A Spirited Dirty Dozen ...

[Quinnmac000]

I know this was in the hurricane thread but just had to post in this thread because disgusting to treat guests like this....
https://twitter.com/onezumi/status/784119894254161920

 

[Donaldfan1934]

So with the launch of the TIki Room comic today, Disney Kingdoms finally worked College Program students into one of these stories.

http://disney-universes.tumblr.com/post/151413667906/enchanted-tiki-room-1-it-took-them-five

Wow! That is one strange storyline for a comic based on the Enchanted Tiki Room.

 

[FigmentJedi]

Wow! That is one strange storyline for a comic based on the Enchanted Tiki Room.

Tiki Room's book is a sort of anthology focused around tourists visiting the Tiki Room's Island, the first issue basically functioning as an introduction to all the characters, with each following issue focusing in on a different visitor and resolving their conflict like an episode of Fantasy Island.
You got the Tiki Gods (Tangaroa's the narrator of the series), the Tiki Birds (with Jose quitting the band over creative differences, which sets up issue 2), the Cast Member/volunteer hoping to get into show business, the obnoxious rich family, an aging actress and her grumpy dog (who are the focus of issue 2), a man who just broke up with his girlfriend, and coming in at the very end of the issue, an enigmatic redhead girl who arrives to the island uninvited and by surfboard.

 

[BrianLo]

CNNMoney received the following statement from Walt Disney Parks and Resorts chairman Bob Chapek: “The recent report speculating about our attendance is meritless. Our financial results during the first 100+ days of operation have exceeded our expectations, and guest feedback has been extremely strong, establishing a solid foundation upon which to grow.”


Ironically, this morning's waits are thus far rather weak.

 

[Donaldfan1934]

Tiki Room's book is a sort of anthology focused around tourists visiting the Tiki Room's Island, the first issue basically functioning as an introduction to all the characters, with each following issue focusing in on a different visitor and resolving their conflict like an episode of Fantasy Island.
You got the Tiki Gods (Tangaroa's the narrator of the series), the Tiki Birds (with Jose quitting the band over creative differences, which sets up issue 2), the Cast Member/volunteer hoping to get into show business, the obnoxious rich family, an aging actress and her grumpy dog (who are the focus of issue 2), a man who just broke up with his girlfriend, and coming in at the very end of the issue, an enigmatic redhead girl who arrives to the island uninvited and by surfboard.

I knew there was tourist aspect to it, I just thought it would be more focused on the Tiki Gods and Tiki Birds rather than them. Its very different from what I expected it to be.

 

[the.dreamfinder]

this morning's waits are thus far rather weak.

Shdl wait times at 12:00 PM Shanghai Time on 10/7/16
RR: 40 min
Soaring: 50 min
Pirates: Closed
SDMT: 35 min
Peter Pan: 20 min
Tron: 10 min

Via the SDR App

 

[GiveMeTheMusic]

Shdl wait times at 12:00 PM Shanghai Time on 10/7/16
RR: 40 min
Soaring: 50 min
Pirates: Closed
SDMT: 35 min
Peter Pan: 20 min
Tron: 10 min

Via the SDR App

That proves it! Case closed! 7.73 million for the year!

As much as we'd all love to see Bob's ego take a Shanghai sized hit, the reality is that the park is doing well. It's not going to break records in year 1, but we're not looking at a Hong Kong or even Paris situation here. Again, the estimate cited in the article is inaccurate.

Besides, no one should be wanting this park to fail. If it does, the domestic parks will suffer and pay the price.

 

[Nmoody1]

I know exactly what you are saying and figured I'd get some flack for it. I totally agree that SDL, much like DHS, functions based on its capacity. Wait times are really only an indication of how close to capacity the park is getting, or a reflection that capacity has been limited.

SDL has significantly more capacity than DHS. 14 rides to their 5. A daytime parade, some walk throughs that people are queuing up for and waiting upwards of 45-60 minutes. Similar to DHS they run several large shows, which also accounts for the parks overall capacity.

I had a look at wait times yesterday evening (Friday morning in Shanghai) and caught some of the morning crowds of the same day, whose waits were pretty consistent (although a bit higher as obviously people weren't getting ready for the evening show). It's really not the Roaring Rapids, Tron or SDMT that I care about. It's seeing 45 minute waits not inconsistently for attractions like Buzz, PoTC, Pooh, Pan or Voyage through the crystal grotto. When I was following closely in the summer those attractions could be pushing over an hour.

Someone can guess towards theoretical total ride capacity for the entire park per hour, but it just does not add up that headliners have multi hour waits, smaller attractions (some with large capacities) are also holding people in queues and the predictions are significantly lower than what Disney 'claims' DHS sees. From a park which likely currently runs half the capacity of SDL.

This is an average too, meaning some days have to be even lower. It is practically impossible for only 15k people to be in that park and post the wait times they are. Is no one in the walkways, is no one at a single show or watching a parade? If attendance is dipping that low it is the sub-headliners that should be a walk on with maybe the Aberent long wait in a low capacity Eticket. I've fallen off watching wait times this Fall, but I've yet to see a single day where wait times (and thereby total park capacity) wasn't at least mildly stressed.

That's why I'm calling bull on the numbers. Even if they are starting to approach 20k now in this off-season, that still doesn't 'average' the year out to 20k. Even with a lower capacity park like SDL, 20k is a very low figure that the park should not be struggling this much to handle.

Wait times should be elevated again this week as it is a week long national holiday in China. The International Resorts Zone is also hosting a few concerts this week, which may or may not increase people at Disney Town (they need it there!)

Pirates has been operating most days either from 12pm or from park opening through til 6.

 

[the.dreamfinder]

That proves it! Case closed! 7.73 million for the year!

As much as we'd all love to see Bob's ego take a Shanghai sized hit, the reality is that the park is doing well. It's not going to break records in year 1, but we're not looking at a Hong Kong or even Paris situation here. Again, the estimate cited in the article is inaccurate.

Besides, no one should be wanting this park to fail. If it does, the domestic parks will suffer and pay the price.

No, but it would be helpful to have more data to determine how the park is doing. The initial reason I brought up the wait times was to show the park can be both empty and have long lines at the same time, like DHS.

 

[LuvtheGoof]

No, but it would be helpful to have more data to determine how the park is doing. The initial reason I brought up the wait times was to show the park can be both empty and have long lines at the same time, like DHS.

How helpful to who?

 

[britain]

GASP! The Spirit hath changed his avatar! A sign of his return!?

 

[BrianLo]

Shdl wait times at 12:00 PM Shanghai Time on 10/7/16
RR: 40 min
Soaring: 50 min
Pirates: Closed
SDMT: 35 min
Peter Pan: 20 min
Tron: 10 min

Via the SDR App

Thanks for capturing that! Now that's the type of numbers I'd expect to see from sub-30k, maybe even sub-20 crowds.

The summer and into September all looked like 30k+ maybe even 40 by comparison.

 

[rael ramone]

My top guess is that a certain high powered businessperson who threatened to fight Disney like a "pack of wolves" is pulling strings to foster as much bad press as possible.

And if so, is this person doing this with the blessing of the CCP?.... If so, who knows what the end game is here...

 

[VJ]

Pirates trailer is up, and it looks amazing!

Honestly, I fangirled. Fanboyed. Couldn't stop giggling after I saw it.

...I want more.

 

[Nmoody1]

I think Spirit said RR, Tron, VttCG had cuts. Sunken Treasure had little/no cuts. Check with @Lee if he's still around.
EDIT: Don't forget TSL was put on the kibbosh after the cost overruns.

From what I've heard post opening, they did toy with standard cars for Tron, but opted to sspend more to get the bikes. Having rode Pirates many times, I fail to see where any cutbacks had been made... That said it probably could have done with the odd extra animatronic.

The ending at Crystal Grotto also is somewhat lacustre and I'm sure early concept art had a lot more pixie dust elements when you venture inside the building.

Having been on roaring rapids now, it MUST have had budget cuts! The quick flash of the Q'roc is disappointing beyond belief! There could have been a lot more story! This is a plain rapids ride

 

[Earl Sweatpants]

DisneyWar is an oft cited book around these parts. I would imagine most of us fanboys/girls are familiar with the book and many have read it. It is basically the bible of Disney buisness culture(post Walt). Although some of the sections in Stewart's book have been critized as bias, I certainly believe much of the book is pretty darn accurate.

Undoubtely I would say the readers of the Spririt threads are very familiar with this work and most have probably read it.

Good to know. And yeah, I can get the sense of bias here or there, but by and large I have no doubts believing it was as bad as written...if not probably worse.

 

[Magenta Panther]

CNNMoney received the following statement from Walt Disney Parks and Resorts chairman Bob Chapek: “The recent report speculating about our attendance is meritless. Our financial results during the first 100+ days of operation have exceeded our expectations, and guest feedback has been extremely strong, establishing a solid foundation upon which to grow.”


Ironically, this morning's waits are thus far rather weak.

Exceeded expectations?

 

[Magenta Panther]

And if so, is this person doing this with the blessing of the CCP?.... If so, who knows what the end game is here...

Eisner?

 

[BrianLo]

EDIT: Don't forget TSL was put on the kibbosh after the cost overruns.

Nope, that always was scheduled for a staggered opening after the first year due to the exclusivity with HKDL for TSPL in the Asia-Pacific region. That is not up until November. We'll see how long they dilly dally, but it's still coming.

I don't think anything overly major was cut late in the process, but that's also why the 800million yielded very little, they threw in a ton of capital to prevent sweeping cuts and to pay for huge over runs.

Voyage to the Crystal Grotto and Tron seem to be the two Spirit thought most received an axe, hard to say if they was late in the process or not.

Exceeded expectations?

He's overcompensating. Although the sheer fact it opened more or less intact definitely exceeded some people's expectations.

 

[lazyboy97o]

TRON Lightcycle Power Run was only cut in that it was mismanaged. The money was spent on the roof. This is one of the problems with Walt Disney Imagineering. Poor project management and resource allocation is not a budget cut.