TSM standby-less test Oct. 6-9

[Planogirl]

One thing that I keep thinking about is what those individuals in a virtual line will do with their extra time. Stand in another line of course. I keep hearing that Disney hopes that people will shop and eat more but a person can only shop and eat so much. People will be full and have plenty of souvenirs so they will be looking for something else to do if they are waiting in one of the virtual lines. The only things left are riding other rides or enjoying entertainment. Disney appears to be gradually cutting back on entertainment so that won't help much. The only thing left is wait in line at other rides.

Is there any reason to believe that lines for lesser rides won't increase in length?

 

[Planogirl]

Or...OR...they could just build more capacity in the park.

Boom. Done.

It sounds so simple but seems so complicated to Disney.

 

[JanaDee]

Or...OR...they could just build more capacity in the park.

Boom. Done.

Stop with the common sense.

 

[cakebaker]

You have said in the past you don't go to Disney to ride rides. Many other people do.

If a ride breaks down, it will more than likely be up and running at some other point in our trip. We aren't forbidden from riding it.

For the love of god...not that again.

Really, I never, ever, ever, ever, ever said we don't go to Disney for the rides.

What I said was (and I'm going to put this on a cut n paste I think) is that rides aren't ALL there is to do. I also said, in fact, because we have a little one, a 20 something, a couple of 30 somethings and an over 50- we run the gamut of rides. We do thrill rides, we do kiddie rides, we do the old classics. Between all of us, we hit nearly every ride. We don't all ride every ride, but with our varied interests, there are few rides that at least 2 don't want to ride.

Last trip HS- Between us all we rode: RRC, TOT, GMR, Muppets, TSMM, Star Tours. Did the sing along, Fantasmic, Disney Junior Live, - I think that above covers the rides. Doesn't seem to me like we don't like rides, does it you???

So please, please, please stop repeating that and saying that I have my opinions because I don't ride rides. It's tiresome.

 

[wisblue]

Great idea! Let's call it...hmmm, I've got it! Fast pass!

No, in my scenario there would still be FPs with set return times. With those you would enter the FP queue and get on the attraction just like now, with little or no wait. With the virtual queue, you would still have to wait in the standby line, but that wait would only be 30-45 minutes instead of 60-120 minutes or more.

 

[cakebaker]

Speaking of facts, this is not one.

You are so right- hand to God, I meant to type IF, add comma and continue...I swear it! lol

In fact, I'm going to edit it right now and I appreciate you catching it. Seriously, as in not kidding.

 

[wisblue]

I don't disagree with anything here. But I must say, when combined with standard FP+ this sounds like a complicated way to get my wait "down" to 45-60 minutes.

Maybe that 45-60 would be more like 30, but the point is that someone who really wants to experience an attraction, and is willing to wait up to 2 hours for it (which some people do now) they would still have that option, but with less totally wasted time in the line.

This board is loaded with posters who say that they won't wait as long as 20-30 minutes for anything, and that is usually because they have done most of the attractions in the parks several times on past visits. For them, the elimination of standby at an attraction like TSMM or Soarin may be philosophically wrong, but as a practical matter it isn't going to affect their day because they would only get in the standby line at the very beginning of the day anyway, and that will probably always be allowed.

 

[ChipnDale79]

That's true, but **** happens. If they needed to run the test, they needed to run it. They chose off season, they added additional fp's. I don't think Disney does this stuff just to piss people off. We've had things happen too and missed rides we wanted to ride through no fault of our own.

The problem with this is, we all know **** happens and sometimes you won't be able to ride something because its broken down. It's no one's fault, quite honestly Id rather them take a ride down to fix it then worry about getting people on a broken ride. That's a safety issue.

Test need to be done, there's no question about that, however the lack of notifying anyone of it is absurd. Disney notifies us well in advance when a ride or attraction is going to be refurbed so we can plan accordingly. There was zero notice for this.

I don't think Disney is trying to piss people off, but honestly with the lack of notice on this one, I think they just don't care if they do piss people off.

 

[johde]

Cool, thanks for the alternative view. From your mouth to God's ears as my grandmother would say.

I mentioned earlier, I took part in the RnR virtual standby line test back in 2009 that eventually became part of the Dueling Dumbos. At the time, everyone thought that would take over the parks. When in reality, FP+ and interactive queues have become more common. For those who don't know what I was talking about, It's now my picture but this is a top down view of TSMM.

Pink is the FP+ line, Dark Green Standby, Purple handicapped load/unload, Orange, regular load/Unload beginning of ride. The Wandering Oaken (Soundstage 1) is to the left. So, the existing queue area is inbetween the current ride area and the rumored expansion. Adding a third track to the existing ride would require tearing up the existing queue and closing the existing ride for refurbishment. Building a new "standby" TSMM could be build in Soundstage 1, then the existing standby queue could be diverted at Mr. Potato Head into the new area and loading. All the while, the current ride can stay open. The point of the test could be to see what the final FP+ only side would look like. (although they could have a way for people to move over if the FP line is empty the other direction wouldn't be).

 

[wilkeliza]

I honestly think it is hilarious when people blame Iger. The man is pretty much a figure head. These ideas have to go up a massive chain from the day to day park manager (not sure who it is at DHS), through George Kalogridis, then Meg Crofton, Staggs probably sees them at that point and then Iger finally sees them if there is need.

I can't imagine Iger himself actually saw this test and approved it. It was probably okayed by Kalogridis.

 

[cakebaker]

I don't think Disney is trying to piss people off, but honestly with the lack of notice on this one, I think they just don't care if they do piss people off.

I'd allow for that possibility.

 

[wisblue]

Another option is this truly is a test. TSMM has been rumored to be getting a third track for a long time in the area current housing the Wandering Oaken. The problem is how do you connect that area with the current load area. This test may be looking at the possibility of setting up 2 load distinct load areas and tracks like Space Mountain. But, there locations may be far enough apart they can't see one another.

So, the goal may be to run the current 2 tracks of TSMM as nearly 100% FP+ and the new single track as 100% standby. Reworking the current queue to the new load point. How do you know what trying to run a ride at 100% FP+ would look like unless you try running a ride with 100% FP+. Do people return at a consistent and random enough interval to keep the return lines short. By throwing more FP+ into the mix each hour, they are increasing the utilization and they could be seeing how it affects waits in the FP+ only return line.

The surveys could then be looking at how guest satisfactions changes as the % increases.

+1.

This is essentially what I was saying about studying the ebb and flow of crowds to minimize wasted capacity but keeping the FR wait time from getting too long.

A good reason not to keep standby open while doing this is that it would be very difficult for them to predict a standby wait time. I suppose they could have posted a wait time of 3 hours and let anyone who was willing to wait that long in eventually.

As for the surveys, it would be interesting to know what they are asking. Somehow I doubt if it is "how did you like today's test?" My guess is that they are asking questions designed to get opinions about how long people are willing to wait for something.

Is there anyone here who took one of the surveys? Especially anyone who didn't have a FP and didn't get to ride TSMM even though they wanted to?

 

[ChipnDale79]

I honestly think it is hilarious when people blame Iger. The man is pretty much a figure head. These ideas have to go up a massive chain from the day to day park manager (not sure who it is at DHS), through George Kalogridis, then Meg Crofton, Staggs probably sees them at that point and then Iger finally sees them if there is need.

I can't imagine Iger himself actually saw this test and approved it. It was probably okayed by Kalogridis.

I think if this were an isolated issue, I'd agree with you on this, but things like this have started to be a norm for WDW, which sounds to me like a culture problem. Iger is the CEO, he sets the tone for the company.

 

[JanaDee]

For the love of god...not that again.

Really, I never, ever, ever, ever, ever said we don't go to Disney for the rides.

What I said was (and I'm going to put this on a cut n paste I think) is that rides aren't ALL there is to do. I also said, in fact, because we have a little one, a 20 something, a couple of 30 somethings and an over 50- we run the gamut of rides. We do thrill rides, we do kiddie rides, we do the old classics. Between all of us, we hit nearly every ride. We don't all ride every ride, but with our varied interests, there are few rides that at least 2 don't want to ride.

Last trip HS- Between us all we rode: RRC, TOT, GMR, Muppets, TSMM, Star Tours. Did the sing along, Fantasmic, Disney Junior Live, - I think that above covers the rides. Doesn't seem to me like we don't like rides, does it you???

So please, please, please stop repeating that and saying that I have my opinions because I don't ride rides. It's tiresome.

Here is the exact quote I was thinking of.

http://108.171.164.208/showpost.php?p=52268567&postcount=194

You would be happy with very few rides. I'm not and neither are many of the other Disney guests. We go to Disney to specifically ride rides.

 

[PIRATEGIRL007]

I honestly think it is hilarious when people blame Iger. The man is pretty much a figure head. These ideas have to go up a massive chain from the day to day park manager (not sure who it is at DHS), through George Kalogridis, then Meg Crofton, Staggs probably sees them at that point and then Iger finally sees them if there is need.

I can't imagine Iger himself actually saw this test and approved it. It was probably okayed by Kalogridis.

Me too he really has not idea about day to day in the parks his job is to make sure overall that money is flowing. I'd place this blame on that ridiculous excuse for an executive of Staggs instead.

 

[wilkeliza]

Me too he really has not idea about day to day in the parks his job is to make sure overall that money is flowing. I'd place this blame on that ridiculous excuse for an executive of Staggs instead.

My eye is with Staggs as well. I got to go to Meg Crofton's class when I was a CP and I just can't imagine her sitting by and letting WDW do this. She has been with the company since before Epcot and if you hear her story even stuck up for Epcot when so many thought it was going to fail miserably. Of course in that class she did say there are always growing pains so maybe these tests are what she considers that.

 

[grimley1968]

I haven't read the whole thread, so please forgive me if this has been addressed: has the plug been pulled on this experiment, or are they still doing it for the entire schedule through the 9th?

Even as fog-headed as some of the recent decisions have been in re WDW, it seems like someone would have stopped this particularly bone-headed move after a few hours.

 

[mesaboy2]

You are so right- hand to God, I meant to type IF, add comma and continue...I swear it! lol

In fact, I'm going to edit it right now and I appreciate you catching it. Seriously, as in not kidding.

Just keeping it real.

I mentioned earlier, I took part in the RnR virtual standby line test back in 2009 that eventually became part of the Dueling Dumbos. At the time, everyone thought that would take over the parks. When in reality, FP+ and interactive queues have become more common. For those who don't know what I was talking about, It's now my picture but this is a top down view of TSMM.

<snip>

Pink is the FP+ line, Dark Green Standby, Purple handicapped load/unload, Orange, regular load/Unload beginning of ride. The Wandering Oaken (Soundstage 1) is to the left. So, the existing queue area is inbetween the current ride area and the rumored expansion. Adding a third track to the existing ride would require tearing up the existing queue and closing the existing ride for refurbishment. Building a new "standby" TSMM could be build in Soundstage 1, then the existing standby queue could be diverted at Mr. Potato Head into the new area and loading. All the while, the current ride can stay open. The point of the test could be to see what the final FP+ only side would look like. (although they could have a way for people to move over if the FP line is empty the other direction wouldn't be).

I know I'm in the minority, but I'm yet to be convinced that Soundstage 1 closed (again) to make way for a TSM expansion. The bolded above is one reason why it doesn't add up to me. It could still very well be something else entirely.

 

[Maine-iac]

OK without going through all of the posts I am going to throw this out there. There was mention of a third track being added or extending the track . So maybe they are just testing to see if they need to extend the track or maybe they are already planning to extend the track but are testing to see how many FP+ they can give out to maximize the usage of the extended track. Maybe they will increase the amounts of FP+ each day until they have reached the maximum amount needed.
I am going to be optimistic and guess that they will not do away with standby.

 

[lugnut33]

My eye is with Staggs as well. I got to go to Meg Crofton's class when I was a CP and I just can't imagine her sitting by and letting WDW do this. She has been with the company since before Epcot and if you hear her story even stuck up for Epcot when so many thought it was going to fail miserably. Of course in that class she did say there are always growing pains so maybe these tests are what she considers that.

And who put those two people into their positions? Who is approving people for these high executive positions? Who wants to be surrounded by people who think just like him? Iger.

I don't see much of a difference between Crofton, Staggs, and Iger.