Seven Dwarves Mine Train

[DreamSweetsLove]

We are going in Jan. and while sure it would be nice for it to open super fast there is so much going on behind the scenes on Disney's end. A new attraction costs a lot of money to build, why shouldn't they wait until it's the perfect time to open it in terms of marketing, merchandise, events etc. It would be foolish of them to open it ASAP even if it were already finished and operable by January. It's makes more sense to open it at the time they will receive the max benefit.

 

[Mad Hattered]

I give up. How long?

I asked you, Fanboi. Disney is a laughing stock on every single other website out there for the Mine Train pace, the fact that they had a Grand Opening with the land being far from complete, a sub par and almost laughably bad Mermaid clone with a cool que and a puppet show with Belle. The only thing people seem to remotely care about is BOG. Ok, they do have some pretty cool Rapunzel bathrooms.

Disney has let everything else degrade and have cheapened the experience (except for raising the prices on every thing). It's stale and stagnant, much like a lot of people said about Universal for the longest time. Disney is sitting on it's #$$ and expecting everything to just work out because hey, they're Disney. It's pretty apparent that many people on THIS site are becoming less enchanted with it on a daily basis. You would never see this before Potter came to town. At least not to the extreme that they speak up now. People are growing weary of it, suddenly Oz is being seen standing behind the curtain.

In the meantime we are going to track every sip of soda that you take, know where you are in the parks at any given time, make it a chore to schedule rides 60 days in advance, not to mention....save yourself a bowl of soup at BOG because you can, stand in line at one of 3 kiosks in the park in the hopes that you can maybe score a same day FP on a mountain but then be told you can't but you can score a coveted spot on COP. Give me a break.

I will give you this, though. At least they are finishing that LM store on the back side of the Mine Train pretty quickly. Heaven forbid they sit on their #$$ and not offer people another chance to buy something made in China.

Do some research on other sites that aren't drinking so much Kool-Aid and see what you come up with.

Edit - can you name another place in FL (or anywhere for that matter) that charges you the $15 parking fee if you take a taxi to their place of business?

 

[WDSearcher]

I asked you, Fanboi.

Oh ... so then you don't know? That's disappointing.

If Disney is a laughing stock on all the other websites, it doesn't really seem to be bothering them, so it doesn't bother me. I've got plenty to do in the parks while I wait for the new ride to open, and WDW's worth -- for me -- is not based on how often they open something, how many things they're building at any given time or how fast they can go from bare earth to completed attraction. If that's how you measure your appreciation of a tourist attraction, then clearly you're more "Universal" than you are "Disney" right now. In fact, based on your post, I'd actually put you in the Fanboi category yourself.

I hope you enjoy Universal and all the new rides, attractions and resorts. I'll be there enjoying them too. And when 7DMT opens, I'll be at Disney enjoying that. Because for some of us, it's not an "either / or" thing. We can see, appreciate and enjoy the benefits of both parks and their expansion plans.

 

[StitchesGr8Fan]

Why would Disney purposely be dragging their heels since time is money? The longer it takes them to finish, the longer their investment is tied up and they can't start getting a return on investment right?

 

[WDSearcher]

Why would Disney purposely be dragging their heels since time is money? The longer it takes them to finish, the longer their investment is tied up and they can't start getting a return on investment right?

Well ... yes and no. If they're planning on making a big announcement at the same time as they're planning on opening 7DMT, they may be timing it so that there's a tangible something to present at the same time as an announcement. It makes for a better press event.

They may have heard that Universal or SeaWorld is planning on announcing or opening something in the same general time frame and so they want to have something new too.

They may be trying to time it to another promotion or time of year -- spring break, Easter, summer, Labor Day ...

They may be trying to stretch the costs of the new attraction out over multiple fiscal years so that certain costs hit later. The mine train wasn't part of the initial plan, so it wasn't part of the initial budget. They may prefer to not have all the costs hit during certain quarters in order to maintain their margins.

Could be lots of things.

 

[PaGaLaGirl]

I was just hoping it would soft open in January for marathon weekend. They are having the first ever Dopey Challenge. One would think they would have the Mine Train open for all the Dopeys who paid $500 to run a race to ride. It would make sense. Just saying.

 

[jennylyn_b]

Everything you just stated is what Universal has done (except the slap on a new face thing....where have they done that?). Do you honestly think this kiddie coaster is going to be anywhere close to the technical wonder that Forbidden Journey is? Or the Hogwarts Express? Or the Gringott's Bank attraction? Universal would have themed this Mine Train to the max and had it open for business this past Spring.

If you want my honest opinion and you did ask. I don't particularly care what Universal does. I go to Disney and that is what I care about. Until you work there you don't know what they are doing behind the scenes. I'm also not looking for a crazy thrill ride to be added. My dd is 2.5 and I am looking forward to a family coaster.
With all the talk going around about new areas Disney might be doing I am sure their will be lots of new thrill rides coming soon. However, at least to me Disney is more family oriented and Universal is more thrill based. Something for everyone!

 

[dadofgoofy]

With that said, I don't even bother trying to say "Universal is doing this, this and this..." around these parts because it wouldn't matter if Universal opened the new Potter along with 16 amazing, state of art, game changing attractions in a year, people on here will still say, "No Universal is blah, blah, horrid, always second best, blah, blah, Universal could never beat Disney blah." It's like wasting typing time to even make a slight comparison.

But yeah, it is fact that Universal is popping out an entire themed land(and if WWoHP Phase 1 is any comparison it will be themed far beyond this mine coaster) with two major attractions, shops and restaurants, plus adding to WWoHP in IOA in a similar if not shorter time span that Disney is taking to create this one ride. Whether this time frame was Disney's intention or not still doesn't change that fact. People are going to comment and ask "why is this thing taking so long" when you see what other parks are doing in comparison. It's not exactly a dig against Disney but a general "why?" that's going to come up.

The fact is that Universal has to build at that pace, because their attendance numbers are below ALL 4 Orlando Parks. They are on the defensive. Frankly, if Universal can't even beat HS or AK in yearly attendance, why does Disney have to change their model.

Plus, the bonus for them is that they get the spread the cost over several fiscal years, and please Wall st. as well.

 

[xipetotec]

The fact is that Universal has to build at that pace, because their attendance numbers are below ALL 4 Orlando Parks. They are on the defensive. Frankly, if Universal can't even beat HS or AK in yearly attendance, why does Disney have to change their model.

Plus, the bonus for them is that they get the spread the cost over several fiscal years, and please Wall st. as well.

I have to agree.

I DO go to Universal. I do. But like once every 3-4 trips? The last time I went ( 2012 ) was the first time I went to Harry Potter. And it was the REASON I went. So we made a beeline for WWOHP, it was pretty crowded, but since we got there early, we got to ride everything there. Then did the rest of the park... which was dead... we were done THE WHOLE PARK by like 2-3pm. ( and got to ride Forbidden Journey three times in that time. ).

So yeah... attendance is still an issue.

 

[jennylyn_b]

I have to agree.

I DO go to Universal. I do. But like once every 3-4 trips? The last time I went ( 2012 ) was the first time I went to Harry Potter. And it was the REASON I went. So we made a beeline for WWOHP, it was pretty crowded, but since we got there early, we got to ride everything there. Then did the rest of the park... which was dead... we were done THE WHOLE PARK by like 2-3pm. ( and got to ride Forbidden Journey three times in that time. ).

So yeah... attendance is still an issue.

Excellent point!
I have friends that went to Disney Last April and they did a universal day for potter land. They said it was great, the ride was fun and the theming was lovely but it was TINY! They are all adults. They spent a couple hours and came back to Disney. They were glad they did it but said there is much more to do at Disney.

 

[xipetotec]

Excellent point!
I have friends that went to Disney Last April and they did a universal day for potter land. They said it was great, the ride was fun and the theming was lovely but it was TINY! They are all adults. They spent a couple hours and came back to Disney. They were glad they did it but said there is much more to do at Disney.

Well the harry Potter area is tiny... I mean there's lots to do at Islands of Adventure. It's just that everyone goes to Harry Potter, so everything else is a walk on. Done in a few hours. Even with re-rides. I like other rides there. I like Jurassic Park ( though it needs a refurb ), I LOVE Spider-man, I like the Popeye ride on a hot day. I love that they re-created the Jurassic Park guest center. Dr- Seuss land is lots of fun if you like the whimsey of Dr. Seuss. But a lot of it is lacking polish with so much money being put elsewhere and the attendance just wasn't there.

 

[jennylyn_b]

Well the harry Potter area is tiny... I mean there's lots to do at Islands of Adventure. It's just that everyone goes to Harry Potter, so everything else is a walk on. Done in a few hours. Even with re-rides. I like other rides there. I like Jurassic Park ( though it needs a refurb ), I LOVE Spider-man, I like the Popeye ride on a hot day. I love that they re-created the Jurassic Park guest center. Dr- Seuss land is lots of fun if you like the whimsey of Dr. Seuss. But a lot of it is lacking polish with so much money being put elsewhere and the attendance just wasn't there.

Gotcha. We've never been to Universal and at this point have no interest. That may change when our dd gets older, she's 2.5 yo now, we will see.

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

The bottom line here is that Uni is marketing to teens and older folks who want the Thrill rides. Yes they did a great job on Harry, no question about it, of course it was a slam duck to any park with the money, with the Potter base, (the question is in 10 years will it be around with no new books or movies). You can buy the movies in wally world for $4.00 each now.

And yes rarely do you hear that the rest of the IOA and the Uni park did not have much of a attendance interest or bump.

Disney made some big mistakes the last 4 year with Igor's book keepers cutting the budget on maintenance and limited new attractions. However if you looked around 2 year ago, you noticed a big change. All the complaints about long major refits of the Disney major attractions were the sign that they woke up and are spending the money again to bring things back up to Walt's standards.

Looking ahead at Star Wars which will be another major attendance draw like Car land and the other work on CA.

Avatar (which I personally don't see the Disney connection, but that is just my opinion), a WDW Car land or car attraction at least, and other resorts.

There is also the semi official statement or at least strong rumors of a proposed additional $2 billion of improvements and up dates and WDW parks etc.

Last point I will make is that the Disney product, whether its the parks, movies, ships, etc, etc, etc, has the Disney magic and pixie dust. There is no way around it, Disney is special.

Some like to be rude and snarky and use terms like kool aid and funboi and apologist, which is all they can do, after Potter is discussed.

Most here enjoyed Potter so did I(they did mess up with size and traffic flow) and I still don't care to spend more then 1 day at the small Uni. parks. There just is no heart in the Uni attractions, thrills yes, a few thing like Suess for children, but mostly thrill rides.

AKK

 

[WDSearcher]

I was just hoping it would soft open in January for marathon weekend. They are having the first ever Dopey Challenge. One would think they would have the Mine Train open for all the Dopeys who paid $500 to run a race to ride. It would make sense. Just saying.

As I mentioned earlier ...

They may be trying to time it to another promotion or time of year -- spring break, Easter, summer, Labor Day ...

 

[Mad Hattered]

Oh ... so then you don't know? That's disappointing.

If Disney is a laughing stock on all the other websites, it doesn't really seem to be bothering them, so it doesn't bother me. I've got plenty to do in the parks while I wait for the new ride to open, and WDW's worth -- for me -- is not based on how often they open something, how many things they're building at any given time or how fast they can go from bare earth to completed attraction. If that's how you measure your appreciation of a tourist attraction, then clearly you're more "Universal" than you are "Disney" right now. In fact, based on your post, I'd actually put you in the Fanboi category yourself.

I hope you enjoy Universal and all the new rides, attractions and resorts. I'll be there enjoying them too. And when 7DMT opens, I'll be at Disney enjoying that. Because for some of us, it's not an "either / or" thing. We can see, appreciate and enjoy the benefits of both parks and their expansion plans.

I've been to Disney way more than I have been to Universal. I've been there yearly (sometimes 3 times a year) since 1972. I can't remember exactly how many times because for the last 7 years it all just runs together. There is a reason for that.....it's called lazy and uninspired. So yeah, I guess I was a fanboi....then I realized that one cannot always view it through rose-colored glasses. Oh, and sugar is not good for you...

 

[MichiganDVC]

I was going to reply to particular posts, but it appears (thankfully) that others beat me to it.

Having said that, here is my advice for those of you who are upset that WDW is taking "so long" to complete the mine ride:

STOP GOING TO WDW!!!

I'm afraid to tell you, but the amount of people on theme park discussion boards is a TINY FRACTION of the people who go to WDW. Mainly because most of the people that go to Disney have jobs and they can't sit around on these forums all day complaining or reading about other people complaining.

So seriously, if you think that Universal is the bee's knees and Disney is old and stale, please do us all a favor: Get off the DISboards for good , turn in your annual pass, and spend all your vacation dollars elsewhere. You're acting like WDW is a neighborhood diner that just took your favorite meal off of the menu. Disney won't notice if you or, frankly, ALL of us on the Disboards never return! Their attendance continues to rise for a few reasons:
1. Globalization has allowed incomes to rise around the world and made transportation and leisure more accessible to the masses, therefore more people from more places can go to WDW.
2. There are more people in the world...and our population grows every minute. Yet, WDW is a finite space. So, by shear numbers alone, WDW has nothing to worry about.
50 million people attended WDW parks last year. How will it look when that number is 75 million? 100 million?
So actually, Disney is being quite smart. It realizes all these things and is trying to plan for TOMORROW'S world when 25 million people are in the Magic Kingdom each year rather than 17 million. Can you imagine that?! Disney can. This is why we see MyMagic and FP+ and RFID chips in refillable mugs, etc... Disney knows that they're going to have to efficiently organize their visitors' experiences - otherwise everyday will look like Magic Kingdom on the 4th of July!! Universal may be building new rides, but it is trying to become what WDW was 20 years ago. WDW is trying to become what we need 20 years from now.

I recently asked my mom some questions about our trips to WDW in the early '80s and one thing she told me really stood out: When asked if my sister or I had input in our family touring plans each day or whether my parents just said, "we're going this way, be quiet," my mom said that there weren't as many choices then as there are now. Although that seems obvious, it should really resonate here. 30 years ago, there were two parks. No AK, no HS at all. No DTD. No water parks. There were two resorts: Poly and Contemporary. Look how much WDW has grown in 30 years! And we squabble about one ride?!

It's not how many E-ticket rides you can cram into a space...it's the total experience! From the time you enter the gate until the time you leave.
If you don't get that experience, then Disney isn't for you. So do everyone a favor and stop clogging our threads with whining and stop going to WDW because it is already too crowded as it is. Disney won't notice.

 

[jade1]

Well the harry Potter area is tiny... I mean there's lots to do at Islands of Adventure. It's just that everyone goes to Harry Potter, so everything else is a walk on. Done in a few hours. Even with re-rides. I like other rides there. I like Jurassic Park ( though it needs a refurb ), I LOVE Spider-man, I like the Popeye ride on a hot day. I love that they re-created the Jurassic Park guest center. Dr- Seuss land is lots of fun if you like the whimsey of Dr. Seuss. But a lot of it is lacking polish with so much money being put elsewhere and the attendance just wasn't there.

Yep, but what a great day trip it is. Hope it keeps growing.

Out of a 10 day WDW trip, our day trip to IOA is one of our favorite days when we look back. WDW crushes it overall-but it is a stand out day when we look back.

 

[xipetotec]

Yep, but what a great day trip it is. Hope it keeps growing.

Out of a 10 day WDW trip, our day trip to IOA is one of our favorite days when we look back. WDW crushes it overall-but it is a stand out day when we look back.

Yeah yeah, we love Harry Potter ( the franchise, not just the park ). We were looking very forward to it, and we were not dissapointed! We did have a great time. But we will not be going back until Phase 2 is open.

I think the Disney vs Universal chatter needs to chill out. It's all good. And some have preferences for one over the other. Whatever. For us, the Disney magic is still alive. That doesn't mean we won't wander and check out what's new at Universal from time to time. ( But they still haven't sold us on going every trip. And we DO take 10 day vacations )

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

It's not how many E-ticket rides you can cram into a space...it's the total experience! From the time you enter the gate until the time you leave.

This !

AKK

 

[xipetotec]

It's not how many E-ticket rides you can cram into a space...it's the total experience! From the time you enter the gate until the time you leave.

This !

AKK

I agree and that's why I found WWOHP fabulous even though really, it was ONE new attraction and two reskinned ones. But the whole experience was beautiful. As I'm sure I'll find new FantasyLand.