Walls down - Fantasyland soft opening status

WDW1974

WDW1974

Well-Known Member
Kuhio said:
Fostering and retaining brand loyalty and respect -- which is crucial for any company if it truly aspires to maintain robust corporate health over the long term -- has less to do with numbers, and more to do with the company's values, its dedication to the quality of its product regardless of things like sales figures, and how it treats both its consumers and its rivals.

Whether a company is a Goliath or a David in its field, I expect it to do its utmost to make its product the best it can be, year in and year out. These are the types of corporations to which I will gladly give my money and my support.
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You're arguing with someone who doesn't understand the basics of business and why UNI's numbers may never approach Disney's and yet they may be more successful creatively and financially. He's dealing in pure numbers because he likes being difficult.

Disney isn't growing its business in O-Town. It is using smoke, mirrors, discounting, price increaeses and timeshare shilling to simply stay on par with prior years. UNI is growing its business and will continue to do by investing in major projects across two parks as well as beyond with new resorts and a new water park.

Disney will convince you that making a date with Goofy 180 days ahead of time and then tracking your every move will make WDW a better choice for a vacation. They're in for a rude awakening and many in the TDO building are already filled with panic ... and many on the west coast see a full fledged disaster in the making.

But TDO knows best ... always and forever!
 
wdwmagic

wdwmagic

Administrator
Moderator
Premium Member
menamechris said:
I am a little surprised they are doing this before the AP preview. As someone else said...theres really no point, unless they are going to have some little perks attached to it.
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Be Our Guest will more than likely be available for walkthroughs at AP previews, it is not available in this round of soft opens.
 
C

CaptainShortty

Well-Known Member
WDW1974 said:
Just skimmed the thread/droolfest. Honestly, didn't expect anything differently.Emotions will get the best of any Disney fan when new product is intro'd. WDW fans are so starved for new product and this is new and certainly of a higher caliber than anything the MK has offered for years.

But folks who wish to compare this with WWoHP or, worse, Disney's work at TDS or even DCA 2.0 are simply high on the Pixie Dust. Sorry, you can like whatever you wish, but it doesn't make it great quality.

Also, I strongly disagree with those, my buddy Randy among them, who believe queues are as important as the actual attraction. I think this is something WDI's 'talents' have placed out there to make up for shortcomings in the product. Two of the best queues at WDW are for KRR and EE and I in no way would consider them among WDW's best attractions. The former is among the worst. The whole package is what matters and certainly a queue is part of it, but as we can see with FP and its new incarnation, they are becoming of less import by the day.

BTW, I did NOT view any photos or video of the ride/area. I always wait to experience something, if possible, before judging it.

I did experience Mermaid in DCA dozens of times since it opened (almost always as a walk on ... btw, is HPatFJ ever a walk-on?) and this ride is from all respected accounts 99% (or more) the same. A carbon copy. And that to me, as Kuhio and others have stated, place it below most Fantasyland dark rides. It's just not that impressive at all. ... Except in a park like MK that never gets anything new.

Not trying to rain on anyone's parade (but Disney is sorta doing this by opening it to all before CMs, APers DVCers etc get a chance to sign up and ride.) But I won't let folks who have never set foot outside the country, let alone visied TDR, talk about this like it's Disney's best work when even the people who work for the company will privately laugh at such notions.

There probably will be some personal shots at me now that will be allowed to sit, but I'd rather just drop out of the thread and let the droolfest continue ... and hope there will be a day when Disney opens an attraction/area in Florida that wows me again. But this won't likely be it. And if it does it for you, you might want to ask yourself about just what you expect from Disney for the prices it charges (and remember: largest price hikes in history are coming in 2013!)
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Interesting post. I can't say I disagree with you 100%. Of course we're all in the honeymoon phase with this thing. It's new territory, it's never been touched, no lightbulbs out, nothing dust or chipped, it's as "perfect" as it's going to be from that respect. And, we've all been starving for something new that no matter what it is we would be happy. We've been waiting for it for so long that it could be anything and we would be drooling over it.

That being said, I was there today and had a chance to experience some of it (only got about an hour in before it closed) and I have to say that from a "show" perspective, it is beautifully crafted. The theming of the area is IMO some of the best we've seen in a while. I believe the queue and outside of the ride are not as important as the ride but still are considerably important. It's what makes Disney attractions different from say a six flags. Disney is a storytelling company and that is the best way to begin telling the story. From that respect, I think that the imagineers hit it out of the park.

As far as the attraction, it is what it is. Right now, it's new and exciting and IMO, well made. Is it the most exciting thing we've ever seen, no. But I think that the highlight attraction is the one that's still a big mound of steel in the middle of fantasyland. I think THAT will be a truly unique attraction and something unlike what we've seen from Disney before. Of course, that is yet to be seen...

So again, I think your post is interesting. Just thought I'd add my 2 cents. Take them from what they're worth. =/
 
Neverland

Neverland

Active Member
WDW1974 said:
Just one other thought from someone who works at TDO (and actually likes the Spirit), but the word is that Disney could have had this open last weekend ... you know for D23 and EPCOT30. A little present for the fanbois of the world, but calculated that it would be better not to put the effort into doing so because these are the type of people who would make second trips (some in a matter of weeks) just to see what soft opened today.

So, there was a bit of other agendas at play in why the area opened when it did ... when probably 95% of the fans who came for EPCOT30 are already gone.
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Mermaid definitely couldn't open last weekend. They almost postponed it opening today.
 
M

maxairmike

Well-Known Member
Yeah, Mermaid wasn't going to open last week for anything, the crew were still completing training, and only finished earlier this week (I think Wednesday, actually).

My thoughts...the area is so visually stunning, and the water features are simply spectacular. The Mermaid line is beyond extravagant, and trying to compare it to DCA's is pointless. Even with the line stretching out into the walkway, I waited maybe 15 minutes twice, I'm sure I don't have to say what pointless "feature" they're adding that will screw that up. My one, single nitpick with the attraction is that the animation of Ariel getting her legs is just...well, pretty bad and at best plain awkward. It looked to me like they didn't even look at the character models from the movie for that bit of animation. The Ariel AAs are really, really good. Not sure I prefer Triton with the white cloth hair and beard over the individual hair Cali version, because now it just looks ridiculously fake with no detail at all.

I had LeFou's Brew, but wasn't impressed, Butterbeer is definitely the winner in my book (and about $1 more for a regular cup than Butterbeer). The cinnamon roll was absolutely delicious, and I'll likely try the pork shank tomorrow. The merchandise in Bonjour Gifts seemed surprisingly limited and not all that appealing. I also was hoping for some kind of nod to the bookstore as Belle loves books (and so do I), but I could not find one.
 
weedles

weedles

Member
wdwmagic said:
Be Our Guest will more than likely be available for walkthroughs at AP previews, it is not available in this round of soft opens.
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Do you really think BoG wont have soft opens bf 11/19? This has had me perplexed. I know the "preview" period is aimed to work out kinks but ressies started for 11/19. How can they possibly plan to open a fully booked restaurant with no soft runs?? I keep picturing Hells Kitchen with the infamous shut it down y'all suck lol that wouldnt go over so well :eek:
 
TTA94

TTA94

Well-Known Member
menamechris said:
I am a little surprised they are doing this before the AP preview. As someone else said...theres really no point, unless they are going to have some little perks attached to it.
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My thought exactly! I do wish there was some perk to the AP preview... I guess it was the limited merch that we will not be getting till January! lol. The soft opening probably eliminated the "popularity" of the first time slot for APs lol.
 
wdwmagic

wdwmagic

Administrator
Moderator
Premium Member
weedles said:
Do you really think BoG wont have soft opens bf 11/19? This has had me perplexed. I know the "preview" period is aimed to work out kinks but ressies started for 11/19. How can they possibly plan to open a fully booked restaurant with no soft runs?? I keep picturing Hells Kitchen with the infamous shut it down y'all suck lol that wouldnt go over so well :eek:
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No I do think that BoG will have soft opens before the 19th. What I was saying is that a difference between the soft open right now and the AP and Cast previews, is that BoG WILL be open.
 
WED Purist

WED Purist

Well-Known Member
WDW1974 said:
Just one other thought from someone who works at TDO (and actually likes the Spirit), but the word is that Disney could have had this open last weekend ....
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Well, that word was wrong. They were still fixing/installing/inspecting things the few hours before it opened. The only things that would have been ready and legal a week ago were Belle and the bookstore, and that would make for an odd opening.
 
Clamman73

Clamman73

Well-Known Member
Wondering if anyone knows yet what the latest in the day CM preview times are scheduled for new Fantasyland? (i guess next week we'd know)
Was curious if the preview for cast members would be most of the day and later in the afternoon they would open up new Fantasyland to the general public until 6:00???
Can there be that many CMs and friends to warrant having it open and staffed for a week or two? Maybe...maybe not.
Just asking since I'll be there 23rd - 25th.
 
wannab@dis

wannab@dis

Well-Known Member
WDW1974 said:
Just one other thought from someone who works at TDO (and actually likes the Spirit), but the word is that Disney could have had this open last weekend ... you know for D23 and EPCOT30. A little present for the fanbois of the world, but calculated that it would be better not to put the effort into doing so because these are the type of people who would make second trips (some in a matter of weeks) just to see what soft opened today.

So, there was a bit of other agendas at play in why the area opened when it did ... when probably 95% of the fans who came for EPCOT30 are already gone.
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Conspiracy theory... but, oops, looks like you were wrong yet again. At some point, people are going to realize it is you that has the agenda, an agenda that is not based on facts. It will be interesting if that ulterior motive is revealed.

Neverland said:
Mermaid definitely couldn't open last weekend. They almost postponed it opening today.
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maxairmike said:
Yeah, Mermaid wasn't going to open last week for anything, the crew were still completing training, and only finished earlier this week (I think Wednesday, actually).
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WED Purist said:
Well, that word was wrong. They were still fixing/installing/inspecting things the few hours before it opened. The only things that would have been ready and legal a week ago were Belle and the bookstore, and that would make for an odd opening.
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maxairmike

Well-Known Member
Well, there are more than 60,000 Cast Members at WDW now, and the MK starts to get unbearable at about that crowd level. I think they're spreading the CM previews out over three or four 2-hour periods each day from what I was told, so that's 6-8 hours a day for being in soft opening. It may depend more on staffing (do they have enough people to run two shifts, or do they only have enough for one), as there will be more CMs coming in for each location the closer it gets to officially opening.
 

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