Spirited News and Observations and Opinions ...

[beachlover4444]

I have no problem with all the parks being open 9-9. I think the later closings has lead to wear and tear on the rides, causing to more breakdowns and poor maintenance. I do choose which park I go to based on hours of operations. Want more people in animal kingdom? Keep it open later where I feel I'll get my bang for my buck. Same was with Hollywood Studios closing earlier than Epcot or MK. People will go where the most hours are offered. Make them all the same and people will distribute themselves more evenly and feel they got their monies worth. Also feel that the out of town multi night people pay more so that florida residents who pay very little for an annual pass is out of whack. Here in Ohio we had great season passes for Sea World and Geauga Lake for years. Also our park was only open for summers. But the ratio of per day ticket v season pass made sense. The prices for season pass for fla residents is so reasonable and those people don't buy stuff or eat there. And Disney needs to stop people from bringing food in. Cant believe I am saying that but from a business standpoint your F&B are your moneymakers. They have to spend those tourist $$ there in order to make money.

 

[beachlover4444]

As for food it is sad that you have to book restaurant reservations atleast 3 months out or you cant get in a restaurant on a whim. My sis works at Mama Melrose and they are almost completely booked every day and rarely take walk ins. I don't mind quick service but if you are there for a week, you get sick of chicken burgers and pizza pretty fast.

 

[beachlover4444]

... from a quickee holiday visit to WDW and UNI this week.

Let's start with the stuff you likely don't know.

EMH. You like it? You don't? You are ambivalent? Well, doesn't matter because plans are to eliminate it. First step was cutting night hours down from three to two. Look for that to drop more and nights to slowly get eliminated. They'll cut back mornings lastly as they are more popular, but look for DAK to lose a morning soon as well.

The reason? Resort guests will be getting a perq (using Queen's English here) in the form of extra FP+ so that will allow them to ride as much as the extra time allegedly does. It's all about eliminating labor hours for ops, while telling guests it's the amount of rides they get, not when they get them that matters.

Upset that Fantasmic looks like a disaster? Well, it seems that maintenance has basically been told not to fix anything that breaks or doesn't work because the show isn't long for the park. Let the WoC rumours commence.

EPCOT truly looks sad at the holidays with such little decoration. And c'mon guys, can't you at least keep all the lights on the tree working? Or maybe add some more pyro back to RoE (tag nonwithstanding)?

New Fantasyland? ... Where do I even start. Maybe tomorrow or Monday. ... But while what's there looks detailed and nice (and it does), can I also state that The Port of Entry at IOA is just as detailed or more and that ET is a better ride in 2012 than Little Mermaid is? Oh, I just did.

Gotta remember to also plug the best new thing at the MK that no one seems to want to talk about (no, it isn't pork shanks at Gaston's ... or the new interactive game Help Gary Buchanan Find His Missing Dragon!)

More to come you can be sure ...

completely agree. I have no problem with the parks being open 9-9, all of them. will distribute people more evenly and feel like each park is equal value. no problem with resort guests getting fast past plus. will we be able to purchase that though?? if the parks closed for normal hours maybe more reliable maintenance can get done so less breakdowns.

 

[djlaosc]

completely agree. I have no problem with the parks being open 9-9, all of them. will distribute people more evenly and feel like each park is equal value. no problem with resort guests getting fast past plus. will we be able to purchase that though?? if the parks closed for normal hours maybe more reliable maintenance can get done so less breakdowns.

So why are the Yeti and many of Dinosaur's effects broken/turned off, when it is open 9-5?

You want it open 9-9? What else will break? (Not saying that it shouldn't be open 9-9, but if you want it "only" open as late as 9 in order to improve maintenance, then what's the excuse now?)

 

[Disneyhead'71]

So why are the Yeti and many of Dinosaur's effects broken/turned off, when it is open 9-5?

You want it open 9-9? What else will break? (Not saying that it shouldn't be open 9-9, but if you want it "only" open as late as 9 in order to improve maintenance, then what's the excuse now?)

We all know the reason the Yeti hasn't been fixed is that being the parks only headline "thrill" ride, they simply can't take the ride down for the extended time it would take to make the fix.
As for the broken effects in Dinosaur!. Well, there really is no excuse. They should simple be fixed. They could easily fix those with no down time at all. My guess is they just haven't gotten that magical critical number of complaints at Guest Services.

 

[Californian Elitist]

We all know the reason the Yeti hasn't been fixed is that being the parks only headline "thrill" ride, they simply can't take the ride down for the extended time it would take to make the fix.
As for the broken effects in Dinosaur!. Well, there really is no excuse. They should simple be fixed. They could easily fix those with no down time at all. My guess is they just haven't gotten that magical critical number of complaints at Guest Services.

In your opinion, do you think Everest should go down for the needed time to fix the yeti? Or do you think it should stay open?

 

[Skibum1970]

Take Everest down and fix it. Also, as much as Disney charges for tickets, they should provide as much time in the parks as possible. As mentioned earlier, park hours had nothing to do with lack of maintenance. Lack of spending and caring about show quality seems to have caused the most impact.

 

[djlaosc]

We all know the reason the Yeti hasn't been fixed is that being the parks only headline "thrill" ride, they simply can't take the ride down for the extended time it would take to make the fix.
As for the broken effects in Dinosaur!. Well, there really is no excuse. They should simple be fixed. They could easily fix those with no down time at all. My guess is they just haven't gotten that magical critical number of complaints at Guest Services.

Yeah, I know the reason why the Yeti hasn't been fixed, but that could have been solved if they had decided to continue to build Mysterious Island back in 2007/2008, but they didn't...
It was just one of the (few) rides that I thought of at DAK where there were known about problems.

As for Dinosaur, I'm sure I've read on here that there are effects that are still in working order - they just can't be bothered to turn them on! But, unless you know what you're looking for (ie, Dinosaurs where they say the name of the Dinosaur), it's possible to ride through the attraction and not miss any of the missing effects.

But, I do wonder how long it would take to fix the issue if Disney were willing to get workers working on it to work 24/7 like Universal with Transformers?

 

[Clever Name]

We all know the reason the Yeti hasn't been fixed is that being the parks only headline "thrill" ride, they simply can't take the ride down for the extended time it would take to make the fix.
As for the broken effects in Dinosaur!. Well, there really is no excuse. They should simple be fixed. They could easily fix those with no down time at all. My guess is they just haven't gotten that magical critical number of complaints at Guest Services.

There is no guarantee that it can be fully fixed. The foundation is broken and it will require extensive exploratory work just to determine the extent of the damage. That work could actually make things worse and rather than just fixing the foundation, the entire slab might end up having to be removed. Now, at least the coaster still works. The coaster track could be jepardized if the Yeti foundation problems get any worse. The best option they have right now is to hang tight and monitor.

 

[unkadug]

There is no guarantee that it can be fully fixed. The foundation is broken and it will require extensive exploratory work just to determine the extent of the damage. That work could actually make things worse and rather than just fixing the foundation, the entire slab might end up having to be removed. Now, at least the coaster still works. The coaster track could be jepardized if the Yeti foundation problems get any worse. The best option they have right now is to hang tight and monitor.

The foundation for the yeti is completely separate from the foundation of the mountain...which is completely separate from the foundation for the roller coaster.

 

[bhg469]

I for one would miss later hours. I really enjoy being in Epcot until very late. Even MK is really nice at night but much harder to leave.

 

[Clever Name]

The foundation for the yeti is completely separate from the foundation of the mountain...which is completely separate from the foundation for the roller coaster.

The ground it sits on isn't separate. The foundations go deep into the karst geology.

 

[tirian]

Quick service has improved considerably? Not sure I buy that. Choices seem to be down. There is less variety. Yes, it is faster. But the improvement is in the eye of the beholder. Most of my favorite quick service food items no longer exist in the parks. I will say that there are more healthier options available. Beyond that, it's not as good as it was a 15 years ago.

I'm thinking of Sunshine Seasons, Be Our Guest, Columbia Harbor House, and Flame Tree BBQ. It's true that the food was better 15 years ago, but counter service has improved since, say, 2002.

 

[marni1971]

We all know the reason the Yeti hasn't been fixed is that being the parks only headline "thrill" ride, they simply can't take the ride down for the extended time it would take to make the fix.
As for the broken effects in Dinosaur!. Well, there really is no excuse. They should simple be fixed. They could easily fix those with no down time at all. My guess is they just haven't gotten that magical critical number of complaints at Guest Services.

Again, Everest would NOT need to go down for at least two proposals to fix / replace the Yeti.

 

[icecreamrules]

If you can't read a weekly schedule and figure out what the hours are for a park, then you have no one to blame but yourself. It ain't exactly rocket science.

What kind of comment is that? I never said I couldn't read a EMH weekly schedule and figure out the hours, It's just cumbersome for me personally to plan around, and I have a right to that opinion, I'm not looking to blame. Nice to feel a warm welcome for a newbie on the boards.

 

[marni1971]

What kind of comment is that? I never said I couldn't read a EMH weekly schedule and figure out the hours, It's just cumbersome for me personally to plan around, and I have a right to that opinion, I'm not looking to blame. Nice to feel a warm welcome for a newbie on the boards.

A warm welcome to the boards

You'll get used to us.

 

[unkadug]

The ground it sits on isn't separate. The foundations go deep into the karst geology.

Not being a geologist, I certainly have no way of knowing for sure, but I don't see how one foundation being replaced could jeopardize an adjacent foundation.

 

[bhg469]

A foundation in Florida is very deep. If the foundation is the issue don't expect it to ever move again. These were poured in the open. There is now a large mountain with a roller coaster inside of it.

 

[Goofyernmost]

What kind of comment is that? I never said I couldn't read a EMH weekly schedule and figure out the hours, It's just cumbersome for me personally to plan around, and I have a right to that opinion, I'm not looking to blame. Nice to feel a warm welcome for a newbie on the boards.

As you hang around longer you will discover that 74 doesn't spend a lot of time filtering his thoughts. An ego, that boy has! However, he is an equal opportunity offender. If he isn't being offensive at some point in any post it is time to check for an imposter or a pulse. I kinda like his straight forward approach based on the absolute fact that he IS the most intelligent man on the planet. It makes me giggle a little. I can only hope for his sake that Karma is just a fictional thing, cause, otherwise, at some point in time he is going to get some big time problems.

In the meantime, he has some pretty informative information and can create some of the most interesting and, sometimes aggravating, posts and or threads you will find anywhere. Relax and enjoy!

 

[Brian Noble]

As you hang around longer you will discover

We need something like the dragon-welcome they use over at Stupid Guest Tricks.