brenthodge

Wow. Those pictures are great, but sad. Shows just how much changes in ownership and public tastes have butchered a beautiful park. Also shows you what a missed opportunity they had when they stopped way short of a full renovation of International Street last year. It’s better, but the paver layout make no sense, the tables and benches are bad and industrial, and they missed the chance to bring back the gas lights and “street” feel. I think CF is really trying to “bring back” the park, but man they inherited a mess that even they themselves created the first few years of their ownership.

No. Not that I’ve seen but they may just not want to steal focus from Orion. It looked like the other night Banshe Lighting wasn’t on either.

Check out the Kobold, from German folklore. Put those suckers in a Haunted mine and let them run amok. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobold i think you either go this route to strengthen Oktoberfest or have Oktoberfest be the side of Hanks that is the beer garden, festhaus and annex Delierium to strengthen that area. Then keep Hanks and add some theming and landscaping to that area to have a South American/ Mexico area with AE as the main anchor. Still clean up AE but make it clearly not Africa.

We can hope ( about the trees)

Lol. I thought the same thing Sat eve.

Agree! I hopped on sat night when I saw the “theme” lights on. It’s like they gave someone a couple hundred bucks and let them run to Lowe’s for a few floodlight bulbs. There were sound effect and actual red lights in the “lava” tunnel. Now if we could just get a few LED lights in the first two tunnels ( maybe the condition is so bad they don’t want us to see) and a LOT of love to the final lift. It’s BAD. Like falling apart, something will fall on my head from the rotting ceiling bad. There is so much that can be done with (relatively) inexpensive projection mapping to enhance or even replace the physical effects.(look at Big Thunder Mountain Disneyland new explosion lift hill) I think it’s time to either move away from the jungle and make it a European (German) abandoned mine to fit Octoberfest, OR lean into the “South American jungle” look and play up that area with Hanks. Reface the restrooms, the airbrush and the freestyle to look Mexican, add flags and maybe a couple of drink or small carts so the area looks like a fiesta in Mexico. Make Octoberfest and Fiesta Plaza part of International Streets

One of the problems is where people cut under the rails in queues (which I hate anyway -cmon you can squeeze your fat ass under a bar but can’t walk 15 feet?) so when a herd cuts under (like in Diamondback) they all clump up because they aren’t going “Down the line” then of course they NEVER back up to spread out because, us know, they WORKED to get that close!

Not sure. I don’t have so I didn’t ask. It would probably better not at 8:15 LOL!

Ehhh having it now. Maybe I’m not a big duck person, but it seemed overcooked. Peppers were ok. Nice seeing different things though. Figure might love some, might not, but if park sees these specials moving may be willing to try more. This must’ve been a quick add. No signage saying what the “special” even was. Feel like they’ve tried more things this year. Maybe smaller crowds makes the gamble less.

I agree. River town and that general area is full enough.

At 8:05 pretty minimal.

Those are some big buns, hon!

I’d rather (personally) not pay more for the dry park to add more to the water. Not a big water park person myself. I’d say if you loose people, loose them, but improve it enough to make the add on price worth it. If it lowers overall attendance, but raises pr cap spending because it seems “worth it” then I would think it would be a win. I guess it’s just the way it is so removed from the main park that it seems like a different experience, and you could rework the entrance experience to wrap around to where the train lets off, push the “taps tiles” back even past the retail to allow for the inflow of guests.

Just because of Galaxys Edge. Pics once seem rest of the park is pretty dead. EPCOT is really struggling.

Park doesn’t seem “busy” but the big tide lines are long. It’s a great vibe if you just want to chill and snack though!

Slow yes, but these are 30 years ago slow hours. With the loss of international tourists, and a lot of fall breaks from schools, coupled with dramatically lower than expected attendance post reopening, I’m Actually surprised we didn’t see alternating closed days for all the parks NOT Magic Kingdom.

And the additional revenue could fund improvements, making it more attractive to pay extra for it. Positive round and round. I totally support a “nominal” add on for the water park to season pass, a nominal additional charge to add a second “day” to a purchased ticket, or a more “hefty” water park only season pass for the few people who would want that only. Even if they kept season pass costs flat one year (no cost increase) and made the water park add on about the amount it would’ve increased anyway might ease the blow.

Be thankful for what we’re getting. Disney just cut hours beginning Sept 8. Magic Kingdom will reduce hours from 9am - 7pm to 9am - 6pm. EPCOT will reduce hours from 11am - 9pm to 11am - 7pm. Disney's Animal Kingdom will reduce hours from 8am - 6pm to 9am - 5pm. Disney's Hollywood Studios will reduce hours from 10am - 8pm to 10am - 7pm. the mighty are falling. Our 11-10Pm doesn’t look too shabby.

That’s a lot of infrastructure and liability expense to replicate an event that already exists. The goal is to reduce operating expenses. I think it has less to do with actual and projected corona cases and all to do with overhead and minimizing fixed costs that could yield variable results. Best years Winterfest has dicey nights that probably don’t break even due to weather, but they can recoup with a killer nice night. If they can’t make that deficit up then that’s further into the hole they go. Have you seen the Q2 earnings report? I think going forward will Be about Minimizing loss until 2021

I think it’s just the unknown of what things will look like in Oct and Nov. as of now... they could maybe pull it off, but if things get worse again... I think it’s just too big of a gamble with the fixed costs of mounting these if they have to cancel last minute.

I’ve not seen it at all this year. Maybe it’s got corona?

Yep. Works well for this as well. Guess they figure “ heck, Disney isn’t doing anything with it right now!”

I still think they need to “calm them down” during the day more. Maybe a slower cycle of patterns or use the “squiggle” less. You can address each nozzle individually so it seems like they could some more “classic” looks until show time. That way you haven’t seen all the tricks earlier in the day. Even if they programmed 3-4 songs to do a mini show on the hour and rotate. And lastly I wish they would decide if the “finger jets” arch to the center or shoot straight up. They do a little bit of both and look a little sloppy. Personally I think arching more would look best and give another effect. Other than that I agre, they look much better this year.

Surprised to see this. honestly I’ve been Beyond impressed with the choices mgmnt has made this difficult year regarding the operation of KI. I’m almost thinking we might have the strongest CF park right now.

Love the idea. See my thoughts on the area as a whole in the topiary thread.