Mailbag

Coheteboy writes:

I just had to write after reading your Universal Tram 2000
update. I just happened to visit the Hollywood theme park
a few days ago and boarded the tram with the new monitors.

Thinking that this would make the tram a little more personalized,
I thought it was a great idea. But after the ride, I am starting
to wish that it was never put in. Instead of a better view
of the tour guide, the guide hardly spoke at all. Instead,
she let everyone watch scenes from movies (Universal ones
only) while we were passing the sets themselves. I think I
was the only one watching the actual sets. Everyone else were
glued to the monitors. There was no trivia, no introductions,
no explaining about anything. It was the most boring tram
ride I have ever been on. It’s very unfortunate that the best
thing about Universal Studios is now the “worst”
thing.

Nick B. also writes:

Hi, I’m a long time reader of MousePlanet. I just finished
reading your last update and I wanted to correct you on one
detail. In your update, you were talking about Universal and
their new annual pass for an extra $8.

Yes, it is true that anyone can buy this pass for $8, but it
does have 32 block out days. If a customer would like, they
can buy a annual pass with no black out days for I think something
like an extra $20 or $29.

Tim Barnes writes:

Thanks for a great column. It more than complements your terrific books.

I find it rather ironic that Disney is promoting paint, when they seem to have forgotten about the stuff at the parks. Maybe with Sherwin-Williams’ help, they can “afford” to start using it again.

Jeff Peterson also writes:

The Disney promotion for Sherwin-Williams paint is a nice idea, and it sounds like a higher than usual level of creativity has been expended on its development. So why not deepen the corporate ties and invite the paint company to become a Disneyland sponsor? Such an alliance would not be unprecedented, since Dutch Boy Paints sponsored Tomorrowland’s Color Gallery for the park’s first eight years.

But instead of shoving another company into a corner of Innoventions, Sherwin-Williams’ wares would be best displayed in the most colorful land of all, Mickey’s Toontown. They could host an exhibit showing how Mickey and his friends keep their homes looking their brightest with Sherwin-Williams paints. As part of the deal, the company would kick in several thousand buckets of their product so that Toontown’s unique buildings can actually be repainted, and the entire land would then become an advertisement for Sherwin-Williams. I’m sure that some entertaining television and print advertising could be produced to benefit both companies.

Finally, as the official paint of Disneyland, I’m sure some other
structures would benefit from a few coats of paint as well,
perhaps even developing some new official hues, such as Mansion
Ivory for the Haunted Mansion.

Chris Kitamura writes:

I have read all of your books and have enjoyed every single
one (when are you going to write another one?). It’s also
nice to know there are other Christians who like Disney. I
read your article about DCA and agree with every single one
of your points. In fact, when I read the “10 reasons
why DCA will be a flop” article, I immediately made the
same remarks you did.

I’ll admit that Disney definitely could have done better,
especially if they could have done Westcot. But I think the
one thing that the critics are not realizing is that almost
any new Disney theme park is better than none. Disneyland
is getting so crowded when we go, and it’s getting hard to
go for more than one day in a row (which my family and I do
once every year). It will be good to have another theme park.
Even if it was themed after the animated features and only
had dark rides, it is still good.

Plus, weren’t there critics saying that Disneyland was going
to be a “successful failure”?

Rob writes:

Looking at your articles, I think you might rethink part
of your expectations on DCA in light of the Tourist behavior
with FastPass. Disneyland is very crowded right now, and DCA
is designed to supplement the crowding. I think this is a
large part of why tourists attack. WDW has plenty of land
and much less need to push through huge groups of people.
DL in the heat is very crowded and much of the design of the
park is terrible for managing shoppers.  

Look at the layout for Tomorrowland. You have Cosmic Waves
partially blocking the entrance to Honey, I Shrunk the Audience,
the entrance to Rocket Redd’s Pizza Port, the entrance and
exit to Space Mountain.  The arcade is still accessible
through the Star Trader, but look at the layout there. All
of the lines for the registers block the aisles when more
than three guests are there and you have the exit from Start
Tours there as well. I find this one of the worst traffic
areas in the park. If you try to get through this, then have
to wait in line in the heat for an hour and then watch groups
of people zip past, I can understand the frustration. I would
think this would increase with the traffic from DCA.  

In Orlando, the entrances to the parks are nowhere near each
other. Not much chance of that with DCA as it will be sharing
the ticket booths with DL. You could well be right about this
being an experiment for park with a slow start, but perhaps
to give it a better chance, it should have been done out in
Florida (which is now pretty packed with parks). I think DCA
will have some of the problems DL is having with visitor violence.
Add to the mix the ESPN sports bar, and I think there will
be some big potential problems.

Andrew Goczkowski also writes:

After reading your two articles, I felt that I should share
my thoughts.  

Having visited WDW in July, I can tell you that the people
in the lines didn’t seem to have any problem with us passing
if we were in FastPass, although it seems as though FastPass
itself is the longer of the two lines, when everyone decides
to return at the same time! This problem is only made that
much larger with the fact that the Brazilian tour groups have
apparently figured out the system, and now have their tour
group go up there, and run 70 tickets through the machine.
We were not happy campers, being stuck behind them for more
than 15 minutes.  

As for your writing on DCA, I honestly hope that it fails.
Disney has been going downhill, and I think that there has
to be a certain point where a line is drawn, and it has to
get better. I hope that that line is coming up, because the
magical place that I remember is beginning to fade, and is
being visibly replaced by a few people’s greed. While your
reasoning is sound, I hope that it doesn’t turn out to be
that way.  

I coincidentally have just read your first two books, and
am looking for your third that I have just discovered in your
“About the Author” section. I find in your writing
the magic that I had lost when it came to Disney. I thank
you for that.

Bryan sends this note:

I’m a Walt Disney World fanatic, though I keep in touch with
news about Disneyland as well. I was very disturbed by the
amount of trouble that FastPass causes at DL. I went to Disney
World this past week and I have some new comments to make
about this:

1. FastPass only works well with certain attractions at certain
parks.

For the most part, FastPass works wonders at MK, Epcot, and
MGM, where there is plenty to do. However, the system fails
at parks like AK. A lot of people are ill prepared and can’t
understand why attractions like Dinosaur get backed up. Not
everyone is a Disney fanatic and can analyze the whole situation.
AK is a small park. It really only has five attractions (The
safari, Kali River Rapids, Tough to be a Bug!, Tarzan Rocks!,
and Dinosaur) and with FastPass on at least three of these
attractions, crowds don’t tend to expand elsewhere, translating
into similar line lengths for FastPass and standby.

In the long run, FastPass DOES end up getting you there faster,
and it cuts wait time, not eliminating it totally. But some
people don’t have the patience to understand this concept.
Example: my dad and I waited in line for Dinosaur this week.
The line for FastPass stretched outside the queue in front
of the building. Meanwhile, the standby line started going
faster. Then, in about 15 minutes we got into the preshow
and onto the loading dock. We still waited in line, but we
cut our time from 60 minutes to about 20. Some people expect
to get right on the ride after getting (FastPass). You get
ahead in the line, and that’s the only point.  

2. It’s confusing to most others.

I have seen a few people become frustrated with the fact
that the standby lines start going and the FastPass line just
sits there. Others get tickets before they use their first
FastPass and don’t realize that the time on the ticket has
been replaced with a “warning” to tell you that
you need to use your first one. I forgot how the system realized
the customer had two until I went to get on Space Mountain
after getting a Pooh ticket, and I’m a big Disney fan myself.

3. Incompetence to ask

Let’s face it. When I see people prancing ahead of me in
line, carrying anything that looks like a special pass, I
get angry. Humans get frustrated with people who have special
access to things that they normally can’t get (backstage passes,
discounts at restaurants, etc.). This is a broad idea that
happens in reality, not just Disney. I was at first angry
that everyone at WDW could go to E-ticket night except annual
passholders like me, but I know better that Disney is limiting
the amount of people in the park doing this, and it allows
the less frequent visitor get a chance to ride the popular
rides that I could do any other weekend. Unfortunately, some
people can’t cool down and think about these things. Some
just don’t want to ask why people with FastPass can get to
the front of the line. Not everyone in the world wants to
ask or put up with this special program that looks intimidatingly
like a privilege to certain individuals, when indeed it is
open to everyone.

J.G. contributes:

After reading your article and reading some of the fan mail
on the site, I must say that a lot of people are sheep!!!!
A lot of the people saying why FastPass does not work is because
they didn’t know how to use it. It was not designed so you
could use FastPass on all the rides and see everything in
a matter of hours. FastPass was designed so instead of having
to wait in line for two hours and miss seeing something like
some of the dark rides, you could get your FastPass have about
two hours to see other attractions, shows and, of course,
spend your money, then go back and not have to wait in line
for the E-Ticket ride forever.

FastPass might not be the simplest thing in the world to
understand, but they have signs with info about it in all
the WDW parks and here in Disneyland, and at WDW all the park
maps have very simple directions about how to use FastPass.
I have used FastPass at both Disneyland and all four of the
parks in WDW and I have had nothing but a great time using
it.

FastPass is a great thing if you only care about riding the
ride, as one of your readers stated she waited in the “standby”
queue to get the full experience, which I think everyone should
do at least once. But after that it is FastPass all the way!!

Also I believe the same person was saying how the guests
behind her in Test Track were upset about people cutting in
front of them in line because they had no idea about FastPass.
Maybe if those guest took a few minutes to read a sign or
ask a question instead of running to the ride and knocking
down little kids in there path they would not have been so
upset and they would have been able to see some of the other
things in Epcot. I have been on Test Track and I must say
that ride is the worst set-up for FastPass, but still in order
to get into the attraction you have to walk past a ton of
FastPass stuff blocking the front of the attraction.

One of the main problems with FastPass as it is now is this
system were thrown into attractions that were built for a
queue not a FastPass and a standby line. I have heard that
some of the attractions at DCA are being built with FastPass
in mind and I know Mission:Space is designed for FastPass,
so that should help with some of the problems at that point
but saying that FastPass does not work on rides like Space
Mountain or Splash Mountain is false. They work great if you
know how to use it.