Joined: May 04, 2006 Posts: 1754 Location: Los Osos, CA
Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2007 12:38 pm Post subject: David Koenig comes to chat on 12/17/07
Hi everyone as a special treat David Koenig will be chating with us on Monday 12/17/07. He is the Author of "Mousetales" and his new book "Realityland". We will be discussing "Mousetales" in January as a kick-off to the monthly Book chat. I know this is a busy season but please set a little time aside on Monday night to come chat with our special guest.
Chat begins at 8:00 pm EST _________________ Jason
Joined: May 04, 2006 Posts: 1754 Location: Los Osos, CA
Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2007 3:23 pm Post subject:
Hi evryone,
David Koenig will be in the chat room at 8:00 pm on Monday 12?17/07
PLEASE come out. Show David how awesome our members are. I am working out how we will run the Q&A so watch this post for info. Oh and please respond to this post so I can get an idea as to how many plan on attending. _________________ Jason
I can not promise, but I'm gonna try hard to attend. I think it is great you were able to get him.
I've Emailed him in the past and he seems like a knowledgeable, well spoken person.
This is a great way to showcase the wonderful people we have on this site and a great way to kick off the Book Chats. David has a large readership on the sites he posts on.
Hey Admins... If Eatmon can pull this off, I think he deserves some extra recognition...
If you can't find anything better, I'm willing to donate 100 of my flier miles to him as a thank you... You can take em from me and give them to him.
We'll post the transcript of the chat for everyone to read after the event. So that way, if you have a question or two, but can't attend, you can send the question to Jason and see what the response was. _________________ When you're curious, you find lots of interesting things to do.
--Walt Disney
In that case, Jason I'd be curious as to the following: (in case I don't make it...)
In his book Mouse Tales he talks about how things have slowly changed over the years from fun and frivolity, to stricter and stricter control, and how the mouse has turned from customer focused to bottom-line, penny-pinching focused. Does he see any signs that things might be swinging back or that the attention to detail and maintenance might be improving?
Of all of the areas of the park, which does he feel has changed the least over the years from the perspective of "quality product" & Feel to the guest, and what would he attribute as the cause of its retaining that feel. From there, I'd be curious of the which has changed the most and what he sees as the cause? attached to that... Is the lack of change or change actually seen as a good or bad thing.
He just published Realityland, does he have anything in the works regarding the later parks in Florida or DCA or the potential third gate?
Obviously the park has changed over the years. it has to grow and mature. Does he feel the growth is appropriate for todays guests. Are there items that have changed that have proven to have worked better before the change?
What other Disney books would he recommend to folks that might cover the following topics: (Besides More Mousetales, & RealityLand)
- Walt Disney
- the parks culture over the years
- his choice of good book...
In Mousetales and More MouseTales he alludes to Mousetales as having an potential improvement on the park attendance. Did he run the stats to see if the same held true after More Mousetales, and is he going to try and see if RealityLand has a similar impact.
As someone familiar with both coast parks, what would he say to an East Coaster to convince them it is worth going to the West Coast, and what would he tell anyone on the West Coast to convince them to come East?
Anything around the topic of DCL.
What does he enjoy most about having had the opportunity to publish Mousetales?
That's fantastic! I will DEFINATELY be there. He actually came and spoke at an NFFC meeting very close to me but I couldn't make it due to a previous engagement.
Joined: Mar 09, 2006 Posts: 809 Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Posted: Sat Dec 15, 2007 8:26 am Post subject:
Just a few:
1. Does he foresee the current management restoring any of the pre-Eisner decisions for money over show (themed shopping throughout the park, no Disney characters in Epcot, etc.). Sorry, WDWFan, I probably should’ve read your post before writing these J
2. I love how all of the areas of the park play themed music – you can hear old Victorian tunes from Main Street, old Western music in Frontierland, jungle drums in Adventureland, etc. I rarely hear this mentioned in any books, which seems like a glaring omission given that they detail very minute details, such as the colors of the pavement. Was this something that has always been, since the opening of Disneyland, or has it been something that has evolved over time?
3. Any idea why the WDW Jungle Cruise dialog is nowhere near as fun as the DL version? Is it toned down because of the amount of non-American visitors in WDW? More talented people in DL b/c of Hollywood and aspiring actors? I laugh so hard at the DL version almost every time, but I’ll ride the WDW version 4 times a trip or so, and hardly ever have a good skipper.
4. What rides that have been altered have you perceived as an improvement? For instance, the Jack Sparrow additions to POTC. If you disagree with these changes, do you feel that they should ever update these classic rides?
5. I’m a little unfamiliar with the Western River Expedition plans. In addition to those, would you be able to give us a few rides/concepts that were left on the drawing board?
6. Could you briefly tell the story of Ron Miller? I’m fascinated with “where are they now” type stories. Did Ron CEO anywhere else after he was pushed out? Retired? I’d also love to get the Disney family opinion of the parks. Are they disgusted with Eisner’s chasing of the dollar? Or, are they Disneyed-out and don’t really care about the parks like the UAB members do? Are there any Disney family members besides Roy E left on the board/in control of the company?
7. In the Mouse Tales series, you talk a lot about the cast members, but in Realityland, it’s mostly all about the behind-the-scenes business in building the parks. While both are totally fascinating, I especially like the stories about hijinks by the cast members (especially the Jungle Cruise stores). Can we expect a book about this from WDW? Any more books in the future?
8. In Realityland, you had a ton of interesting little anecdotes about Nunis and Walker. In your travels, have you heard anything interesting about Eisner/Ovitz?
9. In my interview at Disney Imagineering, someone referred to Disneyland as a “testing ground”, a place where they initially place rides to sort of test them out before moving them to WDW. Is this accurate? Could you compare/contrast management’s thoughts on the two parks in terms of updates?
Joined: Feb 21, 2006 Posts: 4196 Location: Sanford, Fl
Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2007 3:01 am Post subject:
Hey Jason, will all (or most) of the questions posted be asked? Just curious if someone can post a question, but may not be able to attend the session itself, will that question still be asked (they can read the response in the transcripts)? _________________ Up or Down North, South, East, or West An Adventurer's Life is Best!
Joined: May 04, 2006 Posts: 1754 Location: Los Osos, CA
Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2007 6:04 am Post subject:
I will try to ask as many from aa many people as possible. So If you asked Multiply questions in the post I wil try to roatate between all the questions. _________________ Jason
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