News Round Up 2017

[writerguyfl]

Thank you for sharing this! As Californians, we don’t know the history of public transport/light rails within Florida and this helped. Guess my assumption that the driver was just pulling stuff out of the air wasn’t entirely true! Thanks again

You're welcome. Mass transit in urban areas is a small part of my dissertation work, so I keep up to date on big projects. (I'm also a Florida resident and I used to work at Disney World.)

For guests flying in, a light rail/monorail line between the Orlando International Airport and Disney World would not a positive. It would require guests to make multiple transfers. You'd have to 1) take the automated train from the gate to the main terminal, 2) take a different automated train to the Intermodal Transportation Terminal currently under construction, 3) transfer to the light rail/monorail line to get to the Disney World station, and 4) transfer to a Disney bus to get to your resort.

As it works today, Disney's Magical Express service is far more convenient.

 

[jlundeen]

You're welcome. Mass transit in urban areas is a small part of my dissertation work, so I keep up to date on big projects. (I'm also a Florida resident and I used to work at Disney World.)

For guests flying in, a light rail/monorail line between the Orlando International Airport and Disney World would not a positive. It would require guests to make multiple transfers. You'd have to 1) take the automated train from the gate to the main terminal, 2) take a different automated train to the Intermodal Transportation Terminal currently under construction, 3) transfer to the light rail/monorail line to get to the Disney World station, and 4) transfer to a Disney bus to get to your resort.

As it works today, Disney's Magical Express service is far more convenient.

This has always been something that "sounded good on paper." I remember hearing about it decades ago, but seeing it spelled out like writerguyfl did above really shows the difference between reality and what seemed to be "a good idea." I'm happy to take that comfy DME bus and not worry about schlepping luggage around or worrying about making connections to several different trains, thank you very much.

 

[mikeamizzle]

Coco is performing well so far

http://variety.com/2017/film/news/box-office-coco-justice-league-1202622771/

Hopefully the great word of mouth and reviews the film has been getting will help out going forward into December at the box office. My guess is that they will.

 

[OnSpaceshipEarth]

My only concern is the diminishing returns Disney is getting from their Thanksgiving animated offerings. Coco came in 11 million under Moana which had already come in 11 million less than Frozen.

Loved the film, though!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

My only concern is the diminishing returns Disney is getting from their Thanksgiving animated offerings. Coco came in 11 million under Moana which had already come in 11 million less than Frozen.

Loved the film, though!

I do think expectations are different for a "princess" vs a "non-princess" film - seems like it is tracking ahead of expectations - but I do see your point

 

[OnSpaceshipEarth]

I do think expectations are different for a "princess" vs a "non-princess" film - seems like it is tracking ahead of expectations - but I do see your point

Also, it's rumored to be significantly more expensive than those two films with a production budget of 225 million compared to 150 million for Frozen and Moana. Breaking even may be tough.

 

[skier_pete]

Coco is a bit of a "hard sell" as it is not clearly a princess movie or a familiar property (sequel) so though $70 million is not great, the good word of mouth bodes well. It's got a couple weeks before "Star Wars" hits, and not a ton of competition. Ferdinand is the only other animated movie coming out on the holiday (on the 15th), so CoCo could do pretty well. However, Moana did $248 million domestic, so based on the down beat, Looks to me like Coco will be around $200 million domestic. Not bad, but not big box office. Certainly better than "The Good Dinosaur" at $123 million (which to it's credit deserved the lousy box office because it stunk) and "Cars 3" at $153 million. On the bright side both Wreck-It-Ralph and Big Hero Six did around $200 million domestic, so it's certainly not a "blockbuster" but should qualify as a "hit". (Inside Out did $350 million as a comparison for a truly successful original animated movie.)

I don't want anyone to think I am "Pooh Poohing" Coco, I want it to be succesful because I want more great ORIGINAL animated movies out of Pixar. The fact that it beats Cars 3 - which had a cushy summer slot - gives them good reason to push for more original content. We literally have to wait another 2.5 years (minimum) for the next ORIGINAL Disney OR Pixar movie. Yes that's right 2020. Hopefully success here will get them cranking on some of these ideas.

 

[PaintsWithAllTheColors]

It’s also worth noting that Coco has already been a smash in Mexico and it appears that it’s going to be the first ever Pixar movie to resonate with the Chinese market. There was an article about how Coco had a 270% box office increase overnight in China! And if it does well in China, that could easily make up for any breakeven shortfall domestically.

 

[umichigan10]

Coco is a bit of a "hard sell" as it is not clearly a princess movie or a familiar property (sequel) so though $70 million is not great, the good word of mouth bodes well. It's got a couple weeks before "Star Wars" hits, and not a ton of competition. Ferdinand is the only other animated movie coming out on the holiday (on the 15th), so CoCo could do pretty well. However, Moana did $248 million domestic, so based on the down beat, Looks to me like Coco will be around $200 million domestic. Not bad, but not big box office. Certainly better than "The Good Dinosaur" at $123 million (which to it's credit deserved the lousy box office because it stunk) and "Cars 3" at $153 million. On the bright side both Wreck-It-Ralph and Big Hero Six did around $200 million domestic, so it's certainly not a "blockbuster" but should qualify as a "hit". (Inside Out did $350 million as a comparison for a truly successful original animated movie.)

I don't want anyone to think I am "Pooh Poohing" Coco, I want it to be succesful because I want more great ORIGINAL animated movies out of Pixar. The fact that it beats Cars 3 - which had a cushy summer slot - gives them good reason to push for more original content. We literally have to wait another 2.5 years (minimum) for the next ORIGINAL Disney OR Pixar movie. Yes that's right 2020. Hopefully success here will get them cranking on some of these ideas.

Agreed with all you said. I never really see Pixar movies in the theaters anymore but I’m debating seeing coco in order to support original ideas

 

[OnSpaceshipEarth]

It’s also worth noting that Coco has already been a smash in Mexico and it appears that it’s going to be the first ever Pixar movie to resonate with the Chinese market. There was an article about how Coco had a 270% box office increase overnight in China! And if it does well in China, that could easily make up for any breakeven shortfall domestically.

Yeah it's doing well in China(who would have thought), but studios only get 25% of the gross in that country so it has to really be a smash to really bring Disney significant revenue.

 

[PaintsWithAllTheColors]

Yeah it's doing well in China(who would have thought), but studios only get 25% of the gross in that country so it has to really be a smash to really bring Disney significant revenue.

Got it, makes sense. Well we’ll see! Yeah at first it was really surprising to me but then it occurred to me that similar cultural values of family and honoring ancestors might be the relatable factor?

 

[MommaBerd]

Just got done seeing Coco and we all enjoyed it SO much! I really hope it picks up steam due to word of mouth!

Got it, makes sense. Well we’ll see! Yeah at first it was really surprising to me but then it occurred to me that similar cultural values of family and honoring ancestors might be the relatable factor?

I recently learned the Chinese have a similar holiday called Tomb Sweeping where they traditionally visit their ancestors graves to clean them up and bring them gifts or representations of gifts for them to have in the after life.

 

[PolyRob]

Coco LE magic band (I may have already ordered one)

View attachment 285097

Saw the movie earlier today... I think I am in for one too!

 

[MissGina5]

Ugh. Was trying to avoid having to buy other things to get the band to ship for free.

wait til cyber monday!

 

[rteetz]

News

Work Begins on Pedestrian Bridge Near the Universal Orlando Resort

 

[rteetz]

News

Road Work Continues to Take Place Throughout Walt Disney World

 

[rteetz]

Photo Update

Disneyland Update: It’s All About The Candy Canes

 

[rteetz]

News

New Christmas Offerings, End of “Disney in the Stars” Fireworks at Hong Kong Disneyland

 

[amberpi]

Photo Update

Disneyland Update: It’s All About The Candy Canes

I'm weirdly fascinated by this candy cane business at DLR, may be because I'm completely powerless over expensive handmade things. What a cool tradition. I wish we could order them!

 

[eXo]

You're welcome. Mass transit in urban areas is a small part of my dissertation work, so I keep up to date on big projects. (I'm also a Florida resident and I used to work at Disney World.)

For guests flying in, a light rail/monorail line between the Orlando International Airport and Disney World would not a positive. It would require guests to make multiple transfers. You'd have to 1) take the automated train from the gate to the main terminal, 2) take a different automated train to the Intermodal Transportation Terminal currently under construction, 3) transfer to the light rail/monorail line to get to the Disney World station, and 4) transfer to a Disney bus to get to your resort.

As it works today, Disney's Magical Express service is far more convenient.

Step 1 has to be done with the magic express as well.

Step 2 would take no longer than the amount of time you spend in line waiting for the magic express. Both times I have used the ME I have waited between 20-30 minutes to board. The train transport could actually be quicker in that regard.

Step 3 is the equivalent of boarding the magic express.

Step 4 is the only additional step, assuming you don't get super lucky and happen to get to the ME boarding areas right as your bus loads AND it happens to have room for you. In which case you would be able to eliminate the comparison in step two. But honestly, is this any worse than sitting on the magic express while they go to multiple resorts to drop people off before yours? I'd rather make one transfer and go straight to my resort versus driving to multiple others.

Considering however the ME has to deal with traffic issues, a train suddenly has benefits that I don't see mentioned here.. Even without traffic a train would be able to make it to Disney World much quicker than the M.E., which in turn would make up for the extra transfer.

I'm not saying it solves all the problems and makes it a seemless experience, but I do think you are under selling it here and ignoring problems inherent to the ME.