Eeee-va
Happiest robot on Earth
- Joined
- Feb 18, 2009
- Messages
- 2,579
I love the math!
Personally, I think 10 seconds per ShowPass is probably a closer estimate, especially if Disney does even a small amount of crowd control. For instance, CMs could direct people to form short lines at each station (to avoid wasted time walking from the FP entrance to the Showpass distribution machines). If the line IS huge then I think the majority of the line will be made up of "runners", who know how to get FPs using multiple tickets. Barring system glitches, it doesn't take 15 seconds each ticket (and probably not even 10 seconds each ticket) for a person with 4 tickets to get 4 FPs from the machine.
With enough CMs--perhaps a few people out in front telling people to get out their ticket media, ample signage to explain the system, and possibly even one at each station to insert the tickets for guests (as they'd be faster than all but seasoned runners), I think the average time might get well below 10 seconds.
I'm still curious to see if people will try to watch from the "wrong" side. Reportedly the mist screens won't really be clear (but then there are rumors of special seating at Ariel's Grotto, where the mist screens probably wouldn't be clear either, and isn't there that DVC roof area where the Golden Zephyr probably blocks the mist screens too?). I reckon much of the fountain and effects aspects will be visible from the other side of the "bay", so if people are allowed to view from that area I would think that a lot of locals/etc. will be staking out spots there quite early in the afternoon.
I do feel the Showpass as we understand it stacks the deck in favor of those who can visit the park for the whole day, but I think most locals can take a day off at some point, too...as a vacationer, I'll be taking off a few days of work to visit the parks, after all.
Locals often tour the park differently than me; I don't want to spend several hours of my limited time at the parks camped out for fireworks, which some locals who arrive, say, after leaving work early, choose to do, since they'll visit the park again next week if they want.
All that said, I hear Tokyo Disneyland has a completely different Showpass-type system, like a lottery, for obtaining tickets to shows. I'm not sure that would go over so well with tourists who might only have 2-3 nights to see WoC and didn't win the "lottery"--or even locals who are used to being able to wait in line to get admittance to a show/ride/etc. I suppose Disney could have some "wait in line" Showpasses and when those run out, switch to the lottery system, but that would probably cause a ridiculous number of complaints to Guest Relations, so maybe not.
Personally, I think 10 seconds per ShowPass is probably a closer estimate, especially if Disney does even a small amount of crowd control. For instance, CMs could direct people to form short lines at each station (to avoid wasted time walking from the FP entrance to the Showpass distribution machines). If the line IS huge then I think the majority of the line will be made up of "runners", who know how to get FPs using multiple tickets. Barring system glitches, it doesn't take 15 seconds each ticket (and probably not even 10 seconds each ticket) for a person with 4 tickets to get 4 FPs from the machine.
With enough CMs--perhaps a few people out in front telling people to get out their ticket media, ample signage to explain the system, and possibly even one at each station to insert the tickets for guests (as they'd be faster than all but seasoned runners), I think the average time might get well below 10 seconds.
I'm still curious to see if people will try to watch from the "wrong" side. Reportedly the mist screens won't really be clear (but then there are rumors of special seating at Ariel's Grotto, where the mist screens probably wouldn't be clear either, and isn't there that DVC roof area where the Golden Zephyr probably blocks the mist screens too?). I reckon much of the fountain and effects aspects will be visible from the other side of the "bay", so if people are allowed to view from that area I would think that a lot of locals/etc. will be staking out spots there quite early in the afternoon.
I do feel the Showpass as we understand it stacks the deck in favor of those who can visit the park for the whole day, but I think most locals can take a day off at some point, too...as a vacationer, I'll be taking off a few days of work to visit the parks, after all.

All that said, I hear Tokyo Disneyland has a completely different Showpass-type system, like a lottery, for obtaining tickets to shows. I'm not sure that would go over so well with tourists who might only have 2-3 nights to see WoC and didn't win the "lottery"--or even locals who are used to being able to wait in line to get admittance to a show/ride/etc. I suppose Disney could have some "wait in line" Showpasses and when those run out, switch to the lottery system, but that would probably cause a ridiculous number of complaints to Guest Relations, so maybe not.
