Originally Posted By Doobie This topic is for Discussion of <a href="http://www.LaughingPlace.com/Latest.asp?ID=279">The Latest: Soarin' Passholder Previews</a>
Originally Posted By Labuda Hmmmm, is it normal for them to have previews for that long before the AP previews? I mean, we're still well over a month away from opening, and this isn't new technology or anything...
Originally Posted By TDLFAN Yes. Which means guests will be previewing it before the May 5th bash. For Mission, they already had guests riding on a daily basis before the APers had their preview days set.
Originally Posted By Labuda Well that's just SILLY! What's the point of being an AP, then? HMPH! Nah, I understand why - they can use the great masses to tweak it and make it great for the AP & DVC folks! hehe
Originally Posted By danyoung Maybe the lessons of Light Magic drifted into ride operations. Get the thing right before the official AP viewing - us AP's can be real nasty when disappointed!!!
Originally Posted By vbdad55 <<Nah, I understand why - they can use the great masses to tweak it and make it great for the AP & DVC folks! hehe << AP & DVC folks now one in the same in many cases...just got my first AP...
Originally Posted By SJHYM What happened at the Light Magic AP preview? I would head over to Jim Hills website and do a search. He has a long story (several episodes) about the disaster of Light Magic a DL. www.jimhillmedia.com
Originally Posted By danyoung >What happened at the Light Magic AP preview?< In short, DL did an AP preview of the new Light Magic show (the replacement for the Main Street Electrical Parade), and they weren't really ready for it. Right off the bat, as the event started they announced that what everyone was seeing was a "dress rehearsal". There was a lot of starting and stopping, music and effects that didn't work, etc. There was a huge outcry from the SoCal AP's about this, with many of them wanting their money back. The press was merciless, and basically the show never recovered. It ran for a few short months over the summer, was pulled for retooling, and never returned. I saw it a couple times and enjoyed it. It was a cute show with a fine sound track, very celtic (like Riverdance). But MSEP was a hard act to follow, and Disney screwed up the rollout.
Originally Posted By TDLFAN >>What exactly did the SoCal APs want their money back for?<< For the many hours they had to clock in therapy to recover form that shock. >>I saw it a couple times and enjoyed it. It was a cute show with a fine sound track, very celtic (like Riverdance). But MSEP was a hard act to follow, and Disney screwed up the rollout<< I did see it a few times as well and thought it was an ok effort. However, I think marketting dropped the ball properly for not making sure that this was not a parade a la MSEP. "Streetacular" was not something that registered with long time fans at DL I guess. Being from the TDL fanbase, I pretty much had an idea of what Light Magic was to be about, which is why I was not all that disappointed. I always enjoyed the huge confetti ending to the show over Mains Street and how most windows and awnings along Main Street lit up in fiber optics as well... However....the powerful light system over the area did appear to diminish the fiber optic glow to the point of making it invicible at times, plus the fiber optic patterns didn't seem to have interchangeable patterns to keep it more interesting. All in all, Light Magic was a victim of preconceived notions and poor logistic planning in regards to the park's layout.
Originally Posted By danyoung ^^ Totally agree with your analysis, TDLFAN. >What exactly did the SoCal APs want their money back for? Sorry, I could have made that clearer. The event was promoted as a preview of the show, indicating that most if not all of the show should have been up and working. When they made it clear in the pre-show announcements that this was a "dress rehearsal", many thought that they'd been duped. And once the show fell apart that night, the lineup of AP's at City Hall was very long indeed. There was a lot of discussion at the time online about the sense of entitlement that AP's seem to have, especially on the left coast. They seem to be a pretty vocal bunch!
Originally Posted By SJHYM One thing that hasnt been said is that the AP event was a hard ticket event which meant you had to have and AP AND had to buy a special ticket ($25 I believe) Here is a link to one of Jim Hill articles. There are 8 in the series and you can read the whole thing by scrolling to the bottom of the page and picking which one of the series you want to read. <a href="http://www.jimhillmedia.com/mb/articles/showarticle.php?ID=329" target="_blank">http://www.jimhillmedia.com/mb /articles/showarticle.php?ID=329</a>
Originally Posted By Labuda "One thing that hasnt been said is that the AP event was a hard ticket event which meant you had to have and AP AND had to buy a special ticket ($25 I believe)" Ah-ha! I'll read those articles otnight - would like to see how it was marketed to see if I think the APers should have gotten their money back, but me myself and I say if it was a preview, they were ifnromed of it, then they should expect technical problems to be a possibility.
Originally Posted By TDLFAN I still liked LIght Magic and watch my home video of it every now and then... It would be a great show for D/MGM's Hollywood Blvd at night.
Originally Posted By Indigo Actually the biggest reason Light Magic never came back is because it was costing the park too much. (Also the noted logistical problems with moving a streetacular into place with the sidewalks lined with guests ("are those pixies dead mommy?".) The extra guest control and lost revenues from having half the park shut down for a parade only 3-5K guests could see (at the main street location). By the time the first season of LM had ended the costs had soared from $25 million (not bad for a parade that was scheduled to run for 5 years) to $60 million (possibly more). The Disneyland resort (and particularly the entertainment department) suffered cuts for years trying to make up that loss. Light Magic conceptual work started before Paul Pressler arrived on the scene. However, one of Paul's priorities was to replace the aging MSEP. His guidance (with a few micromanaging nudges from Eisner) gave us the park choking disaster that the 'streetacular' became. When Pressler was promoted his replacement was left to deal with the damage he caused. I don't think she ever recovered from that deficit. This leaves me wondering if the new parade, really a streetacular, at DCA will make too many choke points as it stops to perform along the route. For instance how will guests get from Bug's Land to Grizzly River Run during the parade? I'm sure they're thought of that... right?
Originally Posted By danyoung Just curious, Indigo - what's your source for this info? While I'm not disputing that cost was a factor, I'd always heard that the negative vibe right from the start was what never gave this show a chance to succeed.
