Are Disney cost cutting efforts affecting attractions at WDW?

[HBK]

JJ forgot to mention that although WDW has decided to limit hours on some attractions with low attendance,
there are many that have EXTENDED hours (a whole park in fact!!!), now.

Could you please elaborate that statement? I'm at a loss as to which rides have EXTENDED hours.

My experince with MGM hasn't really changed, but I'll defer that one since I really don't want to do the legwork to figure out if the hours were extended.

We all know what rides run on a reduced schedule....what rides run on an extended schedule?

Thanks

 

[JeffH]

Before Fantamic opened, MGM generally closed before dark and the only time you got to see the park at night is if you had a late dinner.
Since Fantamic, the park stays open at least till dark and on weekends well past dark and all the rides stay open with it. Little Mermaid shows go on all evening along with ToT, R&RC, ST, MV3D, GMR, Animation and others. And Indy, Hunchback, and B&tB have an extra show or 2 to see.

 

[HBK]

Maybe this is just my personal experince, but I remember during the 25th anniversary, MGM closed @ 7PM. I just checked the times for my trip in October and MGM closes at 7-7:30.....not much of a bump there.

But that's only my experince, anyone else know for sure?

 

[fklhou]

According to a poster on anothe board, the difficulty of questions on WWTBAM-PI have been increased so that there are far fewer hot seat contestants making it to the 32,000 point level. I guess Disney was giving away too many of the polo shirts and wanted to control costs at this level as well as at the 1,000,000 level.

If Disney makes the game too difficult, then people may start getting turned off of the game. Not a smart way to cut costs.inkbounc

 

[DanG]

I fail to see where optimizing the number of participants, particularly in favor of those who will only have a few shots in a year to get to the hotseat is taking something away. This is true whether the prize is a trip to New York or a Polo shirt. The attraction is to have an opportunity to participate.

If you have some local a** monopolizing the attraction for her own personal enjoyment at the expense of thousands of other guests in the course of a day, why wouldn't you restore the enjoyment and sense of participation that comes from getting a chance to step up by imposing reasonable participation restrictions. Even if I'm less likely to win, I would like a chance. Disney is giving more opportunities and trying to stop a clear abuse.

Many will attest that I am no fan of Disney management and cost cutting that has been taking place. I don't see that here. And the argument that I only have 12 opportunities to win a trip to New York seems selfish and unsupportable.

DanG

 

[YoHo]

MGM is definatly open later then it used to be, but I won't get dragged into that conversation. If Disney had done things 100% right, MGM would have the longer hours AND so would the rest of the parks. I will say that Changing the hours makes sense IF you assume that People aren't going to change the length of their vacations and there is more profit to be made by funneling them to new parks. IE it is more prfitable to have 4 parks open til say 9pm then 3 open til 10 or 11.

I don't know thta it is. I'm not saying its right either way. Just that that's a way to look at it.

As for WWTBAM-PI I simply still cannot possibly see how the decisions made with this ride were financially motivated. Again we have reports from a CM who works the show. He is far more highly qualified to discuss this (although I realize Disney does not tell the CMs everything.) Also, I don't run Disney World, NOR do any of you (except Eyesnur) What information (facts)do we have, or have we presented that says the 30 day policy is the wrong one? none. Merely gut feelings which can themselves be incorrect. I therefore will now remain in a wait n' see mode on this. If the policy is flawed it will change. The cost to give away the prizes in this show is probably less then the costs of Trinkets and Trash that they give at cable shows and to sales people. And since I have my Zoog Robot guy that they gave me at the NCTA show last June, I KNOW they still have money for that.

 

[Carl]

that a few locals can monopolize the show. The prizes aren't worth that much. The real attraction is to have SOME chance of actually getting in the hot seat. If locals keep taking over, the whole attraction of the show will be lost - unless the guests would be content to realize that they in reality are only going to be spectators to the show, only able to watch the same locals alternating turns in the hot seat.

 

[fklhou]

I agree that something had to be done about a small band of locals but the one trip to the hot seat every thirty days is too extreme. On another board several alternatives have been discussed that would have solved the local issue but still not affect the attraction too much. Either Disney went too far with thirty day policy or Disney really is trying to save some costs for this attraction by making it much harder to get to the 1,000,000 point level. Again, according to some recent visitors to the attractions the difficulty of questions has been increased so that it now harder for people to get to the 32,000 point level and win the polo shirt. Again, if Disney was not intending to use the problems caused by a group of local APs as an excuse to cut costs, then Disney needs to modify the thirty day rule.

 

[fklhou]

I did a little digging and found the article discussing the lawsuit between Disney/ABS and its insurance company on the Millionaire TV show. The article is interesting in that insurance company wanted Disney/ABC to reduce the exposure on the insurance policy by either asking tougher questions or getting dumber contestants. See http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/millionaire000211.html

Disney has clearly made the questions at WWTBAM-PI harder and the new thirty day rule will likely reduce the quality of contestants by limiting anyone who has any expierence on the hot seat to one trip per thirty days. I know that the TV show is different from the attraction and that this is not directly applicable. I just found it very intersting.

 

[fklhou]

According to a local WWTBAM-PI 1,000,000 point winner, there has been only one 1,000,000 winner since the rule requiring you to wait 30 days between trips to the hot seat and it has been almost a month since the last 1,000,000 winner. Clearly, the thirty day rule is serving its purpose of reducing the number of 1,000,000 winners and saving Disney some bucks. Unfortuanately, it is also ruining a great attraction.

 

[Bennet]

So I'm sitting here in my new 32,000 point shirt and I'm thinking that next time I go, next year, I hope the DW gets the fun of being in the hot seat.

The locals get a good deal on passes and food and other discounts. That they have to wait 30 day for another shot at the hot seat so that more guest who come once a year or once a life get a better shot at the fun of the hot seat seem like a good idea to me.

WDW probably paid more in legal fees writing the rule and checking it was legal than they save in pins, shirts and trips.