News

Disney Cost and Policy Changes

• Every show should begin with a round of self-congratulations.
  

• On our September 4 show we answered a listener question from Shawn about how to visit the Magic Kingdom and Studios as efficiently as possible in late January, 2024. And our answer assumed that the 2 p.m. park-hoppin rule would be gone by then.  This week Disney announced that All-day park-hopping returns to WDW beginning January 9, 2024.
  

• Annual Passes

• Date-based pricing for tours, such as Keys to the Kingdom (was fixed at $114, now $109 to $149 pp)
  
• Water park prices went up by $5. Standard parking went up by $5. Preferred parking is still date-based at $45/$50/$55.
  

Candlelight Processional Narrators Announced

• Fan favorites NPH, Lisa Ling, and Marlee Matlin, plus NINE new narrators, including Luis Fonsi (Despacito), Ann-Margret (actress), Brendan Fraser, Eva Longoria, Joey McIntyre (NKOTB), Sterling K Brown (This is Us), Jordan Fisher  (Turning Red/Moana), and Audra McDonald (BATB 2017).

Surveys

Listeners Christy Shula and Luci Howard sent in a brand-new Disney hotel survey that’s trying to figure out what amenities, and at what price point, you’d choose a Disney hotel over an off-site hotel.  

Definitions to start:

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And now the interesting questions: Different hotel options and amenities at different price points, especially the “Deluxe Hotels”:

And at the bottom of the survey for each choice: How many nights would you stay at this hotel, with these amenities, at this price point?

One thing I really like about this survey is that it keeps a running total of everything you’re choosing.  So Disney’s really trying to mimic the decision-making process for families that are trying to fit as much vacation in as they can, for a specific trip budget. This is really smart - we’ve done something like this for the Unofficial Guide for years - it’s a grid that says “If your family is this many adults and this many kids, this is what kind of vacation you can get for $1K, $1500, $2K, $2500, etc.”

AND THEN A SET OF HOTEL DISCOUNTS BUT SOME TICKET PRICES ARE HIGHER AND THE DINING PLANS ARE NOT OPTIONS:

AND MORE PRICE VARIATIONS:

next:

Thanks to Clay Wallace, Eric Wildegrube, Paul Musser, and several others for sending in this Universal Orlando survey.  We know that Epic Universe is going to open in the summer of 2025. But NBC/Universal is a publicly-traded company, and they have revenue targets to meet every 90 days - every quarter - between now and the summer of 2025.  And Universal wants to avoid a scenario where nobody visits a theme park in 2024 because they’re waiting for 2025.  So they’re floating some interesting ideas in this new survey:

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“How likely are you to visit UOR with this offer?”

Next is a different offer:

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“How would you rate the value of this offer?”

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Next (and the kids’ age was 9 and under in some surveys, apparently if you have kids between 5 and 9)

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I mentioned that Paul’s version of the survey was slightly different with the kids ages (9 vs 5). Paul also got this question:



Listener Questions

An update for listener Rich Howard, who wrote in last month with this question:

My family and I are headed on our first trip to Disneyland in late January (22nd-25th) 2024 and putting together our touring plan. With the announcement of the expanded queue at Haunted Mansion and discussion with Jim on the September 4th Disney Dish, what are your thoughts on if the Mansion will be up and running during our trip (either Holiday or classic version)?

Rich, I’m told the closing date for Disneyland’s Haunted is still up in the air. But when it reopens later in the year, it’ll open as Haunted Mansion Holiday, so the ride doesn’t have to shut down again in summer for the seasonal overlay.

On last week’s show about Peter Pan’s Flight, Jim and I expressed some skepticism about Shanghai Disneyland’s reported capacity of 2,900 guests per hour for the attraction, when Walt Disney World’s version is maybe one-third of that.  

Listeners Daniel Taylor and Brian Peterson wrote in to point out that the loading process for Peter Pan in Shanghai is different from the US, because in Shanghai they load two flying pirate ships at a time instead of one.  And the ride vehicles move faster in Shanghai.  So the faster speed, double-loading, and 5 people per vehicle instead of 3, explains a lot of the increased capacity.  I still think 2,900/hour is the upper, upper limit (if it’s even doable), but it’s definitely in the 2,000+/hour range, I think.

NEXT WEEK: Questions about ride speed.

Research/Patents (use query "disney enterprises".as AND "theme park".ab)

Fantasmic Feature Story

Fantasmic comes to Florida
Feature Story

Len & I recently did a story about “River Haunt,” which was the Haunted Mansion-themed nighttime show that Disneyland’s Entertainment team originally developed for that theme park back in the late 1980s. This show was to have been presented out on the Rivers of America as well as up on the southern most end of Tom Sawyer’s Island (with the Guests all standing along the waterfront in New Orleans Square & Frontierland as they wanted this spectacle unfold).

Okay. So for reasons that we discussed in that show, production of “River Haunt” didn’t go forward but production of “Fantasmic!” did. That new nighttime show opened at Disneyland Park on May 15, 1992 and was an immediate hit. So much so that – for a time that first Summer – the crowds were so great at that theme park / demand was so high to see “Fantasmic!” that the Park actually ran three shows a night (8:30, 10 & 11:30 p.m.)

Big hit in California. Florida takes notice. Disney World sends reps out West to eyeball “Fantasmic!” and then decide how this new nighttime show would need to be adapted for Florida.

First big problem: Can’t go into the Magic Kingdom. Can’t be staged on the Rivers of America.

Why? The parade route for the Magic Kingdom actually passes through Frontierland along the edge of the Rivers of America. Since people typically camp out for hours in advance to claim the best possible viewing spot for Disneyland’s version of “Fantasmic!” … The thinking was that this phenomenon would happen in Florida as well. Which would make the running of a daytime parade at the Magic Kingdom AND the running of a nighttime parade at this same theme park problematic.

But here’s the thing … If you don’t present “Fantastmic!” on the Rivers of America in Florida, you’re then at a huge disadvantage. You can’t then use the Richard Irvine or the Liberty Belle as a floating stage for your finale. You can’t then repurpose the rafts over to Tom Sawyer Island as your floating stages for your “Disney Princess” medley or your “Jungle Book” number. Never mind that you don’t have that Frontierland-facing portion of Tom Sawyer Island to act as your show’s main stage. Or the Rivers of America itself to then serve as a canvas for your water screens & pyro effects.

The other dealbreaker here was … Well, when you factor in that two of the Magic Kingdom’s most popular thrill rides – Big Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain / soon-to-be Tiana’s Bayou Adventure are right there at the edge of WDW’s Rivers of America – this just wasn’t going to happen.

EPCOT wasn’t an option. That park already had a popular nighttime show. The original Illuminations (which debuted in January of 1988 and continued on ‘til September of 1996). Also World Showcase Lagoon – with its 40 acres – would have swallowed up “Fantasmic!”

Which left Disney-MGM / Now Hollywood Studios. Studios was already in the middle of its Sunset Boulevard expansion project with various high ticket items like the “Dick Tracy’s Crimestoppers” ride and the “South Seas supper club” suddenly falling off the table. Largely because both “Dick Tracy” & the “Rocketeer” performed poorly at the box office in the Summer of 1990 & the Summer of 1991 respectively.

Imagineers were now looking to fill two huge holes in Sunset Boulevard’s original attraction line-up. Which is why an East Coast version of Disneyland’s “Fantasmic!” for this theme park was originally seen as a godsend.

But here’s the thing … Disneyland’s version of “Fantasmic!” cost the Company $30 million to originally build and then $30,000 every single time this nighttime show is staged (I’m told that the park recovers that $30,000 at every show just from the sale on those glow-in-the-dark necklaces, ears and spinning things off of those retail carts that are rolled into New Orleans Square an hour or so before each show starts). But they were able to take advantage of the Mark Twain already being there. Not to mention the rafts to Tom Sawyer Island. Not to mention the Rivers of America being right there to serve as a performance space for “Fantasmic!”

Whereas when it came to an East Coast version of “Fantasmic!” … This project would need to be a green field. Meaning that every single component of this new nighttime – the space where the audience sat, the backstage areas, the actual performance space, all of the boats that the characters traveled on – would have to be built.

Side note: When WDW managers originally saw what the Florida version of “Fantasmic!” was supposed to cost to build, there was a very short conversation about how maybe – instead of digging and then filling a new million.9 gallon lagoon at the Studios – they could just stage this new nighttime show in that theme park’s Echo Lake (You know? Where Min & Bill’s Dockside Diner and Gertie the Dinosaur’s Ice Crean of Extinction now set). The idea here is that Guests would stand around that tiny body of water and then watch Florida’s version of “Fantasmic!” unfold.

When folks working on this project for the Studios pointed out that – out at Disneyland – that park typically has 15,000 people standing in & around New Orleans Square & Frontierland to watch each presentation of that theme park’s version of “Fantasmic!” … This Echo Lake idea was quickly dropped.

Sunset Boulevard & Twilight Zone Tower of Terror opened July 22, 1994. Quickly decided that the facility to house Disney-MGM’s version of “Fantasmic!” would be built in the backstage space between Hollywood Boulevard & Sunset Boulevard.

Please note: California version of “Fantasmic!,” Guests stand up and watch that show. Florida version, Guests sit down. Different demographics / old audience.

6,900 seats. Standing room for an additional 3000 Guests.

Originally wanted an all-new show. One specifically tailored for a studio park. Actually got to see the storyboards for this show backstage in a conference room at Walt Disney Feature Animation Florida.

“Fantasmic Hollywood.” Started on a sandy tropical beach. Palm trees. Mickey walking along the shore finds Aladdin’s lamp. Rubs the lamp. Robin Williams’ genie appears. That’s then what powers this nighttime show – the three wishes that Mickey makes. NOT his imagination.

Leaned into Disney’s live-action film catalog. One scene in this nighttime show would have involved a full-sized Nautilus coming onstage out from behind Imagination Island. Full-sized giant squid coming out from the outside of Imagination Island. Meet out in center of lagoon. Captain Nemo & Ned Land stab the squid with harpoons. Fun for the whole family.

Difficult meeting in 1996. Can’t afford to totally reinvent the wheel here when it comes to “Fantasmic Hollywood.” Still have to have the money to built that 57.5 foot mountain that sits in the middle of Imagination Island. Not to mention that 80-foot-long, 70,000 pound steamboat that powers “Fantasmic!” finale (carrying 26 different characters past the audience).

Never mind that you also need to build all of the backstage infrastructure that will then power those three 100-foot-wide / 50-foot-tall water screens that all of the film elements of this nighttime show needed to be projected on.

This is why the largely original “Fantasmic Hollywood” eventually devolved to being a clone of the California show right down to its dragon-head-on-the-end-of-a-cherry-picker-that-breathes-fire finale.

Not an exact clone. Middle of Florida’s “Fantasmic!” featured a weird “Pocahontas” -inspired vignette. Disney’s “Pocahontas” opened in theaters in June of 1995. Logs rolling down hill / stunt show (Tiny remainder of “Fantasmic Hollywood”)

Official Opening Date: October 15, 1998

Show Length: 26 minutes. Cast of live performers includes 46 cast members filling 78 costumes.

Show went dark during pandemic. Finally returned on November 3rd of last year. “Pocahontas” number cut, replaced by

Aladdin chase, a powerful scene with Elsa set to the song “Show Yourself,” then stirring moments with Pocahontas, Moana and Mulan.

Still wish that this show had that “20,000 Leagues” scene. Oh, and did I mention that – while Nemo & Ned Land were battling that giant squid – Mickey was to be seated onshore on Imagination Island. Hammering away at this giant pipe organ like the one you see in the Grand Ballroom in the Haunted Mansion.

Great detail for the “Fantasmic Hollywood” storyboard I saw for this scene. Mickey – while seated at this giant pipe organ (which was supposed to be blasting these huge goats of steam out of its pipes every time Mickey hammered on the keys) was supposed to have been wearing a half-a-face mask like “The Phantom of the Opera.”

Don’t look at me. I’d hideous. Fun little detail for Halloween.