Was the concept behind DinoRama a good decision?

[Bob O]

dscoop the disney company's half built parks are AK,DCA and Walt Disney studios Paris
dragonflymanor Why cant disney build rides for everyone!!! Why cant they build true thrill rides, coasters with 54" height limits that are world class and not family coasters that lack any real punch?? They arent going after my family with their new rides if they wont build a world class coaster!! IOA isnt a thrill park!!! Just because they have 2 great coasters, its not a thrill park!!! A tthrill park would have to have double digit coasters ala Six Flags/Cedar Point!!
Somebody mentioned that Ak has a good foundation. When you are charging people almost 50 to get in shouldnt you give them more than a fondation with a promise that maybe in a decade it will be a full days park??? Why should you pay full price now for the promise that someday they might complete the park???

 

[raidermatt]

BobO, AK is a full day's park for some people. Clearly it needs a LOT more to suit you, but it just isn't targeted to you. Nothing wrong with that, but if you add more stuff with height limits, it means people like me have to make a choice. I can ignore the ride because my son can't, and my wife won't, go on it. If I do that, I'm not getting my money's worth, and Disney lost an opportunity to make my family happy because they chose to spend the money on a height restricted ride instead of something we can all enjoy.

You continually ask why they can't do both, and the answer is because there is a limited amount of capital that can be spent on a park. Every attraction is a choice. If they build one of each, family and thrill, they please everybody a little bit. You say Universal is not a thrill park, fine, let's call it a height restricted park, and a "motion-lovers" park. I know its hard for people like us to understand sometimes, but there are a LOT of people out their who can't even handle RnRC, or even Space Mountain. Disney has built its success on keeping the vast majority of its rides enjoyable for all ages. Most of the "kiddie" rides are enjoyable for many adults, unlike what you find at most parks.

It doesn't mean you or your family are not important to Disney, but it does mean that in order to give you what you want, they're going to have to give their core audience less of what they want. That's just not a smart move for them, and its why we're not likely to see any top-of-the ladder thrill rides at Disney anytime soon.

The only way I could support Disney doing this is in a separate gate, similar to what they did with Disney Pictures vs. Touchstone. It could still be called Disney, but allow the different market segments to each get what they want.

 

[Luv2Roam]

Well -- it makes Paradise Pier truly look like a paradise.
The cheap and tacky look is quaint -- but the whole area lacks Disney thrill and magic.
Looks more like Disney was just cheap -- period.

 

[Bob O]

Raidermatt- If AK is a full days park for some people then they most move at a sloth's pace!!!! And by the same token by filling a park with few top-notch attractions im not getting my money's worth either and if you pay full price for AK NOBODY is getting their moneys worth if they are objective!!! Disney has more than enough capital to fill out their parks with rides/shows/attractions for everybody and by doing so would increase park attendance/hotel occupancy. But of course it cant be done when you pay out hundreds of millions to katzenberg/ovitz and make idiotic business decisions like their failed internet portal etc.

 

[JeffJewell]

...whether or not any of us, individually, think AK is a "full-day" park... Disney's own guest surveys, referenced in Disney's own press releases, say that most people don't think there's enough to do, there. That was the one and only reason DinoRama exists: to put "more to do" in AK as cheaply as possible.

What the bickering does make clear, is that just because something is "there" to do, does not mean anyone in particular is going to care to do it. Personally, I can spend a potentially infinite amount of time on the Maharajah's Jungle Trek alone, just taking pictures of tigers; I doubt a lot of people will see my personal peccadillo as a reason to spend any more time in AK than they already do.

So there's two ways to look at "the concept behind DinoRama;" first, whether or not "cheap and tacky" is a theme that fits with Disney's tradition (of course not, don't be silly); and second, whether or not a "family" coaster with a 48" height restriction, carnival games, and yet another spinner, none of which have any link to Disney other than their zip code, will make more people stay in AK longer (and, more importantly, buy more food and souvenirs).

The jury's obviously still out on that one. Anybody care to make a wager that a year from now, the guest surveys at AK will start indicating that there's so much to do that teeming throngs of guests are coming back for a second day to get another helping of DinoRama?

I didn't think so.

Jeff