Al Lutz: Carsland for WDW, FLE not Bringing in Guests

[doctornick]

Regarding Luigi's Flying Tires and not bringing that east, I have another suggestion for an alternative attraction. In Ramon's body shop, have a version of Goofy's Paint 'n Play House where one would be painting cars or auto parts. The Tech is already developed and (I would think) not that expensive. It's would be a small, family friendly addition that would be unique to WDW and the US parks and it would help to differentiate the WDW Cars Land from California.

 

[awoogala]

I also want a real Pizza Planet... the one they have now is a joke.

seriously. when we went there, I was SO excited. only to find out it's a 3rd rate chuck e. cheese. seriously, my chuck e. is a thousand times better than pizza planet. so sad.

 

[awoogala]

For an idea of what CAN be done with that many AA's when given the proper budget and top-notch maintenance... I give you Sinbad's Storybook Voyage at Tokyo Disney Sea.

Turn up your speakers and take in the AMAZING musical score.

see, now if you're going to clone- start cloning things like this! I would love this to come to wdw... and I could not give a rat's patootie about carsland..or avatar. sheesh, avatar is having a huge display opening at my local science institute, and I won't even visit it there, for free, as part pf my membership!

 

[Captain Neo]

I also really enjoy Mummy, Men In Black, Dragon Challenge, Despicable Me, Dr. Doom's Fear Fall, Flight of the Hippogriff, The Cat in the Hat, Poseidon's Fury and Popeye.

Dragon Challenge's queue used to be so amazing before it was changed to Potter. The moving stained glass window and the ice room were my favorite parts of the queue. I still like it, but it's definitely not what it used to be...

What is it like now? What did they replace those rooms with?

 

[RSoxNo1]

Both of those things are examples of Lousy Imagineering.

Is it lousy imagineering or poor decision making by people outside of Imagineering?

 

[RSoxNo1]

Regarding Luigi's Flying Tires and not bringing that east, I have another suggestion for an alternative attraction. In Ramon's body shop, have a version of Goofy's Paint 'n Play House where one would be painting cars or auto parts. The Tech is already developed and (I would think) not that expensive. It's would be a small, family friendly addition that would be unique to WDW and the US parks and it would help to differentiate the WDW Cars Land from California.

They should make it a 3d ride with two trains of double sided cars that's slow loading and only accommodates 1100 people per hour.

 

[ParentsOf4]

Is it lousy imagineering or poor decision making by people outside of Imagineering?

Big-time agree. We've read of many "interesting" projects drafted by Imagineering that never were realized because those controlling the purse strings decided those projects weren't financially worth the investment. This thinking seems to be more prevalent under Iger than any previous CEO.

 

[DocMcHulk]

A quick question for the insiders like @Lee and @WDW1974, with Carsland getting closer and closer to an actual bulldozers on the ground project, what about the other parts of the Pixar Place expansion like the Monsters Coaster and possibly Ratatouille Kitchen Calamity? Are either, or both, of those a go?

 

[Turtle]

E.T., harry potter, and Spider-Man have the greatest themed queues I have ever seen in my life.

I love Universal, and Spider-Man is tied for my favorite theme park attraction (with Forbidden Journey, Space Mountain, and Everest) but the queue isn't that great.

 

[Turtle]

Regarding Luigi's Flying Tires and not bringing that east, I have another suggestion for an alternative attraction. In Ramon's body shop, have a version of Goofy's Paint 'n Play House where one would be painting cars or auto parts. The Tech is already developed and (I would think) not that expensive. It's would be a small, family friendly addition that would be unique to WDW and the US parks and it would help to differentiate the WDW Cars Land from California.

i agree completely. i've said that forever! haha

 

[bubbles1812]

During the conference call, Iger explicitly stated:

Down to 81% with discounts during the popular Food & Wine, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas seasons is rather telling. This despite having a new resort (which usually attracts more guests, not less) and with the opening of the "New" Fantasyland. With nothing new coming online until the opening of SDMT, it doesn't bode well for 2013.

The simple math is if you build more rooms but don't give people reasons to occupy those additional rooms, the occupancy rate will decline.

I've ranted about it before but the "Value Resorts" are expensive now and building an even more expensive "Value Resort" does not encourage new guests. Neither, it appears, does the "New" Fantasyland.

P.S. The good news is WDW should continue to offer discounts for most of 2013.

Sorry Know this is an old post but I just wanted to speak to the truth about what Parents is saying... My mom and I are taking a 5 night/4 day trip to Universal and Disney, which we are currently on.

We looked at booking thru Disney. All the values were booked up at Disney but Art of Animation. When we computed what we would spend there vs what we would spend at the Dolphin (where we are staying) and AoA would have been substantially more expensive. Furthermore, we were curious if the values would cost less if one became available.. And nope they were equivalent. We ended up at a much nicer hotel located in a much more convenient location!

(Also just incidentally... I have talked to quite a few guests staying at AoA. The majority of them I was shocked to find absolutely HATE it. It turns out Eco air conditioners that are motion sensitive arent so great when they turn off and make your room sweltering during the day and at night when you are sleeping. That was chief among multiple problems that I heard)

 

[flynnibus]

Sorry Know this is an old post but I just wanted to speak to the truth about what Parents is saying... My mom and I are taking a 5 night/4 day trip to Universal and Disney, which we are currently on.

We looked at booking thru Disney. All the values were booked up at Disney but Art of Animation. When we computed what we would spend there vs what we would spend at the Dolphin (where we are staying) and AoA would have been substantially more expensive. Furthermore, we were curious if the values would cost less if one became available.. And nope they were equivalent. We ended up at a much nicer hotel located in a much more convenient location!

Hrmm.. well you shouldn't compare suites to single rooms.. but looks like Dolphin is about $215 and up for rooms right now and you have the resort fee+parking fee on top of that.

Values (Allstar) are $135 and up this week.. and Pop is $150 and up. Certainly the Dolphin is a much nicer room than the Pop.. but its also not as much room as a AoA Suite. (AoA LM rooms [not suites] are $150 and up this week).

 

[bubbles1812]

Hrmm.. well you shouldn't compare suites to single rooms.. but looks like Dolphin is about $215 and up for rooms right now and you have the resort fee+parking fee on top of that.

Values (Allstar) are $135 and up this week.. and Pop is $150 and up. Certainly the Dolphin is a much nicer room than the Pop.. but its also not as much room as a AoA Suite. (AoA LM rooms [not suites] are $150 and up this week).

We got that reduced by a TON by going thru Priceline. Paid less than $135. All it takes is some research. Also got discounted tickets for both Disney and Universal. And the rooms are pretty darn spacious. Either way All Stars would have been more expensive. And nope, no parking fee. Didnt use a car. But I know you like to be right Flynn so Ill let you have this one *rolls eyes*

 

[MickeyPeace]

We got that reduced by a TON by going thru Priceline. Paid less than $135. All it takes is some research. Also got discounted tickets for both Disney and Universal. And the rooms are pretty darn spacious. Either way All Stars would have been more expensive. And nope, no parking fee. Didnt use a car. But I know you like to be right Flynn so Ill let you have this one *rolls eyes*

The Dolphin is a great resort. I stay there often. I've never booked through Priceline though. Were you able to choose the Dolphin or did you get it by luck on a blind bid?

Often it is booked due to conventions.

 

[Genie of the Lamp]

The Dolphin is a great resort. I stay there often. I've never booked through Priceline though. Were you able to choose the Dolphin or did you get it by luck on a blind bid?

Often it is booked due to conventions.

I thought the S&D were hotels? I'd consider them resorts though cause they have the feel of one. What we do first is we go on the Starwood Hotels website then we log in and use our Starwood membership points and see what the reduced rate they have is. If it isn't what were willing to pay, then we just go to expedia or Priceline to see which deal is the cheapest. If I recall, the last time I went two years ago they had this special discount saying that if you stayed at the S or D for at least 6 nights, you'd get your 6th night stay for free. Do they still do/run that? Yeah those conventions are a reason why I myself perfer the Swan although they have their mighty share of conventions as well to. Plus they have queen beds in the rooms we chose to get (standard guest rooms) vs. the Dolphin which has double bed sized standard guest rooms.

 

[bubbles1812]

The Dolphin is a great resort. I stay there often. I've never booked through Priceline though. Were you able to choose the Dolphin or did you get it by luck on a blind bid?

Often it is booked due to conventions.

Yes we got to choose the Dolphin. Originally there was an option to pick the Swan too but it disappeared at some point as offers often do on those types of sites. There are a lot of conventions here this weekend though. It's actually been quite nice. Not that I don't like kids but I don't mind having quiet neighbors and hallways at night. And I I really really like the pool... Am actually heading there now as my feet have officially turned in their resignation

 

[BryceM]

What is it like now? What did they replace those rooms with?

The ice room is now very dark, with floating candles above your head (it's actually still pretty neat) and the room with the stained glass window looks like the tent that the champions were in The Goblet of Fire.

 

[ParentsOf4]

We got that reduced by a TON by going thru Priceline. Paid less than $135. All it takes is some research. Also got discounted tickets for both Disney and Universal. And the rooms are pretty darn spacious. Either way All Stars would have been more expensive. And nope, no parking fee. Didnt use a car. But I know you like to be right Flynn so Ill let you have this one *rolls eyes*

Like you, we've paid pretty good prices for the Swan and Dolphin with a little research. For example, we paid $139/night for the Dolphin for Thanksgiving weekend while ASM was $135/night for those same nights.

 

[Cody5242]

Just saw a pair of executives walk through Pixar place and go into backlot and backlot closed at 5. None if them looked like George

 

[dhall]

You're a Disney executive. The year is 2017 and you're thrilled the new Iron Man ride at DCA is pulling in the crowds and more popular than CL (if that's even possible). The year before you were also happy to see the CL clone at DHS also pulling in the crowds. Thank The Lord for the clone at DHS because that park was getting in some serious deep water with attendance figures before you opened it! Now, however, the MK is in big trouble attendance wise and needs a quick shot in the arm! Behold, you have Iron Man which you could now one there for a guaranteed fix! But wait! You can't! Universal will sue! Not fair... They cloned Harry Potter (we're still in the future) and that drove the crowds at their Hollywood studio AND they're cloning that über popular Transformers ride they opened in Orlando in 2014 for Hollywood which is sure also pull the Hollywood crowds... BUT we can't do the same thing they are doing with Transformers for Hollywood as we could do with Iron Man for WDW...

I don't know about you, but I wouldn't want to be in that CEO's shoes! The company should first make a friendly offer for its right to use its own rights. If they refuse to talk, then all out corporate war should be waged "Jack Tramiel style".

You re-theme the ride to focus on Syndrome instead of Tony Stark, and crank up the sarcasm.