Jollywood Nights-Hearing Some Negative Feedback...

[tx911]

I don't think you're going to find many allies being the Disney cheerleader on this one.

I watched reviews from about 20 reputable Orlando Youtubers on the weekend. They all said the same negative things.
Even the ones who are usually very careful with their Disney reviews because they don't want to be excluded from the press list were ripping this event.

I’m just reserving judgment until some reviews come in for later shows. I’m wary of relying on Youtubers that go into the event with a checklist of wanting to do every show and try every food so that they can review it. I’m not sure their opinion accurately reflects that of the average Disney fan.

 

[Minnie1222]

At this time, I'm just coming for the inauguration T-shirt. Anything else will be a bonus.

 

[HopperFan]

I really loved the band at the soirée and yeah, I think the band itself got really positive reviews. They really drew a crowd. But the area, they were in just seemed way too small and narrow. I know they need to be near The Tower of Terror, but maybe they could move this to the Cars Academy Courtyard? At least they’d have more space and The Tower of Terror would be the backdrop. I don’t know. Just a thought.

This is actually a great option! We did Club Villain there and it started with cocktail tables and champagne in the outside space. Bigger walled in with the Tower of Terror looming over us. They could in a minute move the stage and bar, add a couple bars to that area. They could roll in some of the infamous Disney Planters with twinkle lights and bring in all the lighting you had in the other space. Would be perfect! and folks there for the ride only are not impacting the lounge.

Just tells you how bad the planners for this event are that they didn't think of this. The Cars place was actually built to be a flex space for private events and parties. They ruined it with the Cars thing, but outside could work ... are there cars out there? Can they be moved? Surrounded with bushes?

 

[saskdw]

I’m just reserving judgment until some reviews come in for later shows. I’m wary of relying on Youtubers that go into the event with a checklist of wanting to do every show and try every food so that they can review it. I’m not sure their opinion accurately reflects that of the average Disney fan.

That's fair. That's why I watched about 20 of them. To get some different perspective.
It will be interesting to see if improvements are made or they just abandon the party and don't bring it back.

 

[john7994]

This is actually a great option! We did Club Villain there and it started with cocktail tables and champagne in the outside space. Bigger walled in with the Tower of Terror looming over us. They could in a minute move the stage and bar, add a couple bars to that area. They could roll in some of the infamous Disney Planters with twinkle lights and bring in all the lighting you had in the other space. Would be perfect! and folks there for the ride only are not impacting the lounge.

Just tells you how bad the planners for this even are that they didn't think of this. The Cars place was actually built to be a flex space for private events and parties. They ruined it with the Cars thing, but outside could work ... are there cars out there? Can they be moved? Surrounded with bushes?

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I do a fair amount of executive event planning - and sometimes people get wedded to ideas on paper, but don’t take the time to do the walk-through and all the unhappy scenarios that may accompany such things. One would expect better from Disney, at the same time, I don’t think WDW gets the same level of executive scrutiny as the West Coast does either …

 

[Disneylover99]

This is actually a great option! We did Club Villain there and it started with cocktail tables and champagne in the outside space. Bigger walled in with the Tower of Terror looming over us. They could in a minute move the stage and bar, add a couple bars to that area. They could roll in some of the infamous Disney Planters with twinkle lights and bring in all the lighting you had in the other space. Would be perfect! and folks there for the ride only are not impacting the lounge.

Just tells you how bad the planners for this event are that they didn't think of this. The Cars place was actually built to be a flex space for private events and parties. They ruined it with the Cars thing, but outside could work ... are there cars out there? Can they be moved? Surrounded with bushes?

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It’s so big and beautiful back there and I think it would be an easy, crowd pleasing fix.

 

[HopperFan]

I do a fair amount of executive event planning - and sometimes people get wedded to ideas on paper, but don’t take the time to do the walk-through and all the unhappy scenarios that may accompany such things. One would expect better from Disney, at the same time, I don’t think WDW gets the same level of executive scrutiny as the West Coast does either …

What makes me mad ... and it is the reason why I didn't book what should be my perfect party ... is because DHS has hosted a very very very similar event and it was a disaster, that never returned. They already know their physical pitfalls, they already know what it going to trigger long lines, they already know what is expected when you drop big bucks for a private event in this park, they know their market ... if I know, they know. And they still ignored all those lessons and dropped the ball. It sounds like a worse been there, done that, where is my refund?

I was one who would be online ahead of time waiting to book this. I was already booked for a trip during this. But I sat there and reminded myself of all that went wrong before, so decided ... if reviews come back stellar (I already had bought our outfits) and tickets still open for my Dec trip I would book. AND I just saved myself hundreds of dollars.

 

[Mle8308]

When we booked this event we were hoping for an Afterhours event to go to while we were in Orlando.
We haven't been to DHS since 2016. So we want to see and ride all the new attractions, hopefully a couple times over. It seems like we should be ok with our plan.

The two biggest irritations for us at this point is only getting to do Rise once or not at all and the Skyliner not running after the event. Line-ups for food will be annoying as well, but will make sure to eat ahead of time if this isn't addressed by December.

If we actually cared about the shows and Characters we would by in the group trying to get a refund.

I think if rides is your goal, you will do fine and enjoy it - as long as they can keep RoR up. It was supposedly down for a majority of the night for the first event.

 

[john7994]

What makes me mad ... and it is the reason why I didn't book what should be my perfect party ... is because DHS has hosted a very very very similar event and it was a disaster, that never returned. They already know their physical pitfalls, they already know what it going to trigger long lines, they already know what is expected when you drop big bucks for a private event in this park, they know their market ... if I know, they know. And they still ignored all those lessons and dropped the ball. It sounds like a worse been there, done that, where is my refund?

I was one who would be online ahead of time waiting to book this. I was already booked for a trip during this. But I sat there and reminded myself of all that went wrong before, so decided ... if reviews come back stellar (I already had bought our outfits) and tickets still open for my Dec trip I would book. AND I just saved myself hundreds of dollars.

Couldn’t agree more - nonetheless - hope springs eternal - fundamentally, I think it didn’t get the attention it really needed at the right levels. Personally, I see this a lot at a corporate level - budget and imagination are always in contention. I suspect, it was yes - I want it to be all this - but you can’t spend more than this - so they got what they got. They will either fail fast and adjust - or this too goes bye-bye as well.

 

[Genie+]

You’re not going to be able to do all of that because:

1. Lines for the magic shots are crazy long;
2. Lines for the shows are crazy long and I don’t see how they’re going to be able to fix that since it’s a theatre capacity problem. You need to budget an hour for each show to take into account both the line-up and the show itself.
3. The ROTR line even with the VQ was apparently also incredibly long, and it goes down a lot;

If you nix the magic shots and nix the shows and just want to treat it like an after-hours event with low lines for attractions, and just assume you’re not going to get to do ROTR (and be pleasantly surprised if you are) then sure you’ll probably have a blast. Keep your expectations low.

Our preferred order is:

Magic Shot, Nightmare, Muppets, GE definitely and maybe RotR, SDD, ToT, Fireworks.

None of the rides are make or break for us. We have 2 other HS days this trip. We’ll only hit SDD and ToT if low lines while we are in the vicinity or if we find time towards end of party. Bolded are priorities.

We fully intend to last through the 12:30am fireworks and not keep our expectations low lol.

 

[Genie+]

Couldn’t agree more - nonetheless - hope springs eternal - fundamentally, I think it didn’t get the attention it really needed at the right levels. Personally, I see this a lot at a corporate level - budget and imagination are always in contention. I suspect, it was yes - I want it to be all this - but you can’t spend more than this - so they got what they got. They will either fail fast and adjust - or this too goes bye-bye as well.

Yeah I was thinking that too, especially while I watched this video yesterday:

Starting from right to left, the greatest budgets to smallest where it ends up the last guy has to execute 2 offerings on a shoestring budget.

 

[john7994]

Yeah I was thinking that too, especially while I watched this video yesterday:

Starting from right to left, the greatest budgets to smallest where it ends up the last guy has to execute 2 offerings on a shoestring budget.

Haha - totally - I would be the guy on the left with the quintessential look of - yeah ok on it.

 

[saskdw]

Couldn’t agree more - nonetheless - hope springs eternal - fundamentally, I think it didn’t get the attention it really needed at the right levels. Personally, I see this a lot at a corporate level - budget and imagination are always in contention. I suspect, it was yes - I want it to be all this - but you can’t spend more than this - so they got what they got. They will either fail fast and adjust - or this too goes bye-bye as well.

One vlogger I watched put it like this:

" This was a case of a lot of good ideas executed very poorly"

 

[john7994]

One vlogger I watched put it like this:

" This was a case of a lot of good ideas executed very poorly"

Despite the pixie dust and magical veneer - humans still do the work. Will agree with @HopperFan in what makes me mad is that successive failure is a slippery slope that does harm to reputation and the brand over the long-term. Disney either strives to achieve the “premium” it commands or it starts looking like everything else out there.

 

[jenjersnap]

Our preferred order is:

Magic Shot, Nightmare, Muppets, GE definitely and maybe RotR, SDD, ToT, Fireworks.

None of the rides are make or break for us. We have 2 other HS days this trip. We’ll only hit SDD and ToT if low lines while we are in the vicinity or if we find time towards end of party. Bolded are priorities.

We fully intend to last through the 12:30am fireworks and not keep our expectations low lol.

Our plan is similar. The food doesn’t look that awesome to me so I am keeping my Flying Fish adr beforehand. If we see a short line, though, we will grab a drink, maybe at Oga’s where they were begging guests to come in. The livestream I watched on Saturday showed no one in line for robot/boomerang magic shots right at 8 pm. We don’t care about characters. Keeping my expectations low, but I am just happy to be doing something new with my DS who I don’t get to see very often these days.

i have gone to the first or second MNSSHP, MVMCP and AH in the past. They’ve all been chaotic and underwhelming, imo. I predicted this, a new event, would be similar. Hopefully, they will make some changes, add more CMs to schedule (so, don’t expect many changes this next party), etc. They could squeeze one more of the shows into the schedule, at least NBC, it seems to me. The Cars courtyard would be an awesome place for the soirée - hope someone at Disney is reading!

 

[Genie+]

Despite the pixie dust and magical veneer - humans still do the work. Will agree with @HopperFan in what makes me mad is that successive failure is a slippery slope that does harm to reputation and the brand over the long-term. Disney either strives to achieve the “premium” it commands or it starts looking like everything else out there.

As a repeat WDW visitor it is frustrating that our trust wears thinner each trip in recent years.

This year we decided no MVMCP because 2019 was so packed we said never again. We still like MNSSHP though.

We picked the week before Christmas back in early Feb because kids will be out of college.

When we looked to how WDW things went last year, there were 3 EEHs this week and the week prior: EP Mon, MK Wed and HS Thurs confirmed on Sept 8, 2022. WDW came out early in 2023 to confirm EEH would continue through all of 2023, and then confirmed for 2024 too. Sounds good, right? Nope. They take their sweet time releasing EEH schedule for our week, only for us to find out it is EP only. Gee thanks for the switcheroo and lack of integrity.

I have never asked or hinted for any refund at WDW before, but in light of all the above I will if our JN night is disaster.

Reputation. They should start focusing more on that with less blatant manipulation in order not to lose more trust.

 

[john7994]

As a repeat WDW visitor it is frustrating that our trust wears thinner each trip in recent years.

This year we decided no MVMCP because 2019 was so packed we said never again. We still like MNSSHP though.

We picked the week before Christmas back in early Feb because kids will be out of college.

When we looked to how WDW things went last year, there were 3 EEHs this week and the week prior: EP Mon, MK Wed and HS Thurs confirmed on Sept 8, 2022. WDW came out early in 2023 to confirm EEH would continue through all of 2023, and then confirmed for 2024 too. Sounds good, right? Nope. They take their sweet time releasing EEH schedule for our week, only for us to find out it is EP only. Gee thanks for the switcheroo and lack of integrity.

I have never asked or hinted for any refund at WDW before, but in light of all the above I will if our JN night is disaster.

Reputation. They should start focusing more on that with less blatant manipulation in order not to lose more trust.

We are frequent guests, but have gotten to the point where we don’t rely on Disney scheduling of anything - so I guess this makes for a less disappointing situation for us and a happy accident if it works out in timing.

As a mental exercise, I do like to consider the “why” of these types of things, but I suspect the root cause is shifting priorities - which again only just impacts the brand as you describe. Not a very satisfactory answer in your situation.

 

[Disney102015]

With guests getting refunds for future parties as well, do you think spots will open up for future parties that are currently sold out? I’m well aware of all the criticism of the first night but still interested in doing it as a potential date night.

 

[jimmymc]

It seems like all the issues have been with the party-exclusive events. I'm curious to hear how the lines were for the normal attractions, since this is replacing my Studios day on my next trip.

 

[Mle8308]

It seems like all the issues have been with the party-exclusive events. I'm curious to hear how the lines were for the normal attractions, since this is replacing my Studios day on my next trip.

It was reported that lines were at an almost zero wait, the party was great for short lines and minimal waits. RoR did go down for a lot of it and I think there were some issues with MMRR - but what else is new when it comes to attraction downtimes??? Galaxy's Edge was reported as basically a ghost town, one blogger posted a picture of herself in a nearly empty Oga's (no reservations needed there). RoR was a VQ, said to have been open for an hour before filling.