Originally Posted By macnak81 <Is there an acronym database for LP? > actually there are a few and around her they are often needed ! see <a href="http://www.disneytrivia.net/misc_abbreviations.php" target="_blank">http://www.disneytrivia.net/mi...ions.php</a> <a href="http://www.wdwmagic.com/acronyms.htm" target="_blank">http://www.wdwmagic.com/acronyms.htm</a>
Originally Posted By Bob Paris 1 ""I couldn't shake the feeling he was just doing the "I'm a grumpy old man who has to argue counter to WHATEVER everybody else is saying, just because I am crotchey and.....wait a minute......YOU KIDS GET OUTTA MY YARD!!!!" BoB im sure you know that there are still a few people on here like that." I guess you weren't around here nine years ago. jonvn was his own breed of internet "personality".
Originally Posted By TP2000 Yes, jonvn was unlike anything we currently get to chat with. He makes even the most contentious and silly argument here on LP today look like Amateur Hour in comparison. I look at all the massive big-budget construction going on at DCA in 2010, totally unprecedented in modern Disney theme park history for a 9 year old theme park, and I sometimes wonder what jonvn thinks of it all. It probably kills him. HA! ;-)
Originally Posted By mousermerf Did we ever figure out why jonvn was so sure of what he believed? Like maybe he was really Mary Jo Niven and now head of DCA?
Originally Posted By Dabob2 The last few posts are exactly the kind of over the top hyperbole jonvn would have blown holes through. He was hated by some here mostly because he insisted the "DCA is a ghetto" or "DCA is a blight on humanity" stuff was silly - and had the smarts to point out how silly it was. He was no apologist - he routinely blasted things at the park he didn't like, and also the direction of Disney parks in general over the last couple of decades. But he rightly insisted that much of the DCA hate was silly. That, and his often contentious, abrasive style, rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. The latter was what got him banned, but the former (and his intelligence in making his points) was what really riled some people here.
Originally Posted By tashajilek "jonvn was his own breed of internet "personality"." Maybe hes creeping the pages still as a new lper.
Originally Posted By Yookeroo jonvn was a voice of reason during some of the most over-the-top bashing. He was able to keep some perspective.
Originally Posted By TP2000 I remember having a discussion with him about the then-rumored total remake of the DCA main entrance, turning it into Buena Vista Street and completely remaking the theme, time period and physical look of the entrance, and even adding a vintage trolley into the mix. He claimed "Disney always does this sort of thing with their parks", even though they've never done anything similar to any existing theme park main entrance. He was hilariously infuriating with his cement block arguments. He was also banned by board moderators on some websites. I have a hunch that's why he disappeared from here too. But however it happened, he's long gone. Funny, funny times back then.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 I got into it on jon more than once - I remember once it was about the idea that Muppets didn't go into the Lincoln building as originally planned because (it seemed to Jon) it would have been massively popular and there was no good place for overflow crowds. I pointed out that when Lincoln was new it was not only considered a marvel, but they actively encouraged attendance at that attraction like they've never done before or since by giving everyone under 17 a free ticket, good only for Lincoln, with their ticket books. Shows were always packed in the early days, yet there was no problem with overflow crowds. This was one I think he was wrong on, and I told him so, and he dug in... but that's okay. We kept it respectful and he's entitled to do that. And he was right that, although Disney had never redesigned an entrance area to that degree, they had certainly redesigned other areas radically. And dug in arguing what all that meant in the greater scheme of the universe with others here, and that was okay too. What got him banned was when he got too testy and overstepped community standards. That you can't do. But I always found him one of the more interesting posters around here, whether I agreed with him or not.
Originally Posted By EighthDwarf Back on topic....anyone read this article? <a href="http://thedailydisney.com/blog/2010/05/disney-profits-surge-thanks-to-movie-blockbuster-but-parks-still-struggle/" target="_blank">http://thedailydisney.com/blog...truggle/</a> "After more than a year of using deep discounts to prop up traffic in its theme parks, the Walt Disney Co. said Tuesday it is prepared to absorb a short-term attendance hit to restore pre-recession prices. The company said it expects to cease widespread discounting beginning this fall. "“We are determined and confident that we can take our pricing back to normalized levels,” Walt Disney Co. Chief Financial Officer Jay Rasulo said during a conference call with stock analysts."
Originally Posted By believe does that mean that they will stop raising prices, but stop the discounts - ie 2fer.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt The 2fer was happening before the recession hit. I'm guessing that they are talking mostly about discounted packages to the resorts. There are some really good deals out there at the moment. I'm also wondering if they'll curb back the payment plan for APs.
Originally Posted By TP2000 That's good news on the pricing. My amateur opinion? They need to jack up AP prices dramatically ASAP, and slowly creep up the day/multi-day ticket prices at a lesser level. The 2Fer was a reaction and fallout from the sheer panic over DCA in the summer of 2001. Surely I'm not the only one who remembers "10 Dollars off for Adults, and Kids get in for FREE! Pack up the car and come see the return of the Electrical Parade! Kids are FREE at California Adventure!". They only ran that summer ticket discount and free kids admission for DCA. Disneyland stayed full fare, no discounts that summer and every year thereafter. That shocking summer discount at DCA morphed into the 2Fer1 ticket in 2002. But those days are long gone. By this time next year Mermaid will be open and World of Color will be playing several times per night, with the decades Mega E Ticket and a wholly revamped DCA a year away. Jack up those AP prices to at least Tokyo Disney Resort levels, scale back the hotel discount packages, and slightly ramp up the day ticket prices as well. Leave the $30 discount theme park experience for Knott's Berry Farm and Six Flags (with a Coke can, or a coupon from Burger King, or some such nonsense). Disneyland is a premium product, and should be priced as such.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros Interesting that WDP&R is going to stop the heavy discounts in the fall, instead of the summer. I've seen a WDW free dining plan commercial several times tonight (including another while I was writing this post), and it says that it goes through the end of the summer. Traditionally, summer is a peak period that needs no additional incentive to get guests in the park, while the fall is much slower. If they are really going to get rid of the discounts, maybe they should have the period without discounts begin with a high traffic period. I remember not too long ago, when spring and fall would have discounts, but summer, Thanksgiving, and Christmas/New Years would be rack rates. It seems kind of weird that they would permantently get rid of the discounts, and they would chose to begin it during a traditionally discounted period. I guess it's too late now, but why didn't they plan on starting the end of discounts at the beginning of the summer.
Originally Posted By TP2000 Good question. Maybe it has to do with Disney's fiscal year starting October 1st?
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt Wasn't DLR jammed all through the fall because of the Halloween promotion and festivities? Then there was a short slow period before the Christmas madness began?
Originally Posted By FerretAfros Both of those make a lot of sense. I know that DLR was packed last fall, but everything I've read implies that this will be for WDW as well. From what I read last fall, the crowds there were about the same as always, which is not much. I guess we'll have to wait and see if they cut the discounts for both coasts, or if it's just DL, which seems to be performing very well right now.
Originally Posted By TP2000 Yes, Disneyland's attendance in '09 grew at a much higher pace than WDW's, mostly due to the SoCal locals getting in free on their birthday. And in '10 the attendance at DLR is holding fairly steady on attendance with small increases in spending/occupancy, while WDW sees small declines in attendance and spending/occupancy. This says to me that DLR is probably where we'll see the discounts end the soonest in '10, especially since all the major theme park expansion is happening in Anaheim in the next couple of years. The next big expansion in WDW, New Fantasyland, doesn't open until 2012-13 with one new ride and some meet n' greets. DLR seems to be the growth engine here for Disney Parks, which now explains why Tom Staggs has been visiting Anaheim so regularly. When the economy rebounds more strongly at some point, DLR will be a gold mine for them.
