Magic Kingdom...not so magical.

donaldtoo

Well-Known Member
I'm glad you enjoyed your trip and found everything to your satisfaction, but you're still wearing your rose-colored pixie-dusted glasses. Wait times were, indeed, shorter than most days, but if you thought your 15-minute wait at IaSW was "long," then you most likely hit the same wait at Jungle/Jingle Cruise and the Haunted Mansion... https://touringplans.com/magic-kingdom/wait-times/date/2019-10-29 .

Of course, one person's "walk-on" is another person's interminable wait. :cool:

Observed average wait times does not account for every minute of the day, you obviously weren't there that day, and I'm fully aware of what a walk-on is, but, thank you for that. :rolleyes:
I did 8 of the 9 attractions that were done in the approx. 6 hours we were there. The only one I didn't do was the Regal Carrousel. The only wait they had there was for the previous riders to unload so they could get on. And, this was all with a 1-year-old little girl, a coupla' feedings for her, us eating twice, a coupla' bathroom breaks, and some shoppin' thrown in.
The attractions we did in order were...
~IaSW
~JC
~HM
~PoTC
~CoP
~PM/TTA
~BLSRS
~UtS
~RC
We had FPs for JC, HM, and UtS.
With the exception of IaSW and RC, we never stopped moving 'til we got to our ride vehicles.
JC we walked right onto a boat. HM we walked right into the stretching room. PoTC same, etc., etc., etc.
No joke. Even we were surprised.
Doubt it'll ever happen like that again, but, that's the way it went down for us on that particular day.
 

Minnesota disney fan

Well-Known Member
The "special event" now is when the MK stays open to 11pm for us commoners. I'm waiting for Disney to charge more for those days.
Yes, but that "one special day" is so crowded with people wanting to enjoy late nights at Disney, it is a mess. We did this once, and never again. Like Nick Mao said, it would be okay to do a party day once a week instead of multiple times a week. But it seems these parties are taking over a lot of the nights at MK. Maybe that was the purpose? If you want to stay later and ride more rides, you just have to pay for it? I don't know what the answer is, but it is frustrating for regular paying guests at this point. I am optimistic that maybe things will change for the better now with a new GM. He seems to be more park oriented, so here's hoping:)
 

NickMaio

Well-Known Member
Yes, but that "one special day" is so crowded with people wanting to enjoy late nights at Disney, it is a mess. We did this once, and never again. Like Nick Mao said, it would be okay to do a party day once a week instead of multiple times a week. But it seems these parties are taking over a lot of the nights at MK. Maybe that was the purpose? If you want to stay later and ride more rides, you just have to pay for it? I don't know what the answer is, but it is frustrating for regular paying guests at this point. I am optimistic that maybe things will change for the better now with a new GM. He seems to be more park oriented, so here's hoping:)
Thats it - - - - paying twice for 1 day at the parks. WDW must be laughing at everyone. Give them a couple of cookies, garbage ice cream and "they" will pay for it.
Many nights it's a gong show - - - - If people stopped paying I guarantee they would go away.
However, the masses have spoken and WDW is ready and willing to provide. "Come one, come all, pay extra to stay longer, pay extra to have a night parade, pay extra to wait in long lines!". Get them before we sell out and jam the park.
 

larryz

I'm Just A Tourist!
Premium Member
It would seem to me that the smart thing to do would be to allow annual pass holders to stay for whatever parties they want to stay for and not charge them extra. Give another incentive for people to become passholders.

As someone who is not a passholder, I have no problem with passholders getting major benefits, they pay enough money!
Considering the current prices, I actually agree with this -- let the AP holders attend one free MNSSHP and MVMCP and buy discounted tickets for friends and family.
Most pass holders actually save a LOT of money. Food and merch discounts, free photopass downloads, park hopper included, free parking at the parks, and they already get a discount on the special event ticket prices.
At current prices, I disagree... the break-even point has popped from 10 or so to nearly 20 days.
 

drizgirl

Well-Known Member
Considering the current prices, I actually agree with this -- let the AP holders attend one free MNSSHP and MVMCP and buy discounted tickets for friends and family.

At current prices, I disagree... the break-even point has popped from 10 or so to nearly 20 days.
Prices are up sharply for ALL guests. No need to offer something additional for certain subsets.

And the last thing guests paying full price for parties (on top of full price day tickets) need is more people attending for free.
 

larryz

I'm Just A Tourist!
Premium Member
Observed average wait times does not account for every minute of the day, you obviously weren't there that day, and I'm fully aware of what a walk-on is, but, thank you for that. :rolleyes:
I did 8 of the 9 attractions that were done in the approx. 6 hours we were there. The only one I didn't do was the Regal Carrousel. The only wait they had there was for the previous riders to unload so they could get on. And, this was all with a 1-year-old little girl, a coupla' feedings for her, us eating twice, a coupla' bathroom breaks, and some shoppin' thrown in.
The attractions we did in order were...
~IaSW
~JC
~HM
~PoTC
~CoP
~PM/TTA
~BLSRS
~UtS
~RC
We had FPs for JC, HM, and UtS.
With the exception of IaSW and RC, we never stopped moving 'til we got to our ride vehicles.
JC we walked right onto a boat. HM we walked right into the stretching room. PoTC same, etc., etc., etc.
No joke. Even we were surprised.
Doubt it'll ever happen like that again, but, that's the way it went down for us on that particular day.
Then you hit everything exactly right -- and you got your 14,000 steps in, no doubt, criss-crossing the park as you did. Were you chasing short queues on the app or were you just winging it?
 

larryz

I'm Just A Tourist!
Premium Member
Prices are up sharply for ALL guests. No need to offer something additional for certain subsets.

And the last thing guests paying full price for parties (on top of full price day tickets) need is more people attending for free.
Yeah, well, not even AP holders are getting in "for free"... they're paying (and through the nose!) for the privilege.
 

graphite1326

Well-Known Member
It's still magical to me. They keep it painted and clean. I love the rides and hope they never change them so much that the park is unrecognizable. It's one park that should not change.
 

Jon81uk

Well-Known Member
We are FL resident season passholders & after 10 yrs we are ready to "Hang Up Our Ears"...we were at MK yesterday. After driving for one hour, parking our car & walking to gate, we were told that the park would be closing at 6 pm because "Mickey's Xmas Party" needed an extra ticket ($$) and they were sold out!! But, she sweetly told us we could always stay there until 6 and then go to the other parks. Two were closing at 7 and one at 9:30. However, we were there to see the show on the castle at 9:00 pm. "Too bad," she said. So our pass was not valid for Tues after 6pm because of the Xmas party. Well, I recently had knee surgery & was prepared to rent a scooter - but I was not willing to pay $ 60 for 3 or 4 hours. We had arrived at 2:30 pm expecting to stay at MK until 10 pm for the show. We all know it takes almost an hour to get in & out of each park. By the time we were told about the closing at 6 pm, it was already 3. We took the Monorail to MK and were able to get on 2 rides. All in all, we are disgusted with Magic Hours & Special Parties that cost extra $$$. It limits passholders time in the parks. And forget "Fast Passes" as all of the people at the resorts get them 60 days ahead. We can only do 30 days and by then everything is gone. Since most of those people are visiting one time only from other states or countries - we feel left out of the loop even tho we are paying every month year round to visit the parks. In addition - it doesnt seem to matter anymore even when you visit the parks on days the kids are in school (during the week) as parents dont seem to mind taking their kids out of school for one day so they dont have to wait in line. AND how about we seniors that have been faithful Disney customers for 50 yrs (Disneyland & Disneyworld)? How about allowing the seniors to use the fast pass lanes as they are unable to wait in 3 hour long lines, especially in the heat?? Pandora Flight of Passage we have managed to get in ONCE since it opened. And I figure we will be dead and gone by the time we would be able to get into Star Wars. With Magic Hours before & after & special Parties limiting our time now in the parks - all of the fun has gone out of our visits. We have also noticed, instead of it being the happiest place on earth, people are angry after long line waits with children that are bored and screaming. Somehow, I dont see Walt as liking these new parks. He must be rolling. (BTW - we also commented that the parks arent as clean as they used to be). It's just too crowded. The end of my rant.

30 seconds work on the website would tell you the park was closing early. Would you complain if you showed up at the cinema and they didn't have the film you wanted on that night, or would you check the listings first?
There have been Halloween and Christmas parties in the fall season for at least the last 20 years so they aren't really a new thing.

If you have a medical condition that limits your ability to stand in line talk to guest relations about either getting a wheelchair/scooter or an assistance pass so you can do something else during the wait time. I don't see why just being old should be enough of a reason when there are other options available.
 

arich35

Well-Known Member
We were there last Wednesday and Saturday. Both were pretty busy but Saturday after dinner was just crazy with people. But I was able to get fast passes for pretty much every single ride we wanted to ride even was able to grab Seven Dwarfs twice just playing around on the app plus Space Mountain. The longest wait we had with a fast pass was Seven Dwarfs and it ended up being about 20-25 minutes from getting in the FP line to getting on the ride, not bad compared to the 120 minute wait in stand by.

As for the dogs (this was our first time visiting) we noticed a lot of them but almost all looked like they were actual service dogs except the one guy carrying around a small dog in a pink dog carrier. I just kept thinking to myself how do you ride any rides when you have a dog?
 

Raineman

Well-Known Member
It would be nice IF you could enjoy the time in the MK until 6pm! The problem is (at least for us regular paying customers) that they let the party goers in at 4 or 4:30!!!!! I have been in the MK when the hoards were let in. It was awful. Forget getting on the rides without long, long waits, and it was actually dangerous trying to get around all the crowds of people in the walkways. It seems that those of use who don't do the parties and pay for our day get the short end of the stick. If the party starts at 7pm, then please Disney, let them in at 7pm. I don't have a problem with the party goers taking advantage of this perk, but it just seems unfair to the regular park goers.
It doesn't matter what Disney does in this situation, people are going to be unhappy. People complain that the party ticket prices are too high for just a few hours, so Disney lets them in earlier, and they get better value for their party ticket $-8 hours instead of 5. But when that happens, people that have a regular park ticket complain about the overlap between 4:00 and 6:00. I guarantee that if the parties were included in a normal park ticket, the crowds would be crazy the whole day when a party is scheduled and not just between 4:00 and 6:00.
 

Lilofan

Well-Known Member
What's magical to me and my family is that when the parks are scheduled to open at 9am, sometimes, the guests are allowed into the park as early as 830 or 845. Nice surprise and we like it.
 

DryerLintFan

Premium Member
Considering the current prices, I actually agree with this -- let the AP holders attend one free MNSSHP and MVMCP and buy discounted tickets for friends and family.

At current prices, I disagree... the break-even point has popped from 10 or so to nearly 20 days.

I haven't done the math on the current ticket prices because we weren't going to buy more annual passes until next year, and I'm sure there will be at least one price increase by then.
 

donaldtoo

Well-Known Member
Then you hit everything exactly right -- and you got your 14,000 steps in, no doubt, criss-crossing the park as you did. Were you chasing short queues on the app or were you just winging it?

We were using the app and on the move (hey, we did manage to stay in Tomorrowland for 3 consecutive attractions though ;)), although not at a crazy pace. No wingin' it in that aspect, although the whole trip was kinda' a wingin' it thing, as we flew in from Austin, Texas that morning and flew back to Austin that night...!!!!! :hilarious::happy::geek:
 

Minnesota disney fan

Well-Known Member
It doesn't matter what Disney does in this situation, people are going to be unhappy. People complain that the party ticket prices are too high for just a few hours, so Disney lets them in earlier, and they get better value for their party ticket $-8 hours instead of 5. But when that happens, people that have a regular park ticket complain about the overlap between 4:00 and 6:00. I guarantee that if the parties were included in a normal park ticket, the crowds would be crazy the whole day when a party is scheduled and not just between 4:00 and 6:00.
Yes, it does seem like a catch 22! But I still feel that if an event, no matter what the cost because people know what the cost is going in, says 7 to 10 or 11pm, then it should be as advertised. Otherwise, the overcrowding of the parks which deters from regular paying guests getting their monies worth occurs. I don't know what the answer is, but it is frustrating if you are the regular paying guest? There would be no problem if Disney stuck to their advertised party hours, a win-win for all their guests.
 

smooch

Well-Known Member
The service dog problem bothers me very much because I work closely with the founder of a nonprofit that trains medical alert service dogs for Type 1 Diabetics so I have gotten very knowledgeable about the laws of public access for service dogs and people abuse it so often, including my own friends who I have explained before its wrong but they don't see the harm in it which bothers me. People most commonly go online and buy a vest and then claim it is a therapy dog when it is actually their pet. I don't need to explain why this isn't a true service dog, but where people get confused is when they get a therapy dog from a trainer or organization. These dogs are still not service dogs, they are therapy dogs. There is a difference. Therapy dogs do not have the right to have public access. They can't go anywhere a pet wouldn't be allowed either. A service dog is legally allowed to enter these places as long as they are still certified. I had an active service dog for 8 years, this year I finally retired him. I had to re-certify him every year with the organization or else he didn't have public access and that included a test of his behavior in public and an assessment of if he still alerted on my blood sugars within about 80% accuracy. When I retired him I had to cut up his vest and send proof to the organization and also mail back my ID card that verified my re-certification and public access. Legally people are only allowed to ask specific questions about service dogs to verify if they are allowed, but people who don't have real service dogs use this fact to claim they will get someone in trouble for asking the wrong question, so people are scared to ask and verify if a service dog is real. This has led to a huge increase in pets being passed off as service animals in places they shouldn't and it makes people wary of service dogs because they get a sour taste from a fake one behaving poorly. I never took my dog to DLR or WDW because it seems so overwhelming for a dog, so many sights and smells and it is so crowded and it's hard to manage riding rides with a dog (services dogs are actually able to ride a few rides, I haven't checked the list in like 6 years so I might be wrong but last I saw they could ride in the boat of Pirates and the doom buggy for Haunted Mansion. But again that seemed like so much work I would leave my dog with the leader of the Guide Dog training group I am a part of. I know I went on a long rant but I thought it would be nice to share some very brief but important info on service dogs as most people don't truly know the legality of it all.

EDIT: I have seen many many fake service dogs at Disneyland and saw a lot on my trip to WDW earlier this year, some were behaving fine so it didn't bother me but I have also seen so many that are eating food off the floor or getting scared of costume characters (my retired service dog was scared of costumes, I couldn't take him to school on Halloween in middle school cause everyone worse costumes) and it breaks my heart to see them set these dogs up to have a bad time and inconvenience their owners and sometimes the people around them. Disney needs to crack down on service dog abuse in the parks and verify only real ones are coming in because the parks are a very easy way to overload an untrained dog and cause a scene.
 

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