New Al Lutz: RSR FP News, DCA Crowd Management, PFF News, NextGen at DLR

[HydroGuy]

Al Lutz of MiceAge has some interesting updates today. Here is a link:

http://miceage.micechat.com/allutz/al042412a.htm

Highlights include:

o Starbucks at DCA at DL
o RSR FPs to be at old Its Tough To Be a Bug machines outside Cars Land during first months of operation
o Crowd management at CL
o Crowd and traffic management around DLR
o Ride time at LFT extended - it is hard to learn
o Animatronic issues with RSR - I skipped the spoilers
o CCT on schedule
o BVS behind schedule by a week - uncertainty exists on meeting June 15
o Ghirardelli opening June 5
o PFF updates on queues and style - will open Spring 2013
o Nextgen at WDW and DLR - will impact queue at PFF


Note: Al Lutz does not work for Disney. His posts are not Disney announcements. He has solid contacts inside Disney and is helpful in giving an indication of what Disney is planning and considering. People planning vacations should be very cautious about making plans based on Al's articles. That is not what they are intended for. Rather, Al tries to give an insider view of what Disney is thinking and planning for those interested in what the future may hold. This can and does change over time.

Here is the disclaimer that Al has at the end of his article.

Keep in mind updates only get posted when there is something to report on, and not before. It takes time to confirm things, and even then we can only offer a snapshot of a continually evolving story. (People do change their minds you know.) Just like the happiest place on earth, patience is a virtue; the queue may take a while before you can enjoy the attraction.

 

[limace]

Very interesting! The info about the tire ride was fascinating-I guess I didn't get that it was a floating ride. My coordinated kids will definitely be better at this than me.

 

[GrandBob]

Very interesting! The info about the tire ride was fascinating-I guess I didn't get that it was a floating ride. My coordinated kids will definitely be better at this than me.

Oh you youngster, you. Those of us of a (ahem!) certain age remember well the Flying Saucers in Tomorrowland:

http://yesterland.com/saucers.html

Funny - I must have been 9 or 10 when I rode the saucers, and I don't remember them as being hard to control at all! Mostly just a whole bunch of fun. I can hardly wait for LFT.

-Bob

 

[Argento]

Seems like LFT may be a bit of a hiccup come grand re-opening.

Moving the RSR FP over to the Bug's Land is probably going to confuse the heck out of a lot of people but when you consider their reasoning, it's probably a smart move.

Otherwise, seems like the DCA's on track to become the park it should've been from the start.

 

[californiamomof4grls]

I can't wait to see the new Princess Fantasy Fair! How exciting! I'm glad they are going for the more expensive of the two concepts. I think it will compliment the castle better!

"few animatronic animal characters included in the queue pre-show for Anaheim’s version" THis really excites me there is so much they could do with the que with the different animals from all of the movies!! How exciting!!:good vibes

Thanks Hydroguy for posting the Blog updates I always forget to look for it and right around then I see your post!!

 

[All American]

Ghirardelli Yum!

Thanks for updates.

 

[jacobsmommy]

Do you know when PFF will go down for the rehab? Will it still be there this summer?

 

[skiingfast]

Do you know when PFF will go down for the rehab? Will it still be there this summer?

It will still be there until the new area is done in 2013.

 

[fctiger]

Nice update!

Love the fact the FPs will now be at ITTBAB...will save LOTS of time getting to the machines lol and is a great idea to have less people in CL who are just stopping in to pick up FP!

I really like the idea of PFF even though I personnally will never do any of the meet and greets (single guy without kids), I think it will be a nice addition and definitely miles better than whats there now!

Ghirardeli, June 5th, cool!!

Starbucks in both DCA and DL this summer! Even better!!! This is going to be a VERY popular option. I love their frappucinos, if they can keep it around or under $6, I can see myself having one or two on a summers hot day .

Flying Tires, the one big negativity of the whole piece! Yeah, I dont know about this one. I wasnt alive when the first saucers came around and if you look at the very selected clips Disney has about them on youtube, they DO look fun, fast, very engaging, but the reality was they were slow, hard to navigate, etc. Now over 30 years later, doesnt sound like much has changed lol. When it was first announced about the tires, I just assumed they have really figured out a way to work around the problems of the originals and the few early tests showed they looked pretty fun and fast. But now since the actual tests in its actual location, that has severely put a damper on things. Even a friend CM I know, who DIDNT ride it, but her friend did said its too slow, boring and by the time you even figure out how to work it, its over. And even when you do figure out how to ride it, its still pretty slow anyway. I think making them so lumbersome and having two people instead of one didnt help either.

I think sadly if the reports keeps up like this, I will be avoiding this opening day now when a few months ago I was looking forward to this after RSR! Especially if they are going to have over an hour wait for it, which is another thing that will kill its popularity in time.

 

[mysteriouspnai]

I personally think that LFT might be a little more difficult to control than the Flying Saucers because it seats 2 rather than just 1. It seems the people have to coordinate which way they would want to go by leaning, and if the two want to go in two different directions, they would just get stuck there.

Regardless, thanks for the post! I love finding out from here when Al Lutz posts something new because I get to read lots of comments about it.

 

[Halloweenqueen]

I thought the Carnation Cafe was opening in June. I don't like the idea of it just becoming a Starbucks pitstop in the morning. We always enjoyed our breakfasts with Oscar.

I hope they don't tinker with the menu too much.

 

[Minuet888]

I said it a long time ago that Buena Vista Street was behind schedule
looks like my "rumors" weren't such falsehoods after all.

 

[Lewdannie]

What is the xPass system, what will that mean?

 

[skiingfast]

What is the xPass system, what will that mean?

Mostly just rumors.


Bob Iger the CEO of disney said over a year ago that they were going to try to adjust the way things work. Make reservations for things while not in the park. He was not very specific. Then he spoke about next generation queues that have interactive parts to them.

People took this and ran wild with rumors. Reserving FP from home, show seatings, meet and greet times. All sorts of things, anything you can imagine.

One thing that has been tested is instead of using cards as ticket, you use a bracelet with an RFID tag in it.

With this, rumor, the tag would let people know you name, age, sex, other things. So when roaming the parks the RFID can signal where you are and the attraction can address you specifically. "Hi Princess Mary" or "Are you enjoying your first vist"....things like this.

 

[DLR29]

Usually I'm really excited for everything that Disney does, but is anyone else totally not digging the beach balls thing for LFT.

 

[HydroGuy]

Usually I'm really excited for everything that Disney does, but is anyone else totally not digging the beach balls thing for LFT.

It does seem strange. I kind of put together that they put the balls there because the ride turned out to be kind of boring and it somehow livened things up.

 

[KCmike]

Thanks for the link.

 

[Carrie in AZ]

Quote:
Originally Posted by DLR29
Usually I'm really excited for everything that Disney does, but is anyone else totally not digging the beach balls thing for LFT.

It does seem strange. I kind of put together that they put the balls there because the ride turned out to be kind of boring and it somehow livened things up.

I'm right there with ya! I have never seen Cars in it's entirety, so after I read this last night, I asked my daughter "hey, do you remember a scene with a bunch of tires and beach balls?" She said she remembered tires, but no beach balls! LOL! I'm thinking they are just trying to make it more California-ish?????? All I can say after reading this report on LFT is YIKES YIKES YIKES!! We have got to hope they will work it out. When I relayed this info to my DH he looked at me and said "they are just discovering this NOW????" My thoughts exactly.

Totally excited about everything!! I'm especially giving a thumbsups to the location of the FP machines. Glad to hear about it.

 

[Halloweenqueen]

I don't think we are going to make an effort to ride LFT 3 to 4 times during our trip in August. Sounds like one frustrating ride!

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

Usually I'm really excited for everything that Disney does, but is anyone else totally not digging the beach balls thing for LFT.

It does seem strange. I kind of put together that they put the balls there because the ride turned out to be kind of boring and it somehow livened things up.

Well, I'm too young to have experienced the old flying saucers even if I had gone to Disneyland as a child, but I feel like I've seen some sort of file footage of the flying saucers ride in action with balloons or beach balls out on the floor with them. Don't know if that was done for t.v. footage or part of the old ride experience. I've been wondering though if that old video was the inspiration?

It does sound like LFT might be a bit of a dull ride and they are scrambling around trying to find ways to make it more interesting.

Frankly, I'm more excited about the overall experience of the "new" DCA than riding any particular ride in Carsland since I'm personally not a big thrill ride person (not sure how I'll handle RSR) and the other two Carsland rides don't look real appealing to me.