Rumor Disney may be about to expand the use of virtual queue boarding groups at Walt Disney World

[easyrowrdw]

I'm not saying that wait times are an accurate reflection of the level of crowds, but we've seen for example the SDD end of line picture into Animation Courtyard with a 70 minute wait time. 70 minutes was fairly normal pre-covid.

Yes, but the vast majority of the ride capacity went to fast pass so that wait was only for standby. 70 minutes now vs with fastpass is a very different number of people in standby.

That being said, if capacity hasn't changed and there hasn't been much in the way of additional entertainment, I think it's fair to look at the the change in wait times as an indication of crowds. Waits have definitely increased since July and August. The other thing to consider was Disney cutting back on hours. Waits went up when that happened too so that does throw a wrinkle in there.

 

[arich35]

Just bring back fastpass with a limited amount for each attraction. System is already in place, it shouldn't be that hard to figure out.

 

[YodaMan]

Just bring back fastpass with a limited amount for each attraction. System is already in place, it shouldn't be that hard to figure out.

Fast pass would arguably just put more strain on the standby lines that are already physically too long

 

[rreading]

From a personal standpoint, were there no FP+ and more virtual queues long run, it would dramatically diminish my enjoyment of the parks. FP+ allows us to sleep in and choose which lines we want to bypass. Having to rope drop to get a FP means that we're not likely to get that FP (unless it's RotR, in which case, we'll try). The other thing that RotR does is it fills the park to capacity at the beginning of the day rather than spread out the people filtering in. We rope dropped HS last week then went back to the hotel to swim since the place was too crowded at 10:30. Was much better at 2 but not everyone has a convenient hotel available

 

[Parker in NYC]

So I guess all in all, you're right: we're going to in line someplace just not the line we'd really like. Its the 21st century Disney experience.

And it stinks like yesterday's diapers.

 

[Magic Feather]

Of all things, I think DHS (more so pre-COVID) and Animal Kingdom would be the perfect parks to pilot a Volcano Bay-sequel “everything is a Virtual Queue” system. Out of the actual rides, almost every attraction in those parks are E-Tickets with a strong pull, making it to where almost all of them would likely get some people to sign up at the beginning.

There is a point at which, if Slinky has a 60 min VQ while Rise has a 200 min VQ, people will start choosing Slinky or other attractions with much lower waits. Plus, these two parks have enough supplemental material (shows, exhibits, animal trails in AK’s case) to keep guests relatively occupied while they wait.

 

[lazyboy97o]

I'm confused, if they are still operating at "25%" operating capacity, why is overcrowding now a problem?

Normal operating capacity was already based on a substandard attractions per guest per hour. There wasn’t enough attraction capacity as is. Now attraction capacity has been reduced or even eliminated in the case of live shows and meet and greets. Retail and dining capacity has also been limited. In parks designed to be crowded they remain crowded because you still don’t have sufficient capacity.

 

[Disstevefan1]

I'm confused, if they are still operating at "25%" operating capacity, why is overcrowding now a problem? (even though they've had several "sell outs" previously which have not come close to matching the current crowd levels in the parks)


If only they had this pass that would allow fast access to rides for people who have made reservation for the ride ahead of time to perhaps make queue utilization more efficient.

I think we are just now approaching 25% capacity of guests in the parks. When WDW re opened the max capacity was and is set to 25% but in the initial couple of weeks, fewer folks were actually attending the park, well below 25% capacity. We must also remember we do not know what WDW is calling 25% of capacity?

Is WDW saying 25% capacity of FULL capacity?
The Magic kingdom max is (about) 90K, so 25% is 22.5K

 

[havoc315]

I'm confused, if they are still operating at "25%" operating capacity, why is overcrowding now a problem? (even though they've had several "sell outs" previously which have not come close to matching the current crowd levels in the parks)


If only they had this pass that would allow fast access to rides for people who have made reservation for the ride ahead of time to perhaps make queue utilization more efficient.

25% isn't 25% of a normal crowd. It's 25% of FULL capacity. In other words, it's 25% of a Christmas crowd. [Did the math... Magic Kingdom, pre-pandemic, averaged 57,000 people per day... Magic Kingdom capacity is about 100,000... So they are currently operating at about 43% of their "average" attendance)

So maybe it's about half of a normal crowd. Which should still be light... Except...

Lots of people-eating attractions are still closed. You don't have people in lines for character meets. At DHS, most of the shows remain closed. And critically -- The rides themselves are not operating at 100% capacity. They aren't filling those jungle cruise boats. To satisfy social distancing, they are leaving empty seats and rows on all their rides.

So, you have a half-normal sized crowd, in a park operating at half-capacity -- that would create normal length lines. But the lines themselves have to be socially distanced -- so those normal lines are actually physically much much longer than normal. Creating real problems of overcrowding on the walkways, etc.

And fastpasses would actually make the entire issue much much worse. UNLESS, you moved to fastpass-only. Get rid of most of the standby lines, and only admit people who made a ride reservation.... (which is what they are moving towards with virtual queues).

 

[havoc315]

Just bring back fastpass with a limited amount for each attraction. System is already in place, it shouldn't be that hard to figure out.

Actually, very hard to figure out.

To keep social distancing in place, they have had to shut down the FP lines. You can't have to side-by-side lines of people.

And to keep standby lines from becoming insane, with the social distancing requirements and limited capacity, they would have very few fastpasses to give out.
Basically... all fastpasses to all attractions would be booked solid by 7:01 am 60 days out.

 

[Disstevefan1]

Getting people out of queues just creates crowding elsewhere.

True. If they are going to do the virtual queue they must at the same time open all the gift shops and restaurants and attractions (in a socially distancing way) to absorb the crowds.

The ordering online for food is nice, but they should let folks sit (socially distanced with masks) in the restaurants while waiting to pick up their order so there are not mobs outside the restaurant waiting to pick up their order.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

To bad Disney doesn’t have access to talented entertainers that could entertain guests in the parks. Like live musicians, acrobats, actors, etc.

 

[M:SpilotISTC12]

So I guess reriding headlining attractions I guess is out the door. This type of stuff bothers me. I like being able to just walk up to an attraction and ride it as much as I want. I understood it for Rise because the demand is crazy but to do this across the board is going to get super annoying. I already hate the fact that I have to rely so heavily on my phone and a glitchy MDE. Call me old fashion, I just want to walk up and ride without having to jump through any hoops after I go through the front turnstile. If this is going to be the case where I can't just ride as much as I want, bring back the ticket book system. Why am I going to pay over $100 a day and have absolutely no control of how I spend my day.

 

[Surferboy567]

I have a thought and my logic is probably flawed but wanted to run my thoughts in here.

If let’s say DHS turned into a “everything is virtual queue” situation, would boarding groups run out much like Rise does?

DHS has an extremely limited amount of attractions and as @Magic Feather has said most of them are e-tickets. Leading me to believe that the crowds in DHS are going for those specific rides. These rides include Slinky, Falcon, Runaway, Rise etc. If all of these rides filled up boarding groups for the entire day much like Rise does then what is the point of going to DHS if you can’t experience most of the offerings? It’s not like their are character greetings or shows anymore to keep people entertained.

I see if this situation plays itself out Disney World would be significantly less attractive to attend. Think about it if all the major rides are gone in 20 seconds and you have missed out then what do you do? Obviously, my logic is flawed but the basic idea is there...so what do we all think of this?

 

[havoc315]

True. If they are going to do the virtual queue they must at the same time open all the gift shops and restaurants and attractions (in a socially distancing way) to absorb the crowds.

The ordering online for food is nice, but they should let folks sit (socially distanced with masks) in the restaurants while waiting to pick up their order so there are not mobs outside the restaurant waiting to pick up their order.

Yes. At some point, you're just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

You can't just rely on shifting people away from one area... if you simply don't have enough space through the whole park.

What this does tell you:
1 -- They do need to open more "stuff" that can absorb people. Sit down dining, gift shops, entertainment, whatever.
2 -- They really can't increase the current 25% capacity limit until they really re-open a LOT more stuff.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

I understood it for Rise because the demand is crazy

I don’t like it even for Rise. If I spend $100 to enter a theme park, if I want to ride Rise 2 or 3 times and nothing else I should be able to do that.

That was something Tony Baxter brags about from the opening of Star Tours. “People would wait 4 hours to ride it and then they would get right back in line so they could do it again”

 

[M:SpilotISTC12]

I have a thought and my logic is probably flawed but wanted to run my thoughts in here.

If let’s say DHS turned into a “everything is virtual queue” situation, would boarding groups run out much like Rise does?

DHS has an extremely limited amount of attractions and as @Magic Feather has said most of them are e-tickets. Leading me to believe that the crowds in DHS are going for those specific rides. These rides include Slinky, Falcon, Runaway, Rise etc. If all of these rides filled up boarding groups for the entire day much like Rise does then what is the point of going to DHS if you can’t experience most of the offerings? It’s not like their are character greetings or shows anymore to keep people entertained.

I see if this situation plays itself out Disney World would be significantly less attractive to attend. Think about it if all the major rides are gone in 20 seconds and you have missed out then what do you do? Obviously, my logic is flawed but the basic idea is there...so what do we all think of this?

No but this is what Disney wants. They want you to spend $100 a day to get there at the crack of dawn to miss out on 90% of the ride boarding passes. You get to ride the one attraction that you were able to get and then spend the rest of the day spending money at the restaurants and gift shops and leave. You essentially spent money to ride one ride and walk around the park without the access to anything else. So you're beat...

 

[M:SpilotISTC12]

I don’t like it even for Rise. If I spend $100 to enter a theme park, if I want to ride Rise 2 or 3 times and nothing else I should be able to do that.

That was something Tony Baxter brags about from the opening of Star Tours. “People would wait 4 hours to ride it and then they would get right back in line so they could do it again”

100% true. All free will will be gone. Disney wants to limit you and expect you pay an arm and a leg. You will get less in return if they move a whole park to that system.

 

[UNCgolf]

Getting people out of queues just creates crowding elsewhere.

It's a terrible plan under normal operations, as I've said here numerous times.

It may be okay during this capacity limited period, but trying to do this with the parks at normal attendance levels would turn the parks into Atlanta highways at 5 PM.

 

[sixbagelboy]

A system such as VQ for RotR, in my opinion, wouldn’t work very well. First you have to be in the park at rope drop and be very, very fast and lucky to get reservations for big attraction rides. Then you’d have to wait around until your time is called. Of course you wouldn’t know Your assigned attraction times until you get into the park and get your reservations. I think the best solution is all major attractions are FP+ only. No standby. Crowds are managed, no more long lines, and you can schedule your Disney day weeks in advance.