Spirited News, Observations & Thoughts IV

[englanddg]

While I dont think the new rfid entry saves any time, I will admit it isnt that bad. As I said, the technology works just fine. Its the people using it that are causing the issue. The CM's certainly arent making it any better. If people just took two seconds to look at the set up and used their brains they could figure it out on their own,..but thats obviously too much to ask of someone on vacation.

In theory it could save time...if it were used properly.

Note...I said theory.

Something else I noticed is that CMs have handhelds they are checking, and for FP+ they have computer kiosks. Sometimes people will tap faster than the CM can visually confirm. The system is actually TOO efficient in that respect.

It makes me wonder if some of the CM lackadaisical response to "directing guests" is somewhat related to this.

 

[wdisney9000]

In theory it could save time...if it were used properly.

Note...I said theory.

Something else I noticed is that CMs have handhelds they are checking, and for FP+ they have computer kiosks. Sometimes people will tap faster than the CM can visually confirm. The system is actually TOO efficient in that respect.

It makes me wonder if some of the CM lackadaisical response to "directing guests" is somewhat related to this.

Agree that it could save time. Perhaps your right about the CM responsiveness being related to the handheld as well. Im sure you saw for yourself though a few times when it was obvious the guest was completely unaware of how the system works and a little CM help could have prevented them from continuing to make the same mistakes for their enitre trip. In the end, maybe its better if the computers take over the world one day! lol

 

[The Empress Lilly]

I hear DLP is really nice. I've never been there. Perhaps the stroller hating crowd should just go there instead of WDW. Seems like a simple solution to the problem.

In retrospect, I think my strollerophobia came off a bit strong. It wasn't directed at any two persons in this thread particular, but the general stroller proliferation in general.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

My point is people will pay more for merchandise they really want than for the same generic items they're already seen in 83 other gift shops.

I think the theory is that precisely because people are exposed to the same merch over an over again that they will buy it. Repetition works. If you see one Mickey plush you don't want it and don't need it. If you see 600 Mickey plush you can't leave without one.

 

[englanddg]

In retrospect, I think my strollerophobia came off a bit strong. It wasn't directed at any two persons in this thread particular, but the general stroller proliferation in general.

Though, it is a valid social observation. Rather than deal with "I'm tired...I don't wanna walk", parents would rather plop the kiddos in a stroller. It's for their enjoyment (not the children's)...but it has other implications (I think).

I've only once used a stroller for the kiddo, and that was in 2010 when she was 5...and even then it was for half a day. See...she had fallen asleep on the monorail to EPCOT on our next to last day, and I had my hands full of bags with last minute shopping. I carried her off the monorail, didn't wake up. Through the ticket gates...didn't wake up.

So, rather than lug around that dead weight plus the packages all day, I rented a stroller.

As soon as I put her in it...guess what she did?

Woke up. <facepalms>

Anyhow, I don't care if someone wants to use one or not, it's their choice. But, I do notice that they seem to be more and more prevalant.

I mean, heck, I saw more than one family with kids around 4 or 5 using a stroller...on the Disney Fantasy. One family even had a double stroller that they'd use on the ship!

<facepalms again>

 

[The Empress Lilly]

I agree. Didnt France just issue a ban on all underage beauty pageants to protect children? Good for them. I think the article was in the Washington Post titled "No Honey Boo-Boo's in France" LOL

It's things like this why I love France. Honey-boo-boo'ed tarted up little girls is not left to cynical big business, but is discussed in a public discourse worhty of the name. The French intellectual tradition is one of the greatest assets of the Western world.

 

[nor'easter]

In theory it could save time...if it were used properly.

Note...I said theory. :


It makes me wonder if some of the CM lackadaisical response to "directing guests" is somewhat related to this.

I actually find the bag lines worse. Families of four each with a knapsack stuffed to the nines, like they are going on a week long camping trip.

 

[GoofGoof]

In retrospect, I think my strollerophobia came off a bit strong. It wasn't directed at any two persons in this thread particular, but the general stroller proliferation in general.

No worries. For me personally I just don't get the stroller thing. I had a number of trips to WDW before kids as an adult and never really even noticed the strollers or got bothered by them. I am sure they were there, but I was into my own things so I wasn't focused on them since I didn't have kids. I probably notice them a lot more now that I have kids and strollers of my own. They still don't bother me.

 

[wdisney9000]

I actually find the bag lines worse. Families of four each with a knapsack stuffed to the nines, like they are going on a week long camping trip.

Lol. Its either that or they have a bag with 87 zippers and they dont unzip them while waiting. Unzip your d*mn bags folks!

 

[Funmeister]

Five or ten cents isn't much cheaper - it's a dime or a nickel, and while it adds up to millions over the course of the year - it makes no real difference if added to individual purchase. Given the inflated prices we are already paying for food and merchandise in the parks, I think you can justify the added cost of non-generic items, on the basis that paying a premium price ought to yield a premium product - not a generic one. Don't scrimp on the details - like plain napkins - to save me ten cents on my lunch. Raise prices by ten cents to cover your additional costs if you must - it won't make a measurable difference in sales anyway.

But the bags and the like aren't really what's important. Rather, unique and attraction, resort, and park specific merchandise to go into those generic bags is what we're looking for, and unlike the bags, the additional cost to offer unique designs can directly be passed on to the consumer. My point is people will pay more for merchandise they really want than for the same generic items they're already seen in 83 other gift shops.

Really? you do not think five or ten cents is much cheaper multiplied by the number of bags, cups and plates they go through in a single year? WOW. You must have money to burn!

I understand what you are saying. Trust me. But you are not seeing the picture as a tight budgeted revenue generator. Yes, guests will pay more for merchandise they really want. The bag/cup/napkin example can also be applied to merchandise.

Don't look at it as only what guests are willing to pay. You have to include the overhead costs of the merchandise. I am not trying to justify what the company does but I can tell you the numbers look much better when you buy 1,000,000 shirts of the same exact style and put them into 83 gift shops than 83 different shirts with unique designs. Go look at papermart.com or even Windy City Novelties website. The more you buy the more of a discount you receive. The price per shirt goes down considerably when you buy hundreds of thousands of them to supply resorts on both coasts. They cannot buy the unique merchandise at lower quantities for the same price in turn not giving them the same profit margin. That is how it works.

The argument can be made by what you are saying with unique merchandise but the company does not want to run the risk of ending up with a warehouse of 2013 merch on January 1, 2014.
WIth cheaper merch (due to higher order quantities) they can take the hit if they do not sell out.

DLP does a pretty good job with attraction specific merch.

 

[PeterAlt]

Which is just crazy cause Miami is an ecological disaster waiting to happen. That article in Rolling Stone should freak people out down there.

What Rolling Stone article? By the way, Miami isn't an "ordinary" city by any measure. They do things their own way there and most of the time logic is left out of the equation. I went to Miami Beach a few weeks ago and the beach turned into one big night club (during the day). People brought in their own sound systems. It was one big unorganized free party. You don't see things like that happening anywhere else.

 

[aladdin2007]

I actually find the bag lines worse. Families of four each with a knapsack stuffed to the nines, like they are going on a week long camping trip.

Agree, what concerns me however is the lazy way those bags are checked. Some of the security guards barely look in them. They just peek in and say go, while others seem to really get in every nook and cranny. So much though is loaded into some of the strollers, bags upon bags, really?, why bother to go at all if you have to bring your whole house with you.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

No worries. For me personally I just don't get the stroller thing. I had a number of trips to WDW before kids as an adult and never really even noticed the strollers or got bothered by them. I am sure they were there, but I was into my own things so I wasn't focused on them since I didn't have kids. I probably notice them a lot more now that I have kids and strollers of my own. They still don't bother me.

Well the strollers do bother me. Those doombuggies have taken over public space. They are like cars in a once pedestrian area.

Toddlerland, formerly Fantasyland:

Adventureland. Once a calm tropical oasis in the MK, now you move like ants between the plastic toons, spinner and strollers packed with enough food and gear for a six week jungle expedition:

EPCOT's Clone Army, ready to overthrow the Republic:

Classic MK! No strollers! No clogged Fantasyland! Before the Fantasyland Diminishing Project of recent years, FL already featured fountains, waterstreams, shade, resting places, rides, manouverable pathways. To boot, also a Bavarian hillside to go with the Bavarian hillside town architecture.
It's all gone. Turned into a Toon Toilet. [insert some wordplay with 'down the toilet'] Because people drink out of horse buckets nowadays they had to build extra toilets, the skyway had to go for want of disciplined guests, and the area needed to be widened to accomodate those forty million SUV strollers.

 

[PeterAlt]

Great post (as usual). Don't forget to add the significant reduction in live entertainment across property, especially live entertainment that is not foamheads. And those "dance parties" don't count as live entertainment.

I had no idea about the Mine Coaster's height limit. I'm so depressed now....

 

[unkadug]

Well the strollers do bother me. Those doombuggies have taken over public space. They are like cars in a once pedestrian area.

Toddlerland:

Adventureland. Once a calm tropical oasis in the MK, now you move like ants between the plastic toons, spinner and strollers packed with enough food and gear for a six week jungle expedition:

EPCOT's Clone Army, ready to overthrow the Republic:

Classic MK! No strollers! No clogged Fantasyland! Before the Fantasyland Diminishing Project of recent years, FL already featured fountains, waterstreams, shade, resting places, rides, manouverable pathways. To boot, also a Bavarian hillside to go with the Bavarian hillside town architecture.
It's all gone. Turned into a Toon Toilet. [insert some wordplay with 'down the toilet'] Because people drink out of horse buckets nowadays they had to build extra toilets, the skyway had to go for want of disciplined guests, and the area needed to be widened to accomodate those forty million SUV strollers.

You bring up a good point. All pictures from the 70's and 80's you will be hard pressed to find more than one stroller in any picture of WDW crowds.

When did society as a whole become so lazy that all children must be chauffeured in their own personal stroller?

 

[PeterAlt]

Well the strollers do bother me. Those doombuggies have taken over public space. They are like cars in a once pedestrian area.

Toddlerland:

Adventureland. Once a calm tropical oasis in the MK, now you move like ants between the plastic toons, spinner and strollers packed with enough food and gear for a six week jungle expedition:

EPCOT's Clone Army, ready to overthrow the Republic:

Classic MK! No strollers! No clogged Fantasyland! Before the Fantasyland Diminishing Project of recent years, FL already featured fountains, waterstreams, shade, resting places, rides, manouverable pathways. To boot, also a Bavarian hillside to go with the Bavarian hillside town architecture.
It's all gone. Turned into a Toon Toilet. [insert some wordplay with 'down the toilet'] Because people drink out of horse buckets nowadays they had to build extra toilets, the skyway had to go for want of disciplined guests, and the area needed to be widened to accomodate those forty million SUV strollers.

I'm am now utterly and hopelessly depressed.

 

[nor'easter]

You bring up a good point. All pictures from the 70's and 80's you will be hard pressed to find more than one stroller in any picture of WDW crowds.

When did society as a whole become so lazy that all children must be chauffeured in their own personal stroller?

Around the same time obesity became a "disability" requiring ECVs.

 

[rael ramone]

The Vacation Kingdom is not online...

There is the possibility that Sen. Markey has either made MM(-) a non-priority or has decided to shelve pursuing it further, but I suspect referring to protect children from 'online tracking' is meant as brevity, and that what he wishes to file is a strengthing of COPPA (which I believe he co-wrote) to both possible loopholes in internet tracking as well as tracking using other technologies....

 

[misterID]

70's and early 80's WDW was very different. Mostly, WDW was like DLR with the majority of visitors being locals. The second tourism really took off is when I noticed the Stroller Swarms, so it's not really fair to compare, imo. The crowds were very different at WDW back then.

 

[unkadug]

70's and early 80's WDW was very different. Mostly, WDW was like DLR with the majority of visitors being locals. The second tourism really took off is when I noticed the Stroller Swarms, so it's not really fair to compare, imo. The crowds were very different at WDW back then.

I will respectfully disagree with your assessment of the local crowd being predominant.