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Empress Brosephine posted:Didn't the opening of Harry Potter forbidden prove that not true? It ate into their bottom line, but Magic Kingdom alone still sees more guests annually than both Universal parks.
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Apr 30, 2021 04:20
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I hate any type of Fastpass/Express pass, whatever. What many visitors do not get is that they ALL artificially inflate the standby line, and not by an insignificant amount. The ones you pay for are absolutely nickel and diming you (pay to experience the number of attractions you would if this system didn't exist!), but there are some positives over Disney's Fastpass system. On a lighter day, not as many people purchase the Express pass, so it has less of an effect on the standby line. Disney's Fastpass system is free because it isn't a "skip the line" pass, it's a form of virtual queuing, AKA a way to allow people more time in shops and restaurants, spending money. Disney distributes enough of them per attraction to account for 80% of that attraction's capacity. The fact that you can pre-book three Fastpasses means more people ride entering through the Fastpass line than standby, and the average visitor must use Fastpass to experience the same number of attractions as they would if the system didn't exist at all. But given the two, I do much prefer Disney's system. Though the standby lines have been much more pleasant with Fastpass suspended since COVID, Disney's system is a level playing field for all visitors. Those who know the ins and outs of it, like myself, can "game" it to experience a little more than others. I do miss that. Fluffy Bunnies posted:
WDW as a whole is a better and more interesting experience than Disneyland, especially if you stay on property. However, Disneyland park itself is legions better than Magic Kingdom. DCA is not an amazing park but does have a huge ride selection. Put together, Disneyland Resort and WDW have about the same number of E-ticket attractions. (please don't quote me with a nitpicking list about how I'm slightly wrong).
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May 1, 2021 02:17
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You are going to the lesser park.
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Anyways, I got to ride Velocicoaster today! I do believe it is Orlando's most intense coaster. Several holy poo poo moments. It is not intense due to strong positive g-forces (it doesn't have them) but rather the numerous moments of absolutely insane ejector airtime and inversion "hang time". The queue is awesome. Like Hulk and Rip Ride Rockit, you do have to store your cell phones and go through metal detectors, but they set it up in a much, MUCH better way. You can bring everything in the queue, the lockers are inside the queue, and they are two-sided. You insert your items on one side right before riding, and grab them as you leave on the other side. That said, people are absolutely jizzing over it, but I wasn't completely blown away. I am a firm believer that intensity in roller coasters doesn't necessarily equal fun. While this is still fun, it lacks a feeling of exhilaration that, say, Hagrid's has. The layout being very compact feels slightly awkward and leads to several transitions that feel clunky to me rather than flowing. But make no mistake, it's definitely a top coaster in Florida. I was also a tad let down by the lack of show scenes. I thought this might be like Hagrid's and have a surprise show scene halfway through, but there's only a brief one right at the beginning.
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May 1, 2021 02:47
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Alpenglow posted:80% Fastpass was always the most miserable part of Disney operations anywhere that passes book out more than a few hours ahead. One moderate downtime and the good vibes of line flow were irredeemably hosed for the rest of the day. Even when leads could quietly override it down to 60-70% it made a huge difference in things going smoothly. Yuup. Fastpass+ made this significantly worse too. With the paper passes, they could distribute less for the remainder of the day, create a gap in the return time, or even finish them completely for the day to account for downtimes. But with Fastpass+, everyone has them pre-booked and they must be honored. Also when an attraction goes down, everyone with a Fastpass for it can use it at another attraction in the same tier. This means other attractions get screwed too when a major attraction goes down.
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May 1, 2021 02:53
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Asehujiko posted:Have you ridden any other Intamin Blitz before? If so how does it compare to those? Before opening I saw a lot of people saying it would be mostly like Taron but that one is pretty much the opposite of what you're describing, ie it doesn't focus on airtime at all but is amazingly good at fitting elements into its tiny footprint. I've ridden Maverick and Cheetah Hunt. Maverick is mostly focused on strong g-forces through tight maneuvers. Cheetah Hunt is more on the family side. Velocicoaster is a little weird because it does not have strong G forces. Like Cheetah Hunt, the launches are weak and the tight turns don't produce much intensity. The main difference is the top hat and inversions on Velocicoaster are VERY intense, as are a few other moments of ejector airtime. I think if the layout felt more natural and less compact it would be unquestionably great, but as it is it does feel very much like attempting to cram more than they should in a very small space. Coaster enthusiasts tend to place more emphasis on airtime and hangtime than anything else so I do think that combined with the excitement of a new experience means most are going to rave about it. It's by no means bad though, it's very good. I just don't think it's unquestionably great.
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May 1, 2021 17:24
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Zero One posted:Spaceship Earth does have Fastpass. Well it did pre Covid anyway. Yeah, the you really can't compare wait times to the 90's because there are too many other factors. What we can compare now though is COVID wait times. For example, with COVID and no Fastpass, the line for Big Thunder Mountain can stretch all the way to Haunted Mansion, practically. Even with the reduced capacity, it still takes less time than a full, non-socially distanced queue contained inside the attraction with Fastpass active and full capacity. For the line to stretch all the way to Haunted Mansion, even if you removed the social distancing, it would not fit inside the standby queue. This is because the crowd levels are just that much higher than when the attraction was designed, and all of these people would normally be filling in two queues instead of one. Another thing to note is that the posted wait times since re-opening are greatly inflated. Disney has always done this, but it's been more drastic with COVID. This is 1. to discourage people from queuing since the lines are already stretching way too far from the attraction, and 2. to account for pauses in loading where they clean the vehicles.
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May 1, 2021 17:32
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I do get that and I am a little torn. It's definitely nice to head to a park knowing you have at least three attractions with little to no wait. But on the other hand, without Fastpass, the lines typically aren't 90 minutes. Since COVID, I haven't waited more than 45 minutes for anything, and that is with reduced attraction capacity. The queues, without Fastpass, also are much, MUCH more pleasant because you are constantly moving. With Fastpass, you wait through what would be like a 15 minute wait with no Fastpass... for 90 minutes. Again, to reiterate, a Big Thunder Mountain queue stretching all the way to Liberty Square with no Fastpass and reduced capacity was about 35 minutes.
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May 1, 2021 19:25
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Asehujiko posted:Shame to hear about the weak launches, do they at least make the proper sound? They're pretty quiet. More like Hagrid's launches. Something that bothers me is the first launch has a rolling start when it really should have started from a standstill.
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May 1, 2021 20:21
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Here's a better video of Velocicoaster. It might get taken down soon. Also unless you really care about the queue being spoiled, there's nothing really to spoil on the ride by watching this. The ride experience itself is just a rollercoaster. What you see when walking around is what it is. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eryni0O750
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May 4, 2021 03:34
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They re-recorded Golden Dream a few years ago and the "wooOOooOooo" is not quite as obnoxious.
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May 4, 2021 23:11
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Plaid is so overrated. Your main job is basically to get yelled at. Disney is the only place that holds such positions in high regard. All other theme parks don't place special value over them. I worked a bunch of jobs, mostly attractions, at WDW. My absolute favorite was Tower of Terror. It's a nice mix of technical knowledge, freedom, and performing that not many jobs get to do. Unfortunately, Tower of Terror is in bad shape now and they don't really encourage performance theming anymore. Rise of the Resistance now is what Tower of Terror used to be like.
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May 14, 2021 02:43
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BlueBayou posted:I should elaborate. VIP tour guide plaid. Ah ok. In that case, same. I always wanted to do this and share my obsessive knowledge, but never got the chance.
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May 14, 2021 03:00
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Yeah, people assume October will be cooler, but it really doesn't happen until mid November. March, on the other hand, is usually perfect and can still get kind of cold.
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May 14, 2021 17:04
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Dugong posted:From memory, the belts on that model of coaster are a fail safe and do nothing. Anyone could open them mid ride and be completely fine. The harness on the other hand is technically always locked except when the tech within the ride station unlocks it. You’d need some serious bolt cutters to open the harness mid ride by cutting wires at the back of the harness behind your seat. The harnesses are locked by default and require power from an external source to unlock. When the train is in the station, levers on the track push levers on the train that release the harnesses. The harnesses are not locked by hydraulic pressure or anything that cutting a wire or cable would cause them to release. The only way to unlock them outside of the station on all modern coasters is by manipulating a lever that the riders can't reach. The seatbelts on classic B&M rides (like Hulk and Montu) serve two purposes - 1. They're a failsafe, should the harness still come unlocked (the likelihood of this happening is almost impossible). and 2. They're an indicator that the harness has been lowered to the legally agreed upon level. For instance, the harness might be locked and unable to raise, but if the seatbelt can't reach the buckle, then the harness isn't down far enough. Hence why bigger people are turned away even if the harness is still locked on them.
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May 19, 2021 18:53
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I'm pretty sure they were directly trolling DisTwitter and all that. Those animatronics had to be not just refurbished, but improved, right? They're so fluid!
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May 20, 2021 08:29
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Jose Oquendo posted:Has anyone used SFB for flying in/out of Orlando? There's a regional airport and airline here that has flights going to it. It's a little cheaper and will save me a ton of time going to the airport. I'm just curious if there's anything bad about the airport that would make it less of an option. The travel time from there to Disney might offset whatever time you save traveling to your regional airport. Especially if its during rush hour. Driving through downtown Orlando during rush hour just really, really sucks.
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May 24, 2021 22:31
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I walked around Portofino once and didn't think it was that nice. The exterior looks good from a distance, but up close you see that there's a lot of open concrete. Inside, the theming reminded me of like, a themed mall. Disney's deluxe and some moderate resorts are much better, IMO.
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May 28, 2021 04:42
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Yeah, ever since early March Orlando has had a much higher amount of tourists than an average normal year for the same time. I anticipate this being the worst and busiest summer here possibly ever, and there's no real way to predict the rest of the year either because everything is thrown off. It doesn't help that before COVID the concept of a "slow season" didn't really exist anymore. It used to be that January, February, September, and October were more or less guaranteed light crowds. Growing up my family and I always came during these times and rarely ever experienced long waits. These days, pre-covid, you might get a slow week here or there but it's a crapshoot, and the weekends are still crazy. Another one is the first two weeks of December. Historically the parks would be a ghost town at this time but now they're really busy. Part of it is the internet allowing everyone to know the "lightest" times and booking around that information, and another part of it is Disney perfected their marketing to kind of even out the crowds throughout the year and as well as fill in the light periods. The only tips that I feel really apply anymore are: - avoid any week where any large portion of the country is off from school - avoid any week with a holiday. not just major holidays but minor ones like labor day and memorial day. You'd be surprised how much just that ONE day can cause a flux of tourists for an entire week around it. - if you can, avoid weekends, and especially avoid Saturday like the plague. Saturdays in the Orlando parks are absolute hell and I will never, ever set foot in one on a Saturday. - Only vacation in Mid-November through the end of April if you want the highest change of lower humidity.
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Jun 1, 2021 21:21
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skipdogg posted:All of that it definitely solid advice. All excellent points. I worked at Disney from 2007-2016, and I observed their general guidelines go from "always spend a little more to ensure people have a great time and want to come back", to "use big data to find the exact ratio of enjoyment to dissatisfaction a guest can have to still want to come back". Meaning, previously an attraction would be staffed and budgeted to run at full capacity, and they would only reduce operational capacity if it was slow enough that it wouldn't make a difference (ignoring issues that force reduced capacity). If a ride was a walk-on, they typically wouldn't reduce capacity unless the vehicles weren't even being filled. Today, it's usually more like your example. They'll reduce capacity to save a little money, even though it means people wait 25 minutes instead of 5 minutes, their logic being that 25 minutes is still an "acceptable" wait time. It's really dumb and misguided, in my opinion. Every guest that experiences those late-night walk-on moments is far more likely to want to return than a guest that doesn't experience any of those moments. All of my greatest Magic Kingdom moments and experiences, for example, come from arriving in the early evening and running around in the last two hours walking on to most of the attractions. Universal unfortunately has always operated under a similar guideline, only not as calculated. But generally walk-ons = bad, a waste of labor. Not the same thing but in similar vein, the gift shops in the parks used to include a bunch of loss leaders. Shops that wouldn't sell very much, but their mere existence boosts the overall park experience and perception of value. A shop that sells custom wood carvings might not sell much, but it would add to the thematic atmosphere and people who browse through it will think that it's cool that Disney is offering that service. Today every merchandise shop is perfectly calculated to sell as much as possible, so many shops have repeat and generic merchandise. It sells more, but you feel that you're being marketed to rather than immersed in a setting. Bottom Liner posted:Where are you getting that info from? Not doubting you, just curious. I live right in the heart of the tourist area and my daily commute is through all of it. Traffic has been insane, it constantly feels like its Christmas break with how much traffic there is, how packed the grocery stores and restaurants are, drive throughs wrapping around buildings, etc. I realize this isn't scientific or based on official data or anything, but its noticeably different. I should also clarify that it isn't necessarily the parks that are busier than average, but just that more people are just coming to Orlando in general. Disney is still seeing lower then average crowds due to still strictly enforcing reduced capacity (I don't think this will last much longer), and while I don't have the official numbers, Universal and SeaWorld have been busier than average.
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Jun 1, 2021 22:22
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Boxman posted:The other thing about visiting in September that I don't think anyone has mentioned it is that it stands a very real chance of being hotter than satan's butthole. It can get incredibly hot and sticky. There are plenty of places in the US with similar weather, but if you haven't experienced the joy of 90 degrees and heavy humidity, it will make you want to die for a bit. Yup. October too. In fact they might even be worse than June - August because you don't get the daily afternoon downpour to cool things off. I think people who don't live here assume that September and October will be cooler, but they aren't. The earliest it cools down is late October, but more often it doesn't happen until mid November.
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Jun 1, 2021 22:25
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That Spider-Man ride is inexcusably bad. We're living in a weird era where theme parks are simultaneously releasing some of the best and worst rides ever made. For starters, theme parks need to loving GIVE UP on interactive rides because they're almost always trash.
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Jun 4, 2021 03:04
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There's been a lot of talk that park reservations will stay anyway because it means they can adjust labor accordingly. However, what these people don't realize is that Disney can already predict with pretty good accuracy how busy the park will be on any given day and already does adjust staffing and hours around that. What I'm kind of annoyed about is that they're still blocking most AP's for the summer. First off since they're not selling any APs still, those of us who remained onboard should get some benefits, and 2. Since the park pass system is still in place, they should at least open it up to us on the day of if reservations end up lower for that day.
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Jun 4, 2021 18:55
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This pisses me off. But it's true, Universal has a problem with trashy clientele. It's been a problem for a while, and they don't do enough to quell it. They want so badly to be the local hangout the way Disneyland is to Southern California, but unlike Disneyland they attract the trash that a typical regional thrill park attracts.
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Jun 9, 2021 18:16
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The noodles were good but I wouldn't base going or not going there around them. A few years ago I noticed a dip in the quality of the meats and that was my main issue. It went from feeling like a deal for the price considering the quality of the unlimited food to feeling like "ok, yeah, I can see why this is unlimited."
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Jun 9, 2021 19:42
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BlueBayou posted:Don't be a fool and fill up on noodles! Save room for the expensive stuff! I'm pretty sure it was intentional trolling. It's both ridiculous but also a cartoony thing Donald would do to get out of performing at the concert.
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Jun 9, 2021 19:59
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Fantasmic has great moments but the DHS version has a ton of filler to fill out a long enough show to justify the extra ordeal and effort out of your day to see it.
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Jun 16, 2021 07:15
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BlueBayou posted:Harmonious looks like its going to be really bad Even if it does end up being good, I'll dislike it on the principle that a MaGiCaL DiSnEy show doesn't belong at Epcot.
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Jun 22, 2021 22:52
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Wait so is all of Toon Town going away or just part of it?
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Jun 25, 2021 01:52
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They spread false information and harass theme park employees. I hope they get banned from all social media.
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Jun 25, 2021 04:44
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Omne posted:The theming of Grand Floridian is getting too mixed. You've got 1900 Park Fare and Grand Floridian Cafe, which fit the overall theme of the resort. Then you've got Enchanted Rose, themed to Beauty and the Beast (France). Now you've got Citricos being themed to Mary Poppins (London). Oh, and Narcoosee's, a New Orleans-themed spot. Yep, welcome to Bob Chapek's vision for Disney Parks and Resorts.
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Jun 30, 2021 06:26
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Since the end of the 2008 recession and its lingering effects, crowds were increasing every year until COVID, and now they're obviously quickly going to return to those numbers. Their endgame for a while has been to find the sweet spot of how much they can charge to where the parks are no longer overcrowded, but enough people still go to make the same profit or more. So far it seems they have yet to find the plateau.
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Jul 6, 2021 22:16
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alg posted:Is it possible people against FastPass are locals who can just skip rides with long waits? I want to ride stuff like Everest, Rise of the Resistance, Slinky Dog, etc every trip so I'm just force to wait if they don't bring it back Every person who has ever operated a Fastpass attraction (and also cares enough about their job to pay attention and ask questions) such as myself will tell you that Fastpass is almost completely detrimental to the theme park experience, but is beneficial to Disney. It allows Disney to manipulate crowd flow, keep queues and seats filled, and (in theory) allows for slightly more time spending money in shops and restaurants. This is the whole reason it was made free in the first place. People like it because of the illusion that you are "skipping the long standby line." The reality, however, is that you are using a virtual queuing/reservation system that the vast majority of any popular attraction's riders also used. Disney distributes enough Fastpasses to account for 80% of each attraction's hourly capacity. This is also a rolling number in 5 minute increments, so instead of there being a constant, steady, manageable flow of Fastpass users entering the Fastpass queue, it often gets slammed with a huge surge, resulting in 90-95% or sometimes even 100% of the attraction's seats devoted to Fastpass users, which completely grinds the standby line to a halt - something that would not happen with only one line. Nothing is worse than standing in a line that isn't moving or ends up being way longer than posted because of a surge of Fastpass users. You simply cannot feed two lines, while giving huge priority to one, into a fixed capacity attraction without resulting in artificially inflating the other line. Another argument people often make is that "those Fastpass users would just be in the standby line anyway and the result would be the same wait time", but this is also false. Having a second line with higher priority results in more people riding before you when you queue up in a standby line than would be physically possible with only one line. Fastpass+ also further complicated things because of advanced booking ensuring that the Fastpass bookings are fully utilized regardless of how busy the park actually is. With the old legacy paper ticket system, you would, say, arrive in the morning, grab a Fastpass for the most popular attraction, and queue up for another attraction with a short wait. But, with Fastpass+, you arrive at the park already having a Fastpass for both, so both attractions now have a more artificially inflated standby line. What it boils down to is: when Fastpass is in use, you MUST use it to experience the same number of attractions you would if it wasn't offered. Those who don't use it are experiencing less. With Fastpass+, this means a lot of extra work, including in advance, to experience what you would if it didn't exist. Some, but what amounts to a very small percentage of guests, know enough about the Fastpass system to game it and can experience slightly more than average. This, however, involves a lot of extra strategy and planning in advance as well as constantly checking the app while you're in the park. As both a local and having worked with troubleshooting the system I know how to game it very well, but given the choice I would rather not have to do that at all and not worry about it, than either do it or experience less. e: tl;dr: basically, you have to use a Fastpass to skip the artificially inflated, overly long line that Fastpass created. SweetMercifulCrap! fucked around with this message at 01:06 on Jul 7, 2021 |
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Jul 7, 2021 01:01
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Roadie posted:I have to wonder if a lot of that crowd flow thing wouldn't work itself out automatically if they just had a single line for every ride and then put up discreet monitors everywhere showing current wait times for all the rides. Universal has this. Disney sort of does - each park has a main tipboard near the center of the park with wait time information. Both resorts also have the wait times updates on their respective apps. It's not always the best thing though as a guest. As soon as a popular attraction posts a low wait time on a busy day, half the park stampedes to it and it shoots right back up. By the time you get to it, the line might be long again.
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Jul 7, 2021 02:55
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Junkie Disease posted:Here's my ideal, no lines only online virtual queue It's a bad idea for a few reasons: 1. There still has to be at least some queue anyway to ensure enough people are actually there to fill the seats 2. Evenly spreads demand for the attraction across the operating day, potentially removing the possibility of short waits or walk-ons in the evening. 3. Without people in the queues, all the walkways, shops, and restaurants would become unbearable and they already get pretty ridiculous.
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Jul 10, 2021 06:08
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Fluffy Bunnies posted:You have to show up 15 minutes prior. Boom, done. "You must show up 15 minutes early" makes absolutely no difference than "you must show up at X:XX". Also having very hard defined returned times also sucks because so many things can happen that prevent you from getting there on time.
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Jul 10, 2021 17:22
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BlueBayou posted:Yeah iirc the way they are scoped for the fire code assumes a certain number of people are in lines. Yup, good point. If nobody were in the lines, they would have to lower the park capacity. (this of course might be their eventual goal with keeping the park reservation system...) This is one reason the parks still looked busy at times even at 20% capacity like the first few months after re-opening from Covid. With all the rides being walk-on, and none of the high capacity theater shows running, everyone was on the walkways most of the time.
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Jul 10, 2021 18:18
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Fluffy Bunnies posted:ok so there's no reason for fp or dessert parties to show up 30-45 minutes early for something like fantasmic with regard to walkways. I'm not sure what point you're trying to make.
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Jul 11, 2021 17:09
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Love Stole the Day posted:Orlando trip report (not only about WDW because we often talk about neighboring parks as well itt): Nice to hear that Volcano Bay is operating smoothly now. For the first year or two there were nothing but complaints about it being stressful and unorganized and still having to wait long even after your line reservation. Keep in mind though that Volcano Bay has a very limited capacity, and you have wave pools and lazy rivers to enjoy while you wait for the slides. Having the theme parks operate this way would not be as fun. Agreed that Disney's food options are legions above everything else. There's even a variety of high quality quick service options. Anyone who complains about the food at Disney, other than its price, likely ate burgers, hot dogs, and pizza, and tried nothing else.
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Jul 17, 2021 18:30
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I worked at SeaWorld for a bit. While I'm no animal expert, the care the animals receive - and all the employees who actually work with the animals can attest to this - actually is top notch. Anyone still believing otherwise is misinformed and their only research was "Blackfish". SeaWorld is also exceptionally clean because of this. In terms of cleanliness both what you see and what you don't see, SeaWorld is better than Disney and WAY better than Universal (which is honestly filthy). However, doing literally any other job at SeaWorld is crap, which is why of the big three in Orlando, SeaWorld has the lowest quality of employees and service.
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Jul 18, 2021 04:05
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Junkie Disease posted:Trip report, Universal parking and entrance worse than any dmv Yup, it’s weird. Weekdays are busier than weekends now at Universal. Also this NEVER used to happen. For years I would park at the CityWalk parking for work and it never happened, not even on Christmas week. I believe this is possibly Universal’s busiest summer ever. I also think a few factors are at play: - More people drove this summer to Orlando than ever have. - People are arriving in Orlando with no plans and finding out Disney is booked. - They fear Universal will reach capacity too so everyone shows up at the same time. Note: Universal is not enforcing any limited capacity. In general throughout Orlando, this summer is way busier than I’ve ever seen it. The parks are slammed, tourist traffic is insane, the grocery stores and restaurants around the parks are slammed. It’s nuts.
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Jul 21, 2021 17:55
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