Lightening Lane + Breakdowns = Magic Killer

[GatorChris]

Just got back from a long trip to WDW. It was magical, of course. Had lots of fun. But...I feel like every single morning, something was in breakdown mode at every park I went to. Rides, apps, dining. It was a mess. And to be honest, if I'm paying a premium price, I should get the premium theme park experience. I expect breakdowns at Six Flags because I'm paying $60 or less to visit.

Here's where it becomes a big headache. When a ride goes down, all those LLs and ILLs that Disney OVERsold still have a right to ride. Which means the standby lines for these attractions are horrible. My first day at DHS, I had the Multipass, but couldn't get a LL for ToyStory Mania until the same time F! was running (which ticked me off enough, seeing as how I paid extra). So we walked into standby at TSM which said 35 minutes. About 30 minutes later, with the line barely moving because, again they OVERsell those LLs, they say they're running on limited capacity. Which means the LL line is piling up, which means they get all sorts of priority to get the line down. We ended up waiting 75 minutes. FOR TSM!!!! C'mon.

Our last evening at Epcot, we did the standby at Guardians. Because Test Track had been down for at least 5 hours at 5:30pm, Guardians was averaging about 80-100 minutes. When we got in line, it said 80, which I was willing to do because it's my daughter's favorite ride (not mine). The line moved fast outside (15 minutes)...and then we got inside and the ILL line became crazy. It was literally from the top of the ramp to the entrance door for 60 minutes, which is what it took for us to get from the indoor entrance to the top set of circle-back lines. At that point, my blood was starting to boil because I knew we had a much longer wait to go. It then shut down for about 5 minutes between announcements of breakdowns and going back up - enough to make the ILL line crazier. From the time we got in line until we got on the ride was 2 hours 20 minutes. I was HOT. While in line, I told my wife the next time I wanted to plan a trip to Disney, cut off my big toe with wire cutters.

Anyway, this seemed to happen nearly everyday. The first problem is they oversell LL and ILL, no doubt. The second problem is even a little hiccup in the ride makes it a nightmare. I paid the exorbitant prices to get into Epoct, but because I didn't pay even more for the LL, I get a bad experience. It's garbage, and something really has to be done. Nothing will be done because Disney is making a killing. I just wish Disney would do better. One thing Epcot could use is some more live entertainment like they used to have. World Showcase Players, Off Kilter...stuff where we can just show up and enjoy what Epcot is supposed to be.

Rant over. Maybe???

 

[HopperFan]

Just got back from a long trip to WDW. It was magical, of course. Had lots of fun. But...I feel like every single morning, something was in breakdown mode at every park I went to. Rides, apps, dining. It was a mess. And to be honest, if I'm paying a premium price, I should get the premium theme park experience. I expect breakdowns at Six Flags because I'm paying $60 or less to visit.

Here's where it becomes a big headache. When a ride goes down, all those LLs and ILLs that Disney OVERsold still have a right to ride. Which means the standby lines for these attractions are horrible. My first day at DHS, I had the Multipass, but couldn't get a LL for ToyStory Mania until the same time F! was running (which ticked me off enough, seeing as how I paid extra). So we walked into standby at TSM which said 35 minutes. About 30 minutes later, with the line barely moving because, again they OVERsell those LLs, they say they're running on limited capacity. Which means the LL line is piling up, which means they get all sorts of priority to get the line down. We ended up waiting 75 minutes. FOR TSM!!!! C'mon.

Our last evening at Epcot, we did the standby at Guardians. Because Test Track had been down for at least 5 hours at 5:30pm, Guardians was averaging about 80-100 minutes. When we got in line, it said 80, which I was willing to do because it's my daughter's favorite ride (not mine). The line moved fast outside (15 minutes)...and then we got inside and the ILL line became crazy. It was literally from the top of the ramp to the entrance door for 60 minutes, which is what it took for us to get from the indoor entrance to the top set of circle-back lines. At that point, my blood was starting to boil because I knew we had a much longer wait to go. It then shut down for about 5 minutes between announcements of breakdowns and going back up - enough to make the ILL line crazier. From the time we got in line until we got on the ride was 2 hours 20 minutes. I was HOT. While in line, I told my wife the next time I wanted to plan a trip to Disney, cut off my big toe with wire cutters.

Anyway, this seemed to happen nearly everyday. The first problem is they oversell LL and ILL, no doubt. The second problem is even a little hiccup in the ride makes it a nightmare. I paid the exorbitant prices to get into Epoct, but because I didn't pay even more for the LL, I get a bad experience. It's garbage, and something really has to be done. Nothing will be done because Disney is making a killing. I just wish Disney would do better. One thing Epcot could use is some more live entertainment like they used to have. World Showcase Players, Off Kilter...stuff where we can just show up and enjoy what Epcot is supposed to be.

Rant over. Maybe???

What would cutting off your big toe do for you? Just curious.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Standby = longer waits. LLMP and LLSP = shorter waits. It's a decision each person makes depending on how they wish to tour the parks.

I have chosen not to purchase LLMP for our upcoming trip and have never purchased LLSP. I made this decision and know that it will = longer waits.

For each person who complains about attractions going down, there is another person complaining that XXX is being refurbished during their trip. Disney can't win.

Going to Disney = lines. Always has, always will and it's a choice I choose to make by choosing to visit Disney.

I appreciate your need to vent but also want those who may be new to the boards to know it's a common occurrence for there to be lines and for attractions to break down.

Were some of your waits awful? 100%!! Hope you also had some surprises in the other direction too that waits were over estimated and you rode sooner than anticipated.

 

[BrianL]

The system works pretty well, but ride breakdowns do cause problems. I mean, stuff happens, but then the LL line does pile up, and that spells disaster for standby. On my last trip, we had purchased Guardians, and it was down all morning and fo rmost of the day. We were planning to hop to HS after lunch, so I hit up a Guest Services umbrella, and they were very happy when I asked to switch it to two days later when we were coming back to Epcot. I am sure they had met lots of angry people already who wanted to try to get in on the same day, so we alleviated that a bit.

Maintenance has been an issue for a while, but it doesn't help when a lot of these newer, fancier, high-tech rides seem to be super sensitive to the smallest disruption. They go down all the time! I feel like the older, stalwart rides hardly ever do.

 

[reddog21]

Here's where it becomes a big headache. When a ride goes down, all those LLs and ILLs that Disney OVERsold still have a right to ride. Which means the standby lines for these attractions are horrible. My first day at DHS, I had the Multipass, but couldn't get a LL for ToyStory Mania until the same time F! was running (which ticked me off enough, seeing as how I paid extra). So we walked into standby at TSM which said 35 minutes. About 30 minutes later, with the line barely moving because, again they OVERsell those LLs, they say they're running on limited capacity. Which means the LL line is piling up, which means they get all sorts of priority to get the line down. We ended up waiting 75 minutes. FOR TSM!!!! C'mon.

You lost me on the overselling part—how so? When a ride goes down, all those Lightning Lane reservations get converted into a special Lightning Lane pass that lets you ride any attraction at any time. As a result, the next most popular attraction often gets flooded with Lightning Lane users. This has been happening even before the current Lightning Lane system was introduced.

I will agree that rides seem to be going down more often then I can remember.

 

[Smugpugmug]

A lot of maintenance staff were let go or left willingly during Covid - this applies to both WDW and Disneyland. This has greatly contributed to increased ride breakdowns in both resorts. I haven't been to Disneyland recently (will be there next month) but at WDW the ride breakdowns are getting comical at this point.

 

[BrianL]

A lot of maintenance staff were let go or left willingly during Covid - this applies to both WDW and Disneyland. This has greatly contributed to increased ride breakdowns in both resorts. I haven't been to Disneyland recently (will be there next month) but at WDW the ride breakdowns are getting comical at this point.

This is definitely the real problem!

 

[OhDannyBoy]

If you are going to get mad about lines or paying a premium for shorter lines, then Disney is a bad choice for vacation.

Rides are mechanical devices. These things run 12ish hours a day 365 days a year. They are going to break down. Unfortunately they seem to do so when it is inconvenient to us.

 

[GatorChris]

If you are going to get mad about lines or paying a premium for shorter lines, then Disney is a bad choice for vacation.

Rides are mechanical devices. These things run 12ish hours a day 365 days a year. They are going to break down. Unfortunately they seem to do so when it is inconvenient to us.

Waiting in lines is Disney. I get it. Waiting for 40 -60 beyond the already large wait times? That's bad. If it happens once ok. If it happens twice, I'm getting upset. But it was daily. Rockin Rollercoaster was down for two hours on our first day at DHS - on the second day, we hit it for early morning and it broke down again as we were just past the limo scene. Took 30+ minutes to get it back up. I'm sure that made it crazy for the rest of the morning.

If it were Six Flags, I'm annoyed but expect it. But at Disney prices just to get in, either maintain the rides better or cut back on the LL to reduce the inevitable logjam when they break down. I'd imagine their guest satisfaction surveys are in the toilet with stuff like that. But again, we keep paying to go, so...that's on me.