The highly anticipated Disney Skyliner opened today at Disney World with three lines that connect portions of the southern half of the resort. The Skyliner so far connects locations like Hollywood Studios, The Caribbean Beach Resort, The Art of Animation and Pop Century Resorts, The Riviera Resort as well as Epcot.
Skyliner Map
Now some people are asking if the Skyliner will replace the Monorail and my answer to that is no. I think both transportation systems will complement each other very nicely. The Monorail covers resorts and parks in the North section of the resort while the Skyliner is starting to cover the Southern parks and resorts.
Another great thing about the Skyliner is that the gondola system is cheap and quick to build and does not take up a lot of space. It is also meant to go high which means the cables can easily go over existing buildings while providing great views for guests who are riding it. Further expansions of the Skyliner could include The Coronado Springs Resort as well as Animal Kingdom.
What do you think of the Skyliner? Do you prefer it over the Monorail? Will you be riding the Skyliner next time you are at Disney World? Let me know in the comments below! If you like this content please subscribe for constant updates and articles!
So in an effort to increase attendance at the resort Walt Disney World (WDW) resort Disney is thinking of introducing some new ticket options for the new fiscal year. I will go over each option below.
Option 1
Disney World would give guests purchasing a 4 day ticket free park hopping capabilities. I think this would be a great incentive for guests coming to the resort because most guests would not come just to see 3 or fewer of the 4 parks.
Option 2
Option 2 would give guests restricted hours to go to the parks. It would essentially expand the current one day noon ticket into a multi day ticket where you can only enter the parks after 12 on each day.
Option 3
Option 3 is called “Long Duration Benefit/Free Days” which would give guests who purchase a 4 day theme park ticket two additional free days, so it would be 6 days for the price of 4.
All of these ticket options are a great way to increase attendance and hopefully will help out the resort. I am wondering if Disneyland will implement ways to increase attendance at that resort. Some ways I am thinking of could be unblocking more passholders for more days as well as more SoCal resident deals. A major reason for the decline in attendance seems to be Galaxy’s Edge not being as guests anticipated it to be or that guests felt like the land would be way to crowded and decided to avoid it. Another reason for the decline could be that so many new things are opening and happening in 2021 and people could be waiting until then to go and cover everything including Galaxy’s Edge.
What do you guys think of these new ticket options? Will it entice you to go to the parks? What do you guys think is the cause for the decline in attendance in the resort? Let me know your thoughts below! Donations and subscriptions are always appreciated and welcome! Be sure to become a follower of the blog to get constant updates on all theme park related news.
Hello all, so I am starting a new series on this blog where once in awhile I will have guest writers on here to write about their theme park experiences! Today I am proud to introduce Dominique who has written about her time at Horror Nights.
“Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights changes little by little each year. They add elements to popular mazes like Stranger Things, and replace ones for others based from new movies like Us.
Unfortunately, I was only able to go on three mazes: Stranger Things, Holidayz in Hell, and Killer Klowns from Outer Space.
Comparing to last year, Stranger Things was definitely better this time around, as they added more beings and it looked scarier as well. I loved the humongous being that they added in this maze called “Mindflayer”. It looked incredible and intimidating as it basically towers over you on its fours. The intense music throughout the maze with all of the demogorgans and other characters popping out flowed a lot more.
Now I am a person that cannot stand clowns, but Killer Klowns from Outer Space maze was actually pretty interesting. It was the only maze where someone/something made me jump, and I am not surprised. Those clowns looked super creepy, and I’m pretty sure they would haunt my dreams if I went into that maze for a second time. The big smiles on their faces freaked me out already, imagine one coming out from around the corner? No thanks! That is enough challenging my heart rate for the day.
It wasn’t over yet though, Holidayz in Hell made me rethink about all of the holidays we have over the year. I knew from the moment walking though, that I would hate looking at the Easter Bunny. The creepy Easter Bunny was the scariest one in my eyes out of all the holiday madness. I know for sure that Stranger Things was my favorite maze out of the ones we went to, even though the other ones were just as cool looking.
As for some of the tasty snacks during horror nights: yeah sure Panda Express is great, but the 6x chocolate shake was really good at Studio Scoop. They also had some limited edition Stranger Things treats that looked amazing: one was a really rich chocolate shake with black licorice and raspberry syrup, as well as soft served ice cream with mini waffles on top. Now that’s how you would get a crazy sugar high for a long day like that.
Ice Cream Shakes from Studio Scoop
Stranger Things Ice Cream Waffles
Overall, Horror Nights was pretty fun. Of course the lines were very intense, especially as hours went by after opening. We avoided the majority of the lines due to them being pretty much two hours just to go in some of the mazes. It was also a bummer that the tram wasn’t happening this year, but the time spent at the event was exciting. Was the ticket expensive to get in? Yes. Will I want to go next year? Most likely yes. As long as you got some friends to hangout with it could make the trip worth it.”
Thank you Dominique for your review of Horror Nights. What do you guys think of the treats and mazes? Comment your thoughts below! Donations are always appreciated and welcome to help keep this blog going!
So I had the pleasure of going to Halloween Horror Nights (HHN) at Universal Studios Hollywood last weekend and I wanted to share my two favorite mazes that I went through. That night my group and I ended up going through 3 scare zones and 7 mazes. We went through Us, Pandora’s Box, Ghostbusters, Killer Klowns, Frankenstein Meets Wolfman, Walking Dead, and Creepshow.
The Curse of Pandora’s Box
This was by far the best maze in my opinion in terms of scares and set design. This maze was incredible from the facade to the interior design in each room. Each room had a specific pattern and there were scare actors that were dressed as the patterns jumping out at you. It was visually extremely impressive and it was worth the 110 minute wait.
The scares were great too since they camouflaged with the patterns you did not notice most of the scare actors and they instantly leaped out at you (and made my friend cry). I definitely say that Pandora’s Box is a MUST DO maze if you decide to go to Horror Nights in Hollywood.
Killer Klowns from Outer Space
This maze turned out to be a surprise hit for me. I thought it was just going to be silly like Ghostbusters was intended to be, yet this one had some amazing set design and scares as well. The Klowns were also very interactive with guests by squirting water all over their faces. From above this maze looked like it was going to be mostly black walls, but that was not the case at all thankfully.
So that is my short review of Universal Hollywood’s Halloween Horror Nights 2019. Did you attend this years event either here or Orlando? Let me know what you thought of either one in the comments below! Donations are always welcome and appreciated to keep this blog going strong thank you!
Rumor has it that the Magic Kingdom’s castle will be getting an enhancement for the 50th anniversary. It is not expected to be quite like the crazy cake castle that the park had for its 25th anniversary, but more like the gold enhancement that Disneyland got for its 50th anniversary.
WDW Cake Castle for its 25th Anniversary
Their castle is rumored to be getting a rose gold enhancement instead fitting in with the current social media trends sweeping the parks. (Rose Gold, Arendelle Aqua, Etc)
So what do you think of this rumor? Should Disney leave the castle alone? Do something crazy like they did with the cake castle? Leave your thoughts in the comments below! If you like this content you can help support it by leaving a small donation below!
A beautiful new Tomorrowland sign has been installed outside Tomorrowland in the Magic Kingdom. The look of this sign is very clean and modern and points to a futuristic new Tomorrowland that seems to be coming to the Magic Kingdom in small stages leading to the opening of Tron in two years.
I have been following the entrance work at Tomorrowland here at Disneyland as well and our sign and rock work is removed too for the time being. I hope we get an entrance sign as awesome as the new one at Magic Kingdom.
Speaking of Disneyland, here is a construction update from Fresh Baked on how the removal of the rock work is coming along.
Photo courtesy of Fresh Baked Disney on Youtube
This was taken from the Astro Orbitor last Saturday and as you can see the rocks from one side are completely gone and the other side looks like it is about to follow suit. I am really hoping that this means sometime next year Tomorrowland will being its massive refurb and something hopefully will be announced in the coming months. There is other work currently happening in Tomorrowland right now as well such as some work at the Space Mountain exit and the Star Tours facade.
What do you think of the new Tomorrowland sign at the Magic Kingdom? Disneyland’s rocks removed? Tomorrowland enhancements coming to both parks? Comment your thoughts down below!
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Automated camera photo courtesy of Laughingplace.com
So I have noticed at least at Walt Disney World (WDW) that in a cost cutting measure Disney has decided to replace PhotoPass cast members with automated machines. In my opinion I think this is a horrible idea and I am one for usually supporting technology replacing people in certain jobs.
In this case, a machine does not capture the same Disney Magic as a castmember would. A castmember would give people the options to do different angles and poses and have fun interactions. A machine just makes the whole experience feel so sterile and boring in my opinion.
How do you guys feel about the inclusion of automated PhotoPass technology? I think they should remove them ASAP, but comment your thoughts and feelings below on this cost cutting measure!
As always Donations and subscriptions are always welcome and much appreciated!
Sea World Orlando and actually Sea World Entertainment in general has been on a tear lately with introducing new coasters across all of their parks and Orlando is getting another one with Icebreaker.
Icebreaker will be a Premier Rides coaster and will feature forwards and reverse launches riders 52mph on a 90 second adventure through a course that is 2,750 feet.
Another Sea World owned park in Florida got an announcement as well. The RMC transformed Gwazi will be opening at Busch Gardens Tampa next year (a year after Tigris another coaster opened). The new Gwazi will be 206 feet tall and go 76 mph with inversions and a vertical drop of 91 degrees.
Concept art of Gwazi
So what do you think of these new Florida additions? Comment your thoughts below and if you would like to donate to the blog then that would be much appreciated and thank you very much!
Hello everyone! Sorry it has been awhile, I have been busy this week with work and other things, but I am back now and ready to continue to put out articles every few days. About ten days ago I went to Six Flags Magic Mountain with my family and while at the park I wanted to document everything the park can do to improve and become a quality theme park such as Disney and Universal. I also filmed a West Coast Racers update which can be viewed here.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS ARE EVERYTHING
With anything, a first impression is very important because it sets the tone for the day. At Disney you park and come down the escalators to Disney music playing and a beautifully themed parking area. Here at Six Flags it is very different…
The parking area has no signage whatsoever
When you first enter the Magic Mountain (MM) parking lot it is very wide and open, yet there is no signage to the buses or even where the park is. They just go with the “Look all the roller-coasters are over there so that’s must be where I walk” thought process. Also when MM opens up the extended overflow lot, it is just a dirt lot which is not very attractive to park your car on or look at.
I suggest MM should build a parking structure on the dirt lot to add parking spaces, but also open up space for Hurricane Harbor expansion on the existing surface parking lot. They also need to add signage directing guests to the buses and parks.
Two buses not operational
When I went to the park, it was a very busy day with most people heading to Hurricane Harbor. Unfortunately, as you can see in the picture above, Six Flags decided not to run all the available buses and a huge line formed in the parking lot as a result.
There was no shade by the way in that line and it was at least 95 degrees outside. So my family and I made the roughly 10-15 min walk to the entrance gates (no shade the whole way) and on the way I saw this multiple times throughout the lot.
Open trash cans filled to the brim EWWWWW
This is absolutely shameful and disgusting. Disney nor Universal first off do not have these kinds of trash cans and second they would not leave them so full that trash is spilling on to the floor. This is absolutely disgusting and again ruins that first impression a guest has when they are new to this park.
Luckily, inside the park that trash cans are closed, but just because this is the parking lot does not mean they should treat this area differently. Now it is time to move inside the park.
Cobwebs in the queue
The main gripe I have with inside the park are the operations and maintenance of things. For example in the Viper queue there are tons of cobwebs hanging on the ceiling as if it is Fright Fest 365 days a year in there or something. Most of the older rides queues are in horrible shape and vastly need to be improved.
The newer rides such as Drop of Doom have a nice clean and indoor queue which is shockingly good for Six Flags standards. Then we come to the operations and dispatches which are so incredibly slow it is insane. Six Flags coasters have mostly just two trains on the track but they are so slow in releasing each train it causes the other train to wait on the block brake for a minute or two until the train in the station leaves.
The wait times for rides were not that long, but can be vastly improved by speedier operations. Also signage that indicates the wait time in front of the rides would really help as I only noticed this on two rides the entire time I was there. Another thing Six Flags should add and promote is the Single Rider lines. When we were in line for Scream (which was only running one train) the train came through the station multiple times and left with at least 5-8 single seats open every time. A single rider line could really help to fill those remaining seats and because they were not filled, our wait time was increased by at least 20 min.
We left the park at about 9 pm and I had fun documenting all the things that Six Flags can improve in all of their parks. What do you think Six Flags should improve? Comment below!
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Theme Park Universe 