Spirited WDW Observations, News and Provocative Comments

EPCOT Explorer

EPCOT Explorer

New Member
WDW1974 said:
Other quick thoughts/notes ...

Would be surprised if Sylvania/Seimens sponsors Small World here as they already sponsor so much ... but it is possible, especially with the attraction going down for what has been termed an 'unscheduled rehab of some magnitude'.

Lots of CMs from China.

They were (amazingly) still charging for parking at TPFKaTD-MGMS one night at 5:45 when the park closed at 8. Usually, they stop four hours (or more) before park close.

A little birdie told me something I pretty much knew (but it's nice to get confirm from someone on the inside) and that's the fact that almost everyone staying at WDW in a moderate or deluxe resort right now is staying on a discount. At the deluxe level, it's almost 100% with only groups like conventions etc still paying rack. Apparently, the poor fools at Disney's value motels actually have a much greater amount of folks paying close to or at rack.

I know I mentioned the Valentine hard-ticket party, right? Did I also mention that Studios latest attempt at a Hallowen event of their own was shot down (makes at least the fourth REAL time in the past 12 years)?

Never made it over to TSI ... but it looked very sad and shabby from across the water. Anyone taken a trip recently? God, I miss the smell of (a word that rhymes with miss) in them caves.

The fishies at the DD Rainforest Cafe look much healthier and better cared for than the ones in my local mall's RC.

Again, why do folks buy dated merchandise when it isn't a very special occassion?

Buzz's queue wasn't a disaster this time. (see lack of crowds)

Pulling the rope in front of the Indy Stunt Show at park closing can wind up attracting quite a crowd.

The folks stuck on BTMRR in the rain did NOT look magical as we went by on the RR. Speaking of which, I saw a bus on the perimeter road from the train for the first time ever due to the thinning of trees by both natural disasters and Disney ... and it isn't magical either.

Is anyone here excited by Space Mountain? I mean .... as Seth and Amy would say ... REALLY?!??!

Best way to make an attraction's attendance fall ... don't have anyone at the turnstile or in the queue (see Tiki Room). many folks left because they had no idea if it was open or even what was inside.

Speaking of which ... WDW guidemaps flat out suck the big one. Compare them to the guidebooks of the 1970s-90s. Just a joke. Space Mountain is 'an indoor roller coaster' ... Snow White's Scary Adventures is 'a journey inside through the dark' ... Small World is 'an musical indoor voyage' ... and people question Walmarting?

More to come ... maybe ...
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Bolded, and in order...

More so than in August, I agree. And there were a majority at the Studios. Don't know if that's a trend, but at least 60% were from China. Also a smaller group from Russa. Disneyland Moscow? :lol:

TSI needs to become a small southern city square, below sea level, and with frogs. :)

Peter Pan's queue looked decent as well, mentioned that in my thread. I thought that it looked better than the ride.

Guidebooks do suck, I agree. One page, flimsy paper, nondescript art, and each one is the same. Boring. If they were to THEME them, and really make them detailed, wow. They could seriously have different styles for each. Rugged map for DAK, Wheel Map for EC, Fairytale/Whimsical for MK....
 
Tom Morrow

Tom Morrow

Well-Known Member
The guidemaps are smaller and made of flimsy paper as part of "going green" (and saving green). Considering how many guidemaps end up thrown away and not used, I don't see how this is a bad thing.

The descriptions are generic, but they went straight to the point in as little words as possible to save space.

It also makes more sense for them to be uniform because its easier for guests to figure out.
 
EPCOT Explorer

EPCOT Explorer

New Member
Tom Morrow said:
The guidemaps are smaller and made of flimsy paper as part of "going green" (and saving green). Considering how many guidemaps end up thrown away and not used, I don't see how this is a bad thing.

The descriptions are generic, but they went straight to the point in as little words as possible to save space.

It also makes more sense for them to be uniform because its easier for guests to figure out.
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Can't say I agree with you....at all. Sorry.

If anything, I always looked at the maps as a little souvenir in themselves. They used to be huge, have nice art, and be really unique. Now? Flimsy paper, with a generic picture on the front, and really generic map of the park. (I do have to say, the pictures on the front are getting better. Love the SSE one for EPCOT.) Make them a little more high class, you won't have them strewn about, and trashed. People will take them. And like them. Much harder to throw away cardboard than paper. Like I did back in the 90's, and do now, out of habit.

The descriptions are a moot point to me, but I do think that they could be a little more in depth, and not just go skin deep.

Uniform? Perfect comparison for how TDO/Ops/Glendale treats our parks. You DON'T want our parks uniform. You want each one to be unique, different, fascinating. Not generic with pastel colors and a gold little banner. Easier = stupid. Make it difficult. ;)
 
nibblesandbits

nibblesandbits

Well-Known Member
A couple of things:

First, I have some of the year stuff. But mostly I just buy an ornament with the year on it for my Christmas tree and I've bought a candle votive holder with the year on it. Both are related to my Christmas decor. I don't see the need for some of the other things with the year on it...like t-shirts. But hey...whatcha gonna do? People do buy it and I'm sure it's part of that mentality of "I have to have something to mark the trip." Year stuff makes it easy to do so, even though I've never seen a person wear something with a year on it here in my hometown, which is far from WDW, but I have seen WDW related stuff here. :shrug:

Second: about the guide maps...I think that what was said earlier about them just being thrown away is probably a good indication of why Disney makes them so cheaply now. (Besides the fact that, of course, the cheaper they are to make, the better for them.) I honestly doubt that with the majority of the people who go in there, if they made a higher quality park map that people would keep them. For a majority of people, it's just a way to figure out where the Haunted Mansion is or how to find a bathroom. It's not as much of a collectable. (Although, I admit I have a ton of park maps and they are in my scrapbook. But I doubt a majority of people are like us...even if they were made of better quality, I still think most people would throw them away.)

Third: Nice report 74! Enjoying reading the bad, with the good. (Since you say that many people ignore you posting good stuff. :D )
 
WDW1974

WDW1974

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Buried20KLeague said:
You know, I don't know. I've thought about it. Maybe.

So far I haven't gotten up the energy for it. :lol: Plus, a lot of is has been said by either you or others that have posted observations recently. But I do have a few I think I'll probably share... Probably in a bullet point form. I don't feel like getting as verbose as you!! :lol:
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Verbose?

I like to say 'why say something in 50 words that you can say in 5000!':xmas:
 
WDW1974

WDW1974

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
71jason said:
Not trying to jump on Disney again, but genuine curiosity: why kill the Studios Halloween event? I was under the impression HHN is one of the few things keeping Universal in business these days, and on the fan boards, this idea always seems to generate a lot of excitement. This seems like a logical step in a park that targets tweens and teens, and would mean an extra hard ticket event each year for the die-hards.
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I can't answer that because I don't know.

My gueses are two:

Money;

A desire to NOT do anything that would remotely be scary to a sheltered seven-year-old.:xmas:
 
WDW1974

WDW1974

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
yoyoflamingo said:
I don't understand the purchasing of yearly merchandise either, but we were there on the 5-7, and all Celebrate merchandise was 50% off. There were no signs, but some CMs were telling us. We went to the AP sale at the World of Disney where they started telling us (and scored the $20 WDCC too, never would have bought if not the price), and throughout our stay CMs were telling us 50% off 2009. Even the pins!

And I agree, DTD had more holiday cheer than many areas of WDW.
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I didn't notice anything with sale signs (and I look), but I have heard from a CM pal they did start 50% off on the stuff when I was there ... it may simply have rung up at that price, but it sure is a dumb way to do things.

I don't like buying dated items because ... well, they're dated. Who would want to wear a WDW 2005 tee in 2009 (assuming that it wouldn't have disintegrated by now)? I did buy a lot of Y2K stuff (more pins) thinking they'd have some special value. Considering what a nightmare most of ths 00s have been, I think that wasn't smart on my part!

Never made it into WoD in three visits to DD. It just looked like a madhouse and I like almost every other shop more. ... I'm curious, though, the WDCC figures they were offering for $20 ... what were there? All PoC? How many different ones?

Character Connection at Property Control said it had six (all PoC) and that most went on 'Black Friday' which clearly wasn't entirely true if they were selling them to APers at WoD a week later. While I absoluley don't think they're worth anything close to the $200 tags they supposedly retail for (this isn't 2006 where folks had money and credit), I also know they are certainly worth more than $20. I would have bought more as gifts if I didn't have my Benz packed to the point there was barely room to breathe!:xmas::xmas::xmas:
 
Tom Morrow

Tom Morrow

Well-Known Member
EPCOT Explorer said:
Can't say I agree with you....at all. Sorry.

If anything, I always looked at the maps as a little souvenir in themselves. They used to be huge, have nice art, and be really unique. Now? Flimsy paper, with a generic picture on the front, and really generic map of the park. (I do have to say, the pictures on the front are getting better. Love the SSE one for EPCOT.) Make them a little more high class, you won't have them strewn about, and trashed. People will take them. And like them. Much harder to throw away cardboard than paper. Like I did back in the 90's, and do now, out of habit.

The descriptions are a moot point to me, but I do think that they could be a little more in depth, and not just go skin deep.

Uniform? Perfect comparison for how TDO/Ops/Glendale treats our parks. You DON'T want our parks uniform. You want each one to be unique, different, fascinating. Not generic with pastel colors and a gold little banner. Easier = stupid. Make it difficult. ;)
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I'm not saying I wouldn't like better maps... I would. But I can understand this decision from Disney's perspective.

Also, I think people are pretty careless, and no matter how nice the map is, if its free, it will still end up being littered / used to pick up other trash, etc.
 
WDW1974

WDW1974

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
MiklCraw4d said:
+1000

So true. This is something that's been driving me crazy lately, as I've been doing a lot of research that causes me to look in the old guidebooks a lot. They're actually helpful - what an idea! And they always, *always* promote the resort as a whole.

This really struck home the other night, actually, as I was trying to trace what happened to the space on Main Street that was originally the "Wonderland of Wax". In guidemaps up to the mid-80s, each individual space was clearly delineated and labeled in the guidebook. Take a look at the current park map - there's about three labels for the entire land. *None* of the shops are labeled. I couldn't believe it. I guess I hadn't really examined one of these maps in a while, but it's true - the park maps don't even show the shops. No surprise, I guess, since every shop is exactly the same these days.

Pardon me while I sit here and growl now.

Grrrrrrrrr....
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That's the bottom line of the dumbing down/Walmarting of WDW.

You actually NEEDED guidebooks from the 70s-90s because there was so much to see and do and everything wasn't homogenized Disney MAGIC (listen and learn fanbois). Shops had different merchandise that helped tell the story of where they were located ... they helped layer a visit with detail and immerse you. And you weren't being IMMERSED in the DISNEY BRAND. That's what so many don't get.

Main Street is almost totally meaningless now because it all really is a giant World of Disney crap store. It has facades on buildings that don't synch with what is inside.

Why do you need a guidebook when everything is the same largely and the only message you want to get across is SELL DISNEY BRAND ... wishes, dreams, magic, pixie dust, fairies, castles, characters.

BTW, sent you an email ... :xmas::xmas::xmas:
 
WDW1974

WDW1974

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Tom Morrow said:
The guidemaps are smaller and made of flimsy paper as part of "going green" (and saving green). Considering how many guidemaps end up thrown away and not used, I don't see how this is a bad thing.

The descriptions are generic, but they went straight to the point in as little words as possible to save space.

It also makes more sense for them to be uniform because its easier for guests to figure out.
Click to expand...

Sorry, but that's a very poor excuse. Disney recycles, so whether people toss them or not is immaterial. And plenty of folks, who aren't Disney nuts, do keep them as part of their vacation scrapbook.

Dumbing things down is never good. No matter the excuse. :xmas::xmas::xmas:
 

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