Why are lines so long?

[spleuchan]

Yes but that wasn't pertaining to what the OP was mentioning as in they looked at the lines now and saw they were low--they are low even by normal standards for DLR for the moment.

MP costs money.

I'm the OP and thought it pertained.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I'm the OP and thought it pertained.

In the overall point? Sure, but you specifically mentioned looking at the lines now. If you looked at it when it wasn't soooooo dead they would still be lower likely but not this low. Pure example's sake I'll take a 15min wait over a 45min wait for example. 45mins may be a good wait time for a ride in DLR (especially in comparison to WDW) but 15mins sure beats 45mins and if Star Wars crowd fears are making something 15mins when it would be more realistically 45mins that can make a difference in how one views the park (maybe not to you though). Hopefully that's making sense.

 

[TarotFox]

Yes... and as I said in the first post where I brought up Disneyland, it isn't hard to wait thirty minutes or less the majority of the time. Not right now. Most of the time.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Yes, but it is pertaining to what I was saying, since I was the one who brought up the lines at DL in the first place, leading to OP looking at the app. I wasn't talking about "right now."

Ah then call it wires crossed because I was speaking about now

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Yes... and as I said in the first post where I brought up Disneyland, it isn't hard to wait thirty minutes or less the majority of the time. Not right now. Most of the time.

Without MP?

 

[TarotFox]

The only difference MaxPass makes is a convenience one. If you want to run all over the place you are still welcome to. You will probably get fewer FastPasses that way, but you will still end up with plenty. And wait times will drop intensely after fireworks or in the morning. MaxPass is more than worth it though.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

The only difference MaxPass makes is a convenience one. If you want to run all over the place you are still welcome to. You will probably get fewer FastPasses that way, but you will still end up with plenty. And wait times will drop intensely after fireworks or in the morning. MaxPass is more than worth it though.

2 of the major ones I can think of which absolutely made a big difference is:
~ MaxPass allows you to book from a variety of times available so you can select which ones work for you rather than only being able to select what Distribution Time is currently there. For instance we had a FP for Buzz, the distribution kiosk reflected a time for long after what reflected on the app whereas the app had a near instantaneous return time. We went in with our FP on buzz and while in line I made another FP for Buzz The standby wait was over 35mins at that time.
~ You pick up more FPs than are available than the Distribution kiosks AND when someone cancels or modifies you can pick up their time slot

It's not just about not going from kiosk to kiosk physically.

We went when it was dead due to rain and cool temps but as soon as the weather cleared up the crowds came in and the wait times increased quite a bit even in the FP lines. MP is a great thing no doubt but it does cost money. We only purchased it because it had been decades since I had last went. If we go again next month I'm not sure we'll want to pay for MP again (it quickly adds up), and yet I can't deny I enjoyed being able to utilize the app just like I did when we went to WDW and its advantages.

Fireworks are not a nightly occurance at DLR either.

 

[spleuchan]

2 of the major ones I can think of which absolutely made a big difference is:
~ MaxPass allows you to book from a variety of times available so you can select which ones work for you rather than only being able to select what Distribution Time is currently there. For instance we had a FP for Buzz, the distribution kiosk reflected a time for long after what reflected on the app whereas the app had a near instantaneous return time. We went in with our FP on buzz and while in line I made another FP for Buzz The standby wait was over 35mins at that time.
~ You pick up more FPs than are available than the Distribution kiosks AND when someone cancels or modifies you can pick up their time slot

It's not just about not going from kiosk to kiosk physically.

We went when it was dead due to rain and cool temps but as soon as the weather cleared up the crowds came in and the wait times increased quite a bit even in the FP lines. MP is a great thing no doubt but it does cost money. We only purchased it because it had been decades since I had last went. If we go again next month I'm not sure we'll want to pay for MP again (it quickly adds up), and yet I can't deny I enjoyed being able to utilize the app just like I did when we went to WDW and its advantages.

Fireworks are not a nightly occurance at DLR either.

Please don’t hijack my thread. If you want to argue for arguing sake, please start your own thread.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Please don’t hijack my thread. If you want to argue for arguing sake, please start your own thread.

Um I'm not arguing in the least .I'm discussing with another poster and it seemed quite polite honestly neither one of us was being mean to each other, nor calling names, nor anything-apologies you view that as arguing when it's not that at all.

And respectfully threads go on tangents all the time on a discussion board with control being in the hands of the mods

No disrespect meant at all and sure the poster and I can agree to disagree and the discussion can move on--it would have eventually.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Alrighty, move on please. Thank you.

 

[disneycat321]

We went at the end of July this year, and I was surprised by the wait times, especially at MK. It did seem more crowded than our past trips in 2010 (June) and 2013 (May). We still had a great time, but we did splurge on 3 DAH events, which allowed us to do a lot of attractions (SDD, FOP, etc) multiple times.

Honestly, it just seems like everything has gotten more crowded in general. The national parks are dealing with this as well. I went to Glacier National Park in 2015 and 2016. In 2015, Glacier had 2.37 million visitors. In 2017, it was 3.31 million. I've read articles about other major national parks experiencing similar growth in visitors and the accompanying strain. I can't decide what's causing all of these increased crowds everywhere. People just have more disposable income now, I guess?

Also, OP - our MK RD was kinda destroyed by BTMRR and Splash immediately being down, too! We ended up rope dropping POTC, which kinda made me laugh because we'd never normally do that. I will say I loved entering the park at 8:20 and casually walking around, taking pictures, and just enjoying Main Street and the hub with less crowds.

The end of the night time extra magic hours has been a bummer for us and a reason not to go in the summer. Parks used to be open until 1:00 am in the summer with EMH. You could get so much done and be able to take the afternoon break to swim when the heat was the worst. Now with parks closing so much earlier it really puts a damper and seems to create more crowds.

We went to a 11pm-1am EMH at MK a couple weeks ago, and it was very crowded. We were actually really surprised, because we'd done it on our previous trips with great success.

Our last day on Saturday was good. We rope dropped HS and rode TSM, then had fast passes for SDD, ToT, and RnRC, hopped over to Epcot for Chefs de France lunch and snagged a 4th fast pass for Soarin, making it back to BWI by 2:45 for our Magical Express Bus to the airport.

Someone mentioned lines at Disneyland. I checked the wait on the app and it is amazing how short the lines are there compared to Disney World (even accounting for the time difference). I really wonder why the lines there are so much shorter there. Those lines are much closer to my past experiences with Disney World. Checking the wait times at Disney World this week, it doesn't seem like my week was an abnormality.

I guess another thing that made it feel worse was that this was our most expensive trip (even having FD). In our previous trips, we stayed offsite once (pre FP+), booked a deal with the TA that used to have really awesome rates at deluxes twice, and did full FD at a moderate once. No good to pay a lot more for a lot less.

Although we definitely find DLR's wait times to be more manageable than what WDW's have grown to, the wait times there this summer have been very unusual. I think a lot of people (including us, actually) were really scared of SWGE opening and stayed away.

 

[MarBee]

We went at the end of July this year, and I was surprised by the wait times, especially at MK. It did seem more crowded than our past trips in 2010 (June) and 2013 (May). We still had a great time, but we did splurge on 3 DAH events, which allowed us to do a lot of attractions (SDD, FOP, etc) multiple times.

Honestly, it just seems like everything has gotten more crowded in general. The national parks are dealing with this as well. I went to Glacier National Park in 2015 and 2016. In 2015, Glacier had 2.37 million visitors. In 2017, it was 3.31 million. I've read articles about other major national parks experiencing similar growth in visitors and the accompanying strain. I can't decide what's causing all of these increased crowds everywhere. People just have more disposable income now, I guess?

Also, OP - our MK RD was kinda destroyed by BTMRR and Splash immediately being down, too! We ended up rope dropping POTC, which kinda made me laugh because we'd never normally do that. I will say I loved entering the park at 8:20 and casually walking around, taking pictures, and just enjoying Main Street and the hub with less crowds.



We went to a 11pm-1am EMH at MK a couple weeks ago, and it was very crowded. We were actually really surprised, because we'd done it on our previous trips with great success.



Although we definitely find DLR's wait times to be more manageable than what WDW's have grown to, the wait times there this summer have been very unusual. I think a lot of people (including us, actually) were really scared of SWGE opening and stayed away.

I thought they ended night time EMH. When did you go? I want to go in the summer but can’t do the heat. If they have EMH at night, I’m there again!

 

[disneycat321]

I thought they ended night time EMH. When did you go? I want to go in the summer but can’t do the heat. If they have EMH at night, I’m there again!

We were there July 19-27 and we went to evening EMH at Epcot on Tues and MK on Wed. We got lucky with extended MK hours Wed and a regular closing of 11:00. Yes, those events were a huge help in the heat! I also highly recommend DAH if you go in the summer. Worth every penny. We had a couple evenings where it was only in the mid 70s! I couldn't believe it.

 

[MarBee]

We were there July 19-27 and we went to evening EMH at Epcot on Tues and MK on Wed. We got lucky with extended MK hours Wed and a regular closing of 11:00. Yes, those events were a huge help in the heat! I also highly recommend DAH if you go in the summer. Worth every penny. We had a couple evenings where it was only in the mid 70s! I couldn't believe it.

Thanks! We have APs now and just couldn’t justify the cost of DAH. However, after they expire in June, we said if we did go in the summer, we would solely buy DAH tickets for the parks. We are night owls so it would be perfect for us!

 

[epcotobsessed]

We were just there. July 30 and 31 in Epcot were delightful, every other day that first week of August was wall-to-wall people in every park. The crowds were much higher than predicted and it rained for extended periods most days, which on the one hand is to be expected in Florida in August but on the other hand made a stressful situation even worse. I do not think we'll ever go back in July or August, but as many people point out there doesn't seem to be a time to go anymore when it's not mobbed.

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

So I am here right now, leaving tomorrow. This is our 5th trip in the last 10 years and the lines and transportation have been the worst we have seen. In the past, we rope dropped and were able to grt so much accomplished in the first two hours, ate lunch, returned to the hotel for a few hours of rest and pool and then had dinner/used fast passes and life was good. This trip the rides seemed packed with long waits in the first hour and we have not been able to accomplish much except the morning we did Epcot. One morning we rope dropped to btmr and splash, but both were down and no one told us until we got there. By the time we got to space mountain the wait was already 40 plus minutes.

Previous trips buses have been plentiful and relatively empty. This trip we have had to wait a while for buses and/or drivers (sometimes a bus would pull up quickly but we had to wait for a new driver or once we had a packed bus, but sat waiting for 20 minutes for the bus driver to get permission to take us to our hotel). Pretty much every bus we have been on packed.

The food has been great (free dining) and so has the resort, but why are the lines so long and transportation so bad compared with years past? Is Disney cutting back, are people getting smarter and planning better, are crowds up? Something else?

Im thinking this will be our last disney trip unless it goes back to the good ole days.

We just left WDW and felt overall the crowds and wait times weren’t that bad. I do think that the overall feel has a lot to do with what resort you stay at and prior visits to WDW/time of year experience that you may compare your current visit too.

Overall this visit felt very low crowd for us compared to our Nov 14-18 2018 visit. Also felt a lot emptier than our March visit. Both really busy times at Disney. We stayed at BWV and found our buses great. Our November stay we were
at POR and while I really like that resort, I find the bus transport to be a negative compared to other resorts. I think that can be a big factor in making the trip feel off and not as enjoyable.

Rides being down has been a pain lately. Even though we got rained on, sweat a ton and had some rides down that we never got to do, we’re still planning our next visit. It’s our family’s happy place still.

 

[ppony]

I think you really answered your own question at the end of your post. It's a combination of a bunch of factors. Free dining, operational cutbacks, better planning, etc. Wait times don't seem very excessive for this time of year though.

THIS. Free dining is designed to fill parks AND resorts.

Additionally, w/ respect to buses, now that Disney charges parking at their resorts, you’re going to see people that would have normally rented a car, using buses instead. That’ll be us this time. We’ve always rented a car, but not this time. We’re going to use the buses for the first time since we started visiting in 1994.

Disney is also doing a really good job at filling the parks so that traditional slow times are no longer slow. But, it’s summer. It’s going to be jammed.