"Unleash the Villains" mayhem - Disney Parks Blog up if you want to comment

[BRG226]

Sorry if I missed it, but which villains are out for meet and greets? Are there actually 13?

Thanks!

 

[momrek06]

There wasn't any pins. I asked this morning at 9:00. They had special hats/headbands and A shirt. That's it.

As I posted I saw that on the DHS Villians Party FB page.

 

[tlenzendorf]

I'm wondering with all the reports of the crowds and such, was this event open to Cast Members? Maybe all the ones who had off + the excitement of a non-ticketed event to the general public?

I went to Leap Year Celebration and the crowd level was fine until the other parks closed and the Cast Members all got off work! When we left, the wait times were insane (over an hour) at 2:30am!

Just wondering?

I'm pretty sure. My bf had a bad encounter with some quite intoxicated ones at the Tune Inn. Girls from H&V were over meeting with their friends in the Tune Inn on their breaks talking about their plans for when they were done.

 

[ILoveToRun]

so out of this great idea that turned into what seems to be the worst mess.(mabey the worst yet).....please tell me someone had fun or got the pics you wanted......

I had fun but I also got there early, at 11:30, had an ADR at 5, got some good sit down spots for the Hades intro and the fireworks and we had no interest in the characters. We left right after the fireworks with a bus to POFQ where everyone had their own seat... there were even empty seats! We are back now and have been for a while.

It was worth it.

It also helped to find out the shirt was going online on Tuesday.

 

[livndisney]

no problem if your a resort guest or a AP holder...

No, JUST for the locals. Year round locals not the ones that live in NY (or some where else) and then Florida part of the year.

 

[tlenzendorf]

Someone asked about fun. Meh. MNSSHP was more fun last trip. Thank goodness we are at BW so we could walk back. I will never come back for another event like this one. Yesterday was a much better day. Hit every headliner at MK and Ep in less than a day not using a single FP. Including a 3 hour pool break.

 

[thunderbug548]

It was nuts! We left from the Tampa area right around 3 after we got the kids from school. Got to the parks around 4 and it was pretty empty still. Not long after that though everyone started pouring in. We waited for 25 min for the Backlot Tour. The BACKLOT!! Only for my children. My BFF was on her way (she had to wait longer to leave as her kids get out later). She checked into a hotel for the night and then tried to grab a bus. Took at least 30min or more for a DHS bus to show up and then over an hour to get to DHS.

We attempted to get near the stage but it was wall to wall people. No crowd control whatsoever. DH pointed to an empty area which was a walkway which eventually became part of the crowd as well. He put our dd on his shoulders and even SHE couldn't see the stage. Then they sent the villains out for M&G. I saw people chasing Oogie down. I had NO clue where we could find these villains. We hadn't walked around the lake prior so didn't realize the signs we saw were the M&G areas. When we did walk over that way, the line was wrapped all the way around the lake. At that point, my kids were tired, overwhelmed, hot and cranky and we left. We weren't the only ones either. The parking lot was crazy with there being only 2 lanes to leave out of one exit. Took us a while. We still saw lines of traffic trying to get in/near the park.

I kept checking my phone and got updates from a Disney Addict FB page I'm a member of. 3 hr waits due to traffic, DHS at capacity, parking at Epcot, masses of people walking to DHS from Epcot. I think the whole thing was poorly executed and there was no information or help out there. With the popularity of these villains, Disney really needs to think about a Villains area of the park, more M&G, character dining, etc.

 

[livndisney]

Someone asked about fun. Meh. MNSSHP was more fun last trip. Thank goodness we are at BW so we could walk back. I will never come back for another event like this one. Yesterday was a much better day. Hit every headliner at MK and Ep in less than a day not using a single FP. Including a 3 hour pool break.

This was our experience at Epcot today, very low crowds.

 

[momrek06]

Reading on the DL board the same situation is going on in DL as in WDW with the Villians event. Crowds crowds crowds. Eeeeeek!

 

[minnie mum]

So let me see if I've got this right: a party that celebrates evil and villains turns into a real nightmare......on Friday the 13th. Cue the Twilight Zone music. Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo

Anybody else seeing the irony? I guess it's easy for me to say, since I could just sit back with my computer... I truly do feel sorry for everybody that spent hours in traffic.

 

[CaffeinatedMama]

I just want to give HUGE props to John, driver of resort bus 513, because he was a rock star. He cut through other resorts and went down roads I've never been down and got us through that traffic in about 30 minutes. Guy sitting next to me said he had been in MK on Christmas Day when it hit capacity and that was nothing compared to tonight. It was gridlock. Our bus driver deserves a medal.

We got there at about 10 and lasted 45 minutes. It was a sea of humanity. I've never seen any park that packed. It was just nuts. Gave up, left, got back in line for bus. Bus line at 11 was horrible BUT the fireworks were the best I've ever seen. Ever. At least got a great view of those while waiting.

If there's one thing I think Disney should learn from tonight it's that people love the shiz out of villains. Need more villain events!!!

I have pics but I don't know how to post them from the phone app. Doh!

 

[teddygurl28]

Castmembers and families are there too, I know for a fact. And I don't think there's anything wrong with it.

Cast members and family have all the right to be there on the passer since it was not a hard ticket event

 

[AuroraRosesMom]

It took 45 minutes to get from Dolphin to the light turning toward HS (so not far at all,) then an officer blocked it off and instructed to park at Epcot and take a bus. I knew then it was going to be beyond crazy. We are AP holders and I had a feeling many of us would be flocking in today, but I did not anticipate this. We bailed and went to MK instead (which had positives and negatives, but the biggest plus was the zero wait times and smaller crowd.) I'm glad we had a really nice day at Epcot earlier today as well. I'm disappointed that we didn't get to go to Unleash the Villains, and I hope they do more in the future and in a way that is much better prepared.

 

[Bean786]

I see alot of complaining and the traffic was intense.. Took me 3 hours, but I had a great time.


Not that there's shouldn't be complaining because it was chaos but it was still fun

 

[GrimGrinningGhost01]

My wife and I were embarrassed for Disney. We had the worst experience. First there was the well documented traffic. Took us an hour but we got to park before event started. First thing we do is eat, which took awhile. Afterwords (9.00 pm) we decide to get Villain pics!. We get in a line by the American Idol Experience. A line Attendant walks up and we ask how this worked. She said she wasn't sure. She came back a minute later and gave us a roll call of the villains. Then said there are 3 available at a time and they rotate. when we get to the top of the line we can pick who we want of the 3. We wait, wait wait....I got out of line to get my wife some merch but everything was sold out for the most part. Came back line barely moved (it was going around the lagoon from American Idol, towards Hollywood Drive, then end at Gerts) 11PM we can see a light at the end of the tunnel but fireworks start. When it ends it pandemonium as people 'got in line' to watch fireworks and caused more delays. As we stay in line we get to the top! which then started a winding que AND we didn't get to choose apparently. The girl running the front of the line said 'I have no idea what is going on'. We asked a manager what was going on. 'We were waiting for 2 1/2 hrs and we are here but they are letting people cut us?!?' He said we were in the line for Malificent and they are getting in line for Bowling Hat Guy. I told him the girl running the line at the beginning said we get to choose one of the 3 that are available at that time when we get up here. He said "I don't know why she told you that...we are just as overwhelmed as you are" exact quote and walked away. The whole time we just wanted a pic with the Evil Queen. The girl came up and said Malificent will be out for the next 30 mins and would be done for the night and where we were was about 45 mins away. We got out of line...only to see that people were STILL lined up wrapping around the lagoon to American Idol. It's midnight!!!!! Why didn't a manager say at 10:30 to cut the line because there was no way they were going to get taken care of?!? Anyways I am exhausted and angry. I am the type of person who if I am dissatisfied with service I don't complain at all. That's how angry I was, seeing my wife so upset.....Embarrassing Disney!!!!

 

[GrimGrinningGhost01]

Sorry if I missed it, but which villains are out for meet and greets? Are there actually 13?

Thanks!

There were 13 Villains for the stage show (Plus Meg from Herc)

But the only ones you could meet and greet were Malificent, Evil Queen, Jafar, Oogie Boogie, Bowling Hat Guy, and the bad guy from Mulan.

 

[xApril]

We had a better experience than most.

Spent the afternoon at Magic Kingdom and left around 5pm to head to DHS. Got there around 6:30pm. We finally got in the lot and it was taking forever, so we jumped out of the car and walked to the park entrance while my mother parked the car. Wanted to grab some food before all the craziness began. Went to ABC Commissary but the line was looping back and forth, so we went to Backlot Express instead. Still quite busy over there but definitely moved faster than the Commissary would've.

After that, we headed over to the meet & greet area (was around 8pm at this point) and found out who was where. We found out the line we were by was Oogie Boogie/Jafar, so we got in that one. It took ages, but the characters finally came out shortly after 9pm. Just a huge cluster of people. People kept trying to cut us and it was just a hot mess. We just barely missed Oogie Boogie and pretty much everyone in line wanted him, so a bunch of us stepped to the side and waited. We finally got Oogie Boogie around 10:40 or so.

My mom ended up getting in line for Shan Yu/Evil Queen so we joined her and ended up getting Shan-Yu right before the fireworks. We caught them near American Idol. Decent view. Not so much for pictures, since the building was in them unless you zoomed in, but it was fine. Fireworks were delightful to watch.

Thought about joining Maleficent/Bowler Hat Guy's line, but they were giving out cards to e-mail Guest Services so they'd e-mail back with the character's photo and an autograph card since you were pretty much guaranteed to not make it, so we gave up on those characters for the night.

Afterwards, we went to Prime Time for water since most places were closed. Nobody was acknowledging my boyfriend at the bar, so my mom talked to a manager and we were given three small water bottles. With all the heat and clusters of people, you'd think they'd have had more places to get drinks around the lake. We then walked over to Toy Story. It had just opened back up, so we did that.

After we got off, we walked to the dance party area. Definitely not too bad of a crowd. We managed to get a picture with Cruella. Tried to get Ratcliffe, but he was heading back in. We spent the last 40ish minutes watching Mulch, Sweat, and Shears and then we got some pictures with the meet and greet backdrops before heading out to an empty parking lot.

I know of a few people who went to the lot and apparently went the wrong way and was told they'd have to get in the back of the line after waiting 2 hours in traffic so they just ended up leaving. Very happy with what we did get. Hopefully next time things get planned better because there didn't seem to be a lot of happy faces. :|

 

[::Snow_White::]

We had a decent time. We spent the morning at Epcot, rode attractions, not too crowded. Character hunted and ran into the stepsisters and some others there. Hit DHS around 3/4, got parking at the tail end of it, bought our villains ears JUST before it got insanely crowded. Lines for rides were pretty shorts, ate dinner and after we finished at Pizza Planet the line was out the door. Had a decent spot for the show, near the back but we could see the screen.

Lines for characters were insane, didn't stand in any as all we wanted was Cruella and Facilier. Spent most of our time tracking them down to hop into a picture at the dance party (and did, that was our crowning achievement). Rest of the time was spent waiting around, tried to get into TOT but shaft broke down after about 30 minutes of waiting. Sat on the curb a lot of the time, had a good spot for fireworks, they were amazing.

Ran out as fast as we could after fireworks, caught the first tram out, ran to our car, drove back to the apartments with little to no traffic. We were extremely lucky the entire night, but most of it was spent standing in hot humid crowds or sitting on the side of the street.

 

[pigletto]

After reading all of this the thing the strikes me the most is how awful this must have been for the castmembers. To be stuck out in that with unclear instructions, mobs of angry people, and no choice but to stand there and try to make it all work must have been horrendous.
You can't really blame them for that mess. I'm sure none of them made the decisions on how to run this party, or how many people to let in. They were just stuck trying to make sense out of someone elses poorly thought out plan.

I have neighbours who just took their kids for their first Disney trip ever this week. I've spent months helping them plan and telling them how wonderful Disney is. I desperately hope they were nowhere near this mess or I guarantee you they'll never go back.

 

[JDUCKY]

After reading all of this the thing the strikes me the most is how awful this must have been for the castmembers. To be stuck out in that with unclear instructions, mobs of angry people, and no choice but to stand there and try to make it all work must have been horrendous.
You can't really blame them for that mess. I'm sure none of them made the decisions on how to run this party, or how many people to let in. They were just stuck trying to make sense out of someone elses poorly thought out plan.

I have neighbours who just took their kids for their first Disney trip ever this week. I've spent months helping them plan and telling them how wonderful Disney is. I desperately hope they were nowhere near this mess or I guarantee you they'll never go back.

Makes one wonder if the planners/imagineers ever go to these events to see how well (or in this case how poorly) they planned things.