Originally Posted By Autopia Deb I'll wait to see how this shakes out before I panic. One quick observation, Disney gets A LOT of off site guests so I don't see them completely alienating them by making it too hard to enjoy the attractions, dining and meet and gropes. Dave, good job being the dad your girls need. It's very sad that they have had their possessions stolen by their own mother, but in the end they are only things. Your love and support is what truly matters. And hopefully one day their mother will be in a position to offer it to them too. A good dad is a treasure in this world and you seem like a great one.
Originally Posted By hopemax Yikes, Dave! I'm glad they are with you now, and hope everything works out in your and your girls favor regarding permanent custody. End hijack.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 I don't know what all the fuss is about, really. This IS the direction NEXT GEN was heading and we all (or most of us) knew it. I didn't read anything new in Lutz's column at all. I almost viewed it as a distraction from his spinning of Meg's move as inconsequential, which it is not, and him not having information about a possible sale of P&R and really any future moves at the DLR or what Disney is planning at D23. He used a lot of space to say very little that was new. I was planning on pointing some things out in another thread, but so many have already been Lutzified. My only comment as to NEXT GEN as it is being planned with things like this is they take more fun out of a vacation than anything except for OCDers who enjoy planning a trip more than actually taking one. Oh, and it's great that Disney has $1.5 billion-plus to spend on things like this as infrastructure crumbles and the parks grow staler by the day. Someone should also point out to Al that the evil Jay Rasulo was behind this and Tom Staggs has done nothing to shift course at all.
Originally Posted By DDMAN26 I think some of this a premature panic let's just wait to see what will happen. It might not even work out.
Originally Posted By dshyates Don't get me wrong, I am all for perks for on site guests. I think EMH are a great perk. But if the perks for on site guests have two thirds of the guests in the park queuing up in front of me then I am going to have a big problem with it.
Originally Posted By dshyates Oh, and thanks for the kind words. I am no superdad, hell I'm barely an adult at 47. But the situation at home was dangerous and that I couldn't stand for. The good news is we are moving out of the bad neighborhood I am in, and moving to an apartment complex that backs up to Port Orleans. We can catch a bus to DtD to have a snack.
Originally Posted By EPCOT Explorer >>>Ah, pity the poor APers who want the parks to themselves.<<< It's not about that, it's not even about planning, to me. It's about how the parks are meant to be seen and explored. This would take all the fun out of it.
Originally Posted By ReelJustice <<I didn't read anything new in Lutz's column at all.>> Tow-Maters junkyard crapfest costing north of $100 million caught my attention. ...I wonder how many new monorail trains that could buy...
Originally Posted By ChiMike What I am trying to warn about on the FP thread. Local guests, off property guests, and even DVC guests will have a fit when they see what second class citizens they are. Sometimes it takes it to happen (see Monorail reduction), where it affects someone specifically, for the light bulb to go off. I was actually relived by Al's column only in the fact that he suggested it will not come to Disneyland. And yes Reel, I did see the $100 million estimate. If that is the case, I will take another 'bow' in my repeated stance that WDI is most skilled in the Art of wasting money.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt "Hans, you don't see a difference between wandering the parks, experiencing attractions autonomously, and following a plan that Disney has scheduled for you that tells you to ride Space Mountain at 11:45 A.M.?" Of course I see the difference, however I don't think it's "creepy". Certainly not any creepier than utilidors, surveillance cameras and computers monitoring every ride and show, or hundred of singing robotic dolls. Disney parks by their very nature ARE creepy. This is just another creepy technological tool that Disney is using in a long list of creepy technological tools. Big deal.
Originally Posted By ChiMike >>"Hans, you don't see a difference between wandering the parks, experiencing attractions autonomously, and following a plan that Disney has scheduled for you that tells you to ride Space Mountain at 11:45 A.M.?" Of course I see the difference, however I don't think it's "creepy". Certainly not any creepier than utilidors, surveillance cameras and computers monitoring every ride and show, or hundred of singing robotic dolls. Disney parks by their very nature ARE creepy. This is just another creepy technological tool that Disney is using in a long list of creepy technological tools. Big deal.<< I would agree with both of you. Its not Creepy, but it is another drastic push to force guests into a system that I believe is unnecessary to a park experience. They have made it harder to enjoy the parks in a care free, non-planned manner, and now they are spending an obscene amount of money to fix the problems that they made for everyone. It's embarrassing because they miss the simple fact that people do not book expensive vacations just for the process of booking expensive vacations! You have to deliver SOMETHING. They are spending $$$$$$ on the process rather than the SOMETHING. INSANE
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 <<It's embarrassing because they miss the simple fact that people do not book expensive vacations just for the process of booking expensive vacations! You have to deliver SOMETHING. They are spending $$$$$$ on the process rather than the SOMETHING. INSANE>> Yes, it is. But this has been the plan for years. FP and then Destination Disney were just the beginning ... It's all about the PROCESS and not the PRODUCT. Take the MAGIC out of the product, but sell people on all the ways you'll let them plan to experience what's left. The amount of money is sheer lunacy. But I am sure they're very proud of their new RFID drink dispensers at the ASS. ;-)
Originally Posted By ChiMike >>But this has been the plan for years. FP and then Destination Disney were just the beginning ... It's all about the PROCESS and not the PRODUCT.<< Oh and I know. And why has that been the case in the past? Because they know they can no longer deliver the product for today's cost of doing business. So they distract with all of these gimmicks. However, this time, they are spending real dollars. They are spending DCA makeover type dollars and I will not be convinced that this will help the bottom line more than producing the type of additions that DCA is receiving. This tells me NextGen is just as much about them streamlining operations and eliminating back office/costs as it is letting folks book their preferred seats at the auto stunt show. Just as Fastpass was as much about selling more merchandise as it was letting folks skip those who wait in line.
Originally Posted By dshyates Hans, I see a big difference between me choosing to go in and watch creepy robots and Disney spamming MY phone all day long with pictures of ME after I get off a ride. Tres creepy.
Originally Posted By dshyates Not to mention a little over the top on high pressure sales. It's not really like Groupon.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt You don't think frozen faced Mickey Mouse is creepy and that grown folks lining up for hours wearing Mickey ears to "talk" to him isn't weird? Sorry, but Disney parks creepy long before XPass.
