Here Now & Just Back - A Place To Share Your Recent Experiences

[peteykirch]

It seems like the presence of other people really affected your trip. If they do make special entrance gates for "First Time Visitors" it should be most of the tapstiles, since return guests never have issues once they reach the front of the line so those lines would move quickly and without disruption. I have not noticed the blocking off of touch points, but I would assume that if they are doing so, it is for a reason.

I am not sure that allowing guests to congregate around entrances equal CM not caring about guest experience. When I have seen this happen, it is usually because the CM cares enough about guest experience to patiently explain something or resolve an issue. Should they be aware that the entrance point is being blocked, maybe. But there are a lot of demands on the CMs.

Line jumping is one of those things that really annoy some people, and other people not so much. I have never felt it significantly affected my waits in line, but at the same time I would like to see it stop as well. Ironically, I think making groups wait until they are complete would only add to the crowds blocking the entrances.

Well using the Passholder Line isn't the work around either. Depending how busy it is at Rope Drop they let anyone use the AP Line to get people through the gates faster.

I just think the bigger issue is not utilizing all the touch points when there is a CM stationed at the entrance gate. One CM stands there for 4 touch points, but all too often the CM blocks off the ones near the front only utilizing the back 2 touch points. I also don't know the regulations CMs have to follow when there is an issue with someones ticket not working, but having them stand there instead of pulling them aside to service other guests leads to a very poor guest experience.

The issue with people blocking the entrance way near the tap points for LL is the CM isn't actively talking or assisting anyone. They are just standing there, there is no active conversation happening between the CM and the Guests congregating there.

Line jumping may or may not increase wait times very often, but it's just a scummy thing to do in general. Sometimes you'll get a guest who will stand off to the side and tell people to go around because they are waiting for someone to join them in line, but that is the slim minority of those experiences.

I will also say mask compliance inside ride queues was pretty poor. Rides where there is only a CM outside, and then you don't see one until either the 2nd touch point or the loading area leads to a lot of people not bothering to keep their masks on. I really thought the week we were there with the cold weather would make people want to keep masks on longer to keep their faces warmer but that didn't materialize as much as I thought it would. I guess it's Florida just going to Florida.

 

[dwonderz]

Pointer - don’t like your Uber price? Close the app and try again. BC to AOA was $33first look (surge pricing), $13 at second look.

I just wanted to emphasize this - we had the exact same experience in November!! There would be times that the Uber would drop by $20-$25. Also - if you are leaving a park after fireworks/etc. - either leave a few minutes earlier or wait an extra 15 minutes and the price of the Uber will drop drastically! If you're leaving MK - instead of going to the TTC - we take the monorail/boat over to the Poly/GF and catch an uber from there (it's so much more comfortable waiting in the lobby than at the TTC).

 

[juuuliebeth]

I would love one of these for MK, and maybe someone already has done one, but I don't have the patience to wade back through all the pages. I'm particularly interested in folks who started booking G+ windows starting as soon after park opening as possible and just grabbing the earliest next available throughout the day. How successful is that strategy?

I started to try and write down my MK day, as that's what I did, but I don't remember the specifics. It wasn't successful or unsuccessful. I was essentially able to book attractions about 60-90 minutes into the future. Started with Peter Pan at 11:30am or so. Rode Thunder Mountain in standby in the morning (waited about 35 minutes when posted at 50). Then Cheshire Cafe for a cat tail for breakfast and some shopping around. Rode Peter Pan as soon as window opened and then booked Haunted Mansion for maybe 1pm or so. Proceeded to get LLs for Small World, Pirates, Under the Sea with Ariel, Dumbo, and a nighttime ride on Thunder Mountain again. Filled in time with Philharmagic, Tiki Room, Country Bears, Hall of Presidents, and People Mover. Then sprinkle in some cavalcades, shopping, snacks, and Enchantment, you can make yourself a full day at MK for sure.

It wasn't a bad day, but I didn't feel like I got as much done as I wanted to. Maybe I just need to get used to the new system in order to make it really work for me like FP+ did in the past. Or maybe it was too crowded to really utilize it. I'm actually looking forward to trying it again at some point, though I still really resent the price tag.

 

[Lsdolphin]

Just returned from 7day trip last night. Have posted several times already but just wanted to mention again how we found the early entry for resort guests especially at MK to be extremely disappointing....there were literally hordes of people by 8:30 am waiting for just several attraction!
one morning both 7 DMT and Winnie the Pooh were down, PP went down within an hour followed shortly by HM. as a result both LL lanes and standby lines were crazy long for most of day. The other days we did early entrance at MK were not as crazy but still frustrating with only a few rides open and so many people. in comparison our early entry morning at HS on Friday was great. Line for Slinky dog began moving steadily at 8:20 am and TSM began moving right at 8:30 am. Tried using Genie+ without too much success probably because we can only stay a few hours in a park and not the amount of time it takes to utilize the Genie+ effectively.
one more observation....stayed at CSR and during course of day yesterday large groups of kids mostly girls appeared to be cheer groups began arriving and groups of screaming kids quickly began showing up at pools....lots of pent up energy!
I did cancel our early March trip as everything and I mean EVERYTHING is going to be crazy crowded!
in spite of larger crowds than expected in the parks and really cold temps for several days we ended our trip with 2 beautiful warm sunny days and several peaceful hours at a beautiful pool and enjoyed some great meals throughout the week.

 

[brockash]

It seems like the presence of other people really affected your trip. If they do make special entrance gates for "First Time Visitors" it should be most of the tapstiles, since return guests never have issues once they reach the front of the line so those lines would move quickly and without disruption. I have not noticed the blocking off of touch points, but I would assume that if they are doing so, it is for a reason.

I am not sure that allowing guests to congregate around entrances equal CM not caring about guest experience. When I have seen this happen, it is usually because the CM cares enough about guest experience to patiently explain something or resolve an issue. Should they be aware that the entrance point is being blocked, maybe. But there are a lot of demands on the CMs.

Line jumping is one of those things that really annoy some people, and other people not so much. I have never felt it significantly affected my waits in line, but at the same time I would like to see it stop as well. Ironically, I think making groups wait until they are complete would only add to the crowds blocking the entrances.

I think what the OP experienced is what many of us have over the past few years...Disney's customer service used to be stellar and it seems from many experiences it is not any longer. It seems the mindset from the very top, which of course works it way down to the CMs on the frontlines, has really changed and not for the better.

 

[KathyNY76]

Thurs Feb 3 - Epcot

Oy. The people. I just had a FB memory from our first family trip to Disney 7 years ago. Same time of year, it's such a different experience now (I used to really hate when people talk about the good old days in 80s or 90s but now I see why! )

Staying at POP. Skyliner was down this am (just came up at 6pm). I requested a room by it since I knew I was doing Epcot and DHS. While walking to bus stop I realize my plan is Remy so I ping an Uber - who happened to be dropping of a CM right then! Yay.

Dropped me at the Swan and I walked to IG. They let us in a little before 9 and over to Remy. I was pretty close to the front. Ride was down until just before 10. Got off at 10:07 so decided Frozen wasn't worth the walk/wait.

Soarin said 30, was 9.
LWtL said 15, was 7 or so.
Figment said 10, was 5
TT said 55, used SR to walk right to load - only for it to go down for hours.
Gave us a LL that I used immediately at Spaceship Earth b/c the posted 20 mins looked to be that and I was getting hungry!

Headed to World Showcase for food booths (Beet Carpacio, Mushroom Risotto, Deconstructed Onion soup all delish. Encanto empanada - eh, it was fine. Didn't live up to the hype I'd heard.)
3 Caballeros pretty much walk on (through some queue zig zags)

It was just really, really crowded. More crowded than our Spring Break trip last year. Which granted, many still weren't traveling, but still - beg of Feb I thought it would be better (though the reports the last few weeks prepared me for the crowds!)

It was my first time doing a park solo (daughter was practicing with her dance team) and I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would. Not sure if it was being alone (I'm am extravert), or the crowds, or all the "broken" things...

 

[Sarahslay]

Thurs Feb 3 - Epcot

Oy. The people. I just had a FB memory from our first family trip to Disney 7 years ago. Same time of year, it's such a different experience now (I used to really hate when people talk about the good old days in 80s or 90s but now I see why! )

Staying at POP. Skyliner was down this am (just came up at 6pm). I requested a room by it since I knew I was doing Epcot and DHS. While walking to bus stop I realize my plan is Remy so I ping an Uber - who happened to be dropping of a CM right then! Yay.

Dropped me at the Swan and I walked to IG. They let us in a little before 9 and over to Remy. I was pretty close to the front. Ride was down until just before 10. Got off at 10:07 so decided Frozen wasn't worth the walk/wait.

Soarin said 30, was 9.
LWtL said 15, was 7 or so.
Figment said 10, was 5
TT said 55, used SR to walk right to load - only for it to go down for hours.
Gave us a LL that I used immediately at Spaceship Earth b/c the posted 20 mins looked to be that and I was getting hungry!

Headed to World Showcase for food booths (Beet Carpacio, Mushroom Risotto, Deconstructed Onion soup all delish. Encanto empanada - eh, it was fine. Didn't live up to the hype I'd heard.)
3 Caballeros pretty much walk on (through some queue zig zags)

It was just really, really crowded. More crowded than our Spring Break trip last year. Which granted, many still weren't traveling, but still - beg of Feb I thought it would be better (though the reports the last few weeks prepared me for the crowds!)

It was my first time doing a park solo (daughter was practicing with her dance team) and I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would. Not sure if it was being alone (I'm am extravert), or the crowds, or all the "broken" things...

Shoot, my FB memories right now are from my trip the last week of January/first week of February I did in 2020, and I just got back from a trip this past Saturday, night and day trips crowd wise. That’s only 2 years! I mean, sure, it was right before the closure and things have changed, but a lot of people keep saying “I remember 5/10/15 years ago…crowds were never like this in January”, but they weren’t like this right before the shut down either. One of the manager at BW was telling me they couldn’t believe how crowded/busy it is, and they all keep wondering when it will slow down. Same with CMs at several other places. I’m longing for the parks from my FB memories right now, it looks like I had a really great time 2 years ago (it was a solo trip, and I love solo trips, but goodness it was like the next trip ever)

 

[Faithful Raider]

Weather was nice for our half day pool day we rescheduled from last Saturday. Spent the rest at Animal Kingdom which was predicted a 6 and sure felt every bit of that. We did a few rides and hung out and enjoyed and finished the night at Disney Springs. Weather was perfect but wow sure was busy for a Thursday night!

Hoping to talk the fam into another half day pool day tomorrow. Was able to move my teppen edo reservation back a few hours just in case they say yes! Tomorrow we have our last Epcot day planned and we have to finish the scavenger hunt!

 

[evilqueenmindy]

We got here Wednesday, going home Sunday. We always do a Disney trip this week in Feb, and this is the most crowded I’ve ever seen the parks at this time of year.
wait times are also way off. We were at little mermaid yesterday with a posted 40 min wait and literally walked thru the queue and up to the ride. On the other had, we got ILL for space mount in the morning for 2 in the afternoon, posted wait was 45 minute, and they were using the outdoor queue as well as the entire indoor queue. It had to have been an hour at least.

 

[DisneyFive]

We got here Wednesday, going home Sunday. We always do a Disney trip this week in Feb, and this is the most crowded I’ve ever seen the parks at this time of year.
wait times are also way off. We were at little mermaid yesterday with a posted 40 min wait and literally walked thru the queue and up to the ride. On the other had, we got ILL for space mount in the morning for 2 in the afternoon, posted wait was 45 minute, and they were using the outdoor queue as well as the entire indoor queue. It had to have been an hour at least.

You waited over an hour and you purchased ILL? That's like standby wait time. I'd be going to guest services. (and I'm not one to complain, normally)

Dan

 

[Lsdolphin]

Beware of FB messages with “someone has died...” it’s a hacker“. I tried to open the message I received not realizing it and now the same message has been sent to everyone on my FB list. Just finished changing all my passwords!

 

[elgerber]

You waited over an hour and you purchased ILL? That's like standby wait time. I'd be going to guest services. (and I'm not one to complain, normally)

Dan

I think they were just commenting on what the standby line looked like when they used their ILL

 

[evilqueenmindy]

You waited over an hour and you purchased ILL? That's like standby wait time. I'd be going to guest services. (and I'm not one to complain, normally)

Dan

No, we walked right on. But we passed by a very long line. There’s no way it was 45 minutes

 

[Sarahslay]

We got here Wednesday, going home Sunday. We always do a Disney trip this week in Feb, and this is the most crowded I’ve ever seen the parks at this time of year.
wait times are also way off. We were at little mermaid yesterday with a posted 40 min wait and literally walked thru the queue and up to the ride. On the other had, we got ILL for space mount in the morning for 2 in the afternoon, posted wait was 45 minute, and they were using the outdoor queue as well as the entire indoor queue. It had to have been an hour at least.

Last week we noticed the same thing with the SM line, the wait time said something like 35/45 minutes and the queue was all the way outside and wrapped around the whole outdoor queue area they had set up and spilling out in front of the restrooms over there. It reminded me of the line when they still had social distancing, except then you could actually expect the line to be that amount of time.

 

[DisneyFive]

Last week we noticed the same thing with the SM line, the wait time said something like 35/45 minutes and the queue was all the way outside and wrapped around the whole outdoor queue area they had set up and spilling out in front of the restrooms over there. It reminded me of the line when they still had social distancing, except then you could actually expect the line to be that amount of time.

Back this past summer when it was standby only, that length of line you describe actually WAS 35-45 minutes. I know because we were at the end of that line right at rope drop one morning. However now that they are letting ILL people in, it HAS to be much longer.

Dan

 

[Sarahslay]

Back this past summer when it was standby only, that length of line you describe actually WAS 35-45 minutes. I know because we were at the end of that line right at rope drop one morning. However now that they are letting ILL people in, it HAS to be much longer.

Dan

Oh it definitely is! We saw the line while on the peoplemover, when we got off (even after a bit of a stop on the ride) the people we had seen in line were still out there. They had moved some, but were nowhere near being inside and it had been probably 20 minutes at that point so who knows how long they had already been standing out there. My dad didn't want to ride it so we didn't stand in line or do LL, but after seeing that I wasn't about to go just get in line by myself.

 

[DisneyFive]

Oh it definitely is! We saw the line while on the peoplemover, when we got off (even after a bit of a stop on the ride) the people we had seen in line were still out there. They had moved some, but were nowhere near being inside and it had been probably 20 minutes at that point so who knows how long they had already been standing out there. My dad didn't want to ride it so we didn't stand in line or do LL, but after seeing that I wasn't about to go just get in line by myself.

I've NEVER seen Space spill out like that until last summer. It made more sense though because they were only using one queue line. There weren't options for both Standby and FP+. It was standby only. Most rides were like that. BTMRR regularly spilled way across the bridge almost to Liberty Square and Haunted mansion would snake down along the wooden dock area. :0

I think FP+ must have done a better job of regulating the flow of people in the FP line versus standby. From other reports, it sounds as though the number of G+ allotments are less overall which means the standby queue will back up with everyone else.

Looks like we'll be hitting it either at rope drop (if we decide to get up that early), or right before park close. It's frustrating having to make that choice now (or pay up sucker). Space is in my top 3 at MK so it's a must do.

Dan

 

[Gary Stocker]

I can tell you on my last day I decided not to purchase Genie + and rope dropped (Early Entry) Space Mountain. Disney reported 40 minutes around 8:40 and I waited 20...I tell you being 6'3" that ride always makes me think I am going to be scalped.

 

[kylenne]

Friendly reminder that the Touring Plans Lines app works off of crowdsourced data, if you are seeing wild discrepancies between projected and actual wait times please be part of the solution and submit your times. Too many people passively downloading the app and using it like another MDE doesn’t help anyone.

 

[Sarahslay]

I've NEVER seen Space spill out like that until last summer. It made more sense though because they were only using one queue line. There weren't options for both Standby and FP+. It was standby only. Most rides were like that. BTMRR regularly spilled way across the bridge almost to Liberty Square and Haunted mansion would snake down along the wooden dock area. :0

I think FP+ must have done a better job of regulating the flow of people in the FP line versus standby. From other reports, it sounds as though the number of G+ allotments are less overall which means the standby queue will back up with everyone else.

Looks like we'll be hitting it either at rope drop (if we decide to get up that early), or right before park close. It's frustrating having to make that choice now (or pay up sucker). Space is in my top 3 at MK so it's a must do.

Dan

I do think G+ is making the lines longer overall, I use DAS and even notice that they clear that G+ line faster than they ever did the FP line. If they notice it getting a lot of people lined up they start just flowing that line through and let the standby line stack up. With FP+ they would do the "a little from this line....a little from that line..." approach and that worked to keep it flowing at least a little better. Maybe it's to make people feel they got their money out of it (don't want to have to wait after you paid for it after all, it wasn't free), or making the people in the line go "Man, maybe I should pay for G+, I'm tired of standing in these long lines"...or a little bit of both.