RSoxNo1
Well-Known Member
In my freshman year of college I has a radio show called Hoagies and Grinders.
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The Spirited Seventh Heaven ...
- Thread starter WDW1974
- Start date
Nemo14
Well-Known Member
My niece works in an urban Head Start program. The names (and pronunciations) she has told us about would curl your hair.
JediMasterMatt
Well-Known Member
Promotion gets the turnstiles to spin and gets people into the park; but, after they are there - experience takes over. Even if an attraction earns its spot on the front of the park map for the month or even if it has FastPass, that doesn't translate into it earning the respect and popularity to pull guests to it and away from other attractions.
Stitch is a perfect example of this. It has decent capacity; but, the real reason for the lack of lines is that even in a park like the MK, even the casual tourist is confronted with the "re-ride" proposition. Determining which attraction they will visit again. Repeat business on attractions like Stitch just aren't deserving of the time investment on vacation (which your time on vacation is finite and the most valuable commodity). A five minute wait on Stitch isn't worth the 20 minutes spent total in the line, preshow, attraction. Guests would rather take their vaction hours elsewhere.
So, you can steer/crowd shape guests all you want from "popular" attractions to "under-utilized" assets all you want; but, when push comes to shove and you are staring into the lifeless abyss of your smartphone app or FP+ kiosk and you see a short wait time available for something like Stitch or Imagination, the value propostition of your investment of time is directly impacted by the quality of the attraction.
If you want to make lines for Space, Splash, Everest, Soarin', TSMM, Pan and the like shorter, the only way to do that is by adding in capacity. "New" always helps in that the shiny object gets all the attention; but, new also is different - which is what the historical guest patterns at the resort have already determined they want. They don't want to invest in Stitch. Either prune it by plussing the attraction or add something in worth the time investment elsewhere. The last thing that needs to take place is for the under-utilized attractions to go away. Even if guest ride it once and don't do so again, they are still helping. The parks are needing more. More in the form of new or more in the form of improved. The last several years have brought very little of either other than trying to change the way guests visit what is already there.
What certainly can't happen is exactly what has been happening - do as little as possible as you try to figure out a way to get guests to spend time in attractions they've already decided they don't want to wait in line for.
Soarin' Over Pgh
Well-Known Member
As a gen Y'r and a female, I can say that 'we' don't all love technology and smartphones. Sure they have their ups and downs, but it's awfully tiresome watching people walk down the street like a bunch of zombies, eyes glued to their phones. They walk right out into traffic without stopping, and god help you if you bump them on the sidewalk. Bringing this back to Disney, I'm unfortunately chained to a computer and/or ipad and/or cell phone five and a half days a week as it is, I do not want to even see one when I'm in a theme park let alone have to use it for any reason.
One thing that Disney should be mildly concerned about is the Y'rs abilities to vacation. Because a lot of us simply can't. We're so buckled down with student loans and credit card debt (some, not all) that vacations, buying a house, buying a brand new car- you know, some of the things that keep the economy in good shape- are unobtainable goals. It's become very tough to keep afloat, let alone find a few extra bucks for an (increasingly expensive) all inclusive stay on site vacation.
The groups Disney should be appealing to are the same ones who are strapped for disposable income. Yet Disney raises prices higher every year. It's like they're shooting themselves in the foot and then looking down the smoking barrel and going "who did that?" It's gonna come back to bite 'em hard one day.
FigmentJedi
Well-Known Member
So you'd rather have Disney keep them festering and moldering in "TDO can't be bothered to greenlight a fourth version" limbo for another decade?
Disney Kingdoms is mostly an Imagineering driven program and unlike TDO or the Parks Merch people, they recognized the demand for actual new Figment content versus their generic nostalgia merch cow strategy or the "We'll try selling this pin line by giving it this tiny text blurb story online" like the Mechanical Kingdom crap or the weird crossover story for that Villain pin event last year.
Like I said before, yes it is pandering (and really, this is Disney and their brand of commercial art we're talking about. No duh there is pandering), but it's pandering with actual effort and care put into it. About expanding on the characters and storytelling instead of pooping out "memorial" shirts and pins made from old clipart and shredded pieces of rides. It sure as hell isn't a new ride, but at least it's something of substance. People complain about Disney sitting on perfectly good IPs of their own, but at least the lesser divisions of the company like Junction Point when it was alive or Marvel Comics (Remember, Disney bought Marvel for their movies) are doing something with them. If someone told me before Epic Mickey came out that a Museum of the Weird comic would be produced, I'd never believe them.
bhg469
Well-Known Member
If you weren't on @PhotoDave219 's hitlist, you are now!
bhg469
Well-Known Member
I think californacation pushed him over the edge..
bhg469
Well-Known Member
Disney seems to do giant fiberglass statues, Sheet metal covered stairwells and big words on giant motel 6's for value resorts, which are no longer a value.. For moderates, add nicer plants..
Goofyernmost
Well-Known Member
That is absolutely true, but, I am talking about the first time visitor that somehow has gotten the idea that Stitch isn't worth seeing. How? By reading boards asking people that have seen it and didn't like it much or just not knowing what to expect once they enter the door of the attraction. That is where the promotion has let down. When they first opened Stitch they promoted the hell out of it. And it was busy. Then the return visitor, having seen it once, like it or not, didn't see it as something that they would need to return to every trip. Disney stopped promoting it, the "I hate it" crowd became the dominate source of information and therefore even the first timers were not attending it.
Whatever the case, due to the configuration of the building and the fact that they have sooooo many other things that need attention first, Stitch will be there for a long time to come. It is the least of their problems. I, personally, don't think it is a GREAT attraction, but, it is cute and funny in spots, especially the preshow and I do go back once in a while. It's no where near as bad as the naysayers would like you to believe. Things like that do not upset me near as much as the primary reason for the loss of The Timekeeper. That was a funny show, fast paced and no animatronic has ever been as spot on with body language connected to the voice (Robin Williams) as that one was. The reason for it's unpopularity? You had to stand up to see it. Like anyone could tell me how you get the full effect of a 360 movie experience sitting in a stationary spot. Lazy coupled with ignorance of the world around them are the two things that come to mind when I think about it.
sshindel
The Epcot Manifesto
If I thought in any way that the Figment comic book was going to lead to a proper redo of the imagination pavilion, I'd be out buying 1000 copies of each issue. I just don't see it.
This just feels, to me (and remember, these are all opinions) too close to the same vain as the Horizons tshirts and other retro merch. It may not be, but that's my gut reaction and it forms my opinion.
Plus, and I know this puts me WAY out there on the norm, and I'm speaking as a person who LOVES original EPCOT here, but I wouldn't care if they did sit on Figment/Dreamfinder forever. If they put in a real, honest to goodness, excellent new Imagination pavilion that didn't include Figment, as long as it kept to the heart of what the original EPCOT attraction was trying to do, I'd be ok with it. I'd personally rather see them take a step in a new direction than bringing back the old ride. I'd rather them leave Dreamfinder be than bring him back for something that changes the memory of him for the worse.
Again, it's just my opinions here, and I know they don't fall in line with everyone else.
Nemo14
Well-Known Member
Lucky for him, it's pool season!
PhotoDave219
Well-Known Member
He was before but Cape May is more my style.
PhotoDave219
Well-Known Member
Now hiring mermaids....
Nemo14
Well-Known Member
Lord_Vader
Join me, together we can rule the galaxy.
My kid's playing organized sports has taught me a few additional things:
- When looking at how the other kid's parents act...I'm not actually that bad of a parent
- A 4 year old will always choose a toy truck over a bat or glove...every time...even if said other kid's parent yells at them repeatedly (see first bullet point)
- Related to above: never bring toys for your 2 year old to play with to your 5 year old's t-ball game. The 4 year olds on the team will just want to play with them.
- Just because your kid appears to be asleep in the backseat of the car on your way home you shouldn't talk smack about the other kids on the team or their parents. It's a tricky situation trying to explain to a 5 year old why you called their friend a whinny little B or why you called that kid's dad a d-bag
Your post just made me laugh so hard.
I coach two age groups of baseball at very different levels, rec league baseball (9-12yo) with players of varying skill levels from can't throw and catch to those that can throw 90ft on a wire and those parents are CRAZY at times. These are generally the least athletic or lowest skill level players but the parents take each play way too seriously. I have an annual speech to parents, Coaches coach, players play and PARENTS CHEER. Parents always seem to forget when they tell Johnny that if their team mates would have caught that ball he would have won that they are really telling the kid that dropped the ball that they lost it for Johnny.
My older boys are a much higher skill level (13-15yo) group that will nearly all play high school baseball and individually are hyper competitive but the parents have figured out (well most of them) that by just cheering they can let the coaches be the bad guys.
Now, I don't envy anyone coaching or even watching T-Ball baseball at this point, I don't have the patience it takes to work with small children let alone the crazy parents that don't have the benefit of 10 years of baseball hindsight to realize they look and sound like complete morons.
Fe Maiden
Well-Known Member
You have to be either 70 years old or have a major character flaw. Spending the evening at Cape May was one of the lamest things ever as a kid.
Friday night: Head down the shore when parents get home from work, pick up pizzas and cheesesteaks at A & LP. Get to stay up all hours of the night.
Saturday: Beach all day, junk it on the boards, Macks' Pizza, waffles and ice cream, Douglas Fudge, Lime Rickeys, etc. Awesome rides, the Flyer and Golden Nugget on Hunt's Pier, the coasters on Morey's and Mariner's, Dracula's Castle (the walk-through)and Dracula's Dungeon (the boatride, think POC but evil and scary).
Sunday: Beach all day, dinner at the Country House on Route 9, and an evening stroll in Cape May. BOOOOOORRRIIING!!
acishere
Well-Known Member
I have to attend a reception in Wildwood soon and booked a night so we don't have to worry about driving home afterwards. And Caribbean was on the TripAdvisor list. My gf was the one booking though and went with the Starlux instead. I grew up near Belmar and never really got a chance to head to Wildwood. We had family who used to have a beach house in Lavalette so I usually visited the amusements at Point and Sleazeside.
Lord_Vader
Join me, together we can rule the galaxy.
It could even be good vs. evil depending on which crystal you have with each experience being different based on your side. Tie them to your MB and create various interactive elements that change each time you are in the parks, maybe even have a more elaborate Jedi Training Academy that graduates can further test their skills throughout the land.
Lord_Vader
Join me, together we can rule the galaxy.
I know quite a few kids who have parents that are mostly absentee because they are both working full time and so focused on sending their kids to private schools and supporting various community projects and after school activities they never spend much real time with their children.