Disneyland General
Topic: LP Column: 5/5/08 Greg Maletic: Disney's Biggest Theme Park Mistakes

#	Author	Message
61	davewasbaloo Tue 5/6/2008 2:59p	Greg - One point though. Canada is one of the largest nations on the planet, with a rich and varied cultural past. With the exception of O Canada, people might get offended by different choice. for example, I could see a load of Californians had Dixie or Camptown Races represent America. Or someone might want Stars and Strips instead of My country Tis of Thee. I understand the thrust of your arguement, however I think an original song can actually work better. As for the poacher scene in DAK, well it is actually to cover up the boaring security and infrastructural experience of getting back to base camp. Yes, back in the day, they would have created a huge waterfall with a bridge or something. But these days, people seem to find that boring. A real shame. Hans - Walt did not have the money for the DLH. That's why Rather was begged to invest. Again, Spain would have been a rediculous location for EDL. The deal was signed only a few years after Franco. The country was in a terrible state. Paris is the most visited city in the world. It is central - 2/3rds of Europe's population can be there in a few hours). It has great rail links across Europe. at the time the deal was struck, low cost air carriers were rare. Land was cheap comparitively. Spanish summers can be very oppressive. And the tax breaks were huge. Paris is the perfect geographical location in Europe. Just the weather and culture are a little iffy at times.
62	gmaletic Tue 5/6/2008 3:18p	Kar2oonMan: >>>Careful what you wish for. The Canadians gave us Celine Dion and Bryan Adams. I'm just sayin'.<<< Okay. Forget everything I said. Yay,Disney song! ;-)
63	Doobie Tue 5/6/2008 3:22p	<<< Careful what you wish for. The Canadians gave us Celine Dion and Bryan Adams. I'm just sayin'. >>> Don't forget Martin Short. Oh wait, they used him there. Doobie.
64	dshyates Tue 5/6/2008 3:22p	I'm OK with fake. My ex once asked me why guys like fake...uh....implants. "They look so fake", she said. I replied Disney World is fake and its awesome.
65	leemac Tue 5/6/2008 3:46p	<<Where it goes a bit over the top in my opinion is the whole "keep an eye out for poachers" storyline. To me, while I understand the intent of the message, it intrudes on what could be simply a pleasant and educational ride without all the invented drama. It's a classic example of where less could be more.>> Gotta vehemently disagree with you there 2oony. DAK is all about the subtext of conservation - everything in that park is telling the story of why we need to actively conserve our planet. The Safaris' subtext of the impact of poachers is wholly appropriate. It engages with the guest and remind them how fragile the balance is. I'll defend DAK to the hilt when it comes to story and texture. There is not a single other theme park in the world like it.
66	Dabob2 Tue 5/6/2008 3:47p	<Careful what you wish for. The Canadians gave us Celine Dion and Bryan Adams. I'm just sayin'.> And Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and kd lang. Choosing wisely is everything. :)
67	Dave Tue 5/6/2008 3:51p	<<<Careful what you wish for. The Canadians gave us Celine Dion and Bryan Adams. I'm just sayin'.>>> And Barrage and the Nurmis!
68	5551555 Tue 5/6/2008 4:30p	May I jump in here with my own list? The blunders that truely irk me are the aesthetic ones like Toontown with all the little children and babies baking in the sun with nary a plastic tree to shade them, the delicate restaurant right next to the overwhelming entrance to Tomorrowland with a great view of the back of the snackstand parked nearby, the broken down pirates being replaced with not-as-good-as Blaine Gibson's designs and the projected changes to Small World inserting Disney characters into a World in which they do not belong. They are from another planet. Small World belongs to the children of the world. I always thought that Mickey Mouse should have his own ride rather like a 'wild mouse' ride based on the Clock Cleaners movie. Lucky Ducky
69	Hans Reinhardt Tue 5/6/2008 4:35p	"Hans - Walt did not have the money for the DLH. That's why Rather was begged to invest." Walt Disney didn't have enough money to build DL either, so he sought out partners like ABC that helped finance the park's construction and operation. Oddly, Jack Wrather was given the exclusive rights to use the Disneyland name for a hotel adjacent to the parking lot. He was not an investor in the park, and yet he fully owned a hotel that carried the park's name. That was shortsighted on Disney's part. "Again, Spain would have been a rediculous location for EDL. The deal was signed only a few years after Franco." General Franco died in 1975. Euro Disney opened in 1992. That's nearly two decades, hardly a few years. "Paris is the most visited city in the world. It is central - 2/3rds of Europe's population can be there in a few hours). It has great rail links across Europe. at the time the deal was struck, low cost air carriers were rare. Land was cheap comparitively. Spanish summers can be very oppressive. And the tax breaks were huge. Paris is the perfect geographical location in Europe. Just the weather and culture are a little iffy at times." That all sounded great at the time, but in retrospect a Disney resort might have been better suited for the proposed site just outside sunny Barcelona instead of the lovely but gloomy and damp city of Paris. By the way, a lot of people said that WDW would be doomed because of Central Florida's oppressive summers too, and it's not like Hong Kong, Tokyo, or Anaheim aren't blistering in the summer.
70	jedited Tue 5/6/2008 4:47p	As to the Canadian song, I would suspect that Disney wrote their own song due to licensing issues and cost. If they licensed a song they would have to pay license fees for as long as the movie existed in EPCOT and fees for whenever they put it on a soundtrack album. If they wrote their own song, no licensing fees. As to the EuroDisney location argument, read "Once Upon An American Dream" by Andrew Lainsbury. He goes into the whole arguments for and against Spain. Davewasbaloo hit the nail on the head. It was mostly about Paris was in a central location and most of their projected attendance was coming from Great Britan (the chunnel was under construction), France and Germany. In addition there is (was?) something to do with that Spain used a completely different type of railroad gauge and you couldn't take a direct rail service from the rest of Europe.

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