Originally Posted By Goofyernmost I suppose it is possible that they are anticipating a large number of CM's that for one reason or the other might not be able to make it in, storm wise! Closing the two least visited parks would enable the available man (or woman) power to staff the open, more popular sights.
Originally Posted By TDLFAN >>Closing the two least visited parks would enable the available man (or woman) power to staff the open, more popular sights.<< Actually no. Closing the two "so-called" least visited parks allows them to save money in payroll and operational expenses of those pakrs, while effectively forcing those who did not care to visit the other "so-called" more visited parks to deviate towards DTD and shop till they drop, which further improves the bottom line at WDW. They are despicable geniuses.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 <while effectively forcing those who did not care to visit the other "so-called" more visited parks to deviate towards DTD and shop till they drop, which further improves the bottom line at WDW. They are despicable geniuses.< <^ LOL! That's the cynical side, but it's true< Not cynical at all-- that was the major reason behind Fastpass......to get people to shop / dine instead of waiting in line....
Originally Posted By SuzieQ Yes, I know. But hurricane preventative park closures versus fastpass.... they have slightly different originations. Same end result.
Originally Posted By Goofyernmost All I can say is...WOW! You could be right I suppose but I doubt it.
Originally Posted By SuzieQ Yes, same business model. Different circumstances. It's not an argument, it's different points of view. You see it your way, I see it mine. Based upon what I've read of your posts in the past, we're both astute business people.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 Thanks SusieQ-- and as you can tell, I am not being critical of them or negative, however facts are facts and when business decisons have to be made- they are made on a common model. Anyone who would think that absolutely no thought about what some closures would result in from a business /bottom line perspective went onto the decision process, has never been in the position to make those choices for a major corporation. You tie all that you do to a business model -- you may print your corporate motto's on letterhead, or in advertising, but the decisions all tie to the business model you operate under. Some actions are more pre planned than others, but same net effect.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 Unless I missed late news-- Sea World remained open today correct ? Was that decision based on potential income since all other major parks announced they would be closed, and maybe the storm would shift even further south than forecasters had said. You bet it was..all decisions driven by the bottom line....they didn't stay open because they thought their park was safer...
Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<Not cynical at all-- that was the major reason behind Fastpass......to get people to shop / dine instead of waiting in line....>> Sorry. I still think it is overly cynical. Have you ever watched people 'shopping' at DTD when it is lousy weather? There are far more lookers than buyers. They aren't there because they want to buy something... they are there because the parks are closed and they are bored. It wouldn't surprise me if sales were actually less than usually because the 'buyers' get frustrated by the crowds. Animal Kingdom has by far the most foliage and takes the longest to clean up. After Charley it was closed several days after the other parks opened. My guess is that this time they are using MGM staff to help clean up AK so that they can get all parks back on line as quickly as possible. I'm sure any revenue they get from increased sales at DTD doesn't come close to the admission revenue lost by closing the parks. As far as Fastpass goes, if that was the major reason behind Fastpass it has failed miserably. People don't shop and eat while waiting for their Fastpass time. If they did, they would not be saving in time in their day. People ride non-Fastpass attractions while waiting for their Fastpass window to come up. At least that's what everyone I know does. I bet that’s what you do too.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 <As far as Fastpass goes, if that was the major reason behind Fastpass it has failed miserably. People don't shop and eat while waiting for their Fastpass time. If they did, they would not be saving in time in their day. People ride non-Fastpass attractions while waiting for their Fastpass window to come up. < I didn't say they succeeded, but it was the driving force behind the idea - to free up more consumer time.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 And any rule of sales-- foot traffic = $ now maybe not as much as they like but once you are in the door, the impulsive purchases happen.
Originally Posted By JeffG Both the Magic Kingdom and Epcot opened at 1pm today. After getting some lunch at the quick service restaurant at our hotel (The Wilderness Lodge) and taking care of a few odds and ends around the room, we headed over to the MK at 3pm. Once the storm passed, the weather was absolutely gorgeous. The sky was very clear, the temperature was comfortably cool, and the hurricane had apparently blown away all the humidity. In addition, the park was extremely uncrowded, with just about every attraction a walk-on all day. We made it to our dinner reservation at Tony's and also managed to see both Spectromagic and Wishes from prime locations without having to fight big crowds. Due to the late opening, they extended the closing time to midnight (it was scheduled to closed at 9 originally - I understand Epcot also had extended hours), so we ended up staying until around 11. Over the course of the day, we made it on all the Fantasyland dark rides (Peter Pan, Snow White, Pooh, and Small World), Tomorrowland Transit Authority, Buzz Lightyear, and Tomorrowland Speedway. We could have made it on any of the mountains with 5-10 minute waits as well, but we generally were sticking to rides that our almost 2-year-old could go on with us. He was in a particularly responsive mood today, so that was a lot of fun. Despite the late start, I suspect we will look at this as one of the most successful days of the trip. -Jeff
Originally Posted By TDLFAN I doubt there was any damage in the MK and EPCOT Center. The winds were simply not strong enough. However, I am hoping that the rain did wash up the MK a little bit since the nightime crew does such a lousy job lately... As for the argument about FP being implemented as an excuse for guests to shop... Well, they didn't count of the moral majority being stuck in the Stand by lines, so they shot themselves in the foot as far as I am concerned... As for window shoppers being the norm at DTD during rainy weather days... same for the Mall of America. Simply not much to do there unless you actually *need* to buy something. Savy guests know that 2 polos at WDW cost the same as a round trip ticket to Orlando on Southwest from Moline IL.
Originally Posted By ssWEDguy >> same for the Mall of America. << TDLFAN -- So you're a Mall of America veteran as well? You DO get around! What brings you to the frozen north?
Originally Posted By Goofyernmost If fastpass was a devious plan to get people to shop, a business maneuver, as it were, and now it is a miserable failure, why wouldn't it follow suit that as a purely business move it would be removed? They have closed things quickly before when it flopped. My personal opinion is that it has caused way more anger than it has brought joy so why continue it? Using the "business move" logic, why hasn't it gone? And as for closing parks because then people will go to DTD, come on. As a family I might be tempted to spend $50 to $100 dollars on "Disney Junk" but not individually and not more than I would have spent anyway. How can that revenue begin to compare to park revenue. Just isn't logical. I realize that the probable majority have already purchased tickets but in all likelihood they will be used eventually anyway. Nope, not buying it! (pun intended)
Originally Posted By Mr X >>>As far as Fastpass goes, if that was the major reason behind Fastpass it has failed miserably. People don't shop and eat while waiting for their Fastpass time. If they did, they would not be saving in time in their day. People ride non-Fastpass attractions while waiting for their Fastpass window to come up. At least that's what everyone I know does. I bet that’s what you do too.<<< That's a gigantic assumption right there! What proof do you have of this statement, that it's a huge failure (besides the fact that you and your friends happen to ride rides...nice scientific poll you got there!). Just so happens, that's not at ALL what I do usually. I often shop, eat, or watch shows. I rarely ride standby rides cause, basically, I won't wait longer than 10-15 minutes for ANY ride (funny thing is, that allowed me to enjoy Pooh and HMH yesterday at TDL, while preventing me from enjoying Dumbo, Peter Pan, or even the train!). I'm sure SOME people spend their time on other rides. Others shop and/or eat. Some probably just stroll around. I doubt that you could make the assumption that fastpass is a miserable failure just because you think that "everyone" rides standby rides while waiting. And, like someone else mentioned, if it WAS a failure they'd have killed it long ago. Sure, there would be some guest complaints, but I doubt it would affect their bottom line much. Here's another thought, if fastpass wasn't working out, wouldn't they have started charging for it by now? I mean, pretty much everyone would be willing to pay a dollar a fastpass or whatever, and the cheapskates could always wait in the long lines (or skip it, like I do ). Glad that hurricane wasn't as devestating as it could have been! Though there sounds like a lot of damage, it also seems (I could be wrong on this one) that it wasn't as powerful as some forecasters had feared. Here's a weird thing...when I was staying at WDW back in 1999 and Hurricane Floyd was coming, they closed all the parks in the late afternoon and planned closures for the entire next day. When it headed north and didn't affect Orlando, they chose to open Animal Kingdom only for hotel guests. I suppose that's just because there was NO damage, obviously, and AK was the easiest park to staff maybe? (I dunno...but I heard LOTS of CM's had evacuated anyway). I got to see the Dapper Dans at AK cause of that (they were bringing in any entertainment they could get their hands on).
Originally Posted By vbdad55 <If fastpass was a devious plan to get people to shop, a business maneuver, as it were, and now it is a miserable failure, why wouldn't it follow suit that as a purely business move it would be removed? They have closed things quickly before when it flopped. My personal opinion is that it has caused way more anger than it has brought joy so why continue it? Using the "business move" logic, why hasn't it gone?< you'd have to ask them -- management was up front when Fastpass came out in saying one of the driving reasons was to free up more time for people to enjoy the parks outside of just the attractions. "Disney's FASTPASS® Service eliminates the wait. The exclusive new Disney's FASTPASS® allows guests to spend less time waiting in line and more time enjoying the Parks" from Disney web site -- and read the duide books , Fodor's / Birnbaum's and other mouthpieces for Disney - they all suggest shopping and dining after you get your Fastpass...where do you think they got these directions. And we here are only speculating that that isn;t working. I haven;t seen sales figures for merchandise pre and post Fastpass....who knows if it is working or not. For us veterans here who know how to plan out a Disney visit, probably makes little difference in our patterns, but for the 95% of other visitng guests ? And from the tone-- no one said this was a devious plan -- it was a well drawn up business plan/model--I don;t see that as devious. No more than a store that chooses red color carpeting because research shows that the color raises emotions and supposedly the urge to shop -- or grocery stores / Walgreens etc placing impulse shopping items like candy bars and gum / magazines at the checkout counter. Do you think that is by accident ? Disney placing gift shops at the exits of rides.... it's called marketing and I don;t view it as devious at all. Ford and Gm selling cars at quote, unquote employee prices. Of course due to the heavy heavy discounting people purchase cars whose residual value is also much much lower...and for those who put 0 down and financed for 5 years -- they will owe more than the car is worth for at least 3.5 of those 5 years if they ever had to sell it....is that devious ? no.
