On The Horizons

A Grand and Miraculous Future?

2008-01-25T16:10:00.000-08:00

Its been a while since I last posted here and a lot has come to pass since my last post. I do have to apologize for my inability to post here more often. As I've shared before my real life just keeps getting in the way. My son is now almost six months old and my job is finally calming down. Hopefully I'll be able to update this thing more often.

Well as you're probably aware, the latest info I had in my last post here never came to pass. Unfortunately the Disney Parks are still a homogenized brand with no end in sight. Jay Rasulo still has a firm grip on his position, and the year of a million dreams has been extended for another year of a million years. But enough of the negative talk. There are some wonderful things happening in Orlando as of late. So lets talk about those instead.

Things are really starting to look up at the Universal resorts. After years of stagnation with very little new in sight, the Universal team has stepped into overdrive. Disaster, A Major Motion Picture Ride Starring You... has opened within the last few days and it is a major upgrade to Earthquake which stood there before. By almost all accounts, it is going to prove very popular as guests are raving about the new effect which makes Christopher Walken magically appear and interact with the set and hosts around him.

Disney should take notice here on how to upgrade and refresh an attraction as Universal has done a wonderful job of refreshing an old and dull attraction. Lets take Disney's latest attempt at an update with SpaceShip Earth. While the refresh and addition to the animatronic scenes in the first 2/3 of the ride is perfect, the ending is a major letdown.

For those of you who haven't seen the videos or read about it yet, instead of the grand ending we are used to with the wonderful city of the future around us, we are instead required to focus on a small video screen in front of us which shows a Jetsons version of the future with our picture pasted on the characters like those so annoying Elf Yourself videos that were going around at Christmas time.

The ride is not ruined, but this is a far cry from the ending that this iconic ride deserved. Rumors have it that management is well aware of the complaints about the ending and are taking those into consideration, and lets hope they are. SpaceShip Earth is going down for a few weeks in February to finalize the ride before its official opening in mid February. Its WDI's last chance, lets hope they get it right. SpaceShip Earth deserves more, EPCOT Center deserves more, the fans deserve more, and I believe that WDI can deliver more. You're behind the eight ball guys, lets see what you can do.

So which resort is currently facing the grand and miraculous future we've always dreamed of? Is it the homogenized Disney Parks with their muddled management structure which requires execs to jetset all across the country meeting with managers on different coasts, with their less than inspired creations such as the descent of SSE, Monsters Inc, etc...? Or is it Universal with their nice refurb of Earthquake, their upcoming Simpsons attraction, and the major addition of Harry Potter? Only time will tell, but its definitely an interesting time to be a theme park fan. For my vote, I hope they both win. I think we're all better off with strong quality competition coming out of both camps.

Maybe the future truly is bright.

Mr. Iger, Tear Down That Wand

2007-07-09T05:46:00.000-07:00

Does anyone remember the year 1989 and the celebration that occurred with the destruction of the wall in Berlin? I certainly do. It was a day of great celebration and discussion of liberty and freedom as it spread across the globe. While what is happening today is nowhere near as profound an event to the world as the destruction of the wall was back in 1989, to those of us who loved and adored EPCOT Center, it feels that way. You see, today begins a new day for Epcot, a new future, and a new path. At least I hope it does. Today begins the official destruction of the wand over SSE.

Now some may say that it is a fairly inconsequential event, that the removal of this structure means nothing for the future of the park, that it's not going to bring back Horizons, World of Motion, or the original Imagination ride. That is true, but it does signal a change. It shows that someone up top remembers what Epcot once was, the glory that was the original EPCOT Center, and maybe, just maybe they'll chart the future plans for the park in that direction.

I'm also optimistic today due to some other news that came out early yesterday morning. It seems that Jay Rasulo and company have lost their evil grip over the company and in fact may be falling out of favor completely. It seems, from all accounts, that the Where Dreams Come True Global Homogenization of the parks is coming to an end as well. One can only ponder what this means for the future of the Disney Parks as a whole. Does it mean that the development of each individual park will now take place from those who are best able to chart its future, the park presidents themselves? One can only hope.

Just as the fall of the Berlin Wall did not bring immediate change and prosperity to the region, it was a signal of brighter days to come. And the celebration we had on the day the destruction began was something I remember to this day. So I choose to celebrate today as EPCOT's Independence day.

Please Help "Give The Kids The World"

2007-03-15T08:42:00.000-07:00

The Disney online community is coming together to help Give Kids the World Village build a dedicated villa for families visiting Disney World and other Orlando attractions. Even very small contributions add up, and if we online fans pool our resources, we easily have enough to make this happen. What better synergy could there be? What better charity for Disney fans is there than the very operation which enables children with life-threatening illnesses to visit Disney? Please help.

To see the article that started this whole thing, please read Kevin Yee's article over at miceage.com here. I'm not one who normally gets involved in these pleas as I have my own chosen charities to support but as a lover of all things Disney, this one was too good for me to pass up and as I've read stories from others who have been helped by this organization, I couldn't help but cry. So please, help out in whatever way you can. 5 dollars, 10 dollars, 25 dollars, or even several hundred. No amount is too small nor too large.

Thank you.

Where I have been

2007-03-05T12:32:00.000-08:00

I must apologize for my lack of updates to this blog for the past several months. However life has taken a very big change for me over the past few months and my time to dedicate to things such as this blog have basically been non-existant. First, I accepted a new job teaching Computer Networking and Security Management for Keiser University. This required me to move my entire family back across state to Tallahassee, FL. The new job has been very demanding of my time and although I've thought about updating these blogs several times, the actual time needed to do it has not materialized.

Once I thought things were about to calm down we had another major change take place in my life. I am going to be a father for the first time. I am very excited about this change but it has also taken away much of my remaining free time with doctor's visits and doing things for my wife. As to how it will relate to this blog in the future, we'll have to wait and see. I definitely see my time visiting the parks being reduced greatly until our child is old enough to visit with us, but at the same time I'll be able to view the parks through a brand new way, through the eyes of a child.

I've got several ideas running around my head for a new blog update and I hope to get one out soon. Until then, I thank you for reading as always.

Six Steps to improve Islands of Adventure

2006-11-06T13:07:00.000-08:00

By all accounts, Universal created a masterpiece when they developed Islands of Adventure, a park of beautiful vistas, wonderful theming, amazing rides, and one of the best restaurants in a theme park anywhere. The amount of detail put into areas as simple as the Port of Entry, and the queue for Dueling Dragons are a testament to the dedication Universal had while developing this park. The Islands are creative and different enough to keep interest peaked as you travel around the park, and the rides and attractions are top notch. In fact the Spider Man ride was voted best Dark Ride for several years in a row by theme park insider. In fact, it won the award so many times that they retired the category until something else could come along.

This was a park that easily made the Disney company stand up and take notice that other companies are equally as qualified to create amazing experiences when they pour the money into it as well. And while this park is a wonderful experience and a architectural and theming marvel, it has seen better days. It's a shame that a once marvelous park has been allowed to slowly deteriorate. But take heart, it is not too late to bring this park back to its place competing at the top of the theme park food chain. Below are six steps that need to be taken to restore this park to its full and wonderful potential.

6. Maintenance

It seems so simple, but it is the one thing that is overlooked in every theme park across America. Universal Creative designed a beautiful and detailed park and unfortunately its been allowed to slowly lose its luster. Simple effects such as the fire on the torches of the Jurassic Park entrance aren't lit, foliage has been allowed to die around the exterior of the park so that backstage is clearly seen from inside the park, and many on-ride effects simply don't work any longer. When was the last time we saw the small dinosaurs fight over the shirt in Jurassic Park? It's such a simple matter, but in a desire to cut costs and increase profits it's the first thing to be cut. You created a beautiful park Universal, is it too much to ask to keep the place shined up? It doesn't fit easily on financial spreadsheets, but guests notice things like that and while they may not complain about them to guest relations, rest assured that they do remain as a stain on their memories. If you don't respect your product enough to keep it in top shape, why should they respect it enough to recommend it to their friends.

5. Keep your restaurants and beverage carts open for longer hours

It is not only bad show, but incredibly frustrating to walk through Islands of Adventure and have to explore to find a simple beverage cart or place to purchase a snack. Seuss Island has some wonderful dining locations by the looks of it, but unfortunately I've never once seen any of them open. Mythos is the most spectacular theme park restaurant I've ever eaten at, but by keeping such short hours I've heard several guests state that they thought the restaurant was simply closed completely for the day. Market your dining experiences more and they'll bring in more money. It's almost impossible to find a seat in most of Disney's park restaurants but Universal can't even be bothered to keep theirs open for the full park dining hours. The park dining experience works, you just have to convince your guests that you have more than quick service buffets to experience.

4. Do Something With The Lake

As it stands the lake sits there only as a thematic visual, but worse, as a major impediment to travel amongst the islands. If I'm in the Lost Continent and want to get over the Superhero Island I have to walk through several other lands to get there. This is a major problem for traffic flow around the park. If possible, place several water taxis on the lake which run all day long and take your guests from land to land. This would help immensely with the traffic flow throughout the parks and also add a wonderful kinetic energy which is currently missing from the lake. If that is not possible due to guest throughput, use the lake for some sort of action packed show or water parade. Turn the lake into another palette for guest experiences. If something was happening on the lake constantly, I'd be a lot less annoyed at its interference with park traffic flow.

3. Streetmosphere

The theming of Islands of Adventure is absolutely wonderful, and the music which mixes in fits perfectly creating a realistic and fantastic scene in the minds eye. Lets take that and plus it. The streetmosphere over at the Studios is wonderful, from the Blues Brothers Stage show, to the I Love Lucy tribute band, and the wonderful characters who walk the grounds guests have a number of opportunities to be surprised by seemingly spontaneous entertainment. I've seen the characters in Islands of Adventure and the nice interaction with the superheroes at Marvel Superhero Island, but bring a few more things out. It doesn't have to be over the top presentations, but a cobra charmer or arabian styled band in The Lost Continent or surprise readings of the wonderful Seuss tales in Seuss Island could go a long way to creating intimate and personal experiences that can't be found in the rest of the park.

2. Create a Night Time Spectacle

I understand that a grand fireworks affair is out of the question due to the location of Universal Orlando and that's a shame. But it shouldn't stop you from being able to create something in Islands of Adventure to cap off a great day in the parks. The end of day show is one of the more important pieces in crafting together the theme park puzzle. Guests spend all day and much of their money exploring your park and they look for something to cap it off, to remind them that this a wonderful and fantastic place. By ignoring this simple exercise, you are ignoring one of the major unspoken needs of your guests. While I appreciate the attempts at Universal 360 over at the Studios, each park should have their own reason to stay on property until nightfall. Unfortunately, that also requires that Universal keep their parks open till nightfall. It's important, and keeping your guests in the parks until night time would not only give you the opportunity for a night time spectacle, it would also increase the profits at City Walk as well. So develop something to wow your guests at night, to not do so is a majorly missed opportunity.

1. More Attractions

It's been over 7 years since this park first opened and the only new addition has been the High in the Sky Seuss Trolley. Don't get me wrong, I think it was a nice addition, but it's not what is needed to help draw new guests through the gates. One of the major problems with the marketing of Islands of Adventure is that it has come to be known as Universal's thrill park and does not appeal to families at all. As I mentioned in a previous update, this is a major problem because it divides the family into segments. Some will sit on a bench and wait while others go ride the next big thrill ride and then those will go do something else while the younger set rides the kiddie rides in the park. The best thing to be done to combat both problems is to create 2-3 amazing dark ride experiences that are enjoyable to the entire family. Dark rides and Family rides are not dead, for inspiration on how to create amazing attractions see ET from the Studios which still stands up as an amazing experience so many years later, or the new Nemo ride over at Epcot, or any of the classic attractions from the Magic Kingdom in Pirates of the Caribbean or The Haunted Mansion. Universal Creative has some of the best minds in the business, put them to work creating rides that tell wonderful stories on some of the great themes in the park. Give us a jeep ride in Jurassic Park using technology similar to Test Track at Epcot, or a boat ride or typical dark ride through Hagar the Horrible in Toon Lagoon, or a family friendly ride through ancient mythological stories in the Lost Continent. There are hundreds of opportunities for wonderful storytelling in family friendly rides all throughout this park. If you can manage to make the park marketable to not only thrill junkies, but families as well then your potential guests have just gone through the roof. If you build them, they will come.

Now don't get me wrong. I have made several criticisms about the park in this update, but rest assured that a trip over to Islands of Adventure is still an amazing experience. I would like to see this park reach its full potential however and these are the best ways I know of to bring it to that level. For those of you who haven't taken a trip over to Universal in years or ever because it's not Disney, you owe it to yourself to schedule some time into your next trip to Orlando to visit. You may just find yourself pleasantly surprised.

Where parents and children could have fun together

2006-10-25T08:45:00.000-07:00

For today's blog, I'd like to touch on one of Walt's quotes that I mentioned in my first update:

"We believed in our idea, a family park where parents and children could have fun together."

Above anything else, I believe that this was truly Walt's defining goal in creating the modern theme park. He often spoke of his trips to some of the smaller amusement areas and excursions with his family, and the amazing connection that he was able to make with his children while doing so. Above all else, he desired to build a park where parents could bring their children and both would have fun together. That word together is a very important part of the discussion and one that must not be missed.

There are numerous places spread out amongst the globe where parents can take their kids and watch their kids have fun while they sit back and watch, and in some cases just endure it. That was not Walt's idea for the parks. He firmly believed that he could build a place where parents and children could come and both have fun together, at the same time, laughing and dreaming as one. To his amazing credit he created exactly that and his way of doing it was very interesting. When asked about the issue, he had this to say:

"Why do we have to grow up? I know more adults who have the children's approach to life. They're people who don't give a hang what the Joneses do. You see them at Disneyland every time you go there. They are not afraid to be delighted with simple pleasures, and they have a degree of contentment with what life has brought - sometimes it isn't much, either."

and

"Adults are interested if you don't play down to the little 2 or 3 year olds or talk down. I don't believe in talking down to children. I don't believe in talking down to any certain segment. I like to kind of just talk in a general way to the audience. Children are always reaching."

When it comes to theme park design and development, those two quotes should be emblazoned in every creative, executive, and financial office in America today. When asking why Walt's enormous dream became such a success, became a world icon, and a brand unto itself, all that you have to do is look at those ideals. The parks today spend all of their time on the latest thrill ride, or on synergy, yet they miss the most simple of all answers. And that simple answer is "Parents and Children having fun together." It really is that simple yet it's overlooked all too much lately.

Theme parks in general have been taking a track lately of bigger, badder, and faster. I think that's a mistake. It really is. It's a mistake because it completely ignores Walt's entire vision for creating the parks. For creating a place where Parents and Children can have fun together. Thrill rides are fun, and I have no problem with having a few of them scattered throughout the park, but they cannot become the basis for your park if you want to reach the full market that is available. Let's look at demographics for a moment.

Who does the thrill ride reach out to? It reaches out to the ages between approximately 12-30 and while that is a large demographic, it's not the demographic that drives theme park success. Theme parks that remain successful and become engrained in the vocabulary of America become that way because they reach out to the entire family, and allow the entire family to laugh, learn, and enjoy the experience together. Thrill rides don't allow that. They break up the family and they tend to break the parks into seperate experiences aimed at different demographics. We wind up with kiddie lands, thrill lands, and shows for the older. This is a problem because it does not allow the family to enjoy it together.

In analyzing why this is a problem, I look at my own experiences. Why am I hopelessly addicted to the theme park? The answer is very simple. Memories. My greatest memories of my childhood took place within the gates of Walt Disney World and Universal Studios. When I think back to those memories I am reminded of laughing with my mother and father all at once while riding the old Hannah Barbara ride at Universal, being wowed by the pirates in Pirates of the Carribean at the Magic Kingdom, of dreaming of an amazing future with my family on Horizon's at Epcot. It was a familial experience. One that brought us closer together as a family, one that a simple look at a picture brings us all back to that same place and memory where we laughed and smiled all as one. I don't have those memories from parks that were primarily thrill rides. I don't get that when thinking about my mother waiting on a bench while my dad and I rode a roller coaster, or of both of my parents sitting there and watching while my sister and I were shot into the air on a slingshot ride. Those rides missed the point of drawing the family together and it is what the theme parks did so well in the past.

I am beginning to become afraid that those ideals are being lost. Rides like Mission Space, Rockin' Rollercoaster, Dueling Dragons, and The Hulk are wonderful rides in and of themselves but they totally miss the goal that Walt spoke of many years ago. They divide the family and remove the one thing that made me love the theme park. They removed the bonding with my family. So while I understand the need for one or two thrill rides in a park for those families and individuals who do love them, I don't want to see the parks become known as thrill parks. In the end, to remain successful into the future, they must remain family parks. That means creating something that the whole family can enjoy together, not kiddie lands, and not thrill rides.

To all that come to this happy place

2006-10-24T14:20:00.000-07:00

Good morning, Good Evening, or Goodnight. I'm not sure what time it is that you're first reading this so allow me to touch all my bases. I'd like to take a moment and tell you about myself, the author of this blog that you have taken the time to read. I'm not sure what has brought you here out of all the wonderful places on the internet for discussion of the theme park business, but I'm glad you stopped by for whatever reason it is. If you're in the wrong place, that's ok. The exit is to the left, but if you'd like to sit down and read a while I'd appreciate it.

My name, as it is known in internetdom, is kcnole and I am a huge fan of theme parks. My wife calls me obsessed and I should say that she is probably right. They are my escape from the everyday dross, my fantastic journeys that I may never take otherwise, and my dreams for tomorrow. I should be more specific in my particular forte' however. I am speaking largely of the Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando Resorts. I am aware that there are other places as wonderful as those such as Walt's original park in Anaheim, the wonderful Busch Garden's Europe in Williamsburg, and especially Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea but my meager budget won't allow those excursions at this point. I have often gushed to my wife about visiting some of these parks in various parts of the world but I get enough grief for my continued requests to travel to Orlando, so for now that is where I will remain until I manage to get her as hopelessly addicted the magic of theme parks as I.

So for the current duration of this blog you can expect to read my thoughts on the amazing resorts at Walt Disney World, The Disney company as a whole, and Universal Orlando Resort. As my sphere increases you may also read of reports from Sea World and other various parks in the area. Some have asked me why I am not focusing on just one resort and my simple answer is that I cannot. As I have stated earlier, I am not just a fan of Walt Disney World, but a fan of all theme parks that are well done and if I'm going to take my time to write about what I love, I'm going to touch on it all. While I am not a fan of any particular theme park over any other I must admit to being a huge fan of Walt Disney's vision in creating Disneyland and then Walt Disney World. I think he said it best in these following three quotes and if any theme park designer or investor will buy into the man's vision, they will have a successful park.

"We believed in our idea, a family park where parents and children could have fun together."

"Disneyland is a work of love. We didn't go into Disneyland just with the idea of making money."

"To all that come to this happy place: welcome. Disneyland is your land. Here age relives fond memories of the past, and here youth may savor the challenge and promise of the future. Disneyland is dedicated to the ideals, the dreams, and the hard facts that have created America... with hope that it will be a source of joy and inspiration to all the world."

Walt is a man I incredibly miss and as others have said, I'm not sure we deserved him, but we were lucky to have him. I will be coming back to his quotes from time to time to delve deeper into the mind of Walt. I hope you enjoy my observations and thoughts, and I hope that you'll jump into the conversations as well through the comment system here. If I'm wrong, tell me. If you agree with me, then I'd appreciate that too. If I spelled something wrong, well then maybe I'll hire you to be my editor. :)

So once again, thank you for stopping by and reading my thoughts.