PHOTOS - Inside the interactive indoor queue set to open in July at Dumbo

[danlb_2000]

I expect that to be a huge cluster "F" with loud screaming children running everywhere. Sorry, but I would rather wait in a standard line TBH.

I have never been on the old Dumbo, but are you saying that all the children going on that ride stood quietly and patiently for the entire length of their time in line?

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Very cool ideas...but you just created the world's most expensive queue :lol: Lots of payroll, lots of maintenance - for a B-ticket (granted, a very popular B-ticket).

Well I'm sure it was also expensive to build a second Dumbo, re-do the old one and relocate it, build a circus tent from scratch and a playground within. All for a ride that for decades only really called for one spinner and some outdoor switchbacks. Going above and beyond was clearly not something worried about with this rebuild.

Lots of ideas there that could have easily been an attraction of their own in Circus Land.

You can go through Hogwarts on it's own without riding Forbidden Journey. Space Mountain used to have an AA exhibit during the exit which guests were encouraged to see on its own. It wouldn't be the first time.

I believe the point of the new Dumbo queue was to simply provide a reprieve from a strict queue, and allow some fun and family interaction while waiting significantly shorter time to get on the ride than in the past.

This is all true, but even if you like the playground as is, it's hard to spin it as "family interaction" when its design prohibits use by those ever a certain age.

My idea was just a hypothetical "if you could do anything", not necessarily the most practical. The midway game concept would be much simpler, cheaper and doable for everyone while still fitting the theme, but still be something with more cross generational appeal than a play area.

 

[Tom]

Well I'm sure it was also expensive to build a second Dumbo, re-do the old one and relocate it, build a circus tent from scratch and a playground within. All for a ride that for decades only really called for one spinner and some outdoor switchbacks. Going above and beyond was clearly not something worried about with this rebuild.

You can go through Hogwarts on it's own without riding Forbidden Journey. Space Mountain used to have an AA exhibit during the exit which guests were encouraged to see on its own. It wouldn't be the first time.

This is all true, but even if you like the playground as is, it's hard to spin it as "family interaction" when its design prohibits use by those ever a certain age.

My idea was just a hypothetical "if you could do anything", not necessarily the most practical. The midway game concept would be much simpler, cheaper and doable for everyone while still fitting the theme, but still be something with more cross generational appeal than a play area.

I hope you didn't take my response as being critical of your comments. I was actually agreeing with your overall concept....and wish they would have done something perhaps a bit more interactive in the land itself. The Splash Pad will be nice.

I also agree that some midway style games with NO prizes or costs would be a nice theme inside the tent. I'm anxious to see more photos, since we really don't know a darn thing about what's really inside there yet.

 

[The Duck]

Just a quick reality check. Could all of this bickering really be about two teaser photographs that only show a fraction of an unfinished queue? I would suggest that we all wait until the finished product is on display before the -fest commences but then I'm quickly reminded of the "Be Our Guest" restaurant thread. :brick::hammer::dazzle:

 

[Joshua&CalebDad]

This looks great...

To all the nay-sayers, I believe that you are looking at this area from the wrong vanatage point. :brick:

Dumbo is a ride tailored towards toddlers and young children (2-8, maybe older). Yes there are those who are older, such as myself who enjoy Dumbo tremendously, however, it's the younger children that get the most out of this ride.

With this in mind, Disney created a queue area that was geared towards children. And what better way to keep them entertained but to run around in a jungle gym type area. that has air conditioning. The parents get to sit down and watch their children play while they all wait for their turn to ride Dumbo. As soon as it is your turn to ride, Disney lets you know with a pager, at which time you get up and call your kids to ride together as a family.

As the father of a 3 and 5 year old I say, bravo Disney bravo. You took a ride that historically had one of the longest wait times with aboslutely no entertainment for children and turned it into a play area that culminates into a ride on Dumbo. Instead of trying to keep my 3 and 5 year from melting down while we snake our way through a 30-45 minute line, you have given them a playground to enjoy. Well done I say, well done! :sohappy:

 

[Pixiedustmaker]

A lot of folks are letdown as we've all enjoyed seeing the concept art for this area, http://interactivewdw.com/mousellaneous/fantasyland-expansion-2013/, and it was described as being "queue-less" and interactive.

Though this appears to be only a small area of the queue, if this is the area for the toddlers, and there is other stuff for kids above 8 years old up to adults then that is fine. The area shown is obviously for very small kids. Teenagers, who also like to ride Dumbo, don't have much to do with this.

I figured that there would be circus games for kids of all ages to play, throwing stuff, pushing buttons, special effects. I didn't really think that there would be an audioanimatronic circus show, though if there was that would be cool.

In the end, the debate at Disney shouldn't be about getting by with the lowest budget for an attraction, or feeling that they spent too much on something only some guests will see.

In fact, every attraction and every square foot of guest area inside of MK will be seen by millions, or at least hundreds of thousands, of guests each year. That's a tremendous opportunity to do something special which will bring folks back year after year. Do it right consistently and you've got a fan base, and free advertising for the characters. Its kinda cool if you've ridden something dozens of time and find out there's cool stuff that you've never noticed.

Also, given that millions will circulate through that circus tent, you run the risk of tarnishing the reputation if things look cheap and hastily put together. If Disney has lost interest in a certain ride, then why should you care?

In terms of complaining, Disney has invited the critiques as they release concept art and have literally invited tens of millions of guests to their property each year. If they don't want criticism, then they're in the wrong business.

 

[toolsnspools]

They will have a hard time getting kids out of this queue to ride plastic elephants in circles for 60 seconds. WIN for Disney, bigger win for families with small kids!

Tom, I love your responses, but think cold Corona sitting in a beach chair. It will be good for your blood pressure. :wave:

 

[Tom]

They will have a hard time getting kids out of this queue to ride plastic elephants in circles for 60 seconds. WIN for Disney, bigger win for families with small kids!

Tom, I love your responses, but think cold Corona sitting in a beach chair. It will be good for your blood pressure. :wave:

:wave:

 

[LudwigVonDrake]

Good grief! It's DUMBO! It's not the Tower of Terror. It's a B attraction (or whatever) and it literally geared for children and families with toddlers. This ride is the essence of what Walt wanted in his parks - something everyone COULD ride, but wasn't necessarily geared toward adults.

So, now that they've built out a completely queueless queue, and filled it with props that are indestructible and that are familiar to children - not to mention bright and colorful and animation-like - it's "cheap" and "crappy"?



I think the blog writer was referring to the real Dumbo attraction flying around outside the tent. Creative license.



You will now queue in stages. They'll have the final queue outside, which are the people who are 100% ready and next to board. Then they'll have the holding pen just inside, where they'll be assembling a group. This group will have the entire time it takes for a complete Dumbo ride cycle, plus part of the load/unload time of the group in front of them.

They may even take it a third step and have a pre-holding pen, which is where they REALLY try to round everyone up. So, the holding pen would be set to move outside as soon as the live queue (Group A) starts loading the ride. Everyone from Group A is in their Dumbo's, gate closes, they open the doors and send Group B from the holding pen. Then, since they've been gradually collecting people from Group C, they'll let Group C into the holding pen and lock them up until Group B starts boarding.

AND, they'll be doing this constantly, and likely in alternating fashion, for both spinners. It will LITERALLY cut the original wait time in half, and will be like Haunted Mansion when both stretch rooms are running. You'll never stand still for more than the duration of one ride cycle.

And no, they should not let people into the building unless they have a pager and are going to ride UNLESS they're part of a "group with needs" or a "baby swap". This should in no way become a place to chill.

And if you miss your turn, they can reset the pager and put you in the next available group with space. Piece of cake.






These two posts are probably the only two in this thread, so far, that actually matter. These are parents of children who are interested in riding Dumbo as a family. Literally speaking, the opinions of THIS demographic are the ONLY ones that matter. Nobody else's opinion in this thread (including mine, but I'm not posting an opinion) matters, because Dumbo is not designed for teens or young adults or seniors. It's designed for young kids and their families. If this new system make it so that those families are less stressed and enjoy their time in the parks more.....SUCCESS! Period.




Regarding the bold part...who cares???? Do you have children age 5 and under? If not, your vote really doesn't count. Honestly. You are not the target demographic for this ride and/or queue system.




Have you ever stood in the HM queue when both stretch rooms were operating? If so, you have first hand experience that this system works ideally. The Stretch Rooms would represent the Dumbo Spinners. The entry foyer and end of the queue represent the time spent in the tent.

The comparison I'm making is that with two rooms/spinners running on a calculated cycle, the ride is virtually never at a point where it's not loading or advancing guests. Dumbo is going to chew through crowds. And the tent is sized such that it will hold a few hundred people, easily. Sure, if it gets REALLY crowded, there will be a queue to get into the tent, based purely on Building Code Occupancy Limits (look for a sign posted somewhere inside the tent indicating the max # of people permitted).

As for the noise and awfulness of happy children, don't go if you don't like it. I don't like that environment, so I don't go to Chuck-e-Cheese. If I had kids, or was wanting to go with friends or family who had kids, I'd go as a courtesy, and know in advance that it's going to be nutso in there. Deal with it for a half hour while all those parents have an opportunity to relax in a queueless queue for a few minutes.



You really can't believe people are condemning this already? C'mon, you've been here long enough.



Exactly. The target demographic's voice is the ONLY one that matters in this case. Disney did not build this ride or come up with this type of queue for all of us, just some of us. And the ones outside that target audience need to think about why they're riding Dumbo. Is it to make someone else (i.e. a kid) happy? If so, that should be priority #1.



As always, thanks for the high quality contribution.



If you think about it...this IS revolutionary. I mean, the coolness has worn off since 2009 since we saw it being tested at RnRC and have been hypothesizing about it for 3 years, but it's still novel.

The entire concept is that you forget you're WAITING. For nearly every human, if you're entertained or distracted, you lose track of time. This is a major step toward easing tension - especially for those families with little ones who are typically just stuck standing in a 95-degree queue for 45 minutes. Now, if they want, they can just park their butts on the floor in an air conditioned building, OR let the kids bang around and play with semi-interactive, yet highly entertaining to a 5-year-old, games.



Not for something like Dumbo. The ultimate goal, with Dumbo 2.0, is that your wait will SIGNIFICANTLY decrease compared to Dumbo 1.0. And since it's their first opportunity to try the queueless queue, why throw hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of high-tech toys into a room filled with kids and families? This is exactly what it needs to be...a room filled with distractions that require no long-term commitment and are indestructible. Success.

Totally. Awesome.

 

[jupiter869]

Queue Confusion

I can see have the parents giving the buzzer to the kids to lose... err hold... won't that be fun if you hold it, Johnny?

And when the tent fills up with kids and gawkers (such as myself), do the rest of the people stand and mill about in front of the tent waiting their turn like waiting for their table at a restaurant? I'm not sure I understand how it all works.

 

[NewfieFan]

I have never been on the old Dumbo, but are you saying that all the children going on that ride stood quietly and patiently for the entire length of their time in line?

Oh yes, it was a very peaceful wait. No crying or screaming children! Nobody asking, "Do we get on the next Dumbo mommy?" And the air circulation was just lovely on a hot day in that queue.

:lookaroun

 

[menamechris]

As to whether this queue-less queue is exciting - I don't know. To be quite honest, if it was something amazing I would probably be annoyed that a bunch of toddlers running around were ruining it for me. As others have said, I get that this isn't targeted to me and my friends.

However, I am pretty amazed at the Disney Parks Blog people. Whether this is their doing - or its higher up the marketing chain...this is so out of touch, imo. They are showing the blandest, most unexciting pictures and trying to pass them off as "teasers". Last week it was a pretty ordinary looking bookcase. Today, its (what I agree looks like) a McDonald's play area. Whether the final product is or not is beside the point - it's that they should either be feeding things that are actually exciting - or they should just let it all be revealed when it opens so people can judge the final product - not vague, lackluster pictures they are "releasing from Imagineering".

 

[MickeyPeace]

Disney should have called this what it is and then no one would have been having this conversation.

"Ok everyone, we will be installing an indoor themed air conditioned (Mc)playground for your kids to go nuts in while waiting to ride Dumbo. Get it, got it? Good."

Instead they talked about billion dollar next gen, fancy concept art, etc blah blah blah.

Result-disappointment. And deservedly so.

I mean Ohana has had this type of Next Gen for years. Check in. Get a beeper. Wait, at the playground/bar.

 

[RSoxNo1]

This seems like a wild overreaction to something we know nothing about. Don't get me wrong, I'm not expecting a modern day Image Works under the big top, but we saw two components of it, and are extrapolating that out to fill the rest of the tent.

That's the equivalent of taking a photo of the caves of Pirates of the Caribbean and complaining that there are no animatronics in the ride.

 

[bubbles1812]

Just finished reading this thread...it's both hilarious and sad at the same time. edwardtc had the best points. I get that Disney talked it up, but seriously, what were you expecting on a ride geared towards the 5 and under set?

I had no expectations towards this but honestly, if I were Disney, I wouldn't be putting in tons of next gen software/AAs/ect type stuff...it 1) Wouldn't be appreciated by the age set its geared towards and 2) why risk some of that stuff being broken by little kids on accident? They already have enough issues with older children/teens/adults disrespecting their property...look at Big Thunder Mountain...everyone seems to complain that those little baby opossums aren't back...well that's because guests kept standing up on the ride to hit them!

I know there are some areas where Disney has been lax in the past few years. There are legitimate issues that need to be dealt with in the parks but seriously, this isn't one of them. It's an interactive queue that will do it's job well and help families have a less stressful wait/day...therefore, it will have done its job.

 

[Tom]

This seems like a wild overreaction to something we know nothing about. Don't get me wrong, I'm not expecting a modern day Image Works under the big top, but we saw two components of it, and are extrapolating that out to fill the rest of the tent.

That's the equivalent of taking a photo of the caves of Pirates of the Caribbean and complaining that there are no animatronics in the ride.

I was actually trying to think of an analogy like this earlier, but stopped trying. This is a good one.

It goes back to the same response that applies to the "I can see the HM show building" and "I can see the back of the Dumbo building" threads......"IT'S NOT DONE YET!"

They probably took these photos because they were the only angles that didn't have construction workers or equipment showing.

Besides, there are two arguments going on. One being the quality of the product itself, and the other being over the CONCEPT.

They're mutually exclusive. The concept is great. But we don't know what level of quality there is, or what this concept consists of, specifically. And based on two poor photos, everyone instantly decides that this brand new queue concept is worthy of tearing up WDW park passes and heading to Disneyland. :brick:

 

[wdweric2.0]

It looks great to a father of 3 under 8. I will love sitting in the AC while my kids are allowed to run and play. My kids love the playzone in the postshow of Mission Space. But apparently they should remove that one because it looks like a Mcdonalds. Who cares what the young children would want, if all these fanboi's cant do it, no one should be able to.

 

[Skyway]

Everyone keeps talking about the hype. The HYPE! THE HYPE!!!!

Ummm, what hype?

Please give us one example of Disney "hyping" the Dumbo queue.

I haven't seen TV commercials or radio spots. Billboards or full page newspaper ads.

Heck, there hasn't event been any concept art!

The only "hype" anyone has attributed to Disney is Rasulo's comments at D23.

Well, here they are:

"We are doubling the size of this great attraction. And guess what? No queue. Instead you'll play interactive games in a three ring circus. It's like the first act of a show. So you're waiting for an attraction without waiting in line."

Six sentences (of which only four address the queue).

Yet out of those six sentences imaginations have run wild. Absolutely, insanely wild.

In fact, even a few posters acknowledge "I don't know where I got the impression it would be different".

You don't know because nothing (at least from Disney) gave you that impression.

All of the HYPE came from YOU.

You built it up in your minds based on tiny shreds of information. With that mentality, Disney can never win.

"But I demand high quality!" some may say. Or "Where's the interactive games Rasulo promised?"

YOU JUST DID IT AGAIN! You drifted off to an imaginary place based on 2 incomplete photographs. Can you really say with 100% certainty it will be "cheap" with "nothing to do"?

I agree with the few sane ones here that this discusion has reached the point of absurdity.

 

[JustInTime]

Of course I am right. WDW is once again alienating a portion of their target audience. Walt created WDW for everyone, not just tiny children. Such a disaster...

Well, to be fair, that age group that you are referring to typically won't ride Dumbo anyway. And if I am not mistaken, you don't have to wait inside the tent to ride the ride.

 

[Flip83]

The queue is directed toward kids, yes. Makes the kids happy and have fun. Which makes parents/family happy. Also, it's in the AC.. Cools everyone down, and keeps the family happy. Seems like it will work for my family! Thanks, Disney!