bhg469
Well-Known Member
I think that more than 25% of people want park hoppers for inversely though. It's ballsy but they're the one providing what people want.
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The Spirited Seventh Heaven ...
- Thread starter WDW1974
- Start date
culturenthrills
Well-Known Member
You mean the new TSMM of the MK. Guaranteed 90-120 minute waits everyday. Now the MK has a ride that you gotta get a FP+ to ride it unless you want to wait 2 hours for a 2 minute experience.
But, but... you get to experience it "through the eyes of the dwarfs" LMAO (still waiting for someone to explain how exactly it does that) The imagineers said so, I guess thats enough to convince some people. i remember the days they actually told a story through an attraction, and they built them in a year or two, not half a decade.
NoChesterHester
Well-Known Member
spacemt354
Chili's
HM Spectre
Well-Known Member
Finally caught up on this thread... lately, it takes a machete, a couple days and a bottle of scotch just to get through all these pages.
About the seemingly inevitable Frozen overlay for the Maelstrom – it makes no freaking sense. It doesn't even have anything to do with overhauling the Maelstrom which, despite being a decent little ride could certainly use a long overdue refurb.
Aside from the fact that it is a MUCH better fit in multiple other parks not named EPCOT, how contradictory can Disney get? They acknowledge how huge Frozen is and want to take advantage of the popularity in the parks… so they rush it, take the cheapest route possible by overlaying an existing ride and put it in a place that can in no way handle the capacity.
Brilliant.
Is Diagon Alley going to flop because it’s opening 3 years after the last Harry Potter movie and 7 years after the last book? Or, is it going to succeed because it’s a hugely popular IP and it’s being done the RIGHT way on a grand scale by UNI?
Yet, here we have Frozen which will almost assuredly see a sequel and something on Broadway to keep the demand alive while an attraction is being built… and it’s getting crammed into a little boat ride in the Norway pavilion.
I’m reading puff pieces about how the lines for a stinkin’ meet and greet are 3-5 HOURS right now yet somehow the Maelstrom’s awful queue will be able to handle that demand when it transfers over to a Frozen attraction.
What they should do is move Anna and Elsa to the end of the Maelstrom ride for a day, put everyone responsible for this overlay at the back of the line and see if they still think it’s a good idea by the time they make it to the end.
In a way I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. It’s exactly what’s to be expected these days. UNI has a hot property, pours money into it to create genuine immersion, attractions and excitement and makes money/gains market share as a result. WDW has a hot property and spends as little as possible to put it in an illogical location just so they can advertise that they have something related to the brand.
UGH. /rantoff
About the seemingly inevitable Frozen overlay for the Maelstrom – it makes no freaking sense. It doesn't even have anything to do with overhauling the Maelstrom which, despite being a decent little ride could certainly use a long overdue refurb.
Aside from the fact that it is a MUCH better fit in multiple other parks not named EPCOT, how contradictory can Disney get? They acknowledge how huge Frozen is and want to take advantage of the popularity in the parks… so they rush it, take the cheapest route possible by overlaying an existing ride and put it in a place that can in no way handle the capacity.
Brilliant.
Is Diagon Alley going to flop because it’s opening 3 years after the last Harry Potter movie and 7 years after the last book? Or, is it going to succeed because it’s a hugely popular IP and it’s being done the RIGHT way on a grand scale by UNI?
Yet, here we have Frozen which will almost assuredly see a sequel and something on Broadway to keep the demand alive while an attraction is being built… and it’s getting crammed into a little boat ride in the Norway pavilion.
I’m reading puff pieces about how the lines for a stinkin’ meet and greet are 3-5 HOURS right now yet somehow the Maelstrom’s awful queue will be able to handle that demand when it transfers over to a Frozen attraction.
What they should do is move Anna and Elsa to the end of the Maelstrom ride for a day, put everyone responsible for this overlay at the back of the line and see if they still think it’s a good idea by the time they make it to the end.
In a way I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. It’s exactly what’s to be expected these days. UNI has a hot property, pours money into it to create genuine immersion, attractions and excitement and makes money/gains market share as a result. WDW has a hot property and spends as little as possible to put it in an illogical location just so they can advertise that they have something related to the brand.
UGH. /rantoff
tribbleorlfl
Well-Known Member
Personally, I think this would be the best course of action for them to take right away. Call it "One Universal" or some other glitzy marketing term, play up how you can experience all Universal has to offer how and when you want to, and emphasize how you will get to play in the entire WWoHP.
Seems to me to it eliminates the labor costs for staffing the internal ticket booths, removes the ops burden of checking tickets and dealing w/ guests w/o park hoppers, and could possibly raise more revenue than the 1 park + park hopper upgrade model that is currently in place.
Eliminating 1 park tickets will upset some guests, but I am positive the frequency and veracity of complaints would be dwarfed by the ones they WILL get (despite it likely being plastered everywhere 2 park tickets are required to ride) from those who buy 1 park passes only to discover they can't ride. Best to completely eliminate that scenario.
Bairstow
Well-Known Member
The thing is, Disney and Universal are playing different games.
Universal has to make Diagon Alley a world beater because they're dependent on the pull of their attractions to get people to come to Universal, or better yet, buy park-hopper tickets for a 2-day stay that sees both parks.
Disney, on the other hand, knows that most of their guests are going to be coming to Disney World year after year anyway- the only questions are 1) whether their guests are going to visit all four parks every time or just the Magic Kingdom and 1-2 others and 2) how much they're going to spend on merch.
The Frozen ride doesn't have to be good. It just has to 1) be Frozen, in order to goad families with small children into adding an EPCOT day and 2) have a big*** gift shop, hopefully with less of a queue than the ride.
Bairstow
Well-Known Member
Bad idea. Keeping 1 day park tickets around will let them advertise a "basic" park day price lower than Disney's while actually charging most people more.
Plus they're going to want to be able to handle things like special events, Horror Nights, etc. without being shackled to their own pricing scheme.
The possibility of guest confusion (which I'm sure they will take tremendous efforts to combat) is well worth the additional flexibility in marketing.
CDavid
Well-Known Member
Again, that's not true if they haven't pre-purchased their tickets, which many guests do not (for various reasons).
I have to wonder if people will still feel the same in ten or twenty years. When children come along they tend to change priorities (not as much fun riding alone while your spouse watches junior), and advancing years may cause persons to better appreciate more sedate rides. But the Magic Kingdom also has an image problem as a "kiddie park" (and Disney marketing and recent 'additions' exacerbate the problem) and Epcot as an adult oriented park. Neither reputation is deserved, but it turns people off to experiences they might enjoy.
I wouldn't. The standby lines would move faster if FastPass (in any form) did not exist.
NoChesterHester
Well-Known Member
UNI keeps this up, in a decade they may not be playing different games. UNI is already competing for the first dollars. That is big, no matter what anyone wants to try to spin.
loyal band of defenders should be here in a moment as Im sure this very accurate post has upset them and insulted their brand and you will no doubt be dealt the old and tired one-two combo of "dont go if you dont like it" followed by "Disney is still better than Uni", both of which are pointless because they dont even understand the point you are making in the first place
Bairstow
Well-Known Member
But that's the beauty part!
In a decade, the execs at Disney who got big bonuses for all the merch money the cheap Frozen overlay's gift shop brought in won't be around to be accountable when the tide turns.
NoChesterHester
Well-Known Member
This is a slow burn business when you sell nostalgia. Over the course of a generation the tide turns and it takes you another generation to reverse it.
Your argument is flawed.
If someone goes to TTC and buys an AP and then goes and enjoys a park, he isn't able to prereserve his FPs. Neither can someone who makes on-site hotel reservations on day of arrival. That doesn't change the fact that those who choose to buy tickets in advance can prereserve FP+s regardless of whether they are on-site, off-site, or AP guests.
Wait times probably wouldn't be much different since neither ride capacity nor interest wouldn't change. Those FP+ holders would just be standing in the standby line with you.
psherman42
Well-Known Member
Just got through this entire thread and while I hate to bring up things from 5-10 pages ago, I want to add to the Universal/Disney debate. To start, I work for Disney because I love Disney. But I also love Universal. I have a Universal annual pass. I've been wanting to visit Universal for a while now since I haven't been since January. And quite honestly, I'm more excited about the opening of Diagon Alley than I was for the opening of the Mine Train. And I love the Mine Train. I think it's a great addition to Fantasyland. But I'm also a Harry Potter nerd so I can't wait for the new Harry Potter expansion. However, one thing that boggles my mind is that somehow, it always seems to slip through the cracks (unless I just miss it) is that the original Harry Potter expansion at IOA included two current attractions that were rethemed to Harry Potter? Literally all that was done to Dragon Challenge was Harry Potter props added to the queue. Don't get me wrong, I love Hogsmeade. But if Disney did that, they get ripped for it. Is it because the one new attraction is an "e-ticket", unlike the new attractions to added to Fantasyland that Universal gets away with it?
I'm not going to argue that Universal has done more to expand their parks in recent years than Disney has, but boasting about the parade and night show? Really? Even my friend who works for both Disney and Universal (and prefers Universal) and is cast in Universal's parade agrees that it's not good. And the one time I saw their nighttime show, I was unimpressed. But maybe that was because I missed the very beginning of it because Universal's map said it started at 9:30 so my friends went on Rip Rock It but it really started at 9:00. I don't know. I'll take Disney's nighttime entertainment (All three-Wishes, Fantasmic, and Illuminations) over Universal's. And I work on the parade route and I'm still not tired of Festival of Fantasy after almost three months but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't care if I never saw Universal's parade again...
I'm also going to throw out there that I'm still bitter that they rethemed Back to the Future to the Simpsons. I've never been a Simpsons fan but I LOVE Back to the Future.
And this is going off on a completely different tangent, but one thing I dislike about Universal is constantly having to put my bag in a locker. Any guys posting in this thread probably won't understand that because you can fit your phone, your keys, wallet, etc. into your pockets but women's jeans/shorts pockets are too small for anything. I find it slightly annoying that before I can go on Revenge of the Mummy or Men In Black, I have to put my stuff in a locker because more often than not there's a line at the screens for rental. Every single time I'm there I feel like saying that if my bag can survive Rock N Roller Coaster, I'm pretty sure it'll be okay on Mummy. Although I guess like my friend pointed out, at least it's free unlike Busch Gardens (Or SeaWorld. I can't remember which one charges for lockers).
I'm not going to argue that Universal has done more to expand their parks in recent years than Disney has, but boasting about the parade and night show? Really? Even my friend who works for both Disney and Universal (and prefers Universal) and is cast in Universal's parade agrees that it's not good. And the one time I saw their nighttime show, I was unimpressed. But maybe that was because I missed the very beginning of it because Universal's map said it started at 9:30 so my friends went on Rip Rock It but it really started at 9:00. I don't know. I'll take Disney's nighttime entertainment (All three-Wishes, Fantasmic, and Illuminations) over Universal's. And I work on the parade route and I'm still not tired of Festival of Fantasy after almost three months but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't care if I never saw Universal's parade again...
I'm also going to throw out there that I'm still bitter that they rethemed Back to the Future to the Simpsons. I've never been a Simpsons fan but I LOVE Back to the Future.
And this is going off on a completely different tangent, but one thing I dislike about Universal is constantly having to put my bag in a locker. Any guys posting in this thread probably won't understand that because you can fit your phone, your keys, wallet, etc. into your pockets but women's jeans/shorts pockets are too small for anything. I find it slightly annoying that before I can go on Revenge of the Mummy or Men In Black, I have to put my stuff in a locker because more often than not there's a line at the screens for rental. Every single time I'm there I feel like saying that if my bag can survive Rock N Roller Coaster, I'm pretty sure it'll be okay on Mummy. Although I guess like my friend pointed out, at least it's free unlike Busch Gardens (Or SeaWorld. I can't remember which one charges for lockers).
5thGenTexan
Well-Known Member
psherman42
Well-Known Member
OH, and as a Cast Member, we have no choice but to use the kiosks in the parks for fast passes. I was at MK with a friend just last week around 6:00 and we went to the kiosks to see what was available. If we had wanted to, we could have booked Space Mountain for 8:00. We chose not to however because we were eating dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern and thought we might regret that choice.
R W B
Well-Known Member
Wow, how long did that take? Lol
tribbleorlfl
Well-Known Member
If Disney were to do that, it likely would mean destroying a large chunk (or more) of the pavilion as Maelstrom is pretty shoehorned into the space. Can't imagine anyone here would be happy about that.