A Spirited Perfect Ten

[Funmeister]

Not all of us have been published in the library of Congress on the subject so explaining your point without the snark would actually be nice.

So the ride will cut dispatch intervals by almost 50% and the show scenes will moving by faster than Maelstrom. So essentially the entire ride will be sped up beginning to end. This actually makes sense and would be the only way to increase capacity without altering the layout of the ride. Will the boats be new? Will they hold more than 4 people?

The only issue I see with this is Maelstrom was a short ride. Around 3.5 minutes. So if the ride moves 50% faster it will likely be under 2 mins. That's a short ride for a 2 hour wait, but it does solve part of the capacity issue.

To add to this...

Just because you speed up show scenes and (attempted) dispatch intervals...at the end of the day guests will only move as fast as guests want to move. They could cut dispatch intervals by 90% if they wanted to. That does not mean guests will move 90% faster to allow them to do so.

 

[PhotoDave219]

It hurts them in the tween bracket, If you have boys over 8 and the choice is toddlers and princesses OR Nintendo where is your money going, Not to the princess parks...

Yes and no.

No matter how many people Universal stuffs in their gates, Disney gets a cut.

Win-win for everyone.

 

[tribbleorlfl]

Yeah, but sales continue to be a shadow of their former selves. 10s of millions have been exposed to Minecraft, and if you're a significant other of younger kids you know what gets talked about. It's not Nintendo.

Well, if we're going to use annecdotal evidence to make conclusions for all parents and kids, then you are wrong. My son, 10, doesn't play Minecraft. At all. What he does play, though: Lots and lots of Pokemon and Mario Kart DS. Literally everyone in his class has a DS (a fact we learned at a recent birthday party). Even the Pokemon TCG is quite popular in his after school program.

While no one can deny that the Wii U was DOA and that Nintendo isn't the same as it was 10-20 years ago, there are signs things are starting to turn around once more. FY results were just announced and they posted a profit for the first time since 2011. Now that Wii U had a few decent games (MK 8, SSB U), console sales increased dramatically and only missed sales projections by a few hundred thousand units. 3DS sales are still strong but softening, likely caused by more focus on phone and tablet gaming. I also contend my son's class could also represent a trend: many of those who want one already have one. Also of note, they are developing a low-cost console for emerging markets (ie, China) and are still the global console market leader.

One area where Nintendo is NOT hurting, though (and most relevant in this discussion) is software sales. In the US, they had the top-selling title of 2014 (Pokemon OR/AS) and own 2015 so far (Zelda majora mask). There is nothing wrong with Nintendo's stable of characters or brand awareness, and provide ample fodder for engaging theme park attractions.

 

[Captain Chaos]

Yes and no.

No matter how many people Universal stuffs in their gates, Disney gets a cut.

Win-win for everyone.

Dave, come on man, you are making way too much sense here. So what that Disney gets a cut? Who cares that Universal has to pay to maintain the land and add new attractions if they wanted? Disney gets free cash, who would want that? Not Disney. Not the free spending Disney!!! They want to pay Universal millions, if not billions, for the theme park rights, then invest, oh hell, we know they wouldn't invest anything into any Marvel attraction in WDW. Other than maybe a themed bathroom.

 

[Goofyernmost]

Could be a troll or it could be someone with a differing opinion. Absolutely none of this stuff is based on fact, on either side, it's just opinion. Either one could be right. Know how we find out? Wait until it's done and find out the reality. One side or the other is going to be red faced and, personally, for me it wouldn't be possible to care any less about which side it is. So instead of "Calm Down and Don't Feed The Troll", how about, calm down and let people have their opinion whether or not it is considered Pixie Dust by some of the cooler folks that are never wrong about anything. In the entire scope of the world it is of little or no importance. In other words... all of you get a grip.

 

[Captain Chaos]

Could be a troll or it could be someone with a differing opinion. Absolutely none of this stuff is based on fact, on either side, it's just opinion. Either one could be right. Know how we find out? Wait until it's done and find out the reality. One side or the other is going to be red faced and, personally, for me it wouldn't be possible to care any less about which side it is. So instead of "Calm Down and Don't Feed The Troll", how about, calm down and let people have their opinion whether or not it is considered Pixie Dust by some of the cooler folks that are never wrong about anything. In the entire scope of the world it is of little or no importance. In other words... all of you get a grip.

Difference between having an opinion and trolling. What we are seeing here is trolling.

Thank Steve for a wonderful IGNORE system. My ignore list grows by the day on this site.

 

[realdizfan]

To be precise, the cycle time must include both time to load and unload. which must be less than the TAKT time of 35 seconds. Will the individual load and load times average less than 17.5 seconds? 17.5 seconds will be not long enough for loading, safety checks, unloading, and minor cleanup. On the off chance the cycle time is achieved, the experience will be sub par.

They're aiming for it, that doesn't mean that they'll be able to achieve it. And your numbers don't reflect the fact that they'll be double loaded/double dispatched- so double that interval right off the bat. Intervals are simply when each boat passes a certain point on the ride, you could have 3 load/unloads for one ride compared with a higher capacity ride that dispatches in 1/4 of the time.

If Small World and Pirates can manage to load approx 40 riders into their boats in well under 30 seconds, what's preventing them for loading 30 riders and dispatching every 35 on Frozen? Yeah, there will be delays, but capacity is still going to be significantly higher what Maelstrom commonly did.

Everybody's aware that Maelstrom itself wasn't exactly a low capacity ride, correct? Any improvements are fine by me...

 

[danlb_2000]

This is the most insane thing I've ever heard.

If a ride has double the capacity, it can handle double the people. This means it's far more efficient and it'll be more difficult for lines to accumulate. This means a ride can hover around 30 minutes instead of 60 (just for example). Or, in the case of a new attraction with crazy demand, 60 minutes instead of 120 minutes.

So, yes. There will be a different line based on the capacity. That's kind of how capacity works.

Are you realizing that your hilariously silly argument about Frozenstrom garnering a 2000+ capacity makes no sense, so you're trying to say the capacity doesn't matter? Just... c'mon. It'll have a very similar capacity to Maelstron unless they completely change the ride system.

The piece of the equation that is missing is that as the wait time gets higher, there will be a certain percentage of people who will just decide to skip the ride. Now if you increase capacity the wait time comes down and those people now decide it is worth it which drives the wait time back up. The wait times won't go down until capacity far outweighs demand.

 

[PhotoDave219]

Could be a troll or it could be someone with a differing opinion. Absolutely none of this stuff is based on fact, on either side, it's just opinion. Either one could be right. Know how we find out? Wait until it's done and find out the reality. One side or the other is going to be red faced and, personally, for me it wouldn't be possible to care any less about which side it is. So instead of "Calm Down and Don't Feed The Troll", how about, calm down and let people have their opinion whether or not it is considered Pixie Dust by some of the cooler folks that are never wrong about anything. In the entire scope of the world it is of little or no importance. In other words... all of you get a grip.

Nah, in this specific instance its someone who is intentionally trying to cause trouble.

 

[GoofGoof]

It hurts them in the tween bracket, If you have boys over 8 and the choice is toddlers and princesses OR Nintendo where is your money going, Not to the princess parks...

Your money is going to the Star Wars and Harry Potter parks. I think Nintendo may have a more powerful pull on a slightly older demographic. People like me that grew up with the originals.

I like the idea of this Nintendo addition. It's a perfect fit and should be quick to implement. I don't see it driving people to Uni parks though. Just another base hit in a park with many of them. Not everything has to be a HR (aka Potter).

 

[PhotoDave219]

Does this mean HHN will have Bowsers Castle?

Anyone?

Anyone?

 

[Goofyernmost]

Difference between having an opinion and trolling. What we are seeing here is trolling.

Thank Steve for a wonderful IGNORE system. My ignore list grows by the day on this site.

No... Trolls implant a controversial topic and then leave. They make no attempt to explain things, just say it and let the rest of you "clever folk" fight over the carcass. Ignore Systems are the classic escape route for those that don't want to be questioned and just want to see what agrees with their own opinions.

 

[GLaDOS]

Does this mean HHN will have Bowsers Castle?

Anyone?

Anyone?

No, it'll have the Water Temple from Zelda: Ocarina of Time. It'll take 6 hours to complete the maze and you'll have to back track 75 times to try and find the one key your missing.

 

[Mike S]

Been waiting for this for a while. Nintendo will be a big part of Beijing and is, indeed, the Kidzone replacement.

I don't have a particular fondness for the IP (although some of the games are old enough that I actually have played them!) but how it will impact UNI-FL is multiple new family/dark rides. This will be replacing a kiddie land with a family one. A small, but very important distinction. One of the attractions, as described to me, sounds incredibly cool and with a bit of a thrill, which Disney wouldn't do on family rides (unless you find the drop on Pirates -- now known as Soak Hill -- to be thrilling).

Fun family rides are fun family rides. Again, how many people know the source material for Mr. Toad, Splash Mountain etc. Does it really matter?

Oh, and bank it that you'll be riding these attractions (or making fun of them here because the Pixie Dust is strong in you!) before Bob Iger's replacement gets around to opening any new Star Wars product in the swamps.

Better than what we're getting or pretty much the same?

 

[Mike S]

Does this mean HHN will have Bowsers Castle?

Anyone?

Anyone?

Perfect for HHN, no?

 

[LuvtheGoof]

Thank Steve for a wonderful IGNORE system. My ignore list grows by the day on this site.

But you miss out on so much fun that way.

 

[the.dreamfinder]

I know it won't happen, but I would love to see these little guys.

 

[AEfx]

On top of a four year park rebuild.

So basically they are rebuilding the entire park in the same amount of time it takes them to build a little hill in Orlando?

 

[BrianLo]

So you're claiming that a Frozen attraction with 900 per hour capacity will have a different line than a Frozen attraction with 1800 per hour capacity... okay

YES!

You yourself just claimed the very same thing by pointing out Mermaid has low wait times due to massive capacity. I'm not here to argue the metric of what percentage of the capacity correlates to the percentage of wait time reduction, but to claim it is 0% isn't an 'opinion': it's absurd.

If anyone wants solid examples I point you toward:

1) Maters Junkyard Jamboree. A near doubling of wait times occur when one of the platforms (half the capacity) is taken off-line for refurbs.

2) Gringotts. As soon as extra vehicles were added to the cycle and therefore capacity increased, magically the wait times decreased. Who'd have thunk!

We don't have to 'wait and see', the theme park industry wasn't created yesterday.

 

[AEfx]

Your money is going to the Star Wars and Harry Potter parks. I think Nintendo may have a more powerful pull on a slightly older demographic. People like me that grew up with the originals.

I think people also forget that while we have nostalgia in the Nintendo brand, it's also very current. In the past ten years, they have sold over 200 million DS-family handheld consoles. They entirely own the handheld market, which is largely kid-based. Kids know very well all about Nintendo - just as well, if not better, than a lot of classic Disney properties.

This has been an astonishing about-face for Nintendo - I guess the tanking of Wii U really kicked them in the Goombas. Both this and the expansion into the smartphone marketplace (though, that has been much overstated and misinterpreted almost universally - you will not be playing Super Mario Brothers on an iPhone) have really gone against long-held company beliefs.

I welcome it - yet another exciting property, and I'm just tickled that Universal got it - that means they'll actually spend money and build cool things! And it won't be ten years in the future before we see anything. Just like Harry Potter, it was totally the right choice to marry the two. Disney simply is not willing to put the money in that these properties require.