Tri-Circle-D

8 minutes ago, ImDownWithDisney said:

Cool...good to know. I have a new note 10+. Maybe that will help lol. I assume I can get them for all in my party?

Yeah, if we get assigned a late group I probably won't even bother trying to ride it. We will catch it next time.

You can get the boarding group for anyone who has scanned in to the park and is linked to your account.

After you get your boarding group, if it’s a high number, you can bounce to another park and wait for your number to get called. You have an hour to get back after being called- but this is not being strictly enforced.

TCD

19 minutes ago, ImDownWithDisney said:

So HS opens at 7 on Monday. At 7:00:01 everybody is hitting buttons. I has to be just luck that gets you in an early group.

You are correct. For the first few weeks of operation, boarding groups were assigned sequentially based on when the guest logged in and requested the boarding group- first come, first served. It was then changed to the current system where boarding groups are assigned randomly- so there is no reward for being early. You could easily have to wait until afternoon for your boarding group to get called even if you request the boarding group at park opening. 

It seems that breakdowns, closures and re-sets are a daily occurrence. If you have a later boarding group, you will get pushed back because of those. 

TCD

2 hours ago, PGHFiend said:

Saw a post where a  DVC salesperson told a prospective client that the Reflections Resort WILL include Campsites on its new property.  If true, could these be the high end pull throughs that have been mentioned on and off?

1 hour ago, keith_h said:

I wonder if it means the Fort will be losing some sites?

The same source that told me that there would be “Meadow Premium” sites told me that the group camping area would be converted to a separate ultra premium area gated off and separate from Fort Wilderness. This would be the logical spot for these rumored DVC campsites, as they can provide access to it from the new Reflections entry road, and fence out us scummy campers. 

TCD

I agree with both of the previous posts, but wanted to add some more thoughts. 

Considering that you’re going in June, you probably will want easy access to the pool and campfire area.  If we are talking regular premium and not Meadow premium, I’d say 500 or 1300. 

Another thing to consider this year is all of the construction in the Settlement area.  500 and 1300 will distance you from that.

TCD

Maybe there are more people noticing and calling attention to it now, but the condition of WDW has been in a steady decline for the last 20 years.  

At this point, the majority of guests can’t recall how spotless and perfect things used to be in the parks and resorts. That standard is long gone. Disney has steadily cut cleaning and maintenance schedules despite growing attendance. And I think guests are a lot more sloppy and inconsiderate these days. There are still plenty of trash cans, but so many guests don’t bother to use them. 

The comfort stations at the Fort are a perfect example of this. There was a time, not that long ago, that you could walk into a comfort station at any time- day or night- and it would always be spotless. The opposite is the case now. More often than not, I will find trash, paper towels and toilet paper on the floor whenever I go in a comfort station. The cleaning schedule has been cut to the bare minimum. 

So, there is more attention to the declining conditions at WDW- but these recent observations are not wrong.  

TCD

1 hour ago, GaDawgFan.....Kelly said:

I wasn’t prepared for the ride spoiler in the last episode of the Imagineering Story. Darn it. 

I saw that. Very unfortunate. We did not know or expect the element that they showed, and it was an exciting surprise on the ride. But, you'll still love it. 

I have also never seen anything from Disney that showed how Flight of Passage works or how James Cameron had to tell them to tone it down.

TCD

If the site that published the article thinks that it's news that a DCP kid posted a video of the "secrets" she learned during her program, they must have never visited YouTube. 

TCD

7 minutes ago, Travisma said:

They've been kicking this idea around in one form or another for years, connecting Tampa to WDW.

But for the cost to go round trip for a family of 4, you could buy 2 or 3 tanks of gas for your pick up.

That plus all the local governments between Tampa and Orlando want stops in their cities. By the time the train makes all of those stops, driving is faster. 

TCD

I'll believe it when I see it. And, if it ever happens, I can't see any reason why I would ever use it. The people behind this want to build the Tampa stop in a blighted area where they can buy up land for cheap and develop it with the train as an amenity. 

A train from MCO to WDW would be great. But extending it to Tampa so they can build another commercial and residential development I'm against. If they had it go to Tampa airport, that would be good, but that isn't their plan.

TCD

If you don't already have 10 guests on your reservation, you can add them as official guests at your site. There's no extra charge. You could even get them their own magicbands  

TCD

1 hour ago, djsamuel said:

The big concern is Hong Kong as they are getting hammered by the protests last quarter.

From Disney's most recently quarterly report:

" Operating income at our international parks and resorts was comparable to the prior-year quarter, as growth at Disneyland Paris and Shanghai Disney Resort was largely offset by a decrease at Hong Kong Disneyland Resort. "

 

56 minutes ago, Travisma said:

A couple months after the protests started getting intense, there was an article about the drop in overall tourism to that area.  They had a lot of pictures of Disney with very little visitors and no lines.

I'm sure it hasn't gotten any better.

Not to worry- they'll send the Main Street Electric parade back to WDW instead of creating a new parade for the 50th, or better yet no parade. Then increase parking fees.  And the cost of food and beverages. Maybe build a couple more DVC's, and WDW will bail out another international park. 

Disney always wins. 

TCD

11 minutes ago, Part-Time Paradise said:

Sit upstairs at lunch, unless I like noise and padding Mickey's retirement fund.

There's no upstairs at BOG.

TCD

4 minutes ago, keith_h said:

Where are they all coming from? Florida is still a popular target for retirees from the North East and Upper Midwest. I expect many of them are in a position house wise where they have plenty of equity from their current large house to pay cash for a retirement house in the Orlando area.

That might be it- but it doesn't seem like a lot of these communities are geared toward retirees. Some definitely are, but it's a lot more than that  

TCD

3 minutes ago, djsamuel said:

I love the Biergarten.  We were at Epcot yesterday and I looked at the price and saw it was now $46 for lunch.  that seems really high to me.  Am I mis-remembering the previous price?  I thought it was around $35.

You're remembering right- lunch used to be considerably cheaper than dinner. But Disney can't have that. And they do a great job at making it hard for guests to see the actual prices. 

TCD

7 minutes ago, Travisma said:

I could see this fitting into the Settlement area along with all the boutique shops that reflections will be bringing in.

Absolutely. And I think it will be built. 

But it's hardly some kind of mysterious innovation as the clickbait article implies. 

TCD

3 minutes ago, djsamuel said:

A lot of the people buying have one family member working at Disney.  My wife worked at Disney for years while I have what she calls the "serious job" earning more money and the serious benefits.  Her job, even retired, provides some great "fun" benefits that save us a fortune.  I know several families who recently moved to the area from the midwest and the east coast (and one from the West Coast) and they do not work at Disney.  The Orlando economy is really starting to boom in the high tech sector although it gets overshadowed by the tourism industry.  

I hear you about the Disney employees. My daughters have several CM friends whose parents have invested in homes for them. Must be nice.

So there is that. 

As for the high tech jobs, where are they located?  With traffic, these new homes are an hour away from downtown Orlando and the UCF area. Where do all of these new folks work?

TCD

A couple more things to consider while you're making plans:

1. Be Our Guest has a fixed menu at dinner- at a high price point. The lunch menu is quick serve. The restaurant is beautiful and fun. Go there for lunch. It's a good deal when you consider the ambiance at lunch. 

2.  The big items on the buffet at dinner at Trail's End are the exact same fried chicken and ribs served at the HDDMR. You might not want to eat at both of those places on the same trip. 

Have you considered Biergarten at Epcot?  That's a Fiend favorite. 

TCD

Just now, Travisma said:

It's hard to imagine that there are that many people that need housing and another Starbucks (or Publix) in those areas.  Do they move out of current housing to go into newer ones?

It's the same around Tampa. 

I didn't think that many people are moving into FL every day to justify all of the new apartments and sub-divisions being built.

If you drive around what used to be some of the back roads in Winter Garden and Windermere, you'd be shocked at the endless new subdivisions popping up. And these little houses on tiny lots are going for $300K and up.

I have the same question- who is buying these houses. It sure ain't Disney CM's. They can't afford those prices. 

TCD

1 minute ago, Travisma said:

That's why I dropped it in the Rumors section.

I saw another related article about why Disney probably won't be opening a 5th park.

When they opened AK, they said attendance and more importantly $$ was taken away from the existing parks, even though bottom line it's all Disney $$$.

Plus it said when they opened AK there was an uptick of people now staying for an entire week.  

If they opened another park people may not actually stay any longer because of a lack of vacation time.

Also WDW is Disney's cash cow. They will be raking in the dough from this new stuff and using it to prop up their duds like Shanghai, Hong Kong and Paris. 

TCD

I am pretty sure these are the same geniuses who started a new set of rumors when they found the old plans for the relocation of the Backyard BBQ pavilion that had already been abandoned. 

This sand washing tower they're speculating about sounds a lot like the gem mining activity that they tried out in the Meadow area last year:

If anything, this project might be for putting one of these up in the Settlement. Which would be a great way to extract some extra $ from parents and grandparents waiting for the Hoop Dee Doo.

TCD

Thanks for the excerpt. The article seems very vague. I doubt that there is anything significant on the way beyond what's currently under construction and the big Epcot project. They are already committed to spending more in the next couple of years than they have in the past 15 years at WDW. I can see third party deals, but no more money spent by Disney itself beyond what's currently committed. 

And once all this new stuff for the 50th anniversary is done, I think it will be a decade or more before anything significant is built at WDW.

TCD

3 minutes ago, Grumpy and Grandma said:

There are 2 new hotels going up further West on the N side too.  It also looks like the work is being done at the intersection of Avalon and Western Way which is supposed to connect it to Saw Grass Bay on 27. The shopping center is also under construction  on the S side of W.W, again further West.

Good point. And on top of that, there are housing projects popping up everywhere around the other 429 exits north and south of the Western Way exit. There is also a lot of road construction, but it doesn't seem like anywhere near adequate to handle what's coming. 

TCD

On 12/13/2019 at 12:46 PM, Katman1356...Jason said:

It's more between the Golf Cart parking in front of Trails End and the Trading post. It's right up agains the golf cart parking side. 

 

Correct.

Here's a photo of the area taken from the Settlement Trading Post porch- you can see the back of the round sign in the photo, and Pioneer Hall beyond the construction fence:

They had a crew working on this on Sunday morning, and I could see a lot of bags of mulch piled up behind the fence. I think they're going to have this open within the next few days. 

TCD

2 minutes ago, Travisma said:

We enjoyed staying at the 2 original hotels.  Easy to get to and from the parks, not overcrowded, and great rates.

Only drawback was a lack of places to pick up snacks, drinks, etc.

That is sure changing.

And traffic will be a nightmare.

Yes, those hotels have been kind of isolated on that spot. If you've been there lately, I'm sure you saw the massive student housing project. Those hotels will now be in the thick of things. 

TCD

The most important part of this article is the bit about student housing. 

Disney currently houses the college program participants in three big apartment complexes on the other side of I-4. The new housing will consolidate all of them- 10,000+ over in the Flamingo Crossing area. That is a lot of people. And all of them will be commuting onto WDW property 5+ days a week. 

They currently have a bus system for the college program participants- that will continue. But now all of those buses will be going back and forth on Western Way. Essentially 24/7. 

This area will be booming. And overwhelmed with people. 

TCD