A Few Minor Disneyland Rumors

[Another Voice]

Kind of a hodge podge of stuff that’s been floating around. Things have been fairly quite so I thought I’d post stuff that’s normally too uninteresting. Some of these are also being confirmed and expanded on over at the MiceAge website (http://www.miceage.com/allutz/al122302a.htm).

After some initial tests, a rumor has it that most fast-food locations will be dropping plastic trays in favor of paper bags for the guests to carry their food away. This is strictly a costs savings move and is being justified that “people don’t complain when they do it at McDonalds”. While the bags cost money, they cost less than the labor it takes to collect and wash all the trays.

Anyone who’s been to Disneyland recently must have noticed the new “intrusive” safety instructions. These new messages are broadcast in both the queue line and ride vehicle for any attraction that moves. They are all variations of “Please remain seated at all times with you hands, arms, legs, feet and other body parts within the ride vehicle. No standing. Please watch children. Etc., etc.” spoken in both English and Spanish. I’ve noticed that the safety spiel is so long on some rides elements of the show spiel have been removed to accommodate it. Expect them at WDW in the near future whenever an attraction goes down for rehab.

There’s a rumor that Disney is thinking of adopting the same safety measures that Knott’s Berry Farm has installed. These apparently have gone down very well with the state of California and right now Disney needs all the warm & fuzzy thoughts it can buy. These ideas include rating each attraction for it’s level of thrill (kind of like the diamond ratings for ski runs); air gates, safety zones and cast member “cages” on all rides with moving vehicles; and banning all loose items (hats, sunglasses, cameras) from fast rides.

Plans for Disneyland’s 50th Birthday are being cut back faster now than they were under the Pressler regime. Latest rumor is that the show additions to ‘Pirates’ and ‘Small World’ have been cut. ‘Haunted Mansion’ may still get the Paris soundtrack and a few ‘Nightmare’ pieces may remain permanent but most people expect all HM enhancements to be cut next quarter. ‘Space Mountain’ is still rumored to be getting a new track (it’s entirely for maintenance reasons), but the plans for using the old Rocket Rods track have been killed. MiceAge is reporting that a ‘Stitch’ overlay for SM is a possibility too – I’ve heard it’s just one of many ideas. Plans for the Castle have been scaled back as well; the limited fiber optic treatment will be used for a new edition of the nightly fireworks show (which is rumored to have been scaled back from the nightly show to just weekends and summer again).

The only truly new attraction rumored for the 50 Years of Theme Parks celebration will be a film presentation to be shown in the CircleVision theaters at all Disney “Magic Kingdom” parks. Very little of the show will be a 360 film (mostly an old sequence shot in the 1960’s at Disneyland), but instead it will use slides, video images, stills and other clips projected on different screens. The comment was that the 50 Years celebration will be noticeably smaller than Walt’s 100th (which most inside the company consider to be a trivial marketing event).

The big rumor is that Disneyland will also be phasing out ride-specific costumes. The goal is for generic Main Street, Tomorrowland, Fantasyland, Frontierland/Pooh and Adventureland costumes which will be worn by all cast in the area – attractions, food and merchandise. The costumes themselves will be extreme simple consisting of pants and a shirt. “Extra” bits like hats, ties, custom shoes, scarves will be eliminated. This is a cost savings measure and will be phased in over an extended period of time (i.e., they’ll wait for the existing stuff to wear out before replacing it with the generic standard). This one’s been kicking around for a while.

There are also rumors that there might be many vacancies in the west coast version of Downtown Disney after the holidays. Foot traffic is far below expectations (the fault of DCA) and spending is even less. The common wisdom is the place has too many high priced eateries and stores. Most of the stores themselves are either chain stores located in malls all over Southern California or not unique enough to draw a local crowd. The former home of the Y Arriba, Y Arriba restaurant remains vacant as Disney has been unable to find a tenant willing to pay Disney’s asking price.

Lastly, it’s rumored that all work on the future of California Adventure has ground to a halt. It’s a battle between the “major changes” crowd and the “tweak it” crowd. Essentially, anyone who expects to be fired when Eisner leaves is refusing to spend another nickel on the place (including funding a clone for ‘Rock’n Rollercoaster’) while people who want to see Disney make it to the end of the decade are planning to gut the place and start again. Whether Disneyland gets stuck with a parking lot carnival or finally gets an adjoining theme park depends on the boardroom games in Burbank.

 

[raidermatt]

a rumor has it that most fast-food locations will be dropping plastic trays in favor of paper bags for the guests to carry their food away. This is strictly a costs savings move and is being justified that “people don’t complain when they do it at McDonalds”.

I don't eat at McDonald's much anymore because they rank near the bottom of my list of fast food chains for quality and service (good fit for Disney, huh?). However, I did want to try some "Dippin' Dots" with my son. So on Saturday we stopped in to one of their restaurants for the first time in at least 6 months.

As always, we got our food on a tray. So I'm confused by the "people don't complain" part of their reasoning. If we didn't get a tray, I would complain. After all, if I just wanted it in bags, I would order it to go. (Actually, I probably wouldn't complain. It would just be one more reason for me to avoid McDonald's).

Trays make it easier to carry multiple meals and drinks. They also make cleaning up easier, as we just have to put everything on the tray and head over to the garbage can. Judging by what I see in some places however, I'll grant that the last point may not be important to many people....

Plans for Disneyland’s 50th Birthday are being cut back faster now than they were under the Pressler regime.

MiceAge notes that Rasulo doesn't mind spending money (true?), but is locked into Pressler's budgets for the next few years.

But does it matter? If Eisner doesn't want it (and clearly he doesn't), anybody with the Parks job is going to have to make do with the limited funding they are able to wrangle away for themselves. You could give Walt himself the parks job, and if he had to answer to Eisner's demands, he wouldn't be able to get much done.

‘Space Mountain’ is still rumored to be getting a new track (it’s entirely for maintenance reasons), but the plans for using the old Rocket Rods track have been killed.

That's too bad. As great an attraction as SM is, this is a golden opportunity to bring it back to the front of the pack with innovation and new technology.

MiceAge is reporting that a ‘Stitch’ overlay for SM is a possibility too – I’ve heard it’s just one of many ideas.

Ugh. I like Stitch, but not in SM.

the limited fiber optic treatment will be used for a new edition of the nightly fireworks show (which is rumored to have been scaled back from the nightly show to just weekends and summer again).

The new show could be a very nice update, but it should be a supplement to new and/or updated attractions, not a replacement for them.

The big rumor is that Disneyland will also be phasing out ride-specific costumes.

Bad "show". Need I say more?

Whether Disneyland gets stuck with a parking lot carnival or finally gets an adjoining theme park depends on the boardroom games in Burbank.

Whats the Vegas line on this one?

 

[All Aboard]

WDW already has the new lengthy safety spiels. I noticed them popping up in November, and even more this month. They've tried to incorporate a "theme" to them - i.e. at Astro Orbiter they are called "flight instructions" I believe. Yet, they are certainly quite intrusive. The worst two are at Spaceship Earth and Living with the Land where the beginning elements (primarily the music) get stepped on by the safety warnings.

 

[roymccoy]

You know what guys?...this is all REALLY starting to scare me. Are the good times behind us for awhile? I mean with the US economy in a slow motion, Iraq, the stock market drying up like a lake in the desert and NOW I read that North Korea said today that "There can be no world without North Korea. We will destroy the earth if we are attacked." This kind of stuff has got me bummed out. Also, my best friend lost his job today and has no leads for another one.
It kind of makes you wonder why Disney decided to cut SO much during the boom times of the late 90's when they should have been building and preparing the parks for the inevitible hard times that had to come. Now it seems that they have been cutting for years. Enron, Worldcom, United bankruptcy, Canseco bankruptcy, our California economy has a $36 billion dollar budget deficit and Goerge Bush got a small pox vaccination. What in the HELL is going on here?? When did this all of this happen? What kind of a life is it going to be for our kids if things keep going down this road? I'm a pretty optimistic guy but I'm starting to get a little worried about the near future. Oh well, enough gloom and doom for tonight...

Roy

P.S. How short sighted of TDA and WDI to plan a Stitch overhaul of SM to be opened in 2004 or 2005. Stitch is going to be as stale a character by then as an Emperor's New Groove makeover of Autopia would be now. Are they truly idiots?

 

[Bob O]

Yes roy, recent history shows they are idiots!!!

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

This my friends is why I have begun visiting Universal Orlando more and more...

 

[Mr D]

Unfortunately even our family was disapointed at our last WDW visit last year, mostly because we could visibly see the poor morale of the performers and CM's, many openly talked with me about the cutbacks, low pay and no foreseeable future in working there, our next trip will most likely center around USF, IOA, SW and other places, also the possibility of TDS in Japan. We all had PAP's, did not renew because of what we saw at WDW. There were occasional exceptions especially the elder CM's, I was noticeably impressed with their friendliness and helpfulness often above what they were required to do, and that was mostly at the MK on Main Street at the shops, overall it was fair to good but seemed stale. Like leftovers, three days straight.......

 

[Another Voice]

What in the HELL is going on here?? When did this all of this happen? What kind of a life is it going to be for our kids if things keep going down this road? I'm a pretty optimistic guy but I'm starting to get a little worried about the near future.

Real life happened. A decade of adolescent self-absorption and pretending that bad things didn’t exist simply left problems to grow and fester. Today is no different than yesterday which was no different than the day before it. Only now we can’t afford to ignore the world while an intern brings in pizza.

Life during this time was especially easy for Disney as well. The money rolled in without much effort. And the expectations within the company grew that this was the way things were supposed to be. The word Disney® was magic; all one needed to do stick it on any item and wait for the cash. Soon this expectation grew into a sense of entitlement. “We are Disney – don’t they see how Magical® it is!” became the common complaint. But the real world caught up too. People except value for their money; people expect to be entertained for their time; people demand their expectations to be met – not told to lower them.

Disney has been through many worse times before. The recession in the early 1980’s, the energy crisis and gas rationing, the turbulent 1960’s when Disney was anything but “cool”, World War 2 and the Great Depression. Good companies with a management that cares about them can weather and even grow in these storms. But companies that are used simply to siphon money into personal bank accounts always fail: there are easier ways to make money than trying to nurse a struggling company through troubling times.

No one at the top of Disney is working very hard these days.

 

[airlarry!]

AV:

I re-read an old piece of Jim Hill's where he hinted as to the expected figures from DCA. When you say that the execs have been expecting big numbers just by slapping 'Disney' on the front, you were not kidding.

Jim said that the summer day-to-day projectiosn for California (Mis)Adventure alone were 30K and more PER DAY!

Why? Because, on opening day, DCA is only going have only 22 rides and attractions. But Disney's own attendance projections show that, on a typical summer day, 30,000 guests will be wandering around DCA, looking for things to do.

Any idea how many are actually coming? Seems I like I remember Mouseplanet talking in the 6-12 per day range this past summer.

My secondquestion: Is it too late for Rasulo or anyone else tosalvage the 50th celebration? I get the feeling it is...

 

[ohanafamily]

I noticed safety messages on my last trip. Spaceship Earth was the most notable.

roymccoy, sorry to hear about your friend, but big companies do this kind of thing to make themselves look more profitable in the year-end report.

We can only hope that Ei$ner's replacements is a fan of the parks, and builds them up...

 

[manning]

"Good companies with a management that cares about them can weather and even grow in these storms. But companies that are used simply to siphon money into personal bank accounts always fail"
___________________________

I started working at Standard Oil of Indiana in 1961,(Amoco Oil Co.) and got to work with people who worked for the company during the depression. They worked their butts off for the company. Why? To a man (that I talked to), remembered what the company did for the workers during the depression. No one lost their job. Everyone was given enough work to put food on the table and pay their taxes. I worked there until 1995 and saw the change of management philosophy. and the change in worker morale. The last CEO ran the company into the ground and sold it to British Petroleum. The key to any company are the people working there. Treat them fairly and the chances of success are greatly increased. What about that guy in the northeastern US. He treated his employees fairly and when his textile plant burned down they rallied around him and the plant was rebuilt. Or the man that owns SAS in North Carolina. He says his greatest assets walk out the door at the end of everyday and I want them to come back the next day. His workers are fairly paid and treated.