A few changes on Disney Wonder

[OhioStateBuckeye]

I'd think that they couldn't do a matinee show because most people involved in the show do character meet and greets during the day, whether they are a character handler or a friend of a character.

 

[Pens Fan]

I'd think that they couldn't do a matinee show because most people involved in the show do character meet and greets during the day, whether they are a character handler or a friend of a character.

At yet they have done matinees in the past (personally experienced it). Why not now?? I still think this a reduction in staffing on Disney's part. I'm not buying the other excuses.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

At yet they have done matinees in the past (personally experienced it). Why not now?? I still think this a reduction in staffing on Disney's part. I'm not buying the other excuses.

They've typically done matinees on sea days that had a production show that night. I would think that, if there were issues with cast from the shows being needed elsewhere during the day it would be on a sea day.

 

[MelSpees]

I think matinees are the best bet if they want to have extra shows.

 

[abuck75]

Happy to say, I simply was missing the navigators, they are still placing the paper navigator in the room.

 

[jcarwash]

Question, if the Pirate party was at 7:30 were the fireworks early also?

On our past two cruises, one on the Magic in 2016 and last week on the Wonder Feb 18 2018 sailing, yes the fireworks were scheduled at the end of the 7:30 pirate party, so around 8pm. Last week the pirate party was held without fireworks due to wind, and they scheduled a special non-pirate deck party the following night (7:30pm) in order to have fireworks at the end of that show.

 

[mareed]

Happy to say, I simply was missing the navigators, they are still placing the paper navigator in the room.

That's good! Are you on the Wonder sailing now that departed Feb 25? If so, are they doing the production shows 2 nights in a row again (Golden Mickeys, Frozen, Dreams)? Really curious if this has continued or if it was a one-week trial last week!

 

[abuck75]

Yes, 2 shows.

It’s nice to have flexibility but even frozen was half full tonight.

 

[mareed]

Yes, 2 shows.

It’s nice to have flexibility but even frozen was half full tonight.

I really think that the half-full theatres impacts the performance because the audience doesn't give the same level of response, and then the performers don't quite give it their all either. At least that's what I saw the previous week when I attended 2 of the second shows which were half or even less full. Sure hope this doesn't continue - at least for all 3 shows. Maybe just for Frozen...

 

[smeecanada]

Happy to say, I simply was missing the navigators, they are still placing the paper navigator in the room.

So, happy to read that. Was trying to figure out how we were going to manage as we don't bring our phones on vacation. Too much hassle with customs, international roaming, etc., so we just leave them home. Much nicer vacation that way.

 

[vertigo235]

I do not understand the reason to repeat the shows.

So Mickey can save money, that's the only logical reason IMO.

 

[peter11435]

I still think this a reduction in staffing on Disney's part. I'm not buying the other excuses.

Except what staffing does it reduce?

They are still running the shows. They are still operating the theater. They are still hiring variety acts out putting them in a different venue.

 

[vertigo235]

I was on this Wonder cruise where Natalie (cruise director) said they were testing the duplicate shows for the 3 Broadway shows (Golden Mickeys, Frozen, Dreams) for the first time. She said it was because there wasn't enough capacity in the Walt Disney Theatre for everyone to see the performance with just 2 shows. They had matinee performances of 2 of the featured entertainers, and evening shows in Azure for some of them (with video broadcasting the show in the pub for overflow). I wrote her a letter about it during the cruise and talked to her about it on day 2. I didn't get a chance to talk to her later in the cruise to let her know what I thought after actually trying it out so wrote her another letter and left it in the comments box.

I hated it because:

• I missed being in the large Walt Disney Theatre each evening which is one of my favorite parts of cruising, and I normally never miss a show.
• I was unable to see some of the entertainers at their matinee showing because it conflicted with other items I wanted to do. When entertainers are in the evening as usual in WDT, I never had a conflict.
• Azure doesn't have capacity for everyone to see the entertainers and broadcasting in the pub instead of seeing live is really just unacceptable at Disney's prices.
• This schedule required looking ahead at the Navigator app to plan which show to attend to minimize missing things I really wanted to see/do, much like planning required for a Disney parks trip. Normally, Disney cruising is a welcome break from that level of planning!
• Second night of Frozen and Dreams was sparsely attended and didn't have usual audience responses & involvement, and I think the performers may have felt that and weren't at their top performance.

I'm very interested to see if this is something that was continued on the Feb. 25 cruise and hope that someone from that will report back here.

This is lipservice, it's not like they suddenly had this "problem"

Disney is simply saving money on the Variety acts, bottom line.

What about the shorter cruises, what are they going to do about those "poor" guests who cant see the show?

 

[vertigo235]

I was on the Fantasy when they did the double shows and wanted to share that they did NOT sacrifice on varieties- in fact it was the opposite. During the shows they ALSO had variety acts in the club at the same time. For people who have seen the shows multiple cruises there was actually other things to see and enjoy if you didn’t want to see the shows this cruise which we really liked.

The other thing we liked and talked to the CD was that the variety shows during the other shows were a little more interactive.

We have started to dislike cruising multiple times because we felt like there weren’t a lot of options and we were paying a lot for repeat shows and repeat menus. it was see the WD act, go to the trivia/game/then go to dinner/followed by adult show. This last trip we had multiple options before dining between the game or variety or WD show.

Well this is a promising post, but I'm just not sure I buy into it yet. I agree with other posters that it doesn't seem like there is a need for multiple showings of the stage shows, and I enjoy the variety acts more because I'm a repeat cruiser.

 

[Pens Fan]

Except what staffing does it reduce?

They are still running the shows. They are still operating the theater. They are still hiring variety acts out putting them in a different venue.

It could be that bumping the variety acts from the Walt Disney Theater to a lounge act status saves Disney a ton of money. Also, whatever was going on in the smaller venues is no longer required as the variety acts now fill that space while the CM's under contract have to perform twice as many shows in the WD Theater each cruise (bet they love that ). I've been on cruises where they offered matinees for a show they thought would be extra popular. Eliminating the matinees definitely reduces staffing needs.

At the end of the day, I just don't buy the Cruise Director's story that this is a theater capacity problem. As I said before, the Walt Disney Theater didn't just suddenly shrink, nor did Disney add a whole bunch of new cabins. For nearly twenty years, the theater capacity has been perfectly fine. As much as folks like to come on these board and fuss about things, I don't recall a hoard of complaints about not being able to find a seat at the shows. I simply do not buy the story that Disney is selling here. If you do, fine. Knock yourself out. To each their own.

 

[vertigo235]

It could be that bumping the variety acts from the Walt Disney Theater to a lounge act status saves Disney a ton of money. Also, whatever was going on in the smaller venues is no longer required as the variety acts now fill that space while the CM's under contract have to perform twice as many shows in the WD Theater each cruise (bet they love that ). I've been on cruises where they offered matinees for a show they thought would be extra popular. Eliminating the matinees definitely reduces staffing needs.

At the end of the day, I just don't buy the Cruise Director's story that this is a theater capacity problem. As I said before, the Walt Disney Theater didn't just suddenly shrink, nor did Disney add a whole bunch of new cabins. For nearly twenty years, the theater capacity has been perfectly fine. As much as folks like to come on these board and fuss about things, I don't recall a hoard of complaints about not being able to find a seat at the shows. I simply do not buy the story that Disney is selling here. If you do, fine. Knock yourself out. To each their own.

Nailed it

 

[smeecanada]

It could be that bumping the variety acts from the Walt Disney Theater to a lounge act status saves Disney a ton of money. Also, whatever was going on in the smaller venues is no longer required as the variety acts now fill that space while the CM's under contract have to perform twice as many shows in the WD Theater each cruise (bet they love that ). I've been on cruises where they offered matinees for a show they thought would be extra popular. Eliminating the matinees definitely reduces staffing needs.

At the end of the day, I just don't buy the Cruise Director's story that this is a theater capacity problem. As I said before, the Walt Disney Theater didn't just suddenly shrink, nor did Disney add a whole bunch of new cabins. For nearly twenty years, the theater capacity has been perfectly fine. As much as folks like to come on these board and fuss about things, I don't recall a hoard of complaints about not being able to find a seat at the shows. I simply do not buy the story that Disney is selling here. If you do, fine. Knock yourself out. To each their own.

I agree. I don't buy the theater issue. Our family of 4 sailed on the max. passenger capacity 2008 EBPC cruise and didn't have an issue getting seating in the Walt Disney theater at all. The theater definitely didn't all of a sudden shrink.

 

[peter11435]

It could be that bumping the variety acts from the Walt Disney Theater to a lounge act status saves Disney a ton of money. Also, whatever was going on in the smaller venues is no longer required as the variety acts now fill that space while the CM's under contract have to perform twice as many shows in the WD Theater each cruise (bet they love that ). I've been on cruises where they offered matinees for a show they thought would be extra popular. Eliminating the matinees definitely reduces staffing needs.

At the end of the day, I just don't buy the Cruise Director's story that this is a theater capacity problem. As I said before, the Walt Disney Theater didn't just suddenly shrink, nor did Disney add a whole bunch of new cabins. For nearly twenty years, the theater capacity has been perfectly fine. As much as folks like to come on these board and fuss about things, I don't recall a hoard of complaints about not being able to find a seat at the shows. I simply do not buy the story that Disney is selling here. If you do, fine. Knock yourself out. To each their own.

Adding or eliminating matinees doesn’t cost or save them any money. The cast are all under contract and onboard either way and being paid their agreed amount for their contract. The theater cast have roles outside of the main theater productions so if they weren’t performing in a second show they would be doing something else elsewhere on the ship. Nothing of great substances was usually happening in azure opposite the WDT presentations. There are several venues on the ship that could be used to house anything displaced.

If you understand how the ships staffing and payment works you would understand that this configuration doesn’t save them any money unless they eliminate variety acts. Which so far they have not, they have just moved them.

 

[abuck75]

This is lipservice, it's not like they suddenly had this "problem"

Disney is simply saving money on the Variety acts, bottom line.

What about the shorter cruises, what are they going to do about those "poor" guests who cant see the show?

Well, for now they have the same quality variety acts, so not saving money there. Also two of the variety acts did a Matinee in WDT, so the stage setup cost was there.

It is possible they are testing popularity so they can reduce variety acts.

 

[Snowwhyt]

Don’t you find that when your watching the variety acts you are actually watching the monitors instead of the actual show oftentimes as small details make the act? (What if that’s been a complaint from prior cruises?) What if they pay variety acts the scale of a smaller venue over the larger venue and offer 2 family and one adult show? Giving them the edge over the competition and remaining a leader in entertainment. The variety entertainment would be paid more overall but value would seen as substantial over competition. Options increase value right?