So - no giant cupcake in Worlds of Marvel?

[brentm77]

Yes, clearly forced perspective.

But, exactly as you said earlier, what’s the message being delivered? Is the little girl’s mouth agape because a smallish cupcake was placed at her table, and then moved a little closer to the other side of the table, so it looked bigger to the camera? Of course not.

The clear message is that something crazy is going to happen with your dessert. Of course, not literally growing before your eyes. We’re not imbeciles. But I think it’s a fair takeaway that something was going to happen, right?

Turns out there is no trick. At all. Not even a little. And I can’t figure out why they created that video yet didn’t even try something shrinky-enlargey.

I agree - I think it was at least implied that they would do the big/small food thing they do at Avengers Campus.

I was curious, so I googled, and Disney has sold jumbo cupcakes at the parks before:

https://thekingdominsider.com/mickey-mouseketeer-jumbo-cupcakes-now-available/

It's hard to tell how big they are, but I think they are jumbo muffin size. This certainly wouldn't have the wow factor of what is shown in the commercial, but it sure seems like low-hanging fruit to me. It's a head scratcher that they didn't play with the shrinking/growing theme on the menu given they already do it in the parks. It wouldn't be that hard or wasteful when done right - jumbo breaded shrimp would be easy and not too abnormal, for example. For the cupcakes, given how simple the ingredients are, we aren't talking about a lot of added cost, and I really don't see it adding to that much waste if done at the above size. Particularly because many wouldn't order them, would share them, or would take them to eat later. I personally wouldn't order one because it's a bit much for my taste, nor would my wife. But maybe one of my kids, or both would, and we would all try some. But that's one or two for a table of four. Servers could easily encourage sharing. It would add a little fun to the atmosphere.

I honestly don't really care, but it just seems like a missed opportunity. Either way, I am genuinely enjoying this thread. Sometimes it's nice to debate something not so serious.

 

[DLgal]

Yes, clearly forced perspective.

But, exactly as you said earlier, what’s the message being delivered? Is the little girl’s mouth agape because a smallish cupcake was placed at her table, and then moved a little closer to the other side of the table, so it looked bigger to the camera? Of course not.

The clear message is that something crazy is going to happen with your dessert. Of course, not literally growing before your eyes. We’re not imbeciles. But I think it’s a fair takeaway that something was going to happen, right?

Turns out there is no trick. At all. Not even a little. And I can’t figure out why they created that video yet didn’t even try something shrinky-enlargey.

It's the part in the video where the girl gets a tiny cupcake, PUSHES THE BUTTON ON THE QUANTUM CORE SITTING ON THE TABLE, and then the cupcake "grows."

Now we know pushing the button makes...the light change color? I guess? Although if you don't push it, it will change anyway? So, like, pushing the button literally does nothing AND you don't even get tiny or large food?

Yeah, I think we can say the video is a little bit more than "fluff". It's straight up misleading in a way that implies an interactive show element to dinner.

This would be like the Aquamouse having static posters on the lift hill instead of video clips.

 

[DLgal]

You're being needlessly pedantic. Replace "giant cupcakes" with "the ingredients to make giant cupcakes" and the point still stands.

You must not do a whole lot of baking, huh?

The larger items could be offset by tiny items. It would all hash out, ingredients wise.

Kinda like how at Pyms, they sell a giant pretzel, but then ALSO use tiny slider buns for the giant chicken sandwich.

 

[brentm77]

It's the part in the video where the girl gets a tiny cupcake, PUSHES THE BUTTON ON THE QUANTUM CORE SITTING ON THE TABLE, and then the cupcake "grows."

Now we know pushing the button makes...the light change color? I guess? Although if you don't push it, it will change anyway? So, like, pushing the button literally does nothing AND you don't even get tiny or large food?

Yeah, I think we can say the video is a little bit more than "fluff". It's straight up misleading in a way that implies an interactive show element to dinner.

This would be like the Aquamouse having static posters on the lift hill instead of video clips.

Possible SPOILER

I'm sorry to disappoint, but the button doesn't even appear to change the light. If you watch the videos, the empty tables' lights change exactly the same as the tables where the button is pushed.

 

[DLgal]

Possible SPOILER

I'm sorry to disappoint, but the button doesn't even appear to change the light. If you watch the videos, the empty table's lights change exactly the same as the tables where the button is pushed.

Yeah, I heard that from one of the media people reviews. Like, come on, Disney. Be better than that. It is SO EASY to make a led light that changes color with the press of a button. Heck, those darn glow cubes they sell everywhere at Disney do that. You can ALSO program the same lights to change color in unison during show sequences. This is just really lazy on DCLs part.

 

[brentm77]

Just another idea (sorry if someone has already mentioned this one).

You order the cupcake, it appears on a themed tablet in the center of the table (instead of the canisters, and the tablet can interact with the show too), giving you the illusion that you are seeing your cupcake back in the lab-like kitchen. Then you can upsize it with one button, downsize it with another. On the screen, you have the illusion of enlarging it or shrinking it. Then you finalize your order with a touch of a button, and they bring it out to you. I would have loved that as a kid. I suspect many guests would go for the mini cupcake too. Maybe balance out those that go for jumbo.

 

[mamaburrito]

Or they could have done a bowl of spaghetti with a giant meatball, a hamburger with a large bun, micro hamburger, a giant slice of pizza, a really big salad….they could have found a way to play with the food.

 

[holula]

Or they could have done a bowl of spaghetti with a giant meatball, a hamburger with a large bun, micro hamburger, a giant slice of pizza, a really big salad….they could have found a way to play with the food.

I love the spaghetti idea!

Or even just looking at the menu, have one large bao bun instead of two small ones. A huge piece of schnitzel.

 

[mamaburrito]

Or if they don’t want to play with the big/small food theme they could have used any other marvel character to theme the restaurant.

 

[squirk]

Just another idea (sorry if someone has already mentioned this one).

You order the cupcake, it appears on a themed tablet in the center of the table (instead of the canisters, and the tablet can interact with the show too), giving you the allusion that you are seeing your cupcake back in the lab-like kitchen. Then you can upsize it with one button, downsize it with another. On the screen, you have the illusion of enlarging it or shrinking it. Then you finalize your order with a touch of a button, and they bring it out to you. I would have loved that as a kid. I suspect many guests would go for the mini cupcake too. Maybe balance out those that go for jumbo.

I was literally thinking the same thing yesterday - tablets to simulate "remote viewing" of your dessert being prepped in the test kitchen.

Hi-jinks ensue as you mess around with the button, but eventually the dessert inevitably "settles" as normal-size and is then delivered to your table. No actual teeny- or jumbo-sized desserts need to be produced.

 

[mamaburrito]

I was literally thinking the same thing yesterday - tablets to simulate "remote viewing" of your dessert being prepped in the test kitchen.

Hi-jinks ensue as you mess around with the button, but eventually the dessert inevitably "settles" as normal-size and is then delivered to your table. No actual teeny- or jumbo-sized desserts need to be produced.

They can even put no oversized cupcakes were harmed during this filming!

 

[Kwami]

You must not do a whole lot of baking, huh?

The larger items could be offset by tiny items. It would all hash out, ingredients wise.

Kinda like how at Pyms, they sell a giant pretzel, but then ALSO use tiny slider buns for the giant chicken sandwich.

What are you even talking about? You said that all food brought onto a cruise was consumer or trashed at the end of the cruise. I said that it isn't*. But, if I'm wrong and the food really is thrown away at the end, then not bringing giant cupcakes (or the ingredients to make them) means not throwing away unused giant cupcakes (or the ingredients to make them) at the end of the cruise. What does any of that have to do with whether I bake (rarely) or how big the ingredients are?

* Except for perishable ingredients past their shelf life, such as eggs, which absolutely might be wasted in this giant cupcake scenario, regardless of whether other, shelf stable ingredients are thrown away (and they definitely aren't).

 

[dwg]

We are going on the Wish in November. Originally watching the "cupcake" video gave the expectation that something special was going to happen at the dinner table and Ant Man was going to be making rounds at the tables. Did I think there was going to be an actual oversized cupcake on the table, no. The cupcake in the video was obviously plastic but I did expect something to happen at the table that was in some way similar to the video. This is what sets Disney apart and helps to make the Disney Cruise different. Instead after watching the other video that someone taped of the dinner it appears everything just happens on video screen with no real interaction with the guests. Forget about the fact that some adults are disappointed and consider how disappointed the younger children will be after watching the promo video. I doubt that they look at the video and think it is fake and are very disappointed when they are in the dining room.

 

[DLgal]

What are you even talking about? You said that all food brought onto a cruise was consumer or trashed at the end of the cruise. I said that it isn't*. But, if I'm wrong and the food really is thrown away at the end, then not bringing giant cupcakes (or the ingredients to make them) means not throwing away unused giant cupcakes (or the ingredients to make them) at the end of the cruise. What does any of that have to do with whether I bake (rarely) or how big the ingredients are?

* Except for perishable ingredients past their shelf life, such as eggs, which absolutely might be wasted in this giant cupcake scenario, regardless of whether other, shelf stable ingredients are thrown away (and they definitely aren't).

Baking a "slightly larger than normal" cupcake requires a minimal amount of extra ingredients. It's not like there will be dumpsters full of all the uneaten cake at the end of the cruise. My point is that having a couple comically large food items and then some comically small food items BALANCES OUT in the end. And again, how big of a cupcake do you think this ad shows anyway? It's like a jumbo muffin size, which uses approximately 50% more batter than a regular muffin.

 

[DLgal]

Or they could have done a bowl of spaghetti with a giant meatball, a hamburger with a large bun, micro hamburger, a giant slice of pizza, a really big salad….they could have found a way to play with the food.

You mean like they do at Pyms? Yep, it's super easy. They have a giant meatball, and it's served inside a giant spoon shaped bowl and it has teeny tiny ditallini pasta.

They have a giant chicken schnitzel on a teeny tiny bun. They also have a ceasar salad that is normal, but only has one big crouton.

It's super easy to play with the sizes of the food.

 

[Kwami]

Baking a "slightly larger than normal" cupcake requires a minimal amount of extra ingredients. It's not like there will be dumpsters full of all the uneaten cake at the end of the cruise. My point is that having a couple comically large food items and then some comically small food items BALANCES OUT in the end. And again, how big of a cupcake do you think this ad shows anyway? It's like a jumbo muffin size, which uses approximately 50% more batter than a regular muffin.

And my point is that that has absolutely nothing to do with the posts that you quoted, which were about whether ingredients are wasted after a cruise.

 

[DLgal]

And my point is that that has absolutely nothing to do with the posts that you quoted, which were about whether ingredients are wasted after a cruise.

You can read all about how cruise ships manage food inventory and waste. The goal is minimal waste, but they cannot control human behavior. Each new sailing is a careful calculation. They bring on what they intend to use/cook for THAT sailing only. They don't "save" ingredients from cruise to cruise to use on the next one, they start over every time. Almost everything gets used whether people eat it or not. It's either eaten or tossed once it is prepared.

 

[Henlady]

I have a question for those concerned about DCL showing a “giant” cupcake that isn’t provided. Have you ever seen fast food commercials that show amazing looking burgers, chicken sandwiches, tacos or pizza? Then you order those exact items and they look nowhere near what the advertised item looked like. They’re smashed down, lettuce soggy, etc….do you claim “false advertising “ “they aren’t delivering what they
promised “. I think most people accept it as a fact that advertised items are almost never delivered as indicated. Disney shows Princess accompanying kids to hotels, tinker belle tapping pixie dust on you, No one actually expects any of that to happen, so why expect a tiny cupcake to magically transform into a larger one in front of your eyes. It’s all advertising just to catch your attention.

 

[MomOTwins]

I have a question for those concerned about DCL showing a “giant” cupcake that isn’t provided. Have you ever seen fast food commercials that show amazing looking burgers, chicken sandwiches, tacos or pizza? Then you order those exact items and they look nowhere near what the advertised item looked like. They’re smashed down, lettuce soggy, etc….do you claim “false advertising “ “they aren’t delivering what they
promised “. I think most people accept it as a fact that advertised items are almost never delivered as indicated. Disney shows Princess accompanying kids to hotels, tinker belle tapping pixie dust on you, No one actually expects any of that to happen, so why expect a tiny cupcake to magically transform into a larger one in front of your eyes. It’s all advertising just to catch your attention.

I know, right? My husband and I are both lawyers and we are flabbergasted by this thread. For it to be false/misleading advertising you’d have to prove a typical reasonable person would truly believe Disney was promising a giant edible cupcake. However, the ad (which also includes a tiny ant man running across the girl’s table) is clearly fantasy. Disney’s real world manifestation (giant plastic cupcakes) may not be as exciting as you would like (though most kids will still find it fun), but it’s a far cry from fraud.

It would be like if I sued disney for its ads for guardians of the galaxy cosmic rewind because the characters are on screens instead of in person like they appear in the ad. Could disney have included in person (or even animatronic) characters at the preshow? Sure. Is it misleading that they went the cheaper route and did videos instead (like a plastic giant cupcake, instead of a real one)? Of course not. Something is not misleading just because you wish it was cooler.

 

[brentm77]

I know, right? My husband and I are both lawyers and we are flabbergasted by this thread. For it to be false/misleading advertising you’d have to prove a typical reasonable person would truly believe Disney was promising a giant edible cupcake. However, the ad (which also includes a tiny ant man running across the girl’s table) is clearly fantasy. Disney’s real world manifestation (giant plastic cupcakes) may not be as exciting as you would like (though most kids will still find it fun), but it’s a far cry from fraud.

It would be like if I sued disney for its ads for guardians of the galaxy cosmic rewind because the characters are on screens instead of in person like they appear in the ad. Could disney have included in person (or even animatronic) characters at the preshow? Sure. Is it misleading that they went the cheaper route and did videos instead (like a plastic giant cupcake, instead of a real one)? Of course not. Something is not misleading just because you wish it was cooler.

As a lawyer myself, you are spot on on the legal side. But, I think you are arguing against a strawman. I don't recall anyone, including the OP, stating they thought it met all the legal elements of false advertising. Their claims were that it was misleading. While I am not personally invested in that idea, I don't think they are necessarily wrong. I could see why it could be misleading to a reasonable person.

The add could give the impression to a reasonable viewer that unusually large food will be part of the restaurant's theme. Particularly when viewed in light of the common knowledge that Disney is already doing this in a theme park restaurant with the exact same theme. In other words, it seems close enough to reality to be distinguishable from the more fantasy-like elements of the commercial. I think it was a perfectly reasonably assumption for people to make. (I wouldn't be at all surprised to learn that this was the plan at the time the commercial was made either).

While I didn't give food size any thought prior to the thread, the thread has made it obvious that many did (further evidence of how a reasonable person would view the add), but more importantly, that many expected a little more "Disney wow" in a Marvel-themed restaurant than watching some B-rate videos on a screen while an LED fixture changed colors on their table, followed by a really corny parade of plastic food props. For me, it is more about the missed opportunity and lack of imagination on Disney's part than anything.