Spirited Weekend Musings:
Well, nothing like waiting on a real life autopsy to do one on the recent fan community hysterics. But I would be remiss if I didn't thank all if you for the kind words and notes during a very crappy period. We got some crazies here to be sure, but at least they are nice crazies. And classy ones.
First, since I awoke to it in print this morning, let's talk about Soup & Salad Sandra's story on Frozen at EPCOT. I am sure she thinks it was fair and balanced. I am sure Celebration Place still feels like they were viciously and unfairly attacked by the evil Sentinel. And I am sure that every Lifestyler quoted in it will attempt (laughably) to use their presence in it to push their significance to Disney.
The story, which ran with the headline ''Epcot moves from culture to cartoons" (the most hard-hitting theme) here in SoFl., was largely written from the conclusion that Disney was just giving people what they wanted and that was a good thing. That's not how a truly fair and balanced piece should be structured, even if it is common in journalism today.
The story fell into the same potholes that the fan community has since word started leaking of this earlier in the year.
Look, you can think this is the greatest thing in the world, the worst thing, something in between or not gives **** at all. But you don't get to go change the rules for what should be on the menu in a given park just because it is easy, lazy and convenient to do so. You know, like Disney doing the easy, lazy and convenient thing by sticking in Frozen and then trying to contrive any backstory or press release that explains it away.
Frozen is going into Norway not because the film was (fill this part of my post in with some blather talking about the landscapes, culture and natural beauty of Norway serving as inspiration and whatever you come up with will likely make as much sense as what Disney has) ... Nope, Frozen is going into Norway because why spend hundreds of millions of dollars on creating something new at either MK or whatever they call the Studios park in a few years, both places where it would fit, when you can spend well under $100 million on replacing an attraction at a park that is desperate for something new that isn't the $6 ' sample' of the year at Food and Wine 2014?
At the risk of sounding like my little pal the Epcot Explorer, the thematic integrity disintegrates into chaos when you try and rewrite the mission statement of a park little by little. I was at EPCOT Center when it opened and have been there annually many times annually since. When it opened there was no presence of Disney characters at all. None. Except for on some merchandise at the Centorium. The only characters were Figment and Dreamfinder. And it was like that for years. Indeed, when Disney foamheads came to EPCOT, they weren't everywhere and they didn't overpower. They had a character bus. They'd dress in funky spacey outfits in FW. Maybe they'd be part of a show at America Gardens. But they complimented what existed. They didn't clash (you know, like the Marvel BRAND does with Disney no matter how hard it makes Bob Iger).
You can talk until you no longer have a voice or type until you break the crappy keypad on your new iPhone6 and you still won't be able to come up with a rational reason for why bringing toons to the World Showcase in such a blatant money-grubbing fashion is somehow good and the right choice. Sure, you can like it. You can defend it based on your opinion. But you can't defend it based upon the ethos (God, I am sounding like a cross between EE and Fidel's Little Bro Andy) that created the place. You can,t because it fundamentally goes against everything WS was about. And whether you liked Maelstrom, hated it or were ambivalent about it also isn't the point.
Something either fits or it doesn't-
One of WDW's biggest problems, and it has plenty as it becomes middle aged, is an identity crisis. We touch upon it here in so many threads from recreating DD yet again and what should or shouldn't be there to the proliferation of DVC to upcharge events ... It's sorta like the 19-year-old fresh faced farm boy from Kansas that comes to WDW to come out and see who he really is. Except WDW really doesn't know what it is or what it is supposed to be in the 21st century. There is no cohesion. No vision. Nothing but crappy branded merchandise that links the giant resort. ....So, instead of committing to visions, to identities for WDW as a whole and the individual parks on their own, Disney has done the cheap, easy, lazy and convenient ... If it has something to do with a Disney BRAND, franchise or IP, then it belongs anywhere and everywhere.
Hey, let's be honest, the vast majority of WDW fans today were certainly not fans in the 70s, most not in the 80s either, and a large part were just getting their feet wet with Disney in the 90s (even if they have books, blogs or podcasts today). They believe that if Disney puts something in a park, then that is enough to say it belongs. Forget about John Hench, Herb Ryman, Marc Davis. Marty Sklar still shows up at D23 events, so he must agree with what the WDC is doing, right?
Of course, Guardians of the Galaxy belongs anywhere ... And Sofia the First ... And Yoda's Tatooine Review Dinner Show and ... Toon Princesses belting out Let it Go in what was supposed to be a pavilion about the culture, history and people of Norway. I am sure that 19-year-old farm boy will be singing his way through it and that's what's important, right?
Disney got where it did by giving people what they asked for, right?
You do realize how wrong that statement is, don't you? You do realize that none of the most amazing things Disney has created would have ever happened by ''giving people what they asked for''?
Disney, in Orlando, is becoming like Subway. Bland and boring, but safe, and the exact same everywhere.
Going back to Sandra's story, one can only wonder why she never bothered to look at old copies of her newspaper (I have them) from 1982 and read about what World Showcase was about and write a story about why Disney has decided to move away and bastardize that vision. She might have asked why Disney is pitching $500 million Frozen projects in Asia that are fully thought out while shoehorning a cheap (yes, $75 million is cheap) overlay into a place it doesn't belong. She might want to walk back her statement that kids learn about transportation in 20 minutes on their toys, so they need Tron Track so they don,t need ADD meds. But ultimately, it wouldn't' matter. Until there is a major housecleaning at the company, this is simply what will continue to happen.
From Bob, Tom and Jay down to Glendale over to TDO ... Time to bring in the industrial strength enemas.
BTW, I heard that
@ScarlettAshley1 dropped in. I would hoped you treated her well and that she'll be around from time to time. I'd like to hear her perspective ..
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