Disney is PURPOSEFULLY building lines at The Great Movie Ride

[freediverdude]

Hmm, I wonder if they are using the second cars for fp+ now. That might explain the second car sometimes going out empty or half full. And that way they wouldn't have to combine the lines at the end or whatever. Who knows.

 

[seashoreCM]

Hmmm. Do they want to make everybody see all of the movie clips in the indoor queueing area at least once?

They can fix the problem of sitting in the far rear very easily. Insist that the announcer not talk about each room until he gets all the way forward to the exit.

Last time I was there, the ride vehicles always run in pairs. The first two boarding positions are for the bandit cowboy scene. The last two boarding positions are for the gangster scene. During slow times the back two positions are used most of the time although I was told that at least one set of cars runs for the bandit scene and they will let you stand off to the side to wait for it.

 

[Karbase8]

I rode the Great Movie Ride last in August 2013 and during the MB test and I did notice what the OP said about the longer lines. Adding that extra queue outside seemed to increase the standby lines and no one was using FP plus line, I noticed this also at POTC, HM and IASM rides that do not need FP. I do hope they work out the kinks as these rides do not need longer standby lines.

 

[MouseMomx2]

3. Now this, would bother me. If there's people out in the queuing area, why wouldn't they fill the cars? That I don't get. I've never not been in a car that wasn't full if there's people waiting. Matter of fact, I always seem to end up in the back of the second car.

The often only run one of the interactive scenes (don't want to give it away for those who haven't ridden). Therefore they can only use the two cars that stop in that scene. The other two cars go through empty. It is no different than putting fewer vehicles into service on an attraction, but on TGMR all of the cars go through together, whether they are being used or not. There is no way around that. And they can't just fill those cars when there are extra people in the queue. If they don't have staff for the second interactive scene they can't use those cars.

 

[lugnut33]

I can attest that over Thanksgiving people were indeed waiting in that outside queue area because I said to myself, "No way in heck I'd wait in that line). I even pointed it out to the kids, "Hey look, the line is actually outside now".

 

[DemonLlama]

To your 3rd point...we sat near the back of the 2nd car on our trip in November, and it was a terrible seat....we were so far from the guide, and the first car was entering a different room and getting the spiel, while we were still back in the previous scene.....it definitely detracted from the overall experience. So, maybe if it isn't crowded, they don't put people back there for that reason??

We've been stuck on the back rows over and over and NEVER got to see that dang Alien in the ceiling. We'd be seeing the next ride group coming in behind us and have the spiel totally off from what we could see. It really does make it less enjoyable. Last trip, we specifically asked to wait for the next car to sit up front because of our luck. So if they can manage to keep everyone in the first car and not slow the ride wait beyond 20 minutes, good choice!

 

[SueM in MN]

Hmm, I wonder if they are using the second cars for fp+ now. That might explain the second car sometimes going out empty or half full. And that way they wouldn't have to combine the lines at the end or whatever. Who knows.

Fastpass Plus line joins the Standby line before either line enters the large room with the movies playing at the front.

The often only run one of the interactive scenes (don't want to give it away for those who haven't ridden). Therefore they can only use the two cars that stop in that scene. The other two cars go through empty. It is no different than putting fewer vehicles into service on an attraction, but on TGMR all of the cars go through together, whether they are being used or not. There is no way around that. And they can't just fill those cars when there are extra people in the queue. If they don't have staff for the second interactive scene they can't use those cars.

That is true - if they are only running one of the scenes, they can't use the second set of cars.

 

[cigar95]

Because the vehicle configuration is two sets of two cars each, sometimes it's ambiguous and a little confusing about what one is saying when referring to the "first" or "second "car. Each host/hostess gives the spiel to two "cars", and there can be two hosts at a time each with their own pair of cars.

Aside - in the final room, is there really room for *three* pairs of cars? I would think that would throw things off, as the loading area only takes two pairs, I think.

In the end, the gist of the thread can be summarized as "capacity may have been reduced, probably to save on staffing and maintenance needs." They did the same thing to 'Living With the Land' a few years back, but that was, I think, only temporary, eventually put back to sufficient capacity to keep waits very low most of the time.

 

[DizneyLizzy]

I was there this past Saturday night, and we got in line around 5:30 not believing the posted "20 minute wait." We ended up waiting exactly 19 minutes, and when we boarded the vehicle, we figured out why - the first car had a CM, but no guests! We wondered if they were running the ride at half capacity all afternoon.

 

[Granny square]

I was there this past Saturday night, and we got in line around 5:30 not believing the posted "20 minute wait." We ended up waiting exactly 19 minutes, and when we boarded the vehicle, we figured out why - the first car had a CM, but no guests! We wondered if they were running the ride at half capacity all afternoon.

They were training the cm last time we saw that.

 

[DizneyLizzy]

They were training the cm last time we saw that.

That's what we figured. We guessed they were maybe training some CMs to come in for the Christmas rush!

 

[nansmama]

We haven't ridden this one in ages BECAUSE of the long wait (also because the "acting" is cringe-worthy). No matter what the posted time is, we always get stuck waiting in the movie room watching the film clips over and over. Last time we rode it was October of 2012 and after yet another round of waiting in the Movie Room of Doom, we said never again.

 

[Alice Royal]

I was at HS yesterday and the absolute weirdest thing happened.

We saw that there was a 5 minute wait time, and this was accurate.

However, there were enough people coming through the lines to 'fill' two double cars, and I got to see the cowboy scene for the first time. I was pretty happy to see it, but dumbfounded as I was under the impression that it only ran when the lines were long.

We had the doors closed on us just as one double car was filled. I assume they were waiting to have enough people for two despite the short wait time, which negates the OP's original statement a bit.

 

[FlipHipster]

I do. I don't really like it anymore, but I ride it because 3 things always amaze me:

1.The ride operator is always named CB. That guy logs a lot of hours.
2.No matter who my vehicle host is, James Cagney is always their favorite bad guy.
3.Also, no matter who the host is, their favorite genre of movies is the horror film.

I just can't stand to pass by these amazing coincidences.

I always thought they just had really strict hiring requirements

 

[Maverick]

I'm here on the ride as we speak. Literally. This is our 18th trip in the last 13 years, so we are relatively seasoned Disney vacationers.

The OP's observations may have been what they experienced, but nothing like what happened to us. Wait time was posted at 10 minutes and we waited 8. The ride cars are full, the queue room prior to boarding was as 'open' as needed. Our vehicle stopped in the gangster room and there were two full sets of ride vehicles in the final movie clip.

I guess your mileage may vary, but I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary compared to all our previous visits.

 

[DLFT]

If I'm not mistaken, there are three main operating modes for the GMR

1) Both cars running and both "scene options" available. Run during busy times.

2) Both cars running but only the rear car is filled with guests. The front car is sent through empty with a tour guide to give the wicked witch someone to talk to during the oz scene. This configuration is used when they are planning on filling the front car later on or were using it earlier.

3) The front car sits in the movie scene room at the end and does not even run on the circuit, and only the gangster scene is avaliable...utilized during non busy times.

OP, is it possible they were running the second operating mode when you visited?

 

[UFlawgator]

I'm here on the ride as we speak. Literally. This is our 18th trip in the last 13 years, so we are relatively seasoned Disney vacationers.

The OP's observations may have been what they experienced, but nothing like what happened to us. Wait time was posted at 10 minutes and we waited 8. The ride cars are full, the queue room prior to boarding was as 'open' as needed. Our vehicle stopped in the gangster room and there were two full sets of ride vehicles in the final movie clip.

I guess your mileage may vary, but I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary compared to all our previous visits.

Just rode this ride on Saturday, December 7 in the afternoon. Posted wait time was also 10 minutes for us and we waited less than that. We did wait a few minutes more at the end to get on because I wanted the cowboy version instead of the gangster version. It was worth waiting for the next set of cars because they put us in the first row.

 

[seashoreCM]

One time (ca 2010) I requested the cowboy scene. They told me to wait and at least two ride cycles went by with just one vehicle pair coming through for the gangster scene.

I suppose they were trying to get a crew ready to do the cowboy scene. Finally two pairs of vehicles pulled up and they put me on the forward set.

At the end of my ride I suppose they ran the empty forward pair through the sets around to the final movie scene to park until they get the next request for the cowboy scene or a larger crowd shows up.

I would think that by now Disney has enough guest data including for early versus late Thanksgiving and Sunday versus Wednesday Christmas to schedule the proper number of vehicle pairs for Great Movie Ride.

 

[carpenta]

Hold on . . . People actually ride this ride?

......LOL.....I was thinking the same thing.....went once and wondered "what the heck was that?".......

 

[AmyB2006]

......LOL.....I was thinking the same thing.....went once and wondered "what the heck was that?".......

Hey, look at the bright side. It's a nice long ride with air conditioning when it's hot.