World Showcase Culture

[clsteve]

I agree that they should be mad. The Rio Del Tiempo overlay was a DOWNGRADE because it incorporated TV screens into the ride. Who needs to go to WDW to watch a flat screen video of the 3 caballeros? And people diving off the cliffs at Acapulco? And I believe it was said that the Frozen overlay on Norway's boat ride will also "incorporate film footage".

Disney is waayyyyy mistaken if they think that people are going to save money for 1, 2 or 3 years, come to Florida and go home feeling impressed that they watched the same video footage that they've watched with their kids 100 times at home on their blu-ray flat screen, EVEN IF (or especially if) they're watching the video from the exact, same, klunky boats that they rode as children 25 years ago when the ride was called "Maelstrom".

If you take a blockbuster, stunning ride like the Harry Potter Forbidden Journey, it has video screens, but the video is wrapped inside an amazing and completely original ride system, which you experience only after entering the building through a huge, specially designed and absolutely, completely and elaborately themed village and castle.

Maybe Frozen wasn't as big a hit as the combined Harry Potter books and films, but Disney should at least be making a proportionate investment based on current and projected receipts from theaters, videos and merchandise - and I get the feeling they're falling somewhere well below that level.

"Incorporate film footage..." is quite the strategic plan, isn't it?

But when you've been in Farmer mode for so long, there are no detailed strategic plans for the lines of business/Parks that you've been harvesting from.

And that's not even getting into the brain drain - to the point that you only have bandwidth left to put your remaining superstars on the handful of "high profile" projects......

 

[lockedoutlogic]

You forgot Flamingo Crossing.

Intentionally

 

[lockedoutlogic]

"Incorporate film footage..." is quite the strategic plan, isn't it?

But when you've been in Farmer mode for so long, there are no detailed strategic plans for the lines of business/Parks that you've been harvesting from.

And that's not even getting into the brain drain - to the point that you only have bandwidth left to put your remaining superstars on the handful of "high profile" projects......

Are you suggesting that they've brought down the "blue sky"?

I hadn't thought of that...but it's an interesting premise.

I'm very disappointed in John Lassiter... Who was supposed to be an advocate for all sectors and "bring balance to the force"

What's he been doing? One ride in Anaheim and Planes?

It's just a sad picture... Damage control in Anaheim and Paris and the rest of the resources going for fifteen years now to china.

I take it a little personal, I admit...
"You guys have a bunch of stuff and we make a fortune off you... You're good"

And yet... The Japanese keep finding the time, will, and imagineers to build fantastic
Stuff. Because they put their money where their IP is. As if there's just no cash laying around for the poor old "backbone of the US and the modern world". (Due respect to the left coast and the rust belt)

Just sad.

 

[clsteve]

Are you suggesting that they've brought down the "blue sky"?

I hadn't thought of that...but it's an interesting premise.

I'm very disappointed in John Lassiter... Who was supposed to be an advocate for all sectors and "bring balance to the force"

What's he been doing? One ride in Anaheim and Planes?

It's just a sad picture... Damage control in Anaheim and Paris and the rest of the resources going for fifteen years now to china.

I take it a little personal, I admit...
"You guys have a bunch of stuff and we make a fortune off you... You're good"

And yet... The Japanese keep finding the time, will, and imagineers to build fantastic
Stuff. Because they put their money where their IP is. As if there's just no cash laying around for the poor old "backbone of the US and the modern world". (Due respect to the left coast and the rust belt)

Just sad.

Sad indeed.

But, is it just me or is something starting to feel different - just in the past 6-8 weeks, or so? Like there have been a few fires lit under some posteriors - fires they weren't prepared for

Lot's of disjointed, poorly managed announcements and messages in quick succession

- Maelstrom with just 4 weeks lead time before the closure and no real detail at all about it or what the Pavilion will be

- The DHS closures just "appearing" and things just dropping off the schedule after the start of October without much in managed rumors

- Pixar rumors reappearing

- without any nicely painted pictures or built-to-scale models anywhere

They usually have better control. Usually the "Five Year Plan" project like Avatar and the hint of the next one is enough to keep things chugging along

You would know a lot better than I, having been there.

But it just has that rushed "just do it!" feel that I've experienced before..... especially right at the end of a fiscal year when either your numbers aren't where you expected them, or a competitor has caught you off guard, and you need something flashy to show or announce. When all of a sudden you need to show some progress or quickly need to show a plan. Or when the big dog analysts are starting to beat you up a bit in those closed door meetings.

And they could well be numbers we don't have visibility into or would even show up in this year's closure - whether that's ROI on NextGen, Length of Stay, advanced bookings from overseas TA's, etc...

Nothing at all to back that up and probably shouldn't have even brought it up. Just a feeling like there's a now a stick in the anthill that hasn't seen one in awhile.

Maybe it's the complete lack of any polished/orchestrated dog and pony shows for any of this that got me feeling that way - and how close we are to the end of the fiscal year......

 

[lockedoutlogic]

I agree that the "well planned" machine seems to be low on lubricant as of late...

Don't know what to make of that though...
Other than just bad management and wdw still being no more that a couple billion dollar a year generating second thought

 

[Donald Duck888]

My thought was that with all the empty spaces in EPCOT why not use one of those? Just off the top of my head the old wonders of life pavilion would make a great "frozen land"

 

[lockedoutlogic]

My thought was that with all the empty spaces in EPCOT why not use one of those? Just off the top of my head the old wonders of life pavilion would make a great "frozen land"

The "story" that was floated awhile ago is that wonders of life had "major structural issues" (or something like that)... "Forcing" it's closure.

I guess everytime they have a corporate function or a giftshop for a festival though... It's ok.

The closure of wonders of life was pure cheapskatosity - my opinion. Body Wars was a troubled ride due to bad technology from the start...granted. But it sure seemed like they just let the sponsorship deals run their course, and then shut the door unceremoniously.

In today's age of ridiculous-record profits for health care insurance companies - in particular - you would think that is one place that could draw a new sponsor.
But that would require old style 1980s commitment by the management to redo and maintain. Deal breaker.

Of course, frozen doesn't fit the ideals of future world.
Nor does it fit world showcase either... But who's counting.

 

[OnSpaceshipEarth]

Body Wars was a troubled ride due to bad technology from the start...granted.

Lockedoutlogic...could you elaborate a little further about this please?

 

[lockedoutlogic]

Lockedoutlogic...could you elaborate a little further about this please?

I was quoting mostly "theme park design: behind the scenes with an engineer",.. Which i recently read.

It wasnt so much a bad medical history like mission space... Or a bad maintenance history like test track...

It was that body wars was a bad " herky jerky" motion simulator that had tons of "dizzy/whiplash" complaints because it was a bad early simulator ride. Early simulators suffered from the film putting the visual point of reference in a spot that caused the body to expect movement in one direction... And then being taken by surprise by whips in a different direction. That was body wars...especially the "blood stream" sequences that tried to simulate a chaotic, swirling scenario.

I do remember liking the ride...but it would have had to have been replaced or redone in short order.

It was very much the "mall simulator" ride that star tours never was...
And star tours ain't great.

 

[Merida DunBroch]

Said it before, I'll say it again...Norway's pavilion isn't even true to the culture. Heck, Arendelle isn't true to Norwegian culture. I'm video chatting with my girlfriend right now (who lives fifteen or twenty minutes from Arendal, the town Arendelle is 'inspired' by) about how inaccurate it is - both the pavilion and Arendelle. I get it, Frozen is a very, very loose representation of Norway, but it still can cause offense.

I say, find a way to make the pavilion more adhering to the actual modern-day culture of Norway, and only have loose Frozen ties in merchandising (if at all!). But, Disney will always go the commercial way rather than true to form - if Frozen makes more money than Norway itself, they'll do Frozen.

 

[GrimGhost]

Said it before, I'll say it again...Norway's pavilion isn't even true to the culture. Heck, Arendelle isn't true to Norwegian culture. I'm video chatting with my girlfriend right now (who lives fifteen or twenty minutes from Arendal, the town Arendelle is 'inspired' by) about how inaccurate it is - both the pavilion and Arendelle. I get it, Frozen is a very, very loose representation of Norway, but it still can cause offense. I say, find a way to make the pavilion more adhering to the actual modern-day culture of Norway, and only have loose Frozen ties in merchandising (if at all!). But, Disney will always go the commercial way rather than true to form - if Frozen makes more money than Norway itself, they'll do Frozen.

Is "modern-day culture" what guests come to see? Offense how?