What is the appeal of Mickey Mouse?

[Mizzougrad96]

Of course DisneyWorld is a money-sucking hole. But if you can't enjoy taking your under-6 kids there*, well, get over yourself.

*I'm talking two days, tops, between Magic Kingdom and maybe one other Disney park. If you want to talk about a real cash burn, price a four-day or longer junket in Ratville.

A better question for down there might be "What is the appeal of Epcot Center?" Sure, everyone now goes to the Countries of the World to get hammered, but Epcot itself is stuck in the '80s.

Oh yeah...saw the Muppets movie yesterday and noticed Disney. Yikes. Do they have to own everything??

I just got back from Disney World about a month ago. A trip for four was over $5K.

My kids are 4 and 5. They could not have possibly had a better time. They haven't stopped talking about it since we got back. We had friends come over the other night and they had shown them out pictures from Disney World, their autograph books etc.. heck, my kid got to fight Darth Vader at Hollywood Studios.

Worth every penny...

 

[Bubbler]

A better question for down there might be "What is the appeal of Epcot Center?" Sure, everyone now goes to the Countries of the World to get hammered, but Epcot itself is stuck in the '80s.

See, I would enjoy Epcot for that very reason. Just to see how anachronistic it is.

And bear in mind, I'm not here with my kids. I'm here to work, which admittedly means I'm not typical of the people who are here.

But I see plenty of adults who are going to Disney without kids. That I don't get at all.

 

[Bubbler]

Of course DisneyWorld is a money-sucking hole. But if you can't enjoy taking your under-6 kids there*, well, get over yourself.

*I'm talking two days, tops, between Magic Kingdom and maybe one other Disney park. If you want to talk about a real cash burn, price a four-day or longer junket in Ratville.

A better question for down there might be "What is the appeal of Epcot Center?" Sure, everyone now goes to the Countries of the World to get hammered, but Epcot itself is stuck in the '80s.

Oh yeah...saw the Muppets movie yesterday and noticed Disney. Yikes. Do they have to own everything??

I just got back from Disney World about a month ago. A trip for four was over $5K.

My kids are 4 and 5. They could not have possibly had a better time. They haven't stopped talking about it since we got back. We had friends come over the other night and they had shown them out pictures from Disney World, their autograph books etc.. heck, my kid got to fight Darth Vader at Hollywood Studios.

Worth every penny...

$4-5K? Not a criticism, but good for you if you can afford a vacation like that. I know I can't.

And if I could, I doubt I'd spend it at Disney. shirt, I'd probably go to EuroDisney so I could see Paris too.

 

[Bubbler]

And this thread has strayed off-topic. My original point is that Mickey Mouse himself is lame and overrated as heck as an icon.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

We saved for three years so we could take the kids... Needless to say, it's not something we can afford to do every year...

 

[Ace]

I don't have anything against Mickey Mouse, a sharp-dressing confirmed bachelor, or his beard, Minnie.

It's Donald Duck, who has a convenient relationship with Daisy Duck, an explosive temper and unsupervised access to a trio of mischievous nephews.

 

[dixiehack]

The Goofy cartoons where he (well the narrator) explains all the different sports are bloody brilliant. I will fight any man that says otherwise.

 

[britwrit]

Cultural inertia. The rodent stays around because he's part of the landscape. Also, because Disney invests so much in keeping him around and - like others have noted - toddlers aren't the most discerning of viewers.

It's like a lot of the stable of DC Comics characters. Aquaman and Hawkman have always struggled to sustain on-going series (despite an infinite number of relaunches, reboots and reconceptualisations) but there they are, like cockroaches after a nuclear war.

 

[playthrough]

And this thread has strayed off-topic. My original point is that Mickey Mouse himself is lame and overrated as heck as an icon.

So is Brett Favre.

I can't exactly speak for all of America's children, but do any kids today completely wrap themselves in Mickey Mouse himself? Sure, they'll watch the Disney Channel, get into the princesses and umpteen other characters, but I'm not sure I see a lot of evidence of Mickey Mouse. I'd argue that he's been marginalized by all the other Disney-alia; he looks almost antiquated when trucked outside the Magic Kingdom gates for parades or sporting events or whatever.

It's like the kids wear the mouse ears and get the overpriced souvenir when at Disney World, then trash it when they get home and go back to the video games.

Or maybe I'm wrong.

 

[YankeeFan]

Aquaman and Hawkman have always struggled to sustain on-going series (despite an infinite number of relaunches, reboots and reconceptualisations) but there they are, like cockroaches after a nuclear war.

That's because Aquaman is useless: http://vimeo.com/5541344

 

[Huggy]

Aquaman had pretty good hair for a guy who spent all that time in the water.

 

[dixiehack]

Disney's mistake was keeping all the cartoon shorts under lock and key instead of taking the WB route and syndicating them to all comers.