Extreme Makeover: Theme Park Edition (Addendum)

I guess I spoke prematurely when I said:

I'm not going to add anything from a news or views standpoint because I've already touched on this topic back when the news first broke in July.

Well, after reading a few of the other posts and the Wall Street Journal Article that contained the announcement, I had some things that I just needed to get off my chest.

I know there are many quotes from Uncle Walt when it comes to quality and here is one I found from a simple Google Search (keywords:  Disney quality quote) and found that I really like:

"I knew if this business was ever to get anywhere, if this business was ever to grow, it could never do it by having to answer to someone unsympathetic to its possibilities, by having to answer to someone with only one thought or interest, namely profits. For my idea of how to make profits has differed greatly from those who generally control businesses such as ours. I have blind faith in the policy that quality, tempered with good judgment and showmanship, will win against all odds." —Walt Disney

(Quote obtained from Disney Dreamer.com)

I am not completely ignorant and realize that in the 21st Century, corporations answer to stockholders.  But whatever happened to the days when the stockholders would trust the people running the company.  Yes, you need to drop some cash to make a quality product, but I firmly agree with Walt when he puts faith in a quality product rewarding in the long run.

When it came to WestCOT, Mr. Eisner and his advisors lost that blind faith Walt was talking about in the above quote.  This faith shattering event seems to be attributed to what executives were supposing to be inevitable failure of EuroDisney (aka Disneyland Paris).  As we all know, this park is still alive and kicking and happens to be on people's wish list of places to go (see the latest poll on Imaginerding).

I know these decision were made out of a sense of self-preservation.  Let's face it, the theme parks weren't named Eisnerland nor Michael Eisner World.  He was carrying a mantel that could easily (and eventually) removed from him.

But still, I think one of the things that made a Disney theme park a Disney theme park and not another brand was Quality.

I was once told that if you are a man and must wear dress shoes often, that it's much better to buy an expensive pair of well made leather shoes that can be re-soled then it would be to buy a pair of nice leather shoes from Payless Shoes.  In the long run, you'd end up saving money because you bought a quality pair of shoes that could be easily refreshed with a resole as opposed to constantly having to buy new shoes.

They said that it would've cost about 3 billion to create WestCOT.  But instead they spent ~$1 Billion to build Disney's California Adventure.  Then there were other costs associated with adding stuff to draw people to the new gate (A Bug's Life, Tower of Terror, Soarin', a failed attempt at a night time water show, etc.).  Now, we have the $1.1 billion to do this re-imagineering.  If you factor in the money lost over the years that they would've gotten from ticket sales if they had done it right the first time, I firmly believe they would've spent less money if they had built the original concept park instead of Disney's California Adventure.

In my real life, I have seen this happen too.  Whenever you cut corners,for whatever reason, which produces an acceptable product as opposed to a high quality product, those people who are intended to utilize that product will eventually force you to do it right which ALWAYS costs you more money than if you did it the way you knew it should've been done in the first place.

So, as Walt said in the quote above, I firmly believe that quality will always win out.

And with the recent re-Haunting of the WDW Haunted Mansion it appears that the Imagineers and those who get the funds for their budgets are starting to gain that blind faith again.  

Here's hoping the updated Haunted Mansion is truly demonstrating that the powers-that-be are putting quality back on top and want to create a wonderfully Grumptastic experience for us, the loyal park guest

But, I'll have to wait and see how Space Ship Earth turns out to get a better idea of what kind of track they are putting this train onto..

Technorati Tags: Quality, Walt Disney, Disney's California Adventure

Extreme Makeover: Theme Park Edition

Well, it's official!  Disney has announced the changes to Disney's California Adventure that the blog-o-sphere has been chattering about for awhile.

This latest, official announcement has been touched upon by several of the blogs that I frequent:

• Disney Formally Announces Plans for California Adventure (Jeff Pepper @ 2719 Hyperion)
• $1B Investment Announced for California Adventure (Kitty-Chan @ Broke Hoedown)
• Disneyland's Second Gate to Receive Massive Improvements and Concept Art Released for Today's DCA Announcements (John Frost @ The Disney Blog)
• Honor Hunter's @ Blue Sky Disney had a post too, but I cannot get to it at this time.  I guess he's getting Slashdotted

In my opinion Jeff has provided the best synopsis of the proposed improvements and changes.  John Frost has provided good Concept Art.

I'm not going to add anything from a news or views standpoint because I've already touched on this topic back when the news first broke in July.  If you have forgotten or are new to my site and haven't dug that far back into the archives, here you go:

What would you do with a Billion Dollars?

and

What would you do with a Billion Dollars? (Addendum)

Technorati Tags: Disney's Californa Adventure, Disneyland, Disney News

What would you do with a Billion Dollars? (Addendum)

I typically don't like to edit my posts to provide additional information because it might be missed by those people who have already read my post. 

After reading The Disney Blog and MouseExtra's posts about this news, I have to say that there is another major bit of contention that needs to be addressed if they want the expenditure of $1 Billion to make a bit of difference.

That bit of contention is the various ballot proposals that seem to be flying around Anaheim vying for the City Counsel's attention.

If I'm reading the various articles correctly, land developers want to build non-Disney housing, more specifically low-income housing, within a stone's throw of the Happiest Place on Earth.

I'm sure this housing would mostly be used by Disney Cast Members but I can see why Disney isn't happy about such requests.  They want as close to absolute control over the going's on in and around Anaheim as it will have a direct impact on their revenue stream.

The other thing that seems to be trying to capture the City Counsel's attention is that a very vocal minority of non-Disney dependant small businesses and locals are tired of the influence Disney exerts over the politics in Anaheim.  They are tired of the constant fireworks and disruptions to their life do to Disneyland being their neighbor. 

To them, I say "boo hoo, cry me a river".  That would by like complaining to the Salt Lake City Council about the influence The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has on the politics and economy of the city and more importantly the State of Utah.  It would be like complaining that the Vatican's politics are too influenced by the Catholic Church.  Or, more secularly, that Bentonville, Arkansas is too influenced by Wal-Mart and Hollywood is too influenced by the wishes and desires of the Democratic Party.

In the case of Anaheim, Salt Lake City, and The Vatican City, these towns/cities were pretty much put on the map by the entity that is providing the "influence" on politics. 

In the case of all the examples I gave, people moving into those areas should know what they are getting into.  If you don't:  A) you haven't done your research B) you live under a rock

I can probably safely say that there are very few people who call Anaheim home that were living there when it was just an orange grove.  They knew Disneyland was there.  They knew Disneyland is responsible for most of the action that goes on in that town and made it what it is today.

A couple people had the following to say on a thread started on Paul Barrie  & Patrick Hurd's Window to the Magic forum's (Anti-Disney Ballot Proposal in Anaheim)

Mouselounge said:

This is a case of the city biting the hand that feeds it.

Abovethefirehouse said:

those people that are complaining are punks. Disneyland was there before residential area was there and they need to shut up. they are the ones that moved next to Disneyland so they need to deal with it. 98% of the stuff out there is because Disneyland is there so people open a business or what ever. [Edited for spelling]

Mortis said:

I think Disney should forget doing a third park in CA and look elsewhere. Maybe Texas or mid West.

I myself commented that I wonder what will be the straw the breaks the camel's back and forces Disney to tell Anaheim to kiss off. 

But, once $1 Billion is expended, that is not likely to happen.  It would just be stupid.

 

So, in addition to the Customer Service problem, Disney executives really need to settle this dispute with Anaheim and it's constituents.  The last thing people want to do is come and vacation inside a political war-zone.

 

Technorati Tags: Disney's California Adventure, Disneyland, Disney News

What would you do with a Billion Dollars?

Honor Hunter, of Blue Sky Disney, has just posted a great bit of information that is piggybacking off a great article written by Al Lutz over at MouseAge.

It seems that the "powers that be" who oversea the budgetary requests for the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim have approved a very large sum of money to be used to upgrade Disney's California Adventure.  That sum of money rings in at a heft sum of somewhere around 1 Billion dollars (yes, that is billion with a 'b').  That is a lot of zeros.

It offers up the question what would you do with a billion dollars and could use it to improve the second gate at Disneyland.   Well, Al Lutz's article at MouseAge entitled Resurrections & Returns provides a lot of details and more importantly opinions.

In addition, the aforementioned Honor Hunter adds some more details to the mix in his Blue Sky Alert-America (Anaheim): California Dreaming... 

So, in a nutshell, what is on the drawing board:

• Re-imaging of the entire boardwalk area of California Adventure into something of a more Victorian-era beachside flair
• Re-naming the towers and conference space at the Disneyland Hotel
• A renewed tie to LucasFilm projects which may result in a Star Tour upgrade and/or another tie-in to the Indiana Jones franchise
• Disney Vacation Club (DVC) resort!
• The list goes on

For me, a DVC Member, I am most excited about there finally being substantiated rumors of a DVC resort going to the West Coast park.  I have family who lives near Anaheim and it would be nice to be able to use my DVC points to be able to secure excellent accommodations at the park so that I don't have to pay (or make my relatives feel like they have to pay) for the room

In Al Lutz's article he expresses the much debated topic of how to go about doing this.  If you read enough, you know what is being proposed is much more than a simple nip/tuck.  It's more in line with a recently canceled ABC Program Extreme Makeover.  From the sounds of what is planned, those people who have graced the grounds of Disney's California Adventure will not recognize the park after they are done with it.  This puppy is getting hair plugs, liposuction, crowns and LASIK eye surgery.  When the curtain is pulled away, it sounds like jaws will be dropping.

This hasn't been the first time Disney has promised the moon and given us something quick short.  Something not even breaking the Earth's gravity.  The difference is that there seems to be people in charge now who actually care about  Disney.  Who care about Walt's original vision.

But, I would be remiss if I didn't put my curmudgeon opinion into the mix.  After all, I am the grump.

I don't care if Disney throws 1 million, 1 billion, or 1 trillion dollars at the problem and produces the most slick, most technologically advanced theme park that can be put out there.  I don't care if they re-invent the theme park with this windfall sum of money.  If they don't solve the biggest problem facing Disneyland, it will be all for naught.

What problem is that you are asking?  If you've been to Disneyland and had the opportunity to be able to compare it to other Disney resorts you will know what I'm talking about........

CUSTOMER SERVICE!!!!

It is the opinion of this grump that the service levels at Disneyland are atrocious.  On page 4 of Al Lutz's article he attempts to explain why this is so and, as usual, it seems to be the misguided and misaligned goals of  Human Resources department. 

I'm often amazed at how quickly companies that rely almost entirely on the good will that is generated from good word of mouth and good customer service quickly throw the quality of their customer service out the window.  A very good day at the parks can be quickly ruined by a badly chosen action by a Cast Member.  Conversely, a terrible day or even a terrible trip can be turned completely around by a well chosen action or series of actions by a concerned Cast Member.

As was told to me by one of the Concierges at the Animal Kingdom Lodge at Walt Disney World, it doesn't matter if Disney is directly responsible for the things that go wrong to one of our guests, if we don't do something to try and alleviate the affect it is having on their trip, their memories will make the tie to Disney.

 

To sum up.....

I am excited to hear about the amount of money being earmarked for Disney's California Adventure.  I will be chomping at the bit to purchase a DVC add-on for the Disneyland DVC.  But, if they don't improve the quality of customer service over at that park, the bragging about this possibly be turning into the best 2nd gate since EPCOT will quickly fizzle away.

Hopefully, some of that $1 Billion will be devoted to giving Human Resources (aka Casting) a swift kick in the butt and realign them with what made Disneyland the "Happiest place on Earth".  And I'm sure that didn't just apply to the guests in Walt's opinion.  I'm sure he meant it to also apply to his employees, his Cast Members.

Technorati Tags: Disneyland, Disney News, Disney's California Adventure, Upgrades