Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World

homerdance

homerdance

Well-Known Member
UNCgolf said:
Who said anything about best?

I think Frozen Ever After is among the worst rides at EPCOT (and at WDW overall), but that's not relevant to what we were discussing.
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I guess I am not sure what #1 ride means to you?
UNCgolf said:
Frozen is probably the #1 ride at EPCOT, or at least it was the last couple of times I was there. It had the longest waits and nothing else was even close -- the wait was 30-45 minutes longer than for Test Track or Soarin'. Ratatouille will probably surpass it now, though, as the new thing.

I also think you're way off base with your last sentence. People who have been going to Disney for years go for those rides, but they are not big draws for any new visitors and probably haven't been for 20+ years, even though the rides you mentioned (along with Haunted Mansion, Pirates, Spaceship Earth, etc.) are among the best rides Disney offers.

While I was specifically talking about rides and not overall visits, I still think you're slightly off there. HP is definitely the biggest draw, but there are a ton of people going to UOR for Velocicoaster now and the IP is really not a factor for that ride.
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T

Touchdown

Well-Known Member
CaptainAmerica said:
I'm sorry is this a joke? Universal parks are quite literally 100% branded IP. They've never come up with a single solitary idea of their own. Of all the pro-Universal cases you could make, this one ain't it.
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The Lost Continent in IOA (although it’s now essentially gone) disagrees with you.
 
homerdance

homerdance

Well-Known Member
James Alucobond said:
He literally said in the post you quoted that he was referring to it as #1 by popularity (and resultant high wait times), not any objective measure of ride quality.
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Exactly. Long lines doesn’t mean it’s the most popular, the riders it gets per hour is way less then soarin. So yeah, soarin is more popular because more people ride it.
 
Casper Gutman

Casper Gutman

Well-Known Member
CaptainAmerica said:
Now we're really starting to contradict ourselves. Velocicoaster is an ugly piece of crap hunk of steel and if Disney built one, people would be rioting in the streets about the sight lines. It is not a triumph of design and creativity.
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Velocicoaster is heavily landscaped, adds needed scenery and kinetic interest to a portion of the park that was empty and bland, and isn’t particularly obtrusive elsewhere. It is less offensive to sight lines then Tron, Guardians, and Harmonious. Twenty years ago, I’d have agreed naked coasters had no place in WDW. But Veloci fits the area in which it is located better then many of Disney’s additions.

As for IPs, what Uni doesn’t have are brands that inspire massive segments of consumers to excuse absurd pricing and diminished quality because Elsa or Pooh or Mickey is slapped on a wall. Uni has nothing like the nostalgic hooks of WDW. It’s brand is built on the park experience of today, not positive memories of a park that ceased to exist two decades ago (because two decades ago Uni was pretty bad). As I said above, the things that gave the WDW brand meaning have largely drained away - now it’s largely empty symbols. For the most part, Uni lacks those symbols, whether it wishes it had them or not.
 
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EricsBiscuit

EricsBiscuit

Well-Known Member
CaptainAmerica said:
I'm sorry is this a joke? Universal parks are quite literally 100% branded IP. They've never come up with a single solitary idea of their own. Of all the pro-Universal cases you could make, this one ain't it.
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I guess you didn’t read the rest of the post. They know they can’t rely on their IP to carry them across the finish line so they put actual effort into making the attraction good. Disney specializes in expensive mediocrity.
 
J

James Alucobond

Well-Known Member
Casper Gutman said:
Velocicoaster is heavily landscaped, adds needed scenery and kinetic interest to a portion of the park that was empty and bland, and isn’t particularly obtrusive elsewhere. It is less offensive to sight lines then Tron, Guardians, and Harmonious. Twenty years ago, I’d have agreed naked coasters had no place in WDW. But Veloci fits the area in which it is located better then many of Disney’s additions.
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That it is perhaps less offensive than literal exposed show buildings and tech that was meant to be housed backstage is not much of a feat. It is still a rollercoaster that makes no pretense of being anything else and is not attractive by any objective measure unless you simply appreciate an exciting-looking coaster. Its curves look like someone went crazy with the Bezier handles in Illustrator.
 
flynnibus

flynnibus

Premium Member
CaptainAmerica said:
The argument I responded to was "Universal doesn't rely on IP, they rely on quality and creativity."

Velocicoaster is not evidence in support of this claim.
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Velocicoaster is a quality and creative roller coaster. Arguments about original theme concepts have nothing are indifferent to the core concept that it's a solid coaster with fun design and execution.

You've already stated how UOR offers nothing that appeals to you - you don't seem to be able to separate yourself from your evaluation of it or why it does actually draw millions a year.
 
flynnibus

flynnibus

Premium Member
Casper Gutman said:
Velocicoaster is heavily landscaped, adds needed scenery and kinetic interest to a portion of the park that was empty and bland, and isn’t particularly obtrusive elsewhere. It is less offensive to sight lines then Tron, Guardians, and Harmonious. Twenty years ago, I’d have agreed naked coasters had no place in WDW. But Veloci fits the area in which it is located better then many of Disney’s additions.
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It's a tubular coaster that is overlaid over an entire waterfront and pathway area .. including huge vertical elements that clash with the whole decor of the land and even it's neighboring HP land.

It's appreciated for being a great coaster experience - not for 'fitting' or lacking a visual impact. It's nearly as bad as Rip Rocket.. just around more landscaping then warehouses.
 
J

jpinkc

Well-Known Member
I think it has more to do with people waiting for 50th to start and schools being in session. Some people are just getting back into the office too. My brothers company still has his whole workforce working from home and he is in finance industry. Cerner which has a large presence in our area has pretty much abandoned all there office buildings and only have skeleton crews still coming in. So its not all normal yet.

Oh yeah and all that Covid thing too :(
 
homerdance

homerdance

Well-Known Member
mikejs78 said:
Yes but the dropoff happened earlier than normal and was steeper than normal (relative to 2021 attendance levels)
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September is always a great time to visit because of the crowds, the big downside is the heat and hurricane season. I am not sure you can compare this years numbers to the last few because of the impending 50th and all the new that is going on. Though it is nice for those that are there and aren’t concerned about the 50th.

The last all star resort wasn’t scheduled until December, so 2000 rooms (ish) that didn’t come back online. In addition, the people who had booked there are being moved to other value resorts. Which is telling that those other resorts are soft too.

Maybe once the delta bump goes down, or they let in Canadians again we will see the openings/demand recover. Or maybe it will recover once Disney shares more details around G$$+, since most people staying in the values are more concerned with the value proposition vs Being Disney bubbled.

I personally believe these changes (a huge price increase) will drive the value customers to offsite, universal, or just not Disney.
 

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