I don’t really want to promote this, but am curious how others feel about it…?
Is this a replacement for Pan Am?
Not sure how I feel yet, it almost feels like the days when manufacturers would hold their own world championships (Proyo Worlds anyone?) - I know Duncan and Disney are just filling a hole in the schedule left by the death of the Pan American contest, and I’m sure there’s definitely a large contingent of people who would love a contest at Disney (me included) because it allows for a family vacation and contest trip at the same time. I guess we’ll see if it’s popular, because that may show that the PanAm was not popular due to who was running it, rather than actual lack of interest.
I’m all for more yoyo exposure. Disney seems like an excellent venue. I may go.
Given the date and location (and cash prizes), I’d see it more as an attempt to upstage worlds. But…that’s just pure speculation on my part.
I could be terribly wrong - which is why I’m curious to hear what others think.
Being the weekend before worlds, it seems that top international players will decide to go for the world title rather than cash prizes.
A month, or even two weeks before worlds would have made this a much more attractive contest to attend.
This was mentioned as happening (without a date) as part of the Duncan - Disney relationship last year so I don’t think it’s something thrown together to replace PanAm.
https://www.yo-yo.com/pr/Duncan-DisneyAlliancePressRelease.pdf
The date I have a feeling was driven by Disney who probably isn’t aware that a World Yo-Yo Contest exists. It does seem like poor timing and the announcement was made with not much lead time before the event which makes travel planning harder.
I didn’t realize it was so close to worlds.
Seems like it will be under attended by the best of the best as a result.
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basepi
We all know Duncan moves kinda slow, and I’m of the understanding that Disney moves REALLY slow, so I would imagine this late announcement is a side effect of dealing with two large, slow-moving companies with a lot of bureaucracy.
That said, it could really be a fantastic event for promoting yoyo to the masses. I think this first year’s event isn’t going to have much in the way of international players due to Worlds, and low domestic attendance due to the last-minute announcement.
But next year, with more notice and a better date, it’ll probably be HUGE.
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I was talking to Sean Perez about this yesterday and he basically told me it was a replacement for Pan Am. It should work for that but I’m more excited about the fact that it works as a replacement for worlds to the Americans who can’t make it all the way to Prague.
Since it’s not IYYF sanctioned, and it’s the weekend before Worlds, it’s not a replacement for PanAm.
Realistically, it’s a Duncan promotional event at Downtown Disney. Which is cool and all, but it’s not a sanctioned multi-national.
yeah I just meant replacement in the sense that it’s kinda filling up the space Pan Am would have. While it doesn’t really help with any seeds or anything but gives some people a place to compete anyway.
This seems like a serious attempt of undermining Worlds. Just my opinion.
In the fast paced, high stakes world of international yo-yo competition, people are constantly faced with such choices… should I compete at Worlds… should i compete at Disney for fist fulls of mad cash??
I’m not sure what function these contests actually serve, but it sure would be fun to go to either one. There is probably room for both in the larger scheme of things.
Two things: One, That timing…it’s like IYYC is trying to say, ''Do you want to come to Disney, or do you want to go for Worlds?". Two, if you read through their Press Release, they say that this will be an annual event. Putting the two together, I feel, just like MYNAMEISZen said, that this seems like a move to undermine Worlds by competing for competitors thus raking in an audience.
As much as it is a great idea towards promoting yoyoing to the masses, it might end up hurting the competitiveness that Worlds already has.
The contest is not meant to undermine Worlds. The timing this year just kinda sucks. It wasn’t an act of aggression from Duncan, I assure you.
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Exactly. Worlds already has a huge problem with competitiveness because of the cost of competing weighed against the (basically zero) return. So I’m just asking, what is the contest for really? Mostly yo-yo contests were to ‘rake in audiences’ of potential yo-yo consumers. Disney can handle that no problem. I don’t see that it is going to undermine anything. It’s another contest.
That’s good to know, I think as you said earlier this could be a big contest in the coming years if Disney and Duncan change the timing slightly and promote earlier in the year. Offering a combined family vacation with potentially discounted rooms/packages would be great, but Disney isn’t going to do that in one of their busiest crowd periods (July/August).
And that assurance is what I’m sure many are looking for. Shall be eagerly waiting to see how this and the next one turn out.
Personally, this seems like a good thing to me.
I mean, for those who are happy to fly to Prague for Worlds (or for those of us living closer), then it’s probably a bit of a shame. However with a Worlds-Shaped-Hole in the USA contest calendar, I think it’s pretty cool that there’s another large contest for locals to attend that perhaps wouldn’t be able to make it to Prague.
Likewise for next year. I can’t imagine many USA teens are going to be able to rake up the cash to go flying to Japan for Worlds. Whereas, driving or flying to the next state sounds much more feasable.
More contests can never be a bad thing right? It just gives more people a chance to compete… and if the main talent is over in Prague, then it gives more people a chance to win a contest that normally wouldn’t. 
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