The Spirited Seventh Heaven ...

[Bairstow]

The film is done, as far as I know, or at least filming. But it is meant as an opening day attraction for SDL, and I doubt VERY strongly that the CCP is going to allow Disney to pluck another opening day exclusive and open it in Florida first like they did with HKDL's Mickey's PhilharMagic.

There's also FL specific issues of upgrading projectors and whether or not the 3rd theater gets added.

So, yeah, this film is years away from debuting here.

 

[CDavid]

Hey, you know what we should do? Let's get the whole world to write to Disney.

Dear Mr/Ms Disney (Specifically WDW),

We the people of the world would like to inform you that all these scattered possible openings are starting to get confusing. So tell you what... when you get done playing your little fiscal games and get it all is finished please give us a call. Until then we are staying away to avoid any further confusion. Oh, and please give us something worthwhile to see once we do go there again or that may just be the last. Being the world, we know a lot of people and you can be sure that we will get the word out. It can be positive or negative, that choice is yours.

Sincerely,

The World

I know you meant to be sarcastic, but you actually have the right idea. I've made the point before, but most people in this country are much too ambivalent and irresolute about many important issues - often far more important than what happens in a theme park, actually. If more people would merely take a stand and let their voices be heard, many issues would simply not be allowed to continue.

But most people won't take literally a few moments to write, e-mail, or even make a phone call (though they can spend hours with that phone in front of their face!), instead dismissing things as "that's just the way things are anymore". Not true; It doesn't have to be that way. While The Walt Disney Company is indeed driven by the almighty dollar, they would still find it difficult (and certainly unwise) to ignore strongly expressed customer opinion, concerns, and interests.

 

[GoofGoof]

Thanks for the details @GoofGoof

It most certainly is incumbent for a multinational to plan for major facilities being rendered unusable.

This winter we had an exercise which simulated a major storm taking down the east coast power grid and telecommunications facilities. so effectively no power/phone/internet for 3 days.

It was amazing especially when all the cellphones were collected from the senior emergency managers explaining that they were now useless because of the cell system failure. And now they were only able to communicate through the radio guys (Civil and Military) it was an eye opener to say the least.

I think you underestimate mob psychology and the inevitable lawsuits on the damage to TWDC and I can't imagine the banks maintaining the credit facility in the event of this type. Business is pretty much the law of the jungle and every man (or company) for themselves, It's why the credit markets froze in 2008. And why cash hoards are important.

Icahn and people like him have done more damage to US companies than almost anyone else by destroying their ability to compete by forcing them to manage their stock price rather than their business.

This is WAY OT - If anyone wants to discuss PM please.

Planning for a storm or some other form of emergency (including acts of terrorism) is very important. I have no solid info, but I'm pretty confident that Disney has done some major planning around these types of things. I was more referring to your example of WDW being shut down for an extended period of time due to an Ebola quarantine. You can't expect a company to carry enough cash to cover a highly remote possibility.

I agree on Icahn. He is generally a problem. I've seen him and his kind cause tons of damage and even bankrupt companies. He got involved when Dynegy was heading into bankruptcy and rejected several buyout offers that would have gotten existing shareholders money for their shares. After scaring off the prospective buyers the company went bankrupt and the shareholders got next to nothing. Disney has a history with activist shareholders, but not in recent times. In the case of Apple he does make a pretty god argument for aggressive stock buybacks. Stock buybacks make a lot of sense if your stock is truly undervalued. Something that may be true for Apple, but not TWDC.

 

[phillip sugarman]

Who said 2021?

It won't open in 2016. That will be the Frozen year. Disney likes to have something to chat up the social media whores and BRAND advocates as new all the time. This isn't Michael Eisner's Disney that could open complete projects. This isn't Card Walker's Disney (the real guy, not the dead guy who you never see in the same place as a certain Progress-minded Twit) that could build EPCOT Center out of the swamps in three years using 70s technology.

My guess is Soarin debuts its new film in 2017 or 2018.

What about the new Soarin video for Disneyland, is there any chance that the new film comes for the 60 year anniversary?

 

[Goofyernmost]

I know you meant to be sarcastic, but you actually have the right idea. I've made the point before, but most people in this country are much too ambivalent and irresolute about many important issues - often far more important than what happens in a theme park, actually. If more people would merely take a stand and let their voices be heard, many issues would simply not be allowed to continue.

But most people won't take literally a few moments to write, e-mail, or even make a phone call (though they can spend hours with that phone in front of their face!), instead dismissing things as "that's just the way things are anymore". Not true; It doesn't have to be that way. While The Walt Disney Company is indeed driven by the almighty dollar, they would still find it difficult (and certainly unwise) to ignore strongly expressed customer opinion, concerns, and interests.

Ain't that the truth. However, writing, phoning or emails still won't cut it. To a company that only see the money in the business, the only way anyone will ever get something to improve is by withholding the dollars. And that, is not going to happen any time soon.

 

[BrianLo]

They had NO faith in the product. They were hoping ... yes, hoping ... that it would do slightly better than Princess Tangled (another film they had no faith in, which is why they changed the title late in the game).

I really, really disagree with this general sentiment. It's way too easy to look at Frozen in hindsight and think Disney lacked faith - versus - they were just cautiously realistic.

To hope Frozen performed in line with Tangled (which WAS Disney's biggest Animated film Worldwide by far in over a decade) and performed on par with several recent Pixar films (Ratatouille, Up.... MORE than Brave/Wall-E) was a decidedly HIGH benchmark. To think the movie would overtake Toy Story 3/Iron Man 3 in box office take was absolutely absurd.

Do I blame them for lacking faith in Disney Animated brand? No way... they destroyed the thing in the 2000's. Only Disney fanboi's had faith in a true second renaissance, most had moved onto Pixar as being the premiere animated studio.

(perhaps he should have learned from the guy he replaced that you expect everything to hit and act accordingly)

While referencing the Eisner era as well... wasn't that the whole problem post-Lion King? Wasn't Pocahontas considered a big disappointment because they started to have unrealistic expectations?

Isn't this basically the problem Universal has with Harry Potter now? Universal's expectations were so hyper inflated that they are actually disappointed?

Sure, Disney was really, really off the mark on Frozen expectations, but it's far worse when they are off the mark in the opposite direction.

The time it took them to react to Frozen success is a different issue entirely. But really I think that's overstated. We have tons of Frozen events, several upcoming Frozen projects (of varying quality) and they even managed to tie it into Once Upon a Time. We are after all not even 9 months out before people started to even realize the film was going to preform better than anyone expected. It really took them a solid 5 months or so to wake up and realize what was happening, but they are doing a pretty good job at milking Frozen for all it's worth these days.

Will they milk it dry for all it's worth with cheap additions? Probably... and strangely that does remind me of the late Eisner era. Perhaps Iger can follow his predecessor's lead after all.

 

[hpyhnt 1000]

Why haven't the Epcot fanboys gotten off on the righteous indignation of the biggest problem in the park? The new lighting sign using the LED on the front side of spaceship Earth.

John Hench is flipping over in his grave. It looks awful. It's not even. It's not aimed properly. How can they allow this to happen?

For what its worth, lighting seems to be an issue all over Epcot. You rightly point out SSE, but there were also quite a few walkway lamps out, some neon on the Innoventions buildings, the Japan pagoda and the Tori Gate (which was in total darkness), and I'm sure there are others.

Why the lack of indignation? One, they're comparatively minor** maintenance issues, not a thematic and creative issue like Maelstrom/Norway is. But two, its pretty much par for the course for today's Disney.

**Not saying they aren't important or trivial. Its just that lighting is something easily fixable overnight. Screwing up an entire attraction and/or pavilion is something that is not so easily rectified (see the Imagination! pavilion).

 

[hpyhnt 1000]

I really, really disagree with this general sentiment. It's way too easy to look at Frozen in hindsight and think Disney lacked faith - versus - they were just cautiously realistic.

To hope Frozen performed in line with Tangled (which WAS Disney's biggest Animated film Worldwide by far in over a decade) and performed on par with several recent Pixar films (Ratatouille, Up.... MORE than Brave/Wall-E) was a decidedly HIGH benchmark. To think the movie would overtake Toy Story 3/Iron Man 3 in box office take was absolutely absurd.

Do I blame them for lacking faith in Disney Animated brand? No way... they destroyed the thing in the 2000's. Only Disney fanboi's had faith in a true second renaissance, most had moved onto Pixar as being the premiere animated studio.



While referencing the Eisner era as well... wasn't that the whole problem post-Lion King? Wasn't Pocahontas considered a big disappointment because they started to have unrealistic expectations?

Isn't this basically the problem Universal has with Harry Potter now? Universal's expectations were so hyper inflated that they are actually disappointed?

Sure, Disney was really, really off the mark on Frozen expectations, but it's far worse when they are off the mark in the opposite direction.

The time it took them to react to Frozen success is a different issue entirely. But really I think that's overstated. We have tons of Frozen events, several upcoming Frozen projects (of varying quality) and they even managed to tie it into Once Upon a Time. We are after all not even 9 months out before people started to even realize the film was going to preform better than anyone expected. It really took them a solid 5 months or so to wake up and realize what was happening, but they are doing a pretty good job at milking Frozen for all it's worth these days.

Will they milk it dry for all it's worth with cheap additions? Probably... and strangely that does remind me of the late Eisner era. Perhaps Iger can follow his predecessor's lead after all.

While somewhat true, you have to remember that is is a company that, at one time, ALWAYS believed its next animated film would be better than the next and would have stuff ready to go simultaneously with a movie's release. And not little fake stores and sing alongs like with Frozen. I'm talking full stage shows (Beauty and the Beast, Hunchback of Notre Dame), entire daytime parades (Mulan), and complete planned overhauls of attractions (Journey to Atlantis). There was never any waiting to see if a movie was a hit before deciding to scurry around and scale up the in-park offerings; it was plan big from the beginning and scale down should the movie not prove to be as popular as thought.

But thats what happens when you have a company that is now focused on synergy rather than creativity. With synergy, you're always following and responding to trends; with creativity, you create the trend.

 

[MinnieM123]

Ain't that the truth. However, writing, phoning or emails still won't cut it. To a company that only see the money in the business, the only way anyone will ever get something to improve is by withholding the dollars. And that, is not going to happen any time soon.

Withholding dollars will certainly get their attention more than anything else. However, I believe that contacting WDW via whatever communication method you choose, can still have a positive impact. It's not so much the individual letter, email, etc., but there's strength in numbers. The more people that voice their concerns (or compliments), the more that trends begin to appear. Trends are what (most) companies analyze.

Can't say that I believe WDW has given enough attention to certain trends over the years; yet, it won't stop me (and hopefully others) from expressing concerns to them. Makes no sense to me that they'd just completely ignore absolutely everything, that guests bring to their attention.

 

[the.dreamfinder]

I really, really disagree with this general sentiment. It's way too easy to look at Frozen in hindsight and think Disney lacked faith - versus - they were just cautiously realistic.

Based on the domestic marketing, most often meddled with by Burbank execs, versus international, I don't think they had any real faith in it.
Domestic Trailer

International Trailer(France, but it's cut the same across the world)

 

[Mike S]

Based on the domestic marketing, most often meddled with by Burbank execs, versus international, I don't think they had any real faith in it.
Domestic Trailer

International Trailer(France, but it's cut the same across the world)

What the........? I almost forgot how bad the trailer made the movie look.

 

[phillip sugarman]

Check out what Disney is testing out for future animatronics, possibly for Avatar land.

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

While that's quite a cool piece of tech (looks like it could be efficient and lower maintenance than traditional AA motors, probably lighter too), it looks to be rather early of a prototype and probably far off from being implemented into near future animatronic figures like Avatar. I wouldn't mind being wrong as i'm always in favor of new animatronic technology. But this looks to be more of a science project at the moment (though a cool one to be sure).

It does show a rather impressive range of motion. Though given that it's reportedly powered by air pressure, I do wonder if there is a limit to the shapes and sizes it can be tailored to. Particularly what kind of weight and stress it can support. This is a rather simplistic, tiny and probably very light robotic arm compared to Disney's traditional animatronics. And while I don't know the technical details (and definitely don't want to write the new tech off), I wonder what sort of success it would have by implementing it into a larger humanoid or even animal figure with heavier frames and skin attached to it.

 

[the.dreamfinder]

While that's quite a cool piece of tech (looks like it could be efficient and lower maintenance than traditional AA motors, probably lighter too), it looks to be rather early of a prototype and probably far off from being implemented into near future animatronic figures like Avatar. I wouldn't mind being wrong as i'm always in favor of new animatronic technology. But this looks to be more of a science project at the moment (though a cool one to be sure).

It does show a rather impressive range of motion. Though given that it's reportedly powered by air pressure, I do wonder if there is a limit to the shapes and sizes it can be tailored to. Particularly what kind of weight and stress it can support. This is a rather simplistic, tiny and probably very light robotic arm compared to Disney's traditional animatronics. And while I don't know the technical details (and definitely don't want to write the new tech off), I wonder what sort of success it would have by implementing it into a larger humanoid or even animal figure with heavier frames and skin attached to it.

I'm thinking more along the lines of a new tool for meet and greets (Kevin? Baymax? Wreck it Ralph?), Parades and Shows.

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

I could be wrong, but besides the potentially better animation this could provide, and even energy benefits this could have, I could see this potentially requiring less work and money to keep functioning properly than traditional AA's. Assuming i'm properly understanding how this sort of tech works, air pressure should potentially be less costly than motors and likely less difficult for maintenance crews to work on with when there's a problem. Maybe also putting less stress on the components. Apart from the hardware used to provide airflow, i'm assuming keeping the airways properly sealed is the most important thing to keep motion working properly (a leak I would guess would cause a reduction or outright halt in motion).

 

[twebber55]

I could be wrong, but besides the potential animation and energy benefits this could have, I could see this potentially requiring less work and money to keep functioning properly than traditional AA's. Assuming i'm properly understanding how this sort of tech works, air pressure should potentially be less costly than motors and likely less difficult for maintenance crews to work on with when there's a problem. Apart from the hardware used to provide airflow, i'm assuming keeping the airways properly sealed is the most important thing to keep motion working properly (a leak I would guess would cause a reduction or outright halt in motion). Unless i'm not correct in how this tech works...

that's the first thing I thought of certainly less maintenance one would think

 

[GoofGoof]

I'm thinking more along the lines of a new tool for meet and greets (Kevin? Baymax? Wreck it Ralph?), Parades and Shows.

That would be cool. I always felt it was the little details that really made WDW special and some of the older ones have gone away without replacement. Something relatively little like this technology at either a meet and greet or during a parade would be a welcome addition.

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

Unless i'm incorrect in how this tech works, it sounds like they're using little more than computer regulated air flow and pressure to simulate movement here (kind of the same principle as blowing on something to make it move, though of course more elaborate and well controlled). Seems to work fairly well from just this prototype demonstration, but i'd imagine there's more to it. One obstacle I could see happening is that it's going to require more custom programming for individual figures with different weights than traditional AA's required. Reason being that different weights I believe would make air pressure requirements vary from figure to figure. Unless they've got software that can kind of automate the process and compensate for such things.

Also while the maintenance may not be as expensive from a parts perspective, it may require more baby sitting to ensure the pressure remains constant. Just a minor change in air pressure could possibly throw the entire figure off completely. Even disregarding leaks, environmental and weather changes can alter air pressure (like how your tires can sag in cold weather and seem more pumped up in heat).

I'm making a lot of assumptions of course, but i'm trying to think of how this tech could be great as well as the potential obstacles in its way. Though I may be way off in how they're accomplishing this.

 

[AEfx]

They do a fantastic job of discrediting themselves. They don't need my help.

YOU - yes YOU! - are the reason we cannot have nice things. You are giving tacit permission to TDO to ruin the entire Epcot experience!

(Bet you had no idea how much power you had, huh?)

 

[the.dreamfinder]

On the topic of AAs, here are some really good shots of Hunny Hunt's AAs. Makes you wish we had it.

Is it too late for them to swap Many Adventures out for Hunny Hunt in Shanghai?