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WDW Compendium
In the spirit of the season, this week's article will stay as positive as
I can make it. And in truth, it's not much of a stretch to stick with just
the good news, because even here in WDW, where complaints could legitimately
be made about staleness, status quo, and falling standards, there are always
new things, Cast Members trying their hardest, and people still having one
heck of a good time here, all things considered. I've seen some arguments
online lately that Walt Disney World doesn't lack for operational excellence
-- they know how to "execute" -- but they currently lack vision, especially
from the top echelons.
Today's topics are all about operations, and in this sense, I agree with
the theory of the parks that they have learned how to really maximize things
from an operational perspective. Guest-friend tweaks continue unabated (if I
but had time to spell out every minor tweak! I'm in love with the much
shorter route for FastPass loading at Big Thunder we saw this week, for
instance, or consider the factoid that they roll out special
holiday-inspired masks for coloring at Epcot only for a few weeks a year.
And that's only naming a couple of the dozens of new ideas they try every
month around here.)
Osborne Refracted
Just when you think they couldn't enhance the Osborne lights any more,
they've been making available special paper glasses which refract the light
from the Osborne display into rainbow prisms and double- or triple- images.
The effect is… trippy.
You're not seeing things, after all.
The Osborne lights have always been photogenic in and of themselves. But
if you take this great display and throw in a visual effect, you get
something completely different.
One scene on a side street before, and
after, donning the glasses.
It's a fast, inexpensive way for Disney to make the display new all over
again, especially for repeat visitors (and, ahem, us locals) who have seen
it already. In past years previous versions of these glasses filled your
view with flying angels.
Mickey pops out.
To be honest, I forgot to check if these glasses are for sale, but they
are offered for free to annual passholders as the "Youse Guys" store on the
Big City street. It's customer-friendly to the most loyal of the customers,
something I would expect at Disneyland but not Walt Disney World, where the
base of annual passholders is orders of magnitude smaller.
Merry Christmas!
There may be one other tweak this year: a new song. Is it March of the
Wooden Toys? Hard to know for sure when my memory is incomplete and there
are no words to the song, or indeed a track list somewhere in the park! And
it seems to me that the lights are now dancing every other song, much more
frequently than had been the case the past two years. This assuredly helps
with crowd control and guest flow. As I said, they tweak and tweak, and
eventually they get it right.
It takes a wide-angle lens to capture two
streets at once.
And it is my imagination, or was there less snow this year? Normally,
that would be cause for griping, but the snow was actually TOO prolific in
past years. Either due to wind or intentional cutback this year, on the day
of my visit the snow seemed more manageable, a hint and wisp rather than a
deluge, which was fine with me. Too much soap in the eyes (or the camera
equipment) does not a fun time make, my five year old's opinion
notwithstanding. |
