What’s going on at my favorite vacation resort? After a five-year period with a string of hit after hit, we seem to be pulling back all of a sudden. Going back to 2003 (give or take), we’ve seen the introduction of: Mickey’s Philharmagic; Wishes Nighttime Spectacular, Mission: Space, Soarin’, and Expedition Everest. Most recently we’ve seen the rollout of Toy Story Midway Mania at Disney’s Hollywood Studios—another clear winner.
Admittedly, we’ve also seen a few clunkers—or near clunkers—during that same span, like Stitch’s Great Escape (and yes, I know the jury’s still out on American Idol but I’ll need to be convinced). Disney has also replaced a huge fan favorite, the Hunchback of Notre Dame stage show, with Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show. Lights is a transplanted show from Disneyland Paris that doesn’t seem to have the same level of accolades or fan base as its Studios’ predecessor. Don’t get me wrong; it’s a fine show and very well done, but it just doesn’t have the loyalty that Hunchback inspired.
Then, in a four-week period, Walt Disney World made three announcements of cutbacks that can only be viewed as negatives.
In late June, Walt Disney World announced the September 27 closing of Pleasure Island’s clubs (read my article about it here). The plan is to have the Pleasure Island we know be replaced by additional family dining establishments and shopping venues. While some believe this will eventually become a positive for the Downtown Disney complex, many more lament the loss of the clubs and their nightlife atmosphere. Still more are saddened by the demise of some truly unique Disney World entertainment establishments: the Comedy Warehouse and the Adventurers’ Club. There are several ongoing campaigns attempting to save these establishments but history tells us that the chances of success are slim (see Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride).
With July came the announcement by Walt Disney World that, after a 10-year run, the live Pocahontas and Her Forest Friends show at Disney’s Animal Kingdom will close (coincidentally) on September 27. There is no immediate replacement being planned for the show’s amphitheater. I must admit that the response to this closing is significantly less in volume than the Pleasure Island uproar. While the Pocahontas show had its fans, it seems that many more were less than wowed by it. I admit that I’ve never taken the time to see it, mainly due to reading or hearing a number of very mediocre reviews. That could very well be my loss, but I can live with it.
Then in what The Orlando Sentinel calls a “sign of the shaky economy,” Disney World announced in July that it was reducing performances of its Fantasmic! nighttime show at Disney’s Hollywood Studios to just two nights a week beginning in January. This change leaves Magic Kingdom’s Wishes and Epcot ‘s Illuminations: Reflections of Earth fireworks shows as the only seven-day nighttime spectaculars at Disney World.
I can find nothing in the Fantasmic announcement of any additional entertainment planned to replace it. However, the finale of the daily American Idol competition will take place toward the end of the park day. Does Disney expect American Idol to replace Fantasmic!? How? While the American Idol theater is expected to accommodate an audience of over 1,000, the Hollywood Hills Amphitheater can seat 6,500 guests with standing room for an additional 2,500.
Why the cutback? By anyone’s estimation, Fantasmic remains a popular show that is nearly always at capacity. Many arrive more than an hour ahead of time in order to get a good seat. I’ve visited Disney World during some of the historically slowest periods (January after the holidays) and Fantasmic has been at or near capacity each and every time I’ve attended. A second nightly show is often added during the busiest times of the year.
One of the joys of visiting Walt Disney World during the slower periods has been the ability to queue up for Fantasmic 30 or 45 minutes before show time—much later than the two-hour recommendation during the busier periods. What happens now? Let’s make some assumptions and do some quick math:
I’m traveling to Walt Disney World in January for a seven-night visit. Typically, I would arrange to view Fantasmic once during that trip—at my convenience. Let’s assume that Fantasmic would draw 7,000 people for each show during my stay. That’s a total of 49,000 people looking to view Fantasmic during a seven-day period. We now cut back the schedule to offer only two shows, one on Monday and one on Thursday, and that means that roughly 24,500 people will turn out for each performance—or three to four times the seating capacity of the amphitheater. Will 15,000 to 18,000 people be turned away? Will they venture back later in the week to try again—vowing to show up earlier next time?
I’m suggesting that people will start lining up much earlier than before to give themselves the best chance to see the show. It also means, in my opinion, that larger numbers of families will attempt to take advantage of the Fantasmic! Dining Experience. The Fantasmic! Dining Experience may be booked in advance and includes dinner at one of the participating Disney’s Hollywood Studios restaurants (as of this writing, only the Hollywood Brown Derby, Mama Melrose’s Ristorante Italiano, and Hollywood & Vine are participating). At your dinner, you will be given a card entitling you and your party to reserved seating for Fantasmic in the Hollywood Hills Amphitheater. The reserved seating is reached through a “private” entrance, separate from the one used for all other guests, and is located in the two sections at the right end of the theater (while facing the stage, that is). With this package, instead of arriving 60 to 90 minutes (or longer) early, you can enter the theater thirty minutes before show time and still have a seat.
Do you think the Fantasmic! Dining Experience will increase in popularity? I don’t think there’s any question that it will. What effect will that have on the availability of dining in Disney’s Hollywood Studios—availability that has already been severely diminished by the success of the Disney Dining Plan? Will folks like me be forever banished to counter service establishments for dinner or be forever doomed to partake of nothing beyond pretzels and Mickey Premium Bars?
What’s going to happen to the 7,000+ people that would have been at the Fantasmic show from 6:00 to 8:00 on the five nights that the show will no longer take place? I would say it’s doubtful all of them will still be at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Disney’s Animal Kingdom is closed by that time of the day so it’s likely they’ll all be visiting Epcot or Magic Kingdom—visiting attractions and waiting to view either Wishes or Illuminations—and adding to the crowd levels already there.
I don’t think there’s any question that attendance at Walt Disney World is up—way up. I remember when it was fairly easy to predict the slower periods in park attendance. Those attendance peaks and valleys have been successfully smoothed by Disney’s marketing programs and special events. Things like the Food and Wine Festival, Flower and Garden Festival, and the free Disney Dining Plan have brought people into Disney World in droves during periods that had, historically, been lightly attended.
Is Disney beginning to see an economy-based downturn in visitors? Are the advance resort reservations indicating significant decreases compared to previous years? If that’s the case, I would hope they would turn to increased marketing to draw crowds before resorting to cutbacks in service. Bring back the days of the 40 percent Annual Passholders’ discount. That would make large numbers of people very happy. Provide resort discounts and people will come… and spend their money on dining… and souvenirs. It’s worked before.
Quite possibly, the Fantasmic change has nothing at all to do with advance resort reservations. It may be nothing more than a reallocation of performing cast members to other Studios’ events like American Idol (the effective date of the cutback is, coincidentally, the same month that Idol is due to open).
Because the Fantasmic show is almost never lightly attended, I’d speculate that this announcement has nothing to do with a lack of demand for the show. It’s quite possible that even with a capacity crowd, the show doesn’t generate enough revenue through food and souvenir sales to maintain a profit. I know that, I’ve seen a significant reduction in cast members at the show over the years; from the Streetmosphere characters providing entertainment for the crowd while waiting to the numbers of cast members moving through the crowd with food and drink. The bottom line is that this is nothing more than a cost-cutting measure by management.
In the short term it may save money, but at what cost?
I don’t pretend to know why these cutbacks are occurring. I don’t have the data that Disney management has available so I can only speculate. I sincerely hope that these represent a sign of better things to come, not the loss of unique entertainment and quality shows that it seems to be.
That’s my opinion. What’s yours?
