Originally Posted By AutoPost This topic is for Discussion of: <a href="http://www.LaughingPlace.com/News-ID512110.asp" target="_blank"><b>LP Column: 5/5/08 Greg Maletic: Disney's Biggest Theme Park Mistakes</b></a> From Disney Vacation Club to Same Pricing for All Parks to Epcot itself, Greg Maletic gives his list of Disney's Biggest Theme Park Mistakes.
Originally Posted By Doobie Just wanted to be the first to post... I think your first point about Pirates and Mansion is a good one. Epcot's early attractions are similar but didn't really hit the mark in the same way. The one I most disagree with is Same Price for all Parks. I think all parks give a full-day's entertainment and therefore should be the same price. All So Cal parks are pretty much the same pric and to have priced DCA much lower than Knott's and Universal would have been silly, IMHO. But that was debated like crazy way back in 2001. Doobie.
Originally Posted By kermit Statler: I know what I consider to be the biggest mistake. Waldorf: What's that? Statler: Reading this article! Both: Doh ho ho ho ho! For once, I could agree with those two. Seriously what you said about EPCOT was worse than having the wand on Spaceship Earth stay after the Millenium year! Sure, it not really Walt's vision, but it was/is pretty good for it was/is. Brother...
Originally Posted By mawnck Interesting article, but ... >>I mean, long, meandering, atmospheric rides.<< Splash Mountain?
Originally Posted By The Goddess Mara The cost of building and maintaining a new attraction like Pirates of the Caribbean or Haunted Mansion is why Disney hasn't built any of these recently, and why two of the attractions that fall into this category (Horizons and World of Motion at Epcot) have been torn down. The only place you'll see new attractions like this, right now, are in Tokyo Disneyland, where Pooh's Hunny Hunt and the 2009-opening Monster's Inc. ride are.\ The Oriental Land Company will spend the money, but the Walt Disney Company won't Pretty damn sad!
Originally Posted By ToonKirby >Hyper-Marketing, Part 2: Disney's Name on Absolutely Everything< Probably THE most inane example of this was "Disney's Handwich", which was (and maybe still is) offered at the Sunshine Food Fair at the Land in Epcot. What made it so unique? It was sandWICH you could hold in your HAND ... - kch
Originally Posted By mawnck >>What made it so unique? It was sandWICH you could hold in your HAND ... << Don't dis the Handwich, man. The Imagineers spent $9 million developing the bread for that thing.
Originally Posted By leobloom I agreed with everything you said, but especially enjoyed the bit about the Tree of Life. Unlike you, I actually think the Tree is pretty unimpressive. There's just something off with a structure built to replicate a living thing. SSE is impressive because is stands apart from its surroundings. The same goes for the other icons. Tree of Life just blends...except for the green of the fake leaves letting you know that you're looking at an artificial tree.
Originally Posted By ryanbalas Great article Greg. A couple notes. On the naming thingy - branding is soooo important today - if you repeat that brand over and over and over - it actually adds value to the product. Perceived value. You have no idea what that means to the bottom line. The Disney name - that automatic attachment immediately adds value - even to a crappy product. Look at the stuff that shows up at the discount Disney warehouse stores (that is just the leftovers). You saw how it didn't work when Disney sold their name to everything from breakfast cereals to 10% juice products and paper towels. They realized they diluted the product and pulled back. And, you see how it works on so many other levels. I gladly paid $110.00 dollars for a Swiss Army Mickey Mouse watch. Two excellent brands brought together. On the naming thing too. Take Pizza Port. There was already a Pizza Port in Solana Beach, CA. Been around for years. Instead of paying them for the name or choosing one of their own. They attached Redd Rockett's (in tiny letters) to the Pizza Port name and successfully and legally stole it. I believe the original intention of EPCOT (the acronym for Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow) was to cash in and help people experience what it is like to visit a World's Fair. I even remember the references and articles. I was fortunate enough to visit the World's Fair in Knoxville. It was amazing to see each country find a way to display a visual representation of themselves. I still remember the huge Rubix Cube rotating outside one of the buildings. The Vancouver and Japan's World's Fair got world wide attention. What Disney should do, is let each country represented, showcase their culture and country - World's Fair Style -365 24/7 at EPCOT. Imagine what the shows, displays and halls would look like. Bring in actual performers and such. I have never even considered a visit to EPCOT. I would rather spend the airfare, hotel and visit at a real World's Fair somewhere on this planet instead of a fake one with Disney themed merchandise. Don't mind the Disney Vacation Club. They are marketing to the people who didn't know about it or are on one and are having the time of their life. People are being overwhelmed by TMI. If they can package everything together for one price - why not. Lastly, never minded DCA. I have always found a way to package it with the better half. It was corporate greed that created the problems. DCA and Paris (built with American ego) and Hong Kong will eventually balance out as long as they learn from their mistakes. DCA, Downtown Disney and resort improvements cost them 1.4 Billion at the time. DCA will come around - it has to - it could never become the 16,200 parking spaces it was.
Originally Posted By leobloom >>I have never even considered a visit to EPCOT. I would rather spend the airfare, hotel and visit at a real World's Fair somewhere on this planet instead of a fake one with Disney themed merchandise.>> And here I thought you were going to say you'd rather spend the money to go to the actual countries! haha fooled me.
Originally Posted By SFH Wow... that could possibly be the Best... Column... Title... EVER!!! Why didn't I think of that?!? Oh yeah... probably because I don't want to live with a bounty on my head. (Insert something about Han Solo here.) Anyway, I think the solution to the "all parks the same price" thing is to offer a pay-per-play system as an alternative, one that harkens back to the A-E coupons. I've already written about that here a couple of times a few years ago. If someone really is reluctant to buy a day at DCA or Animal Kingdom based on paying the same price as Disneyland Park or the Magic Kingdom, they could have the option of paying for just the attractions they want to experience and their plastic pass would only be good for a certain number of hours or rides.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo Oh my. So much a I agree with, so much I disagree with. And not enough time right now to comment. what I will say however, is I like the disney fake - edutainment and postcard creations of reality are why I fell in love with Disney (certainly wasn't the toons).
Originally Posted By Mr X ***The one I most disagree with is Same Price for all Parks.*** It's an interesting exercise to wonder about what would have happened if they'd kept the coupon books (though it's nice to just pay and go). Sure people flock to whatever is new and fast and exciting these days, but I wonder how much "longer" was considered as well when it came to coughing up an E-coupon. It would be rather discouraging if every E-coupon you ripped off gave you an entire 2-3 minute thrill (and with fastpass, you could certainly get those done post haste as well)...and that makes me wonder if people would just buy more tickets, OR if they would just get disgusted by how short all the rides are these days. Back in the day, an E-ticket was a lengthy "experience" that you could enjoy for quite some time. Spreading out the E-coupons was quite a bit easier.
Originally Posted By leemac Barry Braverman pushed VERY hard for DCA to be a cheaper entrance fee to Disneyland based on the budget he was given. He had seen similar discussions around Disney-MGM Studios back in the late '80s fail miserably but he felt that being a second gate would be a harder act to follow than being a third. Ultimately TDA said that they could not afford to market DCA "at a discount" which is how they felt the public would perceive it. Value for money was not high on their agenda. WDI went through a series of gyrations to try to persuade TDA to adopt a new ticketing structure for DCA but they refused to budge. One very prominent imagineer on the project continued to work up ideas that were all shot down in flames. One that was very intriguing was the notion that purchasing a meal in the park from Puck, Mondavi or Soap Opera Bistro in advance would secure an evening pass to the park. This would have kept the restaurateurs happy and operating plus the bonus of keeping the park open later than 5pm. The key to your operating margin at a theme park is whether you have the metrics to keep it open during dinner hours - Epcot is immensely successful as a dining location first and foremost. DCA could have tweak its model but the inertia left the resort saddled with a park that they couldn't justify full admission for. Flexibility is the name of the game when you aren't meeting targets - just ask DLRP and HKDL. DLRP offered WDSP day ticket holders the opportunity to park-hop to DLP for the night when it had early close. HKDL has a complex ticketing hierarchy now to attract guests during the off-season.
Originally Posted By Mr X I'm sure I'll realize what this is the instant I hit "post", but what is TDA? All I can come up with is "the disney attractions"?
Originally Posted By tomahalk Hi, I agree with many of your comments. But I wanted to point out that Disney launched the sign guidelines in order to make Anahiem a nicer place to visit, as they wanted guests to stay longer to visit both parks. T
Originally Posted By Tiggirl Nice article, Greg. Like Dave, I too found a lot I agree with and some I didn't. I'm SO tired of seeing signs plastered ALL over the place for "Disney's Best Kept Secret". How about keeping it a little more secret. LOL I have to disagree with a lot of your criticism about Epcot. I love the place. And while I see your point about having a bit of a confused identity, its my favorite park and we always spend the most time there. I love the fact that there are things to learn, places to visit that I may never have a chance to actually go to, people from those places to talk to and a vision of a utopian sort of future. Not to say that there aren't some problems but I feel like Epcot still embodies Walt's vision for a family park better than any other Disney Park I've visited. ~Beth
