Originally Posted By mousermerf Just a note.. DCA will open at 9am on the 8th, with various other days in the month being tested with the 9am opening.
Originally Posted By Darkbeer Let me quote myself.... <a href="http://micechat.com/forums/blogs/in-the-parks/1383-holidays-scheduling-news-photos-more.html" target="_blank">http://micechat.com/forums/blo...ore.html</a> >>California Adventure's hours on Monday the 8th is from 9 AM to 7 PM. The folks in charge of DCA have been trying to get an earlier starting time for awhile, and this will be the first day of the earlier start. Between the fact it is the "Pay for Disneyland, get DCA for Free!" 2fer ticket season, where guests would normally have to wait until 10 AM for the park to open, along with the desire to get more guests to visit DCA first for attendance counting reasons. (While Disney keeps track of many different types of attendance figures, the "traditional" policy that has been around for decades, is that if someone has a ticket valid to more than one park on the same day, it is the park that is entered first that gets the "official" count for attendance, and any other park(s) visited are counted as an re-entry on the same day. By opening the turnstiles earlier, the execs are hoping that they can get more ParkHoppers and Annual Passholders to start the day at DCA. And that is important, since they need to show that the money they are currently investing is paying off, and World of Color won't start for months, which should help the numbers.<<
Originally Posted By Dabob2 Glad to see them opening earlier. No question that opening so late in the past would have skewed the attendance numbers down and this might help get things more accurate.
Originally Posted By leemac <<The folks in charge of DCA have been trying to get an earlier starting time for awhile, and this will be the first day of the earlier start. Between the fact it is the "Pay for Disneyland, get DCA for Free!" 2fer ticket season, where guests would normally have to wait until 10 AM for the park to open, along with the desire to get more guests to visit DCA first for attendance counting reasons.>> Absolute nonsense. It is driven by the installation of World of Color. The engineering team asked for DCA to close an hour later to give them more time so instead of 10am-8pm the park shifted to 9am-7pm. The WoC team didn't even expect Mary Niven to agree but she is so behind WoC that she consented. It demonstrates the commitment of TDA to ensure that WoC is up and running in late Spring.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt It's funny, because as soon as I started reading Darkbeer's post and the whole 2fer business I suspected that something there was inaccurate. Thanks for clearing that up leemac.
Originally Posted By Terminus Absolute nonsense. It is driven by the installation of World of Color. The engineering team asked for DCA to close an hour later to give them more time so instead of 10am-8pm the park shifted to 9am-7pm. ====================================== Sorry. I'm confused... An hour EARLIER, right?
Originally Posted By FerretAfros Will that single hour really help the WOC teams that much? It seems like if they needed more time, they would be changing the park hours for entire weeks at a time, instead of just a few select days. I'm not saying that Darkbeer's reason makes total sense, but it does seem to make more sense than doing it for WOC. If they're testing how it affects operations, it makes sense to do it on a few random days. If they're doing it so the after hours crews have more time in the dark to work things out, then they should probably do it more frequently than once ever week or two.
Originally Posted By leemac <<Will that single hour really help the WOC teams that much?>> My bad - blame it on the time difference. It makes a HUGE difference. Time is critical. Every single second is important. No surprise that Miceage have no response. I always find it amusing that Darkbeer can peddle his nonsense here but Micechat won't allow links to us at their site.
Originally Posted By leemac <<Maybe it's a combination of both.>> Nope - Darkbeer's comment is a crock. First clicks are not fundamental to the operation of DLR. You don't make a decision that influences one park over another. It demonstrates a lack of understanding of how the parks operate.
Originally Posted By dshyates Well then, do explain how the parks DO operate as far as first clicks. Enquiring minds want to know. Oh and leemac, off topic, but what are your thoughts on the revival of West Side Story on Broadway? Matt Cavanaugh has a startleingly good voice and Karen Olivo seems tony award winning caliber.
Originally Posted By Darkbeer Then why has DCA Management started to offer Early entry to 2fer ticket holders on certain days. There have been quite a few complaints from those who have a DCA Specific ticket about the opening time. And I agree, WOC rehearsals can be part of the equation, but a lot of it is already happening during park hours. (specific parts and effects, not an entire show). But it is also a BUSINESS decision, not just accommodating the techs. And gee, ever try to link to MousePlanet here at LP, seems those links don't work here....
Originally Posted By Darkbeer Gee, how many rehearsals and practices for parades and shows like Fantasmic! have been held at 1 AM or even later? Yes, you do have to worry about the sound, but that is easy, just have the soundtrack play in the control booths to make sure the timing is right if you are doing a late night rehearsal. And if you to test the sound system, do it between 8 and 10 PM on the days available. I think that doesn't need as much tweaking as the water screens, projections and lighting.
Originally Posted By cheesybaby <<Well then, do explain how the parks DO operate as far as first clicks. Enquiring minds want to know.>> I'm sure TDA doesn't care one iota about "first clicks."
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt I'm pretty sure they don't either. A lot of folks are still hung up on DCA circa 2001, or maybe even DL pre-DLR. The exact way the two parks function is a bit of a mystery, but it's apparent that both are somewhat dependent on the other both operationally and from a marketing standpoint.
Originally Posted By mousermerf lee - they are offering an early entry hour at DCA the next few saturdays as enticement involved with the twofer - they do seem to be trying to get people to start their day at DCA. It's probably the same reason Epcot opens World Showcase early on busy days - to spread people out. The initial calendar does reflect what looks to be an operational change to accomodate the show install - but I bet DCA management has been looking for a reason to open earlier for a while. One does wonder how many single day tickets are sold each day prior to DCA's opening.
Originally Posted By mousermerf <<<I'm sure TDA doesn't care one iota about "first clicks.">>> True - but what about DCA's managements impression of single park tickets and how there is a lost opportunity for them to be used for DCA? If a big part of their metric for DCA recovery from the slum it opened as is how many people willingly pay full price for DCA, then they're going to want to curb it in their favor as much as possible and not suffer that opportunity loss.
