New Functions Testing on the Wish

[yowcruiser]

I have 31 disney cruises under my belt and my experience of long waits is exactly the same as the previous poster unless you have the very first timeslot of the m&g. They divide these meets usually in 15 lin timeslots and all theee people of those 15 min pretty much show up at the same Time, or try to get in earlier (Im happy they got stricter about that in the past year and a half or so) so as soon as a timeslot takes longer per group and/or literally everyone shows up, they start to back up. For Marvel and Pixar often the switch out of characters was very slow as well so the next group would be starting 5-10 min late… on my mdas the line for the galaxy characters was from the door of animators all the way to past the side door of royal court. The only open m&g I waited for longer was capt America and he only had 2 open meets that whole cruise. I hate reservations for a m&g; I could do with a virtual queue however the lines on dcl are usually that short that people rent gonna be doing anytjing else in that 20 min til their meet so they ll be hanging around and still blocking the area

Whereas I always book toward the end and show up toward the end, once the crowd has become much thinner. Can't speak to Marvel, and as stated, only one Pixar experience which ended up being walk-up at the time we had booked (more or less during lunch time). For regular M&G, people often show up 15-30 minutes before actual scheduled time and the line often "sells out" much earlier than the time listed. For the people at the back of the line, this is a solid 45-60 minutes. Yes, I have seen short lines for some M&G, especially those away from the lobby atrium, or at odd times of the day when people may still be ashore on excursions, or when everyone is on the top deck on a sunny day. I may not have 31 cruises, but I have close to 20 and this has been my experience most of the time. Exception has been on cruises longer than 7 nights and/or on older ships where there are so many M&G opportunities where my own experience has been closer to yours as it relates to regular M&G

 

[Chipmunkmaniac]

Whereas I always book toward the end and show up toward the end, once the crowd has become much thinner. Can't speak to Marvel, and as stated, only one Pixar experience which ended up being walk-up at the time we had booked (more or less during lunch time). For regular M&G, people often show up 15-30 minutes before actual scheduled time and the line often "sells out" much earlier than the time listed. For the people at the back of the line, this is a solid 45-60 minutes. Yes, I have seen short lines for some M&G, especially those away from the lobby atrium, or at odd times of the day when people may still be ashore on excursions, or when everyone is on the top deck on a sunny day. I may not have 31 cruises, but I have close to 20 and this has been my experience most of the time. Exception has been on cruises longer than 7 nights and/or on older ships where there are so many M&G opportunities where my own experience has been closer to yours as it relates to regular M&G

Ha your experience being mostly short cruises might explain. The only handful cruises shorter than 7n has been my MDAS and a merrytime. Though they werent as bad as you describe I do love all the longer itineraries. I have never, literally never experienced a line getting closed off before the advertised 15 min, even the groupphotos on long cruises dont get closed before the guaranteed advertised time… the long waits you dezcribe just a handful of times: the occasional Stitch meet, Jack Sparrow is a classic with a huge line and special combos/unique opportunities

 

[Joanna71985]

I don't like it at all (especially regarding the characters)

 

[Joanna71985]

Tbh I dont feel like reserved character meets have a shorter wait. If you dont have the first time slot of that session you still end up waiting easily half an hour during mdax, pixar and even rg if you have bad luck

I will second this. I did MDAS in Feb, and had a reservation for Spiderman and Iron Man. I'm pretty sure I waited almost 45 minutes to see them

 

[greeneyedchick]

When it comes to pre-booking characters meet and great, I am all for this... On our last 2 cruises, we actually did end up cancelling the photo package because the lines were so long, that even with clever line-up strategies, we ended up getting very little value. There is no way I am waiting in line 45 minutes just for a picture, especially on the new ships where there is so much else to do

Another, better, option that Disney should consider is to have more frequent meet and greets. Have the characters ready to switch out so that people aren't standing around waiting. Disney is charging a premium for their cruises. They can afford to have more meet and greets around the ship.

 

[Chipmunkmaniac]

Another, better, option that Disney should consider is to have more frequent meet and greets. Have the characters ready to switch out so that people aren't standing around waiting. Disney is charging a premium for their cruises. They can afford to have more meet and greets around the ship.

Agree but they dont have the space to house more performers. When they bring on extras for certain seasons and offerings they are already very often out in guest staterooms… but I agree that supply and demand are no longer a match. Back in the days every meet was pretty luch a walk-up but just like the parks characters have become a bigger focus for a lot of people since social media got more popular. Especially on shorter cruises it can be problem. But even on longer cruises. I just got off a b2b spc/hawaii so 24n on the Wonder and on formal night no chipmunks, Daisy just a stroll, pluto one set and most of the sets in the afternoon cause of golden mickeys (fair enough on semi formal they had more) same for pirates on the Hawaii leg daisy and goofy only a stroll, either leg had pirate Donald…

 

[yowcruiser]

Ha your experience being mostly short cruises might explain. The only handful cruises shorter than 7n has been my MDAS and a merrytime. Though they werent as bad as you describe I do love all the longer itineraries. I have never, literally never experienced a line getting closed off before the advertised 15 min, even the groupphotos on long cruises dont get closed before the guaranteed advertised time… the long waits you dezcribe just a handful of times: the occasional Stitch meet, Jack Sparrow is a classic with a huge line and special combos/unique opportunities

...A mix of short and long. Rarely had an issue on longer cruises... but yes, definitely more of an issue on the less than 7 nights, and "special cruises" such as Christmas, NYE, Inaugural seasons cruises and any cruises where the ratio of returning guests to new cruisers is low... and in those cases, all main character lines in the lobby throughout the entire cruise see unreasonably long character lines... sometimes less of an issue early in the day. Now, they may not "close" the line but you may get the "Minnie has reached capacity so you are now in line for Donald"...

 

[yowcruiser]

Another, better, option that Disney should consider is to have more frequent meet and greets. Have the characters ready to switch out so that people aren't standing around waiting. Disney is charging a premium for their cruises. They can afford to have more meet and greets around the ship.

There's more to it than just money. You'd actually need a little bit more crew to improve the offer, and not sure that they can take it much more entertainment crew onboard, and also a few extra onboard photographers

 

[disney2you]

I don't want another thing to have to plan around... I already have to roughly outline when all the main activities and shows are so I know when is free and when is not for drink classes

Lines to me seem the most fair way rather than doing a reservation system which is probably going to be by status and I think there would be a riot if they did a lottery system like some of the things at Tokyo Disneyland.

Also for those debating character lines, I think it just depends on the cruise you are on and the other people who are on it. I did a 4 night xmas cruise on the Wish and everything was chill, did a halloween 4 night fantasy cruise and M&G were chaos (so many lines in atrium you had to ask who or what it was a line for and so many characters were staying 10-15min after their time to try and accommodate guests).

 

[Chipmunkmaniac]

...A mix of short and long. Rarely had an issue on longer cruises... but yes, definitely more of an issue on the less than 7 nights, and "special cruises" such as Christmas, NYE, Inaugural seasons cruises and any cruises where the ratio of returning guests to new cruisers is low... and in those cases, all main character lines in the lobby throughout the entire cruise see unreasonably long character lines... sometimes less of an issue early in the day. Now, they may not "close" the line but you may get the "Minnie has reached capacity so you are now in line for Donald"...

I had that last bit never happen on any of my cruises before the advertised time (usually they advertise 15min in order to stay out about 30, they will also not allow the next line to start before that 15 min before arrivalwindow)

 

[sponica]

Also for those debating character lines, I think it just depends on the cruise you are on and the other people who are on it. I did a 4 night xmas cruise on the Wish and everything was chill, did a halloween 4 night fantasy cruise and M&G were chaos (so many lines in atrium you had to ask who or what it was a line for and so many characters were staying 10-15min after their time to try and accommodate guests).

Yeah on our 4 night Wish cruise in Feb 2024 the only M&G lines I found unbearably long were the princess lines on the sea day (we ended up noping out) and the pirate night characters.


Most of the others we made were manageable.

 

[GOOFY D]

We just got off the Wish on Friday.

We rode the AquaMouse after lunch Day 1 and after coming back from Castaway Cay Day 2 and there was less than a five minute wait.

I can imagine for days at sea a reservation system may alleviate long lines but I would not prefer to have to prebook a time slot ahead of time not knowing our last minute family plans or weather.

I guess it is only time until DCL adds a Lightning Lane for the AquaMouse for a price.

You know that is exactly why they are testing this. One of the reasons we like Disney is the fact that all of the other Cruise Lines have so many add on costs outside of the cruise costs. We enjoy paying pretty much one price and knowing we can relax and enjoy the cruise. I do not want an amusement park at sea with LL and add on costs.

 

[yowcruiser]

I had that last bit never happen on any of my cruises before the advertised time (usually they advertise 15min in order to stay out about 30, they will also not allow the next line to start before that 15 min before arrivalwindow)

Yes, that would be true... never before the official advertised time