News Round Up 2017

[STLstone]

I think I remember seeing that the CM drivers have to have at least 3 years of service with the company. Disney could be fairly certain the CM is trustworthy (for lack of a better word) and has knowledge of the parks and Resorts.

Also, Disney will be liable for their employee's actions to a large extent.

Uber always claims their drivers are independent contractors - not employees.

 

[adam.adbe]

That would get rid of the entire aspect of theme. That was large part that Walt wanted. He didn't like how you'd walk out of Disneyland and see a sea of cars. The lagoon extends that theme and is an incredible aspect. Filling in the lagoon for parking is IMO one the most ridiculous things they could ever do.

The first time I ever went to MK, on arrival, it was the lagoon and the Floridian that captured my imagination. Despite standing outside the ticketing booths of MK, with the train station and everything in front of me, the temptation was surprisingly strong to just say to hell with the park, and take a boat over the lake.

Some people here I think have long forgotten what it was like to do WDW the first time. If Disney wants to convert first-timers into high spending GF or Poly customers, that lagoon an that sense of space around MK is how they do it.

 

[jtwibih]

VIDEO
Tour of new Copper Creek Villas Rooms incl. 3 Bedroom Grand Villa

Maybe I missed it but they continue to remove the "Disney touch" from the rooms. Sad......

 

[writerguyfl]

It's a consensual agreement between driver (car owner), rider, and company. I think people should be able to make their own decisions, and unnecessary government regulations do nothing but make services worse and more expensive. If I own my own car and want to use it to drive people who are willing to pay me, I should be able to do so. Taxis suck because of the regulations. That's why people don't use them. Maybe they should be fighting to get these regulations removed, rather than trying to block a company that has found a way around them, and that is saving lives and boosting the economy. That's why DUIs plummeted in Austin when Uber arrived, and skyrocketed again when they were forced out. GOOD JOB GOVERNMENT! There I go letting myself get pulled out of my happy place again. Sorry.

I'm not going to address most of this, as I don't think this is the appropriate forum. All I will say is that if you start a business, you must abide by the laws and regulations that are in place. You don't get to lie about what your company does to skirt them. Uber and Lyft are taxi companies. As such, they need to follow the same rules as other taxi companies. If they don't like those regulations, they should try to change them...not illegally ignore them.

 

[Indybill]

This would be PERFECT for our upcoming trip where we just need it to get to our PPO breakfast at Epcot from the Contemporary with two carseata.. but it's in August so I may have to rent a car for $275-350 instead if it's not open to all resorts by then.

In case you aren't aware of it, you can rent a car for a day or two on property which should be a lot cheaper than the $275+:
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/guest-services/car-rental-services/

 

[Ambehnke]

In case you aren't aware of it, you can rent a car for a day or two on property which should be a lot cheaper than the $275+:
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/guest-services/car-rental-services/

I know but that would require at least an hour of our day going to pick it up and still costs probably at least $50 with adding the car seats and we only really need it for one ride.

 

[piglet1979]

Five feet? That can't be right, there's adults who aren't five feet tall. Not at a lot of them, but there's enough that it would be kind of weird to make that distinction. I'm not questioning you or your memory but sometimes I think the whole car seat thing goes a little overboard. Yes, children are safest in the back, in a five point harness as long as you can keep them there. But like asking a 10 or 11 year old to do that is kinda nuts. But I guess I'm lucky to be alive considering my brother and I used to fight over who got to sit in the front seat when we were very little kids.

Ohio child passenger safety law requires the following: Children less than 4 years old or 40 pounds must use a child safety seat meeting federal motor vehicle safety standards (5 point harness). Children less than 8 years old, unless they are at least 4 feet, 9 inches tall must use a booster seat. I am only 4'9". My kids know that they are in that booster until my height. They are 10 and 11 and have at least another year in one. I do think most states at this age is a booster and not a 5 point harness. I think boosters get called car seats a lot too.

I for one would not use the Minnie Vans. We use the buses, boats and monorails. They are free. We have been to WDW 4 times and only used a cab once for PPO ADR at Tusker house. This was a free ride on Disney though or we would have driven ourselves. We just feel that why are we going to pay for something that we get for free.

 

[TwoMisfits]

That would get rid of the entire aspect of theme. That was large part that Walt wanted. He didn't like how you'd walk out of Disneyland and see a sea of cars. The lagoon extends that theme and is an incredible aspect. Filling in the lagoon for parking is IMO one the most ridiculous things they could ever do.

And theme is great...when you haven't doubled the number of people you have to get in and out without actually increasing capacity or capability to get them in and out (it's not the like the monorail is faster or works better than it 1st opened, and it's not like they've added 5-6 ferry boats to get people back and forth)...

And it's great when you're an adult and can wait...but ask anyone leaving with multiple little kids at night after fireworks how much they now love the "ambiance"...

For years, MK was my 4th favorite park b/c of this disaster entry/exit...it's also a bad way to leave - the whole point of a night show is to have people leave on a "high" point when they leave your park...then giving them the exit from hell takes away the glow...

I know I'm in the minority on the boards on this...not sure I am elsewhere...

 

[Delano Fiedler]

Regarding the new Star Wars hotel: I hope they are planning to have an open to the general public restaurant or cafe so people who cant afford hundreds (thousands?!?!) of dollars per night or wont bother to book years in advance for a room may have an opportunity to see the hotel.

 

[Killer Fish]

Regardings the new Star Wars hotel: I hope they are planning to have an open to the general public restaurant or cafe so people who cant afford hundreds (thousands?!?!) of dollars per night or wont bother to book years in advance for a room may have an opportunity to see the hotel.

I doubt it.....I assume it will be closed to the public and honestly I think that is the right decision.

 

[splash327]

I doubt it.....I assume it will be closed to the public and honestly I think that is the right decision.

I totally agree. Think of this as a cruise aboard a starship instead of a boat. Unless we add Star Treks ability to beam aboard...

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Regarding the new Star Wars hotel: I hope they are planning to have an open to the general public restaurant or cafe so people who cant afford hundreds (thousands?!?!) of dollars per night or wont bother to book years in advance for a room may have an opportunity to see the hotel.

I suspect the hotel will have all amenities closed to the outside public - and I also suspect the restaurants won't be like typical restaurants where guests can book meals for any time they want, but rather more set times and part of the script/show

There will be multiple restaurants of different types in Galaxy's Edge for a pretty immersive experience for those guests

 

[bladiator]

And theme is great...when you haven't doubled the number of people you have to get in and out without actually increasing capacity or capability to get them in and out (it's not the like the monorail is faster or works better than it 1st opened, and it's not like they've added 5-6 ferry boats to get people back and forth)...

And it's great when you're an adult and can wait...but ask anyone leaving with multiple little kids at night after fireworks how much they now love the "ambiance"...

For years, MK was my 4th favorite park b/c of this disaster entry/exit...it's also a bad way to leave - the whole point of a night show is to have people leave on a "high" point when they leave your park...then giving them the exit from hell takes away the glow...

I know I'm in the minority on the boards on this...not sure I am elsewhere...

Well said. I also think that at the end of the night, my glow is diminished by the pushing and shoving to get on to a too-few number of monorails. I think that adding a couple ferries could ease that issue. I know that during the day they would barely be used, but maybe you can just have them parked to the side somewhere and brought out for "rush hour".

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Regarding the new Star Wars hotel: I hope they are planning to have an open to the general public restaurant or cafe so people who cant afford hundreds (thousands?!?!) of dollars per night or wont bother to book years in advance for a room may have an opportunity to see the hotel.

I doubt it honestly.

For being such an immersive experience it would be really jarring to have everyday guests popping in and out of the resort even for food. If you are a in cosplay for example it would probably just mess with the whole feel of actually being in the moment.

Plus from a guest staying at the resort it adds to the level of effort Disney put in to keep it in theme so to speak.

Of course you never know.

 

[Roxyfire]

Ohio child passenger safety law requires the following: Children less than 4 years old or 40 pounds must use a child safety seat meeting federal motor vehicle safety standards (5 point harness). Children less than 8 years old, unless they are at least 4 feet, 9 inches tall must use a booster seat. I am only 4'9". My kids know that they are in that booster until my height. They are 10 and 11 and have at least another year in one. I do think most states at this age is a booster and not a 5 point harness. I think boosters get called car seats a lot too.

I for one would not use the Minnie Vans. We use the buses, boats and monorails. They are free. We have been to WDW 4 times and only used a cab once for PPO ADR at Tusker house. This was a free ride on Disney though or we would have driven ourselves. We just feel that why are we going to pay for something that we get for free.

Thank you, very informative. I've read a few stories in my local facebook moms group and I had thought perhaps I was in the minority by choosing to use the booster seat for my son. Sounds like I'm not. He's a shorty so I expect he'll be using that slimline thing for quite some time.

 

[eXo]

That would get rid of the entire aspect of theme. That was large part that Walt wanted. He didn't like how you'd walk out of Disneyland and see a sea of cars. The lagoon extends that theme and is an incredible aspect. Filling in the lagoon for parking is IMO one the most ridiculous things they could ever do.

What Walt wanted and what the park's capacity currently is two different things.

I get the entire notion of "leaving behind reality" to go to this magical place. But there is a very clear reason this wasn't duplicated at Epcot, HS, or AK.

Now, I wouldn't exactly go so far as to say they should fill in the Seven Seas Lagoon, but I do think they have a *MAJOR* traffic jam out there that they should be addressing instead of rolling out a fleet of vans that won't even put a dent in the number of people trying to get back to their cars.

 

[splash327]

What Walt wanted and what the park's capacity currently is two different things.

I get the entire notion of "leaving behind reality" to go to this magical place. But there is a very clear reason this wasn't duplicated at Epcot, HS, or AK.

Now, I wouldn't exactly go so far as to say they should fill in the Seven Seas Lagoon, but I do think they have a *MAJOR* traffic jam out there that they should be addressing instead of rolling out a fleet of vans that won't even put a dent in the number of people trying to get back to their cars.

I see the vans as trying to stop people on property from driving to MK because the buses are overloaded. Similar to experiment above, one time my wife and son went back on the bus, me and my other two kids stayed, rode space mountain and then went to the car and we both got back to the room about the same time (+/- 10 min). That was 9 years ago though now. The last time we were there in May, it took 1hr 1/2 to get back to beach through the parking lot. Made me think about taking the bus again.

 

[rteetz]

What Walt wanted and what the park's capacity currently is two different things.

I get the entire notion of "leaving behind reality" to go to this magical place. But there is a very clear reason this wasn't duplicated at Epcot, HS, or AK.

Now, I wouldn't exactly go so far as to say they should fill in the Seven Seas Lagoon, but I do think they have a *MAJOR* traffic jam out there that they should be addressing instead of rolling out a fleet of vans that won't even put a dent in the number of people trying to get back to their cars.

Okay so without filling in the lagoon what would you do? You can only add so many buses at a time. Obviously more monorails isn't going to happen. I have obviously never seen this major problem as I always take resort transportation.

 

[rteetz]

News

Disney will be doing a reservation systems update on July 19th from 2AM to 9AM. Systems will be down during this time.

 

[mickeyfanachey1999]

And theme is great...when you haven't doubled the number of people you have to get in and out without actually increasing capacity or capability to get them in and out (it's not the like the monorail is faster or works better than it 1st opened, and it's not like they've added 5-6 ferry boats to get people back and forth)...

And it's great when you're an adult and can wait...but ask anyone leaving with multiple little kids at night after fireworks how much they now love the "ambiance"...

For years, MK was my 4th favorite park b/c of this disaster entry/exit...it's also a bad way to leave - the whole point of a night show is to have people leave on a "high" point when they leave your park...then giving them the exit from hell takes away the glow...

I know I'm in the minority on the boards on this...not sure I am elsewhere...

I am always amazed to see the crush of people that head for the exit right after fireworks/closing. We like to make sure we have a drink and a snack and a spot to relax for 30 minutes to an hour before we head to the ferry boat to get to the TTC and walk to the truck. We avoid at least some of the madness and get to enjoy more MK after dark time with each other. It's always worth it as far as we are concerned.