On Friday, Sept. 13, 2013, Disney’s Hollywood Studios had a Limited Time Magic event called “Unleash the Villains” that allowed the evil of the Disney World take over the park for the night. This event was met with much fanfare and a ton of criticism as well, and Doctor Disney would like to give his thoughts on the event and the negativity that seemed to come its way.
First of all, let me say that everyone is entitled to their opinions of the event and that is no problem. I’m not saying anyone is wrong, but merely giving my thoughts and opinions of “Unleash the Villains” as well. Just want it to be known that I’m not coming down on anyone that thought negatively of the event nor do I think they were wrong.
“Unleash the Villains” was a lot more crowded than I ever could have imagined. I’m saying that right off the bat.
The night was intended to be one night only (more thoughts on that later this week) because it was a Limited Time Magic happening. It was not meant to be for DVC or APs or WDW Resort guests. Like all other Limited Time Magic events – if you could make it, great. If not, you missed out.
But back to the crowds. There were more people than I believe anyone expected, even Disney.
Some people are saying that Disney planned the event poorly and that there should have been more Cast Members working it and things should have been better, been better, been better.
I’ll admit that the crowds caused the most trouble. Not because they were unruly or anything, but they were so large. Disney could not have expected a crowd of this size. Maybe they should have, but sometimes people make mistakes…it happens.
Everywhere I walked on that night, there were Cast Members. Those CMs were also instructing, directing, and doing everything they could to keep things orderly. Managers were also all over the place trying to help and keep things civil and together.
In some places, order was to be had. Such as over at the Villains In Vogue store for the event merchandise. The few times I walked over there and in; CMs were holding guests in an orderly line outside and would allow more in when some exited. They also provided the option to purchase merchandise online if you didn’t want to wait.
Around 9:00 p.m., there was still merchandise available.
Now, around Echo Lake where the three Disney Villains meet-and-greets were located, it was chaotic yet CMs were still trying. It was just that lines were incredibly long and it wasn’t like normal meet-and-greets where they were going to cut off the lines since it was just a one-night happening.
In front of the stage for the Villains dance party, it was even more crowded, but Cast Members were everywhere I went directing traffic, keeping it flowing, and helping those that needed it.
Was it perfect? No.
Was it more crowded than expected? Yes.
Was it still an incredible time and a lot of fun? Yes!
Everyone that I know personally loved it. They wish it could have been longer and more than one night and the crowds hadn’t been so bad, but they still loved it as did I.
I fully understand all of the complaints that came about due to the “Unleash the Villains” event, but not everything is expected to go perfectly…even from Disney. Things happen and they aren’t always put together as well as they should be or unexpected things just end up not going as many hoped.
Improvements can be made and will need to be made before another event like this happens at Disney’s Hollywood Studios…I’m not disagreeing with anyone there. Most importantly, something has to be done about the entrances into DHS as well before another huge event goes down.
Still, it wasn’t the worst event I’ve ever been to and not the worst I’ve ever been to at Disney either.
I’m also sincerely sorry for those that didn’t enjoy. I hate that for anyone and wish it could have been more fun for you and something that ended up being as great a night for you as it was for me and so many others.
Remember…Disney didn’t even have to do this event at all and it was a one-night special. And it was great.
I wasn’t able to attend but hopefully Disney will look at this as maybe a second offering in the future. Maybe like the answer to MNSSHP. They could do 13 nights of this and really make it spectacular. The desire for it is there. Just like Jack and Sally this year at the Halloween Party, they saw based on the lines last year at the Frankenweenie event that there was definitely a desire to have Jack and Sally on the East Coast. Just a thought.
I truly believe that this will happen again…or something like it. At least, I hope so.
It’s interesting how two people can be at the same event and have completely different experiences. I was told some pretty crazy things that had us happy we went to Universal that day instead. The traffic was brutal enough and we saw several very unhappy looking guests marching through the grass around CBR. (I think that’s where we were anyway! Whatever the roads are from Pop, turning right towards Downtown Disney. This is why my husband does the driving!) I’ve read about someone forcing open a bus on the road?? Super crazy! Heard anything about something like this for the future yet? The few cast members I spoke to about it all claimed it was a test of sorts. It would be nice!
I’ve heard that it could be turned into something else in the future as well.
And agreed, everyone had different experiences even though we were all in the same spot. I understand the complaints and issues, and that was why I made it a point to address them. But I still had a great time.
Just hope this turns into something new and returning.
Methinks you need to go back to medical school if he’s defending the excuse that Disney could not have planned for this and didn’t expect the crowds to be that big.
Personally, I was shocked at the size of the crowds but after reading more, esp. about the crowds at the ToT 10-miler and how unorganized that was, Disney definitely should have been ready for a BIG crowd, esp. considering MK was closing early due to a MNSSHP night.
It’s not that Disney couldn’t necessarily plan for it. I don’t think they DID plan for it to be as big as it was. Yes, they were prepared for a big crowd and that was evident by the amount of CMs working that night and the way things were set up. But personally, I didn’t expect the immense size of the crowd either. I was expecting a lot of people, but not of this proportion.
But they were scrambling to get CMs in the afternoon. They didn’t plan for anything of any size at all. Esp. considering DHS is a very small park (and closing a large portion off for fireworks to shove everyone into an even smaller space) And, as I said above, they had experienced something very similar at the ToT 10-miler.
Of course they’ll do it again next year! It was a huge success according the numbers! However, I’m pretty sure you can plan to pay for it in the future, as with the MK Halloween and Christmas party evenings… They’ll close the park early and manage to charge everyone $50-60 to attend… If there’s an additional dollar to be made, Disney will manage to do it!
And that’s what I think should be done. I think this could be DHS’ answer to Mickey’s Not So Scary and get Halloween spread out to the other parks.
IT WAS A NIGHTMARE!!
The workers could not even get in. Those who were working were forced to stay 3-5 extra hours because their replacements could not find parking.
Disney embarrassed themselves with their greed on this one. They are rapidly becoming known more for their greed versus their parks. They are becoming a shell of their old self.
It not only happens in events like this, but it happens around the holidays and at the marathon.
How did Disney embarrass themselves with greed on this event? It was a free event for those that bought park admission and went to the park.
FREE for those who BOUGHT? How funny is that. It was FREE. You just had to pay.
When you oversell without any regard to people, that is greed. When you act irresponsibly by carelessly looking exclusively at the bottom line and not in people’s eyes, that is greed.
Just like the marathon.
Just like many of the holidays.
Rob, I think you did not understand the Doc. The park was open like any other day. If you had a park pass you could enter. This was not a hard ticket event so your uninformed rambling rant is moot. If you want to argue your point for the hard ticket events, go a head, but they are not valid in this case.