My cousin's report on WDW visit

[Magenta Panther]

Hey, there, hi there, ho there...well, you know the rest.

I'm going to WDW later on this fall, but one of my cousins just visited there, and here are his comments (not a trip report per se, so I put it here):

1. Magic Kingdom was still pretty crowded for early September. Hot and humid too, with a smattering of rain here and there.

2. He ate at Be Our Guest restaurant, and loved it. Very beautiful (he ate in the ballroom, but was close to the door of West Wing. Said that room was much smaller than he expected. And the Prince Adam/Beast transformation picture was awesome. Loved the snow falling effect in the Ballroom's windows. The food was very good (it was seafood).

3. He said he LOVED Enchanted Tales with Belle. The Wardrobe was fully functioning and very convincing. So was Lumiere. The kids in the audience had a ball and so did their parents. It was all very touching, even for him who was there alone. The magic mirror was astounding.

4. Oh, the Haunted Mansion. Oh dear. The poor, poor Mansion. First thing my cousin said was: "The ghosts in the graveyard are wrapped up in clear plastic, aren't they?" With a sinking heart, I asked him how he knew. "Oh it was obvious. One ghost had a top hat on and I could see a framework in it with clear plastic surrounding it. And the clothes on the ghosts were shiny like plastic." ??? Is there a lighting issue in the graveyard scene?

Also: My cousin, who loves the Mansion, rode it 4 times while he was there. And the ride stopped Every.Single.Time. One or twice, it stopped multiple times. At first he thought this was because the ride was in need of repair, but then he overheard a guest complaining about the stoppage to a CM, and the CM said it was because they have to stop it for wheelchair bound guests. Which means that every time someone in a scooter or wheelchair wants to ride through the Mansion, everyone who is actually on the ride gets stopped cold, thus destroying the flow of the story, thus lessening the experience, thus breaking the spell and disrespecting the park guests and the ride itself. The Haunted Mansion was never meant to be used like this. This is awful. And my cousin said: "If the park has any kind of large crowd in it, there's no point in riding in the Mansion anymore. You can't enjoy it now. It's pitiful." He also (like me) hated the new queue. The crypt with the instruments never worked during all the days he was at WDW, and most guests didn't understand the Ghost Writer interactive element. And when he tried to interact with it, the Ghost Writer appeared to be deaf and didn't respond to his answers. The other park guests in line seemed to enjoy his attempts though - he was yelling "Cake! CAKE!!!" at the speaker, and they thought he was trying to be funny. AND he hates the new Hitchhiking Ghost effect. The Ghosts looked blurry, and the "jokes" didn't work right - one Ghost tried to put its beard on him, but he wasn't sitting exactly in the center of the buggy, so the beard appeared to be floating in midair. Which didn't make a whole lot of sense.

5. Magic Bands. My cousin thought his worked fine for his room and for his meals (he had the Dining Plan), but suck royally for Fast Pass. He is one of those sainted individuals who does not carry an iPad or his phone into the parks. So he couldn't email his Fastpasses OR take a picture of them off the FastPass screen with his cellphone. Sounds like a flop to me.

6. Philharmagic needs a refurb, bad. He saw it 3 times. The only time it didn't look grainy, flickery or blurry was when he sat in the exact middle of the theater.

7. He loved the Laugh Floor. Thought it was a real crowd-pleaser.

And there you have it.

 

[Bairstow]

I was probably in the parks around the same time as your cousin and I thought the lightning levels in the Mansion were a bit "off" as well. A lot of areas seemed far too brightly lit.
This was particularly noticeable in the seance room, where Leota's suspension wires were clearly visible, though I suppose this also might result if they had dust accumulating on them.

 

[deanaandrich]

I was on HM SAturday. Everything in line worked. The lighting was fine. Yes it stopped once during the ride, but that's nothing new. For as long as its been open it has always done that. It can't be changed- all the doom buggies are connected. So if you want to ride it, the best times would probably be at park opening or before closing when there's less people.

 

[Magenta Panther]

I was on HM SAturday. Everything in line worked. The lighting was fine. Yes it stopped once during the ride, but that's nothing new. For as long as its been open it has always done that. It can't be changed- all the doom buggies are connected. So if you want to ride it, the best times would probably be at park opening or before closing when there's less people.

The point is, I doubt the Imagineers who designed it meant for it to stop dead while guests were riding it. EVER.

The last time my cousin rode HM was on Sunday. It's always the last ride he visits before leaving WDW - kind of a tradition for him. And the ride had the same issues, according to him, FWIW.

Edited to add: My cousin just told me that he rode Splash Mountain, and it looked and sounded great, except for Mr. Bluebird at the end, who sat motionless on Brer Rabbit's mailbox even though my cousin could hear his voice; apparently the bluebird AA is broken.

 

[Weather_Lady]

Hey, there, hi there, ho there...well, you know the rest.

I'm going to WDW later on this fall, but one of my cousins just visited there, and here are his comments (not a trip report per se, so I put it here):

1. Magic Kingdom was still pretty crowded for early September. Hot and humid too, with a smattering of rain here and there.

2. He ate at Be Our Guest restaurant, and loved it. Very beautiful (he ate in the ballroom, but was close to the door of West Wing. Said that room was much smaller than he expected. And the Prince Adam/Beast transformation picture was awesome. Loved the snow falling effect in the Ballroom's windows. The food was very good (it was seafood).

3. He said he LOVED Enchanted Tales with Belle. The Wardrobe was fully functioning and very convincing. So was Lumiere. The kids in the audience had a ball and so did their parents. It was all very touching, even for him who was there alone. The magic mirror was astounding.

4. Oh, the Haunted Mansion. Oh dear. The poor, poor Mansion. First thing my cousin said was: "The ghosts in the graveyard are wrapped up in clear plastic, aren't they?" With a sinking heart, I asked him how he knew. "Oh it was obvious. One ghost had a top hat on and I could see a framework in it with clear plastic surrounding it. And the clothes on the ghosts were shiny like plastic." ***??? Is there a lighting issue in the graveyard scene?

Also: My cousin, who loves the Mansion, rode it 4 times while he was there. And the ride stopped Every.Single.Time. One or twice, it stopped multiple times. At first he thought this was because the ride was in need of repair, but then he overheard a guest complaining about the stoppage to a CM, and the CM said it was because they have to stop it for wheelchair bound guests. Which means that every time someone in a scooter or wheelchair wants to ride through the Mansion, everyone who is actually on the ride gets stopped cold, thus destroying the flow of the story, thus lessening the experience, thus breaking the spell and disrespecting the park guests and the ride itself. The Haunted Mansion was never meant to be used like this. This is awful. And my cousin said: "If the park has any kind of large crowd in it, there's no point in riding in the Mansion anymore. You can't enjoy it now. It's pitiful." He also (like me) hated the new queue. The crypt with the instruments never worked during all the days he was at WDW, and most guests didn't understand the Ghost Writer interactive element. And when he tried to interact with it, the Ghost Writer appeared to be deaf and didn't respond to his answers. The other park guests in line seemed to enjoy his attempts though - he was yelling "Cake! CAKE!!!" at the speaker, and they thought he was trying to be funny. AND he hates the new Hitchhiking Ghost effect. The Ghosts looked blurry, and the "jokes" didn't work right - one Ghost tried to put its beard on him, but he wasn't sitting exactly in the center of the buggy, so the beard appeared to be floating in midair. Which didn't make a whole lot of sense.

5. Magic Bands. My cousin thought his worked fine for his room and for his meals (he had the Dining Plan), but suck royally for Fast Pass. He is one of those sainted individuals who does not carry an iPad or his phone into the parks. So he couldn't email his Fastpasses OR take a picture of them off the FastPass screen with his cellphone. Sounds like a flop to me.

6. Philharmagic needs a refurb, bad. He saw it 3 times. The only time it didn't look grainy, flickery or blurry was when he sat in the exact middle of the theater.

7. He loved the Laugh Floor. Thought it was a real crowd-pleaser.

And there you have it.

I HATE that about the Haunted Mansion as well -- last time we went we stopped on it FIVE TIMES. It took us over 20 minutes to experience an 8-minute attraction. The illusion and flow of it was totally destroyed. It was my childrens' first-ever ride on it and I was disappointed and embarassed.

I really wish that, at the very least, they would commit to stopping the attraction only once every 8 minutes, and letting on everybody in an wheelchair or ECV who has queued up in those few minutes board at once. Then all of the guests -- disabled or no -- would only have one stoppage during their ride, instead of an endless string of them. It's a disservice to every guest to have the ride constantly interrupted.

 

[blackthidot]

I could care less when it stops...as long as there is something to look at when you stop.

 

[Magenta Panther]

I HATE that about the Haunted Mansion as well -- last time we went we stopped on it FIVE TIMES. It took us over 20 minutes to experience an 8-minute attraction. The illusion and flow of it was totally destroyed. It was my childrens' first-ever ride on it and I was disappointed and embarassed.

I really wish that, at the very least, they would commit to stopping the attraction only once every 8 minutes, and letting on everybody in an wheelchair or ECV who has queued up in those few minutes board at once. Then all of the guests -- disabled or no -- would only have one stoppage during their ride, instead of an endless string of them. It's a disservice to every guest to have the ride constantly interrupted.

I think you have a very good solution there. TDO, you reading this? (We know you're out there...)

 

[PrincessNelly_NJ]

I too was there in early Sept. and I pretty agree on all points except the magic bands since I did not try them. Magic Kingdom was definitely more crowded on EMH days, the park seemed packed at times but waits were still low. Many wait times were exaggerated by about 5 to 10 minutes. I walked on to the Little Mermaid mid day, walked on to enchanted tales with belle in the evening, and never waited more than 15 minutes for anything.