Stupid Guest Tricks

I LUV Chip wrote:EB, I can understand that. lol Ever since I heard the joke about how the angel got on top of the tree, I haven't been able to do anything religious on top. It just seems wrong. :D:

This was my compromise:



Hey, Lilo called him her angel!!

BRWombat wrote:This was my compromise:



Hey, Lilo called him her angel!!

I LOVE it!! That would be perfect! LOL

Judy and I would have a Figment hand puppet with a silver pipe cleaner as a halo as the tree topper. Of course all the ornaments were either flamingos or Disney stuff.

dazyhill wrote:Thanks for the info on the model Bru. I go on eBay daily and I'll have to add this to my list of things to look up!
I have been putting off buying a Disney toy train and monorail. No room. :(

This is how mine ended up above my kitchen cabinets LOL

I can't believe the prices on all the retired stuff now- the switch station is going for 200+ mib! ACK!!! So are the Poly and Grand (the Contemporary seemed to be a lot more readily available when they were out)

Switchbeam 9 wrote:PRT would be interesting but can it load people very quickly? Is there going to be a bottle-neck at loading at MK for example?

It doesn't take much in the way of measurement to know that the post-fireworks exit at MK is the critical point in the WDW transportation system. Figure 50k guests/hour for an hour and a half or more.

People movers only move as fast as all the units on the systems can be loaded and unloaded. Loading people into such a vehicle is not as easy as it sounds at WDW. A lot of ECVs, lot of issues, lot of huge parties, lot of questions, lot of hesitation. etc.

Right, which is why the Study Group has pretty much decided that we need independent loading to achieve the desired capacity. This way, a slow-boarding group delays only themselves.

We've looked at lateral translators, "diagonal parking", and simply a massive single-ended terminal (among others). All have advantages and disadvantages, and we're working on numerical simulations to see if we can weed out the worst. Could use some help here, especially as we lack reliable data on theme park guest party boarding times.

But we believe, partly from faith and from the fact that we've not yet proven it impossible, that PRT has the potential to work at WDW, and if there then anywhere.

February wrote:This is how mine ended up above my kitchen cabinets LOL
I can't believe the prices on all the retired stuff now- the switch station is going for 200+ mib! ACK!!! So are the Poly and Grand (the Contemporary seemed to be a lot more readily available when they were out)

I wasn't prepared for the sticker shock either. It's not like the stuff is over 50 years old! I guess someone bought out the Character Warehouse or Property Control (Is this like DL's Company D ?).
On a related note (in terms of models) does anyone remember the Magic Kingdom playset that Sears sold back in 1988? That set is amazing! It's the Magic Kingdom Main Street and there were several accessories available,including a train and a horse-drawn streetcar. I came across some listings on eBay and was surprised how much that set and the accessories were going for. Someone was even selling replacement lights and decals.

dazyhill wrote:I guess someone bought out the Character Warehouse or Property Control (Is this like DL's Company D ?).

Yup, same concept, different names. Pity there isn't one corporation to keep things in sync....

On a related note (in terms of models) does anyone remember the Magic Kingdom playset that Sears sold back in 1988? That set is amazing! It's the Magic Kingdom Main Street and there were several accessories available,including a train and a horse-drawn streetcar. I came across some listings on eBay and was surprised how much that set and the accessories were going for. Someone was even selling replacement lights and decals.

Got that. Need to get it out and play with it some day, but floor space is sort of at a premium since I got my new (third) job.

Zazu wrote:It doesn't take much in the way of measurement to know that the post-fireworks exit at MK is the critical point in the WDW transportation system. Figure 50k guests/hour for an hour and a half or more.

Right, which is why the Study Group has pretty much decided that we need independent loading to achieve the desired capacity. This way, a slow-boarding group delays only themselves.

We've looked at lateral translators, "diagonal parking", and simply a massive single-ended terminal (among others). All have advantages and disadvantages, and we're working on numerical simulations to see if we can weed out the worst. Could use some help here, especially as we lack reliable data on theme park guest party boarding times.

But we believe, partly from faith and from the fact that we've not yet proven it impossible, that PRT has the potential to work at WDW, and if there then anywhere.

I would love to see it. Hate to see the monorail go away and I think it should stay at the SSL but the rest of the property can greatly benefit (with PRT serving the present MK bus depot). On the cutting edge was once important. Currently the cutting edge looks like the early 90s (CoP final scene). MK also has other very busy times, going into MK when Epcot closes at 9 and MK open until 1 or 2 EMH, and the fun two-way traffic of a party which are now very constant from August to January. Monorails do a great job here IMO. But then again I use a lot of mass transit and have a lot of experience with what is really really bad.

Switchbeam 9 wrote:I would love to see it. Hate to see the monorail go away and I think it should stay at the SSL but the rest of the property can greatly benefit (with PRT serving the present MK bus depot). On the cutting edge was once important. Currently the cutting edge looks like the early 90s (CoP final scene). MK also has other very busy times, going into MK when Epcot closes at 9 and MK open until 1 or 2 EMH, and the fun two-way traffic of a party which are now very constant from August to January. Monorails do a great job here IMO. But then again I use a lot of mass transit and have a lot of experience with what is really really bad.

There is a good argument to be made for keeping the monorail to connect the MK to the main parking lot, but that concept misses the main point of PRT -- that it's ONE system that does everything.

You see, big parking lots are needed only if you have a big transport system -- like the monorail or ferryboats -- to feed them. OTOH, with a PRT system, you can have lots of small parking lots, with each space being close to a small PRT station. This would permit the parking to be scattered all over the property, or concentrated at the permiter, or mushed together into one giant lot, and each party of guests would get personalized service from their car to their destination, and back again.

Many guests will drive to the MK lot because they like the monorail but hate the buses. (And this goes beyond just MiMs.) With PRT to take them from their hotel *building* directly to the gates of the park and back, this mode disappears, and with it much of the monorail traffic. Pull the monorails and it all disappears. Besides, I think most will fine the PRT as cool as the monorail, especially as it can be customized to spiel in their preferred language and remember where they started the day.

Lots of potential here, of the sort that the current MiMs system just scratches the surface of. Still need some solid numbers to build a proof of concept though.

Zazu wrote:Right, which is why the Study Group has pretty much decided that we need independent loading to achieve the desired capacity. This way, a slow-boarding group delays only themselves.

We've looked at lateral translators, "diagonal parking", and simply a massive single-ended terminal (among others). All have advantages and disadvantages, and we're working on numerical simulations to see if we can weed out the worst. Could use some help here, especially as we lack reliable data on theme park guest party boarding times.

But we believe, partly from faith and from the fact that we've not yet proven it impossible, that PRT has the potential to work at WDW, and if there then anywhere.

Well, they're getting real-world experience in off-line handicap load zones at the new Midway Mania...

-Rob