Walls in HM Queue

[fngoofy]

I love it!

BTW: Is your screen name a play on the "punch line" of the famous "Mickey goes to court" joke?

I do love that joke, but it is more a reflection on my nature

 

[Tom]

I do love that joke, but it is more a reflection on my nature

Heh. I hear ya!

 

[inluvwithbeast]

I'd pitch a fit the likes of which have never been seen.

I do remember when you had to sit in someones lap on SM and I always wondered if they made strangers do that. I wouldn't. There would be another major tantrum thrown. That's really stupid, if you think about it. That's the neighborhood child molester from Family Guy's dream come true. Mmmm Hmmmm.

And if they're forcing people to sit 3 to a car on an omnimover attraction that's absolutely ridiculous. Especially for HM.

Try three full-grown adult men in a car for BTMRR. My poor brother was stuck in a car with a 250+ lb man and his full-grown friend. He said he just kind of sat in the ride with his arms squished to his side. He didn't yell or laugh or anything. Just sat still as possible in silence.

 

[BrerFrog]

Speaking of peak capacity... Has anyone ever been there when they MADE you ride three to a car? One time when the park was busy, but not "that busy" the castmembers were adament that all buggys contain 3 bodies... and they were splitting up groups and making people ride with strangers... They made me and my gf ride with a stranger and it was most unpleasant, ackward, and uncomfortable. Has anyone else experienced that? I don't think the CM's should ever force people to squeeze into a buggy with two complete strangers...

That is certainly strange. I know their policy is "If you want to be in a buggy with other two people, go ahead. Just make sure you fit and do not complain if you are uncomfortable."

 

[blm07]

It's all about numbers. It's less about the quality of the show, and more about getting people through. It's always backed up in the loading area. It's just like the boat rides or Everest. Sure, you may have tons of "extra" people in the attraction, but you aren't really doing anything good, you are just sitting there stopped for a few minutes. It's just bad show. But Disney would rather have a higher guest count than a great show.

If their excuse is to get people off their feet for a while, then put more comfortable benches around the parks!

 

[Magenta Panther]

OMG!
I hate that as well!
All though, I think this is due to lazy CMs & Managers as opposed to ride count.
Back in the day, when I was very young (12-14) I would ride HM over and over and over again and got to know how they did things.

So back in say 1980 they loaded HM like this:

1. Open the main doors and start to let guests in

2. Close doors once proper number of guests were in

3. CM would go to the fireplace and press button that started the first ghost host spiel and started the picture transformation

4. After it finished the door to the stretching room opened

5. Guests moved in, the CM closed the door and then the stretching spiel would start

6. Then you got out of the stretching room and were able to walk up to the doom buggy line just as the last of the previous group was getting on.

There were no gaps in the line and you got to experience all the ride elements.

Now they hurry the process, (I have seen the room start stretching before the guests are all in and the door closed) and what happens is that you get a backup at the doom buggy line and to let it clear they wait to let the next group in.

If they would just pace things properly the ride count would be there and the show would be perfect.

They really need to have a CM pre-load the area in front of the entrance with the right number of people, just like at Tower of Terror. That way people could enter quicker and they could start the show quicker.

However, they really are a prisoner to the speed of the doom buggies (I swear they are quicker now than before the big refurb.) So I think just going back to proper pacing and showmanship would be the best thing!

I completely agree with you on this. It disappoints me so much that the people in charge of WDW seem to have so little regard for the art of the show!

 

[LucyintheSky]

This didn't happen on HM, but it really irritated me. I went to ride SSE on a very low crowd day a few months ago. There was no line at all. But the CM told the 3rd person of a 3 person group that was behind me to sit with me. :hammer: Really? I could almost understand if it were a high crowd day. But there was NO line. I felt really uncomfortable and awkward through the whole thing, especially with the touch screen stuff. I just told him to do it since I've done it many times before.

Something like that might not phase some people, but I'm very shy and get nervous around people I don't know. It's almost made me hesitant about riding SSE when I'm alone- I don't want it to happen again! :ROFLOL:

 

[WesternRiverExplorer]

I apologize if this has already been answered, but do any of the insiders know or could say whether the the tombstone tributes to the original WED Imagineers will be returning in any form? I personally feel it would be a tragedy/a great disrespect if they were removed completely and Disney acted like they never existed. I would even be fine if just the epithets returned in a new form somehow. I believe that MK's is the only Mansion where they still existed, unless there are versions in Tokyo (can't remember).

 

[raven]

I believe those stones will still be there in some form or another, more than likely squeezed into a smaller area to the left, right before you enter the door.

 

[MotherOfBirds]

I'm sorry, when is the graveyard suppose to open? By MVMCP, I hope.

 

[Rob562]

I'm sorry, when is the graveyard suppose to open? By MVMCP, I hope.

It was said somewhere in this thread that this is a multi-month project. It'll be sometime in 2011 that it's done. So no, it won't be done by this year's MVMCP.


-Rob

 

[gerryu21220]

Seems to me sometime in January is when it is supposed to be finished.

 

[Thrill Seeker]

I recently heard a rumor that a next gen queue is coming to Splash Mountain as part of the January refurb. Nothing confirmed yet, but and interesting one to say the least...

 

[yellowstone]

This didn't happen on HM, but it really irritated me. I went to ride SSE on a very low crowd day a few months ago. There was no line at all. But the CM told the 3rd person of a 3 person group that was behind me to sit with me. :hammer: Really? I could almost understand if it were a high crowd day. But there was NO line. I felt really uncomfortable and awkward through the whole thing, especially with the touch screen stuff. I just told him to do it since I've done it many times before.

Something like that might not phase some people, but I'm very shy and get nervous around people I don't know. It's almost made me hesitant about riding SSE when I'm alone- I don't want it to happen again! :ROFLOL:

Next time, just tell them no. You are the paying customer, if you do not want to sit with a stranger you don't have to.

 

[UberMouse]

I am very glad that I put the construction of my replica HM home on hold for further infrastructure developement. I would have been really ticked off if I had to make changes mid stride, LOL.

-Jeff

 

[Buried20KLeague]

I recently heard a rumor that a next gen queue is coming to Splash Mountain as part of the January refurb. Nothing confirmed yet, but and interesting one to say the least...

That would be one that makes sense to me... If youn don't have a FP, the stand-by line at Splash is brutal.

It makes much more sense to me than at HM, where the line is rarely an issue. :shrug:

 

[sshindel]

That would be one that makes sense to me... If youn don't have a FP, the stand-by line at Splash is brutal.

It makes much more sense to me than at HM, where the line is rarely an issue. :shrug:

It may not be that HM queue was an issue. I'd guess that they are working on Next Gen queues for most (major) attractions, and maybe HM's could:
1) be completed quicker than others
2) was able to be done without causing the entire attraction to be closed down, where others may not
3) fit into the fiscal budget (the installation, maintenance, etc)
Or a few of the above.

HM may have not NEEDED to be upgraded, but I'd guess that they have much larger plans for queues across the parks, and maybe all the pieces just fell into place to get HM queue installed now.

 

[Buried20KLeague]

It may not be that HM queue was an issue. I'd guess that they are working on Next Gen queues for most (major) attractions, and maybe HM's could:
1) be completed quicker than others
2) was able to be done without causing the entire attraction to be closed down, where others may not
3) fit into the fiscal budget (the installation, maintenance, etc)
Or a few of the above.

HM may have not NEEDED to be upgraded, but I'd guess that they have much larger plans for queues across the parks, and maybe all the pieces just fell into place to get HM queue installed now.

All good points.

I guess if it were up to me, I'd let the "squeaky wheel get the grease"... You know, start with areas that I found to be most problematic first. But that's also a simplistic view, and I don't claim to know how best to run a park.

I guess the way TDO has worked lately had me jumping to the conclusion that their rationale might not be completely sound. :lookaroun

Who knows.

 

[WDITrent]

I have always wondered why on Earth they would try to cram guests into the Mansion so fast, and the only reason I can come up with is getting more guests physically inside as instead of outside. They're probably trying to fill up the switchbacks in the load area to leave room outside.

The funny thing is they don't gain much by doing this, so it's still beyond me why they would want to sacrifice show and their own energy by working to get guests through the foyer and stretching room so fast.

 

[yensidtlaw1969]

I have always wondered why on Earth they would try to cram guests into the Mansion so fast, and the only reason I can come up with is getting more guests physically inside as instead of outside. They're probably trying to fill up the switchbacks in the load area to leave room outside.

The funny thing is they don't gain much by doing this, so it's still beyond me why they would want to sacrifice show and their own energy by working to get guests through the foyer and stretching room so fast.

You know, for about 2 seconds there I thought this new addition might be some sort of bizarre and convoluted attempt by Imagineering at rectifying the show pacing. In theory, a new addition to the queue could subversively influence the CM's to allow guests more time to dwell outside the doors, though that wouldn't necessarily affect the Foyer and stretch room show because, if I recall correctly, as part of the refurb the spiel and effects became somewhat automated (at least in the Foyer, I believe), so I don't really know what that would do.

Though now that I think of it, if they're expanding the space taken up by the queue it could ultimately create a positive impact on the hourly capacity. Given the placement of the turnstiles, any potential bottleneck caused by the closing of the front doors could feel some relief by allowing space for more guests to be held prior to the foyer. More space (could) = greater chance for continuous guest flow through turnstiles. Doesn't require speeding up the show, but could create the illusion of greater capacity, justifying the expense of the addition and maybe even allowing for the guest flow to be brought back to the slower, more show-effective speed. That might only cause capacity to break even with the current numbers, but in favor of greater show quality, which is, ya know, unlikely given the current climate of park management -- I think.

PS: If anyone can find any sense in this please elucidate; I'd love to know what I just said.