Are Guests now tired of "Shows" and only want "Rides"?

[haveyoumetmark]

Some shows are great. Some shows aren't. I was at Epcot and Animal Kingdom last weekend, missed flights of wonder, festival of the lion king, pocahontas, energy, honey i shrunk the audience, and the China & France movies. If you ask me, I think shows are overkill at the studios.

There's the parade, LMX, sounds dangerous, Indiana Jones, Muppetvision, Voyage of the Little Mermaid, Playhouse Disney, Beauty and the Beast, and Fantasmic.

Then there are a few walk throughs, journey into narnia, magic of animation.

An playground themed to an outdated movie, honey i shrunk the kids.

Then, the rides. Great Movie Ride, Star Tours, Rock n' Rollercoaster, and Tower of Terror. I honestly don't know where to catagorize the backlot tour, but essentially that's it.

That's like 10 shows, and 4 rides.

 

[KrazyKowboy]

Personally I think the shows are as big a part of the thrills in WDW as the major attractions. But I've found that there is so much to see and do in WDW, that you could be there 2 full weeks and still not see it all. Unless you're going to be there a full week or more, you'll find it difficult just to find your way onto all the rides in each of the 4 major parks. That's what keeps me coming back each year.

I find that with a 7 day Magic Your Way pass with Park Hopper and Water Parks and more options, you'll have time for the rides and plenty of time to enjoy most of the shows too. And there's always Disney Quest to conquer, Typhoon Lagoon and Fantasia Gardens Miniature Golf, and so much more.

Each year we work some of the shows into our itinerary that we might have missed the year before. One year we did Spirit of Aloha, last year Hoop De Doo Revue, this year it will be La Nouba. Last year I never made it to the American Adventure, but will most definately see it this year. And shows like Lights!Motors!Action! are a thrill a minute for me and my family. You can't miss Fantasmic either. I could go on and on there are so many, and all are worth your time.

On our first trip my wife and daughter thought they should stand in line to ride Space Mountain 5 times in a row. Same attitude when we got to BTMRR or Splash Mtn. It took me forever to convince them of all they were missing at the shows. Once I got my wife in the Hall of Presidents and she saw the show it began to sink in. After a few others they began to start thinking a little more like me about the shows. Now we can't wait each year for the next trip, because we know there's always something new to see that we might have missed the year before !

I can understand if you're only there for one day or have only one day per park. I'd probably concentrate on the rides as well. But I'd feel that I missed at least half the fun if my time was that restricted. I'd rather skip a year and stay at least a week when I did go if I had to pass up the shows on a short trip !

 

[KrazyKowboy]

There's the parade, LMX, sounds dangerous, Indiana Jones, Muppetvision, Voyage of the Little Mermaid, Playhouse Disney, Beauty and the Beast, and Fantasmic.

Then there are a few walk throughs, journey into narnia, magic of animation.

An playground themed to an outdated movie, honey i shrunk the kids.

Then, the rides. Great Movie Ride, Star Tours, Rock n' Rollercoaster, and Tower of Terror. I honestly don't know where to catagorize the backlot tour, but essentially that's it.

That's like 10 shows, and 4 rides.

Yeh, they sure make for a great park , don't they ? Gosh, I love MGM !!

 

[packwingfn]

For us, some shows are an every trip type of event. Others I feel can be skipped or don't need to be done every trip. Seriously, once you've seen the Canada and Norway films, is there any need to see them again & again?

I always like to see Canada Film every year mainly because I love the song that they play at the end. I know I can listen to the song at home but it's so much better when watching a 360 film.

 

[awalkinthepark]

I believe part of the problem is the show schedules...it forces you the think, schedule and plan. Going to Sea World is a pain in the because you have to be there early and plan to see the shows in a certain order....there really isn't much wiggle room. Isn't much of a vacation if you have to race from here to there..the last thing I want is to be heavily scheduled.....we just saw Flights of Wonder 2 weeks ago because it was loading the theater as we walked by it....it wasn't on a list of must do attractions...it was just convenient at that moment in time...10 minutes sooner and we would have walked right past it. We've only ever had PS/reservations once in the 24 years that I have been visiting the parks and that was for the dinner after our wedding....we wait to do table service during the slow times at the parks and are able to walk up and be seated..when the mood strikes us. I love the idea of the free disney dining package deals...but it forces you to plan ahead and that just doesn't work for us as a family. Nighttime shows are easy because it's the end of the day.

 

[DisneyFanLS]

I may be the "exception to the rule", but I SOOOO enjoy the live shows!!!!! Now don't get me wrong, my wife and I are HUGE thrill ride buffs, but we enjoy the shows just as much as the rides??!! :sohappy: As for me, I think my ALL-TIME FAVORITE live show has gotta be FANTASMIC!!! I'll pop the CD in on occasion and remember being there live....(okay...I said I was the "EXCEPTION" to the rule....didn't I???)...:drevil: Is it weird that I listen to MouseWorld radio all day at work?? (in fact right now I'm experiencing "Alien Encounter" as I'm typing this!!!...I'm gonna miss that attraction)....SOOO, for my vote it's neck and neck between rides and shows.... :wave:

 

[Epcot82Guy]

I really think it depends on perspective. My family and I have always been ride people. Even since I was a child, you could have a film, but if it had an omnimover or something, it was INFINITELY better. I think it is in my wiring. However, I think the Disney shows have their place. I do agree with the scheduling issue creating a problem. I also think shorter visits play into this. If you only have a couple/few days in the parks, most everyone (again, most) will hit up the rides first. They just tend to top the lists of people, so they take priority. However, there are many shows that rank up with them, and they have huge popularity (the nighttime shows, the 3D films, Turtle Talk, to name a few).

I think a psychological explanation may be the concept of permanency. When you take a ride-based attraction with fully developed sets, the entire surrounding allows the brain tos uspend disbelief easier. A film based attraction makes this a bit more difficult. A live show is lesser still. Finally, a film-only presentation is the most (although Circle-vision helps a bit). The immersion feeling is just more difficult when you aren't ACTUALLY immersed. That is something any show will suffer from more than a complete environment. Therefore, the thrill factor (meaning it in the "heightened senses" and not necessarily "white knuckle" sense) will be easier to achieve.

 

[WildcatDen]

We enjoy the live shows at WDW. We tried to see them all last time we were there and only missed Festival of the Lion King because we had a Chef Mickey's PS to get to. We hope it is still there when we go back next November. We are also looking forward to the Nemo show. The kids loved them all, even Playhouse Disney. Funny, we have passes to King's Island north of Cincinnati and we have never made the time to see a show there in over 5 years. There it is Rides, Rides, Rides.

So to answer the original question, where Disney is concerned, we value the shows nearly as much as the rides/attractions.

 

[Teenchy]

I think for me it is everything that Disney has to offer all rolled up together that makes it great for me. I love the rides, shows, characters-everything. We went to Six Flags N.E. this summer. We went on all the rides, etc. It just didn't do it for me. It felt like I was at a glorified fair. Disney is not that at all. The ambience there just sucks you in, and that is due to the rides, shows, and characters. If you lessened the amount of one thing it would change the whole experience. That's my opinion anyway.

Could not have said it better. Thats why I'm quoting you!

I think if Disney pulled all the shows, all the street performers, all those little things that make it different it would be just an amusement park, not a theme park. And I also think all the people who say they just love the rides, i.e coasters, etc. would realize what was missing, its what makes Disney different. Yes Splash Mountain is a ride, but to me its a ride through a show. Even EE has show type elements within a thrill ride rollercoaster. I think its what made Disney different when it opened. It wasnt just a carnival or fair, it was so much more. Now to compete places like Universal etc. have had to copy those ideas.

Its what makes me go back to WDW over and over again and to Universal about every decade.

 

[slappy magoo]

I think awalkinthepark makes an excellent point. Even if/when you know you want to see a show, if the rhythm of your day doesn't match the show schedule, you could find yourself constantly missing a show for what you're currently on line to experience.

I think another problem with many shows (Heaven protect me from the theater freaks) is that even the best, most-seasoned performers can have problems making a show seem fresh and new after performing it multiple times a day, day after week after month. I see a fair amount of Broadway, and believe it or not, it's true there, too. People get burned out performing the same roles, dancing the same dances, singing the same songs after a point. Not only that, but because the shows rely on you doing the exact same thing over and over again, performers can start feeling like AAs themselves, hit your mark, hit your note, jazzhands! And the rest is on autopilot.

And that sort of "here we go again" mentality subconsciously can get caught by the audience, who then feel less-than-thrilled to be there. It may be easier for people whose shows involve audience participation/interaction, or to the younger audiences who will be more overwhelmed by the spectacle of it then feeling any sort of nuance form any one performer.

I know that's why I like Adventurer's Club & even the Improv club in Pleasure Island. The stuff might be kinda corny and safe as far as humor goes, but that element of newness, that theoretically anything can happen, shows in the way the actors just stand there, let alone do their business called show. I think that sense of "danger" no matter how tame is one of the reasons people liked Superstar Television so much, which was just people interacting with a green screen. It's why people seemed to love the Monster House Sound Effects film more than the "Sounds Dangerous with Drew Carey" attraction. It's not just that its audience participation, it's that sense of danger because things might not be perfect. A dance routine done the same way by a listless cast can be about as exciting as watching cars being built on an assembly line. No matter how interested you were, that interest begins to wane...

Of course, I could be talking out my brownie factory. For all I know, casts are rotated so often that there isn't enough time to be bored by what you're doing. Feel free to correct me. Of course, if the casts get mixed-and-matched, then you're bound to have even MORE mechanical performances, because you're dealing with someone new and with a need to be precise, you don't want to deviate from the norm at all. So therein lies a similar set of problems.