It Really Is A Tower Of Terror - Disney Dose

Has the Disneyland Traveler taken his last plunge on the Tower of Terror? Has Mrs. DisneylandTraveler? The official answer is - Yes.... but. Read more about my love / hate / anxiety ridden relationship with the hotel elevator on the Disney Dose fan site along with other interesting Disney related offerings.

Direct link to the post on Disney Dose -

It Really Is A Tower Of Terror - Disney Dose

Missing The Boat With The Nemo Subs - Disney Dose

Did Disneyland miss the boat with the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage? Well....yes....and no. See my latest post on the Disney Dose fan site along with other fine Disney content. You have to admit, the colorful subs do make for a mighty fine picture.

Direct link to the Disney Dose post -

Did Disney Miss The Boat With The Finding Nemo Subs

Star Wars VII - A New Director of the Force

I'm not really a TV, movie, or science fiction geek so the announcement a few days ago that director J.J. Abrams has been hand selected by LucasFilm chief Kathleen Kennedy, also with the stamp of approval of George Lucas himself, to direct the next Star Wars film doesn't really float my boat one way or another (not that anyone cares). But the people who are TV, movie, and science fiction geeks are saying that Disney and LucasFilm couldn't have selected a better or more capable person to relaunch Star Wars movie franchise and do it the right way. May the Force be with him.

Looking over the work of Abrams in his Wikipedia bio the one thing that jumped out at me was that Abrams directed the very good but under appreciated movie called Super 8. Stupid name for a movie which may have contributed to its fairly weak box office numbers. Not going to have to worry about that with a name like Star Wars. It's 2 years away and Star Wars geeks are probably already making plans.

Real Pirates of the Caribbean

I come back to this topic every so often simply because, in my personal opinion, Pirates of the Caribbean is the best attraction in either Disneyland or Disney California Adventure. The great Disneyland and Southern California videographer asianjma123 (YouTube) has come up yet another high definition Pirates ride through video and this is his best effort yet. The Disneyland version of POTC is long, coming it at a little over 12 minutes (almost twice the length of the WDW version), but its a journey well worth the time for any fan of the ride.

The purpose of a real life pirate was to accumulate riches and that is the perfect word to describe Disneyland's Pirates of the Caribbean - rich. The attraction is rich in theming, rich in character, rich in atmosphere, rich in story, rich in fun - over the top rich, a Disney treasure beyond belief and it came directly from the man himself, Walt Disney. The construction of POTC was Walt's last major Disneyland project at the time of his death. He didn't live long enough to take that first ride as the huge attraction opened about 6 months after Walt's passing but he was involved with the ride long enough through its development and initial construction that Walt knew the joy and thrills the attraction would bring to the visitors of his park.

I'm a student of history. I studied history in high school and college, love to read about history, watch the History Channel when they actually broadcast programs about history instead of pawn shops (the programming direction that the History Channel has taken the last 2 years is an embarrassment). As a student of history, as much as I admire Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean attraction, I have to admit it's something of a guilty pleasure. Much was written when several years ago POTC was made "politically correct" by having the "wenches" chase the sad-sack pirates instead of the other way around as was shown with the original attraction. But when you really think about it - the whole Pirates of the Caribbean attraction (and movies) can probably be considered "politically incorrect" in these times.

The changing of the ride from pirates chasing women to women chasing pirates was something that had to be done because what Walt and company left out was what would a drunken pirate do to that woman if he ever caught her. Imagine the worst and you probably have it right. In the heyday of pirating in the 17th and 18th centuries as depicted in the ride, a true pirate is not someone you would want to cross paths with. They were murderers, and rapists, and drunkards, and thieves, and purveyors of assorted methods of horrendous torture. Go out on the internet and find out what it means to be "drawn and quartered". And the assaults weren't just directed at other sailors or pirates, pirates attacked towns and all inhabitants, including women and children. Go read the exploits of the real Blackbeard or Captain Morgan. It's a far cry from what is depicted in the movies or what Disney magic seeks to romanticize and gloss over. A typical pirates life was quite short. Those that weren't killed were usually ravaged by some disease at a very young age. And quite to the contrary, a pirate usually didn't make a whole lot of money.

But Disney is in the business of sometimes obscuring the facts in order to cash in on the illusion. They have no issue charging premium prices to dress up young boys as swash-buckling pirates. Even now as a young man, my son has a Pirates of the Caribbean spread hanging on his wall. He has POTC pins, and t-shirst, and caps. It's easy to get caught up in Disney's world of pirates. But I've also encouraged him to look at the world of pirating at it really existed (and still exists) and not the illusion that Disney gives you. A real pirate and a Disney pirate? Two completely different things.

Admit It - Indiana Jones 4 Stunk - Here's Why

I remember leaving the theater after seeing Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal saying to myself "I want to like this movie. This is Indiana Jones, one of the greatest movie heroes of all time. I want to like this movie....."

Then the realization set in - "An alien? Are you kidding me?" Not to mention surviving a nuclear blast by being locked in a refrigerator and a punk kid who I just wanted to smack silly. It was bad. And in the bad marketing department - if you want a copy of Raiders of the Lost Ark on Blu-Ray, you have to buy all 4 Indiana Jones movies including this piece of garbage.

Now, thanks to the good people at Screen Junkies and their Honest Trailers YouTube site, we finally get some truth about Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. And it is plenty funny....

I don't know if we have seen our last Indiana Jones movie. Hopefully now that it is a Disney property something more can be done with a great character and franchise. If it exits with Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, then that is a pretty sad way to go out.

Uh-Oh! Disney's MyMagic+? Congress Has Questions

It's not often that Bob Iger, CEO of the Walt Disney Company, makes it twice into this blog within a week but somehow the man has done it. Now he may need to put in a little bit of work to justify that $40 million dollar annual compensation package we reported on a few days ago.

With a lot of fanfare (and press) Disney is rolling out their MyMagic+ (also known as NextGen) initiatives into Walt Disney World this year. It's complicated but beneath it all is the ability for Disney to track almost every movement of one of their resort guests from the time they set foot on the property till the time they leave. Through the use of RFID chips coded in bracelets that get scanned throughout the resort, Disney can slip on hotel room access, credit card information, what you are purchasing, what rides and attractions you are going on, what characters you want to see, what and where you are eating. It's called data mining. This information is then stored and reused as a marketing tool where Disney has the ability to target you based on the accumulated data through mailings, email, and various social media outlets. And this includes the targeting of children. Disney has invested a huge amount of money in the potential of this technology that will better allow them to program resort experiences catered to individual and family preferences.

Disney likes to say that this will allow guests to pre-plan trips through advanced reservations leading to shorter waits in line for rides and attractions, character meet and greets, and the ability to better get you into that restaurant you are dying to try. Congress has a different take. Is this an invasion of privacy? Sure Disney should be allowed to streamline the in park experience of guests but what is the real purpose of this data. If it is used to continually target you in the marketing for all things Disney, then there could be some problems, especially if you are target marketing kids and teenagers.

Below is a link to a pdf of a letter a Massachusetts sent to Disney CEO Walt Disney asking some very blunt and serious question regarding Disney's end game with MyMagic+. It's worth the read.

Congressional Questions Asked Of Bob Iger Regarding MyMagic+

100 Yards of Disneyland Magic - Disney Dose

Get off the train at New Orleans Square, walk straight over to the banks of the Rivers of America, then turn around. There they are - all lined up for you; from left to right - The Jungle Cruise  Indiana Jones Adventure, Pirates of the Caribbean, the Haunted Mansion, and Splash Mountain. Five Disneyland signature attractions where the starting entrances are all within a hundred yards (or so) of each other. How great is that? See my latest post on the Disney Dose website along with all their latest Disney related offerings.

Here is a direct link to the post. Hope you enjoy it!

Disney Dose - One Hundred Yards of Disneyland Magic