New AK ride/Western River = It ain't built yet!!

[crusader]

when we talk about what direction Disney is taking. Particularly in a service or creative field, its very difficult to succeed when you make your goal staying ahead of your competition at a given moment.

This is one area I am not completely in agreement on. WDW has to recognize its competition particularly in the R & D department. They no longer contain all the inhouse talent. It is important they remain innovative but they are not "chasing the other guy here". They should be basing decisions on the market and today that consumer has been overexposed and inundated with entertainment choices well beyond what Disney is used to offering. The model has to move beyond what was implemented in the 70's.

If its wearing off for guests, Disney is not doing its job, and those guests will vacation elsewhere, in places where that feeling does not wear off.

Not necessarily. Vacation decisions are based on time, money and enjoyment. The reality of this trip is that it is up to the consumer to decide how much enjoyment they will experience. They control their own temperament. It is up to WDW to provide the venue.

 

[crusader]

Honestly, I'm really having trouble figuring out where you are coming from.

Having missed the thread which segregated the soulmates on this side of the boards into respective cars I can't really help here.

 

[DisneyKidds]

Having missed the thread which segregated the soulmates on this side of the boards into respective cars I can't really help here.

It's not too late. You didn't miss it. Have you checked out the 'Carpools Defined' thread at the top of the Rumors Board?

 

[WEDWAY100]

Originally posted by crusader
This is not realistically possible. The novelty has worn off; Competition has arrived; Technology is no longer uniquely Disney; Decades have left a remaining sense of familiarity; The mouse has aged; etc....

I saw RaiderMatt’s response to this, and I agree with his points, but feel even stronger about it, hence my response.

This type of thinking minimizes what Walt and his creative team were able to accomplish. If you’re saying that it was easier in the early 1950’s to impress people, or create good entertainment, then why didn’t several companies create things as incredible as DL was? It was just as difficult to differentiate your product then as it is now.

So how did Walt accomplish this? He took risks. Big, huge financial risks, especially with DL. That, combined with his (and his team’s) vision is why DL was such an incredible place. The current regime doesn’t have the vision, the desire, or the guts for this. I really don’t think that the company will ever return to that level (percentage wise) of investment and risk in the parks.

 

[crusader]

Thanks Mr. Kidds.

Since I only associate the phrase magic with the disney product lines and cannot clearly define it in a universal sense in order to apply it here I may not be in any car.

 

[crusader]

It was just as difficult to differentiate your product then as it is now.

Then - you had basic styles for every commodity.
Then - you had milk delivered to your home.
Then - you had one car and during the day it wasn't in your driveway.
Then - you didn't have a shopping mall full of whole stores dedicated to selling labels.
Then - there were far less publicly traded companies in existence and far more monopolies held on durable goods.

It really was not that difficult to differentiate your product. If you were GE everyone knew what you made. If you were Westinghouse everyone knew what you made. If you were Ford .....If you were Bell........etc etc etc etc

Walt Disney found a niche. They were much more prevalent in his day. Yes he took a risk and succeeded but he had an advantage that no longer exists in this market.

 

[WEDWAY100]

Originally posted by crusader
Then - you had basic styles for every commodity.
Then - you had milk delivered to your home.
Then - you had one car and during the day it wasn't in your driveway.
Then - you didn't have a shopping mall full of whole stores dedicated to selling labels.
Then - there were far less publicly traded companies in existence and far more monopolies held on durable goods.

It really was not that difficult to differentiate your product. If you were GE everyone knew what you made. If you were Westinghouse everyone knew what you made. If you were Ford .....If you were Bell........etc etc etc etc

Walt Disney found a niche. They were much more prevalent in his day. Yes he took a risk and succeeded but he had an advantage that no longer exists in this market.

Two points to this:

1. I personally believe that 50 years from now, we will be able to create a very similar list over that 50 year time frame. We just won’t include the Walt Disney Company on our list.

2. When Walt created DL, he pushed the envelope very far regarding amusement parks. It’s possible that he pushed it so far that there has never been a better amusement park built since. I think that he was done with the theme park idea. He spent most of his final months thinking about EPCOT, the city, not the MK. He was looking in a different direction than theme parks at that point.

While I think that the company today should still develop cutting edge theme park attractions, they should have branched into other (different) conepts of high quality entertainment for the WDW property. They had 43 square miles, mostly undeveloped. Yet rather than doing something new and innovative with the land (like Epcot, the city, but maybe something else), they built theme park after theme park, the same thing again and again. No new innovation beyond the theme park concept.

EPCOT could have been that different idea, but maybe some true imagineer could have come up with something better. I don’t have that idea for you. But I’m not an imagineer.

 

[crusader]

While I think that the company today should still develop cutting edge theme park attractions, they should have branched into other (different) conepts of high quality entertainment for the WDW property. They had 43 square miles, mostly undeveloped. Yet rather than doing something new and innovative with the land (like Epcot, the city, but maybe something else), they built theme park after theme park, the same thing again and again. No new innovation beyond the theme park concept.

Exactly! This may be precisely what is missing for most people on these boards.

 

[WEDWAY100]

Originally posted by crusader
Exactly! This may be precisely what is missing for most people on these boards.

Wow. Do we agree on this? That almost never happens to me on these boards!

 

[Sarangel]

Don't tell the tag faries, something drastic might happen...

Sarangel