The Spirited Sixth Sense ...

[71jason]

Actually, the 8K for the cruise was for an indoor stateroom for a 7-night cruise during the summer. Obviously, it's cheaper in the off-season, but with kids in school that is not always an option. I would love to cruise with Disney, but I can cruise with several other lines for a third of the price. We aren't all faux one-percenters around here!

Ironically, cruises get cheaper the longer they are--the transatlantic, for example, are dirt cheap. Only retirees and the hardest core lifestylers have two weeks to take out of their lives. Agreed that if you go off-season, and especially if you're a Floridian willing to go last minute, you might pick up a deal (were quite a few this Spring), but generally you're paying a premium over any other cruise line.

The difference from WDW is that it's absolutely worth every penny.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

I have zero issue with where money is being spent at the Magic Kingdom. After building the new Fantasy Land it seems to me that they sat back and started looking at how to improve infrastructure. Monorail automation, Casey's seating, Frontierland walkways, major Hub construction. These are not SEXY ways to spend money but in my opinion they are sorely needed. You can blame those of us with strollers or EVCs all you want but my observation is that it was time for these upgrades. It's not 1972 anymore. More people visit. It is CROWDED especially during parades and fireworks.

Where I fault Disney is what the are doing with DHS and Epcot. Those 2 parks are in really poor shape especially for families. We went to both 2 weeks ago and both parks have so many holes in them. Backlot and streets of america are a joke. Most of Future World is a joke. That's where I'd like to see the next influx of spending go once the MM+ fiasco calms down.

Also the cutting of entertainment is sad. I (and my kids) really enjoyed the Dapper Dan's, PUSH, and the Main Street Philharmonic at our recent visit. I would be very upset if the other two were cut though it sounds like the PUSH drama had more to it than just wanting to save money.

Thoughts?

Thoughts?

Well, all of what you wrote is interconnected. The underdevelopment of EPCOT and DHS, the MK expenditure, the demise of entertainment.

The MK drives visits to WDW. It is the deal maker. Meanwhile, WDW has enough offerings to fill the vacation time of most of its guests.
The MK is bursting at the seams. So Disney has to make great investments in operational and capacity improvements here. These funds are then not allocated to entertainment or to improving the other parks instead. Meanwhile, these investments do greatly diminish the attractiveness of the MK. So all parks end up the worse for it.

I wish Disney would raise day ticket prices to the MK to $400. This would go some way to solve the problems.

 

[xdan0920]

Thoughts?

Well, all of what you wrote is interconnected. The underdevelopment of EPCOT and DHS, the MK expenditure, the demise of entertainment.

The MK drives visits to WDW. It is the deal maker. Meanwhile, WDW has enough offerings to fill the vacation time of most of its guests.
The MK is bursting at the seams. So Disney has to make great investments in operational and capacity improvements here. These funds are then not allocated to entertainment or to improving the other parks instead. Meanwhile, these investments do greatly diminish the attractiveness of the MK. So all parks end up the worse for it.

I wish Disney would raise day ticket prices to the MK to $400. This would go some way to solve the problems.

This is not so crazy as it seems upon first glance.

Also, I agree with you about the debeautification of the MK. It's sad that we need more concrete, and less "park" to accommodate the masses, as it were.

 

[rudyjr13]

Thoughts?

Well, all of what you wrote is interconnected. The underdevelopment of EPCOT and DHS, the MK expenditure, the demise of entertainment.

The MK drives visits to WDW. It is the deal maker. Meanwhile, WDW has enough offerings to fill the vacation time of most of its guests.
The MK is bursting at the seams. So Disney has to make great investments in operational and capacity improvements here. These funds are then not allocated to entertainment or to improving the other parks instead. Meanwhile, these investments do greatly diminish the attractiveness of the MK. So all parks end up the worse for it.

I wish Disney would raise day ticket prices to the MK to $400. This would go some way to solve the problems.

Makes sense but why do you think these investments do greatly diminish the attractiveness of the MK?

 

[xdan0920]

Makes sense but why do you think these investments do greatly diminish the attractiveness of the MK?

Simply put, concrete is not attractive.

 

[rudyjr13]

Simply put, concrete is not attractive.

What if it is done well and blends into the natural features?

 

[Soarin' Over Pgh]

I want to get off TDO's Wild Ride.

Dear god that is the best thing I've ever seen. Never laughed so hard at RCT before. THANK YOU. I'd give you a thousand "likes" if I could.

 

[flynnibus]

Yeah the wax/plastic had such a distinctive smell, I loved it too. While no longer a quarter Busch Gardens and MOSI has several of those machines. You know next time in BGT I think I will get one just to get a hit of that nostalgic plastic smell. I used to have one of the Orbiter prepared for liftoff and a couple of the animal ones.

For those curious... Here is a video of one in action making a goofy. I'm pretty sure this is what you are referring to...

 

[xdan0920]

What if it is done well and blends into the natural features?

If it turns out to be an improvement over what is currently there, that would be super. Right now, I am just seeing a lot of concrete in the plans.

I am smart enough to know that I tour the parks differently then most guests now. So my idealized version of the MK is no longer a functional version. I like water, and green areas, and trees, and benches. Those things no longer fit it seems. I get it, but I don't have to like it.

 

[Hakunamatata]

I wonder if Disney executives have ever played Roller Coaster Tycoon? When I raise admission prices the crowd inflow decreases, but if I add an awesome attraction the attendance increases. When there are not enough places to eat and they are too busy, the attendees get mad and want to leave with unspent money in their pocket.

O dear sweet baby Jesus. Are we really trying to compare running WDW to a video game? Have we gotten to that point? RCT doesn't even have lifestylers, fanbois, mommybloggers, or faux 1%ers in it.

 

[rudyjr13]

If it turns out to be an improvement over what is currently there, that would be super. Right now, I am just seeing a lot of concrete in the plans.

I am smart enough to know that I tour the parks differently then most guests now. So my idealized version of the MK is no longer a functional version. I like water, and green areas, and trees, and benches. Those things no longer fit it seems. I get it, but I don't have to like it.

Trust me, I agree with what you are saying. I am hoping there is a nice compromise here where they fix congestion and add in some nice features where maybe you can sit in the shade and enjoy the ambiance. I appreciate that as well. I'm 33 with a 3 and 4 year old and we do not go hard core touring mode. We take our time and relax. Even though the Rapunzel area was just bathrooms I think they did a great job over there with a wasted space to add places to sit and open up the crowd flow from Liberty Square. HOPING that is what these plans are.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

Makes sense but why do you think these investments do greatly diminish the attractiveness of the MK?

Loss of trees. Loss of trees in which to put twinkly lights. Loss of Main Street sideway. More seating at Casey's. Less seating at the Starbucks. (And no, that is not paradoxical). Bathrooms where there used to be rides. Less thematic unity. Loss of quiet corners. Less vehicles on MS. Less spaces accessible to guests (for example restaurants, now closed or used as m&g's or character meals).

The MK will put a cart in the walkway to get you to impulse buy food or merch. Then when this clogs up the walkway, it will decide to cut entertainment from the street (''it clogs traffic flow'), and/or invest in widening the walkway.

The MK is less a park, and more a mean and sorry process plant. The guest experiency is still central - it is not true that TDO are miserable devils who eat the souls of children at Sabbath*, but there has been a change. The focus of the guest experience is now efficiency, not guest elation. And one can't help but feel that this efficiency is installed with one eye permanently fixed on your wallet too.


* they eat them at the winter solistice instead.

 

[rudyjr13]

Loss of trees. Loss of trees in which to put twinkly lights. Loss of Main Street sideway. More seating at Casey's. Less seating at the Starbucks. (And no, that is not paradoxical). Bathrooms where there used to be rides. Less thematic unity. Loss of quiet corners. Less vehicles on MS. Less spaces accessible to guests (for example restaurants, now closed or used as m&g's or character meals).

The MK will put a cart in the walkway to get you to impulse buy food or merch. Then when this clogs up the walkway, it will decide to cut entertainment from the street (''it clogs traffic flow'), and/or invest in widening the walkway.

The MK is less a park, and more a mean and sorry process plant. The guest experiency is still central - it is not true that TDO are miserable devils who eat the souls of children at Sabbath*, but there has been a change. The focus of the guest experience is now efficiency, not guest elation. And one can't help but feel that this efficiency is installed with one eye permanently fixed on your wallet too.


* they eat them at the winter solistice instead.

There are a lot of negative moves they have made such as empty buildings and letting shows get stale but I don't know, it's still a great park. Casey's was desperate for more seating.

 

[NormC]

No. It is a fact that Iger wants it done. Folks who work with the trains and who love them do not ... it appears that they are foot-dragging in the hopes Iger moves onto other ways of destroying the place before he leaves and then things stay the same ...

Source?

 

[Hakunamatata]

* they eat them at the winter solistice instead.

Less chance for getting parasites that way.

 

[sshindel]

O dear sweet baby Jesus. Are we really trying to compare running WDW to a video game? Have we gotten to that point? RCT doesn't even have lifestylers, fanbois, mommybloggers, or faux 1%ers in it.

But don't you know, everything that could possibly be taken into account in a 43 square mile resort complex can be simulated in a video game from 1999!

 

[71jason]

Casey's was desperate for more seating.

About that. The designer who put in the new seating in Casey's failed to take into account food deliveries that occur throughout the day. Last night I see a CM have to ask three different diners to "scooch" so he could maneuver his palate of buns and dogs through the dining room back to the kitchen.

A tiny issue that seems emblematic of what's wrong as a whole. Let's re-do a restaurant without bothering to get any input from anyone who actually works there. Almost like dropping $2B on a new attractions model only to have all your attractions employees tell you it's doomed to fail once you're done.

 

[Hakunamatata]

But don't you know, everything that could possibly be taken into account in a 43 square mile resort complex can be simulated in a video game from 1999!

You seem to have quite a bit of knowledge about the inside workings. I always appreciate your input.

 

[George]

I wonder if Disney executives have ever played Roller Coaster Tycoon? When I raise admission prices the crowd inflow decreases, but if I add an awesome attraction the attendance increases. When there are not enough places to eat and they are too busy, the attendees get mad and want to leave with unspent money in their pocket.

For years and years now, Disney executives have been expected to get a minimum score of Galaga. Some have even experienced the "Galaga induced Carpal Tunnel" syndrome. This and the bow tie design class are being viewed more and more dimly by Wall Street. Perhaps, RCT could be added as a replacement.

 

[sshindel]

You seem to have quite a bit of knowledge about the inside workings. I always appreciate your input.

I do my best. I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express a few weeks ago.