flynnibus
Premium Member
Don't forget... Not every company moves at the glacial pace Disney does in construction
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The Spirited Sixth Sense ...
- Thread starter WDW1974
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Don't forget... Not every company moves at the glacial pace Disney does in construction
vonpluto
Well-Known Member
As for BB, in the Ski Patrol Camp two originals were replaced in 1996: Mogul Mania became Cool Runners and Krinkle Tin Slide was transformed into Frozen Pipe Springs. The last new addition was Double Dippers in 1997.
71jason
Well-Known Member
Story I've heard, perhaps apocryphal, is that one of the Busch family scions went to Wet n Wild in the early stages of Aquatica design. Spent two minutes, walked out, and basically said, "let's build the exact opposite of this."
There's no question but that locally the brand has been ruined. In addition to the lack of atmosphere, it has a reputation for attracting unsavory guests. Police have been called to a few fights there.
....Which should have been used as a new ToonTown (a la Disneyland) when ToonTown Fair at MK was torn down to make room for CircusLand.
But wait, that would make too much sense.
HM Spectre
Well-Known Member
It's not and it's absolutely the wrong approach long-term... but it's by far the easiest way and it pays off in the short-term which is where executives are incentivized.
It's incredibly easy to take what WDW is doing today and say "Hey, if we keep doing what we're doing today but find a way to do it cheaper and charge more, we'll make more money." It even works short-term. Your stockholders/board are happy because you hit your quarterly targets and the stock price moves up, you're happy because you get a fat bonus/options for doing so and Joe Blow doesn't have a clue you've cheapened his WDW experience.
That is WAY easier than trying to convince the powers-that-be to increase the maintenance budget, build out new attractions regularly, etc. because it'll help in the long-term and increase profitability. They only see the expense items increasing on the short-term financials and are still uncertain about what the actual impact of those projects will be. So... it's back to hack-and-slashing the budget and cutting corners all while jacking up prices.
That can work for a little while. But guess what? Those people who were so happy that you made cuts that made them richer? They want more of them. And so on. And so on. Eventually, you're cutting way past the fat all the way to the bone and Joe Blow has woken up from his pixie dust induced coma to realize that maybe the magic has been dimmed a bit. Maybe he should stop by Universal and see what they've been up to instead?
It WILL come to roost and in the end will hurt the bottom line in the future... but as an executive, what do you care? Does it matter to you that a reduction in maintenance means that parts of parks are falling apart and that slight reductions in show quality have snowballed to the point where it's noticeable? You've already gotten rich and as they give you a swift boot out the door, you get a nice golden parachute to break your fall.
I'm no insider but that seems to be the general attitude in Walt's company... and it won't do any good to replace one guy with the next if they all come from the same line of thinking. It'll take someone with leadership and vision beyond the near-term bottom line to turn things around and even then, it's not going to happen until a day of reckoning hits when it's made clear to all just how damaging their short-term policies have been to the company's reputation and standards.
It's disappointing to be sure, but cost cutting is the flavor of the month (okay, of the last few years) on Wall Street and Disney is no exception.
Funmeister
Well-Known Member
You should research that before making such blanket statements....
True but I didn't make a blanket statement. To say NOTHING has EVER been added is not comparable to getting the year wrong of an addition that DID happen. I get your point though...nothing to see here.
coolbeans14
Active Member
What are the odds! I'm guessing taplow or Dorney, right? The grass areas were a MESS right after that, I'm not surprised someone got hurt. In fact, it took them over 6 months to fix all the damage, and even longer to remove the bridge over the river.
Animaniac93-98
Well-Known Member
You don't have to apologize, you don't have to spend every hour of the day online.
Your info makes sense based on what I heard/learned previously. Again, I wasn't agreeing or disagreeing with what was said, just reporting an interesting comment.
EPCOTCenterLover
Well-Known Member
Can I quadruple that "LIKE"?!?!? I hate what they've done to World Showcase, especially El Rio del Tiempo. It should have just been refreshed. It was so classy. Particularly the beginning of it.
WDWFan_Boston
Well-Known Member
IMHO, there are very few places at any theme park that immerse you in the experience like Mexico's pavilion did. Now, I just have to imagine that I'm floating down a Mexican river with my three animated friends. *sigh* The magic isn't gone, it just reduced because of lazy imagineering.
cheezbat
Well-Known Member
Totally agree...but at least Universal has dumped quite a bit of money into the park to add/update rides, make the place more aesthetically pleasant, and semi-modernized. It's biggest problems are: 1. Crappy clientele 2. Lack of space to expand 3. Too much concrete, too little foliage 4. Bare slide towers.
The place is as good as pretty much any other Waterpark around the U.S. but pales in comparison to TL, BB, and Aquatica. (At least Aquatica still adds new stuff every 2-4 years, unlike the Disney waterparks!)
I truly hope Uni's new Waterpark is not only beautiful, but has way more slides than the Disney parks and has enough space to expand.
PeterAlt
Well-Known Member
You're talking about theming. They can fix all the layout problems and add theming without tearing the whole thing down. Can they?
PeterAlt
Well-Known Member
Refresh my memory. Where is that?
Lee
Adventurer
No, part of the problem is that Push was jointly owned by Disney and the performer.LOL who doesn't love a good dance party!
Couldnt they just have canned the person that does push and have a different CM control him? I'm confused on that? Or was it like the Epcot WS performer type deals?
The way I hear it, Disney wanted to claim ownership of the character and just contract the operator to "perform"him.
Understandably, the guy rejected that offer. So Disney canned him. He should do a Billy Hill and take his act to Uni.
Irie
Well-Known Member
Typhoon Lagoon
EPCOTCenterLover
Well-Known Member
And the suits couldn't even bother with funding the addition of the AA figures of the three- figures from Mickey Mouse Revue! Cheap!
jme
Well-Known Member
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/the-...sh-talking-trash-can-20140210,0,2158081.story
Official statement and comments from the co-owner validate this...
It goes on to say
zooey
Well-Known Member
Agreed on both, but to the general public, I can see where that Rio Del Tiempo approach is almost too subtle. I hate to think that people can't accept that kind of entertainment in a theme park, but it seems to be ever moving that way. That being said, the Three Caballeros have a long history with Disney, and with South America, too. They're not completely out of left field. I wish they had kept the beginning of the ride in tact with some updated footage on the screens, and then when we moved into the city scenes have the Caballeros come in and do their thing. I think that would adequately balance it out.
PeterAlt
Well-Known Member
I didn't know they actually added to Typhoon Lagoon. I remember there were rumors of expansion at one of the parks. Didn't know they actually did it. I was periodically active here back then. I guess this happened when I wasn't active here. I'm glad to hear they actually added something!
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