Queue Dynamics ?

[Zippa D Doodah]

I have not yet made a WDW while the FP+ system is fully implemented. It has been my experience that at almost any time of the year (Spring Break, Christmas, etc excluded) we could count on walking on to HM and PotC just about anytime. If there was a queue it was maybe 10 minutes.

Checking line apps, it seems that these two rides are most heavily affected by FP+. Each now shows regular waits of 30+ even on lower attendance days. We have always enjoyed riding both multiple times each day. What happened to these two?

 

[WillAustin]

People are currently forced to choose 3 FPs in advance. These rides that have been newly added to FP+ will have longer standby lines because of it, even more so on busy days.

 

[JimmyV]

AT PoTC, both the left and right queues used to be used for all guests. Now, the right side is for FP return, so all SB guests (which are the vast majority since this isn’t an attraction heavily used for FPs) go to the left side making that line longer. Since the boats leave the boarding area in an every-other-side fashion, you have the vast majority of guests boarding boats that depart alternately instead of filling up all the boats equally.

At HM, FP guests are given super priority and cut off SB guests which didn’t happen before because this was not a FP attraction. Even though not that many people get a FP for this ride, it does have an impact.

Assume that you arrive at the HM and get in a line that has 100 people in front of you. In the past, you would be the 101st person to get into the mansion. Now, assume that 20% of all guests who arrive at the HM have a FP for it. 20% of the people who arrive after you will get to board before you. So instead of being the 101st person in the mansion, you might be the 120th. You have been slowed down. But 20 people who arrived after you were sped up. So their increase in speed offsets your decrease in speed, so it all evens out, in theory. But the people who report the wait times to TP (and the people who hold the red cards that WDW uses to measure the wait times) are all in the line that has been slowed down, so the increase in wait time gets reported and not the set-off of the decrease in wait time for the FP people.

 

[Cals dad]

AT PoTC, both the left and right queues used to be used for all guests. Now, the right side is for FP return, so all SB guests (which are the vast majority since this isn’t an attraction heavily used for FPs) go to the left side making that line longer. Since the boats leave the boarding area in an every-other-side fashion, you have the vast majority of guests boarding boats that depart alternately instead of filling up all the boats equally.

They do fill them up equally, though, at POTC. Yes, the queue is longer for most of it, but there is a certain point that they can send people in the stand by queue over to the fast pass side to even them out if there isn't any fastpass holders arriving. This has happened to my family twice now.

 

[JimmyV]

They do fill them up equally, though, at POTC. Yes, the queue is longer for most of it, but there is a certain point that they can send people in the stand by queue over to the fast pass side to even them out if there isn't any fastpass holders arriving. This has happened to my family twice now.

I think that they will start to figure out ways to even out the system here and elsewhere. When we were there in February, there was no crossover allowed. Seemed like an obvious fix, so maybe they figured it out. We ran into the same problem at Space Mountain. Late at night when there were few FP returnees, the right side was still dedicated to FP returns and they weren't allowing SB people to cross over, when that would have been the obvious and helpful thing to do.