Fixing Villains Unleashed

asianway

Well-Known Member
Charge more, keep out the riff raff
Quite honestly if it's mng centric $200 is probably the right price point to allow a better experience And give Disney their profit expectation. Question is-who would pay?

Scratch that, up it to $250 once you take away the studio subsidy
 

Bluewaves

Well-Known Member
Did they screw this up again, I tried going last Sept 13 when I was down in the World, it was a complete and utter *********** (fill in the blanks yourself) they ran out of hamburgers for gods sake, half an hour of it and I left and went to Epcot along with a lot of other angry people.

Seems like they can't learn their lesson, 12k shoved in to studios, yea that sounds horrible, they should have capped the place at like 6k, they need to run it like the hard tickets at MK, clear the park then let the hard ticket guests in.
 

fuzzyblanket

New Member
My first suggestion would be to group Villains with a common theme so that if people have to wait 90 minutes they get some value.

For example: Snow White's evil queen and witch and maybe Maleficent.

Or Dr. Facilier, Frollo and Governor Radcliffe ...

How about Darth Vader, Emperor Palpatine and Darth Maul?

You can't get 50, but maybe you can get a group and go on to the next thing...

The problem with grouping Villains is that you will have people in line who may only want one villain. That is fine and all, but what about this situation: "A" is waiting for only The Witch, Person "B" is waiting for The Witch, Evil Queen, and Maleficent, and Person "C" is waiting for only Evil Queen. You end up having a really really long line. You will end up having die-hard character hunters lining up about five hours in advance, and Person "B" is pretty much screwed (I don't think anyone is waiting 5 hours to see the Evil Queen when they can wait 5 hours to see something really rare). The line is drastically reduced if you separate the villains because then A, B, and C are all in different lines.
 

fuzzyblanket

New Member
My next suggestion would be to spread the merchandise around and make it available for pre-order with proof of purchase of an event ticket.

And while we are on the subject of pre-ordering, how about a villain character meal or a couple even, with advance reservations?

Character dining would be awesome if they make this an event that spans a few weekends. (i.e. SWW) I think it would be financially impossible to implement something like that for one night. Great idea though!

Pre-ordering merchandise is probably impossible. I was talking to CMs at the event and they had no idea how much merchandise they had and the boxes were not even open. Apparently management keeps the inventory under lockdown. Also, I think people like to be able to buy the merchandise at the event. Spreading it out might help, but they did open the line around 5, which was 3 hours before the event. Last year they opened up at 8, and the line was 3 hours long.
 

fuzzyblanket

New Member
My suggestions:

- More dates and lower cap (say, 6,000-8,0000 people instead of 12K)
- Grouped meets for villains
- More food and beverage options, including character meals and non alcoholic drinks
- Show in Premier Theatre (new or relocated)
- More Guardians at the dance party
- Sell more of the merch and at multiple locations

I want them to do it again so I can go. There's enough content to justify it for me, it just needs better organization and support.

Yeah, the Guardians dance party was one of the best parts of the night. If Rocket, Groot, and Drax are too difficult to make costumes for, then they could use the screens and have them appear as CGI or something. A lot of potential there.

I would like to see Villains Weeks (maybe only 2 or 3 weeks).
 

fuzzyblanket

New Member
  1. Do a Hard close at 6pm and reopen at 8pm for the event.
  2. Open at least 2 quick serve food options and keep them open until at least Midnight.
  3. Open at least one full service restaurant perhaps with a villans meet and eat (with advanced reservations)
  4. Group characters together when possible and had out return time tickets
  5. Have extra "Friends" of super popular characters to swap out during breaks (non face characters at least)
  6. Fireworks at 12 (midnight)
  7. Don't sell event specific Merch until the event has officially started.
  8. Have more maps on hand or at least place a few Big maps around the park for guests to use.

I think a hard close would be awful. I think thousands of people would be waiting outside, and they would sprint once inside.
 

fuzzyblanket

New Member
-The Brown Derby concept was awesome, however, a lot of people didn't go near it because it was too crowded. We would have liked to go in. I think the only solution is to offer the novelty food items in multiple locations around the park.

-The rotating characters of Gantu and Hamsterviel were poorly executed. We were one of the first people in Gantu's line, and a group of about 10 people in the Hamsterviel line had someone in Gantu's line (pretty much near the front). These people took their picture with Hamsterviel, and then jumped to the front of the line and proceeded to take individual pictures with Gantu. These were grown adults too, not kids. The one group took almost half of Gantu's first set, and we were lucky enough to make the first set. I felt terrible for the people in the second row. If you are asking why Gantu's line closed early...you can blame these grown adults who decided they each needed individual photos, and then multiple group photos. Disney has to draw the line somewhere. Thanks.

We tried to make the dance party by the stage, but they apparently closed it around 11:30 because too many people were lined up for the fireworks. I think it might need a a designated, roped-off area by the stage next year.

The hyenas were supposed to be roamers, and Disney didn't realize that they are really popular. I can only assume that they came out...over 100 people rushed them, and then the CMs were forced to make it an actual meet and greet. We didn't get to meet them because they cancelled them as roamers, and we didn't plan on a meet and greet. Had we known, we would have changed our plans.

I don't know how to improve merchandise. People are always going to be rude and purchase merchandise just to sell. They did limit it to two per person, and I was able to get a shirt for both of us. Keep in mind, they did open the line around 5:15, unlike last year when the store didn't open until 8 and there was a three hour line to get in. I waited around 30 minutes, and I wasn't in line until around 6:30.
 

roj2323

Well-Known Member
I think a hard close would be awful. I think thousands of people would be waiting outside, and they would sprint once inside.

They could open the back gate to the Hollywood Hills Amphitheater just past the entrance and next to Oscars (or alternatively use the one in front of the entrance) and direct all Villans Unleashed guests into the theater. They could do the opening ceremonies in the Hollywood Hills Amphitheater while the last of the day guests are being ushered out. Best of all they could eliminate the need for that ugly stage in the middle of the park.
 

MKCP 1985

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Pre-ordering merchandise is probably impossible. I was talking to CMs at the event and they had no idea how much merchandise they had and the boxes were not even open. Apparently management keeps the inventory under lockdown. Also, I think people like to be able to buy the merchandise at the event. Spreading it out might help, but they did open the line around 5, which was 3 hours before the event. Last year they opened up at 8, and the line was 3 hours long.

I wonder if Disney Parks could work with the Disney Store's website for pre-orders. I have seen with D23 that things do not always work seamlessly.

The multiple characters line seems to work in other contexts. To improve capacity, they could consider a 1 photo per person or group policy. That's been the rule at runDisney events forever. It wouldn't be great but it would really move the lines.
 

Mr Anderson

Well-Known Member
Cap attendence at realistic levels

2 maps per admittance

Same for T shirts - and order realistically enough. Friday 13th was an absolute nightmare and it sounds like they didn't learn from this either.

Double up on M&G characters. Maybe even triple up. Mickey can do it and so can a hard ticket event. DHS has enough empty space to handle this.

Possibly even include parking in the cost to limit queues and the absolute traffic nightmare of last year - and by some accounts this year too.

Fireworks at a reasonable time
I was there for the inaugural Unleash the Villains last year on Friday the 13th and it was indeed a nightmare. It was beyond overly crowded; I vividly recall a crowd of us standing on the curb, shoulder to shoulder, watching the stage shows, and a CM yelling at us to move off the curb. When we asked where we were supposed to move to, he had no answer. So for starters:

1. Well informed, well prepared Cast Members
I can't speak for this year, but last year, the CMs looked ill-prepared, visibly frustrated (understandably so, but this is Disney, we don't need to see that), and often frightened.

2. WAY more dates (at least 3 weekends)
This event is clearly a popular one! And why even stop at 3 weekends... why not have it happen as often as MNSSHP? Or even on the same nights to help out with capacity?

3. Limit capacity, for goodness sake!
By increasing the number of dates, you can limit the capacity for each night. I went to UtV '13 and felt so overwhelmed by the crowds, and thought "Oh no, is this how MNSSHP is going to be?!? It's going to be miserable!" But then we went, and it was like a breath of fresh air in comparison because they have a hard limit set.

4. Start earlier/multiple fireworks shows - Nevermind
The model Disney has in place for MNSSHP and MVMCP simply works. Multiple fireworks shows splits up the crowds. Having one fireworks show made it unbelievably crowded at the end of the night.

A combination of these things would help out a lot!

EDIT: I'm very tired. My bad on post #4. My sleep-deprived brain translated there being 2 Boo-to-You Parades into 2 Fireworks shows. Even I'm sitting here looking at what I said, thinking "I typed what??"
 
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roj2323

Well-Known Member
I was there for the inaugural Unleash the Villains last year on Friday the 13th and it was indeed a nightmare. It was beyond overly crowded; I vividly recall a crowd of us standing on the curb, shoulder to shoulder, watching the stage shows, and a CM yelling at us to move off the curb. When we asked where we were supposed to move to, he had no answer. So for starters:

1. Well informed, well prepared Cast Members
I can't speak for this year, but last year, the CMs looked ill-prepared, visibly frustrated (understandably so, but this is Disney, we don't need to see that), and often frightened.

2. WAY more dates (at least 3 weekends)
This event is clearly a popular one! And why even stop at 3 weekends... why not have it happen as often as MNSSHP? Or even on the same nights to help out with capacity?

3. Limit capacity, for goodness sake!
By increasing the number of dates, you can limit the capacity for each night. I went to UtV '13 and felt so overwhelmed by the crowds, and thought "Oh no, is this how MNSSHP is going to be?!? It's going to be miserable!" But then we went, and it was like a breath of fresh air in comparison because they have a hard limit set.

4. Start earlier/multiple fireworks shows
The model Disney has in place for MNSSHP and MVMCP simply works. Multiple fireworks shows splits up the crowds. Having one fireworks show made it unbelievably crowded at the end of the night.

A combination of these things would help out a lot!

I completely agree on points 1 and 2.

I disagree with you on points 3 and 4.

3) DHS's park capacity is more than 30,000 so I wouldn't call the event overcrowded, just poorly executed.

4) The problem is everyone thinks you need to be on Hollywood boulevard to get a good view when anywhere around Echo Lake is a good spot and a good portion of Sunset boulevard is great viewing as well. The problem is the monstrosity of a stage that eats up a 1/3rd of the open area at the end of Hollywood and also serves as a focal point unnecessarily drawing guests into standing in front of it. The second 1/3rd is eaten up by the BAH but that's another story. Besides the Frozen fireworks show which is happening nightly usually has a larger crowd and there are no issues.
 

CaptainShortty

Well-Known Member
I was there for the inaugural Unleash the Villains last year on Friday the 13th and it was indeed a nightmare. It was beyond overly crowded; I vividly recall a crowd of us standing on the curb, shoulder to shoulder, watching the stage shows, and a CM yelling at us to move off the curb. When we asked where we were supposed to move to, he had no answer. So for starters:

1. Well informed, well prepared Cast Members
I can't speak for this year, but last year, the CMs looked ill-prepared, visibly frustrated (understandably so, but this is Disney, we don't need to see that), and often frightened.

2. WAY more dates (at least 3 weekends)
This event is clearly a popular one! And why even stop at 3 weekends... why not have it happen as often as MNSSHP? Or even on the same nights to help out with capacity?

3. Limit capacity, for goodness sake!
By increasing the number of dates, you can limit the capacity for each night. I went to UtV '13 and felt so overwhelmed by the crowds, and thought "Oh no, is this how MNSSHP is going to be?!? It's going to be miserable!" But then we went, and it was like a breath of fresh air in comparison because they have a hard limit set.

4. Start earlier/multiple fireworks shows
The model Disney has in place for MNSSHP and MVMCP simply works. Multiple fireworks shows splits up the crowds. Having one fireworks show made it unbelievably crowded at the end of the night.

A combination of these things would help out a lot!

Don't know what MVMCP and MNSSHP you've been going to but there are only one fireworks show per evening. One parade and one fireworks show each night of the party. I'd love them to do Hallowishes multiple times per evening but that would never happen. It's to expensive and a logistical nightmare with fall-out zones and clearing areas to make it within safety guidelines.
 

Mr Anderson

Well-Known Member
Don't know what MVMCP and MNSSHP you've been going to but there are only one fireworks show per evening. One parade and one fireworks show each night of the party. I'd love them to do Hallowishes multiple times per evening but that would never happen. It's to expensive and a logistical nightmare with fall-out zones and clearing areas to make it within safety guidelines.
I'm very tired. I don't know where my sleep-deprived brain came up with that idea about the two fireworks shows. Great point about the safety guidelines; didn't think of that. However, you must be tired too... there are definitely two parades at every MNSSHP, and two parades at every MVMCP.
Source:
http://www.wdwinfo.com/holidays/halloween.htm
http://www.wdwinfo.com/holidays/christmas_world.htm
 

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