Would you donate money for a better attraction?

Post by **subsonic** » Sep Tue 26, 2006 7:18 pm

Sockfire asked me a question over IM earlier today asking, "How much would you pay to ride Horizons again?"
I replied, "$25-$30 dollars. How about you?"
"I think I'd fork out $100"
I then said, "I'd put in $100 bucks for them to rebuild it. No problem."

Then it occured to both of us. Wouldn't it be cool if Disney built bigger attractions with donated money instead of settling?

I feel the problem with Disney is they are pinching the pennies by not venturing forth and exceeding our expectations. As Roy Disney said, "I think you're building the parks 'on the cheap'."

Disney should propose attraction ideas they have, list cost values, and state something like the following

We're thinking about building this:
1) Winnie the Pooh with painted plywood cutouts
2) Winnie the Pooh with animatronics
3) Winnie the Pooh with animatronics and amazing special effects
We can afford option 1 but if 100,000 people each donate 10 bucks we'll have an additional 1 million to spend to make option 3 of this attraction.

They could advertise something like this on TV, on their websites, in forums.

Would you be willing to donate 10 dollars towards that cause?
Would you be willing to donate more than 10 dollars?
Imagine if 1 million people donated 10 dollars.

I know I would.

Post by **rdeacon** » Sep Tue 26, 2006 7:23 pm

i'll be first to say.....HELL NO

For the amount of money I spend a WDW they can at least fork up for the rides...

Rich

happyfunball · Post by **happyfunball** » Sep Tue 26, 2006 7:26 pm

this would be a PR disaster unless they offered something in exchange, somewhere down the line, like an opening night invite, or front of the line priveledges or something.

Gizmata · Post by **Gizmata** » Sep Tue 26, 2006 7:27 pm

I would put in $50 for the peoplemover.

Additionally I would put in $20 to see pooh demolished, $50 if they brought back the country bear playhouse.

jbvenn · Post by **jbvenn** » Sep Tue 26, 2006 7:38 pm

I'll be the first to say... I agree with Rich. I also agree with Roy Disney that in recent years managment has been trying to build parks on the cheap, and attractions like Pooh and Buzz Lightyear (both underwhelming, IMO) are the result.

I wouldn't give the current management $100 to rebuild Horizons because they'd probably try to cut corners, pocket the profit, and do a poor job of it. We'd end up with a new Horizons that's a shadow of its former self.

Sorry if I'm grouchy tonight. Blame it on the Paradise Pier loop...

csquare77 · Post by **csquare77** » Sep Tue 26, 2006 7:38 pm

We do give them the money, every day you go into the parks. They can take the money they get for parking cars alone to do that.

Croaker · Post by **Croaker** » Sep Tue 26, 2006 10:43 pm

all they have to do is go back to the ticket system. (how many of you remember that?) thus you would pay extra for extra rides. and the lame ...er less attractive rides (like ones with flourecent plywood, or singing dolls) would be on the chopping block. lets bring back Capitolism at its finest....hey did i spell that right?

Post by **subsonic** » Sep Wed 27, 2006 11:08 am

jbvenn wrote:I wouldn't give the current management $100 to rebuild Horizons because they'd probably try to cut corners, pocket the profit, and do a poor job of it. We'd end up with a new Horizons that's a shadow of its former self.

The point of my inquery was to eliminate that factor. We know they cut corners now. My question is about, "If people donated extra money, it would pay for what you wanted." The extra money is supposed to compensate for those corners cut.

Post by **spaulo** » Sep Wed 27, 2006 12:43 pm

Just like Peter Pan, Dumbo, Snow White, Pinnochio, Mr. Toad, and Alice and her friends... this idea lives in Fantasyland.

And for the record, no I wouldn't. Using donations to build something wouldn't be used to build something better... it would be used to shift blame from "we can't afford it/bad for stockholders" to "we didn't get enough donations/this is the crap the people paid for"... preposterous.

Post by **js3901** » Sep Wed 27, 2006 1:01 pm

I'm kinda surprised at the response so far. besides about 3 people, everyone would not pay any amount of money to bring a much beloved attraction back, or to help in building a brand new attraction without cutting corners. I know I, for one, would donate $10 to help bring something like Horizons back. it doesn;t seem like alot, but as Sub said, if, say, 1 million people donate even $10, that would enough for some substancial upgrades, even besides what the sponsers would contribute. I'm really surprised at some of the responses, given what (at least) one of you is helping in doing - trying to bring back the peoplemover? ring a bell? sure, we can sign petitions and write letters all day, but we've already seen that (at least so far), nothing has happened. we're no closer to that goal than anything else we (as Disney purists/freaks) have wanted. If the muse took donations, we would at least have a shot at realizing the goal.

I know I's want some kind of recognition, though for my donation. even something like a plaque to hang within the attraction, or something on the park website, listing those who donated. that way, everyone could see who helped make a difference.

knedeau · Post by **knedeau** » Sep Wed 27, 2006 1:28 pm

I'd pay to help expand the Monorail in WDW

Halvogirl · Post by **Halvogirl** » Sep Wed 27, 2006 1:37 pm

No way! I already spend a lot of money on disney, they just need to budget and build good rides instead of a few cheap rides.

Post by **spaulo** » Sep Wed 27, 2006 1:59 pm

js3901 wrote:I'm really surprised at some of the responses, given what (at least) one of you is helping in doing - trying to bring back the peoplemover? ring a bell? sure, we can sign petitions and write letters all day, but we've already seen that (at least so far), nothing has happened.

First off, shame on you for looking down your nose at me. Second, I'd love to see the Peoplemover back, that's true... but this whole concept is completely silly. Even if it DID happen, why would Disney actually take the money to not "cut corners" when they could just as easily take the money, claim every effort was made to avoid cutting corners, and report record profits... not, of course, from the donations, but from the fact that the Theme Park division came in waaaaay under budget!

It's just naive to think that this kind of concept... a major corporation accepting donations from eager fans to do what they ought to be budgeting for anyway? Who ever heard of such a thing.

jbvenn · Post by **jbvenn** » Sep Wed 27, 2006 4:16 pm

Now that I understand the concept better, I can understand the appeal, but like spaulo, I don't think it would work. If a group of fans did get together to raise money to rebuild a beloved attraction, what kind of guarantee/assurance could they expect from management that their intentions would be carried out in good faith? Not much, I would guess. What kind of creative control/input could they expect? Very little, if any. So if the rebuilt attraction is nothing like what they expected, what recourse would they have? Managment would just shrug and claim because of money or other considerations, plans had to be changed.

Post by **sockfire** » Sep Wed 27, 2006 9:04 pm

Sweet, opposing views! A rare thing here.

Okay, let's wrangle this back a little.

The original point of the question was more of a "wouldn't it be cool to ride that again". And when I thought about it in regards to Horizons, it meant a lot to me and I responded with a premium commitment.

I agree that getting people to donate extra money is never going to happen. But it's still an interesting hypothetical question for hardcore fans. I could see myself donating to save a ride, but I wouldn't donate to build a new one.

I think I read somewhere that the annual budget at DLR is in the neighborhood of $150,000,000. And a typical E-Ticket runs in the range of $100,000,000. Any donations would hardly make a dent in that.

The only real way we can support the parks is to visit them more often, and to spend more money while we are there. And also to give feedback at City Hall or via mail about what we like and what we don't like.

I'm planning to go to Disneyland two more times this year.