Magical ? Not so much.

[Doug M]

I'll believe it when I start hearing multiple reports of people picking up hard to score FPs day of.

Agree here. We just got back and took our kids bands with us to score an extra set of FP, each day first thing we hit a kiosk to load their bands with FP. Never saw 7DMT, A&E, TSMM available, or Soarin; did see TT but for extremely late. Even lesser demand FP were often gone within minutes of RD like BTMRR or Space Mountain. We had best success for same day FP at MK simply because of the larger number of options. If a large % of FP are held back for same day FP, we would have gotten them arriving at kiosks first thing after RD. Some perhaps, but lots, no way.

 

[srauseo]

Also, I disagree that you could just show up at Universal as a spontaneous visitor and have things be all rosy. Especially not if you plan to visit the WWOHP. If, for instance, you didn't know you needed a two-park pass to ride the Hogwarts Express I think you'd be pretty disappointed. You'd also be pretty disappointed to try and bypass the 90 minute plus wait at Gringott's with your Express Pass only find out it doesn't include WWoHP attractions.

 

[jeanico2000]

Everyone:
So, if I was to take my 5 and 6 year old granddaughters, they should be smart enough to go on the web and choose what attractions they want to visit a couple of weeks in advance ?

That, my Disney friends, is ridiculous !

But, thanks for all your comments !

I agree with you on this... picking rides 60 (or 30) days in advance and making dining reservations 180 days out ruined the Disney magic for me and my family too. Oddly enough, our opinion does not appear to be that of the majority, who apparently enjoy planning every nano second of their vacations in advance. To each his own, of course, but I'm with you!

 

[ArwenMarie]

I would be extremely surprised if 100% of the allotment of FP+s for ride x on day y are released in one big batch on day (x-60). An educated guess tells me there is a method to releasing the FP+s based on a long list of variables and there are at least some that are released same day. I have no proof of this of course but it is a much more sensible way to handle FP+ allocations. Doing it with an algorithm makes it easier to adjust for staffing, special events, unplanned issues elsewhere, and a host of other operational considerations.

For what it is worth I also suspect the same is true of ADRs.

I think it really depends on the ride and the demand. If onsite guests want MT on day 60, I think they will give them all out on day 60 and the availability charts seems to indicate that could be true. Anna and Elsa would be another example. And of course the new Frozen ride will be interesting. So are they willing to give all of the FP seats out on day 60? Definitely, but doesn't mean they always do it. Ditto for ADRs.

I do think that they can move some seats from SB to FP as needed to make sure that there is always some FP available up until the same-day but on what rides is the question.

Anyway, long story short, I think that there is a lot going on behind the scenes and it is very specific to the ride and crowd levels and to try to come up with a pattern is difficult.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

Gringotts and Forbidden Journey do have single rider lines if one is so inclined...it's usually possible to ride multiple times using single rider line. There are very few attractions (I believe only 3) at WDW with a single rider line, and none of them are at MK.

I use FP+. But I do not book them at 60 days or often even 30, and I do not plan every nanosecond of every day. usually I don't even make ADRs. Depending on the time of year it is usually very possible to make same day ADRs. Maybe not if you want a character meal or BOG or an early dinner at Ohana.

 

[safroim]

Sorry you were disappointed.

I think the MK especially is suffering from too-high crowds, too often.

What would be your solution?

 

[Laura353741]

I don't think planing every nanosecond sounds fun or even possible, but I do think that if you're investing as much money in a vacation / activity as Disney requires why NOT at least do a little research. It's kind of like showing up at a car lot and saying "I like that one!" and driving off with it.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

really, the only solution to "crowds are too high" is to attend on days when crowds are not so high. There are a lot of variables that one must go through to find a day that might fit the bill though. Had a pretty good day there at the beginning of the month, but it was a MVMCP day and a guest who has a day pass or is using one of a multi-day is probably not going to want to leave the park at 7, so the crowds may be lesser until the party guests start showing up around 4. But if you want a full day, during this month, you have to go on one of the few days when there is not a party, and everybody else usually wants to do the same thing. From about the 20th through New Years Day, everything is going to be crowded, hard ticket party or no hard ticket party.

The other solutions are 1) for WDW to cap park entrance at below their official capacity, which I don't think they can be expected to do on a regular day and 2) to build so many new attractions that they absorb the crowds into lines AND all of the lines stay short (which will still never happen because some attractions will always be more popular than others).

 

[Nancyg56]

And again, I will say that waiting longer than 30 minutes in ANY line to see ANY attraction after paying over $100 bucks to get in is just crazy.
An over crowded park just frustrates people - especially the children, many of whom we witnessed being almost frantically rushed from one attraction to the next so that the parents could feel like they got their moneys worth.
I missed seeing all the kids smiling !
I myself would rather pay $200 a day and be able to experience over 50% of the rides and attractions in a <8 hour visit.

I do not know of any amusement park that has a wait of under 30 minutes when the park is crowded. Just because YOU did not think it should have been busy in WDW does nto mean it would not be. This is a final Osborne Lights year, so many people, myself included, booked an extra trip to say goodbye. The parks were really feeling it. There was also discounts offered, and that filled up the resorts so the parks were impacted. Most people do not buy a one day ticket, so the cost per day decreases as the trip is extended. Truthfully, if I only had one day in any park, I would preplan.

 

[Nancyg56]

It is not the holiday season at Walt Disney World. The holiday season begins December 18.

It may officially start next week, but for many of us, it begins after Thanksgiving and we celebrate them there.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

maybe the "official" holiday season begins on December 18, but the crowds thicken by the week once Thanksgiving is past, with guests who want to see the holiday trappings without dealing with the biggest crowds (which will still be the week between Christmas and New Years.) This year is complicated by the end of the Osborne lights. I know a lot of persons who are making a short trip just to see them. I booked mine before I knew they were closing, it would have been hard to do the same booking after that news was released.

 

[WIcruizer]

* It's now $105 per person per day, and maybe it's just me, but I don't think you should have to wait more then 30 minutes a for ANY ride or attraction if you are paying that type of admission price.


* We got our 3 each attractions Fast Passed at about 11am. We received times of: 230-330 for Haunted Mansion, 445-530 for Big Thunder, and then 545-630 for Pirates. So, it was a wait of 6 hours and 65 minutes to see Pirates !! Huh ?

* They are making a obscene profit margin on the food and beverage, and yes, this is America, and you are allowed to charge whatever you feel folks will pay. But, but if prices were 10-20% lower, I'm sure they would have a lot more folks eating there, and therefore staying longer, and presumably spending more.

- I don't remember a time when there weren't attractions with wait lines over 30 minutes. It's been that way forever, nothing new today.

-Wasn't unusual at all with the old FP system to have to come back hours later for the most popular attractions (in fact expected) So again, nothing new here.

-Food prices have been discussed at length in other threads. I'll just say this, you make a big assumption thinking they would make a lot more with lower prices. You don't think Disney studies this in great detail constantly? They have prices set to where they maximize profit, believe me. Are the prices too high? No, they're just prices.

 

[mom2rtk]

maybe the "official" holiday season begins on December 18, but the crowds thicken by the week once Thanksgiving is past, with guests who want to see the holiday trappings without dealing with the biggest crowds (which will still be the week between Christmas and New Years.) This year is complicated by the end of the Osborne lights. I know a lot of persons who are making a short trip just to see them. I booked mine before I knew they were closing, it would have been hard to do the same booking after that news was released.

The first 2 weeks following Thanksgiving have traditionally had very reasonable crowd levels. That might not be the case this year, but traditionally the crowds didn't really pick up until the majority of schools started letting out. We have had free dining during that timeframe a number of times. Those weeks made the top 5 best weeks to visit list for some time (and attendance level was an important component of that.)

 

[smitch425]

Agree here. We just got back and took our kids bands with us to score an extra set of FP, each day first thing we hit a kiosk to load their bands with FP. Never saw 7DMT, A&E. TSMM available, nor saw Soarin, did see TT but for extremely late. Even lesser demand FP were often gone within minutes of RD like BTMRR or Space Mountain. We had best success for same day FP at MK simply because of the larger number of options. If a large % of /
FP are held back for same day FP, we would have gotten them arriving at kiosks first thing after RD. Some perhaps, but lots, no way.

The "day of"s I spoke of were dropping at 1-2am, not at rope drop. This was back in Oct 2014. I didn't follow it for our Oct 2015 trip, but in 2014 it was consistent and how many people in multiple Facebook groups were able to snag A&E.

 

[3DisneyFanz]

I was there in mid-August. We didn't wait long for anything and the system worked great for us. And we didn't use DAS, or extra MBs, or complaints, or a throw-away room or any "tricks". We didn't stick to less popular attractions either. Example: at Magic Kingdom on a EMH morning we went on Peter Pan, Pooh, Barnstormer, Dumbo, Carousel, Tea Cups, met A&E (FP for part of the group), had a break for waffles at Sleepy Hollow, Haunted Mansion, iasw, Enchanted Tales, and Little Mermaid before checking in early for our lunch at CP at 11:30. After long pool break back at the hotel we returned to MK and did Jungle Cruise (FP), Pirates (FP), Aladdin, Tiki Room, Tree House, dinner, Dole Whips, Space Mountain (FP for other part of group that didn't do meet 'n greet) and Speedway. The longest line I waited in was dinner at Pecos Bill. So, in about 8.5 hours of park time we rode 14 attractions including plenty of headliners, saw two shows (Belle and Tiki room), had one character meal, met Anna and Elsa, and had snacks and dinner. I think we also watched part of the move it, shake it parade. This was with a group of six including two kids under 6 and we were hardly moving fast. In fact, there were times where I was so ahead of schedule we were trying to figure out how to kill time. So, no, you don't need to "cheat" or stick to less popular attractions to have a better day.

That's pretty impressive and probably falls under the category of experiences may vary.

 

[ArwenMarie]

What would be your solution?

Cap the attendance lower.

 

[palavra]

It is not the holiday season at Walt Disney World. The holiday season begins December 18.

I am local, and my husband works at WDW. I can tell you that it is definitely the holiday season at Disney. No, it isn't as bad as it will be, but, because of the ending of the Osborne Lights, the crowds have been very high already this year.

 

[safroim]

Cap the attendance lower.

How could they do that. They don't sell tickets by the date. They really have no guarantee how many people are going to show up on any given day.

 

[larryz]

How could they do that. They don't sell tickets by the date. They really have no guarantee how many people are going to show up on any given day.

No, they just "magically" declare a stage closure.

They decide what each level is -- they could do it at a lower level, and nobody would be the wiser...

 

[safroim]

No, they just "magically" declare a stage closure.

They decide what each level is -- they could do it at a lower level, and nobody would be the wiser...

Doing so, depending on how low they set the bar, could possible shut own resort guests and/or AP holders. I bet there would be a lot more disappointed people.