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Repeating main shows?


cltdad
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So I read in a Facebook group that the new thing on longer cruises is to run the main stage shows on 2 nights each and have no variety acts in the main theater? Is this accurate? I'd hate to pay for a 7 day on the Fantasy and have live entertainment on only 3 nights. I know I could go sort through the recent Navigators but figured someone here would be in the know.

 

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If you scroll down, you'll find that it is a cause of major complaints on this forum. DCL claims that they have not reduced the entertainment, just moved the variety acts to a different venue. However, the night club venues often fill to the point of having no seats available.

 

People have been complaining to DCL on their comment cards and thru other communication channels.

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I love DCL, but they do seem to be oblivious to the objections of long-time cruisers regarding the issue of repeating main shows in the Walt Disney Theatre. Initially, I wrote an email to customer services and received a non-answer to my concern with this new practice. Subsequently, I wrote an email to Christiaan Abbott (christiaanabbott@disney.com), a former Cruise Director and now Director of Entertainment Operations/Creative for Disney Cruise Lines, once again expressing my concern with the new practice. I did not receive a reply to that email. We are leaving Saturday to join the Disney Wonder on Monday for the 9 night Alaska cruise, and I am going to find the Cruise Director (it was Natalie Bailey earlier in the summer) and again express my concern. I hope it is Natalie as she is very approachable.

 

I highly recommend that if other cruise critic readers have this same concern you write to DCL and express your opinion. So far, those opinions seem to have been ignored, which is surprising and inconsistent with my prior experiences in contacting DCL. I am going to look up who is now in charge of DCL and try to email that person next. If anyone has suggestions or the email box of a DCL executive who will listen and respond, please let all of use know.

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The president of DCL and Adventures by Disney, DVC, and whatever else is Jeff Vahle. The combination has been re-named "Disney Signature Experiences." I believe he started in April. My understanding is that when Karl Holz retired, there was a different "new" president, and then for whatever reason, this guy was a sudden replacement. Sorry that I don't have an e-mail address for you, but probably a little internet research could turn up one.

 

I'm really sad to hear that you never got a response from Christiaan. I would have expected at least a "company line" response. No response at all is not like him and not like the company!

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Exactly. I have always gotten responses from DCL so that was disappointing.

 

Subsequent to my post, I sent essentially the same email I sent to Christiaan to Jeff Vahle, using jeff.vahle@disney.com. Hopefully someone in his office will read the email and respond. I encourage others who don’t like this policy to write DCL. I will report back when and if I get a response.

 

There was a President of DCL who served briefly after Karl Holt retired. He is no longer with Disney.

 

 

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There was a President of DCL who served briefly after Karl Holt retired. He is no longer with Disney.

 

 

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That's essentially as much as I knew. I really do hope that you get a response, even if it is just a reitteration of the "company line." Lack of response is just not Disney!

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I love DCL, but they do seem to be oblivious to the objections of long-time cruisers regarding the issue of repeating main shows in the Walt Disney Theatre. Initially, I wrote an email to customer services and received a non-answer to my concern with this new practice. Subsequently, I wrote an email to Christiaan Abbott (christiaanabbott@disney.com), a former Cruise Director and now Director of Entertainment Operations/Creative for Disney Cruise Lines, once again expressing my concern with the new practice. I did not receive a reply to that email. We are leaving Saturday to join the Disney Wonder on Monday for the 9 night Alaska cruise, and I am going to find the Cruise Director (it was Natalie Bailey earlier in the summer) and again express my concern. I hope it is Natalie as she is very approachable.

 

I highly recommend that if other cruise critic readers have this same concern you write to DCL and express your opinion. So far, those opinions seem to have been ignored, which is surprising and inconsistent with my prior experiences in contacting DCL. I am going to look up who is now in charge of DCL and try to email that person next. If anyone has suggestions or the email box of a DCL executive who will listen and respond, please let all of use know.

 

I am on the same cruise, I heard the Cruise Director for the 9 night in Alaska is Ashley. I had her as an assistant Cruise Director on a Panama Canal Cruise in 2014. She seemed to listen. Hope to meet you on the Wonder on Monday!

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So I read in a Facebook group that the new thing on longer cruises is to run the main stage shows on 2 nights each and have no variety acts in the main theater? Is this accurate? I'd hate to pay for a 7 day on the Fantasy and have live entertainment on only 3 nights. I know I could go sort through the recent Navigators but figured someone here would be in the know.

 

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Hi cltdad— if I can offer you a slightly different perspective? We were on a seven night Wonder cruise in March and yes, there were repeated live shows. Yes, as others in this thread have also stated, the smaller venues were also jam packed... but... having the flexibility of being able to view a show over two different nights was really kinda nice. We could take it easy with our four year old if we wanted to one night, rather than rush off to the theater, and still have the opportunity later in the week to catch the show again. Really not terrible in my opinion.

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Hi cltdad— if I can offer you a slightly different perspective? We were on a seven night Wonder cruise in March and yes, there were repeated live shows. Yes, as others in this thread have also stated, the smaller venues were also jam packed... but... having the flexibility of being able to view a show over two different nights was really kinda nice. We could take it easy with our four year old if we wanted to one night, rather than rush off to the theater, and still have the opportunity later in the week to catch the show again. Really not terrible in my opinion.

While, on the other hand, many of us like the DCL format of "a different show each night" as they've had in the past.

 

We like the mix of production shows and individual entertainers in the big theater. Making everyone now try to catch the individual entertainers only in the lounge is a big pain in the.......

 

As noted, there are much fewer seats there, and some seats are terrible for watching a show there.

 

Not really a nice change if you're now having to commit 45 minutes to an hour pre-show to be sure you can actually see a show.

 

For those wishing to see the production shows not on the night originally performed, they do run them on the TV later that same day/evening. Possibly they could extend that to running them the next night also (when an individual entertainers are performing in the WDT).

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So I read in a Facebook group that the new thing on longer cruises is to run the main stage shows on 2 nights each and have no variety acts in the main theater? Is this accurate? I'd hate to pay for a 7 day on the Fantasy and have live entertainment on only 3 nights. I know I could go sort through the recent Navigators but figured someone here would be in the know.

 

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Yes, I was on a 5 night on the Dream June 1 and they played Believe twice, Beauty and the Beast twice and the movie Solo one night. It was disappointing to say the least.

 

 

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Yes, I was on a 5 night on the Dream June 1 and they played Believe twice, Beauty and the Beast twice and the movie Solo one night. It was disappointing to say the least.

 

 

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Did you let them know via the comment card? Or a post cruise email?

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I sent an email yesterday to Jeff Vahle, the Disney executive responsible for Disney Signature Experiences, including DCL, giving my view (see prior post) regarding repetition of main shows. I received a reply today, sent directly from his iPhone. Impressive that he listened and took the time to reply personally.

 

Here is what he said:

 

“Thank you for spending your vacations with us and for your note! I appreciate your feedback on the onboard entertainment. We are experimenting with different entertainment models and gathering extensive guest feedback on the tests. Our goal is to work to provide an outstanding entertainment experience and to find the best way to deliver that experience to our guests. Your comments are extremely important - thank you for taking the time to write. “

 

I hope DCL gets the feedback to deliver on the stated goal of outstanding entertainment. I do not believe repeating main shows delivers the Disney experience we have come to know and expect.

 

But, I do like executives that take time to personally respond to their guests, and view that as a good sign for DCL as this executive shapes DCL going forward.

 

 

 

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I'm sure they receive just as many positive comments from passengers that enjoy the flexibility. Also, in terms of value, the chance to see a top (high cost) Disney production twice, as opposed to a non-descript comedian or juggler, is a trade-off many people prefer.

 

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I understand the point-of-view that seeing non-descript entertainers on the main stage might not be best use of the Walt Disney Theatre. Nonetheless, I don’t need to see a Disney production more than once during a cruise - we are frequent cruisers and have seen most of the Disney productions multiple times. What we have enjoyed is use of the main stage for extraordinary entertainment such as: (1) renowned broadway entertainers from Disney show (for example, Susan Egan); and (2) top quality acts (for example Voice Play) that we have seen on longer cruises. I do believe DCL will find the right answer for how best to utilize the main stage for outstanding entertainment options. In my view, it’s more about matching top quality talent to that venue than repetition of main shows.

 

 

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I understand the point-of-view that seeing non-descript entertainers on the main stage might not be best use of the Walt Disney Theatre. Nonetheless, I don’t need to see a Disney production more than once during a cruise - we are frequent cruisers and have seen most of the Disney productions multiple times. What we have enjoyed is use of the main stage for extraordinary entertainment such as: (1) renowned broadway entertainers from Disney show (for example, Susan Egan); and (2) top quality acts (for example Voice Play) that we have seen on longer cruises. I do believe DCL will find the right answer for how best to utilize the main stage for outstanding entertainment options. In my view, it’s more about matching top quality talent to that venue than repetition of main shows.

 

 

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Agreed. On a 7 day or longer cruise where you can have 3 or more sea days, it's not hard to find your way to a main theater show at the appointed time. Not only do ships like the Fantasy need a refresh of shows (I think it's been 4-5 years since a new show with none apparently on the horizon) one of the things we like is the variety of entertainment. Sticking a hypnotist or magician in a place like The Tube is probably not fun for the act themselves either. It's like saying "here, come and perform in front of 50 people." We could be on our way to declining entertainment rather than excellent variety acts.

 

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We were told by a DCL stage manager that the shows are budgeted to run 7 years; that's their calculation of what it takes to make money! It is a little bit squirrelly as many of the expenses are paid by DCL to other divisions of Disney, making lots of departments and divisions show a profit.

 

DCL reserves the afternoon slot before a performance that evening for a rehearsal if needed. "Needs" include a new performer who has been subbed in, an understudy performing that night, and a problem, either on stage or technical, with the previous performance. In years past, when there was not a need for a rehearsal, this time slot was used for a matinee. This provided a great time for young kids to see the show....as well as an opportunity for anyone who wanted to see it twice. This would seem to be FAR better than showing it two evenings. I fully realize that there are people who choose to do other things with their afternoons--swimming, excursions, etc. But it still makes more sense than two identical evenings as it provides another guest option while allowing "something special" in the WDT on what is now the repeat performance of the show.

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We are considering a Disney cruise next year and have never been on one. Since this thread is about the production shows could someone tell me what time they have the production shows? On other cruise lines they are shown at least twice and sometimes three times during an evening so no matter when you go to dinner you have a chance to see them. From what I’m reading on this thread it sounds like they are only presented once each night. If you have late seating dinner at 8:15 are you able to see the shows?

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They are shown twice each night. You can definitely make one showing or the other. The issue here is that they are running the same shows up to 4 times a cruise (2 different nights) when that didn't used to be the case.

 

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We just got off the fantasy 11 day cruise. Never saw a show listed twice. The entertainment was fantastic. All the Disney shows once plus a great broadway singer, acapella group, hypnotist, magician, and comedians. Plus some fantastic singing duos, violinist, male singer and pianist. The best entertainment we have ever seen. Some of the big names might have two shows but one was for family and another for adults. The Disney shows were never repeated.

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We just got off the fantasy 11 day cruise. Never saw a show listed twice. The entertainment was fantastic. All the Disney shows once plus a great broadway singer, acapella group, hypnotist, magician, and comedians. Plus some fantastic singing duos, violinist, male singer and pianist. The best entertainment we have ever seen. Some of the big names might have two shows but one was for family and another for adults. The Disney shows were never repeated.

But the difference is that you were on a specialty cruise. Those always have amazing entertainment.

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We just got off the Wonder, having sailed on the 9 night Alaskan itinerary (which was wonderful, especially the stop at Hubbard Glacier). They did repeat main shows, and push some of the variety acts to Azure. This was almost universally disliked. For the more popular variety acts, there isn’t room to fit the crowd into Azure, you have to arrive very early, and if capacity is exceeded, then you watch on the television in Crown and Fin. We sat at a shared table for 8, and no one liked this new test of repeating shows. This seemed to be the view of a large majority of cruise guests. And, perhaps even some of the longer running DCL variety acts themselves, or so we were led to believe.

 

Later in the cruise, they ended up moving the evening repeat show of Disney Dreams to an afternoon/matinee show and put the variety act (John Charles) into the Walt Disney Theatre. If there is a need to repeat shows, an afternoon matinee makes much more sense than repeating the show in the evening.

 

The one plus was that the All Aboard show was not used, and on opening night, after a few words from our Cruise Director, we had a wonderful show put on by the acapella Group Edge Effect.

 

So, it’s seems DCL is getting lots of feedback on this topic, listening, and maybe beginning to adjust their approach. If the end result is improvement of entertainment on the Walt Disney Theatre stage, the test will be a success.

 

 

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We never had a problem with matinees--these are great. My problem is with repeating evening shows on consecutive evenings rather than featuring other entertainment. Funneling variety acts to a small venue does not allow all who want to see the act to see it live. If I wanted to watch these guys on TV, I could stay home and watch "America's Got Talent."

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Just returned from a 10-day Med cruise which started on the 7th. As expected there were repeat shows and some at 730 pm. I wasn't sure how it felt but it gave us more free time. What I didn't like was the on the first day the show and only show was at 730 pm. It was impossible to squeeze 2500 people in the theatre made for 1000. Either way, the cruise was great and would do it over again.

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