Originally Posted By CuriousConstance Let's just say my inside voice is best left inside for the good and safety of us all. Also, Iger rhymes with tiger.
Originally Posted By monorailblue Well, we'll know about the Hatbox Ghost (or not) soon enough: <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2015/01/chilling-challenge-whats-hiding-inside-the-haunted-mansion-at-disneyland-park/">http://disneyparks.disney.go.c...nd-park/</a>
Originally Posted By leemac <<Probably because MiceAge claims that they have connections with Imagineering, who are the ones creating these plans. They also claim that Iger has been in the parks very little.>> And therein lies the problem with people asserting rumors as fact. I don't give two craps how much time any of our management team spend inside the parks. Operators should unquestionably be inside their parks on a regular basis. All other management have little need to be inside the parks. Nothing is approved without Iger's say. We have charettes on a regular basis to pitch projects. This is no different to the MDE era. Tom Staggs is regularly at WDI to review plans. There is no rhyme or reason to how the creative development processes works. You can have a project has barely changes from blue sky to execution (Midway Mania is one example) or you can make wholesale changes along the way (like CarsLand that ditched the Route 66 feel along the way). I honestly thought that Rasulo would approve the Shangri-la niche theme park project that Joe Rohde sweated bullets over but ultimately it was shelved. Then there has been other stuff like Luigi's that I thought would never make it into a park due to all the hassles during testing and it turns up in the CarsLand menu planning.
Originally Posted By leemac <<Al's columns frequently reflected his personal vendetta against Disney's operations rather than being a source for legitimate information, but to his credit his predictions were sometimes very accurate.>> Al was fed material to fuel Tony Baxter's agenda against the cliques inside WDI. He must have realised it but rode the coattails of the clickthrus to his columns. Tony was marginalised just as WDI was entering the handover from Sklar to his protege Tom Fitzgerald. Tony was smart enough to know that his own personal PR needed positive spin after TL '98. Al happily swallowed it all up. Miceage have always had contacts within TDA Ops that feed them the guest count reports (that info isn't jealously guarded so it could be anyone). It always reminds me of that Marcie character that was also an internet personality on a site that I forget now. Everyone knew Marcie was a junior manager in ops called TC but no-one seemed to care which always surprised me.
Originally Posted By leemac <<I give leemac a lot of credibility, but be aware: if we're talking about Star Wars going into Toontown (and adjacent areas), he has NOT said it's a done deal. Only that's it has been discussed as a possible place to put it.>> Let me be very explicit about this. Iger has specifically said that nothing is off the table when it comes to Star Wars. Therefore the SW Studio has been working on a host of blue sky ideas that could involve mass structural changes to DLR. Those plans have now been distilled down into a couple of options. I've a vague idea of what will be the preferred option but as I indicated above I've been wrong before. Personally I think WDP&R needs to evaluate the 60th before making any decision. If the park is woefully undercapacity during the summer then I think that will force a serious rethink of DL's masterplan. We've been down this road a lot. We've had a lot of really good ideas for the Ranch area and nothing has come to fruition.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros >>I honestly thought that Rasulo would approve the Shangri-la niche theme park project that Joe Rohde sweated bullets over but ultimately it was shelved.<< Yah, that sounded like it was a sure deal for a while, and several different iterations of it were described online. But as with anything, it's all subject to change at a moment's notice until it's actually built (I'm still waiting for David Copperfield's Magic Underground...). Would it have been a distinct park of its own, or some sort of DAK-offshoot? >>If the park is woefully undercapacity during the summer then I think that will force a serious rethink of DL's masterplan.<< If that's the case, I would be interested to see how they go about remedying it. Obviously DLR is busier than its ever been, but the use patterns are so screwey because of the hug AP base. I would think that an easier way to boost the crowds during summer (when they run all the entertainment and have longer hours, which surely raises operating costs) would be to play with the ticketing schemes and pricing. Of course, I'd love to see them take it as an indicator that physical changes within the park are needed (and not the MM+ kind, though it's coming), but it seems like they have an easier solution on their hands. If they reduced the number of APs, the total number of turnstile clicks might drop, but I'm sure the revenue per guest would go way up, and the resort's infrastructure wouldn't be as stressed
Originally Posted By Disneylandfan85 >>Let me be very explicit about this. Iger has specifically said that nothing is off the table when it comes to Star Wars. Therefore the SW Studio has been working on a host of blue sky ideas that could involve mass structural changes to DLR. Those plans have now been distilled down into a couple of options. I've a vague idea of what will be the preferred option but as I indicated above I've been wrong before.<< Well, you yourself stated once that TDA is no fan of Toontown. I have no idea if that means that such plans to remove Toontown for Star Wars will indeed go through (indeed, few people actually do have that idea), but I take that as a sign that they seem determined to remove it at all costs. I'm guessing that's the preferred option. I also have a feeling that the park will not be undercapacity. On the contrary, it will probably be so packed that they will probably have to close down the park when it reaches capacity.
Originally Posted By Ursula Who cares?!?!?! Is there or is there NOT going to be a Disney Dooney for the 60th, and if so, is it going to be totally awesome? This is what matters.
Originally Posted By CuriousConstance " If the park is woefully undercapacity during the summer then I think that will force a serious rethink of DL's masterplan." Are you thinking if it's not crazy busy this summer, then this might cause them to NOT want to do anything major to the park? "DL's masterplan" I need a job where I'm privy to this information. "Nothing is approved without Iger's say. We have charettes on a regular basis to pitch projects." So leemac, then you've met Bob Iger???
Originally Posted By Disneylandfan85 >>Are you thinking if it's not crazy busy this summer, then this might cause them to NOT want to do anything major to the park?<< Like I said, I seriously doubt that the park will not be uber-crowded this summer.
Originally Posted By leemac <<I also have a feeling that the park will not be undercapacity. On the contrary, it will probably be so packed that they will probably have to close down the park when it reaches capacity.>> Sorry - I don't think you've understood the lingo. If Disneyland is undercapacity then it doesn't have sufficient capacity to meet peak demand.
Originally Posted By Disneylandfan85 >>Sorry - I don't think you've understood the lingo. If Disneyland is undercapacity then it doesn't have sufficient capacity to meet peak demand.<< You're right, I didn't. I thought it meant not crowded.
Originally Posted By CuriousConstance <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://micechat.com/96050-sleeping-beauty-castle-disneyland/">http://micechat.com/96050-slee...neyland/</a> Castle pics about a third down this update. Doesn't look much different to me.
Originally Posted By monorailblue The colors look lightened to me and the ugly 50th railing is gone. I assume lighter, plainer colors work better for projections. And it won't be long until the gussying up begins.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros I agree that the pink is paler and a step in the right direction, but it's still too pink for me. I'm also not a huge fan of how dark the tan is (relative to the pink) on the accent/trim areas, but it's also an improvement from the gold-ish color that was there before I'm also disappointed that the gold doo-dads on the mini-turrets on either side of the main section have returned. They disappeared a few days before the refurbishment began and that really helped with the forced perspective of the building. I'm hopeful that they're just temporary. It will be interesting to see how everything looks once all the diamond bling is added
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt So basically they repainted it to roughly the same muted tones that it was before the 50th. It looks fine to me.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt Boy does Snow White's Grotto look old and rundown! They need to find the Matterhorn painters and send them over there post haste!
