Looks like the park reservation system is here to stay.

[Jrb1979]

Why I think Disney Parks decided to let visitors attend the parks by reservation only is because Disney Parks is trying a new experiment to get more guests in for more money and to cut down on crowds that enter the parks during the busiest hours such as the mornings and afternoons. Because if you've visited Walt Disney World or Disneyland first thing in the mornings there will be dozens of people waiting in line for two hours waiting for the park to open and when the park officially opens it can be like the start of The Amazing Race and people go right away to eat breakfast or shop or ride popular rides first thing. So Disney Parks came up with a simple solution that will help visitors to get in the parks easily. But what I can see is that the reservation system will fail because for example how can people expect to go into Epcot when they have a character breakfast and the people have reserved a 9AM reservation and because of time or emergency they get to Epcot at 10AM and when Disney learns that the people are late and missed their reservation for 9AM will Epcot tell them to come back tomorrow? Probably yes. So I think what Disney Parks should do is invent a better system to get into the parks easily because reservations do not work and they should've came up with a better idea

The reservation isn't time based. You can show up at any time but you can only go to the park you made the reservation for.

IMO the reservation system has nothing to with controling crowds. It's all about labor control by knowing how many people are in the parks each day.

 

[Aluminum Falcon]

That's correct. If I owned my own business my goal would be to balance profits with guest satisfaction so that my company lasted for my entire career.

Great example. Disney used to run The sea racers at the lake resorts at a loss because it drove guest satisfaction. Guest satisfaction then caused people to patronize the resorts and spend money on park tickets, food, merchandise etc.

When you solely focus on profit the long term prospects for your company will fade.

Not trying to prod you, but isn't your example a way that Disney focused on profits, if they knew they could run the racers at a loss, and people would spend more money because of it, then they're focusing on profits. if they ran them at a loss, and had no way of recouping the losses, that would just be bad business. I agree that customer satisfaction is important, but it should be used as a tool to drive profits.

I think the more accurate statement would be, focusing on short term profits is detrimental to long term gains in circumstances based around customer satisfaction. Focusing on profit is the ONLY way to stay solvent in business

 

[wkrainey]

Because they are in the hospitality business, and an unpleasant experiences kills repeat business.

I keep seeing this “profits above all” attitude lately. Disney survived 50 years without this mentality

Many busniesses will fail in the next 20 years due to this profits only attitude.

You have to run a GOOD business , not just a profitable one to survive

This sort of logic misses the fact that parks are only a small segment in Disney's portfolio. It's the cash cow of the business for sure and needs to be maintained to survive and thrive, but it's not the future for the company.

 

[npatellye]

Why I think Disney Parks decided to let visitors attend the parks by reservation only is because Disney Parks is trying a new experiment to get more guests in for more money and to cut down on crowds that enter the parks during the busiest hours such as the mornings and afternoons. Because if you've visited Walt Disney World or Disneyland first thing in the mornings there will be dozens of people waiting in line for two hours waiting for the park to open and when the park officially opens it can be like the start of The Amazing Race and people go right away to eat breakfast or shop or ride popular rides first thing. So Disney Parks came up with a simple solution that will help visitors to get in the parks easily. But what I can see is that the reservation system will fail because for example how can people expect to go into Epcot when they have a character breakfast and the people have reserved a 9AM reservation and because of time or emergency they get to Epcot at 10AM and when Disney learns that the people are late and missed their reservation for 9AM will Epcot tell them to come back tomorrow? Probably yes. So I think what Disney Parks should do is invent a better system to get into the parks easily because reservations do not work and they should've came up with a better idea

As noted by a previous poster above, the park reservation system isn’t time based. If you have a park reservation for Epcot, you can enter any time between park opening (or early entry if eligible) and park close. This doesn’t necessarily cut down on crowds at park opening or any other busy hours.

The park reservations work just fine. People may not like them but they do guarantee you admission to the park you have reserved any time between open and close (or during early entry if staying at an eligible hotel). You can enter easily and at any time to the park you have reserved. Other than eliminating park reservations entirely, I’m honestly not sure what else Disney could come up with that would be easier than the current park reservation system.

 

[SL6827]

The reservation isn't time based. You can show up at any time but you can only go to the park you made the reservation for.

IMO the reservation system has nothing to with controling crowds. It's all about labor control by knowing how many people are in the parks each day.

This!!

 

[legler2250]

Fortunately rolling with the punches is a decent strategy in my refusal to stop loving Disney despite Chapeks best attempts to ruin it for me. I absolutely hate the reservation system but still have faith in the ideas and magic that Disney was built upon with Walt's magic touch.

 

[Disneychick75]

If the Disney parks reservation system is here to stay, then we will stay away.

 

[Gr8scott]

I‘ve read through this entire thread and the fact that the crowds still being to high to allow an enjoyable experience even with the park reservation system (maybe even worse than before), along with the headache of waiting until 2:00 PM to park hop concerns me quite a bit as a DVC owner. What adds to this concern is the expansion of hotels and DVC resorts without the expansion of parks in accord that is only going to make this situation worse.

When we purchased our DVC contracts “flexibility” was marketed to us A LOT. I realize DVC is a different entity than the parks but it’s hard to separate the two, and all of the park reservations required and associated rules has made it so restrictive. We visited WDW in December and have a another one trip booked for June and fully expect to list our contracts for sale thereafter due to all this nonsense. Inconvenience to it‘s most loyal guests just does not seem to be a concern of Disney at this point. At least that’s how we feel after a dozen or so years of membership, and we’ve grown tired of being herded.

 

[Aluminum Falcon]

I‘ve read through this entire thread and the fact that the crowds still being to high to allow an enjoyable experience even with the park reservation system (maybe even worse than before), along with the headache of waiting until 2:00 PM to park hop concerns me quite a bit as a DVC owner. What adds to this concern is the expansion of hotels and DVC resorts without the expansion of parks in accord that is only going to make this situation worse.

When we purchased our DVC contracts “flexibility” was marketed to us A LOT. I realize DVC is a different entity than the parks but it’s hard to separate the two, and all of the park reservations required and associated rules has made it so restrictive. We visited WDW in December and have a another one trip booked for June and fully expect to list our contracts for sale thereafter due to all this nonsense. Inconvenience to it‘s most loyal guests just does not seem to be a concern of Disney at this point. At least that’s how we feel after a dozen or so years of membership, and we’ve grown tired of being herded.

I understand your point, but Disney is capitalizing on its popularity, if Disney didn’t put up new hotels someone else would, look at the air b&b’s you can rent down there now as an example. I think they are trying to be fair to their guests, but the root of everyone’s frustration is just how busy they are now, and to that outside of limiting occupancy, (pipe dream) there isn’t much anyone can do about it. However, I do feel your pain.

 

[Suger Mag]

Have used it my last two trips... the park reservation system does not bother me or hinder my vacation. I am a planner, i think that is what I enjoy most about my WDW vacations... the planning, the research, and especially the spreadsheets.

People are annoyed most by that which negatively affects them. I am DVC. I dont buy annual passes. I buy length of stay tickets (oh how I miss the no expiration tickets. But I already plan my vacations years out, so making a park reservation for a specific day is not a big deal to me. I am used to having to essentially do the same thing... planning ahead and scheduling a park for the day... if I was scheduling dining or the old E- fast passes. I find it eases my anxiety... ok check... prospective plans (spreadsheet fun).... now match with actual reservations. I love my playing on my phone... so taking a minute here and there is not a problem. Loved being able to mobile order. Used all forms last trip... made in advance TS reservations... spur of the moment walk up CS... mobile orders.

Last trip (Jan 2022) I committed to checking it out and used Genie+ and ILL for my whole week, and I felt I got my money's worth the last vacation in terms of time and rides. Being someone who does not like to go to the parks first thing in the AM... some of the previous FP systems were not the best for my style. So I would use it, pay for them again. So far every version has had their +/- for me. DO I like paying extra? nope... but I was able to get all the reservations and rides I wanted to with the system (Genie+ and ILL) and I did enjoy just walking onto rides .... both of which were not something that I was always able to do/get with the previous FP versions.

 

[Gr8scott]

I understand your point, but Disney is capitalizing on its popularity, if Disney didn’t put up new hotels someone else would, look at the air b&b’s you can rent down there now as an example. I think they are trying to be fair to their guests, but the root of everyone’s frustration is just how busy they are now, and to that outside of limiting occupancy, (pipe dream) there isn’t much anyone can do about it. However, I do feel your pain.

I can’t disagree as clearly the demand is there, and on the positive side this demand correlates to DVC resales meaning I will get a good price when I sell.

 

[Gr8scott]

Have used it my last two trips... the park reservation system does not bother me or hinder my vacation. I am a planner, i think that is what I enjoy most about my WDW vacations... the planning, the research, and especially the spreadsheets.

People are annoyed most by that which negatively affects them. I am DVC. I dont buy annual passes. I buy length of stay tickets (oh how I miss the no expiration tickets. But I already plan my vacations years out, so making a park reservation for a specific day is not a big deal to me. I am used to having to essentially do the same thing... planning ahead and scheduling a park for the day... if I was scheduling dining or the old E- fast passes. I find it eases my anxiety... ok check... prospective plans (spreadsheet fun).... now match with actual reservations. I love my playing on my phone... so taking a minute here and there is not a problem. Loved being able to mobile order. Used all forms last trip... made in advance TS reservations... spur of the moment walk up CS... mobile orders.

Last trip (Jan 2022) I committed to checking it out and used Genie+ and ILL for my whole week, and I felt I got my money's worth the last vacation in terms of time and rides. Being someone who does not like to go to the parks first thing in the AM... some of the previous FP systems were not the best for my style. So I would use it, pay for them again. So far every version has had their +/- for me. DO I like paying extra? nope... but I was able to get all the reservations and rides I wanted to with the system (Genie+ and ILL) and I did enjoy just walking onto rides .... both of which were not something that I was always able to do/get with the previous FP versions.

To me you can still plan out every detail of your vacation should you wish to regardless if the park reservation system, Genie+, Lightning Lane, ADR’s was in place. The system overall now just basically mandates this planning to have any hope of getting what you want.

The problem I have with it is the lack of flexibility after all of this planning is done and you want to make adjustments on the fly while you are there for myriad of reasons like weather, crowds, and changing park or dining preferences. Feel free to make all your plans, just be aware that you need to stick to them and a change will come at a cost of convenience and maybe even cash.

 

[john7994]

I think the consensus is that Park Reservations will need to be something Disney addresses soon along with the illogical after 2P park hop, and I hope the return of college / international workers will help supplement the workforce quickly to make it happen. On that note, Disney is clearly trying to hire aggressively and they are even offering signing bonuses to get workers back (not just in Florida btw). I think they have another local job fair happening in a few weeks.

However, I am not getting that Park Reservations are a cost-cutting measure only - If it were truly an "I dont care about the experience and I will just keep everything in the park limited/closed with long lines and charge more" - why would there be a need for Park Reservations at all? Just dont staff the parks optimally - which may seem like that is the experience now as they try and balance staff amidst all this demand.

Conversely, as a theory/guess because I have no data like everyone else, it is also just as likely a staffing availability / shift schedule issue (employees cant work the entire 12-14 hour day - 7 days a week), and they are using Park Reservations to focus the bulk of staff (they have available now as they ramp-up) to the later part of the day by throttling crowds and where they go first for the openings - which also fits with the seemingly illogical after 2P park hop where no control is being exercised of where people can go other than timing. With this model, Disney can focus employees on the late morning / afternoon start shifts. I am sure its a balancing act right now - where seemingly Disney isn't close to winning. While this could seem to support the cost-cutting theory from a different angle - only time will tell if that is really the true driving motivation.

I am hopeful the return to parades, character meet and greets normalizing, and other kiosks/QS/TS/Ride Refurbs/Opens will help to stretch out the crowds better throughout the day amongst the parks. It will also drive more people to it in some cases like Epcot/MK. This is one problem in terms of experience that will need to be solved as well before blowing the doors off.

I think Disney would be worried about the hit of offering no Park Reservations for on-site cash guests / DVC, but it could return something of value for the exorbitant prices they are charging for everything removed.

 

[Jrb1979]

I think the consensus is that Park Reservations will need to be something Disney addresses soon along with the illogical after 2P park hop, and I hope the return of college / international workers will help supplement the workforce quickly to make it happen. On that note, Disney is clearly trying to hire aggressively and they are even offering signing bonuses to get workers back (not just in Florida btw). I think they have another local job fair happening in a few weeks.

However, I am not getting that Park Reservations are a cost-cutting measure only - If it were truly an "I dont care about the experience and I will just keep everything in the park limited/closed with long lines and charge more" - why would there be a need for Park Reservations at all? Just dont staff the parks optimally - which may seem like that is the experience now as they try and balance staff amidst all this demand.

Conversely, as a theory/guess because I have no data like everyone else, it is also just as likely a staffing availability / shift schedule issue (employees cant work the entire 12-14 hour day - 7 days a week), and they are using Park Reservations to focus the bulk of staff (they have available now as they ramp-up) to the later part of the day by throttling crowds and where they go first for the openings - which also fits with the seemingly illogical after 2P park hop where no control is being exercised of where people can go other than timing. With this model, Disney can focus employees on the late morning / afternoon start shifts. I am sure its a balancing act right now - where seemingly Disney isn't close to winning. While this could seem to support the cost-cutting theory from a different angle - only time will tell if that is really the true driving motivation.

I am hopeful the return to parades, character meet and greets normalizing, and other kiosks/QS/TS/Ride Refurbs/Opens will help to stretch out the crowds better throughout the day amongst the parks. It will also drive more people to it in some cases like Epcot/MK. This is one problem in terms of experience that will need to be solved as well before blowing the doors off.

I think Disney would be worried about the hit of offering no Park Reservations for on-site cash guests / DVC, but it could return something of value for the exorbitant prices they are charging for everything removed.

I don't think the reservation system or the 2pm hopping time is going to change. This system has nothing to do with guest satisfaction. It all had to do with labor control and profits. Right now with parks being busy they aren't worried about any hits to the bottom line.

 

[john7994]

I don't think the reservation system or the 2pm hopping time is going to change. This system has nothing to do with guest satisfaction. It all had to do with labor control and profits. Right now with parks being busy they aren't worried about any hits to the bottom line

Not looking to convince anyone... just throwing out an alternative.

 

[Aluminum Falcon]

I don't think the reservation system or the 2pm hopping time is going to change. This system has nothing to do with guest satisfaction. It all had to do with labor control and profits. Right now with parks being busy they aren't worried about any hits to the bottom line.

With the parks being busy the bottom line will prosper

 

[New Mouse]

Not looking to convince anyone... just throwing out an alternative.

You don't need to convince. Everything you shared equals higher profits.

 

[Jrb1979]

With the parks being busy the bottom line will prosper

Right now it's happening. How long it will last nobody knows.

 

[Aluminum Falcon]

Right now it's happening. How long it will last nobody knows.

I agree, but you can never know that. If you could you’d be a billionaire haha

 

[Suger Mag]

To me you can still plan out every detail of your vacation should you wish to regardless if the park reservation system, Genie+, Lightning Lane, ADR’s was in place. The system overall now just basically mandates this planning to have any hope of getting what you want.

The problem I have with it is the lack of flexibility after all of this planning is done and you want to make adjustments on the fly while you are there for myriad of reasons like weather, crowds, and changing park or dining preferences. Feel free to make all your plans, just be aware that you need to stick to them and a change will come at a cost of convenience and maybe even cash.

yeah, I do see what you are saying with flexibility, but I dont see that problem as being exclusive to Genie, it has been a symptom of WDW advance dining reservations, FPs etc.. While yes it was true, before this reservation system, you could switch the park on a whim, weeks before, days before day of... but that STILL often meant a lack of options (thus flexibility) as by switching meant losing all the plans/reservations/FPs for that day.