Merry Christmas

This post doesn't really have a point or a message, but it's just my thoughts from tonight, and I had to write them down somehow.

8:35pm. I get into my car, tap the voice activation button my steering wheel, speak into the microphone overhead with a firm "bluetooth audio". My car recognizes the command, chimes, and starts playing the music on shuffle.

First it's some Lonestar. The new single is great. Fun and fast tone, all about driving cross country to the girl he loves, with a play on numbers: "It's just five more miles, four streets ahead

Three stoplights till I, I get to the one". 

Second up: Skillet's Comatose. Edgy, hard guitars, loud and in your face about having a life for Christ. "I hate living without you, Dead wrong to ever doubt you, But my demons lay in waiting, Tempting me away, Oh how I adore you, Oh how I thirst for you, Oh how I need you, Comatose

I'll never wake up without an overdose of you"

And as the road winds and falls on the hour drive in the dark back home, the music mellows out, and then all of a sudden Third Day's Merry Christmas comes up. This is where my thoughts begin, thanks to the songs inspiring my posts.

This song has a bit of a backstory. If you haven't heard it, click on the video, listen and keep reading: 

You see, my family is really cool. We have my dad, mom, myself, sister Emily, and Hannah. An American family of five. The difference? Hannah isn't like us. She's not the same skin color, hair color, and probably even as she gets older, height. She's adopted from China. Here's the first photo we ever got of her.

We spent years filing paperwork for a little girl that, at the time, wasn't even born yet. Why? Because we wanted to save a life from a country that would otherwise let her grow to be 14, then kick her out on the streets with literally nothing but a name, or she could have been aborted due to China's strict laws on the amount of children a family could have. 

As we got closer and closer to finishing the adoption, the band Third Day came out with a Christmas Album. As fans of the band, we had to get this CD. Mom, Emily and I were in town one day and we stopped at Target, picked up what we needed, and got the CD as well. As we're sitting in the car getting ready to leave, I pop the CD in, and hit the song that doesn't have a familiar title. I'm weird like that. I skip the classics to find the new stuff. Anyway...the song starts playing, and as we drive out of the parking lot, the three of us completely lose it.

Why? Because literally exactly like that song, we're sitting here in America in our huge SUV, fast food soda cup and all, while my little sister is in some orphanage alone. Without a mom or dad to hug, a Nativity scene to look at, or tree to decorate, or Christmas eve service to go to and sing with everyone else. She was in a crib with not much to play with, and without a family that loved her at the moment. 

Flash forward to July two years later. 

This is the video of the trip. Come back up here after reading and enjoy a viewing of it. 

We're on a plane to china to get this girl that's now our family. We spent three weeks in China visiting her homeland, and a few days into the trip, she's ours. We first see her coming off the elevator scared to death, because this is the first time she's ever been outside the orphanage. Factor in a multi-hour bus ride to where we were in China, and the first time she's ever seen a white person, she was practically mortified. But over time we all got used to each other, and now four years later, she's running all over this house, being a happy five year old who won't stop doing cartwheels from her gymnastics practice, or waking me up on Saturday mornings to watch cartoons with her (big brother had to teach her the classics of Tom and Jerry). 

And what got me tonight on the way home, is that I'm now twenty. I've been on this earth for two decades, and she's only been here a quarter of that time. I have a car payment, insurance, college books, gas, and more to pay for. I have a girlfriend I'm in a incredibly serious relationship with. I've been stressed out of my mind lately about everything, and worrying too dang much about everything going on with work, family drama, how to afford things, and more. Hailey, my girlfriend, even pointed out a single grey hair in my beard the other day. 

But on the drive home, as the song finished out, I couldn't help but think of hannah. This five year old girl who has my heart wrapped around her tiny little fingers, and can get me to do anything for her. She has no fear of the world, and just wants to laugh and watch Disney movies. And I couldn't help but pray for her parents. Not my parents who are now hers. But her biological ones. I pray for them because they more than likely will never know what she's doing here in the United States. They won't know she got reconstructive surgery on her cleft lip and palate. They won't know that she's excelling faster than anyone else in her class at gymnastics. Or how she is obsessed with quoting Tangled, Brave, Aladdin, and Finding Nemo as she watches them. But then I thank God for the blessing that my family got to receive this little girl into our lives, because now, I can't ever imagine life without her. She's the most beautifully innocent little girl who laughs at my cartoon voices, argues with my other sister over sharing the bathroom (even at five years old, yes, this happens), and gets on my parents nerves for knowing how to turn the Wii on and play video games when she's supposed to be sleeping. And I thank God every day for her now being a part of our family. 

My little Nan <3 p="p">

K-Cup Overflow: The Spilling Logic Of Al Lutz

For the fan community, receiving bits and pieces of 'backstage' news about upcoming projects is always exciting to hear. From finding out that projects are ahead of schedule, or that there's actually more than what is being lead to believe, fans love hearing this type of news.

The problem that comes up, however, is who to believe as a reliable source? Who's the guru with the magic insider info ball that can tell us what's going on?

As I sit here with my orange juice and cookie buttered toast (forget Nutella. Cookie butter is the new thing going on at the breakfast colored building), I'm going to question and point out things in the founder of MiceAge's (Al Lutz) column that "only get posted when there is something to report on, and not before." I'm not here to defame Mr. Lutz, despite previous twitter posts, but point out and question what's being posted from a logical standpoint. 

Clips and Excerpts are what's being used, not the entire post, mind you. 

Part One 

The little things you do together…

As regular readers know, TDA cancelled the 56 year old tradition with the excuse that Disneyland was suddenly too busy to close two hours early on a slow winter weekday.

The truth was that TDA cancelled the parties due to pressure to conform to the “One Disney” corporate mantra after Orlando execs got huffy that Disneyland was still throwing company Christmas parties in the park for lowly Cast Members, as if Walt was still alive and a spirit of warm camaraderie still existed.

But Monday and Tuesday of this week, days that would have been perfect to host the traditional parties, have even lower attendance than usual due to the extended Christmas season this year. And with DCA 2.0 now glowing with sky-high customer satisfaction ratings, the early closure of Disneyland while DCA stayed open in the evening would have much less impact to the customer experience than at any time in the past decade.

The excuse that Disneyland Park is too busy now to host a private employee Christmas party is simply a lie from TDA, and it’s important to note that here for all the Cast Members in Anaheim who are still grumbling about the bah-humbug spirit flown in from Florida that has ruined yet another Disneyland tradition. Never mind all of the perks and benefits ladled on the sprawling Florida property, things that Anaheim Cast Members don’t have and  likely will never see, like on-site subsidized daycare, on-site subsidized healthcare, urgent-care and pharmacy, a private beach and recreation club, efficient employee parking, etc., etc.

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Yes, the Cast Member Christmas parties were cancelled. But is it really because of One Disney initiative? I don't believe that. Disneyland could easily still do them if they wanted. Orlando is notorious for wanting things on the cheap and not shelling out for the extra. It's evident in the way that the facade looks for the new Legends of Jack Sparrow attraction. But what some don't also realize is that could have been due to allotted budgets. Also, did anyone ever think that Disney has to cut them for now to prep for other initiatives and programs in the future? I don't have insider sources with this, but I'm just questioning the "what if?" here.  

He's right, it could have easily happened that Disney shut down early for two nights earlier in November to make this happen. There was a night Tomorrowland closed early for a Cast Member halloween party. It's definitely possible. But why make Disney out to be the bad guy in this? They're a company that has billions of dollars to handle, and thousands of jobs to handle. It's a logistical nightmare, but not in the way it's portrayed by Al. Would any of the fans like to step up and coordinate the things this company does, even on a daily, if not hourly basis? 

As for perks and benefits, it's obvious Florida has the room to do it. Out here in Los Angeles and Orange County, things are obviously a little tight, ever since the 1950's when Walt came to Anaheim to build Disneyland. Remember that? You know, when ground broke for the park, and instant mom and pop hotels and diners came in next door? Yea, Orange County is tighter on space than Florida. Plus you have to drive a lot farther in general in Florida, compared to the "everything is everywhere" style that is out here in SoCal. Granted, it could happen that Disney does this for Anaheim, however, with an area of 8-million people, I'm sure grandma and grandpa in Fountain Valley can watch the kids of their kids living over in Irvine. Same goes for Urgent Care. There's places all over the area that can be contracted out with Disney to help assist cast members, and from some low-level CM's that work the park I know, I've heard there's physical therapists that help massage those calf muscles walking all over the park for work, or stretch those arms from waving the nighttime orange glow sticks. Not sure if those therapists can do anything though for vocal cord strains from yelling "stay to your left" for two hours as guests file back down Main Street...

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Part Two

"Cars Land, obviously, is the silver bullet behind this comprehensive change at the Resort, after DCA made solid incremental improvements every year since 2008 with additional attractions, shows and aesthetic improvements around the park. The word is now out in the theme park industry about Cars Land and DCA, and this fall various industry executives were paraded through DCA by pleased TDA executives.

The red carpet was even rolled out recently for top executives from Universal Studios Hollywood, who are busy planning their own Harry Potter land, with George Kalogridis leading the Universal execs on a tour of DCA and showing off Radiator Springs Racers and all the Cars Land attractions. Top executives from Sea World, the TEA industry trade group, as well as parks from Europe and Asia have all made an official pilgrimage to Cars Land this fall.

But it’s not just suits from outside Disney that want to see what all the fuss is about. Other top Disney executives have been spending multiple days in Cars Land, before heading up the freeway to Glendale to see how Imagineering might be able to duplicate the land in their own property back home. While Disney Hollywood Studios is the leading contender for a WDW park to get a scaled down version of Cars Land late this decade, Imagineers and John Lasseter are already frustrated by the Orlando executive never ending requests to trim and scale back the project. (Remember, the Orlando folks get excited about walls, and Princess meet and greets as opposed to actual rides. No wonder bookings are hurting.)

So while WDI lets the Orlando team mull over their downsized options and how to cut them back even further, the Imagineers are moving on to a different client for their Cars Land cloning machine, and it’s a client that has WDI and John Lasseter salivating.

Earlier this month the top executives from Oriental Land Company, including their President and CEO, made a rare multi-day visit to Anaheim and Glendale. They spent hours touring Cars Land before going on to a private dinner at the Carthay Circle restaurant. They also spent a full day in Glendale where WDI gave presentations and showed models of how a nearly identical version of Anaheim’s Cars Land could fit perfectly in the space currently used for their version of… Frontierland.

To get Cars Land into Tokyo Disneyland, much of Tokyo’s “Westernland” would need to be repurposed and the Rivers of America section would be removed entirely. Thunder Mountain, the Country Bear Jamboree and the original frontier town buildings would remain at the front of the land, with the Western River Railroad continuing to circle the property. But towards the back of Westernland the entire Rivers of America would be leveled and turned into Cars Land.

This plan has gained fast traction with the OLC team, as the current real estate used for the Rivers of America takes up a huge amount of space but delivers very little in the way of attraction capacity for that crowded park. Tokyo’s three Rivers of America attractions combined; the Mark Twain Riverboat, Tom Sawyer Island Rafts and Davy Crockett Canoes, only manage about 1,500 riders per hour on even the busiest afternoons. And at dusk the Island and the Canoes shut down, leaving half an operating day with just a few hundred riders per hour taking an evening cruise on the Mark Twain. The Rivers of America is simply a huge waste of space with very little payoff in Tokyo.

Comparatively, the three Cars Land attractions combined in Anaheim are now returning well over 3,000 riders per hour up to 16 hours per day; 1,600 per hour at Racers, 900 per hour at Mater’s, and 800 per hour at Luigi’s (now that the beach balls are gone and loading is faster).  That additional capacity is a huge selling point for the Japanese executives, with the wild popularity of Cars Land with Japanese tourists in Anaheim a good indicator of future popularity if it were to be cloned for Tokyo Disneyland. Replacing the Rivers of America with Cars Land in Tokyo would buy the OLC triple the daily rider capacity in a splashy expansion that could fuel Tokyo resort attendance for years, and the Japanese are now contemplating jumping in and fast-tracking the project while the Orlando executives continue to dawdle and downsize."

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Knowing WDI, they've got to have a concept on the drawing boards for everything. I mean, Tony Baxter was quoted at one point that they were looking to turn the Submarine Voyage at Disneyland into an attraction themed to that steam-punk film Atlantis. As a boy, I loved the film, but now that I'm older, I definitely understand why they didn't go that route, and went with the orange and white clownfish instead. 

Point is, they have to constantly find ideas to make, whether they become reality or not. So obviously there's ideas for attractions based on Cars 2, and who knows, they may actually see the light of day, given how insanely popular the franchise brand is. It makes sense that Tokyo would want something like this. I have to give them a lot respect. Tokyo knows how to operate a theme park not just on their holiday offerings, but on what they put into their parks. Looking at Google Earth, one can easily see the potential for the Cadillac Range being added to the back corner of the Frontierland, making way for Carsland. 

In the fan community, Orlando seems to pay for the cheaper things tourists shell money out for. Not that it's necessarily a bad thing, but why short change yourself? The new Fantasyland is something that needs to be done on all projects. Go big or go home, right? Tokyo and Anaheim seem to have done this, and it's paying off every day for them. 

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Part Three

Meanwhile, in Anaheim, there’s plenty of unglamorous work about to begin in 2013 to prepare for Anaheim’s NextGen programs that will be first rolling out in January at Walt Disney World. NextGen will allow tourists and day-trippers to plan their visits down to the minutest detail, with a payoff of hyper-personalization from attractions, shows and restaurants during their visit. NextGen requires a lot of infrastructure to be installed, and most new facilities built after Cars Land have that infrastructure already included in the plans. The new Fantasy Faire meet n’ greet pavilion that opens March 10^th (with AP previews and soft openings for a few days before that) has its NextGen data infrastructure installed, but it won’t be turned on for at least another year.

The first thing that needs to change in Anaheim to get NextGen up and running are the entry turnstiles. Much has been made about the lack of biometric finger scans in Anaheim, which are a big part of the entry turnstiles in the Orlando parks. The truth is that the biometric equipment and logistical setups require more space than Disneyland has, and the number of entry lanes would be reduced if biometric screening was installed in Anaheim. A compromise is under consideration for Anaheim to create a NextGen entry process that uses simply RFID tags.

But what has TDA the most worried is the impact all of the NextGen offerings on the huge Annual Passholder demographic, as NextGen caters mostly to tourists and day-trippers who have planned their visit far in advance. It’s that looming PR problem that local AP holders will have with NextGen that now has TDA trying to come up with as many extra perks as possible for Annual Passholders, to not only justify the next round of price increases for the popular passes, but to also offer examples of things AP’s receive that NextGen tourists don’t.

The sudden decision to offer the Candlelight Ceremony on 20 consecutive nights this year and give the seats away to AP holders as a “perk” is only the latest example of TDA’s increasingly panicked attitude toward the looming NextGen rollout. That Candlelight decision was so rushed that it caught many of the planning groups off guard, and the logistical hurdles are causing many late nights for the Disneyland operations teams tasked with making it all work for three weeks straight.

NextGen is a massive Billion dollar program that has been in development for years and is primarily overseen by Florida executives, and the consideration of Southern California annual passholders wasn’t on their radar for most of that development. But when the average Annual Passholder of 2014 drops by Disneyland on a Sunday afternoon to find all the Fastpasses gone, all of the best seating for shows and parades reserved, and all of the best restaurants booked solid with NextGen tourists receiving personalized attention from CM’s, you can bet they won’t be too happy with NextGen. (Especially after another price increase…) Thus the rush to throw as many perks and extra benefits at AP holders as possible in 2013.

As we’ve told you before, the NextGen project in Anaheim is approximately 18 months behind the timetable for Orlando. The program kicks off formally this January at Disney World and expands throughout the spring, and should be rolling in Anaheim by the summer of 2014. But for now, TDA is focused on the approaching peak holiday season. With DCA now soaking up 40,000+ visitors who willingly go there first and happily stay there all day, this could be the first time in over a decade that Disneyland doesn’t have to close their turnstiles due to overcrowding during the week between Christmas and New Years. And that’s a Christmas present that TDA has been wishing for since 2001.

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There's a lot of thoughts on this. As for Anaheim, The RFID idea sounds like it can be far easier to handle. A simple radio wave can allow access into the parks, and could shift Cast Member jobs elsewhere, with a shorter staff watching and helping guests in. RFID could even be implemented into guests single/multi-day tickets. 

With NextGen and the AP crowd, I sort of laugh at, because unless you're normal, there's a large amount of APer's I've watched around the park, and boy are they a feisty bunch of people. "What do you mean I can't use my discount at the Cozy Cone? I want my discount!" or the stampeding groups hunting down any unsuspecting cast member wearing a lanyard, hoping to trade, with their turkey legs in hand....it's scary. 

Disney knows how they're going to handle it, and they're already doing great with their Twitter handle for DCA (@DCAToday), and even the AP movie nights inside the Opera House. The little things like this are paying off, and will continue to pay off. 

As for sections of Disney not communicating with the other in general, I doubt it's this bad. To be honest, if they were like this, projects would come out looking really far worse. Sure there's miscommunication, but the 20 nights had to have been planned farther out than what's being described. 

It's going to be amazing to see what else Disney has up their sleeves. I'm excited to see what comes to the Original park after DCA, and not just the resort, but around Anaheim as well. This area could very well be THE park to go to between Walt Disney World and here. Let's hope it stays that way.