Originally Posted By arstogas All I was told, pretty comprehensively, is that there are no E tickets on the boards for WDW anytime soon. Nobody's happy about it, but that seems to be the consensus. I really hope something gets shaked up, and that I end up wrong a year from now... but it would really shock me.
Originally Posted By arstogas In truth, ALL the parks need more C and D style attractions - to spread out crowds and create more value. Besides that, those attractions tend to be ones that more of the family can enjoy together. So if that ends up being where they go for a few years, so long as they're well-conceived attractions, I say, great.
Originally Posted By SJHYM My friends in Imagineering say nothing is going on at all except Everest. In fact some are nervous and hopeing that layoffs in FL will not follow as they have in CA. My guess is that after Soarin, Stunt thingy and Everest, Disney feels that they can keep attendance constant with these additions for awhile.
Originally Posted By arstogas >>>My friends in Imagineering say nothing is going on at all except Everest.<<< That's what I got, including the fact that in Glendale, at least, a number of people are thinking that cuts are coming yet again. I'm the first one to remind folks that these cuts have been cyclical since the 70's, but they never dismissed senior personnel like this before. There's always been a strong core staff for blue-sky work and a baseline of modest projects. Now... it's very sad up there.
Originally Posted By pitapan16 Cutting WDI back to the bare bones like they have done recently sounds like a horrible way to go for Disney. Geesh, you might as well just hire out some Pressler-esk people to do ALL creative planning. Oh wait, but then we'd have Six Flags....Does'nt make since. Cutting back core imagineers just does not do justice to common since.
Originally Posted By pitapan16 How far does Disney dare cut back on being the creative and imaginitive powerhouse that it has been since day one?
Originally Posted By pitapan16 By the way, does anyone know who are the people responsible for going ahead with the WDI cut backs?
Originally Posted By CMM1 pita: Sorry to burst your bubble but cloning of attractions has been and will continue to be a Disney practice. Sorry to hear of the rumors of cutbacks in imagineering - but I guess Disney figures that with the number of recent new attractions they don't need many more for another decade, particularly with the corporate emphasis on growing new business in Asia rather than doing anything else in the US.
Originally Posted By pitapan16 pita: Sorry to burst your bubble but cloning of attractions has been and will continue to be a Disney practice. I can understand controlled cloning(Splash/Thunder/Indy at DisneySea), and I can understand out-of-control cloning(DCAMuppets/ittba bug). I just am against the second one. Visiting both US resorts are alot less unique and desireable to visit when you have overcloning. And as far as WDI cutbacks go, It really is a terrible thing If the cutbacks go too far. If you diminish a core group of imagineers that Disney's history is unique for and has done well with all this time, you have a bunch of short term newbie hire-outs creating magic in the parks.
Originally Posted By SJHYM arstogas is correct about the WDI layoffs this time around. I have heard in CA its not only the extra designers, architects, instillation crews like in the past. This time around Imagineering also lost some top folks who have been around for decades.
Originally Posted By trekkeruss <<Visiting both US resorts are alot less unique and desireable to visit when you have overcloning.>> It's not ideal for the Disney fan, but many people never make it to either DL or WDW, let alone both. Even many fans of DL have never been to WDW, and vise-versa.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 <How far does Disney dare cut back on being the creative and imaginitive powerhouse that it has been since day one? < unfortunately I think we only have to look at the animation departments and what has happened to them to get this answer
Originally Posted By vbdad55 <<<Visiting both US resorts are alot less unique and desireable to visit when you have overcloning.>> It's not ideal for the Disney fan, but many people never make it to either DL or WDW, let alone both. Even many fans of DL have never been to WDW, and vise-versa.< My guess is one of the many surveys we all take part in tells the execs this -- for many of us here on these boards - yes we visit both...but for 'joe average' my guess is it's one or the other Although I am going to say, I would prefer cloning ( manybe keeping one attraction absolutely unique to each park) - over situations like the one where WDW lost 20K for 11 years-- then we get a grassy area and a playground in return.......cloning there would have been a major upgrade.
Originally Posted By pitapan16 It's not ideal for the Disney fan, but many people never make it to either DL or WDW, let alone both. Even many fans of DL have never been to WDW, and vise-versa. -Your probably right, the average joe probably visits one or the other. But you know I'd really like to see the numbers because maybe 50% of the average joe's I talk to have been to both. -Also, I dont like cloning because like i said that diminishes the whole reason for visiting both resorts. I would just not even be half as excited about a new clone addition that is at both resorts. An Example for me would be Its tough to be a bug, that should'nt have made it to DCA in my opinion though Its one of my fav's.
Originally Posted By trekkeruss <<I'd really like to see the numbers because maybe 50% of the average joe's I talk to have been to both.>> The average joe's you know must be above average, or perhaps you hang with a different crowd. I would say a lot of people i talk to can't even distinguish DL from WDW. Often when I say I went to Disneyland, they think I went to Florida. <<I dont like cloning because like i said that diminishes the whole reason for visiting both resorts>> Don't misunderstand me... I am not particularly fond of the idea. I'd prefer Disney did more along the lines of a re-interpretation, such as what they did for DLP. Many of the attractions are clones in name only, and have been Imagineered and executed to be significantly different (and better!) attractions than their namesakes.
Originally Posted By Labuda "<<I'd really like to see the numbers because maybe 50% of the average joe's I talk to have been to both.>> The average joe's you know must be above average, or perhaps you hang with a different crowd. I would say a lot of people i talk to can't even distinguish DL from WDW. Often when I say I went to Disneyland, they think I went to Florida." Just what *I* was thinking, Russ. Heck, even folks I'm meeting here at WDW right now are referring to this as Disneyland! LOL ...in addition to calling the MK Walt Disney World, that is. When you're at Epcot or DAK, apparently you're not at Disney World! hehehe
Originally Posted By tonyanton <...in addition to calling the MK Walt Disney World, that is. When you're at Epcot or DAK, apparently you're not at Disney World! hehehe> I know. I remember it being really bad in the '80s, it was always "I'm going to Disney World and Epcot." I don't hear it so much anymore, but every now and again I do.
Originally Posted By Blackie Pueblo I'm not sure if this was asked already, but going beyond Expedition Everest, as the title suggests, do you think Expedition Everest will help bring in the guests? Or Will it not make a difference really in attendence? Will Animal Kingdom still be 4th of the most visited parks in Disney World? Blackie Pueblo
Originally Posted By CMM1 As far as "average Joes" go, they are'nt emailing to these posts. Sure, the fans of sites such as LP will say that WDW and DLR have clone attractions but your typical DLR guest is a SoCal day-visitor has probably never been to WDW. When ToT arrived out here at DLR, it was a "brand new" attraction to the bulk of visitors to the parks here. With "new" attractions which are simply repackaged versions of older rides (see the posts on the Raging Spirits coaster in TDS which is simply the crummy Paris Indy coaster in a new "suit"), you see Disney setting a precendent for cost-consciousness over creativity. Also, you now have the DLHK park opening with a small amount of attractions - this now leaves DLP Studios, DCA and DLHK as weak sisters in the Disney family meaning that the priority for the "resort conscious" Disney suits will be to spiff up those parks rather than do anything else for the current "cash cows" of DL, WDW MK or Tokyo DL. In particular, DCA and Disney Stuidos in Paris need to get more attractions to make them viable 2nd gates otherwise Disney corp may not get the return on their hotel investments for the multiple days required to make those properties profitable. It's not the dark ages yet with EE coming at WDW AK, with a whole new park opening in Hong Kong and with some attention being focused on DL with the 50th anniversary - but with a floundering DCA and a very weak Studios park in Paris there are some serious issues for Disney corp to overcome.
Originally Posted By trekkeruss <<do you think Expedition Everest will help bring in the guests? Or Will it not make a difference really in attendence? Will Animal Kingdom still be 4th of the most visited parks in Disney World?>> I doubt the addition of EE will cause WDW's attendance figures to actually go up... *very* few people plan a trip the World just because a new attraction opens, E-ticket or not. It will bump up DAK's numbers; whether or not it can move past the more established parks remains to be seen.
