• ℹ️ Heads up...

    This is a popular topic that is fast moving Guest - before posting, please ensure that you check out the first post in the topic for a quick reminder of guidelines, and importantly a summary of the known facts and information so far. Thanks.

WDW Orlando General

BigAl

BigAl

TS Member
Favourite Ride
Forbidden Journey
220px-Walt_Disney_World_logo.svg.png

Screamscape has highlighted an article on Mice Chat which comments on a lack of love that some of the older attractions at the WDW Orlando theme parks have been receiving:

General Resort News - (12/19/12) A very interesting article, pointing out in good detail about the long running problems that have been affecting the health of the Walt Disney World parks was posted to MiceChat this week. In addition to a lot of operating problems and complaints that I’ve had about the WDW over the years, it also points out the irony that Disney will spend extravagant amounts of cash on new attractions, and yet leave tattered surface areas of older attraction unpainted and unrepaired for years. The Yeti, the nets under The Tree of Life in Animal Kingdom and now tarps over the Splash Mountain station to catch the crumbling rockwork that is said to be in danger of falling. Check it out.
Click to expand...

Tut tut.

:p
 
I've not read through the whole article as it's very long, but maybe if even Disney can't maintain parts of their rides we shouldn't expect Merlin to be able to redo theming left right and centre? I guess it shows money is tight for everyone when it comes to investments that give no monetary return!

:)
 
Disney can afford it, they are just choosing at the moment to spend all their money on the Next-Gen/Fastpass+ stuff. But WDW need to start changing how they run their parks, Universal are the parks on the up at the moment.

Things aren't as bad as MiceAge make out, they are a bit OTT over there. Barely ever see anything postitive posted.

Rumours are going around that there are going to be a few management changes coming to Team Disney Orlando so they are more like their Anaheim counterparts.
 
The difference in quality between the Anaheim and Orlando operations is completely staggering. Partially this is due to the crowd - Orlando is much more of a tourist trap, whereas DL apeals to both locals and tourists. It's also just too big for it's own good. Telling people that WDW is underinvested in is absurd, but it's true, it just coasts along.
 
WDW seems to be the black sheep of the Disney family, from a management and operational point-of-view. Which is a shame, because in every other respect, it's their flagship property. Their most visited and iconic park also seems to have the worst management.

Anaheim when I went in 2009 was absolutely spotless, almost creepily so. It opened in 1955, but if I hadn't known I would have said it opened in 2009.
 
Saw this over on TPR and DisneyParks Blog:

At Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, we continually push the boundaries of creativity and innovation to deliver the best possible experience for our guests. We’re always looking for ways to take what we do and do it even better. Over the past few years, we’ve devoted considerable time and resources to create a more immersive, more seamless and more personal experience for each and every guest who spends time with us. I know there’s been significant speculation about these efforts among our fans, so we’re pleased to give you a glimpse into the work we are doing to take the entire Disney guest experience to the next level.

Some of these initiatives are more apparent and can already be seen by our guests – like our interactive queues at Walt Disney World Resort and the Enchanted Art on our cruise ships – while others are more behind-the-scenes and are focused on “how” visitors plan, access and enjoy their experiences with us. Over the next several months, we’ll be rolling out a collection of tools at the Walt Disney World Resort called MyMagic+ that will give guests more opportunities to customize and personalize their entire visit.

Like most people who visit Walt Disney World Resort, my family and I have our “must-do” attractions, and as the father of three boys, those attractions often end with the word “mountain.” Now, rather than dashing as a group, or even splitting up to gather FastPasses, imagine booking guaranteed ride times for your favorite shows and attractions even before setting foot in the park. With MyMagic+, guests will be able to do that and more, enabling them to spend more time together and creating an experience that’s better for everyone.

A major component of MyMagic+ is the new My Disney Experience website and mobile app, which gives guests planning their trip the latest information on all Walt Disney World Resort has to offer. We know that some people like to plan every aspect of their Disney vacation in advance while others like to plan very little, letting their day unfold spontaneously. No matter where guests fall in that spectrum, My Disney Experience gives them the flexibility to plan as much or as little as they’d like to create the exact Disney experience they want. They can book dining and other experiences and reserve times for their favorite attractions, shows and more through an enhanced FastPass system, FastPass+. Once they arrive, they can use their smart phones to spontaneously change their plans in the moment, exploring our parks at their own pace and getting the most out of their visit.

Linking the entire MyMagic+ experience together is an innovative piece of technology we developed called the MagicBand. Worn on the wrist, it will serve as a guest’s room key, theme park ticket, access to FastPass+ selections, PhotoPass card and optional payment account all rolled into one. We’ve began testing certain aspects of MyMagic+ in Florida last month and the early reactions we’ve gotten have been fantastic.

This collection of tools is another step forward in the ongoing evolution of our guest experience, giving us even more ways to help friends and family create the unforgettable Disney memories that they want most. We’ll be testing, adjusting and adding features to MyMagic+ and My Disney Experience over time and will continue to make improvements based on our guests’ feedback. We look forward to sharing more with you in the months ahead!
Click to expand...

Taking the Disney Guest Experience to the Next Level

Sounds interesting and really unique. The feature that jumped out at me the most was this:

Linking the entire MyMagic+ experience together is an innovative piece of technology we developed called the MagicBand. Worn on the wrist, it will serve as a guest’s room key, theme park ticket, access to FastPass+ selections, PhotoPass card and optional payment account all rolled into one. We’ve began testing certain aspects of MyMagic+ in Florida last month and the early reactions we’ve gotten have been fantastic.
Click to expand...

Basically meaning you can have a cashless holiday, a massive plus for me!

I could see Towers using this at some point in the future, especially once the resort side has developed fully.
 
Sounds great. One thing I discovered over the past couple of weeks though is that the wifi is really hit and miss on busy days. They would need to address that to implement the real time amendment of plans etc on mobile apps
 
LiamC said:
meaning you can have a cashless holiday, a massive plus for me!
Click to expand...

You could do that anyway on site, so long as you had a Key to the World card. Though these wristbands will probably only be available to Resort guests, and a card with similar features for just theme parks, as wristbands will be expensive.
 
Screamscape are reporting that Disney are expected to make a host of announcements over the next twelve hours relating to their summer events etc.:

Disney will be making a few announcements in the next 12 hours or so from a media event taking place at Walt Disney World. While we don’t know all the details yet, it seems that the bulk of the announcement will be to promote the “Monstrous Summer” promotion at the parks. Going hand-in-hand with the new Monsters University film, the characters of Monsters Inc. will play a key roll this summer. For example, it seems Disney was testing out a huge projection of Mike Wazowski that covers the surface of Spaceship Earth. I gotta admit, it looks pretty cool, so check it out over at the CoasterRadio Facebook page.
Click to expand...

Link here WDW

I love Monsters Inc. :D
 
A fascinating read Jordan, thanks for that. It beggers belief how they could mess up a relatively simple IT project (I mean, simple in the way that the scale is tiny compared to, say, a government computer system) so spectacularly. It's shocking to think that what should be a relatively cheap behind-the-scenes upgrade has cost more than a major new attraction. And who authorised the budget for this?!

Having a card that is both your room key, your entrance ticket as well as a pre-paid spend card really shouldn't be difficult at all (PortAventura's room keys are park tickets, and EP have a fully-functioning pre-paid card system). Where, exactly, did all the money go for this?

The correct way to go about this, rather than making a massive fuss of it as a major project ('we've abolished turnstiles' may improve the guest experience but it's not going to get people through the, err, turnstiles) would have been simply to introduce these technologies slowly over a number of years, as and when stuff on park needs replacing. Why this has been budgeted and marketed as if it's an attraction is beyond me.

Some heads at WDW surely need to roll for this. While Universal are building the incredible looking Diagon Alley, WDW seem to be twiddling their thumbs at the moment, relying on this rubbish, the underwhelming looking Seven Dwarves coaster and the distant promise of Avatarland. Meanwhile, it seems like Universal already have their next few major post-Potter projects lined up and ready to go.

The saddest thing is that the reaction to this mess-up is to cut projects and slash budgets, rather than the logical thinking which would be to increase budgets and spending to catch up with Universal's progress. I can see a situation over the next few decades of the Universal parks steadily and surely closing the gap on WDW's guest figures, unless drastic action is taken in every single WDW park. Mr Iger, as Keynes would say, the only way out of this situation is to spend, spend, spend. You need to do the following: launch a full investigation into this MyMagic+ screw-up, fire whoever was responsible and make some line-up changes at WDW, salvage the best bits of the project and roll them out to all the other parks (turnstile free entrances are nice) and, most importantly, approve all these new projects that are on hold, waiting to go (especially the Monsters Inc door coaster!). And for god's sake, please approve a DCA style makeover for Studios in Paris and Orlando.

Meanwhile, the Disney Parks Blog seem to be making the best of a bad situation:

Disney Parks Blog said:
Magic Kingdom Park Makes Disney History As All Walt Disney World Parks Go Turnstile Free

Earlier today, Magic Kingdom Park reached a milestone in Disney history when the park’s final touch point entry system was unveiled at the park – a moment that signified that all Walt Disney World Resort park entrances are now turnstile free.

GR8J4yH.jpg


The first park to trade turnstiles for touch point entries was Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon Water Park, which became the first turnstile-free park in late February. Similar replacements have taken place at parks across Walt Disney World property throughout the year, making it easier than ever for guests – especially large groups, or families with strollers or wheelchairs – to enter the park together. To enter a park, guests now simply touch their ticket media, Annual Pass or MagicBand (in testing) to the touch point on their way into the park. Cast members are still stationed at entrances to greet guests and assist when needed.

One of those cast members is Awilda Martinez, who has worked at the main entrance of Magic Kingdom Park for more than 30 years, and has personally seen the difference the new touch point entry system has made for guests visiting the park.

“The guests love the new entrances. It’s all been positive. Even children get a smile on their face when they see the green light. They’ve never seen anything like this before in their lives!”
Click to expand...

Let's have a look on their Facebook post for some of the reaction to this ground-breaking, Potter-beating piece of history...

Todd Weber Meh. You should've spent the money on acquiring Harry Potter instead.
14 hours ago via mobile · Like · 5

William Winikus Why don't you write an article about how FP+ is horribly over budget? Not to mention how it's totally going to cause Standby lines to become even longer.
14 hours ago via mobile · Like · 14

William Winikus DL is smart. They don't want anything to do with this catastrophe.
14 hours ago via mobile · Like · 8

Roger Massie Now if they would get the Magic Band snafu sorted out. In reading Disney and other Disney related pages this program has all the earmarks of a poorly manufactured government project. Billions of dollars they say? Possible postponement and cancellations of park expansion? Not good!
14 hours ago via mobile · Like · 6

Mike Rideout Good thing this 1billion+ project is just going to put a damper on most other projects. Funding must be tight considering igers only goal is to keep the share holders happy. 2 parks in Florida ALONE are shambles of what they once were
14 hours ago via mobile · Like · 7

Jennifer 'Olson' Lakeberg Good job Disney, messed with a system that wasn't broke to begin with and now all projects have been halted and there is the potential for massive layoffs because of the loss of money. Congratulations!
13 hours ago via mobile · Like · 3

Lucas Petocz MyMagic+ is a failure...This is nothing to be proud of.
13 hours ago via mobile · Edited · Like · 6

Lori Fuller So, they eliminated the turnstiles... but the castmembers still have to stand there to make sure people "check in". Why did WDW waste the money to eliminate turnstiles again?
13 hours ago via mobile · Like · 3

EMan DX A billion spent and the thing still doesn't work right. Iger killed off Monstropolis and Star Wars on hold and Disneyland Ca. might not get much for it's 60th until WDW management can get together... yeah, what a milestone!
13 hours ago · Like · 8





A BILLION?!?! :eek: :eek:
 
Is that an American Billion or an ACTUAL Billion?

Trying to remember how much Universal are spending over the next 10 years... Was sommat like several Billion...

Yet Disney are happy to provide Avatarland, which will be exactly like the film and look good but have little to no substance behind it...

Sigh...
 
Benzin said:
Is that an American Billion or an ACTUAL Billion?
Click to expand...

Both a British and American 'billion' are now commonly understood to mean a thousand million, i.e. $1,000,000,000 i.e. £611,845,000.

I don't think even Disney would be capable of blowing a trillion on this. :p
 
This topic has been left for a while but it is the most relevant place for this, especially considering the content of the most recent posts.

Wired.com have published a brilliant article on Disney's Magic Band system.

It is long but well worth a read. I am still not convinced by the whole system, I do not like the idea of having to plan parts of your day/holiday in advance, however Disney have been really clever with what they have done and what it will allow them to do in the future.

I am looking forward to seeing how it all works in September though.

:)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top