New attractions for AK

[kapeman]

and staff member training should be included. And those in Orlando management who stand in the way should be very quickly swept aside.

Disagree again. It is a very cost effective solution to some of MK's nagging problems; capacity and lack of dining chief among them. Also, Disney has a huge population (princess fans) that is not being served very well at the parks these days. FLE will help meet the demand for princess experiences.

It's not meant to "fix" the resort. It's a modest project that will keep MK from having to turn away visitors (or as many visitors) on its busiest days.

One place that desperately needs attention is CM training. The level of training and CM performance, overall, has slipped dramatically in the past decade.

Every time we visit or discuss the parks with past CMs or old-timers, the are always shocked at the general decline in the performance of the CMs.

For example, several years ago the Traditions program was 3 full days, now it is one half day.

Sure, you can save money by hiring on the cheap, but that shouldn't be the way to run things.

Unfortunately, some strong intangibles are hard to quantify on the bottom line and don't get much attention from today's short-sighted, quarterly return oriented managers (not just at Disney, but many places).

It may be a bit naive or polly anna-ish of me, but I have always thought that a quality product supported by well-paid and/or well treated, and therefore enthusiastic, employees will win out in the long run over the undercut for short term gain products.

 

[DisneyDadof5]

I'm a zoo member @ my local zoo, and it's one of the best in the Midwest, therefore AK to me is a half day park. Possibly even less if you do a rope drop, and fast pass safari, ride EE, then KRR, then use your safari FP.

I will admit that the kids had a ton of fun at Chester & Hesters during late EMH. Since it has that carnival feel, it fit in great with night time entertainment.

For those that think that Chester & Hester's is cheesy beyond belief (and it is), realize that it was actually designed to be that way. (Ref: Disney Hidden Magic - Imagineer interview)

 

[lebeau]

For those that think that Chester & Hester's is cheesy beyond belief (and it is), realize that it was actually designed to be that way. (Ref: Disney Hidden Magic - Imagineer interview)

I'm sensing a theme.

"We know it has few attractions. We know some of the attractions that are there seem cheap and tacky. It was designed to be a sparse park with cheap, tacky attractions!"

Somehow, that doesn't make it better for me.

 

[jakeman]

The day you no longer feel the product justifies the cost, stop going. It's the only way Disney will ever change.

Great response.

The general opinion of a disenchanted fan (to paint with a broad brush) is that TDO are money grubbing kitten eaters, which, if information on the interwebz is to be believe, has at least an ounce of truth in it.

However, most of the more vocal disenchanted fan keep feeding the beast by going sometimes multiple times a year and spending sometimes thousands and thousands of dollars.

If TDO only see financial gain equaling quality then loss of revenue would show them that there is a problem.

The easiest way to do that is to simply not go and communicate to TWDC why you are not going.

 

[DisneyDadof5]

It doesn't make it much better for me either but my kids like it. Had AK been a fully loaded E-attraction park (with Beastly Kingdom, etc), then C&H would have seen as a fun and cheesy addition to the park.

Sadly, it's just viewed as a cheesy band-aid to a park in need of real substance.

I'm sensing a theme.

"We know it has few attractions. We know some of the attractions that are there seem cheap and tacky. It was designed to be a sparse park with cheap, tacky attractions!"

Somehow, that doesn't make it better for me.

 

[jakeman]

I'm sensing a theme.

"We know it has few attractions. We know some of the attractions that are there seem cheap and tacky. It was designed to be a sparse park with cheap, tacky attractions!"

Somehow, that doesn't make it better for me.

That area is a failure of Imagineering to tell the story appropriately through the theming.

It wasn't something that was made up to fit the theme, the story was there from day one.

I think the problem is that the attention to detail that is evident in the Chester and Hester store does not extend to the Dino-Rama area.

I bet it would be much more palpable if the crazy mish-mash hoarder theme of the store was extended to the land.

 

[Master Yoda]

That area is a failure of Imagineering to tell the story appropriately through the theming.

It wasn't something that was made up to fit the theme, the story was there from day one.

I think the problem is that the attention to detail that is evident in the Chester and Hester store does not extend to the Dino-Rama area.

I bet it would be much more palpable if the crazy mish-mash hoarder theme of the store was extended to the land.

I do not really think so. From the way I remember it the gas station was there first. The Dino institute came along and the gas station was converted into a roadside store. Chester and Hester's cam along later to capitalize on the popularity of the Dino institute. So the store and C&H are not done by the same people.

I have often felt that a little more explaining was needed for this area. Coming into Dinoland is like coming into a book during the last chapter. All of the set up that explains that explains what is going on has already happened and the average person will not be able to piece the time line together.

 

[RSoxNo1]

For those that think that Chester & Hester's is cheesy beyond belief (and it is), realize that it was actually designed to be that way. (Ref: Disney Hidden Magic - Imagineer interview)

I'm sensing a theme.

"We know it has few attractions. We know some of the attractions that are there seem cheap and tacky. It was designed to be a sparse park with cheap, tacky attractions!"

Somehow, that doesn't make it better for me.

This was poor implementation of a bad idea due to someone other than Imagineers making design decisions on a park. They were told they needed capacity and quick because they weren't going to get the funding for the expansion that the park actually needed.

Remember, this was never something that Joe Rohde willingly backed. He said, "The entire thing can be gone in a week"

It doesn't make it much better for me either but my kids like it. Had AK been a fully loaded E-attraction park (with Beastly Kingdom, etc), then C&H would have seen as a fun and cheesy addition to the park.

Sadly, it's just viewed as a cheesy band-aid to a park in need of real substance.

Exactly. The thing is, it could actually work as a theme. You can get rid of Primeval Whirl, replace it with The Excavator, and make it have a bit of a run down theme. If it's a better coaster it will be better received.

That area is a failure of Imagineering to tell the story appropriately through the theming.

It wasn't something that was made up to fit the theme, the story was there from day one.

I think the problem is that the attention to detail that is evident in the Chester and Hester store does not extend to the Dino-Rama area.

I bet it would be much more palpable if the crazy mish-mash hoarder theme of the store was extended to the land.

I don't blame Imagineering for Dinorama, just like I don't blame them for Stitch's Great Escape.

If you want to blame Imagineering for an attraction not living up to expectations, go with something like Mission: SPACE - while budgets were cut there, they had quite a bit more to work with.

I do not really think so. From the way I remember it the gas station was there first. The Dino institute came along and the gas station was converted into a roadside store. Chester and Hester's cam along later to capitalize on the popularity of the Dino institute. So the store and C&H are not done by the same people.

I have often felt that a little more explaining was needed for this area. Coming into Dinoland is like coming into a book during the last chapter. All of the set up that explains that explains what is going on has already happened and the average person will not be able to piece the time line together.

The Gas Station was there first. The Carnival games, Primeval Whirl and Triceratops Spin were all added in 2001 I believe.

 

[jakeman]

I do not really think so. From the way I remember it the gas station was there first. The Dino institute came along and the gas station was converted into a roadside store. Chester and Hester's cam along later to capitalize on the popularity of the Dino institute. So the store and C&H are not done by the same people.

I have often felt that a little more explaining was needed for this area. Coming into Dinoland is like coming into a book during the last chapter. All of the set up that explains that explains what is going on has already happened and the average person will not be able to piece the time line together.

As far as I know (from when I worked there in '99) the gas station was always Chester and Hester's and Dino-Rama is an expansion of the gas station's roadside tourist trap area.

When it comes down to it though, when you look at theme of Dino-rama and the theme of the rest of Dinoland, they simply don't flow well. Walking out of Chester and Hester's into Dino-rama is a jarring enough change in theme to make you realize it is cheap and tacky.

 

[jakeman]

I don't blame Imagineering for Dinorama, just like I don't blame them for Stitch's Great Escape.

I do in this case.

The theme is so entirely different from the rest of the land (including something as simple as the color pallete) that it sticks out and not in a good way.

I understand that the mini-land was undesirable expansion based on capacity, but it's not half-themed...it's incorrectly themed.

Of course, this is all my opinion based on pretty much nothing but my own observations and what I've read.

However, I wouldn't put it past the Imagineers to do something subtle like this on purpose to draw attention to a project they are unhappy with being assigned.

 

[Master Yoda]

The Gas Station was there first. The Carnival games, Primeval Whirl and Triceratops Spin were all added in 2001 I believe.

I was not referring to their actual construction. I was referring to the timeline of the back story.

 

[RSoxNo1]

I was not referring to their actual construction. I was referring to the timeline of the back story.

Ahh, sorry - you're right on the account too.

 

[CheshireCatStef]

With little kids and a nice zoo nearby, we struggle to spend a half day at AK.

Actually, that's not true. We skipped AK entirely on our last trip. The only attractions that appealed to my 5-year-old were the safari and the playground. And since there are playgrounds in every park but Epcot and every other park had more appealing attractions, we didn't bother. Guess that makes it a zero-day park for us.

Sure, she'd have liked the animal exhibits okay. But like I said, we have a good zoo at home.

Just as a side comment, if you go to Epcot during the garden festival, there are AT LEAST 3 awesome playgrounds

 

[lebeau]

Just as a side comment, if you go to Epcot during the garden festival, there are AT LEAST 3 awesome playgrounds

We played on the Alice-theme (at least I think that's what it was) playground this March. It was actually a little old for my daughter. She had trouble reaching from one part to the next. Had she been an inch or two taller (and a smidge more adventurous) I think we'd have spent more time there. But she did have fun.

 

[Rob562]

I do not really think so. From the way I remember it the gas station was there first. The Dino institute came along and the gas station was converted into a roadside store. Chester and Hester's cam along later to capitalize on the popularity of the Dino institute. So the store and C&H are not done by the same people.

I have often felt that a little more explaining was needed for this area. Coming into Dinoland is like coming into a book during the last chapter. All of the set up that explains that explains what is going on has already happened and the average person will not be able to piece the time line together.

Almost 100% correct. But as someone else said, the original store (as it first opened with the park) was "Chester & Hester's".

In the storyline of the land, the gas-station-converted-to-gift-shop became so popular that Chester and Hester decided to expand their "tourist-trap" offerings and expand into the parking lot across the street from their store. Hence "Chester & Hester's Dino-Rama" and its parking lot setting.

When it was just the store, the tackiness fit right in with the land in a "fun quirkiness" sort of way. When it expanded, it just became garish. It's like that elsewhere in the real world, like in interior design or fashion. A small bit of tacky can be a stylish statement, but if you take the approach of "if a little bit is good, a lot will be great" and expand it into a whole lot of tacky, it's a disaster.

-Rob

 

[Master Yoda]

Almost 100% correct. But as someone else said, the original store (as it first opened with the park) was "Chester & Hester's".

In the storyline of the land, the gas-station-converted-to-gift-shop became so popular that Chester and Hester decided to expand their "tourist-trap" offerings and expand into the parking lot across the street from their store. Hence "Chester & Hester's Dino-Rama" and its parking lot setting.

When it was just the store, the tackiness fit right in with the land in a "fun quirkiness" sort of way. When it expanded, it just became garish. It's like that elsewhere in the real world, like in interior design or fashion. A small bit of tacky can be a stylish statement, but if you take the approach of "if a little bit is good, a lot will be great" and expand it into a whole lot of tacky, it's a disaster.

-Rob

True but isn't that the point of Dinorama...to be over the top, South of the Border has nothing on us tacky?

 

[Mr. Morrow]

True but isn't that the point of Dinorama...to be over the top, South of the Border has nothing on us tacky?

Yes they did a great job making it tacky. WDI did a great job with the story but is doesn't change the fact that they budget was slashed and they took the much cheaper route.

 

[Rob562]

True but isn't that the point of Dinorama...to be over the top, South of the Border has nothing on us tacky?

They did an excellent job in themeing everything to the story.
But the best themeing in the world can't help a poor story/idea to begin with... (Kind of like how the best actors in the world can't help a movie whose writing is horrible to begin with)

-Rob

 

[fractal]

They did an excellent job in themeing everything to the story.
But the best themeing in the world can't help a poor story/idea to begin with... (Kind of like how the best actors in the world can't help a movie whose writing is horrible to begin with)

-Rob

Well, I would agree with that. I'm not a big fan of the Chester and Hester area and or story.

 

[mp2bill]

Well, I would agree with that. I'm not a big fan of the Chester and Hester area and or story.

Me neither.