Haunted Mansion's New Queue

[GothMickey]

Pictures from over the tarps have surfaced online. They are easy enough to find. There appears to be a giant organ crypt. Also, there is a drunken, drowned sailer crypt, which features, bubbles? Bubbles? Seriously? Iam looking forward to this new Haunted Mansion queue and hope, if the queue opens this week as rumored, that the queue is awesome. However, bubbles? This one has me scratching my head.

Oh, and the original headstones are still rumored to be in the new queue, and there are interactive sections as well. I have a feeling the pipe organ will be one of the interactive areas. Be prepared for a lot of noise, I fear

[WDWfanatic742]

As you posted this thread, the queue was open for previews. Pictures are online :mickey:

Lots of new tombstones, a tribute to Marc Davis, different musical effects and water squirting effects at the guests. Looks interesting and they are still working on it.

The line was set up with two different queues; one going into the interactive section and one going in the normal old queue. I like that setup...

[JPL]

Lots of new tombstones, a tribute to Marc Davis,

A tribute to Marc Davis was always there



In memory of
our patriarch,
dear departed
Grandpa Marc

As for the new additions I am going to reserve judgement until I see it for myself.

[WDWfanatic742]

I thought it was, but it was mentioned specifically so that's where I was confused. I like where they put it in a prominent position though.

[Figment!]

I thought it was, but it was mentioned specifically so that's where I was confused. Yes, the report floating around that the tombstone is new is incorrect.

The original Grandpa Marc and Francis Xavier tombstones have been added to the new area in their own plot. A new, larger Master Gracey tombstone has been added in its own plot among the crypts. Most of the remaining original tombstones appear to be accounted for in the new-ish hillside graveyard.

There is also a section of busts which look similar to the etchings used during the interactive test.

[Melanie]

The line was set up with two different queues; one going into the interactive section and one going in the normal old queue. I like that setup...

I was wondering how it was going to work. Where does it merge?

[Figment!]

The line was set up with two different queues; one going into the interactive section and one going in the normal old queue. I like that setup... I was wondering how it was going to work.

The dual line might only be due to the new queue being in Soft Opening mode.

The new queue was only open for a few hours today. After it closed to Guests, Cast (and some assumed Imagineers) were spotted going through the area.


Where does it merge? Reports indicate the merge point is "shortly after where the old turnstiles were".

[WDWdriver]

From the Cast Member information site:

"Until the end of the month, the enhanced queue will be open periodically on a limited basis while we fine-tune all of the elements. We look forward to opening the full queue in April. The Haunted Mansion will remain open while the testing takes place."

[GothMickey]

Video is now online at a few different sites, which I will not link to here. I am not sure I like this. The subtleness of the original Mansion queue is gone. But since this is just soft opening, I am willing to give the benefit of the doubt that tweeks will be made to make this less obnoxious, noise-wise. And it is too cluttered. Other than that, I like the design, I like the additions, minus the interactive portion. Here is to hoping WDI fixes the issues.

[Imagineer1981]

Video up at the Disney blog site

[WDWfanatic742]

Video up at the Disney blog site

Here it is:

Disney Parks Blog - Haunted Mansion Interactive Queue (http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2011/03/video-sneak-peek-haunted-mansion-interactive-queue-at-magic-kingdom-park/)

[John]

Hmm... not so sure about this. Waiting for it to all come together. Almost seems like they are trying too hard... but that's just me.

I personally liked the subtle nature of things - but I'll be there in a few weeks and will see it in person and report back.

[Stu29573]

I think they might have worked better as a post-show after you exit (if they could have been blocked from the entrance line). I don't like the idea of being introduced to some elements before you see them on the ride. Also, the sound needs to be very low volume or all "haunting atmosphere" will be lost!

[Ian]

I like it. I can see where some of the criticisms come from, though. It is a lot to get used to all at once, but I think it's pretty cool. I like the way they pulled elements from the attraction and incorporated them into the new queue additions.

The one thing I'll say, though, is that I hope they do some additional "weathering" to the graves and tombstones. They look way too new and shiny as they are right now. They've got to be aged to fit in with the rest of the environment.

Also, the epitaphs are kind of corny ... not nearly as subtle and well crafted as the originals.

[Stu29573]

Ok, I've thought about it a bit more and I think I can identify my issue with it. The Haunted Mansion has always been about the slow build up of effects. Outside, you hear the howling...and at night might glimpse a figure pass by a window. Inside, you don't even see any ghosts until over halfway through the ride. It's a build to a climax in the graveyard when all heck breaks loose (in a silly way). Claude Coats insisted on laying the groundwork of atmosphere for the ride before any of Marc Davis' silliness was spotted. That's what makes it work. It's a little scary and ominous, but the payoff is a laugh, not a scream.

The new elements are too much too soon. There is no buildup. You're standing in line to get on and already you are experiencing "supernatural phenomena." It might be kind of fun, but it ruins the integrity of the experience.

Add to this the fact that there really is no need for it. The Mansion line moves pretty quickly even on the most crowded days.

I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to give it a sight-unseen "thumbs down." Now if some Disney execs want to give me a paid trip to try to convince me otherwise, I might can be bought ;)

[giroux28]

Ok, I've thought about it a bit more and I think I can identify my issue with it. The Haunted Mansion has always been about the slow build up of effects. Outside, you hear the howling...and at night might glimpse a figure pass by a window. Inside, you don't even see any ghosts until over halfway through the ride. It's a build to a climax in the graveyard when all heck breaks loose (in a silly way)...

...Now if some Disney execs want to give me a paid trip to try to convince me otherwise, I might can be bought ;)

That is something I was thinking as well. The line always had its entertainment with the tombstones which was more than enough with usually how quickly the line moved. Then once you got closer (As long as he/she was good and in character) you had the CM making you feel like you were entering a true house of sorrow and demise. Followed by the stretching room then onto the real ride. It was such a great buildup. This seems like it was made more to pacify the impatient few that couldnt wait the 20 minutes to get in the ride (Or maybe just the kiddies). I appreciate the effort, but I do not think it was necessary at all.


And if needing to be convinced will result in an all-expenses paid trip, I am not sure how I feel about a room at the Contemporary with a MK View or a golden ticket to get on any ride with no wait at any park. REALLLLLY not sure how I would feel about any of that.

:mickey:

[Stu29573]

LOL Sounds good!

That is something I was thinking as well. The line always had its entertainment with the tombstones which was more than enough with usually how quickly the line moved. Then once you got closer (As long as he/she was good and in character) you had the CM making you feel like you were entering a true house of sorrow and demise. Followed by the stretching room then onto the real ride. It was such a great buildup. This seems like it was made more to pacify the impatient few that couldnt wait the 20 minutes to get in the ride (Or maybe just the kiddies). I appreciate the effort, but I do not think it was necessary at all.


And if needing to be convinced will result in an all-expenses paid trip, I am not sure how I feel about a room at the Contemporary with a MK View or a golden ticket to get on any ride with no wait at any park. REALLLLLY not sure how I would feel about any of that.

:mickey:

[Ian]

I've gotten burned a few times recently judging things "site unseen" with Disney, so I'm definitely withholding final judgement until I see it in May.

That being said, I agree with Stu ... it seems like it's over the top and just too much too soon. It looks like it might destroy the spooky, subtle, realistic atmosphere of the mansion as it was and replace it with this sort of clumsy attempt at interactivity and lame humor (no one does unintentionally corny like Disney these days).

And I also have to agree that, of all the attractions that needed queue help, HM would be really low on my list. That line moves quickly and you rarely have to wait more than 10 minutes for it.

[PopPhan]

I don't know about all the nay-sayers and comments about how quickly the line moves...There was, not too long ago, a thread on here that was complaining about the dumping of both stretching rooms creating havoc with forming a line to the doom buggies...Wouldn't this give them the opportunity to slow the loading of the stretch rooms and stagger the time between each one opening to the doom buggy queue???

I'll await making commentary on the interactive queue until I get a chance to see it in action....

[JPL]

The more I think about this the more I wonder why they are putting time and effort into things that aren't broken? I can think of other things that they can spend their money on that would be much more beneficial to the parks. You have an empty pavillion & the post show area of Imagination in Epcot. You have Sounds Dangerous, Narnia, & the Backlot Tour at the studios. You have empty exhibits & a broken Yeti at the AK. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the Mansion queue so why change it :confused:

[Ian]

The more I think about this the more I wonder why they are putting time and effort into things that aren't broken? I can think of other things that they can spend their money on that would be much more beneficial to the parks. You have an empty pavillion & the post show area of Imagination in Epcot. You have Sounds Dangerous, Narnia, & the Backlot Tour at the studios. You have empty exhibits & a broken Yeti at the AK. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the Mansion queue so why change it :confused:Yeah, honestly Jeff I think this is where I net out on this, as well.

I'll give them a pass on enhancing the queue at Pooh since, at least ostensibly, it was done as part of the Fantasyland expansion.

But some of the others, like the addition of video games that no one will ever play to the Space Mountain queue or this one I just don't get.

To your point, take that cash and do something productive with it. Is anyone really going to come home from their WDW vacation and go, "MAN! That queue at Soarin' was so awesome with those cheesy, low-res graphics interactive games! I can't wait to go back to Disney World!!!"

[Figment!]

I think they might have worked better as a post-show after you exit I definitely agree.

I had high hopes for these additions, but the elements really need to be more subtle than their current incarnation.

These elements build the story up too fast to mesh with the rest of the pre-show.

To work as a cohesive pre-show, the interactivity should be executed in more subtle ways. The effects should be things that would make the Guest question whether the event had occurred or if it was just their imagination; similar to the Madame Leota Tombstone.

As a post-show, the elements (in their current state) would transition nicely from the story of the attraction back to the rest of the park.

On the whole, I think the Next Gen/'"Scene One" project is a great idea; however, the execution needs to properly build the story at a pace that meshes with any existing pre-show.

[ryca1dreams]

I agree with most everyone on several points

- The buildup looks too fast and may cause the attraction to lose its "spookiness"
- Money could be used elsewhere (Future World)
- The interactive crypts seem out of place/not needed

I'm not a purist, but I think the parks seem to be pushing technology to force feed you instead of using it to create an atmosphere for imagination. The new ending of Spaceship Earth is an example.

Like others, I will reserve final judgement until I see it in person.

[Ian]

I'm not a purist, but I think the parks seem to be pushing technology to force feed you instead of using it to create an atmosphere for imagination. The new ending of Spaceship Earth is an example.I totally agree ... just because you can do something doesn't mean you should do it.

[Patricia]

I agree the money had better places to go.

I assume this is part of the master plan to take away waiting or at least making it seem like your not waiting.

Personally, I don't recall ever being in that line for any length of time. :confused: I'm not sure at what point the world decided that children couldn't wait in line without having things to poke at. Seems like everything has become over stimulating.

Don't get me wrong, a themed queue is nice if it's fitting. Indiana Jones (DIsneyland) has one of the best queues and all the interactive elements seem to actually belong there. The Mansion queue seemed to have already been themed as you would expect a haunted mansion to be. The anticipation of what lies ahead was all part of the experience. Although, the first mistake they made was not having you enter through the front doors. I prefer Disneyland's Mansion queue for this reason.

[brownie]

I'm not a purist, but I think the parks seem to be pushing technology to force feed you instead of using it to create an atmosphere for imagination. The new ending of Spaceship Earth is an example.

It does give you the opportunity to exercise your own imagination once you know about it and how it works. I had my son :rotfl: on our second ride through with the face I made and the answers we chose to the questions.

[PirateLover]

I also think this would work better as an exit sort of thing. From the videos, the area looks rather cluttered and I don't know that I'd enjoy people pounding away on all those noisemakers while I was waiting in line. Imagine 10 kids trying to touch things at the same time. I also agree that it takes away from the spookiness.

For those that have never waited in line for HM you're lucky! The last two trips we had to wait 20-40 if we wanted to ride it. The queue was almost always full. With no fast pass option, and being one of our must do's, we were forced to wait it out.

[Melanie]

Waited 40 minutes today! New queue wasn't open for previews, but I did snap a few pics and put them up on our @INTERCOT Twitter feed if anyone is interested.

[Figment!]

Waited 40 minutes today! New queue wasn't open for previews, but I did snap a few pics and put them up on our @INTERCOT Twitter feed if anyone is interested.

Nice pictures of the busts and the Composer's Tomb :thumbsup:

[luvindisney]

I love the new que!

[Dirty Bird Street]

While I'm more than impressed with what the Imagineers can do, I agree with many others that they've lost a bit of scope as to what they should do.

The Haunted Mansion is a dark ride, and one that evokes a certain aesthetic: it's a little silly, but a lot more scary. For every sight gag or pun in our Ghost Host's repertoire, there's a head popping out from behind a tombstone, and oh right, the pervasive theme of dead people. To that end, and perhaps this is just my American cultural bias (and experience with screaming children as they approach the entrance), but this clearly isn't a ride that's geared toward the impatient tyke set.

That said, all the distractions and interactive elements, while impressive and objectively engaging, are really geared toward the wrong audience. The kids that will like the hands-on mash-and-bang distractions are generally the ones that might be too young for the scary elements of the HM in general.

Pooh is clearly geared toward the younger set, and thus keeping them entertained is a fine idea. And sure, the decision as to whether or not a family takes a younger child into HM should be entirely up to them. However, I don't think Disney is doing themselves or their guests any favors by putting in big ol' distractions that, if anything, undersell the spooky factor inside. I don't know, maybe I'm just overprotective of the kids I don't have yet.

[waymickey]

I would love to see new things happening in tomorrow land. Seems that area could use a good updating. Why fix what isn't broken?

[BrerSchultzy]

Seems like something other amusement parks would do. The great queues in WDW are subtle...they introduce the story and the environment. In fact, it used to be all about the story...even EE shows how great queues can be when they simply give you an environmental feel. Imagine going to a movie where during the title sequence, you find out all the characters names, all the major plot points, and even a strong suspicion as to "who done it". Would the next 90 minutes be as exciting? Not likely. The old queue gave you a sense of leaving WDW and entering an old dilapidated mansion. Not sure why they wanted to change it.

[Carol]

New line for Haunted Mansion ride is a window to Disney's future
By Jason Garcia, Orlando Sentinel
March 26, 2011

The future of Walt Disney World can be glimpsed in one of the resort's oldest rides.

By the end of the month, Disney plans to debut a redesigned queue for the Haunted Mansion, the classic dark ride that is one of the Magic Kingdom's original attractions. After 40 years of slowly shuffling toward the attraction's entrance, waiting riders will instead be able to move through an expanded graveyard filled with elaborate crypts — such as the tomb of a composer where instruments carved in the stone play music when touched.

It is the newest in a growing roster of "interactive queues" Disney is designing for some of its most popular rides as the giant resort attempts to better address that age-old theme-park problem: long lines.

During the past four years, Disney has added interactive elements to the lines for several other attractions, including Space Mountain and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh in the Magic Kingdom, and Soarin' in Epcot. More are in development.

The Haunted Mansion queue also provides an early window into the kind of work now under way as part of Disney's "Next Generation Experience" project, a broad initiative aimed at using new technologies to make its increasingly busy theme parks easier and more enjoyable to navigate.

Disney has budgeted $1 billion for the project — enough to build a half-dozen or more marquee rides — which is being driven in part to make sure that swelling crowds don't ultimately choke the parks, spoiling visitors' vacations and deterring repeat visits.

Improving the waits outside popular rides is just one aspect of "NextGen." Another component includes a reservations system that would let guests book ride times from home and bypass the lines entirely.

"This is a really major project. And I think [it] would be viewed by everybody in the parks as probably the most significant thing we can do in the years ahead," Walt Disney Co. Chairman John Pepper said this week during Disney's annual shareholders' meeting in Salt Lake City. A shareholder had just asked Disney's senior leadership about its plans to develop more queues such as the Haunted Mansion's.

"It's costing a lot of money," Pepper added, "but it's going to be worth it, we think."

Disney has always paid particular attention to its ride queues, designing lavishly themed, detailed waiting lines that serve as "pre-shows" to help establish an attraction's story line. Queues alone can consume 10 percent to 20 percent of a Disney attraction's overall capital budget.

But complaints about long waits have remained a thorn in Disney's side. Line length consistently "falls either at the top or very near the top" of issues cited by guests in Disney's voluminous customer-satisfaction surveys, said Lori Georganna, vice president of research for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts.

"When we talk to them about it, they just want to get to the fun faster," Georganna said.

That's a key phrase now driving Disney's narrower effort to develop more interactive queues and the broader NextGen initiative.

The first attraction to be retrofitted with an interactive queue was Soarin', the popular glider-simulator ride in Epcot where wait times routinely exceed an hour. In 2007, Disney installed giant video screens in the queue, equipped with motion-detection equipment and heat sensors that allow big groups of guests to play collaborative video games while they wait in line.

Disney said it conducted what it calls a "pre-post" survey tied to the project, in which park researchers asked guests — before the games were installed and after — what they thought was a reasonable amount of time to wait for the attraction.

"Guests were willing to wait 12 percent longer because of the interactive experience," Georganna said, equivalent to an extra seven minutes or so during an hourlong wait.

The resort has extended the approach to more attractions. In 2009, it added 87 video-game stations to the queue for Space Mountain. And in November, Disney unveiled a far more elaborate example at the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh in the Magic Kingdom. That line now features a play area for young children, with a gopher-filled vegetable garden and oversized touch screens of virtual dripping honey that can be wiped away to reveal characters underneath.

Disney Parks Chairman Tom Staggs cited the Pooh queue as an example when he laid out some NextGen details during an investor conference last month.

The Haunted Mansion queue is arguably even more intricate.

Themed as a graveyard — though on a grander scale than the small plot of headstones that riders currently shuffle past — the new line snakes among a series of interactive tombs. A sea captain's crypt, for instance, spouts water in leaks that jump and shift. By another grave, a quill scribbles on paper, occasionally pausing, stuck, until a rider shouts out a suggested word. (It's the ghost of the poet buried inside. Cause of death: Writer's block.)

There are subtler details, including winks and nods to scenes from the Haunted Mansion ride itself, and clues to a murder-mystery game that sharp-eyed guests might spot as they pass through.

"This is a new kind of art form for us," said Pete Carsillo, the show designer and art director for the project.

Carsillo said Imagineers — Disney's creative-design engineers — have gleaned lessons from the earlier interactive queues. They have learned, for instance, to install interactive elements closer to the end of a queue — nearer to a ride's loading platform — rather than the beginning, because guests still far from the ride itself don't like to slow down.

Queues such as the Haunted Mansion's will become even more important as other elements of NextGen begin to roll out in coming years — namely, the plan to allow guests to book ride times well in advance of their vacations.

Skeptics, including many within the theme-park industry, say such a reservation system poses several potential problems. One of them: Theme parks need to have people waiting in lines to prevent crowds from overwhelming other areas of the parks. More-entertaining queues could convince some visitors that it is worth waiting in line rather than reserving a spot in advance.

It's a particularly delicate balance in the Magic Kingdom, busiest of all Disney theme parks, where attendance averages more than 45,000 people a day.

"Where are you going to put all of those bodies? Well, some of them have to be in a queue line," said Duncan Dickson, a professor in the University of Central Florida's Rosen College of Hospitality Management.

More importantly, Dickson said, developing improved queues could help alleviate one of the biggest potential risks facing Disney's ride-reservation plans: the potential to alienate guests who either cannot or choose not to plan their ride times far in advance — and who then arrive at the park to find the most popular attractions already booked.

"It comes back to the old fairness doctrine … 'I paid the same 85 bucks to get in,' " Dickson said. "I certainly think that [an entertaining queue] is something you have to do, just to make sure that you make it as guest-positive as you can."

[Ian]

There was just so much wrong in that article I don't even know where to begin.

I think I'll just say this ... if Disney really thinks that spending $1 billion to make people willing to wait 12% longer is a better use of their money than building 5-10 new E-ticket rides then they're in a lot worse shape than I thought.

[WDWfanatic742]

You know what's funny. Fans are really the only people that actually enjoy the queues, yet most of us don't like these interactive queues at all.

I'd take 5-10 new e-tickets over a headache by some loud thing in the queue anyday...

[waymickey]

I am worried about Disney. 1 billion on new lines? really?? :confused:
New attractions would lower wait times as it would spread out the crowd. For example look at DHS most people are in the TSM line and the lines at the other attractions are way down. Why not design some new attractions at Tomorrow land?

There is nothing wrong with the lines as they are now. Most tell a story that lead up to the attraction. We love the SM line, nothing interactive about it just great theming. EE another great line, POTC great line w/ no interactive stuff. Down time to talk with your kids and let your imagination out to play.

[mickeyman42]

Improving the waits outside popular rides is just one aspect of "NextGen." Another component includes a reservations system that would let guests book ride times from home and bypass the lines entirely.

wow, I can't wait to sit at home, 180 days before my vacation and try and book HM for 9:30, then BTMR for 10:10 then.......

or better yet, watch as those wonderful theme park commandos get on the ride first because they WERE silly enough to do this. Its bad enough trying to plan dining that far in advance, this would just be crazy, and if we don't book it in advance, how long are we going to have to wait? thought fastpass was the answer to this problem, what happened to that?

[Joannelet]

Seriously my heart was in my throat when reading that last article. Are they honestly serious about booking ride times before you even arrive? Disney what in the world are you doing! Walt created the parks to be a place to spend quality time with the family.Not to have every detail planned out and pure panic if you didn't reserve a ride. Families with children will NOT be able to do it this way. This is sad if this is what they have thought of as a great idea. I mean spending MORE time on Lines? Don't we spend enough time on lines in our life? Do you really think we would want to increase that time with our families while on vacation?? I mean no one enjoys waiting on line regardless of what you are waiting for including children. OH BOY!

[Ian]

Yeah, the whole Fastpass in advance thing was discussed a month or so ago and we all felt the same way. Terrible idea. :ack:

[Stu29573]

For the first time I actually feel that Disney has absolutely no clue....

[Ian]

For the first time I actually feel that Disney has absolutely no clue....I'm not sure if they have no clue or not. I really can't be sure.

Sometimes I think my perspective of Disney World is so skewed because I've been there so much, because I'm on here all the time, and because I'm pretty "old skool" when it comes to Disney that I just can't figure out if what I think is best for the company is what really is best.

I think we hardcore fans tend to discount what a very, very different experience visiting Disney World is when you've got no clue what to expect. Now you can argue that in this day and age, with information available at your fingertips from sites just like INTERCOT, that you should never be going to Disney World with no clue, but it happens. And I'd be willing to bet that it happens a lot more than we think it does.

[mickeyman42]

just got my ARR's (advanced ride reservations) for sept 23rd! we have the HM at 9:25 am, peter pan at 10:05 am, and splash mountain at 10:35 am, whinnie the pooh at 10:55am, SM at 11:45 am, then BTMR at 1:15 pm, hop over to epcot and we have soarin' at 2:35, test track at 3:25, nemo at 4:15 and soarin' again at 5:00! can't wait!

now i just have to do the other 9 days of my vacation, oh and then ADR's........


I know lot's of people do not go with any knowledge of how disney works, and I would argue that the only one's who ARE going to get this are the hardcore fans like us. if you didn't know about getting a fastpass and booking ADR's before, then how are these same people going to go online and reserve ride times or even KNOW they can do this in advance.

[waymickey]

ARR--- BAD BAD idea. :mad: Please disney don't do this. don't ruin the idea of being on vacation. Time to relax go with the flow and have surprises along the way. I don't want to have to plan everything before I even enter FLA.

[Joannelet]

Think how many first timers there are out there that may never want to come back because they didn't know to book rides in advance? I mean besides DVC owners who basically HAVE to go back....who in their right mind would want to plan this out this way?
I have a headache just thinking about it.

[BrerSchultzy]

if you didn't know about getting a fastpass and booking ADR's before, then how are these same people going to go online and reserve ride times or even KNOW they can do this in advance.

I was thinking this same thing when I read the article. How often have us veterans spent five or ten minutes trying to explain fastpass to complete strangers in the parks?

I was also wondering...Has Disney completely cut out its most loyal fans when planning for the future? With all this effort focused on interactive queues (which will be ignored after the second or third time through), are they admitting that the four theme parks (after the Fantasyland expansion) are "done", and don't need to be expanded at all?

AND lastly....why spend all this money making the queues look like a McDonald Playland, and then say that they want us to book times for our rides so that we can skip the queues altogether? This just doesn't make any sense...

Unless, of course...the new Ride Reservations are only given out to DVC and Deluxe guests. That makes monetary sense...but we've already discussed here what that does to everyone else.

[Melanie]

AND lastly....why spend all this money making the queues look like a McDonald Playland, and then say that they want us to book times for our rides so that we can skip the queues altogether? This just doesn't make any sense...


I've wondered the exact same thing. Doesn't make sense at all!

[PopPhan]

I was thinking this same thing when I read the article. How often have us veterans spent five or ten minutes trying to explain fastpass to complete strangers in the parks?

I was also wondering...Has Disney completely cut out its most loyal fans when planning for the future? With all this effort focused on interactive queues (which will be ignored after the second or third time through), are they admitting that the four theme parks (after the Fantasyland expansion) are "done", and don't need to be expanded at all?

AND lastly....why spend all this money making the queues look like a McDonald Playland, and then say that they want us to book times for our rides so that we can skip the queues altogether? This just doesn't make any sense...

Unless, of course...the new Ride Reservations are only given out to DVC and Deluxe guests. That makes monetary sense...but we've already discussed here what that does to everyone else.

Although this is getting way off topic for the original thread, has anyone thought about the possibility that ARRs (Advanced Ride Reservations) may just be something they are doing to eliminate FastPass in the parks themselves?

Bear with me on this -- They are 'plussing' the queues to keep people occupied while, at the same time, are discussing/proposing online ARRs....A lot of comments have been made as to how they would implement this WITH the current FastPass system...Maybe they won't. My personal thought would be that, once ARRs were rolled out, the FastPass machine areas would be removed and repurposed into larger interactive queues for those attractions and the current FastPass Return queues would be made into ARR queues. Those who don't know, don't take advantage of, this new system would still have something to make the wait for the ride more interesting/less tedious.

On the CM side - the removal of the FastPass machines from the parks would allow for fewer maintenance people for upkeep of the machines; fewer CMs needed to refill the tickets/monitor crowd control at the machines; etc., although it would possibly be offset by MORE CMs for maintenance of the interactive queues and crowd control through the bottlenecks in the queues.

JMHO

[waymickey]

ARR are a bad idea plain and simple.
I really hope disney does not do it.:(

[Ian]

I was also wondering...Has Disney completely cut out its most loyal fans when planning for the future? With all this effort focused on interactive queues (which will be ignored after the second or third time through), are they admitting that the four theme parks (after the Fantasyland expansion) are "done", and don't need to be expanded at all?No, I mean I wouldn't take it that far. They are, after all, in the process of spending tons of cash expanding Fantasyland. I don't necessarily think the two are directly connected, although clearly this is $1 billion they won't be spending on new rides and attractions.


AND lastly....why spend all this money making the queues look like a McDonald Playland, and then say that they want us to book times for our rides so that we can skip the queues altogether? This just doesn't make any sense...Yeah I do agree these two initiatives would seem, at least on the surface, to be at odds with one another.

[JPL]

AND lastly....why spend all this money making the queues look like a McDonald Playland, and then say that they want us to book times for our rides so that we can skip the queues altogether? This just doesn't make any sense...



I've wondered the exact same thing. Doesn't make sense at all!



Yeah I do agree these two initiatives would seem, at least on the surface, to be at odds with one another.

My guess on the 2 initiatives going foward at the same time is simple. Guests who do not have reserved ride times are going to have to spend an awful lot more time waiting in line so they need to entertain them while they are doing just that. So it really makes sense that they would want to keep the stand by line interesting enough so it doesn't seem like the guests aren't really waiting in line but rather interacting with queue as part of the attraction hence the scene 1 namefor these enhancements.