Universal and Disney

Look, I always planned to visit USJ one day with my one desire to see the One Piece Summer Premier. Now though, it looked more tantalizing.

The last theme park visit I ever had was at Universal Hollywood which I am actually glad about. The last time I ever visited Disneyland was just before I entered middle school I think because I am sure I never visited Disneyland anytime after elementary school. The closest thing I could ever get to Disneyland nowadays was a trip to Downtown Disney and that's years ago.

I harbor no interest in ever visiting Disneyland or any Disney Parks...with the sheer exception of Tokyo DisneySea and that's only because I want to see the beauty. Without any IPs.

I'm not a theme park visitor. Again, the last time I ever visited a theme park was at Universal Hollywood. And I'm sure I was there before the Hollywood Universal Park version of Harry Potter opened in 2016. Because if I was there, I'll pretty much drag my parents there. My family kept complaining about the hiking prices at Disneyland, making them not want them to visit again. My cousin and brother are the only ones who visited Disneyland sometime within last and this year. My little niece visited Disney World years ago with her mother, grandmother, great aunt, and father and that's two years ago and she's three.

Seriously, having a Nintendo land is going to give a good black eye to Disney.

I don't want Disney to fall. All I just want for Disney is to have rivals because having rivalry is good for capitalism. The fact Universal Harry Potter land had given them a black eye in the past is great for them.

All the things Disney is doing is a bad look and even me, not even a Disney fan for a long time, is worried that they are increasingly arrogant and need be taken down a peg. If it takes the Japanese video game sphere - which I have to remind you will not sell themselves to Disney, no matter how they love it because what they are built on the blood and tears of their ancestors - to do it, then Disney needs that punch.

Because Japanese and Korean media have been increasingly popular nowadays with the rise of manga and anime to the point Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu are trying to compete for titles on top of Funimation, Sentai, and other anime dubbing companies.

I mean the Hagrid ride has a ten-hour wait line!

Right, where crowds are light at Disneyland and rides at Galaxy's Edge. But for Disney crowds at the parks in the peak summer... yeah...

Yes, Harry Potter beat the hell out of Star Wars!

Disney needs rivals and this is a good one.

Especially since one of their few successful games ever is Kingdom Hearts. Although I consider that more Square Enix because it's Nomura's baby. I doubt Disney had any hand in the main overarching story at all. Yes, the Pixar crew and some writers on the Disney American side of things helped with the story writing even if it's for an arc or two - I count each world as an arc - but they barely had little idea on what Nomura is even planning. Even the most dedicated of KH fans still have their confusion with the story and they caught up with the entire saga.

But in comparison to the likes of Super Mario Bros, Zelda, Pokemon, Donkey Kong...

Yeah...

Disney had tried to appeal to the video games crowd before and didn't work out too well.

But when it comes to Nintendo where today the Nintendo Switch is huge and Nintendo games are a continuous success, I think Disney is panicking right now. I don't see Mario and Zelda losing their appeal in the years to come.

And they need to and should panic.

Disney had made many bad decisions in regards to Star Wars and their parks with their price increase. I know this because my family doesn't like the price increase. They have no desire to go to Disneyland. In the end, they began traveling abroad or up north in Cali instead. My aunts who long since became new grandparents began traveling to New York to visit the Niagra Falls and only visited Walt Disney World years ago. They even have a Niagra Falls souvenir on display at their house. My other cousins with their parents traveled to London, Italy, and France. Another cousin with her now fiance traveled to France and Japan. My entire family knows about my desired trips to Japan because it's not like I made it more evident with watching travel videos regarding Japan.

Now my family does visit Disneyland but it's only a very few. They still love Disney albeit relatively muted. Again, only one of my cousins and my brother are the only ones who visit and they aren't annual pass holders.

Disney cannot keep raising prices that even my cousins are complaining about it. They must not.

If they want to keep getting money from their consumers, they must be treated as consumers.

Disney cannot buy any more franchises or create mergers with any other big companies. They are already in big debt and eating themselves alive at the theatres. They must not buy more, not when they are raising prices at their parks and potentially Disney Plus. When their parks are in trouble, they cannot afford to buy more and force their consumers in their overpriced products. There's a reason why the Disney Character Warehouse Outlets is doing well.

Disney, don't buy anything more and don't increase prices to your previously overpriced products and parks. You won't get any more consumers if you price out your middle-class consumers who would likely find it much better spending money on overseas vacations or your theme park rivals or even your overseas Disney park.

Make your prices reasonable or making things cost so much less. Bring entertainment back because people go to your park, not as a mall, but for entertainment. Listen, I don't go to Universal Hollywood to see just more than just the rides, I see the shows.

People want entertainment and in a period where various methods of entertainment can be found, cutting entertainment out of the parks would leave nothing but a mall with rides.

You're practically making your rivals and your overseas parks as a better avenue of vacation any day of the week.

Just don't, Disney, don't overspend, overprice, cut entertainment, fire people who least deserve it, and most of all, don't lose sight of your consumer.

As for your Galaxy's Edge, you shouldn't open it early and at least give out information about changes. Don't budget cut it, especially when your rival Universal throw money just to compete with you. If Universal knows they have to go all out to compete with you, then you shouldn't budget cut it. In the realm of theme parks, you either have to go all out or find some efficiency or both.

Especially when that Disney magic and showmanship could get you the money you need to pay back.

For fuck's sake, Iger, get your head out of your rear end and help save the company that made you rich in the first place.

Listen, I understand Disney is a business. I understand that fact for a long-ass time.

But it shouldn't come at the detriment of people not willing to shell out more than hundreds and thousands.

The middle class is something you should be tackling, not draining the only ones who are going there regardless of price. Lower the goddamn prices. Don't get rid of entertainment when people go there to be entertained. Fill your hotels to capacity by lowering the prices so much you could have more families going in.

People understand you need money, Disney. They understand at some level, you are a business.

What they do not want is for Disney to lose that magic. People are getting more disillusioned the more they learned they learn bad stuff like low pay or budget cuts that rid of entertainment or focus on an audience. Don't lose your core audience to your greed.

You cannot keep doing this, Disney. Just don't raise prices even more and produce quality works that are actually worth it. Don't overspend on wastes of money that would increase your debt, forcing you to drain your loyal customers.

Universal learned this lesson well with the Harry Potter land which managed to stand the test of time simply for its immersive atmosphere and activities.

It's good and all you are focused on diversity but your story and characters must not be detrimental. Call people 'racists' or 'sexists' simply because they don't like the character would not help the movement. Respect your audience and consumer but don't lose sight of what matters to people and that's a good story and character.

And Rose Tico is not a well-executed character or the potential is lost there all just for politics rather than making a good character and the loss of the potential of Finn, Poe, and Rey is much evident.

Let me address the elephant in the room.

Disney's bad press is increasingly closing on them. From denying a simple headstone for a boy who was a fan of theirs to the flop of Galaxy's Edge to Chinese politics to allegations of fraud, this quarter is not a good look for them. In fact, it's really easy nowadays since the debacle of not allowing a dead boy's favorite character on his tombstone.

I don't hate Disney. I am annoyed at Disney and horrified that Disney is going to form a monopoly in a flawed capitalistic world. I don't buy much into Disney's hype nowadays. Not since Toy Story 3 and Frozen. While Brave did weather my liking for Pixar, TS3 screwed the pooch and made me refuse to buy even a single merch for them. Same with Frozen. Then again I haven't had any Disney merch since I was a child. Any kind of Disney merch I even have currently such as a lounge fly mini backpack that was bought from Tokyo Disneyland is from my cousin. Years later.

I don't think Disney would fail anytime soon. In all likelihood, Disney would be forced a humble pie just as the same pie was forced into the faces of the Channel Awesome higher-ups. Disney needs some humbling and if it takes the people to force them to eat that pie, I would have no problem joining the crowd, breaking the pedestal.

I grew up with Disney watching The Wonderful World of Disney and having some Disney movies on hand. My nostalgia has long since disappeared and I have since looked at Disney with a critical eye. I still have a fondness for animated movies but my family knew full well how much my opinion is pretty much 'meh' and my disliking of Frozen. And my dearest wish to travel to Japan seasonally.

I don't want Disney to fail. I don't want Star Wars and Marvel to fail. I don't want Sony to fail. I don't want Fox to fail.

They should be held accountable for their actions that hurt others.

The way Disney is handling PR and things that are coming out right now especially for a company that manufactured a good family-friendly image. So, Disney, all I can say is Good Luck.

Despite my feelings towards Disney nowadays, I still have fond memories of the movies I watched in my childhood and my childhood summer trips to Disneyland. Even now, Disney Cinderella is held close to my heart. Disney is the reason why I always planned a retelling of fairy tales novels with Cinderella being the first of the lot.

I don't hate Disney. I just want them to do better than just attacking fans just for not agreeing.

I understand the betterment of the marginalized and their rep in media. But pushing that as the only appeal rather than the story and the character is no good.

People can still have their better rep but it shouldn't be the only appeal. The appeals generally are good story. If it has a gay character that is respectfully treated, then that's good and a bonus to a good story.

Disney, I want you to do better and get your head out of your rear end.

If anyone has any negative thoughts that I hate Disney, I don't. I still treasure my childhood trips to Disneyland. I still love the Disney movies with Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Snow White being the first exposure I ever have to Disney.

As a tradition, before we went inside the park, we always take family pictures in the front garden. We still kept pictures of it.

Now, I worry about Disneyland's attendance.

After that, we immediately went for Fantasyland for the Teacups, Peter Pan and Snow White rides. Because that's also a tradition. After that, it's Small World, then Toontown, then Pirates. (It was annoying when Disney got rid of the wench scene but for the love of Godoka, last I heard from parks fans, there was no decrying).

I remember the day walking around the park, riding rides I can't remember.

And all of this was in the Eisner era.

I won't dispute others for having precious memories in the Iger/Chapek era of Disney right now but I certainly don't remember the sardine level of crowds. I was able to walk around easily.

While I would love to visit Disneyland again, I would rather choose studio tours - I went to Warner Bros Studio Tour - and other immersive theme parks and especially trips to Japan. I definitely want to see Tokyo DisneySea.

I don't want the parks to fail.

While my family isn't hardcore Disney park fans, we love the parks for its experiences. And let me tell you, my brother and my cousin aren't ap holders. And they will go to the parks if they planned it.

When I say experience, it's stuff like the rides and the atmosphere that got us. While some of my family members do have Instagrams, they aren't social media influencers and prefer to take pics when it's cute or show some kind of experience they deeply enjoy. For example, my cousin who went to Japan with her now fiance has an Instagram of her friends there so she could know when to take her trips next. She loves the Nara deers. I'm sure they would take photos of cute food since my other cousin took a picture of an alcohol bottle shaped in a Chinese dragon but they aren't social media influencers. They love taking pictures but they aren't influencers.

I truly doubt my brother and my cousin who went to Disneyland actually go there for the walls when they have been there for summer childhood family trips.

So anime and manga had been on the rise again.

I was surprised about the sudden rise of Naruto and Bleach coming back to the forefront with the latter live-action movie, which I actually like. And I was there in the rise of manga and anime partially because my cousins were definite watchers of Pokemon and Power Rangers.

Japanese and Korean media became increasingly popular for various reasons. From superheroes shifted the focus to the variety of anime and manga had to offer...

I'm worried about Hollywood and Disney. Disney already owned too much and they need competition thus be taken down a peg.

I honestly don't care about live-action adaptations of anime. Yes, I will still seek them out if I'm interested but for the most part, I don't care.

Why should I worry when I got my anime and manga to watch and read? I'm perfectly happy with One Piece Wano arc's animation. Speaking of which, I'm honestly want to watch the live-action adaptation of One Piece to see if they can adapt a series who mainly used the sea as a major backdrop and elaborate settings.

Yes, I do worry about the PC and cultural imperialism that will inescapably occur in this inevitable adaptation. Not even caring about what the Japanese have to say about their own political and social sphere. Because why care about the Japanese voice when your voice is stronger!?

For the love of Godoka, please try to know what's make these series inviting in the first place and don't ruin the original's magic. I already had my heart stabbed by many American live-action adaptations with the recent one being Ghost In the Shell.

I already had enough of American feminists trying to inject their PC into a Japanese work where Japanese feminism exists. And Japanese feminism is a whole different beast.

Speaking of which, I am hoping to see a new Ouran High School Host Club because I genuinely love the series to the point I have a complete collection of the manga and hoped to see the completion of the original manga in anime form. Hopes that adaptation would in the likes of the current Fruits Basket adaptation than the slightly dubious Sailor Moon Crystal. And I'm not the typical watcher of re-adaptations when I have the manga. Because seriously why not? There's already Sailor Moon, D.Gray Man, and now Fruits Basket. Why would another truer to the text anime adaptation hurt any more when there are already several to choose from?