Entertainment dept is the big issue in the parks, very few of them are back so far (for obvious reasons)
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News Walt Disney World's COVID-19 reopening plans announced - July 11
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drew81
Well-Known Member
And will be for some time.
Yeah, the Equity grievance was filed on Monday I believe.
Indiana Jones has been rewritten and will have a much smaller cast as well as differnet show flow but I don't think any of them are even coming back in a soon phase with all of that.
The majority of the entertainment dept is not equity, so the union issue does not affect the most. The main issue is just a lack of meet and greets and character dining.
I guess it depends on your definition of majority. If you count the cast and crew/supporting staff that is effected by not being able to.gp back to work, than it certainly would be. You have entire theater venue teams, roaming entertainment units, atmosphere actors stages and all of the audio/visual tech, dressers, show directors make up and support. Verifiably,more are effected with the equity situation.
From the guest standpoint, even if you do not have live.entertainment as your favorite, not only do you have less entertainment of variety in the experiences, but shows that would hold and distribute people.
I am not a big fan of Actors Equity, but it has an impact on a lot more than many would consider.
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Yes there is certainly a wider impact than just the performers for sure.
The meet and greet situation also impacts much deeper than the performers. Character attendants, captains, costuming, PhotoPass.
I continue to believe opening now is a mistake for a multitude of reasons. I’m not going to go over the health risks again but instead focus on the brand.
Disney Parks, and specifically WDW is seen as the pinnacle of the theme park experience in the US. They’ve made that reputation over years, but have always done so by not chasing the regional parks focus on high thrilling rides but instead focusing on experiences. That has come as a detriment to their ride re-ridability because story driven rides don’t change much (or at all) from ride to ride.
The general public, if allowed to, will re ride their favorite coasters 3+ times throughout the day (and us rare few coaster enthusiasts will go multiples over that) without getting bored because the forces are always thrilling and never get old even if you know exactly where they happen. That’s why the only rides I’ve rerodden >3 times in a row at a Disney Park are all thrill rides or interactive rides (which challenge riders to improve their score) like BTMRR, Splash, ToT, TSMM, Sreamin, RSR, etc. Don’t get me wrong I love POTC and HM but if you asked me to stay on them for an hour I would go a little loopy and get bored with them. It’s like being asked to watch your favorite movie multiple times back to back, only 5 year olds do that the rest of us find it tiring and it ends up reducing our enjoyment of said movie.
What’s always set Disney above the rest has been the shows, characters, dining and evening spectaculars. There is no other park that offers up what Disney does, that is what wows the general public. Opening like this is causing Disney to operate like a regional park where they have to rely exclusively on the strength and re-ridability of their rides; let’s face it other then MK every other park has >20 experiences currently assuming it takes you 20 minutes per ride that’s 3 rides per hour and you’ll have done the park in 5-6 hours, let’s say you re ride you favorite 4 that still puts you at 6-8 hours. Do you really think Disney with its exorbitantly high price tag is going to get a favorable review from the GP currently when compared to their regional park?
There is a reason fans like me are staying away that goes beyond health issues, and any once in a lifetime visitors that do come I think are going to be horribly disappointed. Disney has lowered itself to its competitors level, by cutting out the things that make it special.
Here’s where I’m supposed to put in the happy end where these times may actually make execs realize how important those expensive entertainment offerings are to the park but I’m not hopeful, not with who is CEO now and pressure to keep costs down. Disney hasn’t hit rock bottom yet, and I hope the parks survive the fall.
Disney Parks, and specifically WDW is seen as the pinnacle of the theme park experience in the US. They’ve made that reputation over years, but have always done so by not chasing the regional parks focus on high thrilling rides but instead focusing on experiences. That has come as a detriment to their ride re-ridability because story driven rides don’t change much (or at all) from ride to ride.
The general public, if allowed to, will re ride their favorite coasters 3+ times throughout the day (and us rare few coaster enthusiasts will go multiples over that) without getting bored because the forces are always thrilling and never get old even if you know exactly where they happen. That’s why the only rides I’ve rerodden >3 times in a row at a Disney Park are all thrill rides or interactive rides (which challenge riders to improve their score) like BTMRR, Splash, ToT, TSMM, Sreamin, RSR, etc. Don’t get me wrong I love POTC and HM but if you asked me to stay on them for an hour I would go a little loopy and get bored with them. It’s like being asked to watch your favorite movie multiple times back to back, only 5 year olds do that the rest of us find it tiring and it ends up reducing our enjoyment of said movie.
What’s always set Disney above the rest has been the shows, characters, dining and evening spectaculars. There is no other park that offers up what Disney does, that is what wows the general public. Opening like this is causing Disney to operate like a regional park where they have to rely exclusively on the strength and re-ridability of their rides; let’s face it other then MK every other park has >20 experiences currently assuming it takes you 20 minutes per ride that’s 3 rides per hour and you’ll have done the park in 5-6 hours, let’s say you re ride you favorite 4 that still puts you at 6-8 hours. Do you really think Disney with its exorbitantly high price tag is going to get a favorable review from the GP currently when compared to their regional park?
There is a reason fans like me are staying away that goes beyond health issues, and any once in a lifetime visitors that do come I think are going to be horribly disappointed. Disney has lowered itself to its competitors level, by cutting out the things that make it special.
Here’s where I’m supposed to put in the happy end where these times may actually make execs realize how important those expensive entertainment offerings are to the park but I’m not hopeful, not with who is CEO now and pressure to keep costs down. Disney hasn’t hit rock bottom yet, and I hope the parks survive the fall.
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Jrb1979
Well-Known Member
I couldn't have said it better myself. Disney fans don't see it that way though. I have posted in the paid fastpass thread about why a paid system is good for those the want to ride attractions multiple times. For some reason many Disney fans think it's strange.
granfiesta
Active Member
Fantasy as in the actual crowds are lower or higher than the number Bob Chapek said?
peter11435
Well-Known Member
All of the numbers on that graphic are too high
By a considerable amount
Josh D'Amaro talks about Splash Mountain retheme and opening the parks during a global pandemic
www.wdwmagic.com
Josh D'Amaro talks about Splash Mountain retheme and opening the parks during a global pandemic
The new Disney Parks leader comments on today's reopening and addresses Splash Mountain fans.
www.wdwmagic.com
IveBeenJack
Well-Known Member
Yeah sure, so the pre-pandemic maximum capacity is what I found stated online for those parks. Since Disney will not officially release those numbers, it is a ball park estimate, which in hindsight I should have said "estimated figures" on the graphic.
Then in the video I state that the parks will begin with a few thousand and incrementally increase to their 30% controlled capacity over time, as that is what Chapek said in the Earnings Call in May in response to one of the questions. And he said that was the approach they'll be adopting to all park re-openings. So the controlled capacity estimates are just 30% of the max normal capacity.
I did not say that this "new controlled max capacity" was the capacity for re-opening day. Only a few thousand.
Florida is the hottest hotspot in the world, at the moment, yet they proceeded with re-opening. They won't re-close unless and until hospitals in Orange County are nearly fully at capacity (even more than now) necessitating Orange County to take stronger action, as Miami-Dade did. Or if the state is just so overwhelmed that DeSantis makes the unlikely move to go back to Phase 1, but he seems spineless at this point on that front. Also if a number of employees test positive and there's a significant outbreak linked to property, that may have some bearing.
The good thing is attendance is low, demand is low and they are operating in a way where it would be easy to re-close and pick back up where things left off in a few weeks/months with little fanfare.
The good thing is attendance is low, demand is low and they are operating in a way where it would be easy to re-close and pick back up where things left off in a few weeks/months with little fanfare.
Or maybe they realize that a single layer thin piece of fabric doesn't do much in way of reducing spread, and they are really trying to make the experience as safe as possible for all guests and cast members? Perhaps other places should follow their lead and not allow single layer or open chinned coverings as well.
BromBones
Well-Known Member
Too late now. General face coverings have been authorized by every state government with no additional requirements.
Suddenly Disney decides to eliminate coverings that people have been allowed to wear for months.
It's all about money with Disney. You know this even though you don't want to admit it.
It's also interesting that when Covid was at its most infectious and fewer people had the antibodies that masks weren't mandated for months. It was only 15 days to slow the spread.....then they kept moving the goalpost. Now it's "wear a mask"...but the national standard is suspiciously not good enough for Disney. Hmmmmm.
peter11435
Well-Known Member
What makes you think this has anything to do with money? That’s absurd.
Also I’ve seen three guests in the past 2 days who have been stopped with gaiters. In all three cases they were provided disposal masks free of charge. They were not forced to purchase anything.
BromBones
Well-Known Member
It's Disney. It has everything to do with money. They are the most commercial company that makes anything possible into merchandise.
Stop giving plastic straws....sell reusable plastic straws.
Require magic bands...automatically start selling custom magic bands.
Stop giving away free magic bands...continue to sell custom magic bands.
It rains, slap a logo on a poncho, sell it for $7.50 - $10
Charge $4.00 for bottled water.
And they lost approximately $1 to $3 million for every day they were closed and are now operating at 50% capacity.
So they have to make that money back and merchandise is the way to go.
And a disposable paper mask that you will sweat in not time is by definition disposable and will have to be replace while you're in the park. And where do you go to get one.....at the store where they sell custom masks.
For anyone to think that Disney, one of the biggest greed machines would not think of a way to make profit off of this...then they are not paying attention...and probably intentionally.
Horizons '83
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- No
So let me get this straight, it’s greed if they want to make a profit and survive this? Also, note that they are offering disposable masks to those who either don’t have one or has an unapproved face covering. But yes that’s greedy
