mahnamahna101
Well-Known Member
I'd love to see a WDW commercial just about how magical the bathrooms are... Tangled, Olaf, Star Wars... the ad sells itself!dammit!!, you guys beat me both on the jokes related to M&G and bathrooms
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The Spirited Seventh Heaven ...
- Thread starter WDW1974
- Start date
Cesar R M
Well-Known Member
There is always hope
sorry, had to read almost 20 pages since I last logged in, kinda hard to chunk all the content in mere minutes as there are some really good reads.
bhg469
Well-Known Member
Sarlac pit toilets! You heard it here first.
Give it a rest, a VERY long rest ...
Exactly, just pettiness all around. But I am surprised no one has done a screen shot comparison from Monday to Thursday to see how big the difference really is ...
flynnibus
Premium Member
Are you saying what I think you are? That's an interesting connection I did not see... but now you have me thinking!!
Nubs70
Well-Known Member
The old PA system?
flynnibus
Premium Member
I'd argue Carsland is above Potter 1.0 - with the exception of merchandise. Buutttt.. Potter came first, and I give credit to Potter v1.0 to being the bold one. The genius behind the integrated food, the details (like the windows and posters)...Potter's success (IMO) proved that level of detail would work and pay off. Potter v1.0 is more influential to the industry, but I'd wager many might like Carsland better as a land. I have a huge affinity for neon, so the fact Disney carried through with that street vision is hard for me to not gush over.
Diagon Alley looks reminds me of the guy that prospects.. and then puts everything he has behind a hit. It shows what is possible when there is a 'all in' agenda. Just freaking mashing the gas pedal on all fronts... scale, detail, integration of product, dedication to push what might be 'show over profit' elements.. its amazing.
Can we say... Diagon Alley as a setting, integration, and story telling will surpass the Disney concept of Main Street? I think it easily beats the 1990s+ Disney Main Street. Do you think it surpasses the original?
AEfx
Well-Known Member
Oh, in this thread? I must have missed it. I will go back and check. I was looking for other threads when I searched, LOL.
While we make fun, I'd love for Universal to do a themed toilet in that case, using Star Trek. They just beam the crap out of you up there, no muss, no fuss.
Now THAT would be a magical bathroom experience!
tirian
Well-Known Member
I would respectfully argue that Carsland has only one decent attraction, and it's a retread of Test Track that Epcot actually does better. Sure, the same ride system can be used in different ways (think of JTTCOTE at TDS); but with RSR and TT both being about cars, TR actually wins in my book, despite not having AAs. It's simply more exciting.
I concede that this is a matter of personal opinion!
Potter 1.0 felt more complete than Carsland because of the extreme attention to detail throughout the area, like the screamer letter in the window, the animated posters, and the FX that always work throughout Zonko's and Ollivander's.
How long do you think it would take Disney to decide all those animated posters wouldn't be worth maintaining if HP were at WDW? TDO can't keep the Zanzibar sign in Adventureland working properly, let alone the old whirligigs at Epcot or the Luxo lamp in the Studios.
I concede that this is a matter of personal opinion!
Potter 1.0 felt more complete than Carsland because of the extreme attention to detail throughout the area, like the screamer letter in the window, the animated posters, and the FX that always work throughout Zonko's and Ollivander's.
How long do you think it would take Disney to decide all those animated posters wouldn't be worth maintaining if HP were at WDW? TDO can't keep the Zanzibar sign in Adventureland working properly, let alone the old whirligigs at Epcot or the Luxo lamp in the Studios.
Cesar R M
Well-Known Member
What about an elevated tower a la skycity.. with impressive glass floor bathrooms!
TOP THAT!!!!
(imagine him saying CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP and not khaan)
bhg469
Well-Known Member
How about instead of Dyson germ collecting hand dryers, they would be replaced with uncle Owens moisture evaporators!What about an elevated tower a la skycity.. with impressive glass floor bathrooms!
TOP THAT!!!!
(imagine him saying CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP and not khaan)
mahnamahna101
Well-Known Member
What about an elevated tower a la skycity.. with impressive glass floor bathrooms!
TOP THAT!!!!
(imagine him saying CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP and not khaan)
The Shat could sing Rocket Man while you're beaming it right up
JenniferS
When you're the leader, you don't have to follow.
The Shat should not sing. Ever.The Shat could sing Rocket Man while you're beaming it right up
bhg469
Well-Known Member
Ugh, spoken word sure sounds like The Shat..The Shat could sing Rocket Man while you're beaming it right up
ParentsOf4
Well-Known Member
If you think about it, what Disney has done at WDW is dump their unique low-margin merchandise & food and replace it with generic high-margin merchandise & food.
What we'd do is dump the low-margin bulbs and realign our resources to sell more high-margin bulbs. We'd chase both sales and margins. Accepting the status quo is never an option.
We'd let Walmart sell the high-volume, low-margin bulbs. Considering what has happened to the WDW product since Iger took over, it seems like an appropriate comparison.
If our investors can't get the return they want from us, they'll put their money elsewhere. Lucky for us, we have shareholders who are in it for the long hall and recognize that product investments we've made in the past are paying off today, while product investments we make today will payoff tomorrow.
In the end, the goal is to improve both sales and margins. If we are wasting valuable company resources selling low-margin products, then we our doing our investors a disservice.
In 2013, Universal Theme Parks spent $1.5B to make $700M, which is not exactly like selling 10 light bulbs a week.
In 2013, Universal invested 26% of Theme Parks revenue for improvements. The money Universal spent last year for Diagon Alley will pay off big-time for years to come. Universal was smart and invested in the right product.
In 2013, Disney's P&R had to spend $11.8B in order to make $2.2B.
In 2013 and the first half of 2014, Disney invested 15% in P&R. For some reason, Disney decided it would rather spend the extra billions they had lying around buying back company stock, which was trading at a PE of 21.
Kinda suggests Disney doesn't have confidence in their own P&R segment to provide a better return.
Even if they were broken up into standalone businesses, both Universal's Theme Parks segment and Disney's Parks & Resorts segment would be too large for most single investors. As standalone companies, a theoretical "Universal Theme Parks Company" would be outperforming its "Disney Parks & Resort" counterpart by a two-to-one spread.
In such a match-up, the smart money would be on the mythical "Universal Theme Parks Company". The smart money would be on the company that's hungry for business, not the one that's coasting on past glory.
Still, if you want to look at the companies as a whole, Comcast generated more revenue and more cash than Disney.
In 2013, Disney's gross margin from all operations was 23.8% while its P&R margin was 15.8%.
At Comcast, gross margin from all operations was 21.0%, while Theme Parks ran at 31.5%.
Uni's Theme Parks pulled the company up whereas Disney's P&R pulled the company down.
As I've stated before, one Theme Parks organization is being run intelligently.
The other one is being run considerably less so.
Is it any wonder Iger & company are unhappy with P&R?
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You would need a DROID that understands their binary language.
flynnibus
Premium Member
Certainly opinions... but I'll elaborate on mine based on your comments
While RSR is not an improvement on the 'car' factor of Test Track... I find it a fitting ride system for the attraction and an exceptional tie-in to the movie/story. It blends the notion of 'you are in the universe', etc. Test Track pushes the ride system (and of course gets credit for being the original), but I found the outdoor section of RSR worth it even without the high speed. I'd argue RSR works on many levels, while Test Track was more of a one trick pony. Certainly more thrill... but as someone who used to runhis car on real race tracks, there wasn't much thrill there in TT for me
Even without pushing the thrill angle, I find the use of the ride system 'worth it' and certainly a progression beyond Test Track.And while the other attractions in Carsland are certainly a different caliber... much like Potter v1's, they went big (to an extreme) on their A-title at the expense of the others. And both A-titles are top 5 theme park attractions, so I'd say it was worth it in both cases. It's ashame dueling dragons has ended up where it has.. lost potential there.
I'm a car guy.. so the fact so much of the car elements that went into the original design of the Cars universe actually went into Carsland as well... is what pulls at me as well.
Certainly more animation stuff in there... but the details in Carsland are equally to the n-th degree. (and ironic that DIsney really was the innovator in that space.. but lacks much of that in the shops in Carsland.. but one could argue, would it fit the setting?)
I think the car culture stuff is probably lost on more people than the wizard stuff. I think the biggest disappointment, and the element that would sink my position more than anything is the merchandise. Carsland falls well short in execution there compared to Potter. And Diagon Alley has taken that to even greater extremes.
It's that merchandise and it's presentation that actually sparked my thought about the comparison to Main Street.. which is famous for the extreme levels of authenticity and detail.
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