Presidents Day Weekend Crowds

[Animaniac93-98]

I agree with this. In all my visits recently, I realized if I didn’t experience 12 attractions a day, I wasn’t satisfied. I remember it being about 10 a day years ago...maybe it has something to do with amount of things I’ve done so many times now, or maybe subconsciously the money does play a part...but I find 12 being the lucky number for myself to feel like I had a ‘good’ day.

12 attractions in a day is also hard to hit when most WDW parks have less than 10 rides total.

At DHS for example, you'd need to hit every ride once + see Fantasmic! Muppet-Vision and Indiana Jones. Good luck doing that with current crowds, FP+ and the hassle of getting a RotR boarding pass.

This is also why Disney broadens the definition of "attraction" to include things like meet-and-greets, but would you as a paying customer count them?

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

This is also why Disney broadens the definition of "attraction" to include things like meet-and-greets, but would you as a paying customer count them?

There are many paying customers who do. I’ve spent entire days at Epcot watching voices of Liberty, Mariachi Band, jammitors, and the chair stacking chefs at Epcot and topped it off with illuminations and felt like I got a full days worth of entertainment value.

So having lots of meet and greets is good...

 

[Animaniac93-98]

There are many paying customers who do. I’ve spent entire days at Epcot watching voices of Liberty, Mariachi Band, jammitors, and the chair stacking chefs at Epcot and topped it off with illuminations and felt like I got a full days worth of entertainment value.

So having lots of meet and greets is good...

Certainly the quality entertainment acts of Epcot, or the Citizens of Hollywood, or the former Diamond Horseshoe Saloon Revue and Sword in the Stone ceremony add a lot of value to a day at the parks. But like their refusal to build more rides, these are also things that Disney will cut down on and then imply that character meet and greets are a satisfactory alternative for most guests.

And meet and greets are popular too, but I wouldn't be satisfied if the bulk of my day was spent on character photos. I know people will go to MNSSHP and do mostly that for the whole night, but I personally couldn't.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Certainly the quality entertainment acts of Epcot, or the Citizens of Hollywood, or the former Diamond Horseshoe Saloon Revue and Sword in the Stone ceremony add a lot of value to a day at the parks. But like their refusal to build more rides, these are also things that Disney will cut down on and then imply that character meet and greets are a satisfactory alternative for most guests.

And meet and greets are popular too, but I wouldn't be satisfied if the bulk of my day was spent on character photos. I know people will go to MNSSHP and do mostly that for the whole night, but I personally couldn't.

And this starts to get at the flaw of building to the 7.3 experiences metric, variety. Yes, Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Disney’s Animal Kingdom had enough to fill a day, doing so required doing pretty much everything at the park regardless of one’s interest in each attraction and nothing to just discover.

 

[Purduevian]

And this starts to get at the flaw of building to the 7.3 experiences metric, variety. Yes, Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Disney’s Animal Kingdom had enough to fill a day, doing so required doing pretty much everything at the park regardless of one’s interest in each attraction and nothing to just discover.

I'm going to disagree AK has nothing to discover, between various musical acts scattered throughout the park, 2 animal walking trails, the Dig Site, and Planet Watch.

 

[lazyboy97o]

I'm going to disagree AK has nothing to discover, between various musical acts scattered throughout the park, 2 animal walking trails, the Dig Site, and Planet Watch.

While the park was intended to built around things to discover, entertainment that can come and go and some of the few attractions that met the 7.3 experiences metric don’t count. You had to do them to have a full day.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

While the park was intended to built around things to discover, entertainment that can come and go and some of the few attractions that met the 7.3 experiences metric don’t count. You had to do them to have a full day.

And Animal Kingdom still only has 9 rides total, many of which have a height requirement or some physical thrill aspect that limits their appeal within certain age groups.

The Avatar boat ride is the kind of ride the park still needs more of.

 

[erstwo]

I booked a trip for my daughter and I last Thursday. Flew in on Saturday - arrived around noon. Got to DHS by 2:00ish. DHS was crowded but not as crowded as our Thanksgiving and 4th of July trips (of course, Star Wars area wasn't open on the 4th of July? I think? and maybe not totally open at Thanksgiving? This was the first time I'd ventured to that new area of the park.) We managed to fit in Slinky Dog, Alien Saucers (Fastpass), two rides on Rockin Roller and watch the nighttime show plus a couple other rides and stops for snacks in about 6 hours. Ate dinner after park close.

Sunday we went to MK - arrived at 8 for breakfast reservations at the Plaza -rode 7 Dwarfs, Space, Big Thunder and three or four other rides - went back to Coronodo for about an hour (so 3 hour-ish break with the bus travel times?) got back for fireworks, Astro Orbiter, Buzz (Fastpass) and Space again before park close at 10.

All in all - decent time in the parks!

Other things that went well/ smoothly despite the crowds: Magical Express moved us right along. Short wait for the bus to DHS at Art of Animation Saturday afternoon. Short wait for bus back to AoA. Since we booked so late, we had one night at AoA and one at Coronado. Transfer of luggage was super smooth. Short bus wait for MK Sunday morning - short bus waits from MK to Coronado and back again Sunday afternoon. Short wait back to Coronado Sunday night. Went to Disney Springs Monday - great bus trips there too.

 

[SSH]

For the first time in years, I didn't renew my AP back in Dec and was missing WDW. After jumping back onto wdwmagic to get my fix and see what was new with everyone- I immediately remembered WHY I didn't renew. So thank you for cheering me up.

Still love the place, but sadly reached my breaking point with the cuts, crowds and coming soon construction...looking fwd to retrying in 2021 or 2022.

The comparison from earlier years someone posted up thread (number of parades, operating hours, etc) was really revealing.

 

[MotherOfBirds]

Went to DHS yesterday on a 1-day comp ticket, and it was kind of ridiculous.

RotR boarding passes were gone less than 60 seconds after opening. Even though we arrived at about 7:30am, we could not get through security and the turnstiles before eight. I'm intensely frustrated with the system, given that you need to *really* know what you're doing to even set it up, and the app needs to be working properly, and there is no standby option at all for those of us who can't come back another day and who like to suffer. I'll try to end my RotR kvetching there.

Everything was at least 90 minutes, but usually jumped to 110-120 not long after we got in line. Lines to do anything in GE were prohibitively long, so after Smuggler's Run, we could really only walk around and look at things, which was usually the back of someone's head as they decided to park their entire caravan in the middle of the walkway to look at their map.

 

[larryz]

The Avatar boat ride is the kind of ride the park still needs more of.

Even the Avatar boat ride needs more Avatar boat ride.

 

[Josh Hendy]

Even the Avatar boat ride needs more Avatar boat ride.

You have put your finger on something important. Disney failed to close on the Harry Potter theme park rights because JK insisted on control. Meaning among other things she wouldn't have allowed nickel-and-dime cuts, or tolerate broken effects and other "paperboy style" bad show to creep in á la Disney norm.

"Sorry Ms. Rowling the smell effects and reactive lighting in the 4 year old land don't work any more because we would have to demolish the attraction building down to the foundation to replace a cracked actuator arm." Can you even conceive of that happening?

Hulk coaster was rebuilt because of the contractual obligation to keep their Marvel attractions in absolutely tip-top condition. Where's the obligation to the world's greatest theme park company to, you know, maintain it's own standards?

Every Disney customer has the right to complain long and hard when they nickel-and-dime us. "At those prices!"

 

[seascape]

You have put your finger on something important. Disney failed to close on the Harry Potter theme park rights because JK insisted on control. Meaning among other things she wouldn't have allowed nickel-and-dime cuts, or tolerate broken effects and other "paperboy style" bad show to creep in á la Disney norm.

"Sorry Ms. Rowling the smell effects and reactive lighting in the 4 year old land don't work any more because we would have to demolish the attraction building down to the foundation to replace a cracked actuator arm." Can you even conceive of that happening?

Hulk coaster was rebuilt because of the contractual obligation to keep their Marvel attractions in absolutely tip-top condition. Where's the obligation to the world's greatest theme park company to, you know, maintain it's own standards?

Every Disney customer has the right to complain long and hard when they nickel-and-dime us. "At those prices!"

I I would say adding Pandora, Toy Story Lane, Galaxy Edge, Mickey and Minnie RR, Ratatouille. Guardians of the Galaxy. and Tron along with updated shows is a ton of new stuff in a few years.

 

[DisneyCane]

The Avatar boat ride is the kind of ride the park still needs more of.

If you mean the kind of ride that has no height restrictions and isn't a thrill ride then yes.

If you mean a short, pointless ride with a bunch of projections and one AA then no.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

If you mean the kind of ride that has no height restrictions and isn't a thrill ride then yes.

If you mean a short, pointless ride with a bunch of projections and one AA then no.

The first one.

 

[Josh Hendy]

I I would say adding Pandora, Toy Story Lane, Galaxy Edge, Mickey and Minnie RR, Ratatouille. Guardians of the Galaxy. and Tron along with updated shows is a ton of new stuff in a few years.

These are all great additions. What I object to is the corporate culture that says that clawbacks and broken effects are good enough because "hey at least you got a new ride."

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

If you mean the kind of ride that has no height restrictions and isn't a thrill ride then yes.

If you mean a short, pointless ride with a bunch of projections and one AA then no.

I wouldn’t say it’s pointless. The big problem is it usually has a very long wait and it’s not a major attraction. With alien saucers you know what you are getting and you decide if the wait is worth it or not.

I actually love the boat ride and think they nailed the feel of it despite budget cuts. Compared to the little mermaid ride they hit a home run.

The problem is the numbers.... these brand new billion dollar lands are being built with only 2 attractions.

 

[WondersOfLife]

At DHS for example, you'd need to hit every ride once + see Fantasmic! Muppet-Vision and Indiana Jones. Good luck doing that with current crowds, FP+ and the hassle of getting a RotR boarding pass.

It's only hard because of the two star wars attractions. Everything else is easily doable if planned and timed properly.

 

[MaryJaneP]

The problem is the numbers.... these brand new billion dollar lands are being built with only 2 attractions.

And that the "new attractions" are not additive because WDW fails to maintain existing "attractions" or simply replaces rides with nothing along with a "new" Meet+Greet. WDW is actually falling behind and cooked books will not replace actually keeping everything working, committing to keeping the rides working, accomplishing the task of keeping the rides working, especially into the future, and, only then, adding additional rides while doing the same diligence for the "new" stuff.

 

[lazyboy97o]

It's only hard because of the two star wars attractions. Everything else is easily doable if planned and timed properly.

Theme parks shouldn’t require planning and proper timing to have a full day of experiences. They should be places of discovery where people hit the headliners and find things along the way to experience and share together, small moments that create delightful memories and add to a day of big rides.