Originally Posted By Malin Since the parks opening we have been promised a regular Ferry Service for this Resort. September will mark the parks 3rd Anniversary and nothing has yet been annouced. The park has a beautiful marina and building being left empty all the time. Would the introduction of a regular service be a good idea in getting passengers to and from areas where access is limited.
Originally Posted By SuperDry I think you'd actually have to have large numbers of visitors before ferry service would be economically viable. I noticed last month that at least on the day I visited, they took one of the MTR trains out of service, such that there's now only one train that runs between Sunny Bay and Disneyland stations, making the average wait time much longer. MTR has to deal with the same thing that HKDL does: less-than-projected number of visitors means that the financial projections are way off, and costs must be cut where possible.
Originally Posted By Witches of Morva ORWEN: I think they should call it a Fairy instead of a ferry and then they could have Tinkerbell as the mascot. That, alone, would make sure a flock of Peking ducklings didn't miss the boat! Then it would end up paying for itself!
Originally Posted By WorldDisney Yeah, its all about economics. I read somewhere Disney tried to get contracts for one of the bigger ferry services, but no takers because that route just doesn't accomodate enough people to justify it. Outside of Disney, not much to go over there for I guess. Also, the fact the original projections are WAAAY down gives even less of an incentive. Looks like we might have to tack on another 3 years before you get that ferry.
Originally Posted By Malin Regarding the MTR, and only one train being used between HKDL and Sunny Bay is that just during the off season or hours. And was the train out for routine maintenance. Surely a demand for two trains must be available at some times, like park closing. I just don't understand with the recent expansion of Macau on the Cotai Strip and large populated areas like Guangzhou and Shenzhen not far away, it would make sense to me to try and offer visitors and locals in these locations a easy way to visit.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros When I was there (mid-June 06), they were only running one train from Sunny Bay to the DL station. The waits weren't horrible, even at the end of the night. We got to the station just as the train was leaving, and we had to wait for the next one. It didn't look like anybody had to wait any longer than that, but we did spend a little bit of time shopping after the fireworks, so things may have thinned out a little. It also did seem strange to me that they haven't started using the dock yet. They built it and said that it would start operation in summer 06, but it still hasn't been used. I hope that they are able to get service to it soon, since places with more ways to get there just seem like they are more popular, to me at least. If they can get lots of different ways to get there, it will seem more like it's the cool place to go, so maybe more people will visit. Or I could just be crazy...
Originally Posted By SuperDry <<< They built it and said that it would start operation in summer 06 >>> That was also before attendance severely under-performed first-year projections. <<< If they can get lots of different ways to get there, it will seem more like it's the cool place to go, so maybe more people will visit. Or I could just be crazy... >>> I don't think you're crazy, but for locals, I don't think that ferries are necessarily a cool form of transportation. <<< When I was there (mid-June 06), they were only running one train from Sunny Bay to the DL station. The waits weren't horrible, even at the end of the night. We got to the station just as the train was leaving, and we had to wait for the next one. It didn't look like anybody had to wait any longer than that, but we did spend a little bit of time shopping after the fireworks, so things may have thinned out a little. >>> That was just about the same situation I ran into a few weeks ago. The reason I mentioned it was not because it was causing people to wait for more than one train, but that the average wait for the next train was longer. And, since they were running two trains at park opening, this does indicate that MTR had decided to reduce service.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros It's not that ferries seem that cool to locals, it just makes it a lot harder to come up with a reasonable excuse for not going. I don't really like flying so much that I would do it for fun, but having spent the last couple years pretty close to LAX, I've flown more frequently than I have ever before in my life. If they make it rediculously easy to get to HKDL, whether by car, boat, train, submarine, helicopter, or walking, they may just see an increase in numbers. But they do need to make sure that they have something that people want once they get there too.
Originally Posted By Witches of Morva ORWEN: I know what's wrong. Nobody cares about taking Ferry's. That's why I suggested changing it to a Fairy. But, now that I think of it, maybe we should have them take a Ferret, instead! How good are you at swimming, FerretAfros, duckling?! And how many passengers can you take safely across the water with you? This could be the start of a whole new line of work for you!!
Originally Posted By SuperDry <<< It's not that ferries seem that cool to locals, it just makes it a lot harder to come up with a reasonable excuse for not going. ... If they make it rediculously easy to get to HKDL, ... they may just see an increase in numbers. >>> What would be the route of your proposed ferries? The only places where I think there could possibly be enough concentration of people to justify ferry service to HKDL would be from Hong Kong pier or TST, and both of those are already served by the MTR with trains that can get to HKDL in 30 minutes. I think the notion that attendance would go up if they added ferry service (which would have to mean that there are currently locals that would otherwise go to HKDL but for the lack of ferry service) is very unrealistic.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros "And how many passengers can you take safely across the water with you?" Ummm...1, if they didn't weigh too much and helped with the kicking. I might run into the same problems as Anaheim's it's a small world if I took on more than one (or two if one's a small child!)...I did just do some swimming today (breaststroke!), and I'm not sure if I'm ready for the choppy waves of Hong Kong quite yet. Or the distances for that matter...But it does sound like it could be quite an interesting job.
Originally Posted By katsmom I personally don't take ferrys. I've taken the little one on the old Star ferry when we were doing our HK transportation bit and a class of mine during the same unit. they are miserable things toride on. I know lots of other expats that live on the islands and their lives are run by the ferry schedules. to make matters worse, there has been a price hike for the islands and a reduction in service in the past few months. i can't see one of the existing companies picking up the route any time soon. if Disney wants the service to run, they will have to a) guarantee the number 0f passengers (impossible)or b) start their own service (probably not cost effective). Maybe a service from Shenzhen or Macau might be possible, but as SuperDry said, transport in HK is pretty good. IMHO I think the ferry service isn't viable. It's a waste of the pier, but it's still a nice place to walk to and take in the view.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros "I personally don't take ferrys." Would you be willing to take a Ferret? : )
Originally Posted By katsmom Only if you could guarantee you wouldn't crash into anything and that I wouldn't drown...
Originally Posted By Witches of Morva ORWEN: Oh, I'd just LOVE to take a Ferret--especially the one named Afros! He's so cute and sweet and cuddly!
