The Spirited Seventh Heaven ...

[Tigger1988]

Hell of a lot easier to send a C&D letter to IHOP than some street hustler.

Considering Disney characters have been meeting at this IHOP every Wed for at least 10 years I doubt anything will be happening.

 

[Funmeister]

My formula to fix EPCOT -

E - E-ticket Expansion of
P - Pavilions and
C - Countries with
O - Omnimover
T - Transport

Wouldn't that be EEOPACWOT?

 

[asianway]

Hell of a lot easier to send a C&D letter to IHOP than some street hustler.

If you ever find out the formal channel to notify DIS of such violations, let me know.

 

[Funmeister]

Everyone I spoke with at the parks didn't mind that Disney spent $2.5 billion on NextGen after I explained it to them. These are ordinary people, not fans like us. I told them people on the Internet would have preferred that they spent that money on new rides and improvements to existing rides. They all disagreed and thought that the $2.5 billion was well spent. I had this conversation with about a dozen people and every single one said that. Go figure!

I would say "about a dozen" people is a fair sample of the general population.

 

[PhotoDave219]

Don't mean to mess up your statistics, but, I had been an executive with my own business, I am not 100% technology savvy, I do not own a smart phone and I am 66 years old. I like it. The reason why I like it is that I see it differently then so many on this board (and others). I don't see it as a total waste of money because it has features that are different then what I am used to. I don't see it as a total waste because there are no giant $$$ signs currently in neon saying how much income it generated. I don't see it as a total waste because a large, large part of it was strictly a much needed upgrade to an old and less then useful IT system.

I don't see it as a total waste because it allows me to make advance FP+ positions that formally I wasn't able to get due to the fact that I still look at a Disney Park as a fun vacation trip and don't necessarily want to get up at the crack of dawn just to be sure that I can ride my favorite. I don't give a rats butt if they are tracking me in the parks, because they have been doing that for years, just with camera's instead of electronically. I don't care if they know what I bought. I didn't go to the shops or dining facilities in costume so no one would know I was there. I don't care if they know what I enjoy for dinner, in fact, I hope that the more they know about that the more likely it will be that it will always be there when I want it.


You mean the people that go there without a preconceived notion about how things should be based on what we, as self-appointed experts on everything, judge to be good or bad? Those fools that go to WDW because they enjoy it and do not spend massive amounts of thoughts about what is making money and what isn't, when it isn't their problem. The same ones that have not erroneously made the call that if they hadn't spend the money on that, there would be so many new attractions that we couldn't even count them all. Is it that group?


That is true, to some extent, but what the hell does it matter. It is here and it is to far into established to ever be replaced for at least a decade. Might as well get used to it. MM+ or some close variation of it, is what we have and what we are going to have to work with for quite a while.


This is going to hurt to say... so I'll just say it. I have not always been sympathetic to Peter's Wild Ride through Theme park operations, but in this case he has done nothing except report what he heard. I know that in the past he has said many things that have totally P.O. many that were logically trying to convince him otherwise, but I am afraid that the current attack, as far as I can see, is really not justified and is more of a reflex kick then a thought out one. Given he does go overboard many times, this I don't see as one of them

You're an outlier from my general observations… Which is good.

The system has its good points and it's bad points… The good being you can schedule fast passes for things like "a conversation with Mark Hamill"… bad points like the system completely crashing in middle of searching for dining reservations on holiday weekends…

The point I'm trying to make here is that it appears that the main users of the new system are one select little demographic wow the Walt Disney World resort attracts all ages from around the world.

 

[Cesar R M]

You can say that maybe they don't know what they're missing. They liked the convenience of it. I know, I'm as shocked as you, but that's the cold truth!

maybe they're just "going with the flow" and agree on anything.
aka currently being blind by the pixie dust people get high while on Disney.

 

[Cesar R M]

Death by Bacon?

I knew we shouldn't have trusted this guy.

Also the accents were... unique to say the least. I've never met Scottish people who sound like THAT.

not even this guy?

 

[Omnispace]

Speaking of giving ... giving Tom Fitzgerald creative control over EPCOT likely means he will be looking for work sooner than Eric Jacobson or Joe Rohde or Kim Irvine. Giving up the DLR portfolio for a park with (Frozen aside) little on the horizon was his first push out the door according to respected voices at 1401.

Interesting twist to this story with lots of good and bad mixed into just those few sentences. It unfortunately doesn't bode well for Epcot if there is really not much to anticipate other than a Frozen redo of Maelstrom. On the other hand, when one doesn't have much to lose, some unexpected things may result.

 

[SJN1279]

Interesting twist to this story with lots of good and bad mixed into just those few sentences. It unfortunately doesn't bode well for Epcot if there is really not much to anticipate other than a Frozen redo of Maelstrom. On the other hand, when one doesn't have much to lose, some unexpected things may result.

A Frozen Ride in 2015, and a Soarin redo in 2016....Epcot is set for major additions/upgrades over the next two years.

 

[pmaljr]

The part that gets old is being labeled. I love the new FP+ system. I don't think that deserves being labeled an outlier, etc. We have an AP, still living out of state, in our old age of 20s and 30s. We can't make 10-30 visits a year. The new system is far better than before in every way for a vacationer. Saying that "normal" people don't like it is just not true. I don't know everything/everyone but everyone I know of that has tried the new system has liked it. Even the Spirit himself acknowledged that it is a working system for what the Spirit used it for. This seems to be a lot like the Mr. Toad debacle. In twenty years, no one will care anymore except the small minority of folks (myself included) that look for Mr. Toad at the graveyard and in Winnie the Pooh. They'll be trying to sell their old FP cards on ebay.

 

[R W B]

You don't care?!?! Why do I bother? Why? WHY?!?!!

Well, the late 2015 sailings were announced and all I will say is that Disney didn't originally plan on going back to Galveston or doing a month of sailings from San Diego (the worst, most unorganized place I have ever gotten off a ship, btw) ... so read into that what you will.

I know I keep saying this, but DCL is adding ships (plural). It's just a question of when and I think it is going to be much sooner than Disney is publicly saying.

I know the Port of New Orleans were in talks trying to get a Disney ship here in New Orleans. They just redid and added to the port within the past few years and were trying to get another ship here besides the Carnival and Norwegian we have now. Have you heard anything about DCL and New Orleans?

 

[Mike S]

A Frozen Ride in 2015, and a Soarin redo in 2016....Epcot is set for major additions/upgrades over the next two years.

I would hardly call a cheap redo that doesn't belong in the first place and a film update "major".

 

[wdisney9000]

In regards to NGE, when people say things like, "it was a much needed infrastructure/I.T. upgrade". They say it as if they knew there was some kind of madness behind the scenes with server admins banging their head against the wall with systems crashing, FP machines going offline, overloaded circuits, rides going down and so on. Was the system really that bad? Were there constant problems that REALLY required an "upgrade" at the cost of whatever they have spent? I dont get it. I never recall on any of my visits seeing or experiencing anything that made me feel like they system was in dire need of being repaired.

I dont see anything that has vastly improved my visits either since NGE has been online. I know there is more to it than FP+ and MB's. What im asking is, what did they "upgrade" that was in such bad shape? Is life better now for the behind scenes guys in the computer rooms? Can they pull up data on how many people rode Space Mtn that day much more quickly now? Whats the soup and nuts behind all the infrastructure aside from the tracking and data collection that was "much needed". People make it sound as if the parks would have crumbled within a year if they hadnt done this.

 

[Tigger1988]

The part that gets old is being labeled. I love the new FP+ system. I don't think that deserves being labeled an outlier, etc. We have an AP, still living out of state, in our old age of 20s and 30s. We can't make 10-30 visits a year. The new system is far better than before in every way for a vacationer. Saying that "normal" people don't like it is just not true. I don't know everything/everyone but everyone I know of that has tried the new system has liked it. Even the Spirit himself acknowledged that it is a working system for what the Spirit used it for. This seems to be a lot like the Mr. Toad debacle. In twenty years, no one will care anymore except the small minority of folks (myself included) that look for Mr. Toad at the graveyard and in Winnie the Pooh. They'll be trying to sell their old FP cards on ebay.

Agreed. I've yet to meet a "real world" person who disliked the system.

 

[SJN1279]

I would hardly call a cheap redo that doesn't belong in the first place and a film update "major".

I bet you the ride ends up very well done, and will become a huge draw for the park. It is clearly a major addition to Epcot. Soarin is arguably the most popular attraction in Epcot, and adding an additional theater, upgrading the screens, and changing it to Soarin over the World is going to make the attraction even that more amazing.

 

[CDavid]

A Frozen Ride in 2015, and a Soarin redo in 2016....Epcot is set for major additions/upgrades over the next two years.

A cheap overlay to an existing attraction and a new movie constitute 'major' additions now?

If what is happening to Epcot is major, exactly what word do you use to describe the additions happening at Universal?

 

[Mike S]

I bet you the ride ends up very well done, and will become a huge draw for the park. It is clearly a major addition to Epcot.

Of course it would be a draw. People are probably dumb enough to be drawn to any Frozen ride no matter how cheap and thematically damaging it is.

 

[spacemt354]

I bet you the ride ends up very well done, and will become a huge draw for the park. It is clearly a major addition to Epcot. Soarin is arguably the most popular attraction in Epcot, and adding an additional theater, upgrading the screens, and changing it to Soarin over the World is going to make the attraction even that more amazing.

The popularity of Frozen and the crowds it will most likely draw coupled with the fact that hardly anything considered "major" has been done in Epcot since 2005/2006 helps give this Frozen ride the "major addition" feel.

But put in perspective, it's really just another refurb like Teat Track or Spaceship Earth. Only difference is that the refurb is including something really, really popular.

 

[Stevek]

If they are putting Frozen in World Showcase then maybe the rumor of the Ratatouille ride in France has more legs to stand on.
That would be a solid one-two punch for World Showcase.
Also, they would need to add another ride in my opinion. The little Frozen ride couldn't hold the crowds that would surely pour into world showcase.

I believe Spirit said the Rat Ride isn't happening in WS.

 

[Captain Chaos]

A cheap overlay to an existing attraction and a new movie constitute 'major' additions now?

If what is happening to Epcot is major, exactly what word do you use to describe the additions happening at Universal?

This is why WDW cannot have nice things... Pathetic cheap overlays shoehorned into areas they don't belong are now considered major by WDW fan standards. This is why there is no hope for WDW ever getting better. Just continued to be dumbed down to appeal to the lowest common denominator.