Magic Kingdom's Crowding Issues?

[IzzyB]

Yeah, Easter is not a popular day to go to MK, either is Mother's Day. The reason? No locals. How many locals do you think go to the parks on these types of holidays? No one. Then you factor in that Sunday is a traveling day for most out of town guests, which reduces people in the parks since some are traveling in and others traveling out. So if Easter was your bench mark, it is not a good bench mark. Mother's Day this year was DEAD, told my mom we are going to MK every year for Mother's Day if it is going to be that dead.

 

[Ash]

Yeah definitely, We even spoke to a CM about it though and she said they were surprised and giving members of star options to leave early.

 

[darkridelover]

I may be wrong, but isn't DVC almost guaranteed to always be bringing in money whether there is someone staying or not. Granted they wouldn't be getting the spending on top of the room being occupied, but they are still going to make money on the room itself. Another benefit of the DVC rooms is that they don't have as high of costs for housekeeping.

The reason they are building more DVC is because they over sold them. There have been a lot of complaints from DVC members that they can't even get a room on the dates that they want and they have to book so far in advance to get anything all while over paying for a timeshare. DVC is really a separate business from the hotels. Just because there is a need for more DVC rooms doesn't mean that the hotel occupancies are up.

 

[darkridelover]

The thing about the FP+ system is that every time they add more guests to the roll outs they take away a percentage of regular fast passes for each hour. For instance they used to not run out of regular fast passes on Soarin' until 12 or 1pm. Now they're gone by 10am because there's less. Causing the standby lines to be longer.

My question is what happens to people that don't like to plan 6 months out where they're going to be every hour of everyday of their vacation? It becomes a second job to do that. I think it takes away from a fun and relaxing experience! You have to worry about making each reservation time and you don't have time to do anything else or experience something you didn't plan for because you'll miss an attraction that you locked yourself into a half a year ago.

What happens when you stay off property or you're a local that has a day off and calls up a few friends to go to the parks? It's like Disney is saying you're less special and your day should be less magical because you didn't reserve something 6 months ago.

For people like me that like to go with the flow and organically experience the parks without any planning I'm penalized because all of the headlining attractions fast passes are completely gone. Disney will need to add FP+ capacity or risk getting tons of complaints from paying hotel guests which will drive regular stand-by lines even longer. We're already seeing the effects of that.

What is the benefit of FP+ to someone like me who goes to the parks frequently but never plans when that happens? I won't have a room so I won't use the MAGIC BAND as my room key, I'll use my own money to pay for things, I won't be able to reserve day of any main attraction that I want to see, and I'll have to wait even longer in line because FP backs up standby lines. What is the benefit?

 

[knokout1]

The thing about the FP+ system is that every time they add more guests to the roll outs they take away a percentage of regular fast passes for each hour. For instance they used to not run out of regular fast passes on Soarin' until 12 or 1pm. Now they're gone by 10am because there's less. Causing the standby lines to be longer.

My question is what happens to people that don't like to plan 6 months out where they're going to be every hour of everyday of their vacation? It becomes a second job to do that. I think it takes away from a fun and relaxing experience! You have to worry about making each reservation time and you don't have time to do anything else or experience something you didn't plan for because you'll miss an attraction that you locked yourself into a half a year ago.

What happens when you stay off property or you're a local that has a day off and calls up a few friends to go to the parks? It's like Disney is saying you're less special and your day should be less magical because you didn't reserve something 6 months ago.

For people like me that like to go with the flow and organically experience the parks without any planning I'm penalized because all of the headlining attractions fast passes are completely gone. Disney will need to add FP+ capacity or risk getting tons of complaints from paying hotel guests which will drive regular stand-by lines even longer. We're already seeing the effects of that.

What is the benefit of FP+ to someone like me who goes to the parks frequently but never plans when that happens? I won't have a room so I won't use the MAGIC BAND as my room key, I'll use my own money to pay for things, I won't be able to reserve day of any main attraction that I want to see, and I'll have to wait even longer in line because FP backs up standby lines. What is the benefit?

The benefit is to the guests that do like to plan it all, and everything has to be structured for, since I think the majority of Disney visitors are not locals. I don't agree with it, and I don't like it, since I also like to enjoy the flow of everything, but it's the sad truth. The only use I've seen for it so far is to make everything a little more convenient, and by that I mean everything takes 5 seconds instead of 10, so not a necessity by any means.

 

[sierrak5]

Comments like the two above are reasons I never bother to purchase a Disney AP. Disney caters to the out of town visitors and not the locals.

I never feel a compelling reason to go back. There is rarely a new attraction to get me back there and now I can expect longer standby waits due to Fastpass+. There's probably no chance I'll ever be able to eat in an Epcot restaurant again due to reservations.

It's actually a lot of work to have a good day at Disney with all the planning needed.

I will still enjoy my once a year free entry that I receive from work, but I don't think it's worth paying for anymore.

 

[IzzyB]

I think people are blowing this out of proportion. First off we have two FP systems running at the same time, which is causing issues, but it won't be like this forever. Once everyone is on FP+ I think you will see getting your FP+ tickets won't be so bad. Because when Soarin is sold out at the Kiosk I think that if you log into the FP+ system you are still seeing times available. Because the two systems are not linked in any way. Plus people are double dipping causing even more issues. I also think they are limiting how far in advance you can reserve your FP+ tickets, so that is going to help where you won't have to plan 6 months out and they are going to hold some back for day of guests. So again, if you just decide the night before to go, you could log on that morning and pick up the ones just released that day.

I also don't understand why people don't think they can eat at Epcot. I eat at Epcot a lot and the most I reserve in advance is maybe a couple weeks and that is only for holidays because they are harder to get. But outside of that, my planning is normally from a couple days out to the day of. When looking for reservations on several occasions I have even seen Canada open. It was never when I could actually go because of who we were going with, but I still was able to get the reservations if I wanted to. You just need to learn how to work the system. Those popular places have non-refundable deposits where you have to cancel 24 or 48 hours in advance. You would be amazed at what you can pick up 24 to 48 hours before going. Sometimes because people don't realize this, even the morning of you can get stuff.

 

[darkridelover]

I don't think we're blowing it out of proportion at all. Once the old fast pass system is phased out depending on what resort you stay at on property will allow you only 4-5 fast passes per day and they must only be at one park. Meaning park hopping becomes less attractive. If you're a local or not staying on property you'll have even less fast pass reservations available. Day of guests will not have the variety of attractions to choose from especially time slots. The early bird gets the worm. In the case of FP+ those early birds will only be resort guests that reserve 6 months out. You can't tell me with a straight face that if I decide day of to go to the parks that I'm going to have all of these great options to reserve last minute. It's not gonna happen like that.

Plus attractions that currently don't have fast pass and are usually walk-ons will now have longer waits because they'll have to let the reserved guests on first only leaving a couple spaces each interval for standby guests. For instance, people in other parts of the country don't realize you don't need a fastpass for the TIKI ROOM or COUNTRY BEARS but because it shows up on their list of options some will choose it. Causing that line to be filled to capacity for each show of the day only letting a smaller amount of standby through each show. Believe me, there will be a lot of guest who don't reserve 180 days out and when they do get around to making reservations, the main attractions will all be gone forcing them to choose these smaller attraction because that's their only option. Disney uses around an 80/20 for each attraction. 80% FASTPASS 20% Standby. You can see the reason why the standby lines get so long.

- - - Updated - - -

Also I don't want Disney to know where I'm at every second I'm in one of their parks. That's creepy. Believe me even if you don't hold your hand up to a Mickey Shaped sensor doesn't mean they can't find out where you're at.

- - - Updated - - -

Again, what's the benefit of all of this for a local who spontaneously likes to go to the parks?

 

[IzzyB]

You can have your opinion and I can have mine, but until it is implemented we will not know which of our opinions are correct. So lets just agree to disagree. I am not going to change your mind that they are going to hold back some FPs for same day fast passes and you are not going to change my mind that locals will get totally screwed.

Also, I don't know where you got your 80/20 rule. Because I did FP a lot due to GACs and I can tell you right now that the most I ever saw for FP was 50/50, but shows like Mickey's Philharmonic were more like 90 standby and 10 FP. So no way rides that currently are walk on will have 80% of the guests with FPs.

 

[UNIrd]

I think it's too early to tell what the effects of FastPass+ really are on wait times. We're sort-of in an in-between phase right now. And Disney has improved dining reservations with the need to reserve with a credit card.

I was even able to snag a reservation for Be Our Guest the night before for a party of 8. THANK YOU DISNEY!

 

[NikkiS]

I think people are blowing this out of proportion.

I also don't understand why people don't think they can eat at Epcot. I eat at Epcot a lot QUOTE]


I agree RE blowing out of proportion I was just at MK for work 9-17 - 9-20 and the park was not bad at all. I had family join me 9-20 and we walked on all the majors.

Regarding eating at Epcot I eat dinner there all the time and will be back there in the coming weeks. I agree with Izzy on working the system.

 

[TylerDurden]

In the end, Disney wouldn't spend billions on a system that will decrease customer satisfaction. We all harp on Disney for making small cuts and being slow to expand, but NOT doing anything and sending their parks into decline is a lot different than PROACTIVELY implementing a system that purposefully decreases the quality of their parks.

So many people are so quick to jump down Disney's throats and it's true that they lately haven't been the most satisfying theme park out there. That being said, they would never sabotage their own parks. It may seem like they don't care anymore but they do. They care about guests spending money and none of the bean-counters at Disney are stupid enough to think the best way to increase spending is to implement a system that will decrease the value of everyone's day. Happy guests = more spending, Disney knows this, and so Disney will make sure everyone is happy.

I think the doomsday predictions are a little premature, especially since it's obvious that the system still needs to work out some kinks AND it hasn't been fully implemented yet. But in the end Disney is in the business of making people's vacations better so they spend more. So in the end, anything Disney does for over a billion dollars is in everyone's best interest.

 

[Ash]

I think I'm a little unclear with regards to magic bands and fast pass plus.

We own a house in Orlando but are from the UK. When I visit I obviously stay in my house... Can I still get fast pass plus? What happens if I don't book any rides... Can I no longer just decide I want to get a FP for a ride on the day?

 

[IzzyB]

I think I'm a little unclear with regards to magic bands and fast pass plus.

We own a house in Orlando but are from the UK. When I visit I obviously stay in my house... Can I still get fast pass plus? What happens if I don't book any rides... Can I no longer just decide I want to get a FP for a ride on the day?

Eventually (not now) people will be able to link any pass to the Disney Experience account and you will be able to reserve fast passes. When this rollout occurs, who knows, but right now you can't link your pass unless you have a hotel reservation and that hotel is part of the pilot program.

There have been talk that they will hold back a certain % of FP+'s and release them the day of, so that people that decide at the last minute to go can still get FPs. What the percentage is, who knows. There are many question marks with this new system that won't be answered until they start to roll it out to more groups.

 

[Mad Dog]

My GF works in a medical clinic. A female physician in the office who has two children 6 & 8 went on her first Disney vacation last week.This was her dream vacation, her parents had never taken her to WDW, and prior to the trip she told my GF she couldn't wait to be treated like a princess. She booked all of the expensive restaurants & the top echelon of the character meets for her family with a week stay at the Polynesian. I'm sure she spent a small fortune. She studied the My Magic + and pre booked attractions. She was really psyched according to my GF. Yesterday she came back to work & my GF asked her how the vacation went. The physician said it was a disaster. Her magic bands wouldn't work on most days which caused her major problems with the room, entry to the parks, dining reservations and fastpasses. She said they kept throwing fast passes at her to try to alleviate the problems but that all of her scheduled activities were so negatively affected and everything became a long hassle to fix. She said she will never go back. How many times will this type of thing play out, especially when the busy holiday season occurs? Here Disney had a customer, that had she been treated adequately, would have been a money tree for years. I think heads will be rolling at TDO in the future. It's very very close to the busy season with a system that sure seems to be half a..ed at this point in time.

 

[Frank Drackman]

I haven't taken the family to WDW since FEB, so I really do not have first hand experience with what is going on there these days.

Anyway, one thing I noticed over the years (of going more often in the 'slow times') is that Disney is less prepared if their crowd forecast was off. To me, some rides had longer lines on slow days because they run at a lower capacity. Splash would have two load zones verses three during busy times...back before Space used one side mainly for FP, one side wouldn't open until 11:30. This wouldn't impact omni movers like HM, but rides like Pirates seemed to have less boats running. So I felt that sometimes more folks showed up then they were expecting and they were not able to adjust, but I do not know if that is what it is like now.

Now for FP+, I do not get how it can work in a park like DHS. If Disney has 20K rooms, no clue on their occupancy rate nor the average number of guest per room...and I know they all will not go to the same park on the same day...but let's assume 1 guest per room wanting to FP+ TSMM...if it has a capacity of 2k per hour, it would take 10 hours just for the on site guest to ride.

Now for the ratio of FP to Standby, I really think TSMM has a very high rate of FP to standby for I recall when it had 90+ minute waits when it first opened, both rooms inside were full as well as some switchbacks in between the show building and the empty one next door...later, more recently, it seems to run those wait times with the first room being half empty...

 

[IzzyB]

My GF works in a medical clinic. A female physician in the office who has two children 6 & 8 went on her first Disney vacation last week.This was her dream vacation, her parents had never taken her to WDW, and prior to the trip she told my GF she couldn't wait to be treated like a princess. She booked all of the expensive restaurants & the top echelon of the character meets for her family with a week stay at the Polynesian. I'm sure she spent a small fortune. She studied the My Magic + and pre booked attractions. She was really psyched according to my GF. Yesterday she came back to work & my GF asked her how the vacation went. The physician said it was a disaster. Her magic bands wouldn't work on most days which caused her major problems with the room, entry to the parks, dining reservations and fastpasses. She said they kept throwing fast passes at her to try to alleviate the problems but that all of her scheduled activities were so negatively affected and everything became a long hassle to fix. She said she will never go back. How many times will this type of thing play out, especially when the busy holiday season occurs? Here Disney had a customer, that had she been treated adequately, would have been a money tree for years. I think heads will be rolling at TDO in the future. It's very very close to the busy season with a system that sure seems to be half a..ed at this point in time.

Yep, I have been saying for awhile the testing of this thing is not going well and they are going back and re-testing with employees. But I knew at some point guests would be impacted by the bands not working properly. The one thing that has shocked me is that they keep rolling this out to more hotels, I don't know why they didn't stop when they discovered the issue. The problem is in the linking of the bands to the proper items. So each band should have a ticket, but then other bands should have all the food credits. So sometimes the tickets end up on one band and the food credits spread out. Making getting into the park and eating hard. Also, the bands themselves have caused issues. It must not be an issue with everyone, I am not sure what the % of bands with the issue.

 

[Ash]

I am surprised they have let guests at this if there are still so many problems. They use the "once in a lifetime" excuse for why they don't do holiday overlays... But they're willing to try these bands on once in a lifetimers... It makes no sense.

I like the idea of the bands... I do... But I do not like the idea of fp plus at all. We do plan our vacation but not down to what land we're going to be in at what time and things change... For example poor weather in the past has made us switch a day at a water park for a day at a theme park so technically now if I do that I'll lose my fast passes right?

Also I can't help but feel this is going to benefit people staying on properly more.. I heard (although I don't know if it's true) you will get more fps if you're staying on property and in a premium resort... I pray this isn't true because that is BS... As I own a Florida home I visit 2-3 times a year on multiple days other than what the room might cost I spend just as much if not more than people staying on property as I don't have accommodation costs we tend to spend a little more in the parks... and what about ap holders?

 

[GAcoaster]

At this point they have no choice bu to move forward with the rollout and try and fix as they go along. That's why they are on a HUGE hiring spree for Guest Relations cast members. They've gone ahead and replaced the turnstiles and started changing out everything else associated with ticketing/MyMagic so they just have to plow ahead. In the mean time they just keep comping things to make up for the inconveniences and racking up a bigger price tag for the overall project.

 

[IzzyB]

^^ They actually do have a choice. The system as it is today allows for paper FP and for the tickets to work for entry. So the system can handle the old way and new way. That is why not all the resorts are on the new system and it is still considered in testing phase. So they could have backed off and slowed down the roll-out until some of these kinks were worked out. This would limit the amount of guests exposed to this broken system.

As an IT person I am embarrassed by systems like this, it just makes our name worse to the general public. It is like the healthcare.gov website issues. Just bad for IT. In the Disney case, they could have at least reduced the exposure.