Matterhorn Reopens!

[Macro]

Did it? I don't remember that.

Pirates had fastpass for a while but they had to remove it in 2004 (ish?) I wasn't going to the parks at the time so I didn't see it personally but according to people who did, it caused a real mess. The extra space for the queue in the walkways blocked up New Orleans Square. Busy days became very busy in that area because of the crowding. When Matt Ouimet took over as Disneyland president they removed Pirates' fastpass to ease the crowding.

Since they're going to add fastpass back to Pirates, the folks who remember how it worked back then have been crying foul. The word "disaster" tends to come up a lot. It may just be alarmism but their argument is that it made busy days even worse and so they had to remove it. And that was back when the parks were less crowded than now. With current crowding there are some fears that it could be even worse than last time.


EDIT:
From a MiceChat article: (yes, it's MiceChat, but it's not all snark)

Disneyland has been down this Fastpass road before back in 2001 and 2002, and it was ugly. Back then an executive team with no operations experience added Fastpass to many rides including Pirates and Small World and Winnie The Pooh, but not Matterhorn or Peter Pan. And DCA was a ghost town. Disneyland’s 1950’s bones creaked and groaned under that huge Fastpass load, as thousands more people were dumped out of queues and into walkways and common areas. At Christmastime and during busy summer weekends the over-crowding was at its worst, and walkways would routinely gridlock and crowds overwhelmed any open space. In 2003 with a new executive team headed by beloved former president Matt Ouimet, several high-capacity Fastpass rides were removed from the system and sanity quickly returned to the park.

But back then, the gridlock would set in when in-park crowd numbers hit about the 40,000 mark, much lower than the 49,000 in-park numbers Disneyland hits today. Several key crowd control projects have helped the park’s flow a bit since then, mostly the widening of walkways around the Hub in 2006 and the addition of permanent backstage escape routes behind Main Street in 2014. But those two issues only relieve getting in and out of the park and moving around the Hub during fireworks. It’s the narrower walkways further inside the park that gridlock when the crowd levels get too high, and adding thousands of additional Fastpass tickets per hour could create a crowding nightmare on even modestly busy days.

 

[Deleted member 107043]

Here's a photo of the FP signs.

 

[Curious Constance]

I really hope they don't add it back before I go in June.

 

[Bandini]

We would kill for 30 minute lines for rides that have FP. I personally think the WDW system works better...but FP should not be a thing in any case.

I guess I should've be clearer. So you would be happy with a 30 minute wait for TTA or the Teacups? Because that's what happened the last time we were at WDW. The reides that had FP+, like HM had posted waits of 30 minutes but for that we waited 40 mins. SB wait times at WDW are not very accurate.
FP+ has increased wait times for every attraction. It has allowed the Disney execs to staff based on their crowd projections, so short waits don't exist.
IMO, California AP's should be eliminated.

 

[Stevek]

I guess I should've be clearer. So you would be happy with a 30 minute wait for TTA or the Teacups? Because that's what happened the last time we were at WDW. The reides that had FP+, like HM had posted waits of 30 minutes but for that we waited 40 mins. SB wait times at WDW are not very accurate.
FP+ has increased wait times for every attraction. It has allowed the Disney execs to staff based on their crowd projections, so short waits don't exist.
IMO, California AP's should be eliminated.

No, would not be happy for 30 min lines for TTA though we at times have 30 min waits for the teacups out here. I don't necessarily agree that AP's should be eliminated but I do believe that a) the monthly payment plan should go away and b) they should pause selling the lowest tiers for awhile. But, they won't. It's a cash cow for them, parks are packed, they are making too much money to get off the AP juice.

 

[Phroobar]

Why not just let in less people to keep show quality high?

Oh, I forgot, greed.

 

[Deleted member 107043]

Why not just let in less people to keep show quality high?

This over and over and over again. The real problem isn't FP. It's APs and Disney's reluctance to limit how many people they let into the parks each day. They regularly operate at over capacity, or at least over what is optimal for what anyone would consider good guest experience, and they don't seem to care.

 

[aurorawest]

So, anyone been on Matterhorn since it reopened? Heading to DLR today for only my second time ever, and the first time I went on Matterhorn the ride was so rough it actually set off my motion sickness.

 

[THE Monorail Lime]

No but hopefully the sky buckets is stil sticking out of the ice

 

[Phroobar]

I hear they are testing the new Jungle Cruise Rock AA in the Matterhorn.

 

[Figment82]

I rode it on Friday, and although I'm no local, I didn't notice any differences. We went to the park a little after 7am for MM and it was down the whole time. Went back after breakfast at Carnation Cafe and it was up but the queue was around 30-45 minutes. Ended up getting a FP and only waited maybe 5 minutes.

It's my husband's favorite ride but he's 6'4" and it banged his knees up so badly, it was a one and done for us this trip unfortunately. He had a huge purple welt as a souvenir the next morning.

The wait time hovered around 90-120 minutes the rest of the weekend, but it was quite busy in the park. Definitely a ride that does not need FP and the standby queue suffers for it. It was chaotic just trying to walk near it.

 

[JD2000]

90-120 minutes

Wow! If that doesn't show people the effect fastpass has on stand-by (let alone crowding on pathways, table vacancy, etc) then nothing will.

 

[TP2000]

Checked they App on Sunday late afternoon and noticed Matterhorn had a 120 minute wait with all Fastpasses gone for the day.

Thank you Michael Colglazier! Disneyland works so much better this way!

 

[Californian Elitist]

The one and only time I saw Matterhorn reach a 120+minute wait was during Grad Nite. Thanks to FP, I'll get to look forward to these kinds of waits on the regular now. Fantastic!

 

[Curious Constance]

110 minute wait now and Fastpass return time of 5:50-6:50

Sheesh.

 

[Curious Constance]

I didn't realize the App gave you Fastpass return time info!

Gosh, I love this thing!

My son, said the fact that I have the app and look at it sometimes proves that I'm a true nerd. And then, not five minutes, later, he explained to me that lightsabers are powered by kyber saber crystals.

Looks like it runs in the family!

 

[Deleted member 107043]

Why would anyone enter a standby line for the Matterhorn Bobsleds that was more than maybe 40 minutes? I remember waiting for an hour back when the only thrill rides at DLR were Space Mountain and the Matterhorn, so given the fewer options waiting that long seemed reasonable. But now with so much more variety and newer thrill experiences it's weird to me that people wouldn't just skip it with waits that long.

 

[Disney Irish]

These wait times will even out. Geez, its only been reopened for what like 4 days.

 

[Bandini]

These wait times will even out. Geez, its only been reopened for what like 4 days.

I hope you're right, but it hasn't evened out at WDW. I just think FP shouldn't be used on a lot of attractions. It makes things worse.

 

[Disney Irish]

I hope you're right, but it hasn't evened out at WDW. I just think FP shouldn't be used on a lot of attractions. It makes things worse.

Like right now at 6:55pm its 65 minute wait. That is typical from what I have seen over the last couple of years pre-FP.

FP still available, 9:00-10:00p return time.