News & Rumors??

[Lumpalump]

I have been a reader of this board for a very long time and it seems that based upon the overall content over the last few months it should be renamed to.... Whining & Bashing.

I find it very difficult to believe that the majority of the people that post on here are actually fans of Disney. From what has been posted I would have to assume just the opposite....Let's bash animation medium...let's see whose death is to be blamed for the "demise" of Disney, let's all clap and cheer the exiting of Eisner and the list goes on and on and on.

I would love to see any one of us attempt to take the wheel of such a large corporation and do a better job than any of the current or past executives. I think it's safe to say that Walt had a very special and uniques vision but unfortunately he is dead and with his death went all of his future ideas and concepts.

As for beating up the parks, I just returned from our Disney vacation where my 2 children got to see it for the first time. And I'm sure that by watching my children run up and hug Mickey and all the other characters and be in complete awe and amazment of such a wonderous place that this is what Walt wanted. For all of us to see his magic through the eyes of children, not pick apart whether a post has fresh paint or the cleaning staff is outsourced. These were not concerns my children had, rather their concern was trying to spot Goofy or Pluto or getting right back in a 20 minute line to travel through the hundred acre woods with Pooh.

This is the magic of Disney and apparently many posters have had that magic tainted or completely replaced with the joy of finding things wrong with Disney on a whole.

Maybe it's time to take a step back and remember what makes the magic and try to refocus on that. And perhaps this board could get back to offering rumours and news of a sort that is fun and people can feel confident that their posting of rumors will not be met with such criticism, sarcacism and be treated a trite.

 

[LVSWL]

Well said. As someone who has too many incredible memories to count with family and friends at WDW I for one am thankful to all of the people who make it possible and try to recognize that while it may not be perfect, it sure has seemed that way on plenty of occasions to us, and there are thousands of people who are doing there best to try and make it so. Given 9/11 and the hurricaines the folks working at Disney still met us with smiles and warmth and open arms even though some of them were without electricity and some of the basics. We love Disney!

 

[All Aboard]

This forum is a shadow of its former self. Most of the regulars picked up stakes and moved out quite some time ago. Even then, this forum has never really been about fun and happy topics. It has always centered around a critique of the business practices of today's Disney. And, quite frankly, this is the board that most of those types of posts get pushed to when they are started in other forums here on the DIS.

I know the kind of joyous bliss you are searching for can be found in buckets over on the Theme Parks Attractions Board. I, for one, use those other forums for the types of things you mention in your post. You can try to push this forum in that direction, but I suspect in the end you won't get much traction.

And, as for the speculative, fun rumoring. That goes on daily at *************. The "when will the Harry Potter ride open" stuff is what they do best.

Please don't take this response the wrong way. I think your efforts to turn this board into a happy place, while noble, are likely to be fruitless.

 

[tigmickey]

Please don't take this response the wrong way. I think your efforts to turn this board into a happy place, while noble, are likely to be fruitless.

Wow, I thought news and rumors is news and rumors not

.... Whining & Bashing.

There is nothing wrong with hoping for Harry Potter. I don't post on this site often because it is very negative. My problem is not so much that people disagree, it is that people will post "...we talked about this before...why are you wasting our time..." and things like that. If you don't want to discuss Harry Potter, Monorail Expansion or 5th park rumors, DON'T. Let the post die. OR let the people who want to talk about the above listed things talk about it. It is this attitude that makes this site not very enjoyable. The DIS is a great place for information if you can get through all the negativity.

My two cents.

 

[Sarangel]

A fair amount of what you're seeing is your filter on what is talked about here. In the past week or so, we've had rumors about Hugh Jackman's role in "If you Could See Me Now," about DVC building at the Contemporary, about Disney's expansion into the electronics Market, about Bob Iger's Pay package, and various Broadway stuff.

Part of the problem I have (since I do this stuff every day) is that there aren't a lot of interesting rumors or News stories out there lately. Either Disney is plugging all the leaks that used to come out, or they are in a lull while they change the management team.

That being said, gcurling is correct that many of the regular posters on this board are critical of the choices Disney has made in the past. I don't see it as negativity, most of the time, but rather a place that we can debate the pros and cons of those choices with others who care as much about our favorite company.

Sarangel

 

[All Aboard]

My problem is not so much that people disagree, it is that people will post "...we talked about this before...why are you wasting our time..." and things like that. If you don't want to discuss Harry Potter, Monorail Expansion or 5th park rumors, DON'T. Let the post die. OR let the people who want to talk about the above listed things talk about it. It is this attitude that makes this site not very enjoyable.

Are you talking about the DIS, or that site that got ***'ed out of my post? Because I find the folks over there to be far less tolerant of failing to keep a topic to one single thread. From what I have seen in 6 years here, no one really gets too bothered by someone else starting a same old, same old thread here. I'll often toss my opinion into threads like the ones you specifically mentioned. Including the 5th park, which I posted my strong opinion on recently. (And, for probably the 20th time over the years. )

 

[DancingBear]

tigmickey, you make a fair point, and we should all be more welcoming to whoever wants to stop by here; however,

I agree with gcurling that this board has not only been a source for "Rumors and News" itself, but a place to comment on those rumors and news, and upon the state of the Company and its components. That may lead to negative comments, but so be it---there should be a place for those on these boards as well. As gcurling said, there are many other places on the DIS to do your happy dances and get pixie dust.

Don't assume that those who have complaints about things such as Eisner's megalomania, rampant outsourcing of creative content, or the downsizing and downgrading of the importance of imagineering are not Disney fans. In my experience, many of the "negative" posters are among the most rabid fans of "Disney"; however, what they are fans of is not "The Walt Disney Company" as it now exists.

 

[WDWHound]

While some of the topics here may be viewed as Disney bashing, that is not what this board is really about. We probably love Disney more than the average Joe. For this reason, we find it hard to remain silent when we see the company failing to meet the standards it used to hold itself to years ago. The decimation of the Imagineering and Animation departments. The use of off the shelf Carmival type rides (can you say Dino-Rama?). The building of cheap, half day parks (California Adventure). The constant flow of cheep, direct to video sequels which try to milk past hits for every last penny while sacrificing Disney's reputation for quality. All of these things are bad amanagement decisiosns and all of them are changing the company we loved into something we no longer recognize.

Are the parks still wonderful? Yes, but that is a testement to the wonderful work done on them in the early years, not a testement to what has been produced recently. Admittedly, we are actually seeing some signs of hope in that new true E-Tickets are rumored to be in the works and Disneyland is finally getting the refurb it so desperately needed after years of outright neglect, but for 10 long years we had to put up with Eisners "lightly themed" (his words, not mine) attraction concept which he called "the wave of the future".

Does Disney still put out quaulity animation? Maybe, but its been a long time. The last decent thing they produced was Lilo and Stich. Maybe Chicken Little will break this trend, but for years they have been completely dependant on Pixar for any king of quality animation. If this keeps up, they will lose their ability to produce any animation of quality.

In short, the reason we gripe is that we see something we love being destroyed and we want it stopped. Yes, much magic remains, and there is some hope for the future, but we still fear that if the trends we have seen over the last 10 years are allowed to continue, the remaining magic will be clowly destroyed, Disney will become just another company and will we all lose something that is very special.

 

[JRawkSteady]

I think probably 42% of the people on this board could do a better job than Eisner did after Wells died, first of all.

Second of all, fans of Disney are mostly fans of the Disney THEY grew up with. Have you even seen what it's become? They market specific items to death..and when they die, they market new items to death. Is getting rid of the animation studios something we should praise? I love the theme parks, but until they start making Disney musicals again, I don't think their films will be even close to what they used to be.

One question: did you see Home On The Range? You wanna know why we think there's a giant decline in Disney. Watch that movie and see if you come out smiling, scratching your head, or depressed at how little thought Disney could put into one movie.

I'm not defending the News and Rumors section as much as I am your comment on most of us not being Disney fans...if you came to my house, you'd see how wrong you are...but I will continue complaining until they bring back the musicals, re-open the animation studios, create more actual CLASSICS, and the sequels finally stop.

 

[raidermatt]

Lumpalump, stop and think about this for a second... do people spend significant amounts of time over periods of 5 and 6 years discussing things they don't care a great deal about?

 

[YoHo]

Seriously, look at some of the join dates here. Clearly this board is providing something for someone.

 

[Lumpalump]

I don't disagree that this board provides something to a small percentage of the Disney Fan population, but it certainly doesn;t stay focused upon it's title of News and Rumors nor does it ever seem to allow for various disseminated opinions. If you all were to go back and read your comments with an open mind you would see where there is zero tolerance for those with differing opinions.

As I stated before, this board does satisfy some small segment of the fan base but perhaps you should change the name of the board to something other than News and Rumors so that you are not misleading new readers into posting their "news or rumors" only to have them shot down quickly and viciously.

A "News and Rumor" board should be fun. It should be able to allow visitors to take a grain of truth and let their imagination grow with it. This group likes to trample on peoples imagination and throw it away like yesterday's garbage.

I guess I don't really care about how much Disney "stuff" any of us has. We all have tons of it. Nor do I care about how many times you've been to WDW, (which I visited over 20 times). What I do care about is having a venue where people can openly share their imagination and speculate on what they would like to see in the parks.

After all as so many have posted on their profile, "It all started with a mouse". If that freedom of imagination and being able to freely ask "What if...?" was negatively received so many years ago, then there would be no WDW.

Think about it. Please. Be open to others ideas and not so quick to shoot them down. And maybe it's time to start a new board either for those of us who are from my train of thought and renaming this board to something that better reflects that it is a board for strong opinions and corporate debate.

 

[Lord Fantasius]

If you all were to go back and read your comments with an open mind you would see where there is zero tolerance for those with differing opinions.

Lumpalump - I think you're definitely being unfair here; and fine if that's your opinion, but I would disagree in a general sense. However, just because I disagree with you doesn't mean I have zero tolerane for your opinion. I'm one who also lurks far more than he posts and actually lurked for about a year before joining. What I found are people who are definitely passionate about WDW, but since Disney usually keeps its real news closely guarded, the majority of what you read here is reaction to news in the media or rumors of which only about 2% is true and the rest disinformation.

Yes, it does appear on occasion that this section becomes an Eisner-bashing or management-bashing board, but when those who are passionate about something don't see any good being projected in the near future, we start getting anxious. Admittedly it seems there has been a cull of old news and rumor threads since most of the pages I remember over the past couple of years aren't available, but if you wait long enough or want to start a thread you'll find that - 1) most people here would like to see the monorail route expanded (though I honestly would like to see the EPCOT-express loop and MK-express loop connected into a giant continuous figure-8 allowing direct service between these parks), though the debate is whether it's feasible or not (I believe it can be supported econominally); 2) that the next moderate resort to be built should either be colonial-themed or castle-themed; and 3) that Disney really needs to flesh out both the Animal Kingdom and The Studios before embarking upon another gate.

However, we also all admit that the possibility of these things happening falls somewhere between the square root of zero and the inverse of infinity under the current corporate mentality. Actually what we have found at Disney, Inc., is exactly what you complain about us doing on these boards, which is what most of our complaints are about.

It is more than likely true that if Walt were alive today and was trying to pitch his ideas to an Eisner "short-sighted-bottom-line-is-my-middle-name" executive, then Orlando would still be a marsh. We're just trying to make sure in our own little way that what makes WDW magically to children of all ages who dream is not the corporate stock price, but that we all can be a prince or princess for a time!

So, what do you want us to discuss, the weather?

-R

P.S., Oh, by the way, welcome to the Disboards...we value everyone's opinion; no matter how irritating they may be!

P.P.S., If you don't like the threads why are you reading them? Or better yet why not start some along the lines of interest to you...if others are interested they'll join in, if not, they'll die...it's not communist China here on the boards.

 

[Sarangel]

A "News and Rumor" board should be fun. It should be able to allow visitors to take a grain of truth and let their imagination grow with it.

Unfortunately, that doesn't fall into my definition of News and Rumor. News (in my mind) should be actual news stories about Disney or the industry in which it competes, with some commentary that ties it back to Disney. Rumor should be things that we hear (from CMs, other internet sites, the news, or from within Disney) that might actually happen in the company or parks.

What you are describing sounds like storytelling to me, and there are other places on the DIS (and the rest of the net) to make things up out of whole cloth. I don't mean to discourage you from dreaming, just point out that this board has (at least during the time I've been moderating) focused on News, Rumor, and discussion of the business practices of the Disney company.

Sarangel

PS. Technically this discussion isn't really News or Rumor, but I'm letting it stand because it is part of the community of this board.

 

[Viki]

PS. Technically this discussion isn't really News or Rumor, but I'm letting it stand because it is part of the community of this board.

Thank you. And let me add that I run groups for organizations that want to promote internal change and I don't start by asking them what's good about the organizaiton. Instead, I invite them to complain - outloud, in public, together, in an organized fashion. At times, I will have been the first one to ever extend that invititation. They've been complanining, but only in triangles, not as a community. And I start with the complaints because that's where the passion is and, ultimately, that's where the impetus for change will be generated. So, please, complain away!

 

[2Xited4Disney]

See I feel like this is one of the more interesting discussion on this board..

I come here for the Rumors I read the news now and then to learn but i don't read past the actual news becuase most people post their opinion on the news. To me that isn't news and it is my choice not to read further. I am not saying people aren't entitled to their opinion, I just choose not to read it.

 

[mitros]

Hey, for those who do not like the type of stuff being said and posted here, do the same thing that you do when you come to a TV show you do not care for....Change the channel, find a board that says what you enjoy, or has the feel that you are looking for.

 

[Lumpalump]

...find a board that says what you enjoy...

That's exactly my point. People come here based upon the title of the board "News and Rumors" and find debate and cynacism.

 

[YoHo]

That's exactly my point. People come here based upon the title of the board "News and Rumors" and find debate and cynacism.

They find debate about the news. Why is that wrong or misleading? If I opened a board on News and rumors and it was a bunch of daydreaming about whatifs and I wishes, then I'd close it and leave. That is not news and that is not rumors.

If I'm a little short when somebody posts about how a CM told them that there would be a fifth park for thrill rides themed on villians, because I've heard that rumor every single year FOR THE PAST 6 YEARS! Then it's understandable. Maybe I could go out of my way to be nicer, but come on.

In any case, it seems that it is you who is unaware of what News and Rumors are.
Are we going to ban people because they're Cynical? This website has dozens of board subtopics. 99% of them are nothing but Pixie dust and Snowglobes. I think 1 board with a focus on the real news of the company and the rumors about it is acceptable.

 

[Lumpalump]

They find debate about the news.

In any case, it seems that it is you who is unaware of what News and Rumors are.

I am perfectly well aware of what News and Rumors are and I find no where in the definition where it includes debate or intolerance.

As for what people find here..you stated they find news. Although this is true..it is news that is usually delivered with an agenda. Why hide a debate board under the name, "News and Rumors"? Just call it what it is, "A debate forum regarding the Disney corporation and product offering"

PS I find it almost humorous how many people have responded to this original posting with such ferver. Almost as though I was personally attacking the credibilty of any one person. My thoughts were a reflection of reading hundreds of posting of the last few years.

It's kinda interesting....