The Spirited Sixth Sense ...

[asianway]

ABC News is untarnished? I'm not one to pull the I've done this and that card, but I was in the television media business for some time and the list of relatives of mine that are heavyweights that have been and are heavyweights in the business is pretty large. You simply don't know of what you're speaking of. No offense meant, but if you're going to present statements, be accurate, not throwing out opinions as reality.

Ignore him.

 

[rael ramone]

Disney should grab it. Under ABC management, they could turn things around.

My guess is that the Mouse is more concerned about maintaining their lead in sports than trying to catch up to Fox & Comcast/NBC in news.

Watching the Olympics it seemed to me at least that there was a big push to promote the NBCSN brand. Most people watch their sports live (a lot of the night tape delayed stuff from Sochi was shown live on NBCSN during the day). Thats a big reason why ESPN commands such a premium from cable operators. And why their competition wants to expand their sports footprint.

 

[wm49rs]

ABC News is untarnished? I'm not one to pull the I've done this and that card, but I was in the television media business for some time and the list of relatives of mine that are heavyweights that have been and are heavyweights in the business is pretty large. You simply don't know of what you're speaking of. No offense meant, but if you're going to present statements, be accurate, not throwing out opinions as reality.

Facts are problematic to some....

 

[PhotoDave219]

Please read my follow-up to that post. I corrected myself.

There are a lot of people in this thread that are participating on a daily basis that either are active, working journalists or our former working journalists in television & print.

This is the industry we work in. We have first-hand experience with it.

Personally, I don't have the patience or the time to explain to you why you are off base. So Enough with the lectures about how my industry works.

 

[PhotoDave219]

My guess is that the Mouse is more concerned about maintaining their lead in sports than trying to catch up to Fox & Comcast/NBC in news.

Watching the Olympics it seemed to me at least that there was a big push to promote the NBCSN brand. Most people watch their sports live (a lot of the night tape delayed stuff from Sochi was shown live on NBCSN during the day). Thats a big reason why ESPN commands such a premium from cable operators. And why their competition wants to expand their sports footprint.

Well ESPN commands a premium for multiple reasons… The costs of the rights to televise the sports as well as their corporate mandated profit margins.

 

[flynnibus]

Please remember folks...

 

[WDW1974]

Now, the question is do I want to start WWIII sans my good friend Vlad Putin? Or do I simply place a link to a very long read without offering any comments (yet)?

OK, I choose the latter. Here's some reading for y'all. Warning, it is from the NYT Magazine so there are some big words.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/09/magazine/reaching-my-autistic-son-through-disney.html?_r=0

 

[WDW1974]

That's what everyone seems to say about it. I have no problem saying I liked it better than certain "cannon" titles like Home on the Range and Chicken Little.

I don't like the whole term ''cannon'' ... I also don't like either of the above films.

 

[WDW1974]

You're right about that brother. I consider most of what I interact with in this city to be beneath me and I do look forward to moving from this city that is almost certainly not what it once was and never will be what I want it to be. I'm sorry. This is theme park town. People move here to take life long vacations. This is not a place to build a meaningful life.

You owe nobody anything beyond being true to yourself, first and foremost, and those you care about.
Orlando is what it is. I can't picture living there. Maybe in the 1980s when EPCOT was new and trees and citrus groves and open space stretched far to the horizon both at WDW and beyond. Now? Unless I am a high-level exec for a company like Disney or UNI, I see no sane reason for wanting to live there.

Some people say LA and NYC are sad places because people generally go there to make it and many do not. My sentiment is that at least they are trying.

People have been moving to O-Town since the 1990s to escape from life instead of living it. Even if the theme parks were the world's best (and Disney's are far from it now and UNI's haven't done enough to get placed there ... yet), moving somewhere because it has nice theme parks is a very child-like, undeveloped, mal-developed reason.

Do I find people who love WDW sad? Nope.

Do I find people who move to O-Town to be closer to the ''MAGIC'' and turn their back on living real lives incredibly sad? Oh yes.

Life-long vacations? If you have a Disney Lifestyle gig ... if you stop into a park because there's a new map design out or pin or because ''the walls came down or the walls went up'' ... yeah, you probably should seek out a mental health professional.

But as far as having "standards" goes, I'm raising mine once again and I urge you to do the same. It roots out a lot of misery and anxiety from life. I make no apologies for this. It's called growing up. Putting someone beneath your social standards doesn't make them inherently bad or even mean that there's anything wrong with them at all. But I do think drawing an honest line is important, and the tough decisions that come with walking on that line are worth making in the pursuit of progress and getting more from life.

I can't really disagree with that.

 

[WDW1974]

I assume you can't give more detail, but is this a good change? Tell me they aren't going to destroy Main Street...again

It's just way too early to say anymore ... I do think people need to look at what is happening now as a Phase I project. There is a Phase II ... but with Disney, they usually just wind up in coffee table books.

 

[JimboJones123]

Al Jazeera America is the closest thing you will see to real news in the cable news environment.

 

[WDW1974]

I know plenty of folks on Twitter, including a few quoted in this thread, who remember what the parks were like in the 70s and 80s and simply want to hold Disney to the standards it once set for itself.
Really not all that different from a lot of posters here. Same message, just from different messengers on a different medium.

I have issues with Twitter. Period. Not Disney fans using it. The whole nature of it.

85% of Americans don't use it. I think we're better.

Twitter is just the latest echo chamber. People gravitated to FB, but now they'd rather attempt real communication in 140 characters. Whether I like the person or not, like the point or not, I can't stand the platform.

As to the Disney side of it, it's very clear by the numbers of folks who have defected from sites like this, that Twitter encourages enabling behavior and folks patting each other on the back.

I'd like to wake up tomorrow in a UNIverse where Twitter doesn't exist.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Thanks for the information. I used to follow the industry more carefully, and used to subscribe to all the industry newsletters. I don't subscribe to any anymore. I do go online now every few months and try to catch up with the newsletters, but my search is more specific, rather than a cache all search. Even if I did, I wouldn't claim to be an expert, just someone who knows a little more than the average person off the street - and probably about the same as most here, generally speaking. In this area, you know more than I do.

All you had to do was watch TV to know about the PG-13 films. They have typically had rather large marketing campaigns.

 

[alissafalco]

Now, the question is do I want to start WWIII sans my good friend Vlad Putin? Or do I simply place a link to a very long read without offering any comments (yet)?

OK, I choose the latter. Here's some reading for y'all. Warning, it is from the NYT Magazine so there are some big words.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/09/magazine/reaching-my-autistic-son-through-disney.html?_r=0

This story had me crying. It was very touching, and it gives us all a glimpse into the lives of what families have to go through when faced with having a child with autism.

 

[spacemt354]

If at some point in time you find yourself alone, the memories of fun that you had with your children and family are priceless. At some point in time you may find yourself in that position. At some point in time you may just want to go there, sit on a bench look around and remember those time so long ago. That time reinvigorates the soul and makes one want to continue on regardless of how many people feel that they are fools for spending money in a place that they perceive as "not as good as it once was" or "overpriced".

I'm no longer forced to "bite the bullet", I bite it willingly because even though money cannot buy happiness it can buy someone a chance to feel good, to escape realities and feel the warmth again. I have, even with my kids, used Disney as an escape. I could spend my time analyzing if it is as good as it once was and would probably completely fall into the same negativism that others seem to find in the place. That doesn't mean that I don't notice things but I do not force myself to seek them out, and I hopefully never will, but, even though you were kidding (to some degree) to be called a sucker, a rube, a pixie duster and whatever else the "cool kids" care to label it, just shows how insensitive that a lot of the most vocal, better then thou, people really are.

If anyone doesn't like Disney's way or thinks others are fools because they like it, then their job is to be sure that they never set foot in the place again. It must be torture to tolerate that. Remember that none of us, including yourselves, have any control over Disney and how they do business. If at some point they do some major thing that stops people from going, then they will all get their due. Until then, every bit of contemplation of how much better Disney could be run, is strictly speculation. It is hard for me to understand how anyone, and I do mean anyone, that is CEO caliber has the time to be spending on WDWmagic for hours on end. But, what do I know.

Disney is an icon. It established itself years ago as the place to go. It's like a comedian that is thought to be really funny. (Robin Williams, for example) He could read a weather report and people would laugh, it's human nature. Disney sends a message passed down and, if not completely, maintained that image for the 50 years since Walt died. It isn't being a sucker, it is being true to themselves and not allowing outside opinions (not facts) to dampen what they are trying to achieve. Fun, Joy, Memories and Laughter and regardless of how much Disney has slipped downward in the eyes of some, it is still providing that in sufficient quantities to keep people happy and paying the asking price, because they have found something that made it all worth it.

BTW, even though I quoted you, this is not only directed at you. There are many that feel that they contain superior knowledge, tastes and cultural standing and therefore can cast judgment over the "infidels" and save them from themselves. I, for one, will let you know when I need saving, until then lets all try and be a little more understanding and aware of the fact that we all are different people with different stories and to file all of us under one heading is a little bit pompous.

I might have disagreed with a lot of things you had said in the past, but this one I can agree with you on for the most part.

We travel with a big family, grandparents and all, and the best part of the trip for them is seeing the family have fun together. And that is usually what happens on the trips. They might not know that attraction A was better 20 years ago or that Epcot was better etc, they just see WDW as a place they can enjoy with us. Granted a lot of places can grant us a family vacation, but the Disney icon does generate a nostalgia in us all to keep coming back.

Some might say that type of behavior deems a mental health issue, but I don't think so. If you enjoy a place and it still gives you happiness, then there is nothing wrong with going. However if you feel slighted by a place, more than once, and you keep returning, then that's where the issue comes into play. I compare it to restaurant logic. If you go once, and get a bad experience, shame on the restaurant. If you go back again and get the same bad experience, shame on you.

However, I will say...It's one thing to turn a blind eye to a faulty attraction, but it's other thing when Disney is scamming you (like our family felt with MM+) where we draw the line.

This is the first year that we are not sure we are going back in the summer. We aren't sure if we will get a good experience, or that it will be worth it for the price. When loyal Disney goers are skeptical about returning for their annual trip (20 straight years btw) Disney has really worn out our family's chances.

But if it hasn't gotten to that point for you and your family, then I agree. If it makes you happy and you feel it's worth it, there's nothing wrong with that. I wish that was still the case for our family.

 

[Figments Friend]

Except, as has been pointed out elsewhere in the thread, they were and did. As My Little Pony and Littlest Pet Shop. My beef isn't with Disney's naked cash grab, it's with their blatant rip-off of another company's intellectual property. It just feels cheap and sleazy. Other companies are supposed to rip-off Disney (like the cheap cash-in DVDs), no vice versa.

Ah...okay, i see your point now.
I agree regarding the similarities, as i remember when i saw the first marketing art of the 'Palace Pets'.
Immediately thought of the 'Littlest Pet Shop' line.

 

[bhg469]

I might have disagreed with a lot of things you had said in the past, but this one I can agree with you on for the most part.

We travel with a big family, grandparents and all, and the best part of the trip for them is seeing the family have fun together. And that is usually what happens on the trips. They might not know that attraction A was better 20 years ago or that Epcot was better etc, they just see WDW as a place they can enjoy with us. Granted a lot of places can grant us a family vacation, but the Disney icon does generate a nostalgia in us all to keep coming back.

Some might say that type of behavior deems a mental health issue, but I don't think so. If you enjoy a place and it still gives you happiness, then there is nothing wrong with going. However if you feel slighted by a place, more than once, and you keep returning, then that's where the issue comes into play. I compare it to restaurant logic. If you go once, and get a bad experience, shame on the restaurant. If you go back again and get the same bad experience, shame on you.

However, I will say...It's one thing to turn a blind eye to a faulty attraction, but it's other thing when Disney is scamming you (like our family felt with MM+) where we draw the line.

This is the first year that we are not sure we are going back in the summer. We aren't sure if we will get a good experience, or that it will be worth it for the price. When loyal Disney goers are skeptical about returning for their annual trip (20 straight years btw) Disney has really worn out our family's chances.

But if it hasn't gotten to that point for you and your family, then I agree. If it makes you happy and you feel it's worth it, there's nothing wrong with that. I wish that was still the case for our family.

While its just my wife and myself I agree with your statement. We just couldn't bring ourselves to give them all four days of our time in Orlando. And it was mostly money related but we had the option of adding more days. It wasn't worth it. And FP+ was the tipping point. Its so obvious that the system is making lines longer and the suggestions you are given are never what we wanted. The system is beyond awful and we don't deserve the way we are being treated.

 

[KYWDW]

I have issues with Twitter. Period. Not Disney fans using it. The whole nature of it.

85% of Americans don't use it. I think we're better.

Twitter is just the latest echo chamber. People gravitated to FB, but now they'd rather attempt real communication in 140 characters. Whether I like the person or not, like the point or not, I can't stand the platform.

As to the Disney side of it, it's very clear by the numbers of folks who have defected from sites like this, that Twitter encourages enabling behavior and folks patting each other on the back.

I'd like to wake up tomorrow in a UNIverse where Twitter doesn't exist.

My issue with twitter is the fact that it gives instant news whether or not it has been fact checked. (Same goes for Reddit but that's another topic.) The fact that news sites are going to a pay format online has coincided with twitters instant info. I myself like the old fashion delivered paper but I may be one of the few.

 

[flynnibus]

don't mention reddit... if @WDW1974 can't stomach twitter... his head would explode trying to digest Reddit

Twitter has incredible uses... but like most tools not everyone uses it equally. But we've had this conversation before.

 

[PhotoDave219]

My issue with twitter is the fact that it gives instant news whether or not it has been fact checked. (Same goes for Reddit but that's another topic.) The fact that news sites are going to a pay format online has coincided with twitters instant info. I myself like the old fashion delivered paper but I may be one of the few.

As someone who is work for newspapers a lot, I thank you very much for your support