Lord of the Rings: Return of the Rumor

[Disneyhead'71]

There are lots of reasons with DHS though, it was meant to be a working studio with a proper tram tour that would take several hours to experience, therefore the original park 30 years ago didn't need as many attractions. It took a long time for the park to move away from this and in the process it added a lot of shows and other attractions.
Rides aren't the only thing that are an attraction. If that is the main thinking then Epcot only has about seven attractions.

Yeah, I remember DHS it's opening year. I have been going to WDW since 1971. Even with the 4 hour long tour, DHS was a half day park. After they cut up the tram tour, they need to start aggressively expanding the park. They didn't.

And concerning Epcot, it is also under built in regards to capacity. Removing multiple 15+ min. attractions with 4 min. attractions has gutted the parks capacity. But they did fill the gap with a boat load of alcohol.

DAK is also under capacitied.

Even the MK is under capacity when you take it's popularity into consideration.

Yep. When it comes to capacity, shows pull a lot more guests through than a lot of ride attractions. For citing capacity issues, one should absolutely consider shows as capacity increasing attractions. Also the quality of the average attraction is important for park capacity (queues are the most dense cluster of guests). The average ride at DHS is much more popular than the average ride at say USO. So while USO may have 4 more rides, the difference in park capacity is much smaller.

Yes, shows provide a lot of theoretical capacity, but with 25 year old shows and a lot of repeat visitors, all the shows except Indy and F! are playing to half full or less houses.

It was the same issue Ellen's and GMR faced. Huge capacity and yet almost always walk ons running half empty cars. Sort of like how much F&F helps USFs capacity.

 

[Jon81uk]

Yeah, I remember DHS it's opening year. I have been going to WDW since 1971. Even with the 4 hour long tour, DHS was a half day park. After they cut up the tram tour, they need to start aggressively expanding the park. They didn't.

And concerning Epcot, it is also under built in regards to capacity. Removing multiple 15+ min. attractions with 4 min. attractions has gutted the parks capacity. But they did fill the gap with a boat load of alcohol.

DAK is also under capacitied.

Even the MK is under capacity when you take it's popularity into consideration.


Yes, shows provide a lot of theoretical capacity, but with 25 year old shows and a lot of repeat visitors, all the shows except Indy and F! are playing to half full or less houses.

It was the same issue Ellen's and GMR faced. Huge capacity and yet almost always walk ons running half empty cars. Sort of like how much F&F helps USFs capacity.

Or is your expectation of the park different?

I have never found animal kingdom to be significantly lacking. It definitely could do with a couple more attractions, but I have also spent half an hour just watching the gorillas, its the sort of park you can't judge purely on ride count.
I agree that future world is very different to how it was 30 years ago, but the tastes of the nation change and people prefer quick bursts of information or thrills now. But again Epcot can't be judged just on rides, world showcase is built on just looking round and enjoying the scenery.

 

[Disneyhead'71]

Or is your expectation of the park different?

I have never found animal kingdom to be significantly lacking. It definitely could do with a couple more attractions, but I have also spent half an hour just watching the gorillas, its the sort of park you can't judge purely on ride count.
I agree that future world is very different to how it was 30 years ago, but the tastes of the nation change and people prefer quick bursts of information or thrills now. But again Epcot can't be judged just on rides, world showcase is built on just looking round and enjoying the scenery.

Any park can be a full day park if you spend a couple of hours sitting on a park bench watching the primates.

 

[Santa Raccoon 77]

Any park can be a full day park if you spend a couple of hours sitting on a park bench watching the primates.

Kinda semi the point of AK

 

[Disneyhead'71]

Kinda semi the point of AK

Yeah, I can really only spend about 10 mins. watching animals sleep in the shade. I do enjoy seeing them, reading the info plaques, and chatting with the CMs throughout the walking trails. But almost always when I have been most of the animals are sleeping.

As far as animal exhibits/interactions, I think Busch Gardens does it better. Watching the Cheetahs running full speed is cool. Watching tigers sleep, not so much.

 

[JT3000]

Any park can be a full day park if you spend a couple of hours sitting on a park bench watching the primates.

Well yeah, but you don't even have to go to a park for that.

 

[Jon81uk]

Yeah, I can really only spend about 10 mins. watching animals sleep in the shade. I do enjoy seeing them, reading the info plaques, and chatting with the CMs throughout the walking trails. But almost always when I have been most of the animals are sleeping.

As far as animal exhibits/interactions, I think Busch Gardens does it better. Watching the Cheetahs running full speed is cool. Watching tigers sleep, not so much.

Oh yeah the sleeping tigers at Busch was excellent too, they had a viewing location that was a Perspex box you went through a tunnel then put your head into, when we were there one of the tigers was sleeping on top of it, giving a fantastic view!

 

[lebeau]

Oh yeah the sleeping tigers at Busch was excellent too, they had a viewing location that was a Perspex box you went through a tunnel then put your head into, when we were there one of the tigers was sleeping on top of it, giving a fantastic view!

We're members at the Cincinnati Zoo. I don't know where it ranks in terms of the greatest zoos in the world, but it's pretty dang terrific as zoos go. If I want to see animals, I can drop in anytime and see a bunch of them. A family membership costs less than a single-day ticket to Animal Kingdom and the tigers walk right up to the glass so you're face to face with them (which is freaking amazing).



Given that, we tend to skip the animal exhibits at DAK. We have better exhibits more accessible for less money at home. Maybe that's not the case for everyone, don't know. But I find the park comes up short if you have a good zoo in your hometown.

 

[Disneyhead'71]

We're members at the Cincinnati Zoo. I don't know where it ranks in terms of the greatest zoos in the world, but it's pretty dang terrific as zoos go. If I want to see animals, I can drop in anytime and see a bunch of them. A family membership costs less than a single-day ticket to Animal Kingdom and the tigers walk right up to the glass so you're face to face with them (which is freaking amazing).



Given that, we tend to skip the animal exhibits at DAK. We have better exhibits more accessible for less money at home. Maybe that's not the case for everyone, don't know. But I find the park comes up short if you have a good zoo in your hometown.

Quick story, (since we are already so far off topic and there is really nothing to add to the topic at this point).

One of my favorite guitar players, a guy named Adrian Belew, is a Cincinnati native and he still lives there. He has played with Talking Heads, David Bowie, Frank Zappa, and was a co-lead in King Crimson. Anyway, back in 1987 he put together a project with other Cincinnati players called The Bears. When they released their first album, they arranged to play at the bear enclosure at The Cincinnati Zoo. It was a very cool thing to see.

This is their first album cover. It was drawn by Most Drucker from Mad Magazine.

Edited to correct which Mad Magazine artist drew the cover art.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Oh jeez...this again?

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

We're members at the Cincinnati Zoo. I don't know where it ranks in terms of the greatest zoos in the world, but it's pretty dang terrific as zoos go. If I want to see animals, I can drop in anytime and see a bunch of them. A family membership costs less than a single-day ticket to Animal Kingdom and the tigers walk right up to the glass so you're face to face with them (which is freaking amazing).



Given that, we tend to skip the animal exhibits at DAK. We have better exhibits more accessible for less money at home. Maybe that's not the case for everyone, don't know. But I find the park comes up short if you have a good zoo in your hometown.

We were on a dive boat recently off little French key (Honduras) and the the guides took the boat up to the tiger habitat on the island

Backstory: the residents pay to care for ex circus tigers and keep them as “pets”.

Well...they have a bunch of beautiful MASSIVE bengal and Siberian tigers in there. They are huge.

Well they’re also completely tame and you can pet them as much as you want as they walk by when the boats pull up.

It was incredible...if not maybe the most peta/wwf “ethical” thing to do.

I’d go back just for that.

 

[Magenta Panther]

Quick story, (since we are already so far off topic and there is really nothing to add to the topic at this point).

One of my favorite guitar players, a guy named Adrian Belew, is a Cincinnati native and he still lives there. He has played with Talking Heads, David Bowie, Frank Zappa, and was a co-lead in King Crimson. Anyway, back in 1987 he put together a project with other Cincinnati players called The Bears. When they released their first album, they arranged to play at the bear enclosure at The Cincinnati Zoo. It was a very cool thing to see.

This is their first album cover. It was drawn by Don Martin from Mad Magazine.

I think you mean Mort Drucker. Don Martin was the guy who did this kind of work:

 

[Disneyhead'71]

I think you mean Mort Drucker. Don Martin was the guy who did this kind of work:

View attachment 439685

You are correct, it was Mort Drucker. I was confused. I will correct my post.

 

[BubbaQuest]

Or is your expectation of the park different?

I was just thinking the same thing. I dreamed of going to WDW my whole life, envisioning this amazing place that was magical the moment you exited the freeway. Instead I found a large confusing suburban development that felt like it ran out of money so it couldn't fill in all the spaces in-between.

I think this effects the way I see the WDW parks, especially vs DLR. I see AK as a standalone park with 2 unique attractions (safari and expedition, pre-avatar). I don't see it as part of a larger destination. In that sense, I feel like there are other better designed parks than AK (or DHS or Epcot). If I have to drive/bus, I'd rather go to Busch. I have a feeling I would view things differently if I viewed AK (and other parks) in relation to a full Magic Kingdom vacation.

Mainly throwing this out there to bring it back to topic . If LOTR opens at the new park, will it feel like UOR or a new destination.

 

[The Grand Inquisitor]

If this is true then I'm super happy! LOTR absolutely belongs in the parks!

 

[Animaniac93-98]

But I find the park comes up short if you have a good zoo in your hometown.

With only 9 rides (including the train and 2 in DinoRama), it also comes up short as an amusement park IMO.

But people love it because it's "Disney" and its included in their multi-day admission.

 

[Magenta Panther]

Still wishing some park would recreate an AMERICAN fairy tale as an attraction, i.e. The Wizard of Oz...

 

[Epcot_Imagineer]

I tried to get confirmation from one of my friends. He declined to comment adding that Universal Creative has really cracked down on "leakers" and have put up "firewalls" to control how info is shared within the department.

Did your buddy mention anything about using VPNs?

 

[JT3000]

Still wishing some park would recreate an AMERICAN fairy tale as an attraction, i.e. The Wizard of Oz...

Several parks have already done Wizard of Oz to varying degrees, including DHS and USJ. I wouldn't expect UO to do it, since DHS already did. We don't really have any other popular stories I'd call "fairy tales," just folklore.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Several parks have already done Wizard of Oz to varying degrees, including DHS and USJ. I wouldn't expect UO to do it, since DHS already did. We don't really have any other popular stories I'd call "fairy tales," just folklore.

Well then Disney should partner up MGM and... oh, yeah. Right.