MNSSHP report
in [Disney Parks]
|
From: alex on 22 Oct 2009 16:03 I had the opportunity to make a quick unscheduled trip to WDW last weekend and attended the Mickey Halloween party. No detailed report, just the "take-away bullets". Oh, my points might be too critical only because I have visited WDW so many times that I see the problems easily. Overall, I had a great time but these trips are getting too expensive (I only have one kidney left after this trip. Anyone want to buy an appendix?) - the weather was great after that front moved through. A little cold and windy at night but overall very enjoyable. - More people in the parks than I expected for this time of year. Seems like a large portion were foreign travelers. - I noticed music missing in many parts of the parks as well as within some of the rides. In some areas, the ambient music was so low that it was hard to hear. I was fighting a cold this weekend but others around me commented on the same problem. For example, no music for the Halloween Wishes music near the Crystal palace restaurant, sections of PofC was silent, sections of Splash quiet (or way too loud), and the Epcot fountain music was very quiet. It's surprising how park ambiance was affected by the lack of background music. - As expected, Epcot was crowded for the Food and Wine festival. - Enjoyed the Kim Possible mission at Epcot. Although, the story moved too slowly for an adult. A mission takes about 30 min to complete (45 minutes if you don't pay attention) and there are 4 missions. I think this would be good entertainment for young kids (maybe 10-14yo). - Sum of All Thrills was fun. It's very similar to the DisneyQuest version. Although, I was a little disappointed with the lackluster computer rendering during the simulation. - Dining at WDW really sucks! When I first starting traveling to WDW in the mid 90's, I could grab a dinner or lunch almost anywhere as the moment hit me. Now, you must have a reservation days (if not weeks) in advance. It's too crowded outside a restaurant, too crowded inside a restaurant, and the meals are too rushed. If I remember right, the Crystal Palace dinner was $33 each...for a freak'n buffet! I could rant for pages on this but I will leave the topic with this: Disney dining sucks. - Okay, I won't leave the topic just yet. Offsite dining was very enjoyable and economical. The restaurants we ate at were great and also offered 10% discount on our next meal (hoping for repeat customers, see next point). - The slow economy may not have affected the crowds at Disney but it sure has affected the offsite regions, like Kissimmee. US192 was a ghost town. No traffic. I counted about 5 hotels that were closed, boarded, with grass growing up in the parking lot. This area is really hurting for business. - We tried to get a Disney resort room but had no luck. This surprised me given the season. Fortunately, we found a very reasonable vacation home off US192 in Kissimmee. Wow, the real estate market has taken a beating in this area. Prices off 30-40%. A lot of vacation homes for sale. - Mickey's Halloween Party Sunday night was a lot of fun. It was crowded at the start and the candy lines were extremely long (especially that one line between ToonTown and Tomorrowland). The candy quality was disappointing and the cast members were stingy (two or three pieces of candy). Many people complained about this. The candy lines eased after the first parade. The Halloween fireworks were awesome but the music seemed isolated to the main hub (we were near the Crystal Palace). After the last parade (10:30), the candy lines were very short, more candy was handed out, and the quality got better (more chocolate). So, if you do the Halloween part, wait until the end for the good candy. - Expressing my inner nerd, I collected more accelerometer and barometric data during the trip. The barometric data provides elevation changes. Here are a couple of interesting conclusions from the data: -- Spaceship Earth ride goes up 107 feet inside the ball and the cars tilt at 25 degrees -- Splash mountain drops over 50 feet and reaches 3g's at the bottom of the drop -- The Tower of Terror does in fact drop 13 stories. -- you can read more here: http://www.gcdataconcepts.com/wdwtrip.html -- I will add more as I crunch the data that's all Alex
From: Ginny Favers on 22 Oct 2009 20:35 Thanks for the report, Alex! I am looking forward to more of your "data" on the attractions, but my engineer husband is REALLY looking forward to hearing more. ~Amanda
From: BigBob on 24 Oct 2009 15:32 On Oct 22, 4:03 pm, alex <a...(a)g-c-data-concepts.com> wrote: > (snip) > - Dining at WDW really sucks! When I first starting traveling to WDW in > the mid 90's, I could grab a dinner or lunch almost anywhere as the > moment hit me. Now, you must have a reservation days (if not weeks) in > advance. It's too crowded outside a restaurant, too crowded inside a > restaurant, and the meals are too rushed. If I remember right, the > Crystal Palace dinner was $33 each...for a freak'n buffet! I could rant > for pages on this but I will leave the topic with this: Disney dining sucks. > - Okay, I won't leave the topic just yet. Offsite dining was very > enjoyable and economical. The restaurants we ate at were great and also > offered 10% discount on our next meal (hoping for repeat customers, see > next point). (snip) > Alex The unacceptable dining situations at WDW need to be reported and repeated constantly! While the "Disney" company has made it abundantly clear that they intend to keep pursuing their short-sighted bone-headed policies, in order to extract every last possible dime out of their dining operations (guest experience be damned), we, the knowing, need to keep making the facts known. This has become so bad that, it threatens to destroy my enjoyment of the parks altogether. I've been compartmentalizing the "dining/food service situation" for a number of years now, but it just keeps getting worse -- with no end in sight! I've got 13-months of an Annual Pass left. And, if I don't see some improvements over the next year, "Disney" just may lose me altogether. Enough is enough.
From: Rudeney on 26 Oct 2009 12:17 alex wrote: > > - Dining at WDW really sucks! When I first starting traveling to WDW in > the mid 90's, I could grab a dinner or lunch almost anywhere as the > moment hit me. Now, you must have a reservation days (if not weeks) in > advance. Months! In the good old days, you did have the choice to wait on a table, but since that could take up to an hour, we made PS's just to minimize our "stanby" time. Now, for may restaurants, if you don't have an DR, you simply don't eat! > It's too crowded outside a restaurant, too crowded inside a > restaurant, and the meals are too rushed. If I remember right, the > Crystal Palace dinner was $33 each...for a freak'n buffet! I could rant > for pages on this but I will leave the topic with this: Disney dining sucks. Yeah, I remember how I always though that Disney dining prices were high, but the food and service was excellent. Now, the food has really dropped in quality. At least the service is still (usually) decent. > - Okay, I won't leave the topic just yet. Offsite dining was very > enjoyable and economical. The restaurants we ate at were great and also > offered 10% discount on our next meal (hoping for repeat customers, see > next point). My problem is that I just don't like to leave property once I'm at WDW. It sort of diminishes the magic. However, given the ridiculously high prices, lack of availability and quality, I'll probably end up venturing off-site more and more. > - The slow economy may not have affected the crowds at Disney but it > sure has affected the offsite regions, like Kissimmee. US192 was a > ghost town. No traffic. I counted about 5 hotels that were closed, > boarded, with grass growing up in the parking lot. This area is really > hurting for business. It's a combination of the economy and Disney's aggressive marketing. With guests perceiving great value in the dining plan and Magical Express, it makes the off-site hotels harder to justify. Also, many of those places that are now boarded up were real "flea bags" in the first place. > - Expressing my inner nerd, I collected more accelerometer and > barometric data during the trip. The barometric data provides elevation > changes. Here are a couple of interesting conclusions from the data: > -- Spaceship Earth ride goes up 107 feet inside the ball and the cars > tilt at 25 degrees > -- Splash mountain drops over 50 feet and reaches 3g's at the bottom of > the drop > -- The Tower of Terror does in fact drop 13 stories. > -- you can read more here: http://www.gcdataconcepts.com/wdwtrip.html > -- I will add more as I crunch the data Cool info! Thanks for the report, Alex! -- - RODNEY Next WDW Vacation? Who knows! Need to know more about RADP (rec.arts.disney.parks)? http://www.radp.org http://allears.net/btp/radp_bk.htm http://allears.net/tp/abrev.htm
From: Rudeney on 26 Oct 2009 12:18
Ginny Favers wrote: > Thanks for the report, Alex! > > I am looking forward to more of your "data" on the attractions, but my > engineer husband is REALLY looking forward to hearing more. Speaking of your husband, does he have some sort of problem typing with that weddign ring on his finger? We *never* hear from him anymore on RADP! :-) -- - RODNEY Next WDW Vacation? Who knows! Need to know more about RADP (rec.arts.disney.parks)? http://www.radp.org http://allears.net/btp/radp_bk.htm http://allears.net/tp/abrev.htm |