You Hate Everything About It, Yet You Still Go

[jlsHouston]

1 - Agree

2 - Disney changed format of shareholders meeting to prevent the tactics that PETA used when SeaWorld went public so unless you are a hedge fund or large institutional investor you have no voice in the shareholder meetings.

3 - DVC, Many of us who are really unhappy with the changes are DVC members many of us with large point holdings, DVC is SOLD as a synergistic entity with the parks now that access to attractions signficantly degraded we are quite angry with TWDC especially since the PROFITS from DVC are rolled up into the P&R aggregate. Those of us who added on right before NGE feel we were victims of a Bait-n-Switch by TWDC and are seriously P------d.
Also DVC changed the annual meeting format so there is no longer a Q&A session so members no longer have a voice in how DVC is run. ie DVC will feed the members c--p and they better sit down and like it - the powers that be have spoken.


4 - If you had been on the investors call, The 'Strategy' if you can call it that was to do nothing except reduce CAPEX and hiring for the P&R division, So I think it's fair to say that TWDC's strategy is to do nothing.

Wow so collectively as owners, DVC members have no power to affect (or prevent) a change at WDW, no voice at all in the pre paid vacation concept they purchased ? Is that what you are saying ?

 

[ExtinctJenn]

First I just want to thank @The Mom for moderating this thread. When I posted it I didn't expect it to become the lively conversation it had (especially after I really got some great answers and updated the OP to say so). I think it's good conversation though (as long as it continues to be moderated) as honestly it's really opened my eyes. I said it earlier (but it's since been lost I'm sure) that I know "hate" was not the best word to use for the post title but I chose it as the only one-word option to describe what really is a whole host of negative feelings and/or displeasure. The bottom line though is that whether you tend to be on the side of "hate" or the side of being a "pixie dust snorter" (or somewhere in between), we're all here right?

 

[ford91exploder]

Wow so collectively as owners, DVC members have no power to affect (or prevent) a change at WDW, no voice at all in the pre paid vacation concept they purchased ? Is that what you are saying ?

That's exactly what I am saying, There is ONE way left trouble is it only enriches the lawyers, But as of the 2012 Condo association meeting there is no longer any Q&A period or nor a method to bring a motion to the floor for consideration.

 

[gwhb75]

1 - Agree

2 - Disney changed format of shareholders meeting to prevent the tactics that PETA used when SeaWorld went public so unless you are a hedge fund or large institutional investor you have no voice in the shareholder meetings.

3 - DVC, Many of us who are really unhappy with the changes are DVC members many of us with large point holdings, DVC is SOLD as a synergistic entity with the parks now that access to attractions signficantly degraded we are quite angry with TWDC especially since the PROFITS from DVC are rolled up into the P&R aggregate. Those of us who added on right before NGE feel we were victims of a Bait-n-Switch by TWDC and are seriously P------d.
Also DVC changed the annual meeting format so there is no longer a Q&A session so members no longer have a voice in how DVC is run. ie DVC will feed the members c--p and they better sit down and like it - the powers that be have spoken.


4 - If you had been on the investors call, The 'Strategy' if you can call it that was to do nothing except reduce CAPEX and hiring for the P&R division, So I think it's fair to say that TWDC's strategy is to do nothing.

Thanks for your comments. Here's a few additional thoughts in reply to your reply.
1) yeah, not going is the best way to send a message, as long as a lot of people do the same, and they aren't replace by new people who start going. That's the tough thing when you're dealing with millions of people going each year.

2) Was not aware of that. Having said that, being a shareholder does still allow you to vote on things like board members, etc (I know that one or two votes isn't many, but it is still at least slightly more effective than just going on a website and complaining).

3) I think you misunderstood what I was saying here. I've seen people complain that the reason WDW isn't building more attractions is because they are using all the money to build DVC resorts. I was just pointing out the flawed logic behind that idea (we are DVC owners too).

4) This makes sense given the purported costs of NextGen + finishing up Fantasyland, and getting ready (hopefully) for Pandora. Like I was saying, their strategy was Next Gen, and they've pretty much rolled that our now so it's not unusual for a company, after spending billions of dollars on capital items, to scale back after that and start "reaping the benefits" of those expenditures (only time will tell if they will get the return they are hoping for). That also explains the share buy-back program they are getting ready to enter in to.

 

[jlsHouston]

Thanks for your comments. Here's a few additional thoughts in reply to your reply.

4) This makes sense given the purported costs of NextGen + finishing up Fantasyland, and getting ready (hopefully) for Pandora. Like I was saying, their strategy was Next Gen, and they've pretty much rolled that our now so it's not unusual for a company, after spending billions of dollars on capital items, to scale back after that and start "reaping the benefits" of those expenditures (only time will tell if they will get the return they are hoping for). That also explains the share buy-back program they are getting ready to enter in to.

And how long do you think it will be until the TDO starts to reap those benefits... and sees the ROI ?

 

[jensenrick]

To Walt, everything you do in the theme parks, was no different than paying admission and going to see one of his movies. If you went to see one of his films, the whole darn thing was there. The whole reel. They didn't cut this out, or remove this scene, or alter this scene to crappier dialogue, if the projector burnt through the film...new film was ready to go to replace it and the whole idea was that you got what you paid for and that you left both happy and filled with good experience memories.

Definitely the best analogy I've seen on this thread. Bravo.

 

[Fairybuzz]

(stepping AROUND the Rockem' Sockem' Robots in discussion)

Well,

I guess for me, I have a definite love for the place and for (most) everything Disney...

I guess what gets my goat and why I complain on occasion is that they (on occasion) don't live up to a certain standard that I feel (personally) that Walt set. I am often annoyed at how they let the dollar overtake quality. I DO understand that when it all comes down to it, it is a business. And as Milton Friedman once said "The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits..."

That's all good and well...and I suppose over the long term it does benefit the parks and then by extension me.

However, I look back on the past and into my vast collection of books, movies, magazines, and stories from the Disney park story and I see so much good that had been done and I see so much charm and trial and error. Now-a-days, that charm seems to be dwindling in favor of pushing the latest crap down our throats on occasion. The latest trend in Florida is totally based upon sales sales sales, and cheap cheap cheap on ride maintenance.

Walt often said that "QUALITY Would OUT" and he had a philosophy by which you did NOT shortchange the guests of anything in quality of the rides and shows. To Walt, everything you do in the theme parks, was no different than paying admission and going to see one of his movies. If you went to see one of his films, the whole darn thing was there. The whole reel. They didn't cut this out, or remove this scene, or alter this scene to crappier dialogue, if the projector burnt through the film...new film was ready to go to replace it and the whole idea was that you got what you paid for and that you left both happy and filled with good experience memories. The Disney mark means a type of quaulity and assurance that you cannot find anywhere else. It is surely more than just Mickey Mouse. It is something that comes laden with heavy expectation...

Now, suppose we had never known any different? Suppose Walt was a tight-wad and the rides always sucked and every thing was done half-wazooed...would the parks still be there today? Would we spend crazy amounts of money and tolerate international tour groups cutting in line in front of us when it's 98 degrees out with 80% humidity? Heck no. You go because there is something there you're looking for. You and I and everyone else find something there that we cannot find anywhere else on this planet or anywhere else in this country (save DL) and it is our secret place, it's our holy shrine, our "Laughing Place" as I've often alluded to.

So, when they "SUCK at taking care of the place, or they don't hold up to that standard, I, like so many others on here...get my feathers ruffled. My inner Donald Duck grabs the keyboard and goes nuts. It's not to simply be a grump, a troll, or to just female dog about something...it's about protecting something that means so much to us.

I feel like, if I didn't stop once in a while and say "Hey! That ain't right!" that I'd be letting the place down and maybe by extension letting Walt down. The place is a business...that's true...but it's also a gift that has transcended time and many changes and is a part of us...we gotta protect it...we gotta keep it special for ourselves and our kids...that part is essential.

Walt once said "Disneyland is your land..." that's the first stanza of his dedication speech...I seriously doubt he would have made any change to that statement for WDW or more specifically Magic Kingdom. So, I guess I feel obligated to take care of it!

There's also the fact that the people that gripe know a LOT about the place...they're super uber cool folks to talk to and hang out with...I enjoy the conversation very much!

So yeah...just my two cents...or from the length of this...buck fifty... take or leave!

That is very very well put! and pretty much exactly what I've been trying to say but then I get all gobble-gooed.

I gotta add however
I do often need to take a step back and wonder why they make certain decisions, and when I find I cannot justify one in any way I must point it out. Ok If say Immagination (my fav talking point lol of course) is replaced with Phinneas and Ferb stuff, I may hate the decision myself, and I may say so here but at least I can understand it. I also have a strange mental tick about this site that someone in disney who matters may read my posts and say "hey she's right!" or "wow so they wont like that?" I know its laughable but tell my brain that.
So when I go on a rant its more out of love than hate.

Lets put it a different way. Not everyone will get this reference but I'll try, and you can skip this paragraph if it gets too confusing lol. If anyone has ever played Rollercoaster tycoon, and shared/downloaded other people's saved games of custom made parks, you'll realize some people put a lot of detail into their parks making it unbelievably realistic. Others will put less, some will put just buildings but not much deco etc. And some will not be very good at any of that so they'll just put 20 rollercoasters over twisty paths without theming and maybe slight references like naming a ride "Sonic the hedgehog's spin" and painting it blue. If you see disney as that top ultra detailed park, thats downloaded by the guy who makes the 20 rollercoasters park, and he tries to make an alteration, it will come out looking like a terribly messed up masterpiece, yet wont deminish the parts left over by the details guy. But if downloaded by a guy who puts as much detail in it but differently, and he edits it, it will bring something new to the table, fresh, without making something thats essentially a waste of space where it used to look nice.

So now that I've confused everyone, lol, what I'm getting at is when someone takes a really well detailed, well imagineered ride/show/attraction, and replace it with something like seas with nemo, journey into YOUR imagination, or under new management, it gives you this stew of good ideas from the past mixed with bad ideas of the now. But unlike the RCT game, Management is always changing, and what may be lacking today might be very well improved in the future. So throwing out the entire park because of some dinged up ideas is not going to happen, at least not for me. But at the same time It makes me sad that they just don't see their ideas aren't up to par with what has come before. I can see them confused and annoyed saying "what more d'ya want!?" everytime a ride gets an empty line.

At the same time I think redoing every ride that used to be so that its better than now is also a cop out. What good are the creatives behind the parks if they just reuse old ideas? A few remakes would be ok, but they have to go back to what disney's been doing before, coming up with something unlike anything the worlds ever seen and then outdoing it. When Walt and co planned Pirates of the caribbean, the concept of a boat dark ride was not a new thing. It had been done way back in the days of the Old Mill rides (with trolls and gnomes etc) at the birth of amusement parks. But he threw out everything people expected about those rides and started AS IF he was building the idea from the bottom up. Same with the haunted mansion, taking the house of horrors thing from a cheap ride that derives fear from loud noises in the dark to something that was both creepy and charming using very well placed tricks to remove you from the real world.

Even after he passed, Thunder Mountain was essentially this for Six Flags over Texas's Runaway Mine Train concept. Splash mountain was this to Log flumes (which I think also started in six flags parks but Im not sure), and Tower of terror was a totally immersive unbelievably detailed expirience derived from what is possibly the least themed least immersive thrill ride of all time, the drop tower/freefall. Beacuse of that these rides became the best in their class for many a rider. Take Thunder Mountain's mountain away and you just have a small rollercoaster that goes on too long. The Pirates of the caribbean becomes a lame 1 drop chute the chutes that doesnt even splash you, and the tower is any other freefall ride with an added overpowered engine.

Then we have things like Mission space. Not that its a terrible ride, but it really is Challenger Center, plus Starship 2000 gravatron. Before the update (dodges tomatoes) test track was a car ride through a warehouse with a couple of repetative machines running. And the idea was what? that they started using live test dummies?
But I actually Like Test track don't get me wrong.

What Irks me the most are rides like Primeval Whirl. ITs a spinning wild mouse. Nothing new at all is added to the table. It's not even the first spinning wild mouse. In fact I've actually seen better themed six flags rides. The Dinosaur ride, even with the darkness parts, is still in a different league than this thing, In fact its in a different universe. I can imagine what could have been done with it, A ride running through caves of prehistoric lava vents filled with raptors and pterodactyls the lower portion of which digs into a dino bone riddled dig sites uncovering a still thriving underground prehistoric world.

OMG I wrote an essay again Im sorry about that lol. The idea I'm trying to get is, there is good, there is bad, and Sometimes they hit a good mark, other times they ram through something and plop it down without thinking, which is something very un-disney, at least the disney I've come to know.

 

[englanddg]

(stepping AROUND the Rockem' Sockem' Robots in discussion)

Well,

I guess for me, I have a definite love for the place and for (most) everything Disney...

I guess what gets my goat and why I complain on occasion is that they (on occasion) don't live up to a certain standard that I feel (personally) that Walt set. I am often annoyed at how they let the dollar overtake quality. I DO understand that when it all comes down to it, it is a business. And as Milton Friedman once said "The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits..."

That's all good and well...and I suppose over the long term it does benefit the parks and then by extension me.

However, I look back on the past and into my vast collection of books, movies, magazines, and stories from the Disney park story and I see so much good that had been done and I see so much charm and trial and error. Now-a-days, that charm seems to be dwindling in favor of pushing the latest crap down our throats on occasion. The latest trend in Florida is totally based upon sales sales sales, and cheap cheap cheap on ride maintenance.

Walt often said that "QUALITY Would OUT" and he had a philosophy by which you did NOT shortchange the guests of anything in quality of the rides and shows. To Walt, everything you do in the theme parks, was no different than paying admission and going to see one of his movies. If you went to see one of his films, the whole darn thing was there. The whole reel. They didn't cut this out, or remove this scene, or alter this scene to crappier dialogue, if the projector burnt through the film...new film was ready to go to replace it and the whole idea was that you got what you paid for and that you left both happy and filled with good experience memories. The Disney mark means a type of quaulity and assurance that you cannot find anywhere else. It is surely more than just Mickey Mouse. It is something that comes laden with heavy expectation...

Now, suppose we had never known any different? Suppose Walt was a tight-wad and the rides always sucked and every thing was done half-wazooed...would the parks still be there today? Would we spend crazy amounts of money and tolerate international tour groups cutting in line in front of us when it's 98 degrees out with 80% humidity? Heck no. You go because there is something there you're looking for. You and I and everyone else find something there that we cannot find anywhere else on this planet or anywhere else in this country (save DL) and it is our secret place, it's our holy shrine, our "Laughing Place" as I've often alluded to.

So, when they "SUCK at taking care of the place, or they don't hold up to that standard, I, like so many others on here...get my feathers ruffled. My inner Donald Duck grabs the keyboard and goes nuts. It's not to simply be a grump, a troll, or to just female dog about something...it's about protecting something that means so much to us.

I feel like, if I didn't stop once in a while and say "Hey! That ain't right!" that I'd be letting the place down and maybe by extension letting Walt down. The place is a business...that's true...but it's also a gift that has transcended time and many changes and is a part of us...we gotta protect it...we gotta keep it special for ourselves and our kids...that part is essential.

Walt once said "Disneyland is your land..." that's the first stanza of his dedication speech...I seriously doubt he would have made any change to that statement for WDW or more specifically Magic Kingdom. So, I guess I feel obligated to take care of it!

There's also the fact that the people that gripe know a LOT about the place...they're super uber cool folks to talk to and hang out with...I enjoy the conversation very much!

So yeah...just my two cents...or from the length of this...buck fifty... take or leave!

Now I want to ride a hydrolator.

 

[englanddg]

That is very very well put! and pretty much exactly what I've been trying to say but then I get all gobble-gooed.

I gotta add however
I do often need to take a step back and wonder why they make certain decisions, and when I find I cannot justify one in any way I must point it out. Ok If say Immagination (my fav talking point lol of course) is replaced with Phinneas and Ferb stuff, I may hate the decision myself, and I may say so here but at least I can understand it. I also have a strange mental tick about this site that someone in disney who matters may read my posts and say "hey she's right!" or "wow so they wont like that?" I know its laughable but tell my brain that.
So when I go on a rant its more out of love than hate.

Lets put it a different way. Not everyone will get this reference but I'll try, and you can skip this paragraph if it gets too confusing lol. If anyone has ever played Rollercoaster tycoon, and shared/downloaded other people's saved games of custom made parks, you'll realize some people put a lot of detail into their parks making it unbelievably realistic. Others will put less, some will put just buildings but not much deco etc. And some will not be very good at any of that so they'll just put 20 rollercoasters over twisty paths without theming and maybe slight references like naming a ride "Sonic the hedgehog's spin" and painting it blue. If you see disney as that top ultra detailed park, thats downloaded by the guy who makes the 20 rollercoasters park, and he tries to make an alteration, it will come out looking like a terribly messed up masterpiece, yet wont deminish the parts left over by the details guy. But if downloaded by a guy who puts as much detail in it but differently, and he edits it, it will bring something new to the table, fresh, without making something thats essentially a waste of space where it used to look nice.

So now that I've confused everyone, lol, what I'm getting at is when someone takes a really well detailed, well imagineered ride/show/attraction, and replace it with something like seas with nemo, journey into YOUR imagination, or under new management, it gives you this stew of good ideas from the past mixed with bad ideas of the now. But unlike the RCT game, Management is always changing, and what may be lacking today might be very well improved in the future. So throwing out the entire park because of some dinged up ideas is not going to happen, at least not for me. But at the same time It makes me sad that they just don't see their ideas aren't up to par with what has come before. I can see them confused and annoyed saying "what more d'ya want!?" everytime a ride gets an empty line.

At the same time I think redoing every ride that used to be so that its better than now is also a cop out. What good are the creatives behind the parks if they just reuse old ideas? A few remakes would be ok, but they have to go back to what disney's been doing before, coming up with something unlike anything the worlds ever seen and then outdoing it. When Walt and co planned Pirates of the caribbean, the concept of a boat dark ride was not a new thing. It had been done way back in the days of the Old Mill rides (with trolls and gnomes etc) at the birth of amusement parks. But he threw out everything people expected about those rides and started AS IF he was building the idea from the bottom up. Same with the haunted mansion, taking the house of horrors thing from a cheap ride that derives fear from loud noises in the dark to something that was both creepy and charming using very well placed tricks to remove you from the real world.

Even after he passed, Thunder Mountain was essentially this for Six Flags over Texas's Runaway Mine Train concept. Splash mountain was this to Log flumes (which I think also started in six flags parks but Im not sure), and Tower of terror was a totally immersive unbelievably detailed expirience derived from what is possibly the least themed least immersive thrill ride of all time, the drop tower/freefall. Beacuse of that these rides became the best in their class for many a rider. Take Thunder Mountain's mountain away and you just have a small rollercoaster that goes on too long. The Pirates of the caribbean becomes a lame 1 drop chute the chutes that doesnt even splash you, and the tower is any other freefall ride with an added overpowered engine.

Then we have things like Mission space. Not that its a terrible ride, but it really is Challenger Center, plus Starship 2000 gravatron. Before the update (dodges tomatoes) test track was a car ride through a warehouse with a couple of repetative machines running. And the idea was what? that they started using live test dummies?
But I actually Like Test track don't get me wrong.

What Irks me the most are rides like Primeval Whirl. ITs a spinning wild mouse. Nothing new at all is added to the table. It's not even the first spinning wild mouse. In fact I've actually seen better themed six flags rides. The Dinosaur ride, even with the darkness parts, is still in a different league than this thing, In fact its in a different universe. I can imagine what could have been done with it, A ride running through caves of prehistoric lava vents filled with raptors and pterodactyls the lower portion of which digs into a dino bone riddled dig sites uncovering a still thriving underground prehistoric world.

OMG I wrote an essay again Im sorry about that lol. The idea I'm trying to get is, there is good, there is bad, and Sometimes they hit a good mark, other times they ram through something and plop it down without thinking, which is something very un-disney, at least the disney I've come to know.

Oh no, with respect to Animal Kingdom. I think Disney was doing a lot of thinking...about the bottom line.

Primeval Whirl (and that whole section of the park) is indicitive of a larger issue that WDI has. Walt always had Roy, ever since he recovered from TB. Walt led the dreamers, Roy led the financiers to be behind them who would, even if they didn't agree wholeheartedly, keep the dreams in check and realistic financially and operationally. With AK, they whipped out a massive checkbook, tasked WDI to go nuts on it, loved all the ideas and concept art...until they realized how BIG the final check was going to need to be.

Then, Imagineering decisions started to be made by accountants, with WDI scrambling to figure out some convoluted back story to make it all "fit".

It's sad to see what that park turned out to be, vs what it could have been. And, I blame WDI for a lot of that, for dreaming TOO big, and not having an up front finance / operations person saying "that's a GREAT idea, but really, it's not workable.

"If you can dream it, you can do it"...that's a famous quote. But, it's merely fancy when viewed so simplistically. A better version is "If you can dream it, you find a way to do make it work, and THEN you do it".

 

[jensenrick]

First, I want to say that Mom and I went to MNSSHP and F&WF this weekend and had a lovely time, due in no small part because we stayed at Bonnet Creek Hilton, where we had excellent service and a better time than we've had at any on property hotel in many, many years. Mom suggested repeatedly that she'd like to go to BCH for the weekend and not even go to the parks.

I have to respectfully disagree with the idea that the best way to get a message to Disney is to stop going. Disney doesn't care about people who don't go, they only care about getting more money from those who do go.

Let me make the analogy of going to your fave restaurant, and ordering a medium rare steak, and it shows up burnt to a crisp. Some would say, "Oh, I'll just eat this shoe leather, because I'm at Disney, and I should just relaaaax and enjoy myself," but i can't enjoy eating shoe leather. I send the steak back to the kitchen, because at these price, I should get what I paid for, which includes getting it the way I want it.

 

[Jimmy Thick]

I have to respectfully disagree with the idea that the best way to get a message to Disney is to stop going. Disney doesn't care about people who don't go, they only care about getting more money from those who do go.

If enough people, and lets face it, it would has to be substantial amount, feel the parks are not worth the price to go Disney will take notice and make drastic changes to WDW. You could bet on it. The problem is, the only people who feel the parks are not up to par is a small insignificant percentage. Its not even noticeable from Disney's perspective, the parks are full. If those people took their vacation dollars elsewhere people will get the changes they want.

Here is an analogy with fact behind it.

Blizzard makes the game World of Warcraft. At one time, it had 12 million playing each month. Due to the games bloat and lackluster design, the game currently has 7 million playing each month. Blizzard noticed this and halted development on the World of Warcraft successor and moved a great many of those people back to development of World of Warcraft to bring those people back with a better game. Don't think for one second your dollar or lack there of don't make a difference.

Jimmy Thick- The Dark Below!!!

 

[Goofyernmost]

Now I want to ride a hydrolator.

You didn't exactly ride a hydrolater. You kinda stood in it. The effects did make it seem fairly real however, and was a nice touch.

 

[jensenrick]

Gee, Jimmy, why don't I believe you?

"Don't like it, don't go, leave the parks to those who want to enjoy them."

Oh, now I remember.

 

[wdisney9000]

These guys that currently run those companies started and nourished by specific individuals like Walt Disney and Steve Jobs are not going to think, at least not forever, that Walt or Steve was any smarter then they are.

Excellent point. They think they ARE just as smart/innovative as Walt or Steve but they they wont take the 2 seconds to realize that if they (new management) were as smart as Walt or Steve that they would most likely be running their own ground breaking, mind blowing company. It reminds me of an Albert Einstein quote. " More the knowledge, lesser the ego. Lesser the knowledge, more the ego"

 

[Jimmy Thick]

Gee, Jimmy, why don't I believe you?

"Don't like it, don't go, leave the parks to those who want to enjoy them."

Oh, now I remember.

If you don't like the parks, or think they are below some mythical standard, why are you going and spending thousands of dollars? You should not go, seriously, you should make a point and take your vacation dollar elsewhere, sadly though, you're the minority when it comes to feeling this way, that's simple fact.

I know of no one outside these forums who thinks Disney World is below standard in anything, simply because its just not that important. If you took all the people posting on any Disney forum complaining about the "state of the parks", you have a microscopic thimbleful of dollars Disney will not miss, if they did or thought they would miss that source of revenue, they would have listened to them by now.

They haven't, they never will unless the group of unsatisfied becomes large enough to take notice, and Disney will only notice when those dollars become substantial. Its a sinking ship because people like myself and 99.99999% of the general public will go and enjoy the parks because its what we do, its a vacation I and other choose to take and spend money on. If you are unhappy with the parks and continue to spend money going there, you're part of the problem, you may as well stay the course and enjoy yourself.

Jimmy Thick- Welcome aboard!!!

 

[gwhb75]

And how long do you think it will be until the TDO starts to reap those benefits... and sees the ROI ?

That is tough to say. Some will say never, and view the whole thing as a huge disaster. I have a feeling within a few years they'll at least break even. It really depends on how well everything works after the rollout is complete and they work out the remaining bugs over the next several months after that. I'm interested in what else they will do with next gen and all the data mining they'll do with the information. Should be interesting. The tough thing is that there doesn't seem to be a solid # out there of how much they've spent on the whole program (which would include, I assume, the My Disney Experience App, Website redesign, infrastructure (servers, Wi-Fi hotspots), software development etc).

 

[jensenrick]

You see @Goofyernmost ? This is what I was talking about. I make a post, mentioning first off what a lovely time Mom and I had this past weekend at WDW, but still saying that letting WDW know when they need to improve is the correct course, and I am repeatedly told by a certain individual that I should STOP going to WDW.
Because, I guess, only people who think it's perfect should be allowed in (or allowed to talk about it online) WTH?

 

[jlsHouston]

That is tough to say. Some will say never, and view the whole thing as a huge disaster. I have a feeling within a few years they'll at least break even. It really depends on how well everything works after the rollout is complete and they work out the remaining bugs over the next several months after that. I'm interested in what else they will do with next gen and all the data mining they'll do with the information. Should be interesting. The tough thing is that there doesn't seem to be a solid # out there of how much they've spent on the whole program (which would include, I assume, the My Disney Experience App, Website redesign, infrastructure (servers, Wi-Fi hotspots), software development etc).

I think I have seen some posters on this board have thrown the 1 billion figure out there is what TDO has invested...my mind just can't make the leap required to grasp the profits TDO has decided this technology is going to supposedly return.

 

[Goofyernmost]

I think I have seen some posters on this board have thrown the 1 billion figure out there is what TDO has invested...my mind just can't make the leap required to grasp the profits TDO has decided this technology is going to supposedly return.

They can't! There is more to it then that, I'm sure of it. We, however, will never know.

 

[Goofyernmost]

You see @Goofyernmost ? This is what I was talking about. I make a post, mentioning first off what a lovely time Mom and I had this past weekend at WDW, but still saying that letting WDW know when they need to improve is the correct course, and I am repeatedly told by a certain individual that I should STOP going to WDW.
Because, I guess, only people who think it's perfect should be allowed in (or allowed to talk about it online) WTH?

Do you believe in yourself? If you do...what possible difference does it make what some faceless, nameless poster on a Disney board states. None, I think. You can ignore what's being said of a personal nature. It means nothing.