Eliminate the Park Reservation Requirements

[AnnabelleTheTalkingTree]

Here is my issue with the reservation system - I'm a very early riser in the morning, but the rest of my family is not. I'd get up early and head to DHS for early morning rope drop, ride the things like RNRC and TOT that my 5 year old wouldn't or couldn't ride, and and then would hop on the Skyliner to head back to the room once everyone was up and around, and we would all head to whichever park we were planning to start our day at. This eliminates that possibility.

agreed, I hate how this limits our flexibility so much. We like to stay at resorts where we can easily walk into the parks with the intention of being able to just pop over to Epcot for instance, first thing in the morning for a pasty from Le Halles and maybe a quick character meet/ride, BEFORE moving on to our main park for the day. We like being able to pop in and out on a whim for a snack or whatever. The biggest reason we stay deluxe is because of that convenience/flexibility factor, but the park reservation system takes that option away.

 

[shawthorne44]

I wonder on DW limiting capacity to save on staffing. I guess that makes sense if staffing were a major expense. But, the CM's don't make much money.
I can see them doing that though to prevent an unexpected surge of people that would crowd the parks.

I find it funny that many people going to Universal are complaining about the LACK of reservations. No reservations works for Universal since the main way to guarantee entry is to go during Early Entry, and the main way to get EA is to stay on-site.

 

[Remy is Up]

We were at AK this am and honestly I have no issue with the ressie system. My main issue would be the number of days they allow ap holders. We have October 1 booked and a day with a friend in August leaving us with one. Increased capacity would help that issue but the preference would be an increase. Also allowing hopping before 2pm would be nice to have back because we did what we wanted to do by 11

 

[CP3uhoh]

With mask requirements, physical distancing, etc being relaxed, it’s time to eliminate park reservations. Universal has done so. How Disney hopes to fill the huge number of hotel rooms when they come back on line and not make the parks fully open without a reservation is not sustainable. Who is going to buy airfare and pay for a vacation and tickets if access isn’t assured.

are there people booking a hotel and airfare without having a park reservation? That seems risky. Granted DVC people probably make reservations before buying tickets but I'm not sure why a family who is planning a vacation would buy a ticket/hotel package and not make park reservations at the same time. I think you're also looking at it backwards. Once you have a park reservation you are guaranteed admission. Theoretically, previously, the park could reach capacity and they could turn you away that day. Granted that was a rare phenomenon usually found around the holidays but it seems to me the park reservation system is a much bigger hassle for local AP holders then it is for folks flying in from out of state and staying on property. I mean they're not going to to book many rooms if the person booking the room can't get in the parks during that stay at the time of the reservation.

I could be wrong, but this seems low on the list of priorities.

 

[1lilspark]

It helps them in labor planning and with the shortage of labor, keeping it for a while makes sense. I hate it as a local passholder but understand it

THIS…. I think at this point especially staffing is key as to why reservations are still here as well as why some things are still closed

 

[kwdw]

I’m one hoping the park reservation system goes away sooner rather than later. It totally messes up how I toured the parks in that I would frequently rope drop one park and head to another one after a couple of rides. And I was frequently changing up which park during my trip, even with FP’s to change. I often didn’t care if a park was packed as I learned how to have a great time in every park regardless of the crowd level. To me. The flexibility was key for me as a frequent visitor. I hope that ability to be spontaneous returns, it’s part of how I best enjoyed my trips.

 

[SoCalDisneyFan2708]

I’m one hoping the park reservation system goes away sooner rather than later. It totally messes up how I toured the parks in that I would frequently rope drop one park and head to another one after a couple of rides. And I was frequently changing up which park during my trip, even with FP’s to change. I often didn’t care if a park was packed as I learned how to have a great time in every park regardless of the crowd level. To me. The flexibility was key for me as a frequent visitor. I hope that ability to be spontaneous returns, it’s part of how I best enjoyed my trips.

Yea, I used to do the same thing. The not being to park hop until 2 is kinda inconvenient if you’re used to this strategy. But I try to look on the bright side of things. If I started my day at AK with the park opening at 8, that’s 6 hrs you have to be there whereas I’ve had days where I would rope drop FoP, hit Kilimanjaro, then go to EE and move onto the next park. Obviously can’t to do that anymore but now I can take my time more and do things I used to skip. Like go to Rafikis which has a nice little train ride or walk the animal trails. So I guess it’s a blessing in disguise depending on your point of view.

 

[Minniesgal]

are there people booking a hotel and airfare without having a park reservation? That seems risky. Granted DVC people probably make reservations before buying tickets but I'm not sure why a family who is planning a vacation would buy a ticket/hotel package and not make park reservations at the same time. I think you're also looking at it backwards. Once you have a park reservation you are guaranteed admission. Theoretically, previously, the park could reach capacity and they could turn you away that day. Granted that was a rare phenomenon usually found around the holidays but it seems to me the park reservation system is a much bigger hassle for local AP holders then it is for folks flying in from out of state and staying on property. I mean they're not going to to book many rooms if the person booking the room can't get in the parks during that stay at the time of the reservation.

I could be wrong, but this seems low on the list of priorities.

Agree I don't get why people wold do that. We have booked flights and tickets for July 2022 and have had our park reservations since December and still can't book our DVc for another month.

 

[shawthorne44]

The more I think about it, the more I like the reservation system.

Without park reservations, lets say that there is a day when Disney expected 25% of total capacity. They've been doing this a long time and so I imagine that they are pretty good with the guesses. So, they set the staffing to that level. But 40% of total capacity shows up. Those people will have long lines and be unhappy.

With park reservations, on that same day. First, Disney will have better data to base staffing, so they can add more staff and to the right parks. Once it gets close enough to that day that making staffing adjustments difficult, they could either a) pull available reservations to be only leave X amount over the current, or b) leave all the reservations available. If they do a, then the people there will have a better experience, if they do b, it will be the same as if there weren't reservations.

They could do hopping a little better. Instead of saying that you have to wait until 2pm to hop, they could say you need to get another reservation the day-of to hop. Basically it would be saying that you can have a max of one active reservation each day.

 

[Grumpy Mouse]

The more I think about it, the more I like the reservation system.

Without park reservations, lets say that there is a day when Disney expected 25% of total capacity. They've been doing this a long time and so I imagine that they are pretty good with the guesses. So, they set the staffing to that level. But 40% of total capacity shows up. Those people will have long lines and be unhappy.

With park reservations, on that same day. First, Disney will have better data to base staffing, so they can add more staff and to the right parks. Once it gets close enough to that day that making staffing adjustments difficult, they could either a) pull available reservations to be only leave X amount over the current, or b) leave all the reservations available. If they do a, then the people there will have a better experience, if they do b, it will be the same as if there weren't reservations.

They could do hopping a little better. Instead of saying that you have to wait until 2pm to hop, they could say you need to get another reservation the day-of to hop. Basically it would be saying that you can have a max of one active reservation each day.

Ride throughput has little to do with staffing. That is, if you staff a ride with '2x' - you don't get twice the throughput. In fact, you don't get any increase at all. Every ride must be staffed with a certain number of CM's to ensure customer safety - regardless of crowd size.

 

[wfjny]

are there people booking a hotel and airfare without having a park reservation? That seems risky. Granted DVC people probably make reservations before buying tickets but I'm not sure why a family who is planning a vacation would buy a ticket/hotel package and not make park reservations at the same time. I think you're also looking at it backwards. Once you have a park reservation you are guaranteed admission. Theoretically, previously, the park could reach capacity and they could turn you away that day. Granted that was a rare phenomenon usually found around the holidays but it seems to me the park reservation system is a much bigger hassle for local AP holders then it is for folks flying in from out of state and staying on property. I mean they're not going to to book many rooms if the person booking the room can't get in the parks during that stay at the time of the reservation.

I could be wrong, but this seems low on the list of priorities.

So. AP holder here. We live 8 hours away (driving).

My frustration is that we tend to make alot of long weekend trips. I cannot make more than 3 reservations when staying off-site.

No problem with our week long trip in June, as we stayed at DVC.

Planning a long weekend in July. I did our reservations for Friday, Sat, Sun. But, now I am maxed out on my reservations. Was thinking of making that a 4 day trip, but I could not make a reservation for Monday until Saturday (once my Friday reservation cleared).

My sister just said she is going in Oct. would like us to meet up with them for a few days. But I cannot make park reservations to match her now. My wife's sister is going early December. Same issue.

We are working it, but it is frustrating.

In normal times, even if one park was "closed", we could go to the other ones. No choice here.

 

[Weedy]

Ride throughput has little to do with staffing. That is, if you staff a ride with '2x' - you don't get twice the throughput. In fact, you don't get any increase at all. Every ride must be staffed with a certain number of CM's to ensure customer safety - regardless of crowd size.

I worked in Fantasyland attractions a million years ago and they do staff attractions more when it’s busy. On slow days they would have one person working the Carousel. That one person take tickets (I told you it was a million years ago) drop the chains for the people to board, check all the riders and safety straps for kids who’s feet didn’t touch the tops of the stirrups, start the ride, ride it once around to make sure all people were clear and then start again.
On busy days two or three people shared the job. One taking tickets, one checking the safety straps, one per loading the que for the next cycle. All this makes for faster times between cycles. More cycles more people per hour.
This is just one example of how more people move more people.
I’m sure things have changed on how the Carousel is run (no more tickets ) but the theory is the same.

 

[shawthorne44]

Ride throughput has little to do with staffing. That is, if you staff a ride with '2x' - you don't get twice the throughput. In fact, you don't get any increase at all. Every ride must be staffed with a certain number of CM's to ensure customer safety - regardless of crowd size.

They also pull ride vehicles on slow days. That has to mean less staff. More vehicles, more staff, more throughput. Of course, it isn't a straight relationship and there is a minimum.

Then there is restaurants.

 

[LSUmiss]

I don't have a problem with the idea of park reservations...as long as the capacity is back to no-restrictions. I know there are normal uber-capacity days (Christmas,, New Year, 4th of July etc) that parks can potentially reach capacity. I would assume the park res system is useful for staffing. But I want to be able to EASILY make them and switch them up, even day-of.

My only issue is the AP limit. As an out-of-state AP holder, I have 2 off-site trips booked. One is only b/c there aren’t any rooms available on property in our budget, but I can’t make reservations b/c I have the ones in oct for the other trip.

eta: I don’t understand the game of rationing them out still. Buckets keep getting refilled at random times. But, it’s hard to count on that. I don’t expect unlimited reservations, but I don’t think 7 is too much to ask.

 

[1lilspark]

. I don’t expect unlimited reservations, but I don’t think 7 is too much to ask.

this!
Back when FP+ was a thing APs could only hold 7 days worth at a time (though keep in mind those 7 days included both on and off site stays vs with park pass APs can have 3 off site + length of stay on any on sight booked)

 

[m4tty_j]

A lot of people complaining about the current system staying which I understand.
However, they only ever said it was staying. They didn't say it was staying in its current format.

Its a system that was created very quickly out of necessity . We may like it if it changes to be a bit more flexible.

 

[tigger2002]

The more I think about it, the more I like the reservation system.

Without park reservations, lets say that there is a day when Disney expected 25% of total capacity. They've been doing this a long time and so I imagine that they are pretty good with the guesses. So, they set the staffing to that level. But 40% of total capacity shows up. Those people will have long lines and be unhappy.

With park reservations, on that same day. First, Disney will have better data to base staffing, so they can add more staff and to the right parks. Once it gets close enough to that day that making staffing adjustments difficult, they could either a) pull available reservations to be only leave X amount over the current, or b) leave all the reservations available. If they do a, then the people there will have a better experience, if they do b, it will be the same as if there weren't reservations.

They could do hopping a little better. Instead of saying that you have to wait until 2pm to hop, they could say you need to get another reservation the day-of to hop. Basically it would be saying that you can have a max of one active reservation each day.

A lot of people are talking about how this helps Disney and why they are doing it. Do what the customer wants and quit scrutinizing every bit of data to squeeze out another penny.

 

[Weedy]

A lot of people are talking about how this helps Disney and why they are doing it. Do what the customer wants and quit scrutinizing every bit of data to squeeze out another penny.

How is Disney squeezing out another penny with the new reservation system?

 

[amgodinich]

The assumption is that they are using the data to optimize and reduce staffing when possible. Less people on the clock = more pennies.

 

[shawthorne44]

How is Disney squeezing out another penny with the new reservation system?

Also, It is obvious they aren't fans of AP Holders. Particularly AP Holders who stay off-site. Reservations are a way of limiting the number of these guests on any given day.