Entertainment cuts

[The Empress Lilly]

Looking at the SWGE response.....
Cheapek : 10 hour waits in lines are not good.
Also Cheapek: Cut back everything

The pundits keep flocking the parks for reasons entitely unrelated to any Chapek policy. He can cut and slash and replace timeless creativity with tiresome homogenized junk, and the parks go from strength to strength regardless. While Chapek thumps his chest thinking the success Disney Parks is owing to his policy. It's quite maddening.

 

[ToTBellHop]

Nonsense.

Walt Disney World Attractions

Walt Disney World Attractions

www.wdwmagic.com

Disney's Animal Kingdom Overview

Disney's Animal Kingdom Overview

www.wdwmagic.com

Disney's Hollywood Studios Overview

Disney's Hollywood Studios Overview

www.wdwmagic.com

EPCOT Overview

EPCOT Overview

www.wdwmagic.com

Magic Kingdom Overview

Magic Kingdom Overview

www.wdwmagic.com

Disney Springs Overview

Disney Springs Overview

www.wdwmagic.com

Walt Disney World Events

Walt Disney World Events

www.wdwmagic.com

Walt Disney World Recreation

Walt Disney World Recreation

www.wdwmagic.com

Disney World Tours

Disney World Tours

www.wdwmagic.com

That wouldn’t fill two weeks unless you’re doing five-hour days in the parks and not showing up until 11. You’d have to relax hard to spend two weeks at WDW alone.

2 weeks in Central Florida is more reasonable.

 

[Magenta Panther]

Without any added streetmosphere or shows, its just another amusement park.

Yeah, okay. Maybe you'd best spend your time at Six Flags or Coney Island. Since you wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

And I'd just like to point out to those here who think the puppet show is more relevant than Sword in the Stone...um, Sword in the Stone is a genuine Disney-adapted animated film, so yeah, it has way more Disney-park street cred than the unnecessary felt-and-foam-rubber ill-conceived acquisition...

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

But note how silent the same critics are when things are added.

I loved the muppets from the first time I saw them. I also loved the Pixar orchestra in DCA which recently got cut as well. I even thought the dance party at studios with the equity (Streetmosphere) hosts was the best a dance party could be.

 

[gmajew]

extremely disappointed by this decision.

 

[Maccabee18]

Disney seems to have forgotten that their biggest shareholder is the customer in the gates, not always the paper shareholders. For a company that keeps boasting record profits those need to be reinvested into the parks and maintain or improve what exists already.

Throwing money into new rides and themes is great, but if they are going to keep increasing tickets and adding more private paid events they need to have the entertainment and value to go with it. If attendance is going down which is great to balance crowding, they need to evaluate if the Entertainment they are providing is a value add, otherwise I agree to get rid of it, but it needs to be replaced with something that adds value and experience to the guest.

 

[Oddysey]

Absent a direct comparison of all the entertainment added during the same time period, the litany of what has been discontinued is pretty meaningless - just another context to bash the company out of context.

I challenge anyone to open themselves to all the entertainment options that someone (anyone) appreciates and attend them all within a two week vacation so that they have time left that they cannot fill with some entertainment being offered. You won't run out of entertainment, and that's what really matters.

You are correct in a sense, but as customers why do we have to lose something to gain something at a time when prices are rising at an unprecedented pace?

Yes, we are not going to run out of entertainment, but there are some shows, even small ones that may appeal to guest more than a full attraction. Having a large amount of options also ensures that a guest is less likely to repeat experiences and can have new experiences, even small ones, with each trip.

In my opinion, it’s the little things like the Sword in the Stone or the muppets that separate Disney from the competition. The small things are the seasoning to a well cooked steak. They add to the “magic.”

 

["El Gran Magnifico"]

Nope. In our society, when you're talking about the relationship between a supplier and a customer, such things are measured in dollars: How many dollars are guests on average willing to spend extra to have something specific. The disconnect happens when someone thinks that their own personal valuation trumps that of the average guest's valuation.

Except that entertainment is not sold as an upcharge in this case. There is not a cost associated to the guest. (although I'm sure there is a percentage calculated on ticket cost/budget that goes to this type of entertainment).

I'm sure there's a metric used to gauge this (as unreliable as it may be). I don't happen to know what that metric is. Maybe you do.

The point here is that ancillary entertainment options do impact guest satisfaction. And that is completely subjective to the guest. To say the Muppets are more or less important than the Dapper Dan's or the street performers at DHS is purely opinion.

 

[Oddysey]

Gotta make up for that hurricane donation somehow! But seriously, every time Disney makes a large “donation” there always seems to be cuts made somewhere that effect employees. Not saying it goes hand in hand but seems plausible.

With all the talk of PR management, are you just trying to point out Disney made an in kind donation to a good cause in order to redirect the conversation.

 

[ppete1975]

Then please do us a favor and provide a current list of in park entertainment that will fill a daily two week vacation. I've got news for you bud, you won't.

Why would anyone spend 2 weeks at any theme park? Wdw prob has more than any other theme park in the world and 5 days is stretching it. You want 2 weeks explore the world

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

Why would anyone spend 2 weeks at any theme park?

are you new here? I’ve spent over a week visiting Disneyland resort. Ha.

 

[brb1006]

Parades and fireworks are really just a misdirection/distraction...

What MATTERS is building appropriate levels of attractions available ALL the time to enhance the pull of the parks and their longterm viability

Or we can have both.

 

[PizzaPlanet]

This is kind of a weird thought, but I have to wonder if the loss of this show will result in lower attendance at the Hall of Presidents. After all, Sam Eagle would encourage guests to see the show and proudly mention that he has box seats.

 

[brb1006]

Oddly enough... my local park... Dollywood, has atmosphere entertainment in every area of the park. A 3-piece string band in wildwood Grove, a larger string band on showstreet, a 50’s acapella group in the 50’s section, a juggler in wilderness pass, and miss Lillian the chicken lady improv in the valley. This is in addition to their theatre shows.

I heard Dollywood also looks very beautiful during the Christmas seasons (especially at night). They have an annual Christmas parade at night filled with Christmas lights. They also have the characters from the Rankin-Bass version of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" such as Rudolph and Clarice meeting and interacting with guests (complete with an indoor section).

 

[brb1006]

Living Statues are a third party company. It’s likely they left because they couldn’t come to an agreement. I haven’t been to Disney Springs in a while. Are they still there nightly?

I remember seeing one of the Living Statues near the building that used to have La Nouba.

 

[TrojanUSC]

That nighttime parade certainly WAS needed. It added that touch of magic that is required in every Disney park. Disney's claim to fame in the theme park industry is not that they own the IP or that they have the best rides. It's the magic and everything that encompasses.

Fireworks are only one small part of it. Now days you need to stand in the crowds in front of the castle to even understand the show.

Cast Members make up about 50% of the magical atmosphere, be it the everyday cashier who takes the stress out of the crowded store situation, the person making your frappuccino who adds mickey ears to your name on the cup, or the person emptying the trash cans who stops to make sure a crying child or elderly guest holding arm is okay. Reducing positive human interaction is a bad move in itself and worthy of a whole other thread.

The parade was music, lights, interaction and just pure happiness that felt like it should be bottled to take home. The park has felt empty since it left - It needs to be be returned.

I love a nighttime parade but operationally it would be a nightmare today given how they’ve hitched their wagon to these projection-based fireworks shows which cause tens of thousands of people to camp out for an hour or more on Main Street and the hub, making crowd control for a parade a veritable nightmare. It’s why Disneyland traditionally runs a Fantasmic show and a WoC about the same time as the fireworks end, to break up the crowds a bit.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

I love a nighttime parade but operationally it would be a nightmare today given how they’ve hitched their wagon to these projection-based fireworks shows which cause tens of thousands of people to camp out for an hour or more on Main Street and the hub, making crowd control for a parade a veritable nightmare. It’s why Disneyland traditionally runs a Fantasmic show and a WoC about the same time as the fireworks end, to break up the crowds a bit.

The crowds are so bad because now all the night-time guests want to see fireworks where before they were split up between fireworks and 2 showings of the night parades.

At Disneyland.... I noticed less crowding for fireworks this summer when the night parade was running.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Why would anyone spend 2 weeks at any theme park? Wdw prob has more than any other theme park in the world and 5 days is stretching it. You want 2 weeks explore the world

Two weeks is a tad nuts...unless Its a “one time/long time” type situation

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Or we can have both.

Yes...but people going Gaga over fireworks...waiting and buying upsell cupcakes...takes heat off an unfortunate truth: Bob Iger has not built nearly to the appropriate level to strengthen the parks. High crowds, high angst, high prices

 

[flynnibus]

For everyone whose been rooting for GE to fail, this is what we get.

pfft... this entertainment culling has become the norm well before GE. Remember when everyone was freaking out about the music performers in EPCOT getting axed? The other WS entertainment? DL and DCA go through this CONSTANTLY.

It's some sort of mindset in live entertainment for P&R... they don't seem to want any show to become too long running, even if they are doing well.