'Villains Unleashed' hard ticketed event coming to Disney's Hollywood Studios in August

[ChrisM]

Speaking solely for my kids, yes, characters are the primary appeal of Disney World. My 5 year-old would love it if all we did was meet characters. My 9 year-old wants some rides mixed in but enjoys meeting the characters as well.

Mileage will vary obviously.

What characters in particular are they attracted to? Or is it just any and all characters?

I can sort of understand the appeal of the non-face characters...Mickey and the gang, given their iconic status and that they actually resemble the cartoon characters, or someone in a full costume (like Darth Vader). But the face characters? I can't wrap my mind around those at all.

 

[AEfx]

Heard from reputable sources this was capped at 12k. I don't see how you go much below that without becoming Pirates & Princesses.

The real issue: meet-and-greets are not anything to build a theme park around. They don't have the capacity. Anna & Elsa get the headlines with their 5-hour lines, but the simple fact is a tiny fraction of guests are coming to WDW for that. You need to build around the mass loaders.

Which reveals an even bigger issue: the powers that be at TDO don't really understand the fundamentals of how theme parks work. Revenue and cost, sure, like good MBAs, but capacity/guest flows/weenies? Nope.

The Meet'n'Greet "need" pretty much sprung up due to demand. It used to be folks wanted to come to WDW to see their favorite characters appear in shows, and then folks occasionally ran into a roaming character. It was meant to be a fleeting thing. The only one who got a Meet was the big Cheese. But over time, folks wanted/demanded more/more access, and of course Disney complied...bringing us to the situation we have now.

To be honest, if they are going to allow characters to be such a draw, they really need to step it up and have multiple versions of most characters available. It would require some logistical planning to make sure they were in different places (I see lots of scrims...) but they are running a mom'n'pop operation at a corporate scale. Same for the Frozen M&G - have it set up in two rooms, two copies - and suddenly folks are waiting 1/2 the time for not much cost on Disney's behalf (the face characters make what, $11 or $13/hour these days?).

Clearly they are demanded, so Disney needs to adjust to the demand if they are going to continue to support it.

 

[lebeau]

What characters in particular are they attracted to? Or is it just any and all characters?

I can sort of understand the appeal of the non-face characters...Mickey and the gang, given their iconic status and that they actually resemble the cartoon characters, or someone in a full costume (like Darth Vader). But the face characters? I can't wrap my mind around those at all.

For my youngest, it's princesses. All princesses, but Ariel, Anna and Elsa and Belle are probably the favorites. She will not meet with most villains although she did have a nice chat with the wicked step-sisters. Certain foamheads scare her whether they are villains or not. Mickey and the gang are second to the princesses.

For a 5-year-old, the wig and make-up sell the illusion on face characters. Heck, it's good enough for the 9 year-old too. They really believe they are meeting their favorite characters. And yes, their faces do light up.

 

[FigmentFreak]

The Meet'n'Greet "need" pretty much sprung up due to demand. It used to be folks wanted to come to WDW to see their favorite characters appear in shows, and then folks occasionally ran into a roaming character. It was meant to be a fleeting thing. The only one who got a Meet was the big Cheese. But over time, folks wanted/demanded more/more access, and of course Disney complied...bringing us to the situation we have now.

To be honest, if they are going to allow characters to be such a draw, they really need to step it up and have multiple versions of most characters available. It would require some logistical planning to make sure they were in different places (I see lots of scrims...) but they are running a mom'n'pop operation at a corporate scale. Same for the Frozen M&G - have it set up in two rooms, two copies - and suddenly folks are waiting 1/2 the time for not much cost on Disney's behalf (the face characters make what, $11 or $13/hour these days?).

Clearly they are demanded, so Disney needs to adjust to the demand if they are going to continue to support it.

The next park disney builds will be Disney's Meet & Greet Park. An Enchanting park of nothing but meet and greets.

Even in the themed bathrooms you can pee with a princess, think of the special memories of passing toilet paper under the stall with your favorite Disney Princess.

And not to leave out the boys you can poop with a prince.

Every restaurant is an over priced character sit down meal, no silly CS food here.

 

[AEfx]

The next park disney builds will be Disney's Meet & Greet Park. An Enchanting park of nothing but meet and greets.

Even in the themed bathrooms you can pee with a princess, think of the special memories of passing toilet paper under the stall with your favorite Disney Princess.

And not to leave out the boys you can poop with a prince.

Every restaurant is an over priced character sit down meal, no silly CS food here.

To be honest...if it wasn't for the fact that it would divert capital expenditures, I'd be all frakkin' for that!

Funnel all those types there, and leave the real parks for everything else.

 

[asianway]

The Meet'n'Greet "need" pretty much sprung up due to demand. It used to be folks wanted to come to WDW to see their favorite characters appear in shows, and then folks occasionally ran into a roaming character. It was meant to be a fleeting thing. The only one who got a Meet was the big Cheese. But over time, folks wanted/demanded more/more access, and of course Disney complied...bringing us to the situation we have now.

To be honest, if they are going to allow characters to be such a draw, they really need to step it up and have multiple versions of most characters available. It would require some logistical planning to make sure they were in different places (I see lots of scrims...) but they are running a mom'n'pop operation at a corporate scale. Same for the Frozen M&G - have it set up in two rooms, two copies - and suddenly folks are waiting 1/2 the time for not much cost on Disney's behalf (the face characters make what, $11 or $13/hour these days?).

Clearly they are demanded, so Disney needs to adjust to the demand if they are going to continue to support it.

They already duplicate the experience in multiple rooms at many locations-this is why other entertainment keeps getting cut

 

[AEfx]

They already duplicate the experience in multiple rooms at many locations-this is why other entertainment keeps getting cut

Really? I'd like to hear more about that. I don't follow Meet & Greet's that closely, so I wasn't aware. It must be in permanent locations - which ones are set up to do that?

It seems a no-brainer, to me. As much as Princess Hall replacing my favorite ride (SWSA) pains me (the only thing that keeps me happy is that the superior DL version is still there), the demand for these character meets is certainly there, and I think anything to keep them as contained as possible is good for all parties. And for the good of those parties who take part in them, have as many redundant rooms as possible set up.

To be honest, I don't know if the reduction in entertainment vs. meet and greets is really that surprising, as we are constantly told - audiences are changing. I somewhat disagree with that notion when it comes to quality theme park rides (not everyone, even every kid, wants a Haunted Mansion filled with interactive "chase the ghost" video screens replacing sets), but when it comes to shows - there just isn't the audience there once was that is willing to sit for an hour to watch Mickey and Minnie dance with a troop of aspiring singers/dancers to redone pop hits (or even Disney music, as it's so ubiquitous around the parks). (We touched on that earlier when discussing how Orlando isn't exactly the place to be for young performers as it was for a time there in the 90's).

Folks want to see, feel, touch, take "selfies", etc. directly with the characters as opposed to see them in stage shows. The thing is, the overall theme parks were never designed for this (they tried with AK, but Avatar ate it), so I say give the folks what they want...but while Disney is perfectly content is doing them in the cheapest way possible (and when they go the other way, we have the bog of a mess that is BOG), when they just need to re-purpose a few buildings, line up rooms with multiple versions of all the demanded characters, and you take the "issue" of M&G pretty much away for everyone (those that live for them, and those that loathe them).

 

[RSoxNo1]

Not to take this too far off the rails, but when did character meet and greets become such a huge draw at theme parks?

This is the driver for an event like this. I do find it somewhat weird when it's adults going from meet and greet to meet and greet, but I know people look at me as an adult Disney fan as being strange as well.

 

[ChrisM]

This is the driver for an event like this. I do find it somewhat weird when it's adults going from meet and greet to meet and greet, but I know people look at me as an adult Disney fan as being strange as well.

Well Tim, you are kind of strange. (How weirded out are you that I called you by your first name?)

But you know the old saw: the things I like are awesome. The things you like are f'ing super strange. Weirdo.

 

[GiveMeTheMusic]

And not to leave out the boys you can poop with a prince.

Now THAT'S where TDO could make some money.

 

[PhotoDave219]

Really? I'd like to hear more about that. I don't follow Meet & Greet's that closely, so I wasn't aware. It must be in permanent locations - which ones are set up to do that?

It seems a no-brainer, to me. As much as Princess Hall replacing my favorite ride (SWSA) pains me (the only thing that keeps me happy is that the superior DL version is still there), the demand for these character meets is certainly there, and I think anything to keep them as contained as possible is good for all parties. And for the good of those parties who take part in them, have as many redundant rooms as possible set up.

To be honest, I don't know if the reduction in entertainment vs. meet and greets is really that surprising, as we are constantly told - audiences are changing. I somewhat disagree with that notion when it comes to quality theme park rides (not everyone, even every kid, wants a Haunted Mansion filled with interactive "chase the ghost" video screens replacing sets), but when it comes to shows - there just isn't the audience there once was that is willing to sit for an hour to watch Mickey and Minnie dance with a troop of aspiring singers/dancers to redone pop hits (or even Disney music, as it's so ubiquitous around the parks). (We touched on that earlier when discussing how Orlando isn't exactly the place to be for young performers as it was for a time there in the 90's).

Folks want to see, feel, touch, take "selfies", etc. directly with the characters as opposed to see them in stage shows. The thing is, the overall theme parks were never designed for this (they tried with AK, but Avatar ate it), so I say give the folks what they want...but while Disney is perfectly content is doing them in the cheapest way possible (and when they go the other way, we have the bog of a mess that is BOG), when they just need to re-purpose a few buildings, line up rooms with multiple versions of all the demanded characters, and you take the "issue" of M&G pretty much away for everyone (those that live for them, and those that loathe them).

Well… That's actually what they do.

 

[wdrive]

Really? I'd like to hear more about that. I don't follow Meet & Greet's that closely, so I wasn't aware. It must be in permanent locations - which ones are set up to do that?

It seems a no-brainer, to me. As much as Princess Hall replacing my favorite ride (SWSA) pains me (the only thing that keeps me happy is that the superior DL version is still there), the demand for these character meets is certainly there, and I think anything to keep them as contained as possible is good for all parties. And for the good of those parties who take part in them, have as many redundant rooms as possible set up.

To be honest, I don't know if the reduction in entertainment vs. meet and greets is really that surprising, as we are constantly told - audiences are changing. I somewhat disagree with that notion when it comes to quality theme park rides (not everyone, even every kid, wants a Haunted Mansion filled with interactive "chase the ghost" video screens replacing sets), but when it comes to shows - there just isn't the audience there once was that is willing to sit for an hour to watch Mickey and Minnie dance with a troop of aspiring singers/dancers to redone pop hits (or even Disney music, as it's so ubiquitous around the parks). (We touched on that earlier when discussing how Orlando isn't exactly the place to be for young performers as it was for a time there in the 90's).

Folks want to see, feel, touch, take "selfies", etc. directly with the characters as opposed to see them in stage shows. The thing is, the overall theme parks were never designed for this (they tried with AK, but Avatar ate it), so I say give the folks what they want...but while Disney is perfectly content is doing them in the cheapest way possible (and when they go the other way, we have the bog of a mess that is BOG), when they just need to re-purpose a few buildings, line up rooms with multiple versions of all the demanded characters, and you take the "issue" of M&G pretty much away for everyone (those that live for them, and those that loathe them).

Yeah the there are two sets of Anna and Elsa and Rapunzel and Cinderella in the Fairytale Hall. It causes other characters to be cut. Anna and Elsa moved to the Royal Hall which booted Aurora and Snow White to Main Street. That's more individual performers overall so Wendy got cut.

 

[AEfx]

Well… That's actually what they do.

I'm learning that - I think they need to do far more of it, especially for hard ticketed events where specialty characters are one of the big draws. But even in general, on a more massive scale - if folks are waiting 3-4 hours to stand in line, they can definitely expand further - we all complain about that, but it seems like giving those folks what they want reduces the strain on everyone.

 

[PhotoDave219]

I'm learning that - I think they need to do far more of it, especially for hard ticketed events where specialty characters are one of the big draws. But even in general, on a more massive scale - if folks are waiting 3-4 hours to stand in line, they can definitely expand further - we all complain about that, but it seems like giving those folks what they want reduces the strain on everyone.

You'd have to talk to @asianway or @drew81 but a lot of these "rare" characters only have one or two costumes that still exist.

The way I look at it, you have a 5 hour event. (8-1). Assume you can somehow keep that character meeting the entire time. Figure you can somehow do two groups a minute (love & shove) so 120 groups an hour. Some are solo, some are families. Assume roughly 200/hr for the sake of simple math. So you're looking at 1000 a night for that hard ticket.

Now even if you manage to double capacity by adding another room, that's only 2000 people out of 12000 that paid to get in.

I'm not sure you can really increase capacity in a significant fashion when you have a 12000 person event.

 

[asianway]

You'd have to talk to @asianway or @drew81 but a lot of these "rare" characters only have one or two costumes that still exist.

The way I look at it, you have a 5 hour event. (8-1). Assume you can somehow keep that character meeting the entire time. Figure you can somehow do two groups a minute (love & shove) so 120 groups an hour. Some are solo, some are families. Assume roughly 200/hr for the sake of simple math. So you're looking at 1000 a night for that hard ticket.

Now even if you manage to double capacity by adding another room, that's only 2000 people out of 12000 that paid to get in.

I'm not sure you can really increase capacity in a significant fashion when you have a 12000 person event.

@drew81 can check me on this, I think only 4 at the event fit that description and I think they could find another on 2 of those. They didn't do b2b on many they could have, brers, hyenas, pinocchio villains, basically all the roamers. They didn't really bring out the ones that fit the one left description. Oh, and where the hell was Lotso? I kept assuming the lists were wrong but I guess he didn't appear

 

[PhotoDave219]

@drew81 can check me on this, I think only 4 at the event fit that description and I think they could find another on 2 of those. They didn't do b2b on many they could have, brers, hyenas, pinocchio villains, basically all the roamers. They didn't really bring out the ones that fit the one left description. Oh, and where the hell was Lotso? I kept assuming the lists were wrong but I guess he didn't appear

The other thought is....

...And it kills me to say this...

If the character is so damn rare it causes a 4 hour line, don't bring them out.

 

[Tori427]

Oh, and where the hell was Lotso? I kept assuming the lists were wrong but I guess he didn't appear

I had assumed they kept Lotso off the list due to the fact he will be at MNSSHP and he was also on Main St. during the second half of the Show Your Disney Side 24hr event.

 

[drew81]

The other thought is....

...And it kills me to say this...

If the character is so damn rare it causes a 4 hour line, don't bring them out.

And part of that has to do with WDW hardly bringing out anyone rare. When they do, the floodgates open.

 

[asianway]

I had assumed they kept Lotso off the list due to the fact he will be at MNSSHP and he was also on Main St. during the second half of the Show Your Disney Side 24hr event.

Doubtful-every other MNSSHP and 24hr villain was there. Besides him, the only other ones would have been the regular Hades & Maleficent but they probably opted not to for integrity

 

[71jason]

The Meet'n'Greet "need" pretty much sprung up due to demand. It used to be folks wanted to come to WDW to see their favorite characters appear in shows, and then folks occasionally ran into a roaming character. It was meant to be a fleeting thing. The only one who got a Meet was the big Cheese. But over time, folks wanted/demanded more/more access, and of course Disney complied...bringing us to the situation we have now.

I'm actually old enough to remember taking my then 2-year-old niece to Mickey's Birthdayland with the new innovation that could stand in line and meet Mickey. Looking back, even then, they were doing the multiple room trick.

Clearly they are demanded, so Disney needs to adjust to the demand if they are going to continue to support it.

This was kind of my point. You can't make a park of meet & greets, they just don't have the capacity to handle the crowd. For every person willing to stand in line to meet a princess, you need X number who will skip that for rides and other attractions, the worst of of which have 10x the capacity.

But meet & greets are cheap to build, and a cheap/uncreative thing to throw together for money-gra...err, upcharge hard ticket events.