Gringotts Wait (Over 7 hours!?)

^^ Yes, they'd have to be awfully careful. I haven't seen Frozen since they moved from EPCOT- is it visible from the street? Or do the guests go inside somewhere? That would make it easier to duplicate, for sure.

We saw some great humanoid characters at Disney when we were there. The Mary Poppins we saw was spit-spot on, as they say. She was so pretty and really had the kids in line. My favorites, oddly, were Peter and Wendy. They were perfect. Alice and the Mad Hatter (with his big prosthetic nose) were really good too. They saw me in a teacup by myself (how sad is that?) and climbed in with me. We had a riot.

So I guess show business at Disney is tough. I met this young lady cast member in a retail store at the hotel. She had graduated from Carnegie Mellon in performance and went to Orlando with the dream of being a Princess. So I asked her how that went and she said she sat in a room full of girls and when her name was finally called she went in all smiles and struck a princess pose. The guy looked up from the table briefly. "No." Then went back to writing. That was it. She said she was still in touch with Disney Entertainment and was hoping to get cast in a parade then work her way up to something else.

I read an article...somewhere... that the Mickey experience at the Town Square Theatre actually has several "dressing rooms" for Mickey and so is able to have several Mickeys meeting guests at the same time. The Theatre was renovated to accommodate being able to offer those multiple Mickeys.

Doing the same for the most popular princesses seems a no-brainer. Perhaps space limitations are the problem? Fairytale Hall has multiple meeting rooms, but each one has to be for a different princess rather than all of them having the same princess.

My ex partner worked at Walt Disney World and it is all about auditioning your way up. He actually started as a host at Epcot, auditioned for Entertainment where he started as a parade dancer in the Magic Kingdom. Over several years he worked his way up to being the Queen of Hearts and Bert, among other characters.

At least Frozen sort of belongs in a Disney Park, and not some over rated hot in the pan sci fi movie. *cough* *avatar* *cough*

At Disneyland, the meet-and-greet for Mickey is set up so that you go through an elaborate queue through Mickey's house, then end up in a theater out back, then groups are called in so that everybody gets to have a private audience with the Big Cheese. I wasn't paying attention (shocking, I know) but the way they had it set up it would have been trivial to direct groups to multiple Mickeys. That particular day I think there was only one Mickey at home, but there was enough separation between groups that to direct them to different offices would not have been difficult, and more important, would not have been noticeable.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Granted, I have no access to the data that led the Disney company to sign on for an Avatarland.

I'm just curious how, several years after signing a deal to add attractions based on that one very successful movie, Disney acquires Lucasfilm, a company with over thirty years of successful movies and ancillary products and doesn't say, in effect, "Dear James Cameron, it's not you, it's us. We've found an intellectual property we love more. Here's a pile of money, please go away. XOXO the Disney Company."

I say scrap Pandora, bring Beastly Kingdom off the shelves, and give Everest a MAJOR rehab.

Uh, why does Everest need a rehab?

Frozen meet and greet at four hours, Gringotts at seven hours, and I can only shiver at what the major attraction in The World of Pandora will be (or not?).

Jeff said:

Uh, why does Everest need a rehab?

Overzealous people argue about Disco Yeti needing to be fixed. Yet many fail to realize Imagineering and maintenance ran out of ideas to fix him.

I think it's perfectly fine the way it is, though. Decent next generation mine ride that constantly thrills guests.

I've always found it strange that Disney, DISNEY! could bot fix a broken yeti animatronic. I know, it's big. Even if it needed to be redesigned, it would be better than nothing. I know, it would cost a lot of money. You have to spend money to make money. Wowing riders would be worth it, wouldn't it? I mean, it's Disney. lol

As for wait times for Frozen mascots and Harry Potter land 2.0, they will get shorter once something new takes it's place and the popularity dies. Or maybe not.

Seven hours is crazy though, and just goes to show once again how wildly popular and somewhat timeless Harry Potter is.

We did the first wave of Harry Potter stuff the January following its first summer. We did multiple rerides of Forbidden Journey with Simon in the parent swap room, no waiting. It was a walk-on.

It's what I've said for years... look for the shortest operating hours and lowest hotel rates, and that's when you go.

About the Yeti...

It's my understanding that fixing the Yeti would not be that difficult.

The problem arises from the Yeti support structure, the coaster, and the building all being physically separate structures, and getting to the Yeti structure would require dismantling significant parts of the other two. Presumably WDW management doesn't want the expense and downtime that would involve?

I had the chance to ride Everest when the Yeti was working, and it actually scared me. Knew it was coming. Knew what to expect. Still scared me.

He took a swipe at me once, too. It was a great, startling effect.
I like Everest. It could be just a touch tighter and twistier to make it really great for me, but that big drop down the front of the mountain is always good, and a redeeming feature.

I don't know what "major" overhaul the ride needs, though. I'm pretty sure it's exactly what Disney was shooting for there. It's not exactly out of date, and still really popular.

So I care about the Yeti? it's a modern marvel of figure engineering, and the yeti itself isn't the problem, it's the concrete foundation it sits on. Many of the effects do not work as they should, they have been working on some things including the hawk, which isn't a problem, but it needs a great deal of fresh paint. The waterfalls aren't all working, the mist effects in the mountain are turned off, and the steam effect in the beginning, (My favorite part.) No longer runs either. The white/aqua ice and snow is starting to turn green. To remove the Yeti and fix it would require them to remove chunks of the mountain. So yeah, it would be a MAJOR fix.

You think WDW wants to shut down AK's main E-Ticket right now just to fix the issues?

I just think it's a pretty good roller coaster. I had a walk down once, from the high point above the track switch before the exterior drop. Seeing the mountain from the inside is staggering. I totally appreciate why it took so long to build.

I figure at some point it'll go down for major rehab as they have with most of their coasters over the years and they'll fix all the small stuff.

Sad that the steam in the station no longer works.

I just wish inside the mountain you couldn't see the 'seams' to the outside.

The inside is absolutely amazing. Expedition Everest is by far my favorite coaster due to the immersion and lengths the Imagineers went to to bring it to life. Plus, Joe Rohde is someone I look up to when it comes to stretching the boundaries.

I suspect one of the primary reasons Disney is holding off on rehabbing the Yeti is because the park would take a major operational hit without Everest in its lineup. The ride has great capacity and attracts riders of all ages in a park that's short on rides. It's also eye-poppingly huge and difficult to cover up behind a construction wall.

Ironically enough, people seem to love watching the coaster (or gawking at it from a distance) which is what Disney always intended this park to be, albeit with animals instead of coasters.

Rickrollercoaster said:

Plus, Joe Rohde is someone I look up to when it comes to stretching his ear lobe

Fixed that for you.

One of his ear rings is a dried ball of giraffe droppings.

And why doesn't the dress code apply to him?