If this is not a blantant money grab, I don't know what is.....

[JMcMahonEsq]

VQ lowers the barrier of entry - at the expense of those that may want to ride more.

Instead of making a decision of "is this ride worth 90mins to me?" - X number of guests get to ride with a low commitment... nullifying the normal feedback loop that normally regulates lines.

When VQ is available for long periods of time... that means it's attracting people because of the availability, rather than because of the ride's draw. Ride demand isn't really there... and you're artificially blocking people that do want to ride (because of the no repeats).

I think I agree with this...I might want to think on it a bit more. I guess the major difference we would have is that I want to lower barriers of entry. Lower barriers of entry makes things easier for everyone, in the global sense of the market. Its why now tickets go on sale online for concerts, instead of people camping outside an arena for multiple days so they could be first in line. Its the same reason there was a VQ for the merch for the run Disney events, rather than having people camped out at ESPN entrance at midnight on Thursday morning.

I do see the "problem" that there is a lack of efficiency built into the system where if there are unused VQ's in the afternoon, someone who has already used their 2 cannot go again for a third time (without buying the ILL.) However on balance, I think that's the lessor of the evils, as your talking about someone not being able to ride 3+ times, as opposed to all guests having equal access to ride at least once.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

online options for everything (concert tickets, merch, and yes VQ) will always be a little bit of a lottery. There are so many small variables.

When Richard Sherman gave his D23 concert, I stood in line for 4 hours to be sure I would get a decent seat. That was my #1 priority for going to D23 that year. I waited for 4 hours, got a good seat, and have always been thankful for that decision.

Waking up at 7 AM the day of and hoping that I would get a seat in the room let alone a good seat would have made me question if it was worth going at all.

Taking away the ability to stand in line cause “VQ’s are gone” is just not good or fair in my book.

 

[el_super]

Again some how outside of Disney standby is the norm. For those who can't wait in long lines there is options for them.

It's the norm within Disney as well. VQ is only used in circumstances where an extremely long line would form and the point is to prevent that. No one benefits from a long wait.

 

[el_super]

Every ride can break down, 3 hour wait or not

If the end result is failure, wouldn't it be better to only have a five minute commitment procuring a VQ than a several hours long wait with nothing to show for it?

 

[AdventureHasAName]

It is sad that after spending hundreds of millions to redevelop EPCOT it is in a considerably worse state than it was before they started.

It's also considerably worse than opening day 1982.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Maybe they’re at the tail end of it and just didn’t make the call yet. That doesn’t make it a conspiracy cash money grab.

 

[Jrb1979]

Maybe they’re at the tail end of it and just didn’t make the call yet. That doesn’t make it a conspiracy cash money grab.

Yes it does.

 

[AdventureHasAName]

Could you imagine what the ticket prices would be if Disney went back to the old ticket book system (with free park entry)? They'd be charging $65 for E-tickets.

 

[el_super]

They'd be charging $65 for E-tickets.

Yeah... but the lines would be short.

 

[el_super]

Maybe they’re at the tail end of it and just didn’t make the call yet. That doesn’t make it a conspiracy cash money grab.

For color, according to thrill-data, the average sell out time for the 1pm drop over the last 30 days has been 2:01pm. So it definitely sounds like it's still working as intended.

 

[Jrb1979]

For color, according to thrill-data, the average sell out time for the 1pm drop over the last 30 days has been 2:01pm. So it definitely sounds like it's still working as intended.

I still say just drop the VQ. Open standby and if you want a short wait buy the ILL

 

[DisneyFanatic12]

Disclaimer: I didn’t read all the posts

Even without reading all the posts, I’m 99% sure I’m in the minority that loves the VQs. If you want it, you’ll get it more likely than not. To me, it’s what FastPass/FastPass+ tried to be but never was.

 

[flynnibus]

I think I agree with this...I might want to think on it a bit more. I guess the major difference we would have is that I want to lower barriers of entry. Lower barriers of entry makes things easier for everyone, in the global sense of the market. Its why now tickets go on sale online for concerts, instead of people camping outside an arena for multiple days so they could be first in line. Its the same reason there was a VQ for the merch for the run Disney events, rather than having people camped out at ESPN entrance at midnight on Thursday morning.

The system makes sense when demand is going to be extremely lopsided to capacity... like when an attraction is new.

There, the willingness to wait for some will be extreme, so the feedback loop that normally would regulate a queue size to a reasonable size doesn't keep a line in check. So instead of a 60-100min queue.. you may get 180min+ lines. Lines of that size are not good for customer satisfaction (for those not so extreme) and for operations. So in that scenario, VQ makes sense. It throttles what would otherwise be out of control demand and does it in a reasonable 'fair' model.

But once that extreme wait tolerance has worn off.. you can go back to letting people, not VQ, regulate the acceptable wait. If the attraction still demands waits 2-3x any other attraction in the park... that would be a symptom of you need more capacity (aka Soarin). You could use VQ to prevent the extreme lines... but you're still going to have customer satisfaction issues because your customers have signaled a huge desire... that you are still failing to satisfy.

Guardians isn't new anymore... Guardians probably wouldn't be holding 2-3x waits over other attractions like Frozen, etc.

And in the park's current situation, you just took out one of the park's few 'thrill' rides.. and having Guardians being limited to one ride (without having pay for ILL) is an artificial constraint that just snubs customers.

I do see the "problem" that there is a lack of efficiency built into the system where if there are unused VQ's in the afternoon, someone who has already used their 2 cannot go again for a third time (without buying the ILL.)

I'm curious how are you getting to 2+1? You can only get one VQ per day and optionally you can buy ILL - but I wouldn't consider the paid option in the discussion here about guests dealing with limited options of available attractions.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

The system makes sense when demand is going to be extremely lopsided to capacity... like when an attraction is new.

Where it makes 100% sense is brand new attractions that are having issues. Tiana’s right now, for example, and Rise when it opened.

That’s when it makes sense to call boarding groups as the attraction can handle them - but ideally this would be in an “attraction testing” phase - not in an advertised as now open phase.

Once the attraction can run reliably - I’d still argue Flight of Passage solution with long standby lines but extended operating hours to accommodate all who want to ride:

 

[NickMaio]

On a lighter note.....
I'm not the only one excited for Horizons.....

 

[thomas998]

I predict that in the future every ride with be a virtual queue, it makes sense to Disney... visitors can't make purchases when they are stuck in an 2 hour line, but if they can free up 100 minutes of that time so you can go buy mouse ears and over priced food then its a win. Not to mention they can free up some queue space to put in more merchant space to sell you the stuff animal that goes with the ride you just got off of... I can imagine MK where you have no outside queues because you'll have everyone using their little virtual queue while they spend money hand over fist making Iger happy.

 

[JMcMahonEsq]

The system makes sense when demand is going to be extremely lopsided to capacity... like when an attraction is new.

There, the willingness to wait for some will be extreme, so the feedback loop that normally would regulate a queue size to a reasonable size doesn't keep a line in check. So instead of a 60-100min queue.. you may get 180min+ lines. Lines of that size are not good for customer satisfaction (for those not so extreme) and for operations. So in that scenario, VQ makes sense. It throttles what would otherwise be out of control demand and does it in a reasonable 'fair' model.

But once that extreme wait tolerance has worn off.. you can go back to letting people, not VQ, regulate the acceptable wait. If the attraction still demands waits 2-3x any other attraction in the park... that would be a symptom of you need more capacity (aka Soarin). You could use VQ to prevent the extreme lines... but you're still going to have customer satisfaction issues because your customers have signaled a huge desire... that you are still failing to satisfy.

Guardians isn't new anymore... Guardians probably wouldn't be holding 2-3x waits over other attractions like Frozen, etc.

And in the park's current situation, you just took out one of the park's few 'thrill' rides.. and having Guardians being limited to one ride (without having pay for ILL) is an artificial constraint that just snubs customers.


I'm curious how are you getting to 2+1? You can only get one VQ per day and optionally you can buy ILL - but I wouldn't consider the paid option in the discussion here about guests dealing with limited options of available attractions.

In my mind, as a meta, not having people wasting time waiting in line, not being able to use there time efficiently should be avoided where ever possible. I understand the concept of demand regulating the line wait time, but my idea of ideal efficiency is no wasted wait times at all, which a VQ provides. Now if you can expand the pre-show "holding areas" such that your threw put from the boarding groups allows you to push through enough people that your VQ demand is almost to your capacity all the better. To me that is the best way to both minimize useless wait time, and ensure everyone has the best and most predictable opportunity to ride an attraction at least once a visit. Is it perfect, no, but again i am going to err on side that might make it harder to re-ride rides if that is the down side.

As to the 2+1 the last 2 times we were at epcott our group did guardians 3 times, ILL, virtual que in morning and afternoon. I had thought we just got both VQ's but to be honest it may have been since parts of our group didn't want to ride, that the people who didn't do the morning VQ/ride, did the afternoon one, and we swapped bands.

 

[Raineman]

Having the option of standing in a standby queue is one of the very few spontaneous things that can still be done in a WDW theme park. So, to hear people advocating for having virtual queues at every attraction at WDW is ridiculous. You go from "I want to ride X-it's a three hour wait, but I don't want to miss riding it" to "I just got up at 7:00am, and didn't get a virtual queue spot for X. I guess I'll have to ride it next year when we come back." The freedom of choice is completely removed, and experiencing attractions requires a level of planning that makes a day at the park feel more like an office job.

 

[NickMaio]

I predict that in the future every ride with be a virtual queue, it makes sense to Disney... visitors can't make purchases when they are stuck in an 2 hour line, but if they can free up 100 minutes of that time so you can go buy mouse ears and over priced food then its a win. Not to mention they can free up some queue space to put in more merchant space to sell you the stuff animal that goes with the ride you just got off of... I can imagine MK where you have no outside queues because you'll have everyone using their little virtual queue while they spend money hand over fist making Iger happy.

Arg.......
Can you imagine how crowded the pathways would be if they did this to all rides.......
It's already getting hard to move in many places.

 

[NickMaio]

Having the option of standing in a standby queue is one of the very few spontaneous things that can still be done in a WDW theme park. So, to hear people advocating for having virtual queues at every attraction at WDW is ridiculous. You go from "I want to ride X-it's a three hour wait, but I don't want to miss riding it" to "I just got up at 7:00am, and didn't get a virtual queue spot for X. I guess I'll have to ride it next year when we come back." The freedom of choice is completely removed, and experiencing attractions requires a level of planning that makes a day at the park feel more like an office job.

It really is wild the direction most of the world is headed.
People don't seem to want to even talk to a human to make a food-drink order.WTH.

Standby is choice...choice is a must in a place like WDW.