Random vacation thoughts and happenstance.

For stuff that is general.
Malcolm
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Post by Malcolm »

Disney does have a brand that evokes a perception. Why would you do something to taint it?

Their brand is taint.
Diogenes of Sinope: "It is not that I am mad, it is only that my head is different from yours."
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Leisher
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Post by Leisher »

It's propaganda is all I'm saying.


While I'll grant you that there's a fine line between propaganda and marketing there is a line...
“Every record been destroyed or falsified, books rewritten, pictures repainted, statues, street building renamed, every date altered. The process is continuing day by day. History stops. Nothing exists except endless present in which the Party is right.”
Vince
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Post by Vince »

In my perfect world, conglomerates would have to lead their branding with the parent company’s name. It would be Disney’s ABC, and Disney’s ESPN, and Disney’s Marvel Studios etc. I’d wager that 90% of the public doesn’t know that Disney owns ABC, ESPN, Marvel, the Star Wars properties plus which ever other movie companies it now holds. I know they’ve owned Touchstone and Mirmax, but they buy and sell stuff every so often. Which just goes to my point that I’m not even sure of all the entertainment outlets they own now.

I think this is important because it gives you the proper context of things. For instance, knowing GE owned NBC at the time they started their yearly “Green Week” really put the whole thing in its proper perspective. GE wanted to guilt you into buy new GE products because your destroying the planet.

But here’s the thing. 90% of the general public doesn’t know what all Disney owns, but guess who does? The special interest groups. So ABC runs a sitcom with a character that CAIR or the Rainbow Coalition or the LGBT groups find offensive and a letter goes to Disney corporate threatening pickets in front of their parks and suddenly the character disappears off the show. And they (Disney) get to pretend it’s because they’re high minded and realized that they were being offensive.

Having the parent company as part of the name of all the conglomerates forces the parent company to stop pretending they have standards that they don’t have. They can’t pretend that they won’t have a scene in a Disney movie because having bare titties flopping around doesn’t meet the Disney standards, but having them in a Mirmax film is fine. Mirmax standards ARE Disney standards as well.

I like Warner Brothers because the name in front of the movie title says Warner Brothers whether it’s Bugs Bunny or and R rated flick.
"... and then I was forced to walk the Trail of Tears." - Elizabeth Warren
thibodeaux
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Post by thibodeaux »

PS on the Twister "attraction." Evidently Bill P and Helen Hunt hated each other so much after making the movie that they wouldn't work together to make the video for the attraction. So they shot them separately and there's actually two separate screens in the attraction.
GORDON
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Post by GORDON »

I noticed the separateness of their videos... it seemed obvious they weren't in the same place at the same time... I didn't think anything of it. Didn't know they hated each other.

I side with Bill. She must have been a flaming bitch.




Edited By GORDON on 1412267270
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Leisher
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Post by Leisher »

“Every record been destroyed or falsified, books rewritten, pictures repainted, statues, street building renamed, every date altered. The process is continuing day by day. History stops. Nothing exists except endless present in which the Party is right.”
Malcolm
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Post by Malcolm »

Brando and Jack Nicholson hated each other, too. Also, everyone who's worked with Val Kilmer has not had nice things to say.
Diogenes of Sinope: "It is not that I am mad, it is only that my head is different from yours."
Arnold Judas Rimmer, BSC, SSC: "Better dead than smeg."
Vince
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Post by Vince »

My stepdad's great nephew was the stand-in turned stunt double (for the easy stuff) in The Client. My stepdad ended up being his legal guardian on the set. They had a birthday party for Tommy Lee Jones' daughter (don't remember how old, but in the 6 or 7 range) and my stepdad had picked up a doll of some sort and my mother wrapped. Up until that point my stepdad though Jones was the biggest tool he'd ever seen. He thought he considered himself way better than everyone else and didn't talk to anyone, etc. The day after the birthday party/gathering Tommy Lee walked up to my stepdad and thanked him for the gift, saying it was very nice. The whole time he couldn't make eye contact and kept looking down at his feet sort of kicking the ground. That was when my stepdad realized he wasn't an arrogant ass, he was painfully (almost debilitating) shy.

Sounds like he's one of these odd performers that have to get into a role in order to perform. I read that David Bowie was like that and this was the reason for his stage personas.
"... and then I was forced to walk the Trail of Tears." - Elizabeth Warren
Malcolm
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Post by Malcolm »

I read that David Bowie was like that and this was the reason for his stage personas.

Reason for David Bowie's stage personas: $$$$$$$$$$$$$$

He was one of the first musicians that let people, more or less, invest in him and his career.




Edited By Malcolm on 1412280512
Diogenes of Sinope: "It is not that I am mad, it is only that my head is different from yours."
Arnold Judas Rimmer, BSC, SSC: "Better dead than smeg."
GORDON
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Post by GORDON »

GORDON wrote:It has been unseasonably rainy this week, and according to the park dude I talked to yesterday, attendance has been low through the month of September... until this week when the parks have been packed. So. Bad luck.

50 minutes to wait for Pirates of the Caribbean is a packed park. we've never had a wait for that, ever.
Wife stumbled upon a really cheap package deal a few months ago, and she and my kid were at Disney all last week. She figured it would be ok because this is supposed to be the off season.

Apparently, there is no off-season any more. She said the park was packed with (rude as hell) Brazilians. One of the Disney employees told her that yeah, there are off season for Americans, but now those are the times when all the foreigners show up. Getting a non-crowded Disney experience may be becoming rarer.

And they just raised their gate prices to over $100/ticket, too, but only chumps pay full price. They are having more and more days when they hit capacity and close the doors to the park, so they raised prices.
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Leisher
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Post by Leisher »

Yeah, last time we were there was a few Januarys ago and while there weren't as many Americans, there were a lot of foreigners (Europeans). Apparently it was their winter break time or something like that.
“Every record been destroyed or falsified, books rewritten, pictures repainted, statues, street building renamed, every date altered. The process is continuing day by day. History stops. Nothing exists except endless present in which the Party is right.”
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Post by GORDON »

The park employees said they were literally Brazilians. For some reason their entire country visits up these weeks. Dawn said they smelled bad and didn't have any concept of personal space.
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Troy
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Post by Troy »

St. Lucia was amazing. There was a lot ofwind and a small craft advisory offshore, so I stayed close to the bays and rented small sail boats. Had a blast.



Edited By Troy on 1425325022
Vince
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Post by Vince »

GORDON wrote:The park employees said they were literally Brazilians. For some reason their entire country visits up these weeks. Dawn said they smelled bad and didn't have any concept of personal space.
What do you expect? They think soccer is football.
"... and then I was forced to walk the Trail of Tears." - Elizabeth Warren
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Post by GORDON »

GORDON wrote:Twister is kind of lame. And I have never seen bill Paxton more melodramatic... Which is saying a lot.
Looks like they took my criticism seriously. They are turning it into a "Jimmy Kimmel Ride," whatever the fuck that means.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/travel....st.html

I'm going back June, 2016. If it is done I will revisit this post.
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Leisher
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Post by Leisher »

They are turning it into a "Jimmy Kimmel Ride," whatever the fuck that means.


Jimmy Fallon ride. BIG difference there.

I guess they're have you act badly, tell horrible jokes, and constantly laugh when nobody else is laughing?
“Every record been destroyed or falsified, books rewritten, pictures repainted, statues, street building renamed, every date altered. The process is continuing day by day. History stops. Nothing exists except endless present in which the Party is right.”
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Post by GORDON »

Heh, weird. I knew that and still typed the incorrect name.

I probably made Paul blast in his pants.
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TheCatt
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Post by TheCatt »

GORDON wrote:Disnery is more than just the Magic Kingdom, where you went. That place was designed for kids.

Disney Hollywood Studios has an Aerosmith coaster which is good, and an excellent Twilight Zone ride.

Animal Kingdom (which I call Animal Sucktown because I don't like zoos) has a massive Mt. Everest Coaster, a water ride, and a Dinosaur ride that is jerky as hell.

Epcot has the big ball which is nice just to sit in AC for 10 minutes, but they also have Test Track where your kid gets to design a car then ride in it and compete against the other assholes in your car, it has a Mission to Mars ride that had me ready to puke, and... that might be it for the thrill ride stuff.

You guys went to the lamest park. SHould have hit all 4 in one day like the one family did once.
We skipped the Aerosmith and Twilight Zone rides. :(

Animal Kingdom - I rode Everest. It was fun for a coaster, the backward action was neatish. My 5yo loved the Dinosaur ride, we rode it twice. My other kid loved the rapids one, we rode that twice.

5yo loves coaster. 8yo loves water. 5yo hates water, apparently (After Splash Mountain "You didn't tell me we'd get soaked" -> "I said we'd get wet" "yes, but you didn't say SOAKED". We also got soaked in Pirates of the Caribbean cuz we were in the first row (we were literally first row of every ride we were on that had rows, except one. I'm not sure how that happened)

Test Track was fun - both kids loved it.

Mission to Mars (Mission: Space) sucked. Disney rides are so lame that I chose Orange for us. I nearly puked. My 8yo did puke.

I don't think I'll be back to Disney any time soon.

Biggest annoyances: Lines everywhere. Most lines very boring with little theming. Foreign people. People stealing my towels and breakfast (seriously. Fortunately I hadn't paid for it yet). Meal plan with desserts everywhere + overinflated food prices. Bad food. Poor ride descriptions (almost everything is "thrilling") Impossible to tell what rides may be too much for my motion sickness prone child (According to Disney: anything she does beyond walking). Have to do way too much education/research/planning for a trip.

We had a lot of fun, but most of it was being with my family and my enjoying their enjoyment. I rode Everest by myself since no one else wanted to, and it just fell flat. Meanwhile, riding the Epcot discount go karts wants awesome cuz my 4/5yo was HILARIOUS about driving the car.

I don't expect to be back at Disney again.
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TheCatt
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Random vacation thoughts and happenstance.

Post by TheCatt »

OK, people who have been to Universal Studios. We are pondering taking the kids next Spring or Spring 2019.

The kids love Harry Potter. The kids don't love super-thrilling roller coasters, and neither doe my wife.

What should we do? How many days? Should we repeat in the same park (are there multiple parks?) Are there activities (breakfasts, lunches, whatever) that need reservations? What's actually worth doing?
It's not me, it's someone else.
thibodeaux
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Random vacation thoughts and happenstance.

Post by thibodeaux »

If you love Harry Potter, then you will probably love Harry Potter World at Universal. Hit Angela up for deets, but when we went, we stayed at one of "their" hotels, so we were allowed in the park an hour early, and we ran for Harry Potter World (the "Diagon Alley" part). Got near the head of the line for Gringotts. Now...if you have somebody with motion sickness problems, that might not be a great ride. But it was my favorite non-roller-coaster ride. It's one of those sorta-coasters inside with 3-d projection shit all over the place. Also went to the wand shop which is kind of expensive but Abe got picked to be the "demo kid." He also got to be in a movie with The Rock but that was in the otherwise lame Disaster Movie thing.

Butter beer is good but only first few sips then it is ass and you don't want to finish it. Angela loved going all over Diagon Alley and doing the wand things. The food in Hogsmeade was ok but like Disney everything is ridiculously priced.

Overall at Universal I can't remember if we did one day or two. I am a coaster fan and the Rockit is badass. YMMV.

Bottom line, hit Ang up.
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