Disney News, Discussion & an Element of Fun - 2022 Edition

[mrsap]

Cast Members Effectively Blocked Out of Disney World Theme Parks Due to Disney Park Pass System

Just like an Annual Passholder, Cast Members effectively have two layers of blackouts – an actual blockout calendar, and the Disney Park Pass reservation system.

First, here’s a look at the Disney Cast Member blockout schedule. As you can see, only a single date (May 10th) shows all four parks as being “open” to Cast Members. Of course, the calendar below is just the first layer of blackouts. Basically, this blockout calendar shows what’s allowed, but it’s the Disney Park Pass reservation system that shows what’s available. Already, things are looking pretty bleak.

 

[Bibbidi_Boo]

ILL still has resort advantage as if off site you will rarely get RoTR and slim options on the rest…. Unless a resort has a 7/730am opening like DAK has been having than no FoP advantage

Eh it has some but not as much as FP+ did.

 

[mrsap]

First Look: 3 New 50th Anniversary Celebration Collections Coming to Walt Disney World Resort This Spring​

 

[OKW Lover]

(2) Disney keeps adding hotel rooms, specifically DVC resorts (and I am a DVC member) but not increasing park capacity.

Sorry, but this part of your comment ignores the fact that not all the park visitors actually stay on property, be it DVC or otherwise. A huge percent are local or staying off property. Adding DVC resorts per se does not increase the number of people going to the parks.

 

[rangerxenos]

I think if you research on how to use the service then you can certainly get more LLs. We were able to get 4 at HS and more at MK. However, I did walk past a mom who made the comment that she had no idea how to use Genie+. And she was not the only one. Many people were overwhelmed, confused etc.

Yep, and Disney doesn't care. This will ultimately gain them even more bad press and hard feelings. I can't believe they came out with a such a subpar product, that is STILL very glitchy even after 5 months or so.

 

[rangerxenos]

I spent some time thinking about this while we were there. Here are my thoughts:
(1) Rides keep breaking down pushing the people who would be in line for that ride into other queues. This is especially bad at DHS. When we were there Slinky, Rise and ToT were all down at the same time. What's up with the newest rides breaking all the time?
(2) Disney keeps adding hotel rooms, specifically DVC resorts (and I am a DVC member) but not increasing park capacity. Riveria just opened - more rooms, more people, same amount of lines to wait in. Now, they are adding another tower at the POLY. Yet more people. They seem to be making a lot of money with the DVC resorts at the expense of the customer experience in the parks.
(3) The posted wait times by Disney are almost always wrong. I experienced this time after time while we were there two weeks ago. Most "E" ticket attractions have longer posted wait times and most lower attractions have shorter posted wait times. I think they are doing this to drive people into the lesser attractions but honestly, I think it is back firing. When I see a 60 minute posted wait for Haunted Mansion, I get frustrated. When I see a 15 minute posted wait for Tea Cups and walk over to the attraction to see the line outside the queue and wrapped all the way around the attraction, I get mad because I know that line is not 15 minutes and I am NOT going to wait 45 minutes for Tea Cups. But people who do not go to Disney often would not know this is a bad deal. BTW, I got in Haunted Mansion with a 60 minute posted wait and boarded the ride 25 minutes later. I got in Pirates with a posted 40 minute wait and boarded 20 minutes later. If that happened once or twice I would be excited that I had a shorter wait than expected. But when it happens for several rides, I don't go "Yay, my wait time was so much shorter!" Instead, I think "Disney is inflating the wait times, basically manipulating its customers." Just think about that for a minute. I don't get in line for Haunted or Pirates because the posted wait time is long but I get in the line of Tea Cups that is posted as 15 minutes and end up waiting 45 minutes when I could have ridden Haunted with a true wait of 25 minutes or Pirates with a true wait of 20 minutes. No wonder guests are not happy.

Add to this the fact that Genie+ is also trying to push people towards less busy rides, even when you have expressed no interest whatsoever in those rides, in fact quite the opposite when it asks you for your preferences.

 

[mrsap]

Disney Adds New MagicMobile Designs for Women’s History Month

 

[nkosiek]

Disney Adds New MagicMobile Designs for Women’s History Month

View attachment 658659View attachment 658660

I haven't kept up with MB options, so please tell me that these were out significantly earlier than the 30th of the month.

 

[indylaw99]

Cast Members Effectively Blocked Out of Disney World Theme Parks Due to Disney Park Pass System

Just like an Annual Passholder, Cast Members effectively have two layers of blackouts – an actual blockout calendar, and the Disney Park Pass reservation system.

First, here’s a look at the Disney Cast Member blockout schedule. As you can see, only a single date (May 10th) shows all four parks as being “open” to Cast Members. Of course, the calendar below is just the first layer of blackouts. Basically, this blockout calendar shows what’s allowed, but it’s the Disney Park Pass reservation system that shows what’s available. Already, things are looking pretty bleak.

This makes me so sad for the Disney College Program kids who were lured down there with the hope of spending 6 months working and living their best Disney lives. The solution in the past would have just been that they could buy an Annual Pass. But those haven't been on sale for so long that the kids there for this January to June/July program are just screwed. I am soooooo fortunate that we decided to buy my daughter an annual pass back in October before her January start date. I don't even remember now why I bought it so early. I don't think she has used her cast member pass once since she has been there because the dates are almost always blocked out. If cast members don't seem to be as "magical" as they used to be, this would definitely be one reason. They have to deal with all of the grumpy guests but don't get the benefit of enjoying the perks!

 

[helloconnie]

Sorry, but this part of your comment ignores the fact that not all the park visitors actually stay on property, be it DVC or otherwise. A huge percent are local or staying off property. Adding DVC resorts per se does not increase the number of people going to the parks.

Absolutely agree that there is a huge contingent from the local area and those who stay off property. I guess my point was more around with each hotel that is added, you add more places for people to stay and therefore more bodies. Made up numbers here, but if you have 10 hotels (on or off property or both) that hold 1000 people each, then you add two more hotels, that's an additional capacity of 2000 more bodies. Holding locals within driving distance constant. But from what I understand, the Orlando area has also been growing so I guess you can also argue that the local population going to the parks has probably also increased.

 

[mrsap]

Disney preparing for the imminent return of non-distanced character meet and greets at Walt Disney World​

Disney is currently preparing for the return of regular, non-distanced character meet and greets at Walt Disney World.

According to those familiar with the preparations, we can expect to see guests once again hugging and interacting with characters starting just after the Easter weekend.

 

[starlite_]

Absolutely agree that there is a huge contingent from the local area and those who stay off property. I guess my point was more around with each hotel that is added, you add more places for people to stay and therefore more bodies. Made up numbers here, but if you have 10 hotels (on or off property or both) that hold 1000 people each, then you add two more hotels, that's an additional capacity of 2000 more bodies. Holding locals within driving distance constant. But from what I understand, the Orlando area has also been growing so I guess you can also argue that the local population going to the parks has probably also increased.

Plus it could be that they want to entice the folks staying offsite to stay in property.

 

[Shelby Schroepfer]

Disney preparing for the imminent return of non-distanced character meet and greets at Walt Disney World​

Disney is currently preparing for the return of regular, non-distanced character meet and greets at Walt Disney World.

According to those familiar with the preparations, we can expect to see guests once again hugging and interacting with characters starting just after the Easter weekend.

no matter how many "hints" we've gotten, this news still has me in disbelief. Some laugh at us but this is seriously what we've been missing most for 2 years. Thinking of my newborn hugging Mickey this fall has me in SOBS.

 

[helloconnie]

Plus it could be that they want to entice the folks staying offsite to stay in property.

Could be, but then they would build a regular hotel. Disney has been converting rooms at Deluxe resorts into DVC rooms and building more DVC resorts. When was the last time a regular resort was opened? Since DVC owners pay yearly maintenance fees that offsets Disney's costs to upkeep the resorts, I can see why they are doing it. Plus, they lock people in to 50 years of Disney vacations. (I know you can transfer into the worldwide hotel/condo vacations but honestly, most people use it for Disney.)

 

[rlk]

Disney preparing for the imminent return of non-distanced character meet and greets at Walt Disney World​

Disney is currently preparing for the return of regular, non-distanced character meet and greets at Walt Disney World.

According to those familiar with the preparations, we can expect to see guests once again hugging and interacting with characters starting just after the Easter weekend.

With this news, I am hopeful that Winnie the Pooh and Friends will be coming back to the Crystal Palace.

 

[mrsap]

First Look at Connections Eatery Menu in EPCOT

 

[mrsap]

Disney+ Edited The Falcon and the Winter Soldier to Censor Violence​

 

[Brocktoon]

Disney+ Edited The Falcon and the Winter Soldier to Censor Violence​

SO D+ adds the the Defenders stuff with TV-MA access but then censors Falcon ??? ... They should at least allow both versions depending on parental access. I didn't think the violence level was above anything in 'Winter Soldier' or 'Civil War'. Just not a big fan of when you go back later and change stuff ... ET, Star Wars etc ... it's a slippery slope

 

[BrianL]

Disney+ Edited The Falcon and the Winter Soldier to Censor Violence​

And the fans will lose their minds, but does it really materially change the work? No, it doesn't. I'm fine with it.

 

[Eeyore daily]

And the fans will lose their minds, but does it really materially change the work? No, it doesn't. I'm fine with it.

That's 100% true but the scenes they edited don't make sense. What faux Captain America does with the shield is 100X darker. I thought that was the scene that was edited because even for me that was too much. Just seems unnecessary overall.