jackskellington101

I'm shocked at how much this park looks like IOA. The structure is amazingly similar. I'm quite excited to see how everything turns out.

Well, there is room. The Millionaire Theater comes to mind. But, that's going to be used for the main entrance soon enough, so I doubt it'll be going to Hollywood...so to speak.

I'm taking my analysis of why it's a bad idea from a summery of everyone else's criticism along with my own. Here is why it is a bad idea: It requires a much longer time commitment on the guest, including requiring them to return for the last show of the night when the guest will more than likely have other plans. There is the issue of language barrier with international guests. The subjective nature of the judging can, and likely will, cause upset and disappointed guests. Guests are already disappointed by the random nature of the Year of a Million Dreams prizes, if they are snubbed personally on a subjectively judged contest, the ire will be drawn further. The architecture of the show building itself, as per the concept art, is completely out of touch with the rest of the area. Though the show itself is popular, the appeal of appearing on the show caters to a very small market. The popularity of the show is waning fast, giving the attraction a very small window of opportunity. The grand prize is unappealing for the normal guest and is too bogged down with other stipulations, specifically the age requirement of 16-25 which is an age that Disney has extreme difficulty courting. American Idol is so closely tied to Fox television, it will likely cause confusion to the guests on why it is at a Disney park and will go to promote a competitors product. With licenses like Indy and Star Wars, they are not known as a Paramount or 20th Century Fox brand, they are known as a Lucas brand. The man himself is known far more than the distributor of the film. In the case of American Idol, the distribution platform of Fox television is just as synonymous as the brand itself. I don't think it is all that cheap to begin with. I'm sure acquiring the license cost a pretty penny on top of the construction costs to update and reset that theater again. It's not e-ticket costs, but it's also not cheap. That, in my and seemingly many other people's opinions, is why this is a bad idea. I added the concept art of the building itself, to prove my "out of place with the rest of the area" point. The concept art of the show sign. The American Idol theater The ABC Theater, as of 10/29/07, where American Idol is supposed to go.

That's what they want you to think... Turning it back to the travesty at hand, and I don't mean Barry, my lovely companion Ashley actually suggested a good idea whilst we've been talking about this. Why didn't they make this something like "The Search for the Next Hanna Montana"? Same contest, different and more popular license and a license that Disney actually owns. I guess it just makes too much sense.

^No, one in the future. A twisted dark future.

^^^I bet $5 I win the next TPR video contest with a video of Barry being forcibly removed from the attraction for videotaping small children.

*head to wall* I couldn't believe that rumor when it first came out. It seemed just too crazy and too dumb to be true. I still don't want to believe this press release, like it's some mistake. As a heartfelt fan of Disney's product in the amusement and theme park industry, this news deeply saddens me. This, in my humble opinion, is probably one of the worst directions they could have taken. [rant] This decision optimizes to me the fundamental problem in decision making for planning and development of these parks, especially Walt Disney World. This is not a long term decision. This is barely a short term decision. This can barely be considered a decision. This is a waste of money. The show has a mass appeal, that is undeniable, but as an attraction I just can not see it working. I can understand the logic that went into planning, the though of "oh, this is just Millionaire II". But by human nature, it doesn't work that way. AllenA07 said it best: I wholeheartedly agree. With Millionaire at least every had some sort of even chance. The way it was structured, everyone felt equal when playing and when you happened to get into the hot seat, you did so over others, so your confidence was boosted in getting that far. Dry picking from the audience in a competition like this will be extremely difficult and probably not very fruitful. I do not envy any cast member having to work this attraction. I, personally, don't share Rasulo's sentiment that "there's enough talent on any given day in our theme parks to keep people entertained". Functionally, this has the potential to be very disastrous. Like Fear Factor Live: Dead Celebrity Edition disastrous. Another issue I have with this is that no matter what they say in the release, this is promoting a competitor's product. There is no way around it. Yes, the product is owned by 19 Entertainment and FremantleMedia, but the public associates the product with Fox television. End of story. You can try to spin it all you want, but go out and ask anyone what they associate with American Idol and you will more than likely get Fox. I think that is going to confuse people more than anything else. Yes, it can be argued that a number of other attractions (Star Tours, Indy, Tower, Rock N' Roller Coaster, Great Movie Ride) are all using licenses and products that are competing products to Disney, but their competition is not as direct as American Idol. ABC doesn't have to fight the Twilight Zone every week for ratings. Outside of Star Wars Weekends, people generally don't put the Disney brand and Jedi's together in the same sentence. I may be inexperienced in the ways of business and deals, but this, to me, just seems like bad business. I can not easily see a good side to this outside the realm of "at least that space is finally being used again". At least, it's being used for now. [/rant] *deep breath* Well, I feel a little better. To be honest, they're behind the times a lot, but that's a nature of the beast type thing. It's difficult to make an attraction right when something is huge, unless that place is earmarked for it from the get go. The only time to my memory of that plan being set into motion is Dinosaur, and we know that worked perfectly...yeah. The quickest I can think of from successful movie to successful ride/show was the turn around for Nemo where Turtle Talk came into play a year later. It seems to be a general rule to not go into motion on construction of something until you know it's a sure fire hit because you will be stuck with a major construction cost and the license you hope to build will then fall to pieces. For the greatest example of this, see Dick Tracy. Disney wanted that to be their next big license. Didn't work that way. So, it becomes the "Better safe then sorry" mentality. Though, I do agree they definitely have completely missed the curve on this one. Another aspect of my dislike, but my ranting is over currently. RapidsNerd summed up my ideas perfectly:

On another front, Lance over at Screamscape posed a very interesting question. Interesting ideas for those, but I want to know what our knowledge can bring up. Personally, I'm thinking for Max RPM, he's pretty much on the rose, but I'd go a different route, with Def Leppard and The Police. Maybe even Flock of Seagulls and Dead or Alive! Hearing "I Ran" on a coaster would be just awesome, in an extremely geeky sort of way. For Midnight Rider, I'm feeling maybe, though a touch of irony, Slowride by Foghat, especially the back end where they just open up and go crazy. What do y'all think?

Andrew W.K.! Nice choice of music there Robb. Boy, Heiße Fahrt looks like the best wild mouseish coaster in existence. Here's to hoping I have the money and time in the future to experence a TPR trip fully.

Boy...The Joker's very disappointing when he turned into a character. Boo. Down with mask, up with face paint!

Major props for Charlie the Unicorn ride. All they need to add is Candy Mountain, a bridge, and a magical Liopleurodon and it would transform it into the best ride ever. Besides, the ride already tries to rip out your kidney anyway!

Happy birthday Jahan!

"Wow. Frank's really big."

Thirded! Flight Deck lives! Yes! The first coaster ever themed to its station! Woo!

From Screamscape: I would like to think he's wrong and they're going to demolish everything inside and start again...again.

Your picture would be a Quiznos sub? Awesome!

^^^^^jibblie jibblie jibblie jibblie jibblie jibblie jibb-a-liee. Eew. I would agree she trying to hard. Why oh why must these type of photos be a trend for underage actresses, or girls in general? I hope there will be a mass realization soon that these pictures doesn't make them look attractive. Jibblie.

The title is not misleading!!! Did you really think they were taking Top Gun out!?!? Sorry you got your panties all up your butt because you had a mini heart attack when you saw the thread, but there is absolutely NOTHING incorrect about the title and just because YOU took it wrong...I'm just going to stop before I go off on you anymore! Everone else is having a good time in this thread, even the other stupid people that thought for a second that they might be taking it out. Join the fun group! *Bow* All Hail! All Hail!

Ah, thank you. You've taught me something new tonight. At least I have accomplished something tonight

Essentially yeah, it's a preview. It's a time frame where the attraction is open for test runs with real guests before the official opening of the attraction. It's generally used as a time to fine tune the operations of the attraction, both for the mechanics of the ride and the labor operations, before it is open and locked down to how it runs until a normal refurbishment.

I know I'm digging this up from the grave, creating a zombie post, but I just find it so funny how much my podcast tastes have changed, especially since getting a iPod that actually plays video. As before, I'm a very big fan of podcasting, so much so that in many ways I am a bigger fan of podcasts than I am of traditional radio and television! My list, over two years later, is as follows: Diggnation (video) The Don and Mike Show (audio) Last Minute Book Reports (audio, but hasn't been updated since Oct 2005) Munchcast (audio) NPR: Car Talk (audio) The Rabblecast (audio) Stong Bad E-mails (video) Tekzilla (video) the broken (video, but hasn't been updated since Sep of 06) This Week In Tech (audio) Tiki Bar TV (video) The Totally Rad Show (video) Wine Library TV (video) It's amazing to see how much podcasting has grown over these past years and how my tastes have changed over time. This doesn't include the intermittent episodes of Systm (video) and Channel Frederator (video) I have as well. As the list shows, I'm a big fan of Revision3's content for video and am a little varied over audio. What about everyone else, has your tastes for podcasting grown over time or has the fad worn off?

If this is the precursor to West Coast Bash, I can't imagine how epic the bash is going to be. I proclaim the ante must be upped.

Oh my gosh these are amazing. I loved the first nursing the baby instruction pulled a Peter Griffin. Very similar to the fake Wii warnings that came out a while ago, like don't cram a four leaf clover into it. Love it!

I actually led her, and her father and entourage, into the Mansion through the back hallway during the holiday period last year. Didn't have too much time with them, nor did I even recognize them at the time. Had to ask the VIP Tour Guide afterwards. From memory, they were ok. They gave me a slight "Do you know who we are" kind of question. Not that direct, but there. My reply was something to the tune of "All the living looks similar to me" as I walked back into the foyer, which got a laugh. As for the show, I've seen little bits and pieces. From what I've seen, it's a very green show, it recycles all of its plot lines from other shows. But I also know I am definitely not their target audience. The whole hullabaloo around her personally, I don't know where it comes from really. I think it's the whole "I'm just a normal kid" thing, it creates a bond between her and her fan base. I'm more surprised at the amount of moms who are also huge fans of the show. I guess it's a bonding thing.

Nestea Icee's? Never seen that before. That's really REALLY iced tea. Awesome TR. I love the complete randomness. I can't wait for more. Oh, and I'd love to see the MouseTums Wheel of Fire video. Something tells me it'd be really funny.