Tokyo Disneyland
Topic: 3/8/06 Pardon Our Dust - Tokyo Disneyland Resor

#	Author	Message
1	Doobie Wed 3/8/2006 8:08p	This topic is for Discussion of: 3/8/06 Pardon Our Dust - Tokyo Disneyland Resor
2	dlport Wed 3/8/2006 8:08p	Great article with some eye-opening analysis of the parks and their financial viability. I look forward to these articles from Lee.
3	trekkeruss Wed 3/8/2006 8:54p	IMO, OLC should strongly consider revising their passport structure, namely they should introduce "hopper" passports across the board.
4	SuperDry Wed 3/8/2006 10:00p	Great article and insight as usual!
5	WorldDisney Wed 3/8/2006 10:00p	Wow, great report :). I'm reeeaaally excited to see their TOT version. I was thinking of maybe trying to sneak back to Tokyo before then, but it make sense just to wait it out. Also, its sad that TDS isn't getting the amount of bodies in that it was the first year. I think OLC thought what they had was enough and it was....for the first year lol. Maybe they are questioning their business strategy now (shock and awe them right out the gate), but frankly its a damn-if-you-do, damn-if-you-don't situation. All the other new 2nd gates seem to be struggling right now also (looking squarely at you DCA and WDSP ;)). Sure, mostly because they suck, but because they didn't make it appealing ENOUGH IMO. Then, you build a park that is worthy of any Disney theme park and its STILL not enough. Also, as great as TDS is, you're right, it still can't offset the appeal for TDL, but no second gate obviously can. TDS came closese IMO, but the MK park still manages to draw you in more. Although frankly I prefer OLC's method of introducing a park versus Disney's pathetic attempts at park making lately, they could've save themselves some stress by creating it without so much money (by maybe a billion lol) OR just leave out some of the intricate detailing of the place and earmark that money for more attractions on opening day OR keep that money to open up more attractions every 1-2 years to keep them coming back. Of course, in hindsight, its always easy to see. No one can fault OLC for trying to deliver a stunning park out the gate. That's something the Disney Co. USE to do, but just like anything, if you put all your eggs in one basket, its a chance you can lose them all. Don't worry TDS, I'll be back to help with attendance, but I have a feeling its not enough lol. <<The Twilight Zone theme was dropped as not enough Japanese guests would know the series (which is an odd counterpoint to the Parisian version which will feature Rod Serling's immortal voice-over but where the show is equally unknown)>> See, THIS is why TDR will always be tops in my book. They realize that their audience isn't going to know the tv show all that well to get the ride, so what do they do? They build something that can appeal to them. The Disney Co. meanwhile in their ever increasing way of cheapening out knowing that the French audience may have the same problem and not recognize the show doesn't seem to care as much. Of course, its easiser and cheaper just to drop in the same exact show. Its stuff like this that really bugs me. If you're willing to build the TOT to begin with, why not tweak it especially for your audience? In Tokyo, they're not building a clone, they are trying to bring something a little more unique and add some flavor. But, in France, like most Disney stuff these days, just drop it in and hope no one cares it doesn't really fit. DCA is full of that and its sad the French can't get something more inlined with Tokyo's version to suit their needs, but OLC isn't running that show ;).
6	leemac Wed 3/8/2006 11:13p	<<IMO, OLC should strongly consider revising their passport structure, namely they should introduce "hopper" passports across the board. >> I wholeheartedly agree but the OLC rarely admit that something doesn't work (although they did when they launched APs after years of saying they weren't necessary). I don't expect any wholesale changes for a while. Although there are a lot of new 2900 yen passports coming online soon (even the after 6pm passport is being released for weekends which as far as I recall is unheard of before).
7	leemac Wed 3/8/2006 11:25p	<<The Disney Co. meanwhile in their ever increasing way of cheapening out knowing that the French audience may have the same problem and not recognize the show doesn't seem to care as much. Of course, its easiser and cheaper just to drop in the same exact show. >> I guess the logic is that the storyline of the attraction is strong enough to cary the experience without needing to know the Twilight Zone (and I agree). It just doesn't make a lot of sense to create a dialogue-heavy version (like TDS's) when you have so many "official" languages.
8	davewasbaloo Wed 3/8/2006 11:39p	The other key reason for TZTOT going into WDSP is brand recognition. People expect rihtly or wrongly, to have clones of the US attractions. By making it TZTOT, it answers that call and fits in better with the Studios theme than a generic storyline, which is much better suited to the themes of TDS. I think both resorts have made the right choices.
9	Westsider Thu 3/9/2006 12:03a	This article was puzzling, and seemed to be full of theory and conjecture made by the author. But the numbers don't really support the rather dire straits the author claims DisneySea is in... "Has TDS become a barnacle on the side of the ever-popular Tokyo Disneyland ("TDL")?" and "The problem is that regular guests prefer a day in TDL to TDS." Those types of statements by the author were typical of the tone of the article. And yet the official OLC attendance figures for 2005 were: Tokyo Disneyland - 13 Million Tokyo DisneySea - 12 Million That slim difference in attendance doesn't really warrant the claim of "barnacle", does it? Certainly that is attendance figures that Anaheim won't see for DCA for at least another decade from now. DisneySea looks to me to be Disneyland's robust younger sister next door, and certainly no "barnacle". In comparison, Anaheim's 2005 numbers were: Disneyland - 14.5 Million DCA - 5.8 Million Talk about a barnacle. But back in Japan, these '05 numbers were even in a year where the wildly popular 2005 World's Fair down in Aichi siphoned off literally millions of funseekers and had other big theme parks in Japan (Universal Osaka, et.c) seeing attendance drops in the double digit range. In my opinion, the numbers and the first five years of solid performance don't really support the thesis the author tries to lay out in this article. He seems to want to rewrite history and put a bizarre spin on DisneySea's very strong performance right out of the gate. Sure, DisneySea isn't as succesful or as beautiful or as brilliantly designed as DCA. But hey, the Japanese haven't been in the Disney theme park business as long as us big, tough Americans have. ;-)
10	WorldDisney Thu 3/9/2006 12:23a	<<The other key reason for TZTOT going into WDSP is brand recognition. People expect rihtly or wrongly, to have clones of the US attractions. By making it TZTOT, it answers that call and fits in better with the Studios theme than a generic storyline, which is much better suited to the themes of TDS.>> Well, since you can speak about the Paris resort much more than I ever could, I'll obviously take your word for it. But, its still a cheap slap-in-the-face when both rides look and feel exactly alike. MGM and TDS got somewhat unique rides in the exteriors, storylines and maybe rides. Paris and DCA gets identical ones with no different interpretations whatsoever (and yeah, I realize DCA 'stole' Paris version first, which makes it even sadder). But, they are the Blacksheeps in the family, so you can't expect much :D.

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