Spirited News, Observations & Thoughts IV

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luv

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Last week a rollercoaster caused a lady to plummet to her death, and it was ALL OVER the news. Six Flags had non-stop coverage on the news and on the web for 2-3 days...that's not good publicity for anyone to have.

Universal is just about to officially open Springfield in the next few days, they don't want bad publicity to show up right before that.
My guess is that it isn't nearly that bad and that we would have discussed it less if they'd just said, "We shut it down to fix X, because X wasn't working correctly."

Also in Orlando news, someone had 117 dogs in their house, Winn-Dixie has pulled some ground beef, a teenager has TB, it's going to rain (what else is new?) and (this is the best one) a bear stole an entire dumpster in Colorado. Also sports stuff. :)
 

WDW1974

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Original Poster
OK, so I am going to try and wade back in here by starting 10 pages back. Sorry, if I missed anything, but y'all apparently have more to say than I do ...so let's try again to just get caught up.
 

WDW1974

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
As UNI continues to add rooms (as many as 14,000 according to a post I saw somewhere on this board), do you think they will be able to continue to offer these benefits to resort guests?

UNI will have to tailor benefits as their hotel operation grows. I think that's a very minor quibble, but I don't wait in lines anywhere so it really is of no moment to me.
 

WDW1974

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Original Poster
Its nothing personal, just trying to reign it in a tad....

Kinda hard to say we know something is going to happen before Disney has even green-lit the project.

More in how you phrase it. Something more like "based on what insiders have said, there's a distinct chance that Indy would be replaced, should the SW expansion be greenlit."

Lots of people (From Glendale to various newsrooms to the drunks at the bar) use these forums for their information. I'm just trying to shape us in a more accurate, less speculative direction.

i have been around the Disney online world since the mid-90s (when I was paying AOL dialup by the minute). Never have I seen the thirst for information and the desire for the company to do something, ANYTHING at WDW that I see now. That,s what happens when you sit back and do little to nothing across four theme parks for close to 15 years.

I don't think the particulars are as interesting as what is going on behind the scenes. There will be new Star Wars product at TPFKaTD-MGMS, including an E-Ticket. Why get bogged down in the details, details that Disney itself is still going back and forth on?

Just relax and deal with the fact that NGE has guaranteed WDW's fate as the also-ran in the O-Town theme park wars for many moons to come. Sex your plush if it makes you feel any better (this will be gone by morning because someone doesn't have a sense of humour!)
 

RSoxNo1

Well-Known Member
With paper FastPass . . . how are you supposed to cancel it? I think that MagicBands make FP acquistion and changes more flexible and spontaneous.

Remeber FPs is always non-spontaneous, you have to come back *hours* later . . .
They are limiting the # of Fastpasses you can get per day to a number that is lower than what is currently available. Being able to replace an unused Fastpass with something else that's available is not a trade off. If you miss your Fastpass now you can do the exact same thing. The only benefit of Fastpass+ is that they'll give you a Fastpass for the next day if it's late enough.

Another stupid thing here is that if they're not having tiers of Fastpasses in each park, why limit guests to one park per day for Fastpass? That's the most obviously short sighted aspect of this because it will result in less park hopping.
 

RSoxNo1

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How? What have they done? (Genuinely curious as to how they're doing this, because it really was an "easy" day at the MK when a few years ago would've been very busy).

Is it just New Fantasyland?
I think the "recent" refurbishment of Pirates, it's a small world, and Haunted Mansion increased demand for those attractions. New Fantasyland also helps.
 

WDW1974

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
They're still having.... Issues.... With one of the elevators, effectively halving capacity when its down.

I know this isn't what you were talking about, but it reminded me of something I wanted to get into this thread.

Namely, that UNI built Transformers (which I loved, thanks for asking) in slightly more time than it is taking Disney to replace a blanking escalator in The land that is causing backstage to be used.

The folks at UNI Creative have taken note.

I do not know of a better way to illustrate how both companies operate in today's marketplace.
 

Brewmaster

Well-Known Member
Another stupid thing here is that if they're not having tiers of Fastpasses in each park, why limit guests to one park per day for Fastpass? That's the most obviously short sighted aspect of this because it will result in less park hopping.

This bit is gnawing at me, why the limitation of one park per day for FP+ ? With the highly touted advancement in technology that NGE has brought/is bringing to the theme park experience how is it possible that it can only manage only a single park for a guest's fast pass options? I suppose my curiosity is are TDO trying to minimize park hopping? Does their research point to the fact that park hopping trends to lower per guest spending? Perhaps it's the hypothesis that if a guest knocks out their FP in one park, they will be more apt to spend in the second park visited that day.
 

WDW1974

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
You're absolutely right, but that's because Disney started running the resorts on their own.

The reason Universal is getting so much love is because they used to be second fiddle by quite a margin, and it's standard for the second fiddle to do what they did. Disney set the expectation for them to run their own resorts, and if they back away from that, they are essentially giving up that idea.

Not that it would happen, I'm pretty sure Disney makes a large portion of their money running the resorts.

One problem is Disney views all of its resorts largely the same. So, the quality of your experience at the BC or Poly isn't greatly different from PO or POP.

When your duty manager at the GF is a 22-year-old intern and not someone making six figures with 20 years experience in the hospitalitu business, something is very wrong. No offense to said manager who I may know.

Disney's training and guest service can be abysmal or amazing (I had the latter at DAKLodge in May, but the fact that between my girlfriend and I we had amassed almost 150 nights at a resort that opened in mid-2001 likely helped). It used to be consistently great at ALL price levels, even the All Stars.
 
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WDW1974

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Ive stayed at Hard Rock and Portifino Bay a few years back as well as one of the Swan/Dolphins (the cheaper one) and a junior suite at the Copley Place Westin in Boston.

All of those blow away Disney hotel rooms. (Except contemporary, thats in the ballpark)

Last weekend, you could have stayed at the for $184 or the Swan for $168 or the Hilton Orlando for $89 a night.

Only mental illness and a total lack of respect for money would put a guest at Disney under the circumstances.
HINT: You can steal Coke without actually staying at a resort!
 

WDW1974

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
That's exactly how I feel too. I'm 23, growing up my parents would take me on a yearly vacation to Orlando (I was very lucky). I grew up going to the Disney parks, even when they were starting their decline, I loved them dearly. I still get nostalgic listening to the Epcot Innovations theme playing.

When I go to Epcot, I hear that theme and remember what it was; a vision of an optimistic future, filled with opportunities to learn and be entertained, have your imagination run wild and after Illuminations feel hope for our future and a deep connection with people all over the world.

Then I snap back to reality and realize they replaced Horizons with a modern-ish space flight simulator, The Living Seas with a Pixer film, removed the wonder from Spaceship earth adding a flash animation instead of half of the ride, and the only major addition in the past decade has been a helicopter tour through America.

It's deeply, deeply saddening.

Hey, kid ...it's a lot sadder when you've been visiting since 1974 and thought the place was near perfect until the late 90s.
 

nytimez

Well-Known Member
I know this isn't what you were talking about, but it reminded me of something I wanted to get into this thread.

Namely, that UNI built Transformers (which I loved, thanks for asking) in slightly more time than it is taking Disney to replace a blanking escalator in The land that is causing backstage to be used.

The folks at UNI Creative have taken note.

I do not know of a better way to illustrate how both companies operate in today's marketplace.

That's because it's the largest and most impressive escalator expansion in the history of the Walt Disney World resort. It will immerse you in the story of escalator.
 

WDW1974

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Um...I hate to say it but waiting for a bus for hours on end is already deterring guests from exploring the entire resort. The "spread out" WDW model no longer works. If it did then DLP, HKDL, TDL and Shanghai would all have adopted it. Look what all of those resorts have in common with each other including all Universal resorts world-wide. They are all compact one-stop shops. Sorry...that business model WORKS!

It may not be able to transfer to how WDW is currently set up but the days are gone of 26,000+ acre theme park resorts.

WDW was never intended to be a giant theme park and hotel/timeshare complex. Size is only a blessing if you know how to use it (am I right fanbois?) ...Disney has proven over the last 20 years that it has no idea how to manage such a sprawling property. It's answer since Celebration began was to sell off as much of Walt,s land as possible.
 

RSoxNo1

Well-Known Member
if Disney built Transformers and it had as many problems as it does right now at Uni... everyone would be upset and thinking Disney is going to shut the doors and go under
Test Track is an obvious parallel. People are complaining about the issues, but not to the extent you've sighted.
 

RSoxNo1

Well-Known Member
Totally changing topics, I just spent a full 12 hours at the San Diego Zoo today. It was crowded, and we waited twice to see the Pandas (20-30 minutes the first time, 10-20 the second time). If anyone doesn't think Pandas are a draw, they need to visit a zoo that has them.

Another idea that Disney could use is the $5.19 souvenir soda with $0.99 refills. The cups are a firmer plastic, as is the cover and straw. They're not deluxe souvenir cups but they get the job done for a day at the park. We're also saving the three that we bought today to use at the Safari Park on Friday. Considering the animal safety issues presented by the flimsy plastic covers and cheap plastic straws that are fine for the other 3 Disney parks, I would definitely like to see Disney implement something similar to what the San Diego zoo does for their beverages.

Side note, we saw a two-toed sloth stretch from his exhibit to a tree outside of his exhibit, and then a team of half a dozen zoo keepers tried to coax it back into it's enclosure. After 10 failed minutes of amused guests and frustrated zookeepers, we left.
 
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