The World Report
Page 3 of 4

Lines for games
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We walk past FlameTree Bar-B-Q. People are waiting 20 deep for drinks and food so we continue to the other side of the park figuring that Pizzafari will be less crowded. We pass several vendor carts with soda’s and ice cream. Each one has lines that go for miles. We decide the ice cream is probably going to be a no go tonight but the Coke would be great in this heat. Pizzafari is also packed 20 people deep. So we decide to check out the new Passholders Lounge. I love the EPCOT Passholder Lounge. An A+ in my book that should be a permanent fixture. The Animal Kingdom Lounge is on the porch area of Pizzafari. That means no air conditioning. Whereas the EPCOT Lounge has free cokes, the AK lounge has a water dispenser. The water isn’t cooled. The Guest Relations person is able to give you priority seating for the Festival of the Lion King Show. Have to store that in my mind for future use. But I quickly decide that during the hot summer the AK Passholder Lounge will probably not be the kind of place to hang out and relax like the EPCOT Passholder Lounge is. A shame. Great idea…poorly executed.

John Mazzella from Imagineering
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We do find a bonus at Pizzafari. John Mazzela from Disney Imagineering is here to do a presentation about Dinoland and Dinorama. He discusses how the design came about. And surprises the audience with the fact that Dinorama has been on the boards for four years. So much for the "they threw it together" theory. He also talks about the use of outside ride vendors for the ride but the many changes that Disney requires makes it a one of a kind ride. What’s next for the Animal Kingdom? He won't say. Nothing definite but several plans are being discussed. That’s all he will say. John hangs out between presentations and is very friendly and accessible to the guests. A friendly and interesting man.

Lithograph
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One more stab at sodas and ice cream but that idea seems fruitless as the lines are longer now than before. We decide to head out and get our free gift before they are all gone. No fear. Our program is yellow. That means we are guaranteed one. The 3,500 people with blue programs (first 6,500 guests received yellow, everyone else got blue) aren’t so lucky. They get to write their names on the back of their coupon and Disney will send them "something". The lithograph we receive is an edition of 6,500 and the plate has been destroyed so we know that they will receive something different. We were able to find out that information from a supervisor who was attempting to answer questions between being yelled at from all sides. Not a pleasant sight.

How was the event. I guess it depends on your perspective. I think Disney tried to do a wonderful thing with the event. I am afraid that the problems from this one may make them rethink future events like this. That would be a shame. I do have several observations:

1) Disney wasn’t prepared for the crowds. I think they did a good job of trying to compensate for that but it was an impossible task. The soda/ice cream coupons are now good for 30 days. Good attempt at Guest Recovery. Next time more of the park needs to be open. Even if only 6,500 people had come it would have been too many people for the area used.

2) Make sure that when you know what you are going to do before you do it. Does the event open at 6:30 pm? Then don’t change the game plan. One guest took issue with a supervisor about the opening time. They got there at 6:35 and got a blue coupon. She was not happy and wanted an explanation about the change in plans. Good point.

3) Offer more to do and have more vendors available. If you are giving out 6,500 sodas and ice creams, you need to have more than a couple of handful of carts open. And the Restaurants were packed!!!! I am sure that Disney wanted that but next time they may want to open more places to eat to handle several thousand people at dinner time.