News Round Up 2018

[rteetz]

News

First Look: Fast and Furious Supercharged at Universal Studios Florida

 

[rteetz]

"With colors inspired by a moss-covered wall from Pandora – The World of Avatar, a new interactive banshee" ... so now these "walls" are impacting merchandise?

Guess at least it is a Millennial Pink banshee

If I didn't already have a banshee I would be getting that one....

 

[rteetz]

News

Dreamworks Theater at Universal Studios Hollywood opens June 15th

https://www.universalstudioshollywood.com/things-to-do/rides-and-attractions/dreamworks-theatre/

 

[rteetz]

News

Vote Disney’s Animal Kingdom for USA Today’s 2018 Best Wildlife Park

 

[rteetz]

News

PHOTOS: Coco Jarrita Mug Released for Pixar Fest

 

[rteetz]

News

Disneyland Paris Will Celebrate May The 4th With A Star Wars Filled Day

 

[rteetz]

News

RUMOR: Walt Disney World Bus Wait Times Coming to My Disney Experience App

 

[rteetz]

News

REVIEW: Millennial Pink Piñata and Ganache Square at The Ganachery in Disney Springs

 

[jknezek]

News

RUMOR: Walt Disney World Bus Wait Times Coming to My Disney Experience App

If they can make this work properly it would be awesome.

 

[rteetz]

If they can make this work properly it would be awesome.

That's just it. This feature has been rumored for well over a year now but I don't think they have found it to be accurate so thats why it hasn't rolled out.

 

[umichigan10]

If they can make this work properly it would be awesome.

That's just it. This feature has been rumored for well over a year now but I don't think they have found it to be accurate so thats why it hasn't rolled out.

No timer is ever going to be spot on. The boards at the bus stops are pretty good, but can be spotty at times as well. Would rather have the mobile option as a rough estimate one way or another

 

[rteetz]

News

They are working on repainting the ground in Pandora

http://blogmickey.com/2018/04/photos-pandora-the-world-of-avatar-ground-repainting-underway/

Good job to them on this. They could have just let it keep wearing down but they are fixing it.

 

[jknezek]

That's just it. This feature has been rumored for well over a year now but I don't think they have found it to be accurate so thats why it hasn't rolled out.

I'm not actually sure how you make it accurate. Just this morning I was using Waze, as usual, to give me my best route to work. It told me 22 minutes. I made a turn, started on the recommended route, got 5 minutes down the road and then it changed to 45 minutes and steadily climbed to an hour as I waited for an accident that happened probably right around the time I selected my route to clear. These apps can't predict the future. Most of what causes the failure to appear on time is because something changes that can't be predicted. Once it happens, it starts to register, but there is no way of knowing that the first car slowed by an accident is going to translate to an hour delay for a car that comes through 15 minutes later.

Same with the Disney buses. Now if a bus is within a mile of the terminal, I could see projecting a 5 minute or less time. But a bus leaving EPCOT to go to AKL, if it's the next bus to arrive at AKL, there is no point in the app saying 25 minutes. Because over that 25 minutes, an hour's worth of bad things, or more, can happen. If I was Disney, I'd use a binary display. 5 minutes or less if the bus is within a certain range of the terminal, or 20 minutes or more if it's not in that range. Not horribly accurate, but mildly helpful in that you can expect a bus soon enough to wait, or not soon enough to line up in the sun. Just that much guidance would probably be acceptable and accurate.

 

[rteetz]

I'm not actually sure how you make it accurate. Just this morning I was using Waze, as usual, to give me my best route to work. It told me 22 minutes. I made a turn, started on the recommended route, got 5 minutes down the road and then it changed to 45 minutes and steadily climbed to an hour as I waited for an accident that happened probably right around the time I selected my route to clear. These apps can't predict the future. Most of what causes the failure to appear on time is because something changes that can't be predicted. Once it happens, it starts to register, but there is no way of knowing that the first car slowed by an accident is going to translate to an hour delay for a car that comes through 15 minutes later.

Same with the Disney buses. Now if a bus is within a mile of the terminal, I could see projecting a 5 minute or less time. But a bus leaving EPCOT to go to AKL, if it's the next bus to arrive at AKL, there is no point in the app saying 25 minutes. Because over that 25 minutes, an hour's worth of bad things, or more, can happen. If I was Disney, I'd use a binary display. 5 minutes or less if the bus is within a certain range of the terminal, or 20 minutes or more if it's not in that range. Not horribly accurate, but mildly helpful in that you can expect a bus soon enough to wait, or not soon enough to line up in the sun. Just that much guidance would probably be acceptable and accurate.

Very true. I think maybe they have found it less accurate in updating itself compared to the screens at the bus stops. I just know it has been in the works for a while but has had its issues.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

News

RUMOR: Walt Disney World Bus Wait Times Coming to My Disney Experience App

IF they are accurate (a big "if", I know) that could be really useful - especially when at Disney Springs to know when a useful bus is coming (or not)

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I'm not actually sure how you make it accurate. Just this morning I was using Waze, as usual, to give me my best route to work. It told me 22 minutes. I made a turn, started on the recommended route, got 5 minutes down the road and then it changed to 45 minutes and steadily climbed to an hour as I waited for an accident that happened probably right around the time I selected my route to clear. These apps can't predict the future. Most of what causes the failure to appear on time is because something changes that can't be predicted. Once it happens, it starts to register, but there is no way of knowing that the first car slowed by an accident is going to translate to an hour delay for a car that comes through 15 minutes later.

Same with the Disney buses. Now if a bus is within a mile of the terminal, I could see projecting a 5 minute or less time. But a bus leaving EPCOT to go to AKL, if it's the next bus to arrive at AKL, there is no point in the app saying 25 minutes. Because over that 25 minutes, an hour's worth of bad things, or more, can happen. If I was Disney, I'd use a binary display. 5 minutes or less if the bus is within a certain range of the terminal, or 20 minutes or more if it's not in that range. Not horribly accurate, but mildly helpful in that you can expect a bus soon enough to wait, or not soon enough to line up in the sun. Just that much guidance would probably be acceptable and accurate.

Obviously things can come up that impact it - and I wouldn't expect it to be 100% accurate - but for places with longer waits (like Disney Springs) it can be helpful to give you an idea of at least, did I just miss a bus and now it is already at like 45mins or does it look like one is soon?

Even with the boards I have heard of buses just disappearing from the list, etc. - but even something 90% of the way there would be nice

 

[rteetz]

IF they are accurate (a big "if", I know) that could be really useful - especially when at Disney Springs to know when a useful bus is coming (or not)

Disney Springs is the worst bus stop of them all.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Disney Springs is the worst bus stop of them all.

Fully agree - and sometimes you can take a couple of different buses (like the AoA or Pop if you are staying at one of those, or any of the MK monorail resorts if just trying to get back to MK, or something like that) - so knowing which of a few options is coming first would be helpful

 

[mikepizzo]

That's just it. This feature has been rumored for well over a year now but I don't think they have found it to be accurate so thats why it hasn't rolled out.

The boards were pretty accurate during our trip last week. If they could just tie the app into whatever fuels the boards I'd be happy. We usually have early breakfast reservations in the parks and like to get on the first or second bus out. On multiple occasions we were approaching the bus stops at Pop and saw our bus sitting there waiting for us. We usually increased our speed a bit to make sure it didn't leave without us.

It would have been slightly less stressful if we could look at our phones while we were getting ready to get an idea of when the next bus was coming. We could either speed up getting ready if the bus is going to arrive in the next 5 minutes, or relax if we have a full 20 minutes to get to the bus stop.

EDIT: It would be awesome to ask for a push notification 10 minutes before a desired bus arrives. Wishful thinking though.

 

[Disneymom1126]

@rteetz have you heard anything about Magic Kingdom's Big Thunder Mountain Railroad going into refurbishment during MNSSHP? Using the link provided, under "Attractions Open During the Event" it's not listed.

WDW Link: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/e...ry-halloween-party/#/drawer=drawerAttractions

Thank you!

Have not. However every year it seems there is an attraction not listed at first and then it ends up being added later.

Didn't we have something similar last year, but last year it was Seven Dwarfs Mine Train? I would wait a couple days, because it could have just been a mistake.

Yes, this happened last year. Everyone on the MNSSHP thread was upset over it and many people emailed/called Disney (I believe last year they left off Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and Thunder Mountain...and maybe Splash was down for refurb). They said it was an error on the site and added it within a couple of days.