Mission Space now tier 1 -ugh

[MinnieMSue]

Somehow missed that mission space is now tier 1 at Epcot. Not surprised. Had a heck of a time choosing 2 tier 2 rides. TT is my daughter's favorite ride at EP but really the rest don't need FP. May not even use the other FP and just hit them when we are there or change FP times on the spot if able. Thankfully she loves exploring the countries now so that is where we will be hanging.

 

[BoltzNBrew]

When Soarin reopens and the Frozen ride opens the FP situation will improve a little. I am hoping they make Frozen tier 1 and move Test Track and Mission Space to tier 2 but who really knows what they will do until they open.

 

[DebbieB]

They should move The Land to tier 2. With Soarin closed, they probably aren't getting as many people in that Pavillon. Sunshine Seasons quit serving breakfast.

I doubt Test Track will move to tier 2. Mission Space should.

 

[ravenclawtrekkie]

My bet is, when Fro-way opens, the ride and M&G are both tier 1, and Mission Space will drop back to tier 2.

After Soarin' re-opens, I'm hoping Living With The Land will finally be dropped out of tier 1 as well. It's really there to absorb day guests after all the other choices are out of FP, though, so it might stay.

 

[tabistar]

I'm hoping that, once Epcot has more high demand attractions open (Frozen, E&A, Soarin)), they'll do away with tiering all together.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

This is temporary as two of the three most popular rides at Epcot are closed. Right now, not a single Tier 2 ride at Epcot requires a FP except on the most crowded days. So why move a ride that only marginally required a FP before to Tier 1?

This change is to keep everyone from being disappointed when Test Track runs out of FP reservation slots. Only the FP vets know about the change - new guests assume that Mission Space is a ride of the same caliber and popularity.

I love WDW, but this is an example of their willingness to manage perception with deception. Folks still get to ride a "Tier 1" ride and know no better.

 

[mrzrich]

Since the advent of FP+ it is not uncommon to find Figment and SE with waits above 20 minutes. I tend to use my tier 2 FP on those attractions or the Character Spot

 

[Tomh]

Sadly, currently, at least in my opinion, Epcot has ONE tier one attraction. None of the rest measure up.

It is kind of nice to see Journey and Spaceship Earth with 20 minute plus lines though. For many years those were both walk on attractions for most of the day. Now, at least people are riding them!

 

[MinnieMSue]

When Soarin reopens and the Frozen ride opens the FP situation will improve a little. I am hoping they make Frozen tier 1 and move Test Track and Mission Space to tier 2 but who really knows what they will do until they open.

That is exactly what I am hoping for! We are not frozen fans so that would be best case scenario for us

 

[MinnieMSue]

We fast passed Figment one day and the characters the other. We now will be someone we previously laughed at - fast passers for Figment. I am embarrassed. When my daughter was 5 she adored that ride and they let us loop through the wheelchair hallway to ride multiple times when they noticed we kept showing up. There was never a line then. I was very sick of that ride though.

 

[Tomh]

Journey was SO much better before the first refurbishment!

 

[MinnieMSue]

Journey was SO much better before the first refurbishment!

Sadly my first trip to Disney was after they changed it to this one. Would have loved to have seen the original one

 

[SnackCredit]

Sadly my first trip to Disney was after they changed it to this one. Would have loved to have seen the original one

The current version is significantly better than the second one. (Look up "Journey Into Your Imagination" on YouTube. Figment barely showed up in that one.)

 

[DVCcurious]

In the future Tier 1 will be:

A&E Ride
A&E Meet and Greet
Soarin'
Test Track
Illuminations

There's a 0% chance Test Track and/or Soarin moves to Tier 2. And there's a less than 0% chance that Tiers will be removed.

 

[IsThatYouTigger]

In the future Tier 1 will be:

A&E Ride
A&E Meet and Greet
Soarin'
Test Track
Illuminations

There's a 0% chance Test Track and/or Soarin moves to Tier 2. And there's a less than 0% chance that Tiers will be removed.

I don't disagree with you but I wonder why you say there's a 0% chance of them not taking a ride like Test Track out of Tier 1 (I would be someone who would LOVE it if they did)? I've always wondered why Tower of Terror is a Tier 2 when they could probably justify making it Tier 1. Guess I'm trying to understand how they come up with where the rides go within the Tiers?

 

[ravenclawtrekkie]

I don't disagree with you but I wonder why you say there's a 0% chance of them not taking a ride like Test Track out of Tier 1 (I would be someone who would LOVE it if they did)? I've always wondered why Tower of Terror is a Tier 2 when they could probably justify making it Tier 1. Guess I'm trying to understand how they come up with where the rides to within the Tiers?

(This is all just my theory - I don't work attractions, I don't know these attractions' capacities, and I don't know how many FP+ are given out in relation to one another.)

My guess is that Tower's not tier 1 because DHS doesn't seem to 'need' more tier 1 capacity with its current set of attractions.

You can compare Epcot and DHS's current (well, pre-Soarin-refurb) tier 1s fairly easily:
Soarin/Test Track = Toy Story Mania/RNRC (big headliners in high demand - one of each even has single rider)
Illuminations = Fantasmic (nighttime shows)
Living With The Land = Great Movie Ride (in there to take 'leftovers')
(Plus DHS has the BATB show in tier 1 as well - it's not a perfect comparison!)

Now, if Toy Story or RNRC went down for an extended refurb, a la Soarin, I think we might see Tower bumped up into that slot in the interim, especially for RNRC.

W/R/T Test Track not getting dropped down when new stuff opens: While I'm sure the Fro-way attractions will be in high demand once they initially open, I'm not sure they'll see the long-term demand that Soarin and Test Track do, so I don't think they'll displace it from the "big headliners in high demand" category for good. If anything, they'll just bring folks to Epcot who might not have gone otherwise because "there's nothing there for kids." (Which isn't really true, but it's a popular misconception.)

 

[IsThatYouTigger]

(This is all just my theory - I don't work attractions, I don't know these attractions' capacities, and I don't know how many FP+ are given out in relation to one another.)

My guess is that Tower's not tier 1 because DHS doesn't seem to 'need' more tier 1 capacity with its current set of attractions.

You can compare Epcot and DHS's current (well, pre-Soarin-refurb) tier 1s fairly easily:
Soarin/Test Track = Toy Story Mania/RNRC (big headliners in high demand - one of each even has single rider)
Illuminations = Fantasmic (nighttime shows)
Living With The Land = Great Movie Ride (in there to take 'leftovers')
(Plus DHS has the BATB show in tier 1 as well - it's not a perfect comparison!)

Now, if Toy Story or RNRC went down for an extended refurb, a la Soarin, I think we might see Tower bumped up into that slot in the interim, especially for RNRC.

W/R/T Test Track not getting dropped down when new stuff opens: While I'm sure the Fro-way attractions will be in high demand once they initially open, I'm not sure they'll see the long-term demand that Soarin and Test Track do, so I don't think they'll displace it from the "big headliners in high demand" category for good. If anything, they'll just bring folks to Epcot who might not have gone otherwise because "there's nothing there for kids." (Which isn't really true, but it's a popular misconception.)

This was such an amazing explanation @ravenclawtrekkie !!! Thank you for that! Personally, I think Test Track is a Tier 1 ride but only because it's my favorite...I selfishly would want it moved so I wouldn't have to fight my husband for a Fastpass between Soarin and Test Track .

 

[Tomh]

I think both Soarin', and Test Track are solid tier 1 rides. I would be very surprised to see either move down to tier 2. As others have suggested, I think when it first opens, the new Frozen ride will be very popular, but I don't think it will stay that way for the long term.

 

[Disney Khaleesi]

It's very unlikely that Test Track will ever be a Tier 2 ride. It was one of two 'big ticket' rides at Epcot and now is essentially the only big ticket ride at Epcot with Soarin' closed.

We aren't fans of Soarin, so we only need to FastPass Test Track. We are fans of Livin with the Land though, but I've never seen the wait time for it get beyond 20 minutes and we're fine waiting the twenty minutes. So, Epcot tiering doesn't really bother me.

 

[soniam]

Somehow missed that mission space is now tier 1 at Epcot. Not surprised. Had a heck of a time choosing 2 tier 2 rides. TT is my daughter's favorite ride at EP but really the rest don't need FP. May not even use the other FP and just hit them when we are there or change FP times on the spot if able. Thankfully she loves exploring the countries now so that is where we will be hanging.

I picked SE for one, which we usually do. TT for another. We usually RD it and FP+ Soarin'. We will probably do TT twice, once at RD & once with FP+. I had a heck of a time coming up with a 3rd FP+. I ended up picking Turtle Talk. It was between that or Nemo

I don't disagree with you but I wonder why you say there's a 0% chance of them not taking a ride like Test Track out of Tier 1 (I would be someone who would LOVE it if they did)? I've always wondered why Tower of Terror is a Tier 2 when they could probably justify making it Tier 1. Guess I'm trying to understand how they come up with where the rides go within the Tiers?

(This is all just my theory - I don't work attractions, I don't know these attractions' capacities, and I don't know how many FP+ are given out in relation to one another.)

My guess is that Tower's not tier 1 because DHS doesn't seem to 'need' more tier 1 capacity with its current set of attractions.

@mesaboy2 and Touring Plans have both said that tiering is not only determined by popularity but also capacity. TOT has a high capacity, so the line doesn't back up as much. GMR is a tier 1, not so much because of popularity, but really due to lower capacity and mild popularity. Plus, they need to have non-scary, non-height requirement rides in the tier 1 pool too.