Boarding Groups are confusing

[THE 1HAPPY HAUNT]

This is way too much bother for me.

ok boomer.

 

[THE 1HAPPY HAUNT]

And Disney adapted the system because they could, because they didn’t think it out and because they are becoming arrogant and are sacrificing Walt’s vision by implementing procedures that improve the company’s experience at the expense of their guests!

For example, whose brilliant idea was to even the playing field between onsite and offsite guests! I pay for onsite accommodations just for these perks. With an even playing field, I’ll stay offsite and Disney loses accommodations fees, dining income and income for other amenities. Their pools will become underutilized and become an expense rather than in income source. Pool bars will shut down, losing alcohol income.

I don’t know about you, but I think this is a brain dead idea, that will hurt Disney and their guests in the long run.

How are things at home?

 

[ObscurityPoint]

Someone needs to explain to me what is a Boarding Group? Never heard of that one.

Essentially, it’s a time that you’re allowed to get in line. A line for a line if you will.

 

[bsiev1977]

And Disney adapted the system because they could, because they didn’t think it out and because they are becoming arrogant and are sacrificing Walt’s vision by implementing procedures that improve the company’s experience at the expense of their guests!

For example, whose brilliant idea was to even the playing field between onsite and offsite guests! I pay for onsite accommodations just for these perks. With an even playing field, I’ll stay offsite and Disney loses accommodations fees, dining income and income for other amenities. Their pools will become underutilized and become an expense rather than in income source. Pool bars will shut down, losing alcohol income.

I don’t know about you, but I think this is a brain dead idea, that will hurt Disney and their guests in the long run.

Would you rather spend your entire day at the park in the standby line for RoTR?

 

[Jon81uk]

No system is infallible. And the fact that it was already developed for GE, is irrelevant. Basically, the development effort for GE was a waste of time. FP was entirely capable.

But Boarding Groups are not an FP so the system wasn't capable.
boarding groups are a standby line, you just aren't stood there.
Its more like getting a pager at a restaurant and then going back to the podium when it beeps, you don't need to stand in the line at the restaurant as you have a pager. Whereas FP+ is being told you will eat between these two times and if the kitchen is broken at the time, oh well you can come back later. With a pager, if there is a breakdown they just call you when they are actually ready for you.

 

[Jon81uk]

Yep. You are so right. "The Good Old Days"...Before we had to wait in line for anything and people smiled and talked to you instead of being focused on their cell phones. No matter how new the ride, no line was more than an hour wait. I'm not an early bird person. But, enjoy.

Theme park rides have always had lines, there are no good old days when you just magic your way straight onto a ride.

 

[DryerLintFan]

Way too much math for me! After 50 years of math, I had hoped to get a break when I retired.

Someone tell me why this is better than FP? I just don’t see it. I very very rarely can’t get the FP that I want. And my favorite attraction is FoP, and I get to ride it 2 to 4 times each trip.

I just don’t get BGs? They already have FP in place. It could also be adapted for this situation, without requiring new software and procedures. A new app requires several months of effort. An adaptation of FP only requires a few weeks of effort. A win for Disney (lower cost of implementation) and a win for guests (no need to learn new features).

FYI, I know what I’m talking about. I ran a hospitality web site for close to 30 years. In fact, my company was almost contracted for by Disney to provide web services. That contract was for services that became “My Disney Experience”. As Disney often does, after soliciting proposals for software, and learning what they can from a contractor, they don’t sign the contract. They say that they have decided to develop the software in house... with the knowledge stolen from their bidder.

Beware!

If it's too much trouble for you, don't do it. You can complain all you want or you can listen to what people are telling you about how it works. It's not going to be any different in a week, regardless of how dumb you think it is. Learn it and do it, or forget it and do something else.

This is the way.

 

[HongKongFooy]

My Mother and Aunt have told me many times about waiting in line for 2 1/2 hours in sweltering July heat to ride Space Mountain in the mid 1970's.

I wasn't there; I wasn't anywhere near there in both time and location as I was a Californian and would have been way too young BUT....

as if I remember talk about Space Mountain in the early days seeing a lot more than 2.5 hours, perhaps 4+

Again, I have no way to verify but I'm just retelling stories I heard.

 

[Trackmaster]

Its operating at limited capacity, so no matter what they did, it was going to be an awful system. Its designed to operate at 1,800 per hour, but is operating at 900... not factoring in downtime and breakdowns... which there is a lot of. So there are just very few people that would get to ride on a daily basis.

This is one way of doing it, and not a terrible way of doing it. But I really don't like how it requires you to get there before rope drop, as not everybody can make rope drop. Its frustrating, but not the end of the world, I just won't be able to ride it until they drop the system and do something else. My pass blacks me out on the weekends for DHS, and I try to go after work usually when I go.

I realize that its a good way to deal with a ride with reliability issues and high demands, but a lottery system may have been a better way to deal with it. This could have accommodated guests who wanted to get to the park later. And maybe a system where people can only ride once per paid ticket for the first few months. That could have been fair to AP holders, but kept their impact low. It would also be a way for Disney to upsell more too, since they make less money from the long multi-day tickets and the APs.

I also like how the FP+ are booked at the expense of other rides. Booking Rise should come at the the expense of booking Slinky. People shouldn't be able to ride Rise and Slinky in the same day when other people can't even get one.

Although I'm a bad example, since I pound the app and do 7-8 tier 1's in a day usually. But people aren't supposed to know about the loopholes...

 

[TotallyBiased]

It's a virtual queue, there's no need to really over-complicate it. A BG is essentially a reservation. You say, "I want to go to this." and the concierge says "I'll pencil you in for this afternoon between 12-4. I'll let you know 2 hours ahead of time."

I preferred it to, say, FoP without a FP. We couldn't get one for FoP so it was rope drop and scramble, which is pretty impossible with the wife's knee issues. So we ended up with a 110 min wait while nearly getting run down by the mob. The queue snaked all the way from the hub, down through Pandora, out to Africa and back into Pandora again. Nothing to do but sit and stare at the scenery. In comparison, we got to HS at 6:30am after grabbing a coffee. We drove there since we didn't want to deal with buses and such. Waited in the crowd for about an hour and then the wife actually got us into a BG once we got in the park. (My app/phone was flaking). But after that it was really quite nice. Strolled around casually and did a few other rides that didn't have lines, grabbed a coffee, saw a celebrity just chilling on the curb. It was a pretty nice change of pace vs. the standby queue experience.

 

[Dad 2 M & M]

I also like how the FP+ are booked at the expense of other rides. Booking Rise should have cost at the expense of booking Slinky. People shouldn't be able to ride Rise and Slinky in the same day when other people couldn't get on others.

Don't necessarily have a problem with this...although fairness is a concept for children, your thought has merit

My pass blacks me on the weekends for DHS, and I try to go after work usually when I go.

Although I'm a bad example, since I pound the app and do 7-8 tier 1's in a day usually. But people aren't supposed to know about the loopholes...

Many are aware of loopholes but choose not to draw attention......it is impressive to "pound the app and do 7-8 tier 1's", especially if you are arriving after work

 

[nickys]

Don't necessarily have a problem with this...although fairness is a concept for children, your thought has merit


Many are aware of loopholes but choose not to draw attention......it is impressive to "pound the app and do 7-8 tier 1's", especially if you are arriving after work

Pounding the app isn’t a loophole. It’s just that a) not many people do that and b) there is a lot of misinformation even from CMs that people believe it when they read it once.

I saw a post just yesterday from someone who was told by a CM at Guest Services that once they’d done a tier1 ride they could not book another one the same day. And someone else was told (by GS again) that if they left DHS they’d lose their BG.

With “help” like this from WDW, who can blame people for being confused?

 

[Dad 2 M & M]

Pounding the app isn’t a loophole. It’s just that a) not many people do that and b) there is a lot of misinformation even from CMs that people believe it when they read it once.

I saw a post just yesterday from someone who was told by a CM at Guest Services that once they’d done a tier1 ride they could not book another one the same day. And someone else was told (by GS again) that if they left DHS they’d lose their BG.

With “help” like this from WDW, who can blame people for being confused?

"loophole" was a general term in this instance......."quirk in system" would have been a better

Yes....the "help" received DOES add to confusion! I wonder in the CMs or GS, when delivering incorrect info, are doing so intentionally? Or are they confused/misinformed as well? Regardless of intent, the confusion grows....

 

[wendysue]

the first pic is the real time status, the next are the progression of your group throughput the day

You’ll see on the last pic we had to be there by 9:41....that was 41 mins AFTER Park closing.
A second point/reminder is we created our Boarding Group well before 8:00 a.m. and were one of the very last Groups able to Bosrd that day....the system is working much better now...View attachment 438256View attachment 438257View attachment 438258View attachment 438259

This does me no good. Don't have a smart phone..

 

[Dad 2 M & M]

This does me no good. Don't have a smart phone..

That would cause problems if you wanted to leave and return upon prompting. If you stayed, you could monitor the Boarding Status as it is posted throughout the Park.

 

[wendysue]

That would cause problems if you wanted to leave and return upon prompting. If you stayed, you could monitor the Boarding Status as it is posted throughout the Park.

Thanks for that. At least good to know if we stay in the park there is a way to monitor it.

 

[nickys]

"loophole" was a general term in this instance.......

Yes....the "help" received DOES add to confusion! I wonder in the CMs or GS, when delivering incorrect info, are doing so intentionally? Or are they confused/misinformed as well? Regardless of intent, the confusion grows....

The CMs are likely just as confused as 80% of the guests. And rather than admit they don’t know, they just go by what they think. IMO, of course.

Totally off topic (apologies) but this does illustrate the point nicely.

Someone over on Mouseowners had phoned DVC Member Services to find out what the position was about the wall beds at Riviera, since he/she needed all the sleeping spaces.

The CM had no idea that there was a problem. Clearly they hadn’t even been briefed on the issue, hadn’t got any kind of script or statement they could use in the first instance. She went off to talk to a supervisor and came back to say they thought the issue must have been resolved. Not exactly confidence-inspiring.

 

[Dad 2 M & M]

The CMs are likely just as confused as 80% of the guests. And rather than admit they don’t know, they just go by what they think. IMO, of course.

It is a bummer when one answers a question when they don't know the answer. Just winging it is all too familiar nowadays......

 

[Dad 2 M & M]

Thanks for that. At least good to know if we stay in the park there is a way to monitor it.

Guest Services can also assist as they can scan your Magicband/Ticket. And, you don't have to go to Park entrance and wait in line, as they have Guest Services reps throughout the Park......with the highest concentration in Star Wars Land

 

[Trackmaster]

Don't necessarily have a problem with this...although fairness is a concept for children, your thought has merit


Many are aware of loopholes but choose not to draw attention......it is impressive to "pound the app and do 7-8 tier 1's", especially if you are arriving after work

Well, for one thing, I don't really go on the super crowded days. My typical day is a Monday-Thursday outside of the breaks (Xmas/Spring break/summer break). So I'm already going when its not that bad. And crowds at Disney start fast, peak midday, and taper off as the day goes on. When the day isn't that crowded, most guests are walking zombies at night time and the park is perfect.

But even when its crowded, I can pound in for what I just, just because there's so much activity and people release so much (and most people don't understand the tier system). And..., because I'm in a smaller group or by myself so I'm available for more FP groups. As long its the day of, I can generally get any FP+ I want on any day within 10-20 minutes of pounding. Yeah, its a little tedious but if you think about it, it makes sense when you consider how much you save by not waiting in line. And you can pound while you wait in line, after the merge point for your last FP+, during shows, and when you eat. So that's how I'm able to get so many tier 1's.

Honestly, what sucks about Disney is that there are just so few major rides at this point. The stuff they have is great, but you run out very quickly and just have to re-ride. I don't really care about the lower level rides (but I like some), the kiddie rides, the parades, and the walk-around stuff much.

To be honest, FP+ (as it was intended to be used, not the way I abuse it) would make a lot more sense if Disney had the number of major rides that they have. Disneyland has a full park. Disneyland Tokyo has a full park. USF has a full park (but I have issues with a bunch of their rides), and even Magic Kingdom* has a full park where it works. DHS, Epcot, and DAK are problems because there are really only 2-3 rides that are worth getting excited over a FP+ for. If there were 10-12 of those at the park, people would be happy with their FP+ line-up (and they could maybe give five instead of three) and not be disappointed that the good stuff was already gone.

*It has a full park, but people just won't let them remove and replace and they refuse to renovate. Its tough to get excited about a lot of the FP+ when its the same ride that your grandparents went on and you've been riding all of your life. I'm a fan of riding, re-riding, re-riding again, done that for a few years, putting it in my memory bank, and enjoying new experiences. I'm not so into riding the same thing every year of my life again and again and again...