Magic Kingdom too crowded lately

[BuddyThomas]

But we have the other thread with people crying that attendance is down. All sorts of “facts” on here lately.

 

["El Gran Magnifico"]

One state I visited, businesses laid down the law, 10 cents a bag or BYOB.

That can be purchased with plastic. Makes perfect sense.

 

[J4546]

When the park is packed is so much less fun than a day with a smaller crowd, sadly smaller crowd days seem to be harder to come by.

 

[Jrb1979]

But we have the other thread with people crying that attendance is down. All sorts of “facts” on here lately.

It is down. They admitted it in the earnings call. If it's down 1-5% doubt you would notice it.

 

[castlecake2.0]

Just need to chime in that attractions are not purposely reducing capacity. The whole point of attractions is to put through as many people as possible. the biggest culprit of reducing capacity is actually QSR locations

 

[Tony the Tigger]

We were just there Thursday night (before the holiday weekend.) We arrived later than expected (9pm) with the park closing at 11pm.

In that short time (with no genie+) we used the tip board to see what had short waits (which fluctuated) and did:

Carousel of Progress (a 20 minute ride)
People Mover
It’s A Small World
Haunted Mansion
Seven Dwarfs Mine Train (to be fair, got in line just before 11 with about a 20 minute wait.)

Obviously, we could have done more if we skipped CoP, but that’s what we chose.

We were happy with that. Some people do rope drop, we do nighttime.

 

[JoeCamel]

But we have the other thread with people crying that attendance is down. All sorts of “facts” on here lately.

One does not exclude the other

 

[BuddyThomas]

One does not exclude the other

OK

 

[Mark Dunne]

We arrived this Jan 21st, stayed at ASM, the bus lanes to M.K were unreal, all the years we've been coming this is the busiest I've seen the buses for sure in jan, i know the bands come over to A.S resorts, but this was a mix of adults, teens, kids, family's, maybe its the D.D.P coming back or park hopper, i have to say apart from M.K to Epcot, we don't park hop anymore , just enjoy the day in one park, years ago we used to park hop all over, as crowds were lower, but not now. Disney must be making a packet from G.P sales, and even I.L.L'S , we do buy into that, as we don't really want to queue , and G.P IMO does make the day more enjoyable, as your not fretting around queueing .but it adds to the cost for sure.

 

[SaucyBoy]

MK has always been crowded and insufferable for me.

 

[Eric Graham]

At least we have paper straws to help save the environment.

Don't forget wind farms. They're the best too!

 

[marni1971]

There is no incentive to run the parks at max capacity.

The parks are run to achieve a certain operational capacity to maximize add-on sales such a G+ and ILL. Basically make sure that major attractions have a 60 minute plus wait time.

Pretty much.

 

[Weather_Lady]

Have any of you noticed how crowded Magic Kingdom has been lately? Even going on weekdays I noticed it is just as crowded on the weekdays. January and February used to be great times to go but it seems like even the less crowded months are crowded now. We went the last few months and most rides had wait times that were 55 minutes or more. Haunted Mansion lines were backed up all the way to the mini outside dining area. If this is how Disney is gonna be from now on then I don't see the point in going anymore. Who wants to wait an hour for most rides that last only a few minutes? Am I the only one noticing that Magic Kingdom has gotten more crowded?

As others suggested above, wait times and crowdedness are not the same thing.

Disney is often running E-tickets at half-capacity and half-staff now, even on busy days, in order to save money and/or incentivize the purchase of G+. This (along with the existence of G+ itself) has driven up standby waits. It doesn't necessarily mean that there are that many more people in the park, only that Disney has decided that it's acceptable to make people wait longer than they used to, if it will save a buck.

 

[Laketravis]

As others suggested above, wait times and crowdedness are not the same thing.

Disney is often running E-tickets at half-capacity and half-staff now, even on busy days, in order to save money and/or incentivize the purchase of G+. This (along with the existence of G+ itself) has driven up standby waits. It doesn't necessarily mean that there are that many more people in the park, only that Disney has decided that it's acceptable to make people wait longer than they used to, if it will save a buck.

I agree with most of that except for one element I struggle with - that they are purposely limiting ride capacity by running at half capacity and/or half staff to incentivize G+ sales - especially on days when G+ sells out. I'm not saying they don't intentionally limit capacity, I've witnessed it myself even on 8 and 9 crowd level park days. But they could easily open those closed queues and sell even more G+. What's the cost to open up that closed capacity? A few hundred bucks an hour? Versus another $25K or more in G+ and LL sales?

One thing I noticed after several times on GOTG was the extremely consistent wait time for VQ once in line - it was almost exactly 50 minutes each time. It's as if the algorithm used to determine the number of LL's sold per hour uses 50 minutes wait time as the constant for determining "free" VQ volume allocated during the same hour, thus explaining why VQ is closed when LL is still available. It also further explains the lack of a conventional "standby" line because that is an uncontrollable variable and thus needed to be eliminated for the algorithm to work.

With that level of precision, they could most certainly determine when to open additional capacity on a currently restricted attraction in order to garner additional G+ (and even LL) revenue.

 

[Lilofan]

Just need to chime in that attractions are not purposely reducing capacity. The whole point of attractions is to put through as many people as possible. the biggest culprit of reducing capacity is actually QSR locations

Yes and the more guests ride the more the chances of them buying that T shirt at the merchandise location at the exit of the attraction. To get outside one needs to go through the gift shop so Disney hopes you can start buying items. Similar in Vegas one needs to walk through the casino to get to the front desk to check in.

 

[NickMaio]

Have any of you noticed how crowded Magic Kingdom has been lately? Even going on weekdays I noticed it is just as crowded on the weekdays. January and February used to be great times to go but it seems like even the less crowded months are crowded now. We went the last few months and most rides had wait times that were 55 minutes or more. Haunted Mansion lines were backed up all the way to the mini outside dining area. If this is how Disney is gonna be from now on then I don't see the point in going anymore. Who wants to wait an hour for most rides that last only a few minutes? Am I the only one noticing that Magic Kingdom has gotten more crowded?

The last 2 weeks - going on the app all the ride wait times have been crazy high.
Whats going on over there?

Its like summer level now ???

 

[John park hopper]

Don't forget wind farms. They're the best too!

Those fiberglass blades go to the land fill

 

[Andrew25]

The last 2 weeks - going on the app all the ride wait times have been crazy high.
Whats going on over there?

Its like summer level now ???

January/February have become busier periods now as its cheaper to visit. Pair that with a ridiculous amount of FL resident deals and all the major special events like cheerleading and Rock the Universe, it's become hectic.

Not too mention that the summer has become unbearable to spend outside in a park all day.

 

[John park hopper]

As others suggested above, wait times and crowdedness are not the same thing.

Disney is often running E-tickets at half-capacity and half-staff now, even on busy days, in order to save money and/or incentivize the purchase of G+. This (along with the existence of G+ itself) has driven up standby waits. It doesn't necessarily mean that there are that many more people in the park, only that Disney has decided that it's acceptable to make people wait longer than they used to, if it will save a buck.

Guest satisfaction is the last thing Disney is concerned about. Maximize profits by forcing people to buy Gene + cut staff, half ride capacity(intensional or poor maintenance?) -----worse than sad --manipulation

 

[drizgirl]

I agree with most of that except for one element I struggle with - that they are purposely limiting ride capacity by running at half capacity and/or half staff to incentivize G+ sales - especially on days when G+ sells out. I'm not saying they don't intentionally limit capacity, I've witnessed it myself even on 8 and 9 crowd level park days. But they could easily open those closed queues and sell even more G+. What's the cost to open up that closed capacity? A few hundred bucks an hour? Versus another $25K or more in G+ and LL sales?

One thing I noticed after several times on GOTG was the extremely consistent wait time for VQ once in line - it was almost exactly 50 minutes each time. It's as if the algorithm used to determine the number of LL's sold per hour uses 50 minutes wait time as the constant for determining "free" VQ volume allocated during the same hour, thus explaining why VQ is closed when LL is still available. It also further explains the lack of a conventional "standby" line because that is an uncontrollable variable and thus needed to be eliminated for the algorithm to work.

With that level of precision, they could most certainly determine when to open additional capacity on a currently restricted attraction in order to garner additional G+ (and even LL) revenue.

My guess is that their research told them people found a 1 hour wait to be excessive but were OK with less than that. Wham. The 50 minute line was born.