'Disney Springs' - Downtown Disney expansion officially announced

jt04

jt04

Well-Known Member
Lee said:
By the same token, they could have announced they were turning the whole thing into an open air flea market and go-kart track and you would have fallen into paroxysms of joy and declared its brilliance.

Predictable...yes.
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Uh, no.

This new configuration really does resonate with me.

I want the Indy speedway vanquished to yesterland and would not wander into a flea market even to buy wdw74 a replacement set of sham-wows. o_O But old Florida, mission architecture and natural springs will get my attention every time.

BTW, anyone know the backstory for CityWalk? :p
 
flynnibus

flynnibus

Premium Member
Fe Maiden said:
I learned to drive on the golf carts we used when staying in the treehouses and fairway villas.
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I remember vividly once in the elevator in the Contemp... was the first time I heard everyone speak ONLY spanish. stood out to me as a child from an area with no non-english speakers :)

Back when the place used to wow me with things like automated faucets.. kid size boats you could take out on a huge lake... river country which was every kid's dream lake playground.. etc.

Maybe the answer is Disney just got too big.. which is kind of why I want to goto aquatica still.. the idea of a capacity limited place with freedom to do it all within the walled boundaries kind of intrigues me.
 
Fe Maiden

Fe Maiden

Well-Known Member
flynnibus said:
The Dining Plan has similar effects.. gotta get our money's worth.. so we gotta plan.. you force more meals then you might not have otherwise.. and missing meals becomes a 'loss' you try hard to avoid.. because again.. you don't want your money going to waste.
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We stopped doing the dining plan a few years ago and it was one of the best things we did to add some flexibility and spontaneity into our vacation. We still book ADR's but at least once or twice a week end up cancelling a reservation and when we've walked up later to a restaurant have always been fortunate to get a table. With the dining plan it was, stop having fun to go eat, no matter what.
 
PREMiERdrum

PREMiERdrum

Well-Known Member
flynnibus said:
((well thought out message from Flynnibus))
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Perhaps a two-tier pricing structure could work? A fixed cost of entry to any part of the resort: A true "Key to the World", necessary to access the theme parks, water parks, Downtown Disney Disney Springs, the hotels; everything within the perimeter. A modernized "ticket book" (likely ride credits on your card, a la Dining Plan) would be an additional cost to access the attractions.

Throw out the idea of separate, gated experiences. It's one Walt Disney World. Experience as you wish.
 
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djlaosc

Well-Known Member
flynnibus said:
Maybe the answer is Disney just got too big.. which is kind of why I want to goto aquatica still.. the idea of a capacity limited place with freedom to do it all within the walled boundaries kind of intrigues me.
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I would highly recommend Aquatica - for our entire party (even those who just lay on the sunloungers all day) said that Aquatica was the best waterpark out of the four (TL, BB, WnW, AqO) in Florida we have been to (Legoland wasn't around and it's probably too far away/we are to old for it) - great slides, a chance to see different animals - and, we were planning on getting there at opening (9am, I think) and leaving around 2pm like we do at the other water parks - when it got to that time, we decided to stay on, and we were actually there till closing!
 
jt04

jt04

Well-Known Member
WDWGoof07 said:
I'm just saying that it's pretty much the same stores you can find at any mall, only with more water features. Nothing to write home about or purchase a plane ticket just to see....This certainly will be an improvement for the area, but the plans don't come anywhere close to making the place as good as it was back in the LBV Village days.
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Unfortunately that version of WDW was paved over by success. Sometimes good, sometimes bad. So now we just make the best of what we get. And I think this new DTD will have some of that LBV Village vibe early in the morning and I will be there to enjoy it. With a waffle hopefully.
 
jakeman

jakeman

Well-Known Member
MattM said:
Really? We had a crew member (CM?) stop a child at the entrance to the adults kids pool and have them point out their parents and then went and got the parents to come to the child. As a matter of fact, I can't recall ever seeing a child in the adults only pool. I guess it just depends on who's working at any given time to how it's enforced...just like Fastpass.
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Not only the pool, but especially on the Dream they were all up in the bar area.
 
SirLink

SirLink

Well-Known Member
flynnibus said:
I think there are common themes in the replies from @djlaosc , @MichWolv, etc and I think that is 'steerage' to this behavior through the push for 'do it all', 'get your moneys worth', and 'you gotta plan or be screwed'

Long term reservations force you into planning.. which I don't think is bad in some views, but having to plan out everything means structure and pushes people.

The Dining Plan has similar effects.. gotta get our money's worth.. so we gotta plan.. you force more meals then you might not have otherwise.. and missing meals becomes a 'loss' you try hard to avoid.. because again.. you don't want your money going to waste.

The shear cost of the parks forces people to want to get their money's worth.. you've paid for the full day.. you should get your use out of it! In an evil sense.. if you had paid to play.. people would slow down and not feel they need to cram stuff in.

The matching of ticket duration to hotel stay and the MYW program encourages tickets for every day of your stay... the price structure also encourages 'just have tickets for every day'.. so again people feel compelled to be in the parks because they have tickets.

I can't help but think if Disney were a 'pay per experience' and had no actual gate admission.. the mindset would change. (yes I know there are other problems with open gate.. but focus on this influencer angle alone right now).

  • Make it so there is no penalty for not being in the parks...
  • Make it so there is little to gain from doing 'more more more' 'quick quick quick'... by getting rid of 'all you can eat' types of models within a set time frame...
  • Decouple park tickets from hotel stays...
  • Improve the out of park experiences to be unique in themselves...
  • Reduce the costs so you don't feel you MUST get your value...
Now some of these of course come with specific financial reasons to NOT want to do it.. many of these seem counter to what some advocate (like investing in a DTD project instead of a ride..)... but I think if you want to break the commando mentality, its these kinds of steps that are necessary to stop encouraging the 'go go go', 'get my value' mentality.

Because of those contradictions.. I can't see it really happening. But I guess I can still hope and dream :)
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I agree with a lot of your points, I'll add:-
  • I'm surprised that you Americans don't have a simple ticket structure like we do in the UK with 5/7 "Premium" tickets and 14/21 "Ultimate" tickets. I could see them doing well with a similar approach to ticketing.
  • Another point is when was the last time you knew someone who had a planning media where Disney actively advertised the other activities. For me it would of been 1998 Planning VHS (UK edition)
  • Another point is they actively cater for the "Commando" approach - which is down to Dinning reservations windows, and there are not enough attractions in any of the parks vs the attendance number. If they used the metric no guest should wait longer than 90 minutes in queue - it would work wonders.
 
M

MattM

Well-Known Member
SirLink said:
I agree with a lot of your points, I'll add:-
  • I'm surprised that you Americans don't have a simple ticket structure like we do in the UK with 5/7 "Premium" tickets and 14/21 "Ultimate" tickets. I could see them doing well with a similar approach to ticketing.
  • Another point is when was the last time you knew someone who had a planning media where Disney actively advertised the other activities. For me it would of been 1998 Planning VHS (UK edition)
  • Another point is they actively cater for the "Commando" approach - which is down to Dinning reservations windows, and there are not enough attractions in any of the parks vs the attendance number. If they used the metric no guest should wait longer than 90 minutes in queue - it would work wonders.
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5/7 and 14/21 days? Probably b/c the average American guest doesn't spend that many days at their Disney vacation.
 
raven

raven

Well-Known Member
WDW1974 said:
Well, I've heard the food at Splitsville ain't all that, so you could be right! :)

But he looked so uncomfortable and that was with a weak reporter from the O-Town Biz Journal. What would he have done with a real tough reporter asking questions?

And where the hell is @Lee and @raven and even @tirian? ... one might think they all have something to say on this.
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I've moved on to other things now that Disney Springs have been announced. :)
 

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