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The Spirited Seventh Heaven ...
- Thread starter WDW1974
- Start date
Animaniac93-98
Well-Known Member
I just got the 2015 Unofficial Guide and it's interesting how much the current edition reads like the boards here (so much so that I think @ParentsOf4 wrote half the section in "Money Matters" 
). Bob and Len don't hold back on calling out Disney for their steep and sudden price increases in all areas and how it hurts any American family making less than $100,000 a year. Lots of digs against the overly complicated nature of FP+, but admitting it can help if you know what you're doing. Also interesting to note the number of restaurants that have had their overall and/or food quality ratings dropped in the past two years.
Most of all the new stuff at Disney (Spice Road, 7 dwarfs, FoF, pirate game in Adventureland) gets good reviews.
Diagon Alley is also highly praised, but gets some nitpicking too (Hermonie's voice continues to unimpress). They rank it above Cars Land which I found interesting, but can't comment on just yet (maybe by mid-February I'll be able to compare the two).
). Bob and Len don't hold back on calling out Disney for their steep and sudden price increases in all areas and how it hurts any American family making less than $100,000 a year. Lots of digs against the overly complicated nature of FP+, but admitting it can help if you know what you're doing. Also interesting to note the number of restaurants that have had their overall and/or food quality ratings dropped in the past two years.Most of all the new stuff at Disney (Spice Road, 7 dwarfs, FoF, pirate game in Adventureland) gets good reviews.
Diagon Alley is also highly praised, but gets some nitpicking too (Hermonie's voice continues to unimpress). They rank it above Cars Land which I found interesting, but can't comment on just yet (maybe by mid-February I'll be able to compare the two
).
Animaniac93-98
Well-Known Member
I've noticed the rumored REAL special edition (with 3-D copy) has yet to be announced, but a sing-along DVD is coming.
dhall
Well-Known Member
It's a grill, and if it's above 50 degrees, she's always humming, all 5 of her glorious burners and the occasional use of my ceramic sear plate.
BBQ is in a jar in my fridge
We just got done polishing off shrimp & pineapple skewers and BBQ salmon, along with just enough rice pilaf to constitute omnivorism.
GoofGoof
Premium Member
The money was spent directly on the parks, specifically at WDW. It's not craziness at all to say that the money would have been better spent on something else at the parks. I would agree if we were talking about money spent on stock buy backs, money spent to acquire a company like Marvel, money spent on a movie or TV program or even money spent at DL or on cruise ships or DVC within the P&R division. It's not logical to assume those types of money would have gone to WDW if not spent on something else. In this case we are talking about a direct capital expenditure in the P&R division at WDW. They could have made that same investment in theme park attractions, transportation, hotels or pretty much anything at WDW. They chose to spend it on NextGen instead. It's perfectly fair to compare 2 park related options - DCA 2.0 style makeover of DHS or MyMagic+. By the way they would have probably had a little left over for EPCOT too
Goofyernmost
Well-Known Member
That is assuming that they ever thought of that as a choice. I maintain that they did not and never intended it to be anything except what it was used for relating to the parks. That's my take and I have not seen or heard any proof otherwise.The money was spent directly on the parks, specifically at WDW. It's not craziness at all to say that the money would have been better spent on something else at the parks. I would agree if we were talking about money spent on stock buy backs, money spent to acquire a company like Marvel, money spent on a movie or TV program or even money spent at DL or on cruise ships or DVC within the P&R division. It's not logical to assume those types of money would have gone to WDW if not spent on something else. In this case we are talking about a direct capital expenditure in the P&R division at WDW. They could have made that same investment in theme park attractions, transportation, hotels or pretty much anything at WDW. They chose to spend it on NextGen instead. It's perfectly fair to compare 2 park related options - DCA 2.0 style makeover of DHS or MyMagic+. By the way they would have probably had a little left over for EPCOT too
We are still talking, in my mind, about a company wide system that has been started up and tested in WDW exclusively simply because of it's size and complexity, it is the most logical place to start. I don't believe that it is now or ever was intended to be for WDW only. That's way to much money to spend in one place. Spread out and it will become more equitable.
bhg469
Well-Known Member
Nice! We did a kitchen remodel this summer so the grill got lots of use. Once it's cooler I'm going to start playing with sous vide again.
GoofGoof
Premium Member
It's not relevant how many parks it eventually spreads to, it's still money poorly spent. If they didn't look at the spending as a choice then that's even worse. Go back and read the posts from @ParentsOf4 referring to the lack of reinvestment in P&R under Iger. They certainly should have been deciding between this and any number of projects for the parks. There is no reason they would not have that money available to invest in something else other than MyMagic+.
Goofyernmost
Well-Known Member
I can't argue with the idea that it might overall be a bad choice when in relation to reinvesting in the parks, but, that doesn't change a thing either. It is whatever they wished it to be and to believe that they took money from some imaginary project to do this, well, if it makes you feel better, go ahead and think it. Personally, I do not.
If they hadn't decided to spend the money on MM+ there is no guarantee that any of it would have ever found it's way into P&R. The company is too big to only have one interest and it should seem apparent that P&R has been pretty much at the bottom of the priority heap especially at WDW. Perhaps they even thought that expanding the parks needed a more powerful infrastructure to be able to support it. Which comes first the chicken or the egg.
You see to me, that is the problem. We have experts all over the place telling us that they should have done this and they should have done that and that they have no reason for making the choices that they have made. We do not know the whole decision making process so it is only luck that makes an evaluation of the situation accurate without that real inside knowledge, they're just guesses and highly biased ones at that.
danv3
Well-Known Member
Lots of amusing twitter commentary on this...
Nubs70
Well-Known Member
The sauerbraten has been quietly tucked in the fridge and has begun its 72 hour gestation.
PhotoDave219
Well-Known Member
No schnitzengrüben?
GoofGoof
Premium Member
You are completely missing the point. Of course it is what they wished it to be. They made the decision to go forward with it and there is no turning back now. It has nothing to do with taking money from an imaginary project. Any business, no matter how large, has limited funds. In this case they made a direct investment in their P&R division. There are always alternative projects that could have been chosen. That's a fact. It's not imaginary.
We don't know the whole plan or quite frankly how much the plan has changed since day 1. That doesn't mean we shouldn't be allowed to have an opinion. If you took a poll here on whether people would you rather have a billion dollar major theme park overhaul for DHS and/or EPCOT or would they rather have NextGen the results are going to be pretty heavily skewed towards the overhaul. I don't think we need to wait to see what happens next with MyMagic+ to have that opinion.
BrianLo
Well-Known Member
They rank it above Cars Land which I found interesting, but can't comment on just yet (maybe by mid-February I'll be able to compare the two
I'd agree, which is NOT a knock on Radiator Springs (Cars Land).
It's basically Awesome versus "Awesomer". In the former people are stunned and can be heard singing praise, in the latter people actually clap in the streets (usually thanks to a certain dragon).
Goofyernmost
Well-Known Member
Absolutely, but that is our opinion and it is based solely on what we would like to see and not what they were aiming for. What you are saying is exactly what I am saying. But, what bothers me is that we are so critical of those decisions without really knowing why they are making them. Their reasons may be just so much bullpoop, but we do not know that and assuming that that money would have been funneled into P&R may very well be nothing more then wishful thinking. They could possibly have made many high grossing movies with that money as well. Think about how much money Frozen made with no future maintenance required. Wouldn't that be a more intelligent way to spend the money then MM+? Unfortunately, none of us are in the position to influence those decisions based on our perceived insight, so why make it worse then it is. I don't believe that they had any plans, whatsoever, to make that money into attractions, why continue to torture ourselves with that fantasy. WDW was and has been in desperate need of updating their electronic infrastructure as well. It hadn't really been addressed for many years.
SJN1279
Well-Known Member
I thought Carsland was just okay, but Radiator Spring Racers is one of the best attractions I have ever experienced. I don't see Gringotts topping it(for me).
PhotoDave219
Well-Known Member
It gets used/rented by celebrities and other people that need to stay backstage from time to time.
cw1982
Well-Known Member
I know I do! I didn't hit a single park for rope drop in June, and I don't regret it for one second. Of course, we didn't do midday breaks either.
ETA : I just realized how very different life will be the next time we head to Orlando... lol!
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71jason
Well-Known Member
Blue Ocean Theory. This was a deliberate attempt to channel P&R spending.