An AP Glut or Parking Famine

You may have heard that Disneyland stopped selling Annual Passes. They claim to have sold to capacity and selling anymore would endanger the experiences of the non-AP guest. They say 'if all the APs showed up on the same day, where would the ticketed guests go?' Gee, it's nice that they care about us APs. Even worse, this announcement was made on the same day AP previews were being offered for the new California Adventure theme park. While inviting us in to sample the merchandise, they were at the same time not allowing us to buy it long term. Or something like that.

And now... the new themepark and Disneyland are both experiencing incredible drops in attendence... coincidence?

So far 35,000 APs that allow entrance into DCA have been sold. The number of total APs for Disneyland alone is close to 400,000. Which leads me to this speculation... they must be worried about more than just how many APs will show up at the gate on a single day. Otherwise, they wouldn't have sold APs that total 5 times the capacity (70K is conservative) of Disneyland. What if all 400,000 showed up on a single day, what would they do then. That logic doesn't make sense. By that logic they would be able to sell 150,000 DCA APs. Before being worried about having to close the gates.

What does make sense is the parking situation. In fact, the opening of the Anahiem Stadium... er ... Edison Field parking lot on busy weekends, lends credence to the lack of parking theory. I have yet to hear any concrete numbers on the soonest they could fix this major blunder... but until then I imagine the numbers for both parks will remain low. Just the usual 70,000 day summer and holiday crowds, but split between the two parks.

I really think the number crunchers were planning on a lot more hotels being built. Instead, just a few new hotel rooms have been added... figure about 3500 rooms, less than the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. That means an extra 7000 to 15000 people in the Anaheim Resort area. Not all visiting DL or DCA on every day. Not enough to populate DCA.

Instead the DLR will continue to survive, thrive, or die on the local visitor. At least until more hotels are built and the resort is 'firmly' established as a multi-day destination. So Disney execs... why not treat these local visitors better, after all, we're your profit margin.

Happy VD

Ikea can kill your relationship.

The future is now...

I am about to do what I once said I never would stand for... sell ad space on the net. Way back in 1991 when I first joined the FutureCulture elist the internet existed without the cyberspace we now call the web. It was pretty much free of the .com domains withonly a few research oriented groups owning those domains. Then in 1994, one year after the debut of the WWW, everything changed... WIRED magazine online added banner advertising to their website.

There was much moanin' and groanin' at the time about the commercialization of the net. I did it myself. People saw themselves being squeezed out of the private playspace that had been theirs alone. But, much like Hong Kong Disneyland, when more space was needed, it was just dredged up with new technologies and added on. No one was squeezed out we just made room for more.

Even better... all those college nerds who spent hours mudding, coding scripts, writing software, etc... are now raking in the big bucks at the fore front of the 'new economy'. I don't hear nearly as much complaining now.

So it is that spirit that I have taken on the mantle of 'Sales and Marketing Manager' for LaughingPlace.com. I hope that I can make some money doing what I love, and in the same breath help thousands of Disney fans, like myself, partake in their obsession. Money will help LaughingPlace.com grow and provide new resources to bolster the Yahoo! and USAtoday acclaimed best 'Disney' site on the net.

No where else can you find a more complete Disney website directory--it's searchable, rated, and free to list. No where else can you find family friendly, PG-13, and active community discussion boards to talk about your favorite Disney topic. Only LaughingPlace.com provides daily news updates that cover the whole spectrum of Disney news and information. LaughingPlace.com also provides detailed travel guides for your themepark vacation needs.

And there's more.... LaughingPlace.com has games, trivia, respected columnists, themepark updates, balanced news coverage, event coverage, merchandise updates, and more stuff added all the time. Put it all together and you have the Number One Site for Disney News and Information on the web.

Now... can you think of a better place to buy ad space?

ssshhh---noooooo!

Drove through heavy heavy snow in the Cajon Pass last night. If we had waited perhaps 30 minutes longer to leave Jean, Nevada we would quite possibably still be in Victorville right now. Now Los Angeles County is under 'storm watch' and streets are flooding, lunch crowds will be down, and outside my window is one generally gray mess. It's difficult to see the building across the street through the low clouds.

The house in Henderson, NV is coming along quite well. As soon as we can get this mortgage approved they can start putting in the flooring and then working out the final touches. Looks like March 10th or so for a move in date. This last weekend we found a couch we love and put a deposit down on it, we found a fridge that is almost perfect and for 25% off (Wards is going out of business in case you didn't know) was more than 'good enough' and bought it, and we looked at area rugs and such for those dining areas. Now we just need a kitchen table set to give us someplace to eat until we can afford to furnish the rest of the house.

Speaking of Jobs. I'm looking for one in the Vegas area. I have a commission based opportunity to sell Ad space on LaughingPlace.com, and I'm excited about the potential there, but having some steady income to back it up would be nice as well. In any event, if you know anything about Ad sales, talk to me.