Tricks used by Disney World?

[Coulbean]

A friend of mine recently moved and is attending a media school in Florida. He learned some things about Disney World that he shared with me. I don't have a cite, but he did learn these things in a class. I found these things very interesting and was hoping to learn more info. Disney World probably isn't the only theme park to use these tricks, but they are evil nonetheless.

1) The soda machines have thermometers inside of them that raises the price of a soda when the temperature rises. They can get away with this legally by claiming that the soda machines use more energy when the temp goes up and thus the sodas should cost more.

2) All the water features throughout Disney World have scent emitters on them that emit the smell of chlorine. Chlorine has the effect of making you feel thirsty so you go buy an expensive bottle of soda.

3) The bakery on the main street at the entrance to the park also has a scent emitter that releases the smell of baking food, no food is actually baked in the store.

4) Also at the entrance to the park, as you walk past the shops, there are speakers emitting the sound of a crowd. This produces a herding effect to get people to keep on walking away from the entrance and into the park, rather than hanging around and blocking the entrance. They will shop on the way out of the park.

So, I wanna know more! Does anyone know of a webpage with more info like this on it? I tried google and couldn't find anything yet.

What do you all think of this evil genius?

[rjung]

David Koeng's book Mouse Tales has a truckload of behind-the-scenes stuff for (Anaheim) Disneyland, from the union strikes to the hidden scent emitters to the after-hours employee parties. Sounds like a book you'd enjoy. :)

[RikWriter]

1) The soda machines have thermometers inside of them that raises the price of a soda when the temperature rises. They can get away with this legally by claiming that the soda machines use more energy when the temp goes up and thus the sodas should cost more.



Don't know about the rest, but this is a myth.

[Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor]

A friend of mine recently moved and is attending a media school in Florida. He learned some things about Disney World that he shared with me. I don't have a cite, but he did learn these things in a class. I found these things very interesting and was hoping to learn more info. Disney World probably isn't the only theme park to use these tricks, but they are evil nonetheless.
Let's look at this one at a time, hmmm?

1) The soda machines have thermometers inside of them that raises the price of a soda when the temperature rises. They can get away with this legally by claiming that the soda machines use more energy when the temp goes up and thus the sodas should cost more.
This makes no sense. Just set the prices higher in the first place. After all, Disney can (and does) prohibit outside refreshments. So, they can set any price they like, & if the customer wants a soda, they'll buy. Also, the non-hot months have lower #s of sodas bought. Profits go down. Keeping prices high all the time causes the hot/cold differences to average out.

Also, why add extra parts? They cost bigt bucks, & would need to be fixed. Not cost efficient.

2) All the water features throughout Disney World have scent emitters on them that emit the smell of chlorine. Chlorine has the effect of making you feel thirsty so you go buy an expensive bottle of soda.
:rolleyes:
No. Chlorine is added to keep It's A Small World from smelling like the Everglades Swamp. Chlorine kills bacteria & algae, & keeps the waters clear & pretty, instead of green & slimy.

3) The bakery on the main street at the entrance to the park also has a scent emitter that releases the smell of baking food, no food is actually baked in the store.

Yeah. It's called a "vent". Every bakery gives off the smell of baked goods.

4) Also at the entrance to the park, as you walk past the shops, there are speakers emitting the sound of a crowd. This produces a herding effect to get people to keep on walking away from the entrance and into the park, rather than hanging around and blocking the entrance. They will shop on the way out of the park.

Needless & wrong. People rush to enter the park, as they are eager to ride the attractions. And the entrance is the same as the exits. And they shop everywhere!

So, I wanna know more! Does anyone know of a webpage with more info like this on it? I tried google and couldn't find anything yet.

What do you all think of this evil genius?

I think you've either never been to a Disney park, or you didn't reflect on what your friend said before you posted.

And I am a former Disney Employee. Been there, done that.

[h.sapiens]

I've been to Disney World several times, and don't remember seeing soda vending machines in the parks. There are carts selling bottled soda and water everywhere, and as far as I remember, the prices are uniform (and uniformly high) throughout the resort.

There are soda and snack vending machine in the hotels, and maybe the water parks and mini-golf places, but not in the theme parks.

[interface2x]

Yeah. It's called a "vent". Every bakery gives off the smell of baked goods.


I did see on a show (Travel Channel, I believe) that they do pump in artificial smells, particularly at the bakery and the candy shops. Doesn't bother me, they still have real baked goods and candy - just smells better.

The other stuff rings false by me.

[RumMunkey]

4) Also at the entrance to the park, as you walk past the shops, there are speakers emitting the sound of a crowd. This produces a herding effect to get people to keep on walking away from the entrance and into the park, rather than hanging around and blocking the entrance.

True or not, how would this be considered 'evil'? If it actually works, I want to see this strategy employed at shopping malls!

[sghoul]

While I feel that most of these are wrong, I am sure they do some things like this.

First off, there aren't many Soda machines in the park. They usually have venders with carts. On a related note, I have been told (I have two relatives who work in Disney) that Disney pays less than a cent per bottled soda/water. Yet you are charged 2-3 dollars.

I have also noticed (as someone who has been going to Disney several times a year for 29 years) their water fountains have slowly become less desirable to use (warm water, that tastes funny).

Disney also has an initiative that they supposedly won't build a ride that they can't market/build a shot at the exit. They tore up Mister Toads Wild Ride and replaced it with Winny the Pooh, because Mister Toads had no marketability. They had room to build Winny elsewhere, but chose there to have more shops in Fantasyland.

Disney used to be a magical place, where you were away from the outside world. Now it's a big shop, where you can buy McDonalds french fried IN THE MAGIC KINGDOM.

Just go to Universal, Busch Gardens, or Six Flags, trust me, the rides are better.

[Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor]

I did see on a show (Travel Channel, I believe) that they do pump in artificial smells, particularly at the bakery and the candy shops. Doesn't bother me, they still have real baked goods and candy - just smells better.


The Travel Channel will repeat any old rumor.

Did they show you the equipment? If not, it don't exist.

Fresh baked goods give off wonderful smells, & Disney is keen on quality in food prep.

So, no pics, no artificial scents.

[HumptysHamhole]

Some of these tactics aren't really secrets. On your next trip to Disney World take the Behind the Scenes Tour of the Magic Kingdom. They will show you many of the speakers they use for BGM and BGN (the Disney World terms for back-ground music and back-ground noise). They will also go into some deatil on how they use noise, architecture, live attractions, and general park planning for crowd control. These aren't necessarily insidious though. You really want good crowd control methods in a park as small as the Magic Kingdom with the number of people who go through it each day. I found the tour very interesting. I never saw any vending machines inside the Kindom however and at the resort at which I stayed (Polypen.) I purchased a big mug the first night with which I could get free soda refills at the snack stand for the rest of my stay.

Just for the record many other businesses do similar things. The florist at my local grocery store has a small vent that blows flower scent out into the general area. I noticed an employee re-filling the dispenser with floral scent fluid.

[Max Carnage]

I was coming in to recommend the book Mouse Tales but see that rjungbeat me to it long ago, so let me just second it. Fantastic behind the scenes stuff that reminded me of a lot of the same stuff we used to do at Opryland.

I especially like the story about the employee's last day on the Jungle Safari ride.

[Cheesesteak]

On a related note, I have been told (I have two relatives who work in Disney) that Disney pays less than a cent per bottled soda/water. Yet you are charged 2-3 dollars.This is probably not true, at least for bottled sodas. Maybe its that cheap, or nearly so, for a fountain drink, but there's no way the Mouse can get bottled soda for a penny. Creating a bottle, filling it, and shipping it costs much more than a penny, no doubt about it.

[Tapioca Dextrin]

There's always the Snopes Dinsneyland (http://snopes.com/disney/parks/parks.asp) page.

[Little Nemo]

I'll say right off that this is probably an urban legend.

Disney, as I think all will agree, does like to engineer their parks. They want things to happen in certain ways and don't like surprises. So when something starts happening they didn't expect, they research it to find out what's going on and how to bring it back under control.

Supposedly at one of the water parks there was a place where the line of people going up to use the slide was becoming unexpectedly congested. If there's one thing Disney has studied, it's crowd movement, and all there projections had failed to predict there would be any congestion at this point. So engineers were sent to study the situation and find out what was wrong.

What they found was that when large breasted women in small bikinis went down the slide they had a tendency to lose their tops. And they found that men tended to enjoy watching topless women. And there was one place along the walk up to the slide where there was a particularly good view for watching people slide down. Ergo, numerous men lingered in this spot to wait and watch for topless women to slide by. Now that the engineers knew what the problem was, it was easy to address.

They built an alcove with bleachers at the spot so voyeurs could watch without slowing down the people who were moving.

[Exapno Mapcase]

1) The soda machines have thermometers inside of them that raises the price of a soda when the temperature rises. They can get away with this legally by claiming that the soda machines use more energy when the temp goes up and thus the sodas should cost more.

This was a much-publicized idea floated by Coke a few years back. From a 1999 (http://starbulletin.com/1999/11/01/features/memminger.html) column:According to recent news stories, Coke is testing new soda machines that can jack up the price of drinks depending on how hot the weather is.
The notion engendered so much hostility that it never went into large-scale production.

So the idea is a real one, but whether Disney actually does this is highly doubtful.

[Only Mostly Dead]

And they found that men tended to enjoy watching topless women.

Perish the thought! Do you have a cite for this? ;)

Oh, and Mouse Tales has been added to my after-graduation reading list.

[racinchikki]

I was expecting this thread to be about REAL Disney tricks, like the forced perspective they use to make Cinderella's castle look gihugic. Now I'm disappointed.

Bottle soda, by the way, was either $1.50 or $2.50 (I forget, as I never bought any) when I was at Disney World the first week of March. There were no soda fountains, except inside of restaurants, so the first rumor listed by the OP is definitely false. You can't have price-raising thermometers inside of machines that don't exist in the first place.

I didn't think Disney was evil. It was cute and fun, and sure it was commercial and overpriced, but so is every theme park in the world. Plus there are plenty of little hidden places, like the back walkway between Tomorrowland and Mickey's Toontown Fair that wends peacefully beneath flowering trees and affords you a chance to sit down on a bench in the shade and enjoy nature instead of the sound of thousands of screaming children for a while. The only thing I hated was the stupid midday parade, which blocks Adventureland off from the rest of the park and which prevented me from getting to Pirates of the Caribbean from Splash Mountain for an hour. The evening parade, which used to be the Main Street Electrical Parade but isn't, got me trapped in the park when I wanted to get home, but that was more because of the cowlike stupidity of the parade watchers who were too dumb to move when I tried to leave; apparently they couldn't conceive of anybody NOT wanting to watch the parade.

Hey, maybe that's an Evil Disney Trick, too. They use the parades to trap people in parts of the park so they have no choice but to go shopping!

[smiling bandit]

like the forced perspective they use to make Cinderella's castle look gihugic. Now I'm disappointed.

It still pretty darn big.

My favorite park is Epcot, though...

[Duke]

Why would it be "illegal" to sell sodas at a higher price when the temperature rose? I mean, you could sell a can of pop for $100 so long as you found a willing buyer, and there would be nothing illegal about the transaction.

[kunilou]

Why would it be "illegal" to sell sodas at a higher price when the temperature rose? I mean, you could sell a can of pop for $100 so long as you found a willing buyer, and there would be nothing illegal about the transaction.

I remember touring Europe, when our tour bus pulled up at a small cafe. The proprietor was delighted to see us come in. The menu was written on a chalkboard. When he saw the second tour bus pull up a few minutes later, he erased all the prices and wrote in higher ones. When the third bus pulled in a few minutes after that, he did it again.

[rjung]

Disney used to be a magical place, where you were away from the outside world. Now it's a big shop, where you can buy McDonalds french fried IN THE MAGIC KINGDOM.
Why do you think Michael Eisner is under fire? Heck, the guy should be drawn and quartered just for pumping out all those crappy direct-to-video sequels over the last decade...

[Yookeroo]

Disney used to be a magical place, where you were away from the outside world. Now it's a big shop, where you can buy McDonalds french fried IN THE MAGIC KINGDOM.

Brand name foods in Disney parks?!? Say it ain't so! The parks are ruined! :rolleyes:

For real magic, you should've been around for Disneyland's opening when Tomorrowland was nothing but a big advertisment for their corporate sponsors. Now that's magic.

[sghoul]

Yeah, I remember when some of the rides were sponsered. Much of Epcot still is. My point was/is that this is another sign of Disney going from an ideal to a cold business model.

I could go on about the degridation of cleanliness (seeing gum and dust when you once didn't), lack of maintenece (animitronics that are faulty...mostly on NEWER rides), lack of imagination/innovation on newer rides (stock coasters like Rockin Roller coaster, Boring like Dinosaur when it's equivalent Spiderman 3D came out at the same time, Philharmagic being a rehash of every other 3D movie in their parks), and Generally only existing because of movies that draw kids to the parks (Other parks seem to do well with such draws).

And rjung, I know why Eisner is in trouble. Most of my family owns at least some stock in Disney. We all voted for him to go bye bye. I grew up there, and have also been to just about every park in the country. Disney used to stand apart from them (theming, in character ride attendants, etc), but there things are slowly fading to make more of the almighty dollar.

[Coulbean]

No. Chlorine is added to keep It's A Small World from smelling like the Everglades Swamp. Chlorine kills bacteria & algae, & keeps the waters clear & pretty, instead of green & slimy.

This is not chlorine in the water. It's chlorine scent, as in more than what is necessary.

Yeah. It's called a "vent". Every bakery gives off the smell of baked goods.

So every bakery uses fake smells? I did not know that.


Needless & wrong. People rush to enter the park, as they are eager to ride the attractions. And the entrance is the same as the exits. And they shop everywhere!

This is just my personal experience, but my family tends to linger at the entrance to a park. Deciding what we're going to do first. And yes, you can shop everywhere, so it's ok to pass up the shops in the beginning, they'll get you later on or when you leave.


I think you've either never been to a Disney park, or you didn't reflect on what your friend said before you posted.

I have been to Disney World 3 times. I did reflect and found it interesting. I wanted more info, that's why I posted. But I will concede defeat when it comes to the soda machines.

Perhaps the word evil is a little strong, but I was refering to the fact that Walt Disney wanted to make a park for everybody. Now it's a place only for the middle to upper class and Disney is a huge money making behemoth.

Thanks to those who recommended Mouse Tales, I'll check it out.

[sghoul]

Anyone that thinks that Disney World is a park for everybody is fooling themselves.

[Sauron]

This is not chlorine in the water. It's chlorine scent, as in more than what is necessary.

Why would you need to pump out chlorine scent, when the water itself is so chlorinated that it almost glows?

And how does chlorine scent make one thirsty? I'm lost on that.

So every bakery uses fake smells? I did not know that.

There's a cinnamon roll store in a mall near here. I think it's called "Cindy's" but I could be wrong. I remember reading a story about them when they opened, and they said they pumped out the scent of cinnamon rolls to entice customers.

Does every bakery do it? Nah. Obviously, though, some do.

Besides, don't discount the "vent" explanation. If the bakery store in question is full of baked pastries, and the air is being vented out, the smell of baked pastries is gonna be in the vented air. Doesn't mean they're adding anything to it.

This is just my personal experience, but my family tends to linger at the entrance to a park. Deciding what we're going to do first.

This is just my personal experience, but people like your family have always bugged the hell out of me. Get a map before you get into the park and decide where you're going. Don't stand in the entrance, gawking around like cavemen in the Space Shuttle, when 10,000 other people are trying to get into the park.

Now it's a place only for the middle to upper class and Disney is a huge money making behemoth.

This may come as a shock, but Disney would like to make a profit. And DisneyWorld has never been cheap.

[Magickly Delicious]

I was expecting this thread to be about REAL Disney tricks, like the forced perspective they use to make Cinderella's castle look gihugic.
Will somebody explain this to me? I've only been to Disney once, and I did notice that the castle looked huge but wasn't. Why is that?

[interface2x]

The first level is normal size and as it goes up, the levels get smaller and smaller. It gives the viewer the perspective that it's bigger than it really is. They also did that with the second floors of the buildings on Main St. - they're not full size floors, they just look that way from the ground.

[WILLASS]

If my uncle was still alive i'm sure he could explain the false perspective thing really well as he designed the flying mountain in the film 'Krull' and used false perspective to make it seem really huge, it wasn't until you were standing next to it that you realised it was only about five metres tall. I've always been interested to know, how tall is Cindarellas castle?

[Voyager]

Yeah, I remember when some of the rides were sponsered. Much of Epcot still is. My point was/is that this is another sign of Disney going from an ideal to a cold business model.

And rjung, I know why Eisner is in trouble. Most of my family owns at least some stock in Disney. We all voted for him to go bye bye. I grew up there, and have also been to just about every park in the country. Disney used to stand apart from them (theming, in character ride attendants, etc), but there things are slowly fading to make more of the almighty dollar.

I worked for AT&T, which sponsored the white EPCOT globe, and we were able to go to a special lounge and get loaded on the ride in front of everyone else. Every sponsor company could do this. Epcot was commercial from the beginning, as far as I can tell. I don't know when Disney didn't have a cold business model, Walt was not dumb, though I do think they used to give more value for the money. (Disneyland is going up to $50 a person, which is ridiculous.)

I suspect Eisner is in trouble not because he is ripping off the public, but because he isn't making enough money doing it.

[Dangerosa]

My regular amusement park is $33 a day. Disney is reasonable at $50.

Growing up we were comfortably middle class, and we went to Disney once. It was an expensive trip back then. I remember my rich cousins going long before we did - and they could because they were "rich."

Disney does vent artificial smells out. Its part of the "theme" in "theme park." Its one of the reasons that the parks can be immersive. I don't know that they do it to sell cookies (although it certainly doesn't hurt) as much as to clue your senses into the theme. Main Street USA is supposed to be Main Street USA. They want you to smell cookies baking, flowers blooming - not hot asphalt, crowds, and horse manure.

[Yookeroo]

Yeah, I remember when some of the rides were sponsered. Much of Epcot still is. My point was/is that this is another sign of Disney going from an ideal to a cold business model.

It's not a sign of Disney "going" anywhere if it's no different than it ever was. If anything, the corporate presence is a lot more subtle than it used to be

I could go on about the degridation of cleanliness (seeing gum and dust when you once didn't), lack of maintenece (animitronics that are faulty...mostly on NEWER rides), lack of imagination/innovation on newer rides (stock coasters like Rockin Roller coaster, Boring like Dinosaur when it's equivalent Spiderman 3D came out at the same time, Philharmagic being a rehash of every other 3D movie in their parks), and Generally only existing because of movies that draw kids to the parks (Other parks seem to do well with such draws).

You left out misaligned manhole covers.

[Yookeroo]

I worked for AT&T, which sponsored the white EPCOT globe, and we were able to go to a special lounge and get loaded on the ride in front of everyone else. Every sponsor company could do this. Epcot was commercial from the beginning, as far as I can tell. I don't know when Disney didn't have a cold business model, Walt was not dumb, though I do think they used to give more value for the money. (Disneyland is going up to $50 a person, which is ridiculous.)


If people are willing to pay...

But I don't see it as such a poor value. All day in Disneyland for $50 compared to $10 for a two hour movie doesn't seem like such a bad deal.

[photopat]

And I am a former Disney Employee.

Ah ha! You're in on it too. Admit it! :D

[BobT]

At Disneyland this past Monday, 20 oz bottles of soda were $2.75. But they were all sold from carts. I can't recall ever seeing a soda machine in Disneyland. Ever. The prices in the restaurants are all labeled permanently on signs.

It was 90 degrees in Anaheim Monday.

[Gunslinger]

I've always been interested to know, how tall is Cindarellas castle?

180 feet.

They just make everything smaller as it goes up, to make you think it's farther away than it is; the reverse of this trick was used in the Lord of the Rings movies -- in the scenes in Bilbo's house (and others, I'm sure), they put the hobbits farther away from the camera than Gandalf (and lined everything up juuuuuuust right), so they look smaller.

The castle is very well-done, but the trick was a little too obvious in the other buildings (to me, anyway, but I've a background in architecture so I guess I'm more likely to notice such things).

[richardb]

Here's the site you asked for:

Disney's Hidden Secrets (http://www.hiddenmickeys.org/Secrets.html)

It is part of the larger Hidden Mickeys (http://www.hiddenmickeys.org/HiddenMickey.html) site.

These are lists of "Disney Secrets" about every apect of the park(s) you can think of, reported by fans and verified (or corrected or denied) by other fans. Many of the fans are employees at the parks themselves.

If you click on "Main Street" and then on "Refreshment Corner/Carnation Corner Cafe," you can read the following:
1. Main street does have vents at street level that blow scents of whatever your passing by onto the street. It was actually one of Walt's ideas. Main street does have scents pumped into the street from the Candy Palace. In the summer, you can smell vanilla and in the winter, peppermint. Walt wanted peppermint coming out at Christmas time. This is not done as a marketing ploy, however. It is done in the spirit of Disney, providing you with the best possible experiences in sight, sound, and in this case, smell.
REPORTED: Eric Basaker 14 APR 96
CONFIRMED: Darryl Reed 19 APR 96
CONFIRMED: Jim Goings 11 JUN 96
if you're walking down Main Street on the left side of the street going towards the center of the park, you may or may not notice a specific scent. This scent is different in winter and summer. In the winter, you might sense a light hint of mint in the air. During the summer you might sense the smell of chocolate. There is a small vent near the Penny Arcade which emits these smells. However, these scents are very light, almost subliminal.
CONFIRMED: jeff hanson 27 OCT 96
Outside of the candy shop, they pump the smell of vanilla into the street, except at Christmas, when it is peppermint.
CONFIRMED: Cary Kirby 09 DEC 96
I can confirm that the candy store on the left hand side of main street (as you enter) does have a fan system which purposely blows the candy "smells" out onto main street to intice would-be customers to buy.
CONFIRMED: Kim 16 FEB 99
CONFIRMED: anon 28 MAR 99
CONFIRMED: AprilDecember 12 JUN 99 White Cookie Background 120x60
The popcorn and cotton candy smells come from the vendors - it is not artificial. In fact, the only smell that is piped in is the Cookie smell by the bakery.
UPDATE: Holly 23 JUL 99
CONFIRMED: Kirk 21 JUL 99
CONFIRMED: Erin Deal 18 JAN 00
CONFIRMED: anon 07 AUG 00
Our town car driver told us that on somewhere on Main street the Popcorn you smell, is actually artificial and is being pumped out through vents along the way.
CONFIRMED: denise keller 29 NOV 00
The scent of vanilla/peppermint definitely comes from BOTH the Candy Palace and the Gibson Girl Ice Cream Parlor. I used to work at DL and on our first day of training we did a walk-through of the park and our guide pointed it out to us, explaining that the scent is pumped in from both places. If you look down, you can see the vents where other shops only have paint.
CONFIRMED: Sarah 01 AUG 01

Notice halfway through it is reported in July 99 that the only "piped in" smell is "the Cookie smell by the bakery" and this is confirmed three times most recently in August 2000.

[Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor
And I am a former Disney Employee.




Ah ha! You're in on it too. Admit it! :D


YES! YES! IT'S TRUE! I ADMIT IT!

IT'S ALL A PLOT!

But you're too late!! HA-HA-HA!

Resistance is futile.

You will be Mouse-similated.













Ready? Let's begin.

Repeat after me:

It's a Small World,
After All!
It's a Small World,
After All!
It's a Small World,
After All!
It's a Small World,
After All!
It's a
Small,
Small
World.

Brains turning to mush now?

GOOD! :D

Now put on these...ears!

[smiling bandit]

Heck, the guy should be drawn and quartered just for pumping out all those crappy direct-to-video sequels over the last decade...

To be fair, some of them were actually pretty good.

This is just my personal experience, but my family tends to linger at the entrance to a park. Deciding what we're going to do first. And yes, you can shop everywhere, so it's ok to pass up the shops in the beginning, they'll get you later on or when you leave.

I'm afraid I've noticed most people zip right on in, and are happy to do so. I mean, hey, if you just arrived the Magic Kingdom, do *you* want to try and plan things out right in front or are you gonna rush in like a madman? :D

Perhaps the word evil is a little strong, but I was refering to the fact that Walt Disney wanted to make a park for everybody. Now it's a place only for the middle to upper class and Disney is a huge money making behemoth.

A lot of people have been questioning Eisner's moves, too. However, I should point out that even lower-income poeple can probably well afford a Disney vacation if they plan right and take advantage of the many deals and opportunities available. It's all a matter of work and planning.

My family was hardly wealthy, but we went to Disneyworld many times when I was younger. We watched for all kinds of specials and used every deal we could get.

Big tip: go in the off season and get major discounted hotel rooms off-property, or try Fort Wilderness.

[sghoul]

I'm afraid I've noticed most people zip right on in, and are happy to do so. I mean, hey, if you just arrived the Magic Kingdom, do *you* want to try and plan things out right in front or are you gonna rush in like a madman?

Well, last few times I have been, the entrance is VERY crowded. They have all these Mickey statues that celebs have decorated that people look at. Not to mention Disney has special spots to take pictures with Characters. Many of these are right in the front of main street. So, even more crowd.


As to those of you who think Disney is on par with other parks, you are entitiled to your opinion, as am I. I have been to every Six Flags, both Busch Gardens, Kinds Island/Dominion, Cedar point (many times), both Universals (And Islands of adventures, and plenty of smaller parks like Oprey Land, Carowins, Kennywodd and the like. On top of that, My family had anual passes to disney through my entire teenaged life (going 5+ times a year). Disney has gone downhill in my estimation.

[International Playboy]

I don't know if this is what Disney uses for their aromas, but I came across this website yesterday at another board:

Enviroscent (http://www.envirodine.com/enviroscent.htm)

[BMalion]

Walt Disney wanted to make a park for everybody.


Tell that to Nikita Kruschev.

[Diceman]

Heck, the guy should be drawn and quartered just for pumping out all those crappy direct-to-video sequels over the last decade...
To be fair, some of them were actually pretty good.
You know what they say: Even a broken clock is right twice a day :)

[jayjay]

Tell that to Nikita Kruschev.

Snoped (http://www.snopes.com/disney/parks/nikita.htm)!

Unca Walt never refused to allow Kruschev to visit the park. It was the Premier's security detail that refused to allow it.

[BMalion]

Snoped (http://www.snopes.com/disney/parks/nikita.htm)!

Unca Walt never refused to allow Kruschev to visit the park. It was the Premier's security detail that refused to allow it.


It was a joke.

[jayjay]

It was a joke.

Then you needed a smiley. There are more than enough people out there who do believe that Disney faced off against the big bad Russian that, on this subject at least, deadpan won't cut it in print.

Of course, if the smackie smiley was alive, I'd be posting that, too. :)

[BMalion]

Tell that to Nikita Kruschev.


:)


Ok now? ;)

[jayjay]

:)


Ok now? ;)

PERfect! :D