Originally Posted By tashajilek NORBIT!!! lol her name was raspusha or however it's spelled. Oh i just saw a knotts commercial 2x's
Originally Posted By LOVE-DCA well i did say that if they were over the limnit the ride operater has to tell them they can't get on... well actually if u read the article it says tht your group of people have to step on a scale.. blah blah.. ok doesn't matter if it's one person or 6! still that should not be an issue!! i feel really bad for all the plus size people. and i saw norbit, that scene was FUNNY!! lol
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt I think the worst theme park commercial I've ever seen was the ones for DCA when it first opened. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdxJvZw-mD4" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...JvZw-mD4</a> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXwgPypdOiM&NR=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...OiM&NR=1</a>
Originally Posted By LOVE-DCA Ha HA ha .. that was funny hans.. glad you postd those!!! no knott's is still the worse, and on radio is sounds even worse
Originally Posted By SpokkerJones "I guess the real question is how can Disney manage the crowds while still raking in as much money as they can. There's a lot of competition in Southern California, so I understand why they want to secure the locals by selling as many APs as possible, but they are doing it at the expense of everyone's enjoyment." Disney does not release their data for the statistically minded among us to fumble through and find out what's really going on. That being said, I wonder how the strategy of promoting cheap annual passes like they've been doing compares with fostering a worldwide destination for day trippers and week trippers. How has the bottom line, guest enjoyment and other factors been affected? We get some idea through rumors and leaks, but the economist in me would love unfiltered access to that juicy data. It's hard to judge how the park is doing artistically when the crowds consist of people who said, "Hey, I'll just get the $150 annual pass and hang out at Disneyland." It's far cry from when the crowds consisted of people who came from around the country and world because it was their dream to see Disneyland. Who knows, really. Maybe I am wrong about APs and the data would prove me wrong.
Originally Posted By SpokkerJones "I think the worst theme park commercial I've ever seen was the ones for DCA when it first opened." No emotion. No vision. It's a fake representation of the park and still manages to come off as bland and kind of stupid, to put it bluntly. Tokyo Disney has some corny commercials to be sure, but they've managed to inject some humanity into them. Granted, it can be hard to convey that in 15-30 seconds, but they manage to pull it off somehow. Here's a 15 second spot for DisneySea aimed at teenagers: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMHgCWkdyW4&NR=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...yW4&NR=1</a> Here's a 30 second spot for TDL aimed at the character loving crowd (man they love characters at TDL): <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2h-P7oWQwRI&NR=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...wRI&NR=1</a> They manage to be a little more realistic than American Disney commercials that are so far out there that they lose the human touch. And don't get me started on that Leibovitz stuff. Here's a commercial for the 50th. It starts off okay, but the focus is on CG characters, not *people*. It's probably a subjective thing, but American Disney commercials have never really resonated with me. And yes, you'll be able to find stupid Tokyo Disney commercials.
Originally Posted By SpokkerJones Forgot the link to the 50th commercial: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LK9qGk7Dm0o" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...qGk7Dm0o</a>
Originally Posted By tashajilek You know spoker thats the good thing about dca right now. When DL gets to busy its nice to go over to DCA for lighter crowds. Sad to say this will soon come to an end. If DL did raise the price of AP'S to say double and had half as many people visit. The profit for AP sales wouldnt drop. The trick is how much are people willing to pay? will people who go every other day pay much more? I said before that DL should charge ap's per amounts of visits. A lower amount on your ap means you ap costs less. Bahh things will only get worse my friend with the crowds.
Originally Posted By Bob Paris 1 "Here's a 15 second spot for DisneySea aimed at teenagers: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...yW4&NR=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...yW4&NR=1</a>" I like how it sounds like they are saying, "Tokyo Disney Risotto". Maybe that's a new product they could sell?
Originally Posted By Bob Paris 1 "If DL did raise the price of AP'S to say double and had half as many people visit. The profit for AP sales wouldnt drop. The trick is how much are people willing to pay?" I brought this up months ago. If they charged twice as much and only half bought it, they would make the same money from AP revenue. The difference, of course, would be a halving of sales from ancilliary items(assuming that other half of the current AP crowd NEVER came again)but the guest experience for everybody who DID come would improve remarkably. It's all academic at this point but very interesting.
Originally Posted By SpokkerJones There are a lot of factors at work. It can be difficult to see the whole picture. That being said, my preference is for a ticket structure that would focus on lower cost one-day and multi-day passes and higher cost annual passes. I would not want to sell park hoppers for one-day passes because I think they are a poor value in most cases if you really pencil the whole thing out, but I'd offer them for those that want them. I think you could keep revenues the same with such a ticket structure while reducing heavy AP crowds. I don't think the problem is necessarily huge crowds all day, but heavy crowds during certain situations (Friday nights, during attraction/show openings, last day before AP blockouts start). Those really make for frustrating experiences for the casual guest. Still, crowds would remain a fact of life at Disneyland under any scenario.
Originally Posted By SpokkerJones "The difference, of course, would be a halving of sales from ancilliary items(assuming that other half of the current AP crowd NEVER came again)but the guest experience for everybody who DID come would improve remarkably." What's interesting is that Tokyo Disney focuses more on day trippers with reasonable one-day and multi-day passes and has really expensive annual passes, and manages to pull in really remarkable per-guest spending on merchandise and food and all that crap. TDL crowds are also legendary, so there's that. The conventional wisdom states that annual passholders will buy up churros every visit, but is the effect that large? Do the people who buy the cheaper annual passes really buy that much per visit? After all, they went for the cheaper passes for a reason...
Originally Posted By tashajilek I dont think many regulars buy much. most Apers dine outside the park and bring in thier own snacks. Most tourists coud not bother bringing snacks and wouldnt leave the park searching for somewhere to eat. I go a few times per year and i rarely dine outside the park. I agree single day park passes are not great value compared to paying $400 and going every single day of the year. If ap's cost me $600 plus thats still a damn good deal.
Originally Posted By Darkbeer OK, I am a bit late, but i HAVE to correct this... >>There were a series of little treasures in Knott's that became favorites, little hidden gems like the beating heart in the Boot Hill graveyard, the guy in jail that would talk to you and mysteriously knew your name! The combination of the smell of horses and leather and railroad grease and fried chicken and berry syrup on funnel cakes that somehow worked together to be a good combo.<< EVERYTHING in this paragraph is still part of Knott's Berry Farm! You have the Glass Blower and the Blacksmith and some other Hand-made items that used to be at Disneyland, but got removed. Stagecoaches (8 out of 9 are original!). Yes, things change, and plenty of things have been removed from Disneyland and DCA. But to be honest, as a 50 year old male, I have been spending much more time away from Disneyland, going to many other parks in Southern California, and next week at this time will be at Cedar Point in Ohio to start our road trip of MANY different parks in June. Even though we have Six Flags Season Passes, opted to pay $25 to attend a private party last Friday to enjoy the short lines and great service. (And SFMM has been AWESOME in guest service in the last year or so... if you don't beleive me, go check it out for yourself! The Log Ride, the Mine Train, the locomotives, the Bird Cage Theater is open during the Christmas season. Much of Ghost Town has recently been refurbed, other parts are scheduled for later. As for the Funnel Cakes, Disneyland's SUCKS (if they still offer them), they were frozen, pre-made Funnel Cakes, and the toppings were not as good.
Originally Posted By Bob Paris 1 In terms of the "casual guest", that is somebody coming on a one day ticket who is not the stereotypical AP theme park commando, the answer is "education". As somebody who would be coming from overseas and spending a LOT of money to get to the parks you can bet your bottom dollar I would do a TON of research to make sure I would be there at the optimal time to get value for my money. This for me would probably mean being there at a time that included blockout dates but meant me buying a premium AP(worth it since I would probably spend about seven days at the resort with part day entries on both my arrival and departure days, as well as automatic park hopping). Unfortunately, for "casual guests" the mantra now must be, "know the product or get eaten alive at DL". Sad but that's the way it is today.
Originally Posted By Bob Paris 1 "next week at this time will be at Cedar Point in Ohio" I hope you enjoy CP - I went a few years back and it is INCREDIBLE for coaster fans!!!! If you remember, ride that coaster(soemthing like XL-5 or something)that skirts along the shores of the great lake there. Now this is the part you have to remember. I had a coin in my shirt pocket and as we were going down one of the drops my friend tapped me on the side and pointed. With the effect of gravity, the coin had come out of my pocket and was floating next to my cheek. That was friggin AWESOME!!!!! : )
Originally Posted By ksargen I've noticed a trend in the AP discussions... Maybe it's because I live in the back of beyond, with a lot of friends from up in the Bay, but unless someone can show me real numbers (which I very much doubt), not all APs are these people you're talking about hanging out on weekends and "cluttering up" the park experience. I, and several other folks I know, have an AP for the simple fact that we like to go more than once a year, and it's economically a joke right now to buy a ticket for each visit, when an AP will pay for itself in two or three visits (depending on how many days you go, etc). We're not going every month. Heck, I'm going to get a whopping 3 visits in this year, and every one of them involves buying passes for other people who don't have APs. Further, many folks who live in the "So. Cal" zone that could buy the So. Cal passes don't, because of the blackout dates, and the fact that it still takes us 3-4 hours to get there. It's not available to us as an impulse trip. *LOL* I would really be curious to see how many APs really go that often and spend as little as folks think they do, and how many, like I and my AP holder friends from the north, go, at most, a handful of times a year, and spend money like there's no tomorrow when we do it. *LOL*
