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[davewasbaloo]

Agreed, even though my kids are of an age where they would probably get a kick out of interacting, it is far more entertaining to see a proper dance routine. This is why WDW world parades were always the worst in my experience, they were all full of this junk.

[gingajen]

The show stops appear to be great if you are one of the kids selected or their parents,excruciatingly boring for everyone else, imagine trying to explain to your kid that they are'nt one of the "lucky ones" and the repercusions of that! At least at character meet and greets you can wait your turn,but this is just so random that it is bound to lead to heartache for so many children. Bad bad move.

I totally agree. If I'm honest, if my kids were picked, it would be the best idea EVER! But if someone else's kids were picked, or even worse just one and not both of my kids were picked, I think they would be very upset. I know I would be! The character meet and greets are hard enough, with people who just don't grasp the idea of a queue, but there are absolutley nowhere near the amount of children in those queues. I think it would make the whole parade a lot of hassle and upset instead of the joyful and pleasant experience it should be. I personally don't want to spend a lot of time watching other kids experiencing what I know my kids would just love to do and in my opinion if they can't let everyone join in (and obviously they can't) then it should be a spectator sport only  

[DisneyBud]

I saw someone post on twitter that the interactive stops have already been removed, can anyone confirm or deny?

[Festival Disney]

...are not easily manageable by the poor Cast Members. The kids walk off and on the parade route where they please, no-one seems to listen to the instructions given by Cast and Characters, people cross the street, and a whole manner of difficult circumstances. I know from my CM friends on Facebook that none of them liked it, and yesterday, just one day after it debuted, the shop stops were cut! We have no actual confirmation as to the reason for this, but we can only hope that they are rethinking what they are going to do, or how they can manage it better, as it truly was a disaster.

From Disney Character Central Blog

[davewasbaloo]

Lol - you'd think after 19 years of ops they would learn. Between the different languages and cultures/rudeness levels, this sort of thing does not work well in Paris.

[DopeyDad]

This another European problem then? It sounds more like children behaving as children to me. What makes you think it is a cultural issue?

[Festival Disney]

I think what Dave means is that people in the US are all into the 'join in with the fun'/'interactive' nonsense, whereas Europeans are more timid and prefer to spectate rather than participate.

[davewasbaloo]

Sorry, I meant languages being and issue as well as culture. In Disneyland, WDW, and TDL (and Hong Kong to a lesser extent), people largely speak the same language, and come from similar cultural backgrounds. It makes it easier than at DLP to manage groups of people, where there are 22 different languages spoken within a 3 hour travel distance.

Add to that the "rules don't apply to me" mentality. And I am afraid, many trips I have taken, some poorly behaved people try to exploit this issue (note the girls smoking on It's a small World despite me asking them to stop in 9 languages, each time they pretended not to understand).

There is bad behaviour and misunderstandings in all the resorts, but DLP has the largest level of risk. Therefore I would have thought they would have derisked this by not including the options and instead putting on a really good show.

In the American parks, the entertainment is quite interactive, as the people seem to lap it up. And the quality, variety and change is greater in Anaheim as it is a local base. In Tokyo, there are often choreographed dances that are taught before the show or parade. In Paris, it is more challenging to manage.

That said, the awesome show of Cinemagique would probably not be popular in the US parks. And in my experience and from reading message boards, Motors Action is not as popular in WDW as it is at WDSP either.

People must accept that different cultures, nationalities, languages, social positions, ages etc. have different tastes. Why people act like it is a taboo to discuss it on this board boggles my mind. It is, what it is. Why do you think so much money is spent on marketing and market research in private companies; or on needs assessments and censuses in the public sector? We should celebrate the differences.

Every Disney resort has a very different character, with the good and bad to accompany it. In DLP's case, it means (or at least in the past meant), the music and physical theatre carries the stories. And the menues for food and entertainment are Europeanised and amazing detail attractions (down side - poor maintenance, entertainment, and fireworks). WDW offers interaction that is very character based, but lots of stuff to see and do (down side, too big, poor maintenance, and takes forever to get anywhere). Disneyland has well honed artists in a very mature and developed park that is always changing (downside, it is always crowded and a lot of people treat it like their home or worse). Tokyo has an amazing show quality and everything is pristine (down side, they close attractions early dependent on crowd size, small portions, poor fireworks, and no bending any rules). HKDL is pristine and offers lots of entertainment (downside - very toony and small).

[davewasbaloo]

I also think the issue is, people do cut in front of the parades more, and do what they feel like. This is why Fantillusion is much shorter than originally planned. I could see it now, kids joining in could lead to people crossing the road or joining in if they feel like it. And because of the different languages, it is difficult to explain. If the majority of people spoke English (like in the US), or Japanese (like at TDL), or even French at DLP, it is a non issue, but this is not the case.

[davewasbaloo]

Also, this is not the only time they leave me scratching my head. Alice's Curious Labrynth opened in 1992, with many interactive elements, some still are there. SeeSaw rock was another one in Adventure Isle. Sadly it is no longer a see saw.

So fast forward 15+ years to when Toon Studios opened. Cars Race Rally opens with Luigi and Guido you can pose with and Mater and Lightening. All of them now have fences around them.

Fast forward to TSPL last year. Where I discussed 3 years before opening, the concerns around some of the queue designs and the interactive elements. Within weeks of opening, the Army men had to be fenced in, the RC Racer was taken away, and Rex had a big hole in him.

And yet you can go to California or Tokyo and interact with Toon Town props.

It demonstrates there are market differences, and points that need to be learned about how to cater to the market areas in a sustainable way. Disneyland has been in business now for nearly 56 year, DLP will be 19 in a fortnight's time. And yet they are making rookie errors, that cost more money and goodwill.

Whether they are the need for rubber slip mats, or the issue with show stops, I would have thought there is a substantial body of evidence to learn from. But instead of recruiting and retaining people who understand these issues, they bring in folks from hotel or restaurant or retail backgrounds to run the place. Without good attractions, maintenance, and shows, people would not be as keen to stay the night, eat a meal or buy souvenirs.

And there is no point getting upset when I talk about European markets, because that is what >99% of visitors to DLP are, and that is how WDC refer to it all. As well as having French markets, Ile de France Markets, English markets (the forgotten German/Austrian market), the family market, the couples market, the mature market, the new visitor market, the encumbant legacy market etc.

[davewasbaloo]

and when something does not work, it is a problem:

e.g. the tokyo market was obsessed with pins, to the point where people would set out blankets with their trades, creating almost like a market. It became such a problem, they banned pins despite making money from it. This was unique to the Japanese market, and was not banned from the other parks.

Similarly the Japanese market was getting to the point where they would wait 5 hours for a show or parade. TDL solved it by banning waiting an hour before, and conducting a lottery for hub shows.

The California market was a different beasty. It is estimated that there are 1/2m annual pass holders for Disneyland. When they opened up DCA, they thought it was going to be so successful, they did not offer APs. They were wrong. However, when they opened World of Colour, they were worried about it being swamped and people camping out for hours in the land where people carry guns and have been known to use them. They solved this one by making WOC fastpass and meal packages only.

In WDW, the recession hit hard and they considered how to manage shows and closing times. They then decided, since most people stay for long periods, they could stagger closings of parks and shows as long as they publicise it much in advance. Also, the park VPs do not like spending on entertainment, which is why the MK has had the same parade for 11 years. But although there are repeat visitors, there are not as many as to DL, TDL or even DLP.

Thinking of problems, markets and solutions is what they are supposed to do. I hoped to help articulate that and to explain their is no offence meant. Simply my observations as a former Programme Manager and Business Architect, and a lifelong international Disney fan with internal links.

But if you prefer we could have the conversation of:

"I do hope I will see the Churnabog float, it is my favorite. What's yours?" That kind of discourse gets old quick. after 18 years of being involved in Disney on-line discussion groups, I like to get to the core thematic discussions. Nothing is ever meant as personal, unless it is in defence.

[DisneyBud]

Thank you for your interesting thoughts and insights, and I agree that while DLP hits the nail on the head in so many ways and places, in others it misses so badly. It sounds like you should be the one sorting out the respective marketing strategies davewasbaloo!

[davewasbaloo]

Thanks Disney bud

And a question everyone else. If interaction works in DLP, why was Disney Folies, the Explorer's Club, Kids' Carnival, the Stitch Dance thing all deemed as unpopular?

[15MagicalYears]

Your posts are always so intresting Davewasbaloo, and I agree with most of them. Why Dlp are continuing to force the interactive elements after so many failures is beyond me. Personally I enjoy getting involved in the interactive aspects, although I highly doubt any of the cast will be picking a 16 year old boy to dance with them.

That is something I think WDW has over Dlp; they focus on the whole family, everyone can get involved without feeling silly or out of place. Where as at dlp everything is geared towards kids, which is a shame really.

[peter]

Dlp is probably the trickiest Market, because there are many different cultures in Europe. Some like interactive, others don't