So, is Unleash the Villains still happening?

[James122]

I was at DL's Unleash The Villain's event last night and echo GiveMeTheMusic's thoughts.

Got there around 6:30 and it took about 20 minutes to get into the Mickey and Friends parking structure. We skipped the meet-and-greet in town square as it was absoulute chaos - the queue to get into the meet-and-greet stretched under the entrance tunnel into the area by the turnstiles!

Needless to say, the park was pretty crowded, although it thinned out significantly after Fantasmic and the fireworks were over (Disneyland was open till 1 am). We headed over to Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy, but the wait was 100 minutes and all the fastpasses were gone. We then went to Haunted Mansion Holiday, which turned out to have a wait that was nearly as long, so we bypassed that as well. Wait times for most of the other rides weren't too bad - I assume most people were either at the villains events, Space Mountain, or the Haunted Mansion.

The highlight of the night was the villains dance party in New Orleans Square. Seeing Maleficent, Frollo, Shan-Yu, and the Tremains breakdance was really amazing. Being there on the dance floor with the trains at both ends and the cage dancers and all the cool lighting created an electric atmosphere, and everyone there looked like they were having a great time. Like GiveMeTheMusic said, I give park ops major props for pulling off this event right next to Fantasmic and the newly re-opened Haunted Mansion. Plus it was the first (and most likely last) time I got to stand on the railroad tracks!

I definitly hope this encourages Disney to do more villains events at the parks throughout the year. There's definitly an audience for it.

Here are a couple pics I took. They're kinda blurry, but you can see Facilier and Shan-yu, as well as the Queen of Hearts.

 

[flynnibus]

Here are some simple point and shoot photos from the event.

Thx for sharing!

 

[PhotoDave219]

Here's my thoughts/reports....

Going into this, its an event that EVERYONE has always wanted: A Villans party. There's going to be some insanely rare characters. Lots of demand. MNSSHP is happening which means every day guest in their right min is going to say "Hey, lets go check out this cool thing at DHS." Every CP & young CM is going to go "We're there." Every passholder in an hours drive is going to come. Its going to be a nightmare....

I drive over at 4pm. There's a slight backup going into the entrance of BVD. We are parked in the last row. The parking lot is just about full at that point. We head in and look to start killing a few hours. Meet up with friends and get in line for a character around 615.

The friend I was with enjoys the characters and I enjoy meeting them as well... but generally, waiting two hours for a 1 minute experience? Havent done that since I was 16. So here's how that was worked: You had 3 lines. You just got in one of them. You didnt know who you were getting in line for. Entertainment was kept under wraps and rumors flew fast and furious. Around 730, management wanders around and start spreading the word of who is meeting where. Chaos and line jumping starts.

I leave my friend in line and try and watch the opening show at 8. I was unable to make it to the hat area. It was wall to wall people and like New Years eve. Ive never seen this many people in the Studios.

By 830, it was absimal chaos. One line stretches back to Keystone Clothiers. (No joke) Characters made it to set a half hour late because they were unable to get thru the the crowds without a lot of handlers. Eventually, the characters come out and we see the Malificent kid (as referenced earlier). The kid got a huge ovation. By 930, we found some friends further up in line and managed to get to meet Oogie in a reasonable-ish-the-first-several-hours-were-my-fault amount of time. (White whale, kids. Like a Unicorn) There were several THOUSAND people trying to get to these characters. Entertainment did their best but park ops were overwhelmed.

From there we work our way to try and find water. There are no extra carts out. No extra stands out. No extra anything except one poor bartender stand by the hat selling two specialty cocktails. Every location is INSANE. Limited edition merch was apparently at Villans in Vogue as that place was slammed and you couldnt go in it. The line for that stretched back to Keystone Clothiers as well. (Think Star Wars merch line). All of Sunset Ranch stands are packed beyond anything Ive seen. Eventually, i find a drink cart where the girl had been forced extended. Water is consumed and we make for the hat for the shows.

Strangely, lots of room right in front of the stage. Wasnt too difficult to get up there given the context of the situation.

The Villains stage show rocked, DJ Elliot killed as usual - he is a draw in and of himself - and MSS rocked, breaking out their Beatles set. We were too close for the fireworks... lots of low level smoke. The best photos I saw were from along the path to/from the Boardwalk. Then everybody left. (Fireworks were at 11)

We wander back to get another character, Shan Yu with a much more reasonable 30 minute line. Everyone is in line for Malificent and Oogie... so we're in luck. I meet up with a different friend, take care of an issue where they had become dehydrated. We meet our character, see MSS one last time, dance with a few characters. Wave goodbye. Talked with friends. Waited for the parking lot to clear before heading to the car.

Eventually I get the internet and find out what an absolute CRAPFEST parking and getting into the parks was.

Entertainment saved Operations .

Anyone on the front line or pays attention to what guests want knew this crowd would happen. Park Operations was woefully understaffed.

Due to the heat and humidity, there was a lack of places to get water. Lots of people passing out/falling ill due to the large crowds and inability to get water. ODF missed out on a chance to make boatloads of money around the characters on beverages alone.

Dan Cockrell was apparently out in the mayhem, listening to guests. Hopefully his in-park experience yesterday teaches him a thing or two.

The characters were in a bad spot. Streets of America or Stunt show would have handled that number of people much easier and spread the crowd out a bit. There was no reason to try and do it in the same way they did Star Wars autographs. Those lines are fixed by the number of fastpasses while these lines were dynamic by the number of people in the park.

Guests have no idea how to behave in large crowds, especially while just standing there. If youre right next to the aisle, you dont yell at someone to "Just go around." There are 10-20 thousand people in the way if i try and go around, or you could step aside and I'm in the walkway.

Overall? I had a blast. I got to do what I wanted to do. Saw everything I wanted to. Met everyone I wanted to. But I also knew what I was in for.

 

[PhotoDave219]

The tone was to be less "pixie magic" and more "party". I thought the music selection was fantastic. It wasn't the same pandering to the 40 year old too old to be rockers, nor was it to the "I'm and 80s kid" crowd, nor current Top 40.

You are right, to each their own, but I get tired of "worn out" or "trying to keep too fresh" sport stadium music. And Disney music would kill the vibe of the party. If one wants that, MNSSHP is right up their alley. They play "This is Halloween" every 18 minutes.

Totally agree.

If you wanted "Disney".... you had MNSSHP available to you ... for $60.

If you wanted Villians... you got this. Its supposed to be edgy IMO. This isnt supposed to be all "family friendly/cuddly".... its not at the "family friendly/cuddly" park.

Despite the insane crapfest operationally, I had a blast.

 

[PhotoDave219]

Random observations ...

Took the World Drive entrance around 5:30. Exactly one lane at the toll booth was open. That was my first "uh oh" moment.

By 6:00, had a text from a friend. On Buenavista, she'd moved 20 feet in 30 minutes. She was the first to bail. By the end of the night, twice as many friends tried to get to the event and didn't make it as actually got in. The picture I got from texts and the Hub and anecdotes from other guests was not pretty. PhotoDave said NYE crowd--having been caught in the early January 1 mess a few times in my life, this sounded worse.

A friend waited in line an hour for a T-shirt, only to be told they'd gone on sale at 9:00 am, had sold out hours ago.

Entertainment rumor--show started so late because a key character was stuck in traffic. Even with the delay, he didn't make it until half-way through the show.

There was one temporary bar set up, near the stage. It had at least a 60 person line an hour before showtime. Line for High Octane stretched down the handicapped ramp. Tune In Lounge had to be in violation of the fire code. None of the other temporary bars you see Christmas week has been set up.

Food locations all shut down fairly early--by 11:00 (probably even sooner), only Fairifax was left open. Meanwhile, the tiny little gift shop between Mermaid and Animation was open until 1:00.

That explains why the show started late. I heard tales of cast being forced to park at Epcot and WALKING to DHS.

A bunch of people that you & I know ended up parking at Boardwalk and walking over... which may have been the smartest move of the night.

On NYE level crowd? At least on NYE, operations is ready for it. They're staffed to handle that many guests. Last night they were just overwhelmed.

I know DHS was at Phase 2. Might have went Phase 3 during that 8PM hour that Jimbo referred to. Until the fireworks happened.

Regular day guests were caught in the mayhem and had difficulty leaving; I directed them to the store and told them to cut thru.

 

[luv]

My experience...

Limited Time Magic...sounds dumb. Quartet doing boy bands?! Egads, this is worse than nothing. What's this? Unleash the Villaians? They never do anything with villains. That sounds good. I'm going to that.

Schedule vacation around Unleash the Villaians...been thinking about this / looking forward to it for so long. Only a ridiculous dork like me would plan a vacation around something this dumb. It won't even be good. But maybe Jafar will be out and I can get a pic. Just love Jafar. I'm probably the only adult person looking forward to this.

Read WDWMagic thread where some guy says it's cancelled. Damn. Wth. Ooh, good, others say No. It's on like Donkey Kong.

But it's busy over there. Other people are going?!

Call friend, tell her to get ready NOW, we have to go early. Have short conversation about online Disney discussion boards. Agree on a time.

Put on my sleeveless black polo shirt. Black for villains. Black like their souls. Appropriate attire for nighttime, villain entertainment. White shorts? Always a bad idea at WDW. Denim? Do I risk looking like a biker chick? I do. And I'm off.

Forgot water. Not paying Disney prices. Stop at Circle K. Guy in front of me in line has conversation with check-out girl. He's going to Disney. She's bored. A villain thing. Check-out girl raises eyebrows, says that sounds kind of fun. She's surprised Disney might do something that could be fun. Other people ARE going.

Have turtle-related, near-miss, non-accident at Osceola Pkwy.

Pick up friend. Suggest World Drive entrance. Well, because PhotoDave said so. More conversation about online Disney discussion and PhotoDave. He knows his Disney. He isn't crazy. Even if he were, he could be right, even so. I think we should take World Drive entrance.

Give in to friend.

Driving in, have to go to the bathroom. Hope it isn't too bad there.

Sit in traffic for about an hour. Other people really ARE going to this. See some guy in an ECV riding down street. See some woman push a baby carriage down the normally-busy street. See many people walking...many young...four goth-looking. Decide denim shorts and black shirt will not be the most badass clothes at DHS. . Wait some more. REALLY need a restroom. Won't be able to wait another hour. Give up, drive through grass to u-turn.

Have extremely expensive fruit and lettuce at Golden Corral, while watching tourists stuff themselves full of food that looks and smells awfully yummy. Break the rules to have a gummy bear, my favorite treat in all the land. It's no good. Spit it out. Figure that if I didn't swallow it, I didn't break the rules.

Never, ever say, "I told you so!" Or the Sheldon equivalent, "I so informed you thusly!" (But thought it. A lot. And resolved to always, always, ALWAYS follow PhotoDave's advice.)

Time spent waiting: about 1 year.

Time spent traveling: about 90 minutes.

Time spent in park: 0

Time spent ed off in the Golden Corral: about 60 minutes.

Time spent wishing I weren't so washy-washy and had insisted on following Dave's advice: TBD.

 

[emcclay]

The fireworks were worth it.

 

[RandomPrincess]

My experience...

Limited Time Magic...sounds dumb. Quartet doing boy bands?! Egads, this is worse than nothing. What's this? Unleash the Villaians? They never do anything with villains. That sounds good. I'm going to that.

Schedule vacation around Unleash the Villaians...been thinking about this / looking forward to it for so long. Only a ridiculous dork like me would plan a vacation around something this dumb. It won't even be good. But maybe Jafar will be out and I can get a pic. Just love Jafar. I'm probably the only adult person looking forward to this.

Read WDWMagic thread where some guy says it's cancelled. Damn. Wth. Ooh, good, others say No. It's on like Donkey Kong.

But it's busy over there. Other people are going?!

Call friend, tell her to get ready NOW, we have to go early. Have short conversation about online Disney discussion boards. Agree on a time.

Put on my sleeveless black polo shirt. Black for villains. Black like their souls. Appropriate attire for nighttime, villain entertainment. White shorts? Always a bad idea at WDW. Denim? Do I risk looking like a biker chick? I do. And I'm off.

Forgot water. Not paying Disney prices. Stop at Circle K. Guy in front of me in line has conversation with check-out girl. He's going to Disney. She's bored. A villain thing. Check-out girl raises eyebrows, says that sounds kind of fun. She's surprised Disney might do something that could be fun. Other people ARE going.

Have turtle-related, near-miss, non-accident at Osceola Pkwy.

Pick up friend. Suggest World Drive entrance. Well, because PhotoDave said so. More conversation about online Disney discussion and PhotoDave. He knows his Disney. He isn't crazy. Even if he were, he could be right, even so. I think we should take World Drive entrance.

Give in to friend.

Driving in, have to go to the bathroom. Hope it isn't too bad there.

Sit in traffic for about an hour. Other people really ARE going to this. See some guy in an ECV riding down street. See some woman push a baby carriage down the normally-busy street. See many people walking...many young...four goth-looking. Decide denim shorts and black shirt will not be the most badass clothes at DHS. . Wait some more. REALLY need a restroom. Won't be able to wait another hour. Give up, drive through grass to u-turn.

Have extremely expensive fruit and lettuce at Golden Corral, while watching tourists stuff themselves full of food that looks and smells awfully yummy. Break the rules to have a gummy bear, my favorite treat in all the land. It's no good. Spit it out. Figure that if I didn't swallow it, I didn't break the rules.

Never, ever say, "I told you so!" Or the Sheldon equivalent, "I so informed you thusly!" (But thought it. A lot. And resolved to always, always, ALWAYS follow PhotoDave's advice.)

Time spent waiting: about 1 year.

Time spent traveling: about 90 minutes.

Time spent in park: 0

Time spent ed off in the Golden Corral: about 60 minutes.

Time spent wishing I weren't so washy-washy and had insisted on following Dave's advice: TBD.

I'm ed for you!

 

[Sped2424]

The Hades musical sets were downright fun.

Meg and Hades really too Disney entertainment to a whole new level.

Meg was all kinds of sexy-sass. I mean, wow. WITH a long dress. Major thumbs up. If you have not watched the video, you really should.

But Hades was mind-blowing. Is sure hope face character Hades sticks around. It was like being in an alternate universe where Disney really let their property unleash himself. Hire more real talent like this guy and build these characters. 2 perfect examples of lesser characters that just flat out lifting an entire event on their shoulders.

I mentioned it before, but Shadow Man is RIPE for the same treatment. And not just a lame meet and greet guy. Hire real actors. There is HUGE demand for Shadow Man. I mean HUGE. By far the most popular guest costume at the event.

I do admit talking hades is much more entertaining than the fur version, also however played meg did a stellar job.

 

[Sped2424]

I avoided traffic thankfully by just heading to epcot and getting to Hollywood studios through the international gateway. Pro tip for anyone going to packed event at hollywood studios. I got to disneyworld around 545 when traffic was beginning to get terrible.

 

[JimboJones123]

One Million Dollars.

$1,000,000

Yes, A MILLION SMACKAROOS!


I don't feel this is any kind of exageration on the amount of money Disney failed to bring in last night. We were more than willing to spend more, bit it took me 45 minites to get a soda at Backlot Express. A soda. This was the only CS that didn't have lines outside the door. To the door, but not outside.

We would have easily spent $150 on merch. There wasn't any.

Here's my thoughts/reports....

Going into this, its an event that EVERYONE has always wanted: A Villans party. There's going to be some insanely rare characters. Lots of demand. MNSSHP is happening which means every day guest in their right min is going to say "Hey, lets go check out this cool thing at DHS." Every CP & young CM is going to go "We're there." Every passholder in an hours drive is going to come. Its going to be a nightmare....

I drive over at 4pm. There's a slight backup going into the entrance of BVD. We are parked in the last row. The parking lot is just about full at that point. We head in and look to start killing a few hours. Meet up with friends and get in line for a character around 615.

The friend I was with enjoys the characters and I enjoy meeting them as well... but generally, waiting two hours for a 1 minute experience? Havent done that since I was 16. So here's how that was worked: You had 3 lines. You just got in one of them. You didnt know who you were getting in line for. Entertainment was kept under wraps and rumors flew fast and furious. Around 730, management wanders around and start spreading the word of who is meeting where. Chaos and line jumping starts.

I leave my friend in line and try and watch the opening show at 8. I was unable to make it to the

By 830, it was absimal chaos. One line stretches back to Keystone Clothiers. (No joke) Characters made it to set a half hour late because they were unable to get thru the the crowds without a lot of handlers. Eventually, the characters come out and we see the Malificent kid (as referenced earlier). The kid got a huge ovation. By 930, we found some friends further up in line and managed to get to meet Oogie in a reasonable-ish-the-first-several-hours-were-my-fault amount of time. (White whale, kids. Like a Unicorn) There were several THOUSAND people trying to get to these characters. Entertainment did their best but park ops were overwhelmed.

From there we work our way to try and find water. There are no extra carts out. No extra stands out. No extra anything except one poor bartender stand by the hat selling two specialty cocktails. Every location is INSANE. Limited edition merch was apparently at Villans in Vogue as that place was slammed and you couldnt go in it. The line for that stretched back to Keystone Clothiers as well. (Think Star Wars merch line). All of Sunset Ranch stands are packed beyond anything Ive seen. Eventually, i find a drink cart where the girl had been forced extended. Water is consumed and we make for the hat for the shows.

Strangely, lots of room right in front of the stage. Wasnt too difficult to get up there given the context of the situation.

The Villains stage show rocked, DJ Elliot killed as usual - he is a draw in and of himself - and MSS rocked, breaking out their Beatles set. We were too close for the fireworks... lots of low level smoke. The best photos I saw were from along the path to/from the Boardwalk. Then everybody left. (Fireworks were at 11)

We wander back to get another character, Shan Yu with a much more reasonable 30 minute line. Everyone is in line for Malificent and Oogie... so we're in luck. I meet up with a different friend, take care of an issue where they had become dehydrated. We meet our character, see MSS one last time, dance with a few characters. Wave goodbye. Talked with friends. Waited for the parking lot to clear before heading to the car.

Eventually I get the internet and find out what an absolute CRAPFEST parking and getting into the parks was.

Entertainment saved Operations .

Anyone on the front line or pays attention to what guests want knew this crowd would happen. Park Operations was woefully understaffed.

Due to the heat and humidity, there was a lack of places to get water. Lots of people passing out/falling ill due to the large crowds and inability to get water. ODF missed out on a chance to make boatloads of money around the characters on beverages alone.

Dan Cockrell was apparently out in the mayhem, listening to guests. Hopefully his in-park experience yesterday teaches him a thing or two.

The characters were in a bad spot. Streets of America or Stunt show would have handled that number of people much easier and spread the crowd out a bit. There was no reason to try and do it in the same way they did Star Wars autographs. Those lines are fixed by the number of fastpasses while these lines were dynamic by the number of people in the park.

Guests have no idea how to behave in large crowds, especially while just standing there. If youre right next to the aisle, you dont yell at someone to "Just go around." There are 10-20 thousand people in the way if i try and go around, or you could step aside and I'm in the walkway.

Overall? I had a blast. I got to do what I wanted to do. Saw everything I wanted to. Met everyone I wanted to. But I also knew what I was in for.

 

[JimboJones123]

Here is how you fix the meet and greet.

2 areas. Duplicate characters on the Streets of America.

"But Jimbo, it would ruin the magic to have multiple characters in the park???"

Mickey is on Main Street (Formerly Toontown) and still runs parades and castle shows.

The Country Bears are in the show and on the street at the same time.

Snow White is in Germany and Innoventions at the same time.

You can see Chef Mickey characters from the monorail and in the park open show 2 minutes later all on the same monorail ride.

Princesses are in Cindy castle and Main Street at the same time.



Plus, as we have been discussing, this is a tad bit more mature of an event. Do we need to suspend disbelief that much?

If half a park away, shouldn't that be good enough?

By the time one shuffles between the two, couldn't a character as well?

 

[JimboJones123]

I do admit talking hades is much more entertaining than the fur version, also however played meg did a stellar job.

Meg was all kinds of awesome. And sultry. And HOT!!!

 

[PhotoDave219]

Meg was all kinds of awesome. And sultry. And HOT!!!

She always has been. She was quite the character when she was out at Epcot the other week.

 

[RandomPrincess]

Here is how you fix the meet and greet.

2 areas. Duplicate characters on the Streets of America.

"But Jimbo, it would ruin the magic to have multiple characters in the park???"

Mickey is on Main Street (Formerly Toontown) and still runs parades and castle shows.

The Country Bears are in the show and on the street at the same time.

Snow White is in Germany and Innoventions at the same time.

You can see Chef Mickey characters from the monorail and in the park open show 2 minutes later all on the same monorail ride.

Princesses are in Cindy castle and Main Street at the same time.



Plus, as we have been discussing, this is a tad bit more mature of an event. Do we need to suspend disbelief that much?

If half a park away, shouldn't that be good enough?

By the time one shuffles between the two, couldn't a character as well?

My daughter is 4.5 she already has figured out it's a person in a costume and it's pretend. I know some kids make it older before they figure it out but being aimed at an older audience your plan sounds good.

 

[JimboJones123]

She always has been. She was quite the character when she was out at Epcot the other week.

Missed that. Bummer. I may have a new crush.

 

[PhotoDave219]

Missed that. Bummer. I may have a new crush.

It was a one-day training special. Those things are unannounced and pretty damn rare in the first place.

 

[mm52200]

I think entertainment really did a fantastic job on their part, it's a shame operations was unable to properly handle the event. I'm so glad that Entertainment brought out rare characters, heavily featured the Hercules property, and they seemed to go all out for everything considering it was a one night event. It honestly made me happy how Hades and Meg were the hosts of the event. Meg is the best and after having her removed from Fantasmic it's great to see her so prominently featured. I just hope that TDO will realize the demand for this kind of event and act on it.

 

[Witchy Chick]

Random observations ...

A friend waited in line an hour for a T-shirt, only to be told they'd gone on sale at 9:00 am, had sold out hours ago.

Ummmm don't tell your friend, but I purchased the (not so) Limited Edition t-shirt at Villians in Vogue this morning. I was also told by a CM last night that the shirt would be available online until Tues. Mentioned this to DH on a call home, and he verified that both the DHS (red accents with Hades and other characters) and the DL shirt (blue accents with Maleficent and other characters) were available.

 

[PhotoDave219]

Ummmm don't tell your friend, but I purchased the (not so) Limited Edition t-shirt at Villians in Vogue this morning. I was also told by a CM last night that the shirt would be available online until Tues. Mentioned this to DH on a call home, and he verified that both the DHS (red accents with Hades and other characters) and the DL shirt (blue accents with Maleficent and other characters) were available.

They were also available online. Or so I was told.