Toy Story Land expansion announced for Disney's Hollywood Studios

[Goofyernmost]

I've never had one, nor do I know exactly how much they cost (and I'm to lazy to look it up) but, it seems to me that the major perk of an AP is admission. Let's use the $900.00 figure that was tossed out there. If that is the one without any blackout dates then that $900.00 will entitle you to go to one or more Disney Parks on 365 days in your year. That translates to $2.50 per day. That seems like a good plan. I know that most will not go that often, but, even if you went 20 times in a year that is $45. per visit. Where else can you get that price? Then you get discounts on purchases along with free parking and I'm sure other things that I am not aware of, it seems like you got your moneys worth many times over. Now you want special preview perks because you spend less per visit then almost everyone else on the planet does. That does seem a little overly entitled to me.

 

[mm52200]

I propose they come up with an opening date that isn't rushed. Additionally, they could let APs in now to help test and adjust. Hell, Flight of Passage wasn't operating 100% during the AP previews, but they let us in anyway. It's about feeling valued, getting a sneak peek, early access. I think Disney put out a date that was way too ambitious and they fell behind in construction. I think they're also trying to control the message (to a certain extent), by letting pixie dust Cast Members into the land and not people with actual opinions

Unfortunately things just happen. They could pick a date and be looking to be on schedule, but things fall behind they just do. I’m sure they would have loved for the land to have been ready and testing it for a month with more guests.
These CM test and adjust and rehearsals were all scheduled about a week ago, and were randomly awarded.
Disney is in no way trying to control the message with “pixie dust Cast members”. Aside from some CPs most Cast members aren’t too high on the pixie dust and are usually pretty critical. I’m thankful Disney is atleast for once making an effort to treat the CMs who work so hard to give you a great time, an extra little perk since they usually don’t get much of anything.
It just didn’t work out. It’s not some malicious attempt to screw over the APs.

 

[peter11435]

I propose they come up with an opening date that isn't rushed. Additionally, they could let APs in now to help test and adjust. Hell, Flight of Passage wasn't operating 100% during the AP previews, but they let us in anyway. It's about feeling valued, getting a sneak peek, early access. I think Disney put out a date that was way too ambitious and they fell behind in construction. I think they're also trying to control the message (to a certain extent), by letting pixie dust Cast Members into the land and not people with actual opinions

The opening date was not rushed or too ambitious . Things came up that delayed the project. A major hurricane for one. But many issues contributed to the delay.

Previews are never guaranteed nor should they be expected.

Most cast members are the companies harshest critics.

 

[EricsBiscuit]

I own an AP and by far the greatest perk is admission followed by free parking and discounts. I pay maybe $10 per visit with admission (cost of AL / number of annual visits). And then by using my Disney Visa I can get my AP for free every year. It's insane.

 

[MrPromey]

Mmmmhmmm. By me. I’m a teacher. Some are interpreting “failure” as “worthless.” I don’t define it thusly. For me, failing is less than 70% of what it could and should be. There are levels of failure.

As a teacher, wouldn't that be a... dailure? I thought a failure was anything under 60%.

 

[EricsBiscuit]

Totally unrelated to TSL- but I never understand why anyone holds the Disney Premier card or the Disney no-fee card outside of really wanting an Elsa or Lightning McQueen design on their card.
There are much better cards out there. Even a basic no-fee 2% cashback card is going to have higher earning.

It's my favorite purely because it has Sleeping Beauty Castle on it

 

[Bob Harlem]

The opening date was not rushed or too ambitious . Things came up that delayed the project. A major hurricane for one. But many issues contributed to the delay.

Previews are never guaranteed nor should they be expected.

Most cast members are the companies harshest critics.

I think the delays are a bit more hard to swallow considering the Backlot Tour closed in September of 2014. (Nearly 4 years ago) and it sat idle way too long.

But still, the flip side of having AP previews with not everything working could cause other problems. (See how Universal handled Diagon and Gringotts, and Kong openings... no real AP previews until AFTER the opening. mainly because of reliability problems)

Although after being there myself you all aren't missing much. You'd be better off if they waited until the weather cooled (the lack of shade along with no A/C areas in the land, other than TSMM, cannot be understated) to have an exclusive AP event.

 

[GlacierGlacier]

I've never had one, nor do I know exactly how much they cost (and I'm to lazy to look it up) but, it seems to me that the major perk of an AP is admission. Let's use the $900.00 figure that was tossed out there. If that is the one without any blackout dates then that $900.00 will entitle you to go to one or more Disney Parks on 365 days in your year. That translates to $2.50 per day. That seems like a good plan. I know that most will not go that often, but, even if you went 20 times in a year that is $45. per visit. Where else can you get that price? Then you get discounts on purchases along with free parking and I'm sure other things that I am not aware of, it seems like you got your moneys worth many times over. Now you want special preview perks because you spend less per visit then almost everyone else on the planet does. That does seem a little overly entitled to me.

If I remember correctly, the silver is around $540. Sure, you miss out on two months in the summer and a few weeks in December, but even then it's so, so worth it for attendance. Just within 5-6 visits you are already spending less than you would have with day-of tickets including parking. Even more savings if you park hop, too.

That right there is the biggest perk. Anything else is just a bonus.

And sure, I'm envious of the CMs who get to ride SDD and Alien Swirling Saucers with little to no wait line, but it's no big deal. It opens Saturday, and on top of that there's the passholder event later this year. They really didn't have to give us that but they did.

Also, it's just Toy Story Land.

 

[MrPromey]

That's not the debate here. A Speedway style ride (good for the kids) would actually work well in TSL and there is a ton of reference material for Imagineering to pull from should they decide to make a Toy Story-themed speedway (per the original armchair imagineering discussion) Personally I think a Green Army Men-themed Speedway would be fun addition for the target audience.

The other consideration is capacity and rider through-put. Something like the RC Racer suffers from a problem in that only one car can be on that track at a time. It has to load, do it’s thing and then unload before anyone else can start to get on. Even if they build two side-by-side, they still kind of have that problem. This works so well for Dumbo they had to create an indoor paging system to handle crowds.

With something like the speedway, you can move people through it continuously as there is no single start and stop time for everyone riding. This keeps the line moving.... Or at least keeps it semi-moving if you incorporate fastpass into it.

It also works well as a true "placeholder" attraction as that track can be rearranged pretty easily to accommodate change to the land and wouln't be that difficult to outright remove if and when the time came for it.

As for the expense of those custom fabbed Toy Story vehicles if they did raise it? They could be shipped to any other Toy Story land in the world where they pave a small road with a track and you have an instant ride there, too.

 

[MrPromey]

If I remember correctly, the silver is around $540. Sure, you miss out on two months in the summer and a few weeks in December, but even then it's so, so worth it for attendance. Just within 5-6 visits you are already spending less than you would have with day-of tickets including parking. Even more savings if you park hop, too.

That right there is the biggest perk. Anything else is just a bonus.

And sure, I'm envious of the CMs who get to ride SDD and Alien Swirling Saucers with little to no wait line, but it's no big deal. It opens Saturday, and on top of that there's the passholder event later this year. They really didn't have to give us that but they did.

... Except I thought that event was only open to gold or higher passholders. Did something change with this?

 

[JohnD]

Because they didn't have time for AP access before opening, they rescheduled you...

Disney Passholders (Gold and up--Silver is SOL) to get exclusive access to Toy Story Land in September

Fixed it for you.

 

[JohnD]

... Except I thought that event was only open to gold or higher passholders. Did something change with this?

Correct. Gold and up.

 

[twebber55]

pretty simple to me
disney has never advertised free previews into new lands therefore im not gonna complain when i dont get it, although the pandora preview was really cool and appreciated im not gonna expect it going forward...it would behoove disney to do one for SWGE just to get some people through the land but again it will come down to timing of how close they are to finishing up the land

 

[Disney Analyst]

People are just being entitled. It gives the rest of the AP population a bad name.

“I pay for an AP so I am more important and deserve anything I want” is a gross mentality.

An AP is for year long access at one price. That’s all. The rest is just extra goodies, and a preview here or there is literally the cherry on top. Sometimes they run out of cherries.

 

[Unbanshee]

The opening date was not rushed or too ambitious . Things came up that delayed the project. A major hurricane for one. But many issues contributed to the delay.

Previews are never guaranteed nor should they be expected.

Most cast members are the companies harshest critics.

There have been zero hurricanes since the opening date was announced

 

[Unbanshee]

Disney is in no way trying to control the message with “pixie dust Cast members”. Aside from some CPs most Cast members aren’t too high on the pixie dust and are usually pretty critical.

The reviews on social media that I've been able to see have been about 95% "OMG, you guyyyyys. Toy Story Land is going to CHANGE YOUR LIFE".

I guess it's possible the CM's who didn't like the land, but like being gainfully employed are going to stay (understandably) silent

 

[peter11435]

There have been zero hurricanes since the opening date was announced

Correct. And the opening date that was announced was significantly pushed back from the original target due to several delays including the above mentioned hurricane.

Regardless it’s irrelevant because the land will open on its advertised opening date. Previews are not promised or guaranteed and should not be expected.

 

[BrianLo]

Really that's the best you got? Last I checked the main thing driving the value prop of the AP is the amount of admissions followed by the discount programs... It's not a loyalty program, it's not a 'gold card' perk. Disney doesn't advertise, nor lure anyone in with 'exclusive previews' to sell Annual Passes.

This needs to be repeated over and over for posterity. The Annual Passholder value proposition is NOT a loyalty program. It is deeply discounted park admission for more visits than average. People obfuscate the two and somehow they feel they are more valuable in every single facet than the average guest. Disney rewards your loyalty with a discount on multiple admissions, full stop.

The merch discounts and events are above and beyond perks done to at least ensure you continue to spend something when you do visit for 10% of what the tourist is paying.

Cruise lines are the opposite example. There is no annual pass that's roughly the price of 2.5x 7 day cruises that gets you an unlimited number of cruises over the course of a year. That would be an insane amount of value and I'm sure people would love to drop the cruise loyalty perks 10 times over for that option instead.

APers enjoy your steeply discounted admission. That's your main loyalty benefit, $$$. Which is honestly a far better benefit than a few random events.

 

[flynnibus]

The reviews on social media that I've been able to see have been about 95% "OMG, you guyyyyys. Toy Story Land is going to CHANGE YOUR LIFE".

Welcome to every other Disney opening in the social media age.

You guys can get yourself worked up over it... or just discount it and move on with your life.

 

[flynnibus]

Totally unrelated to TSL- but I never understand why anyone holds the Disney Premier card or the Disney no-fee card outside of really wanting an Elsa or Lightning McQueen design on their card.
There are much better cards out there. Even a basic no-fee 2% cashback card is going to have higher earning.

Because my card has darth vader on it

I don't use it for Disney perks - cash reward program is king and better elsewhere.