So are these wait times the new norm for a 5?

[eeyoreandtink]

Wow, didn't know all this. If it's underestimated here and it truly is a lot of people doing this no wonder wait times are so high

there aren't a lot of people doing it. its pretty complicated to set up, and requires a LOT of advance planning. Most WDW visitors aren't dissers. They simply aren't this invested in planning. Just like super users of the old system were vastly in the minority. What is pushing wait times up has more to do with how Disney is using and marketing the new system:
1. More people are usingh the new system because of the effort Disney is going through to make sure they know about it.
2. More rides have fastpass
3. Disney is manipulating fastpass availability to control traffic flow. Their goal is to get people to stay more days and spend more time is shops and restaurants, less on rides.

Bottom line, Disney makes more money when we ride less and eat and shop more.

 

[epcotty]

Thanks for the response. What happens when you buy a magicband? We always use tickets. Do they require you to attach it to an account with a ticket or just to an account which you can attach a ticket to later? I don't know if people will actually extend their trip past what they were planning because they want to try for certain attractions again. We would never do that I know, and we don't know anyone who has. Also I really don't think people will eat more or buy more souvenirs because of longer lines, they'd just try to find a shorter line or get more FP

 

[3DisneyFanz]

Thanks for the response. What happens when you buy a magicband? We always use tickets. Do they require you to attach it to an account with a ticket or just to an account which you can attach a ticket to later? I don't know if people will actually extend their trip past what they were planning because they want to try for certain attractions again. We would never do that I know, and we don't know anyone who has. Also I really don't think people will eat more or buy more souvenirs because of longer lines, they'd just try to find a shorter line or get more FP

You can buy the MB without tickets and then associate with whatever account you want. Whether it's the real you or your FP generator is up to you.

 

[nco91590]

I actually don't find those waits atrocious for a level 5 day. 5 is an "average" day in a park. The parks are always pretty busy, so 60 minutes for a ride doesn't make me gasp.

 

[monkyby87]

I actually don't find those waits atrocious for a level 5 day. 5 is an "average" day in a park. The parks are always pretty busy, so 60 minutes for a ride doesn't make me gasp.

60 minutes is when I start to debate if I stand in line or not. Less than that I consider good. Above that I consider typical and expected. Maybe I'm just used to longer waits, but a 40-60 minute wait is good. 120 for 7DMT I would consider long.

 

[stinkpickle]

It's 4:08PM, and the waits (according to the lines app) don't look terrible considering MK has evening EMH. 7DMT at 50, BTMR at 20, Peter Pan at 45, Pirates at 15, Space Mtn at 20, and Splash Mtn at 10.

 

[bc7ate9]

It's 4:08PM, and the waits (according to the lines app) don't look terrible considering MK has evening EMH. 7DMT at 50, BTMR at 20, Peter Pan at 45, Pirates at 15, Space Mtn at 20, and Splash Mtn at 10.

I agree - those wait times look fine. It is rainy today, though. That definitely impacts things.

 

[monkyby87]

It's 4:08PM, and the waits (according to the lines app) don't look terrible considering MK has evening EMH. 7DMT at 50, BTMR at 20, Peter Pan at 45, Pirates at 15, Space Mtn at 20, and Splash Mtn at 10.

Oh wow, I would be riding Splash and Space like it's nobody's business

 

[3DisneyFanz]

Bottom line, Disney makes more money when we ride less and eat and shop more.

Doesn't work for our family. Because we now ride less at Disney we spend more at Sea World, Lego Land and Busch Gardens.

 

[ryanogs]

I wonder if this is the impact of half of Hollywood Studios being closed and Soarin being closed at Epcot? I was in the parks in November and the wait times were okay, I think the longest we waited was around 30-45 mins but most of the rides were 20 minutes or less!

 

[Soarin4us]

We just came back; the day the Splash waits were 10 mins and other rides had short waits it was wind chill of 39 degrees! Other days MK was crazy busy, during a week with expected crowd level 1 & 2s. It looked like March crowds.

 

[eliza61]

I wonder if this is the impact of half of Hollywood Studios being closed and Soarin being closed at Epcot? I was in the parks in November and the wait times were okay, I think the longest we waited was around 30-45 mins but most of the rides were 20 minutes or less!

I think so ryanogs,

Hollywood studios isn't worth even the bus ride over there and AK has many rides that are 'outside" so if it's chilly crowds maybe down there also.

60 mins at the end of January is long imo.

 

[JimmyV]

I wonder if this is the impact of half of Hollywood Studios being closed and Soarin being closed at Epcot? I was in the parks in November and the wait times were okay, I think the longest we waited was around 30-45 mins but most of the rides were 20 minutes or less!

Absolutely. People are naturally allocating less time to DHS, and to a lesser extent, Epcot. Many of those people are reallocating that time to the Magic Kingdom. It is the only park that is really seeing significant increases in wait times as compared to prior years. As for us, our reallocated time is going to be spent at US/IOA to check that out.

 

[a742246]

I plan on doing MK on weekdays only, it sounds like i will go to HS on Saturdays and Epcot on Sundays!

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

If Disney is really concerned that people aren't spending money while in line, there is a much simpler solution to that than manipulating line times. They just need to start selling things in line. Every ride dumps into a gift shop but why not have roving vendors near the ropes selling cold drinks and Olaf misters at mid day, belle bracelets and line friendly toys for kids all the time, glow sticks at night. Anyone who's taken a kid through a grocery store knows about the checkout line. They may to start gently because it's new but some people would be happy to have snacks come to them.

To me manipulating line times is dangerous. What is acceptable to one family may not be to others. At some point they scare people right out of the park for the day. And if those people stayed off site, those $ are gone. And you'll have people like the PP who didn't have a good time, thus scaring them and everyone they talk to.

 

[monkyby87]

If Disney is really concerned that people aren't spending money while in line, there is a much simpler solution to that than manipulating line times. They just need to start selling things in line. Every ride dumps into a gift shop but why not have roving vendors near the ropes selling cold drinks and Olaf misters at mid day, belle bracelets and line friendly toys for kids all the time, glow sticks at night. Anyone who's taken a kid through a grocery store knows about the checkout line. They may to start gently because it's new but some people would be happy to have snacks come to them.

To me manipulating line times is dangerous. What is acceptable to one family may not be to others. At some point they scare people right out of the park for the day. And if those people stayed off site, those $ are gone. And you'll have people like the PP who didn't have a good time, thus scaring them and everyone they talk to.

The thing is though the parks are busier than ever, so anyone who is getting scared away doesn't seem to matter. I don't think Disney would ever start selling stuff in line. Then it becomes like a ball-game, and that's not with Disney is going for.

 

[Mommy2Corinne]

For Sunday January 24, Touring Plans predicted a 6 and the actual crowd level was a 9. The wait times you experienced reflect this.

(Epcot: predicted was 6, was a 4, HS predicted 7 was 8, and Animal Kingdom predicted 6, was 10).

However, on Friday January 22, TP predicted MK to be a 5 and it was a 4, Epcot was a 2, HS was a 5 and AK was a 1. Some sample wait times from that day show that, except for the busiest part of the day (say between 11 and 3), you could see standby lines under 20 minutes on many rides at MK. With AK at a 1, everything was practically a walk on.

So, yes, there are days and parks where you can find reasonable wait times.

I'm only up to here (page 2) on the thread because we have been on thread Dream for the last 5 days with no internet access, but this makes total sense now. Sunday was CRAZY!! So much busier than we expected!!!! But yes, we were at AK on Friday, and it was awesome. However, it was predicted to thunderstorm all day, so that make have accounted for some of the lower than predicted crowds (and the resultant higher crowds on Su day). In actuality, it only rained for a few hours, but I'm guessing the storms scared some people away.

Off to read the rest of this thread now.

 

[RachaelA]

If Disney is really concerned that people aren't spending money while in line, there is a much simpler solution to that than manipulating line times. They just need to start selling things in line. Every ride dumps into a gift shop but why not have roving vendors near the ropes selling cold drinks and Olaf misters at mid day, belle bracelets and line friendly toys for kids all the time, glow sticks at night. Anyone who's taken a kid through a grocery store knows about the checkout line. They may to start gently because it's new but some people would be happy to have snacks come to them.

To me manipulating line times is dangerous. What is acceptable to one family may not be to others. At some point they scare people right out of the park for the day. And if those people stayed off site, those $ are gone. And you'll have people like the PP who didn't have a good time, thus scaring them and everyone they talk to.

They often have a CM set up with a cart selling drinks to the 7DMT line. The line cleaned out his cart pretty fast too when we were there in early December. I'm surprised they don't do that more!

 

[marinejjh]

I agree with the earlier post of less staffing and disney has let things go. We were by one of the FP kiosk today and say a dead rat on the ground. My wife told a CM and we were still in line at the kiosk 15 min later and it was still there. I do have every intention of posting the pic I took on social media when I get home and maybe disney will take there staffing and cleanliness a little note serious. I am also going to send. There customer serious an email.

 

[Mommy2Corinne]

So I'm just curious...someone above posted that Touring Plans had Sunday (1/24) as an actual crowd level of a 9 in MK (much higher than their 6 predicted), but EasyWDW had an actual crowd level of a 6 (predicted to be a 5) on that same day.

With the wait times I posted in the OP and the crowds we experienced (i.e. the line for People Mover spilling out into the left side of Tomorrowland and the wait for the train being 4 loads deep and spilling out towards the splash pad), I would definitely say that it "felt like" (yeah, yeah, I know I will get mocked for the use of "felt like" but we have been to the parks almost every year since 2006, so I am at least a little aware of how crowds have changed over the years) closer to a 9. That said, I admit that Thursday 1/21 in MK was great and Friday 1/22 in AK was amazing.

So what are the diferences in how the two sites come up with "actual" crowd levels?