PDA

View Full Version : MiceAge 4/28: No more "extra hour" for shopping



Darkbeer
04-28-2003, 12:11 PM
http://www.miceage.com/allutz/al042803a.htm

In Al Lutz latest column, he reports that Disneyland now closes the Main Street stores at park closing.


Effective Monday, the stores along Main Street USA will no longer be open for one hour after advertised Park closing "for your shopping convenience." The Main Street stores will now do a "soft close" at the normal Park closing time, meaning they will shut their doors when the rest of the Park closes and let the shoppers still inside finish their shopping without letting any new shoppers in.

This same tactic will be used for the stores in the California Adventure (DCA) main entrance plaza (Engine Ears Toys and Greetings from California) when the park closes. The Parkwide spiels heard in both Parks at closing time will be changed, and will now instruct visitors that the World of Disney store in Downtown Disney will "remain open for an additional hour for your shopping convenience".

So, now the park closes at 11 PM on peak summer days instead of Midnight, and you can't shop inside the park after closing. A loss of 2 hours....

There is also a picture of the new Space Mountain rocket.

merlinjones
04-28-2003, 12:24 PM
This is one of those decisions they'll reverse in about two weeks after the mob at World of Disney becomes unreasonable.

DisneyFan25863
04-28-2003, 12:45 PM
Originally posted by merlinjones
This is one of those decisions they'll reverse in about two weeks after the mob at World of Disney becomes unreasonable.

Yep, I agree


BTW: Congrats to HBTF for having her letter put in! http://www.herron-family.com/images/coolfez.GIF

lazyboy97O
04-28-2003, 12:49 PM
WOW!!!!:eek: :eek: :eek:
Disney is going to keep people from buying stuff!!!???

The rocket doesn't really look different, and I can't comment on the old design with speakers. I am also glad to see that Disney is going to reopen Sub Voyage, I was really upset when it closed. Maybe if I'm lucky they'll reopen 20,000 Leages at WDW so I can enjoy subs w/o having to go all the way to CA.

Morrigoon
04-28-2003, 01:06 PM
I'm glad to see they're finally going to keep WOD open like the ought to (it's RIGHT by the TRAMS!). I don't have a problem with Main Street closing at closing time (though there's better variety there), BUT...

I am exceedingly upset that they close the park earlier. It's not like they're (DL anyway) lacking in attendance!

bluepearl
04-28-2003, 02:20 PM
Morrigoon: What do you mean open like they ought to? WOD's open til 12AM Fridays and Saturdays (Sundays usually close at 10 in the off-season, but closes at 12 during peak), and closes at 10PM during the weekdays, when Disneyland closes at 8PM. Or do you mean extending its operating hours by perhaps an hour during the weekend?

Even if that wasn't what you meant, I thought about it and a lot of WOD CMs would be scheduled to work as late as 3AM. Right now, with 12AM closings, closing regular (vested) CMs get scheduled to 2AM, most closing runners get scheduled til 2:30AM, and a handful of more runners are scheduled to 3:30AM just to get the store ready for the next day. I know that an extended operating hour wouldn't happen, but it was just something I thought about.

I read the update just right now and I thought about the crowds that'll swarm into the store at closing time. :shudder:

Tref
04-28-2003, 02:56 PM
I agree, there is NO WAY this one will stick. Its just ludicrous. Speaking for my family, I know that precious last hour to be when they get down to some serious purchases. Without it they'd be leaving DL empty handed --- which, on the other hand, may not be the worst of things.

I just wish I could be there to see the faces of the throngs of angry guests & crying children as they are told that they're "too late." This is classic bad Disney. We should all take a moment to appreciate the absolute largeness of this beautiful error. You can say this much about the current organisations recent decisions -- they are consistent.

I remain,

scaeagles
04-28-2003, 03:10 PM
I wonder, if perhaps, this might be tied to the number of attractions missing in TLand or the general lack of attractions in DCA. If they take away the after hours shopping, more people have to shop at other times, lessing the numbers of riders at any given time. Now I could be wrong - I personally have never stayed for the late shopping times. Are the ships usually crowded then?

Ace
04-28-2003, 03:27 PM
Can't you get almost all of the stuff you get on Main Street at WOD? I mean, not the Ornaments or Glass things, but most of the clothing and toys, which is probably what they sell most of anyway (stuff from the Emporium).

merlinjones
04-28-2003, 04:01 PM
One thing I really hate about Walt Disney World is the manipulative hours things are available (no breakfast anywhere on property after 10am, no dinner at the Magic Kingdom after 9pm, etc.) as they try to herd you around at their convenience (kinda the opposite of why you go to a resort). It only works there because they have a semi-captive audience. It will never work at DL. Shooed out of the park? Too many people in the World of Disney? The locals will just go home.

innerSpaceman
04-28-2003, 04:46 PM
Forget the shopping times! How can you properly end a Disneyland day without the reassuring tones of the announcement that Main Street will remain open an additional hour for your shopping convenience?!!? It's a Disneyland mainstay in an idiom as tradtional as "Disneyland is your Land."

This is a travesty.

Now, there has been many a Sunday when I have wondered at the arcane logic behind WoD closed up at the same time as Disneyland (and apparently, per Bluepearl, this is only on a Sunday) - but the absolute idiocy of believing that the guest impusle that drives those lucrative last-minute Main Street purchases won't be lost by the time they reach Downtown Disney is astounding.

They are shooting themselves in the foot with this one!

merlinjones
04-28-2003, 04:54 PM
And the people who walk to the left upon exit - - to the Timon trams and shuttles - - won't bother to go to DTD at all.

Polar33
04-29-2003, 12:12 AM
I heard the new announcement tonight and was a bit shocked as I was totally expecting to hear the normal announcement. I figured that there was some event or something that they wanted to do a hard close for tonight. Yet, an hour after the park closed, even though nothing was open there were still quite a few people left on Main Street.

I'm hoping that with grad nites coming up and the hard closes that typicaly come with the grad nites that this is just someones idea of making closings more consistant. I certainly can't imagine this continuing through the summer. Does anyone else see the irony in closing the shops during their busiest hour to save money?

Tigertail777
04-29-2003, 01:21 AM
I am here to tell you right now, that emphatically NO, WOD does NOT have the same stuff even in toys. I looked in tons of shops for those cute little diecast ride vehicles in July, WOD had literally only a handful of only certain ones and it didnt look like it had been re-stocked in a long time, the only place I found most of them was the good 'ol emporium on main st, even fantasyland didnt have them anywhere. And if you want a good selection of candy, you HAVE to get it at Main st., or there was one store in DCA with a goodly selection. And get this: "Off the page" in DCA is the ONLY place I could find any postcards with Walt actually on them (and they were twice the price of all other cards, but I bought one of each for my wall anyways). Plus Main st, was the only place I could find any good selection of pins. WOD despite its size, doesnt have room to stock EVERYTHING, and seems to only stock general merchandise, nothing too themed to any part of DL, and not a very good selection of anything.

They are SO big time shooting themselves in the foot with this, I wonder if thats why Rasulo is staying in the background, is he waiting for the crap to hit the fan? This is really going to cause a huge backlash of new problems, and tidal waves of guest complaints.

Sophie832
04-29-2003, 02:56 AM
I tell ya, it's a sad, sad day when a person can't get an ice cream after midnight on Main St. I guess I should've seen this coming, though, when a bunch of us were kicked out of Coke Corner into the pouring rain at exactly midnight on Rod's last Saturday night before his current hiatus. It was the beginning of the end...

Wizard69
04-29-2003, 09:16 PM
Went today. DCA closed at 6pm today and all the stores EXCEPT Greetings and Engine Ears was closed which is usually the norm. So maybe they are not enforcing that rule yet?

ryguy
04-29-2003, 10:06 PM
Didnt DL used to be open till 1 am, I remember huring to the neon cactus trying to beat the last call, right after the park closed.

wonderful
04-29-2003, 11:04 PM
Just hear me out on this...
One thing that has been seriously lacking over the last decade is the attention to regular maintenance and the regular painting of the Main Street facades. It will be nice to give the crew that extra hour (more like two, really) to get that done. Besides, for those who claim the Main Street thing is a "tradition" I don't belive it has been around for more than five or six years and I, personally, think it is a step in the right direction. Why? Well...
The "Main Street Hour" was always a move based on the "bottom line"-- what many on the net, rightly, chide Disney for paying too much attention to. It was not a "service" nor was it a "convenience", but it is apparent that many have bought into that. Think about this...
In the olden days, Guests would end the night with a parade, a last attraction, or a last show. A few might have ended with a nice meal at the Bayou or the Tahitian terrace. In all of these scenarios there's a "last impression" that will last...
In the days of the "Main Street Hour" many, many children's last memory of Disneyland is a long line, a mad crowd of tired Guests waiting to buy last minute, impulse items, and a shop full of "we can't afford that... we spent enough money today." I feel for those kids. I grew up knowing that my night would end with the Electrical Parade or a last ride on the Steam Train. THAT is a tradition, "shopping" is not a tradition, it is an activity for a mall... and while I'm at it, might I point out...
There IS a mall, just outside! Not only with WOD, but with a slew of eateries and other places to shop, if, indeed, the night MUST end with shopping...
I believe that Disneyland is a business, but first and formost it is a "show"... the movie theater doesn't sell popcorn AFTER the feature and it is only right that Disneyland does not cheapen itself by doing so.
That's my two cents.

Polar33
04-29-2003, 11:24 PM
Wonderful, although I would love to believe that they are closing the shops early to get things worked on I don't see that as the case. The park isn't really clearing of guests any faster then when the shops stayed open, and the bulk of the third shift crews don't usually show up ontill around 11PM at the earliest anyway. Of course both of those issues could easily be fixed if someone would just take the initiative to do it. It would be nice to see some work done on Main Street in the hours after it closes (and not in the hours after it opens).

Has anyone other than me heard the new announcement? I heard it again today and part of it sounds like it got cut off to early. I was just wondering if anyone else noticed, or is it just my imagination.

Germboy
04-30-2003, 01:34 AM
If I wanted to go to the WOD store, I'd go to the mall the following day. Better yet, I'd go online and look for WOD's website. MANY things on Main St. cannot be bought at WOD.

And yes, DL used to be open until 1 AM during the summer, if I remember correctly.

bossysheryl
04-30-2003, 06:34 PM
DL was open until 1 am thru most of the summer (less Grad Nites) from about 1976 (the bicentennial year is the first year I remember rushing around like a crazy fiend, trying to get on the Matterhorn just ONE MORE TIME) right up until the summer before DCA opened. It wasn't uncommon from the time it premiered until just last year for there to be 3 Fanstamic shows--9 pm, 10:30, and 11:30 pm. I remember the first summer Indy was open riding it 3 times running, without even unloading the car, during the 10:30 Fantasmic and then going to the 11:30 show.

I believe that the "Shopping Hour" as my mom calls it, started as a result of the popularity of Electrical Parade, sometime between 1975 and 1979. I know it has to be by 1979, because that was the first time my best friend's mom let her join us on a family vacation, and we didn't get back to the campground until after 3 and my mother had the cops there....oh my. Anyone remember Anaheim Junction? You can still see back stage, behind Toon Town from the top of the parking structure. That was a great campground!