The Sorcerer's Guide

Disney's new Lightning Lane Premier Pass for Walt Disney World  and Disneyland  is Disney's latest way to sell exclusivity. With a daily charge more than the price of a one-day ticket, this is a premium product for a premium price. While Disney's profits will love the new revenue stream, is it going to alienate even more guests? Even though Disney keeps building the narrative that it's expensive and confusing to visit, it's unlikely that standby lines will be noticeably longer because of the new product. Same Offerings, Higher Price Overall, the Premier Pass doesn't represent a new service being allocated to the park. The number of people that can ride each ride is essentially fixed. There are small variations based on breakdowns, guests taking extra time to load, or the number of ride vehicles being used. But the availability of a Lightning Lane Premier Pass does not  make a difference for that capacity. So, regardless of how many people buy the pass, the same ...

Height restrictions keep kids safe, but they can be frustrating. If you have ever taken kids to the parks, you know what I mean. Every cast member measures a little differently, so sometimes you make it all the way to the loading zone and then get turned away. Other times your kids are just slightly too short, and you wish they would have worn taller shoes. One of the most difficult things, in my mind, is planning trips and figuring out how long it will be ’till your kids can meet height restrictions. Especially when some can ride and some can’t, the younger ones want to know how much longer ’till they’ll be big enough. I don’t know any parents that have memorized a growth chart and can say, “My child will grow 1 inch in the next 9 months, so we should plan a trip then.” When we plan trips with our kids, we just keep measuring them and telling them to eat a bunch in hopes they’ll be tall enough for more rides. Fortunately, the CDC (Center for Disease Control) has released  data ...

Disney has carved a strange place in the consumer’s mind. Few other brands command the love and respect of a group of fans the way Disney can. Not many people set goals to see every Six Flags park, collect every variation of Great Value pasta, or to decorate their homes like natural architecture symbols. But Disney fans try to visit each of Disney’s parks, impulse buy pins, plush, figurines, and hundreds of other collectibles, and decorate their homes to match Disney architecture. Simple themes – like the American Frontier, a European Village, or a Tropical Paradise – are instead labelled as Frontierland, Fantasyland, and Adventureland, whether they are actually connected to the Disney places or not. This is partly because of Disney’s skilled marketing teams. But the reason these teams have been so successful can be attributed to nostalgia. Disney thrives on nostalgia. Here are several websites that describe Main Street as nostalgic – one , two , three ,. It’s a common claim, but there...

Welcome back to Part 2 of taking a baby to the park. I have a few more tricks to make your visit to Disneyland with a baby just a little smoother. Take advantage of the baby center Look for this symbol on your park map. Every Disney park has a baby center . It has changing tables, high chairs, a toddler sized toilet, and even a rocking chair behind a curtain so you can breastfeed your baby privately. They also have a bunch of supplies you may have forgotten that you can purchase: baby food, diapers, wipes, sunscreen, etc. It’s a nice place to give your baby some quiet time. Next time you’re in the park, go in and see. They are great! Bring a few different outfits You always want to have an extra outfit in case of spit ups or blow-outs. You’ll also want to have warmer clothes in case it rains or gets cold. While we were there it was a nice 75-80 degrees, but by 7 at night it was getting pretty chilly. It was nice to have an extra pair of clothes to keep her little legs warm. Of course, ...

There have been several articles this week about how Galaxy’s Edge ended up on Batuu rather than Tatooine. Based on an interview with Dan Cockerell, these articles portray the decision as a one-sided attempt to from Kathleen Kennedy to “carry Star Wars into the future!” They lament that we almost had Mos Eisley, complete with the cantina we all know from the movies. Part of me has to ask exactly how different that version would have been. There’s still a central, round bar at Oga’s, with alcove tables. There’s a docking bay. The town is small. The Droid Depot easily could have been replaced with Watto’s workshop. But I want to clarify what these articles have been saying: it was not a one sided decision driven only by Kathleen Kennedy that took Tatooine out of Galaxy’s Edge. It’s true that there were two versions of Galaxy’s Edge planned. It’s not uncommon for Imagineering to have multiple ideas they’re working on. They don’t just come up with an idea and build it. Imagineers make and ...

Did you know you can’t take your baby on Astro Orbiter unless they have shoes or socks on? Well, neither did I. That’s why I found myself digging through the diaper bag trying to find socks. I thought I was prepared to take my 4 month old to Disneyland. I’ve been to Disneyland a hundred times, I’d read blogs, I did everything I thought of to be ready. But of course, you can never be completely prepared. So here are a few things that made our trip a little easier. Have realistic expectations To start, you have to set the right expectations; you are going to be a lot slower than you used to be without having kids or a baby. My husband and I used to be able to do at least 25 rides a day. With our baby in tow we slowed down to about 15. You have to go much slower when you have to take the time to park the stroller and take the baby out, or wait with the baby while the rest of your party rides an attraction and then use the rider switch, and of course taking the time to feed and change diap...

Characters keep sneaking more and more into Epcot. This park started out as a permanent World’s Fair, but it doesn’t come across that way anymore. Nemo has taken the Sea, Lion King has been to the Land, Ratatouille and Beauty and the Beast are in France, and Frozen is in Norway. To celebrate Epcot’s 40th anniversary, let’s take a look at the Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Cabelleros, the first attraction at World Show Case to be transformed to a character ride. Rio del Tiempo Rio del Tiempo was conceived as an attraction to celebrate the history and culture of Mexico. Like the other original attractions at World Showcase, you can see a country’s influence on the pavilion. The Aztec temple facade drew people for shopping, dining, and the ride entrance. Once you boarded this gentle boat ride, you’d float by a volcano and another Aztec temple. After that, you’d take a trip through time that would show you snippets of Mexico’s ancient, recent, and modern history. The physical componen...

Did you know that FastPass was developed to enhance guest satisfaction, not to decrease lines? Neither did I till I did some research and heard how FastPasses came about. In the mid 1990’s, Disney realized that guest satisfaction was declining because lines were getting too long. No one is very happy when you spend your entire day waiting in line and only get to go on a few rides. After discussing different ideas they started testing in the late 1990’s. It started in Animal Kingdom with 2 different groups. Each group was given a diary to write down everything they did that day (what time they got in line, what time they got on the ride, what shops they went into, etc.) One lucky group was given a special card to show the cast member at any attraction they wanted to ride. The cast member would look at the current wait time, let’s take 45 minutes for example, and then tell the group to return to the ride in 45 minutes. When the group returned they would be directed through the exit and b...

Disney vacations cost a lot of money and they’re just gonna get more expensive. People are always looking for ways to make it cheaper, so here’s what we do. Get Buttons as a Cheap Momento from your Trip All the Disney parks give out free buttons, whether you’re celebrating something or not. You can get a button that says “Happy Birthday”, “I’m Celebrating”, “Happily Ever After”, “Just Graduated”, or “First Visit”. Cast members at guest services have them, but sometimes they run out. If you’re looking for a particular button ask around, sometimes cashiers have them. Buy Disney Merchandise Outside the Parks We all know how expensive t-shirts, or mugs, or mickey ears are when you’re shopping at a Disney Resort. There are lots of other places that have Disney merchandise for much cheaper. You can visit stores like Walmart or Target, or shop online through Amazon or Etsy. Disney outlets are a great option too if you have one nearby. Even DisneyStore.com has some great sales to get official...

Have you ever thought one of Disney’s darkrides looked darker than normal? Maybe things were hard to see, or they didn’t glow the right way. I’ve heard this blamed on an old paint job or lights that need replacing. The blame always seems to go to the maintenance team. But normally, the too-dark-darkride has nothing to do with maintenance. It has a lot more to do with queue design and time of day. Theme parks are not built for the slow days. The walk ways, ride capacities, queue sizes, restaurants and show offerings are designed around keeping crowds entertained and busy. So are the visuals in the rides. Imagineers expect that guests will be waiting in line for each ride. Particularly for dark rides, they build indoor queues. This keeps the crowd entertained while they wait, but it also give you a gradual transition while your eyes adjust to the lower level of light. Take the Disneyland Haunted Mansion as an example. When the queue is full, you start off in the bright sun, and make your...

Genie Genie is Disney’s free service for scheduling activities and attractions at their theme parks. It allows you to select a few things you’re interested in – including rides, shows, and dining – and then recommends related attractions you may enjoy. The day of your visit, it will assign times for each attraction. Genie’s approach is to come up with a schedule that you can meet with time to spare. So, you may see it give you over an hour for an attraction that only takes half an hour. Disney’s hope is that you’ll spend the extra time shopping and dining. This is different from RideRouter , which is built around optimizing your day, and getting you to all of the attractions that you’ve selected. RideRouter will also let you create a plan up to 30 days in advance. Genie also shows estimated wait times for the day. It won’t give specific numbers, but it does give a bar graph that can give you an idea about when lines will grow or shrink. You can access Genie through the Disneyland and W...

I'm something of a late comer to Disney World attendance. My home park was Disneyland. I did go when I was little, but my memories are pretty vague. So going back as an adult has been fun, because a lot of the attractions seem new. But, I've been going back through some of the old attractions, trying to get a feeling for what I missed and how the parks have changed. Gran Fiesta Tour is an interesting one for me. I rode it, not knowing that the Three Caballeros were a relatively new addition. I thought it was a cute way to use some old characters. But I was surprised that those characters were there, because the Three Caballeros had always seemed so obscure to me. Don't get me wrong I thought the characters were great, I just didn't think anyone know who they were. Then I found out that the ride had originally been called Rio del Tiempo, I was just about cruise through Mexico. That made sense to me. It's a right showing off the country, which is something that belong...

Now that Genie+ and Lightning Lane have been up and running for the better part of a year, Disney has started to tweak the experience at Walt Disney World. Starting June 8th, guests will not be able to purchase Genie+ until the day of their visit. Disney has also stated that the number of Genie+ purchases available may be limited on a given day. Recently, they also updated the product description, which now states that guests should expect to get 2 or 3 Lightning Lanes in a day. This tells us that Disney is starting to recognize a need for change in the way Genie+ runs. This raised the question of whether you need Genie+ to be able to see the park in a day. To test it out, I set out to see all of Epcot without Genie+ in a single day. (Spoiler alert: I saw most of the park without it!) Summary To see how well I did, we’ll be comparing what I did to the list of  65 things to do at Epcot  from Disney World’s Attractions page. Let’s look at some numbers to summarize my day, and th...

 Maintenance is a critical part of ensuring the safety and longevity of Disney rides. Disney parks operate some of the most sophisticated and complex ride systems in the world, and keeping them running smoothly requires constant attention and care. Disney uses teams of engineers and technicians from early design through long-term maintenance to make sure that the rides run as well as possible. They are complex machines that need to be "always available." Maintenance on Disney rides is a multi-step process that involves daily inspections, routine maintenance, and major overhauls. Each ride is inspected every day before it opens to the public, and any issues are addressed immediately. Routine maintenance is also performed regularly to ensure that all components are working as intended and to prevent any potential problems. In addition to daily inspections and routine maintenance, Disney also conducts regular safety checks and major overhauls on its rides. Safety ch...

Star Tours is a popular attraction at Disney parks that takes guests on an immersive journey through the Star Wars universe. The ride has been a staple of Disney parks since its debut in 1987, but continues to grow and develop. Now, Disney has announced that more ride films will be added, coming in 2024 . Unfortunately, they have not yet announced any new missions for Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run, so we’ll have to rely on Star Tours for our new adventures. Origin The idea for Star Tours first came about in the early 1980s when George Lucas and Disney Imagineers began discussing the possibility of creating a Star Wars-themed ride. Lucas was intrigued by the idea of using the latest technology to create a unique and immersive experience for park guests. The ride was officially announced in 1985 and opened to the public in 1987 at Disneyland. It was an instant hit, with long lines and rave reviews from guests. The ride’s popularity led to the creation of additional Star Tours attract...

Easter has a long and rich history at Disney parks, dating back to the opening of Disneyland in 1955. Since then, Easter has become a beloved tradition at Disney parks around the world, with special events and activities that celebrate the holiday in magical ways. One of the earliest Easter traditions at Disneyland was the annual Easter Parade down Main Street USA. The parade featured live performers and Disney characters dressed in their Easter best, and it quickly became a fan favorite. The parade continued for many years, and it remains a cherished memory for many Disney fans. In the 1970s and 1980s, Disney parks began to introduce new Easter traditions, such as Easter egg hunts and Easter-themed merchandise. These activities proved popular with visitors and helped to establish Easter as a major holiday at Disney parks. In the 1990s, Disney parks began to introduce even more elaborate Easter celebrations, including live shows and interactive experiences. For example, Disneyland int...

It’s October, which means we’re half way through the Halloween season! We want to report on the Crowd Calendar’s performance. We’ll make this a habit, so you can expect a monthly update with some statistics. This report will be about a combination of the two, but we post Disneyland and Walt Disney World calendars separately. Across Disneyland and Walt Disney World, our average error was 0.2, with a standard deviation of 1.5 points. 67% of our predictions were within 1 point, and 92% were within 2. There were only two predictions that were off by more than 3: September 10th at Disneyland was a 2, and we had predicted a 6. The lower crowds were likely because of the D23 expo. This was the day of the Disney Parks panel. So this would have been the day that the biggest park fans would be at the expo most of the day. We’ll need to take this difference into account for the next Expo. September 26th at Epcot was an 8, and we had predicted a 4. Magic Kingdom on this same day was a 7, when ...

If you haven’t heard about the MagicBand+ that was recently introduced at Walt Disney World, a quick Google Search will tell you that the bands have technical issues. The batteries were advertised to last three days. But for some, they’re dying after just a couple hours. And the show elements are not responsive. It’s clear that some work needs to be put in to improve technology side. But aside from the tech issues, the features are weak and need some work. Disney is clearly aiming to replicate what Universal did for their Harry Potter and Nintendo areas. The biggest issue with Disney’s implementation is that it’s not creative enough. The MagicBand+ itself gives them the right tool, but they need some creative investment to follow through on it. Universal’s Interaction In the Harry Potter areas, you can buy a wand that can be used for interactive elements in the land. Looking through the land, you’ll find displays with a card showing you how to perform a spell. If you perform the spe...