Magical ? Not so much.

[larryz]

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.

I'm sure they'll calculate the limit based on current room occupancy rates... at any rate, resort guests, AP holders and guests with ADRs or other reservations are allowed in all at Phase 3, so they probably won't disappoint too many...

 

[ArwenMarie]

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.

Lower the amount of people they let in would be a possibility.

 

[MickeyWaffles]

Some thoughts:

Food: you don't HAVE to eat there. Disney still allows food carry ins. Have an issue with the prices? Pack your own lunch. They're not forcing you to pay for food if you don't want to. If they stopped allowing food and beverage carryins, sure, I could see complaining.

Crowds: Everyone else is paying just as much as you to get in. I personally don't mind crowds. I remember going shortly after 9/11. A practically empty park. It was depressing. I like that people get excited about Disney. So the crowds affect wait times. We go on the rides we can go on and call it a day. We often go on NYE and thereabouts and have gotten on every ride we wanted to. And I'm not an over planner by any means.

Everyone has their own experiences and opinions and that's okay. I don't mind crowds, others hate crowds.

I did want to point out that you don't actually have to buy the food, though.

 

[dancemonkey]

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.

I'm hear now. It's not as crowded as it was in July or August

 

[3DisneyFanz]

Cap the attendance lower.

Or they could have invested 2 billion dollars in new attractions that people are actually interested. Crowd dispersement is better than capping and rubber bracelets aren't filling Stitch the way a potential new and actual good attraction could.

 

[3DisneyFanz]

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.

I think you have to find the secret FP kiosk to get the secret stash of FP. I hear rumors it's in a secret room under Spaceship Earth.

 

[dancemonkey]

This is an honest question: Do you have a solution for making it more affordable? If prices are simply lowered, what would the effect be on the crowd level?

And the quality of the product.

 

[dancemonkey]

If you choose to do a spur of the moment visit, then you need to change your expectations, and realize that you'll have to take what you can get for FP+, or try and tour a bit more strategically (get there at Rope Drop, or go later at night). At least now you know for next time, if there is one.

Paying for a private tour could have solved this problem. Yes many solutions. Rope drops is a great solution. I could have ridden Everest at least 3x yesterday had I chosen too. We arrived at Rope drop for extra magic hours and were completed everything we wanted to including eating by 12:15pm. No fast passes. Of course I had to stay on property.

 

[jon18uk]

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 don't know of any theme park anywhere in the world where you are gurenteed not to wait less than 30 minutes. All theme park rides have long waits, its a fact of life. Although at Universal and Six Flags and the Merlin parks in the UK you can pay extra to skip the lines (usually in our local park in England its £20 ($30) to skip the wait on four attractions).

 

[dancemonkey]

If there is, it's one of the best kept secrets on the boards.

It's all about timing on the day after the Christmas party we were able to get two fp+ For the sdmt and space mt. I was kind to the cm. it's amazing the magic that can happen when you're just nice. I'm not implying the op is not nice. Just that they weren't willing to plan and stay flexible. I understand this. once 15 years ago we just stopped by on the fly after New Years. I think it was harder for the park to manage things then. We Rented a stroller got locked in by a parade and got no where and rode no rides because it was so crowded. I demanded my money back for our tickets. Disney obliged and because of their great customer service we have been back many times. We learned our lesson!

 

[mom2rtk]

Or they could have invested 2 billion dollars in new attractions that people are actually interested. Crowd dispersement is better than capping and rubber bracelets aren't filling Stitch the way a potential new and actual good attraction could.

Well, there's always that........

 

[mom2rtk]

It's all about timing on the day after the Christmas party we were able to get two fp+ For the sdmt and space mt. I was kind to the cm. it's amazing the magic that can happen when you're just nice. I'm not implying the op is not nice. Just that they weren't willing to plan and stay flexible. I understand this. once 15 years ago we just stopped by on the fly after New Years. I think it was harder for the park to manage things then. We Rented a stroller got locked in by a parade and got no where and rode no rides because it was so crowded. I demanded my money back for our tickets. Disney obliged and because of their great customer service we have been back many times. We learned our lesson!

Huh?

My post you quoted was about whether Disney routinely holds back a percentage of fastpasses to release day of.

 

[mustlovecats]

No, this recent trip was just my wife and I - both 50 somethings. No grand kids this time.
Again folks, I was and am relating my OPINION of my visit.
Whether or not you agree or disagree with my opinion means absolutely nothing to me.
It's my opinion and I am of course entitled to it.

Have a wonderful holiday season everyone, and a great 2016.
I am over and out !

I'm sorry you had a less than magical time. The parks are more crowded than usual but apart from turning people away there isn't much they can do. It's not completely fair to blame them for making themselves such a popular vacation destination.

Also, this is off topic but I used to have a job as a train conductor and the radio phrase "over and out" drives me completely crazy .

"Over" indicates that you've said something and are waiting for a response.
"Out" indicates you are done with the conversation.
It's impossible to do both at once.

 

[Pigletpal40]

Times have definitely changed. Thank Goodness my wife is the planner. Last trip, with my in-laws, my wife kept hounding her sister to let her know what she wanted to do. They kept putting her off. We booked what we thought would be fun for 10 people. After some complaining from my BIL the first day, they realized this isn't the same. Thanked my wife for FP+, meals, tours etc.
If any of our friends are going, we help get them started the booking process EARLY. Figure out what you want to see and do and have plan B and C ready if plan A is not possible.
Just a few years ago, in August, we could book a room on the way down in the car, get the AP hotel discount, being flexible where we stayed (anything available and sometimes multiple hotels). We would take whatever meals we could get (for 4), and would go at rope drop, ride what we could, grab a FP early, hold it, grab another right before we left the parks at noon or one, go have lunch at the hotel, swim, rest and go back late afternoon or after dinner and use the two Fast passes and wait stand by or single rider where available. Now you could book later fast passes (whatever is left) and do something similar, but I don't think you could get four people table service reservations last minute.

 

[ArwenMarie]

Or they could have invested 2 billion dollars in new attractions that people are actually interested. Crowd dispersement is better than capping and rubber bracelets aren't filling Stitch the way a potential new and actual good attraction could.

I totally agree, but I still think there is a physical limitation to how many people the MK can hold in terms of the limits of the actual park and I think they are pushing that to the point that it isn't comfortable or "magical" many days now. Add in the scooter and stroller traffic (again not blaming anyone who uses one) and the effective amount of people who can physically be on the paths is reduced further.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

Annual passholders, resort guests and ADR holders can get into parks that are at any level except a Stage 4 closing. At Stage 4 the park has reached a level of capacity that meets the fire code maximum. They won't let anyone else into the park until enough guests leave. So I suppose it is being suggested that they set Stage 4 closure at a rate much lower than that of fire code maximum capacity. In general, only the MK reaches stage 4 with any kind of regularity, and then only on or around major holidays when everybody wants to be there anyway.

The big question would be, what should that rate be? What kind of capacity in each park would make guests "comfortable," if that is the standard one is shooting for by suggesting a lower admission rate? do they need to cap admittance to MK at the number at which nobody in the park will have to wait longer than 30 minutes to access their choice of attraction? Lots of disappointed guests who can't get into the park if they do that.

 

[smitch425]

Huh?

My post you quoted was about whether Disney routinely holds back a percentage of fastpasses to release day of.

I read it as they got those hard to get FPs the day of, which is what your post was about.

 

[mom2rtk]

I read it as they got those hard to get FPs the day of, which is what your post was about.

Well, I wrote it so I know what my intention was.

Nobody would know if easy to get FPs were held back because they would routinely be available day of whether they were held back or not.

 

[WIcruizer]

Seems to me the obvious solution is to raise the ticket prices. If the issue is the parks are too crowded, then raise the prices by $25 a day, problem solved.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

Raising the ticket prices will work if the prices are raised to the point where many of the guests now crowding the parks don't want to purchase tickets. There would be lots of backlash to that, too.