Mini report from WDW this morning 5/4th/05

[TDLFAN]

Well folks, I ventured out of bed early and made it to WDW, where I spent most of the morning doing the 4-park circuit.

First up, I arrived at EPCOT 10 mins before opening and got to see Mickey and the gang, along with some CMs riding a Test Track vehicle, do a little opening time countdown at 9am. Cute little welcome. Then proceeded to do what I wanted to do which was to buy a DL Musical History CD set at Art of Disney. After buying the cd set, I headed out the door and pondered if I should drive or put myself at the merci of the WDW transport system. I chose the WDW trasport system.

Hopped on the monorail and went to the MK..as rain drops started coming down but it was a very soft and fast moving rain shower. Entering the MK, I noticed the artwork of the new castle overlay now graces the MK guidemaps' cover. Walking down Main Street towards the castle, I noticed some mini sink holes along the way have been somewhat fixed, with a coating of cement. Problem is they forgot to pain them to match the color of the road, so they stuck out like a sore thumb, but that's ok. At least they are trying.
Once I got the castle and hub area, the castle forecourt was blocked off and a seating stand was set up for members of the press. A giant jumbotro TV was also installed to the left of the castle stage, and was on showing the "happiest Celebration" golden castle logo. A batallion of managers could be found roaming this area (who knew there were so many white bread managers at WDW??). The walkway from the hub towards Adventureland was filled with tents, each housing a different press group from radio stations and such. It was here I ran into two of WDW's Ambassadors, Christopher (a white bread good looking guy with gorgeous blue eyes and long eyelashes), and Juan (one of the very few educated Puerto Ricans who has been lucky enough to get out of Resort Housekeeping and achieve some status at WDW) They of course were sweet-talking the press corps. Up on the castle, the Castle Window is now fully functional, as strobes go off as the images rotate in sync, plus the year and name of the resort being shown is also displayed as well. The support legs of the window have also been covered in gold curtains (which are made of plastic) and the whole castle overlay now looks totally complete.

Left the MK and hopped on the bus to DAK. Once in DAK, I stopped at Pizzafari and has a slice of cheese pizza for breakfast. Nothing new here but wanted to take an upclose look at the progress of Everest. Drats! The walkway leading to Everest was closed and no guests were allowed to walk back there. I made a quick detour thru the Flame BBQ restaurant's seating area by the lake and saw that a portion of the construction wall to the left of the mountain itself has been taken down. The newly built buildings off to the left of the attraction (closest to Kali Rapids) seems almost complete. As if they were almost ready to be opened to the public..but from my point of view, I could hardly manage to see better. Maybe they are trying to give the Press a quick overview of the new Everest complex, and I would expect to see the construction walls be back up again once the Press has beat it off the property. With no much else to see there, I left and hopped on the bus to Disney-MGM.

I arrived at MGM to find a woman complaining to the security CM at the Bin Ladden check point, about MGM's abrupt closing at 4pm today. I have to agree with her... Why are the paying guests cheated out of enjoying the park, while the Press gets all the perks for free?? Oh well... it's a hopeless situation for us the little people. Entering MGM, the place looked a bit quiet and that was at about 11:25am. Once in front of the Giant Hat Pin shop, they have erected a stage that has a catwalk sticking out in the front, which I am to presume will be used for tonight's press bash. But why the catwalk?? Are Naomi, Linda, or Cindy modeling on that stage tonight?? Hmm...
Made my way back to the NY street set, or "Streets of America" (pardon) and found the San Francisco facade in shambles. This facade was totally done for christmas but now looks unfinished and torn apart. What gives?? Then... STAMPEDE!!! Thousands of guests started emanating from the "Lights, Motors, Action!" show as a performance had just come to the end. Apparently this was the only Motor show performed for guests today. I inquired about show times but the CM told me "no more shows today sorry". I also wonder if Disney will be changing the name of this show to "Xtreme Stunt Show" since that is the way it's being advertised on some billboards around town and also at the billboard to the right of the MGM ticket booths outside the park. No mention of the show's proper name anywhere, except at the show's theater entrance marquee.
Being caught up in the stampede of guests coming out of "Xtreme Stunt Show", I turned right into the newly reopened Studio Catering Restaurant next to the "Honey I Shrunk the Press" playground. Low and behold. The newly refurbished Studio Catering offers the same semi-outdoor seating but the whole counter and kitchen area has been remodeled and looks quite nice. Spotlights hang over the counter area and gives the restaurant a TV studio feel. The menu also is very similar to the new menu found at The Land's newly reopened Food court. Mediterranean style dishes, tabuleh (sp?) and the likes. By the looks of it, the guests seems to enjoy this. The Studio Catering also now has relocated the registers in front of the counter, so like all other counter-service places... you pay first the proceed to pick up your food once you reach the counter.
Getting ready to leave MGM, I proceeded down Mickey Ave, and noticed that preparations have been made for tonight's press event fireworks show, as the launching cannons are somewhat visible on top of the buildings in that area.
I continue down Hollywood Blvd, and stumbled upon a TV crew interviewing some VIP Disney person by the name of "Tony" on his badge. I could not identify this Tony by face, but I wonder who he is... Hmmm...

Hopped on the bus back to EPCOT, and got in my car and left.

I shall be back around WDW tomorrow and this time, I will bring my camera so I can show you how nicely we the guests were prohibited from enjoying the kick off of the "Happiest Press Celebration on Earth".

[Speedway]

Lovely report. But I am in the dark..seriously, who is this Tony? Sorry if it is a stupid question! BTW, is it possible if you could sell one of those park maps on eBay? I would love a special Happiest Celebration park map - I'm just worried they won't be there when I go in Oct.

[WDW1974]

I wonder how many pissed off guests there were at Disney-MGM today when they found out the park was closing at 4 p.m. ... I would believe that anyone who bought a one-day MGM ticket today would be allowed to park-hop to Epcot or MK, but does anyone know this for certain?

Also, maybe 'Tony' was Tony Baxter of WDI, who pretty much is a figure-head nowadays, but was lead designer on things like BTMR, the Fantasyland at DL, the entire MK at DLP and Tomorrowland '98 at DL amonst others. He's a fanboy fave.

Sounds like Disney is putting the same food offerings at Studio Catering that they are in The Land. It's great they are putting more diversity in their menus, but I hope the quality is better than the lousy Asian stuff I had at the MK's new TT Noodle Shop a few weeks ago. That stuff was bad.

Disney is having a presentation for the media at DAK Friday morning in front of EVerest, likely announcing the grand opening date, so I'm sure that's why the bridge and immediate area were closed off.

Thanks for the report, TDLFAN. And keep 'em coming.

[Jspider]

i dunno I don't think the press thing is much of a big deal here

heck Disneyland's closed for a whole day imagine if they did that at WDW

does anyone even buy a one day ticket to MGM?

I'd assume that most of it's visitors have hopper tickets or AP's and are visiting it as part of a larger vacation

[Ghostbuster626]

what about the "whats new, whats next" announcememnt at MGM and the "Future attractions announcement" at DAK? Are they announcing anything good or is WDW going to continue to fall behind Disneyland :devil:

[TDLFAN]

>>I would believe that anyone who bought a one-day MGM ticket today would be allowed to park-hop to Epcot or MK, but does anyone know this for certain?<<

I personally would doubt it. This is not WDSP where you are done with the park in 4 hrs.


Anyways... Iger was just on in the local news here in Orlando. Not much new... he says they expect to keep growing in Orlando but not in the form of another theme park. Also the big announcements... Soarin at Epcot, Stunt show at MGM and, Cindybration at MK. No surprises there. He also wants to keep the CMs happy. His words.

Oh well...

[Jspider]

I've read through a few of WDW's attraction planning things

I'm beginning to wonder if they'll infact start cloning more attractions from other parks now?

it seems like a poor stratagy to me WDW needs the newest to stay were it is and with it's huge stomach for the margional it's a good place to test new concepts

[Darthokeefe]

[QUOTE=TDLFAN] Juan (one of the very few educated Puerto Ricans who has been lucky enough to get out of Resort Housekeeping and achieve some status at WDW) [QUOTE]


Yikes thats a tad racist isnt it

[TDLFAN]

[QUOTE=Darthokeefe][QUOTE=TDLFAN] Juan (one of the very few educated Puerto Ricans who has been lucky enough to get out of Resort Housekeeping and achieve some status at WDW)

Yikes thats a tad racist isnt it

No. That is a fact. I was one of those Puerto Ricans who constantly had the doors slammed on my face as I tried to get into a better position at WDW during my CM years. You will be surprised to know that there are many hispanics working in Housekeeping at WDW who actually hold college degrees to many professional careers but have been unable to find a job in their chosen fields.

[BurningStroller]

If you're a member of that race you can insult youself. It's like using the N word or making Jewish jokes....you should know this!

[Jspider]

interacial people ownz j00 all :lol:

[ti2gr]

The parks hours were published on the internet and at the resorts. If a guest chose to go to MGM that day that is their business. The theme parks hours fluctuate on a daily basis, especially at MGM, and a 4pm closing is only 3 hours before the "normal" time.

[WDW1974]

i dunno I don't think the press thing is much of a big deal here

heck Disneyland's closed for a whole day imagine if they did that at WDW

does anyone even buy a one day ticket to MGM?

I'd assume that most of it's visitors have hopper tickets or AP's and are visiting it as part of a larger vacation

The 'press thing' is a HUGE deal at WDW. Florida is the cash cow of the theme park division. That's why there's an 18-month-long marketing event going on.

WDW couldn't close a park without never hearing the end of it. People spend a lot more to visit WDW than DL and you'd hear the bitching wherever you live it would be so loud!

And, many folks do buy one day tickets to the Disney parks. May not be what it was say 10-15 years ago. But plenty do.

[Jspider]

The 'press thing' is a HUGE deal at WDW. Florida is the cash cow of the theme park division. That's why there's an 18-month-long marketing event going on.

WDW couldn't close a park without never hearing the end of it. People spend a lot more to visit WDW than DL and you'd hear the bitching wherever you live it would be so loud!

And, many folks do buy one day tickets to the Disney parks. May not be what it was say 10-15 years ago. But plenty do.

oh I know it's a cash cow

and I know WDW probably can't close entire parks even in the off season the way other places can but even then I'd think that an early closing of MGM wouldn't be that big a deal

then again I suppose I could be suprised hwo many people buy a one day ticket

I just know it's a third gate and in the ranks if Disney parks at WDW I've assumed it's still third best

I suppose it's a bigger deal then if they closed down something like AK for a day?

[WDW1974]

^^^In terms of annual attendance, Disney-MGM Studios can be looked at as third amongst the parks. But Disney would have a problem closing any Florida park. It NEVER closed a park at all until a hurricane (might have been Frances?) in 1999. Parks closed on 9/11/01, but after they opened and were open the next day. Last year, the parks were closed a few times due to the unprecedented hurricane barrage Florida withstood.

But it's not a place like DL, where a majority of guests are local. Heck, until the late 1980s, DL used to regularly close EVERY Monday and Tuesday during the offseason.

But as far as MGM yesterday and Epcot, which closed at 3 p.m. today, I am quite sure Disney allowed folks with one-day passes to hop to another park. They did so in 2003 for the Mission Space media event.

[AgentXero]

OMG, Laughing my butt off...

Wow,

First off, a nice little post here. BUT, what had me rolling and laughing was the comment about the "white bread...good looking" ambassador Christopher. See, that, ladies and gents, is my actual cousin! His name is Christopher White and comes from where most of the Childers clan (he's technically a 2nd cousin, but he's treated like a 1st...He's a Childers damnit!) come from: Anderson, SC (It might have been on his name tag). We email each other a lot, have great fun at Christmas talking about the parks since we're both big fans (except he got to work there first...tsk) and we even took him out to dinner to celebrate his promotion to Ambassador (P.F. Chang's, for the curious). I have to say TDLFan, this will make an interesting email exchange in the comming days! I'm sure he'll appreciate the eyes comments (and boy, does he have some lashes)!

See you, and him, at Disney World!
- Agent Xero (Jonathan Childers...WDW cast member/Imagineer to come)

[TDLFAN]

Too bad I am not available anymore or else, I would ask for a date. Hehehe...

About the name tags... The new Happiest Celebration name tags do not include the name of the city where the CM comes from.

[Jspider]

^^^In terms of annual attendance, Disney-MGM Studios can be looked at as third amongst the parks. But Disney would have a problem closing any Florida park. It NEVER closed a park at all until a hurricane (might have been Frances?) in 1999. Parks closed on 9/11/01, but after they opened and were open the next day. Last year, the parks were closed a few times due to the unprecedented hurricane barrage Florida withstood.

But it's not a place like DL, where a majority of guests are local. Heck, until the late 1980s, DL used to regularly close EVERY Monday and Tuesday during the offseason.

But as far as MGM yesterday and Epcot, which closed at 3 p.m. today, I am quite sure Disney allowed folks with one-day passes to hop to another park. They did so in 2003 for the Mission Space media event.

well you can't technicaly say most guests are locals at Disneyland if you ask me there are deffinatly alot of people that pass through as part of a big tourist trip though

however you can say that DL is more seasonal and durring it's off season it deffinatly counts on locals to keep it's numbers up

at WDW you don't have that local base to fall back on so it's left with almost zero off season time it's got to constantly attract tourists because it has to keep all four parks filled

WDW has quite alot to ask in terms of both labor and attendance for a park that's not built near a community that is not neccisarily populated enough to um keep it populated?

[WDW1974]

I know folks who used to work in TDA and had access to certain data. It is widely accepted that between 65-80% (depending on the day) of visitors at DL are described as locals. That term covers folks who live from roughly Santa Barbara to the Mexican border.

[Jspider]

I know folks who used to work in TDA and had access to certain data. It is widely accepted that between 65-80% (depending on the day) of visitors at DL are described as locals. That term covers folks who live from roughly Santa Barbara to the Mexican border.

well I'm not entirely sure what the numbers are now that's why I said a shift a bit

honestly my higher visitation times were between 1995-1998 and 95 was pretty touristy with Indy opening

when I went last year for my first time in a long time I can say there were more locals or at least peeps with AP's


but yeah just saying what i see

I know WDW has to always survive on tourists

if the tourists stopped WDW would cave in there's no way Orlando locals could support those four parks + hotels/waterparks/clubs/shopping districts