Frozen at Disney's Hollywood Studios for the summer?

[peter11435]

Not every Hollywood Studios guest wants to experience every attraction either, but they don't have much else to choose from. That's the problem. The difference at DCA lies not in repeat guests, but in having a multitude and variety of (mostly) quality experiences to distribute crowds. The Studios park arguably lacks both.

Not every guest wants to experience every attraction. Some things don't appeal to everyone. Some things restrict certain guests based on health, age or height. However toy story mania is an attraction based on a highly popular film franchise. And can be experienced by virtually everyone. TSMM is not popular simply because it's at a park with few attractions. It's popular because it appeals to most everyone and most everyone likes it. Opening new attractions won't change that. People WILL still want to ride it.

And yes, the repeat guest factor does play a huge part. Guests who are visiting DHS for the first and sometimes only time are not going to want to miss a major attraction. At WDW there is a much higher percentage of first and once in a lifetime guests. DCA on the other hand is largely repeat guests, annual pass holders and locals.

 

[peter11435]

In a sense, Midway Mania (TSMM) does not actually have the capacity problem. Rather, the rest of the park is literally missing the capacity to draw people away from TSMM, simply for lack of other things to do.

TSMM does have a capacity problem. Which is why they have experimented with different loading techniques over the years to try any way possible to increase it slightly.

If there were more attractions in the park guests would obviously have other things to ride. But everyone who wanted/expected to ride TSMM but were unable to would still be disappointed they didn't get to experience it. If demand is greater than the supply ( which it is) Why wouldn't you do what you can to increase supply and satisfy that demand.

Again this is not to say they shouldn't add new attractions. They can and should do both.

 

[peter11435]

You cannot just arbitrarily make that assumption. Nor can we simply assume that increased capacity will substantially reduce wait times (potentially, shorter lines could produce increased demand).

And you can't arbitrarily assume that new attractions will lower demand for TSMM. It is far more likely that increased capacity at the attraction will lower it's wait time than adding a new major attraction that increases park attendance. Like I've said before it's not like people are riding TSMM multiple times because they have nothing else to do in the park. Most guests are lucky to get on it once.

You are correct that increasing capacity may not decrease wait times. The threshold for what guests are willing to wait will likely remain the same so average wait times will possibly not change. However, the point is that more guests will be able to experience the attraction. Thus less guests will leave disappointed that they were unable to ride. Which is the entire point.

 

[peter11435]

People are on many different agendas when touring the park. A second attraction, roughly equal in popularity to Midway Mania and with similar wait times, may well lead to some guests choosing one ride over the other. Most guests pick-and-choose attractions to some extent anyway. With a sufficient number of varied experiences, people just don't have time for everything - which leads us back to the real problem, and the proper solution, that the park simply needs more to do.

People don't have time for everything. And most things don't have time for all people. But most guests and certainly those visiting for the first or only time want to experience as much as they possibly can. Most people are not happy giving up one major attraction in favor of the other. They will want to do both. Look no further than how upset people are that they cannot get a fastpass for both soarin and test track.

 

[peter11435]

Many years ago, the Contemporary Resort was essentially booked solid year round. Not everyone who wanted to stay in the resort could be accommodated. But the solution was not to build a second (or third) Contemporary; Instead they built Caribbean Beach, The Grand Floridian, and all the others. Suddenly, the Contemporary wasn't booked up anymore, and you could often get rooms the day of arrival.

This analogy doesn't work at all. People didn't want to stay at the Contemporary because it was the contemporary. They wanted to stay there because it was a disney hotel. They wanted the convenience, experience, and piece of mind of staying on disney property. Disney satisfied that demand.

 

[Matt_Black]

Those are very good points. If there's a great new ride, then park attendance might very well shoot up, so there would STILL be a long wait for TSMM.

 

[PhotoDave219]

Here's a thought.... maybe if they built stuff right the first time, we wouldnt have these problems.

 

[englanddg]

Here's a thought.... maybe if they built stuff right the first time, we wouldnt have these problems.

<plops a BAH on Dave's head>

 

[RSoxNo1]

Here's a thought.... maybe if they built stuff right the first time, we wouldnt have these problems.

They underestimated Toy Story's popularity. More importantly, they underestimated the need for family friendly dark rides in that park and 6 years later have failed to catch up. I know I've argued both sides of this, but Star Tours 2.0 did nothing to help Toy Story's capacity. It's nothing against Star Tours, but an upgrade over what was there previously had no positive effect on Toy Story's crowds.

 

[FerretAfros]

This analogy doesn't work at all. People didn't want to stay at the Contemporary because it was the contemporary. They wanted to stay there because it was a disney hotel. They wanted the convenience, experience, and piece of mind of staying on disney property. Disney satisfied that demand.

But keeping with that analogy, how many people want to experience TSMM because it's Toy Story or a ride-through video game or whatever? They want to ride it because it's a pretty well-done attraction that the entire family can experience in a park that's full of things designed for a fragmented family (teens to the thrill rides, young kids to the character shows, adults to the edutainment stuff, etc)

I would argue that TSMM would be just as popular if it had a different theme or (heaven forbid!) no character tie-ins at all. It's a fun attraction, but the Toy Story connection on the ride itself is pretty tenuous. Yes, there is a subset of people who want to ride it simply because of Toy Story, just like there are people who want to stay at any given hotel because of its specific theme, but most do it because its an underrepresented type of ride in its park

 

[space42]

This analogy doesn't work at all. People didn't want to stay at the Contemporary because it was the contemporary. They wanted to stay there because it was a disney hotel. They wanted the convenience, experience, and piece of mind of staying on disney property. Disney satisfied that demand.

Actually - for me - that is a perfect analogy. Some people ride TSMM because there are ONLY 5 RIDES IN THE PARK
If there were more family friendly rides , there would be at least one less person in line for TSMM (that would be me). Park needs more rides, period. Even if they added 5 more tracks to TSMM it doesn't solve that fundamental flaw. This is why I hope the rumors of the makeover are true and that there will be NEW rides and NOT replacements. This park needs at least 3 more headliner and 6 smaller scale attractions ASAP. Same goes for DAK. Two additional attractions and a nighttime show do not make it a full day either...

 

[wdwmagic]

VIDEO - The wet weather edition of the Frozen Fireworks show at Disney's Hollywood Studios

 

[PhotoDave219]

They underestimated Toy Story's popularity. More importantly, they underestimated the need for family friendly dark rides in that park and 6 years later have failed to catch up. I know I've argued both sides of this, but Star Tours 2.0 did nothing to help Toy Story's capacity. It's nothing against Star Tours, but an upgrade over what was there previously had no positive effect on Toy Story's crowds.

How do you underestimate that?! Reinforces the idea that management really has no clue at times.

 

[Mike S]

How do you underestimate that?! Reinforces the idea that management really has no clue at times.

Especially when they focus their advertising on families.

"Just one family friendly ride is perfect for this park!!! Why on earth would we need more"?!?!?!

 

[Ignohippo]

Except that's not what would happen. There would still be the same number of people waiting for toy story mania. In fact, possibly even more due to increased park attendance driven by the new attractions.

Not true. People would then have CHOICES. If you pay almost $100 to get into an amusement park, you want to ride some rides.

TSMM is the ONLY ride that appeals to young kids and families at DHS in a resort centered around kids and families (and yes, you could argue Star Tours but Pixar is much, much more geared to younger kids). So, people have ONE CHOICE for a true family ride at DHS. ONE.

If you create more family rides, guess what? The families are then dispersed among those rides. Yes, the park may become more popular (since when is that a bad thing?) but you're have more than one option for them to go to.

You actually think Soarin' is so popular because it's an amazing ride? No, it isn't. Soarin' is outdated. Soarin' is a fun ride in another park that is severely lacking rides. People flock to it because there's so few other rides at EPCOT.

You take 25,000 people a day who want to ride rides and give them only 3 or 4 rides and you're going to have horribly inflated wait times. In TSMM's case, it's really the only option for a great family ride at DHS, so you've got almost everyone who comes through the front gate wanting to ride it.

 

[Ignohippo]

TSMM does have a capacity problem. Which is why they have experimented with different loading techniques over the years to try any way possible to increase it slightly.

If there were more attractions in the park guests would obviously have other things to ride. But everyone who wanted/expected to ride TSMM but were unable to would still be disappointed they didn't get to experience it. If demand is greater than the supply ( which it is) Why wouldn't you do what you can to increase supply and satisfy that demand.

Again this is not to say they shouldn't add new attractions. They can and should do both.

Who can go to MK and ride everything? There's always going to be disappointment that guests can't get to everything. That's life. If they could make a ride that has an hourly capacity of 10,000, I'm sure they would.

So what if Walt would have decided to just add more track to Peter Pan, Matterhorn, etc. instead of opening new rides? Everyone would get to ride them, but it'd be a pretty boring park.

I agree that they should do both, but adding a new track to TSMM is taking prime real estate that could be used to build a new attraction right in the heart of Pixar Place. The only other site for a ride would be the Backlot Tour.

So, you have to make choices. You can't have both a new attraction AND increased capacity for TSMM. They're choosing the cheap route and it's a shame. You will never get that plot of land back and in a few years TSMM will lose its popularity (well, not if it remains the only family ride in a family park).

 

[Ignohippo]

They underestimated Toy Story's popularity. More importantly, they underestimated the need for family friendly dark rides in that park and 6 years later have failed to catch up. I know I've argued both sides of this, but Star Tours 2.0 did nothing to help Toy Story's capacity. It's nothing against Star Tours, but an upgrade over what was there previously had no positive effect on Toy Story's crowds.

Toy Story and Star Tours are just simply different audiences. Yes, there's a lot of crossover, but nothing like Toy Story and Monsters Inc. or Toy Story and The Incredibles.

There just aren't enough rides that appeal to 6-11 year olds in DHS.

 

[Ignohippo]

Adding more attractions to a park that is sparse on attractions doesn't cause guests to skip rides, it causes guests to stay longer in the park.

Nonsense. It absolutely gives people choices. I choose IASW over Peter Pan all of the time because of Peter Pan's wait times (therefore also lowering Pan's wait times because it's one less family riding it).

I have other things to do at MK. There's little else to ride at DHS for a family with two small children.

 

[peter11435]

Nonsense. It absolutely gives people choices. I choose IASW over Peter Pan all of the time because of Peter Pan's wait times (therefore also lowering Pan's wait times because it's one less family riding it).

But you are not a typical WDW guest. You've been to wdw before probably many times and you've already been on PPF, also probably many times.

Imagine if you were visiting Tokyo DisneySea for the first and possibly only time. Would you be happy flying back home knowing you didn't ride Journey to the Center of the Earth. You can tell yourself all day that you experienced 20000 Leagues instead but you will still be disappointed that you didn't do both.

 

[Ignohippo]

But you are not a typical WDW guest. You've been to wdw before probably many times and you've already been on PPF, also probably many times.

You're kinda making my point for me now. There are no other options at DHS. That's why you need more rides. Having more rides gives people like me (and there are a lot of us APers out there) more choices.

Right now, us Annual Passholders get FastPasses for TSMM because it's the only family ride at DHS.

But, if you make more rides, we don't get that FastPass for TSMM, We get it for Monsters Inc, or Incredibles, or Ratatouille, or whatever, therefore alleviating wait times on TSMM.