zjer
Active Member
Aaaah, I'll miss it by two days.:brick:
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Living With The Land is now closed for rehab
- Thread starter OmegaKnight
- Start date
Aaaah, I'll miss it by two days.:brick:
Epcot82Guy
Well-Known Member
Actually, increased capacity is the exact reason. While all boats are on the canal pretty much all day, there are times when only 2 boats would be "live." This way, every boat can carry passengers from minute 1 of the day to the end of the day. This will dramatically change the line time. It also frees up a group (albeit not a huge group) of CM to work elsewhere.
raven
Well-Known Member
I'll be there on the 17th! :sohappy:
AEfx
Well-Known Member
A few opinions, FWIW :
1) Overall, I think the change to automation will be positive. I really enjoy "Living With The Land", it's very relaxing and fun, so I go on it quite a bit. The last year or two I have been largely unimpressed with some of the CM's doing the ride - using that "auction house" voice and looking abou as interested in what they were saying as nothing at all. That's not to say all of them were - I also had a few really cool ones lately. But it was just to hit and miss for me.
2) I will miss the ability to either ask questions or have the speil changed based on what's in the greenhouse. It was neat to have them say, "This just came in the other day, it's a..." I have a feeling that part of the tour will be much less interesting unless they have some way to automatically update it.
3) Although I love the FP there (I never, ever could understand how there was a 25 minute wait, but you could get a FP that would work in 30 min, and all these people were standing in line...?!?!?!), it makes perfect sense to get rid of it. It's not needed, never was. Was a nice social experiment, though, and I'd love grabbing a bite or drink in Sunshine Seasons and waiting for my FP time to come 'round, while the same people stood in a long line.
AEfx
AEfx
1) Overall, I think the change to automation will be positive. I really enjoy "Living With The Land", it's very relaxing and fun, so I go on it quite a bit. The last year or two I have been largely unimpressed with some of the CM's doing the ride - using that "auction house" voice and looking abou as interested in what they were saying as nothing at all. That's not to say all of them were - I also had a few really cool ones lately. But it was just to hit and miss for me.
2) I will miss the ability to either ask questions or have the speil changed based on what's in the greenhouse. It was neat to have them say, "This just came in the other day, it's a..." I have a feeling that part of the tour will be much less interesting unless they have some way to automatically update it.
3) Although I love the FP there (I never, ever could understand how there was a 25 minute wait, but you could get a FP that would work in 30 min, and all these people were standing in line...?!?!?!), it makes perfect sense to get rid of it. It's not needed, never was. Was a nice social experiment, though, and I'd love grabbing a bite or drink in Sunshine Seasons and waiting for my FP time to come 'round, while the same people stood in a long line.
AEfx
AEfx
kcnole
Well-Known Member
I think it's a very positive change. While there were times where you would get a great host from what I understand, I was never lucky enough to get that. In fact the last time I had this girl who I now call one note Linda. She had the most monotone and bored voice I've ever heard of. I think this will help lines tremendously by upping capacity and give the ride a much more enjoyable and consistent feeling to it.
Looks like I'll have to wait till a later trip to see the changes however.
Looks like I'll have to wait till a later trip to see the changes however.
marksniles
Member
I was there last week and it broke down the morning we got there. Maybe there's something wrong with it and that's why it is down for rehab. It is not even listed on their website as being down.
Mark
Mark
GoofyMom2
New Member
I'm glad it is scheduled to be open next month....we love that ride.
We are also thinking about doing the Behind the Seeds tour....does anyone know if we will need to make that ressie way in advance (because it fills up fast) or can we wait till we get down there? Trip is Sept 15...
We are also thinking about doing the Behind the Seeds tour....does anyone know if we will need to make that ressie way in advance (because it fills up fast) or can we wait till we get down there? Trip is Sept 15...
PintoColvig
Active Member
While I think this change will improve the overall experience of LwtL, I lament the loss of one of the few attractions that afforded some measure of spontenaity. It now becomes another very controlled Disney experience which can be both good and bad.
wannab@dis
Well-Known Member
Unfortunately, the "spontenaity" was fairly lacking. I've not had a decent CM in a while and that's caused me to see the attraction as second rate at best. Personally, it appears to be more of a management issue for not responding to CM apathy.
This change was probably seen as a two-fold fix... reduce the wait since they could run all the boats and reduce the overall staffing needs. It doesn't, however, address the primary reason for lackluster performance by some of the CMs. I'm not saying all were a problem, but I've not had a "good" CM in a while.
All that said... I think this will be a good change. Hopefully, they have designed the system to allow for quick changes for additions/changes to the greenhouse.
DigitalDisney
New Member
I wonder if they'll finally add an on-ride photo during this rehab... 
Seriously though, something had to be done to increase capacity. The ride used to have huge lines and a solid capacity too. Now it has long lines because they just don't run as many boats.
I wonder if they'll get rid of the shade over the boats as well...That would make things interesting, actually being able to look up.
Seriously though, something had to be done to increase capacity. The ride used to have huge lines and a solid capacity too. Now it has long lines because they just don't run as many boats.
I wonder if they'll get rid of the shade over the boats as well...That would make things interesting, actually being able to look up.
PintoColvig
Active Member
While I agree that removing the canopies would be neat, it would ruin the rainforest scene if it supposed to be raining but it's not raining in the boat.
Captain Hank
Well-Known Member
Most of our tour bookings are same-day, so it's not really necessary to pre-book. However, some of our tours later in the day do book up (we try to close the tours at 13 guests), so I would suggest getting to the tour desk early in the day to book your tour. The tour desk is located just to the left of the entrance to Soarin'.
Some of the CM's will be returning to the attraction after the rehab. Others are re-training elsewhere in Epcot or Walt Disney World. Several more were part of the College Program, and their programs will end during the rehab.
Epcot82Guy
Well-Known Member
Unfortuantely, the CMs were strictly tethered to the script. In fact, the greenhouse interns during the 2002-2003 period were instructed to specifically listen and report ANY deviations from the script. It really destroyed a lot of the enthusiasm from the cast members. So, recording is the solution. I think the loss of the live cast member will be a detriment, but I do think the recorded spiel will be better than a strict spiel told by a live CM (as we have had the past 4 years or so).
GoofyMom2
New Member
Thank you for the info! :wave:
One of the best CM we ever encountered was at LWTL.....long story but Jeff helped dry up the tears of a 6 year old boy and really added a lot of Magic to our trip. I hope he is still there.....
Captain Hank
Well-Known Member
Jeff? Hmmmm...I do know a Jeff who worked at Living with the Land. Might I ask when you encountered this Cast Member?
GoofyPalWalt
Member
What about Garden Grill?
Is Garden Grill still open? I just made res for December and no one said anything about not beong able to see the land from there.
Is Garden Grill still open? I just made res for December and no one said anything about not beong able to see the land from there.