I mean... It's ROTR Thanksgiving week. With no ILL/VQ you would have been waking up at 6:00 to get to DHS at 7:00 to stand in line for four hours. At least now you know that you won't have to commit your time to it and plan something else.
Do you feel this is a function of G+ or more just it being a holiday week? It could be a mix but having experienced a nightmare July 4th once, we learned a long time ago to never go during a major holiday. Christmas is our favorite time of year at Disney, but we always go either during an off November or December week just for that reason. You couldn’t pay me to be in MK on Thanksgiving or Christmas Day to be honest.
Oh I absolutely acknowledge that. So then, based on your statement, it would seem you lean towards this an overcrowding issue (for the capacity they have currently) than a G+ issue?
They REALLY need that stunt show back open. That will help a lot, just not yet.
No it wouldn't. Not this week it wouldn't. They could have every single thing open and double staff and nothing is going to make the crowds manageable this week.
They need more than a few headline attractions at the other 3 parks and a crowd management scheme to try and disperse people. They need non-headline people-eaters. They need shows. As mentioned, though, nothing is going to solve the holiday crowds, and that’s ok - They need to build for the other 49 weeks of the year. But when you neglect the parks for over a decade then decide to build a few headline attractions, this mess is what you end up with. They built GE with 1 headliner, 1 mediocre ride, and 14 shops and eateries - Are you kidding me?? The mistakes around the parks that have been committed over the entirety of the Iger/Chapek era, plus missteps during the last half dozen years of Eisner’s reign, will be detrimental for years to come. Lack of upkeep, lack of capacity, rip-and-replace, “de-risk”/cost cutting galore, FP and all its derivatives… it will all haunt the parks for a long time. And sadly, the corporate management ship has become too big and stuck solely on shareholder benefit to change course like it needs to to quickly address the problems. Instead, we may be lucky for some of these to be remedied by the end of the decade.
Ahh I did forget about the change once they switched on MFSR and opened MMRR. Still casual G+ is giving a similar experience to casual FP+ users (not the people like me that would constantly refresh to get better times)
Nah. People want skip the line systems. That's why they're so widely used these days. We loved FP+ and aren't so thrilled with the current system. But we lived through the days when everything was standby at WDW and have no desire to go back. You're right that theme parks, including Disney, will do what's most profitable for them - and everyone standing in lines is not it.
I’m not defending Genie+ it’s a bandaid because Disney can’t bring itself to kill the monster. I’m just arguing against the thought that FP+ was a program that was working as it was designed.
Okay, but just so I'm not making unwarranted assumptions, exactly how do you want Disney to "kill the monster."
FP+ worked precisely as I needed it to for our trips. G$ is garbage.
I was speaking in terms of the company and it’s goals.
You only need to look around the industry to see the answer. Every other chain has a skip the line pass that can either be used once per ride and costs somewhere between 1-3x the cost of admission or an unlimited pass that costs 2-5x the cost of admission. Disney would charge the higher amounts obviously. However, that would end the ability of Disney to use the system to “optimize” its crowds (they seem to be the only chain in the world that cares about that) and would cut into their VIP tour sales which are very profitable for the company.
Every other chain doesn't have people coming for 7 days or more (more for international guests), dividing their time between 4 theme parks, 2 water parks, themed resorts and an entertainment district. WDW is unique - the systems that work for other theme parks just wouldn't be viable at WDW. Disney knows that.
And yet they continue to avoid adding capacity and trying to figure out a way to build a system that fools people into thinking they're having the best time of their lives...
Universal would like to disagree with you. I’m pretty sure the only thing they regret is giving Lowes a contract that guaranteed free express for their first 3 hotels.
