Originally Posted By Donny If you were given the budget of lets say $80,000 for a limted event at WDW,what would be your idea ? I would get Walt's model for the E.P.C.O.T and put it in one of the defunked buildings at Epcot with projected videos of walt and his imagineers talking about their ideas for Epcot.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros I'm not sure what I would do. In a way, the very concept of LMT is inherently flawed. The things that guest really want to see are somewhat expensive (new shows, parades, attractions, etc), and need some prep time to get them ready. given those two factors, it's really tough to create anything exciting on a really limited budget. Plus, there's that whole problem with trying to get guests to book a trip long before they know what their limited time event will be. The more we've seen of this event, the more obvious it becomes that it was based on DL's Family Fun Weekends in early 2011 (in the Festival Arena), which they did as an alternative to a parade, since there was a large repaving projet on Main Street and they were prepping for the new Soundsational parade. While those were cute, I wouldn't even say that *they* were a rousing success with most guests. They returned in a more limited format last year for Lunar New Year (on small world mall) and Mardi Gras (in New Orleans Square). These events sort of worked, because they were weekends-only in a park that is really known for having a strong local demographic. They can decide on a last-minute visit easily, and will get excited about a relatively minor, cute-type addition. When comparing it with what WDW guests want in their vacation, they want to know what they'll have available on their visit many months in the future, and coming from such a long distance they want something with a little more oomph to it. As silly as their promotions have been, I really can't fault WDW for doing a terrible job with this one. No, it's not anything that I would book my vacation for (or even go much out of my way to see it while I'm there), but I really can't think of anything else that they could do. They were handed a terrible campaign from corporate, and are doing their best to meet it, while also sending the message that they aren't terribly interested in it. It's enough that the guests will get *something*, but done in such a way that it tells the corporate marketing team, "Hey, you suck!" Hopefully the campaign will be merficully cut short (doubtful), or the corporate people will get the message and finally do something somewhat meaningful for the parks. Given that previous campaigns had relatively limited in-park budgets (a couple decorations and a handful of free tickets), I wonder how the budget for this one compares overall. It seems like it's much more expensive from an operations standpoint than anything they've done in recent memory (short of 100 Years of Magic with the 4 parades or the Millenium Celebration with its additions ot Epcot)
Originally Posted By sjhym333 I agree that WDW is suffering from a terrible promotion. Besides the terrible title (someone should be fired for it), this promotion is really meant to draw in locals. It seems that it could work well at Disneyland. In fact if I lived in Cal or WDW did a Horseshoe week I would head to the MK to see it. But with a audience base mostly made up of tourists, this promotion does nothing to bring guests into the parks in Fl. It makes me wonder why Disney is so bent on having a promotion each year when the past couple have really been non-events. As for what the could do? They could take a week and celebrate EPCOT's 30th anniversary and put together props, films, costumes, pictures at World Showplace. They could celebrate Figment for a week They could reopen the Horseshoe for a week of shows in the MK How about finding all of the large blow up balloons they used at the EPCOT afternoon shows, gather together all of the hot air balloons they created over the years and do a Disney Balloon week.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros The dragon would be neat, but they would have to do it on a 'limited' basis, meaning that guest who didn't visit during that period would likely never see it. Granted, that's a heck of a lot better than the current setup (where not a single day guest has gotten, or will get, the chance to see it), but it still leaves something to be desired. I also think that some retro Epcot stuff would be neat, but I wonder how much it would appeal to the 'average' guest. Over my last couple visits, it's become more obvious that they're trying to make Epcot its own brand of sorts (which is great, coming away from the 4 parks 1 world concept), which I really like but it didn't seem that others were all that attached to it. They could try and do what DL has done over the last 7-8 years and get the guests completely obsessed with the park's history at the expense of it moving forward, but I'm not sure how well that would play with the average WDW visitor, who has only been a couple times in their life.
Originally Posted By hopemax I think it might have been neat to do things not when they were expected. Run the Christmas Parade and Not So Scary Halloween Parade not at those times. They already have the floats. And people who can't travel at those times might appreciate being able to see them at some other time. I also wonder if it would be possible to re-open closed areas for a time. Like the Image Works at the Imagination pavilion, Cranium Command/Body Wars. I'm not sure what the actual state of those facilities is. The Studios used to have guest celebrity appearances. They have enough people under contract, they should be able to get some new, younger generation people to make hand prints.
Originally Posted By CarolinaDisneyDad 1) get the quartet they used to open for beauty and the beast back for as. Long as possible 2) put said group in western wear and put them on horseshoe stage 3) bring back the swan boats 4) offer select unique merchandise like they used to have in each shop 5) offer reasonably priced photo packages including five picture of your family at five unique places in WDW
Originally Posted By tonyanton Swan Boats would be cool but I don't think they would work anymore since both the Adventureland and Liberty Square bridges have been flattened.
Originally Posted By sjhym333 I also think the Swan boats tracks were removed years ago. And who knows where the boats are at the moment
Originally Posted By FerretAfros >>And who knows where the boats are at the moment<< Walt Dated World doesn't have a date on the information (I seem to remember reading it circa 2005, so it could be out of date by now), but they did manage to track down one of the old Swan Boats, and several of the original swan figureheads: <a href="http://waltdatedworld.bravepages.com/id42.htm" target="_blank">http://waltdatedworld.bravepag...id42.htm</a>
Originally Posted By magic0214 I think they should switch out old movies for new ones. Example: Switch out O Canada with the pre Martin Short film. Old parades would be fun too. I realize some are completely demolished, but rolling the Hercules Zero to Hero parade through DHS again would be super cool.
Originally Posted By demderedoseguys I wonder if you could dress up Winnie the Pooh to look like Mr Toad for a while.
Originally Posted By sjhym333 I had an aha moment yesterday at the MK. Actually a couple. The first is that this promotion is being treated like a non-event by WDW because there is no reason to treat it anyway else. The MK was packed with 70+ minute waits at a lot of the attractions. Why spend money that would really have no bearing on guests coming into the park since they are already there in droves? My guess is WDW is just going to ride this one out and use the character meet and greets as the primary way to do the promotion. I also had a major revelation about WDW. Each generation experiences the parks at a certain moment in time that just seems to meet a need for that group. I think for many of us, including myself, that moment was years ago when we remember the attention to detail that the Disney parks were famous for. Over the years WDW has had its share of ups and down in that department. I am happy to report that the park looked great yesterday all in all. We talk about strollers and wheelchairs here all the time and I have to say that they really do make the park experience a lot less fun. They are everywhere, they are big and people dont seem to care about anyone else around them as they push them along. They also take up a lot of room on the monorail. I realized yesterday that my time as a regular park visitor is past. There is no anger or anything in that. It is just the reality for me. I am no longer the target audience for WDW. I don't have small children, so I have no desire to to meet and greets and such. I walked over to the FL expansion and Mermaid was down for a good part of the morning, but one of the longest lines in the park was to get into Be Our Guest restaurant. As curious as I am to see that I have no desire to stand in a long line to have fast food. With the advent of the dining plan it has made it hard for a local to just head out to the park and enjoy a last minute meal at one of the nicer restaurants, especially at EPCOT. Those experiences are geared more towards the guest who is staying at one of the resorts and made their reservations months ago. With the advent of Next Gen I will (eventually) be able to pre-book FP times but a good friend who is involved in the Next Gen stuff recently said to me in passing that if I expect to get up in the morning, decide to go to EPCOT and want a FP for Soarin, there is a good chance that will not be an option since the FP's will be long gone. He said don't be surprised to find all FP's moving to online in the future. So, in May my AP expires and we have decided to not to renew. I have always loved WDW and I think there are many great experiences still out there. I am also glad that many families continue to enjoy the parks as I did when my family was young. But standing in the MK yesterday made me realize that time had passed me by.
Originally Posted By Witches of Morva ORDDU: Why, my sisters and I were at the Magic Kingdom on Sunday, too, sjhym333, duckling!! Too bad we didn't get to visit with you. Of course with the crowds as heavy as they were, you would have been hard pressed to find even 3 delightful witches--who normally stand out in a crowd, anyway--considering how really awful it was on 1/20/13. ORWEN: I was upset that The Little Mermaid attraction was down, too, even though it came back up in the afternoon. ORDDU: Anyway, we totally agree with you that the future visits to Disney theme parks look grim. They've worked too hard to fix things that aren't broken, while delaying to fix things that really are broken. ORGOCH: This sure ain't yer papa's Dizzy theme park no more! It really has become a Tragic Kingdom. ORDDU: If, as you imply, that more modern crowds end up accepting these new ways of visiting a Disney theme park, more power to them. However, it seems to this coven that it's going to be a lot less enjoyable for the masses than Disney management can predict. We foresee a backfiring on this new set up. ORWEN: In the meantime, the Disney parks seem to be a lot more crowded than they ever have been and that takes away so much of the magic. We didn't manage to get on a single ride this past Sunday. Just waiting in line for food at Cosmic Ray's was a nightmare in itself. Then there was some mix up where some witch's orders got lost in the system and the whole coven had to reorder their food. Finding a place to sit, afterwards, was impossible. We saw a lot of guests just sitting on the ground outside of Cosmic Ray's while trying to eat lunch there. Not the kind of Disney experience Uncle Walt had in mind, do you think?
Originally Posted By Donny maybe Brazil will get its own Disneyland and France will expand and then WDW will ask us past APers to come back.
Originally Posted By CarolinaDisneyDad This makes me so sad. I think part of it is that we all have our own ways of enjoying the parks and after years of going we don't go commando anymore. We don't want to plan out every minute. Part of our fun is slowing down the pace and just going where we want. But Disney seems to be pushing us out by saying you better plan ahead or you might as well not come. It is a sad revelation when you realize someone or something you love doesn't need you anymore.
Originally Posted By sjhym333 Everything has a season. I think mine has just passed for Disney. I do want to mention that I was passing the Hall of Presidents as the show was loading so I went in. I saw the new version when it reopened with President Obama and I remember liking it. I saw it again and I have to say that it is a wonderful update of the original show. It looks great, it sounds great and it was very enjoyable. I know many people walk by it, but if you get a chance you should take a moment and see a Disney classic.
