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The Spirited Seventh Heaven ...
- Thread starter WDW1974
- Start date
BrerJon
Well-Known Member
It's such a contrast to the Diagon Alley equivalent, Leaky Cauldron, which is just as well themed, with just as nice (maybe nicer) food, unique drink offerings, the same 'rose' gimmick BoG has of them finding your food, in the form of a candle, but is quick service all day. Even when it has a long line... it's just a long line, nobody is forced to wait, but patient people will get served eventually.
If Disney did that I bet they'd make more money from the restaurant *and* guest satisfaction levels would go through the roof. Or if they want to keep the ability to have a long table service meal, maybe just close the West Wing off for the evening, a bit like Chef's Table at V&A. That way nobody is denied a peek around in the daytime, the 180 day crowd can get their ADR fix, and everyone's a winner.
ford91exploder
Resident Curmudgeon
Just look at the SEC form 4's or take a look at http://www.insidertrading.org, Iger's sales are well documented as are all C level executives from public companies.
ford91exploder
Resident Curmudgeon
And the fact that NO ONE PAYS ATTENTION TO THEM except Disney of course, One of the more prominent 'mommy bloggers' had 27 page views in an entire YEAR, Yeah that's a hot site...
Mike S
Well-Known Member
Meanwhile this one thread has 1,251,298 views as of this post...... and it started in May.......
Next Big Thing
Well-Known Member
I get what you are saying, but if a guest is trying to plan a trip, they aren't going to take to twitter or Facebook. They're going to go to Touring Plans, wdwinfo, OrlandoInformer, etc.
Guests want real information spelled out for them for how to get the most for their money. Why do you think the WDW/DL Versions of the Touring Plans books still sell so well?
asianway
Well-Known Member
They're all kissing Gary buchanans @$$ right now trying to get on next years gravy train
AEfx
Well-Known Member
That very well could be part of it. I think with that in particular it's mostly a way to make Mickey relevant to younger audiences who don't really have a lot of connection to the character, though.
Basically, Copyright is not going to be extended. It's just not going to happen - the political environment is simply not there for it to happen again. The last time they were able to extend it was during a very different political time. Particularly since so much of the support came from the Republican party, which now does everything it can to distance itself from the "Hollywood Elite" of whom this would be seen as catering to. Few politicians are going to want to be associated with "The Mickey Mouse Preservation Act: The Sequel".
There really is no legally valid argument for extending them again, in any case, as the original justification for doing so was the increase in life expectancy of individuals. That simply isn't a factor this time, and was the only legal argument they had to lengthen them in the first place.
That said, I think the inclusion of "vintage" Mickey in Disney Infinity, and the limited collectables they occasionally do for him, is part of maintaining some of the Trademarks on that version of the character, which is the real question - not will they extend copyright, but will they allow Trademarks to supersede them.
The two systems were designed completely independently for different goals - but over the years, due to simply how media has developed it's business, they have become muddied together. Because Public Domain has effectively ceased to exist in modern times due to the repeated extensions, this in particular has not been well legally challenged (the closest situation, but still not the same, as it did not involve Public Domain, was tested with the Bond film Thunderball - and that was decades ago).
That's why the Superman case was important (again, even though the actionable part of the lawsuits was due more for work for hire/later agreements than copyright case law) - because it legally examined the question of "what is a character" - and essentially decided that what a character consists of is whatever characteristics it showed in the product in question and heavily went on the "when" each of those characteristics showed up.
The Superman case is settled, as much as it can be - the creators families lost, but DC/Warners will still have to eventually fight the same Public Doman vs. Trademark battle eventually with him. It will be very interesting if the Supreme Court hears the remaining Superboy case which could further impact the precedence of the "what makes a character" question. While the heirs lost the Superman case, they didn't directly profit from it but the overall creative community very well may have because of the precedents set regarding the question of characters.
So, if Trademark law was not a factor, in a few years when Steamboat Willie is public domain, so would the character of Mickey - as shown at that time. So, a Public Domain Mickey would be the vintage animated version, and would not have a dog named Pluto (as Pluto didn't show up for several more years, and wouldn't be Public Domain until his first appearance hit the limit, etc).
But, many of those characteristics virtually are now covered by Trademark, by Trademarking the elements of character, usurping that public right.. Basically, it was never intended for the same "thing" to be subject to Copyright and Trademark - it's the modern juxtaposition of art as commerce that has created this new breed of entity that neither set of laws was designed for.
Although folks tend to focus on commercial exploitation (people "ripping off" Mickey), the spirit of the law is really more about free public accessibility to ideas and particularly when it comes to artists being able to create derivative works (for example, under current Copyright protection, Andy Warhol would not have been able to make a lot of his art). That said, commerce is what is going to push the question - because, say, with Steamboat Willie - anyone that has a copy can then commercially release it under Public Domain once it expires.
However, because of certain trademarks they technically could be challenged by putting "Starring Mickey Mouse" on the packaging - which goes against the entire spirit and pretty much would render it's Public Domain status moot. That's where Thunderball comes in, where I believe they were allowed to use certain terms/names/etc. that were otherwise Trademarked in promotion of the item they did own the rights to.
In any case, it's going to be very interesting to watch how Disney deals with this, and who eventually challenges them on it. It's all but assured Disney will be among the first tests of what will happen when this contradiction in laws happens - the revamps to the law previously were pretty much written to cater to their case/time frame in particular, and there really are no properties of note from that time frame that will be among the first to expire are being actively exploited by anyone today.
AEfx
Well-Known Member
Right, but as the folks at Touring Plans will tell you, only like 1% of guests ever get exposed to that info.
Prospective guests aren't going to Lou Mongello's website to read his write-ups, is the point. They are looking for information, not opinion. Opinion is what they get on social media. They aren't following continuing blog postings/etc. enough to pay attention to the opinions of lifestylers and for them to have any actual impact.
jdmdisney99
Well-Known Member
Travel Junkie
Well-Known Member
So Agents of Shield was scheduled to be the first place to see the Avengers Age of Ultron trailer. The trailer has leaked online. So much for that plan.
GoofGoof
Premium Member
This is very true. The average person researching a Disney vacation has no way of knowing who Lou Mongello or any of the others are. They probably shy away from opinions.
The 1% of guests exposed to the information from touring plans is why the plans work. If 50% or 90% of people followed the plans they would be useless. This is true of a place like this too. It's why 90%+ of us can agree that Frozen maelstrom is a bad idea, but Disney thinks it's what guests want. People here sometimes can't understand why Disney doesn't see what we all see, but in reality we represent a very small percentage of overall guests and not always a good sample group.
Soarin' Over Pgh
Well-Known Member
That makes me very excited. Can't wait!
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
Technology enabling plans to go ary is rather fitting given that Ulton is technology gone ary.
danlb_2000
Premium Member
The idea Jim was talking about sounded like it would have a whole group of riders within the dome, which wouldn't work with this patent. Since the rider controls the movement this patent would only work if each rider had their own project dome. Cool idea, but very hard to scale to a large capacity.
SJN1279
Well-Known Member
I believe Hill said it would be a race within the dome among riders. This patent could actually work....
BigThunderMatt
Well-Known Member
Considering the decisions Disney has been making lately really call into question that they even know what the average Guest wants I'd say using us as a sample group would probably be in their best interests at this point.
Goofyernmost
Well-Known Member
Didn't they always do that? Otherwise, how did I ride with no hands so often? If I leaned it went in the direction of my lean. If I leaned over to far my face hit the pavement. If I pushed backwards on the break peddle and later used my hands to squeeze the brake handles it would stop. If I used my legs to push on the peddles in a forward direction, it moved forward.
Unless they are talking about a bicycle that is the same basic idea as the Segway, that might be different, but, it would have to have more then two wheels, one in front of the other. Wait, could it be that Disney has figured a way to bypass gravity?
BrerJon
Well-Known Member
I think partially this is the root of some of the MyMagic problems. Now 50 to 90% of guests are forced to follow something that at least partially resembles a touring plan, it's thrown a spanner in the works for those used to following them the traditional way.