Mouse Extra

Okay folks, I am going to take today and plug another project of mine that just debuted today.  It is not Disney related…well, not yet.  I do, however, plan on including the Rose and Crown in an upcoming issue.

Years ago, a friend of mine brought to me a concept he had for a magazine about the country’s best taverns.  Being a lover of great pubs myself, I naturally thought the idea was a good one.  Time went by, and the American Public House Review seemed just a pipe-dream, but now thanks to life’s sometimes fortunate circumstances, and the internet, we have finally turned the dream into a reality.  Please take sometime and read the first edition of the American Public House Review.

In the months and years to come we hope to bring the great stories, terrific images, and wonderful music one can often find at a favorite watering hole.  We also hope to get the input and contributions of people from everywhere in the country.  If you know a great pub that fits the bill, let us know about it.  Or better yet, get to the computer and write something about it.

If you like what you see, leave your email in the Contact Us section so you can get an alert when a new issue is published.

We reported a few weeks ago on a rumor that the Christmas version of the Country Bear Jamboree may be making its return this year.  To be honset, I felt this rumor was pretty sound.  But today, Screamscape is reporting that in fact the holiday version will not happen this year.

Screamscape has been informed that the management at the Magic Kingdom has decided once again to not run the Christmas version of the Country Bear Jamboree for the second year in the row. The lower level management protested of course, reminding them of all the complaints they had last year when the Christmas show was given the budget ax, but apparently this was shrugged off because those were just ‘verbal complaints’.

In all fairness, this is the first I have ever heard of this, and I have reached out to some people to see if I can get some confirmation.  So far, I have nothing new to report beyond what Screamscape is saying here.  I was pretty certain that it would return, but like all rumors things change.

Many, many people were terribly disappointed at the news of the cancellation of the holiday layover last year, and rightly so.  It is nice to see something special for the holidays and equally disappointing to see Disney World management behave so cheaply.  If I hear anything else, I will pass it along.

Well, Kevin Yee has written a rather odd column today for Mice Age.  In a departure from his normal chronicling of bird-droppings and barely noticeable paint chips, Mr. Yee has written his top 15 reasons why one should use their vacation time at Walt Disney World.  Why is this strange, you ask?  Good question.

The problem I have here is not in Mr. Yee’s reasons for going to WDW.  I agree with nearly all of them.  In fact, most of us probably do, or we wouldn’t be writing blogs, participating in forums, or running podcasts all about Disney.  We love the place.  But it is Mr. Yee that is the supposed critic, and in reason #2 he deflates nearly all of his own criticisms…

2. Infrequent visitors may not notice the problems. Not only was I at Disney front-line CM for fifteen years, I also visit Disney parks twice every week, so my eye sees things that others miss. Often, I bet those things stay completely invisible. So it’s quite possible that an infrequent visitor wouldn’t have any problems whatsoever, even if cleanliness or maintenance isn’t what it should be. You should still choose WDW for your vacation

I completely agree with Mr. Yee on this.  Nearly all of what he points out is not noticed by the masses and yet he makes them seem like symptoms in the decline of western civilization.  But that’s for me to say on Mouse Extra not for him to say in the same column.  What Mr. Yee does here is attack his own ability to affect the changes he hopes to affect.  If he truly feels the place is “declining by degrees”, does this mean the decline will go mostly unnoticed?  And if it does go largely unnoticed, is it truly worth a weekly column?

We urge you to discuss this more and leave your comment below, or feel free to come over to the Disney News Network Forums where we discuss this and many other topics in the Mouse Extra Forums.

It seems that we can finally put the Fifth Gate debate to rest for a little while.  According to the Associated Press, via Mickey News, Disney’s chief financial officer Thomas Staggs has announced that Disney has no plans to build another theme park in the U.S. any time soon.

Staggs said Disney will likely increase capital spending to beef up its lagging second gate in California. He added that Disney is unlikely to open any new parks in the United States in the foreseeable future.

So do you feel this is good news or bad news?  The idea of another theme park, and all the amazing possibilities that goes with such a plan, is always an exciting one.  I am sure we all remember the intense anticipation that surrounded the opening of Epcot, the Disney-MGM Studios, and Animal Kingdom.  The hype was extraordinary and we all just couldn’t wait to get there and see Imagineering’s newest achievement for ourselves.  I mean, who wouldn’t want that again, right?

But the idea of continuing to invest into the parks that already exist is a much better plan in my eyes.  The later part of the Eisner era saw massive cuts in upkeep, fewer and cheaper new attractions, and entire parks rushed to opening.  What resulted was an Animal Kingdom desperate for a reason to be there at night, a disjointed Studios park, and a giant mess called Disney’s California Adventure, along with a sometimes less than spotless presentation.  Thanks to those years, we now have internet critics making a habit out of chronicling chipped paint and bird-droppings.

Just in Florida alone, the benefit of directing funds into the existing parks has been easy to spot.  Since 2005, we have seen Soarin’, Crush ‘n’ Gusher, Finding Nemo-The Musical, and Expedition Everest all make their debuts at Walt Disney World.  There have also been terrific refurbishments to Pirates of the Caribbean, Spaceship Earth, the Haunted Mansion and the Gran Fiesta Tour.  This is what Disney World needs.  There is plenty of space in the existing parks to make them even more worth the $70-plus a day then they already are.  Let’s keep moving in that direction.

I have set up a poll on the DNN forums about this subject.  Head over and vote.

We urge you to discuss this more and leave your comment below, or feel free to come over to the Disney News Network Forums where we discuss this and many other topics in the Mouse Extra Forums.

Disney’s Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger spoke yesterday at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia Conference in New York.  For a company as large as Disney, and certainly since we are so interested in it, when the chief speaks we all tend to listen closely.  As you can probably imagine, he had quite a bit to cover including, the Disney Channel, films, ESPN, and Blu-ray.  But let’s discuss what he said about the theme parks.

According to the Disney Blog, Iger officially announced the addition on a “Cars-land” to Disney’s California Adventure in Anaheim.

Concerning theme parks, Iger confirmed that the “parks are in great shape” and that Disney will continue to invest in capital, not just in maintenance. “Everything we have done with Pixar in the parks has worked extremely well,” he asserted. He also confirmed a new attraction for Disney’s California Adventure: “We are going to build a Carsland at California Adventure. Which will be a real anchor for that park in the near future.”

It is interesting to see that he refers to it as a “real anchor” and a “land”, as opposed to a ride or attraction.  We have seen concept drawing for what is a “Test Track” style attraction themed to Cars, but expanding it into a full land is a fascinating idea.  I do not have any rumored details for you on this because I am not too dialed into what happens on the west coast.  If any one has some info please post it in the comments section below or on the Disney News Network Forums.

The Orlando Sentinel, via Bloomberg News, expanded upon Iger’s upbeat attitude toward the theme parks.  They also give credit to a couple of the new e-ticket gate-busters for a banner year.

Disney will continue to add attractions at its domestic and international resorts, Iger said. A Finding Nemo ride at Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif., and the Expedition Everest roller coaster at Walt Disney World in Orlando have helped boost sales at the theme-park unit. In the nine months ended June 30, theme-park revenue was up 6.2 percent to $7.84 billion.

Expedition Everest opened in April 2006 in Disney World’s Animal Kingdom theme park. Mixing a roller coaster with a story about a Yeti creature and a mountain, the ride has drawn praise for pleasing teenagers and young adults without scaring away their parents or younger siblings.

This I particularly enjoyed reading because I am such a huge fan of Expedition Everest.  In my humble opinion, Everest is exactly the type of ride that Disney should be building.  It is what separates them from the pack.  It uses amazing theme and detail in the finest Imagineering tradition, and it rides the line between thrill and family to keep everyone happy. 

When I rode Everest for the first time, I was blown away.  But more importantly, it put a smile on face, because it signaled to me that Imagineering finally got its groove back. 

We urge you to discuss this more and leave your comment below, or feel free to come over to the Disney News Network Forums where we discuss this and many other topics in the Mouse Extra Forums.

The Orlando Sentinel has a story this morning from the ever-present Scott Powers about the upcoming 25th Anniversary of Epcot, which happens October 1.  The story talks about Disney’s plans to celebrate the theme park’s milestone, but also the “unofficial” celebrations going on that were put together by fans from all over the Disney internet community.

Many Epcot fans used various Internet forums to criticize Disney for not planning a public marking of the Epcot milestone. The fans also used the Internet to organize private celebrations. As their private arrangements picked up steam this summer, Disney apparently reconsidered its plans.

I think there is a good and bad side to this conclusion.  The good side is that Disney may actually be listening to the will of the fans.  I understand that a very few select people would actually travel to Epcot for such an occasion, but those select people need to be respected as well.  It seems, to some extent, Disney has done that.

The bad side is that one needs to wonder exactly what happened here.    Was Disney so blind to their audience’s wishes that they could not recognize the possibility of angering them as much as they did by ignoring the anniversary?  Disney does exhaustive market research, but it seems to have failed them miserably in this instance.  So now they need to scramble to put together something to save face.

Disney is now planning a public “rededication ceremony” inside Epcot that day that will echo much of the original 1982 dedication. It also will have an exhibit hall dedicated to the park’s first 25 years; a special “IlluminNations” light show at the close of the day; and retro guide maps, restaurant menus and other souvenirs.

But let’s be honest, shall we?   I think it is safe to say that if all Disney World official do for the 25th Anniversary of Epcot is take down the infamous wand, the purists would consider it an enormous success.

We urge you to discuss this more and leave your comment below, or feel free to come over to the Disney News Network Forums where we discuss this and many other topics in the Mouse Extra Forums.