Disneyland Resort (DL, DLR, DCA) Discussion Thread

[laqueefa]

I would assume that it will allow them to sell 5-10k more tickets a day. That's terrifying.

 

Hopefully, they keep the cap as is once the land opens and can increase accordingly vs. just opening the flood gates and seeing how the park handles it.

[Nrthwnd]

It's going to be interesting to see how they "soft open" an entirely new land in the park.

[laqueefa]

Does anyone remember how the soft openings of Cars Land went?

[kenban]

Does anyone remember how the soft openings of Cars Land went?

 

The Cars Land soft openings were extremly limited. They wanted the grand opening to mean something and mostly the previews were for cast members plus their friends and family. Few members of the general public were allowed in early.

 

The entire park was closed the day before the grand opening so it could be showed off to the press in private and to make sure everything was perfect for the opening.

 

If Star Wars land has an opening similar to Cars Land it would be a mistake to attempt a trip before the official opening.

[Canobie Coaster]

And Star Wars is a much bigger IP than Cars was. I expect this to be flooded like the Harry Potter areas at Universal were when they originally opened.

[SFMMGeek27]

I was fortunate enough to win my way into Cars Land media day. It was honestly so fun! The Racers were 20-30 minutes all day and everything else in Cars Land was 10 min or less. Not to mention, the entire rest of the park was open for those inside for Cars Land media day. My family got a whole TOT elevator to ourselves and I got an entire Screamin train to myself. You could also just stay Toy Story Mania and keep going. Best day ever!

[laqueefa]

I was fortunate enough to win my way into Cars Land media day. It was honestly so fun! The Racers were 20-30 minutes all day and everything else in Cars Land was 10 min or less. Not to mention, the entire rest of the park was open for those inside for Cars Land media day. My family got a whole TOT elevator to ourselves and I got an entire Screamin train to myself. You could also just stay Toy Story Mania and keep going. Best day ever!

 

[gerstlaueringvar]

Except there are so many rich people in the SoCal area that Disneyland could easily charge double what it currently does and attendance wouldn't suffer at all.

 

If they knew this to be true, why wouldn't they immediately double prices? They would have to be insane not to. I get what you're saying but there must be some reason that they're at the current price point. There's no way they would knowingly undercharge that much.

High price would cut down the attendance and discourage people from spending money inside of the park. Lots of people would totally pay $200+ to go to Disneyland (Not me) but they might not want to buy merchandise or eat inside of the park or buy photos and more. Plus, a big portion of the "rich SoCal people" probably have annual pass already and annual pass holders tend to spend less money inside of the park than the "Mommy I've been dreaming to go to Disneyland for 10 years" people. So overall it would be really bad to drastically increase the ticket price. Why pay $200 to go to Disneyland when you can go to Universal Studios Hollywood for $100 and do Harry Potter stuff?

 

I bet after a huge amount of calculation and surveying, the current price is exactly the balance between allowing the most amount of people into the park (trap them so they won't go to Disneyland's competitors) and encouraging everyone to spend money inside of the park.

[DoubleDown]

I would also say the DL Resort is fine with having the place as packed as possible. While that may not be the most desirable experience for us folks visitiing, *cha-ching, cha-ching* go the cash registers.

[coasterbill]

I bet after a huge amount of calculation and surveying, the current price is exactly the balance between allowing the most amount of people into the park (trap them so they won't go to Disneyland's competitors) and encouraging everyone to spend money inside of the park.

 

Agreed 100%. I'm sure if they really thought they could generate the same attendance at higher prices they would raise them without any hesitation. Maybe they can, but they arrived at the current price point for a reason. I'm sure they'll tweak it, but I don't buy the idea that they could immediately double it without having attendance decline.

[COASTER FREAK 11]

Does anyone remember how the soft openings of Cars Land went?

 

The Cars Land soft openings were extremly limited. They wanted the grand opening to mean something and mostly the previews were for cast members plus their friends and family. Few members of the general public were allowed in early.

 

The entire park was closed the day before the grand opening so it could be showed off to the press in private and to make sure everything was perfect for the opening.

 

If Star Wars land has an opening similar to Cars Land it would be a mistake to attempt a trip before the official opening.

 

Cars land had limited space at the main entrance of the land, where as SWL will have the long walk way from Thunder. I don't think they would close Disneyland all day for the opening, because its so out of the way. But I will bet the park will close very early, like 4pm for a special event.

[kenban]

A large percentage of the visitors to Disneyland are Annual passholders. The best way Disneyland can control attendance is to change blackout dates and pass prices. For example the cheapest pass has gone from $124 in September 2006 to $329 today, plus can only be used 170 days a year. That is 195 blackout dates, weekends, summer, and holidays are all blacked out. The cheapest pass for someone who does not live in southern California has gone from $239 to $599 over the same 10 year period, even that has 50 blackout dates. Around a year ago they had almost 1 million passholders. Which means the park is close to capacity if just 8% of the passholders visit at the same time.

 

Because Disneyland is so dependent upon local visitors the fastpass changes are not going to be anything like what we have seen at Disney World. Last I heard the plan is for people to book fastpasses the day of their visit. It will not be possible to book fastpasses days or weeks in advance. Disney World has over 30,000 hotel rooms to fill, while Disneyland has around 2,500.

[Jew]

I wouldn't be surprised if fastpass reservations ONLY apply to single day tickets and hotel guests.

[PeoplemoverMatt]

I wouldn't be surprised if fastpass reservations ONLY apply to single day tickets and hotel guests.

 

What about also including AP's whose tickets have been scanned at a park's entrance that day?

 

Make the AP's register their pass with the Disneyland app (like many already have), then only open access to the FP reservation portal in the app once that pass is activated for entry at the turnstiles. Can't cheat at that without violating non-transferability rules, and can't advance reserve Hyperspace Mountain every single day of the year just to have one whenever they want.

[SFMMGeek27]

I think the current system is fine, but you should be able to get a fastpass for any attraction at any kiosk. Would save some walking.

[gerstlaueringvar]

^That would be very nice, but when guests are not moving as much, they won't get hungry as fast so food sale would go down.

[ytterbiumanalyst]

Americans only eat when they're hungry. Good one.

[JGuy]

I eat my weight in cheeseburgers daily due to a fear of looking healthy.

[Jew]

I wouldn't be surprised if fastpass reservations ONLY apply to single day tickets and hotel guests.

 

What about also including AP's whose tickets have been scanned at a park's entrance that day?

 

Make the AP's register their pass with the Disneyland app (like many already have), then only open access to the FP reservation portal in the app once that pass is activated for entry at the turnstiles. Can't cheat at that without violating non-transferability rules, and can't advance reserve Hyperspace Mountain every single day of the year just to have one whenever they want.

 

I imagine they will do that too....but I would still guess they won't initially roll out any changes to the AP program in order to make sure there is a real big tangible benefit to single day tickets and booking a hotel.

[lk2500]

I think the current system is fine, but you should be able to get a fastpass for any attraction at any kiosk. Would save some walking.

 

I've seen this discussed before. I like the way the system works now because it helps disperse the crowds and avoid choke points. There are already too many choke points as is.

[Jew]

I wouldn't be opposed to them carving out space in each land with kiosks and proper queues instead of individual attraction kiosks, but I am sure if they made every FP available at every kiosk rides would all sell out too quick---everyone would go straight to the closest FP kiosks to reserve FP's.

[JGuy]

Honestly, I like the system the way it is now. If you manage your time properly, you can get quite a few fastpasses in a single day. Whereas in Florida, you can get three when the day starts, but can't get anymore until those have been used, making it highly unlikely that you'll be able to get any others.

 

When Disney inevitably brings Fastpass+ westward, I hope they adjust it to allow for possibly obtaining another Fastpass before the current one is used.

[VegasBaby]

I've seen this discussed before. I like the way the system works now because it helps disperse the crowds and avoid choke points. There are already too many choke points as is.

 

Totally agree, I like the current FP system at the CA parks and I hope it stays that way. I also like how you can get a 2nd FP once your window opens on your current FP. If you do it right, you should be able to FP all the big rides in a single day.

[COASTER FREAK 11]

So, the Anaheim City Council had a meeting with Disney, and luckily, someone with a camera was there to take all sorts of great photos. There are some really interesting things in these pics, and they answer basically every single question I had about this whole project.

 

Take a look!

[dannyboy13]

Can someone smarter than me explain what those pictures show? What project is this for? I actually just stayed at the Camelot and noticed all the dirt flattened back there.