News from WDW

[mrtoadslastride]

We are here at WDW (only 2 more days left ), and I thought I would post a couple tidbits I have picked up.

A cast member told us that the closing of Port Orleans and the Carribean was caused more by a lack of hotel staff than by a lack of guests. Apparently, the Opryland and Universal Hotels have taken quite a few of Disneys resort staff. The cast member said that all of the cast members from the closed resorts have been used to cover openings at the other hotels. Obviously, lower booking rates have allowed them to get by with closing the resorts, but this was a different spin on the closings than I had seen posted before.

A few quickies...

No monorails planned in the future

Villians coaster park in the next 5 to 10 years to compete with Universal

Eisner is gone by next October if the stock price isn't above $35


Not a rumor

I didn't realize that the Transportation is now managed from New York. Several of the bus drivers blamed this fact for all of the problems they have been having, shared routes, removed routes. Also, managers in this area used to move up through the ranks. Now they are brought in from outside.

Back to the parks!!!

MrToad

 

[Kaelyn]

Please elaborate on the Eisner bit.

 

[doubletrouble_vb]

$35 is quite a jump. I'll be a happy camper if it happens...even if it means Eisner stays.

What's this about the busses? Managing them from new york shouldn't really be an issue since transport is a logistics problem...as long as the needs of the riders are met.

 

[Luv2Roam]

If it hit $35, I would think that would guarantee his stay. But I wouldn't look for $35 by October 2003, unless something drastic happens.

 

[toefungus]

Villians coaster park in the next 5 to 10 years to compete with Universal

Riiiiiiiiight......

Eisner is gone by next October if the stock price isn't above $35

Then I guess Eisner's good as gone.....

 

[Dznefreek]

Villians coaster park in the next 5 to 10 years to compete with Universal

Don't you think USF/IOA will have also advanced their technology and offerings in the same time frame?????????

 

[Bob O]

I would also assume eisner is gone if that is the deal regarding the stock price!!
You would also think you would want the transportation handled more locally so as to make changes if they are needed due to schedule changes that are unexpected or local road problems.
And as mcu as i love roller coasters i think that would be a very dumb idea to add another park in the forseeable futureunless they are asl ogoing to put billions into the existing parks which need major work/updating!!!!!

 

[mrtoadslastride]

I picked up a couple of additional rumors the last couple of days of our trip...

Both of these came from two monorail pilots.

According to one of the pilots they are running tests on Mission Space with Cast Members. A friend of hers participated in one of the tests. Four out of the ten Cast Members who rode the ride got sick. She said they are working on toning down the intensity of the ride.

Another monorail pilot told us some interesting stuff about expanding the monorail routes. According to him the monorails are best used on long routes with limited stops. He said that the resort loop put the most wear and tear on the monorails by far. The long range plans call for linking all the parks, but not the hotels. Right now the traffic between parks (park hopping) does not justify the cost of additional monorails. However, he said that once enough people move from park to park they will build the monorails and use Epcot as the transfer point to the other parks.

The survey Cast Members were out in full force on the 18th and 19th. Three people in our party of 6 took the survey. One was asked to rate the attractions at Epcot. The other 2 were asked to list by day the different parks and resorts visited.

MGM, Epcot, and MK all seemed to be very busy on the 18th and 19th. Some of the Cast Members seemed to be very suprised at the number of people in the parks. Apparently, things had been very dead for 6 weeks. While we were there they added an hour to MK on the 12th and a Spectro on the 16th.

Mr. Toad

 

[manning]

Some of the Cast Members seemed to be very suprised at the number of people in the parks.
---------------------------------------------


Wasn't the Disney Golf tournament held on those dates and the Wine and Food Festival starts on the 19th? That may be why there are more people.

 

[caseymaureen]

MrToad~ The part about the reasons from closing Port Orleans and Caribbean Beach- not true. I work at Port Orleans and one of our main problems right now is making room for all of the displaced Caribbean Beach CMs. They closed for renovations just like they said, they are renovating the food court area and didn't want to keep the place open with no amenities for the guests.

 

[JeffH]

If they simply broke into the existing Epcot monorail in Future World and extended it's 2 tracks to MGM then AK with stops at the International Gateway, MGM, Blizzard Beach and AK, they could then start shuttling hotel guest to the nearest monorail stop instead of EVERYWHERE!
AKLodge to Animal Kingdom stop.
ASResorts and Coronado to Blizzard Beach stop.
Caribean Resort and Pop Culture to MGM stop.
Downtown Disney Resorts to main Epcot stop.
Epcot resorts to the International Gateway stop.

The bus routes would be very short quick loops, which would make up for the guests having to make multiple connections to each park (aside from those 'park' hotels). And 'forcing' guests to ride a monorail to each park was part of Walt's main philosophy, adding to the anticipation and magic (to those guests who rarely experienced a monorail ride before). The shorter bus routes would also keep the buses off most of the main roads.

Sometime in the future, they should consider building a major parking garage in the east Magic Kingdom (T&TC) parking lot with a built in ticket center/monorail station and add a new loop through the Contemporary and to a new station at the MK looping back around to the parking garage. This parking garage would replace the whole lot (a major waste of space) and people parking there could take the either the monorail heading to the MK or towards Epcot. The existing dual loop could then be dedicated to the resorts. The existing Ticket and Transportation Center could then be converted into another hotel with a Magic Kingdom theme... A fantasyland area with lots of character interaction with lots of games and movie and cartoon rooms with a mini-castle to play in...A Tomorrowland section (the neon monorail loading area), adventure areas like a jungle playground...with the lobby having a "main street" look about it, and so on.

 

[Bob O]

The most practical monorail is the one they have with no additions!!!!! They have alot more needs in the theme parks than focusing on extending the monorail lines imho!!! They have limited cash right now to spend and putting it into the monorail line will do little to draw people into their parks which should be the main focus!!

 

[Bob O]

The most practical monorail is the one they have with no additions!!!!! They have alot more needs in the theme parks than focusing on extending the monorail lines imho!!! They have limited cash right now to spend and putting it into the monorail line will do little to draw people into their parks which should be the main focus!!

 

[Testtrack321]

Why do people like getting Esiner out by next year? That gives him a whole lotta HACKING into animation and theme parks before he leaves to save his hiney.

 

[d-r]

I can't decide if I like the idea of putting monorail "hubs" in at AK, MGM, blizzard beach (and dtd?) and bussing resort guests to the monorail hub. From the guest experience, you would have to wait on the bus, get on the bus and find a seat, get off the bus. Walt up the ramp to the monrail, get on the monorail and find a seat, wait a couple of stops, get off the monorail and walk down the ramp. It would be almost easier to just get on the bus, wait on the bus, get off the bus at the theme park.

I'm not saying that it wouldn't be "cool" or reduce the amount of busses running on the roads (which would be good), but I'm thinking in terms of guest energy it would take more to bus to the monorail then ride it. For example, right now if you were at coronado springs, you could take a bus to the Magic Kingdom and ride the monorail to epcot, but unless you just wanted to relax and enjoy the ride on the monorail there would be little reason to do so. Yeah, the bus ride to blizzard beach would be a whole lot shorter than to MK, but I'm still not sure if it would be worth it. (Now, I'd like a monorail at the international gateway that went to AK and MK, for the selfish reason that it would make the epcot resorts really awesome to stay at). AKL really should have some sort of transportation to AK park (boat, train, light rail, humvee, something besides a bus).

Originally posted by JeffH
The existing Ticket and Transportation Center could then be converted into another hotel with a Magic Kingdom theme... A fantasyland area with lots of character interaction with lots of games and movie and cartoon rooms with a mini-castle to play in...A Tomorrowland section (the neon monorail loading area), adventure areas like a jungle playground...with the lobby having a "main street" look about it, and so on.

But...the magic kingdom resorts already do this - the victorian theming of the grand floridian ties in to Main Street, and the whimsey and fantasy of it tie into fantasyland. The polly is adventureland, with the volcano and the torches, well, it just IS adventureland... The contemporary is the only resort you can see from tomorrowland, and, although the "fit" was probably better with the old tomorrowland, it still works with the monorail going right through it. Staying at ft. wilderness or wilderness lodge is like getting to camp out right in frontrierland. Honestly, I don't think that they can complete this idea any better than it is already done - I personally wouldn't want to see another MK area resort, it is crowded enough there already.

 

[Samirella]

Originally posted by mrtoadslastride
I picked up a couple of additional rumors the last couple of days of our trip...

Both of these came from two monorail pilots.

According to one of the pilots they are running tests on Mission Space with Cast Members. A friend of hers participated in one of the tests. Four out of the ten Cast Members who rode the ride got sick. She said they are working on toning down the intensity of the ride.

Actually, the tests they were doing weren't to actually go on the ride. They were testing the length of the cue line and were letting cast members pick up overtime hours to participate in the test.

MGM, Epcot, and MK all seemed to be very busy on the 18th and 19th. Some of the Cast Members seemed to be very suprised at the number of people in the parks. Apparently, things had been very dead for 6 weeks. While we were there they added an hour to MK on the 12th and a Spectro on the 16th.

It has been very busy at Animal Kingdom as well. The Festival of the Lion King show has been at capacity for all of it's shows.

 

[mrtoadslastride]

Thanks for clarification Samirella! We stayed at the Wilderness and they told us that the resort was booked at 105% last weekend and that most of the other Disney resorts were heavily booked. Surely the golf tournament didn't account for the crowds.

We were at the MNSSHP on Thursday and MK was packed!! I thought they limied the number of guests?