News Round Up 2017

[jpeterson]

We are hoping for the same thing for our trip late September! I am on the fence about whether to get the AP or just stay with our 10 day passes with hopper. Does anyone know what the new discount for AP holders is for trips out to August?

From Mousesavers:

Get a substantial discount off regular “Rack” rates for stays 6/11/17 – 8/31/17. Pricing and savings will vary by resort type and date. Rates not available for all dates, room types and resorts. There is no minimum stay with this offer.

Sample discounts off rack rates:

• Up to 35% off most Deluxe resort rooms and Deluxe Villa resort rooms
• Up to 30% off most Moderate resort rooms
• Up to 30% off most Value resort rooms

This is a room-only offer. If you would like to add a Dining Plan with these rates, there is a special Annual Passholders package.

Offer excludes Polynesian Bungalows, Bay Lake Tower, Villas at Grand Floridian, Copper Creek Villas at Wilderness Lodge, Port Orleans – French Quarter, Little Mermaid (i.e. Standard) rooms at Art of Animation Resort, 3-bedroom villas and campsites. As with all Disney promotional discounts, some resorts, room types and date combinations will not be available. It’s important to be flexible if you want to book a discounted package.
​

 

[Killer Fish]

If you want a good laugh go to Volcano Bay's Tripadvisor reviews....not having the best opening is a bit of an understatement.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

BTW... what's all this about Volcano bay giving refunds? Heard nothing about it.

Largely tied to the Tapu Tapu that only lets you reserve one spot at a time so then people were left with hours to do nothing - saw report of people that only got to do two rides over like 6 or 8 hours

Also saw some reports of tiles falling off in pools and stuff

 

[skier_pete]

Alcoholic drinks possibly added to 2018 dining plan.

https://www.google.com/amp/www.inqu...holic-beverages-included-on-meal-credits/amp/

It's not a bad move by Disney. A cheap well drink, beer or house wine probably costs Disney less than 50 cents, and if it sucks more people into paying for the DDP then it's a win. It's not like they worry about people getting drunk on their one "free" drink.

Wonder if that impacts free dining (not sure of the rules for "giving away" alcohol)

I don't think it would have any effect. Free dining is really a package discount, not an actual "giveaway".

 

[Madonna3]

If you want a good laugh go to Volcano Bay's Tripadvisor reviews....not having the best opening is a bit of an understatement.

I just did that. Holy crap.

 

[skier_pete]

News

Mobile ordering coming to five MK restaurants.

http://www.wdwmagic.com/other/mymag...ng-soon-to-five-magic-kingdom-restaurants.htm

I am very interested to try this.

 

[splash327]

Well those are sit down quick services rather than walking up to a counter and ordering.

Just surprised since they already have pre ordering. I doubt it would have taken much to add it to the app. I pre order lunch at BOG all the time. Last time we went in May the line was back to 7DMT if you didn't pre order.

 

[umichigan10]

My point is that something that costs that much money shouldn't have any tech issues at this point.

Eh I think everything has tech issues regardless at opening. Look at the issues volcano bays been having

 

[AJT607]

News

Mobile ordering coming to five MK restaurants.

http://www.wdwmagic.com/other/mymag...ng-soon-to-five-magic-kingdom-restaurants.htm

I'm really looking forward to them continuing to expand Mobile Ordering. We used this when we visited Pandora last week three different times. There were crowds out of the building that you could skip if you had a mobile order. We ordered meals there twice and even used mobile ordering when we wanted to grab a beer one time since there was a long line at Pongu Pongu and no wait for the mobile orders at the Canteen.

 

[rteetz]

Happy 83rd Birthday to the one and only Donald Duck!

 

[andyw715]

If you want a good laugh go to Volcano Bay's Tripadvisor reviews....not having the best opening is a bit of an understatement.

The only thing I got out of that is not many people review a water park attraction on tripadvisor (110 reviews) vs over 26k reviews for Pandora.
Yeah they weren't favorable reviews, and I haven't kept up with the news from Volcano Bay's opening, but its pretty much a meh to me.

 

[DISnewjersey]

Largely tied to the Tapu Tapu that only lets you reserve one spot at a time so then people were left with hours to do nothing - saw report of people that only got to do two rides over like 6 or 8 hours

Also saw some reports of tiles falling off in pools and stuff

I'm far from a Universal supporter but I don't think the Tapu Tapu system is to blame. It seems like it's poor planning from the guests of Volcano Bay. Look at pandora right now, if I wait standby for both rides, it'll eat up most of my day. Same goes for Volcano Bay which is brand new and crowded.

Guests need to choose wisely which queue to 'wait' in (they need to remember that they are waiting in a queue, this isn't fastpass) If they choose the water coaster which has one of the longest waits, then that's their fault. But it's also a brand new park and people need to realize the entire summer there will be long waits overall. It's going to take a bit of time to work out all the kinks of the new rides.

I haven't been there yet but these are just my observations after some of the videos I've seen on Volcano Bay.

 

[FoxC63]

If you want a good laugh go to Volcano Bay's Tripadvisor reviews....not having the best opening is a bit of an understatement.

Wow! Good to see damage control is underway.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I'm far from a Universal supporter but I don't think the Tapu Tapu system is to blame. It seems like it's poor planning from the guests of Volcano Bay. Look at pandora right now, if I wait standby for both rides, it'll eat up most of my day. Same goes for Volcano Bay which is brand new and crowded.

Guests need to choose wisely which queue to 'wait' in (they need to remember that they are waiting in a queue, this isn't fastpass) If they choose the water coaster which has one of the longest waits, then that's their fault. Rope drop, do the most popular rides first, and then do the less popular ones in afternoon (i.e. Lazy river). But it's also a brand new park and people need to realize the entire summer there will be long waits overall. It's going to take a bit of time to work out all the kinks of the new rides.

I haven't been there yet but these are just my observations after some of the videos I've seen on Volcano Bay.

Well, from m what I did nderstand is the issue is there is no standby option for the rides so you run over to tap for a ride and find out it is a 2 hour wait or whatever and then there isn't really anything else to do

I think they should keep the Tapu Tapu for the "big" rides but have standby for at least some of the smaller slides

 

[jknezek]

I'm far from a Universal supporter but I don't think the Tapu Tapu system is to blame. It seems like it's poor planning from the guests of Volcano Bay. Look at pandora right now, if I wait standby for both rides, it'll eat up most of my day. Same goes for Volcano Bay which is brand new and crowded.

Guests need to choose wisely which queue to 'wait' in (they need to remember that they are waiting in a queue, this isn't fastpass) If they choose the water coaster which has one of the longest waits, then that's their fault. Rope drop, do the most popular rides first, and then do the less popular ones in afternoon (i.e. Lazy river). But it's also a brand new park and people need to realize the entire summer there will be long waits overall. It's going to take a bit of time to work out all the kinks of the new rides.

I haven't been there yet but these are just my observations after some of the videos I've seen on Volcano Bay.

I'm not so sure that's a fair comparison. If you are waiting in a Pandora queue it has been amply themed to try and keep your attention. If you are in the tapu tapu queue, the only other things you can do are the lazy rivers, little kids playground, or wave pool. From my own experience at water parks, that's good for a couple hours of fun, but gets boring too much longer. Especially on a $100 ticket. If the tapu tapu wait is an hour or 90 minutes, that's probably fine. But if you are waiting more than that, or that same time period more than twice in a day, those options are insufficient for the cost. I think Volcano Bay needs to open up some of the other attractions as being outside Tapu Tapu. Then you are basically standing in 2 lines at once, but if you don't want to stand in line, you can take advantage of the wavepool/lazy rivers. The act of physically standing in line for 30 or 45 minutes would hopefully eat up half your time waiting for a premiere attraction using Tapu Tapu. Then you are only falling back on the wavepool/lazy rivers for a couple hours, not the full day.

As it stands now, I think they just have really poor balance.

 

[DISnewjersey]

Well, from m what I did nderstand is the issue is there is no standby option for the rides so you run over to tap for a ride and find out it is a 2 hour wait or whatever and then there isn't really anything else to do

I think they should keep the Tapu Tapu for the "big" rides but have standby for at least some of the smaller slides

But the Tapu Tapu is the standby option except the awesome benefit is you could go in the pool or eat lunch while being 'in line'. Personally I like the concept of it. I wouldn't mind getting 'in line' but meanwhile I can go float in the lazy river or pool until it's my time to ride. Obviously right now, ride times are insanely high (which i believe is really the cause of everyone's frustrations) but once they fall down to a normal level, I think a lot of people will like this new system.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

But the Tapu Tapu is the standby option except the awesome benefit is you could go in the pool or eat lunch while being 'in line'. Personally I like the concept of it. I wouldn't mind getting 'in line' but meanwhile I can go float in the lazy river or pool until it's my time to ride. Obviously right now, ride times are insanely high (which i believe is really the cause of everyone's frustrations) but once they fall down to a normal level, I think a lot of people will like this new system.

Maybe it just needs more time to settle down and work itself out. I really do like the concept I just think there needs to be more things to do when you are waiting to really have the benefit (also was hearing of 45+ min waits after your Tapu Tapu time came due - but that too should fix itself out over time I would think)

 

[wareagle57]

But the Tapu Tapu is the standby option except the awesome benefit is you could go in the pool or eat lunch while being 'in line'. Personally I like the concept of it. I wouldn't mind getting 'in line' but meanwhile I can go float in the lazy river or pool until it's my time to ride. Obviously right now, ride times are insanely high (which i believe is really the cause of everyone's frustrations) but once they fall down to a normal level, I think a lot of people will like this new system.

I think the problem with it is that since you don't have to actually wait in line, people are getting "in line" for long waits they normally never would.

 

[MissGina5]

an update about the thing where you can't make new reservations today, I am not getting the option to make a payment on a vacation today as well it appears.

 

[saskdw]

Volcano Bay is apprarently at capacity today and won't allow anyone else in the park today. So this supposed disaster of an opening has not affected business at all.