Epcot's newest attraction just turned 10!

[rteetz]

I think that the idea of D or E or whatever tickets is fluid. It's all based on demand today. Country Bear Jamboree used to be an E ticket.

Mine Train, based on demand, is certainly an E ticket today. And the Frozen ride in Epcot will be too. So is Soarin. Maybe a better term is high-demand rides. Headliners works too.

The mine train is in demand because it's new and the Mk hasn't he new in a long time.

 

[ArwenMarie]

Then the whole term should be thrown away...

Because the demand for these new rides is much more a reflection of the "sit and spin" period at wdw that is...finally...mercifully...starting to be acknowledged by both sides of the isle to have ACTUALLY OCCURED...mostly under the great CEO CMB...

But of course...the mouse benefits... Because the customers are voluntarily lowering there standards and the value of their currency without a peep of complaint.

I agree, I think the term is rather meaningless. Today's E ticket is tomorrow's A. All that matters today is that it is hard to get a FP+ for Mine Train and Frozen will be even harder I suspect. The currency is FP+ now.

 

[ArwenMarie]

The mine train is in demand because it's new and the Mk hasn't he new in a long time.

I think it will be a popular ride at MK for a long time yet and I think it is exactly what it is supposed to be (a very nice kiddie coaster)

 

[lockedoutlogic]

I think it will be a popular ride at MK for a long time yet and I think it is exactly what it is supposed to be (a very nice kiddie coaster)

I agree...it's a cross of the barnstormer and big thunder mountain at the end of the day...

But that's a 30 minute wait -
Not a 120
Minute wait.

The "success" of the mine train is actually an indictment of WDW's management to not evolve with the escalating attendance.

 

[JenniferinFL]

I was a big fan of food and wine...for many years

But after seeing it at flower and garden...and hearing that they jam them in there for christmas as well...I'm officially over it.

It's just so money pimpin'/tacky to keep relentlessly beating the horses as they do now.

No pride or dignity in Florida anymore.

Not Disney's fault...it's ours at this point when you get down to it.

See, and I'm of the opinion that there isn't enough food at Disney. If you don't have a lunch reservation and have to use a quick service at Magic Kingdom for instance, you will either wait to sit in AC and have a mediocre hamburger or walk up and have a choice of a pretzel, corndog or turkey leg. All of the lunch time food options are overcrowded at Magic Kingdom and with exception of BOG, most are pretty mediocre.

If it was up to me, there would always be food booths at Epcot and more at the Magic Kingdom. In the middle of a hot afternoon at Magic Kingdom, I love taking the monorail over to Epcot for some food booth lunch. I can pick out a variety of items, not just another pretzel or corn dog.

I'm at Disney every other week. If there's something they could do to immediately help themselves out, it's have more food options. I'm going again this Saturday. EMH will have Magic Kingdom open until 2 AM.. BUT, most of the food closes at 9 PM. Casey's Corner and Cosmic Rays will be open as well the reservation dining, but all the food booths close as does Harbor House and a few others. I'm not sure how busy Cosmic Rays is after 9, but I know Casey's Corner is a mad house. I hate waiting half an hour for an order of corndog nuggets when the whole point of staying there late was for the reduced lines.

 

[JenniferinFL]

I agree...it's a cross of the barnstormer and big thunder mountain at the end of the day...

But that's a 30 minute wait -
Not a 120
Minute wait.

The "success" of the mine train is actually an indictment of WDW's management to not evolve with the escalating attendance.

Wait times have already started to come down quite a bit. We rode it three times on May 2nd. The longest we waited was 45 minutes even though the posted wait time was 70 minutes. If the line is out to the end of the queue, then that's a 70 minute wait. If the line ends well within the queue, you will be waiting less time than stated.

I don't find the ride overly thrilling, but, what is unique is the inclusion of short video clips of your group on the ride in your photopass photos along with two photo locations within the ride. Several of the rides now automatically add your photos to your photopass account with your magic band. I wish they would add that to Thunder Mountain! Granted, not a big feature for a lot of people, but really cool for a parent of a small child who wants to enjoy the ride but still have video of their family on the attraction.

 

[rteetz]

Wait times have already started to come down quite a bit. We rode it three times on May 2nd. The longest we waited was 45 minutes even though the posted wait time was 70 minutes. If the line is out to the end of the queue, then that's a 70 minute wait. If the line ends well within the queue, you will be waiting less time than stated.

I don't find the ride overly thrilling, but, what is unique is the inclusion of short video clips of your group on the ride in your photopass photos along with two photo locations within the ride. Several of the rides now automatically add your photos to your photopass account with your magic band. I wish they would add that to Thunder Mountain! Granted, not a big feature for a lot of people, but really cool for a parent of a small child who wants to enjoy the ride but still have video of their family on the attraction.

Disney routinely posts a bit of a longer wait time than it actually may be.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

See, and I'm of the opinion that there isn't enough food at Disney. If you don't have a lunch reservation and have to use a quick service at Magic Kingdom for instance, you will either wait to sit in AC and have a mediocre hamburger or walk up and have a choice of a pretzel, corndog or turkey leg. All of the lunch time food options are overcrowded at Magic Kingdom and with exception of BOG, most are pretty mediocre.

Ok... I'm gonna stop
You right there...

First...be our
Guest is mediocre...

Second, if you look at what you wrote - you're speaking a bit in a code/ language that explains your (legitimate) issues that you've brought to the table...

"Use a quick serve" (even if you are speaking of just walking into one - I'm gonna use it anyway )..."lunch reservations"...mediocre walk up/poor choices, and overcrowding...

That is 100% the Disney dining plan - by design.

Streamlined/low quality options, pushing the facilities/ restaurants to the extremes to generate profits/ limit
Overhead. "Hard reservations" for crowd control purposes.

That was the end game. And I hate to say "I told you so"...but I have been beating this drum for near 10
Years.

Now...they can add new permenant food service locations...they are/have.

It's going on currently in magic kingdom and animal kingdom... They added the tequila bar and la hacienda in Mexico, the bar in Italy, the spice road in morocco, renovations in france...

There should be plenty of food in downtown soon

It's a start...

But "boothapalooza" in EPCOT...nah... I disagree. You away take what's "unique" about it...then they become elaborate carny/boardwalk stalls.

 

[Annadesu]

I am looking forward to the Frozen ride, honestly... But yeah, it wouldn't hurt to have more new rides in Epcot. I would be happy with more World Showcase stuff, too.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

Wait times have already started to come down quite a bit. We rode it three times on May 2nd. The longest we waited was 45 minutes even though the posted wait time was 70 minutes. If the line is out to the end of the queue, then that's a 70 minute wait. If the line ends well within the queue, you will be waiting less time than stated.

Oh i hear you...I think the waits were exaggerated when we were there in April...

The problem is i wouldn't risk a 45 or a 70 minute wait for that ride.

We've been on it 3-4 times...I think...and it's fallen to the 15-30 minute range for me.

One nice scene, a nice, peppy low helix style... And the cars don't move at all...

Sorry folks, that is what it is. They can pay to have theme park insider call it the "best new ride of 2014"... Or whatever...

But it is what it is. I love magic kingdom for many reasons...but mine train doesn't crack the top 15-20...that isn't an exaggeration...it's a fair assessment.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

I am looking forward to the Frozen ride, honestly... But yeah, it wouldn't hurt to have more new rides in Epcot. I would be happy with more World Showcase stuff, too.

I think they need more rides and more world showcase stuff...

The problem with frozen is that they're crossing the streams...
Which means they might blow up Egon in the process.

 

[Josh Hendy]

See, and I'm of the opinion that there isn't enough food at Disney. If you don't have a lunch reservation and have to use a quick service at Magic Kingdom for instance, you will either wait to sit in AC and have a mediocre hamburger or walk up and have a choice of a pretzel, corndog or turkey leg. All of the lunch time food options are overcrowded at Magic Kingdom and with exception of BOG, most are pretty mediocre.

If it was up to me, there would always be food booths at Epcot and more at the Magic Kingdom. In the middle of a hot afternoon at Magic Kingdom, I love taking the monorail over to Epcot for some food booth lunch. I can pick out a variety of items, not just another pretzel or corn dog.

I'm at Disney every other week. If there's something they could do to immediately help themselves out, it's have more food options. I'm going again this Saturday. EMH will have Magic Kingdom open until 2 AM.. BUT, most of the food closes at 9 PM. Casey's Corner and Cosmic Rays will be open as well the reservation dining, but all the food booths close as does Harbor House and a few others. I'm not sure how busy Cosmic Rays is after 9, but I know Casey's Corner is a mad house. I hate waiting half an hour for an order of corndog nuggets when the whole point of staying there late was for the reduced lines.

What I think is missing on the food side is independent entrepreneurship. Food and Wine if I understand correctly brings in outside organizations and chefs, right? Those outsiders have completely different priorities, i.e. the food is the only thing they have to worry about, and if their food is no good they don't get paid. I don't think you have to eat very many burgers at Cosmic Ray's to get the idea that quick service food means practically nothing to Disney management except as a kind of trough that must be filled as efficiently as possibly with the simplest kind of fodder.

This is why World Showcase is in general a popular eating destination ... to the extent that the pavilions are independently managed by countries or sponsors, they are competitors who must try fairly hard to "wow" their potential customers. Not sure why China is such a glaring exception but it could be the effect of mall food-court Chinese food on American tastes.

If Magic Kingdom was "opened up" a little bit to food competition, you'd probably get a giant McDonalds on Main Street, but you'd also probably get really great burrito and falafel stands open at all hours.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

Not sure why China is such a glaring exception but it could be the effect of mall food-court Chinese food on American tastes.

Lol... Bravo!

The food is so bad that I have built a mental barricade to it and have effectively - for the first time in my life - successfully convinced myself that 9 dragons doesn't actually exist.

Who the heck goes there?

I think that one day they'll lock the front door... Tunnel over from akershus... And make it another princess room.

They just won't tell anybody... And I doubt anyone will notice.

 

[JenniferinFL]

Ok... I'm gonna stop
You right there...

First...be our
Guest is mediocre...

Second, if you look at what you wrote - you're speaking a bit in a code/ language that explains your (legitimate) issues that you've brought to the table...

"Use a quick serve" (even if you are speaking of just walking into one - I'm gonna use it anyway )..."lunch reservations"...mediocre walk up/poor choices, and overcrowding...

That is 100% the Disney dining plan - by design.

There should be plenty of food in downtown soon

It's a start...

But "boothapalooza" in EPCOT...nah... I disagree. You take what's "unique" about it...then they become elaborate carny/boardwalk stalls.

Sure, boothapalooza isn't a longterm solution, it's a temporary bandaid for an ongoing issue. But, call me silly, I like having somewhere to eat at the parks. I prefer a booth at Epcot to another dang corndog.

We will simply have to agree to disagree on BOG. Is the food high end? No, but, the atmosphere is nice, the food is respectable, it's not just another burger joint. It's in no way mediocre for a theme park quick service. I've been there several times now for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

I'm not exactly a theme park rookie either. I live near Orlando and have had annual passes to Busch Gardens, Sea World, IOA and Universal. I've had more theme park food than I care to remember. BOG is still the best quick service theme park restaurant I've seen. Easily. Now, could I go get a better pork roast at the local mom and pop's? Yeah, probably. The meat and cheese tray on the breakfast menu is low end compared to Brown Derby's charcuterie tray. But, it's still a huge step above Cosmic Rays. Honestly, Disney probably should be ashamed that BOG is such a hit, it really speaks to the quality of the rest of quick service. But, today is a different time. I remember in the beginning of the 90's when it wasn't embarrassing to eat at Mcdonalds. Everyone did and no one was embarrassed to say so. Today, if I bring back McDonalds to my workplace where no one is earning above the lower middle class, everyone recoils from it like I'm scraping beans out of a can. Modern parents don't want their kids to eat french fries and hotdogs. I grew up on french fries and hot dogs. I feel that most of those quick service restaurants went in when that was the norm. Now, Disney has been slow to react to those changes, but I would call BOG a nice step in the right direction.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

Sure, boothapalooza isn't a longterm solution, it's a temporary bandaid for an ongoing issue. But, call me silly, I like having somewhere to eat at the parks. I prefer a booth at Epcot to another dang corndog.

We will simply have to agree to disagree on BOG. Is the food high end? No, but, the atmosphere is nice, the food is respectable, it's not just another burger joint. It's in no way mediocre for a theme park quick service. I've been there several times now for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

I'm not exactly a theme park rookie either. I live near Orlando and have had annual passes to Busch Gardens, Sea World, IOA and Universal. I've had more theme park food than I care to remember. BOG is still the best quick service theme park restaurant I've seen. Easily. Now, could I go get a better pork roast at the local mom and pop's? Yeah, probably. The meat and cheese tray on the breakfast menu is low end compared to Brown Derby's charcuterie tray. But, it's still a huge step above Cosmic Rays. Honestly, Disney probably should be ashamed that BOG is such a hit, it really speaks to the quality of the rest of quick service. But, today is a different time. I remember in the beginning of the 90's when it wasn't embarrassing to eat at Mcdonalds. Everyone did and no one was embarrassed to say so. Today, if I bring back McDonalds to my workplace where no one is earning above the lower middle class, everyone recoils from it like I'm scraping beans out of a can. Modern parents don't want their kids to eat french fries and hotdogs. I grew up on french fries and hot dogs. I feel that most of those quick service restaurants went in when that was the norm. Now, Disney has been slow to react to those changes, but I would call BOG a nice step in the right direction.

I actually agree with you almost 100%...

They do need to move away from the BAD amusement park food...but that will involve giving up some of their walmart purchasing power/strategies to focus on healthier/better quality food.

The dining plan blocks that too...as currently that keeps a "take it or leave" crowd from forming. Because they are going to gobble it with coupons no matter what. They people might HATE the food...but how would we know?

I guess if you look at be our guest as strictly a quickserve...I definitely see your point. The problem is its double the price as a quickserve.
And I don't like the hybrid restaurant...I think it's shell game trying to tout one room as having "more significance" to the experience because they repurpose it every 3 hours.

That's just my opinion.
We'll see if that pops up again over at animal kingdom or studios...

Or maybe adventureland... As I've never understood why they don't have a "blue bayou" type restaurant at pirates...big missed opportunity at wdw...for 40 years now.

 

[ahoyle]

Speaking of bad food, whatever happened to the robot piano player at Cosmic Rays at MK? Is he dead? Last 3 times I have been there he was silent.

Also, what are the E tickets? I would say the Space, Splash, and Big Thunder Mountain at MK, Test Track and Soarin (by default, its so dated and I no longer enjoy it) at Epcot, Kilimanjaro Safari, Dinosaur, and Everest at AK, and Tower of Terror and RNR Coaster at Hollywood Studios. Compare that to Universal now...Mummy, Gringotts, Transformers, Rip Ride Rockit at Studios, Forbidden Journey, Jurassic Park, Spiderman, Hulk, and Dueling Dragons.

The big difference there is Universal has opened 4 in the past 6 years, Disney 0 in the last 9. Soon to be 5 in 7 with King Kong. Some might argue Dueling Dragons not being much of an E Ticket, and I wouldn't put up much argument, but at this point I could say the same thing about Dinosaur, BTM, and Soarin.

Oh, and line length has zero to do with E ticket status. Otherwise they can add new E tickets just by adding rare meet and greets all over the parks.

 

[rteetz]

Speaking of bad food, whatever happened to the robot piano player at Cosmic Rays at MK? Is he dead? Last 3 times I have been there he was silent.

Also, what are the E tickets? I would say the Space, Splash, and Big Thunder Mountain at MK, Test Track and Soarin (by default, its so dated and I no longer enjoy it) at Epcot, Kilimanjaro Safari, Dinosaur, and Everest at AK, and Tower of Terror and RNR Coaster at Hollywood Studios. Compare that to Universal now...Mummy, Gringotts, Transformers, Rip Ride Rockit at Studios, Forbidden Journey, Jurassic Park, Spiderman, Hulk, and Dueling Dragons.

The big difference there is Universal has opened 4 in the past 6 years, Disney 0 in the last 9. Soon to be 5 in 7 with King Kong. Some might argue Dueling Dragons not being much of an E Ticket, and I wouldn't put up much argument, but at this point I could say the same thing about Dinosaur, BTM, and Soarin.

Oh, and line length has zero to do with E ticket status. Otherwise they can add new E tickets just by adding rare meet and greets all over the parks.

Are you talking about Sonny Eclipse? He was under refurb for like three months and is back now.

As for e tickets it's all about the experi nice really. As someone mentioned shows that may be skipped today were e tickets. Pan is often considered an e ticket I believe small world was also considered an e at the time.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

Speaking of bad food, whatever happened to the robot piano player at Cosmic Rays at MK? Is he dead? Last 3 times I have been there he was silent.

Also, what are the E tickets? I would say the Space, Splash, and Big Thunder Mountain at MK, Test Track and Soarin (by default, its so dated and I no longer enjoy it) at Epcot, Kilimanjaro Safari, Dinosaur, and Everest at AK, and Tower of Terror and RNR Coaster at Hollywood Studios. Compare that to Universal now...Mummy, Gringotts, Transformers, Rip Ride Rockit at Studios, Forbidden Journey, Jurassic Park, Spiderman, Hulk, and Dueling Dragons.

The big difference there is Universal has opened 4 in the past 6 years, Disney 0 in the last 9. Soon to be 5 in 7 with King Kong. Some might argue Dueling Dragons not being much of an E Ticket, and I wouldn't put up much argument, but at this point I could say the same thing about Dinosaur, BTM, and Soarin.

Oh, and line length has zero to do with E ticket status. Otherwise they can add new E tickets just by adding rare meet and greets all over the parks.

Yeah...i think you succinctly described the situation perfectly.

Excellent.

The "old" argument that comes up is that "Disney is not about rides...it's about feelings...and that will always put them above anyone else"

And I used to agree almost completely...

But that was when Comcast didnt own universal... And seaworld hadn't opened discovery cove and aquatica...and the team at universal hadnt negotiated with Rowling and then proceeded to invest the time and MONEY in getting the right engineering and artists to pull off the right levels of detail.

Disney still has the "warm as fuzzy" factor...but I'm beginning to see that it isn't as big of a security blanket - potentially - as it was.

And their lack of effort to reinvent their parks - even just a little bit - it worrisome on a whole different level.

I will give them a pass on animal kingdom - for now...but the lack of form to the Cameron thing...and them banking on "questionable" IP in direct contradiction to all their other recent moves... Is alarming.

A shopping mall with third party retail and timeshare block retrofits - and I benefit from those - is being given FAR too much credit as a "committment to the customer"

In many ways - it's the opposite.

 

[ahoyle]

We moved to Orlando a little over a year ago, and live 10 minutes from Downtown Disney. Since we've gotten Universal passes my 10 year old son prefers going to City Walk for movies, eating, etc, over downtown Disney. And its great they are adding new things, but the restaurants they added are so high end they don't appeal to me unless its a special occasion. I've gone to Disney consistently as an adult from 2001-present, and its really disappointing how they have fallen off in so many regards. I know a lot of my posts come across as hating and complaining, but its honestly because I want them to get back to what they were. The only time I have felt much "Disney Magic" in the past 3 years is on the 2 cruises we took. Beyond that over many trips this past year, my experiences in the park have ranged from ok to terrible.

 

[ArwenMarie]

"E ticket" is just a subjective term. Everyone's list of favorite rides is different. "High-demand" rides, I think that is a term that has some objective meaning.