Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway



I think it’s kinda strange it’ll take 2 years to complete, but I’m also discounting the fact they had to gut the existing building (which tears my insides up to write) and then install the new system and show scenes from scratch. So yeah, I guess not so strange after all

Plus it is using new technology (they are calling it 2 1/2 D - so gives the feel of 3D without needing glasses) so not like repeating something already done elsewhere / known entity
 


It seems like Disney has just decided that 2 years is the proper time it takes to build a ride. Personally I think they are about correct on this. If you are coming for a 7 day Disney vacation, and you're the type that does it every couple years, you start planning a year or more in advance. If you are like me, you book 499 days out (and yes, part of that is the capacity problems at Fort Wilderness), but if you are staying on property it certainly pays to book at least 6 months out. If they can build a ride in a year, why do that? You want that lead time. You want people planning a year out to know what is coming to build the excitement, and you want to dangle that excitement for a period of time before people choose to book.

In other words, why pay extra to have it completed in 6-9 months when the significant booking boost you are likely to see won't be realized until 1.5-2 years. Sure you might get more AP and locals to come if you opened it faster, but they'll come anyway both before and after the new attraction happens. So it is really a timeline based on the occasional visitor and how to get them to book that next trip so they feel they are getting something new.
 
It seems like Disney has just decided that 2 years is the proper time it takes to build a ride. Personally I think they are about correct on this. If you are coming for a 7 day Disney vacation, and you're the type that does it every couple years, you start planning a year or more in advance. If you are like me, you book 499 days out (and yes, part of that is the capacity problems at Fort Wilderness), but if you are staying on property it certainly pays to book at least 6 months out. If they can build a ride in a year, why do that? You want that lead time. You want people planning a year out to know what is coming to build the excitement, and you want to dangle that excitement for a period of time before people choose to book.

In other words, why pay extra to have it completed in 6-9 months when the significant booking boost you are likely to see won't be realized until 1.5-2 years. Sure you might get more AP and locals to come if you opened it faster, but they'll come anyway both before and after the new attraction happens. So it is really a timeline based on the occasional visitor and how to get them to book that next trip so they feel they are getting something new.
Well in this case they are giving up a well liked ride for that entire two years. If instead, they announced the ride at the same time, but left GMR open for a extra year, you could get the excitement for planners and get the people wanting to ride GMR one last time. I can understand needing years to develop and build the ride pieces, but they shouldn't really need two years in the building. Assuming everything was built modularly, it could probably be swapped out in a month, although that would obviously add cost.
 
Plus it is using new technology (they are calling it 2 1/2 D - so gives the feel of 3D without needing glasses) so not like repeating something already done elsewhere / known entity

I think Disney has perfected this elsewhere .... their projections on the castle appear very much 3D, no glasses. As did the projection work on ToT and elsewhere. From the visuals shown and descriptions it sounds like its just the same on a smaller scale.
 
Well in this case they are giving up a well liked ride for that entire two years. If instead, they announced the ride at the same time, but left GMR open for a extra year, you could get the excitement for planners and get the people wanting to ride GMR one last time. I can understand needing years to develop and build the ride pieces, but they shouldn't really need two years in the building. Assuming everything was built modularly, it could probably be swapped out in a month, although that would obviously add cost.

Definitely a fair point. But DHS is such a mess right now I'm not sure it matters. I think it will matter some when TSL opens. I think that will prove a popular land that the park is in no way equipped to handle. But all the eggs are in the SW:GE basket. I really don't think GMR would have had a great send-off line for months on end. I don't think too many people would have come from far away to see it one more time. Would they have added on to their vacation a day to see TGMR one more time? I doubt it. And if you were local and really cared well... likely you are an AP holder and wouldn't have added too much more to the bottom line going day after day to see it off. So I'm guessing the incremental benefit probably wasn't there when weighed against the expense of adding the new ride faster.

Just my guess though.
 
There really is no rush .. people still go to DHS despite it having only FOUR rides and a bunch of show attractions and meet and greets.

But in the end, by the end of 2019 .. opening of this attraction and SW:GE (as well as the previous year's Toy Story Land) .. will make DHS feel like an entirely new theme park.
 
I think Disney has perfected this elsewhere .... their projections on the castle appear very much 3D, no glasses. As did the projection work on ToT and elsewhere. From the visuals shown and descriptions it sounds like its just the same on a smaller scale.

I think this is supposed to be even more immersive with the 3D effect really following you as you pass by. I think they use some of it on the Navi River ride - for the first Navi that you see and then some of the other creatures and stuff that you see moving in the background - it's like multiple layers of screens
 
There really is no rush .. people still go to DHS despite it having only FOUR rides and a bunch of show attractions and meet and greets.

FWIW, we're going to DHS on our next trip, but everyone but my daughter (who loves DHS) are grumbling about not having much to do.

This is one time where I wish we could afford to buy hoppers.......
 
FWIW, we're going to DHS on our next trip, but everyone but my daughter (who loves DHS) are grumbling about not having much to do.

This is one time where I wish we could afford to buy hoppers.......

Without hoppers I probably wouldn't do it, and RnRC is my favorite ride in all of WDW. It's just not worth $70-$110 per ticket right now to me.
 
FWIW, we're going to DHS on our next trip, but everyone but my daughter (who loves DHS) are grumbling about not having much to do.

This is one time where I wish we could afford to buy hoppers.......
I guess it all depends what your family likes to "do".

Still plenty to do at DHS IF you enjoy the shows and meet and greets. Despite only have four "rides", trying to fit in all the shows like Indiana Jones and Beauty and the Beast easily fills the day.

Hoppers are expensive (especially if you really only plan to use them one day) but, there are alternatives without Park Hoppers if you find yourself done at DHS in the mid-afternoon:
May I suggest:
1) Taking the boat ride to the Beach Club and having some an afternoon snack at Beaches and Cream.
2) Take the boat to the Boardwalk resort and explore that area
3) Take a bus to Disney Springs and have dinner there while exploring.
4) If the budget can afford it, splurge and see a dinner show like Hoop De Doo Review or the Luau at the Polynesian. I usually plan those when I am going to a half-day park (I've done that when AK was a half-day park).
5) Come back later to check out the night shows at DHS.
 
I guess it all depends what your family likes to "do".

True. We've been to DHS several times in the past. For us, some of the things there are "one and done" or we didn't really care for them. We're also not thrill ride people, so RnRC and ToT are out.

This is what we've planned for our next trip:

- TSMM (may ride multiple times.)
- Star Tours (may ride multiple times.)
- Muppet Theater
- Indiana Jones show
- Frozen Sing Along
- Beauty & the Beast Show.

IMHO, that really doesn't justify the cost of the tickets, but my daughter loves that park, so we'll go. To be honest, I would have taken this day as a non Disney day and gone somewhere else.
 
True. We've been to DHS several times in the past. For us, some of the things there are "one and done" or we didn't really care for them. We're also not thrill ride people, so RnRC and ToT are out.

This is what we've planned for our next trip:

- TSMM (may ride multiple times.)
- Star Tours (may ride multiple times.)
- Muppet Theater
- Indiana Jones show
- Frozen Sing Along
- Beauty & the Beast Show.

IMHO, that really doesn't justify the cost of the tickets, but my daughter loves that park, so we'll go. To be honest, I would have taken this day as a non Disney day and gone somewhere else.

I think there is enough to cover at least a full day at DHS - if you are into everything there. Once you start limiting things (no thrill rides, no interested in Disney Jr, etc.) then less so

I will say adding the third track to TSMM has helped a bunch (we got 3 rides in on that) and Star Tours is still good - but plenty of other Star Wars stuff (the stage show, the fireworks at night, etc.)

Also the streetmosphere (Citizens of Hollywood, etc.) is one of my favorite things about that park.
 
My own personal (and useless) protest since they closed my favorite ride TGMR for this I have already informed my girls that I will never be riding this one.
 
True. We've been to DHS several times in the past. For us, some of the things there are "one and done" or we didn't really care for them. We're also not thrill ride people, so RnRC and ToT are out.

This is what we've planned for our next trip:

- TSMM (may ride multiple times.)
- Star Tours (may ride multiple times.)
- Muppet Theater
- Indiana Jones show
- Frozen Sing Along
- Beauty & the Beast Show.

IMHO, that really doesn't justify the cost of the tickets, but my daughter loves that park, so we'll go. To be honest, I would have taken this day as a non Disney day and gone somewhere else.
True .. its way we are seeing such a major overhaul to DHS. Try as they may to fill the gaps with more shows, it was a park that isn't good for the "repeat" visitor. Plenty to do for the first-time visitor for sure, but for a lot of people those shows (while entertaining) just aren't worth a repeat viewing.

My last time at WDW (March 2017), we did a morning at DHS .. did the Star Wars and TSMM stuff and left by noon. Not much there for preschoolers (my son had done Disney Junior on a previous trip) or people who don't like thrill rides.

DHS should have had a deeply discounted ticket for a while now.
During this construction, I always said that they should have just given a free hopper pass to Epcot (and vice versa) for anyone walking through those gates since they are so attraction-lite and the Tiering system is awful --- but combine them and it works pretty well .. plus the two parks have some easy to/from transportation.

too late now, but man DHS is going to be just plain awful when they have to close down TSMM (for however long) to incorporate it to the new entrance within Toy Story Land.
 

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