It’s hard to believe, but in 2019 DHS will have the most E-ticket attractions of any single park in Orlando, including the two Universal parks and SeaWorld. The 8 E-ticket attractions will be Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, Rock ‘n Rollercoaster, Star Tours, Toy Story Mania, Slinky Dog Dash, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, Millennium Falcon: Smugger's Run, and Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway.
The new immersive lands that Disney and Universal create call for large scale “experiences” and mostly disregard A, B, C, and D ticket attractions. Its not hard to understand why this is - if guests are going to shell out thousands of dollars for a once in a lifetime family vacation, the money they spend should translate into unforgettable experiences with higher end attractions.
Here’s something to ponder - are A, B, C, and D ticket attractions a thing of the past, particularly with the leading theme park operators in the theme park industry, i.e. Disney and Universal?
I think if you count simulators and roller coasters E tickets, then both Universal Parks and Magic Kingdom have it beat.
USF - 6 E-tickets - Despicable Me, Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit, The Mummy, Transformers, Gringotts and The Simpson’s Ride.
IOA - 7 E-tickets - Hulk, Spider-Man, Bluto’s, Dudley Do-Right’s, Kong, Jurassic River Adventure and HP Forbidden Journey.
Magic Kingdom - 6 E-tickets - PotC, Splash Mountain, Thunder Mountain, Haunted Mansion, 7 Dwarves and Space Mountain.
And head-to-head, I would say that DHS has better quality E-tickets than the other parks as well. That’s quite a turnaround for DHS!
USF 7 ... MIBAA is absolutely an E-TICKET!
One issue here is that the definition of E-ticket is somewhat subjective. By my count...
Magic Kingdom: 5 (Space, Splash, Thunder, Pirates, and Mansion)
Epcot: 4 (Mission: Space, Soarin, Test Track, Spaceship Earth)
Hollywood Studios: 7 (Rise of the Resistance, Smuggler's Run, Tower, Coaster, Star Tours, Midway Mania, Runaway Railway)
Animal Kingdom: 5 (Flight of Passage, Everest, Safaris, Dinosaur, Kali)
USF: 7 (Gringotts, Mummy, Simpsons, Transformers, Fast & Furious, Rip Ride Rockit, Men in Black)
IOA: 8 (Spider-Man, Forbidden Journey, Hulk, Kong, Jurassic Park, Dudley Do-Right, Popeye, Harry Potter coaster)
So while I would say DHS is the E-Ticket capital of Walt Disney World, I don't think it necessarily qualifies as the E-ticket capital of Orlando.
As for the second part of the question, I think A-D ticket attractions have their place and we'll continue to see them. They may not take the form of rides, but could also be walkthroughs or interactive experiences. While Galaxy's Edge does have two E-Ticket attractions, I think it will be more likely to see themed areas with one E-Ticket and a couple lesser attractions, like Pandora, Diagon Alley, and Cars Land. It's impossible for a park to survive on only headliners...there needs to be some supporting attractions to absorb the crowds and round out the offerings.
Gentlemen... how dare you. USF is home to the greatest attraction to hit Central Florida since those terrible closures at Sea World and Busch Gardens.
The Duff Brewery!!!!!
@RumbleMike ..... BGT is offering 2 complimentary beer samples every day in 2019 for their 60th anniversary celebrations, so USF hasn't quite got that market wrapped-up as your post alludes to .. !
@ Mr. Hummel: If you are going to count the Star Wars attractions at DHS you have to throw in Guardians and the rat at EPCOT.
TH, I am counting anything that is currently scheduled to open by the end of 2019, hence why those were excluded. If we extend the calendar to 2021, Epcot will be adding two more E-tickets, Magic Kingdom one (Tron), and Islands of Adventure possibly one more (rumored Jurassic World coaster). That said, those additional E-tickets don't dethrone DHS or IOA, they just bump MK and Epcot ahead of DAK.
AJ, you bring up a great point. Interactive experiences have become the new A-D tickets in theme parks today. Immersion has pushed lower tiered flat rides and spinners out of theme parks and replaced them with attractions and restaurants that advance the theme of their respective lands without breaking the illusion of being fully immersed in the Wizarding World, Pandora or Galaxy’s Edge. I’m not sure how I feel about this, it is what it is I guess.
I think once the new Galaxy's Edge attractions open, Star Tours will not be considered an e-Ticket. As it stands right now, Star Tours is a borderline D/E ticket, and its lines and popularity support that assessment. If 7DMT is considered a D-ticket, which is a consensus with most people, then SDD is most certainly a D-ticket as well, and is only Tier 1 right now because it brand new in a park devoid of attractions. I don't think we can call MMRR an E-ticket until we see what it's like. This is one of the most mysterious upcoming rides in the entire world. It could be a knockout, or it could be just a flash in the pan people eater to balance Star Wars crowds. I don't think there's enough information to properly categorize that attraction, and Disney continues to downplay it when compared to Galaxy's Edge, which make me think it will be more of a d-ticket than anything else.
I think the categorization of an attraction as an E-ticket not only depends upon the scope and quality of a given attraction, but also the rest of the attractions in a park. Is an attraction an e-ticket when there are a half a dozen other rides in a given park that guests are more interested in riding? Spoaceship Earth was considered an e-ticket when it debuted, but is now solidly a c-ticket. I don't think it's possible for there to be more than 5 true e-tickets in a given park, and every park needs to have lesser attractions to balance the crowds. Those once-vaunted e-tickets don't necessarily get worse, it's just that better attractions come along to push those great rides down the pecking order. FP+ already provides some insight into what Disney thinks would be e-tickets in the traditional sense with their tiering (RNRC was dropped from Tier 1 when TSL opened), and I think if Disney were issuing ticket books today, you would see no more than 4 or 5 attractions in any given park classified as e-ticket.
For reference in following up on Russell’s point, there were 8 official E-ticket attractions at the Magic Kingdom during the 1970s:
Pirates of the Caribbean
Jungle Cruise
Country Bear Jamboree
Haunted Mansion
Hall of Presidents
It's a Small World
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Space Mountain
If looking at them, through the eyes of the old ticket book content, my own ratings would be:
Slinky Dog Dash ?? My rating : "B ticket"..
(No ride that is completely in public space, visible for the public offride A-Z, has ever received a higher rating then "B" in the old system, except for one : Dumbo "C")
Twilight Zone Tower of Terror : "E"
Rock ‘n Rollercoaster : "D"
Star Tours "D"
Toy Story Mania "D" or "C" according to fan's madness or not..
Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance : proposed to be "E"
Millennium Falcon: Smugger's Run : proposed to be "E"
Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway : proposed to be "E"
...
Remember that for instance Peter Pan's Flight, has been "C" in the old classifications. Categories were set very discriminatory in the old times. Just popularity, was not enough to gain the 'ticket'.
Cheers
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By the way, Keith Schneider,
There were 6 opening date "E"'s :
Jungle Cruise
Haunted Mansion
It's a Small World
Tropical Serenade (Tiki Room)
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
The Mickey Mouse Revue
We can see even "E" ticket's do not stand the time. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Mickey Mouse Revue were both demolished.
Then, after opening date 2 were added,
Pirates of the Caribbean
Space Mountain
..and 3 changed category towards the end of the ticket book era:
Hall of Presidents upgraded LATER from "D" to "E"
Country Bear Jamboree was a "D", upgraded to "E" as well.
Tiki birds degraded from "E" to "D" !!
Hence, the flimsy historic reliablity of what should be called "E" and what "D" or even "C". (Everybody regards Peter Pan as a top ride)
Cheers
"Everybody regards Peter Pan as a top ride"
I don't agree there. I think it's recognized that it has an extremely limited capacity, and guests jockey to make sure they have a FP+ reservation or try to avoid it during the peak parts of the day because the line gets out of control. Peter Pan is not a "top ride" unless you look solely at the length of the line.
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Ehhh, Slinky Dog Dash is more along the lines of a D-Ticket rather than E. The rest sound about right.