Castle Refurbishment January Thru Spring

[sherilaine]

For me the issue is they don't publish but until 6< weeks out.

This could all be solved with communications so people booking know what the refurb schedule is going to be during their visit and then perhaps to move dates if a 'critical' attraction will be down....and that definition will vary for each person.

I booked only in mid November and the sheer numbers of update coming from this forum just shame Disney. I also do strongly think disney updated the website text to include info on the exterior of the castle based on chatter here as for quite awhile the refurb only closed the Castle Walkthrough. Also learned here the DLH pool/monorail slides are now closed for us too from this site....not from Disney.

The February hours are not all early close times either ..we get a 9pm/9pm/Midnight set for a Tues/Wed/Thursday (Valentine's Day). With now having at least the same 1 show announced for each evening it could impact ride strategy. I hope its good but don't imagine people will see it multiples nights in a row.

Our trip will not be ruined but I am just frustrated how Disney treats its customers. I don't know of many businesses that can only know/publish their 'store hours' and operations on such a short schedule. At least most All Inclusive resorts offer 'something' if the amenities available when you book change for your actual stay. Most all agree that info here is better on these forums then on the Disney webiste...that is a bit sad.

I am just glad I am 'in the know' of this site to get help and information!

Just a couple of comments:

The schedule can change within the 6 weeks as well - you never know when you go what is going to be down - the only way to know for sure if when you are walking through security you should see a close to accurate list of what is down for that day!

Those are very typical hours for this time of year though - there really should be no surprise there and on nights when the park closes that early you don't normally see fireworks anyway, just WOC (which I know is down too unfortunately).

You are correct - most businesses cannot get away with this but Disney is not most businesses they are Disney - they are huge, they have more demand than they have supply honestly and the sooner people realize that a customer to Disney does not have the same value as a customer to a local or even another international business, the better because that adjusts expectations and that is the only thing you can do. The only other thing to do is take your business elsewhere and Disney won't even blink.

That is why this site is awesome - you have to think about how upset you are - then imagine the people who have zero clue and just show up and are blind sided but that is the difference between doing your home work and winging it.

 

[Malcon10t]

The February hours are not all early close times either ..we get a 9pm/9pm/Midnight set for a Tues/Wed/Thursday (Valentine's Day).

Right, that is President's week, and with a lot of CA schools having it off, or having Friday and Monday off, it will be busier than the prior week, when it closes at 8pm Mon-Thurs. It is interesting that the park doesn't open til 9am that week.

 

[VTHappyGirl]

The schedule can change within the 6 weeks as well - you never know when you go what is going to be down - the only way to know for sure if when you are walking through security you should see a close to accurate list of what is down for that day!

Those are very typical hours for this time of year though - there really should be no surprise there and on nights when the park closes that early you don't normally see fireworks anyway, just WOC (which I know is down too unfortunately)

That is why this site is awesome - you have to think about how upset you are - then imagine the people who have zero clue and just show up and are blind sided but that is the difference between doing your home work and winging it.

Exactly - going on vacation should not be this hard for anyone and a person should not be required to follow message boards to get info.

We all who use this forum are a minority of the DLR visitors as most people going don't have the time or passion as we do for all this. I hate to see teary kids ( or adults) just because they didn't know.

 

[YayforMickey]

Exactly - going on vacation should not be this hard for anyone and a person should not be required to follow message boards to get info.

We all who use this forum are a minority of the DLR visitors as most people going don't have the time or passion as we do for all this. I hate to see teary kids ( or adults) just because they didn't know.

It is more work than many destinations. I was recently in a meeting in which a new plan was being discussed. One woman said, "We need to get serious about this. We need to plan this as if we were planning a vacation to Disneyland!"

On the other hand, at least some research has been necessary for every vacation I have ever taken (especially to international locations). My family and I would have missed out on a lot of things if I didn't research the way I do.

 

[cmwade77]

The schedule can change within the 6 weeks as well - you never know when you go what is going to be down - the only way to know for sure if when you are walking through security you should see a close to accurate list of what is down for that day!

Even that isn't a guarantee, rides can break down Midday and not be able to be reopened or rides that were going to be closed for the day can get to a point they can be reopened midday if crowds warrant it and I have seen both of these scenarios happen.

 

[cmwade77]

Exactly - going on vacation should not be this hard for anyone and a person should not be required to follow message boards to get info.

We all who use this forum are a minority of the DLR visitors as most people going don't have the time or passion as we do for all this. I hate to see teary kids ( or adults) just because they didn't know.

Honestly, going to Disneyland isn't hard compared to Disney World where you have to plan dining reservations half a year in advance.....yes, at 6 months out you need to know where you want to eat each day, then at 30 to 60 days out you need to book FPs for what rides you want to do, it is just massive over planning now there.

 

[shooting4life]

And if that were possible, it would be great. But posters here have repeated that under normal circumstances, WOC would be running in that time slot. It usually does run when F! is down. But it wasn't planned for WOC to be down for this long. (And that has been disappointing for a great many people!) And since there still isn't an official return date for WOC -- we can only hope that it will be sooner than later -- what is Disney supposed to do with all the other events that were already planned in the meantime? Remove all the food booths for the Holiday Food Festival so any kind of parade can be thrown together on the fly? Cancel Lunar New Year? What about Food & Wine? The food booths are needed for the next few months and the parade route can't be used for a parade until the booths are removed. (And, as a pp mentioned, it has been said that PTN is currently undergoing a scheduled refurb.) The unscheduled trouble with WOC is the problem -- if that show were running as usual, there would at least be one spectacular running nightly. I think that the fact that the media preview for WOC that was supposed to happen last month got cancelled shows that Disney did want to bring the show back earlier, but for whatever reason, WOC wasn't ready to go.

They can run a parade with the food booths. I saw it done before the booths opened but were in place in November.

 

[dina444444]

They can run a parade with the food booths. I saw it done before the booths opened but were in place in November.

They can. They try not to because it creates a traffic jam issue with moving people and having viewing areas. They ran media night of PTN on the last night of F&W last year.

 

[shooting4life]

They can. They try not to because it creates a traffic jam issue with moving people and having viewing areas. They ran media night of PTN on the last night of F&W last year.

I’m not saying it’s ideal, I’m saying it’s needed since the two large draw evening shows are both out of commission. If one of woc or f! was working then it wouldn’t be needed; but with nothing going on; especially the weekend it will make the park terribly busy since all of those thousands of people will be in line instead of watching the show.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

They can run a parade with the food booths. I saw it done before the booths opened but were in place in November.

Which parade are they supposed to run? If PTN is currently undergoing a scheduled refurb and the parade performers are not slotted to perform now (and PTN is an arduous parade for the performers so they have to be in good condition), which parade is supposed to be ready to go now? These are not simple decisions that just get made to fill leaks in the dyke. These decisions affect hundreds of people and take a long time to go into effect. I don't disagree with you that it would be great if there were something that could easily fit into that nighttime entertainment slot. But I don't know what Disney could fit in there right now, especially without knowing what else is going on behind the scenes.
Send in a comment to Disney about this. It's important that they get feedback -- articulate, detailed feedback -- about guest experience from repeat visitors. The more they hear about how important the nighttime entertainment is, even/especially during the low season, the more they might think about having a back up plan for something like this next time. I know they didn't plan on WOC being down for this long, but it wouldn't have hurt to have had a back up plan in place.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

... We all who use this forum are a minority of the DLR visitors as most people going don't have the time or passion as we do for all this. I hate to see teary kids ( or adults) just because they didn't know.

Absolutely correct that those on these boards are a minority of Disney visitors (and the CMs would agree!), so there is actually a flip side to your point. There is a majority out there who visit the parks in blissful (semi or otherwise) ignorance and never know what they're missing. When Matterhorn was down recently, we heard numerous groups walk by commenting that "that used to be a ride, I think, but now it just stays empty." (I have no idea what they thought the scaffolding was for!) They didn't seem sad at all about missing out on that ride because they didn't think it was a ride. Missing F!? I'd bet that many guests don't even know that show exists or that WOC exists either. We took guests this past summer who grew up going to DLR and never even knew about those shows. In fact, we showed them F! for the first time -- and they didn't even know that the show was at WDW either (and they are WDW vets)! And these folks would call themselves Disney fans! There are APs out here who've had passes for years (!) who still don't know what a FP is! All this to say that not everyone (hardly!) is as dedicated or as obsessed as we are here, so not everyone gets as frustrated and upset about the refurbs. They may not love them, but they don't think that much about it because it doesn't matter as much to them as it does to us.
I feel worse about teary kids because the parents didn't check about ride height requirements or because parents are trying to force the kids to ride something scary. But, that's another story...

 

[sherilaine]

Absolutely correct that those on these boards are a minority of Disney visitors (and the CMs would agree!), so there is actually a flip side to your point. There is a majority out there who visit the parks in blissful (semi or otherwise) ignorance and never know what they're missing. When Matterhorn was down recently, we heard numerous groups walk by commenting that "that used to be a ride, I think, but now it just stays empty." (I have no idea what they thought the scaffolding was for!) They didn't seem sad at all about missing out on that ride because they didn't think it was a ride. Missing F!? I'd bet that many guests don't even know that show exists or that WOC exists either. We took guests this past summer who grew up going to DLR and never even knew about those shows. In fact, we showed them F! for the first time -- and they didn't even know that the show was at WDW either (and they are WDW vets)! And these folks would call themselves Disney fans! There are APs out here who've had passes for years (!) who still don't know what a FP is! All this to say that not everyone (hardly!) is as dedicated or as obsessed as we are here, so not everyone gets as frustrated and upset about the refurbs. They may not love them, but they don't think that much about it because it doesn't matter as much to them as it does to us.
I feel worse about teary kids because the parents didn't check about ride height requirements or because parents are trying to force the kids to ride something scary. But, that's another story...

This is so TRUE!

I live in Canada - that is about as non local as you can get but because I go overboard with my research I often feel like I know way more about what is going on when in the parks than most guests. I have helped people before who were confused and didn't understand what to do or people who are asking "what is the group of people over there doing" and I'd know that a specific group was going to be in the parks that day from this forum. My daughter has actually said to me before "you know you're not a cast member right, you don't have to help people" but I find it fun to offer up information especially if people are clearly confused by something. I have even had people who have said to me "oh you must be local are you" and nope!

The expression ignorance is bliss didn't invent itself....but I do like knowing ahead of time especially when trips are once every year or every second year - if I were local I'd likely know less as heh, you can go anytime right?

 

[theluckyrabbit]

... The expression ignorance is bliss didn't invent itself....but I do like knowing ahead of time especially when trips are once every year or every second year - if I were local I'd likely know less as heh, you can go anytime right?

LOL... I was talking with someone recently who's lived local all her life and doesn't know what DCA is called. She calls it "Disney's California." When I asked if she meant DLR (because isn't the whole resort IN California? Not that Disney owns California?), she insisted that, NO (duh!), there was DisneyLAND and Disney's California. Um, okay. Then she proceeded to tell me how Walt built WDW first and how that was the REAL Disneyland.

 

[Skyegirl1999]

LOL... I was talking with someone recently who's lived local all her life and doesn't know what DCA is called. She calls it "Disney's California." When I asked if she meant DLR (because isn't the whole resort IN California? Not that Disney owns California?), she insisted that, NO (duh!), there was DisneyLAND and Disney's California. Um, okay...

I have friends who have had Signature Plus passes since they came out and had no idea how Maxpass OR EVEN FASTPASS worked until I explained it to them a couple of weeks ago. They have always just waited in the lines because “it was too confusing.” Keep in mind that Maxpass is included in their pass. Also, they’ve never used Photopass. Also, they’ve never been inside the Animation Building.

People intrigue me.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

... People intrigue me.

They do, indeed!

 

[midnight star]

I have friends who have had Signature Plus passes since they came out and had no idea how Maxpass OR EVEN FASTPASS worked until I explained it to them a couple of weeks ago. They have always just waited in the lines because “it was too confusing.” Keep in mind that Maxpass is included in their pass. Also, they’ve never used Photopass. Also, they’ve never been inside the Animation Building.

People intrigue me.

LOL I've never been to the animation building...
I've also never seen WOC, soundsational, the electrical parade, Dapper Dans, still haven't done the castle walk through...
I have some catching up to do lol

 

[Cal-Pie]

I have friends who have had Signature Plus passes since they came out and had no idea how Maxpass OR EVEN FASTPASS worked until I explained it to them a couple of weeks ago. They have always just waited in the lines because “it was too confusing.” Keep in mind that Maxpass is included in their pass. Also, they’ve never used Photopass. Also, they’ve never been inside the Animation Building.

People intrigue me.

When I see crowds of people waiting in standby lines, I'm always so curious as to WHY?!? I guess this explains it.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

LOL I've never been to the animation building...
I've also never seen WOC, soundsational, the electrical parade, Dapper Dans, still haven't done the castle walk through...
I have some catching up to do lol

See?! Now you have to renew your AP -- you're practically obligated so that you can check all those things off your list!

 

[Erin M]

LOL I've never been to the animation building...
I've also never seen WOC, soundsational, the electrical parade, Dapper Dans, still haven't done the castle walk through...
I have some catching up to do lol

You must make a plan for the Animation Building. It's like magic walking in there!

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

I have friends who have had Signature Plus passes since they came out and had no idea how Maxpass OR EVEN FASTPASS worked until I explained it to them a couple of weeks ago. They have always just waited in the lines because “it was too confusing.” Keep in mind that Maxpass is included in their pass. Also, they’ve never used Photopass. Also, they’ve never been inside the Animation Building.

People intrigue me.