Magic Kingdom (General Discussion)

[OLSinFLA]

And yet if HRC wins and she doesn't get to speak, they'll be this thing she was silenced because she was a woman. (Hey, for the record, when I worked there back in the 70s... we put Mickey Mouse ears on Nixon. Went almost a whole day before anyone noticed.... lol)

 

[captainmoch]

If Disney is smart, they'd announce that the next president won't speak before the election ends. I feel like every side won't blame them if they announce it (in their own sugarcoat-y Disney way, of course) around then.

 

[GadgetGuru]

They might retool the show in its entirety. I'd be shocked if they didn't look at some way to draw more people into that prime piece of real estate. It's always a relatively empty show.

 

[GAcoaster]

I may have missed it being mentioned somewhere else, but along with the rock repainting



They've also been changing the lighting on Space Mountain and now there is scaffolding around part of it like it may be getting painted as well. The new lighting looks great and it has LEDs shining on it that make it change from blue to purple to red very slowly. It's really cool looking late at night or early in the morning. It rivals the castle now.

 

[WAJAS]

I may have missed it being mentioned somewhere else, but along with the rock repainting



They've also been changing the lighting on Space Mountain and now there is scaffolding around part of it like it may be getting painted as well. The new lighting looks great and it has LEDs shining on it that make it change from blue to purple to red very slowly. It's really cool looking late at night or early in the morning. It rivals the castle now.

 

[Nick]

Major ferry dock change underway. I imagine this is a part of what they are doing at TTC which all circles back to tightened security.

 

[Teebin]

^ Which ferry dock is that?

 

[Nick]

^ Which ferry dock is that?

The one at Magic Kingdom (not TTC).

 

[Galaxy Defender]

I seem to remember that Disney was planning to cut out the current president speaking then changed their mind when Obama was elected. It is something they have been looking at for a while.

 

[WAJAS]

A different Tree also reopened recently. Tree of Life + Swiss Family Robinson Tree

 

[epcyclopedia]

The new ferry dock unload area thingy whatever-it-was-meant-to-do is seemingly complete.

It was supposed to ease crowd flow and such, right?

Well, cue today. at say, like 10-11am.

Two ferry boats unloading one right after the other (I think this meant there were actually 3 going back and forth) and both monorails unloading.

Did i mention the monorail unload area now has stairs down the middle flanking the ramp? So the people in the front cars don't have to doubleback to exit down the ramp - just go down the steps and then merge.

Oh, and they added parking by tearing down the speedway. Remember that.

Anywho, all that's happening.. and 10-11am, the ferry boats can't unload anymore because the line from security it backed up all the way to where the ferry boats dock. Also, the backlog begins working its way up the monorail ramp - never quite making it to a standstill on the platform, but the fery boats definitely stopped moving while people on the upper deck were unable to unload for extended periods.

Reports of it taking over an hour to get from the TTC into Magic Kingdom. Turnstiles were busy and had moderate lines but were generally outpacing security. Anytime it got really bad they'd just flip off the biometrics for a few minutes to pulse a large number of people in, but security remained a clusterfluff.

So, my query.. what exactly was that whole remodel of the ferry boat area supposed to do? How exactly is the security supposed to be improved at the park?

Because it's getting downright ridiculous and the park didnt reach any level of phase closing.

 

[WAJAS]

The new ferry dock unload area thingy whatever-it-was-meant-to-do is seemingly complete.

It was supposed to ease crowd flow and such, right?

Well, cue today. at say, like 10-11am.

Two ferry boats unloading one right after the other (I think this meant there were actually 3 going back and forth) and both monorails unloading.

Did i mention the monorail unload area now has stairs down the middle flanking the ramp? So the people in the front cars don't have to doubleback to exit down the ramp - just go down the steps and then merge.

Oh, and they added parking by tearing down the speedway. Remember that.

Anywho, all that's happening.. and 10-11am, the ferry boats can't unload anymore because the line from security it backed up all the way to where the ferry boats dock. Also, the backlog begins working its way up the monorail ramp - never quite making it to a standstill on the platform, but the fery boats definitely stopped moving while people on the upper deck were unable to unload for extended periods.

Reports of it taking over an hour to get from the TTC into Magic Kingdom. Turnstiles were busy and had moderate lines but were generally outpacing security. Anytime it got really bad they'd just flip off the biometrics for a few minutes to pulse a large number of people in, but security remained a clusterfluff.

So, my query.. what exactly was that whole remodel of the ferry boat area supposed to do? How exactly is the security supposed to be improved at the park?

Because it's getting downright ridiculous and the park didnt reach any level of phase closing.

They aren't done with the improvements to MK's entrance yet. The whole security checkpoint is being moved to the TTC, and the buses are getting their own dedicated security checkpoint. The hotels are also getting their own checkpoints, so a lot more is on the way.

They kinda caused this whole issue at the parks front to happen though. They did improvements to help guests get to the park faster first instead of improving the speed that guests get into the park.

 

[Nick]

They aren't done with the improvements to MK's entrance yet. The whole security checkpoint is being moved to the TTC, and the buses are getting their own dedicated security checkpoint. The hotels are also getting their own checkpoints, so a lot more is on the way.

They kinda caused this whole issue at the parks front to happen though. They did improvements to help guests get to the park faster first instead of improving the speed that guests get into the park.

Yeah, they definitely aren't done from everything I've heard. They just rushed to get as much done as possible before the big holiday crowd rush.

 

[epcyclopedia]

Which has backfired horrifically at this point.

One of the main justifications for the whole TTC then mono/ferry setup was that it's all carefully calculated to keep the park from getting overwhelmed. It prevented too many guests from getting to MK's gates at once.

And the perceived problem was the outflow and guests upset it took too long to get out after parade or fireworks. Well, now it's a problem both ways.

 

[Nick]

Which has backfired horrifically at this point.

One of the main justifications for the whole TTC then mono/ferry setup was that it's all carefully calculated to keep the park from getting overwhelmed. It prevented too many guests from getting to MK's gates at once.

And the perceived problem was the outflow and guests upset it took too long to get out after parade or fireworks. Well, now it's a problem both ways.

Yes, it's a problem for now because they aren't done. The final plans will alter where guests are even allowed to go along the paths.

Paths will be blocked off in some areas making incoming traffic from Bus go through a special security lane while Ferry/Monorail go through another lane, as those guests will already have gone through Security check before boarding either ferry or monorail. They still have a lot to do at the hotel monorail stations before this is near complete.

 

[epcyclopedia]

Yes, it's a problem for now because they aren't done. The final plans will alter where guests are even allowed to go along the paths.

Paths will be blocked off in some areas making incoming traffic from Bus go through a special security lane while Ferry/Monorail go through another lane, as those guests will already have gone through Security check before boarding either ferry or monorail. They still have a lot to do at the hotel monorail stations before this is near complete.

Which begs the question - why have it at that stage in the process during the busiest visitation period of the year?

 

[WAJAS]

Which begs the question - why have it at that stage in the process during the busiest visitation period of the year?

Because they failed to think ahead?

 

[Nick]

Which begs the question - why have it at that stage in the process during the busiest visitation period of the year?

Because they failed to think ahead?

As someone who has worked in MK recently and understands their ops strategies, it makes complete sense.

Sure these are the two busiest weeks, but they lead into the two slowest months. They set themselves up to be able to continue on this at the beginning of the year.

 

[WAJAS]

As someone who has worked in MK recently and understands their ops strategies, it makes complete sense.

Sure these are the two busiest weeks, but they lead into the two slowest months. They set themselves up to be able to continue on this at the beginning of the year.

But wouldn't it have made more sense to update the security checkpoints before everything else? As I said earlier, "they did improvements to help guests get to the park faster first instead of improving the speed that guests get into the park."

 

[Scott W.]

Because they failed to think ahead?

They probably aimed for January but got delayed by 11 months so it almost went full circle.