Len Testa Crowd Analysis

[ford91exploder]

My French is meh. And I know they won't appreciate me using Spanish with them! Have you tried ili? You speak into it and it translates it to the other language. If you add another, the other person can translate from them to you.

Yes i've tried illi, works reasonably well, But by making the effort to even be partially fluent. You gain an enourmous psychological advantage,

Example i spent quite a bit of time in quebec learned some french at home but by trying to use french people spent time helping me speak proper french and i got much better service from the hotel I stayed at.

 

[Neverland44]

I have not been but as far as the park goes I have read many people that are english speakers say there is no problem and you don't get the "attitude" if you don't speak French. Have you tried Google Translate? I cannot see spending $200 when you can get it for free or just do what Americans have done for centuries. Speak louder and say it again in English. Seems to be what is expected of you.

Or are you saying your native tongue is Spanish?

My native language is English and I'm bilingual in Spanish.

 

[Neverland44]

Yes i've tried illi, works reasonably well, But by making the effort to even be partially fluent. You gain an enourmous psychological advantage,

Example i spent quite a bit of time in quebec learned some french at home but by trying to use french people spent time helping me speak proper french and i got much better service from the hotel I stayed at.

My Spanish improved immensely by making friends with native speakers and using Spanish media to read and watch.

 

[voodoo321]

I think you're right. It's only a while before they add one however.

I'm eyeing the deal for extra nights and free kid's tickets at dlp right now. Where did you stay when you were there? Was the difference in language a challenge?

It's no problem whatsoever. The parks are 50/50 English/French. I had taken French in high school 25 years ago and practiced words and common phrases before the trip. I only ended up needing to use Bonjour, Bonsoir and Merci. Even though I really wanted to use the French I had worked on.
Even in Paris. If you say "bonjour", they pick up on your accent and immediately speak to you in English. They don't even give you a chance. To be clear that you don't speak French put a "hello" behind the "bonjour". You can practice "Je ne parle pas Francais" but I never had to use it.

 

[Phil12]

My native language is English and I'm bilingual in Spanish.

When I was in school, I done real good in English.

 

[jakeman]

In those days a razor and and an airbrush were used to 'edit' photos and yes the NKVD was very good with the photo editing tools of the day.

You got me.

Soviet Russia and The Walt Disney Company are exactly the same because of photoshop.

 

[jtweney]

I just listened to a podcast from DISUnplugged featuring @lentesta discussing the crowds so far in 2018. I highly recommend listening to it, his information was very interesting.

Apparently his wait time projections were significantly off for the start of 2018. Particularly, wait times in January were worse than almost any month in all of 2017. The thought of wait times in January being close to Christmas level is insane.

After analyzing the data from many angles they came to the conclusion that Disney is running the parks with reduced staffing, and consequently reduced attraction hourly capacity, resulting in longer wait times even though there might be fewer guests than normal.

He goes on to mention a few different motivations Disney may have for doing this, including the obvious reason being that they are simply saving money to the more complex thought that they might be trying to artificially control apparent crowd levels in order to justify price increases and ticket price yielding.

I hadn’t seen this being discussed anywhere on here so I thought I’d mention it. Hopefully Len will chime in, I think it’s a topic worthy of discussion.

I know personally the increased crowd levels over the past decade have really made my trips less enjoyable. We used to enjoy visiting in the off season and with the seemingly constant crowding there is now, I find my trips less enjoyable. Disney is going to reach a breaking point somewhere with this kind of management. I know for me, that point is rapidly approaching.

Just returned and wait times for everything were ridiculous - up to 3 hours for SM let alone the newer attractions. Apparently Disney was having an issue with fast passes. Magic hours, still on wait times. We have often travelled in March but this was worse than Christmas five years ago. Literally could not move from so many people. Granted, Disney is adding new attractions to draw in the crowds but after this trip I fear we will never go back, and that's saying a lot. My daughter and I have been going once and sometimes twice a year, driving down from Toronto Canada, but it's no longer enjoyable. Dinner at Chef Mickey's the waiter told my daughter to get her own ketchup - Disney what have you done?? We didn't even get service in our hotel room. Rides constantly breaking down, fast pass issues. Sorry Disney but your service no longer meets standards, let alone exceeds them.

 

[ford91exploder]

You got me.

Soviet Russia and The Walt Disney Company are exactly the same because of photoshop.

The mindset is the same, And as a major media company I find that mindset frightening.

Remove a former executive's photos from website and public materials reasonable and is done every day.

Edit historical records such as photos to make it seem said executive never existed - sorry that is indeed Stalinist.

 

[ford91exploder]

Just returned and wait times for everything were ridiculous - up to 3 hours for SM let alone the newer attractions. Apparently Disney was having an issue with fast passes. Magic hours, still on wait times. We have often travelled in March but this was worse than Christmas five years ago. Literally could not move from so many people. Granted, Disney is adding new attractions to draw in the crowds but after this trip I fear we will never go back, and that's saying a lot. My daughter and I have been going once and sometimes twice a year, driving down from Toronto Canada, but it's no longer enjoyable. Dinner at Chef Mickey's the waiter told my daughter to get her own ketchup - Disney what have you done?? We didn't even get service in our hotel room. Rides constantly breaking down, fast pass issues. Sorry Disney but your service no longer meets standards, let alone exceeds them.

But,But Disney is better than ever according to the 'Moms Panel'.

 

[jakeman]

The mindset is the same, And as a major media company I find that mindset frightening.

Remove a former executive's photos from website and public materials reasonable and is done every day.

Edit historical records such as photos to make it seem said executive never existed - sorry that is indeed Stalinist.

As much as I'd like to argue this with you, I don't want to.

You operate in a place where you find it's easy to compare one of the most savage leaders of the 20th century who killed millions with an entertainment company that makes cartoons.

That's not a place where I'm willing to go. So enjoy your continued residence there.

 

[wdisney9000]

Just returned and wait times for everything were ridiculous - up to 3 hours for SM let alone the newer attractions. Apparently Disney was having an issue with fast passes. Magic hours, still on wait times. We have often travelled in March but this was worse than Christmas five years ago. Literally could not move from so many people. Granted, Disney is adding new attractions to draw in the crowds but after this trip I fear we will never go back, and that's saying a lot. My daughter and I have been going once and sometimes twice a year, driving down from Toronto Canada, but it's no longer enjoyable. Dinner at Chef Mickey's the waiter told my daughter to get her own ketchup - Disney what have you done?? We didn't even get service in our hotel room. Rides constantly breaking down, fast pass issues. Sorry Disney but your service no longer meets standards, let alone exceeds them.

Just to be fair, my wife just returned home last night from a 6 day trip to WDW. They had a great time. She said MK got very crowded in the afternoons, but its also Spring Break season so that is to be expected. She said, Epcot, HS, and AK all were very enjoyable and had decent wait times. She also said that they had some of the best service from CM's she has seen in a long time. Great service at their ADR's and a few missed FP windows that the CM's fixed and gave them paper FP for.

Sorry to hear your trip wasnt as enjoyable. It is Spring Break season and the MK can get a bit hectic with all the kids and stroller

 

[Brad Bishop]

The mindset is the same, And as a major media company I find that mindset frightening.

Remove a former executive's photos from website and public materials reasonable and is done every day.

Edit historical records such as photos to make it seem said executive never existed - sorry that is indeed Stalinist.

I agree with you. It's a little like spending time cutting your ex out of your photos. Good or bad (probably bad) they were a part of your life. There's no getting away from it. Cutting them out says more about you than them.

 

[Clowd Nyne]

This thread gives me anxiety. I gotta stay away so I can continue looking forward to my trip at the end of April.

 

[ford91exploder]

As much as I'd like to argue this with you, I don't want to.

You operate in a place where you find it's easy to compare one of the most savage leaders of the 20th century who killed millions with an entertainment company that makes cartoons.

That's not a place where I'm willing to go. So enjoy your continued residence there.

Thought makes you uncomfortable well it should, Totalitarians like to rewrite history,

Having a media company actively rewrite History is a scary concept, Just like when O.J. Simpsons skin color was made darker to make him look more threatening, or the squibs placed in the GM trucks fuel tank to enaure an explosion on impact.

Acts like this have no place in society, and the people who do them need to be drummed out of the media.

 

[xdan0920]

There are a lot of people who really don't want to be there. It's not Disney's fault. From seeing it the main parts are:
- They think it's too expensive and/or spending money on such an endeavor sucks
- They're not pleased with their spouse / don't really like who they married (I think some people pretend that going to WDW will somehow "fix" their marriage issues)
- They just don't like Disney. Maybe their partner does, maybe they don't. They're miserable and will make sure others are miserable. Maybe they did it for the kids.
- They're just having a fight/bad day.

IMO: If you don't want to be there, then you shouldn't go. If you agree to go because your partner really wants to go then don't crap on their parade and make it miserable for them. Enjoy it the best you can and try to see it through your partner's eyes. It doesn't have to suck. You don't have to make it suck.

I agree with you. It's a little like spending time cutting your ex out of your photos. Good or bad (probably bad) they were a part of your life. There's no getting away from it. Cutting them out says more about you than them.

This is getting a little personal friend.

 

[jakeman]

Thought makes you uncomfortable well it should, Totalitarians like to rewrite history,

Having a media company actively rewrite History is a scary concept, Just like when O.J. Simpsons skin color was made darker to make him look more threatening, or the squibs placed in the GM trucks fuel tank to enaure an explosion on impact.

Acts like this have no place in society, and the people who do them need to be drummed out of the media.

Again, you exist in the space where you can't distinguish between a government regime that slaughtered and oppressed millions and a cartoon company that photoshopped a couple of guys out of a photo that's hanging on the wall in a quick serve.

The fact that you can't tell those two apart is what is disturbing.

You know what else has no place in society? Rampant, willful dishonesty, but somehow that gets a pass on your moral compass, doesn't it? So you don't get to lecture about ethics or morality because all evidence points that you, at least in this space of the internet, have none.

 

[asianway]

Do a cruise and splurge on your excursions.. that will build lifetime memories... more than dancing with foamheads in a warehouse.

Unfortunately, that offering was cancelled due to lack of budget

 

[lazyboy97o]

Thought makes you uncomfortable well it should, Totalitarians like to rewrite history,

Having a media company actively rewrite History is a scary concept, Just like when O.J. Simpsons skin color was made darker to make him look more threatening, or the squibs placed in the GM trucks fuel tank to enaure an explosion on impact.

Acts like this have no place in society, and the people who do them need to be drummed out of the media.

So you’re comparing yourself to Stalin? Because you sure do like to rewrite history and make up history too.

 

[Cesar R M]

but isn’t it a little screwed up for Disney to intentionally inflate wait times during what are actual slow times?

Not at all, their main reason is try to again push harder to sell more food, snacks and merchandise. By forcing people to depend entirely on fastpasss and getting them sick from waiting on normal queues.. they are literally pushing them all to stores and restaurants(harder now with the removal of almost all the seating on all parks). Its pure blatant manipulation and crowd management than actually giving better service.

This is pure wall street "cost cuts and efficiency" against service quality.

 

[Cesar R M]

Thought makes you uncomfortable well it should, Totalitarians like to rewrite history,

Having a media company actively rewrite History is a scary concept, Just like when O.J. Simpsons skin color was made darker to make him look more threatening, or the squibs placed in the GM trucks fuel tank to enaure an explosion on impact.

Acts like this have no place in society, and the people who do them need to be drummed out of the media.

You do not need a totalitarian regime to rewrite history.
Almost every single country does their own version of PR, propaganda and "nationalism. In news ,schools, etc..

I have yet to see any school in the USA that actually informs their students of what caused Iran to become an enemy for example.
You will be surprised on how many "little" things are committed to make(the respective nations) look like "the good guys" with blindly nationalism disguised as patriotism.