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The Miscellaneous Thought Thread
- Thread starter mickEblu
- Start date
PiratesMansion
Well-Known Member
Nope. No morning show. That was one of the weirdest things that people got attached to that I'm thankful they did away with.
Being forced into a tiny area in front of the train station full of people and heat in the service of a corny morning show that mostly existed because they were too cheap to staff Main Street, was awful. Straight up awful.
A fully staffed Main Street that allows more room to move and breathe prior to park opening, AND where you can buy something for breakfast, AND where there's still a morning show for those who desire one, is much, MUCH better.
TP2000
Well-Known Member
Unfortunately, Walt wasn't able to buy enough land in 1965 to build a proper railroad experience around the park. So they just cleared some brush and undergrowth along the tracks and called it good.
And then since the WDW Railroad opened in 1971, the Walt Disney Company has really been struggling with finances. They haven't been able to afford any scenes or vignettes or dioramas for the WDW Railroad. It's been on their list, but then they have to patch a leaky roof in Fantasyland or something and the budget gets cut on the railroad project for another year or two.
I'm hoping once they figure out their long-term strategy with Disney+ and subscriber growth, they can afford to plus up the railroad a bit with some of the relatively inexpensive ideas WDI has offered over the decades.
No Name
Well-Known Member
This is one of the worst opinions I’ve ever read in the history of opinions.
Disney Analyst
Well-Known Member
It’s horrid. Along with their PotC.
D.Silentu
Well-Known Member
Well, that is a bent ruler if ever I've heard of one. To your point, are they aware of how parents tend to use streaming services? Speaking of Disney+, they also recently mentioned that content would be removed for cost saving purposes. I couldn't find any specifics though, has anyone heard?
Phroobar
Well-Known Member
At least there won't be a She-hulk land... oh wait.
Oh no! Did it get good numbers?
chadwpalm
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- No
Here is the Q2 results: https://www.indiewire.com/news/business/disney-plus-loses-4-million-subscribers-1234860581/
Here is the content reduction info: https://deadline.com/2023/05/disney-pulling-content-off-streaming-in-strategic-rethink-1235362374/
PiratesMansion
Well-Known Member
To each their own. Being held hostage in a small area that was never intended to house people for an extended period of time, when it's already unpleasant outside (as is the default for Florida summer at any time of day, for me at least), to be forced to watch a cheesy, corny as heck show, all so that Disney could save a buck and wouldn't have to pay to staff Main Street, was anything but "magical" to me.
Phroobar
Well-Known Member
Thankfully not.
Dear Prudence
Well-Known Member
annnnnnnnnnnnnd this is why I still buy physical media!
TP2000
Well-Known Member
I would agree with you.
I had not realized that the "Morning Show" at the train station was a mandatory thing because they were keeping Main Street closed for cost savings. I had just assumed it was a thing you could see or wait for out front, or you could continue on through the tunnels to get a coffee or go to The Emporium or take some photos on Main Street until the park opened at rope drop.
I'm not a morning person on vacation, and as the Poly is my crash pad at WDW, I just waited until 10am or later before I boarded a monorail to Magic Kingdom. So I had no idea this show was being used as a way to NOT open Main Street USA prior to rope drop.
It's a cute show, but it's not that cute! Especially if you are all packed in there like cattle waiting for the park to open.
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chadwpalm
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- No
Well, they aren't reducing content already available on the platform, just reducing how much original content is being made. As the article said, they already cancelled Willow and National Treasure. I would think they are also going to reduce the amount of Star Wars and Marvel content being produced.
I don't think Disney+ is going anywhere. They will continue to raise prices and introduce/increase ads before they allow it to go under.
PiratesMansion
Well-Known Member
Exactly. It sounds nice until you actually examine the realities and implications of such a policy.
You were stuck between the turnstiles and the train station tunnels until the show was over-right at or fairly close to official park opening time. You can imagine how pleasant it was being sardined into that area, and still, inevitably, the park would run out of room and they would have to stop admitting people until the show was over and there was room to move again. Now, sometimes they would move up the Welcome Show a bit so that they could make room for more people, but still. It couldn't have been the most efficient way to welcome people into what is allegedly the busiest theme park in the world.
Stuck amongst a swarm of people. Minimal shade. No Main Street to shop in or browse, as all of it was closed off and inaccessible. Florida summer weather being Florida summer weather. The ONLY people who were let in beyond the train tunnels were people who had pre-park opening character breakfast reservations at Crystal Palace or Cinderella's Royal Table. People would get excited over being able to take pictures of an empty Main Street too-those pre-park opening photos joined the Welcome Show to become a weirdly treasured thing among a certain subset of WDW fans during that time period.
The Welcome Show in that format started shortly after 9/11 in the midst of a tourism downturn, and stayed in place until shortly after Chapek became head of parks, around 2016 or so. Only at that point did it revert to the park opening experience that had been in the past, and had never stopped at places like Disneyland and Disneyland Paris. Evidently, they must have figured some people might have wanted to buy some breakfast or souvenirs (but mostly Starbucks) before the park opened, and thank goodness they came to that conclusion!
The Welcome Show was a strange experience and a strange thing to miss, IMO. But judging by the fact that apparently pre-booking of Genie is coming to WDW in 2024, to bring it closer to their horrid, departed FP+ system, there is apparently no shortage of WDW fans who don't know any better and actively root for things that make the overall park experience worse.
Was the old FP + system worse for vacationers? From what I remember it sounded better than having to wake up at 7am on vacation to buy Genie + and maybe get to use it on 2-3 rides.
Phroobar
Well-Known Member
It's even worst at Magic Mountain. At opening, you don't get a preshow. You wait in lines while they process gang members through the metal detectors. Then you wait in line to get through the four turn stales that are open. They actually more but they are closed. For some reason no one can figure out how to process ticket annual passes pictures or show their pass on their phone. This takes even longer.
chadwpalm
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- No
I went in 2015 and wasn't staying onsite. Those staying onsite got to book their first 3 fastpasses 60 days in advance and those who weren't staying onsite can only book 30 in advance. By the time your 30 day window is up all of the good rides are gone, so you book subpar attractions.
Then when you get there, you had to use all 3 fastpasses before you can book more, so if your 3rd fastpass was at like 1pm....well....good luck, cause by then all the good rides were sold out for the day. We ended up having to wait 3 hours for SDMT and was the biggest waste of 3 hours of my life.
Suspirian
Well-Known Member
I mean don’t they already know whats popular? Why should Disney+ bee the indicator for what goes in the parks when you have box office and merch sales that say the same thing (aside from streaming exclusives)? If anything I thought they would use Disney+ to breathe some life into their more forgotten IPs as far as the parks go. Like “meet the characters from Atlantis” with a gigantic NOW ON DISNEY+ sign above them.