The Fabulous Disney Babe - Mar 18, 2003

The Fabulous Disney Babe
Page 1 of 1

by Michelle Smith (archives)
March 18, 2003
Michelle talks about Tokyo's upcoming Tower of Terror and dissatisfaction with the new Disney Visa card.

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(c) Disney

I picked up my ex-husband, Jim Hill, from the airport yesterday. The first words out of his mouth were: "They announced Tower for Tokyo!" Cool. Did you know that the Tower of Terror was planned for Tokyo Disney Seas' opening? It was going to be part of New York and have more "turn of the century" theming. As you can see by the photo Disney and OLC released yesterday, it will be built as originally planned. It would have been Disney's second Tower in the franchise - one was planned for each resort as they stood then: Tokyo, Disneyland, Walt Disney World and Paris.
What's more interesting to me, as this wasn't much of a surprise, was the announcement that a year before Tower opening, there will be a Lost River Delta E-Ticket (rumored to be linked to Monsters, Inc., but I've only heard that one place.)

Andrea Monti writes: "...between Indy and Arabian Coast, a roller coaster type attraction with fire and water effects! It will be the first 360-degree looping rollercoaster at Tokyo Disney Resort and will cost 8 billion yen (US$67.8 million) ! " Yow.

That's the good news. The bad news is that Oriental Land Company, who pretty much kept Walt Disney Imagineering employed during these extremely dry times for the US parks, is considering building their third theme park entirely without Disney - no characters, no Imagineering. I hope this changes.

Bank One Disney cardholders started getting their cards to hold this week. Michael Eisner writes:

Today, we are announcing the launch of Disney's Visa Credit Card. To highlight this event, I am on the East Coast, where this morning I joined Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO of Bank One, to ring the bell to open the New York Stock Exchange. Meanwhile, Bob Iger is on the West Coast, along with our Bank One and VISA partners, to unveil the card and all of our plans for it in front of the castle at Disneyland. As you can see, from coast to coast, we believe this is an important initiative for our Company.

When we first made the decision to offer a credit card with the Disney name on it, we knew it needed to be something very special, offering great value and unique rewards for cardholders. We feel we have achieved this goal.

The card's most distinctive feature is that it is the first and only credit card that earns Disney Dream Reward Dollars, which can be redeemed by cardholders for a wide variety of offerings from The Walt Disney Company, including theme park tickets, hotel rooms, merchandise and more at Disneyland, Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, U.S. Disney Stores, The Disney Catalog and Disney Store Online.

The card also has no annual fee and a very competitive interest rate. What's more, cardholders won't have to pay any interest for six months when they purchase most vacation packages through Walt Disney Travel Company and Disney Cruise Line.

We believe the card will especially appeal to the millions of Disney fans across the country, who will enjoy receiving additional opportunities to earn bonus rewards and realize special savings on Disney hotel rooms, vacation packages and merchandise. In addition, cardholders' Disney Dream Reward Dollars can be used in combination with other special offers from Disney, but with no black-out dates.

More than 100,000 people have already registered for the card with Bank One . . . without even knowing any of the details! Such is the power of the Disney name. Through this innovative card, we hope to deepen the relationship between Disney and its guests and continue to expand the possibilities for our Company.

Michael

Not everyone can get this credit card - if you have less-than-perfect credit, or if you don't like "variable interest rates", you're out in the cold. I've spoken to a few people who either were not eligible for the card or chose to not apply as they were not comfortable with the terms, or had bad experiences with Bank One in the past.
I asked: "Are you more likely to look outside Disney for Walt Disney World and Disneyland vacations now?"
Every single person said "Yes."
"Are you less likely to shop at the Disney Store now?"
"Yes." (a few said no)
The big one: "Would you like to see some sort of discount card or club that isn't a credit card?"
"Yes" Again, unanimous.
"Would you pay a fee for a membership/club card that gave you Disney discounts"
"Yes" All but two people. The two people said they'd like to get something free for frequent Disney consumers - a rewards program that wasn't tied to a variable interest rate or credit.

One of them adds:

Hey Fab,

You want experiences for an article? I'll share mine.

I did not apply for the new card. Why? Partly because of the interest rate and how it is calculated, partly because the rewards are not anything special and partly because I have a troubled credit past. I have worked hard to clean that up and it seemed that with some of the questions they asked I would be denied. The last thing I need on a cleaned up credit report is a denial.

Now, how does the loss of Disney Club affect me? Greatly! If no discount codes are available Disney will probably see the last of me in December for Mousefest. If I were to visit again it will almost definitely be off-site and very probably in a Universal hotel. The only way Disney has to keep me on-site is with AP discounts. I am almost at the end of my first annual pass year. I will be renewing but without DC ticket discounts and such anymore it will be the last one. And for those of us who would at least like to try to visit other Disney parks, the loss of DC has a very negative impact on that since DC put a LOT of people on equal footing for discounts at their other resorts. Maybe if there was an incentive for AP holders at ANY Disney park to receive discounts at another park they might keep me coming back. While it is cheaper to travel to California the on-site Disney hotels offer very little discounts and are all in the deluxe range. That is more than I would like to spend. They really need more options in Anaheim.

My two cents.

Are you listening, Disney?

While working on my Manufacturing the Magic class, I came upon Disney's Studio History site - definitely worth a look: http://disney.go.com/studiooperations/welcome/history.html There's some great pictures of different structures in Golden Oak Ranch, but, unfortunately, none of Country Bear Hall.

Fab

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-- Michelle Smith

Michelle Smith can be reached using the Talkback form below or by emailing her at [email protected].

The Fabulous Disney Babe's column is posted every Friday and whenever else she has something to say. For more on Michelle's background, see her first column. She also offers The Fabulous Tour: Disneyland Secrets and Stories. Click here for more information.

The opinions expressed by our Michelle Smith, and all of our columnists, do not necessarily represent the feelings of LaughingPlace.com or any of its employees or advertisers. All speculation and rumors about the future plans of the Walt Disney Company are just that - speculation and rumors - and should be treated as such.

-- Posted March 18, 2003