Where's George Kalogridis? -- The First 100 MAGICal Days!

[Fantasmic]

Seven Dwarf's Mine Train...

I guess you didn't get the British sarcasm that was dripping from my post.

Mine train ISN'T an E ticket. Not even close...

 

[PeterAlt]

I HAVE A SOLUTION to all the problems!!!!!!

UNFREEZE Walt! Haven't we found a modern cure for what killed him (pancreatic cancer)? Wait... No because that's what killed Steve Jobs last year...

The similarities between Walt and Steve are amazing!!!!!

 

[Figments Friend]

He's also Tony Baxter's mortal enemy, so I am sure that plays into having him on the Blog ... the same Blog that hasn't said a word about Tony yet.

Way to go Blondie, Bland Tommy and Crazy Gary! You guys are MAGICal!!!

-

Irritating...it is.


Reminds me of the slant i discovered recently while flipping through a book i have had for a few years now called 'The Disney Mountains : Imagineering At It's Peak".
Great book...lots of great photos and concept art, and even better stories behind the creation of the various 'mountain' themed attractions WDI has designed for the Parks worldwide.

Anyway, i was amused to see that the two Forewards at the start of the book were by Mr. Sklar and Tom.
On the last page of the book...and i mean the very LAST page...is a Afterword by Tony Baxter.
W T Fluff......!

He should have been up front as he was responsible for creating one of the most important 'mountain' attractions ever, and the book itself states this glowingly in the chapter covering BTMR !
Now of course in hindsight, i understand the 'positioning'....but perhaps i am just reading far too much into that. Maybe Tony actually preferred to have the 'final word' here...which is possible considering the tone of his Afterword...but i found it a bit odd at the time when the book was brand new.
Now of course it all makes more sense, being better aware of some of the politics behind the scenes.
Again, i may be reading far too much into this..but i found the coincidence amusing and at the same time a little melancholy.

To be fair, Jason Surrell did a fine job telling Tony's story about how BTMR came to be...so Mr.Baxter shone out like the bright star he was at that time.
A great book , i see it as recommended reading for fans wanting to learn more about those attractions.

 

[articos]

Thank you. According to Wikipedia (just go with me here), Tom Fitzgerald is an Imagineer and a "Senior Vice President, Principal Creative Executive". Tom has also posted on the Disney Parks Blog and described himself as the "creative executive for the Disneyland Resort".

That's good news if one of the rides they went on, out of the 70+ rides to choose from at Disneyland Resort, was Alice In Wonderland. They must have been checking out the ridiculous "temporary" safety railings installed two years ago on Alice that keep getting deferred for more aesthetically pleasing permanent railings.

This appears to have been a working tour for Michael, being led around by a top Imagineering executive.

Tom is WDI's creative lead for DLR and DLP Resort.

 

[Goofyernmost]

UNFREEZE Walt! Haven't we found a modern cure for what killed him (pancreatic cancer)? Wait... No because that's what killed Steve Jobs last year...

The similarities between Walt and Steve are amazing!!!!!

I'm fully aware that I might have missed something that completely rendered this post as sarcasm central, but didn't Walt die of Lung Cancer? Except for the words Cancer and Dead, it doesn't seem similar to me.

 

[PeterAlt]

I'm fully aware that I might have missed something that completely rendered this post as sarcasm central, but didn't Walt die of Lung Cancer? Except for the words Cancer and Dead, it doesn't seem similar to me.

I thought it was lung cancer too because of the bit where they say that the Lucky cigarettes he smoked killed him, but I read something recently that said he died of pancreated cancer. It could be wrong. Or maybe my memory is bundling a bunch of things I read and confusing them.

The similarity I spoke of are about the lives of both, not about the deaths, but I threw that in too (assuming the above was true).

 

[Lee]

Walt died of lung cancer.

 

[PeterAlt]

Walt died of lung cancer.

I don't think we've found a cure for that either, so we'll let him hibernate in peace.

 

[Goofyernmost]

I thought it was lung cancer too because of the bit where they say that the Lucky cigarettes he smoked killed him, but I read something recently that said he died of pancreated cancer. It could be wrong. Or maybe my memory is bundling a bunch of things I read and confusing them.

The similarity I spoke of are about the lives of both, not about the deaths, but I threw that in too (assuming the above was true).

Yes, I know, I was just messing with ya! I, however, have never heard it to be anything except Lung cancer that had metastasized into other organs.

 

[WDWFanDave]

Any George sightings today?

Almost have to wonder if he arrived at WDW, has been taking all of the issues in, and is simply overwhelmed by the boatload of crap that was just dropped on him.

I'd love to be able to write to him directly...any chance if I did that the mail would actually make it all the way to him? Anyone have an address, etc.? Maybe it's elsewhere...I'll go take a look, but in the interim, if anyone knows and could share that, either here or in a PM, I'd sincerely appreciate it. Promise it will only be used in a positive yet constructive manner

 

[dhall]

I HAVE A SOLUTION to all the problems!!!!!!

UNFREEZE Walt! Haven't we found a modern cure for what killed him (pancreatic cancer)? Wait... No because that's what killed Steve Jobs last year...

The similarities between Walt and Steve are amazing!!!!!

They'd have to stop the spinning first, and if they could do that, they wouldn't have to thaw him out.

 

[Captain Neo]

It makes me sick to my stomach that tom fitzgerald replaced Baxter as Disneyland's imagineer lead. I'm not exaggerating either. How can such a company that depends on creativty promote the wrong people into leadership while showing talent the door?

 

[RSoxNo1]

In that case, Alice in Wonderland and Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin would be considered E's, and they're not.

The ticket classification is based on what the ride does, for the most part. At least it is now.

You're not understanding my point. In a pay for ride system in today's environment, Disney would inflate certain attraction's ticket levels to control crowds. Peter Pan's Flight and Toy Story Mania are two of the highest demand attractions in the parks. I know I'm speaking purely hypothetically, but I would expect that Peter Pan's Flight would be a D or an E ticket on a pay for ride system and Toy Story Mania would be an E ticket even though the former is probably a C, and the latter is probably a D.

My point is that the way Disney currently operates, the ticket level would not be reflective of the experience if demand dictated otherwise.

 

[Californian Elitist]

You're not understanding my point. In a pay for ride system in today's environment, Disney would inflate certain attraction's ticket levels to control crowds. Peter Pan's Flight and Toy Story Mania are two of the highest demand attractions in the parks. I know I'm speaking purely hypothetically, but I would expect that Peter Pan's Flight would be a D or an E ticket on a pay for ride system and Toy Story Mania would be an E ticket even though the former is probably a C, and the latter is probably a D.

My point is that the way Disney currently operates, the ticket level would not be reflective of the experience if demand dictated otherwise.

Well when you put it that way... LOL. I understand what you're saying. I'm still a little iffy on that theory, but okay.

 

[Genie of the Lamp]

You're not understanding my point. In a pay for ride system in today's environment, Disney would inflate certain attraction's ticket levels to control crowds. Peter Pan's Flight and Toy Story Mania are two of the highest demand attractions in the parks. I know I'm speaking purely hypothetically, but I would expect that Peter Pan's Flight would be a D or an E ticket on a pay for ride system and Toy Story Mania would be an E ticket even though the former is probably a C, and the latter is probably a D.

My point is that the way Disney currently operates, the ticket level would not be reflective of the experience if demand dictated otherwise.

Don't forget Soarin too. It'd be nice if there was an encylopedia or something with WDI listing all the classifications of their rides that way it would save all this debating which I don't mind. I wasn't around when the ticket system was in place, so could you please explain to me how Disney would inflate certain attraction ticket levels to control the park crowds?

 

[RunnerEd]

I would speculate that E-tickets would be based more on demand than anything. I would suspect that many new D-tickets would actually be E-tickets on a pay per ride system.

With TDO in charge, if they could collect more $$$$ per ride, WDW would be filled with E-Tickets only....Stitch, Country Bears, All Parades, Philharmagic, Fireworks, walking into the Emprium, etc.

 

[lazyboy97o]

You're not understanding my point. In a pay for ride system in today's environment, Disney would inflate certain attraction's ticket levels to control crowds. Peter Pan's Flight and Toy Story Mania are two of the highest demand attractions in the parks. I know I'm speaking purely hypothetically, but I would expect that Peter Pan's Flight would be a D or an E ticket on a pay for ride system and Toy Story Mania would be an E ticket even though the former is probably a C, and the latter is probably a D.

My point is that the way Disney currently operates, the ticket level would not be reflective of the experience if demand dictated otherwise.

This was always a part of the system. The Jungle Cruise began life as a C-Ticket, then moved up to a D-Ticket when those were introduced and then again to an E-Ticket when those were introduced. Other attractions also changed ticket status and I believe there were even discrepancies between what was what at Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom. The dynamics of popularity would likely charge with the costs being moved.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Well when you put it that way... LOL. I understand what you're saying. I'm still a little iffy on that theory, but okay.

Think of it this way, say the brought back the ticket books with the following costs:
E-tickets: $10
D-tickets: $8
C-tickets: $6
B-tickets: $4
A-tickets: $2

Say that MK is open 9 AM to 9 PM and Peter Pan's Flight has a capacity of 1200 guests per hour. At $6 a ride, Peter Pan's Flight generates a peak wait time of 90 minutes with an End of Day wait time of 30 minutes (600 guests). It reaches that 1200 guest per hour starting at 9:00 AM as people flock to the ride. So this means that it earns $6 per guest for 12 1/2 hours because they still earn money for those 600 guests in line for the last 30 minutes. 15000 people ride the attraction during the day and the attractions earns $90,000 as a C-ticket

At $10 a ride, Peter Pan's Flight generates a peak wait time of 45 minutes, but is a walk on for the first and last hour of the park. During that time only 600 people ride in each of those hours. There are shorter lines throughout the day, but less people are willing to spend $10 per ride. It essentially gets 11 hours of riding during the day. While only 13,200 people ride the attraction during the day, the attraction earns $132,000 as an E-ticket.

Don't forget Soarin too. It'd be nice if there was an encylopedia or something with WDI listing all the classifications of their rides that way it would save all this debating which I don't mind. I wasn't around when the ticket system was in place, so could you please explain to me how Disney would inflate certain attraction ticket levels to control the park crowds?

I kind of explained it above. Having said that, I think in the opinion of most people, Soarin' is an E-ticket. It's current state (poor image quality) would be the thing that downgrades it, but it's popularity hasn't waned to the same extent as say The Great Movie Ride. TGMR was an E-ticket at the time it opened, and should still be considered one today, but it's stale and simply doesn't have the demand as some of the other attractions in that park.

With TDO in charge, if they could collect more $$$$ per ride, WDW would be filled with E-Tickets only....Stitch, Country Bears, All Parades, Philharmagic, Fireworks, walking into the Emprium, etc.

The thing is if attractions were priced out based on ticket level that would be another determining factor for whether or not someone gets in line for it. Right now, the only real factor for getting in line for an attraction is wait time. Add in a cost variable and the decision on whether or not to ride changes. Some guests may be willing to wait 90 minutes for Peter Pan's Flight if it only costs them $6 to ride, while others might only be willing to wait 10 minutes for it and will pay $10 to do so.

In it's own way, that's kind of what MyMagic+/Fastpass+ could achieve. While not explicitly paying per ride, you could very well be paying for shorter waits in line. In all likelihood this would be indirect (Deluxe Resort guests get more access to Fastpass+ compared to Value or non-resort guests).

 

[articos]

Any George sightings today?

Almost have to wonder if he arrived at WDW, has been taking all of the issues in, and is simply overwhelmed by the boatload of crap that was just dropped on him.

I'd love to be able to write to him directly...any chance if I did that the mail would actually make it all the way to him? Anyone have an address, etc.? Maybe it's elsewhere...I'll go take a look, but in the interim, if anyone knows and could share that, either here or in a PM, I'd sincerely appreciate it. Promise it will only be used in a positive yet constructive manner

You can write to George, and it should get a response, eventually.

George Kalogridis
Walt Disney Parks & Resorts
Walt Disney World Resort
P.O. Box 10040
Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830

It makes me sick to my stomach that tom fitzgerald replaced Baxter as Disneyland's imagineer lead. I'm not exaggerating either. How can such a company that depends on creativty promote the wrong people into leadership while showing talent the door?

Tom's also been with WDI for over 30 years. He may not be Tony, but he's put a lot of time in. Although Tony's title included DLR Creative Executive, Tony hasn't been "officially" in charge of DLR for a while - there has been an official chain of command that included DLR in other WDI execs' portfolios, even while Tony had the CE title for DLR. Tony essentially earned himself a side track to the official chain of WDI execs, being who he is. And there are several people in charge of DLR all in the chain of command above and below Tom, any of whom can be praised or blamed for creative decisions affecting Disneyland or DCA. Just like any workplace, there are bound to be office politics, so certain people may or may not get along, and everyone has their talents and weaknesses. WDI is no different.

 

[WDWFanDave]

You can write to George, and it should get a response, eventually.

George Kalogridis
Walt Disney Parks & Resorts
Walt Disney World Resort
P.O. Box 10040
Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830

Thanks! If I get a response, I'll share it.