In a while after the “new” Haunted Mansion interactive queue debuted (nearly 15 years in the past) at Magic Kingdom, I had the danger to wait an match right through which Imagineers talked up the additions, inspiration, and so on. It used to be the beginning of Walt Disney Global’s now-infamous NextGen mission, which seen interactive queues as the way forward for theme parks with the plan to convey them to maximum points of interest to be able to, I don’t truly know, support visitor delight, I assume?
Interactive queues being the long run weren’t the one factor they had been fallacious about that night time. Being a Halloween-time match revolving round Haunted Mansion, the query that at all times comes up ultimately got here up: When will Haunted Mansion Vacation in any case come to Walt Disney Global?
At the moment, it looked like a reasonable-enough query. The Haunted Mansion Vacation overlay at Disneyland used to be no longer that outdated and had confirmed a spoil luck for a number of years operating. It thus stood to reason why that Walt Disney Global control would ultimately need in on that, proper? Incorrect.
Consistent with ex-Imagineer Jason Surrell, the corporate felt it beside the point to convey Haunted Mansion Vacation to Walt Disney Global. He went on to provide an explanation for that, in comparison to Disneyland, maximum Walt Disney Global visitors had been rare or once-in-a-lifetime guests, and as such, Disney sought after to offer the unique Haunted Mansion to them.
Generally, I’d miss the title of the Imagineer in query, particularly in an issue like this that calls out the corporate for being fallacious. Then again, it’s germane right here as a result of Surrell had a historical past of talking his thoughts, and made Imagineering’s PR other folks sweat each time he took the level. He used to be no longer one to tow the corporate line–which means his solution wasn’t merely a regurgitated speaking level. Or no less than, to the level that it used to be, it’s one other folks inside of Walt Disney Global and Imagineering in fact believed.
For no matter it’s value, a model of this rationalization is what I’ve heard many times over time. Now not simply that Walt Disney Global desires to offer the unique Haunted Mansion, however that they wish to steer clear of visitor lawsuits. Those could be led to through having an iconic appeal down a number of weeks each and every yr for the changeover and in addition through supposedly-lower visitor delight for Haunted Mansion Vacation versus OG Haunted Mansion.
One power rumor is that Haunted Mansion Vacation Nightmare at Tokyo Disneyland used to be initially meant for Magic Kingdom. Now not simply the concept that, normally, however the actual overlay that’s offered within the park to nowadays. Supposedly, the overlay plans were given so far as fabrication, most effective to be rejected last-minute through park management on-the-ground in Orlando. (I can’t talk to the veracity of this, nevertheless it strains up and the overlay would have compatibility Florida’s Haunted Mansion completely.)
I’ve heard this identical “guest-friendly” reason behind Walt Disney Global eschewing seasonal overlays on numerous events to excuse numerous issues. Similar is going for “it’s a small international” vacation, Nation Undergo Christmas, and Area Mountain. Ditto appeal overlays which can be recently unique to Mickey’s Now not So Frightening Halloween Birthday celebration and Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Birthday celebration.
It’s additionally been prolonged to seasonal leisure and overlays that aren’t even to points of interest. Even lately, some other folks inside of Walt Disney Global declare that the Cinderella Fort Dream Lighting fixtures don’t seem to be offered because of visitor lawsuits concerning the crane that put in them. The criticism phase is right…which is exactly why Disney began decreasing the cranes right through the day within the final two years the icicle lighting fixtures had been offered. Visitor lawsuits are completely no longer the explanation why the Dream Lighting fixtures show is useless. Cash is.
Frankly, I think Walt Disney Global’s notorious cheapness may be the true explanation why vacation journey overlays had been rejected. Without reference to whether or not it comes right down to cash or visitor expectancies, Walt Disney Global is fallacious.
For years, the common wait occasions for Haunted Mansion Vacation at Disneyland have some distance exceeded the ones for the common Haunted Mansion. In equity, the seasonal overlay does run right through the busiest stretch of the yr, however the tale is similar when evaluating summer time stats for Haunted Mansion with the early fall low season. It’s the very same tale with Haunted Mansion Vacation Nightmare at Tokyo Disneyland.
Talking of Tokyo Disneyland, any other excellent instance there’s the Jingle Bell Jamboree/Nation Undergo Christmas and Holiday Jamboree/Hoedown variations of Nation Undergo Jamboree that the U.S. parks way back deserted. We had the chance to look at either one of those overlays enjoying to utterly packed properties this summer time and vacation season. They’re so widespread that Tokyo Disneyland even offered products in keeping with the seasonal presentations a couple of years again.
Then there’s the “it’s a small international” vacation model of the enduring boat journey at Disneyland. To name this extra widespread than the common “it’s a small international” could be an enormous understatement. Once more, this isn’t a super comparability, as a result of a part of the overlay is the beautiful external gentle show, which pulls crowds (and wouldn’t also be imaginable in Magic Kingdom). However wait occasions are increased night time right through sunlight, indicating it’s the substance of the seasonal overlay that’s widespread–no longer simply the brilliant lighting fixtures.
One excuse we’ve heard WDW diehards be offering for the Florida parks no longer doing seasonal overlays is that visitor demographics are other at Disneyland and Tokyo Disneyland as opposed to Walt Disney Global. The pondering is going that there are lots of extra locals, repeat guests, and Annual Passholders at the ones parks. In contrast, Walt Disney Global is extra reliant on one-and-done vacationers.
There’s no denying that is true…to an extent. Los Angeles and Tokyo are two of the biggest metro spaces on the earth, and those fanbases are certainly extra diehard than Walt Disney Global. The ones Disneylands are ingrained within the native cultures, and each parks skew extra against locals than vacationers.
Then again, Tokyo doesn’t have Annual Passes anymore and it’s nonetheless been true. Each have accomplished extra to court docket non-locals, and we suspect it’s labored in California. Anaheim hasn’t noticed an explosion in lodges since Automobiles Land opened for no reason why–it will have to move with out pronouncing, however LA and Orange County citizens aren’t reserving the ones rooms. And we know Tokyo has been a success in broadening its achieve as a vacationer vacation spot, as OLC releases those stats in its quarterly stories.
In the meantime, demographics also are moving at Walt Disney Global–and within the different course. Disney Holiday Membership club numbers keep growing, and the ones trends are disproportionately in Florida. It’s on the level know the place a large chew of Walt Disney Global’s room stock is DVC, and the ones are all repeat guests. That’s how Disney Holiday Membership works!
Possibly most importantly, there was a inhabitants explosion in Central Florida. This has been a national tale in the previous few years, nevertheless it in fact began pre-COVID (that hyperlink is from 2019!). The craze has most effective sped up since then (listed below are Census numbers revealed this yr).
A number of towns in Central Florida are some of the quickest rising in america. Many of those new Florida citizens are other folks fleeing the Northeast, Midwest…or California. That is important as it manner Walt Disney Global, historically a vacationer vacation spot with a some distance decrease AP pool than Disneyland, has greater its Annual Passholder inhabitants in the previous few years. Surprise how Walt Disney Global has controlled to extend AP costs such a lot? Or why the week after New 12 months’s is now so busy? Extra locals is the solution.
All of that is most definitely self-evident to Floridians residing close to Walt Disney Global. All the way through our time living within the Sunshine State, empty fields remodeled into seas of subdivisions, single-lane roads changed into multi-lane, forestall lighting fixtures proliferated, faculties had been constructed…and all of it nonetheless wasn’t adequate. There’s nonetheless a housing scarcity, site visitors is horrible, faculties straight away want modular school rooms, and so on. And a surprisingly not unusual sight whilst sitting in that site visitors? Walt Disney Global Annual Passholder magnets on possibly one-third to part the vehicles. (No judgment–like such a lot of, we moved to Florida as a result of Walt Disney Global!)
The purpose is that typical knowledge about vacationers vs. locals at Walt Disney Global (versus Disneyland and Tokyo Disneyland) is antiquated. It will’ve been true twenty years in the past, however has been much less and not more correct with each and every passing yr. Each and every time there’s a brand new DVC hotel or any other subdivision–and there were lots of each–there are new diehard Walt Disney Global enthusiasts who’re common or repeat guests.
Frankly, I don’t assume this “knowledge” used to be true right through that Haunted Mansion match over 15 years in the past. Bay Lake Tower had already opened, and Walt Disney Global used to be in the middle of development or making plans more than one new Disney Holiday Membership accommodations. The tides had begun to show, however notoriously slow-to-adapt Walt Disney Global management used to be nonetheless caught in its tactics and outdated line of pondering.
There were numerous examples since that underscoring the “energy” of repeat guests and Walt Disney Global diehards. The strains for that Figment popcorn bucket that garnered nationwide media protection. The crowds for opening day of any seasonal match or new appeal, regardless of how giant or small. (A digital queue with an 8-hour look forward to Moana’s Adventure of Water?!) The strains for just about any AP magnet, giveaway, or providing.
We simply returned from Christmas at Walt Disney Global and through some distance the most well liked blouse we noticed on visitors used to be a not-so-ugly Christmas sweater that Figment wears in Adventure into Creativeness. This $75 blouse that doesn’t even say “Disney” isn’t being purchased through first-timers. It’s being purchased disproportionately through DVC Individuals (at one level, about one-third of visitors within the EPCOT front room had been wearing one!), Annual Passholders, and Floridians. It’s by myself noteworthy that folks living in Florida are losing giant greenbacks on a sweater.
However once more, this additionally isn’t the rest new! The superiority of this fan-favorite Figment sweater gave me flashbacks to nearly a decade in the past, right through the final yr of the Osborne Circle of relatives Spectacle of Dancing Lighting fixtures. Now not most effective used to be Disney’s Hollywood Studios insanely busy that Christmas with visitors pronouncing their goodbyes, however about one-quarter of visitors (no longer even an exaggeration) had been wearing pink “That’s A Wrap!” passholder-exclusive shirts. For the following few Christmases, this blouse and the fairway basic public model persevered to be the commonest shirts we’d see right through the vacation season.
Possibly the normal knowledge used to be true for the primary few many years of Walt Disney Global’s lifestyles. I’d consider that. But it surely truly turns out like, for the final twenty years, it’s been a handy excuse. Some way for control to justify its personal laziness and cheapness–the kind of factor that has typified Workforce Disney Orlando management pondering for a very long time, and that continues to paintings as a result of, frankly, Walt Disney Global enthusiasts don’t be expecting or call for extra. As an alternative of maintaining Disney to prime requirements, they parrot the reasons.
I haven’t believed the speaking issues about seasonal overlays at Walt Disney Global for a very long time, however what truly sealed the deal for me used to be the strains we encountered this yr for Residing with the Land – Glimmering Greenhouses. That is the uncommon overlay that Walt Disney Global in fact does do, and to their credit score (and within the passion of equity and stability), it has gotten larger and higher each unmarried yr because it began.
Christmas 2024 turns out like the approaching out celebration for Residing with the Land – Glimmering Greenhouses. Walt Disney Global were given higher about advertising it, gave it a correct title and web page presence (we’d at all times referred to it as ‘Merry & Vivid Nights’ up to now), and truly went all out adorning.
Residing with the Land – Glimmering Greenhouses went from being what looked like a zeal mission of Solid Individuals and the EPCOT workforce to one thing extra–a real, fully-fledged seasonal overlay. The purpose of this submit isn’t about how superior Residing with the Land – Glimmering Greenhouses is that this yr–and the way it helps to keep getting higher–however I’d be remiss if I didn’t no less than recognize that during a submit that’s in a different way detrimental against Walt Disney Global. (And in all probability suggest the usage of a Lightning Lane on it, relatively than the preferred apply of an early morning throw-away LLMP at Residing with the Land.)
Suffice to mention, Walt Disney Global truly were given Residing with the Land – Glimmering Greenhouses proper. And crowds spoke back accordingly!
Each and every unmarried evening we had been there, Residing with the Land – Glimmering Greenhouses had a height wait time of 60 mins or extra. Its vary within the evenings (the one time that issues because it’s a gentle show) used to be often 45-55 mins, even on the very finish of the evening right through the fireworks. To make sure, this overlay has been widespread for the final a number of years, however I’ve by no means noticed strains like this–and on random weeknights outdoor of height season dates!
I don’t doubt there have been vacationers in the ones strains for Glimmering Greenhouses. In any case, if there are two issues with common enchantment, it’s Christmas lighting fixtures…and greenhouses! It’s a terrific overlay, and there’s no reason why to consider it will be widespread completely with Walt Disney Global enthusiasts, although there used to be a better focus of Figment sweaters in line.
That’s kind of the purpose, regardless that. Walt Disney Global’s typical knowledge turns out to presuppose that vacationers don’t care about or gained’t like seasonal overlays. I don’t consider that’s in the slightest degree true. I extremely doubt Haunted Mansion Vacation or “it’s a small international” vacation have decrease visitor delight numbers than their common opposite numbers. Ditto the better ones in Automobiles Land or for Challenge Breakout.
On the contrary, I believe a majority of visitors from all demographics experience attending to revel in “one thing particular.” Despite the fact that they don’t just like the overlays, it’s moderately simple to steer clear of them. We are living in an technology of data. Roughly 13% of the sector’s inhabitants has a weblog or vlog about Disney. With even a modicum of on-line analysis, you’ll be able to most commonly steer clear of the overlays if it’s that vital to you. Similar is going most commonly for the downtime to put in them, which is moderately constant year-to-year.
Talking of which, the opposite argument issues lawsuits about downtime to put in and take away the overlays. I’m additionally skeptical of this. Walt Disney Global’s observe file of including refurbishments to the calendar on the absolute final minute and deficient preventative upkeep does no longer recommend to me they in fact care about this. In the event that they did, they’d post the overall refurbishment agenda no less than 6 months upfront (a l. a. Tokyo Disney Hotel) or paintings more difficult to forestall unscheduled journey breakdowns. It’s any other handy excuse to justify no longer setting up extra effort.
With all of that mentioned, this submit serves two functions–one detrimental (however optimistically optimistic!) and the opposite sure. We had been truly blown away through simply how a lot Residing with the Land – Glimmering Greenhouses has grown into its personal, and wish to display our appreciation for the way this journey overlay has blossomed:
In the end, we need to give kudos to Walt Disney Global for a task smartly accomplished on Residing with the Land – Glimmering Greenhouses. Whether or not it’s a hard work of affection amongst Solid Individuals running within the Land pavilion or park control giving them extra assets–or each–the journey overlay seems to be improbable this yr.
This moderately easy overlay (in comparison to those Disneyland does) simply scratches the skin of what’s imaginable, and insist for it additionally demonstrates why Walt Disney Global’s handy excuses for no longer doing vacation overlays also are self-defeating. It’s no longer simply visitors who take pleasure in seasonal overlays or choices.
Disney is promoting the ones Figment sweaters at $75 a pop, which is most definitely like $70 of margin. Residing with the Land – Glimmering Greenhouses is getting locals to consult with or retaining them within the park later, which most definitely ends up in meals or $75 sweater gross sales. (In the event that they made the Land brand decoration into an precise decoration, myself and 1000’s of different APs would drop $30 or no matter on it!) Enthusiasts would actually e book journeys for a go back of the Cinderella Fort Dream Lighting fixtures, which might additionally promote extra PhotoPass applications plus the entire above.
The checklist is going on and on. So ceaselessly, it appears like Walt Disney Global’s loss of effort is in point of fact because of laziness and little else, and that there’s numerous reason why to consider they’d pop out forward through making an attempt only a tad more difficult to exceed visitor expectancies. Penny smart and pound silly. However the stable circulate of vacationer bucks breeds complacency and provides a disincentive for making an attempt more difficult, or setting up the extent of effort of Disneyland. That’s unlucky, and no longer only for us as enthusiasts. If Walt Disney Global control is studying this and stays unpersuaded, I’d suggest a easy, low stakes take a look at: convey again Nation Undergo Christmas in 2025.
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Your Ideas
What do you call to mind vacation journey overlays? Would you be dissatisfied about no longer attending to revel in the common model of the appeal, or satisfied about seeing one thing particular and new? Would you e book a travel to Walt Disney Global at Christmas to revel in an overlay? Or would you steer clear of the parks? Do you settle or disagree with our overview of moving demographics and WDW’s pondering on overlays being old-fashioned? Any questions we will be able to assist you to solution? Listening to your comments—even while you disagree with us—is each attention-grabbing to us and useful to different readers, so please proportion your ideas underneath within the feedback!
