Soft Opening Announcements?

[ryanmilla]

When they have a soft opening for a ride, do you have to be in the particular park to know about it?

For instance with Expedition Everest, would the CMs at our resort know if it was running a soft opening during our stay? We have a quick trip planned in mid-Dec and are not planning to go to AK this time b/c of lack of time. However, if there was a soft opening we said we would adjust to make it over there. We understand that it is a long shot this early, but stranger things have been known to happen.

 

[CDSTapisRouge]

With the exception of the Annual Pass Holder and DVC Soft openings which are scheduled...soft openings are a test and adjust period and are usually random and completely unannounced. You could walk by an attraction and speak to the CM out front who will tell you they will not be open and 10 minutes later they could be allowing people in to ride. This way they are not held to any timeframe by the guests...they can open and close without notice to tweak things if necessary. Generally they will start an actual opening a few weeks before the official opening date (to get the cast ready and try and run the ride through the entire day) but a typical soft opening/test and adjust is not something that is publicized, even to the cast members around property.

 

[ryanmilla]

With the exception of the Annual Pass Holder and DVC Soft openings which are scheduled...

So they do announce the AP and DVC soft openings though? Ok, we are both, so hopefully if they have it we will see something.

Thanks!

 

[CDSTapisRouge]

Yes AP and DVC soft openings are announced. There is usually something posted on the AP/DVC web sites and/or a flyer mailed to your home letting you know about it... DVC resorts also add the flyer to their welcome home packet advising of the dates and times.

 

[ambymm018]

Just to let you know if you're talking about THIS December, don't bother going to DAK ExEv won't be ready for the soft open by then as far as next December, the ride's offical opening is Nov '06 so there's no need to worry about the ride not being open I would say that the late summer/early fall (August/September) is when you can expect a soft opening (the cast preview hasn't been announced but the soft opening for DVC/AP is around the same time). But you never can tell as it always depends on how far construction is!

 

[whacked]

Actually the DVC/annual passholder events aren't really soft openings, they are scheduled previews that usually occur right before the public "official" opening of the ride.

Soft openings are by definition unannounced openings to test the ride with the public to see if the ride, line areas, etc work as expected. They are not announced, and you find out about them by noticing that the ride is open when you walk by. They may open for a few minutes or hours at a time randomly before the ride is "officially" opened to the public.

We had been allowed on TT in WDW and Soarin' in DL during unannounced soft openings. The rides opened and closed without being announced. The ride may also shut while you are in line. TT stopped several times on different occasions while we were riding it. Soarin' worked just fine, but it is not as complex as TT.

I believe that we rode TT several weeks before the official opening of the ride. As I recall we were there in January of 99 and rode it several times. The official opening was in the middle of March of the same year. The engineers were still arguing about the location of the seatbelt plug when we rode it, and it was changed after we had ridden it.

They will not have the official opening until the engineers believe that the ride will be up and running on a regular basis.

 

[Horizons16]

just an FYI, glanced and didnt see these dates,

Disney is holding an EE grand opening press event April 6-8 2006. The dates of course, may change.

 

[SyracuseWolvrine]

the ride's offical opening is Nov '06

All the signage I've seen indicates that the ride will be opening "Spring 2006". I think November would be stretching the definition of "Spring".

 

[noladave]

I've hit 2 soft openings. In July 2003, we hit Mission Space, and then this past summer, I hit Soarin. I could not confirm either soft opening when entering the park, you just had to go by the attraction, and see if they were letting people in.

The nice thing about this, is that most people aren't aware of it, and in the case of Soarin, I was able to get off the ride, walk around, and wait only 15 minutes to ride again.. Similar experience with Mission Space.

Downside is that bugs are being worked out of the rides during soft opening, and the ride can suddenly go down for hours... ( not that this happens to live rides, right??).

 

[WeLoveTheMouse]

Everest was running the track without passengers when we were there for EMH on October 11th.

 

[ambymm018]

Nov 06 is what's listed on the cast portal and was what was given to me in my HCOE info packet. The nice thing about rides is that the dates can change based on how fast construction is completed. Even though cast was informed Nov 06 doesn't really mean much, personally for me it's the earlier the better

 

[tink22]

December would be pretty early for soft openings if the official date is around spring of next year. I remember when we were doing tests for Stitch they began around Sept. and were completely unannounced as CDSTapis Rouge stated. So I wouldn't make a special trip to AK just for that. Maybe if it were to open in Jan but not as late as March/April. Something to look forward to next time, right?

 

[Ashes8380]

I would love if it was running in January.. I love coasters and will be there just a little too early for EE