I find the best way to avoid paying for MLL at WDW is to use resort early entry to get a jump start on everyone else. I haven’t been now in over two years so my methods are going to have to change at Epcot and MK (and based on Rise no longer being 2+ hours all the time anymore probably DHS) but if you can get on 3-4 rides during EE and the first 30 min of regular park time and then get on another 2-3 hour in the next 90 min you are set for the day.
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News Disney Park Pass System announced for Walt Disney World theme park reservations
- Thread starter wdwmagic
- Start date
Sirwalterraleigh
Premium Member
Early entry does very little to circumvent lighting lane…you can get on one or two things…but it’s not really gonna do too much on the ones that have long lines all day. People still rush the one or two with big lines in the park
Rise of the Abrams is only the time it takes to walk the queue after about 5 pm at night on a lot of days…
The sheer quality of the IP taking it to where it belongs
I strongly disagree, because you do do those two things and then while everyone else is doing those two things you do 4 other things in 2 hours that otherwise would take 4. You then spend midday doing shows and short wait rides, and pretty much finish a park at 2-3 pm. I then go to another park where every ride I do feels like a bonus. Only park where this has been hard is DHS simply because of the lack of low wait rides.
Tom P.
Premium Member
Well, that is true, but that's a failing of the American business culture across the board, not specifically Disney leadership. Companies today are almost universally driven by short-term goals and do not plan for long-term success at all. All that matters is showing Wall Street an increase in the latest quarterly numbers. Because that's what the stock market demands.
It's a completely broken system that is not sustainable over the long-term, and it's the reason so much of American business has fallen to foreign competitors, but it's the reality we have today. If Bob Iger started making sacrifices in this quarter's numbers to plan for Disney's success 10 years down the road, the Board would toss him out in about 30 seconds and the stock price would plummet.
Sirwalterraleigh
Premium Member
From your lips to their ears…
That’s the best case scenario…that bread is stale
But another feature of broken business is he controls the board…which is exactly what happened when Roy Disney fought Eisner…
And nothing was learned
Sirwalterraleigh
Premium Member
You’re not getting on slinky or tron or flight of passage “first”…you can rush there with the crowd…but you’re gonna use up that Window
If you’re the person that literally sprints to get their first…you’re a nut…and scary…and in the wrong place
I don’t sprint, or run. I walk with a purpose, but the real secret is being at the front of the blob at rope drop. That just requires you to show up early however, and am usually one of the first 100 people in line for a headliner most days. It’s still a walk on. This isn’t a Disney thing, this is a thing I do at other theme parks, national parks, anything else with a line and popular. The early bird gets the worm, at WDW that means being at the bus stop 1 hour before Early Entry to get on that first bus (or monorail to Epcot or start walking to MK.) Thankfully I’m a weirdo and am willing to do that when most aren’t, and yes I realize that means “you still waited an hour” which I agree, but I waited 0 min of actual park time, and that’s what’s important.
Sirwalterraleigh
Premium Member
You must love early morning Florida concrete more than I do…
In order to lead the mob…you have to wait at the front of it.
Not sure that’s tangibly better
Not ride parks…they’re atmosphere parks
Tom P.
Premium Member
We are a family of night owls. To the extreme. The odds of our family ever doing rope drop are actually less than zero. And we haven't done rope drop, not even once. In fact, we usually don't show up at the parks until early afternoon and then are there until they kick us out at night.
Sometimes we've used FastPass or bought Lightning Lane or whatever. Other times we haven't. I think on our last trip last year we had Lightning Lane for two days and that was it. And yet somehow we've always managed to do most or all of the things that were important to us and enjoy our days in the parks.
I'm not saying anyone else's experiences or way of doing the parks is wrong. But that's been our experience.
Sometimes we've used FastPass or bought Lightning Lane or whatever. Other times we haven't. I think on our last trip last year we had Lightning Lane for two days and that was it. And yet somehow we've always managed to do most or all of the things that were important to us and enjoy our days in the parks.
I'm not saying anyone else's experiences or way of doing the parks is wrong. But that's been our experience.
And doing the rides that otherwise take 2 hours to ride allows me to enjoy said atmosphere most of the day. 50% of my rides for the day are in the first 2 hours, another 25% in the last 2 hours. Allows me to slow down enjoy the atmosphere, shows, park hop, have a nice meal and sometimes even take a break midday. Totally worth it.
Sirwalterraleigh
Premium Member
Because the crowds have been dropping..We are a family of night owls. To the extreme. The odds of our family ever doing rope drop are actually less than zero. And we haven't done rope drop, not even once. In fact, we usually don't show up at the parks until early afternoon and then are there until they kick us out at night.
Sometimes we've used FastPass or bought Lightning Lane or whatever. Other times we haven't. I think on our last trip last year we had Lightning Lane for two days and that was it. And yet somehow we've always managed to do most or all of the things that were important to us and enjoy our days in the parks.
I'm not saying anyone else's experiences or way of doing the parks is wrong. But that's been our experience.
No BS aside…there is just not the traffic in the park that we endured 5-10 years ago.
So that diminishes the need for lighting lane.
The real thing Disney…with its legion of mouthpiece vloggers…want to keep a lid on is that they are not that useful as it stands…
So you wait 40 minutes for guardians…or tron…or flight of passage?…
Everyone survives with minimal disruption.
Especially later in the day.
But it’s literally free money…they’re gonna push the line on giving false information about their “need”. Prolly somewhere in the “thoroughly disingenuous” thread range
Sirwalterraleigh
Premium Member
It’s been 2 years, will be another before I go again (outside of a Halloween and Christmas Party)
Disneyland has been its typical self, but then again I get MLL there as I get 6-8 useful LL there.
Sirwalterraleigh
Premium Member
Tom P.
Premium Member
WDW's attendance has declined, no question. But even so, it is still the most visited vacation destination in the world and had over 50 million visitors last year. It's not exactly like they are on the verge of bankruptcy.…yeah…you’re gonna love the tumbleweeds
Enjoy
networkpro
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- Yes
But they have inadvertently solved most of the crowding/capacity issue.
Sirwalterraleigh
Premium Member
Not disputing that…it has had a sizeable lead since evil Michael built it big…
But the feel is nothing like is was pre plague. The crowds just haven’t come back to near the same
Levels.
And I sometimes think I’m crazy when I walk through on prime days and shocked of how it looks like 2009 or even 2001/2002 for me…
But it’s backed up by the experienced that I trust both on here and in other corners of the world.
And I’m still searching for the person who talks about the attendance trend and “bankruptcy”…
It was clearly advertently. Both Bobs were dismayed about the low GSATs from guests complaining about overcrowding and both Bobs said they have 'levers' to reduce the crowds.
And they used them.
Nothing inadvertently about that.
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Sirwalterraleigh
Premium Member
Neither of those two give a &$@! About what your referring too…
They chase quarterlies with gouging in the parks because it can’t be had from the tv and merchandising sectors like it did prior…
Not hard math going on here. No question of motives either
Tom P.
Premium Member
They do chase quarterlies, absolutely. However, I think they decided that the way to chase them was to get attendance levels at the parks reduced and then increase per guest spending. That has been the strategy Disney has been going after for some time. So I do think they deliberately worked to lower crowd levels, but simultaneously worked on increasing how much each of those people was spending.