Fantasmic gets cut to just 2 shows per week

[Hakunamatata]

I agree for the most part that there are things they do to themselves that make it difficult to recover from, but unless my recollection is wrong when my bride and I honeymooned at WDW in November of 02, F! was not a nightly show. I may be mistaken.

 

[ssidiouss@mac.c]

With the news of Disney going into cost cutting mode with decisions like taking away the characters at Liberty Tree dinner and especially this news about making Fantasmic into a 2 day a week crowded nightmare, I decided to change my next disney trip from a 11 night vacation in March 2009 to a smaller 6 or 7 night vacation in December 2009. At least in December they'll be some more things to make up for the cut backs... unless they are gonna cheap out on christmas too. If that happens, then i'll be the one cutting, cutting down my trips once a year to once every 3 to 5 years. :hurl:

 

[unkadug]

I agree for the most part that there are things they do to themselves that make it difficult to recover from, but unless my recollection is wrong when my bride and I honeymooned at WDW in November of 02, F! was not a nightly show. I may be mistaken.

http://www.wdwmagic.com/fantasmic.htm

October 10, 1998: Reviews from the first days of the previews are that Fantasmic! is awesome! Infact it has been said that it betters the original in DisneyLand. There were a few technical problems on the first day, but all was as it should be on the second. The next few days are CM previews, then all being well October 15 should see full opening.

The public opening of Fantasmic! has been moved from Oct 1 to Oct 15. The preview performances for annual pass holders originally scheduled for Sep 25-27 has been moved back to Oct 9-11 (8pm after park closing). Once open to the public, there will be one performance nightly at park closing time. Cast members have said to expect two or more performances per night during peak seasons.

:shrug:

 

[Sleepy01]

I think the move is being made because it is the 'slow' season and it's an opportunity to save some money. I cannot say I blame Disney.

Here is an article from Jim Hill's site about how a lot of decisions being made (PI, Liberty Tree, etc.) have been financial.

 

[unkadug]

I think the move is being made because it is the 'slow' season and it's an opportunity to save some money. I cannot say I blame Disney.

Here is an article from Jim Hill's site about how a lot of decisions being made (PI, Liberty Tree, etc.) have been financial.

I got an idea for them to save money....quit giving away food!

 

[jakeman]

Wow guys, I hope your tin foil hats don't get hot in the summer.

Why must every decision that is made by Disney be seen as:

a) A peronal slight to you and your vacation.
b) A horrible mistake bent on wringing every dime out of you.
c) A plot to starve cast members.

Could it be that what JP has posted is actually true? The Disney Company (which seems to know what they are doing) see that there are now too many night time choices at DHS and has chosen to scale back some of the offerings?

Most of you are complaining about shows that you have not even experienced yet. Why not just wait and see and then judge the situation after you have experienced it first hand?

 

[unkadug]

Wow guys, I hope your tin foil hats don't get hot in the summer.
It does get a little toasty!
Why must every decision that is made by Disney be seen as:

a) A personal slight to you and your vacation.
b) A horrible mistake bent on wringing every dime out of you.
c) A plot to starve cast members.

Could it be that what JP has posted is actually true?I don't doubt JP at all! The Disney Company (which seems to know what they are doing) Is it really the company or some mid-level exec trying to get a bigger bonus?see that there are now too many night time choices at DHS and has chosen to scale back some of the offerings?
Is there really such a thing as too much at WDW, isn't that the whole idea, so much to do - so little time?
Most of you are complaining about shows that you have not even experienced yet. Why not just wait and see and then judge the situation after you have experienced it first hand?

Not complaining about any additions here, please see post 79

 

[sbkline]

I got an idea for them to save money....quit giving away food!

Either that, or use the same thinking behind free dining and apply it to the nightly resort rates. Apparently, the thinking behind free dining is that if you offer such a great deal, it will entice people to come down, they will have that many more people booking rooms, buying tickets and spending money while there, that it offsets the cost of the free food, resulting in more money for Disney.

Apparently, that economic theory has worked, or else they would have stopped after the first time they offered it. Yet, they seem to be offering it year after year, so I guess they were right...offering free dining results in more business.

Therefore, if they want to bring more money into the coffers, why don't they lower the prices on their resort hotels? Using the same thinking behind free dining, they could knock off 40 or 50 bucks a night on their rooms, more people would now feel like they have the money to visit, the resort hotels would be more full and more money would be coming in for the company.

 

[jmvd20]

Maybe Fantasmic is not nearly as popular or nearly as big of a draw for DHS as some like to think it is. Perhaps WDW management knows things that we do not and make their decisions based upon that.

 

[jmvd20]

Either that, or use the same thinking behind free dining and apply it to the nightly resort rates. Apparently, the thinking behind free dining is that if you offer such a great deal, it will entice people to come down, they will have that many more people booking rooms, buying tickets and spending money while there, that it offsets the cost of the free food, resulting in more money for Disney.

Apparently, that economic theory has worked, or else they would have stopped after the first time they offered it. Yet, they seem to be offering it year after year, so I guess they were right...offering free dining results in more business.

Therefore, if they want to bring more money into the coffers, why don't they lower the prices on their resort hotels? Using the same thinking behind free dining, they could knock off 40 or 50 bucks a night on their rooms, more people would now feel like they have the money to visit, the resort hotels would be more full and more money would be coming in for the company.

I think this would be a good idea, I know that if I could get a room for even 30-40 less a night this year we would most likely end up going again.

However, when we went for free dining I think I just ended up spending what we saved and then some at the gift shops!

Wait... maybe that is what they wanted me to do!

 

[pheneix]

If the show's popularity really is faling off at DHS then maybe it's time to replace it with something new. That ampitheater is WAY too large to sit empty five days a week.

 

[coasterphil]

Maybe Fantasmic is not nearly as popular or nearly as big of a draw for DHS as some like to think it is. Perhaps WDW management knows things that we do not and make their decisions based upon that.

It is as popular and as big a draw as everyone thinks it is. The only thing now is that maybe they think that TSM and AI will be enough that they can try and cut costs and not see too big a drop without Fantasmic.

 

[sbkline]

I think this would be a good idea, I know that if I could get a room for even 30-40 less a night this year we would most likely end up going again.

However, when we went for free dining I think I just ended up spending what we saved and then some at the gift shops!

Wait... maybe that is what they wanted me to do!

Exactly, that's my point. With free dining, on the surface, the company is out oodles of dollars giving away food. But it gets more guests to come down, so they end up with more resort bookings and ticket sales as a result, which makes up for some of the lost revenue from the food giveaway. Then the rest is made up of people like you who had an "excuse" to spend more at the gift shops. So in the long run, it makes them more money. It seems to me that if they can make money by giving away food for free, then how much more money can they make by continuing to charge for the rooms, but just cutting the rates back a little. If you charge 100 bucks for a room and have 100 people book for the night, that's 10,000 dollars a night. But if you cut the rates back to 60 dollars a night, thereby attracting another 100 people, then 200 people at 60 bucks a night would be 12,000 dollars, or a profit of 2,000 just on the hotel bookings alone...not counting the money that those extra 2,000 people would spend on food, souveniers, etc. Of course, I'm just making up numbers here...I don't know how many extra people it would attract, but I'm sure it would attract more than enough extra people to make a profit. The break even point would be 67 extra people. If they booked 167 people at 60 dollars a night, that would be $10,020, vs $10,000 for 100 people at $100 a night.

So instead of relying on ticking people off as their method to save/make money (by cutting back on popular attractions), I would think it would be more effective to bring in the extra bucks by thrilling people to death, such as cutting prices, and thereby getting more people to think that they can afford that trip after all, or afford to spend more money while they're there.

 

[maryszhi]

im sure they will add more during peek seasons

 

[bayoutinkbelle]

Many thanks to JP for confirming the decision. I'm not going to slam Disney for the decision, but I can say I won't be going to see AI in its place. AI does not appeal to me at all - never has.

If the company's bottom line is influencing these recent decisions, I certainly can respect that. I mean, I work for a company that saw second-quarter results go down 36 percent. I hope I still have a job by the end of this year! I'm still making my October trip, however, and am planning a weekend getaway in February. :ROFLOL:

This decision does make the Fantasmic dining option very attractive. I definitely will be using that, assuming it's still an option.

 

[DisneyFreak1228]

even during high-peak, fantasmic rarely completely fills the second performance.

The entire reason for multiple show nights is because the first show ALWAYS fills to capacity. And when you have 30,000+ people in the park, and a theater that only holds 7900+, you're really not left with much more of a choice but to offer a second (or on some nights a third) showing for those who are frustrated they couldn't get into the first one. It also offers those who want one last ride on Tower or Coaster or TSM or whatever ride they choose before park close.

Disney will probably cite guest surveys and lower attendance as the reasoning. Which is crap, considering Fantasmic still has a high approval rating, and is still one of the attractions that a lot of guests plan their entire trips around.

I will say this: After informed of the news last night, I also got wind that cutting F! down to two nights a week has something to do with American Idol. I don't know what exactly, but that's what's going around apparently.

 

[drew81]

Drew, you know thats because Block Party has contracted out the stunt performers. You also know thats because regular Ent CMs kept getting hurt and couldn't constistantly do the performances. They had their chance and they F'd it up. Whatcha gonna do? :shrug:

I heard about some injuries, but I know there are a lot of Entertainment CM's still cast at Block Party into Fant! All I'm saying is the way Disney Casting handled everything involved with Block Party/Fant wasn't right. They sent people out of Fantasmic that had given so much to that stage without a care in the world. Now I'm wondering how everyone at Fant! will get their hours once this change starts. Hopefully they'll still be able to.

 

[DisneyFreak1228]

Now I'm wondering how everyone at Fant! will get their hours once this change starts. Hopefully they'll still be able to.

Ops cast was told that a lot of them will most likely be laid off.

As for Ent, they'll probably just be recast to another show or parade. As of the news dropping last night, the entertainment CM I spoke to in the parking lot said they weren't told of anything concerning their hours yet.

 

[DisneyGigi]

Well I think that this totally stinks!! :brick: It is going to make it so hard to get into on the nights that it is offered. Hope you wioll still be able to do the Dinner Package that will harder to get too.
If it has to do with the AI thing I really don't get it. I don't see that as being an experience that everyone is going to want to see. It wouldn't be worth staying at DHS like Fantasmic is. IMO

 

[unkadug]

Ops cast was told that a lot of them will most likely be laid off.

As for Ent, they'll probably just be recast to another show or parade. As of the news dropping last night, the entertainment CM I spoke to in the parking lot said they weren't told of anything concerning their hours yet.

See post #79 they are going to back themselves in a corner on this one!

Say goodbye to Fantasmic! they might as well get the bulldozers and fill it in!