Episode 33 - We Crank Because We Care

[John]

The INTERCOT Insider Live PodcastEpisode 33 - We Crank Because We Care

The Cast: Ian, Melanie, Gary & John

- Unfortunately, we didn’t make our deadline

- Sports talk starts the show and a Bake McBride reference

- John got sick

- NextGen latest rumors - cutting wait times?

- What’s wrong with being spontaneous

- Was this really Walt’s vision?

- Eisner’s vision

- Levels of frustration & what’s a vacation

- The Disney evangelists

- Do the people really want NextGen?

- The simplicity of an old theme park experience & Knobels Grove

- Crowds all the time

- Florida Orange Bird

- A hologram of Anita Bryant

- We rehash the merchandising debate and are hopeful of the direction clothing wise

- Poo poo and eating your words

- DVC @ Fort Wilderness, Gary has feelings - he says leave it alone

- STOLPort - check it out on Google Earth says Gary

- DVC in the parks? *Disney’s America mention

- Ian staying in the castle - AGAIN

- Staying in the Haunted Mansion & Haunted Mansion themed rooms?

- Mel stayed in a Pirates Room and gives a review

- Test Track refurb - the horrible Test Track All-Stars acapella group covering the closure.

- A clown making balloon animals would be more entertaining.

- John approves of the kerning in the new Test Track logo

- Gary suggests a cross promotion with the Shriners

- Thanks to @inbloomphoto who wanted to know - Best of Special Effects. *Ian loves Haunted Mansion, Gary’s a fan of the sense of smell - goes with scents such as Spaceship Earth and Soarin’, Melanie likes the Bride Room in the Haunted Mansion. John goes with the classic Peter Pan and flying over London.

- Ian suggests they stop firing movie people and fire the publicity department instead.

-Tom Hanks to play Walt Disney?

- Prime pick of the week from Gary - Jonah Man: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1935439480/intercotcom

- Visiting the Wizarding World of Harry Potter



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[John]

Ok, it's up! Next taping is this Sunday.

[AgentC]

Yay! Something to listen to at work tomorrow!

[TinkerbellT421]

My best of special effects would be how Disney is able to synchronize the beat of music to practically anything. IE: The dancing fountain in Epcot. The Magic Memories and you projection on the Castle. The strobe effects, fireworks and light shows during Wishes, Illimunations, etc. That is by far my favorite special effect

Now, off to listen to the podcast!

[wildernesslady]

Just Finished listening. Thanks for another good one. It's funny. We have started to vacation elsewhere already. We used to go a few times a year and we have cut back to one.

I just watched some of the test track all stars. I'm embarrassed for them. Come on Disney, you could do much better.

I love the idea of DVC in world showcase. As long as it doesn't affect the current skyline.

Hopefully, fast pass+ turns out to be positive. Time will tell.

[Septbride2002]

I for one would like to hear someone talk about some of the positives that could come from this Next Gen technology. Everyone seems really negative about it and I have to wonder if it isn't the squeeky wheel syndrome because that is who is making the most noise.

I don't want to plan every aspect of my vacation which is why my family only plans 1 or 2 ADR the entire trip - and to the resturants that won't charge me $10.00 if I cancel the same day (now there is a policy I can get on my soapbox about). That being said - we also hardly ever ride Soarin because it is hard for us to make it to opening and I hate the dash factor of getting to that ride to secure a Fast Pass - neither of my kids ride the ride so to take us out of the way to get the fast pass and return and ride later is annoying. So the idea of saying okay - I know we will go to Epcot on this day and I will secure a Fastpass for Soarin is somewhat appealing. Of course you are going to have many Disney Fans take this to the 10th degree.

As I said though - I would love to hear perhaps some ways that this could be a positive instead of the negative that many people assume it is going to be.

As far as favorite special effect - the Magic Memories and You took my breath away with how great it turned out. Lets face it - it could have sucked. But they did a great job and even brought a little tear to my eye on our last trip with the effect of the laterns from Tangled on the castle (my favorite scene).

I do not believe the Orange Bird shirt with the ice cream cone is avaiable. the guy designed a shirt but that is not one you can purchase. To bad to because I like it.

Right now my kids love Disney and we can vacation during off peak times. When it gets to the point where they don't and we can't - then we will try vacationing other places. Despite all the negatives once I'm in the Disney Bubble I'm a happy gal.

~Amanda

[caryrae]

We like to be spontaneous on Disney trips. We don't even plan what park we are going to until we get there and most of the time the day before. I am not one of those people who like to plan details, I just like to do whatever whenever I feel. I have to follow a schedule the rest of the year for work and don't want to have to do it on vacation.

[darthmacho]

Waiting patiently for the podcast to be available on iTunes...

Meanwhile, Septbride, on the NextGen subject: I've got mixed feelings, but let's face it, if it's coming, we best adapt. That being said, I'm a planner, but I like to keep my plans flexible. I can see the advantage in getting to book rides like Toy Story Mania, Soarin, and Splash Mountain would be ideal, since the stress of getting to them early can really wear you down.

[Ian]

My best of special effects would be how Disney is able to synchronize the beat of music to practically anything. IE: The dancing fountain in Epcot. The Magic Memories and you projection on the Castle. The strobe effects, fireworks and light shows during Wishes, Illimunations, etc. That is by far my favorite special effect

I saw this fascinating documentary back right after Reflections of Earth debuted that showed how they created the show. I would assume it was on the Travel Channel or something, but it was really neat.

Basically they had these two fireworks guys sitting in a room with a computer listening to the soundtrack. They could pick out what type of firework(s) they wanted and then, as the soundtrack played, they just hit a button on the PC and it marked that as the exact moment they wanted the shell to display. I would assume the system them worked backwards and accounted for the launch time to ensure the shell detonated at the correct time in synch with the music.

Haven't seen that show since and I really wish I could find it.

[Septbride2002]

Waiting patiently for the podcast to be available on iTunes...

Meanwhile, Septbride, on the NextGen subject: I've got mixed feelings, but let's face it, if it's coming, we best adapt. That being said, I'm a planner, but I like to keep my plans flexible. I can see the advantage in getting to book rides like Toy Story Mania, Soarin, and Splash Mountain would be ideal, since the stress of getting to them early can really wear you down.

I like being flexible as well (which is why like Ian we no longer make a ton of ADRs) but is there a big difference from planning to be at rope drop, made the mad dash to Soarin/TSM/etc to get fast passes OR you can secure your fastpass from home on a day you know you will be at that park? That way instead of the mad dash in the morning you can walk calmly towards Nemo and Friends

~Amanda

[ryca1dreams]

The INTERCOT Insider Live PodcastEpisode 33 - We Crank Because We Care

- The simplicity of an old theme park experience & Knobels Grove


- We rehash the merchandising debate and are hopeful of the direction clothing wise

Speaking of Knobels Grove - Dollywood is another one of those nice old parks that is still fun to go to. They are really working on theming and actually builsing new rides (what a concept!)

Also, as far as the homogonization of merchandise, I first started noticing this is the "Disney Parks" vacation planning DVDs. No matter what you requested, they sent this kind of all inclusive DVD that was pretty lame and low on content, unless you like people telling you over and over that Disney World is in Florida and Disneyland is in California (of course, some people do mess that up still)

I'm holding out on the NextGen debate but if it's like you think it will be, we won't step foot in WDW again.

Good podcast as always. Thanks.

[BrerGnat]

I'm mostly with you guys on the NexGen thing, but a part of me is secretly STOKED that I might be able to reserve a specific time to ride some stuff. My kids are notoriously choosy when it comes to Disney rides due to their autism/sensory issues, and as much as we are there "to have fun as a family", a little part of me dies every time I have to walk by Expedition Everest or Splash Mountain (or any of my other favorites) and not ride.

I would love to be able to make select ride reservations, and show up, get on by myself and then we can be on our merry way as a family in a matter of a few minutes. The way it is now, we just have to skip the stuff WE (DH and I) want to do, or else spend a lot of time waiting around for each other while the other one stays with the kids.

Soooo, I might be the first person on Intercot to say that the ability to make ride reservations is VERY appealing to me, from a purely selfish standpoint.

As for special effects, overall, the Haunted Mansion is just one big, awesome special effect. I will also say, although I don't love the ride, the effect of the Nemo characters swimming around in the lagoon at Disneyland in the Finding Nemo submarine ride is pretty darn cool.

[Dopey's Girl]

Yet another great podcast.

NexGen...ugh. I'm not a planner. I know when I'm going, and where I'm staying. That is about it, the rest of my trip is 100% let's see where the day takes us. The idea of having to plan to the second is very unappealing. But I'm going to try to keep an open mind and see what happens. It's the lack of official info that bothers me too.

I hope nobody takes your clown balloon making comments seriously. Aside from NexGen, clowns roaming the resort area would chase me out! (Hello POFQ, I'm talking to you!)

Favorite special effects...I love the party scene in Haunted Mansion. It's really old school, and hasn't changed in a really long time, but it's still so cool. I also love the new hitchiking ghosts...they do some pretty neat stuff now!

Gary's Yetti comment...I snorted at my desk at that one. The cube neighbors are looking at me like I'm crazy again.

Thanks again for the free (even though it was cranky, which still cracked me up. I especially loved Sydney Crysby!) entertainment!

[dpamac]

Speaking of Knobels Grove - Dollywood is another one of those nice old parks that is still fun to go to. They are really working on theming and actually builsing new rides (what a concept!)

Their sister park Silver Dollar City in Branson, which is much older, is another great example. It's one of the few non-Disney theme parks I enjoy because the themeing, costuming, overall feel, everything is spot on across the board. They have some pretty great rides too. Fewer butterflies than Dollywood. Plus, it's outside of Branson so you don't have to actually go into Branson to see it.

[finaldynasty]

Just wanted to say..I loved podcast 33..very good job!

[tinkman]

First off, I apologize for the long post. Wait, apologizing is a weakness. Oh well.
I've listened to this podcast at least 5 times. NextGen: The ability to schedule a ride ahead of time will not increase flow-through of any ride. There are only a couple ways to increase flow through. 1) Speed up the ride (reduce cycle time). 2) Increase capacity of ride vehicles.
Look at Splash Mountain. Bear with me on the actual numbers though I think this is close. A boat is launched every 30 secs. Boat capacity is 8 people. That's 120 boats per hour times 8 people or 960 people per hour. The only way to increase the number of people per hour is to speed up the ride, in other words, launch a boat every 25 secs. Now, keep in mind that there is a limit....they have to maintain a minimum distance and spacing. Reduce the boat launch time from 30 to 25 secs and your hourly rate goes from 960 to 1152 people per hour. Also, adding more boats to the ride will not increase through-put. Typically, ride controllers start out the day with a reduced number of ride vehicles then as the crowds grow, they will add more vehicles to get to the maximum output. There are only so many ride vehicles that can be added. All numbers that I talk about is assuming a full ride.
Next, they could change the capacity of the boats. Say from 8 to 10. Of course this would change how often they can launch since the boats would be longer...but let's leave this variable out for now. By going from 8 people to 10 people per boat, you go from 960 to 1200 people per hour.
Providing that there is always 8 people waiting for a boat and they launch one every 30 seconds it won't matter if those people "scheduled" their time or just walked in.
Take a look at another type of ride….continuous running rides. The Haunted Mansion is a perfect example. Other than stops for loading issues (i.e. someone from a wheelchair) or mechanical issues, this ride does not stop to load people. Never actually put a stopwatch on this, but I would guess that the Doombuggys move on about a 5 sec cycle. With 2 people per Doombuggy, that would be about 1440 people per hour. Other than revamping the ride to accept more people per Doombuggy or speeding up the ride even more, there is no way to get more people per hour through it.
I must believe that Disney is more interested in “park throughput”, that is, guests coming in the gates. NextGen could have a very negative effect on the guest experience but better for Disney, in the short term.
NextGen may actually increase park attendance by giving people a false sense of “not having to wait for ride” concept. So, as a guest prior to my trip, I get online and plan out all the rides and attractions I want to see, get an assigned time, then when I arrive, just start jumping in line, thinking that since I have a “time” I won’t have to wait. However, thousands of other people have done the same thing! People will be behind me and in front of me. Now, the parks have higher attendance filled with people who think they won’t have to wait for a ride. There are already many guests who do not understand the FastPass concept. We see so many people struggle with this on every trip. Now, imagine the first time guests who show up and see that standby wait time is even longer because of NextGen that they didn’t know about or understand when they were planning their first trip.
I completely agree with the opinions in the podcast. Don’t keep spending money on mythological systems that artificially gives guests a sense of “not waiting for anything”. Spend the money on new attractions and rides, expanding the parks making them more guest friendly and dispersing crowds. Toy Story Mania and Soarin’ should tell Disney what guests want. TSM: A ball on a string pulled as fast as you can until you get carpel tunnel and Soarin’: Sitting on a swing in front of a huge movie screen.