Originally Posted By Witches of Morva ORDDU: Once again, Spirit of 74, duckling, my sisters and I have to agree with you. ORWEN: Especially in regard to that travesty of a stunt show at Disney M-G-M Studios! We went and saw it with a couple of our friends back when it first opened and not one of us liked it or ever cared to see it again. ORGOCH: Yeah--an' that was a total a 5 folks right off the bat who hated it! ORDDU: We were also aware of all the money the company is wasting on bad ideas while they could be out there spending it on GOOD ideas. ORWEN: And when are they ever going to get rid of that horrible 'sit in the dark with Drew Carey' monstrosity?! Monster Sound Stage was so much better. ORDDU: And why can't we have something similar to Super Star Television again? That was something that we just enjoyed at Disney M-G-M so much!! Then they took it away and didn't replace it with anything!! How horrible!!
Originally Posted By kpwdwfan Thanks Witches, you hit on two of the biggest problems at MGM. Superstar Television and the Monster Sound Show were very good shows which appeared to be very popular. MGM, in my my humble opinion, is a half day park at best and these two areas are a big part of the problem. Superstar Television was a perfect fit for the Studios. Sorry to get off the Laugh Floor subject but the decline of the Studios hits a nerve with me. BTW, thanks for the info Spirit.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<Yeah--an' that was a total a 5 folks right off the bat who hated it!>> Yeah... but all of my multiple personalities liked it and my six trumps your five!! ;-)
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 I was going to post a (typically) long-winded explanation, but it's NYE, I'm watching football and I have two parties to be at this evening ... so I'm going to take the easy way out (at least for now) and just repost something I posted elsewhere, which should help explain where I am coming from ... if these don't help, well, have a drink or two (to usher in 2007, which I believe is going to be a great year for Disney) and reread! ;-) Spirit quotes his alter: "The bottom line is Disney succeeds when it transports you to another place and time and into an immersive environment. Yes, you can argue that Mansion doesn't have a defined story (and that is correct), but it succeeds on the basis of its own mythology. ... There is a huge difference from attractions of that ilk (and anything from Small World to BTMRR to Peter Pan to HoP falls into the category) to crap like Stitch's Great Escape (just a bunch of effects and a kewl AA) and PooPoo Playground and Bacterial Festival and the new Monsters Inc. The Living Character program is designed with the idea that folks travel to Disney parks to communicate and have one-on-one experiences with the Disney characters. It's a technology that in its current useage will get passe even quicker than body probes in WoL or trips to the moon of Endor did. These types of attractions exist largely to justify the jobs of some very highly-compensated folks. And these people have a fundamental lack of understanding as to why people line up 40 years later for attractions like PoC and Small World but walk right past Stitch and Turtle Talk. Worse, they couldn't design attractions like those classics if you gave them double the money they should need and put a gun to their heads because, frankly, they're just not that talented." Need more? "From what I gather, a recent VIP showing of Monsters Laugh Floor failed to deliver one hearty guffaw or even a mild chortle, let alone a full-throttle belly-laugh ... and that combined with some truly awful feedback from cast and guests alike, who have been previewing it off and on for a few months now, stopped things dead in their tracks. Burbank knows it has one incredibly poor replacement across the way in Stitch. It doesn't want two failures bookending the T-Land entrance bridge. The whole Living Character Program stands to be seriously reevaluted in the wake of this, as well as lackluster guest feedback on Stitch Encounter in HK and much less buzz about Turtle Talk at DCA. The only out and out 'hit' this technology has is TT at Epcot ... and that just isn't enough to justify throwing millions of dollars into it as it now stands. If Monsters isn't significantly improved when it opens ... then we'll see what happens ." "the 'better than an empty building' line scares me because many Disney 'fans' have allowed their expectations to drop so low that this is the mark of a successful attraction. Sorry, but I want equal or BETTER than what occupied that space before. And Monsters Laugh Floor, in its current form, isn't even close." "The Imagineers never thought they had a problem to begin with. They thought, with very minor tinkering, it was ready to open to the masses. It was the guests, cast and, ultimately, the execs who basically said, 'There's no way we can open this thing or we'll be the ones laughed at, yet again.''' "And if you can't even hit the target of an entertaining C-Ticket type of experience, it must make the powers of the company wonder if these type of individuals should be handling major E-Tickets and expansions and new parks that could cost billions. I sure wouldn't be giving these guys company funds." "Forget about the temporary embarrassment for not having this ready on time after you've planned a media party around it, after you've invited DVCers and APer for previews etc ... but now, now everyone knows this attraction is 'troubled' so when it opens in April or May or whenever, the expectations of guests are likely going to be much, much higher. Beacuse they're going to assume that if Disney saw a major flaw, Disney with all its creative minds and money, could fix that ... that's logical isn't it? Of course, what if the flaw is more fundamental (like Stitch ... like the two disasterous redos of Imagination)? What if the whole idea just wasn't sound to begin with and the execs were sold a bill of goods? Things could get a whole lot uglier until the leaders of TWDC 'get' just what it is that drives people to go to its parks and stand in line for attractions like Mansion and Jungle Cruise and Peter Pan." Does that help? If not, I'll be glad to offer further thoughts in 2007! Happy New Year Everyone!
