News Big Thunder Mountain to receive full retrack

cjkeating

cjkeating

Well-Known Member
FerretAfros said:
Part of the problem is that all four of WDW’s parks have been so underinvested for so long that they simply don’t have the capacity to take much of anything offline for long enough to do the necessary maintenance. WDW has spent the last decade-plus doing everything they can to avoid building new attractions despite increasing attendance, leaving the parks in a state that require nearly everything to be operating every day of the year. Obviously this is an unrealistic expectation in a world of moving parts and heavy usage, where things naturally wear down and require maintenance, but it’s where we are at the moment.

To have adequate capacity slack to allow a basic ongoing maintenance regime, each park needs at least 2-3 more E-tickets and a handful of minor attractions. This would allow the park to continue to function while attractions are closed for maintenance during off-peak periods and provide extra capacity for peak periods (Christmas, spring break, etc.) when everything can operate simultaneously. We've had rumblings for years about how a park will fianlly be able to catch-up on major maintenance for certain aging major attractions once a new attraction opens (Pandora/Everest, Tron/Space Mountain, Tiana/Big Thunder, etc.), but in reality this never seems to be the case as attendance continues to grow faster than capacity.

This isn't a matter of "it would be nice to have," it's one of the basics of business in the real world. While this issue exists to a degree everywhere, it is especially bad in WDW, where attendance growth has outstripped ride (and to a lesser extent, dining) capacity for so long. Having additional overall attraction capacity would allow them to close things intermittently for regular maintenance and extended refurbishments without significant impacts to the park experience.
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100% agree with this. I suppose the question is what can WDW do about this in the short term to mitigate it?

The answer (and again I am stealing this from the Disneyland Paris 101) is entertainment. Someone on here can do a better job than me at listing all of the things that haven't come back since COVID or the pre-COVID Chapek entertainment cut but every little helps when you are over capacity. Main Street Trolley? Citizens of Main Street? Liberty Square Muppets? MISICI? Tinkerbell side of Meet Mickey. Stich's Great Escape queue meet? Once Upon a Time? Or underutilised space... Tomorrowland Stage? The third Storybook land tent? Get people onto Tom Sawyer's Island with exclusive food at Aunt Polly's? Get a button if you do all the park's theatre shows? Dare I say it... a night parade?

If I and many on here can think this up if someone cared about MK's capacity issues they can do the same in 10 minutes. Not saying all the above has to be run 365 as it can flex to seasonal demand but they have options as opposed to not closing a ride for refurbishment.
 
Bocabear

Bocabear

Well-Known Member
those are all great ideas! I especially love something special at Aunt Polly's... Long ago I remember Tom Sawyer and Becky Thatcher were regulars out there getting people to whitewash the fence...it was those little bits of character magic that were amazing...And if you didn't grow up with Tom, Huck and Becky, they still worked as kooky characters from Tom Sawyer's Island... You don't have to know to enjoy that little bit of atmospheric theater. TSI is really an underappreciated attraction...We loved it when we were kids...The cave, The escape Tunnel... So much fun for kids... Maybe like the other Magic Kingdom games they have used in the past, they could develop one specifically for TSI...Get people to really explore the island and then go to Aunt Polly's for her famous "whatever"... as long as it is not uncrustables...I think that is what they have had there for the last decade or more.... interesting food is a draw... I know that location is a bity tricky to stock, but it would sure be nice to look over and see it being used again...
 
Zummi Gummi

Zummi Gummi

Pioneering the Universe Within!
Bocabear said:
those are all great ideas! I especially love something special at Aunt Polly's... Long ago I remember Tom Sawyer and Becky Thatcher were regulars out there getting people to whitewash the fence...it was those little bits of character magic that were amazing...And if you didn't grow up with Tom, Huck and Becky, they still worked as kooky characters from Tom Sawyer's Island... You don't have to know to enjoy that little bit of atmospheric theater. TSI is really an underappreciated attraction...We loved it when we were kids...The cave, The escape Tunnel... So much fun for kids... Maybe like the other Magic Kingdom games they have used in the past, they could develop one specifically for TSI...Get people to really explore the island and then go to Aunt Polly's for her famous "whatever"... as long as it is not uncrustables...I think that is what they have had there for the last decade or more.... interesting food is a draw... I know that location is a bity tricky to stock, but it would sure be nice to look over and see it being used again...
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You used to be able to get a lemonade there and you could sit on the rocking chairs relaxing while the littles explored the island. Now I think it's just vending machines.
 
Bocabear

Bocabear

Well-Known Member
Zummi Gummi said:
You used to be able to get a lemonade there and you could sit on the rocking chairs relaxing while the littles explored the island. Now I think it's just vending machines.
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yup...the vending machines are terrible show too...since you are supposed to be on a 19th century Mississippi river island...
Tom Sawyer's Island is a real gem...they need to keep it that way. Bring back staff to keep the place open...with more interesting and better products to sell, it could help defray the cost of staffing.
something unique and exciting would get people to make the trip out there... and keep the island relevant.
 
bmr1591

bmr1591

Well-Known Member
cjkeating said:
100% agree with this. I suppose the question is what can WDW do about this in the short term to mitigate it?

The answer (and again I am stealing this from the Disneyland Paris 101) is entertainment. Someone on here can do a better job than me at listing all of the things that haven't come back since COVID or the pre-COVID Chapek entertainment cut but every little helps when you are over capacity. Main Street Trolley? Citizens of Main Street? Liberty Square Muppets? MISICI? Tinkerbell side of Meet Mickey. Stich's Great Escape queue meet? Once Upon a Time? Or underutilised space... Tomorrowland Stage? The third Storybook land tent? Get people onto Tom Sawyer's Island with exclusive food at Aunt Polly's? Get a button if you do all the park's theatre shows? Dare I say it... a night parade?

If I and many on here can think this up if someone cared about MK's capacity issues they can do the same in 10 minutes. Not saying all the above has to be run 365 as it can flex to seasonal demand but they have options as opposed to not closing a ride for refurbishment.
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Tinkerbell's M&G banner was removed a few weeks back.
 
ToTBellHop

ToTBellHop

Well-Known Member
I believe BTMRR will be open for the first Halloween Party. But, may not be open by Labor Day. Timelines are in flux a bit, however. They don't want to close BTMRR literally the day TBA opens.

Not terribly confident on exact timeline, though. Someone else may know more.

Still hearing under 18 months.
 
Disstevefan1

Disstevefan1

Well-Known Member
Apparently, there is an image of an Indian with headdress “carved” into the mountain at the top somewhere, I have just heard rumor of this but have never noticed it.

If it’s there, do we think it will be erased as part of this work?
 
Brian

Brian

Well-Known Member
ToTBellHop said:
I believe BTMRR will be open for the first Halloween Party. But, may not be open by Labor Day. Timelines are in flux a bit, however. They don't want to close BTMRR literally the day TBA opens.

Not terribly confident on exact timeline, though. Someone else may know more.

Still hearing under 18 months.
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I've heard the same thing about the length, as well as the desire to close in relatively short order, but not right as TBA opens.
 

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