The Spirited Seventh Heaven ...

[John]

I could say Disney is building a 5th park too.....it may not be entirely accurate but it certainly is in the realm of possibility

BTW, your blind devotion to all things Disney is also amusing.

 

[WDWDad13]

Nobody has a problem with you coming to this thread to voice an opinion. But you know as well as I do that you made a snarky comment and in doing so you were inciting. That's a troll. I hate the term. But it is what it is. Instead of doing that come in give an intelligent reason why you disagree and be done with it.

a snarky comment? I was just calling him out from his post that some think is the gospel being completely untrue. Some of you are blind to see that he mainly just wants to stir things up and get people talking. That's why he talks about how many hits his posts get etc all the time. Who else really cares lol it is a discussion board not a contest

Believe as you wish though

 

[BrianLo]

Good morning WDW Magic... Sorry to interrupt the fun, but I have something actually worthwhile to contribute.

Made the pilgrimage out to HKDL, no movement yet on the new hotel...

The Hollywood Hotel is in the midst of adding something? in its backyard.

And the first (that I've seen at least) pictures of the Ironman construction site, starting to go vertical. Had to brave Autotopia for these and I'll hide them just in case anyone cares about that sort of thing...

Spoiler

From what I can gather at least the actual show building is in the background and the ride entrance/shop juts out from the left. I'm curious how they plan on rejiggering the Autotopia queue, it will probably start from the Ironman promenade instead of just at the train bridge.

There's a few more and the full res can be downloaded from Flickr: BrianLockha's photostream

 

[WildcatDen]

Tossing in banal moderate

Hey, hey, hey. This is a Family Forum (albeit, a Spirited thread). Please keep obscenities to a minimum. . .
On a related note, they make a nice cream for that.

 

[WildcatDen]

How does longer waits at every ride make things better, anyway?

It definitely does not. If I wanted longer waits, I would join a fight club of passive non-aggressives. But, in his defense, we really liked the FP+ during our visit in April. Of course, it helped having an 18 year old with an I-POD. . .

 

[WildcatDen]

My flabber - it is ghasted

That post is useless without pictures. . .

 

[WildcatDen]

Let's leave Angie's backend out of this ...

I have to disaggre with you there. I think the back end and even the frontend should be discussed at length with supporting pictures and graphs. . . (did I type that out loud?)

 

[RSoxNo1]

I am often reminded, nauseatingly, of how inconsequential I am and this forum is ... how nothing of substance is said and how no one of substance is paying attention. Now, that is a crock of fetid dung, but if it helps people get through the day, I say ... whatever.

The last time I checked TWDC was the largest media corporation on the planet, so I can see why the casual fan that makes up the bulk of the community might think that, unlike a real media outlet, forums/outlets like this one wouldn't even make for a whisper at TDO, let alone in Burbank. That's the easy, convenient way of diminishing the impact of legitimate social media engagement such as this (while I haven't reached it yet, I know someone mentioned the typical Spirited thread gets half a million clicks and, let's be serious, they aren't all from Andy and Sean and Michael and etc. etc.)

Often, given the current media environment, a lot of people say a lot of things and get a lot of attention. And, when you have the veneer of 'legitimate media' that works as one hell of an amplifier. Truth? Quite frequently you'll find better sourced information regarding TWDC in one of these threads than in traditional press sources. I was reminded of this Sunday when it was brought to my attention that Peter Lauria, formerly of Reuters, the NY Post and the Daily Beast (yes, he blew all those jobs), had put out the most nonsensical piece of faux journalism in a meandering fairytale that had FOX buying Viacom. Only, with that veneer of his, he was able to place the idea that this complete nonsense was being discussed widely and openly in major media and financial circles.

Turns out, by early morning Monday he was aggressively walking back the story from his Twit feed @PeterLauria3 ... first it was a not so crazy idea, then it became crazy, then it became a weird dream of his, only to be labeled a work of ''fanfic'' ... in other words, folks, he made it up. The problem is that you'd only know that he admitted that if you were following his Twitter feed. So, in less than 24 hours we go from him proposing a seismic shift in the media world to 'hey kids, about that FOX buying Viacom story ... well, I sorta made it up for kicks while using some herbal potion' .

I mention this because when looking at his Twitter feed (see, I don't just pay attention to Ricky Brigante or Merfie or Amity Corless) this afternoon the veteran business writer Tweeted out 'this is main reason why Disney might want to buy Univision ...' and you see friends (and JT too!) this is how you can often have crazy baseless stuff that's given a sense of legitimacy while folks here try to discredit well-sourced information, and some rumours too, put out there by myself and a select few others. Guess what? Univision may well be a good fit for TWDC and Iger The Acquirer, but if you follow that Tweet of his it leads to ESPN's Don Van Natta's Tweet crowing about the US-Portugal soccer audience. A little bit of trivia here: Don's wife, Lizette Alvarez, wrote that story on Disney and Gambling Hypocrisy thru the Marvel slot machines that we were talking about last year (or probably five million Spirited clicks ago) here on MAGIC.

Long story short, believe it or don't, but we make a difference (some more than others ... but all of us).

And some of us provide much better, more accurate and faster information on Disney and UNI and their parks and resorts than the Peter Laurias out there. And ... we don't make it up as we go along. When we are wrong, we own up to it, even if it wasn't our fault.

We talked about this on our show this week. In niche markets such as what we're all talking about here, the mainstream media rarely gets it right. The context we were discussing were references to Diagon Alley as anything but a land in a park. These are national writers that aren't going to the extent of putting in 60 seconds of "research" before writing their article. Whether or not you like the individuals, I'm pleased that both Fox (Ricky Brigante) and Huffington Post (Jim Hill) at least go to the extent of having people that are plugged into this niche putting out stories. You know that those stories aren't going to get the stupid stuff incorrect.

 

[bhg469]

I think it is time to leave the realm for the night.

But some Spirited news bites:

I hate putting this first, but I know what fanbois like ... and a flagship Apple store is confirmed for TSFKaDD. I won't be shopping there unless y'all want to give me a gift card.

New restaurant to replace Kouzzina will be called Trattoria Al Forno. Typical pizza and pasta. It will be run by WDW, not a third party. WDI is working on it, so this could take a while.

More upcharge events are on the way.

A good source has been hearing some strong rumblings that Florida Resident discounted tickets (just the 3 and 4 day flavors) might be diminishing or disappearing next year.

This week is the fiscal end for MyMagic+ and the program/finances gets placed on operations with some lingering oversight from the NGE teams. Guest Relations locales across property are losing a lot of labor and temporary assignments have been almost completely sent back to their home area if they still have one. Also coupled by the fact that each location is required to have the five core foreign languages on hand from open to close now as an initiative to have language assistance on hand. They're trading cultural representatives who have little to no experience with CMs who have worked years with the company.

And finally, speaking of Guest Relations, MK is getting a lot of complaints about the Shanghai-sized seating on the kiddie coaster.

Yuck to the apple store, big white beacon filled with hipsters.. it's inevitable though.

why does WDW hate the local fan base?

Because they spend less money and Disney simply won't allow that.

 

[DocMcHulk]

Spirited Monday Mindblowing Musing:

(to me anyway)

I had hoped to spend some time here, but another crazy Disney vs. UNI thread appeared, got my attention and took all the time I have right now.

But I had to drop this bit of news about Star Wars Land (please tell Dave that no talk of the actual land will happen here). It's something I've heard a few people say and I took it all in stride and moved on ... but someone with Disney brought this same point up to me late last night.

There are many reasons why Star Wars expansion at both DLR and WDW has been so delayed and all of them (from NGE overruns to new script for Episode VII etc) are true at least in part. BUT ... there is one other reason Disney has dallied around instead of digging right in (literally) and building: there are people at high levels of both WDW and TWDC that are afraid that Star Wars only attracts certain fanboi demos and that they are 'concerned' it won't appeal to the demos they are most after (Mommies and their 'wittle princesses). No, I am not kidding. I wish I were.

Do I think this absurdness will derail plans? Absolutely not.

Do I think there is any sanity to this? No. But this is what it has come to. Disney/Iger have aggressively gone out and spent billions on BOI-IP in Marvel and Lucasfilm because not all boys want to grown up to be Princesses, even all boys who visit WDW. But now that they have it, there are folks actually afraid that using it may harm its long policy of really only caring about the Mommies.

Is there some basis in reality for this? Possibly. Is it still freaking insane? Nah, just business as usual at your WDC.

Sorry, that's all I have time for right now.

Hope your Mondays were as productive as mine (yes, I may have made someone cry!)

Please tell your friends that my 5 year old daughter is a huge Star Wars fan, has Star Wars bed sheets, 2 light sabers, and went as Darth Vader for Halloween. My other daughter also likes Star Wars, just not as much (she's more of a Marvel girl)

 

[nor'easter]

Wow showing your true colors there aren't we lol

I come to this thread just like everyone else....but if I see something that doesn't make sense from anyone and they walk like a duck and quack like a duck....well

you are the quack.

 

[bhg469]

a snarky comment? I was just calling him out from his post that some think is the gospel being completely untrue. Some of you are blind to see that he mainly just wants to stir things up and get people talking. That's why he talks about how many hits his posts get etc all the time. Who else really cares lol it is a discussion board not a contest

Believe as you wish though

You don't think there is at least one disney exec that is so out of touch, those comments couldn't be true? I have no doubts that there are more than one.

 

[mgpan]

They bought star wars to collect on the movies and merchandise. They will make plenty of money on those without star wars being further added to the parks.

Adding star wars is something they don't have to do, they should and in a scale which we couldn't imagine, but they don't have to. The money will be made outside of the parks.

And if you're the kid on the block with all the cool toys, all the other kids want to come to your house, and that will keep them from the house of that other cool kid that moved into the neighborhood.

 

[spacemt354]

a snarky comment? I was just calling him out from his post that some think is the gospel being completely untrue. Some of you are blind to see that he mainly just wants to stir things up and get people talking. That's why he talks about how many hits his posts get etc all the time. Who else really cares lol it is a discussion board not a contest

Believe as you wish though

To an extent I can see where you are coming from.

To the other extent though, if you are so against him and think all he spreads are lies and ego, why in the world have you not put him on ignore?

If he is this bad as you suggest, then all your problems will go away by clicking ignore, and in addition, avoid his threads.

It seems like you're the one who is commenting to stir the pot....because calling out the OP to prove he's wrong isn't adding anything to the conversation and is just calling attention to you.

 

[bhg469]

And if you're the kid on the block with all the cool toys, all the other kids want to come to your house, and that will keep them from the house of that other cool kid that moved into the neighborhood.

Until your toys end up being duplo, when you told everyone you had lego. Star wars better be lego mind storms because lately they've been giving us knock off Lincoln logs with lead paint.

 

[mgpan]

So here's my question- if MM+ really did cost Disney 2 billion dollars, who got the money?
I mean, this was a project that required outside help, right?

Just like 74 asking questions about Horizons West and Compass Rose, the money for it was scattered, smothered and covered better than a plate of hashbrowns at Waffle House. In other words "a riddle wrapped in a rhyme, shrouded by an enigma."

 

[Travel Junkie]

I could say Disney is building a 5th park too.....it may not be entirely accurate but it certainly is in the realm of possibility

Your comment was that 74’s statement could not possibly be true. I was simply saying it was entirely possible and giving examples why it was. Your reply shows a complete lack of understanding or unwillingness to accept the premise.
I’m sure you get a kick out of attempting to be a foil, but at least try to be intelligent about it. You’ll be taken more seriously instead of just ridiculed.

 

[LithiumBill]

As a UNI fanboi he shouldn't be so happy if these rumours (that is how I would categorize them) are true ...

My brain reads this as, Star Wars is going to be huge... and impressive...

 

[bhg469]

My brain reads this as, Star Wars is going to be huge... and impressive...

The star wars plans are possibly impressive, but what happens when the cuts kick in?

 

[Funmeister]

Where did I say get off a sofa and start running? You have nno idea if a obese person has worked on doing a marathon. You would judge me as someone who is in bad shape and should try working out yet you would have zero clue I've lost 2 pant sizes and having been getting healthier lately. How about stop the perception that we all have given up and have no desire to better ourselves.

A marathon is something you "work on" once they are healthy to do so. An obese person has no business "working on" doing a marathon. As some one mentioned an obese person should start with a walk or a 5k. I do not think people realize what it takes to actually run a real marathon. I mean run...not walk to get a Disney medal. I mean to actually run against your best time.

That is great that you lost weight. You misunderstood what I meant. By no means did I say or give the perception that anyone should "give up." I am saying someone who is obese should not go from not exercising to "running" a marathon. Like anyhing else it is a process and you have to start out small and work your way up to a marathon.