It’s party season–starting next week in the Magic Kingdom, you can attend Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party and then in November, you can celebrate the holidays at Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. Both are special ticketed events, which means that you’ll pay around $65… Read More »Are Disney’s Holiday Parties Worth It?
This week crazy-like-a-fox billionaire businessman Elon Musk introduced his latest revolutionary concept, the Hyperloop, and then gave it away to the masses as an open source project. Musk’s previous successes include Paypal (without which much online transactions wouldn’t happen), Tesla (an electric car company that’s profitable for a change), SpaceX (a private company that is helping NASA get payloads into space with an eventual goal of Mars(!)), and SolarCity (affordable solar panels for home and business; It remains to be seen if this will fall into the success category, but it seems likely with a net positive in the profit column last quarter).
Hollywood director Jon Favreau has said he modeled his version of Tony Stark, aka Marvel’s Iron Man, at least in part after Musk. But I think Tony Stark is the wrong model. Musk reminds me more of late period Walt Disney, when Walt had his eye on the future, not just of entertainment and the Disney Company, but of the planet as a whole and improving the lives of those who live on it. His gained steam with Monorails (mass transit), moved onto PeopleMovers (person rapid transit (PRT)), and dabbled in energy efficiency and recycling. Then Walt united all his theories and took on the mother of all urban planning projects – EPCOT, the experimental prototype community of tomorrow. With EPCOT, Walt wanted to build a working community where he could partner with industrial explorers with a similar vision for the future.
That is essentially the same vision as Elon Musk; which is why I think there is a natural partnership between Musk, his companies, and The Walt Disney Company. To get started, create the partnership for the purposes of building a working prototype of the Hyperloop at Walt Disney World. Musk, or his team, would be involved enough to oversee things, but most of the R&D would be left to Walt Disney Imagineering. The resulting prototype would be a great first step to making a full scale Hyperloop a feasible project to get past local and state governments.
Disney’s Imagineers already have much of the expertise needed to build such a system. They have experience with air-bearings (from the Flying Saucers ride in 60s to the revisited version at DCA), mass transit systems (Monorail, PeopleMover, etc.) and for years they used a garbage disposal system at the Magic Kingdom that magically whisked away trash right from the curb side down an air pressure driven pipe. They also have good contacts in the coaster and mass transit construction industries, so finding suppliers would not be difficult. Read More »Bring to Walt Disney World: The Hyperloop
Walt Disney World managers may not publicly admit they’re in a battle for tourist dollars, but there is an arms race going on in Orlando and one side is bringing out the big guns. After the success of Harry Potter and Despicable Me themed attractions,… Read More »Universal Orlando’s Transformers Attraction Rushes Past Milestone, Park Already Moving On
I did something last week that I haven’t done in fifteen years: I went to Gatorland. Now, I know it’s not Disney World and I’ll be honest, you usually have to drag me kicking and screaming from Disney property, but I was part of a group that was invited for a private tour so how could I turn that down? It didn’t hurt that my boss took me there in this sweet ride.
Yes, it’s that car. But in fairness, I was coaxed off of property with the promise of barbeque as well, so it’s not like I could say no. I take barbeque very seriously.Read More »A True Central Florida Experience: Gatorland.
Megan McArdle, a business and economics blogger recently made the jump from Newsweek to Bloomberg. During that time off she indulged in one of her passions – roller coasters. I knew there was a reason I liked her. One of her insights from the trip is about how guest services like Quick Queue, Fast Lane, or Fast Pass are impacting the enjoyment of theme park guests, and, perhaps, even symbolize something that’s gone wrong with our nation over all.
McArdle observes something many theme park fans have noticed before. Even though Fastpass is free, and other systems aren’t that outrageous as a percentage of the overall vacation, some families just don’t use them.
I find it hard to believe that the problem is a lack of awareness; all three parks prominently hawked Quick Queue or Fast Lane passes at concession stands.
Perhaps the problem is the price — though with the bucks people were dropping on concessions, I can’t believe that this is the issue. No, I think the answer is in the hard stares we got as we walked through the fast-pass gate. People just don’t like fast passes. It doesn’t feel right.
I had never really thought about it that way. But it makes sense to me.Read More »How Fast Passes Are Ruining Our Nation, Hyperbole… or Not?
I came across this rumor recently (thanks to “The Epcot Explorer’s Encyclopedia” Facebook page) regarding the glass pyramids of Future World. Supposedly, the entire Imagination pavilion will close on Jan. 2nd 2014. The rumor states that Captain EO will close for good, but the store… Read More »Rumor Mill: Imagination Pavilion closing entirely in 2014?
Asaka, Braille, Nitty and Pipsqueak, four female sub-adult manatees, were happily released into the warm waters of Eddy Creek on Thursday July 18, 2013 by SeaWorld Orlando’s Rescue Team. Three of these manatees were rescued in December of 2012 after being trapped in a mosquito embankment in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and suffering from mild cold stress. The fourth manatee, Asaka, was rescued this past March due to buoyancy issues.
After spending months at SeaWorld Orlando being rehabilitated all four manatees, ranging in weight between 400lbs to 775lbs, were declared healthy and ready to return to their natural habitat. Each manatee was weighed and measured before being released. They were also fitted with a tag so that the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission can track their movement and progress. The release was bittersweet for those who had the pleasure to work with these magnificent creatures, happy to see the animals swim away and start to thrive on their own but sad to see them go.
Disney World is expensive. Okay, so that’s not a newsflash or anything, but not everything at Disney World costs money. Some of my best moments have been on the cheap or pretty close to it. Sitting on a bench and people watching? Absolutely free and… Read More »Disney Off the Beaten Path and On the Cheap