Lightning Lane Premier Pass

[Jrb1979]

Let me answer that question with another question:

How much would the stock price go up in the next year if Disney spent more to get more accurate wait times?

I suspect the answer is zero, which tells you why they don't do it.

I've not checked to see if Universal is better. Based on what I know about regional parks, I suspect they're not great.

It doesn't change the stock at all. It's sad how much they don't care about guest satisfaction anymore.

Regional parks have gotten a lot better with accuracy with wait times. It will never be exact but they are a lot closer than Disney is.

 

[RememberWhen]

@lentesta can Disney use the magic bands to track waits? ala the old red cards? There’s some amount of long range tracking possible since they can get your photopass picture to you (some of the time). Can’t they use the same tech to track wait times? Some kind of sensor at either end of the queue?

 

[peter11435]

@lentesta can Disney use the magic bands to track waits? ala the old red cards? There’s some amount of long range tracking possible since they can get your photopass picture to you (some of the time). Can’t they use the same tech to track wait times? Some kind of sensor at either end of the queue?

Yes

 

[lentesta]

@lentesta can Disney use the magic bands to track waits? ala the old red cards? There’s some amount of long range tracking possible since they can get your photopass picture to you (some of the time). Can’t they use the same tech to track wait times? Some kind of sensor at either end of the queue?

Funny story. After Disney laid off 30k Cast Members during the pademic, I got to talk with a bunch of suddenly-unemployed data scientists and industrial engineers.

One of the things I heard was that they tried to capture wait times using Magic Bands, with RFID sensors embeded in the lines. Fair enough.

Apparently nobody calibrated them. Or they didn't check too closely.

What I heard was that a reader in the line for, say, Peter Pan's Flight, was strong enough to pick up Magic Bands on guests in line at it's a small world. So the data for Peter Pan mistakenly had IASW data as well.

And that was true across all the parks.

I was told that around one-third of the wait-time data was bad. But they didn't know which third. So they had to toss it out.

I'm sure that's fixed now. And without checking the data, it feels like things are more accurate than pre-pandemic. But I'd have to check the data to be sure.

 

[peter11435]

Funny story. After Disney laid off 30k Cast Members during the pademic, I got to talk with a bunch of suddenly-unemployed data scientists and industrial engineers.

One of the things I heard was that they tried to capture wait times using Magic Bands, with RFID sensors embeded in the lines. Fair enough.

Apparently nobody calibrated them. Or they didn't check too closely.

What I heard was that a reader in the line for, say, Peter Pan's Flight, was strong enough to pick up Magic Bands on guests in line at it's a small world. So the data for Peter Pan mistakenly had IASW data as well.

And that was true across all the parks.

I was told that around one-third of the wait-time data was bad. But they didn't know which third. So they had to toss it out.

I'm sure that's fixed now. And without checking the data, it feels like things are more accurate than pre-pandemic. But I'd have to check the data to be sure.

Yep. There were significant challenges and growing pains. But the Magic bands are used to capture wait time data now. Although this data does not directly control posted wait times in the park or the app.

 

[RememberWhen]

Funny story. After Disney laid off 30k Cast Members during the pademic, I got to talk with a bunch of suddenly-unemployed data scientists and industrial engineers.

One of the things I heard was that they tried to capture wait times using Magic Bands, with RFID sensors embeded in the lines. Fair enough.

Apparently nobody calibrated them. Or they didn't check too closely.

What I heard was that a reader in the line for, say, Peter Pan's Flight, was strong enough to pick up Magic Bands on guests in line at it's a small world. So the data for Peter Pan mistakenly had IASW data as well.

And that was true across all the parks.

I was told that around one-third of the wait-time data was bad. But they didn't know which third. So they had to toss it out.

I'm sure that's fixed now. And without checking the data, it feels like things are more accurate than pre-pandemic. But I'd have to check the data to be sure.

Interesting. I hadn’t thought about the overlap of different rides with the same sensors.
It would be crazy for them to let all that data go to waste.

 

[Disstevefan1]

Funny story. After Disney laid off 30k Cast Members during the pademic, I got to talk with a bunch of suddenly-unemployed data scientists and industrial engineers.

One of the things I heard was that they tried to capture wait times using Magic Bands, with RFID sensors embeded in the lines. Fair enough.

Apparently nobody calibrated them. Or they didn't check too closely.

What I heard was that a reader in the line for, say, Peter Pan's Flight, was strong enough to pick up Magic Bands on guests in line at it's a small world. So the data for Peter Pan mistakenly had IASW data as well.

And that was true across all the parks.

I was told that around one-third of the wait-time data was bad. But they didn't know which third. So they had to toss it out.

I'm sure that's fixed now. And without checking the data, it feels like things are more accurate than pre-pandemic. But I'd have to check the data to be sure.

Wow, it sounds like they were trying (pre pandemic)

I guess today its just cheaper/easier to simply over estimate wait times

 

[LittleBuford]

Wow, it sounds like they were trying (pre pandemic)

I guess today its just cheaper/easier to simply over estimate wait times

Did you read his final paragraph?

 

[Disstevefan1]

Did you read his final paragraph?

Do you mean the first sentence about the 30k Cast members?

 

[LittleBuford]

Do you mean the first sentence about the 30k Cast members?

Why bother posting at all if you’re not going to respond in good faith?

 

[Disstevefan1]

Why bother posting at all if you’re not going to respond in good faith?

Its totally normal for different folks see different things in posts.

The way I read it, Len was able to get this info because (sadly) the folks he was talking to were free to talk because they were laid off because of the pandemic, very sad.

The way I read it, despite putting development effort into using RFID sensors embedded in the lines the sensors were picking up folks in multiple queues. Len said apparently nobody calibrated them, or they didn't check too closely. I don't know, my speculation (and only my speculation) is they gave it a sincere try and couldn't get it to work.

It sounded like to me, like they were trying (pre pandemic) to accurately calculate standby times using technology and sincerely devoted resources to this effort.

They couldn't get this method to work, not because of the lay offs, simply because they couldn't get it to work after sincerely trying to get it to work.

I guess today its just cheaper/easier to simply over estimate wait times.

 

[Chi84]

Its totally normal for different folks see different things in posts.

The way I read it, Len was able to get this info because (sadly) the folks he was talking to were free to talk because they were laid off because of the pandemic, very sad.

The way I read it, despite putting development effort into using RFID sensors embedded in the lines the sensors were picking up folks in multiple queues. Len said apparently nobody calibrated them, or they didn't check too closely. I don't know, my speculation (and only my speculation) is they gave it a sincere try and couldn't get it to work.

It sounded like to me, like they were trying (pre pandemic) to accurately calculate standby times using technology and sincerely devoted resources to this effort.

They couldn't get this method to work, not because of the lay offs, simply because they couldn't get it to work after sincerely trying to get it to work.

I guess today its just cheaper/easier to simply over estimate wait times.

So how did things get more accurate after the pandemic?

 

[Disstevefan1]

So how did things get more accurate after the pandemic?

What? They aren't. They are just estimating wait times and coincidentally the estimated wait times are usually longer than the actual wait times.

 

[Chi84]

What? They aren't. They are just estimating wait times and coincidentally the estimated wait times are usually longer than the actual wait times.

Okay but Len said he was sure the MagicBand tracking issues have been solved and it seemed to him the wait times are more accurate than pre-pandemic. And you responded with:

Wow, it sounds like they were trying (pre pandemic)

I guess today its just cheaper/easier to simply over estimate wait times

That makes no sense, which is why people are questioning it.

 

[celluloid]

Disney spent over 2 billion on I fasteucfure for things including g magic ba da during MDX era. They made many guests a moving RFID as well. A lot of data can and was collected as that was the main goal of the investment. You could easily project a decently accurate wait time at any given moment.

 

[Chi84]

Disney spent over 2 billion on I fasteucfure for thj gs including g magic ba da during MDX era. They made many guests a moving RFID as well. A lot of dta can and was collected as that is tje main goal of the investment. You could easily project a decently accurate wait time at any given moment.

 

[Disstevefan1]

Okay but Len said he was sure the MagicBand tracking issues have been solved and it seemed to him the wait times are more accurate than pre-pandemic. And you responded with:

That makes no sense, which is why people are questioning it.

If @lentesta says todays posted wait times are more accurate (however they are doing it) I wont dispute it.

Len is the king of data. If I understand it correctly, Len has folks in the queues actually measuring times.

I apologize for my confusion.

 

[MickeyLuv'r]

I’ve also waited in lines that were longer than the posted wait. Obviously, day to day Disney is going to be off on wait times at any given moment. Ride downtime, lines that quickly build up, etc., can all lead to that. In addition, Disney undoubtedly takes all that into account when giving their estimates such that a ride running unusually well and/or a line not building up like expected could lead to what appears to be an “inflated” posted wait.

Yes. Posted wait times can be off significantly at any time of day.

 

[Splash4eva]

I think they’re saying that there aren’t enough slots to move anything around…maybe from 11 am to like 8:15 pm…but generally speaking it’s not easy to modify.

Same problem growing for decades…you need slots for your customers and they haven’t built it. Really at all

I used it in February different style of trip but unless i am missing something drops were basically non existent. Years past you basically were able to count on them with like 95% accuracy unless a ride was down then obviously they werent dropping inventory. Maybe others can offer some insight to current drop times/availability

 

[Splash4eva]

If @lentesta says todays posted wait times are more accurate (however they are doing it) I wont dispute it.

Len is the king of data. If I understand it correctly, Len has folks in the queues actually measuring times.

I apologize for my confusion.

Not to refute Len or his wait times. But as i stated a buddy just got back a couple weeks ago was there in parks for 8 days. Only purchased LL twice. He basically said every wait time in every park was over stated. Some worse than others.