Originally Posted By TDLFAN While the fireworks didn't disappoint, since it is about the only thing we can count on WDW to do better than any other Disney resort... the truth is EPCOT's operation on most of dec 31st disappointed me terribly. First up... lack of vision and preplanning on the part of management. They know it's a holiday weekend and the crowds are HUGE, yet, they do absolutely nothing to make things better or at least organized. Example: The Nemo line went all the way back to the Character connection area at Communicore, while most of the space in front of the Living Seas itself was empty and could have been used effectively to organize the queue into a switch-back mode. But no... they just allowed the line to grow and expand on it's own anyway it would go. The lack of planning caused a lot of confusion for guests and allowed the smart ones to cut in line right and left. BAD show! When I approached one of the three managers standing there by the entrance to comments on the situation.. I was greeted with a cold and unintewrested.. "ok..ok..ok.. ok.. ok... ok..." from her. NO sorry for your inconvenience, NO thanks for the imput and suggestions... No NOTHING! Her demeanor was one of dismissal and total lack of interest about my concerns, which is the reason why WDW will *never* get better. Management simply does NOT care. Secondly.. too much booze. Many temporary bars were set up all over the park..and many guests were seen drinking a bit too much... Some guests had been drinking a bit to much IMHO... Many were walking around the park with *glass beer bottles* in hand.. you know.. the ones you can split someone head's opened in a brawl? BAD SHOW and BAD SAFETY SLIP at WDW!! Thirdly.. like last year.. TOO MUCH smoking and not enough (if any) enforcement of smoking rules. Several times I witnessed guests telling others to please refrain from smoking in their area which was open opportunity for some offending smokers to get nasty and insulting... BAD SHOW again! Finally... TRASH, and I am not talking about some of the guests who were just that, but about the totally unsanitary conditions of many areas (if not all areas) of the park itself. Toilets were filthy, trash cans were grossly overfilled and spilling, tables at most restaurants were unattended and uncleaned for guests to enjoy a meal at... The whole experience was simply GROSS! The gift shops appeared to have been visited by typhoons with merchandise all over floors and major mess everywhere in sight. The Land pavillion was a nightmare to transit during most hours of the day since some twit manager had the foresight to re-route all incoming guests to the right stairs (towards Circle of life movie theater) creating a huge backup of people to enter the pavillion. I have never seen such bottleneck traffic to enter The Land ever! This is one time when a suggestion that would appear to work actually backfired. BAD SHOW! and whoever came up with that idea should be majorly fired! Innacurate times for stand by line.. At 10:45pm, the Soarin line showed a 150 mins waitime for standby. When I went in to actually see how backed up the line was, there were less than 150 guests in the stand by line, and I was riding in less than 25 mins. Same for Mission: Death. Posted a 55 min stand by wait, but my wait was actually 15 mins. Are these the little tricks Disney management plays on guests to discourage them from riding.. especially when it's late in the evening and they want to close the rides as soon as possible after closing time??? I could go on and on... but why bother?? The whole experience was simply one Disney embarrasment after another, and WDW's management should be horribly ashamed for being so inefficient. This resort has been opened for 35 freaking years and still, as I witnessed today at EPCOT, it appears to be run by uncaring AMATEURS! SHAME ON YOU WDW MANAGEMENT!!!
Originally Posted By smeeeko hmmm wow! I didn't realize they served alcohol in glass bottles at Epcot. While we were there in December I know that the walk up near Rose & Crown (the place where you can get cider and such either on draft or from a bottle) they pour the beer into a plastic cup and that's what you are served. That's the only place I had a drink when at Epcot so I am surprised that they would allow folks to be out and about drinking directly from bottles on such a busy night. If that is the case than that does indeed sound like a safety issue.
Originally Posted By ssWEDguy I can add -- a lack of crowd control. Especially right after the first fireworks show was done and a large part of the crowd was heading for the exits while others were entering. There simply was not enough crowd control employed. Yes there were crowd control people there, and they did their best with what they had. But many, MANY more were needed for the size of the crowd that was there. Major faux pas. Each year the last 3 years now I have seen less and less crowd control. Like it's supposed to happen as if by magic. ------------------ I can add one more -- lack of First Aid assistance. There is one First Aid location in the park, next to the Odyssey. This was largely inaccessible from the west side of the park once the evening got going. An additional First Aid station set up in World Showcase, and perhaps in Futureworld West would have been a proper thing. ------------------ I don't get that long, largely unattended Nemo line thing that they're doing. When the extended line gets close to the actual attraction there's a gap that they have to cross where cross traffic is flowing through to get to the Coral Reef. An easy and open invitation to line cutters. --------------------- I did like the floating planets hanging over FutureWorld west. All lit up from inside, it was an impressive display.
Originally Posted By ssWEDguy I don't think the bottles are real glass. They're the glass-looking plastic longneck variety. However, you can still hurt someone with even that, and they can be thrown or just tossed in the bushes. They should be poured into a cup.
Originally Posted By Witches of Morva ORGOCH: Well, heck, TDLFAN, ducklin'! Ya should a just been at the Parliament House with us Cauldron gals! They got ev'rything, there, ya just talked 'bout bein' at Epcot. Only it was cheaper an' maybe a little bit safer! ORDDU: I still can't get over the gorgeous cowboy I met from Texas who threw his lasso around me and--but that's another story for another time... ORWEN: Happy New Year! May 2007 be filled with even more Krispy Kremes than 2006!!!
Originally Posted By Disneybrad "I don't get that long, largely unattended Nemo line thing that they're doing. When the extended line gets close to the actual attraction there's a gap that they have to cross where cross traffic is flowing through to get to the Coral Reef." Part of that is becasue we have been told we have to make any extended queue ADA/WC/ECV assessable. Becuase all the origianl core drills that are there are to tight for ECV's and soem w/c to make the turns, we have had to double the width of most the the temporary queue's. We could have made a very tight, queue with lots of switchbacks, but scince the interor queue is ADA the temporary queue has to be as well. And with the Core drills we have availiable there is no way to set it up based n where they are drilled. Plus with the length of the line it was going to have to either cross the bridge to inoventions or the land, and with the narrower walkway between the land, plus that area being used for stroller parking, the decision was made to have them line up on the bridge to Inoventions. Now as far as crowed control, that is defianltly something we should have done a better job at.
Originally Posted By ssWEDguy >> we have been told we have to make any extended queue ADA/WC/ECV accessable. << I understand. But this unusual line with a gap and cross traffic is extra difficult to deal with. My sympathies to any CM that has to try to control it.
Originally Posted By basas <<Part of that is becasue we have been told we have to make any extended queue ADA/WC/ECV assessable. Becuase all the origianl core drills that are there are to tight for ECV's and soem w/c to make the turns, we have had to double the width of most the the temporary queue's. We could have made a very tight, queue with lots of switchbacks, but scince the interor queue is ADA the temporary queue has to be as well.>> Interesting...is it like this for all rides now? When did they begin to require this? It really does make it a pain when lines spill out of control where you can see all the holes in the ground that could be used for extended queue. Would it be impossible to re-do the core drills in certain areas? I personally hate wide queues...but thats just me.
Originally Posted By Disneybrad Plus with Seas either we block the walkway to the Coral Reef if we go over the Inoventions Bridge. Or we block the exit, the Nemo Statue Photo Area, and The Land Walkway. So we dont have also of choices.
Originally Posted By Disneybrad As far as the land goes, Alot of the issues have to do with how much space Foods were given on the 1st floor, the 1st floor is a mess. Image what it would’ve been like if everyone could walk wherever they wanted to go. At Least with the swirl, it is fairly organized, crowded yes, but at least everyone has a designated path to travel. When the park is only around 40 to 50, thousand it is very nice, but on New Year even when the park got past 70, it comes to a halt. Just image what it would be like if everyone could walk and use both staircases to go both up and down, it would've been a bigger mess.
Originally Posted By TDLFAN >>Part of that (Nemo queue problem)is because we have been told we have to make any extended queue ADA/WC/ECV assessable.<< Fine and dandy even if that does not solve the problems, but why could the female manager I talked to give me that or any other answer that would indeed validate my concerns about their lack of control over the crowds??? Instead she chose to dismiss me by just saying... "ok.. ok.. ok.." and that was it from her. Personally people like her, unproductive and who fail to take corrective action, have NO business being managers at WDW or even working for them.
Originally Posted By TDLFAN And Witches.. G-Fan and I would have loved to go to P-House and hang out but with the TDLParents visiting and wanting to put up with the hell that is WDW during the last week of december, kinda overrode that idea..
Originally Posted By ssWEDguy >> Instead she chose to dismiss me by just saying... "ok.. ok.. ok.." and that was it from her. << Maybe she talked that way because she knew she was talking to THE "TDLFAN" himself! (<--- joking)
Originally Posted By barboy TDLFAN is it just me or do you notice that there are far less ADA/WC/ECV type guests at the Asian Disney parks? Assuming this to be the case do you have a theory as why ther are fewer? And crowd control....in my experience Tokyo DL and Dis. Sea mgt. staff their parks well. I was at TDL on an exceptionally crowded day and the staff was out in full force. The park was so busy that the overflow queue with multiple switchbacks for BTMRR almost reached Splash Mnt.. But yet chaos was limited because cast members held signs and directed the hordes. Cast members were well versed in dealing with huge crowds as proven by how they strategically positoned themselves throughout the park. As for WDW's mass crowd control I would not know too much because I only fly back to Orlando during off seasons. I've seen a few busy days at WDW parks but never the 50K+ days that the "peakers" experience. Anyway, what's your take on the ADA/ECVers?
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Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 That's a shame, TDLFAN. I've spent 4-5 NYE's at Epcot, including both the real and fake Millenniums and things were relatively orderly. A few drunks ... a few obnoxious people ... a bit more trash, but nothing like what you described. It all comes down to understaffing. You won't see an improvement until TWDC wakes up and realizes it needs to raise its minimum wage by a few dollars. What sane (non CPer, non International Program, non retiree) would ever work for Disney?
Originally Posted By Mr X >>>Assuming this to be the case do you have a theory as why ther are fewer?<<< Lack of obesity?
Originally Posted By Mr X >>>Plus with Seas either we block the walkway to the Coral Reef if we go over the Inoventions Bridge. Or we block the exit, the Nemo Statue Photo Area, and The Land Walkway. So we dont have also of choices.<<< You guys might not have enough staff for this, but if you're saying what I THINK you're saying (the lines can't block the way to other stuff, right), there's an easy solution. They do it at Tokyo Disneyland ALL THE TIME, since lines can run throughout the park like snakes. They just position 2 cast members at those "crossover" points (like where you would walk into the Coral Reef, for example), and hold the line, leaving a gap. Then, little by little as the line gets shorter in front, they let a few guests through to the "other side". I see it all the time. This is not something you guys do? in fairness, I think Epcot doesn't get such huge crowds or lines...maybe only once a year right? and, Epcot is so much bigger too, it can absorb larger crowds without congestion most of the time.
Originally Posted By basas <<in fairness, I think Epcot doesn't get such huge crowds or lines...maybe only once a year right? and, Epcot is so much bigger too, it can absorb larger crowds without congestion most of the time.>> Still, the park should have the capability to put up large extended queues (switchbacks and such) for such busy periods. How are they at doing this at MK these days? The line at Space Mtn is so often completely out of control. How hard would it really be to add some switchbacks outside?
Originally Posted By BlueOhanaTerror >>>I've spent 4-5 NYE's at Epcot, including both the real and fake Millenniums and things were relatively orderly. A few drunks ... a few obnoxious people ... a bit more trash, but nothing like what you described.<<< Word is, they broke a record at Epcot this New Year's Eve, for most attendance at any Disney park, ever. I'd be curious if anyone here can confirm that.
