News Round Up 2018

[rteetz]

I'll add this - in defense of Disney - the labor force in the greater Orlando area is not large enough to support the staffing needs of Disney, Universal, SeaWorld, LegoLand, all the hotels and restaurants ... and that doesn't even touch what's needed for the convention center and its peripherals. There just isn't, especially at the minimum-wage level pay-grade that these tourism entities offer.

Sure, we'd all love to work for Disney because of the "perks" and "we get to work at Disney!", but you still have to make a living wage and that's hard to do with how they pay employees. Disney supplants their staffing deficit with College Program - which they've been doing moreso than normal and has definitely caused a drop-off in customer service and knowledge/experience. You just have to look at the constant bonuses for in-need positions (housekeeping, custodial, line cook, transportation) to see that they're desperate for long-term qualified employees in these areas.

People are complaining over reduced hours of rides that clearly NOBODY goes on (Muppets, Figment, Pixar Shorts, Seas, etc.) or seasonal operation of restaurants that NOBODY goes to (PizzaRizzo) - but it's either take the hours piecemeal and reallocate the workforce to keep the parks running at expected hours or you go to every park being open 10-6 regardless of day of week or season of the year. Fireworks, night shows and parades only on the weekends. Drastic measures to accommodate staffing availability like that.

Disney got away with using cheap labor (ie. CP) for so long, and now they're having to pay the price in standards drop-offs and now they're losing qualified service-industry people to places outside the resort where they are able to make money instead of losing tips and tables for people just coming in for a cupcake at what should've been a $150-plus meal for that server.

I think people need to prepare themselves for more of this once Star Wars Land opens - not only the people that need to be available for the new offerings, but also to run PAC and other operations-sided roles to help with people waiting to get in to Star Wars Land, etc.

I agree up until the last point. I think Star Wars will force them to open things back up. Meaning PizzeRizzo will be open regularly again once Star Wars is open and MuppetVision will be open full hours again. There will just be so many people that they need it.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

News

Muppet Vision 3D Now Operating With Reduced Hours Daily at Disney’s Hollywood Studios

This one actually makes sense to me.

Anybody who was seeing this before 10am probably had a pretty crumby touring plan so Disney did them a favor, lol! Go do something that will save you time later.

Not being open after 6pm could cause slight frustration but I can’t imagine that missing it for those last 2-3 hours is a “day-ruiner”. On most (all??) days the show certainly seems to have sufficient capacity to ensure that anybody who wants to see it can see it in that 8 hour window.

 

[skier_pete]

I've been saying this for a year or so now ---

They will have a DAH and EMM in EVERY park soon. Maybe even by the end of next year. It would be silly not to at this point with how popular they are. And once they do that, you'll see EMH go away. (Why give away for free what people are willing to pay for). I mean there are two EMM's for DHS every week -- yet only ONE EMH. Pretty telling.

Whether the replace that resort-only perk with something --- only time will tell. Frankly they probably don't need to with how people flock to Disney.

This is just another way to "monetize" Fast Passes. The events essentially (if they keep it limited) give you little wait access to some of the most popular rides. All for practically the price of another ticket (or more).

I agree with what you say, except for getting rid of EMH. Just because one morning a week is EMH won't take away from them doing paid ones 2 or 3 mornings a week. They risk too much taking that away as a hotel perk. If on site resorts have zero advantage, more people will go off-site.

 

[bookbabe626]

News

Muppet Vision 3D Now Operating With Reduced Hours Daily at Disney’s Hollywood Studios

I expected this, since for our December trip the CM at DSS wasn't able to get us a CL FP for Muppets in the late afternoon/evening at all...and there's no way Muppets was completely booked up at 90 days out...

(And yes, I know you don't need a FP for this, but we had one leftover and needed to use it on something short - I don't do RRC and DH doesn't do ToT, and we wanted something close to our dinner ADR at Sci-Fi. Ended up with Star Tours instead, so at least that's still open...for now...)

 

[tlmadden73]

I agree with what you say, except for getting rid of EMH. Just because one morning a week is EMH won't take away from them doing paid ones 2 or 3 mornings a week. They risk too much taking that away as a hotel perk. If on site resorts have zero advantage, more people will go off-site.

I think at this point -- the main reason people (like us on the boards) stay on-site is the 60-day fast passes and transportation. Take away EMH and I know I would probably still stay on-site. Probably what mainly will determine me to stay on or offsite? Cost. I'm willing to pay a little extra to be in a Disney hotel .. just because, but EMH has little to do with that.

For first time guests. People want to stay on-site simply because "it's a Disney hotel". My sister is going to Disney for the first time and without really looking at prices or even knowing what the on-site perks just wanted to stay at a "Disney hotel".

 

[tlmadden73]

True although I still believe Toy Story hasn't raised crowds at DHS much just spread out the crowds. I believe the masses are holding out for Star Wars and construction being complete.

That seems to be the case for sure if they are willing to close an attraction early -- in a park that still has few attractions and little room to spread out.

I mean after 6, what do you have to do at that park if you've done the 5 rides already? Most of the outdoor shows are closed by then as well. I mean, "winter" hours is nothing new in amusement parks -- neither is closing some attractions early.

All in all .. it probably won't hurt anyone's plans (obviously people weren't going to that corner of the park after TSL opened), but for us who watch the news, it just feels like another cut after just raising ticket prices (again).

 

[Iowamomof4]

We will stay on site as long as Magical Express gets us there and takes us back to the airport. If we start having to rent a car or figure out our own transportation, that'll probably be my tipping point toward either not going or looking more closely at off-site hotels. Transportation is the main reason (with ride variety being a close second) we haven't checked out Universal.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I think at this point -- the main reason people (like us on the boards) stay on-site is the 60-day fast passes and transportation. Take away EMH and I know I would probably still stay on-site. Probably what mainly will determine me to stay on or offsite? Cost. I'm willing to pay a little extra to be in a Disney hotel .. just because, but EMH has little to do with that.

For first time guests. People want to stay on-site simply because "it's a Disney hotel". My sister is going to Disney for the first time and without really looking at prices or even knowing what the on-site perks just wanted to stay at a "Disney hotel".

Whenever I see a post ina Facebook Disney group about “onsite or off?” - the most common response for emwhynpeople start onsite seems to be “to be in the Disney bubble”. So yeah, I don’t think EMH going away would turn a ton of people off

Now for some it could be just another straw that will eventually break the camel’s back (pay for parking being another recent straw) but I don’t think it would be a killer for most

 

[Roxyfire]

We will stay on site as long as Magical Express gets us there and takes us back to the airport. If we start having to rent a car or figure out our own transportation, that'll probably be my tipping point toward either not going or looking more closely at off-site hotels. Transportation is the main reason (with ride variety being a close second) we haven't checked out Universal.

I think now with ride share services, and honestly the quality of the on-site Universal hotels, there's no way I'd skip Universal unless we were on a very quick trip. But I can say that being a group of 2 vs having a larger family.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I think now with ride share services, and honestly the quality of the on-site Universal hotels, there's no way I'd skip Universal unless we were on a very quick trip. But I can say that being a group of 2 vs having a larger family.

We are a family of 5 which often pushes us off site due to wanting more space - but the new Endless Summer resort Universal is building, which will have a lot of family suites, will be very interesting to us

 

[jknezek]

Since we are campers, staying at Fort Wilderness just makes too much sense. Sure, it's close to twice as much as other campgrounds in the area, but not having to drag a car down, or rent a car, plus not paying for parking which covers a lot of the difference in campground costs, is much too appealing. That being said, the construction on the new DVC is just going to put a hold on us going for a few years anyway and we will see what effect it has on The Fort in the end. But yeah, not pulling a car behind the motor home? Big savings in gas and stress and more than a fair trade off for the occasional moderate wait for a bus.

 

[scrappinginontario]

I'll add this - in defense of Disney - the labor force in the greater Orlando area is not large enough to support the staffing needs of Disney, Universal, SeaWorld, LegoLand, all the hotels and restaurants ... and that doesn't even touch what's needed for the convention center and its peripherals. There just isn't, especially at the minimum-wage level pay-grade that these tourism entities offer.

Sure, we'd all love to work for Disney because of the "perks" and "we get to work at Disney!", but you still have to make a living wage and that's hard to do with how they pay employees. Disney supplants their staffing deficit with College Program - which they've been doing moreso than normal and has definitely caused a drop-off in customer service and knowledge/experience. You just have to look at the constant bonuses for in-need positions (housekeeping, custodial, line cook, transportation) to see that they're desperate for long-term qualified employees in these areas.

People are complaining over reduced hours of rides that clearly NOBODY goes on (Muppets, Figment, Pixar Shorts, Seas, etc.) or seasonal operation of restaurants that NOBODY goes to (PizzaRizzo) - but it's either take the hours piecemeal and reallocate the workforce to keep the parks running at expected hours or you go to every park being open 10-6 regardless of day of week or season of the year. Fireworks, night shows and parades only on the weekends. Drastic measures to accommodate staffing availability like that.

Disney got away with using cheap labor (ie. CP) for so long, and now they're having to pay the price in standards drop-offs and now they're losing qualified service-industry people to places outside the resort where they are able to make money instead of losing tips and tables for people just coming in for a cupcake at what should've been a $150-plus meal for that server.

I think people need to prepare themselves for more of this once Star Wars Land opens - not only the people that need to be available for the new offerings, but also to run PAC and other operations-sided roles to help with people waiting to get in to Star Wars Land, etc.

Please do not generalize with the term NOBODY. Your family may choose not to attend attractions like Muppets, Figment, Pixar Shorts, Seas, etc. but many people including our family enjoy each of these attractions. And we are SOMEBODYs, not NOBODYs.

 

[tlmadden73]

Whenever I see a post ina Facebook Disney group about “onsite or off?” - the most common response for emwhynpeople start onsite seems to be “to be in the Disney bubble”. So yeah, I don’t think EMH going away would turn a ton of people off

Now for some it could be just another straw that will eventually break the camel’s back (pay for parking being another recent straw) but I don’t think it would be a killer for most

Right .. just like the resort parking, Disney could announce EMH is going away (and replaced by an extra EMM or DAH!) and there will be a stink. There will be some "veterans" that choose to go off-site. But Disney will weather that storm just like they've weathered all the price increases this year (increases in food prices, two ticket price increases, an addition of resort parking fee, two increases to the theme park fees.)

As long as Disney can replace the veterans that go elsewhere with NEW guests (who don't know what the prices and benefits USED to be), they won't really care.
They are banking that SWGE and their other new attractions will attract more guests than leave. Simple as that. If they can do that AND cut costs -- they are going to do that (unfortunately for us repeat guests/fans).

I have three family groups (my sister-in law's family, my cousin's family and my sister's family) that are going to go to Walt Disney World in the next 6 months. (one of the reasons my family chose to get an AP . .heh). They don't know what old prices and perks were years ago. They just buy the package (with the dining plan, despite my suggestion otherwise), pay the price and go to have fun.

 

[Iowamomof4]

I think now with ride share services, and honestly the quality of the on-site Universal hotels, there's no way I'd skip Universal unless we were on a very quick trip. But I can say that being a group of 2 vs having a larger family.

Family of 6 here, and we'll have 7 in our traveling party in May. Yep, the bigger the group, the more challenging it is to figure out economical transportation. Frankly, I've never used Uber or Lyft and don't really care to. Before the Minnie-vans went up in price, I had hopes of trying that out on our next trip but the price jump took that off the table. Just sharing one data point of people who prefer on- vs. off-site.

I suppose we ought to get back to discussion of news & rumors now before we start going round and round about this issue which often has a life of its own and no ending point.

 

[Moliphino]

I think at this point -- the main reason people (like us on the boards) stay on-site is the 60-day fast passes and transportation. Take away EMH and I know I would probably still stay on-site. Probably what mainly will determine me to stay on or offsite? Cost. I'm willing to pay a little extra to be in a Disney hotel .. just because, but EMH has little to do with that.

For first time guests. People want to stay on-site simply because "it's a Disney hotel". My sister is going to Disney for the first time and without really looking at prices or even knowing what the on-site perks just wanted to stay at a "Disney hotel".

We're WDW regulars and when we were planning a DL trip a couple years ago my first instinct was that we totally had to stay at a Disney hotel. Then I looked at their prices and we went with my aunt's timeshare instead (<1 mile away). The extra magic hour at DCA would've been useful, but it wasn't necessary. No regrets. I think it helped that there really isn't a "bubble" there, so even onsite doesn't feel isolated from the outside world like at WDW.

 

[rteetz]

News

New Hollywood studios parking lot entrance opens Nov. 8th!

https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/b...transformation/?CMP=SOC-DPFY19Q1wo1025180004A

 

[Iowamomof4]

News

New Hollywood studios parking lot entrance opens Nov. 8th!

https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/b...transformation/?CMP=SOC-DPFY19Q1wo1025180004A

Is it just me, or does it look like Hollywood Studios will not be so easy to access for people who stay on-site and drive their own vehicles? For example, to get back to Pop Century, CBR, or AoA, you'd have to drive quite far out of the way when leaving DHS if I'm reading the map correctly.

 

[rteetz]

Is it just me, or does it look like Hollywood Studios will not be so easy to access for people who stay on-site and drive their own vehicles? For example, to get back to Pop Century, CBR, or AoA, you'd have to drive quite far out of the way when leaving DHS if I'm reading the map correctly.

I think they are expecting people staying at those resorts to take the Skyliner.

 

[rteetz]

Photo Update

Disney's BoardWalk Resort Update: Walking Around the "Showplace of the Shore" (PART 1)

 

[rteetz]

News

Comcast NBCUniversal Supporting Hurricane Michael Relief Efforts in Florida