The Spirited Sixth Sense ...

[TalkingHead]

Meh. So would dumping the same amount of money (or less) into revitalizing and renovating the area around Turner Field. You are right though, that area has gotten much better over the past decade.

I haven't followed the Cobb relocation that closely (because I really don't care), but it seems a bit silly to me. I still haven't heard what they plan to do with Turner Field once it is vacated. Though, I can understand the politics of Fulton County are a bit wonky and make redevelopment difficult...but, pretty much the whole of Atlanta south of 20 and north of the Airport needs it's reset button pushed.

When it comes to the transportation system, the whole metro area should have the reset button pushed. City/county feuding and all that. Absolutely dreadful. (And that's not a jab at the snowpocalypse a few weeks ago. My worst nightmare. An Atlanta commute that never ends.)

 

[englanddg]

Has the High Museum of Art improved in the last decade? Always amazed me how poor Atlanta's museum offerings were for a supposed world-class city.

I call it the "Hide Museum of Fart"

No, it hasn't gotten much better. Though, the aquarium is world class, and the children's museum is also excellent. There is plenty of "culture" in ATL, but you have to go looking for it.

 

[englanddg]

When it comes to the transportation system, the whole metro area should have the reset button pushed. City/county feuding and all that. Absolutely dreadful. (And that's not a jab at the snowpocalypse a few weeks ago. My worst nightmare. An Atlanta commute that never ends.)

Ugh...yes. MARTA is a joke.

 

[TalkingHead]

I call it the "Hide Museum of Fart"

No, it hasn't gotten much better. Though, the aquarium is world class, and the children's museum is also excellent. There is plenty of "culture" in ATL, but you have to go looking for it.

I'll never forget going to the High Museum to see a Renoir exhibit. There were four paintings in the entire show! What an embarrassment of riches.

I was really impressed with the Puppetry Museum last time I was in town. Some great Jim Henson creations there, including a Big Bird and a bunch of Muppets. Very cool.

But I couldn't bring myself to pay the aquarium's ticket price. Just wasn't convinced it would be worth it.

 

[wdisney9000]

Somewhat accurate.

The area around Turner field is a bit dicey.

The original torch tower was moved north of Turner field. It is already in pretty rough shape. Frankly, I'm surprised they didn't just tear it down, considering the other torch tower built downtown near centennial park, right off the connector.

The Braves move to Cobb County was a huge political maneuver and had very little to do with the neighborhood the current stadium is in (and it was a stupid idea, but they are doing it anyway). The Olympic village didn't become "ghettos overrun by crime"...they were built on or near college campuses, largely Georgia Tech and Clark Atlanta, and became student dorms after the Olympics.

The rowing events were not in Atlanta, they were in Gainesville at Lake Lanier, and were never intended to be permanent.

Seeing as how the city netted around 10 million from the Olympics, and it gave much needed attention and investment to infrastructure in the downtown area, I would call it a success.

Your correct, the housing areas by GT and CA are still good. The areas they built up south of Turner Field for Hotels and such are horrible ( i was wrong in calling that area Olympic village). I have a friend who used to live in that area and u can see remnants of what was there. It was great when the games came to town but now it is bad. As far as Turner field being moved, I wasnt saying they moved it due to the bad area it was in. Agree it was political, by I think the new location is great and there is waaaay more to do/visit/eat at in the Cumberland Blvd area. At Turner Field you pretty much get in your car and leave after the game. Theres NOTHING around the stadium. The even tore down the Taco Bell/KFC that was there. The fact that I live 10 minutes from the new location is a big plus for me as well

 

[englanddg]

I'll never forget going to the High Museum to see a Renoir exhibit. There were four paintings in the entire show! What an embarrassment of riches.

I was really impressed with the Puppetry Museum last time I was in town. Some great Jim Henson creations there, including a Big Bird and a bunch of Muppets. Very cool.

But I couldn't bring myself to pay the aquarium's ticket price. Just wasn't convinced it would be worth it.

I was going to mention the Puppetry Museum, as it is a hidden gem, but I figured it wouldn't be well known enough.

The Aquarium is worth a trip. If you have a day to burn, splurge and get the double ticket that gets you into World of Coke. I hadn't been to the new World of Coke since they moved it from Underground until last year, and I was seriously impressed. Especially the Vault presentation (which is rather new). That was awesome.

 

[FigmentJedi]

I was really impressed with the Puppetry Museum last time I was in town. Some great Jim Henson creations there, including a Big Bird and a bunch of Muppets. Very cool.

I was going to mention the Puppetry Museum, as it is a hidden gem, but I figured it wouldn't be well known enough.

And the Puppetry Center has finally decided to start the Jim Henson Wing expansion.

http://www.puppet.org/believeinmakebelieve/index.shtml

 

[Gabe1]

HAHA I'm glad they got to experience the wonders of the NHS, but that was a good day they caught them. Nowadays we're meant to use their website and practically self diagnose unless you're bleeding out. And let's not talk about how long I spent waiting for an appointment about my knees- they lost the file between pulling it from one basket and putting it in another!

At the moment we seem good on that front. London's always had a thing for parks, so the Olympic park is probably going to be looked after a bit better than it could have, and I live just up the road from the rowing lake (nothing like groups of Japanese tourists walking past your front window trying to follow the directions to the train station-which actually led them through a car wash, honest) which is owned by Eton College and so should be good for years to come-unless we get flooded and all drown (I'm trying out being optimistic right now).

Oh my! It certainly is a different emergency system than we have in the US however I can't brag on our either. They were traveling with international health insurance too so London caught them off guard. My BFF DD was a rower so she was competing right by you. (breaks into a chorus of Small Small World)

The family rented a home in the neighborhood for 3-4 weeks, people just sublet it to them. He actually broke his leg in the Rowing venue area. If you were facing the GrandStand area he was coming off the right side to go down by his DD, there was a muddy steep hill and *poof* broken dude.

 

[TarzanRocked99-]

Your correct, the housing areas by GT and CA are still good. The areas they built up south of Turner Field for Hotels and such are horrible ( i was wrong in calling that area Olympic village). I have a friend who used to live in that area and u can see remnants of what was there. It was great when the games came to town but now it is bad. As far as Turner field being moved, I wasnt saying they moved it due to the bad area it was in. Agree it was political, by I think the new location is great and there is waaaay more to do/visit/eat at in the Cumberland Blvd area. At Turner Field you pretty much get in your car and leave after the game. Theres NOTHING around the stadium. The even tore down the Taco Bell/KFC that was there. The fact that I live 10 minutes from the new location is a big plus for me as well

The new location will be a plus for us Tennesseans going to the games, not sure why they don't just relocate the Towe and flame to the Olympic Park, much better fit for the long haul.

 

[alissafalco]

ok, lets head south back down to Orlando. Spirit any news on Uni's 3rd gate?

 

[NoChesterHester]

ok, lets head south back down to Orlando. Spirit any news on Uni's 3rd gate?

Or WDW's 5th?

I kid... I kid...

 

[ParentsOf4]

IMO - testing just means 'evolving' - the product is not final and is still going through iterations. I don't fault the company for saying 'this is not the final product'... but also spinning it to their advantage... most people want to be part of an early adopter crowd when it comes to 'getting something new..'

"Disneyland is something that will never be finished. It's something that I can keep developing. It will be a live, breathing thing that will need change. A picture is a thing, once you wrap it up and turn it over to Technicolor, you're through. Snow White is a dead issue with me. But I can change the park, because it's alive.”

--- Walt Disney

By your standard of "evolving" (i.e. 'this is not the final product'), WDW has been in test for over 40 years.

Like the original FP, MM+ will go through several iterations. Once the rollout to AP holders is done, the first iteration will be complete.

Let's see if they continue to call it a test after that.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Interesting comments regarding hand-drawn animation at Disney:

Q: Is 2D animation dead?

Tom Bancroft: It’s a loaded question. It’s not dead but it’s in a coma. I think that’s the best answer. I really do see it coming back in a very small way. And here’s my answer to that. How will it come back? I think what we’re going to see is not the Disney, the DreamWorks, the Pixar, whatever big studio – especially Disney that was known for 2D – I don’t think they’re the ones that are going to bring it back. But the way it’s going to come back in a small way will be from a small independent company. A small group of people doing it, and probably in Europe unfortunately. I’d love to see it make a big comeback here in the U.S. but I think we’ll see a couple of smaller films that do really well, make a ton of money and it will be a nostalgic resurgence but it will be a mini one.

I don’t necessarily see Disney going back to it in any big way because the story you don’t hear that goes along with them not doing it anymore is that they don’t even have the equipment anymore. They’ve sold all of the animation desks, all of the software programs. They have very little equipment that’s 2D, they have even less 2D animators left. It’s literally a handful of 2D guys that are still there. So, bringing it back at Disney would be a momentous, a very expensive deal which I don’t see happening.

http://www.themousecastle.com/2014/02/the-bancroft-brothers-and-annie-awards.html

 

[ford91exploder]

Interesting comments regarding hand-drawn animation at Disney:

Q: Is 2D animation dead?

Tom Bancroft: It’s a loaded question. It’s not dead but it’s in a coma. I think that’s the best answer. I really do see it coming back in a very small way. And here’s my answer to that. How will it come back? I think what we’re going to see is not the Disney, the DreamWorks, the Pixar, whatever big studio – especially Disney that was known for 2D – I don’t think they’re the ones that are going to bring it back. But the way it’s going to come back in a small way will be from a small independent company. A small group of people doing it, and probably in Europe unfortunately. I’d love to see it make a big comeback here in the U.S. but I think we’ll see a couple of smaller films that do really well, make a ton of money and it will be a nostalgic resurgence but it will be a mini one.

I don’t necessarily see Disney going back to it in any big way because the story you don’t hear that goes along with them not doing it anymore is that they don’t even have the equipment anymore. They’ve sold all of the animation desks, all of the software programs. They have very little equipment that’s 2D, they have even less 2D animators left. It’s literally a handful of 2D guys that are still there. So, bringing it back at Disney would be a momentous, a very expensive deal which I don’t see happening.

http://www.themousecastle.com/2014/02/the-bancroft-brothers-and-annie-awards.html

It's interesting that Studio Ghibli does not feel the need for 3D animation, Frozen would have been just as good in 2D - perhaps better

ITS THE STORY PEOPLE not the animation style

 

[GoofGoof]

"Disneyland is something that will never be finished. It's something that I can keep developing. It will be a live, breathing thing that will need change. A picture is a thing, once you wrap it up and turn it over to Technicolor, you're through. Snow White is a dead issue with me. But I can change the park, because it's alive.”

--- Walt Disney

By your standard of "evolving" (i.e. 'this is not the final product'), WDW has been in test for over 40 years.

Like the original FP, MM+ will go through several iterations. Once the rollout to AP holders is done, the first iteration will be complete.

Let's see if they continue to call it a test after that.

I agree with this. Once the AP situation gets resolved they will likely consider it fully rolled out and no longer a test. Flip this situation around; if they came out on the earnings call and said testing is complete and MM+ is fully rolled out AP holders would be furious that they still don't have full use of the system but the company is calling it finished.

 

[flynnibus]

By your standard of "evolving" (i.e. 'this is not the final product'), WDW has been in test for over 40 years.

Oh come on.. you know that's not even remotely the same. Jest or not.. you stroke the sheep too much

Like the original FP, MM+ will go through several iterations. Once the rollout to AP holders is done, the first iteration will be complete.

Let's see if they continue to call it a test after that.

Certainly reaching all of their prime audiences would be a major milestone. I think once things stabilize we can call a spade a spade. At this point they've still been making radical rollout stuff every few weeks. I mean, it's only been what.. ~2 weeks that they finally unplugged FP?

The 64,000 dollar question is how quick will they be in making adjustments once all the elements of phase 1 are in place. Will they wait for large data sets.. or be willing to tweak on smaller windows? Or because everything is outsourced.. will everything have to hit a certain pain threshold before dollars are justified?? Lots of ways it can go.. including lots of things we would only see ancedotally. I'm in no rush to be on property.. so I'm more than content to just sit back and watch the bread rise...

 

[Fractal514]

Respectfully, when you are forced to use it, it is no longer a test.

Respectfully, they used to FORCE me to watch the emergency broadcast system all the time, and yet that was still just a test.

 

[ford91exploder]

? Or because everything is outsourced.. will everything have to hit a certain pain threshold before dollars are justified?? Lots of ways it can go.. including lots of things we would only see ancedotally. I'm in no rush to be on property.. so I'm more than content to just sit back and watch the bread rise...

Personally I'm betting on changes will not occur until pain thresholds are hit and exceeded

 

[ford91exploder]

I agree with this. Once the AP situation gets resolved they will likely consider it fully rolled out and no longer a test. Flip this situation around; if they came out on the earnings call and said testing is complete and MM+ is fully rolled out AP holders would be furious that they still don't have full use of the system but the company is calling it finished.

Why would they care about AP holders?, AP holders and DVC members are considered a 'captive' audience

 

[GoofGoof]

Why would they care about AP holders?, AP holders and DVC members are considered a 'captive' audience

I don't think they necessarily care about AP holders, but they are part of the rollout so it's hard to call it complete without them. As far as I know all of the DVC resorts are fully rolled out so DVC isn't a problem at this point, just AP holders.