Rumor Guest Boat Rentals Not Returning

[chriskbrown]

When you move from 'the vacation kingdom' to the 'reservation kingdom' where you are paying $100/hr to do things faster it's hard to also convince people it's a resort where you should do things to slow down and take in recreation activities.

By Disney's take... Golf is a dead sport too because no one wants to play their courses either.

Golf is an interesting one - It has a resurgence during COVID. Live on a course that had a huge uptick. Disney wants us in the parks, or in the stores, or restaurants. The days of the Vacation Kingdom that actually advertised the outside the park stuff seems long gone.

 

[homerdance]

I enjoyed the boats. They were fun. A great thing to do on a non park day.

Surprised they are spending employee resources on opening these back up at all when they are claiming to be understaffed everywhere else.

And the removal of these is much more likely due to opportunity costs vs NPV. The boats could be paid off and cash flow positive, but if the guest would be spending more money (better "Yield") if they were at the parks, buying souvenirs,food, and buying park tickets, it is better for Disney to not offer this product.

 

[MaryJaneP]

a fleet of recreation boats that you farm out at $30/hr.

Wait...In what decade were the boats $30/hr?

 

[ToTBellHop]

Lots of great memories from the water sprites/sea raycers/water mice. Too bad.

 

[flynnibus]

Lots of great memories from the water sprites/sea raycers/water mice. Too bad.

Obviously you didn't pay enough for those memories or they'd still be offered... duh

 

[ToTBellHop]

Obviously you didn't pay enough for those memories or they'd still be offered... duh

I think it was more that I played games of chicken with the ferry boats…I was a stupid kid.

 

[corran horn]

Is it because we are conditioned to spend all the time in the parks? I loved these as a kid but there was one park. What's the break even on minigolf?

Sure, if you're on a boat you're not in a shop or a restaurant, either.

 

[DisneyNorthFan]

The sprites definitely brought some kinetic energy to the property. I'm sure this was a headache inducer, too. In ~15 trips to Disney, we rented the sprites on 2 of them. It was tied to a resort-only short stay, and one of those times when we stayed off-site. It got us on property for a resort lunch and dinner, though.

 

[SteveAZee]

I only did the sprites a few times. I do remember it was just a walk up experience, no reservations required. If the main cost is having cast members there (and gas, I suppose), reduce the hours and add a reservation system? I recall being able to rent them at both the Contemporary and the GF, so just do one? I'd definitely go on my next trip if they were available.

I guess like with DME, rather than present alternatives (like a nominal fee), they just pull the plug.

 

[FiestaFunKid]

If the main cost is having cast members there (and gas, I suppose), reduce the hours and add a reservation system? I recall being able to rent them at both the Contemporary and the GF, so just do one? I'd definitely go on my next trip if they were available.

I guess like with DME, rather than present alternatives (like a nominal fee), they just pull the plug.

They actually still have the cast members there renting the other boats. Maybe Iger or Chapek could have shaved just a few thousand off their combined 35M in bonuses last year to keep the tradition alive.........I know - I can hear a certain blog host now - "Did ya hit your head??"

 

[Jeffxz]

Are the pontoons back at all SSL/Bay lake resorts or just contemporary?

Are they allowing visitor parking at the resorts yet?

 

[corran horn]

I guess like with DME, rather than present alternatives (like a nominal fee), they just pull the plug.

Well, if the profit wasn't there and the liability was I can tell you they don't give a fig about 'kinetic' anything.

 

[Bullseye1967]

I only did the sprites a few times. I do remember it was just a walk up experience, no reservations required. If the main cost is having cast members there (and gas, I suppose), reduce the hours and add a reservation system? I recall being able to rent them at both the Contemporary and the GF, so just do one? I'd definitely go on my next trip if they were available.

I guess like with DME, rather than present alternatives (like a nominal fee), they just pull the plug.

They did just that with DME. Mears will run it for a fee and they wash their hands of it. If Mears chooses to do bag transfer also for a fee that was always a separate company anyway. You have to realize MDE was just Mears paid by Disney. Now it is paid by the guest.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

This is so disappointing, we did the sea raycers every trip, it was always our afternoon break from MK when it was super hot and the lines were crazy, monorail over to Poly, late lunch, and 45 minutes on the boat before heading back to MK for the evening. Guess we’ll go back to our hotel and hit the pool now, unfortunately it’ll take longer with the bus trips so we’ll be out of the park longer, maybe that’s what they want.