Monday Mouse Watch : Will a new name really be enough to boost ticket sales for WDW's "Pirate & Princess Party" ?

re: Monday Mouse Watch : Will a new name really be enough to boost ticket sales for WDW's "Pirate & Princess Party" ?

Jim Hill — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 03:35:33 GMT

Yes, it's the Disney way for the new century: if we're not selling enough tickets, let's cut back on attractions and benefits and wait for the customers to start streaming in.

Let's assume a discounted admission price of $40 for adults, and $35 for children (actual prices were higher) and a ratio of 1:2 adults:kids. At 9000 people thru the gates, that's 3000 adults and 6000 kids or $330,000. That's a slow night. If that doesn't cover your costs and provide a nice healthy profit, I don't see how cutting back on $200 of Hershey candy is gonna balance the books.

So they're having a difficult time making money off a Princess Pirate Party, but they're going to spend a much bigger chunk of change on a Night Kingdom and that will be successful year round at a much higher ticket price? ok,,, It's gonna need lots and lots and lots of marketing, and much more pixie dust than what was leaked.

The first Pirates movie came out in 2003, but the execs are still "testing" a Capt Jack's Crab Shack Restaurant? really? It's character dining with Capt Jack - pretty straightforward. If rehabbing is cost prohibitive, it can go many places besides Adventureland Veranda. One of the many award winning chefs on property can "create" a menu in a week. Execs from HR can scour the globe for suitable Capt Jacks that dont already work on property for two months. During those same two months, the construction crew can build or refurbish whatever location is chosen. You're open in three months. If it's a good idea, it should have been operational in 2004 when Pirates were the hottest thing, not still under consideration 4 years later.

I am impressed with the mockups and testing and more testing for a restaurant that the accounteers took about 30 minutes to decide there was no need for.

re: Monday Mouse Watch : Will a new name really be enough to boost ticket sales for WDW's "Pirate & Princess Party" ?

Jim Hill — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 03:45:18 GMT

IMO, I like the after hours idea for MK. However, the whole idea of "pirates & princess party" just seems like, well... something contrived from a super dorky suit sitting in a board room trying to figure out a way to capitilze on "what is hot" rather than something that is original and high quality. People see right through that. Come up with someting cool and original and more people will be willing to participate and get off the extra cash. P.S. I have 2 boys and they are rather "meh" about pirates. Not that they dont dress up and pretend to be pirates sometimes, but they are not obsessed about pirates as they are other things.

re: Monday Mouse Watch : Will a new name really be enough to boost ticket sales for WDW's "Pirate & Princess Party" ?

Jim Hill — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 07:40:52 GMT

The reason the Holiday hard ticket events work so well is that they are planned around events that families are more out to do something related to. I plan and look forward to the Mickey's Christmas every year and have attended the Not So Scary event also. But the reason is that is envolved with something special. The issue with the Pirates and Princesses event is that is involved with an event. Seeing WDW during Christmas is a special time where everything is decorated. I used to love the Passholder hard ticket nights where for a few bucks only passholders were allowed in. But those events were more, "We dont have anything better to do lets go". The only event that I can think of that revolves around Pirates and Princess is the Annual Gasparilla Celebration in Tampa. I don't think Disney Corp. wants to be part of that celebration of pirates.

re: Monday Mouse Watch : Will a new name really be enough to boost ticket sales for WDW's "Pirate & Princess Party" ?

Jim Hill — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 07:43:54 GMT

It's such a shame that the Tortuga Restaurant, which sounds like a great original, immersive experience, is getting shelved because the lame Pirates and Princess party is "failing", and the over-merchandising of Pirates has led to a bit of a backlash. Oh, and perhaps this is my opinion, but I totally disagree with the thought that MK doesn't need another full service restaurant.

re: Monday Mouse Watch : Will a new name really be enough to boost ticket sales for WDW's "Pirate & Princess Party" ?

Jim Hill — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 10:19:19 GMT

Wow ... this article is just CHOCK full of reasons to be pessimistic about the morons who run WDW.

#1, as curmudgeon already pointed out, ya gotta love Disney's "fix" ... People aren't coming to our P&P parties, so let's cut stuff out!! That'll definitely get them flocking in in droves!

#2, I wonder if anyone has stopped to think about the fact that they could be "Millionairing" Pirates and Princess merchandise. I mean between the Princess breakfasts, and the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, and all the dresses, and meet and greets ... this Dad of a 5YO princess has had enough! And now they're looking for me to shell out an extra $200 or so to enter a park that I already purchased admission to?? Ummm ... no. Christmas? Sure. Halloween? Yeah. Those are real holidays and I expect special events. I do NOT, however, expect to have to pay extra money to get into Magic Kingdom just because Disney is looking for new ways to line their pockets.

#3, WDWTITAN24 stole my thunder on a little ... So they don't need another sit-down restaurant because Tony's already has a few empty seats?? Maybe people just don't LIKE Tony's! Ever thought of that? If you could open a great new restaurant and fill it up, who the hell cares if Tony's has empty seats?? That doesn't even make any sense, except in bean counter land. Sigh ...

People just get tired of Disney dipping into their wallets time and time again. I mean really ... the notion of charging me a couple hundred bucks for a couple days park admission and then closing the park I just bought admission to early and asking me to pay admission AGAIN to get in?? Think about that for a minute ... how RIDICULOUS is that?? I agree with zootube that people will stomach it for big events like holidays, but the average person is NOT going to turn around and shell out as much money for 3 hours in one park that they just paid for 5 DAYS in 4 parks!

re: Monday Mouse Watch : Will a new name really be enough to boost ticket sales for WDW's "Pirate & Princess Party" ?

Jim Hill — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 10:51:43 GMT

I agree with what some others have said. The problem with P&P is that it's a generic event not tied to a holiday that people are inclined to celebrate. Everyone knows what Halloween and Christmas are all about. Everything in our culture is already on overdrive promoting those holidays. It seems like a great idea to create a hard ticket event NOT tied to a holiday so that it can be offered whenever, but that lack of specificity means people are not motivated to go.

P&P is something that people aren't familiar with and don't understand. There are constantly threads on the DISboards about will I, will my kids, will our group enjoy P&P? Do people dress up? What is there to do? And these are people who know about DISboards. Imagine the lack of comprehension among the general public. Who just see it as, MK is closing early during my vacation & they're demanding more money.

We enjoyed P&P very much and would definitely go again. I hope Disney finds a way to make it work.

re: Monday Mouse Watch : Will a new name really be enough to boost ticket sales for WDW's "Pirate & Princess Party" ?

Jim Hill — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:03:41 GMT

I agree with Pickstar. Before these special parties, the parks used to be open late for no additional cost. I understand Disney is in this to make a profit, but they continue to devalue their core product.

re: Monday Mouse Watch : Will a new name really be enough to boost ticket sales for WDW's "Pirate & Princess Party" ?

Jim Hill — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:15:13 GMT

The Christmas and Halloween parties are holiday related events that probably draw in a large number of local residents and passholders, many of whom visit just for the nighttime party. Parents may let their kids stay out late for such a special event. The parties are offered only during certain times of year, so supply is limited.

The Pirate and Princess parties are offered year round and are sold as a special holiday event and I suspect they must rely more upon vacationers who, during their visit, are likely at the parks all day. After 8-10 hours in the parks, the young kids who are targetted by such an event are worn out. Parents, whose budgets are already stressed by rising gas prices and having already broken the budget for a pricey Disney vacation, are going to be less likely to fork over more cash for an event their kids will be too tired/cranky to enjoy.

I'm also not sure what the special 'draw' is for these events. Vacationers staying at Disney resorts already get the extra magic hours for free, I think Disney just doesn't offer a worthwhile reason for parents to pay extra to see princesses and pirates, when they've just spent the day eating character meals with the princesses and riding Pirates of the Carribbean.

re: Monday Mouse Watch : Will a new name really be enough to boost ticket sales for WDW's "Pirate & Princess Party" ?

Jim Hill — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:26:15 GMT

Well, shock and surprise the Pirates merchandise sales are starting to slow down. I am sure no one saw that coming. As usual Disney over-merchandised something and now people are sick of it(i.e see-Pooh, Stitch, Millionaire, etc). Disney used to know how to properly take care of their franchises, now thanks to the accountants the only thing they know how to do now is run stuff into the ground. It is not hard to see that Pirates has run its course if you go online and see all the Pirates stuff marked down on DisneyShopping.com. I am sure it will start flooding the WDW outlets soon. Marketing has been a problem with Pirates and Princess. They have created what I think is the best fireworks show MK has ever had. It is almost worth the price of admission. I don't know how you can properly market that. Unfortunately, the parade sucks. The music is lame and boring and it just isn't as exciting as the Halloween or Christmas parades. It doesn't surprise me that Disney is cutting back on stuff at the party, that is what they do when they aren't making enough money. Unfortunately for them that probably isn't gonna help word of mouth.

I think everyone has pointed out that since this party doesn't revolve around some holiday there just isn't that reason for people to go. I think WDW mgmt may have pushed it too far with a 3rd party.

re: Monday Mouse Watch : Will a new name really be enough to boost ticket sales for WDW's "Pirate & Princess Party" ?

Jim Hill — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:43:21 GMT

So once again, we have 9 responses from 9 non-Disney World suits and once again everyone knows and agrees on what's wrong.

So once again, I'll ask ... why are the Disney World suits too stupid to understand this??

And another question that is starting to beg asking ... why doesn't Iger wonder why the Disney World suits are too stupid to understand their own guests??

re: Monday Mouse Watch : Will a new name really be enough to boost ticket sales for WDW's "Pirate & Princess Party" ?

Jim Hill — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 13:35:02 GMT

Maybe P&P could be transformed into Mickey's Sweet and Saucy Valentine's Party. Dates would be Jan & Feb.

re: Monday Mouse Watch : Will a new name really be enough to boost ticket sales for WDW's "Pirate & Princess Party" ?

Jim Hill — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 13:56:46 GMT

Pirates = boys

Princesses = girls

Just on name alone, a boy will have to like pirates an awful lot to stomach the princess part of the show, and vice versa for the girls. Yeah, I'm stereotyping, but I was 10 once, and I sure remember hating those commercials for Barbies in the middle of shows about superheroes. This just doesn't sound like a must-see to me.

re: Monday Mouse Watch : Will a new name really be enough to boost ticket sales for WDW's "Pirate & Princess Party" ?

Jim Hill — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 14:15:10 GMT

I can remember back in 03 when the movie was in theaters. I went to MK. Rode POTC, got off the ride, was put in the gift shop and was ready to open my wallet to Jack Sparrow t-shirts, and merchandise.

only... it wasnt there. And even when the DVD came out a year later. All they had for sale was the DVD. Finally when the 2nd came out, they had some merch. But right now? Short of a few tshirts, its the same merchandise theyve had. And even me, a big POTC fan, as only bought so much. The merchandise isnt that good....

But the point is, Disney ALWAYS misses the boat on marketing their popular for the moment stuff. And on top of that they make it overkill and make you sick of it.

Another table service would be a good option for MK, because ive eaten at each one, and short of a craving for Liberty Tree, or taking a friend to the castle, I dont have need to go back to them. And most of the other parks have more TS restaurant options.

Looking beyond Pirates, Disney is doing the same thing again. Some suit said "Gee golly those kids love that american idol!" so now theyre building that, when in actuality, Idol is on the decline. And if they had asked us "kids" what we thought we all could have said that AI is a joke, and has been since the first one. And it will come in and go out like WWTBAM.

GET WITH IT DISNEY SUITS.

re: Monday Mouse Watch : Will a new name really be enough to boost ticket sales for WDW's "Pirate & Princess Party" ?

Jim Hill — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 14:57:50 GMT

I've heard Disney fired someone over POTC's lack of marketing the first time around. But it's not easy when the mass market toy companies take over a year to get stuff out there.

re: Monday Mouse Watch : Will a new name really be enough to boost ticket sales for WDW's "Pirate & Princess Party" ?

Jim Hill — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 14:58:37 GMT

I'm disappointed that Disney would drop the Tortuga concept because there aren't enough people eating at Tony's. I ate there once and that was enough! The food was OK but nothing to write home about and there was nothing interesting going on. When I'm at MK on vacation, I'd rather eat at the Crystal Palace or Cinderella's Royal Table for much better food and atmosphere. Heck, I'd even go outside the park and run over to O'Hana rather than go back to Tony's.

Maybe they should consider revamping Tony's or closing that establishment rather than dropping Tortuga.

re: Monday Mouse Watch : Will a new name really be enough to boost ticket sales for WDW's "Pirate & Princess Party" ?

Jim Hill — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 15:04:20 GMT

I am visiting DisneyWorld at the end of May 2008 and there are 2 Pirates & Princesses parties while we are there. I am a relative newcomer to this but I did not see the point of purchasing tickets for the parties. We have an all parks ticket for the entire holiday (purchased in the UK) and given that the other parks will all be open after 7pm it seems pointless to spend yet more on visiting the same parks that we have already paid to get into.

Other than the chance for the kids to dress up as princesses and pirates (which they can do at anytime anyway), what is there for them? Also they are never at their best past 7pm anyway and it is far too late for the little one.

Apologies if I've missed the point of this, but there must be a lot of others out there who see the parties the same way, which is presumably why they are not doing so well?

re: Monday Mouse Watch : Will a new name really be enough to boost ticket sales for WDW's "Pirate & Princess Party" ?

Jim Hill — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 15:11:01 GMT

One more question on this ... what does re-branding a Pirate and Princess Party with Mickey's name do for them??

I would think that would just confuse things. Am I going to a party with Mickey? Pirates? Princesses? All of the above??

What a muddled mess!!

re: Monday Mouse Watch : Will a new name really be enough to boost ticket sales for WDW's "Pirate & Princess Party" ?

Jim Hill — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 15:21:46 GMT

P & P Party is not based around a holiday like Halloween or Christmas to help make it a success. Disney needs to realize that getting people people to shell out more money for some entertainment and staying in the park later is going to be difficult. the P& P Party is on days that aren't really busy, so people can get on all the rides they need to during the day, so why pay more money to see a parade and fireworks? I like the concept and would love to see the fireworks, but the price is too much. A vacation to WDW is already really expensive.

re: Monday Mouse Watch : Will a new name really be enough to boost ticket sales for WDW's "Pirate & Princess Party" ?

Jim Hill — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 15:25:40 GMT

It never ceases to amaze me, "The P&P Party is having trouble. What ever shall we do? I know! Let's slap Mickey's name on it... cuz' I'm sure the ONLY reason people aren't coming is because of the name. Oh, and maybe if we lessen the offerings more people will want to come."

Seriously?

Sometimes I'm amazed that one of the parks just doesn't burn to the ground one day. Then when people ask what happened they say, "Well, we tested the name 'Fire Extinguisher' but people thought it too old fashioned and slightly scary... so we renamed it 'Mickey's Helper'... but then when the fire broke out, nobody knew or remembered what they were for... so we couldn't do anything."

PS - Any thoughts or comments on the Academy Awards Jim?

re: Monday Mouse Watch : Will a new name really be enough to boost ticket sales for WDW's "Pirate & Princess Party" ?

Jim Hill — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 15:35:41 GMT

Everyone has brought up very valid points - too bad that someone who can take action on the comments won't see them.

The statement that bothers me the most is the one regarding the lack of need for another sit down restaurant in the MK. Unless you plan months ahead, it is almost impossible to get ADR's at the MK restaurants. My only complaint is why does the Tortuga have to be a character experience? Most of the character meals have lackluster food & high prices. I would rather have a sit down experence with great food and no characters in a PotC themed restaurant.

As for the PotC merch losing popularity - is anyone really surprised? For the past ten years Disney has taken all their popular properties and over-merchandised them. We used to spend around $250 on souvenirs during a weekend WDW stay because there was more variety. In the past five years, we generally spend under $50 during these trips.

re: Monday Mouse Watch : Will a new name really be enough to boost ticket sales for WDW's "Pirate & Princess Party" ?

Jim Hill — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 16:09:58 GMT

I am curious how the attendance on Tom Sawyer Island has been. Has that gone down at all?

re: Monday Mouse Watch : Will a new name really be enough to boost ticket sales for WDW's "Pirate & Princess Party" ?

Jim Hill — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 16:14:55 GMT

I agree with wdw4us2 on the reduced spending on souvenirs in general.

The truth is ... most of their merchandise anymore is uninspired junk. Where you used to walk around and find 5 or 6 unique, "must-haves" on a trip, now there's literally none (unless you're a pin person).

So you devolve into the same mentality you have when you take the kids to a ballgame or the circus ... "You can each get ONE THING to take home with you and that's it." There's no sense spending a ton of money on stuff you know is crap that's going to fall apart the minute you get it home.

Much like wdw4us2, we used to EASILY spend a couple hundred dollars on souvenirs and that was before we had kids. But with prices constantly going up and WDW constantly giving you less for more, something has to give.

Ironically, I've been saying for a long time that all this penny-pinching and cheapening at WDW was going to catch up with them. Everyone said I didn't know what I was talking about, WDW makes money hand over fist, blah blah blah ... I can't help but wonder if we aren't starting to see the first chinks in the armor. First Jim's story about the declining merch revenue and now this. Maybe people really aren't as stupid as Disney thinks they are and they actually CAN distinguish between a quality item or experience and cheap, overpriced, dumbed down garbage.

re: Monday Mouse Watch : Will a new name really be enough to boost ticket sales for WDW's "Pirate & Princess Party" ?

Jim Hill — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 18:08:05 GMT

I agree with everyone here who says that Disney has just run PIRATES into the ground. The Tortuga restaurant sounds like a GREAT idea...3 years ago. The first Pirates movie was a huge hit and made a lot of new fans. Disney should have taken their time,increased the Pirates presence in the parks,and then spaced the sequels out a little more. They could have milked this cash cow for DECADES,instead they ran it into the ground in just a few years. Both the movie sequels were horrible,and most of the pirates merchandise thats out is just crap that was rushed to the shelves to coincide with the movies release. If Disney had taken their time and nurtured this franchise,they could have been making coin of Pirates fans for a lifetime.....instead they've moved in in search of the next big thing to ruin.

re: Monday Mouse Watch : Will a new name really be enough to boost ticket sales for WDW's "Pirate & Princess Party" ?

Jim Hill — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 19:28:36 GMT

wdw4us2 said:

YES! I actually wanted to say this last night, but was too tired. I was in WDW in january, and on a 7 day trip, we were able to get into TWO sitdown restaurants. Now, I know I should've made reservations earlier, had on previous trips, but there were circumstances that didn't allow me to in this case. And hell, I'm a frequent guest and major net reader, imagine a family of tourists heading down there and not being able to get into anywhere to eat? I understand WDW needs to offer reservations, but would it kill them to have at least one place in each park that was at least 60% walk in only. There's certainly enough guests.

re: Monday Mouse Watch : Will a new name really be enough to boost ticket sales for WDW's "Pirate & Princess Party" ?

Jim Hill — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 22:17:18 GMT

There are enough sit down restaurants at MK? Really. Let's see one you need to reserve months if not years in advance. The Plaza is always packed but good. The other is only really good at lunch when at night it turns into an overpriced Character meal while the other is always a character meal. The only one remaining is Tony's which is pretty blanned. And $20 plus for spaghetti. Please.

They need Tortuga badly since if they built two more restaurants and served decent food it would always be packed. If they don't like the them than make some adventure theme for crying out loud. Don't give up on it!

And by the way, guests see what P&P really is, a way for Disney to overcharge for a special family outing where the kids fall asleep two hours into it. When the cost is almost $200 for a family of four for about 5 hours most people will pass. They might be cutting back on extras, but now when the word get's out people will really say why pay that amount?

Now if they put in two quality restaurants they WOULD be making money. With that being said, I want to open the office of really practical ideas at Disney.

Think I have a chance?

re: Monday Mouse Watch : Will a new name really be enough to boost ticket sales for WDW's "Pirate & Princess Party" ?

Jim Hill — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 22:45:00 GMT

If the T-Rex restaurant fails, they can always make that into a POTC restaurant, since word is #4 might have dinos in it. :P

re: Monday Mouse Watch : Will a new name really be enough to boost ticket sales for WDW's "Pirate & Princess Party" ?

Jim Hill — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 00:46:54 GMT

Let's just take a practical look at why P & P is failing:

1. It's sexist against boys. No joke. Girls have the options of dressing up as their favorite princess OR as a "pirate princess". Boys have like three pirate costumes to choose from now and one of those is Captain Hook! The others are Jack Sparrow and "boney pirate". So if you son wants to be a heroic prince you can forget it.

2. It doesn't offer stuff as good as the other hard tickets. The Christmas party goes without question and the NSC has the best fireworks show, possibly EVER, plus trick-or-treating, plus really cool moments like the headless horseman riding down MAIN STREET.

3. Disney oversold itself on pirates. Recent articles point out that the number one franchise for boys is actually CARS still so yeah, within six months you can probably count on Build-A-Chests being replaced with Tow-Maters. It's already starting at the World of Disney.

And of course the pirates stuff wasn't going to sell well. The movies are rated PG-13! No decent parent is going to be showing them to kids in the age group for most of those toys! That's why Cast Connection is now full of pirates stuff!

4. Why go to a party when you can do the character meals for less and not have sleeping kids? (That's a reason FOR Tortuga. Make a new show in Adventureland using the float starring Jack Sparrow and the money can be earned back that way.)

5. What they really should do is a PIXAR and Princess Party. Let kids dress up as their favorite Car or fish or Monster or Toy and roam the park. Now we're talking about the stuff boys actually watch! (It's really sad all the times I have to disappoint guests with all the costumes we DON'T offer.)

re: Monday Mouse Watch : Will a new name really be enough to boost ticket sales for WDW's "Pirate & Princess Party" ?

Jim Hill — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 00:52:46 GMT

Ain't It Cool News is reporting POTC4 for the summer of 2011.

re: Monday Mouse Watch : Will a new name really be enough to boost ticket sales for WDW's "Pirate & Princess Party" ?

Jim Hill — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 02:24:50 GMT

The Tortuga restaurant was a great idea however it should have been built next to POTC not in the Adventureland Veranda. That would have totally destroyed the theming in that part of Adventureland.

Sarcasm alert

Here is an idea how bout you put a show in the Diamond Horseshoe. People would watch the show and you could sell them food too. What a minute that's too easy we should just keep it closed.

re: Monday Mouse Watch : Will a new name really be enough to boost ticket sales for WDW's "Pirate & Princess Party" ?

Jim Hill — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 04:25:51 GMT

"5. What they really should do is a PIXAR and Princess Party. Let kids dress up as their favorite Car or fish or Monster or Toy and roam the park. Now we're talking about the stuff boys actually watch! (It's really sad all the times I have to disappoint guests with all the costumes we DON'T offer.)"

THAT IT! I thought they were missing something... It's the third "P" of their one-and-only marketting strategy!

Pirates, Princesses and Pixar Party... cha-ching!

re: Monday Mouse Watch : Will a new name really be enough to boost ticket sales for WDW's "Pirate & Princess Party" ?

Jim Hill — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 11:25:26 GMT

Dude. No need to get sarcastic about it. Got anything constructive to add?

re: Monday Mouse Watch : Will a new name really be enough to boost ticket sales for WDW's "Pirate & Princess Party" ?

Jim Hill — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 14:00:51 GMT

I was there in January, and it seemed to me that most people didn't even know about the whole event. Granted, it was one of the first parties this year, but there was hardly any marketing for it. I think I got a flyer for it when I checked in, and there was sign outside the entrance to MK which could easily be missed in someone's haste to get to the park, and that was all I noticed. In talking to other guests in the parks, most either hadn't heard of it, or if they had, had no idea what it was, and therefor were hesitant to spend any more money on some unknown after hour event. I would hope that in the past month, something has been done to raise awareness for it, otherwise you can't expect people to come to something they don't know about in the first place.

re: Monday Mouse Watch : Will a new name really be enough to boost ticket sales for WDW's "Pirate & Princess Party" ?

Jim Hill — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 14:04:51 GMT

Not really... I was going to make that joke anyways, but you happened to mention Pixar, so I referenced your comment. No worries.

re: Monday Mouse Watch : Will a new name really be enough to boost ticket sales for WDW's "Pirate & Princess Party" ?

Jim Hill — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 12:11:11 GMT

It seems to me that it would help if they had a hotel guest discount of some sort on the triple P, maybe dependent on staying x-number of nights on-property.

re: Monday Mouse Watch : Will a new name really be enough to boost ticket sales for WDW's "Pirate & Princess Party" ?

Jim Hill — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 21:32:41 GMT

Quint is exactly right. On both coasts, the Halloween and Holiday parties are mostly about drawing LOCALS into the parks, not out-of-towners. In most cases, the locals are NOT buying a regular pass during the day and then returning for the special event, they're going ONLY to the event. That's why making a non-seasonal, pitched-at-all-guests party was a self-limiting proposition from the get-go. And by the way, by having too MANY night-time things for already-exhausted-in-both-feet-and-purse guests to choose between, from character dining to Cirque Du Soleil to P.I. to the various fireworks park-closing shows that MUST remain to keep 'em spending 'til closing time, they weaken the drawing potential of any ONE of these, especially in off-peak seasons and days of the week.

The urge to keep adding "new!" things is strong in management circles, because nobody gets promoted for doing a great "refurbishment" and other grunt-work maintaining of existing hits. But that doesn't make it make financial sense, and this one didn't...ever.

re: Monday Mouse Watch : Will a new name really be enough to boost ticket sales for WDW's "Pirate & Princess Party" ?

Jim Hill — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 08:29:03 GMT

*sigh* Why don't WE all work at Disney? We have great ideas! ;)

Really, though. I don't think I've disagreed with a single comment here.

Reading this article, I was like, "Oh man, no fair; I'd go to that." I'm in Phoenix, so we make it through the 6 hour car ride as often as we can, as often as 5 times a year, and there are eight of us! (That includes two kids!) We actually did go to Mickey's Halloween Treat, and were so thrilled by it that we've decided to go every year until we can't or they stop doing it.

I agree with everyone else, I used to spend a fortune on souvenirs at Disney whenever I'd go. Literally, a few years ago, my (extremely generous) grandmother would give me $500 spending money for a 3 day trip, and I would spend ALL of it. On myself! Now, I literally look and look in the stores and I just don't see anything I want.

As a design student, I can say when I saw the first logo for the Pirate and Princess Party, I gagged a little. It's hideous and cheap looking. Especially if the ticket is expensive, I seriously wouldn't want to spend a lot of money to go to an event with that sort of graphic depiction.

The renamed ad, with Mickey and Minnie and the kids, is LOADS better and gives me more hope for it.

But as soon as I heard that they got rid of the candy and the float (which sounded awesome!), I thought, "Screw that." Why would I go now? No reason to.

I personally HOPE they run the Disney Princesses line into the ground, because, as a girl who isn't at all into housekeeping and being a slave to a man (as much as that saddens my boyfriend), I think it's an awful example to set for little girls.

Right, Disney; let's show how all those girls' favorite princesses, despite overcoming lots of obstacles and being unique in their respective films, at the end of the day are just dumb tarts who love the color pink and cooking and cleaning for their "men" while wearing their most impractical "princessy" clothing. UGH. Disgusting.

Anyway, I have one thing to add. I find it extremely weird to combine the pirate and princess parties into a joint event. If I was into pirates, I certainly wouldn't want some stupid girls raining on my parade. Likewise, if I was into princesses, I wouldn't want some stupid boys crashing MY party.

I remember being 10 and younger, too. When you wanted to be girly, boys were annoying, and you didn't want them near you because they'd ruin your fun by ruining your game.

I'd assume a lot of people decide not to go to this event because it's combined. If it was just a pirate party or just a princess party, I think it'd be more successful. I can see how that might not be financially feasible, though.

re: Monday Mouse Watch : Will a new name really be enough to boost ticket sales for WDW's "Pirate & Princess Party" ?

Jim Hill — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 12:23:58 GMT

Jess Q, if you think princesses are a bad role model for little girls, consider, outside of the 'pixie dust' of Disney, the inanity of suggesting to little boys that they should want to grow up to be PIRATES!

Killers, rapists, robbers, drunks...and remember that when the WED folks originally started researching the REAL pirates of the bounding main for the original "Pirates" attraction, they realized they'd have to stray a ways from the real history because in historical point of fact the number ONE "cause of death" of the average real, historical pirate of the carribbean was not wounds from battle...but syphillis!

You're right-on about girls-vs-boys issues at that young age, though. But in our modern "politically correct" era, I guess the concept of, say, giving Adventureland over to the Pirates/boys and Fantasyland over to the Princesses/girls was deemed too....uh....sexist? (Smile) After all "separate but equal" is so 1960's...even when it comes to kids' parties, it seems.

Why do Princess & Pirate Happy Meals make McDonald's managers want to walk the plank?

Jim Hill — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 01:19:11 GMT

Jim Hill talks about the hyper-sensitive times that we live in. Where mothers lecture fast food employees about gender identification and people puzzle at WDW's motives for changing its "Pirate & Princess" promotional art

Arrrr you ready for an all-Pirates edition of Why For?

Jim Hill — Sat, 10 May 2008 00:47:05 GMT

There's plenty of POTC-related info to be found in this week's column. Including the current status of "Pirates 4," news on Disney's "Legends of the Brethren Court" book series as well as a review of that I-Drive favorite, the Pirate's Dinner Adventur