New Anna/Elsa standby procedure?

[natatomic]

Of course, this CM might not be seeing the whole picture. But it's what I would have expected in terms of the front line experience.

To me, anything that makes it impossible for someone to do something that has the ability to be possible*, then guest irrate-ness should be considered a huge part of the whole picture.

(*That is, it's impossible for a 38 inch kid ride Splash Mountain, but allowing it to be possible is a huge safety concern, so not much you can do there to make it possible except wait for the kid to grow. In this situation, it's impossible for these guests to do any sort of waiting in any sort of line to meet A&E at ALL, but it had the ability to be possible if they weren't doing this ridiculous test.)

 

[bethymouse]

It explains it in that article. They allow people into the line up to a specified point. After that you are turned away with a paper return time. Sort of like the old FP.

I'm sorry. But, if Disney does this, I will not return a foot into the parks! Waiting in line is part of the experience. To have a bunch of paper passes ( which is what I thought FP+ was supposed to eliminate ) is ridiculous! If it comes to no "stand by" lines, then IMHO Disney has not dealt with the situation properly! I plan my Disney vacation carefully. I just don't get it! All of this hype! The mine train will soon have shorter wait times, and eventually so will the Frozen M&G phenomenon. I just am outraged! Sorry.

 

[boufa]

I don't know if we are missing the point. How is it good show to have a guest pay $100 to get into the park and then have them stay in line for 3-5 hours for a single 2 minute m&g? Disney DOES have to do something, and we often use the idea of under promise and over deliver. Is it better to be told that there is no availability, or that you have to wait in a 5 hour line?!?!? Everyone will have a different answer to that question. The ultimate solution is to make the line move faster, maybe find a way to use some Disney Magic to add rooms and opportunities.

Don't forget that people standing in line for 5 hours don't spend as much money anywhere else in the parks... not that Disney would care about that...lol!

 

[natatomic]

How is it good show to have a guest pay $100 to get into the park and then have them stay in line for 3-5 hours for a single 2 minute m&g?

Pray tell, how is it good show to have a guest pay $100 to get into the park and then not allow them into the line AT ALL?

Disney DOES have to do something, and we often use the idea of under promise and over deliver. Is it better to be told that there is no availability, or that you have to wait in a 5 hour line?!?!? Everyone will have a different answer to that question.

You think so? I can't think of a single person who would say, "I would rather it be made impossible for me to step foot into line than be given the CHOICE to wait 3 hours or not."

If you don't want to wait 3 hours, then don't get into a 3 hour line. Easy peasy. If you want to wait three hours but are then told you're not allowed to, well, then you're gonna be super ed off.

 

[Dwarful]

Big hot mess doesn't even begin to describe this situation. We were there the first week of June and saw those crazy lines and people were asking CMs is it really 300 minutes and they would say yes. Then some families would get in line, others would walk away. They made the choice that fit their needs. I wouldn't want to wait that long for M&G. Normally, I would say I wouldn't wait that long for anything.

This trip my husband really, really, really wanted to see the SWW parade with Mark Hamill. We waited just over two hours to get our curb side view with the photo angle that he wanted. I know this was sitting on a curb in the sunshine just two adults (we let our daughters take our MB and use all of the FPs) but we each took a turn to use the RR and our daughters came and checked on us once and brought us drinks so we were not confined to a stand by line. But we had the choice...spend 2+ hours of prime park time (915 AM - 11:30 AM) sitting on a curb or ride rides and see shows. In that same 2+ hours our girls used our FPs and were able to ride ToT twice, TSMM twice and Star Tours twice plus they did the animators drawing experience (can never remember the name) twice. (they actually finished their second drawing just as the parade and show ended.

BUT I promise my husband would have been very annoyed if someone had said "sorry, you can't spend your time sitting on a curb waiting for a parade".

 

[dadddio]

I'm sorry. But, if Disney does this, I will not return a foot into the parks! Waiting in line is part of the experience. To have a bunch of paper passes ( which is what I thought FP+ was supposed to eliminate ) is ridiculous! If it comes to no "stand by" lines, then IMHO Disney has not dealt with the situation properly! I plan my Disney vacation carefully. I just don't get it! All of this hype! The mine train will soon have shorter wait times, and eventually so will the Frozen M&G phenomenon. I just am outraged! Sorry.

Before you or anyone else gets too outraged, you might want to wait to see how it is actually implemented. Just because they gave out paper tickets during a couple-day test doesn't mean that that's what they would do if they went forward with any actual change to the SB line. A FP+ enhancement is far more likely.

 

[dadddio]

Pray tell, how is it good show to have a guest pay $100 to get into the park and then not allow them into the line AT ALL?

They already do that with many m&gs. If you aren't one of the first X people in line, then they don't allow you to get in the line.

You think so? I can't think of a single person who would say, "I would rather it be made impossible for me to step foot into line than be given the CHOICE to wait 3 hours or not."

Your choice would be the same whether you were visiting Jasmine in Epcot or Elsa in MK. You can choose to return at (or before) the next m&g time, or not.

 

[natatomic]

They already do that with many m&gs. If you aren't one of the first X people in line, then they don't allow you to get in the line.
Your choice would be the same whether you were visiting Jasmine in Epcot or Elsa in MK. You can choose to return at (or before) the next m&g time, or not.

I see what you're saying, but I'm not really sure if it's the same thing since there is no FP+ or Standby paper tickets for those other characters. It's a whole other type of M&G. Those characters only come out a handful of times a day and don't have nearly the same demand. But even so, when they cut the line, you are still allowed to loiter around until the next "set." I guess you could compare that to them re-opening up the SB line for A&E at 8pm, but as far as I know, that's not something they advertise to guests (unlike the next set times for the other characters),it's usually hours and hours later, and it's also not something that is guaranteed to happen.

 

[stevehousse]

I don't know if we are missing the point. How is it good show to have a guest pay $100 to get into the park and then have them stay in line for 3-5 hours for a single 2 minute m&g? Disney DOES have to do something, and we often use the idea of under promise and over deliver. Is it better to be told that there is no availability, or that you have to wait in a 5 hour line?!?!? Everyone will have a different answer to that question. The ultimate solution is to make the line move faster, maybe find a way to use some Disney Magic to add rooms and opportunities.

Don't forget that people standing in line for 5 hours don't spend as much money anywhere else in the parks... not that Disney would care about that...lol!

But they can do something, make more A and E meet n greets, but we all know Disney is too cheap to do that...they would rather waste it on paper instead of paying actual people...wdw's green initiative goes right down the drain...

If they were smart, they would have kept the girls in Epcot, had them in the PFH at MK, and add them to DHS...problem solved...

 

[ninjaprincesst]

The thing is basically if you are not there at park opening you don't have the option to do the meet and greet, that you paid the same price as everyone else to have access to all the attractions. I understand that a four hour wait is insane, but if you want to wait in the insanity you should b e able to. The solution would be more Frozen M&G at all the parks so the line would not be so long. I will be attempting to get my daughter a fastpass+ just praying that will still be possible with this new insane system.

 

[asianway]

The thing is basically if you are not there at park opening you don't have the option to do the meet and greet, that you paid the same price as everyone else to have access to all the attractions. I understand that a four hour wait is insane, but if you want to wait in the insanity you should b e able to. The solution would be more Frozen M&G at all the parks so the line would not be so long. I will be attempting to get my daughter a fastpass+ just praying that will still be possible with this new insane system.

I agree, and the population of the park willing to wait 5 hours is considerably less than the population willing to pull a FP/paper ticket. They're making the problem worse

 

[mikenatcity1]

Maybe it's just me, but a paper system seems like the older fast pass system where you went up, got the ticket and came back...BUT for some major attractions it could help. My 60 window just came up for my trip that is only 3 days...by the time I went to do it at 12pm, Anna/Elsa, all but a couple evening hours after I was gone for Mine Train, all of Wishes and the new parade were gone...so my chance with those are not if I wanted a fast pass (and that was 60 days out)...

 

[MickeyisMyBestFriend]

I will not support or criticize this until I see the results.

 

[G00fyDad]

I don't know if we are missing the point. How is it good show to have a guest pay $100 to get into the park and then have them stay in line for 3-5 hours for a single 2 minute m&g? Disney DOES have to do something, and we often use the idea of under promise and over deliver. Is it better to be told that there is no availability, or that you have to wait in a 5 hour line?!?!? Everyone will have a different answer to that question. The ultimate solution is to make the line move faster, maybe find a way to use some Disney Magic to add rooms and opportunities.

Don't forget that people standing in line for 5 hours don't spend as much money anywhere else in the parks... not that Disney would care about that...lol!

If that person chooses to stand in a 5 hour line then that's on them. It was their choice. I choose to go to a park that isn't going to tell me that there is no more availability for a ride because they feel like they know what is best for me. Of course, I agree, Disney wants our dollars and they need us in stores to get them, but people go to the parks for more than just dumping money into gifts.

 

[natatomic]

Here's something I don't understand about Disney's motivation here - getting people to spend more money. That is one of the goals they're going for here, right? Getting people out of line so that way they can spend more time shopping in the parks?

This is an honest question - does anyone here feel like they don't have enough time to shop? That if you weren't in line, you would then spend more time in the gifts shops around the parks? Maybe, MAYBE that would work for Epcot where you'd have more time to just peruse the countries (though to be fair, I've never had a hard time budgeting for that, time-wise, within my day, but I'm not everybody). But if Disney is able to keep me out of long lines, then I'm just going to get into more lines more often to ride more rides. Maybe I'm an outlier, I don't know, but I feel like you can only do so much shopping in the parks, especially since most stores have all the same merchandise. If Disney were to make it to where I can be on a ride within 20-30 minutes of entering the line for every single ride, well, I'm gonna do my rides, then I'm gonna head off property early to eat somewhere cheaper or go rest. Or, I'd sleep in, get to the park later, and maybe stay for the fireworks. It would certainly make my day more efficient, but I, personally, would have absolutely zero motivation to do more shopping than I already do. If they want to make more money, then they should do like Uni is starting to do and have little snack carts built into the lines. Or something like that, at least.

 

[erstwo]

Obviously, Frozen is beyond massively popular or these problems wouldn't exist.
But at the same time, it's not like the 'sorry, there are no more chances to meet (fill in the blank) princess today' hasn't been done before. With Belle's Storybook Garden/ Rapunzels place/ Merida's place - numbers were limited, 'shows' / interactive M&G's were at set times and once the # was reached, the # was reached. No one else could get in line. If you arrived for the 3 pm show and there were already enough folks in line for the last three shows you were turned away. The difference was, that rarely happened. Disney has knocked it out of the park () with Frozen. Here's hoping they're smart enough to capitalize on it and keep the momentum going in the parks.

 

[ninjaprincesst]

Maybe it's just me, but a paper system seems like the older fast pass system where you went up, got the ticket and came back...BUT for some major attractions it could help. My 60 window just came up for my trip that is only 3 days...by the time I went to do it at 12pm, Anna/Elsa, all but a couple evening hours after I was gone for Mine Train, all of Wishes and the new parade were gone...so my chance with those are not if I wanted a fast pass (and that was 60 days out)...

Everyone seems to think this paper ticket thing is a fastpass. It is not. I talked to some family who lives in Orlando who used it yesterday. At 9:30 am she was given a paper to return between 5:00 -5:30 pm. They returned at 5:00 on the dot to line up, there was still an increadibly long line and it was 5:45 before they got in, yes it was better than 3 hours, but they had had to wait seven hours for their return time, then had to wait almost an hour after getting in line. From what she was told the wait time got longer as the day went on as more and more return times started piling in the line, plus she said it was still insane just getting over there and getting the little card with the return time (there was quite a long wait just to get the card). A castmember told her they are trying out different ways of distrubiting the cards to see what works best ,(some of the days they were giving out cards a little at a time, but that was forcing people to have to make several trips to fairytale hall just to try and get a card, so who knows what the final result will be, but one thing is for certain it won't be fast.

 

[dadddio]

But they can do something, make more A and E meet n greets, but we all know Disney is too cheap to do that

I guess you missed a memo. As I understand it, they have four sets of A&E in MK and are bringing tem back to Epcot.

..they would rather waste it on paper instead of paying actual people...wdw's green initiative goes right down the drain...

I guess that you didn't note that the paper was part if a test. There's no indication that they will be going forward with paper tickets outside of the rest.

 

[cw1982]

I guess you missed a memo. As I understand it, they have four sets of A&E in MK and are bringing tem back to Epcot.
I guess that you didn't note that the paper was part if a test. There's no indication that they will be going forward with paper tickets outside of the rest.

There are only two meeting at a time at MK. I'm not sure of the timing for Epcot, but if TDO was smart they would have not removed them from the area in the first place. Instead, the girls should have been at both locations this whole time.

 

[stevehousse]

I guess you missed a memo. As I understand it, they have four sets of A&E in MK and are bringing tem back to Epcot.
I guess that you didn't note that the paper was part if a test. There's no indication that they will be going forward with paper tickets outside of the rest.

I have not heard of them going back to Epcot at all? That would be good. But having them spread out in 3 parks instead of just 4 sets of characters in 1 building in 1 park would be much better...there is no was to defend the asinine way they are trying to set this whole meet n greet up. It's just silly...