misterID
Well-Known Member
I will never ride Mission:SPACE again. Ugh...
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The Spirited Seventh Heaven ...
- Thread starter WDW1974
- Start date
spacemt354
Chili's
Words of wisdom.
It's easy to sit in front of a screen and complain on the internet. Take a step back from the screen and live life. Stuff online means very little compared to what you can experience in the real world. But to some, that fact just doesn't register.
PhotoDave219
Well-Known Member
I cannot. It would likely result in severe neurological problems as a result.
That being said, my body cannot handle the stresses of a centrifuge and space flight simulator. Lots of people cannot. It is by far the most realistic attraction I've ever been on. Being in a Zero-gravity environment inside a theme park is mind blowing.
It is a fantastic attraction that is just too realistic.
RSoxNo1
Well-Known Member
I suspect that he has not been over there recently, if at all.
LondonGopher
Well-Known Member
All we have to do is look at the popularity of The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World and the numerous WDW vacation planning sites (including this one) to recognize that "guests" plan their WDW vacations more than any other place in the World.
Anyone who thinks a system like FastPass+ would not appeal to that substantial crowd is ignoring the obvious.
Make FastPass+ an "onsite only" perk and just watch those uber planners switch from offsite to onsite stays.
Whether MyMagic+ will ever justify its bloated budget, well, that's a horse of a different color.
However, if FastPass+ could have been brought in at $100M and was made an onsite perk only, I'd bet my stack of unused WDW tickets that hotel occupancy would have improved significantly and that FastPass+ would have been a financial success.
As shown at pretty much every other amusement park in the world, vacationers willingly pay extra for preferential ride access.
I think we (theme-park anoraks
) often forget something. In my last copy (2013?) of the Unofficial Guide, Bob and Len state that only 4% (!!!) of WDW guests have been exposed to the information in their book and/or website. I would guess that estimate is pretty accurate, as @lentesta seems pretty good with numbers. 
Despite all the websites...despite the Moms' Panel...despite Touring Plans - few people are hyper-planners (and not just because most people seem to view reading about as positively as they do VD
).Most folks plan a visit to WDW one of two ways; like a visit to the County Show/Local Amusement Park OR (if staying on-site) like a holiday at an all-inclusive resort (i.e. "It'll all be taken care of for me.")
If FP+ was a perk strictly for on-site guests (an idea I like, in principle), I think WDW would have to advertise the HECK out of it and it would still seem...awkward. "Guarantee that YOUR daughter will meet Elsa - If you don't stay, you might not get to play!". I just don't know what other angle could work, though...because if the hyper-planners are few, what other possible angle is there? How many people daydream about SCHEDULING RIDES? And Disney PR, at its best, is all about those daydreams...
After all, even UNI, with it's OUTRAGEOUSLY good perk for on-site guests...what percentage of its park visitors actually stay on the property?
Oh, dear...this is a bit rambling. Hope it's clearer than mud.
But I remember daydreaming about WDW. I remember going through a horrible medical procedure and just...imagining myself in Florida. The nurse looked at me after a while and said, "Where are you?". Disney World. I was at Disney World.
More of that, please.
RSoxNo1
Well-Known Member
Baxter was waiting standby for Gringotts this weekend.
71jason
Well-Known Member
I pretty much agree with all this. Also, I'm on record as saying DCL is pretty much the poster child for Blue Ocean theory, even if it wasn't called that back then.
That said my point was that "Blue Ocean" are the buzzwords that were apparently thrown around when NGE was being sold to the higher-ups. Whether or not we agree with the theory, it's what the suits in the TWDC believed when they signed off on this. Therefore, I think it's rational to assume at least some of the money that went to MM+ was going to go to other areas of park development but was diverted. The money for the E-tickets we're not seeing went to MM+, because the suits believed this Blue Ocean v. Red Ocean corporate-speak.
71jason
Well-Known Member
Their show was much better up the street when (1) they were allowed to show a sense of heightened danger (last time I saw they don't even do the finale with the 3-legged chair anymore), and (2) they had my friend Cory doing patter to further build up the sense of danger then work in some comedy to lighten the mood. I mean, it's a dare-devil show, yet it's so sanitized for the speshul snowflakes you never get a sense they could actually fall.
PhotoDave219
Well-Known Member
Well we also have to remember that one of the many costs associated with this program involves updating and upgrading technology infrastructure and point-of-sale infrastructure throughout the entire property.
Spending nearest neglecting that infrastructure turn around and bit them in the and then some.
TP2000
Well-Known Member
Probably because she gets in for free, and was in town on business. And if you are from Orlando you probably think the only thing to do in other cities is go to theme parks. She should have gone to The Getty or LACMA or Laguna Beach or something actually different than a theme park, the poor dear.
Okay, I've brought this up years ago, but I'm about to do it again. I rarely mention her because I don't want to jeopardize a friendship, so I'll keep this purposely vague...
In my little neighborhood known for some very good cocktail and dinner parties, I have a neighbor who works in TDA. She has been working at Disneyland for over 30 years, and she worked her way up into middle management in TDA 20 years ago. Her husband is also a successful professional and a very nice guy but doesn't really get the "Disney" thing, so she and I always chat at parties and with my nerdish knowledge of Disney we can keep up with each other. On her second mojito she can tell the funniest stories about Disneyland!
But one of the broad themes she has run with is the strong dislike the Anaheim team has for the Orlando team. There is a natural rivalry there, as to be expected. But it goes beyond that. The Anaheim team feels strongly that the Orlando office has let the brand down and is "doing it wrong" ("It" being the operation of a Disney theme park). Their standards in Orlando are different, their entire focus is different, and their attitude is different. She claims they are all "sooooo corporate and dull!" The Anaheim and Orlando teams are interacting more in the last 8 years thanks to Rasulo's "One Disney" corporate setup.
She has said many of her peers in Orlando are only concerned about their next job, and they seem to rotate and transfer within jobs out there every 12 to 24 months. Whereas the Anaheim team is much more stagnant in upper-middle management and lower exec ranks, with the exception of the DLR President who is replaced by Burbank every 3 years like clockwork. In Anaheim her peers routinely count their tenure in decades, and stay in the same departments for years and years and years. Her Anaheim peers are all experts in their field, with clearly defined standards.
She also talks derisively about the physical setup out in Orlando, where most middle and senior management is in business parks far removed from an actual theme park and they rarely enter a theme park or Guest area. TDA is 100 yards from Fantasyland, and she often goes into Disneyland or DCA to shop or have lunch with her coworkers, including executives.
The result of these differences, in her opinion, is that the Anaheim team is more focused on making sure Disneyland remains Disneyland, instead of focusing on your next gig and updating your LinkedIn profile page every year. I'm summarizing, and leaving out some more telling details, but that's the gist of it.
From the discussion here about @PeterAlt and the TDO woman he listened to in line at Indiana Jones Adventure, it seems my neighbor is right.
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misterID
Well-Known Member
I knew I was in trouble when the capsule shut and the console came down 4 inches from my face. I literally felt my brain quiver for two days afterwards.
71jason
Well-Known Member
Sort of related to all this ...
Monday morning I was arm-twisted into accompanying a friend into visiting US to ride the Hogwarts Express at 11:00am. (For the uninitiated, in the books new students catch the 11 am train on September 1 every year.) We rolled through the line easily at 10:45 only to find that virtually an entire platform full of HP fans--I'd say 80% in costume--were being offered a chance to wait in the back room just behind Platform 9 3/4. It was a fun, raucous group, lots of cheering. At 10:55, they loaded us onto the platform as the train pulled in. Then, 20 seconds after 11:0, we were allowed to board the train. A 7-year-old girl next to me was jumping up and down she was so excited. In my cab, a 20-something girl in in full Ravenclaw regalia called it her best day ever. The porters played along, wishing us all good luck in school as we left; one even volunteered to take a group pic of our cab, even tho it meant delaying the shutting of the door by 10 seconds. I'll be honest, the sense of fun was infectious, I walked into Hogsmeade with a smile on my face. You could just see the love for the franchise in these people who have grown up with the books.
The upcharge for this special, once-a-year event? Zero dollars and zero cents. Not that Universal didn't make money--as I said, most everyone had on over $100 worth of Potter merch, and most of the train made a beeline for a Butterbeer or lunch. But it was nice not to feel gouged.
...
That said, I hate the use of a barker to draw people into Diagon Alley. Totally destroys the sense of immersion. And little details are failing far too quickly for a land that's only be open two months--the Weasley hat, the soft serve ice cream being broken, the second puppet show still not being ready... It will be a shame if Diagon Alley is allowed to stagnate.
Clamman73
Well-Known Member
Yes...seemed to be a brief issue...and wouldn't you know my Magicband came in the mail today...I think all this free shipping is gonna cost billions. If there is just one, can't they just send it in a smaller box...
71jason
Well-Known Member
misterID
Well-Known Member
PeterAlt
Well-Known Member
Sometimes it's better to promote change from the outside rather than getting nowhere on the inside.If he was so good he wouldn't have retired!
PeterAlt
Well-Known Member
Sometimes it's better to promote change from the outside rather than getting nowhere on the inside.If he was so good he wouldn't have retired!
I've been living these words late. You are so right! Also, get out of your cars and see the world by foot and transit. You get a whole different perspective on things!
alissafalco
Well-Known Member
Someone posted a better pic than that. I cant remember where I saw it.
TalkingHead
Well-Known Member
The barkers are annoying, but I wasn't too disturbed by them since they're not in Diagon Alley.
The Weasley hat, however, is part of the big reveal. For it not to work on a regular basis is TDO-esque.