Originally Posted By NikkiLOVESMickey danyoung and vbdad, thanks for the love and for understanding "hearing what I'm screaming" . Now excuse me while I do the good luck dance for the Saints in hopes that they'll win. Drew Brees and Co. can hear you when you scream at the TV. Also, if you squeeze your eyes closed and cross your fingers, the Touchdown Fairy will bless your team with seven touchdowns. Of course, all of this occurs in my fantasyland.
Originally Posted By hopemax So you're the reason the ball got away from the Seahawks punter and into the endzone for a Saints touchdown! Did you make Skycam come crashing down too? <-- Currently unhappy Seattle Seahawks fan
Originally Posted By NikkiLOVESMickey ^^^^^HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA! (that's an evil laugh, by the way). See, jonvn, don't tell me there isn't such a thing as Fantasyland! I've been living in it all my life - I'm a Saints fan, after all!
Originally Posted By Shooba >>And if you don't feel it's good value, you don't patronize further. Really, that's all there is to it. It's not something that needs to be over complicated. Value for the money.<< Hmm, just saw this thread. It's not as simple as the quote above suggests. I think the notion of criticising "Defenders of Mediocrity" is that some people are way too keen to give Disney nothing but praise, no matter what. I was last at Disneyland in 2004. Had a great time, great value for my money, and will go again in a heartbeat. That doesn't mean I'm not going to complain that geez, it's been a decade since Indy opened and they haven't topped it. The old Disney I knew and loved was always building something newer, bigger, better... Likewise I went to DisneyWorld in 2006, had a great time, great value for my money, etc. But, I can criticise and point out flaws, and still consider it worthwhile. Gee, four parks seems like a lot, until you realize that they merely took the content of Disneyland and spread it out (Star Tours at the studios, Indy at AK in the form of Dinosaur, etc). Simply put, the "Defenders of Mediocrity" are the people who respond to and and all criticism with an attitude of "well, I have a good time there so your criticism is meaningless" or "if you hate it so much, just don't go". They have a simplistic attitude, just as those who do nothing but criticise do. The writers on Miceage do give credit when credit is due (Yee more often than Lutz), even though it seems like they could stand to do so a little more often.
Originally Posted By Shooba >>And if you don't feel it's good value, you don't patronize further. Really, that's all there is to it. It's not something that needs to be over complicated. Value for the money.<< I should clarify that the above quote is accurate in terms of whether to patronize Disney or not, but the notion of apologists is not so black and white.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 >>And if you don't feel it's good value, you don't patronize further. Really, that's all there is to it. It's not something that needs to be over complicated. Value for the money.<< <<Hmm, just saw this thread. It's not as simple as the quote above suggests.>> No. It absolutely isn't. That's kind of the Disney equivilent to 'If you don't like the way things are in this country, then leave and go somewhere else' argument that pops up in times of trouble -- like now. I go to WDW because I love it and, yes, I think it does provide great entertainment value for me, but as a Charter AP Holder (that means I've had an AP since 1982 when they started selling them, there aren't many of us left and Disney likely prefers it that way!) I pay about $280 a year. But I even think Disney provides a GREAT value for other visitors, as long as they stay at least 3-4 days. Whether its parks are worth the cost of a one-day ticket is something I'm not sure I could give a fair opinion of ... but just because Disney provides me with value and great experiences doesn't mean I'm blind to all the bad things that have infected it since the mid-90s. And if people have the mindset that it's OK for Disney quality to not really be Disney quality, well they're not going to get Disney quality now are they? I enjoyed the MK more on this trip than any visit in the past 2-3 years, maybe longer. BUT that in no way lessens all the bad things that have been done and continue to be done to the park. And if folks say the MK is just great now or close to perfect, well, it may be for them opinion-wise but it isn't in the aspect of fact. Make sense?
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 Oh, and one thought to all those who feel so badly when execs are called out for decisions they make and how they run the various parks and/or resorts ... they have power, they make decisions that do affect guests experiences. This idea that Burbank controls the pursestrings so it's wrong to criticize is way off base. I went into the local McDonald's today ... it was filthy ... is the manager the fault or the regional operations manager or the CEO? If you don't think its fair to criticize VPs, who wield plenty of power ... or Imagineering execs who control creatively how company funds are spent in the parks ... etc ... who do you criticize? Does Jay Rasulo gets the blame because Main Street is a giant World of Disney crapstore? Maybe his profit margins make execs at WDW like Phil Holmes do things like this that damage the park, but there are plenty of ways to bring in more money without resorting to destroying a land. So let's blame Jay. Wait. That's not fair either. He simply charts the direction of 11 Disney theme parks, a cruise line and dozens of resorts around the globe. But at the end of the day, well, he has a boss to answer to, right? So it's not Jay since he must answer to Bob Iger. Must be his fault, right? He is the CEO of TWDC ... controls a massive media empire. Is it his fault Space Mountain is falling apart (literally) Nah. You can't blame him. He must make Wall Street and the institutional investors happy. It's all their fault and no one at Disney should ever be criticized because they just do what they can to meet analysts' proejections every quarter. Do you see where this all goes? People have control, even if it isn't total, over their parks and resorts. They aren't merely figureheads (well, Inoverherheadmeg is). It's a very simple concept: accountability. At some point the execs should take the blame or the praise for how their parks look and are run.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 <"you won't listen to a CFO - is a CEO the only one ?" He's a CFO? Pretty good> do you listen to me ? No...case closed
Originally Posted By Mr X **I pay about $280 a year. Whether its parks are worth the cost of a one-day ticket is something I'm not sure I could give a fair opinion of** Considering that you pay PER YEAR just a little more than the cost of two 1-day parkhoppers...I'd say that price for a one day experience has gotten just a teensy bit out of control! Heck...everyone complains about the fact there are no "one day hoppers" in Tokyo, but doing the math here I just realized you could purchase TWO FULL PRICED ONE DAY TICKETS, one for each park, at TDR for less. Wow.
Originally Posted By jonvn "See, jonvn, don't tell me there isn't such a thing as Fantasyland! I've been living in it all my life - I'm a Saints fan, after all!" The Saints are football, right? I have no idea.
Originally Posted By jonvn "do you listen to me ? No...case closed" Sometimes. Depends on what you say.
Originally Posted By jonvn "No. It absolutely isn't." Yes, absolutley, it is. It is not a country. It is a company that is selling you a product. Do you go to restaurants where you despise the food? Repeatedly? And when you go, you spend hundreds of dollars, and then write about how lousy it is, and then go back and spend hundreds more? You'd be an idiot to do that. That's why it's exactly what I said it is. You either like it, or you don't. If you have taken it up more than that, you have misconstructed the purpose of the place, and where it should be in your life.
Originally Posted By Skellington88 I firmly believe that just looking at it from a 1-day 1-park ticket the value and quality of the experince does not match the price. Refurbishing/upgrading Haunted Mansion was a nice first step but they need to continue...there are tons of broken effects, Animatronics, and audio systems in the parks (especially MK) Disney needs to send people to do quality inspections of the rides and make note of whats not working or broken and fix it in a timely manner. The second thing they need to do is add new experinces...Magic Kingdom has not added anything worthwhile to the park since Splash Mountain and New Tomorrowland opened in the early 90s...The park needs a new lavish e-ticket something to ensure MK keeps raking in the people even in the face of such things as World of Harry Potter. They also need to upgrade the rides to California and Tokyo standards or better similar to what they did with Haunted Mansion but now need to continue with the fantasyland dark rides, Jungle Cruise, and ESPECIALLY Space Mountain which has been falling apart for years now. They basically need to get the park back up to its old standards. In terms of Quality, Capacity (there used to be more to do like ride the subs, go on the skyway cable cars, canoing, keel boats, etc.), and significant new additions (not mediocre cartoon tie-ins where you look at video projections)
Originally Posted By RoadTrip I am not about to name names, but I could tell you of a former high ranking elected public official who did things with cigars that you would not believe. Unfortunately I cannot tell you any more than this, and if I did it would undoubtedly be admined. ;-)
Originally Posted By Witches of Morva ORDDU: Spirit, duckling, your perseverence and well put explanations will always continue to amaze us in Morva. Bravo! At least you can be proud that some of us understand you completely and appreciate the messages you're trying to get out. It's really not that difficult to understand, either. It's just that some individuals and old toads out there don't really WANT to understand. They're too proud and they love wallowing in confusion and chaos. To them my sister Orgoch says... ORGOCH: A curse be on yer backsides 'n yer frontsides!! No more frog legs be found in yer cauldrons from now on! (That's the worst of 'em all.) ORWEN: I'm proud of most of the ducklings around here, myself. There's only a few who act like as if they got out of bed on the wrong side. But they don't bother me. Nobody can spoil my day as long as I have a box of Krispy Kremes nearby!!!
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 ^^Thanks Witches for your Spirited Support! I know I have the Morvian vote in the next LP election ;-)
Originally Posted By Witches of Morva ORDDU: You're entirely welcome, dear. My sisters and I just hate it when others assign false motives to your postings. But we're most happy to show support to you. Though we hate having to wade through the endless and smelly clap trap that is sometimes plopped down around here, it's a worthwhile cause to let it be known that we aren't fooled by the old toads who make a career out of doing such. ORGOCH: We ain't afeard of 'em either!! They cain't scare THIS coven away!
