There’s an interesting rumor going around that got its start as part of a survey Disney sent out to previous guests. Apparently they’re considering a Captain Jack Sparrow character meal. "Board a pirate vessel from a resort and sail to Pirate’s Cove, where Captain Jack Sparrow and his band of bandits have cooked up a… Read More »Character Dining with Captain Jack Sparrow
Disney is reporting that in just the first week of offering movies for sale on Apple’s iTunes store over 125,000 movies were sold. The expect revenues from this delivery channel to be in the $50 million range for the first year (nothing to sneeze at for sure). Right now Disney is the only studio to… Read More »Disney movies and iTunes has strong start
Disney’s Year of a Million Dreams promotion for its US theme parks starts in just a few weeks. When it was announced I thought I wouldn’t get that excited about it. To me the giveaways of years past (a car a day, every guest a winner, etc) were better ideas than this one. They certainly were more oriented at the frequent guest. But I tell you what, I’m starting to feel my pulse race at the thought of being there on October 1st and seeing if I can’t be one of the lucky ones, or failing that, capture some of the magic.
Plus, if you live near a Disney park in the US, then you can join in another game, figuring out the system. The rules ( http://www.disneyparks.com/rules ) are fairly clear, but they aren’t specific as to when or where you have to be to win (what fun would that be). The prizes are many (over 1.25 million and around 200-400 a day handed out in any park.
There are a couple sites out there that are already getting into the nitty gritty of contest and how to play to your best advantage. On LaughingPlace.com there are threads for the general rules and breakdown and information on how to enter via mail.
In the end it breaks down to the average vacationer having about a 1 in 60 chance of winning any prize for any given day they visit. The local who games the system might be able to lower that to as good as a 7 in 1 chance of winning. Of course you have to spend money: admission, gas, food, postage, time and effort to win. You also have to be able to be in the park early; Park Opening-5PM is the scheduled time range for prizes to be handed out. And 99% of the prizes awarded have a cash value of less than $24 ARV.
But some of the prizes are wicked cool in my book.
Even the modest gifts are neat. I like the idea of a pin lanyard or a special pair of mouse ears being the largest giveaways in terms of numbers. Give the guest something to take home.
That’s not to say there aren’t critiques of the contest….
Is there life after the movies? You bet. For Thomas Schumacher that meant a move from running Walt Disney Feature Animation to running Disney Theatrical. Disney Theatrical is in charge of all Disney live stage and ice shows outside of the theme parks, cruises, and the El Capitan movie palace. Playbill recently sat down with… Read More »An Encounter with Thomas Schumacher, Disney’s Broadway Leader
Some of the wonderful people who hang out on LaughingPlace.com were recently profiled in the Contra Costa Times. What began as online chatter has evolved into a tight-knit group of 14 travel buddies who rendezvous at Disneyland twice a year, celebrate birthdays in British Columbia or Oregon and take spontaneous road trips together. There are… Read More »Disney fans profiled
Although I didn’t make it to the parks this last weekend (the horror, the horror, I know) I’ve been thinking about the Magic Kingdom and why it’s been so long since they last added a significant new attraction. Stitch was the last, but is somewhere between a new attraction and an overlay… I think the cost savings of the overlay meant they had to sacrifice some of the story… and it shows with peak time waits under 20 minutes. These pictures are from a few weeks ago, but the story is the same.
Let’s stay in Tomorrowland. The last land to receive a major makeover, 1994, Tomorrowland shows serious signs of living in the past. To start, there is the Tomorrowland Indy Speedway. Next year the Indy Racing League will switch to an Ethanol mix and the year after that 100% biofuel. But the Autopia cars still burn gasoline. Noisy, polluting, and stuck in the 80s, the current cars have to go. They also use up a lot of real estate that could also be used to expand Toontown or Tomorrowland. The future of the automobile lies in handsfree driving, renewable energy, and customization. Actually, to see the future of transportation you just have to look up.
Meg James of the Los Angeles Times (popular paper with me today) looks at ABC TV’s lineup, which is without Monday Night Football for the first time in 36 years. To plug its scheduling gaps, ABC developed twice as many shows as its rivals. The network spent more than $200 million on development, ordering 38… Read More »How ABC is Trying to Cope Without MNF
Thomas S. Mulligan, Charles Duhigg and Claudia Eller of the Los Angeles Times profile Viacom (Paramount) and CBS Chairman Sumner Redstone and News Corp (Fox) Chairman Rupert Murdock. With institutional shareholders – who are often disinterested in the particulars of content and day to day studio operations – in charge of most of the big… Read More »Two Men Who Wield Studio Power Like Walt
