Are you 54?

A very happy birthday to the Happiest Place on Earth. Both Agent Zero and I have been very busy with work lately, but he did manage to stop by the park early this morning to snap a few pics. Click  here or on the Agent Zero tab above to check out his pics.

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2011, A Space Oddity

Just in via Dateline Disney. According to Al Lutz’s latest column on MiceAge, we can all feel safe about continuing to promulgate the rumor that Star Tours will finally receive a long overdue overhaul…

While Disneyland seems relatively quiet by comparison, there are a few surprises proposed for the original park in the next few years. The most promising is the new Star Tours 2.0 makeover that has just recently received its funding green-light from Burbank and is now slated for an arrival in Tomorrowland in the spring of 2011. While that attraction was originally supposed to arrive in spring, 2010, we’d detailed for you in a previous update how a wussy executive team out in Orlando got cold feet at spending as much money on their version as Anaheim had planned to spend on their installation.

Now, I have no way of proving it, but I distinctly remember pushing the idea of a major refurb for Star Tours several years ago. It had a lot to do with the fact that amongst all of the refurb rumors flying around at the time, overhauling Star Tours seemed to make the most sense.

Why? Simple, in the world of business and project management and cost-analysis, a remake of Star Tours seemed the most feasible. You see, nothing is more appealing to a penny-pinching corporate suit (including myself) than the idea of going after “low-hanging fruit.” I know it’s a term that’s so overused these days, but it’s true. While I had no real insight as to the actual capital outlays required to revamp an attraction of this type, just the fact that the attraction relied on newer technologies like computer generated video and “virtual” environments to achieve it’s entertainment value made it a no-brainer in terms of cost in my mind. In other words, think of Star Tours as a very cool, specialized type of flight simulator. There’s a reason airlines and aircraft manufacturers rely on flight simulators… it’s easier to render all types of scenarios in a virtual environment. If it’s computer-based, it’s flexible and easy (read: cheaper) to modify (relatively speaking). I would assume that the same thing holds true for the engineering behind  Star Tours.

Little did I know at the time however, that there were other things in play besides cost considerations delaying the anticipated overhaul of this attraction. Things like legal challenges and strained relationships with stake-holders, and of course executives on both coasts jockeying for position. With that in mind, it really is amazing that anything gets done at the park.

At any rate, I really hope this rumor holds true. I’d love to see an update to this excellent attraction.

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Flying Elephant Spotted…

The OC Register is featuring a sneak peek of the new Disneyland fireworks show Magical, slated to begin June 12. (WordPress doesn’t support the BrightCove media player, so you’ll need to click the link below to watch the video)

Disneyland’s Magical Fireworks Spectacular

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Count your blessings…

Well, I was going to post this to let everyone know that I’m currently out of commission after a pretty serious mountain biking accident on Sunday. When I woke up and turned on the TV however, I saw this…

Angels Rookie Pitcher Killed in Early Morning Accident

Less than ten hours ago, I watched this 22 year old kid, pitch six shut-out innings against our west-coast rival A’s. Devastating news. Adenhart struggled in his debut for the Angels last year, but had made huge improvements over the past season. Last night’s performance certainly had many Angel fans feeling like the guy was on the verge of a break-out. And just like that he was taken away. I guess God needed a new starter. RIP Nick.

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Jogging with scissors.

Dateline Disney is reporting that a portion of the Remember Dreams Come True fireworks show has just been cut. For what reason, I’m not 100% sure. I guess you could save some money by cutting down on the resources and materials required for the show, it just seems like the overall savings would prove to be insignificant when you add it all up. But then again, I’m not familiar with the economics of such productions, so I could be wrong.  All I know is that somewhere in Disney Management, someone with a great PowerPoint presentation scored big points under the mantra of “cost-cutting initiatives.” The rest is, as they say… history. As a business consultant of over 15 years, my only question in situations like these has been… Great, but how will we know if we’ve cut too deep? It’s not just a question for surgeons or sushi chefs these days.

Well, its too bad. I really liked this show. In my book, it was second only to Believe! There’s Magic in the Stars. Great fireworks shows have always been a hallmark of Disneyland. Let’s hope that this turns out for the better. Who knows, maybe this is management’s way of slowly winding down a production that’s getting a little long in the tooth.  Here’s video of the edited show (courtesy of OriginalD) which apparently seems to be missing the part of the show that pays tribute to Frontierland. Sadly, I doubt most folks will even notice…

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