A Spirited Dirty Dozen ...

[GoofGoof]

I didn't see this talked about anywhere else yet so if it is just ignore this. According to the blog post below Disney is considering putting in a 2 month blackout period for AP holders around the openings of new attractions, specifically Star Wars Land. This would apply to all but the highest tier of annual passes. Accoriding to the post, Disney has been surveying AP holders to to see if they would be willing to buy an additional $100+ daily park ticket or upgrade their AP if their pass was blacked out of a grand opening. This is beyond crazy if it's really true. This also appeared on the site that shall not be named.

http://hellogiggles.com/star-wars-land-disney-annual-pass/

 

[culturenthrills]

I didn't see this talked about anywhere else yet so if it is just ignore this. According to the blog post below Disney is considering putting in a 2 month blackout period for AP holders around the openings of new attractions, specifically Star Wars Land. This would apply to all but the highest tier of annual passes. Accoriding to the post, Disney has been surveying AP holders to to see if they would be willing to buy an additional $100+ daily park ticket or upgrade their AP if their pass was blacked out of a grand opening. This is beyond crazy if it's really true. This also appeared on the site that shall not be named.

http://hellogiggles.com/star-wars-land-disney-annual-pass/
View attachment 164877

Well at WDW with the loss of Brazil and some UK tourists and the Zika scare they should be doing everything they can to make AP holders happy. Cause things are not looking rosy in Orlando right now.

 

[Bairstow]

I didn't see this talked about anywhere else yet so if it is just ignore this. According to the blog post below Disney is considering putting in a 2 month blackout period for AP holders around the openings of new attractions, specifically Star Wars Land. This would apply to all but the highest tier of annual passes. Accoriding to the post, Disney has been surveying AP holders to to see if they would be willing to buy an additional $100+ daily park ticket or upgrade their AP if their pass was blacked out of a grand opening. This is beyond crazy if it's really true. This also appeared on the site that shall not be named.

http://hellogiggles.com/star-wars-land-disney-annual-pass/
View attachment 164877

Well, Disney has every reason to expect Harry-Potter-style nightmare crowds when Star Wars land opens, and probably for months afterwards in that area of the park.
Disneyland has never had an expansion of this magnitude before and Carsland opened in a park that was on life support.
Keeping the AP people from coming back 5-6 times in the first few months would go a long way to making sure that more people have a chance to actually do the new stuff.

 

[Mike S]

Well, Disney has every reason to expect Harry-Potter-style nightmare crowds when Star Wars land opens, and probably for months afterwards in that area of the park.
Disneyland has never had an expansion of this magnitude before and Carsland opened in a park that was on life support.
Keeping the AP people from coming back 5-6 times in the first few months would go a long way to making sure that more people have a chance to actually do the new stuff.

It's still a severely underhanded and cheap tactic and APs would just rush in when the block is lifted anyway.

Here's a different way to go about it that doesn't feel like like they're unceremoniously shoving us to the side: why not make AP exclusive previews or a long period of soft opening like HP west had? Let the locals have their fun seeing it all first and getting it out of the way before the tourists come.

Also, 5-6 months? The whole reason we get APs is to go to all four parks all year. To be blocked out that long from the one with the newest thing with prices still going up is disgusting.

 

[Andrew C]

It's still a severely underhanded and cheap tactic and APs would just rush in when the block is lifted anyway.

Here's a different way to go about it that doesn't feel like like they're unceremoniously shoving us to the side: why not make AP exclusive previews or a long period of soft opening like HP west had? Let the locals have their fun seeing it all first and getting it out of the way before the tourists come.

Also, 5-6 months? The whole reason we get APs is to go to all four parks all year. To be blocked out that long from the one with the newest thing with prices still going up is disgusting.

I am sure they are contemplating several crowd control ideas and this is one of them. They will need to do something. I would imagine DL will be a bigger isssue than DHS.

 

[Bairstow]

It's still a severely underhanded

How so?
Wouldn't the blackout dates be announced before the passes go on sale, as always?

 

[Mike S]

How so?
Wouldn't the blackout dates be announced before the passes go on sale, as always?

Because the whole point of an AP is that you have access all year round at all four parks. If one of them is blocked for about 5-6 months because of something new, there better be a dramatic price drop to go with it. No previous blackouts have ever been for that long.

 

[TalkingHead]

An alternative would be to charge APs an upcharge price to experience a new attraction before it opens or face a blockout period.

That sounds more like modern TDO -- an upcharge event that would have the added benefit of monetizing the impatience among the bloggers and locals who live at the parks.

 

[lazyboy97o]

How so?
Wouldn't the blackout dates be announced before the passes go on sale, as always?

That assumes that Disney is able and willing to commit to an opening date at least a year in advance.

The whole thing also undermines the whole notion that return visitors to Walt Disney World make up any sizable portion of visitors.

 

[GoofGoof]

Well, Disney has every reason to expect Harry-Potter-style nightmare crowds when Star Wars land opens, and probably for months afterwards in that area of the park.
Disneyland has never had an expansion of this magnitude before and Carsland opened in a park that was on life support.
Keeping the AP people from coming back 5-6 times in the first few months would go a long way to making sure that more people have a chance to actually do the new stuff.

No doubt the crowds will be huge for Star Wars. I could maybe get behind the theory that this is being done just to control crowds and make things more safe and more enjoyable for everyone. Where that theory fails is with the 2nd question about upgrading passes. It seems to me that Disney sees this as a way to squeeze a few hundred extra dollars from regular AP holders by getting them to upgrade to a premium pass. If it was just about crowd control then blackout all APs not just the cheaper ones.

 

[GoofGoof]

An alternative would be to charge APs an upcharge price to experience a new attraction before it opens or face a blockout period.

That sounds more like modern TDO -- an upcharge event that would have the added benefit of monetizing the impatience among the bloggers and locals who live at the parks.

The upcharge is sorta what they seem to be implying here. Either upgrade to a premium AP or face a blackout whenever new stuff opens.

 

[Mike S]

No doubt the crowds will be huge for Star Wars. I could maybe get behind the theory that this is being done just to control crowds and make things more safe and more enjoyable for everyone. Where that theory fails is with the 2nd question about upgrading passes. It seems to me that Disney sees this as a way to squeeze a few hundred extra dollars from regular AP holders by getting them to upgrade to a premium pass. If it was just about crowd control then blackout all APs not just the cheaper ones.

No one should be blocked out just because there's something new.

 

[FigmentJedi]

New poster for Universal Japan's Shin Godzilla attraction.

Limited US theatrical release of the movie is in a few weeks

 

[Mike S]

New poster for Universal Japan's Shin Godzilla attraction.

Limited US theatrical release of the movie is in a few weeks

Hopefully the King of Monsters comes to Universal's third park in Orlando.

 

[the.dreamfinder]

The South China Morning post has a not too flattering report from Shanghai Disneyland as it celebrates 100 days of operation. As a certain SPIRIT had noted back in June, problems would begin to creep up once the western press had packed up and left.
http://scmp.com/news/china/money-wealth/article/2021968/100-days-crowds-queues-and-some-complaints-after-opening

EDIT: An earlier report that details the park's difficulties in keeping its E Tickets, like Roaring Rapids and Pirates, open.
http://scmp.com/news/china/society/...ghai-disney-visitors-spend-hours-lined-closed

 

[SirLink]

The South China Morning post has a not too flattering report from Shanghai Disneyland as it celebrates 100 days of operation. As a certain SPIRIT had noted back in June, problems would begin to creep up once the western press had packed up and left.
http://m.scmp.com/news/china/money-...owds-queues-and-some-complaints-after-opening

The only complaint in the article is long wait times and in a separate article mentioned one person who complained when the rides had to be closed ....

 

[BrianLo]

The South China Morning post has a not too flattering report from Shanghai Disneyland as it celebrates 100 days of operation. As a certain SPIRIT had noted back in June, problems would begin to creep up once the western press had packed up and left.
http://m.scmp.com/news/china/money-...owds-queues-and-some-complaints-after-opening

The Shanghai doom and gloom campaign widely missed the mark. Full stop.

I believe the full prediction included the closure of multiple unfinished rides for up to 6 months, unruly guest behavior, one of our members promised that the Chinese government would be seizing control by now. I guess like those who promise the end of the world, the tea leaves were wrong, the seizure will happen next year...

The park was not without its crazy timeline issues, insane rush to the finish, and is clearly underbuilt for the crowds. TDO has used it as a crutch to maintain cost savings as it spirals its own drain. It has many other thematic quirks-flaws. But that's about the 5% of the insane things we were promised by members here (not just by Spirit, whom obviously was better connected and usually more tempered).

Shanghai is clearly the moderate+ success for whatever reason some folks really, really didn't want it to be. We are scraping the barrel to maintain otherwise at this point.

 

[Bairstow]

Because the whole point of an AP is that you have access all year round at all four parks. If one of them is blocked for about 5-6 months because of something new, there better be a dramatic price drop to go with it. No previous blackouts have ever been for that long.

Why must there "better be a dramatic price drop" ?
If you don't think it's a good deal, don't buy the thing.
Again, if they're up front with the blackout dates, then no one's trying to trick anyone and it's not underhanded.
No one's forcing you to buy anything here.

 

[Cesar R M]

Just so you know, they didn't remove benches because they wanted people to keep spending. They only removed the benches around the parade routes and show stages because guests are idiots and they would stand on the benches to get a better view, fall off, and then sue Disney because it was Disney's fault.

Is that the official answer?

Because there are HARDLY any benches in fantasyland and its not parade route.
Even the walkways are enormous.

 

[Bairstow]