New Hollywood Studios Opening Procedure

DonaldDoleWhip

DonaldDoleWhip

Well-Known Member
Murphketeer said:
As soon as everyone figures out the new opening time, the front gate will be just as crowded as the rope drop.
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But that's the beauty of it - there doesn't seem to be a consistent opening time. Sounds like the park might open anytime between 8:10 to 8:30. And there's a huge difference in crowd level between 8:10 and 8:30 and 8:59, from what I've noticed (way more people tend to show up as it gets closer to 9).

Just look at morning EMH, where the park opens at 8 (usually). I've never seen it crowded, simply because 8am feels a lot earlier for people. I think this change will definitely mitigate the effects of 9am rope drop.
 
PhilharMagician

PhilharMagician

Well-Known Member
This whole thing just does not make sense. Yes, getting there early before many guests and getting on rides before the wait times start rising as awesome, but just does not seem right. Why would Disney just open up early and not tell guests why it is happening? It is not like TDO to do anything that does not bring them in more $$$ and this certainly is a cost to the company without much of a return. As soon as this gets out to more people the early morning crowds will undoubtedly increase.

I could see something like more MEMH's which they can get more bang for the buck in PR, but not random opening hours.
 
M

majortom1981

Active Member
I witnessed this this past week. Everything was much less crazy doing this. Heck I got to go on rockin roller coaster and tower of terror by 9am. We even got to ride rockin 2 times in a row before going to tower.

PS when I went this past wenesday(or could have been thursday i think it was) the park opened the gates at 830. It also helped that everybody was at animal kingdoms morning extra magic hours.

Everybody still bolted to toy story mania though. If you dont mind skipping toy story then this helps a lot.
 
JimboJones123

JimboJones123

Well-Known Member
PhilharMagician said:
This whole thing just does not make sense. Yes, getting there early before many guests and getting on rides before the wait times start rising as awesome, but just does not seem right. Why would Disney just open up early and not tell guests why it is happening? It is not like TDO to do anything that does not bring them in more $$$ and this certainly is a cost to the company without much of a return. As soon as this gets out to more people the early morning crowds will undoubtedly increase.

I could see something like more MEMH's which they can get more bang for the buck in PR, but not random opening hours.
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Makes perfect sense for safety and to keep guests from getting heated.

It is dangerous EVERY MORNING.

Every morning also has at least 3-6 altercations between guests. Don't believe me? Go. It is bad. Sometimes really bad.

Great idea.

It will also cut back the 3+ dozen CMs that are there to keep guests safe and break up altercations.

Legoland announced 30 minute early openings during the holidays and it was a true blessing to get in almost 1/3 of the park before 10.
 
Horizonsfan

Horizonsfan

Well-Known Member
PhilharMagician said:
This whole thing just does not make sense. Yes, getting there early before many guests and getting on rides before the wait times start rising as awesome, but just does not seem right. Why would Disney just open up early and not tell guests why it is happening? It is not like TDO to do anything that does not bring them in more $$$ and this certainly is a cost to the company without much of a return. As soon as this gets out to more people the early morning crowds will undoubtedly increase.

I could see something like more MEMH's which they can get more bang for the buck in PR, but not random opening hours.
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I think they'd want to err on the side of caution with the "official" opening time. Otherwise people would bemoan the fact that a majority of the attractions are open. However, looking at the OP, I'm not sure why the official time wouldn't/hasn't been changed to 8:45. :shrug:


This has to make TDO money. Getting 3 attractions open 15 minutes earlier probably is probably the same or a lower cost to management than the salaries of the opening show (union) performers. Assuming it's a net change of 0 in expenses for TDO, they probably predicate that if the diehards (like many of us on here) get the 3 headliners done before 10 then they'll probably be able to get more bodies through the gates. If it continues to go unpublished on park materials, the "increase" in morning attendance will probably be negligible though.
 
C

cwtigerlily

New Member
This actually sounds a lot like something I experienced with a friend over last spring break - we went to Animal Kingdom for opening at 9 am, but we wanted to be at the front of the line to get in, so we got there by 8:15 am. They started letting guests into the park at 8:30 am, and we had ridden Everest three times by 9 am. That happened last March though and at the time we figured it was just a fluke.
 
RSoxNo1

RSoxNo1

Well-Known Member
Hopefully they won't turn on the FP machines and then those people that are there for rope drop get TSM out of the way without wanting Fastpass.
 
Marriedatdisney

Marriedatdisney

Active Member
Another solution

I really dislike any solution that results in a herd-run or even racing to one part of the park. Why not place fast pass machines after the turnstiles but before the "rope", that lets a visitor select their "first" fast pass for any fast pass ride in the park? Get there as early as you want! Then you can relax a little knowing you have at least one ride covered. It's also open and fair to all.
 
the-reason14

the-reason14

Well-Known Member
We experienced this as well the day after the marathon. I remember last year and how convenient it was to go to tsm because they had it blocked off for the runners, it was the same this year and I remember telling my dad it should be like this all the time. Well thankfully the next few times I was at mgm there was no rope. I was able to do tsm 2 times before 9 and i think 3 times total one morning before we park hopped. Obtained 4 fastpasses for it too and did the coaster and tower, I was happy and it was extern convenient. Hope they keep it this way because all the opening shows besides the mk one are blah and annoying while waiting to get inside. I'm hoping this is something they continue throughout the year.
 
B

Brian Noble

Well-Known Member
How long will this last before guests catch on and things are just as crazy as they used to be?
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There are two parts though. One is the early start to spread people out in time. But, the other is to use the turnstiles to gate the flow of guests all headed to one (small, congested) area. Even if they just opened the park at 9, but didn't let anyone in the turnstiles in until then, you'd have a much safer situation than the Mania Mania that was happening before.
 
Hakunamatata

Hakunamatata

Le Meh
Reddog said:
I'm thinking that's why they discontinued the welcome show at AK recently.

I wonder if the "random" opening time has to do with the crowd? Maybe once crowd outside hits a certain level, they open the gates.
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I agree. On a number of levels this is a positive thing. If the crowds start backing up at the gate, they start the soft opening so people are not walking up and seeing lines stretching on forever, which I know for me, puts a negative in my head first thing. Second, if the crowds are backing up at the gate, let them in and open up all your retail at the front of the park. An extra thirty minutes to an hour shopping time at the parks equates to a nice chunk of change I'm sure.

If they continue to do this, it would not surprise me to see the morning EMH go by the wayside and evening EMHs become the advertised benefit.
 

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