Is Disney really hurting that bad financially?

[FlynnRiderSwitch]

That helps explain the stark difference of opinions we see here on UO. You are there for the rides and only the rides, while others are there for the immersive experience, including entertainment and rides. Different strokes....

And I guess that helps explain why Disney considers it a different animal.

DW is so much more than rides. Just walking down Main Street, looking at the castle, walking through the countries and turning your head to gaze over the lagoon at SE, THAT gets me excited!

 

[Jrb1979]

Definitely interesting take, i just wonder if people would get hip to them, and skip those rides, not to mention those rides have a very low turnover so they really aren't eating up that many people at once, especially the likes of Aliens, Aladdins carpets, Even Dumbo. Outside of die hards who must do it, and people with small children, i don't see demands for rides like those really eating into line lengths, if anything they can add to congesting an area, just like what the Magic Carpets currently do. I would be in favor of more E ticket rides with higher turnover rates. Aliens is interesting to me as well, i feel like the crowds head to slinky, and when they see the wait they settle for Aliens, which again just adds to congestion in the area. I can't say that I 100% disagree with your take i just can't see it really solving anything

I think it does solve things. It gives people something to do on top of whats there. Those type of attractions may not be the most popular but enough people ride them. At MK it's not needed as much but DHS, AK and Epcot need more of those type of attractions to fill out the parks.

 

[Jrb1979]

DW is so much more than rides. Just walking down Main Street, looking at the castle, walking through the countries and turning your head to gaze over the lagoon at SE, THAT gets me excited!

That does nothing for me. What gets me going at a park is hearing the screams of people on rides.

 

[Jrb1979]

That helps explain the stark difference of opinions we see here on UO. You are there for the rides and only the rides, while others are there for the immersive experience, including entertainment and rides. Different strokes....

And I guess that helps explain why Disney considers it a different animal.

Agreed. It's why I think so many here don't visit Universal or regional parks much. Personally I would enjoy Disney much more if they had a better balance of thrill with theming. Tower of Terror and Everest are what I would like to see more of.

 

[bbeagle]

What did Space220 replace?

You might be right. I thought that a building there was torn down to put up Space 220. Maybe not.

EDIT: I fixed my previous post to mark Space 220 as new.

 

[BrianL]

You might be right. I thought that a building there was torn down to put up Space 220. Maybe not.

No, Space220 was added to the Mission: Space pavillion with a seperate entrance. I don't think the two buildings are actually connected, but they are right next to each other. If anything was torn down, it was backstage and Mission Space continues to operate.

 

[RivShore]

I think it does solve things. It gives people something to do on top of whats there. Those type of attractions may not be the most popular but enough people ride them. At MK it's not needed as much but DHS, AK and Epcot need more of those type of attractions to fill out the parks.

The more I think about it, the more I like the idea of C-ticket rides to help fill out the parks, other than MK anyway.

There needs to be intelligent placement to not cause bottlenecks like in MK.

I think they would attract enough people, not just families with young kids and the die hards but also all the first timers and those that rarely go.

This was really a miss on the newer lands - imagine 2 more rides in both Pandora and SWGE. It would be a great way to attract some with little kids to areas they might not have gone to and, from a corp perspective it sets them up to be fans of the older skewing IP, as they get older.
And corp would also love the low cost and the headlines of "WDW adds four rides in new xyz land", rather than the 2 ride headlines they got.

 

[OKW Lover]

That does nothing for me. What gets me going at a park is hearing the screams of people on rides.

I suspect Disney isn't for you then.

 

[Jrb1979]

I suspect Disney isn't for you then.

Maybe not. We do have a 3 year old we would like to take but the changes to the parks the last couple of years we have had second thoughts.
We loved the parks back when Epcot was Epcot. The original attractions were amazing and made Epcot feel different.

 

[Aluminum Falcon]

The more I think about it, the more I like the idea of C-ticket rides to help fill out the parks, other than MK anyway.

There needs to be intelligent placement to not cause bottlenecks like in MK.

I think they would attract enough people, not just families with young kids and the die hards but also all the first timers and those that rarely go.

This was really a miss on the newer lands - imagine 2 more rides in both Pandora and SWGE. It would be a great way to attract some with little kids to areas they might not have gone to and, from a corp perspective it sets them up to be fans of the older skewing IP, as they get older.
And corp would also love the low cost and the headlines of "WDW adds four rides in new xyz land", rather than the 2 ride headlines they got.

HAHA the way the world works today, i think people would end up ripping them apart for putting in "Kiddie Rides" it's what happened with little mermaid in new fantasy land, trust in the fact that people will get up in arms no matter what

 

[RivShore]

HAHA the way the world works today, i think people would end up ripping them apart for putting in "Kiddie Rides" it's what happened with little mermaid in new fantasy land, trust in the fact that people will get up in arms no matter what

Sadly correct......

 

[middlechild]

Once again, changing demographics. By raising prices to the level where only dual income, no kids can pay the gate then you end up with a crowd of twenty-somethings. Anyone want to guess what surveys say, when polled on the way out? MORE THRILL RIDES, and less rides with no minimum height requirements.

 

[Beer Me]

We did Standard view (but still got to see Giraffes when we woke up, I hear thats pretty lucky), and it was about 360 a night, where as Portofino was 700 a night. (so more than 250 actually) We used a special they did in January/February (early in the year) to get the Animal Kindgom lodge room discounted. Its my understanding Disney regularly does that early year discount and people look forward to it to plan their trip for the year.

The only comparable discount I know of is Annual Passholder rate, and those rooms go super fast, (they have a small pool of rooms at that rate) where as Disney was just giving everyone who booked a room the discount to any deluxe when the special was going on.

Holy crap. $700 for Portifino. Our last stay at Royal Pacific in summer of 2019 was like $420. We really are in a new world in less than 3 years. But at the same time that AK rate sounds like it could be from 5 years ago.

 

[BrianL]

Once again, changing demographics. By raising prices to the level where only dual income, no kids can pay the gate then you end up with a crowd of twenty-somethings. Anyone want to guess what surveys say, when polled on the way out? MORE THRILL RIDES, and less rides with no minimum height requirements.

This is one thing I have always disliked about aging fandoms. Sure, I'm an adult and I have always held onto my love for my childhood favorites, cartoons, animation, whatever - I love Disney parks too - BUT - I've always understood that those things are for kids! I don't want to take that away from them. I don't need my superheroes to "grow up with me" - when you take a beloved kids show based on a toyline based on a breakfast cereal and make a dark and mature and r-rated version of it, you are ripping out it's soul. That's an extreme example, but look at Str Wars fans. All the 30 something sHATED the Prequels because they were made for 8 year olds - just like the OT was! The Sequels too - they are made for kids today (somewhat). The thing is, you don't have to be 8 years old to love Star Wars, but it's good if your inner chile is alive and well. I liked all that stuff just the way it was before, and I would still like it, even when it's made for kids - because I'm really just a big kid!

 

[Pickles516]

I’m a long time lurker here but after D23 I have to wonder, are they TRUELY hurting that bad financially? And I don’t mean in a way of getting answers of “they have so much money”. Has their cost to run the parks just put a hurting on them? I’m sitting here just pondering. They’re letting Universal get ahead of them by building Epic Universe with zero solid new announcements from Disney World. You’d think they’d be chomping at the bit to stay ahead. Do they just not want to or is it that they can’t? The Blue Sky stuff made me go ‘is this what we want to do or is this what we want to do but can’t because we don’t have the money currently.’ Don’t know, just thinking out loud, looking for opinions.

No

 

[Ms Bibbidi]

What are these "advance sheets" you speak of? I've seen nothing but speculation in the local news and nothing concrete from the state...even though they promised details in a few weeks about 30 weeks ago...

Staff’s early, rough planning documents for potential stakeholders. Nothing at the level of a public announcement.

 

[Jrb1979]

This is one thing I have always disliked about aging fandoms. Sure, I'm an adult and I have always held onto my love for my childhood favorites, cartoons, animation, whatever - I love Disney parks too - BUT - I've always understood that those things are for kids! I don't want to take that away from them. I don't need my superheroes to "grow up with me" - when you take a beloved kids show based on a toyline based on a breakfast cereal and make a dark and mature and r-rated version of it, you are ripping out it's soul. That's an extreme example, but look at Str Wars fans. All the 30 something sHATED the Prequels because they were made for 8 year olds - just like the OT was! The Sequels too - they are made for kids today (somewhat). The thing is, you don't have to be 8 years old to love Star Wars, but it's good if your inner chile is alive and well. I liked all that stuff just the way it was before, and I would still like it, even when it's made for kids - because I'm really just a big kid!

Not everything has to be for kids. It's not quite the same but as I got into my 20s, now 40, I got into high intense rides and coasters. While I like Disney for what it is, I'm of the opinion it needs more Tower of Terror rides and less slow moving dark rides. Not every ride has to be made so the whole family can ride it.

 

[BrianL]

Not everything has to be for kids. It's not quite the same but as I got into my 20s, now 40, I got into high intense rides and coasters. While I like Disney for what it is, I'm of the opinion it needs more Tower of Terror rides and less slow moving dark rides. Not every ride has to be made so the whole family can ride it.

No, not everything has to be for kids - but some things ARE and that's okay. Disney has always hada good mix, but they can't only add big rides with height requirements liek the hardcore fans want. They shouldn't turn the parks into a playground for those taller than 48 inches. So many fans complain when Disney adds a "kiddie ride" - though I don't agree that Disney even has kiddie rides - anyone can enjoy them. It's all about the balance.

 

[MillauFr]

That does nothing for me. What gets me going at a park is hearing the screams of people on rides.

If you want to hear screams you need to be at people's houses when they open their credit card bill after visiting.

 

[MillauFr]

If you want to hear screams you need to be at people's houses when they open their credit card bill after visiting.

I would want to do a Monster's Inc. spoof with Chapek dressed up like Sully gathering the scream energy after they realized he fleeced them.