Virtually No Shows in DLR Parks after 11/7/2018?

[JohnneeO]

I have seen this mentioned in a couple of other threads already, so here is some full blown paranoia! Here is a summary of what is dropping off the daily DLR park schedule after the first week of November. For the record, I am using this page as my reference;

https://disneyland.disney.go.com/calendars/day/2018-11-03/

As a WDW vet, maybe I am overreacting. I mean, it was tough enough waiting until 6 weeks prior for park hours, and even then I noticed it was later in the day when shows were posted. So I get that there can be a delay, but it just seems really odd to me at this point, given that the schedule extends past Thanksgiving, and there is virtually nothing posted after November 7th (barely three weeks away!)

On the one hand, I am concerned there are massive cutbacks coming up, and that the shows will not ever be added. (I know some of these are already confirmed as ending.) OTOH, maybe DLR isn't posting these shows yet due to other factors, and everything will eventually be OK by November 8th.


Jedi Training -Trials of the Temple (DL); Last day on calendar = 11/3/2018;
DL Band at Frontierland/Main Street (DL); Last day on calendar = 11/3/2018;
Flag Retreat Ceremony (DL); Last day on calendar = 11/3/2018;
Pearly Band (DL); Last day on calendar = 11/3/2018;
Royal Street Bachelors (DL); Last day on calendar = 11/3/2018;
Straw Hatters (DL); Last day on calendar = 11/3/2018;
Citizens of Buena Vista Street (DCA); Last day on calendar = 11/3/2018;
Operation: Playtime! - featuring the Green Army Men (DCA); Last day on calendar = 11/3/2018;
Mariachi Divas (DCA); Last day on calendar = 11/3/2018;

Pixar Play Parade (DL); Last day on calendar = 11/4/2018;
Mickey and the Magical Map (DL); Last day on calendar = 11/4/2018;

Paint the Night Parade (DCA); Last day on calendar = 11/7/2018;
Disney Junior Dance Party! (DCA); Last day on calendar = 11/7/2018;
Five & Dime (DCA); Last day on calendar = 11/7/2018;
Frozen – Live at the Hyperion (DCA); Last day on calendar = 11/7/2018;
Guardians of the Galaxy: Awesome Dance Off! (DCA); Last day on calendar = 11/7/2018;
Red Car Trolley News Boys (DCA); Last day on calendar = 11/7/2018;


(We will be in the parks on 11/4-11/6, 11/8 and 11/9, so I have been watching this closely.)

 

[figment_jii]

While no one knows for sure what is going on with the calendar, it is worth noting that the Holiday season is officially slated to start on November 9th (Friday). So it seems likely that the schedule is in flux as they slot in the holiday entertainment. It's not uncommon for the schedule to be missing a lot of items when a "season" changes (usually starting the Sunday before the "season" starts).

 

[Niltiac]

I don't think it's due to cutbacks, though there may be some. That's the week that the holidays start, which affects a lot of the entertainment, so I would guess they just have some moving pieces to figure out before setting anything in stone.

If they were going to do massive cutbacks I would expect it to come after the holidays, not before. Some entertainment always falls off the calendar to make room for holiday offerings (e.g. parades). If I were them and I wanted to permanently cut down on entertainment, I would take things off during the holidays as usual and then just quietly not bring it back come January. Of course I'm not them, so who knows what they're planning.

 

[dina444444]

Pixar play parade is ending a few days before the Christmas fantasy parade starts. PTN is ending because of the strains of running the parade with the festival of the holidays booths. There will be a street parade, viva navidad, once holiday time officially kicks off.

Also, our entertainment calendar isn’t exactly released in a timely matter compared to Disney World.

 

[GeneralTso]

All the Christmas stuff starts on the 8th!

 

[GatorChris]

While there are a lot of cutbacks that time of year (to save a bunch of cash for Disney), they simply don't have the schedule up yet for November. Which is ridiculous. Disneyland is the WORST at getting an updated calendar for their guests. I'm with you - coming form WDW, it's so tough just waiting for the 6-weeks-out calendar. But even then, they can't get it accurate.

The organizing skills at DL are some of the weakest I've seen in any industry. WDW can go 6 months out, and DL can't accomplish 6 weeks. I'd say there's a pretty big cultural difference in the business offices on each coast.

 

[mom2rtk]

Pixar play parade is ending a few days before the Christmas fantasy parade starts. PTN is ending because of the strains of running the parade with the festival of the holidays booths. There will be a street parade, viva navidad, once holiday time officially kicks off.

Also, our entertainment calendar isn’t exactly released in a timely matter compared to Disney World.

Sure. But this is late even by DLR standards.

 

[cmwade77]

Sure. But this is late even by DLR standards.

Not really, quite often their calendar isn't updated until a week or two ahead of time, especially at changes in seasons and remember while Christmas starts November 8th or 9th, a lot of the additional entertainment won't start until Thanksgiving and there will be some entertainment that will be stopped in the meanwhile because the performers will be changing to the entertainment offerings but need time to rehearse without worrying about their current show.

So really, nothing out of the ordinary here.

 

[cmwade77]

While there are a lot of cutbacks that time of year (to save a bunch of cash for Disney), they simply don't have the schedule up yet for November. Which is ridiculous. Disneyland is the WORST at getting an updated calendar for their guests. I'm with you - coming form WDW, it's so tough just waiting for the 6-weeks-out calendar. But even then, they can't get it accurate.

The organizing skills at DL are some of the weakest I've seen in any industry. WDW can go 6 months out, and DL can't accomplish 6 weeks. I'd say there's a pretty big cultural difference in the business offices on each coast.

Yep and honestly those of us that live on the west coast like it that way, we don't have to plan dining 6 months in advance, we don't have to plan FPs 30 to 60 days ahead of time. We can show up the day of with no planning and have a great day with a great sit down meal and go on all the rides we want to go on with FP.

Another big reason DL can't plan further out is we get professional performers in a lot of our shows that may end up getting TV, Movie, Broadway or other gigs with relatively little notice, 6 weeks usually provides enough cushion to account for this, but not always. Again we would much prefer to have the better quality entertainment than have a schedule ready 6 months out. That isn't to say that WDW has terrible performers, but they definitely are not the same pool as DL's.

So a lot of it boils down to cultural differences between east and west coasts, not just in management, but in the people who live near and frequent the parks.

 

[Love Tink]

All the Christmas stuff starts on the 8th!

Not according to the Disneyland calendar.

 

[katyringo]

Thanks for posting. It’s driving me nuts.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

All the Christmas stuff starts on the 8th!

Not according to the Disneyland calendar.

Holiday Time at DLR begins Nov. 9th: https://disneyland.disney.go.com/events-tours/holidays-at-the-disneyland-resort/.

 

[sgrap]

There are finally a few more entertainment choices listed, although nothing major: https://disneyland.disney.go.com/ca/calendar/?month=201811

 

[JohnneeO]

I find the inconsistency to be frustrating.

Personally, I don't actually care if the schedule is released 6 months, 6 weeks, 3 weeks, or 6 days prior. For our first three park days (11/4-11/6), full hours and schedules were published six weeks in advance. I thought I had learned the pattern. But since then the pattern seems to have changed.

I wouldn't even care if we knew now that we couldn't plan because DLR was saying the schedule could change up until the last minute. At least then, we could forget about planning.

For now, we will plan based on the current calendar. It does make the planning at lot easier, actually with so few show options on two of our park days.

 

[Kittyskyfish]

Yep and honestly those of us that live on the west coast like it that way, we don't have to plan dining 6 months in advance, we don't have to plan FPs 30 to 60 days ahead of time. We can show up the day of with no planning and have a great day with a great sit down meal and go on all the rides we want to go on with FP.

Another big reason DL can't plan further out is we get professional performers in a lot of our shows that may end up getting TV, Movie, Broadway or other gigs with relatively little notice, 6 weeks usually provides enough cushion to account for this, but not always. Again we would much prefer to have the better quality entertainment than have a schedule ready 6 months out. That isn't to say that WDW has terrible performers, but they definitely are not the same pool as DL's.

So a lot of it boils down to cultural differences between east and west coasts, not just in management, but in the people who live near and frequent the parks.

@GatorChris is referring to poor program management and strategic planning in Disneyland Parks' executive suite. Disneyland execs should be masters of their data and have the ability to project park hours and the entertainment schedule much farther in advance than what is happening now. I can tell you that other industries successfully run billion-dollar programs that schedule labor, raw materials and suppliers, contracts and deliverables on long-span timelines. Six months out. One year out. Not being able to post park hours barely 6 weeks in advance suggests they are not in control of their numbers.

Not posting their holiday show schedule has nothing to do with performers going elsewhere. Again, deciding on what Holiday shows will run should be determined by the first quarter. Performers are hired in and trained when the time comes closer, but still with enough headcount swag to account for attrition.

 

[vicarrieous]

We are headed to DL the end of January. Is it reasonable to think that PTN won't be back by then and WOC still may be out as well?

 

[dina444444]

We are headed to DL the end of January. Is it reasonable to think that PTN won't be back by then and WOC still may be out as well?

I would not expect PTN to come back until food and wine ends. They have food booths in Jan/Feb for lunar new year and then F & W is usually just a few weeks after that. WOC will hopefully be back by then.

 

[sgrap]

Frozen and a couple other little DCA shows have been added today to the week of 11/12: https://disneyland.disney.go.com/ca/calendar/

 

[JohnneeO]

I just wanted to wrap this up. The schedules all look good now. Fully populated with most shows, and seemingly complete all the way through 6 weeks out. (Frozen is still missing from some December dates.) Even for our park dates next week, some additional shows have been added, most notably Jedi Training on Nov. 4th, which now looks like the last day (and as I noted already in the Jedi Training thread).

I am breathing much easier now, and rolling up my sleeves to create some daily itineraries!