative side that he really was talented at. When that balance was off and that ego wasn't in check, no thank you. Disneyland fans need to only see the name Paul Pressler to see how far off the deep end Eisner had gone in the latter years.

Not sure how or why this is a topic yet again, so all I will add is MDE did plenty right after Frank died as well. And Frank was there and approving of Strat Planning. That often gets twisted or missed.

The one thing that I'd want is Michael's fire and passion. Bob has all the personality of a slice of Wonder Bread (Gotta whisper about bread as I am dating the world's biggest bread snob!!!) How can you run TWDC and not be excited all the time? (Oh, yeah, I have seen the stock lately.)

 

[WDW1974]

We don't have good verbiage for it yet, but it's a really unfortunate change that I've witnessed over the years. Some members of the Universal community have actually developed into the 'Pixie Dust-esque' mentality. Someone feel free to name it!

All the signs are there: Universal has their own Pixie Dusters who have a melt down at the mere suggestion or attempt at rational discussion that everything is not always 'perfect'.

I understand the scales have always been imbalanced and it's hard to switch from the defensive role that you've always had to adopt to be a fan in the past of Universal, but I'm afraid...

They are UNI Wand Wavers. And when they drink too much, they start comparing wands and ... you know the rest!

 

[Smiddimizer]

It is so funny that Williams, Coup, Woodbury and Co. never get the heat that Disney's P&R folks and Imagineers take ... when they are just as bad if not worse. The sad reality is that there is more talent floating around or working for smaller design firms today than at WDI and Creative combined.

I'll bite. Thierry Coup is the biggest reason I'm actually relieved that Disney are the ones handling Star Wars in the parks. Gringotts feels like a ride that got the soul sucked out of it by a Dementor.

 

[WDW1974]

I've always been, in my humble opinion, fair and balanced when it comes to posting regarding the inner workings of both Universal Creative and WDI. They both have their faults as well as their strengths.

I took a look at the posts from Orlando United and it seems I have obviously struck a nerve. The first thing I can say in response to the criticisms is that everything I post comes directly from either first-hand experience if there are enough other souls on that particular project and I don't have to worry about getting myself or others in trouble, or I reveal something on this board through another poster if I feel like the information is known by too few and it could be traced back to me.

There was a post on Orlando United that went through some of my posting history proving how accurate it is most of the time. I appreciate the time this person took to research those posts and here are a few others:

While everyone else was saying that the murder she wrote soundstage was turning into a haunted attraction I revealed that transformers was coming.

Nintendo was an example of information I did not feel comfortable sharing before the announcement because of the limited number of people involved at the time. The announcement came way before UNIVERSAL wanted to reveal it however they were getting pressure from Nintendo due to the announcement of other projects at the time and they didn't want to be left out.

There were too many items to talk about regarding Diagon Alley but A cursory glance at previous posts will prove the point. There are a few "insiders" on these boards that can verify these things.

I'm not sure where the criticism for my comments on 340 are coming from but everything I have said is 100% accurate. Show scenes were cut at the last minute and the few scenes that remain in some cases were reduced in scope. The main AA looks amazing and it should be a decent ride even though it will be a little short for my taste. The one thing it has going for it is Mike West. Mike is a great guy and a worthy producer, one of the few real talents at Creative.

Yes I bring up budget cuts often. I report them as they happen and things are extremely fluid from day to day with these projects. I don't have a problem with budget cuts in general as they are a necessary evil sometimes but what I do have a problem with is how often the reason for them is ineptitude when it comes to Universal Creative. I have gone into detail in other posts regarding this subject so I'll leave it at that for now.

Thanks for dropping back in with this!

Being hated by large numbers of fans just means you have a voice worth listening to ...

 

[WDW1974]

Hi Spirit, any idea on what the FL expansion at DL will consist of? I'm pretty sure a Frozen attraction... But do you think it will be more like the elaborate Tokyo trackless ride or the Epcot overlay? Also, any chance we get something other than Frozen? Like a BATB dark ride?

Frozen will be big and very likely use TDS's version ... but too blue sky to say at this point. But funny you mention a BatB ride ...

 

[the.dreamfinder]

I'll bite. Thierry Coup is the biggest reason I'm actually relieved that Disney are the ones handling Star Wars in the parks. Gringotts feels like a ride that got the soul sucked out of it by a Dementor.

There's an imagineer-fanboi analogy I could make about Gringotts, but I won't...

 

[hopemax]

I just don't get this mentality. Sure, every once in a while it is true. But in the vast majority of cases, it just isn't. Running a chain of athletic shoe and clothing stores isn't a good tune up to run an airline. Running a city water department successfully doesn't mean you can run a children's medical center. Running a chain of delis doesn't equate with running an NBA franchise.

You think those are wild examples? Sure they are. But so is the idea that someone who has been working in retail/consumer products, someone who not only hasn't worked a day in theme parks and resorts but hasn't any burning passion for them is suddenly running Disney's worldwide empire.

The without a burning passion for them, is the bigger issue, IMO. Otherwise why aren't we arguing that putting George K in charge of WDW is the best thing that has happened since Nunis left.

There are theme park specific properties that can be "marketable" despite not being attached to tentpole movies. Since HP opened suddenly HM, Pirates, ToT merchandise is now okay again. Also, since the Eisner era, the parks have done a poor job of incorporating popular IPs into their parks aside from stage shows, parades and meet & greets (and all of those were starting to disappear too). It seemed like the only lesson the parks learned from Frozen/Baymax meet & greet popularity is that M&G from new films should be avoided, because they may be so popular you can't get rid of it! It shouldn't have taken as long as it did to get a Mermaid ride, Aladdin should be represented by more than just a spinner, Tangled being used for bathrooms and the inappropriate scale for Frozen. A competent DCP eye, would be one to say, "you know these IPs are really strong for our intended demos, why are the parks not using them, or using them more appropriately?" The resort/park management seems so adverse to anything new larger scale, and seem to not really be excelling at the "things the kids are into, these days." WDI's recent efforts of what's fun/interactive have missed the mark so badly when going up against those magic wands. IMO, someone from DCP might actually be "closer" to getting "this is what people want" than the current park/WDI culture has allowed to grow.

I guess I see the main benefits are perhaps being able to better identify what should get built because these IPs have made such an impression they will be around for a long time, and the size of the audience who will be "buying in." And I don't see how that is radically different than identifying what product lines a store will carry and how wide they should cast the net (so popular the big boxes should be carrying them, Disney-owned retailers, or leave it to the specialty retailers, etc). It might make it easier for theme park projects to get off the ground because the ROI can be quantified and backed up by DCP successes.

It's still Disney, so I know most of this is a pipe dream. But I don't see the answer to division success coming from older, men, who learned to play and survive the political game of survival within WDI or park ops given the history of those divisions over the last 20 odd years. These are people trained not to invest, not to identify what's new and striking a chord with people, etc. Maybe a DCP person would have been strong enough to stand up to Iger and say Avatar is NOT a good choice and it won't have a good return on investment.

 

[WDW1974]

Yes, the Swan and Dolphin hotels both offer an amazing value. The location on Crescent Lake gives you access to the same boat transportation that you get when staying at the Boardwalk or the Beach Club. Plus, all of the guest rooms have just been renovated at both the Swan and Dolphin.

The Epcot Explorer suddenly has gone from Hampton Inn in Davenport to Dolphin all the time, and he knows his resorts! (I think off-season teacher's rates have more to do with that one!)

But Swan and Dolphin are great places to stay and they absolutely provide a higher caliber product than Disney delivers at its deluxe resorts, usually for much lower prices. I love them. But I am now a DVC or UNI resort or PL.com kind of Spirit.

Oh, and only Swan has been renovated thus far. Dolphin may have finally started after New Year's ... not sure.

 

[WDW1974]

"Faster and cheaper?"

Sounds like doing "more with less"

I know how this ends.

Hopefully, not.

I love Bob Weis. And I am willing to give Chappie the benefit of the doubt, even though he is currently largely clueless about his business line. I do like his mantra.

We have years to come before we will be able to judge the results.

 

[WDW1974]

One wonders if it is possible to make a thread without pet nicknames for WDW staff and degrading comments about visitors.

Nah. There would be no fun in that. And we are talking about theme parks ... we should be having fun!

 

[WDW1974]

Slightly changing the subject, but I bring it up here because this has been an ongoing topic of discussion of previous Spirit threads... The 400+ acre Universal land buy recently confirmed early this year along Universal Drive near the convention center.

Since this land is not contiguous with itself, the Wet and Wild property, and its core property, how will they "connect" it? Are they still in talks with Sea World?

I just last night learned about this while researching the recent land acquisitions of Disney around DLR. Whatever Disney does with DL seems to always have parallel moves by Universal in Orlando. So, I was curious if Universal was also on a property buying spree here. Sure enough, I then discovered that bit of news that I had somehow missed before.

What is the current speculation of what Uni is up to? I know in the past, we were expecting more land grabs by Uni.

UNI is building ... lots. Lots of hotels (Sapphire Bay isn't the end at all) ... a water park and down the road ....?

 

[PhotoDave219]

Hopefully, not.

I love Bob Weis. And I am willing to give Chappie the benefit of the doubt, even though he is currently largely clueless about his business line. I do like his mantra.

We have years to come before we will be able to judge the results.

I hope not either… and the way this company is moving, it will be years before they even open anything…

 

[WDW1974]

I'll bite. Thierry Coup is the biggest reason I'm actually relieved that Disney are the ones handling Star Wars in the parks. Gringotts feels like a ride that got the soul sucked out of it by a Dementor.

People who work at Creative will scream their lungs out over Coup's screen fixation (it is worse than Tom Fitzgerald's). He just doesn't get it, because of his film background, and that is why so many UNI attractions feel similar when they shouldn't. Gringotts is a fine ride, but it could have been so much more if it hadn't relied so heavily on screens and then had so much else get the budget axe. It isn't one of the top rides in O-Town, let alone at UNI. But don't let the UNI Wand Wavers hear you!

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

That goes without saying.


But I honestly can't get why people visit the corpses of EPCOT Center.

To get rat arsed of course. It is a pleasant collection of over priced bars all be it no worse than any city centre and it makes a change from Vegas

 

[WDW1974]

The without a burning passion for them, is the bigger issue, IMO. Otherwise why aren't we arguing that putting George K in charge of WDW is the best thing that has happened since Nunis left.

There are theme park specific properties that can be "marketable" despite not being attached to tentpole movies. Since HP opened suddenly HM, Pirates, ToT merchandise is now okay again. Also, since the Eisner era, the parks have done a poor job of incorporating popular IPs into their parks aside from stage shows, parades and meet & greets (and all of those were starting to disappear too). It seemed like the only lesson the parks learned from Frozen/Baymax meet & greet popularity is that M&G from new films should be avoided, because they may be so popular you can't get rid of it! It shouldn't have taken as long as it did to get a Mermaid ride, Aladdin should be represented by more than just a spinner, Tangled being used for bathrooms and the inappropriate scale for Frozen. A competent DCP eye, would be one to say, "you know these IPs are really strong for our intended demos, why are the parks not using them, or using them more appropriately?" The resort/park management seems so adverse to anything new larger scale, and seem to not really be excelling at the "things the kids are into, these days." WDI's recent efforts of what's fun/interactive have missed the mark so badly when going up against those magic wands. IMO, someone from DCP might actually be "closer" to getting "this is what people want" than the current park/WDI culture has allowed to grow.

I guess I see the main benefits are perhaps being able to better identify what should get built because these IPs have made such an impression they will be around for a long time, and the size of the audience who will be "buying in." And I don't see how that is radically different than identifying what product lines a store will carry and how wide they should cast the net (so popular the big boxes should be carrying them, Disney-owned retailers, or leave it to the specialty retailers, etc). It might make it easier for theme park projects to get off the ground because the ROI can be quantified and backed up by DCP successes.

It's still Disney, so I know most of this is a pipe dream. But I don't see the answer to division success coming from older, men, who learned to play and survive the political game of survival within WDI or park ops given the history of those divisions over the last 20 odd years. These are people trained not to invest, not to identify what's new and striking a chord with people, etc. Maybe a DCP person would have been strong enough to stand up to Iger and say Avatar is NOT a good choice and it won't have a good return on investment.

I agree largely with every word you wrote.

I will just say that George Kalogridis sold his soul to get to be an out 60-plus year-old man running the place he started bussing tables at as a teen. That is largely what happens with Disney. You compromise your views, your feelings of right and wrong and what Disney is all about and you get a career now.

That is why I am so much more interested in Bob Weis and why he has the job he has and what he will be able to do with it. Because Bob gets it. ... Chappie may be trying, but that jury is way out. ... And someone like George ... he just plain sold out (including his friends).

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

Gringotts is a fine ride, !

Personally thought it was crap, but visually pleasing crap.