Disqus - Latest Comments for grumpwurst

Re: Rants and Ramblings about Disney Stock - Jentasmic! | Disney's Hollywood Studios Information and Guide

grumpwurst — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 09:44:09 -0000

It's interesting how the people who put in the most effort to uphold a standard of quality are paid the least. For example, housekeeping at any hotel is typically the worst paid, but how much worse would your experience be if you had a messy room and everything else was top notch

Re: Should Disney Parks Tighten Security?

grumpwurst — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 11:14:10 -0000

I didn't vote because I don't agree with any of the options. I personally feel there should be no security at all. If you were to look up Security Theater in the dictionary, you would see a picture of Disney's bag check line.

Bag checks are just an implementation to give guests the FEELING of security that the company is doing something for their safety. Since that security checkpoint is so easily circumvented (for example, gun tucked in waistband all gangland style and walking through the no bag entry) it's not really worth the effort.

I don't feel any safer with it in place. Sadly I remember the days before bag check and it was so much nicer.

When we traveled to China, they had security at important landmarks like the Forbidden City in Beijing. But they didn't open the bags and inspect, you just walked up and dropped it on a conveyor belt and it went through x-ray and you collected it on the other end. Granted, police were running the operation

So, forget metal detectors and bag checks. If they want to give a better semblance of security we need many, many x-ray machines

But I do agree with George. Logistically speaking, if bag checks were performed BEFORE you got on whatever Disney Transportation took you to the park then you'd cut down on the lines at the park. The only people who would have to go through the park bag check were those who drove themselves and that would not be an impact to MK since all guests can only get there by Disney transportation

Re: Changes to the Walt Disney World Tram System

grumpwurst — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 17:49:42 -0000

As a stroller toting parent who experienced the new tram doors at Disney's Animal Kingdom I can say that it makes it MUCH harder to get on/off the tram

As noted the doors must be manually opened which is a chore with arms full of stroller and/or kid(s). Plus we found that other guests were less than considerate and many times allowed the door to slam shut in front of you.

Also, the door creates a significantly narrower opening compared to the doorless model. We have a double stroller. While it is the same height as our single, when folded, it is twice as thick and significantly heavier. Add a narrow opening and you have a recipe for a tweaked back.

The trams were already a pain in the back for those with strollers the doors have made me want to walk no matter how far we are in the back of the lot.

Having said all that, I understand why they are doing it and have personally witnessed reckless behavior by kids on trams.

Re: Disney Vacation Club: The Cost of Ownership

grumpwurst — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 10:16:34 -0000

Great synopsis. I did a similar one a few years back but approached it from a cost per point standpoint and cost per night of stay.

But, your math has proven what the DVC Guides (aka Sales Person) made very clear to us. If you are primarily a Moderate or Value Resort guest then the DVC is not an option for you.

In our case, if we had to choose between a Value resort and not going at all, we'd not go. So DVC was an option for us

Re: SEPTEMBER LOVE AFFAIR

grumpwurst — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 09:09:33 -0000

I really do feel sorry for families where the working parent is TOLD when they can go on vacation and it falls during the school year. I've had friends over the years where this was true. Summer vacation slots were dole out based on seniority and low "man" on the totem pole had to take vacation during times when school was in session.

I have also hear people use Disney vacations as a reason why they home school

Re: Harry Potter Ride Down

grumpwurst — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 10:09:06 -0000

Well, I hope an investigation is being made into the false 911 call since the attraction doesn't go upside down and the panic and hysteria it could've caused. Plus, I am pretty sure that Universal and WDW get pretty upset when outside agencies get called in for something they can and probably were handling on their own to a satisfactory outcome

Re: Harry Potter Ride Down

grumpwurst — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 09:36:19 -0000

Attractions go down. It's a fact of life in regards to amusement and theme parks. A couple years ago we were on Splash Mountain at Walt Disney World when it went "101". We just happened to be about 1-2 cars behind the big splash down and I must say that if you thought the climb up that hill was steep wait until you've been sitting stuck on that hill for about 3o minutes.

But, it hasn't stopped us from going on that attraction again. In fact, we turned around and went back on it the next day

Re: Win a Harry Potter Park Wand!

grumpwurst — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 17:39:48 -0000

For some reason, I thought I had already replied to this blog post. I guess I didn't or I forgot to click the button to post it.

Firstly, I'm amazed Allison is even willing to part with such a great Harry Potter collectible item especially since it was only given to a select few individuals. I personally, would've kept it....haha.

I can say one thing, whoever wins this contest will surely enjoy having a great wand they display proudly

Re: Fastpass fail - Studios Weekly | Disney's Hollywood Studios Information and Guide

grumpwurst — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 09:56:27 -0000

I disagree with darthstich in that I feel that fastpasses, as they are currently implemented are causing unnecessary inflation of standby wait times and really don't benefit many people. I really believe, based on talking to CM who have worked on efficiency studies, that attractions such as Toy Story Mania would benefit for the elimination of fastpasses.

The inefficiency is due to the fact that the fast pass lines are never a separate line to the attraction ride vehicle. At some point, the fast pass holders merge with the "general population" this merge point causes a bottleneck that not only, over time lengthens the wait time for the people with fast passes, but also greatly inflates the wait time for those in the Standby line. As people merge into the standby line that causes the people to have to stop moving to allow them in.

Think of the rush hour on any road. When one person taps their breaks, it causes a cascade of break tapping that with each successive car become a longer and longer break period. Ultimately it results in a complete stop of traffic somewhere in the line.

By removing the fast pass, you wouldn't make those 1.5 hour waits drop to 30 minutes, but I bet it would maintain an equilibrium of somewhere around 45 minutes

Re: Testing a Centralized Fastpass Location - What in the World? | Disney's Hollywood Studios Information and Guide

grumpwurst — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 10:11:32 -0000

Personally, I'm of the belief that FastPasses don't really do anything but make the lines longer for everyone involved. I've heard arguments that Disney could never go away from FastPasses because "everyone else uses them". Nothing gets me fired up faster than hearing, "Well that's the way we've always done it" or "well everyone else does it and we must compete". A stupid idea done by everyone else is not a good reason for doing it yourself.

The only way that I can think a Fast Pass system can work is if there were a highly controlled number of tickets that coudl be spit out in a certain amount of time. Instead of quickly racking up to a late in the day return time, it just stops producing tickets until a later time. That way there is a chance to roll up at Toy Story Mania at 5PM and get a Fast Pass for later in the day.

I've heard another friend say they advertised that the FP was marketed as a way to "save your place in line" and that the smart engineers should redesign the FP machines to do just that. Basically, if you walk up and there is a 90 minute wait to get on Soarin', then the FP gives you a time to come back 90 minutes from now. But you also need to control how many of these tickets you can give out.

I still think they should just go away. I've talked to CM who have done efficiency studies and they came to the conculsion that FP slows down lines and if you removed the program you'd quickly see wait times drop for attractions to a level more like that experienced by people in the FP line.

I firmly believe that the centralized location at AK will eventually have return indicator signs for those kiosks but they aren't going to devote those funds for a test run. I also heard on another site that if you ask the CM working the location they could tell you what those return times are (probably radio over to a CM at the attraction).

I think a centralized location would mean more people getting fast passes due to the convenience and quicker distribution of the days alotment meaning less chance to ride at the times you want to ride

Re: Win a Mickey Mouse Snowglobe!

grumpwurst — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 13:59:34 -0000

Without a doubt, my wife's and my favorite restaurant is Victoria & Albert's at the Grand Floridian. More specficially, we love the Chef's Table at Victoria & Albert's. We loved it so much, I just had to write about the experience in the premier issue of Celebrations Magazine

Re: John Chow Gets It Wrong

grumpwurst — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 16:28:21 -0000

I'm one of those people who live on their credit cards and pays it off every month. In fact, I pay off whatever the current balance is regardless of what the statement says.

I just never thought about how, emotionally, it's harder to spend cash. My argument for the credit card was that it was always EASIER for me to TRACK my expenses.

I'm a fanatic when it comes to tracking my money in Quicken and nothing urks me more than losing track of money. So, those receipts you get from credit card transactions really help with that. I would argue that the use of the Debit Card, even though directly tied to the checking account, still has the same effect on spending as a credit card does.

Re: Will DVC values drop? - Jentasmic!

grumpwurst — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 10:53:41 -0000

I spoke to Shontell Crawford at MagicMeets and she said that Disney is exercising their Right of First refusal less and less these days. You can pick up some great deals for the Beachclub right now