Mouse Extra

Disney World has begun a very interesting and worthwhile transformation into the “internet” world.  Soon you will be able to check in to your hotel online, book dining reservations, and even use your Verizon cell phone to get real-time attraction information.  It’s time for the Mouse to step up and do the same for their Magical Express service.

Disney’s Magical Express is a great idea and it is really hard to find anything to complain about with it.  But every so often you may be unlucky enough to find an enormous, and I really mean enormous, line waiting to check in before you ever even queue up for the next bus to arrive.  It seems to me this checking-in process serves only to see who has arrived and more importantly how many bags Disney needs to now go and find. 

This is all well and good, but why can’t you go online 24 hours or less before your flight takes off and check-in with Magical Express and tell them exactly how many bags you will be checking into luggage?  If I can track myself when flights are on time or when they are delayed surely Disney can as well.  If that is not possible, how about after checking in the previous day with Magical Express you print out a boarding pass with a barcode which a cast member can simply scan before you board?  A handheld scanning device as you head towards the bus lines would be fast and easy.

This may sound a bit like nitpicking, but I can’t be the only one this bugs.  On my first day on vacation I simply can’t stand to watch my precious time tick away while waiting on line at Disney’s Magical Express.  To be honest, when I used Magical Express last week the line was so long that a couple behind me gave up and went for a cab.  Now that may have been an extreme circumstance, and it certainly was the longest I had ever seen the line, but I really doubt it was.  Disney needs to streamline this process, and an online check-in can only help.

Reading through the Mouse Planet Walt Disney World Resort Update yesterday morning, as I do every Monday morning, I noticed an offer that somehow slipped by me for the Disney Cruise Line and Disney Vacation Club members.

While the general public can book a 4- or 7-night Disney Cruise this spring and get a 3-night cruise in the fall for just $99 per person, Disney Vacation Club members can achieve a similar deal using their DVC points. Members booking a 4- or 7-night cruise departing between January 31 and March 8 or between March 21 and 28 will be able to book a 3-night cruise on most sail dates between August 13 and December 17 for just 23 reservation points per person. As with the offer for the general public, the cruises must be booked by next Monday, December 15.

We have spent a lot of time over the last few weeks talking about how Disney can limit their losses during this recession by pulling out all the stops to entice people to vacation at the Mouse.  This deal is a good opportunity for DVC members, but not a great one by any stretch of the imagination.  For those who don’t know, 23 points is about the equivalent of a weekend night at a deluxe resort.  If you do the math, you’ll see that $99 per person is a far greater value than 23 points per person.

This brings me to a much broader issue.  On Friday’s episode of the WDW Today Podcast, the hosts were naming the three wishes they would like to see come true at Walt Disney World.  Matt Hochberg of StudiosCentral.com said he wished that Annual Passholders and DVC members would receive discounts above and beyond what the general public is offered.  To him, the “buy 4 nights and get 3 free” deal is terrific, but it ends up essentially negating the real value of AP discounts.  Why have AP discounts if the normal discount is as good if not better? 

What Matt was saying is that passholders and DVC members are the suckers.  We are the people that will most often take advantage of a really good offer.  We are the ones who, even if the economy is not doing well, will do all we can to make it happen.  You want people who will go on an extra vacation this year despite the troubled times?  Make an offer your fanatics can’t refuse.

I can not agree with Matt’s assessment more, and it is not because I am both a DVC member and a passholder.  And it is not out of any sense of entitlement either, even though that argument is not entirely without merit.  The fact is we are the target audience.  We are the people who already spend a fortune at the Mouse.  For the right discount, the fortune will get larger.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom has done some outstanding work since it opened ten years ago.  Its conservation efforts are worthy of great credit.  But it is time for the park to give its guests a look behind the scenes at the work they do in a more accessible way.  If the animals are truly the stars, give us a better backstage pass to see what you do for them.

My point is this; make Rafiki’s Planet Watch better than it is.  In concept it is a great idea.  You take a wonderfully themed train out of Africa to the place where the magic happens.  But after you board the train, the magic quickly fades.  You get only a passing glimpse at the animal buildings on the way, rather than a truly good look at what is there.  And when you finally get to your destination, there are only a hand full of exhibits and often nothing really happening besides typical character meet-and-greets and a slightly underwhelming petting zoo.

To be honest, I don’t know the logistics of what is available to do there as far as the animals’ welfare is concerned.  But even just a more interesting and entertaining complex would be a start.  How about an IMAX style film of the Serengeti?  I would like to see some more interactive items that teach us about the animals and their homes.  How about some animal areas like a lion section where you can actually see lions, as opposed the glimpse of the top of a sleeping lions head you get on the safaris.   Or maybe cheetahs, which are almost never seen by guests on the ride?  Place experts at these areas to answer questions and get people involved.

It seems the Imagineers started with a good idea at Rafiki’s Planet Watch.  And after the design of the train, either ran out of money or creativity.  It is time for Disney’s Animal Kingdom to show off the good things it does and bring the people closer to the animals.

Sometimes it feels like all you do at Walt Disney World is wait.  You wait on line for rides.  You wait for food.  You even wait outside the gate before opening so you can go inside and start waiting.  It can be maddening sometimes, to say the least.

But Disney has done a good job in making the waiting a little bit easier to handle.  They have broken up lines, added interactive elements to queues and have created many terrific pre-shows.  But there is one attraction that is severely lacking a pre-show, even though it probably the one most prime to have an especially good one.

To get a decent seat at Fantasmic, even during the slower periods, you have to be there early.  For forty-five minutes or more, you need to sit on incredibly uncomfortable bleachers, probably sweating, and just stare at your watch.  There is no pre-show nor any interactive games to ease the pain.  There simply is nothing to make the time go by faster.  Every time I go to the show, I can not help but asking myself how this could be.

Right next door at the Beauty and the Beast show, there is an a cappella group that performs for the waiting crowd.  Festival of the Lion King at least gets people to do the “hand jive”.  It may not be mind blowing excitement, but it’s at least a distraction.  And both of those shows have much shorter wait times needed to get a good seat, and significantly fewer people in attendance.  Why would Fantasmic not have something twice as good as these shows?

In my opinion, Disney is missing a huge opportunity here to make the best pre-show possible for a huge and captive audience.  Fantasmic! is an amazing show, and worth seeing on every trip to Walt Disney World.  But it can also be a very time consuming and frustrating experience.  And I know many people who attend during the more crowded seasons that simply do not want to wait there with their kids for over an hour staring at an empty stage.  A well done pre-show would go a long way to solving this problem.

So it is time for the Imagineers to get to work and help the waiting masses sweltering at the Hollywood Hills Amphitheater.  Make us a pre-show that is a worthy introduction to Fantasmic!.  Such an addition could make a night spent at Disney’s Hollywood Studios a truly terrific experience. 

Disney has recently announced a huge increase in the rental prices for strollers. Single passenger strollers now cost $15 per day while double strollers cost $31 per day. For those guests who want to rent the strollers for the length of their stay, it costs $13 and $27 per day respectively. If you rent a stroller at Downtown Disney, you need to fork over a $100 credit card deposit. This represents a massive increase in the price of renting strollers. For example, prior to Sunday, a double stroller cost $18 per day to rent. In other words, Disney has issued a 42% increase in the cost. A family with 2 children staying 7 days will now pay $189 to rent the double stroller.

The question is why is Disney jacking up the prices so much overnight. The official Disney word is that prices have not increased in three years and so this is an appropriate adjustment in pricing. Others theorize (me included) that Disney very well may be sick of being in the stroller renting business and might be trying to force people to not use strollers. Those folks with kids on the cusp of not needing a stroller now may just forget the idea. Of course, this hurts people who really need the things and don’t want to bring their own from home (not that big of a deal) or who find bringing their own on the Disney bus system difficult and inconvinent (which it very much is).

It seems to me that if this was just another way of milking the consumer for all they have, the increases would have been much smaller but more frequent - like a $3 increase now, another $2 in 6 months, another $3 6 months after that, so on and so forth. Plus, Disney obviously wants to phase out the double stroller since it now for the first time costs more to get a double stroller than 2 single strollers. Anyway, those folks going to the World need to be aware of this in order to make an appopriate choice for their budget.

Today’s article is from Mike, contributing writer to Mouse Extra

Today’s Suggestion Box entry is one that may be a bit unoriginal and somewhat boring for the thrill seekers.  But it is one that I have been thinking of ever since the first time I heard of the concept of Expedition Everest at the Animal Kingdom.  Wouldn’t it be cool to see some climbers ascending the Forbidden Mountain?

If you have ever been to Disneyland, or have even read about Walt’s original mountain the Matterhorn, then you know how famous it is for being scaled by some of the world’s most famous climbers.  The Sierra Club were the first to send climbers up this manufactured mountain and since then it has been conquered by Mickey Mouse, Goofy and more.  For the past few years, these climbs have been a regular part of Disneyland’s entertainment.  It’s funny, fitting of the mountain’s theme, and just a really cool idea. 

But even though climbers fit perfectly into the Matterhorn’s theme, no mountain in the world is more associated with climbing the Mount Everest.  Doesn’t it just make sense for the idea that has worked well and become so legendary in California to also be used on an attraction where it may just make even more sense and be an even better fit?  Would it not be really incredible, as you come around the corner into the parking lot of the Animal Kingdom, to get your first view of the Forbidden Mountain and see the Mouse making his way to the summit?

This could be a daily event, and kids one love it.  The only thing I can think of is that the exterior of the mountain can not physically hold people like the Matterhorn can.  Because this is an obvious idea and one that I can’t believe is not already a part of the day at the Animal Kingdom.