New Dumbo interactive area - what would Walt think?

[AllieV]

As someone with an adhd kid, I salute the imagineers who did this. We stood in a very short line for pooh in december and my kid did backflips the entire time (no joke) to keep himself busy. Medically and psychologically speaking, he cannot stop himself from moving.

As we walked through epcot, he was doing backflips too. He'd stand between DH and me, take our hands, and hoist himself in the air, flip his legs over his head, and do a backflip (he was 3.5 at the time). Over and over as we walked. At one point, some guy in the distance yelled out to his companions, "Look, he did it again!" We're like our own circus show.

Lines are a nightmare for us.

 

[CandleontheWater]

I hate to be debbie downer here, but I'm imagining this to be a stressful environment for me. I envision people sitting down, staring at their phones and just letting their kids go wild. I'm going to have to be hot on the heels of my toddler to make sure that he doesn't get pushed, hit, or knocked over by the bigger kids or the ones with parents who just don't care.

If you have spent a lot of time at a public playground, you'll know what I mean. My DS will want a turn on the firetruck, but someone else's kid will not share, someone else kid tries to shove my DS off the firetruck, and parents are no where to be found.

I really hope they will limit the number of kids in there, is it just me, but it doesn't look that large. Lines get really long during the holidays and the summer, are they just going to shove hundreds of kids in there? It will be a madhouse!

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

I think threads like this are

They do provide


Because the truth is ... he's dead and none of us know what he would think.

 

[minnie mum]

Walt, Shmalt. The man's been dead for how long? Let the poor guy rest. If you don't like the interactive area, then feel free to keep your child by your side and just stand there until your buzzer, uh, buzzes. If you object to the children separating from their parents, then go into the interactive area with your child. But if some poor parent wants to sit down in a cool area and just watch their little ones run around and blow off steam, then don't begrudge them the chance to do so.

My Dumbo days are many, many years behind me (although come to think of it they will be returning shortly thanks to our new grandson). I still remember standing in that hot, steamy, crowded, noisy line waiting FOREVER for a 90 second ride. I love the idea of a more comfortable and entertaining queue.

 

[POB14]

The one thing I'm absolutely certain Walt would NOT do is sit around asking what some guy who has been dead for 46 years would do. The "WWWD" attitute is exactly the kind of thinking that dumped Disney's films into the swamp for years.

 

[Hannathy]

I think Walt would have been saying as he sat on a bench in the air conditioning

"What do you mean I can't smoke here?"

(If we truly want to know what he would be thinking based on when he lived and his habits)

 

[FlightlessDuck]

I think Walt would say 'BRRRAAAAAAIIIIIINNNNNNNSSSSS! gruggle gruggle arrrr"

 

[janischa]

I think I'm probably one of those adults that saw this and can't wait to slide down that tube myself having my 3 year old as an excuse

I'm one of those adults that when waiting in line, will use the opportunity to check my blackberry for work, but with such a playground, I'd actually be spending more time with my little girl since I get to either play along or if she'd be older, to see her play which I like to do as well.

 

[Butterbunkins]

We don’t have kids yet, but we plan to and now I no longer dread standing in long lines under a blazing sun to take my future kiddos on Dumbo!

 

[clerkshipwanted]

i wonder what the capacity of the tent is. will there be a line to get into the tent? also i wonder if you can use the tent space w/o waiting to get onto dumbo.

 

[maxiesmom]

I'm kind of bummed I don't have a little one little enough to enjoy the whole tent area. Looks fun to me!

 

[Sparkly]

Personally I would appreciate the air conditioning and enjoy a drink and read my Kindle to entertain me until it was time to ride.

 

[starbound25]

I think it looks fabulous and we're all really excited to see it.

As for the parents-ignoring-their-kids issue.. if a parent is apt to ignore their child in favor of their phone, they're going to do it wherever they are, whether it's at a playground near their house or at Disney. If a parent enjoys playing with their kids, they can play with their kids while at a local playground or at Disney - even in this queue. I can just see my kids.. the big ones will want to show me everything they're doing, and the little ones will need supervision. My kids love it when I pretend that they're running me over with the wood cars at the playground, so I'm sure they'd love it in the fire truck in the Dumbo queue. If I'm tired, I can take a break, and if I'm not, I can play with my kids.

Disney is providing a place where parents can play with their children if they wish to do so. It's up to the parents to actually do it.

Here, here!! This is the precise point that needs to be made. My youngest DD is crazy for Dumbo. Her favorite movie and her favorite ride at WDW and she will FLIP when she gets to play in this area and my older two will have fun in there too and you know what? I will too! I am very interactive with my kids at home and at Disney. I will not be on my smartphone while we wait I'll be watching/playing with them and you bet when the ticket rings she will gladly go and ride on her favorite ride. She'll just want to do it even more then she already does! I think its wonderful.

 

[andyman8]

We were there today- I didn't realize it was brand new! It was interesting- we waited in a line, then got a pager and the kids got to go play. We didn't get to see how the end of the process worked, though, because it started pouring and thunder and lightning, so they shut down dumbo. They told us we were welcome to stay and play, but we had to leave a while later for our pirates league reservations.

My kid had a good time, but like someone else said I can see a problem happening when it was time to go. I watched more than one mom, pager going off, trying to track down her kids and convince them it was time to go!

Oh, so they have began soft openings, already? Great! So, it should be open for the fourth!

On another note, if you are concerned about what Walt would think, just go to "underground Disney" in Burbank and unfreeze him and ask! Just kidding, for everyone's entitled to their own opinion.

 

[melancholywings]

I think it's interesting, I'd love to see a system where upon check in you get a pager and it works as a 'fast pass' for rides. So that you can book a ride through it. Hang around, shop and stay in the area then get paged when it's your turn.

 

[MSSANDRA]

Looks really cool. I can see some bugs in how many kids they let in and how much response time they will allow before your turn is missed etc. but overall I really like the idea.

As for the parents using it for checking their phone time, have you never been to Mickey's Playhouse show? I think every parent uses the show to check e-mails etc. Reality is I have to check in during the day even at WDW and would rather do it when my child is having fun! Reality is also that we are pretty protective parents and unless we can pretty much keep eye contact while he is playing, we are going to be all over the place with our little one!

 

[orangecats2]

To me this is really disappointing...I was hoping that the interactive queue would be for adults also. I travel alone or with another adult, what am I supposed to do, watch other people's children play while I just sit there?

This is exactly what I thought. Why is it only for kids? And will there be enough seating for adults not playing?

 

[disnut8]

I haven't read through the entire thread but I see this as being positive for the kids. Why? Because they can MOVE and run and get exercise. You know, that thing kids are supposed to do - PLAY. Otherwise, they'd be stuck standing in a line for how ever long, not doing anything physical except moving forward every 90 seconds or so.

If the parents want to stare at their phone or whatever, well, that's the parent's problem. We took our son and his family to Disney World, the five year old went into Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground and the Boneyard twice each. And guess what? An adult (and/or his 14 year old sister) was in there each and every time doing the same things. When my granddaughter was five, I took her to the Boneyard and even though I hate heights, I was following her around on those nets all over the place. I needed a big rest after that but most adults are not just going to sit on a bench and do nothing. And if they do, oh well, the kids are having fun.

And "what would Walt think"? He would want the kids to have fun. To heck with the adults.

 

[donaldducks]

I will play with my kids when we go!! It looks fun to me haha. I like the idea of a pager, instead of waiting 2 hours in line (like my DD made us do last time) seems cool, has anybody experienced it yet?

 

[khertz]

I think this looks awesome!! I think people are twisting what Walt meant. I took that more to mean that at a lot of fairs, most if not all of the rides that little ones can do, parents cannot do with them. He envisioned a place where the whole family could enjoy the attractions together. If he had meant for every single attraction to be enjoyed by the whole family, there wouldn't be any rides with height restrictions! I think this is a great addition to the park. I know my DS absolutely hates waiting in the lines because DH or I hold him so that he won't annoy other people, and he would rather get down and explore or run around. As of now, he will be 2 years old on our October trip and might not want to leave the play area!

I agree to a point with what others said, I hope people will actually pay attention to their kids in this area so DS is not getting shoved out of the way by unruly kids whose parents are letting them run wild. I look forward to exploring the interactive queue and playing with DS while we wait. This will make it so that we can do something besides Dumbo when we arrive for rope drop. A 20 or 30 minute wait in that play area won't be as rough as 20 or 30 minutes standing in a hot line with a restless toddler!