A Spirited Perfect Ten

[gmajew]

OK. That's your own opinion but the fact that people aren't willing to wait more than 10 minutes for the ride suggests most people disagree. And don't make the same tired argument about how great Mermaid's capacity is. Popularity of an attraction is a function of how long people are willing to wait for it. Pirates of the Caribbean has even better capacity and people are still willing to wait over 40 minutes for it.

How can you say people don't wait for it? Over my trip in March it was always over 35 min for the ride. So your logic is flawed when you say people don't wait for it. Pirates was always with in 5 min of mermaid. Also note that pirates and jungle cruise waits are always long because really that is it on that side of the park. Fantasyland has how many rides? 7 compared to three in adventure land. So people do have choices as something is always shorter to jump on before hitting mermiad. But at pirates you walk that area for the two good rides. Not magic carpets.

Then what is the hourly capacity of of pirates vs Mermaid? If I have heard right both are about 2400 guest an hour.

 

[PhotoDave219]

Has anyone from Disney ever publicly said this? They certainly seem to act that way some times but I don't recall a public statement calling the market mature.

I'm 75% sure Iger said this once but Google is not cooperating with my search....

 

[PhotoDave219]

You guys done feeding the troll yet? If not, i know just the cheesesteaks.....

 

[gmajew]

I believe in Hextall's plan. The Snyder plan of "reload, reload, reload" just never worked.

I like the Morin kid. Gotta give them some chances.

Lol it is déjà view with the universal and Disney stuff. Both parks have their good points both have their bad. Both are overall awesome experiences depending on your taste.

Why can people not just love them both and take them for what they are good parks. Sure they need work both sides but heck we are on these boards talking about little things so all of us must really love these dam places.

They either bring back great memories from our childhood or something but they all mean something to us that we care way more then the average fan.

 

[gmajew]

You guys done feeding the troll yet? If not, i know just the cheesesteaks.....

I did not realize who it was until after I responded.

 

[JoeCamel]

Great time to be a theme park Junkie in OTown isn't it? Uni for the next couple of years then back to WDW. We get to have it both ways!

 

[hopemax]

Alright, so playing "Fun with numbers" using the numbers posted in the thread.

LM Queue = 3300 people
LM Fastpass distribution = 22,000 per day
LM Capacity = 2200 per hour

So, assume 13 hr day (9AM-11PM), capacity = 28,600
FP distribution = ~77% of daily capacity.
Assume same for hourly capacity
Distribution of hourly capacity = 1694 FP, 506 standby
3300 queue length = 6.5 hrs long!

Even at 50% FP/50% standby, the queue is 3 hours long.

So was the queue built, thinking the ride wouldn't have FP? Or despite FP, most people would enter without it? More disconnect between "old school thinking" vs current operational considerations? With no FP, that's 90 min worth of queue, which would maybe be reasonable. Even under old FP, 3300 person queue seems "excessive." Money spent on a queue people blow through, could be better off spent inside the attraction. It would lead me to think: expected demand >> actual demand. Which, unfortunately could lead to the feeling the metrics don't support future family friendly, omnimover people-sucks, which is what is needed in places that draw 18 million per year.

I always feel bad for the little blue crab that just wants people to play with him.

 

[gmajew]

Alright, so playing "Fun with numbers" using the numbers posted in the thread.

LM Queue = 3300 people
LM Fastpass distribution = 22,000 per day
LM Capacity = 2200 per hour

So, assume 13 hr day (9AM-11PM), capacity = 28,600
FP distribution = ~77% of daily capacity.
Assume same for hourly capacity
Distribution of hourly capacity = 1694 FP, 506 standby
3300 queue length = 6.5 hrs long!

Even at 50% FP/50% standby, the queue is 3 hours long.

So was the queue built, thinking the ride wouldn't have FP? Or despite FP, most people would enter without it? More disconnect between "old school thinking" vs current operational considerations? With no FP, that's 90 min worth of queue, which would maybe be reasonable. Even under old FP, 3300 person queue seems "excessive." Money spent on a queue people blow through, could be better off spent inside the attraction. It would lead me to think: expected demand >> actual demand. Which, unfortunately could lead to the feeling the metrics don't support future family friendly, omnimover people-sucks, which is what is needed in places that draw 18 million per year.

I always feel bad for the little blue crab that just wants people to play with him.

Could the que not have been built just to allow the amazing building and atmosphere that the ride entails? Maybe the que is so long because to make the place look so amazing they needed the space. This ride is so much more then the ride. It is a huge part of the new land that was build. And area that takes you into this world to explore and see.

 

[BrerJon]

I'm 75% sure Iger said this once but Google is not cooperating with my search....

I think it's a late-era Eisner thing, and predates Iger, but has been the driving excuse for why expansion stopped after the mid 90s for a good ten years now.

 

[Goofyernmost]

Just doing a quick drive by and this post caught my eye. In particular, the part of the post that I didn't delete. Anyhoo, what MK needed was an e-ticket. It still needs an e-ticket. Sure, there's a lot to do there, but the park still feels pretty stale. DHS and DAK need more period and EPCOT needs that whole vision thing. But, MK, hasn't had a bona fide big *** ride since Splash Mountain opened in the early 90's (too lazy to google the year, but I'm going with fall of 1992.). I think a lot of people sense that NFL/expanded baby circus area wasn't the most efficient way to reinvigorate the park. Thus, the mine train and Ariel's Undersea Adventure will be examined more critically than, perhaps they should.

Well George, since there is no actual definition of an "E" ride perhaps, in Fantasyland that is considered an E ride, in fact two of them Mermaid and 7DMT and if I can second guess Disney executives, Dumbo would be one as well. Perhaps they wouldn't be one in Adventureland, but they could easily be considered one in Fantasyland.

And just because I love saying it. The parks are stale only to those that have been before. Something you have never seen cannot be stale yet.

 

[GoofGoof]

I'm 75% sure Iger said this once but Google is not cooperating with my search....

I think it's a late-era Eisner thing, and predates Iger, but has been the driving excuse for why expansion stopped after the mid 90s for a good ten years now.

Someone very well could have said it, but probably not any time recently. I know we all kill them for not doing much and dragging their feet, but the PR spin for a long while now is that they are investing like crazy in Florida. Mm+, FLE, DVCs, Avatar...they hype every little thing. I'm not sure that everyone internally really believes it, but the message from the top seems clear to me. They feel like they are investing heavily in Florida and things have never been better.

 

[TalkingHead]

Just think how deluded you have to be to think buying a Figment comic book can do "a lot of good" and will show Disney how "beloved and relevant" these characters are.

Boy, the crap that swirls in the Twitter toilet bowl.

 

[Cosmic Commando]

I like Mermaid, but it's flawed at a very basic level. Think about how much space is dedicated to everything pre-Under the Sea compared with the battle between Eric and Ursula. You're introduced to your unnecessary narrator, then you get the unnecessary "underwater" transition, then Part of Your World (no problems there), then long hallway of nothingness. And the dramatic climax of the movie gets a door's width of space. I like those things in the beginning, but the space would have been better spent elsewhere. The ride is like when you're writing something and you realize you're running out of space and try to cram the last couple of words in the margin... that's fine for your 9th grade Bio homework, not so fine for your wedding invitations. Somebody should have figured this out before they built two of them.

I know I'm probably the first person to mention this

 

[WDW1974]

I would beseech all of you to not feed trolls and report posts and individuals to our mods as they can't be everywhere all the time.

I'd also ask kindly that if you can't talk about Disney or UNI or any aspects of their businesses that you take the posts to chit-chat. We don't need pages of posts about the Red Sox or the Flyers or any team in any league unless there is a direct connection to Disney (like last weekend's fight and ESPN).

I get that WDW is stale and benches and timeshares count as huge news now, but that is reality and we need to deal with it by not filling this thread with pages of totally off any topic that would be fitting posts.

Thanks.

 

[WDW1974]

Spirited Shanghai Dumplings of the Day:

The flagship Disney Store in Shanghai now has a definite opening date (I told y'all recently that it would be the week of May 18th) and that date is May 20th. Billed as the largest Disney Store on the globe and supposedly featuring a true preview center of the Shanghai Disney Resort, Disney is making a huge deal of this.

Bob Iger and Tom Staggs are both scheduled to be there. I'm sure pictures will be allowed. They are also doing a site walk thru at SDL. One would have to think that by now, Zenia Mucha has been given approval from the Shendi overlords to release photos and video of said visit. It is less than a year to Grand Opening and you have to have proof the CEO can actually walk the resort considering how much they have been touting it to the media and analysts, all without saying anything.

To say SDL in 2016 will actually have a positive impact in their financials is an incredibly bold statement to make considering all the indications to the contrary.

As soon as they finish at SDL, they'll be wheels up quickly to be back in Anaheim for the official kickoff of the 60th Anniversary Diamond Celebration at DL. They may bookend the big week with a visit for the media whorefest at DLR the prior weekend, but Bob and Tom's planner hasn't gotten back to me on that one.

Speaking of Shanghai, Princess Cruises announced today that its brand new (as yet unnamed) ship in said city not long after RCCL said it will relocate its new Quantum of the Seas to Shanghai starting in 2017. One wonders how far behind Disney will get in the Asian cruise market before it seals the deal on the pair of new ships it is adding. It would appear the Disney Dream is Europe-bound in 2017, but could it wind up in Asia instead?

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/tourism-cruises/article20287773.html

I thought about linking to Brooks Barnes PR piece on Disney's results and decided that I could do better things than give it attention it doesn't need (by it, I am referring to BB, not the story).

Lots of talk on Florida radio today about the new Kong attraction coming to IOA next year. And not in a paid way, but personalities just talking about it. No whores/Lifestylers or Mommy Bloggers needed.

 

[asianway]

Just think how deluded you think buying a Figment comic book can do "a lot of good" and will show Disney how "beloved and relevant" these characters are.

Boy, the crap that swirls in the Twitter toilet bowl.

EE needs to get his head out of a book and into the real world

 

[WDW1974]

Do you think that back then that each restroom had an assigned CM. That's the only way I can ever see a restroom at the MK being pristine at all times. It would have be cleaned around the clock.

And we all know that's not happening. Do you think that staffing to that level will ever return?

It did always seem that there were CMs in a restroom ''back in the good, old days'' but you'd have to talk to individuals who work/ed in custodial or MK Ops for an answer.

I can say that EVERY major theme park restroom facility needs 1-2 CMs permanently assigned to it, even if they rotate throughout a land.

 

[PhotoDave219]

I would beseech all of you to not feed trolls and report posts and individuals to our mods as they can't be everywhere all the time.

I'd also ask kindly that if you can't talk about Disney or UNI or any aspects of their businesses that you take the posts to chit-chat. We don't need pages of posts about the Red Sox or the Flyers or any team in any league unless there is a direct connection to Disney (like last weekend's fight and ESPN).

I get that WDW is stale and benches and timeshares count as huge news now, but that is reality and we need to deal with it by not filling this thread with pages of totally off any topic that would be fitting posts.

Thanks.

Well after page after page of Universal news, I'm going to start discussing other business units that are part of the Comcast/Universal empire.

Mostly because I don't give a toss about Universal or whether they need a 3rd gate or have 15k hotel rooms.

And no offense but day after day after day of people turning this (And every other thread) into Disney vs Universal, It's gotten old. They didn't get the hit when they were suggested to go to Orlando United. Maybe they'll get the darn hint when I start discussing Jacob Vorachek's role within the Comcast/Universal Empire.

 

[WDW1974]

Mainlanders have been staying away in increasing numbers from Hong Kong. Disney has been trying to counteract the trend by reaching out to more South Easterners. It's worked to an extent, but not fully offset the decline.

Here's a newer article on the struggles:
http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/...-holiday-visits-only-slightly-travellers-pass

That story isn't very meaty. The fact HKDL saw drops in attendance during the Januray-March quarter, which encompasses Chinese New Year's, can largely be traced to the Yellow Umbrella movement keeping mainlanders away. They haven't decided en masse they'd rather go to Japan or Korea.

 

[ryguy]

Lots of talk on Florida radio today about the new Kong attraction coming to IOA next year. And not in a paid way, but personalities just talking about it. No whores/Lifestylers or Mommy Bloggers needed.

I think because Uni released a video promoting the Kong ride today, looks like it will be pretty cool.