After comparing the pluses and minuses at each park the average time spent in line at AK during nonpeak times for the rides listed goes up 30 minutes and in peak times it goes up 65. At epcot nonpeak 40 minutes and peak 55. At the studios nonpeak 50 minutes and peak 45. At the magic kingdom non peak 40 minutes and peak 40 minutes. So by the numbers a person who visits all four parks in non peak season can expect to spend 2 hours and 40 minutes longer in lines than before. A person who goes to all 4 parks during peak season can expect on average to spend an additional 3 hours and 25 minutes in line. Those numbers kind of tell the tale when comparing 2013 and 2014!
That's an interesting (and, in my opinion, incorrect and misleading) way to present those numbers.
First of all, to clarify, the numbers you are presenting as the average time spent in line represent the TOTAL extra amount a person would wait if he went to the park and did every single one of the rides listed using the standby line, and encountered a wait of the average amount. But, that would hardly be a typical experience. Any guest can easily eliminate or reduce a number of the longest waits by using FPs and/or getting to the park early or staying late and riding when the waits are below the median.
Even following your approach, if we look at the MK (which is the park most people focus on) the TOTAL increase in average waits is 40 minutes (as you said) for the 20 attractions listed. That is an average of a whopping TWO MINUTES per attraction. That average number per attraction is larger at the other 3 parks , but it is also easy to get FPs for a higher percentage of those attractions. For example, if I go to DHS with FPs in hand for TSMM, TOT and Star Tours and go to RNRC right at park opening, I am well on my way to eliminating a substantial part of the potential waiting times. It's not going to be anywhere near the total average wait of 3 hours and 20 minutes or total peak wait of 4 hours and 35 minutes for those 4 attractions.
You also completely misread what this data says about waits at peak times. This report studied wait times in the first 65 days of 2014 and compared them to the first 65 days of 2013. That would cover January 1 through about March 6. There really is no true peak time in that period except for a few isolated days. As I read it, what is listed as the "peak" is the absolutely highest posted wait time during the period covered by the study. It has nothing to do with what waits would be during peak seasons when, of course, posted wait times would be higher across the board.
If you're going to use the easywdw report as your definitive statement on this, you should make sure that you consider the whole report, not just the parts that support the point you're trying to make. For example:
"Magic Kingdom is perhaps the most interesting, where median and peak waits have actually gone down significantly at the headliners and up considerably at several of the secondary attractions, most notably its a small world, Haunted Mansion, Jungle Cruise, and Pirates of the Caribbean. Its hard to say how much of an effect FP+ has had at Haunted Mansion and Jungle Cruise in particular.
It might seem obvious that FP+ is directly responsible for the uptick, but those two attractions had oddly increasing wait times over the months leading up to the initial implementation of FP+. Nonetheless, expect to wait a lot longer at both in the afternoon."
It is night and day wis. Come on, focusing on the negative? Its there in black and white. This report conflicts totally with touring plans report. This report shows you the data and you get to make the comparisons. The decreases you speak of are hardly a fraction of the increases.
To borrow a line from "Friends", I think the difference is more like the difference between night and later that night.
The Touring Plans report does not conflict with the easywdw one because it is measuring things a different way using data from a different time period. Here is another link to that for your reference:
http://blog.touringplans.com/2014/06/23/fastpass-lowering-waits-disney-world-popular-rides/
I apologize if the link doesn't work. But, if you can see it, this report covers the period from February 1 through June 19 so, while there is some overlap with the easywdw study, this report covers all of Spring Break, Star Wars Weekends, and the beginning of the summer season, not to mention that it does not include periods in which paper FP was still in place at some parks and some resort guests were able to "double dip".
If you use your method for totaling all of the average changes for the 25 attractions included in this study, that number comes out to a NEGATIVE 48.8 minutes. In other words, taken across all of the attractions included, wait times have DECREASED.
I am not saying that anyone who says that they experienced significantly longer waits at certain attractions than they were used to on prior trips is making it up. And I really don't care if anyone wants to believe either or neither or both of these reports. Or if any changes have led anyone to conclude that they no longer want to visit WDW. Those are all personal observations and choices.
But, I will say for the benefit of people planning their first trips that the data compiled by seemingly objective people does not support the point that standby waits are up that dramatically for any attraction on a regular basis. Having a plan, arriving early, and taking advantage of the FPs available to you should result in a very positive experience.
