The Miscellaneous Thought Thread

[TP2000]

Rainfall estimates from Hilary are now approaching 3 inches here in southern San Diego County.

Are your gutters cleared out? (The ones on your house, I mean) Have you made plans on Saturday to bring inside garden pots and patio furniture and flags? Are your yard trees in good condition, trimmed of old branches, and younger trees staked? Do you have some sandbags staged to block off a doorway or two? Candles, flashlights, matches? Is your home generator gassed up and a meal plan prepped that doesn't need much electricity? (I'm going to be making Aunt Ingrid's pot roast and Swedish potatoes on Sunday, which I can do in my crockpot with almost no electricity draw from the generator if the power goes out, with leftovers for two days)

I went on Craigslist and found two guys to come help me first thing tomorrow morning clean the drains and move some outdoor stuff, because I'm not up to doing that myself any longer. Dads and sons should plan to spend some time doing this for themselves and their elderly neighbors on Friday and Saturday.

Don't wait. Make these preparations for heavy amounts of rain and gusty winds now, and if it doesn't happen at least you'll have had some fun Father/Son time and your house will already be winterized in August.

 

[PiratesMansion]

Personally, I'd be on board with properly loading the Stretching Room. A strong operations team could probably minimize the number of empty Doombuggies sent into the ride because there weren't enough people in the loading area.

I feel like a strong operational team can only do so much if there's constant DAS loading to content with, unless they somehow modify the doom buggies, stretching rooms, and/or ride exit to provide a more workable situation than is there now. Basically every single time I rode Mansion this last trip, the stretching room would open to reveal a hallway just completely flooded with people. Maybe I've just timed my Mansion rides much better in the past, or the crews operating weren't up to the standards of the past, or there are just significantly more DAS users than there were even a few years ago, but it felt stark to me this time around. It just doesn't feel like it works well for anybody now.

The better solution to the queue extending into New Orleans Square would probably be to redesign it to accommodate more people. That is admittedly easier said than done.

Is there space to extend the queue between the facade and the berm?

 

[TP2000]

Is there space to extend the queue between the facade and the berm?

Not without re-routing the Disneyland Railroad.

This might be a great project for Disneyland Forward, when they expand the park boundaries to the west and across Disneyland Drive.

 

[Disney Analyst]

Since guest patterns have changed so much recently…

How do we think crowds would be December 27 - December 31st? Anyone go during that period last year?

Just gonna repost this, see if anyone has an opinion? Am I crazy to consider a trip then?

 

[waltography]

So I've pretty much ended Day 1 at WDW and on the whole I'm having a fantastic time so far (heat notwithstanding!). A few notes:

• Since pretty much everything was new to me, I decided I'd go ahead and spend money on everything wherever possible to reduce my wait/guarantee a ride. That meant buying Genie+ and ILL wherever needed; for every ride I mention, I either reserved a LL through G+ or bought an ILL.
• The next few days are actual work days so no parks for me, but I'll probably have one more park day on Friday so this'll likely get a Part 2. Didn't want to start a thread though because that's no fun (plus I figured it'd be harder to put this on the DL side of the forums haha).
• MagicBand makes so much sense here compared to Disneyland. Like I *get* it here and love it, it's something that simply didn't click for me when I first tried them in DL.

Day 0
Landed in MCO yesterday around 3pm and took an Uber to Coronado Springs (where I'm staying for the first part of this trip); by the time I settled into my room, I found I actually had enough time to go to MK to spend the evening there. I got into MK at around 5pm. The resort bus system is pretty efficient, all things considered. Security screening without taking anything out was weird but cool. Wild we don't have them here at Disneyland.

• TRON
  • Preshow is so cool, the ride going down for 30 minutes while in line was less cool. The ride itself is an interesting experience but probably one & done for me. It just wasn't a comfortable ride - the way you straddle the light cycle means your neck/back are strained when you look up to see the Grid. Hated it (but the photo/video you get afterwards was worth it).
• Space Mountain
  • Let me tell you, I was terrified. I knew it was gonna be more like Matterhorn, but I really didn't expect just how rough and chaotic that feeling would be in the dark. Vastly prefer our version.
• Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
• Small World
• Haunted Mansion
  • I think overall the additional scenes are fantastic. The staircases are a really cool effect. Shame when they add the Hatbox Ghost to the endless hallway though.
• Happily Ever After
  • Incredible. As the blueprint for Wondrous Journeys, it really shone with the big shells and projections. I'm a fan.

Day 1
Today was my first formal full day. I planned to ropedrop DAK then park hop to MK to ride whatever I missed yesterday.

• Flight of Passage
  • I have no words. What a ride. I'm sure this feeling decreases after riding multiple times, but it was genuinely exhilarating for me and I was moved. The straddle here was way more comfy than TRON, and the haptics in the chair are genuinely so cool. Still thinking about the smell of the air. (Could do without all the hokey bits in the preshow though.)
• Navi River Journey
  • It's a wonderful ride after FoP; probably would've been disappointed had I waited longer than 20-30 minutes, but it's also just as moving as FoP for me in terms of conveying Pandora.
• Kilimanjaro Safaris
• Festival of the Lion King
• Expedition Everest
• Dinosaur
  • I forgot this was an Indy clone until I got to the loading area and was viscerally reminded. It was almost like an out-of-body experience, haha. Not a bad ride by any means, but just not nearly as memorable as Indy. I love the meteor shower effects though.
• Big Thunder
• Hall of Presidents
• Winnie the Pooh
• Peoplemover
• Carousel of Progress
• Jungle Cruise

Part 1.5 in this post! Conference wrapped up the other day so I had pockets to enjoy the parks around them, but not enough to really consider them as full days. I'll have a full day at Epcot tomorrow and a little more time Saturday morning before my flight so my Part 2 will encapsulate that day and a half. In the meantime...

Day 2 & 3
These were conference days, so I didn't get to go to the parks. However, the closing event for the conference was held at World ShowPlace in Epcot backstage, so I did manage to see the fireworks show on the lagoon. For a temporary show, Epcot Forever is better than it has any right to be.

Day 4
I was so engrossed with Flight of Passage that I had to rope drop it again today. It was even better this time around because I experienced water effects which didn't happen the first time!

Left the park soon after to enjoy a half day at Coronado and walking the grounds before bussing over to Epcot in the afternoon. My goal tonight was to hit the big three rides so I could enjoy Epcot at a more leisurely pace tomorrow.

• Remy's Ratatouille Adventure
  • Cute ride, lots of fun 4D effects, but definitely don't need to ride again this trip.
  • LL was backed up pretty much through half the back pathway that Rat has which was odd.
• GotG: Cosmic Rewind
  • Souped-up Space Mountain is right; I loved it, easily the best coaster at WDW right now. Genuinely lots of fun.
  • As my first ride through, I was disappointed how hassled I felt going through the pre shows. Everyone was rushing into the first room, and when we teleport they rush to the doors; when they open, everyone runs. It's like HM but 10x worse.
  • Like Remy, the LL was also backed up well past the entrance. I don't know why I bought an ILL if this was going to be the experience.
• Frozen Ever After
  • Cute. The projected faces are actually much better in person (though I'd still prefer physical ones).
• Mission: SPACE
  • I did the Orange mission and honestly it wasn't too bad. I liked the G forces and thought the experience was cool; definitely will try Green tomorrow to see which I prefer.
• Spaceship Earth
  • Lovely ride that desperately needs a refurbishment and some light refreshing. I could hardly hear Dame Judi Dench over the mechanical hum of the ride system, which was a shame. In spite of all that, it was the first ride I rode at Epcot that felt the most distinctly Disney to me. Definitely riding again tomorrow.

One last thing: people are being way too dramatic on the internet. Beverly was delicious! I was fully going in expecting something rancid but it was just a zero-proof Campari.

 

[chadwpalm]

Just gonna repost this, see if anyone has an opinion? Am I crazy to consider a trip then?

I think historically Disneyland has been really busy during Christmas vacation time between Christmas and New Years. I would probably avoid Christmas week and try to go the week before Christmas if your schedule allowed. If you must go between the 27th and 31st I would expect the parks to be at reservation limits....but I haven't done a December trip since Covid.

Before Covid I used to try to find a sweet spot which was usually at the end of the week before Christmas when most APs were blacked out and before the kids were out of school. Don't know if that's possible nowadays.

 

[waltography]

Just gonna repost this, see if anyone has an opinion? Am I crazy to consider a trip then?

You'd be crazy, I fear. I personally think it's far too busy to consider planning a trip if you're not a frequent visitor because while Magic Keys are blocked out then, everyone and their mother is buying day tickets so it's usually stuffed to the gills. I avoid NYE like the plague (though New Year's Day isn't actually that bad).

I will say though this is the first year where a majority of Keyholders are fully blocked out now that Dream has pretty much been fully phased out, so who knows.

 

[Disney Analyst]

You'd be crazy, I fear. I personally think it's far too busy to consider planning a trip if you're not a frequent visitor because while Magic Keys are blocked out then, everyone and their mother is buying day tickets so it's usually stuffed to the gills. I avoid NYE like the plague (though New Year's Day isn't actually that bad).

I will say though this is the first year where a majority of Keyholders are fully blocked out now that Dream has pretty much been fully phased out, so who knows.

Right.

Only reason I am considering it is I’ll already be off from work at that time due to Christmas… and it would be nice to experience the park all decorated.

But I fear the crowds haha.

Last time I went was mid January, and it was perfect.

 

[lazyboy97o]

I feel like a strong operational team can only do so much if there's constant DAS loading to content with, unless they somehow modify the doom buggies, stretching rooms, and/or ride exit to provide a more workable situation than is there now. Basically every single time I rode Mansion this last trip, the stretching room would open to reveal a hallway just completely flooded with people. Maybe I've just timed my Mansion rides much better in the past, or the crews operating weren't up to the standards of the past, or there are just significantly more DAS users than there were even a few years ago, but it felt stark to me this time around. It just doesn't feel like it works well for anybody now.

The slowdowns with loading and unloading would actually help in not hurting operating capacity of the ride itself while reducing the number of people moving through the stretching rooms.

Is there space to extend the queue between the facade and the berm?

I cannot say offhand and it’s a question that would really require accurate drawings along with serious analysis to answer. Depending on specifics, it is possible in certain situations to make a queue more efficient within the same or similar amount of space.

 

[Too Many Hats]

With a virtual queue, wouldn't it fill up before the end of the day and then you can't ride it? At least now if LL runs out you can still stand in line and get on the ride. Wasn't that the biggest issue with RotR and MMRR having VQs? Them selling out quickly and then you're forced to pay for LL. Also, as has been already said, it puts more people into the walkways.

Possibly. Definitely one of the downsides to virtual queues.

But Mansion is (or should be) more capacity-friendly than Rise. I won't pretend to have run the numbers, but I suspect it'd be less likely to sell out.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Possibly. Definitely one of the downsides to virtual queues.

But Mansion is (or should be) more capacity-friendly than Rise. I won't pretend to have run the numbers, but I suspect it'd be less likely to sell out.

Virtual queues can increase demand because they reduce the barrier to entry.

 

[Too Many Hats]

I will also say, the only real solution to Haunted Mansion's problems is a redesign of the Omnimover system.

Or at least, the only solution that doesn't require a strong operations team to retrain and better manage the bellowing and bullying CM's.

They need to create an entirely separate off-line loading area for people in wheelchairs and rental ECV's (who are often less adept and much slower at getting in and out of them than a lifelong user of their own personal wheelchair is). Like almost all modern rides built for the past 15 years, Radiator Racers, Midway Mania, Mickey's Railway, there's an off-line loading area for people with disabilities.

Slide 3 doombuggies at a time off-line into a separate loading area, give the people there all the time in the world to get in or out, and let the Omnimover keep gliding along for 2,000+ people an hour as God and Walt intended it to do.

I agree with everything you're saying. But even if (miraculously/hypothetically) Mansion could be made more wheelchair/ECV-friendly, is that the primary cause of the diminished attraction experience? Wheelchair/ECV-loading is certainly the cause of playful spooks repeatedly interrupting our tours. But my (potentially off-base) assumption was that CMs herd guests into overstuffed stretching rooms and knowingly cause traffic jams in the portrait hallway because they fear the queue invading the NOS walkway. Are the two issues simply more intertwined than I thought?

The ride was masterfully designed in the 1960's. The two elevators deliver the correct amount of people to the loading area to keep the doombuggies full. The problem today is that it's no longer 1969 and we have a lot more people in wheelchairs that need the ride stopped, backing up the loading area routinely. That's an operations scenario they never planned for in 1969.

But back to your original point, a strong operations team could tackle that problem. If anything, the solution seems to be sending down fewer people in each stretching room today than what the Omnimover system was designed to handle originally. In that case, going to a virtual queue only based on actual, real-world numbers using 2020's crowd demographic knowledge would seem to help the situation.

In my (anecdotal) experience, the stretching room is comfortably/appropriately-loaded during mornings and late evenings, but during the afternoon the overcrowding in there is far more frightening than anything in the actual Haunted Mansion. Surely CMs are stuffing it beyond its capacity? I have to imagine beyond the ideal capacity determined in 1969.

You'd only offer enough virtual queue slots to load the elevator rooms at 80% (or something) of their 1969 capacity,

Sounds heavenly.

packed like cattle without CM's yelling at us like angry school field trip chaperones, and bring some sanity and graciousness back to that entire attraction experience.

Haha, exactly. There is no graciousness to the Haunted Mansion at 3pm on a Sunday.

 

[Too Many Hats]

Virtual queues can increase demand because they reduce the barrier to entry.

I hadn't considered this.

 

[mickEblu]

Honestly the cattle pen formerly known as the Changing Portrait Corridor has almost made Haunted Mansion unrideable for me. No ride I’ve been on 75 times is worth that experience. Unfortunately I’m rarely at the park early or late enough to experience it when it’s less crowded.

 

[Too Many Hats]

Honestly the cattle pen formerly known as the Changing Portrait Corridor has almost made Haunted Mansion unrideable for me. No ride I’ve been on 75 times is worth that experience. Unfortunately I’m rarely at the park early or late enough to experience it when it’s less crowded.

It feels like you're at a concert, in the General Admission section near the stage. And everyone is pushing.

 

[TP2000]

What a difference a day (or night) makes at the Marine Room. Tonight everyone was talking about Hilary prep; candles, soup cans, sandbags.

It's now projected to make landfall somehwere around Imperial Beach as a Category 1 hurricane, which would be wild.

I wonder what Disneyland management is doing to prepare for this on Sunday night? Anything? I hope they're doing something more than the government on Maui did before and during the wildfires last week.

 

[MoonRakerSCM]

Hillary's currently formed a nice well defined eye

 

[MoonRakerSCM]

I'll be in San Diego Sunday morning and hoping to beat the bulk of the wind back home. It's kind of cool, the 10 day forecast for San Diego is currently exhibiting eye conditions passing over late Sunday night... aka 40mph from the east, then 40 mph wind from the west with a lovely little dip inbetween.

 

[TP2000]

Hillary's currently formed a nice well define eye

View attachment 738161

Isn't that impressive? Truly miraculous how Mother Nature works. This satellite image was all over the San Diego TV news stations tonight.

And about time too, people need to make some basic preparations for themselves.

I'm reminded of a lyric from Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room's fabulous Hawaiian War Chant number...

Soon the other natives started singin' it,
And the hula-hula maidens started swingin' it,
Like a Tropical Storm that's the way it hits,
Funny, little, gay Hawaiian chant

 

[MoonRakerSCM]

Some projections showing landfall around Laguna Monday morning and sweeping across the OC. Heh. I gotta show my friends who live right on the red line.