Originally Posted By TDLFAN >>OK. You're either very, very devoted to the Disney magic ... or have no life ;-)<< Spirit, you know you *want* to live my life. >>Now that crazy Party they do at TDL might be something to try one day ... << If you don't mind camping outside on the parking lot since the wee hrs of the morning on the day of the party.. then I guess you would enjoy it. Me? I would never concider going to TDL for the Countdown party at all.. Too much physical pain and patience to be enjoyable.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 <<Spirit, you know you *want* to live my life.>> Some of it ... perhaps! >>Now that crazy Party they do at TDL might be something to try one day ... << <<If you don't mind camping outside on the parking lot since the wee hrs of the morning on the day of the party.. then I guess you would enjoy it. Me? I would never concider going to TDL for the Countdown party at all.. Too much physical pain and patience to be enjoyable.>> It just sounds wild and very different from what I've experienced here.
Originally Posted By nbodyhome I've had more hassle than good with Disney transportation. Monorails are usually good. Boats, usually good. Buses - not so much.
Originally Posted By Mr X ＊＊It just sounds wild and very different from what I've experienced here.＊＊ It's akin to going to times square...some people consider it the thrill of a lifetime and others wouldn't be caught dead there even if there were pay involved. Personally, I've been involved in the event probably 7 or 8 times (best seat in the house, up on a float in front of the castle blocking the view for others ) and the energy and excitement of the event is palpable. Never seen anything like it at any Disney park before or since! As for the camping out part, that's not necessary. Everyone who has a ticket gets in the door anyway. It's just that people want to get great seats for the parade...honestly if I happened to go as a guest I would simply go in and stroll around enjoying the festivities, either catching one of the other shows for midnight (there's something going on on every stage throughout the parks, as well as several mini-parades and whatnot all through the various lands) or watching the parade from a distance.
Originally Posted By danyoung >I am glad to see Dick Clark doing so well.< I guess you could say that he's doing well, but it just breaks my heart to hear him talk now. I grew up with him, and I just don't like hearing the old post-stroke Dick. I think the show producers recognise this, as his segments were very short. Nice to see that traditional midnight kiss, though. As to me on NYE, I've spent so many NYE's on stage playing for mostly drunk people that I don't at all mind a quiet evening at home, maybe even crashing well before midnight. But I always record the Times Square activities for viewing the next morning. Happy New Year, everyone!
Originally Posted By nbodyhome >> I guess you could say that he's doing well, but it just breaks my heart to hear him talk now. << Last year was very, very sad to watch - I also grew up with AB (as well as watching the NYE Times Square ball drop every year), and seeing him struggle through each word was difficult. This year he was so improved. If he wanted to say something, he did - he wasn't struggling too much. He had a little playful banter with Ryan Seacrest, off the cuff remarks. It made me so happy to see him doing better. And it isn't NYE if he doesn't kiss his wife, who always has the same hairstyle. I would be just fine watching Dick Clark the whole night, even now. But I am guessing that too much talk tires him out.
Originally Posted By nbodyhome >> It's akin to going to times square...some people consider it the thrill of a lifetime and others wouldn't be caught dead there even if there were pay involved. << When someone said on TV that there were no bathrooms, I was like "that isn't happening for me, ever!"
Originally Posted By CMDad I was there once for NYE 1969/1970 - but it was a very different scene then. We went to a movie and didn't arrive in Times Square until about 11:30 PM - saw the ball drop and then headed towards the subway and home. That was critical since we were anticipating a transit strike at 2 AM. (Didn't happen) No entertainment there in those days ... just thousands of people watching the ball drop.
Originally Posted By mousermerf Buses.. Magic in Motion is a 2-part enhancement of the WDW Resort Motor Coach transportation system. Phase 1, which was to be complete by early 2007, involved the automated spiels and music based on destinations. Drivers would continue to be dispatched the same old way. As mentioned, was supposed to be complete.. which it's not, and still is buggy, and barely works in the vehicles it is installed in. Phase 2 was supposed to begin in mid-2007, and would dispatch buses based on automated counts of guests at bus stops as well as traffic conditions and other important factors in maintaining a proper bus schedule (like making sure late-night PI drivers dont take 45mins to do one loop so they can take a break before a second loop). It has, for the most part, been entirely abandoned. Who knows if all the money they spent on it (several million) will ever amount to anything more then stupid spiels on the buses (spiels which are already outdated and refer to closed or obsolete attractions in the parks). In my opinion, it would have been smarter to introduce the new dispatch system first and then get the speils working. You know, fix the problem, instead of putting lipstick on a pig.
Originally Posted By mousermerf It sounded so great.. and would fix the bus problems... But then phase 1 fell behind, and they released mumbo jumbo about "lessoned learned" and how they'd have to ease the technology into the second phase.. which starts next month... next year.. next decade. *sigh* Someone failed miserably and no one has noticed. Quick, someone email Kevin Yee or Jim Hill and maybe at least Disney will realize we didn't just not notice the system not working. Cheaper then monorails? HA!
Originally Posted By plpeters70 "Cheaper then monorails? HA!" It would be interesting to see just how much the monorails cost to run in comparison to all the bus fleets around WDW. And, it would be interestng to see what the numbers would have been if they had expanded the monorail system when they were building MGM and all the new resorts instead of all these buses. I wonder what would have been cheaper in the long run?? Of course, they would have needed to plan the whole resort better than they did to have monorail lines everywhere instead of the horrible urban sprawl that they created instead. It's amazing how much the development of WDW in the 90's matched the rest of America - no central planning at all - and no transportation system to tie things together -- just roads and cars...
Originally Posted By Sport Goofy << I wonder what would have been cheaper in the long run?? >> You'd probably find that the monorails might win out in the long haul. However, Disney was engaged in a massive competitive fight with other Orlando attractions throughout the 90s, so I suspect the decision makers who approved the capital expenditures chose to build more parks and entertainment capacity over expanding infrastructure that doesn't immediately grow the business. I think the competitive landscape has settled down now, and there might be an opportunity to allocate some capital expenditures to infrastructure improvement in the coming years. It all remains to be seen, though.
