Why the tiers at only some parks?

[sersee05]

Making my fast pass selections and curious why dhs and epcot tier while mk and ak do not?

Especially epcot.. the tiered ones are the ones I want to see. The second tier seems like a waste?

 

[MataHari22]

Because at the parks with tiers, there are not that many rides and there is no way to accommodate everyone who would want a FP+ for them. Not enough to handle the demand. So, by making the most popular attractions on different tiers it spreads people out more over the rest of the rides.

 

[chmurf]

Making my fast pass selections and curious why dhs and epcot tier while mk and ak do not?

Especially epcot.. the tiered ones are the ones I want to see. The second tier seems like a waste?

looking at your ticker you're at 30 days, meaning you're an offsiter if you only can make FP+ selections now.

I'll answer from a different perspective than PP's

If EPCOT hadn't been tiered, and onsite guests had been able to book FP+ for both Soarin' and TT at 60 days, you probably wouldn't have been able to select them at all, at 30 days out.

so, right, the other tier seem like a waste, but without the tiering, you wouldn't even get a FP for one of those you want to see.

 

[sersee05]

That makes perfect sense. Thank you!

 

[cakebaker]

If EPCOT hadn't been tiered, and onsite guests had been able to book FP+ for both Soarin' and TT at 60 days, you probably wouldn't have been able to select them at all, at 30 days out.

Exactly right. No one likes tiering, but I often wonder when people say they want tiering to go away- if they've considered what the consequences of that would be. Great for on site- not so great for off.

Not that I'm advocating this- but imagine if the MK was tiered and SDMT and A&E were on the same top tier. I'm betting we'd see A&E become not quite so impossible to get at 30 days.

 

[mom2rtk]

Tiering wasn't put into place because of what guests want. It has to do with what Disney can deliver. And in those parks, they don't have the capacity to give people 3 FPs of their choice.

 

[loutoo]

I agree with the previous responses. In the next five years you will most likely see the tier system disappear entirely. With a soon to be announced huge expansion to DHS, there will be plenty of attractions to spread the FP+ choices around, and with the addition of a third screen at soarin, the Frozen ride, and the return of A&E meet and greet to Norway, Epcot will be just a few new attractions away from no longer needing tiers as well. I would be surprised if there are any tiers left by the time the 50th anniversary rolls around in 2021.

 

[mom2rtk]

I agree with the previous responses. In the next five years you will most likely see the tier system disappear entirely. With a soon to be announced huge expansion to DHS, there will be plenty of attractions to spread the FP+ choices around, and with the addition of a third screen at soarin, the Frozen ride, and the return of A&E meet and greet to Norway, Epcot will be just a few new attractions away from no longer needing tiers as well. I would be surprised if there are any tiers left by the time the 50th anniversary rolls around in 2021.

You think they're going to have the as yet unannounced DHS expansion ready in 5 years? You have a lot more faith than I do.

 

[JimmyV]

In the next five years you will most likely see the tier system disappear entirely. With a soon to be announced huge expansion to DHS, there will be plenty of attractions to spread the FP+ choices around, ...

I think you are miscalculating this a bit. DHS will not be expanding so much as it will be redone. The footprint of the park will not be made bigger, or at least, not by much. After the changeover, there will be new and different attractions, but not necessarily more attractions. We can hope and assume that there will be more headliners to compete with TSMM, RnR and ToT, and if there are enough new headliners, then perhaps tiering can go away at that park. But it is way too soon to know if the net change that results from the building of new attractions coupled with the retirement of old attractions will mean "more", as opposed to simply "new". In order for tiering to go away, there has to be "more".

 

[itchin2go]

Because at the parks with tiers, there are not that many rides and there is no way to accommodate everyone who would want a FP+ for them. Not enough to handle the demand. So, by making the most popular attractions on different tiers it spreads people out more over the rest of the rides.

I agree with this, but I feel like they put the most popular attractions on the same tier, so you can only pick one of them ... Test Track and Soarin being the prime example.

There just aren't enough FP eligible attractions at DHS and Epcot, so the FPs are rationed even further there. So very few people get 3 FPs they want, but many people get at least 1 FP that they want. Without tiers, a few would get 3 FPs they want, and many would not even get 1 worthwhile FP. More attractions would go a long way toward solving this problem.