Miss Bella
Well-Known Member
Pre Covid I’d only been to WDW in the off months normally early May and late September. I’m not a great judge of crowd size. It always seems fairly busy to me, but I’ve seen pictures of Christmas week...um no thanks.
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Rumor 40% Capacity Soon? What if I Told You That We’re Already There
- Thread starter The Visionary Soul
- Start date
Sir_Cliff
Well-Known Member
Good news! As a special thank you to those who stay in a Walt Disney World Resort hotel, you will soon be able to enjoy the attractions 30 minutes before the posted opening time!
Miss Bella
Well-Known Member
That is pretty funny they are basically already doing what they announced for later in the year. It would have been better for us if they kept it a secret.
I guess the question is, are they going to start holding up offsite guests for those first 30 minutes.
Miss Bella
Well-Known Member
I would think you would have to, but then you would have another rope drop like the old days. I assume the purpose of opening an hour early is to avoid that. It allows people to trickle in instead of all congregating waiting for the doors to open.
Maybe it is something they pan on implementing once social distancing is gone.
FeelsSoGoodToBeBad
Well-Known Member
Looking at some pictures posted from yesterday and the included report (from another well-known site), it sounds like crowds yesterday were at a "normal" level for this time of year. If that is the case, it seems to me that WDW really should be opening more venues (food and otherwise) to accommodate guests and allow for social distancing, since that's supposed to be the point of having reduced capacity to start with. It is great they've found a way to allow more guest throughput on the rides, but that only helps for short periods of time. Food venues are obviously a major issue from the reports I'm reading.
Buck Wheelie
Well-Known Member
I don't see getting in a half hour early with thousand and thousands of other people that much of a perk. I bet they even let people staying off site in at the same time too even though they say they won't. They don't like to upset their guests.
FeelsSoGoodToBeBad
Well-Known Member
Yep, that was the report I was referencing.
I find myself being hopeful that WDW is doing everything they can when I read reports and see pictures of super-slow days, but then the weekend rolls around and we get a more realistic idea of what 35% (or 40%) capacity looks like in practice. I would be helpful to know if these pics represented the state at the park overall, or just in the three places they chose to post pics from. I.e., in some posts I've seen pics of both busy and nearly vacant areas on the same day.
DisneyCane
Well-Known Member
You can't really judge the space between people from the angle of those photos. It looks like Fantasyland in July Pre-COVID but I'm sure in reality there is much more space. You need an overhead or side view to eliminate the optical illusion.
It's similar to how a a reporter always reports from the scene of a downed tree after a hurricane even if only a handful went down.
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I may have read things wrong, I thought the plan is to allow all guests into the parks, but only resort guests can actually ride anything. No one actually thought TDO would prevent anyone from entering the parks and potentially spending money, did they? Gift shops, eateries, morning beverages... Open to all, at least probably on Main Street.
GimpYancIent
Well-Known Member
30 minutes is a blink in Disney time. A meaningless announcement that accomplishes nothing but sounds like something is being done.
Taking away hours of park time but adding 30 minutes a day. I’m sure someone could do some math and say, “Resort guests get more time in the parks overall!”, but 30 minutes before official park open does not match EMH.
JoeCamel
Well-Known Member
Right, it has been rebranded as the EMHH now....
Sir_Cliff
Well-Known Member
It also strikes me as adding to the hassle and stress of a WDW vacation. It's such a brief window that they will no doubt push heavily to resort guests as one of their key (and few) "perks," so now the sense will be that you have to get there and stuff as many of the big attractions into that brief window. But, really, what can you do in 30 minutes? Can also imagine people getting stressed and irritable about every delay getting into and around the parks as the minutes tick by.
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UNCgolf
Well-Known Member
Even if the park was absolutely empty I don't see how you could ride more than two or maybe three rides in that time period. You have to walk through the queue, actually ride the ride, and then walk to wherever the next ride is, unless you just try to ride the same ride more than once. Or I suppose the coasters which are very short.
I imagine most people will only get in one ride during this period.
giantgolfer
Well-Known Member
For those with smaller children, you can easily hit multiple rides in Fantasyland within 30 minutes before full park open. That is pretty huge since by early afternoon, we’d want to head back to the resort for nap/pool time. We’d be able to knock out a lot of those attractions with minimal lines before the meltdown hits.
UNCgolf
Well-Known Member
That's a good point; I forgot those Fantasyland attractions are really short too. I was thinking more about things like Haunted Mansion and Jungle Cruise where you're going to spend 10+ minutes just getting through the queue and riding.