Let me begin by saying I don't like the reservation system, so I'm not trying to defend it. But to address your example (at least in the current situation...not going back to 2023), the random family coming here isn't worried about reservations and they don't need to. Only passholders really need to worry about them at all. A family with day tickets isn't showing up and finding out they can't get into the parks.
I'm glad to hear that, but I was referring back further and in connection with how I used to visit Florida. A lot of coordination and planning was required. My tickets, usually 4 or 5 day, purchased ahead of time, didn't require a specific day that I had to be at a certain park on a certain day. I always bought park-hoppers because then I could work things out based on my desire, not some random augurism. Because of the iffyness of the resort guarantee early on I made the decision to not throw away money to sleep with a mouse. I stayed offsite and saved not only on hotel rates but food as well. Enough to make it possible to rent a car, when I flew in, pay for parking and still come out ahead. But to do that Disney had to offer a lot of flexibility. Now I know that my not going there is not putting Iger in some wild tizzy, but in order for me to have any idea about what I was going to do during my stay in Central Florida, I had to be in charge of the flexibility not some statistically based future analysis.
I need to find time to see the attractions I wanted without having to take out a mortgage to pay for line cutting in order to do so. With one line you could be very close to knowing almost exactly how long it would take to get to the attraction as soon as you walked up to the last person in that line. No stopping so the wealthy could wave to you as they passed by and you stood with no idea how long it was going to take as it was dependant on how the logarithm decided to distribute the crowd/line movement.
I know that this is probably just me, but initially WDW was my shelter from the hassles of the world. That was the first 20 years that I went at least once a year, but around 20 years ago, things changed and it was just for their benefit, not for those of us that were actually paying the bills. The emotional fun that I experienced those two decades, the childhood renewal it offered even to an adult, ended with Fastpass and eventually is going to be killed completely based on what they are doing now. The parks may survive, but the feeling one got has been suffocated by doing only what is good for Disney. Disney had built a social situation were it was almost a right of passage that you had to bring your kids to the Parks. Just in my family alone my 3 grandchildren (in their early twenties) have all been to WDW only three times when by their parents had been upwards of 10 have told me they have no desire to return. And the one other grandchild (age 14) has never been and shows no desire to go at all. Universal does peak her interest though.
Even this way sounds confusing but it was simple, non-discriminatory and without much of a flaw, that is up until, the Type A personalities just couldn't hear of standing in a line. Back before it was just expected but it was also much easier to decide meal time, break times, if there was enough time necessary to see the next attraction before you took a bathroom break. The big thing was that I might have purchased 5 day tickets, but I always stayed in the area for up to two weeks. People would be amazed at how many different experiences are available in a radius of 65 miles. The magic died for me as soon as I could feel their hands grabbing for my wallet. Others mileage may vary, but not with the enthusiasm that once existed.
Before the deluge of "if you hate it so much what are you doing on a Disney oriented site". I'm hear because I loved Disney (especially WDW). and have made online friends and even in person experiences with the people on this site. That doesn't change my opinion, but it is good to express why I am sometimes negative about Disney. I don't hate it, I am just saddened and longing for what was one of very few things that once were the highlights of my life find a way to turn back the clock a little.
