News and observations from the past month

[DznyGrlSD]

My career is in the service industry and I have worked all types of frontline jobs. I always tell people that the months I spent on the CP at WDW (10+ years ago now!) were the easiest and most fun months of my working life. With a few exceptions, the bulk of the guests I encountered were happy, friendly, polite and enjoying their vacation. That made it easy to provide the kind of service that Disney is known for. Had I been faced with frustrated guests who have spent hours of their vacation trying to sort out tech issues with their Magic Band everyday, I might not have had the same experience.

Preach it! I was a CM on the CP 2003-2004 and worked at Pleasure Island - best year of my life! It was EASY "back then" and we were still recovering from Post-9/11 tourism issues.

 

[PhotoDave219]

What kills me is that they don't understand the shortsightedness.

 

[misterID]

@marni1971 I just got back and you pretty much described my feelings about my trip. The CM's at MK were terrible, save the COP, Pooh, IASW. HM had the worst (the one loader dude was great, though). The CM's outside SM wouldn't look at anyone except each other, and if they did, they glared. I've never seen so many CMs look so miserable. I thought it was just me.

EPCOT on the other hand... Everyone was awesome. Especially at Starbucks and the loaders at the land. I spent an entire day there, something I never do at EPCOT anymore, and they were a big reason that made that day the best of my vacation.

I also wanted to state that SSE has officially lost its epicness. You can barely make out the woolly mammoth and Judy Dench just doesn't know how to say "renaissance" like Jeromy Irons. I LOVED Test Track. Too bad they didn't push the TRON theme further and make the future/light city more inspiring... You know, like the one in WOM did.

I loved the new FLE, btw. The Mine Train ride, seeing the construction in person is much more impressive standing in front of it than looking at a picture. Fantasy Land is still a frigging congested nightmare.

And it's a shame Space Mountain didn't get that new track.

I entered DHS at 9AM. I did everything I wanted and left just after 11AM. Yeah, it needs more than Star Wars Land.

Animal Kingdon has the potential to be the BEST Disney Park of them all... It's a crime it's not being given the cance to be. So beautiful. There's a lot to be said for vibe and atmosphere.

 

[tirian]

This isn't a judgment or comparison, but this trip we noticed far more Disney CMs not enjoying their job. Far far more than previous trips. Commented on by michelle and both local and UK friends we were with too. There were wonderful ones too of course, but more grumpy or jobs worth ones than before. But anyone can be a little jaded from time to time can't they?

It's too bad I was on the other coast and never got a chance to see you!

My friends and I notice the jaded attitudes in WDW, too. This round of CPs seems especially bad, except for the super-annoying ones who think they're creating Disney MAGIC by acting like overactive drag queens while loading HM and ToT.

 

[Bairstow]

The official WDI reason- We wanted to limit the amount of light in the ride to make it feel more like you are in space.
The real reason-It was the only way to actually be creative because TDO refused to give us a proper refurbishment budget so we used what little budget we had on re-painting all signage from Orange to Green, creating a bunch of StarPort Seven-Five stickers and signage, Shoving generic Space Invaders-style Video Games into the queue, blocking the view from the Peoplemover and several months after the fact composed some stock- Spacey music and shoved a few speakers in the dome to create at least some illusion that there is an on-board musical score.

I'm willing to give WDI the benefit of the doubt on the WDW Space Mountain refurbishment.
I think it was an honest mistake.
The totally-enclosed, darker approach the mountain sounded really good on paper, and I was excited to try it out, but in practice it really isn't that interesting.

I miss the mid-late '90s version of this attraction, with the exposed ride track, glow-in-the-dark trains, and the "Space TV" loop playing in the queue with all the madcap fake commercials and surf rock.
The new queue games are actually kind of fun, but the problem is that a lot of the time you spend the majority of your time in the queue in the last section right before load, where you're in the old chicken exit hallways. There's nothing to do or see in there and it spoils whatever anticipation may have been built up by the neat queue segments before it.

 

[Scuttle]

A final note for tonight. A tiny observation but they all add up. The Mission:Space preshow gravity wheel is still not spinning. It's still on wooden blocks. After a year.

So that makes two huge wheels 101 for over a year in future world.

 

[HMF]

I'm willing to give WDI the benefit of the doubt on the WDW Space Mountain refurbishment.
I think it was an honest mistake.
The totally-enclosed, darker approach the mountain sounded really good on paper, and I was excited to try it out, but in practice it really isn't that interesting.

I miss the mid-late '90s version of this attraction, with the exposed ride track, glow-in-the-dark trains, and the "Space TV" loop playing in the queue with all the madcap fake commercials and surf rock.
The new queue games are actually kind of fun, but the problem is that a lot of the time you spend the majority of your time in the queue in the last section right before load, where you're in the old chicken exit hallways. There's nothing to do or see in there and it spoils whatever anticipation may have been built up by the neat queue segments before it.

I am sure the intentions were good, The real issue is they were not given the creative license to re-invigorate the attraction like they did with Disneyland thus making the failure of the "light intrusion" experiment more jarring not to mention the lack of foresight regarding the Peoplemover. I am sure if given the proper tools WDI could fix the issue easily but since you have a management team that could care less. I think a major problem is the Park Ops caring only about the budget while WDI does not seem to know how to effectively use a budget at all. I am much more sympathetic to WDI than I am to management but it does seem like there are a lot of vanity projects that get built before all the implications and planning can even happen Case-in point: Minor but ultimately futile tweaks in SM 09 Refurb, Haunted Mansion Disaster Queue, Luigi's Flying Tires, The list goes on and on.

 

[Tom Morrow]

^ I'll never understand why they didn't enclose the section of TTA that used to look over the SM loading area in with it, so you could at least see that before continuing on into more darkness again?

Tower still has audio issues and probably always will.

This one is extremely annoying to me, you can barely hear most of the audio on the ride, its been this way for years, and this is SUCH an easy fix. People usually don't think of ToT when thinking of "rides that need work", but it needs it just like the worst of 'em.

 

[choco choco]

I was thinking the same thing! @marni1971 did such a great job summarizing the current state of WDW parks, but one thing I have loved doing for the last 10 years or so is making a trip to WDW and then following it up within a day or two of my arrival back in SoCal with a visit to Disneyland. That's how you really do a compare/contrast on the current state of the parks in California and Florida. The differences are always noticeable, and sometimes shockingly so.

It's fascinating to me in this "One Disney" era that was supposed to bring consistency between the six American theme parks that they standardized napkins between Epcot and Disneyland, but the daily operation, maintenance and future planning between Disneyland and WDW seems to have never been more different on a day to day basis.

A compare/contrast trip of Disneyland vs. WDW in their current states from a knowledgeable and rational fan like @marni1971 would be a wonderful read!

There are ways of bringing about the "One Disney" mission without explicitly putting everything under one bureaucratic umbrella. Don't forget the man running TDA now is a former TDO fogey, and he seems to have brought his old operation and maintenance habits with him.

Or that the "future planning" of Disneyland you're so proud of is resulting in the loss of its charm - like walling off the Court of Angels and Starbucking (for anyone who saw The World's End) much of Main Street. Or that, like in Orlando, there is nothing coming into either of Anaheim's parks that is of much creative merit.

 

[StageFrenzy]

Can we get some high powered lights to shine on the glow portions of the rockets while they are in the loading area. Then the suckers would glow throughout the ride.

 

[marni1971]

As for the leaking Pirates boats-

These aren't the new ones, are they?
My understanding is that the new ones hadn't been installed yet.

Also, when I rode Space Mountain the music was still playing, but very faint, and obviously still a very poor substitute for actual onboard audio. It may be hard to hear over the clatter of the lift hill.

The wet boats are the new boats in question, yes.

You can hear the odd speaker in Space playing music. It was originally audible from load to unload. Politics are messing with it. On opening day it was deafeningly clear throughout the ride.

 

[TP2000]

Or that the "future planning" of Disneyland you're so proud of is resulting in the loss of its charm - like walling off the Court of Angels and Starbucking (for anyone who saw The World's End) much of Main Street. Or that, like in Orlando, there is nothing coming into either of Anaheim's parks that is of much creative merit.

I have no problem with Starbucks on Main Street. Quite frankly, it's about a decade late, but it was desperately needed so better late than never. Grande Latte with whole milk for me, please. I'll handle the Splenda process on my own.

The Court of Angels? Meh. If they want to expand Walt's private membership club for the 1% that Walt so proudly set up for corporate America upstairs, that's fine with me. I have dined at Club 33 twice in the last decade as a guest of Standard Oil of California, and it was "nice" but not really any big deal. Get me a reservation at Napa Rose instead, please. Better food and better service at Napa Rose, a vastly better bar, and a better view too.

As for the new rides coming to Disneyland and WDW, it appears the clones to be shared between the coasts are the Star Wars attractions. Monstropolis and the Door Coaster appear to be a DCA exclusive. But since we don't know anything official from Disney, and most of the info on this stuff has been coming from Al Lutz and Miceage in the last 8 months, I'll reserve judgment on their "creative merit" until we actually see some artwork and a display at the official Preview Center.

 

[Witchy Chick]

As for the leaking Pirates boats-

These aren't the new ones, are they?
My understanding is that the new ones hadn't been installed yet.

The wet boats are the new boats in question, yes.

I don't think PoTC boats are "leaky" per se. They take on A LOT of water on drops. As a single rider a couple weeks ago, I was placed in the front (narrower) row with two other ladies. We took on A LOT of water on one of the drops - to the point that the lady on the right-side of my row had completely soaked sneakers. Not cool.

 

[Disneyhead'71]

I don't really have a lot to add, but I do have one thing. About 2 years ago I posted a picture here of the poor little poochy dog along the moving walkway at the exit of Space Mountain. We had much discussion on his missing foot and the amount of dust in the scene. Well, while at MNSSHP on 9/13/2013 I had to take a new pic to report on the sad little dogs condition. Now, apparently, the poor things neck is broken:

He is still missing a foot and there is even more dust.

 

[Radok Block]

This isn't a judgment or comparison, but this trip we noticed far more Disney CMs not enjoying their job. Far far more than previous trips. Commented on by michelle and both local and UK friends we were with too. There were wonderful ones too of course, but more grumpy or jobs worth ones than before. But anyone can be a little jaded from time to time can't they?

That was the big shocker for me last time-- how rude/unpleasant more than one CM was. In the past, it was almost ridiculous how unfailingly nice and helpful they all were. (And many of them still are; plus, after being yelled at repeatedly by guests in 90 degree heat, I'm not sure how chipper I'd be, either.)

 

[Longhairbear]

I have no problem with Starbucks on Main Street. Quite frankly, it's about a decade late, but it was desperately needed so better late than never. Grande Latte with whole milk for me, please. I'll handle the Splenda process on my own.

The Court of Angels? Meh. If they want to expand Walt's private membership club for the 1% that Walt so proudly set up for corporate America upstairs, that's fine with me. I have dined at Club 33 twice in the last decade as a guest of Standard Oil of California, and it was "nice" but not really any big deal. Get me a reservation at Napa Rose instead, please. Better food and better service at Napa Rose, a vastly better bar, and a better view too.

As for the new rides coming to Disneyland and WDW, it appears the clones to be shared between the coasts are the Star Wars attractions. Monstropolis and the Door Coaster appear to be a DCA exclusive. But since we don't know anything official from Disney, and most of the info on this stuff has been coming from Al Lutz and Miceage in the last 8 months, I'll reserve judgment on their "creative merit" until we actually see some artwork and a display at the official Preview Center.

I've dined at Club 33 as a guest with a club member. Good food, but I was a waiter in better places on the East Coast, and prepare better fare in my own home on a daily basis. Club 33, while very nice, is for ignorant nouveau riche, and current executives at TWDC with no sense of taste, or palette.
We haven't been to Napa Rose yet, as their seasonal menu hasn't synced with our personal tastes at the times of year we visit DLR. But we will eat there at some point. We did enjoy cognac, and expensive cigars at their outdoor lounge when they first opened.

 

[marni1971]

I don't think PoTC boats are "leaky" per se. They take on A LOT of water on drops. As a single rider a couple weeks ago, I was placed in the front (narrower) row with two other ladies. We took on A LOT of water on one of the drops - to the point that the lady on the right-side of my row had completely soaked sneakers. Not cool.

Trust me. The new boat fleet has serious issues.

 

[Radok Block]

Slightly O/T: Club 33 reviews on Yelp are an interesting timesink. Most of them are glowing (of course) but there are more than a few that note the drop-off in quality (sound familiar?).

 

[pixargal]

The only "fun" I've had riding TTA through SM was when SM was 101 and the lights were on. Otherwise...*yawn*

It might help if they would go back to the previous narration. I am not sure who narrated it, but it was much better than the syrupy voice they have now. I miss hearing the classic lines, such as, "Now approaching Mickey's Star Traders," and of course "Paging Mr. Morrow..."

 

[dannyboyindc]

It might help if they would go back to the previous narration. I am not sure who narrated it, but it was much better than the syrupy voice they have now. I miss hearing the classic lines, such as, "Now approaching Mickey's Star Traders," and of course "Paging Mr. Morrow..."

I might be dating myself here, but I always liked the narration PREVIOUS to that one. Remember I/O? His was the same voice at the video kisoks you'd see all over Epcot where you could make dining reservations.