Magic Kingdom 11/22

I know I will get emails after this one, but I call it as I see it. Took the big boat ride over the lagoon. Nice. 7/10. Headed to Pinocchio's fast food place. 6/10. How are the guests to carry a full tray of food and all the kids up to second floor seating? Then off the Haunted Mansion. Last time I was there, no sound. This time, no sound. 5/10. Ruins the ride. No excuses. Doomm buggy was a deaf buggy. Jungle Cruise with smart assed operator. 7/10.

Goofy's coaster. 6/10. That overhead monorail in Tomorrowland. 8/10. Mark Twain's boat. Nice long ride. 8/10. Carousel of Progress. What a load of crap. It broke down, and we saw the 20's twice, and missed the 40's. 3/10. Put another retail store there. There is not enough shopping in this park yet. The Train was on time. 7/10.

Winnie the Pooh was great over all hundred acre woods. 9/10. Pirates started out great, but after sitting in unload for 15 minutes hurt the score. 6/10. The Holiday version of the Bear Jamboree was packed. 7/10. It was better than the Mickey's Philarmagic. 6/10. Please someone buy the hosts some microphones.

Splash Mountain in the dark was a new experience. 9/10. It is the best ride in the park. Period. Then off to Space Mountain. After it broke down, we waited for 30 minutes, they unloaded the guests and we wait another 15 minutes. They then announce the ride is closed for the night. When several guests ask for another fast pass, the hosts say they cannot do anything, and everyone should leave.

After a discussion in town hall, this great guest service agent will not even discuss the incident until I show my business cards. I was then offered another fast pass for a future visit, or another fast pass for that night. Seeing the park closed in 20 minutes, that was not sufficient. I just expected a little more from the 'guest communications' department.

And another thing. If you must bring a loved one in a wheelchair, DO NOT do it on a weekend. Period. And the stroller parking areas are their for a reason. I remember why I love the Busch and Universal parks better.

Wow... that's a bummer. I admit I didn't ride a lot of stuff on my visit last year around the same time (heck, maybe the same day), but I had fully functional experiences on everything I did ride. I guess you're just lucky. :)

I just think how much fun I can have in Nevada or West Virginia for $54. And if we had all those rides down in one day, we would hear about it asap.

Since one of the Disney's six US parks has a bad day, it's obvious that the three Busch and US Universal parks currently in operation had much better days and consistantly do. 7/10. You said they did offer you a Fast Pass for a future visit. 9/10. Not sufficient, eh? 2/10. They should have given you ERT on Splash Mountain with you and your family for one continual 24 hour period. 10/10. Maybe I was "lucky" enough to have Kumba and Gwazi down the same day with one-train op on Montu and many breakdowns on Rhino Rally. 5/10. But I love BGT anyways. 8/10.

-Danny, Kidding Actually. :) 6/10. *** Edited 12/8/2003 5:06:54 AM UTC by Koaster King***

If you had any idea at all who Agent Johnson was, I doubt you'd try to be funny on the subject of operating a theme park.

I know who he is (but not where he works) and that's why it's fun *and* educational to joke with him. If he's not allowed to have fun and play around too, that would be fairly disappointing. :(

Some of his TR was quite humorous, so I thought he wouldn't mind. I give him permission to rip me apart if he wants. I enjoy it. Now Jeff, are you his personal spokesperson?

The point if you missed it: Crap happens. It did to me at BGT and I don't dislike it even though I should. Maybe some of those rides at Disney should be down for maintenance. In the 10 years I remember going, I can't recall more than one ride (usually it's none) being down for an entire day. I can't remember Gwazi ever running more than three trains though and fast operation. MK has a lot more things to operate than BGW and BGT (maybe in combination). If something breaks down, it's not really their fault. If something is constantly broken down and they're not doing anything about it, then there's the problem.

I admit to having absolutely no logic though. I think 6 rides were down when I went to SFWOA and had a better time than I did most CP visits where probably everything was operating.

I remember going to IOA one time and I was able to get on Spiderman soon after the park opened. Right after I got off it went down for at least the 30 minutes or so I was in line for Hulk since that's when my parents decided to get out of line since nothing was happening and they were a little behind us. Hulk was down later in the day when we were trying to get on. I had already ridden both so I really didn't care. I had a great day so far, but if other people got caught in either, they might have been a little upset. At around 3, we had finished everything we wanted to do at IOA (that wouldn't happen without that time at any Disney park besides DCA and AK). There was a huge storm around 4:30 (we were doing rerides at that point) and most of the outdoor rides went down for the hour and a half we waited out (eating in that time period as well). It was still storming when we left and I would have been disappointed if I had to leave and didn't get to ride everything. We had good timing, so it could have been much worse if it was another way.

It happens, that was my experience and the TR was one of his. I would choose most Disney parks over most Universal or Busch parks I've been to. He wouldn't. I'm not trying to change his mind. That would be silly and pointless. I can give him a "good luck next time" though. I've generally had excellent times at Disney. I've had great times at Busch and Universal. I wouldn't mind being at either at this moment.

-Danny, who you can't joke about selling ORPs because he gets M-A-D! Riiiiiight. ;)

I can take jokes quite well. Its just dissapointing that on a Saturday Florida's flagship park was 'under the weather'. Not horrible by any standards, just not up to mine.

Its my opinion, and a growing number of others in the industry that Disney is losing its focus on its day to day operations. I do feel strongly that while Disney creates its own little world North of I-4, the Busch and Universal parks offer just as much bang for your buck. Disney got soft, and to this day they still bruise.

What would you suggest for them to do AJ?

-Danny

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Jeff said:
If you had any idea at all who Agent Johnson was, I doubt you'd try to be funny on the subject of operating a theme park.

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I just can't help but wonder who is this Agent Johnson guy? Are you a heavy industry guy or something? Sorry I just couldn't resist.

"this great guest service agent will not even discuss the incident until I show my business cards."

For one, they could talk to him before they know who he works for.

I have certainly enjoyed my recent visits to the Orlado-area Disney parks, but cannot disagree with AJ...some of the lustre HAS worn off, and the Olde-tyme Disney Magic isn't what it once was....

My best GUESS, based on evidence, is that AJ holds some sort of management position at one of NJ's finest parks (the best one in Jersey, IMO).

And why would AJ disclose who he is? Come on people, AJ has proven himself an insider who knows. Respect his opinions, feel free to disagree, but he does know his stuff... *** Edited 12/9/2003 5:07:50 PM UTC by Coaster Art Guy***

I'm a Disney regular (or geek) who would also agree with AJ's TR. They have gone soft recently and it shows. Esp. over in California.

However, isn't this exactly what Roy and Stan are trying to fix? Eisner has let this happen while he builds his "media" empire and watches the stock ticker. The company has definitely lost focus.

Florida has some real competition now and everybody but Disney seems to realize that. Especially the customer.

I will say that I'm surprised about the guest relations aspect. They usually do a really good job at putting out the fires. Now if only that fire didn't need to be there in the first place. Then GR could go back to what they were originally GREAT at, providing even more magic for unfortunate circumstances.

I only hope that things are better on my visit in two weeks :)

Just letting you know that according to this trip report and things happening previous to the Wonders of Life going as a seasonal attraction, what I said still stands Johnson as you mentioned nothing of attractions being down for fun or random reason #7 as I like to call them.

It's also interesting that while you didn't report any rides closed at MK (I'm sure there might have been), you complained more about something they couldn't help with breakdowns yet raved about everything (besides the line of too many rides closed) and didn't give any low points (1-4/10) for the rides being closed at IOA. Since it was Universal and we *love* Universal, they must have a pretty good reason and we'll ignore it. ;)

-Danny, who would like to see the competition between any Disney crew and the crew at Gwazi... wait, there isn't any ;) *** Edited 12/16/2003 7:24:34 AM UTC by Koaster King***

I was unaware of the attractions closed at IOA when I entered. I was really bummed about Popeyes. But, the moral of the trip report was that during an IAAPA convention, Disney crapped out on a crowded day. The IOA day was not crowded. Therefore, I was able to enjoy other attractions and maxamize my time in the park. On Disney day, I was forced to wait here, and then wait there, and then stand in a 'q' line with the clock ticking when I could have been doing another ride or such.

I truly believe Disney had no intention of re-opening Space Mt. that evening, and fast passes should have given out so we could have hit Buzz Lightyear or whatever on the spot. Waiting in line while they say it will be a'few moments' does not cut it with me.

I have been in this farce of a business long enough to know that once maintenence arrives, they know what is wrong. Lets see, Space Mountain has been there for how many years? Right. Its not new. If you can't fix your ride, then say so. And where were the mechanics? Ya, they have access ways and such. I observe everything, and I only saw a clipboard, which last time I checked, is not used to repair anything except schedules and maybe hitting a supervisor on the head to wake then up.

Disney made some boo-boos that day, and Agent Johnson is calling on them to explain in detail what there formula for guest satisfaction is for millions of guests who spend their hard earned loot and are not 100% satisfied. *** Edited 12/16/2003 8:49:20 PM UTC by Agent Johnson***

I've never been to a crowded IOA, so that's not unusual. A park with double the attendance of IOA should be consistantly more crowded compared to them each day.

You don't know what was wrong with Space Mountain. I wouldn't want them to pull another DL BTMR, would you? "There's that steel beam down again Bob, what do we do?" "Our guests are usually short, just let them ride Shirley." I'm sure everything was visually obvious to what was broken/ what the problem was.

I paid for the QBot at SFOG and Deja Vu went down and I didn't get money back or an extra ride queued. I didn't complain. Maybe I'm a different kind of person though, so whatever on that part.

Does Disney have a 100% satisfaction guarantee? Because if they do, I was only 97% satisfied one time and I should probably get all my money or at least 3% of it back. ;)

Are you 100% satisfied at every single park you go to? You didn't give everything a perfect 10/10 at IOA or Universal, so you probably weren't there. I think AK and BGT are two parks that charge way too much in Florida, but I usually have a great time when I go to both, so it really doesn't matter. If you're not happy with a park, you either write them a nice letter or you don't go back. At least that's what I would do. Same goes for the Wonders of Life situation. I don't care, so I'll go anyways. At least Disney let their guests know ahead of time.

-Danny *** Edited 12/16/2003 9:24:35 PM UTC by Koaster King***

Danny, usually I rely on you to be the voice of reason....what's up on this one? ;)

Perhaps it's a bit unreasonable of me to expect a "higher standard" from Disney, but that's where Walt set the bar, isn't it? Perhaps I'm just a bit testy with the Mouse after this whole Disney/Eisner schism resulted in the wrong guy staying.....as always, IMO, YMMV....

I never *expect* perfection, but when parks KNOW that industry insiders are coming, I certainly would HOPE that they'd put their best foot forward...

Of course, I don't think BGT charges too much, I just think they ask too little of their employees....that's me though...

Danny just likes being a rash on the ass of People Who Know(TM). He'll probably tell us how we suck and then keep hanging out and taking crap from everyone anyway.

I think it's perfectly acceptable to hold Disney to a higher standard. They invented the standard.

Just ask yourself... would you want Agent Johnson running your park? I'm guessing the answer would be yes.

That depends... what are his feelings on Garfield and big raises?

You gotta stretch pretty far to disagree with AJ when it comes to park operations. Nothing he said above seems unreasonable at all.

Edit: I completely forgot why I cared in the first place and it's extremely silly of me to try to explain what happened on *your* trip AJ. I'm caught up in some crap that really doesn't matter to me and it's not like I'll change your mind or get you to see from another perspective. If Disney is doing something wrong, I have no reason to try to let it slide or do whatever I'm doing. Excellent set of TRs AJ and I look forward to reports from your trips next season. I'll leave the rest of my original reply for chuckles. :)-

That's really unfair Jeff. I would never tell you or anyone they suck. Well, it would probably be a joke to a friend if I did. ;)

Now please, if you'd be so kind, tell me what I said was unreasonable. I admit that I obviously don't have the same experience as you guys, so it's completely *fair* if you want to stomp all over *me*. I take it because it's the more mature thing to do. Not "wa wa, I don't like you anymore because I know I'm right".

Agent Johnson is *not* being unreasonable in the slightest and I said that everything above was what I would do. What happened just isn't something I would have reacted too as negatively.

*** What I don't understand is how Disney could have prevented *anything* above besides how they handled the Fast Pass situation.

It's my impression in that Disney still is holding the highest standard (they still had more rides open than IOA and were running things more efficiently than BGT), so it's not a big deal. If I'm wrong, tell me instead of being the bad guy. Have me check my sanity (or lack thereof) at the door.

Btw Bill, you suck. Thanks for responding like the gentleman you are. :)

-Danny, ;) Milkshake? *** Edited 12/16/2003 11:26:30 PM UTC by Koaster King***