Fixing Villains Unleashed

[MKCP 1985]

Having just returned home from traveling to attend the inaugural ( and hopefully annual) Villains Unleashed event at Disney's Hollywood Studios Park - and being overwhelmed with social media comments, I offer this thread to the powers that be and the members of these forums to help Disney improve this event. Constructive critique is welcome.

 

[MKCP 1985]

My first suggestion would be to group Villains with a common theme so that if people have to wait 90 minutes they get some value.

For example: Snow White's evil queen and witch and maybe Maleficent.

Or Dr. Facilier, Frollo and Governor Radcliffe ...

How about Darth Vader, Emperor Palpatine and Darth Maul?

You can't get 50, but maybe you can get a group and go on to the next thing...

 

[MKCP 1985]

My next suggestion would be to spread the merchandise around and make it available for pre-order with proof of purchase of an event ticket.

And while we are on the subject of pre-ordering, how about a villain character meal or a couple even, with advance reservations?

 

[MKCP 1985]

Someone very astutely pointed out the difficulty of guests pre-planning their night.

More park maps is a must!

And how about a web-page devoted to Disney's tips for making the most of the event? It is well known people want to leave their brains at home when they go to Disney (to some extent, at least). How about some guidance from the team who designed the event?

 

[mousehockey37]

First, this was the 2nd time they have had this event. Last year it was held on Friday, Sept. 13th.

From what I'm reading, it appears someone, or lots of someones dropped the ball big time.

The biggest thing that I think they didn't do was cap how many tickets they sold to the event. Others are posting that tickets were still being advertised the day of the event. The Halloween and Christmas parties have a definitive number of tickets, this apparently didn't.

Also, they need to educate their CMs as to who they are the line for (character wise). It seems the CMs were put at the queue and had no idea what the queue was for.

If the event is to get another shot, they need to be more thorough with their planning and diagramming of what is going on. The end results from last night seem to be rather disappointing across the board, but there were a few successes too. Overall, they need to redefine the point of the night and start over.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

My suggestions:

- More dates and lower cap (say, 6,000-8,0000 people instead of 12K)
- Grouped meets for villains
- More food and beverage options, including character meals and non alcoholic drinks
- Show in Premier Theatre (new or relocated)
- More Guardians at the dance party
- Sell more of the merch and at multiple locations

I want them to do it again so I can go. There's enough content to justify it for me, it just needs better organization and support.

 

[afar28]

Basically everything said In this thread would help. The event has great potential and could be a booming success if carried out properly. Hope it becomes an annual thing, maybe to go along with MNSSHP on the same dates to even out crowds at both

 

[roj2323]

1. Do a Hard close at 6pm and reopen at 8pm for the event.
2. Open at least 2 quick serve food options and keep them open until at least Midnight.
3. Open at least one full service restaurant perhaps with a villans meet and eat (with advanced reservations)
4. Group characters together when possible and had out return time tickets
5. Have extra "Friends" of super popular characters to swap out during breaks (non face characters at least)
6. Fireworks at 12 (midnight)
7. Don't sell event specific Merch until the event has officially started.
8. Have more maps on hand or at least place a few Big maps around the park for guests to use.

 

[MKCP 1985]

By the way, the costumes were great and horrible at times. We almost bought a ride photo at Tower of Terror because there were so many costumed guests on the ride with us - the most dramatic of which was a full Oogie Boogie character whose costume was made of burlap - that had to be miserable, but it was epic. Congrats to those who went all in for a great memory!

 

[drew81]

If a super rare character is going to be out let them start at 8pm and not wait till 9pm.

 

[roj2323]

If a super rare character is going to be out let them start at 8pm and not wait till 9pm.

There's the little issue of the opening ceremonies. Perhaps they can have the character attendants handing out return time passes but the characters will likely not be able to start before the opening ceremonies are over.

 

[asianway]

There's the little issue of the opening ceremonies. Perhaps they can have the character attendants handing out return time passes but the characters will likely not be able to start before the opening ceremonies are over.

They could have set the ones they only have one costume for up nearby and get them off stage right away to their set. Or do a recorded intro like Maleficent. Or skip it like the Star Wars characters.

Everything I saw on the hashtag tells me they learned nothing

 

[asianway]

My first suggestion would be to group Villains with a common theme so that if people have to wait 90 minutes they get some value.

For example: Snow White's evil queen and witch and maybe Maleficent.

Or Dr. Facilier, Frollo and Governor Radcliffe ...

How about Darth Vader, Emperor Palpatine and Darth Maul?

You can't get 50, but maybe you can get a group and go on to the next thing...

Witch and Queen is a horribly bad example...

 

[marni1971]

Cap attendence at realistic levels

2 maps per admittance

Same for T shirts - and order realistically enough. Friday 13th was an absolute nightmare and it sounds like they didn't learn from this either.

Double up on M&G characters. Maybe even triple up. Mickey can do it and so can a hard ticket event. DHS has enough empty space to handle this.

Possibly even include parking in the cost to limit queues and the absolute traffic nightmare of last year - and by some accounts this year too.

Fireworks at a reasonable time

 

[MKCP 1985]

Witch and Queen is a horribly bad example...

It may be a horrible grouping to some, and it is not for me to say which groupings would best achieve the park's goals for character integrity on the one hand and providing guests the opportunity to receive value for the time spent in line awaiting photographs on the other. But I do think we can generally agree that after taking into consideration the challenges raised in some posts about having only one costume for certain characters and the mass appeal of certain other characters, some grouping might be both workable and a good idea.

I recall the witch was on Sunset Blvd and the Wicked Queen was halfway across the park over by Lights Motor Action, which was not impossible for die hards who wanted photos of both, but certainly not convenient. The ratio of adults to young children appeared to my unscientific and math challenged analysis to be in the order of 10 adults for every young child, which raises the question of who are you kidding, Disney?

 

[MKCP 1985]

Cap attendence at realistic levels

2 maps per admittance

Same for T shirts - and order realistically enough. Friday 13th was an absolute nightmare and it sounds like they didn't learn from this either.

Double up on M&G characters. Maybe even triple up. Mickey can do it and so can a hard ticket event. DHS has enough empty space to handle this.

Possibly even include parking in the cost to limit queues and the absolute traffic nightmare of last year - and by some accounts this year too.

Fireworks at a reasonable time

Restricting maps while avoiding confrontations with guests could be a challenge. Anything is better than running out of maps completely before the official start time of 8 pm, as has been reported by Deb Wills.

I think offering the ability to pre-order merchandise would help tremendously for shirt sales. Disney does this with its RunDisney events to some degree. Every day that passes since last Saturday night, my desire for a $30 t shirt commemorating the Villains Unleashed wanes more and more. Seems to me the best time to sell me on that shirt is leading up to the event and on the night of the event, but when it becomes a burden on Disney to sell the shirt and a burden on me to buy the shirt, that isn't good for anybody.

Good ideas and suggestions, Martin.

 

[Sweet Thing]

Witch and Queen is a horribly bad example...

Yes, since the witch is the Queen in disguise. They will never be out together. Having the Queen leave, take her potion and return as the Witch is a bad choice. If someone is in line waiting to see the Queen and she returns as the Witch, I imagine they'd be upset.

 

[Tim Lohr]

Maybe try doing this more than once a year?

 

[Communicore]

Do a couple or so weekends of it!

 

[asianway]

Yes, since the witch is the Queen in disguise. They will never be out together. Having the Queen leave, take her potion and return as the Witch is a bad choice. If someone is in line waiting to see the Queen and she returns as the Witch, I imagine they'd be upset.

They way the set them up was probably the best thing they did for logistics that I can tell