Magic, Memories, and You to be Replaced

[MadEye]

Probably, enjoy your all year Haunted Mansion, space mountain, and Small world!

I do sort of wish they would consider doing an overlay or two at WDW, but I can understand the reasoning behind why they don't...

One reason: stupidity. They know that Jack/NBC is one of the biggest sellers here (they put merchandise from NBC in the Emporium not too long ago).

[Amy]

Probably, enjoy your all year Haunted Mansion, space mountain, and Small world!

I do sort of wish they would consider doing an overlay or two at WDW, but I can understand the reasoning behind why they don't...

One reason: stupidity. They know that Jack/NBC is one of the biggest sellers here (they put merchandise from NBC in the Emporium not too long ago).

But haven't they mentioned that with so many foreign guests, they don't want to have classic attractions altered, and plus other countries might not celebrate some of the same holidays?

[Wizzard419]

It's not stupidity, it's logical actually. Overlays seem to be targeted more towards local audiences, to get that extra visit or two out of them and the merch sales, rather than tourists.

There is also another possible reason they don't lump the holidays in, since (I think) florida is part of the bible belt, they are known for not being fans of other faiths nor having their own holidays "profaned" by pop culture. Doing it in CA and JPN, not too bad, do it in their backyard and you may see miles of protestors holding up signs showing us their bingo wings.

[MadEye]

It's not stupidity, it's logical actually. Overlays seem to be targeted more towards local audiences, to get that extra visit or two out of them and the merch sales, rather than tourists.

There is also another possible reason they don't lump the holidays in, since (I think) florida is part of the bible belt, they are known for not being fans of other faiths nor having their own holidays "profaned" by pop culture. Doing it in CA and JPN, not too bad, do it in their backyard and you may see miles of protestors holding up signs showing us their bingo wings.

Most of the tourists want NBC as an overlay here from what I've heard/read. And judging by the amount of guests who are not from the area (hell, most aren't even from this country) who visit WDW, I doubt that's a reason.

[Wizzard419]

You never know, they do have the whole "war on christmas" thing each yeah. It's probably mostly the money though.

[MadEye]

You never know, they do have the whole "war on christmas" thing each yeah. It's probably mostly the money though.

It's TDO who is in charge. Only reason we are getting TLM, the Be Our Guest restaurant and the Mine Train in an expanded Fantasyland are because Burbank told them it was happening and are footing the bill. Hell, it's why we've gotten half-assed Space and Big Thunder Mountain refurbs. TDO cut the budget as they began or in the middle of them.

On the other hand, after thinking about it for a while, with Small World and Haunted Mansion being people eaters, having just one down in the busiest park in the world no matter what time of year, I can see why they wouldn't want either closed. I remember how ticked off guests were (most don't look at what is open and what isn't before they get to WDW...) when they wanted to ride HM when it was down for it's update for a few months back in 07.

Then again, things have been breaking here and there HM and Small World could use some TLC, even if it is for however long it takes for the overlay.

[Wizzard419]

That was another reason given, considering that a WDW visitor typically comes once every several+ years (or just once) having stuff closed is always bad, as opposed to a DLR guest who can come and go as they please.

The overlay used to take a month to install and 3ish week to remove, now it seems to be 2 weeks each way, so they have really sped it up.

[dstrawn9889]

That was another reason given, considering that a WDW visitor typically comes once every several+ years (or just once) having stuff closed is always bad, as opposed to a DLR guest who can come and go as they please.

The overlay used to take a month to install and 3ish week to remove, now it seems to be 2 weeks each way, so they have really sped it up.

i would assume that the stramlining is the newer software and connections for the overlay AA's already programmed and tuned, so only small tweaks are required when they plug them in in their positions. I imaging it was a tee-total biatch to fist interweave NBC into the original layout and set a fresh stack of DACs just for the overlay. one would expect they did a DACs upgrade afterward, to run the original mansion on the newer server stack...

[Wizzard419]

I don't think it was that actually, I think a major part of it was simply that they figured out ways to streamline the overlay install after the first year (each year it got faster and faster and now they seem stuck at the 2ish week mark). The first year took at least a month to do it since it was all so new, now the longest part (the gingerbread thingy) takes a few months but the bulk of it is done in the kitchen.

The fastest changeover, if I recall, is Space Mountain. It only takes a day or two (it might even be overnight between 10/31 and 11/1) to go back to normal since the only hardware that can be seen in the ride are the screens, everything else is just audio files and LEDs.