Here We Go Again - The D23 Expo - In 2013?

Here we go again.  Disney last week made a large press announcement for their D23 Expo at the Anaheim Convention Center with dates August 9 - 11, 2013.  That's right - August 2013- book it.  Oh, and by the way, you can't even buy tickets for the Expo until August of this year. Now granted there are people who come from long distances to attend the Expo and this does require planning so the more time you can have in advance of the dates of the event, the more people can make actual plans.  But a year and a half?  Is there something else at work here?

The Disney D23 "exclusive" fan club started in March 2009.  D23 requires an annual membership.  For many, D23 hasn't exactly delivered the goods and may be sitting on the fence as to whether they want to renew.  Nothing like putting out a press release of the the organization's signature event to remind peole to renew membership (not once but probably twice) in preparation of something that is still along way off.  D23 Expo - Be there or be square...

The Marketing of John Carter - Cost Meets Failure

Like showing up for a NASCAR race and waiting for the big wreck, Disney's John Carter made its debut yesterday and is promptly ready to take it on the chin.  It's not that John Carter is a bad movie, it isn't, it's just that it's a movie that isn't good enough to go out of your way to see.  As they say, wait to see it on video when you can get it out of your local Redbox vending machine for a buck.  That's not what Disney wants to here when the estimated cost to make the movie was $250,000,000.  Disney is going to lose and lose big on this one.  It's a write-off

Why?  Like I said, it's a movie that isn't movie that mass audiences want to pay their hard earned money to see right now.  The movie could of sucked big time and still be a financial success had it been marketed better but the trailers and TV advertising consistently made this movie seem ridiculously silly and a movie that had all the makings of a movie that seemed like a dozen other movies that have already been made.  Disney fired their head of movie marketing last year.  Maybe the new one gets the axe now.  Disney fired Dick Cook, the man who green-lighted John Carter when he was head of Walt Disney Studios a few years ago.  Maybe the new guy, Richard Ross, has to go now.  Disney had to take a huge write off on Mars Needs Moms last year, well over $100,000,000.  It dropped the quarterly profits of the entire company.  John Carter is poised to be even a bigger financial albatross. 

This Tuesday, March 13, in Kansas City, CEO Bob Iger will address his shareholders in their annual meeting.  He will have some explaining to do about his movie business.  He will have to explain where John Carter missed the boat right on the heels of Mars Needs Moms and just before that was the incredibly poor performance of Prince of Persia:Sands of Time and the Sorcerer's Apprentice.  Though not necessarily failures, expensive movies like of Princess and the Frog, Tangled, and TRON 2 Legacy, were not exactly box office smashes. Over the last few years it's been Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, and Toy Story 3 that have been big money makers for Disney. Just not good enough for a company steeped in movie tradition.  No wonder everyone is looking to The Avengers this summer.  Disney Studios is in need of a super-hero.

As for John Carter.  It's time to move on.  Lesson learned.  Make a movie people actually might want to see and show some creativity and imagination when it actually comes time to market it.

Windows On Main St. & Remembering Robert Sherman

A week or so ago I was railing in a MousePlanet discussion board against Disneyland Annual Passholders mostly to be something of a contrarian and to push some buttons. Its all in good fun. What do I care that Disney has almost a million APers?  Good for them.  Anyway, one of my points about APers is a lot of them are good time Charlies heading to the park for the rides & attractions while ignoring the history, legacy, and detail of the park.  I made the statement that many of these APers probably probably don't even realize that the decorated windows on Main St (and a few other places) honor the men and women who played a significant role in the creating of the park and contributors to the magic of Disney.  Many of the people honored with windows were closely linked personally to Walt Disney himself.

Take two.  It may be sacrilege but I hated the movie Mary Poppins and I am old enough to remember seeing it in a theater as a child.  The lady flying around with an umbrella kind of gave me the creeps.  I loved the Dick Van Dyke Show growing up but couldn't stand Dick in Mary Poppins with maybe the worst cockney accent ever to grace a motion picture.  But you can't say the music of Mary Poppins wasn't memorable.  A week or so ago I wrote an entry in this blog about it's a small world (link).  I wrote about THAT SONG.  Love it or hate it, you can't say its something that isn't easily recognizable and will stay filed somewhere in your memory banks for your entire life.

Two men wrote the music for Mary Poppins, it's a small world, along with Disney music for countless rides, attractions, and movies.  They were Walt's favorite songwriters - Robert Sherman and his brother Richard Sherman.  Last week, Robert Sherman died in London after a long illness.  He was well in his 80's.  Richard on the other hand still shows up for major Disney events and continuous to be an ambassador for the history and legacy of Disney. Richard was present when Disney honored the songwriting brothers with a window on the facade of the little music store on Main St. and even sung one of his classic songs.  Today the Disneyland Traveler honors the contributions of the Sherman Brothers and tips his hat to the passing of Richard.  God bless.

Richard (left) and Robert Sherman - A Disney Parks Blog Photo

Richard performs Feed the Birds at the Disneyland dedication ceremony for their window March 2010.

My Aborted Trip To Walt Disney World

Back in the spring of 2010, with some good fortune and an influx of cash, Mrs. DisneylandTraveler, the Boy, and me decided to take the plunge a book a trip to Walt Disney World.  Being that a trip to WDW requires a lot of planning, we decided to make the trip over the Christmas holidays some 8 months away from when we started to put this all together.

From reading WDW websites, I already had a lot of information but now it came down to making choices which is far different than planning.  Making a choice becomes a commitment and the one thing you don't want to do when making a trip to WDW, which is some 3000 miles from where we live, is make a wrong choice. A wrong choice is an expensive mistake.

It all starts off with where to stay.  Mrs. DLT and I can plan a weeks vacation to Disneyland at the drop of a hat.  WDW is a different beast with so many choices available beginning with your hotel.  I was good with one of the Port Orleans hotels but Mrs. DLT wanted to stay on the monorail line which limits the choices down to 3. The Contemporary? Too bland. The Polynesian? Too tropical especially at Christmas. So now we are down to the granddaddy of them all - the Grand Floridian.  A stay at the Grand Floridian over the Christmas holidays makes a stay at the Grand Californian seem like a Disney steal. When it came down to it, we were looking at over $900 a night. Going to sleep at  night I was breaking into cold sweats over the thought. It seems that when Mrs. DLT and I have to make a vote and the vote spits - she wins. Its easier that way. It took us a good two or three weeks to make a hotel decision.

Next up, reservations. I knew there were some restaurants that were "must-do's" on my list of things to do. To get a reservation at some of them (Le Cellier for example) you had to make a reservation 180 days in advance. Not 179 days - 180 exactly. And we wanted a Fantasmic dining package and we wanted to see the fireworks from one of the boats and we wanted to see the Candlelight Processional with a dining package and on and on... It got to be overwhelming. It got to be STRESSFULl. The fun was gone. This was work, hard work.

Mrs. DLT finally figured out we needed help and began the process of contacting travel agents. I highly, highly, recommend this to anyone who is a newbie at planning a trip to WDW. Travel agents in general aren't required so much anymore in the days of the internet. People are under the assumption that using a travel agent is expensive. It probably is - for Disney. Disney pays the travel agent fees based on the booking not the traveler. What you do find out however is travel agents like to feel people out to see how serious they are about booking a trip. They do not want to invest a lot of time on someone is kinda, sorta, thinking about making a trip. Mrs. DLT went through a couple of travel agents before she found one she was comfortable working with. We had an awful lot of questions and the agent we finally went with answered all our questions patiently before we committed to anything.

With the travel agent at work, we got all our reservations made as the Christmas season dates opened up. We had quite an agenda, one that would make any WDW Traveler jump for much anticipated joy. But as they say.... the best laid plans......

As a precursor to our WDW, Mrs. DLT and I went down to Disneyland in late September 2010 for a nice week's stay. Had a great trip as I recall (they usually are). But something happened immediately after we returned home. I had a blockage. Tried for weeks to treat with antibiotics and other medications but to no avail. It wouldn't clear and I was staring at surgery. 

On December 22, 2010 the very same day were to land in FLA for our WDW trip of a lifetime, I was on a operating table and a little South African urologist was working over my prostate. For various reasons, a trip to WDW is now off the table for Mrs. DLT and me. That trip we planned in 2010 was actually our third attempt to plan a trip to WDW in the years we have been married. Something has come up each time to derail our plans. 

Any you know what? I'm now good with not making a trip to WDW. The more you study about the place the more you realize that it has more in common with Disneyland than differences. Inside the parks, many of the rides and attractions are much the same just spread out over 4 parks instead of 2. True - WDW is much, much, bigger than the Disneyland Resort and has much more to offer in terms of places to stay and excellent dining but I'm just fine with Disneyland.

And by saving about $15000, bad prostate and all, I was able to sleep much better at night.

A Closer Look At - it's a small world

When I write a story for this blog I often have to go a through multitude of digital photos to find one or two to accompany the story. Just a guess but I would suspect I have the most photos taken of the Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty Castle followed by the front entrance and the train station. In third place for the number of photos in my collection would probably come from Disneyland's iconic it's a small world attraction. Why so many pictures? Easy, the Mary Blair facade is a work of art and a work of art that is made even more special when it lights up with its holiday overlay. In every way, from the outside looking in, it's a small world is a shining example of why Disneyland stands head and shoulders above every other theme park. But what about the inside, what about the ride itself? Line 'em up - most people either love it or hate it.

Awww...... why the hate? It all starts with THAT SONG. Walt blessed us with something that is no longer done in modern theme parks - build a ride that approaches 15 minutes long. 15 minutes and 1 song. One song, over, and over, and over again to the point of being mind-numbing. Granted, it gets changed up for Christmas and is much more appealing and festive but that's only for two months out of the year. And what else about iasw (for short)? Well, for most there just isn't a deep emotional attachment to the ride. It's a collection of dolls and cutouts inside of a series of rooms in a show building. In Pirates of the Caribbean, the park guest doesn't see anything but the scenes in front of your eyes. In small world you see the ceiling, the corners, the lighting, even wires if you look hard enough. Its almost like they took their level of detail for the attraction to a certain point and called it quits.

But on every trip to Disneyland Mrs. DisneylandTraveler and I will get on small world at lease once and sometimes two or three times. Why? Tradition mostly and it doesn't hurt that there is generally a short line and a small wait to get on. It also helps that in the course of an exhausting Disneyland day you can get in a small world boat and get off your feet for awhile. If you don't let the song get to you, the ride can be quite relaxing with you feet saying 'thank you'. Not listening to the small world song, it's one of the reasons the iPod was invented.

Beer and Pepperspray In DCA

The story went viral on Disney forums and message boards a week or so back. An older gentleman, obviously intoxicated, had to be forcefully subdued over by the entrance to the Tower of Terror by Disney security and some park guests. Yes, they ended up pepperspraying him. And this being 2012, the whole ugly scene was captured on video and uploaded to YouTube. Of course there were the stories that it took too long for Disney security to respond, those that did didn't seemed to be adequately trained to handle the situation, and the fact that some park guests had to step in a give a hand. 

Of course this whole mess gave some Disney park fans the chance to vent against the selling of alcoholic beverages in Disney California Adventure, never mind the fact that chance for such a state of intoxication would most likely be caused by the person bring the alcohol in the park with him some way. Some park writers have said that this happens more often than people realize. I tend to believe that is true but here is my but....

In the last 10 years or so Mrs. DisneylandTraveler and I have spent probably 60 - 70 days at Disneyland and DCA. In those 10 years, I have yet to see anyone in a Disney park inebriated to the point of being a spectacle or a distraction to my visit. I went to a SF Giants baseball game last year and there were at least a dozen people in my immediate section that hopefully didn't have to get behind the wheel of a car to get home.

I think Disney and Disney security needs to be commended for keeping some of the unsavory sites caused by public drunkenness to really a minimum all things considered. There are some things that help out with this of course. The cost of excessive drinking at DCA is probably price prohibitive for most people's budget. There is a strong presence of Disney security and an in the back of your mind the feeling that everything and everyone is being watched to a certain extent. I remember a few years back a small group of rather loud youths making their way through DCA - 20 feet behind following them step for step was 4 Disney security cast members waiting for one wrong move. Good for them. Invasion of privacy? Screw that... their park, their rules, and just making it a nicer place for everyone.

For those that say alcohol sales should be removed completely from DCA, that ship has sailed and DCA is well tied in to alcohol sales with the park forever. There is never a shortage of people standing in line at the Karl Strauss beer wagon waiting to get 2 on a warm summer day. A nice glass of at wine with your lovely meal at Wine Country Trattoria? Absolutely even though the pouring is pretty small and a decent glass is at least 10 bucks. That new Carthay Circle Theater (which is actually a high end restaurant) will have not 1 but 2 cocktail lounges. A fruity cocktail at the Cover Lounge at sunset is really a nice to spend a little time. ElecTRONica has its End of the Line Bar serving up neon adult beverages at a huge markup and when ElecTRONica goes away in a few months, A Mad Tea Party will have a well thought up themed replacement for adult beverage consumption. The revenue stream here for Disney is lucrative. Somewhere there are accountants who will argue that "if Walt were alive today, he'd want alcohol sales in Disneyland". They won't win that argument but I'm sure they try. 

As for the DisneylandTraveler. On one of our first trips to see World of Color, on advice from a friend, Mrs. DisneylandTraveler and I put aside the fastpass and dining package options to see WOC from open area in front of the railing by Ariel's Grotto. To get a good spot, you have to get there a couple of hours early. Mrs. DLT is one of life's great waiters. Like a shark, she likes to keep moving. So I held the spot. Now Mrs. DLT also does not drink alcoholic beverages at all. She begrudgingly leaves that to me but on this night waiting for WOC she asked if she could go and get me something while she kept moving and I kept waiting. Sure "go over to the Karl Strauss beer wagon and bring me back a Red Trolley Ale". She didn't mind one bit and there is something nice about a long wait in DCA enjoying a beer to pass the time.

A Day In The Life....

Feb, 29, 2012. One More Disney Day. A Disney Parks Blog Photo

So there you have it. Leap Day - February 29. Disneyland celebrated the occasion that rolls around once every 4 years by staying open 24 hours from 6:00 am on the 29th until 6:00 am on March 1st. Brilliant idea as they say. But....  There's always a but with every brilliant idea.

Oh, the day started well park fans hitting the gates right at opening in high spirits and ready for a good time. And then the people came, and came, and came some more. So many people came that the gates had to be closed for a time due to capacity being reached. As the stories go, when night fell, some of SoCal's more unruly crowd started to hit the park. Belligerent party goers meeting up with some very tired Disney fans don't always mix. So there were enough scuffles breaking out to keep security busy.

And what else do all those people create? Lines. Long lines. Very long lines. Oh yeah...I think the 2 hour wait to ride Space Mountain or Indiana Jones was expected but how about a two hour wait to get into the Jolly Holly Bakery to get something to eat? What a about a 40 minute wait to get a cup of coffee from the Market House? MiceAge reported that Disneyland staffed the event for about 44,000 people to attend. The estimates of the number of people who actually showed up was somewhere between 65,000 and 100,000. As Mrs. DisneylandTraveler says - ooops and stuff.

So the park closed at 6:00 am to prepare for the regular opening a 10:00 am. A lot of people left the park at 6:00 am. A lot of people left the park at 6:00 am at the same time as a lot of Anaheim folks were hitting the streets and heading off to their real jobs. Anaheim gridlock. More ooops and stuff.

At the company I work for when we plan for something big and it doesn't go off quite as we planned the head honchos get together and hold a "post-mortem" where they can point fingers and figure out how not to let this mess happen again. They call it "lessons learned". I can see the Disneyland park planners getting together this past week after One More Disney Day commiserating on what worked and a lot of things that didn't work so well. I can can also see that somewhere in the middle of their head-scratching, soul-searching meeting an email gets sent over from the Accounting Dept congratulating them on a job well done. You see... all those people, all those lines, lines for park admission, lines for food, lines for merchandise all lead to a nice deposit for the Disney Day in the old bank account. Disney wins.