A Spirited Perfect Ten

twebber55

Well-Known Member
What's the solution to overcrowding at the Magic Kingdom? More attractions that add capacity will draw additional guests to eat up that capacity and then some. It's a catch-22.

A good first step would actually be a crackdown on Main Entrance Pass privileges for CPs, Seasonals, and part-timers. Let those people admit themselves but no guests unless they have a resort reservation. They don't spend any money on merchandise or F&B anyways, so what's there to lose?
to me a good first step is to add attractions at the other 3 parks...
 

NearTheEars

Well-Known Member
Haha guess I'm a hater.

I know spring break years ago were not this bad. I've been MANY times during spring break weeks since 2001, and this year was one of my worst experiences ever.

FastPass + has completely screwed up the lines in the parks...and listening to people complain in line to make their FP+ selections let me know how truly unhappy and confused many people were with this 'lovely' new system.(which took me a half hour wait just to use the stupid kiosks. No, I don't have a magic band and I didn't book my FP+ in advance...it was a last minute idea for my cast member friend's b-day.)

You keep it real Spirit, and I appreciate that. So many fanbois just think anything Disney spits out is perfect...but we all know that's a load of garbage. Somebody's got to keep Disney in check and speak the truth! (Yep, I'm definitely a Disney hater!) ;)

Yeah, if you don't book in advance during a peak time, you're going to have a bad time. It's just a fact of life now. Thankfully I'm among the many that love to plan ahead, so the system has worked fantastic for us, even as locals. Working M-F, we typically only go on weekends, and by Wednesday we have an idea if this will be a week we go to the parks. Even if we know just a day in advance we have been fine booking FP so far.

I have (anecdotally) noticed the overall guest knowledge of the system getting much better now. Way less hangups at the touchpoints. Fewer guests confused about what their times were.

But there still seems to be some disconnect with the foreign tourists. When I have noticed a problem, and a cast member tells them "you don't have a FP for this ride" or "your time isn't until ..." They are often non-English speakers and remain confused.
 

CaptainAmerica

Well-Known Member
to me a good first step is to add attractions at the other 3 parks...
"And yet... and yet I wonder..."*

Would that make much difference? I understand the argument intellectually. Bring the other parks up to snuff and make it four equal(ish) experiences, rather than "Magic Kingdom plus those other three." But princesses are princesses and want to go where the princesses are, and that's the Magic Kingdom. Reading through some of the "trip advice" threads on this forum reveals people who go to the MK for four days and then skip DHS and/or DAK entirely. That goes beyond the issue of balance and become an issue of interest. Those seem like people who just prefer what the MK has to offer, regardless of quantity. Neither Avatar nor Marvel Land would seem to have much impact at drawing guests away from the MK, because the MK-heavy guest doesn't care about those types of attractions. Interestingly, one of the efforts likely to be successful at drawing some of the princess crowds out of Fantasyland and into Epcot is also one of the most decried efforts since the BAH (Frozestrom).

*"Like" to the first person who gets the quote.
 
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CaptainAmerica

Well-Known Member
The only Marvel films that I have really enjoyed are GotG, which I loved absolutely, the first Cap America and the first Iron Man.

I absolutely couldn't stand the Winter Soldier. And thought Avengers was OK but nothing spectacular.
Certainly you're a fair enough fellow to realize that you're in a very small minority of moviegoers with that position though, right?

The one issue I have with all Marvel films is they seem to end with a very long and overdone CGI battle scene over a city where you have to assume tens of thousands of innocents would be injured or killed but it really isn't addressed (I didn't like that Man of Steel, which I hated, did the same thing). It's a cliche and tiresome.
I agree with your first premise, but disagree with the second. Yes, the ending of "epic battle in the air over a city" has become a bit repetitive, but that's also been the formula for comic books (i.e. the source material) since 1938. Good guys fight villains. When many of the good guys and villains can fly, they often battle in the sky above cities.

I disagree that the aftermath of these battles is ignored. They might not be addressed explicitly in the film in question, but it almost always comes up in the next installment.

Iron Man - No casualties as this was a 1-on-1 battle

Hulk - Relatively few casualties but loads of property destruction. Banner's guilt sends him into exile in Calcutta

Iron Man 2 - Relatively few casualties as the battle took place in a park and it was mostly robots versus robots

Thor - In The Avengers, Nick Fury justifies SHIELD's use of the tessaract to make weapons by pointing out "Last year, Earth had a visit from another planet that had a grudge match that leveled a small town. We learned that not only are we not alone, but we are hopelessly, hilariously outgunned."

Captain America: TFA - The entire film was in the context of WWII so I'm not sure what there is to address

The Avengers - Leaves Tony Stark with PTSD as seen in Iron Man 3

Iron Man 3 - Final battle takes place on an oil rig. Only casualties are robots and bad guys

Thor: The Dark World - Aftermath yet to be addressed

Captain America: TWS - Aftermath the entire premise of Marvel's Agents of SHIELD

Guardians of the Galaxy - Aftermath yet to be addressed
 

71jason

Well-Known Member
Does it have an official opening? ... Do we have Lifestylers camping out in the lobby (after all, with all that new space there's enough room for their ample behinds!)?

There were a few yesterday from what I hear. Which prompted this:


Clearly someone in the Poly has a sense of humor.
 

BrerJon

Well-Known Member
A good first step would actually be a crackdown on Main Entrance Pass privileges for CPs, Seasonals, and part-timers. Let those people admit themselves but no guests unless they have a resort reservation. They don't spend any money on merchandise or F&B anyways, so what's there to lose?

What's there to lose? How about one of the few perks to being a minimum wage Cast Member that makes the job worthwhile, gives an incentive to provide good service, and fight the ever more restrictive Disney beaurucracy and penny-pinching to try to give Guests a great experience.

Take away one of the main incentives for doing the job, and you'll find it far harder to attract decent people. Cast Member recruitment relies on word of mouth from CMs sharing pictures of their time in the parks having fun on their days off - kill that, and the only thing they'll be instagramming are pictures of the sh*tty toilets they have to clean as part of the 'magic'.
 

ford91exploder

Resident Curmudgeon
What's there to lose? How about one of the few perks to being a minimum wage Cast Member that makes the job worthwhile, gives an incentive to provide good service, and fight the ever more restrictive Disney beaurucracy and penny-pinching to try to give Guests a great experience.

Take away one of the main incentives for doing the job, and you'll find it far harder to attract decent people. Cast Member recruitment relies on word of mouth from CMs sharing pictures of their time in the parks having fun on their days off - kill that, and the only thing they'll be instagramming are pictures of the sh*tty toilets they have to clean as part of the 'magic'.

It's coming, Personally I cannot wait for those instagrams because things are going to need to get much worse at WDW before they get better.

The 'Disney is a Business' crowd have no idea why the CM's have gate passes, It was so the CM's could visit and learn about the parks in a unstructured fashion so they would have first hand knowledge so they could provide superior service to guests. It was a hard nosed decision by Walt opposed by many in the 'business' community.

This worked a lot better when Disney paid above average wages and your average CM spoke the language fluently and did not live in a Igerville and could afford to visit the park on their day off instead of working their second and third job as is normal for today.
 

sporadic

Well-Known Member
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lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
What's the solution to overcrowding at the Magic Kingdom? More attractions that add capacity will draw additional guests to eat up that capacity and then some. It's a catch-22.

A good first step would actually be a crackdown on Main Entrance Pass privileges for CPs, Seasonals, and part-timers. Let those people admit themselves but no guests unless they have a resort reservation. They don't spend any money on merchandise or F&B anyways, so what's there to lose?
Disney has aggressively pushed the Walt Disney World IS the Magic Kingdom idea in recent years. They could start by acknowledging what is beyond that and fill those places with smaller experiences that take time but are not headliners.
 

71jason

Well-Known Member
I'd say for a year or two at the least, They will need to implement a cover charge because the lifestylers will NEVER PAY for the signature drinks.

I disagree. The drinks are really the attraction here. There are no shows, like the AdvClub (the most commonly cited comparison) or River Roost. If you aren't drinking--and into drinking--I don't know how much appeal more than 20 minutes here will have. Throw in the fact it's perceived as hard to get to, the high-even-for-WDW prices, and the no kids policy, and we're in new territory. No doubt this place will be packed out on Gay Day and Marathon Sunday, but on a random Tuesday? I'm not so sure.

Also I think you are confusing lifestylers with CPs/CMs, not that there isn't a fair amount of overlap. Probably fewer true lifestyles, but they have grown-up money, unlike CPs. But that's another discussion.
 

71jason

Well-Known Member
How about force people to valet park without a resort id? Not sure how you would stop foot traffic and monorail guests though.

Currently you can't park--and during busy times can't even valet--without a room or an ADR. The walk from TTC is no worse than parts of Universal/DTD, but as I said above, the perception of no parking may keep crowds down. We just don't know.
 

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