Jungle Cruise Refurb/Overhaul and Other News/Notes

[BJCool]

You can spend the same amount you would for a lower end on-site Disney hotel that you could spend on a very nice Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt, etc.

 

[Disneyhead]

Last time I stayed at Disney, I paid $630/night for piss stained mattresses and moldy wallpaper. That was in 2006. In 2007 I stayed at the Ritz Carlton for $229/night and the Ritz is a spectacular hotel. In 2009 I moved to Orlando and now live in a 3 bedroom with resort style pool fully equipped gym and Air Conditioned racket ball court on a golf course less than 3 miles from Universal for less per month than 2 nights at Disney.

I am thinking of renting out rooms to faithful OU members. Haha.

 

[rhino4evr]

You can spend the same amount you would for a lower end on-site Disney hotel that you could spend on a very nice Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt, etc.

Exactly, we stayed at The Ritz/Marriott hotel with the Lazy River for $149 a night.

This time im bringing family members with me and need a room/suite that sleeps 6. The Art of animation is the cheapest at $279 a night, but it's only 1 bedroom, and we will basically sleeping on top of each other. For half that price I can get a two bedroom suite at a much nicer resort. It's asinine how they can possibly make money, and who can actually afford to go there. I mean the Polynesian is like $650 a night, and it was built in the 80s

 

[Splatter]

You can spend the same amount you would for a lower end on-site Disney hotel that you could spend on a very nice Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt, etc.

Very true. You likely get a nice continental breakfast and nice wifi included too.

What gets a lot of people are ones who do not get to go a lot or at all. You have the people who fly in and just want Magical Express right to the resort, and or have a rental car or car that they do not want to worry about parking every day.

If one stays offsite and are ethical they have to add about 20 bucks a day for parking.

For what the hotels offer I always find Universal Onsite to be a much better benefit. If I am ever going to go through a hassle of booking Disney onsite it is going to be a delux worth it trip. No more All Stars or Pop Century values for me when I can get one nearby offsite with the nicer amenities for 50 a night. It is all about experience, research and circumstance I suppose. Either way. I don't think Disney is operating at near capacity of hotel stayers that it used to.

And EPCOT,MGM and Animal Kingdom are definitely the ones taking the hit from days and guest spending amounts.

 

[Disneyhead]

Rhino4evr, see what you can get at Orange Lake. They have villas with tons of room. And free shuttles to the parks. AND a fantastic pool with a lazy river and water slides.

http://orangelake.com/home.html

Try priceline. The internet is your friend.

 

[slappybob]

Ok if this is actually true(fingures crossed) this would be the best refurb in the history of refurbs an adding 5 minutes to one of my all time favorite rides of all time would make me fall in love all over again with this Magical attraction.

 

[Hatetofly]

Last time I stayed at Disney, I paid $630/night for piss stained mattresses and moldy wallpaper. That was in 2006. In 2007 I stayed at the Ritz Carlton for $229/night and the Ritz is a spectacular hotel. In 2009 I moved to Orlando and now live in a 3 bedroom with resort style pool fully equipped gym and Air Conditioned racket ball court on a golf course less than 3 miles from Universal for less per month than 2 nights at Disney.

I am thinking of renting out rooms to faithful OU members. Haha.

What Disney resort was this? During my last stay at Disney roughly 18 months ago their was still belongings left over from the previous guests, the sheets were not clean, the television broken, and bugs in the room. Not to mention it was extremely dated. It was and will be my last visit to any of the Disney resorts.

 

[jtsalien]

Disney forgot why people filled the hotels in the first place.

Hears hoping someone smacked some sense in them....

 

[JungleSkip]

Disney forgot why people filled the hotels in the first place.

Hears hoping someone smacked some sense in them....

They're own practices and letting their parks stagnate did that, along with an extra slap from the boy wizard.

The good thing is we might get some cool stuff out of it.

 

[rhino4evr]

I've been looking all night. How is the Orbit Villas? Seem to get decemt reviews. Only 80 a night for a two bedroom villa

 

[Disneyhead]

What Disney resort was this? During my last stay at Disney roughly 18 months ago their was still belongings left over from the previous guests, the sheets were not clean, the television broken, and bugs in the room. Not to mention it was extremely dated. It was and will be my last visit to any of the Disney resorts.

2006, The Polynesian. $630/night Garden View.

 

[Disneyhead]

I've been looking all night. How is the Orbit Villas? Seem to get decemt reviews. Only 80 a night for a two bedroom villa

I don't know much about that resort, but the area, while not "nice" isn't bad either. It is pretty safe and there are lots of convenient access to chain restaurants and groceries.

 

[JungleSkip]

All the rumblings that have come out last week leading up to the earnings report yesterday really make so much sense now. I thought it was all wishful thinking until the info from yesterday.

-Low Occupancy
-Diminishing attendance
-Not much of a rosey outlook for the rest of the year

The more I think about it, the better news it becomes. I hope these kind of numbers hold up, and Carsland continues to do massive business.

 

[CraigM]

So, I reported about this on Parkscope the other day, and Screamscape passed it on as well, but more info is coming out about what could possibly be coming to the Jungle Cruise within the next year.

Basically I came across a notice of commencement detailing site work for the entire Jungle Cruise area. While talking with a fairly well connected member of the community, I found out some insane rumors that I had heard way back when I was a skipper may actually be coming true. So far all of this is far from confirmed.

-Extended ride path around the Swiss Family Tree house, adding about 5 minutes to the attraction
-New scenes for extended ride path
-Partially automated spiel. I have NO idea what this entails, and is the only thing I'm on the fence on about this.
-New queue
-Wheelchair loading dock

Now, to go on a bit about WDW. You all know me as pretty down on the current state of WDW. Some may call me a hater, while I look at myself as a realist. Well, the tide, in all honesty, may be turning in our favor.

Whispers have started that Uni's resurgence and WDW's stagnate ways have begun to worry the company. Many sources I trust are saying WDW is starting to look at doing "things out of the ordinary" for them, including the above project. I don't want people to take this for gospel, or to believe change is definitely coming...but it may be beginning to look up.

If this happens, it will be great. It won't spike ridership to the attraction that much, but it will definitely really bring it up to speed, which is much needed. I haven't done the ride in a while, though doing it next week again, and while it is a favorite, adding more to it would definitely be welcome. Let's all cross our fingers!

 

[JungleSkip]

^^^JC actually doesn't really need a spike in ridership, to be honest. It's actually a very, very popular attraction for the resort, and scores very well with guest satisfaction. Which is why I believe they are looking at this. Give people more of what they want.

 

[Scarletwebslingr]

If they extended this ride I would flip. It was my absolute favorite ride as a child and I have some great memories on this ride. I'd love for this refurb to happen.

 

[KRAKENvsMANTA]

I agree with everyone else, this is fantastic news. Jungle Cruise is an all-time classic. And to see it get some much needed love, would be refreshing.

With that said, a refurb of this magnitude sounds like it'd take a while to complete. If and when this does happen, is it safe to say that JC would be down for well over a year? If not longer? Maybe I'm jumping the gun and getting too excited, but I'm curious what time line we'd be looking at for this to take place. Maybe I'm wrong, but I assume if this does happen, it won't be till FLE opens in it's entirety, which is early 2014. But I wouldn't mind seeing it start sooner. I truly wish this happens!

 

[JungleSkip]

I agree with everyone else, this is fantastic news. Jungle Cruise is an all-time classic. And to see it get some much needed love, would be refreshing.

With that said, a refurb of this magnitude sounds like it'd take a while to complete. If and when this does happen, is it safe to say that JC would be down for well over a year? If not longer? Maybe I'm jumping the gun and getting too excited, but I'm curious what time line we'd be looking at for this to take place. Maybe I'm wrong, but I assume if this does happen, it won't be till FLE opens in it's entirety, which is early 2014. But I wouldn't mind seeing it start sooner. I truly wish this happens!

The refurb/overhaul, no matter what the size, is supposed to start next year.

 

[SeventyOne]

I've been looking all night. How is the Orbit Villas? Seem to get decemt reviews. Only 80 a night for a two bedroom villa

Never stayed there, but you couldn't ask for a better location. More convenient to WDW than a lot of on-site resorts (use Sherbeth to Osceola Pwy), and, as Disneyhead said, a ton of new restaurants/stores in the area. West 192 is actually up and coming--the meth motel burned down a year ago, and the rest of the street is starting to gentrify.

 

[KRAKENvsMANTA]

The refurb/overhaul, no matter what the size, is supposed to start next year.

Awesome to hear. I sincerely hope Disney goes full ahead and gives JC this great-sounding refurb. Like many others, if they do, they regain my respect.