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Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom Discussion Thread

p. 148 - Magic Kingdom Destination D23 news roundup!

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OUTSTANDING POST & TR!

 

SM75 was my first 'willing' coaster back in 1988 (March 8, 1988- 10:15 AM, for those who -reeeely- know of me being anal-retentive). I still have a huge soft-spot for SM75, and always will.

 

Seeing the 'plussing' of the ride just makes me want to head to MCO and the MK that much more. I tlooks like they've really done their homework and done it well, by '50s' theming the ride up the wazoo. VERY VERY cool to mix that with techno-space theming as well. I don't think they could have done it much better if they'd tried!

 

Having ridden SM77 in October (October 16, 2009- 11:27AM) and having been -blown away- by the SM:GG theme-up, I hope to not be disappointed by SM75's upgrades. After seeing this update, I can rest easily knowing I won't be!

 

R.D.

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I just watched a video on Screamscape (scroll down the page a bit). Correct me if I'm wrong, but the video shows a train pulling back into the loading area with guests aboard. Didn't the trains let you off downstairs and then returned empty to the loading area? If so, then it looks like they changed it.

 

It's funny to watch videos of most indoor coasters---like Space Mountain. You really can't see anything. But from what I've seen of the queue area, they did a nice job.

 

Eric

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I just watched a video on Screamscape (scroll down the page a bit). Correct me if I'm wrong, but the video shows a train pulling back into the loading area with guests aboard. Didn't the trains let you off downstairs and then returned empty to the loading area? If so, then it looks like they changed it.

 

Are you absolutely sure that you weren't just seeing them exit in the downstairs loading area?

I don't think guests have ever been allowed to ride that small lift back up to the first loading station, and even if they did, they'd probably be sitting on it, backed up for a while, waiting for the extra trains to cycle before they could get back to the station.

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It is possible, if it was in fact the loading station in the video, that they just set that up for a promotional shot. Having the exit station is essential to the ride maintaining its capacity. I don't see how changing that could improve operations at all.

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  • 3 weeks later...

http://thedailydisney.com/blog/2009/12/disney-begins-signing-up-contractors-for-fantasyland-redo/

 

Walt Disney World is starting to hand out contracts for the Fantasyland expansion it has planned in the Magic Kingdom.

The resort recently signed up Birmingham, Ala.-based Hoar Construction to do site development work for the project. The Fantasyland overhaul is expected to take about four years to complete.

Hoar, which has an office in Orlando, has had a number of projects in the region, including Thornton Park Central, a condo-and-retail project downtown, and SoDo, a condo-and-retail project south of downtown. More about the company here.

Disney says the Fantasyland construction is scheduled to begin this spring.

 

And so it begins...

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http://www.attractionsmagazine.com/blog/2009/12/11/disney-testing-new-meet-and-greet-queueing-procedures-may-point-to-upcoming-fantasyland-changes/

 

In Fantasyland at the Magic Kingdom this week, a few of Disney’s Imagineers and cast members held a test at Pooh’s Playful Spot, the playground located across from The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh dark ride.

 

Pooh characters were made available for meet and greets, but new queueing rules were attached. Parents were instructed, via cast members and signs posted around the area, to wait in line to see the characters while their children were allowed to play nearby in the playground. When the parents reached a certain point in the line close to the characters, they were asked to bring over their little ones so they could enjoy the meeting with Winnie the Pooh and his friends.

 

We received reports of this test being run on Monday and Wednesday, with Tuesday being a day for Disney’s staff to review how the previous day’s test went and make changes for the following. Throughout the tests, Disney has been video recording and surveying guests to get their opinion on how the queueing system worked out for them.

 

Improving wait times for children wanting to meet their favorite characters sounds like a great idea, but I’m guessing that this test may actually be for something greater. When Disney announced the upcoming Fantasyland expansion at the D23 Expo in September, they revealed that there would be a number of permanent princess meet-and-greet areas throughout the expansion. These will each involve an interactive/play area in addition to the actual character meeting area. In the announcement, Disney also emphasized the fact that the enhanced Dumbo attraction will feature a queue-less waiting system of some sort. The notion of magic feathers being handed out like supermarket deli tickets has been rumored.

 

So perhaps this week’s tests in Pooh’s playground isn’t all about trying to improve the current state of meet-and-greets but rather a way for Disney to test for the future of Fantasyland’s character meetings and attractions.

 

I think this is an interesting concept but I can only imagine a parent leaving the queue to find their child running around the new area, only to return past the point of their intended meet and greet time without being able to get back into their place. To me the idea seems a little messy, with some room for error, but if it works, it could make queuing for the family far more enjoyable.

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That system seems like it's going to need some adjustments before it is going to work smoothly. It seems fine if there are two adults waiting in line, but if there is only one adult with a kid then I guess they have to completely leave the line and then cut back in? I'm not sure that's really too great of an idea as they're pretty much telling people to leave the line and cut back in. Hopefully Disney will find a way to make this work better.

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Without having seen the actual operation, it would seem that the best way for this to work would be to have a castmember at the end of the adults only line. They would release the parents one by one to retrieve their children and the family would get into a much shorter adults & children line.

 

Just a guess though.

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Have we really gotten to the point where people wait over an hour for a meet n' greet? Considering how much being at WDW costs per hour, that makes me cringe a little bit.

 

 

Yes indeed. I went to the Magic Kingdom yesterday and while walking through Fantasyland I noticed the sign at Ariel's meet and greet said "You are 60 minutes from meeting Ariel!"... A lot of children want to come to WDW just to meet the characters, and those kid's parents want to make them happy.

 

I like the new idea. But like everyone else said, I don't know how this will work smoothly with only one parent.

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The longest line at Disney Parks are for small rides and meet & greets. Can you imagine taking your kids to Florida, then having to wait 45 minutes for Dumbo or to meet Tinker Bell? That would be torture, yet thousands of people do it every day. Anything they do to address this is better than everybody waiting in a long queue.

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This kind of thing has already been done in Legoland. What degree of success it has had, I really don't know.

 

Have we really gotten to the point where people wait over an hour for a meet n' greet? Considering how much being at WDW costs per hour, that makes me cringe a little bit.

Ariel's was the worst with the line somewhere around 2 hours. Outside of getting lucky with meet and greets, all were well over an hour in August.

 

It has gotten to the point where outside of character's at Animal Kingdom, even the smallest lines ran 15 minutes.

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Well if the Queue is right up against the playground and/or goes through it I don't think there will be many issues and I have to assume the play area can only be accsesed via the queue. So unless there is a kid like the ones you see at Chuck-E-Cheese (where when the parent's say its time to go than they fort themselves up in the playground). I think this can and will work.

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http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/os-cfb-tourism-shanghai-121409-20091213,0,904712.story?track=rss

 

Walt Disney World is starting to hand out contracts for the Fantasyland expansion it has planned in the Magic Kingdom.

 

The resort recently signed up Birmingham, Ala.-based Hoar Construction to do site development for the project. The Fantasyland overhaul is expected to take about four years to complete.

 

Hoar, which has an office in Orlando, has had a number of projects in the region, including Thornton Park Central, a condo-and-retail project downtown; and SoDo, a condo-and-retail project south of downtown. Disney says the Fantasyland construction is scheduled to begin next spring.

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RNRC Testing

 

Last week, we told you about Disney testing a queueless meet-and-greet system in Fantasyland at the Magic Kingdom in which parents would wait in line while their children played in a playground until it was time for everyone to meet a character.

 

Now it appears that testing continues this week but on a larger scale, taking place at the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster attraction at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Guests wanting to participate are given cards and invited to wait in a stand by area, rather than a stand by queue.

 

According to TouringPlans on Twitter, this area includes shade, a DJ, merchandise, and Guitar Hero video games and seems to be aimed at entertaining guests comfortably while they wait to ride. The comparison to how a supermarket deli works still stands, as guests are called by the letter-number combination on their cards.

 

Guests are not required to wait in the stand-by area but must report to the attraction within five minutes of their group being called or they will lose their chance to ride. The normal stand-by and Fastpass lines are still available during the testing.

 

Here is some more on the Queue-less system. It's from Orlando Attractions, the link is at the top.

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