PDA

View Full Version : LA Times Teacup Editorial



cemeinke
03-07-2004, 03:06 AM
See the article here (http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-tea7mar07,1,4528855.story)


Are we going to sue for momentary dizziness now? Can anyone claim shock that spinning teacups spin? That the Mad Hatter's Tea Party is, well, mad? Who made anyone spin the cup wheel anyway, or get into the stupid cups? All riders are volunteers. More important, are the functionaries of places once called amusement parks going to cite fear of lawsuits for taming every little thing? Yes, rides must be safe and sound and well maintained. But thrill-less?

Not Afraid
03-07-2004, 03:08 AM
This is a beautifullly written editorial. It's very homerous while biting hard. Good read.:cool:

NirvanaMan
03-07-2004, 11:16 AM
Very homerous indeed - DOH!

Cadaverous Pallor
03-07-2004, 12:48 PM
Once again I want to thank Moonliner for making the phone calls. It's all because of you, dude! :)

Moonliner
03-07-2004, 01:45 PM
Originally posted by Cadaverous Pallor
Once again I want to thank Moonliner for making the phone calls. It's all because of you, dude! :)

Many are the parts that have been played in this drama. Good research and pithy quotes have all done much more than I to get this story the attention it deserves.

As I said over on the NPR-Teacups thread (lounge), at this point I say we give it a week or two and see if things loosen up a bit and if not then perhaps we should look at the option of a "spin in"

Ghoulish Delight
03-07-2004, 02:05 PM
It was a month ago tht 20 or so APers went to City Hall to complain about the teacups. At that time, City Hall said that the spin breaks had been tightened and that they'd loosen up again in about a month. So there is a contingent at the park right now to check up on that claim. We were there Friday, and while a couple of the cups seemed marginally loser, they were still a FAR cry from their old whirling glory. So now that we have given them the month that they claimed, if you plan on doing something, soon would be good.

Moonliner
03-07-2004, 04:21 PM
An interesting aside...

Has anyone ever head of the "Teacup Index"?

I ran across this article about how a photo lab near DL judges economic times by the number of photos he develops of, drum roll please, the Teacups!

http://www.fool.com/news/mft/2003/mft03072504.htm?source=EDNWFT

Well that's great, as if this problem wasn't already big enough now the entire economy of the United States of America is hanging in the balance. Fix the teacups now!

TP2000
03-07-2004, 11:57 PM
A hilarious LA Times editorial, and from a newspaper that usually takes itself very seriously!

The "Disneyland dweebs" back in TDA should be ashamed of themselves, and very embarassed tomorrow morning when they go in to work.

Tigertail777
03-08-2004, 01:30 AM
note the thread in the lounge on this, (in general the teacups, but the thread title is: "Teacups story gets mention on NPR gameshow") topic too... many padders have some great ideas for a "spin in" (LOVE the teabag idea somebody thought up). I just posted my thoughts over there, I think we need to do a "spin in" while the iron is still hot so to speak, so if possible lets get the ball rolling (LOL cup spinning) on how to make this a real possibility.

(And the editorial was too funny, and so very well written my hat is really off to whoever wrote it! Great stuff!)

Moonliner
03-08-2004, 09:33 AM
The teacup story has grown from the "save the teacups" thread here on mousepad into an international story. It's been covered in the LA Times (twice!), NPR, People Magazine, Sacramento Bee, The Yomiuri Shimbun (japans largest newspaper) and I'm sure many other sources but on Mouseplanet itself the demise of "Groove 66" gets more coverage. Why? Am I just too close to the story and unable to see that others think it's no big deal? and if that's the case why is it showing up in so many places?

Truly Puzzled. :confused:

innerSpaceman
03-08-2004, 10:34 AM
I posted by Spin-In ideas in the Lounge thread as well.

I figured that there's only one Teacups thread in the Lounge, while there's like 3 in the Disneyland forum.

I also started a Teacups thread in the MousePlanet Columns forum (about why MP has failed to cover this story).


Maybe we should have one consolidated Teacups thread somewhere. :confused:

Andrew
03-08-2004, 10:41 AM
Originally posted by innerSpaceman
Maybe we should have one consolidated Teacups thread somewhere. :confused: What about Gay Marriage on the non-spinning Teacups?

blusilva
03-08-2004, 03:59 PM
Originally posted by Moonliner
Am I just too close to the story and unable to see that others think it's no big deal? and if that's the case why is it showing up in so many places?

Truly Puzzled. :confused:

Well, what is there to say? Cups spun wildly. They don't anymore. Disneyland blamed the government, the government blamed the Park. Cups still don't spin wildly.

It's showing up in so many places because it's a colorful, non-business type story that ties in to the whole "we're all disgruntled with Eisner's Disney" movement.

Cadaverous Pallor
03-08-2004, 04:19 PM
Originally posted by blusilva
It's showing up in so many places because it's a colorful, non-business type story that ties in to the whole "we're all disgruntled with Eisner's Disney" movement. This is one of the truest things said on the boards in a while. :D

JeffG
03-08-2004, 04:54 PM
What I find facinating about this story is that it is the first one to come along in recent memory where Disney truly could satisfy most of the fans simply by answering the issue with a lot of spin...

-Jeff

ralfrick
03-10-2004, 07:30 AM
Fun read, although this statement is false:

" Apparently, after nearly half a century of incident-free spinning..."

There have been many lawsuits filed over the years . An 11 year old was once "hurled from the cup and struck repeatedly and knocked unconscious by the other cups spinning by." (Mouse Tales, page 200)

I say let 'em spin, but I also favor accuracy in journalism.

Cadaverous Pallor
03-10-2004, 09:45 AM
Originally posted by ralfrick
Fun read, although this statement is false:

" Apparently, after nearly half a century of incident-free spinning..."

There have been many lawsuits filed over the years . An 11 year old was once "hurled from the cup and struck repeatedly and knocked unconscious by the other cups spinning by." (Mouse Tales, page 200)

I say let 'em spin, but I also favor accuracy in journalism. The original article had it correct. I don't have it in front of me, but it did say something to the effect that it had a very good record but not a spotless one. As each article regarding the first article came out, they got minor things wrong. It's a big game of Telephone. ;)