Main Street U.S.A. hub redevelopment at the Magic Kingdom

[wogwog]

The major test for me will be how the view will be once they start running the parade again thru the hub.

A few question I gonna ask is "Are they gonna bring back the food carts and tip boards to this new area? Also are there rope hooks to restrict passage during the parade or are they gonna tape it off again.

The parades never left the Hub. They just paraded between the giant walls.

 

[Martiyoman]

...redirecting the blame of a design/building mistake to the guests....

@ISTCNavigator57 was pretty much spot on about the ridiculous brand defending..



the WDC could be swimming in money and still build nothing.
It was Universal who pushed them to invest.

also bonus points for the classic excuse of "but..but.. disney is a business!"
seems to be the most blatant and common excuse.

And why on earth do you think that is?? The money they had wasn't being spent where you could see it, therefore they weren't spending? No, they were diverting their assets to the areas they deemed most likely to earn the best ROI. That wasn't the magic kingdom hub.

 

[Martiyoman]

...redirecting the blame of a design/building mistake to the guests....

@ISTCNavigator57 was pretty much spot on about the ridiculous brand defending..



the WDC could be swimming in money and still build nothing.
It was Universal who pushed them to invest.

also bonus points for the classic excuse of "but..but.. disney is a business!"
seems to be the most blatant and common excuse.

And disney is a business... That is actually the only truly infallible thing that has been said. It is not an excuse.

 

[Cesar R M]

And with the castle featuring more prominently in future shows, let alone low level rooftop pyro...

But for the now...

View attachment 85043 View attachment 85044

speaking of viewing areas.. imho the best area right now, is right next to the construction on the partners box.
You get a waist level wall, direct sight for like.. 10 meters radius to the front.. and direct view to the castle.

And disney is a business... That is actually the only truly infallible thing that has been said. It is not an excuse.

like I said.....

 

[Monorail_Red_77]

And disney is a business... That is actually the only truly infallible thing that has been said. It is not an excuse.

Disney is a business. But... Walt Disney World is the straw that Tom Staggs uses to suck the money from the guests hands. The greed goes all the way to the top. If the money were to stay in the parks we would see way more being done from new rides/attractions/lands, to better maintenance in all areas. Instead the few at the top get mega bonuses and the parks suffer.

 

[ToTBellHop]

And why on earth do you think that is?? The money they had wasn't being spent where you could see it, therefore they weren't spending? No, they were diverting their assets to the areas they deemed most likely to earn the best ROI. That wasn't the magic kingdom hub.

Are you suggesting Disney is using all of the money they could/should be directing at WDW? If a company has the audacity to charge over $100/day, they should have the decency to provide a $100+/day experience.

 

[ToTBellHop]

Re: @Goofyernmost. You may be astonished at our ability to defend disney (which, incidentally, is not my intention, but rather to see a problem outside of the magic kingdom), however I'm astonished at people's ability to ignore budgets and money. You and others may think that priority one is guest experience, but priority one for TWDC is returns for stockholders. No returns=no new stock purchases= no new money= REAL stagnation. So given that, magic kingdom and tdo in general have to work within specific budgets; your options are telescoping light posts or the better turf stuff. They made a choice. If you don't like it, well...

Thank goodness the folks who ran Walt Disney Parks and Resorts (when it was called that) until the 1990s didn't share your view (which sounds like something you might hear from an 8-year old) that "if you don't like it, just leave." I don't recall that Walt Disney quote. Probably because he would have never said such a thing. And no need to remind me that he's dead. I know. That doesn't give Staggs the right to pee on his frozen head.

 

[Monorail_Red_77]

I'm posting this not in the form of defense, but, more in the celebration of reality. You do not take down a crane that size everyday. Why, because it is an 8 plus hours of labor to do so. If taken apart everyday it would involve 8 hours of assembly and another 8 hours of dis-assembly leaving only 8 hours of usable time. With what they are doing, it would still be up during the day.

Part two, because I know someone is going to suggest it. No, you cannot just lower the boom so it isn't visible. The castle is 187 feet high and the crane towers over it that would mean that you would need to have a space that is about 230 feet long to store the entire crane out of sight. Can anyone think of a place where that would fit on a daily basis.

But wait, I've seen the lower part of the crane, it's on wheels and is on a truck type bed. They could just drive it out during the day if they cared. OK, let's go back to the length of the boom. To do that they would still have to dis-assemble it to move it out of the park and not knock down any buildings in the process.

In January, when you said that you only saw them work about 15 minutes in 9 days, you are probably quite correct, however, during that time they were taking down the Christmas lights. They were only doing that at night. Now they are doing other maintenance and a lot of it, unless you look up behind the turrets or on roof tops is not visible by the public.

Once again, the realities of procedure and common sense conflict with our vision of what fantasy should look like. That fact of the matter is that you cannot have fantasy without reality setting it up.

The crane that is used to do the castle work is one commonly seen driving our interstate highways. It is able to collapse (telescope) down fully. I have been there on many occasions and seen it up during the day with workers doing their thing. Then near dusk I have seen it fully retracted and in the down position in preparation for the fireworks. the area where the crane bas is behind the castle on the left side generally has the typical construction walls up. I'll have to see if I can find some pics of it for reference.

 

[jrlang1]

Yup. Section 23, Row 2, Seat 17:

50 dollars, face value. However, the light poles at WDW are narrower, and not infinitely tall, the fireworks would be above them if standing far enough back.

I have had that seat before, that's what i get for buying them on ace ticket without checking first. LOL but i cant wait to go again this summer. Just with better seats

 

[TimothyG]

Are you suggesting Disney is using all of the money they could/should be directing at WDW? If a company has the audacity to charge over $100/day, they should have the decency to provide a $100+/day experience.

I would argue that they are providing a $100/day experience. $100 is pretty cheap for an entire day of entertainment. That price would maybe get you a ticket to a 1.5 hr concert by a major artist on ticketmaster in the cheap seats. If you wanted to go see a Broadway show on $100, forget it. And considering that most people are buying multi-day tickets, the actual price per day is probably much cheaper than going to a concert and you get far more entertainment time. Entertainment is just expensive.

 

[Cesar R M]

The crane that is used to do the castle work is one commonly seen driving our interstate highways. It is able to collapse (telescope) down fully. I have been there on many occasions and seen it up during the day with workers doing their thing. Then near dusk I have seen it fully retracted and in the down position in preparation for the fireworks. the area where the crane bas is behind the castle on the left side generally has the typical construction walls up. I'll have to see if I can find some pics of it for reference.

Agree, I've seen it fully collapsed behind the castle (between the castle and the Carrousel)
It is not visible from the front.

 

[Cesar R M]

I would argue that they are providing a $100/day experience. $100 is pretty cheap for an entire day of entertainment. That price would maybe get you a ticket to a 1.5 hr concert by a major artist on ticketmaster in the cheap seats. If you wanted to go see a Broadway show on $100, forget it. And considering that most people are buying multi-day tickets, the actual price per day is probably much cheaper than going to a concert and you get far more entertainment time. Entertainment is just expensive.

Major artists are usually limited time on limited timeframe and they do not always offer the same services (they are somewhat unique).
Also, most broadway shows have very limited seatings compared to the 30,000+ a day at magic kingdom.

also, please note that you're saying "full day of entertainment". Except I dont think waiting 30+ minutes for every attraction is considered "entertainment".

 

[Martiyoman]

Thank goodness the folks who ran Walt Disney Parks and Resorts (when it was called that) until the 1990s didn't share your view (which sounds like something you might hear from an 8-year old) that "if you don't like it, just leave." I don't recall that Walt Disney quote. Probably because he would have never said such a thing. And no need to remind me that he's dead. I know. That doesn't give Staggs the right to pee on his frozen head.

I never told you to leave. I was insinuating I have no answer for you. There's nothing to be said further if you can't understand the money dilemma.

But seriously though, if the park isn't worth your money at its current cost, why go back? Not telling you to leave, but I personally don't pay for things that I don't deem to be of the quality for which I am paying.

 

[Cesar R M]

I never told you to leave. I was insinuating I have no answer for you. There's nothing to be said further if you can't understand the money dilemma.

But seriously though, if the park isn't worth your money at its current cost, why go back? Not telling you to leave, but I personally don't pay for things that I don't deem to be of the quality for which I am paying.

Actually, its you who doesn't understand.

Things USED to be better... AT LOWER COST.
People fell in loved with what WDW WAS.
They want WDW to return to its former glory.
Yet what we see is bugdet cuts everywhere... and all money dumped on Shangai.... a park that 99.99999% of us will never go to.
Good thing they finally reduced the slowdown on the projects that were lingering for WDW for years.
Like Avatar... now lets see how much the plans are stagnant for DHS.. which is the park that has its entertainment offers cut by a lot.

 

[Martiyoman]

Are you suggesting Disney is using all of the money they could/should be directing at WDW? If a company has the audacity to charge over $100/day, they should have the decency to provide a $100+/day experience.

No. Clearly, I'm not suggesting they're spending all the money elsewhere, there's a fancy new thing called mymagic+ that is strictly for wdw, so that argument is baseless. And any company in america can charge whatever they want, if people will pay for it. That's basic supply and demand that you learned in third grade. Clearly people still think it's a good value, otherwise attendance wouldn't continue to increase.

 

[Martiyoman]

Actually, its you who doesn't understand.

Things USED to be better... AT LOWER COST.
People fell in loved with what WDW WAS.
They want WDW to return to its former glory.
Yet what we see is bugdet cuts everywhere... and all money dumped on Shangai.... a park that 99.99999% of us will never go to.
Good thing they finally reduced the slowdown on the projects that were lingering for WDW for years.
Like Avatar... now lets see how much the plans are stagnant for DHS.. which is the park that has its entertainment offers cut by a lot.

For real, did you just now come out of a 20 year coma?

 

[Monorail_Red_77]

Are you suggesting Disney is using all of the money they could/should be directing at WDW? If a company has the audacity to charge over $100/day, they should have the decency to provide a $100+/day experience.

The single day ticket is the worst option to buy. It is better to buy multi day tickets so that your daily price goes lower. Something like $64 per day I believe for a 4 day ticket. Personally I get the FL seasonal AP and based on my frequency it costs me about $297 per year (renewal year pricing) so that equates to between $33.00 and $24.57 per person for my family per visit. Of course this does not include food, parking, etc. Generally we can go to the world for a day and keep our spending at $100 or below for food, gas. parking and tolls. This is for a family of 5. We really have it down to a science. Though I'm sure Disney would rather we spend more. Our last trip per meal in Quick Service was actually cheaper than when we eat at Chick-fil-a.

But, still $100 a day is just stupid expensive. Would be nice if it didn't go up for about 10 years so that inflation would catch up. Cause we all know they will never lower their prices.

 

[marni1971]

For real, did you just now come out of a 20 year coma?

Nice.

Welcome to WDWmagic btw.

 

[TimothyG]

Major artists are usually limited time on limited timeframe and they do not always offer the same services (they are somewhat unique).
Also, most broadway shows have very limited seatings compared to the 30,000+ a day at magic kingdom.

also, please note that you're saying "full day of entertainment". Except I dont think waiting 30+ minutes for every attraction is considered "entertainment".

Sure, Disney has repeatable entertainment but their guests don't usually go back every year or multiple times within a year. Most of their guests go once or maybe every 5 or 10 years. So it is all new to them and the place does have major changes. And there are plenty of major artists that have shows in Vegas that do the same exact show for years on end with few changes that still charge $100+ per ticket.

Ticket prices have gone up, but so have the business costs. However, part of the reason for the increase is because the company is more popular now than ever and people are thinking about going more. They are more popular now than in the 90s and the management would be completely irresponsible if they weren't charging as much for tickets as people are willing to pay. Nobody is holding a gun to your head and forcing you to buy a ticket against your will. At some level, you are okay with the value proposition if you're still buying tickets.

 

[donsullivan]

Agree, I've seen it fully collapsed behind the castle (between the castle and the Carrousel)
It is not visible from the front.

From my experience, they collapse it to the point that you can't see it from MSUSA every night before Wishes. I've never seen it visible beginning shortly after dark.