Big Thunder Mountain Refurb

[WDW1974]

What's interesting to me is that as WDW performs more and more poorly in recent years, the answer from management seems only to be making the guest experience worse and worse. They see that revenue is down, room nights are down, per guest spending is down, attendance is down, etc., so their grand answer is not to step back and see the why people aren't visiting and spending like they used to (hint, hint...your product isn't as good as it used to be), but to make the product even crappier. It's a vicious cycle they've created. The less people visit, the more inclined they are to make cuts to the quality of the product while simultaneously raising prices. This is your plan to increase revenue? It's completely ridiculous and defies logic.

Um ... yeah ... ah ... I dunno what more to say as I agree.

I could tell you social media and Disney's takeover of 'independent' fan sites by providing some very 'special' people free trips/cruises/swag/party invites/brief supervised access to Imagineers and execs has played a large role because the pulse of the fan community in 2011 is akin to the people who think our country has never been better than now ... they keep pushing propaganda on their sites and fans say 'they must be telling the truth because they're one of us' ... Vicious cycle really.

The worse WDW gets, the more you read it is better than ever. Did the Commies take over our fan sites?

What did WDW do for its 40th anniversary year? If you answered almost absolutely nothing you'd win a LE Orange Bird pin.

~GFC~

 

[jmlester]

Oh No!

We are headed to WDW in Jan. 2011 for our 10th. trip (many with grandkids). Our bunch is REALLY bummed about not having Big Thunder Mnt. RR. available!::veryconfu

 

[Jakester]

We are headed to WDW in Jan. 2011 for our 10th. trip (many with grandkids). Our bunch is REALLY bummed about not having Big Thunder Mnt. RR. available!::veryconfu

They already invented time traveling ??
You using the CTX Time Rover ??

 

[nor'easter]

We are headed to WDW in Jan. 2011 for our 10th. trip (many with grandkids). Our bunch is REALLY bummed about not having Big Thunder Mnt. RR. available!::veryconfu

Well, just think how bummed you'd be if the thing crashed due to lack of maintenance.

 

[cheezbat]

I thought per-guest spending was UP???

And forgive me if I'm wrong, but doesn't WDW currently have about $1 billion in expansions under way? I'm not defending some of the recent shortcomings, but not everything is "Declining by Degrees." Main Street is looking gorgeous of late (until the ancient parade comes out every afternoon).

What Main Street are you looking at? Have you seen it at night? When I was there a few weeks ago, I counted over 200 lights out. That's VERY poor show. Bad maintenence.
And as for that billion dollar expansion number...well...it's a long time coming. It's just too bad more isn't being spent to add something to Epcot and to fix up Studios as well.

 

[hpyhnt 1000]

What Main Street are you looking at? Have you seen it at night? When I was there a few weeks ago, I counted over 200 lights out. That's VERY poor show. Bad maintenence.
And as for that billion dollar expansion number...well...it's a long time coming. It's just too bad more isn't being spent to add something to Epcot and to fix up Studios as well.

I do hope you weren't actually counting lights. You're right, the past couple of weeks has seen a rather large number of burnt out lights on Main Street but it happens. Even during the supposed maintenance hey day of the 80s and 90s there were burnt out bulbs.

 

[Jane Doe]

Disney World management is more concerned with the Jane Doe tourists who will accept inferior products.

And how do you come to that conclusion, Holmes?

 

[Jane Doe]

People are being critical of the timing of refurbs, but I wonder if they're being critical of the wrong thing. You could claim that in the case of Splash and BTMRR, WDW has put itself in a bad position because both went for too long without serious maintenance being done. In other words, a maintenance schedule that didn't focus on emergency work could actually bring about a more even handed distribution of timing with respect to refurbs even if attractions went offline more often.

Spot on.

 

[BigThunderMatt]

Can I just ask why everyone feels the need to chime in with the specific dates that they'll be visiting during the refurb and how it is relevant to the topic?

Honestly I think a lot of people do it to make others jealous that they're not going as soon as the poster, when really I personally couldn't care less.

Not wanting to be "that guy" but it feels like 3/4 of the posts in this thread are "OH NO we're going to be there (insert date) - (insert date)!" or "I'm so glad we're going (insert date) - (insert date) so that it will be open!"

 

[unkadug]

Can I just ask why everyone feels the need to chime in with the specific dates that they'll be visiting during the refurb and how it is relevant to the topic?

Honestly I think a lot of people do it to make others jealous that they're not going as soon as the poster, when really I personally couldn't care less.

Not wanting to be "that guy" but it feels like 3/4 of the posts in this thread are "OH NO we're going to be there (insert date) - (insert date)!" or "I'm so glad we're going (insert date) - (insert date) so that it will be open!"

For the same reason some people like to air their pet peeves. I just adds such a personal touch to the thread and gives insight to the poster's motives.

 

[nor'easter]

And how do you come to that conclusion, Holmes?

Elementary, my dear Watson. Just look around you.

 

[Orangelake555]

Unfortunately, Disney World management is more concerned with the Jane Doe tourists who will accept inferior products.

And how do you come to that conclusion, Holmes?

Elementary, my dear Watson. Just look around you.

I'm pretty sure nor'easter wasn't referring to Jane Doe the poster, but the general reference of a random person, Jane Doe. If not, nor'easter seems to have missed the point of ms. Doe's post

 

[Scuttle]

What Main Street are you looking at? Have you seen it at night? When I was there a few weeks ago, I counted over 200 lights out. That's VERY poor show. Bad maintenence.
And as for that billion dollar expansion number...well...it's a long time coming. It's just too bad more isn't being spent to add something to Epcot and to fix up Studios as well.

Have you seen the Grand Floridian? It is in worse shape than Main Street when it come to the white lights. Last time I was there I saw two rows of atleast 25-30 lights out. It looked very bad.

 

[janoimagine]

Have you seen the Grand Floridian? It is in worse shape than Main Street when it come to the white lights. Last time I was there I saw two rows of atleast 25-30 lights out. It looked very bad.

Its ... freaking ... embarassing ... the only popcorn lights that were on were the ones on Narcossees for the entire week of 10/2 ... the tower on the resort had 1 strip of popcorn lights on ... I looked at it then looked at a manager who was standing just to the right of the WL boat launch at the MK ... I said are you kidding me? He looked at me and I said; 'Did you guys forget to pay your electricity bill on your flagship resort?!?' He smiled and walked away.

You pay top dollar to stay at Disney ... and on such glaring issues like this I refuse to give them a free pass.

 

[Condorman]

You pay top dollar to stay at Disney ... and on such glaring issues like this I refuse to give them a free pass.

And still you go there, and still you post here, and so Disney wins. Works every time. Yeah, you're really sticking it to them. You go girl! :wave:

 

[Jakester]

We are headed to WDW in Jan. 2011 for our 10th. trip (many with grandkids). Our bunch is REALLY bummed about not having Big Thunder Mnt. RR. available!

They already invented time traveling ??
You using the CTX Time Rover ??

No one mentioned anything about my joke

 

[hpyhnt 1000]

I've found the popcorn lights on the Grand Floridian traditionally are always mediocre; simply put, there's more of them and many are higher up in harder to reach spots so more of them are burnt out on a regular basis. Yacht Club is in a similar bind. For that matter, if you want to talk about light outages, the pavilions of World Showcase are the ultimate popcorn light nightmare.

It's not an excuse, and I get the whole "We're fans, we have to critical" argument, but there are more pressing matters at WDW.

 

[janoimagine]

And still you go there, and still you post here, and so Disney wins. Works every time. Yeah, you're really sticking it to them. You go girl! :wave:

I fail to see your point Princess :lol: ... I love Disney ... always have, and it's because I love the parks and the company that things like this bother me ... and if you have followed any of my posts you would know that I think the whole company is not a reflection of what is happening in Orlando ... Orlando is it's unfortunately in a class all by itself, the cruise line is IMHO the best or one of the best Disney products out there, and who ever is in charge of the Cruise Line should show TDO what customer service and attention to detail really means.

But hey its ok, your new ... next time I will use smaller words so you will understand what it is I am trying to say ... 47 posts and your really making friends, nice start. :wave:

 

[janoimagine]

It's not an excuse, and I get the whole "We're fans, we have to critical" argument, but there are more pressing matters at WDW.

Add the floods on the bottom of the palm trees on Sunset Blvd. about half were out last week (Not to mention the mess of a show that has become the Muppetts). I know there are more pressing issues, but it starts small, like a few burnt bulbs, and then winds up like the mess that is Splash Mountain.

Not sure about the WS looking bad, Epcot in general looked the best I have seen it in a while, the new additions to Illuminations (new to me since last year ... IE the color washes on the countries during the finales, as well as the multi colored twinkinling led's looked great) also, the Color changers that are now on in the Imagination Pavilion at night look great too.

With regards to the GF, I am sure Disney could replace the popcorn bulbs with 25yr LED's however I won't hold my breath, it is TDO after all.

 

[hpyhnt 1000]

Add the floods on the bottom of the palm trees on Sunset Blvd. about half were out last week (Not to mention the mess of a show that has become the Muppetts). I know there are more pressing issues, but it starts small, like a few burnt bulbs, and then winds up like the mess that is Splash Mountain.

Not sure about the WS looking bad, Epcot in general looked the best I have seen it in a while, the new additions to Illuminations (new to me since last year ... IE the color washes on the countries during the finales, as well as the multi colored twinkinling led's looked great) also, the Color changers that are now on in the Imagination Pavilion at night look great too.

With regards to the GF, I am sure Disney could replace the popcorn bulbs with 25yr LED's however I won't hold my breath, it is TDO after all.

I get you on the "it starts small" idea; there is that fine line of what small things do you let slide before they begin to pile up and you start to realize things have gone too far past where they need to be. The up lights on Sunset are a bit harder to defend since they are at ground level (literally) and only require a CM with a screwdriver to fix them. Muppets has had problems for months now.

I agree, recently Epcot has been the best kept park out of the four. My only point in bringing up WS was to note another instance where building lights are not always functioning. As for the color washes and multi-colored strobes (not LEDs) during IllumiNations, both have been there since the show began in 1999. But they are easy to miss with all that happens during RoE.