Like I have posted, sure there are tweaks than can be made to the system, but I do not get why everyone thinks they deserve to not wait in line.
I do not think it is related to folks thinking they "deserve" to not wait in line. They just do not want to. I hate lines. But I understand why they exist. Like you I wait in lines every day all day. Red lights. Stop signs. Grocery stores. Traffic on the freeway. Getting a table at a restaurant.
So I do not think I "deserve" to bypass lines. I just want to avoid them as much as possible. That is why I usually go at rope drop to Disney parks and try to do dining at off-peak hours (say 11:15-11:30 for lunch and 5-5:30 for dinner).
Every day of my life I am trying to minimize waiting in lines. So I do the same thing at Disney parks. If others like waiting in lines, then more power to them. Go for it.
It may be strange, but some of the experience of the ride is waiting in the line. Disney seems to has put a bunch of work into entertainment while waiting, Dumbo has a playground thing where the kids can play and they page you when it is your turn to get in line. Pooh has little games and wall of digital hunny to write on. But everyone is in such a hurry we miss a bunch of the little things that make the parks. I saw a few threads about the magic being gone, maybe the magic is still there, but we are too busy looking at phones and rushing for fastpasses or trying to get an edge. The way I look at Disney is as a separate world and I think they do an amazing job of that, walk in, relax, see the sights, experience the journey through the park.
When I have been through a queue 25 times in the past, I personally do not feel the need to go through it slowly again. If I have to I will. But I would rather not if I can.
If you or anyone else likes the queue and wants to go through it slowly, you can always go at your own pace and let others pass you.
I have never said anything about the magic being gone at Disney parks. A few others have. But from what I read it is not having to wait in line that causes that. It is having to be an uber-planner and reserve dining and rides far in advance and losing some of the spontaneity that makes a trip feel magical to them.
Fortunately my home resort is DLR and they do not have ADR mania like at WDW and no MB or FP+ yet. So our DLR trips are a lot more relaxing and spontaneous than the WDW trips. I still love WDW though.
We are lucky that on a whim we can run to the parks for an hour or two so this may not be possible for everyone, but I would encourage everyone on your next visit to leave your phone in the car, or the hotel room, or put it on airplane mode, just for one day of your trip, or even half a day of the trip. Sure you may not ride everything that day, but I would bet that at the end of that day you would not ask if there was still some magic life at Disney World.
I agree and disagree. I think folks on vacation should be more emotionally present with the group they are with and not disconnected thru their phone.
BUT...
The world is changing and not everyone on their phone is an anti-social teenager or a job obsessed self-important professional father or mother.
The smart phones allow you to share an experience (at Disney or wherever) with more than the folks you are immediately with. That is kind of cool. A woman who I work with was at DLR for a half marathon in January. She has three kids back in Colorado that love Disney but stayed behind. She traveled with three girlfriends. She wanted to share her experience there with her family in Colorado. So rather than appearing to be disconnecting from her friends while on her phone, she was connecting with her family.
She also connected with me by text at one point because she experienced something at DLR that none of her friends would appreciate very much but I would. So she sent me a text one night with a photo. I am part of her community.
Phones also are how families and groups at Disney parks stay in touch. It used to be 20 years ago very hard to split up your group as you might not be able to find them again. Now groups can easily split and then reconnect. We used walkie-talkies 10-15 years ago to keep in touch which worked OK. Now we use our phones. I have college and high school age kids. They hate waking up early. On Disney trips they compromise and wake up early on some days and sleep in on others. The phones allow me and whoever wants to go early just leave and then we can easily re-connect later. That is a godsend if you ask me. We can text now and do not even have to talk. Another godsend. No need to be yapping on a phone in a crowded queue with other strangers around. Just send a text "Hey, we are BTMRR and should be off in 15 minutes - meet us at the exit".
In any case, everything needs a balance but there is no way I would give up my smartphone on a Disney trip. It helps make my trip so much better than before I had one.
Finally, folks do have a need to be connected professionally. I happen to own two high tech businesses. Last year while I was at DLR I had one of my key managers overseas on a trip and out of touch electronically for a day and an urgent request came in from another project we had going on. I was the only one who could keep that moving. I did it through email and got it forwarded to someone else who could get the needed information. I think that when used within reason that is very cool and makes things less stressful for me.
I think he is over 70,000 now. Does the DIS post count work like an old car odometer where you go back to zero after hitting 100,000?
