Tiana's Riverboat Party with Festival of Fantasy Parade viewing coming soon

Sped2424

Well-Known Member
I understand everyone on here thinks this is a bad idea and Disney is just out to make a buck but I actually love it. Never once have I seen the Riverboat full of people, actually I've never seen over 50 people on it and who wouldn't love to be on the Riverboat dancing around with Tiana and having deserts. Say what you will but I'd pay.
Now imagine a world where that exact same character experience minus the ice cream was included in the ticket price of arriving at the Magic kingdom. You're additionally paying for something that costs them nothing.
 

Luxe

Well-Known Member
How is closing this ride for 3 hours a day any better or worse from closing an attraction for a season? Both decisions for "closures" have been driven by demand. Both types of "closures" would take advanced planning on your part. But at least here you can still ride it during your visit. Not like we're talking about an attraction that has 180-minute-waits here.
The nature of the ride system would never warrant 180 minute waits so that point is invalid. Its a big boat that holds tons of people which loads/unloads every 20 minutes or so. Of course there won't be a 180 minute wait... Not to mention you can visually see when it will be docked and ready to load so there is zero need to wait in a line.

With your logic, any ride with a wait time under 60 minutes should be closed and sold as an upcharge then?
 

The Empress Lilly

Well-Known Member
<<---- I ride the Liberty Bell every time. The boat and the RoA are not dead space, but lay at the heart of the MK experience, of the park essentials one of the last that remains by and large unspoiled.

As for closing it to sell it off while the plebs stand in thick crowds ashore, forum rules prevent me from posting in fact every single thought I have about this.
 
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JohnD

Well-Known Member
When MK opened the Rivers of America had two riverboats, keelboats and canoes to choose from. Now the only boat left is being closed for three hours a day for most guests. Maybe this is part of longer-term plan to dock the riverboat permanently?

No. Please, just no. I get the consternation over the closure of an attraction for an up charge event. But you're putting 2 and 2 together and getting 4,000.
 

lebeau

Well-Known Member
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JohnD

Well-Known Member
I'm wondering what the view would even be like? Would it just be docked? Doesn't seem worth it.

They would have to pull away from the dock (it's on a track) so you would have a clear view of the path running from Frontierland toward Liberty Square. Once the parade is over, because it's on a track, it has to complete its route around Tom Sawyer Island.
 

xdan0920

Think for yourselfer
I'm not a fan of these things. But can't be mad at Disney. Be mad at the people who allow it, those paying guests.
Personally, I'm not mad at anyone on this though. It doesn't effect my vacation one bit. If a family wants to have dessert in a "VIP" setting and pay for it, then great. Chances are I won't even notice, I got my own vacation going on.

Ugh.

The concept I love. I love Tiana and this is a wonderful idea. What I don't love is that they're using it for an overpriced desert party with parade viewing rather than a unique breakfast/dinner before or after the boat opens/closes.

Imagine this....

They do this for free, minus the dessert?
Or make dessert a la cart.

Imagine someone at WDW gave a crap about their guests?

Imagine this was simply something to fastpass? Tiana greeting guests on the Liberty Belle during the parade?

This is a joke.
 

tl77

Well-Known Member
This sounds like step one to permanently docking the river boat and opening up a ton of land for future expansion, the Rivers of America, as well as that backstage canal they need for river boat maintenance take up a lot of space, that I'm sure someday they'll get around to doing something impressive with.

Nice that there's something to showcase Tiana and Naveen now, and an up-charge event that includes a character meeting actually make it seem worth while, but I guest this means Tiana won't be in the parade any more
 

FerretAfros

Well-Known Member
Something else to consider: the Riverboat already has very limited hours of operation. This week is one of the busiest weeks of the year for WDW; MK is open 8am until Midnight all week (plus EMH Wednesday and Friday), yet the Riverboat is only open 9am-8pm. Now take away another 3 hours midday for this upcharge event, and its only running for 50% of the operating day

Plus you have to factor in that it's really not the most convenient thing to ride. With departures every 30 minutes or so, it's rare that it's a "walk on" even if it's operating well below capacity, so many guests bypass it on all but the busiest days. On that schedule, the Riverboat will only make about 16 trips per day during peak periods, and considerably fewer during off-peak times when its hours are even more reduced (like Sunday, when it will only be running 11am-5pm)

Given that it's already on a constrained timeline, I really have to wonder what exactly they're doing with the ice cream that takes over an hour to set up before guests are allowed on board. It almost seems like they're intentionally trying to kill it as an attraction so that it can be used for these sorts of things full time. Fireworks cruise, anybody?
 

SSH

Well-Known Member
I have a feeling that eventually all the the dessert parties on top of ice cream parties on top of early morning upcharges, hard tic events, cabana rentals, etc, etc, will start to cannibalize each other. It'll likely take a few years or the next big recession, but ultimately, only the strongest will survive. Word of mouth on social and travel boards just spreads too quickly and those who buy and feel ripped off will spread the word quick.

It seems to me that management's tactic is to throw everything they can against the wall to see what sticks, fully knowing that a few efforts won't fly. Similar to the slew of pilots we see each and every TV season.
 

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