ThemeParkCommando

I'll bet you anything that $40 is their normal rate per night, and the $100 rate is for special events.   Someone forgot to put the special event rate into the system, for the dates of the Balloon Fiesta.   I would speak to someone there in management, to try to hold onto that rate.  I know that when the hotel chain I worked for forgot to enter their event rates in time, they honored the rates as long as the reservation had no changes.  If you changed the reservation at all,  even to just cancel some days, the event rates would apply.  

I am pretty sure it is legal for them to change the rates this far in advance and with the number of days notice they have given you.  However, if you bring in bad publicity, or insist upon keeping the rate, they may hold for you. It really all depends upon how many people booked at that rate, and how many will not complain and pay the new rate. 

4 hours ago, Katman1356...Jason said:

Oh yes. I definitely did and it is awesome. While it is on the expensive it is leaps and bounds over the toy ones you can build or the cheap plastic ones you buy. The experience was awesome. If you are on the fence I don’t think you will be disappointed. Expescially for a Star Wars fan. 

Nice!  My husband is the big Star Wars fan, and he is happily tucking away money for his lightsaber.  He'll be happy to know it's going to be worth it.  I get attached to the ships, so I expect I'll be crying when I see the Millenium Falcon for the first time.

For instance, in the Star Trek universe, I did not shed a tear when Spock died.  But when they blew up the Enterprise, I jumped up, shouted "NO!" and broke down crying in the theater.  

Thanks for the up to date reporting, it's very helpful!!

But Jason... the urgent question.. did you get your lightsaber?!

My husband is saving up for his lightsaber.  We are going to watch the results of the experience over the next year, to decide if it will be worth it. 

Happy Birthday, Jason!  Have fun camping!

SeaWorld is doing something right this year.  Here in San Antonio, we went last Saturday and it was PACKED.  We came in at 4pm, and they were using the overflow parking area.  I've not seen that parking area in use on a regular park day in years. 

I saw actual lines at all the rides.  Usually, it's not worthy buying the Quick Queue option, because most of their rides have 10 minute waits or less.  Not on this day.  I saw ride lines that were up to and hour and half wait.  Just amazing for this park. 

I hope our park does something for Natl. Coaster Day.. I gotta go look. 

I would have been striding through with my magic band, and taking as much advantage of the lower population in the park as possible. 

It's possible they didn't open the date, as they haven't gotten word on the final decision on rates. 

When I worked for a hotel chain, it was normal to hold special events closed until special event rates could be decided upon.  Sometimes, the bigwigs were not available to make the final decisions, by the time we were ready to open the rooms 1 year in advance of the event.  We regularly held Mardi Gras,  Superbowl, Fiesta and other events closed for up to a week after the 1 year opening period, in order to make sure the agreed upon special event rates were in place.  Maybe Disney's just running late on their rate decisions.

SeaWorld San Antonio is building a new wooden coaster for 2020.  Rumored name will be "ABYSS". Claim to fame is that it will be the longest wooden coaster in Texas.   Our park is only seeming busy on the weekends, but attendance does appear to be up over last year.  The new Turtle Reef area is drawing attendance, but right now they are shooting themselves in the foot.  The new biofilter is not working as expected, I don't believe.  The turtle aquarium was SO green with algae last week, you could barely see the turtles unless they were right up on the glass.  I'm thinking it's currently a PR nightmare. 

18 minutes ago, fladogfan aka Gretchen said:

Watched again.

Do you think they are trying to do some kind of set up to sue Disney?

The whole bunch of them should have had an escort off property.

The report I read said the family was escorted out of the park and told to leave.  I can't imagine for what charges they could sue Disney.  Park Security turned them over to Anaheim police, who initially didn't arrest anyone because no one wanted to press charges.  Now that the police have seen the video, they are reviewing whether or not they can bring charges based on that.  I hope they do.  I'd think: 'Disturbing the peace, assault and creating a public nuisance' could apply. 

22 hours ago, Duane said:

Remember back before the Pixar days when there were actual animators working at "MGM Studios"? 

I remember seeing the animators working on Mulan.  I also remember the 4 hour long backlot tour.  That was a bit much, I'll admit.  But, we did get some great family memories from that.  My daughter was chosen to ride the bee on the 'green screen effects' part of the tour.  Everyone in my family fondly remembers Crackaxle Canyon.

YAY!  Glad to hear they are bringing back the Animation Academy in some form.  These are some of my favorite characters, too!  This will be a must do for me, next year. 

Wait, if you can't wear a jedi costume in the park, how are they going to do that fully immersive LARPing package that is supposed to come with the new hotel?  I thought I read earlier that there will be a 2 day, 1 night, fully immersive experience for sale, once that hotel is open?

For the rest of it, I can see where a custom build R2 unit would be a draw. In the fandom, there are many other droid units besides R2-D2.  They have their own backstories and presence in the novels. 

I would prefer if we could see some merch for the lesser known characters too.   I really liked Sebulba in the 1st movie, and I'd love to see a podracer ride.

The thing is, for so many of the hardcore fans, Disney is evil.  They bought Star Wars and immediately erased all the stories written and published as 'canon' to the universe.  That universe had been built and lovingly maintained for years, and there were some really GOOD books in it.  Han and Leia  had 3 kids,  and Luke married the emperor's hand Mara Jade, and they had 1 child.  Chewie died heroically saving an entire planet. All of that gone in the stroke of a pen, and many harbor grudges and will not give Disney any extra money outside of the movies. 

SeaWorld San Antonio started using metal detectors just this year. BUT, they started with this method, where personal items can stay on your body. I pass through wearing my lanyard bedecked with with about 14 pins, my cell phone and car keys, and no alarm. 

I'm a firm believer that metal detectors are useless, though, so anything that gets me through faster is a win. 

Indiana Jones!

And this is what we get when kids that never played outside, grow into adults.  They never learned to deal with wildlife!  At least they are harmless.  I've been in a swarm that size of biting flies in Kansas once.  That was painful.

10 minutes ago, lightbikes said:

So a 4 hour limit, kick people out AFTER they've dropped a small fortune on the fancy new food and drinks, but will not have had a hope in HE double hockey sticks of getting on a ride - and wave the Mickey Mitt at them telling them to come back soon.

It's all about the Disney $$$$$$$

 

Why do you think they won't be able to get on a ride?  By limiting the number of people in GE, they pretty much guarantee that you will have time to get on a ride.  That's the whole point behind the reservation system they've worked up. 

Man, I'm having fun with this one.  What if they have a PSA at the gates as you enter, in Kylo Ren's voice, or another threatening voice, that tells you in a very dramatic, no-quarter-given tone, exactly when you are expected to leave.  

" After 2:00 PM Batuu time, all citizens with gold armband are to be ejected from the settlement " 

" After 4:00 PM Batuu time, any resistance scum with red band ID's will be driven into the rancor pit."

I guess you can't get too vicious with it, because too many people would WANT to be fed to a rancor. 

2 hours ago, Travisma said:

Foolish mortal, thinking that 

1:People will read any rules they are given

2: In the slight chance they do read the rules, they will actually follow them.

hahahahahah!  yeah, you are right.  They won't read any rules.   And, there will be the groups who get tipsy and decide that it will be fun to be taken out by stormtroopers.  I can see that becoming a badge of honor and fodder for you tube videos.  Heck, the candid video's of people who don't want to leave are going to be very entertaining, too.   I feel sorry for the stormtroopers, but then there are people like my husband, who would gladly volunteer for that job. 

1 hour ago, h2odivers...Ray said:

You know what happens when you assume?    Lol!

When was the last time Disney limited the attendance to any park?  They’re crowded in January now a days  

 

I was at animal kingdom opening week of avatar.  We went one Tuesday and Wednesday and it was a nightmare.   The CMs tried there best to control crowds but it was worse then the MK on Christmas Day.  6+ hour waits. 

 

I hope your right that they keep the wait times to 2 hours or less.  But i doubt it based on past experiences at Disney. 

And do they reallly expect these die hard star ward fans to leave?

i guess we will have to wait and see. 

IT is interesting for sure.  But this is the first time I've ever heard that Disney will be limiting attendance to a land.  This means they probably have only a few guardable ingress/ egress points, so non-wristband folks can't even go into the general star wars themed area. The article says guests will have wristbands color coded to the time they are allowed to be in the land.  I'd bet those wristbands also will also limit when you can get on the rides inside the land, and won't let you into the cantina / stores too.  

After the 3 week reservation only timeframe, you will STILL have to join a virtual queue ( like FP+ style) to even enter the land.  If you can't get into the land, you can't stand in a standby queue for the rides, so there will be no 6 hour long lines from the sound of it. 

I'm sure folks who get the bands will be given information on the rules of how to use them, and when they are expected to leave. I found these articles on it. 

https://www.ocregister.com/2019/05/09/how-disneyland-will-enforce-the-4-hour-reservation-window-for-star-wars-galaxys-edge/

https://movieweb.com/star-wars-galaxys-edge-reservations-rules-disneyland/

Those hawks are smart.  Evolution in action!  The big machinery scares up small rodents and turns them out of their homes, and then the landscape is so different, the rodents cannot find their other usual hiding spots.  Makes them easy prey for raptors. 

I see something like this in my area.  When I mow my lawn, I am now followed by at least 6, sometimes more grackles .( Greater Boat-tailed Grackle)  They come to collect the bugs I stir up with my mower.  They never did this when I was younger, but in the last 15 years or so, they have started coming to the sounds of mowers.  Used to be just one or two, but they are passing the knowledge on to their young. 

This is only for the first 3 weeks, when admission into Galaxy's Edge is going to be by reservation only, anyway.  I assume that Disney will not overbook the attendance, so that everyone can get through the ride in a timely manner.  It's not like they will be allowing everyone who wants to, to get in line, the way they have done with other openings.  This one is going to be MUCH more limited. 

On 5/8/2019 at 9:33 PM, keith_h said:

Thanks for posting the video link. Rene and I have never been there and are planning to spend a couple of days at Dollywood on our way to the Defeated Creek gathering. The roller coasters have one of the traits that makes Magic Mountain in California one of my favorite parks. That is they are built taking advantage of the mountainous terrain. For me that makes the ride more fun than something built over a piece of flat land.

 

 

A great coaster built with the land is the Iron Rattler at Six Flags Fiesta Texas in San Antonio.  The park is in an old quarry.  The coaster is built along the big cliff, the hill is double the size of most wooden coasters because they built it up the side of the quarry.  The first downhill of track goes down over the cliff edge, and is quite startling.  The 2nd downhill is a wide, sweeping turn, so you are almost sideways on the track when you go over the cliff.  The drop off of the cliff wall just makes your heart leap.   Love that coaster.

16 hours ago, keith_h said:

What would have been cool is if they could have built in some interactive effects similar to Universal and their Harry Potter wands.

Eh... lightsabers are weapons, and are pretty much only used for slicing body parts off of entities, or slicing the entities into smaller bits. Not sure people want to point their kids at special effects areas and say " Kill it or be killed!"    

I guess they are also used to escape closed off areas.. I suppose you could trap people in a room and terrify them with poison gas or a rancor... and have them slice their way out. 

😎

For whatever reason, I took the laughter as Mark Hamill's Joker character.  Now, I'm not sure if it was supposed to be Palpatine or Luke's force ghost. I got tingles seeing Lando. So happy they brought Billie Dee back!