Reservation expansion

[GustoGummi]

Crazy thing is, I loved walking around AK at night. They just don't have enough dark hours it seems.

They tried for a while 5/6 years ago and it failed spectacularly. The park currently just doesn't have attractions that justify staying open at night.

 

[aladdin2007]

I agree that the hype over reservations is a bit overblown considering we all made 3 FP+ reservations for a single park each day prior to COVID; so we were essentially picking our park anyways. Biggest issue is 2pm hopping, but not a game changer for us. FP+ going away is a much, much bigger problem for us.

have to agree, as AP's we were at the studios this week and we left before 2. We couldn't get into anything, wait times were all over 80 min or more. I refuse to pay $15 per family member on every visit just to get into genie and then the lighting lanes or whatever and then not even know if you'll win the lottery to get a return time on anything. its crazy. It's ruined it for us when before we were all pleased to pick two or three fast passes for the day and it worked out great. Now we cant do that and If you decide to wait in line for one thing there goes an entire afternoon just about, and were not there at 7am to fight this genie junk. So were paying to essentially come in and walk around, shop if we want, eat, and thats it. Its no longer worth what were paying. We walked out of there yesterday saying this place is just not doable anymore. The entertainment is gone, half the stores are all shuttered, they dont offer anything they use to.

We took the skyliner instead over to pop cent and artofani and had a great time. The stores had all kinds of stuff the studios didn't, and there were more characters walking around, plus it was just more fun and relaxing. You couldn't budge in the studios it was so jammed. And if you did stand still you would be mowed down instantly if you dared to stop to look at something, the rush was nuts...I dont know whats happened but they have turned everything inside out from being fun and enjoyable. Another problem people glued to their phones with triple wide strollers hanging out inside against shelves and merchandise.

 

[KenFromOC]

Spoke to reservations yesterday about possible upcoming trip and they told me for an August vacation park hops would require reservations as well as the initial park. After 2 pm he said you can hop to another park that has available reservations, he said people who stay onsite would have priority and would be most likely to be able to visit other parks except on very busy days. He said refunds would not be given to people who purchased hoppers and couldn't use them when i asked. The WDW webpage has not updated this yet.

It’s amazing to me how on one side Disney does everything they can to get you to pay more, but then on the other side totally does dumb stuff that actually takes money out of their pockets!
And this is one of them!

We recently had a vacation at Disney World and got a 7-day Park Hopper ticket for the 3 of us. Now we only ended up park hopping one day, but wanted that freedom so we spend that extra money just in case. But if this reservation thing goes for your second park then next time we will save money and just get single-park tickets!

And how is this different than what they do now? It already says you can park hop only if that other park is available (however they never seem to enforce that). Does that mean if you make a reservation for a second park and then not go over there you will get penalized?

It also does not make sense because park hopping actually helps disperse folks around the entire resort and therefore can cut down on crowds.

This would be like the other bone-head move of getting rid a Magical Express that in a way held guests captive on property - Right? As a matter of fact this time around because Magical Express no longer existed we stayed a couple extra nights over at Universal. We never would have done that before - we would have just gone over to Universal (or wherever) for the day and then back to our Disney resort that night.

I just don’t get it….

 

[KenFromOC]

Spoke to reservations yesterday about possible upcoming trip and they told me for an August vacation park hops would require reservations as well as the initial park. After 2 pm he said you can hop to another park that has available reservations, he said people who stay onsite would have priority and would be most likely to be able to visit other parks except on very busy days. He said refunds would not be given to people who purchased hoppers and couldn't use them when i asked. The WDW webpage has not updated this yet.

OK - I have one theory why they may want to do this: Transportation staffing. By knowing how many guest are potentially going to park hop and to which park they could adjusted bus driver schedules accordingly (or cut bus drivers if they are not needed).

 

[SaucyBoy]

have to agree, as AP's we were at the studios this week and we left before 2. We couldn't get into anything, wait times were all over 80 min or more. I refuse to pay $15 per family member on every visit just to get into genie and then the lighting lanes or whatever and then not even know if you'll win the lottery to get a return time on anything. its crazy. It's ruined it for us when before we were all pleased to pick two or three fast passes for the day and it worked out great. Now we cant do that and If you decide to wait in line for one thing there goes an entire afternoon just about, and were not there at 7am to fight this genie junk. So were paying to essentially come in and walk around, shop if we want, eat, and thats it. Its no longer worth what were paying. We walked out of there yesterday saying this place is just not doable anymore. The entertainment is gone, half the stores are all shuttered, they dont offer anything they use to.

We took the skyliner instead over to pop cent and artofani and had a great time. The stores had all kinds of stuff the studios didn't, and there were more characters walking around, plus it was just more fun and relaxing. You couldn't budge in the studios it was so jammed. And if you did stand still you would be mowed down instantly if you dared to stop to look at something, the rush was nuts...I dont know whats happened but they have turned everything inside out from being fun and enjoyable. Another problem people glued to their phones with triple wide strollers hanging out inside against shelves and merchandise.

Our trip next week has two park days scheduled (MK and Epcot). Even then, since we're not paying for G+, we're just tapping in and seeing what we can do. We've been hundreds of times and there is nothing we "must" do lately. The rest of the trip is literally just relaxing at the resort or Disney Springs. I'm going to see Drawn to Life on Tuesday evening and then staying two extra days for some SWO time. But, the parks were absolutely not a focus for this needed getaway.

 

[marni1971]

There should be some element of a hop reservation, but for now the target group may not be everyone. The original blanket reservation requirement remit has been currently paused (as @disneyglimpses can allude to)

 

[maemae74]

I am planning a big trip for next summer and if we can't freely park hop than we may cancel and just do Universal , Sea World and the other sites central FL has to offer. Park hopping is something we really enjoy and I feel like they are ruining the guest experience daily and pretending it is al still related to coivd.

 

[bhg469]

I am planning a big trip for next summer and if we can't freely park hop than we may cancel and just do Universal , Sea World and the other sites central FL has to offer. Park hopping is something we really enjoy and I feel like they are ruining the guest experience daily and pretending it is al still related to coivd.

Well you cant "freely" hop now. You have to wait until the arbitrary 2:00pm time. This is but it isn't covid related. The parks are understaffed and you see it when you walk in. Hopefully staffing will be resolved but its a matter of enticing the work force to return. The talent that moved on has probably found better things. Central Florida is no longer just the theme park and service industry. Just about everything else is booming, and just about everything else pays more than Disney..

 

[maemae74]

Well you cant "freely" hop now. You have to wait until the arbitrary 2:00pm time. This is but it isn't covid related. The parks are understaffed and you see it when you walk in. Hopefully staffing will be resolved but its a matter of enticing the work force to return. The talent that moved on has probably found better things. Central Florida is no longer just the theme park and service industry. Just about everything else is booming, and just about everything else pays more than Disney..

I am good with 2pm and not needing reservations to do so and it has worked well for us. What I am not ok with is having to schedule two reservations per day. Disney needs to pay better for more reasons than just my need to park hop but different thread I am sure .

 

[msha88]

I would just say expect more flexibility next year than right now. And perhaps even more flexibility for guests who are on day tickets or resort stays.

Both Genie+ and reservations. Both are going to improve next year. Right now, neither really make sense. They will make sense next year.

You’ve said ‘next year’ a few times in this thread. Am I good to assume that the CM the original poster spoke to mentioning August was incorrect? And therefore those of us with trips August onwards should just expect things to continue as they are now wrt park reservations and hopping?

 

[matt9112]

I totally agree. If I lived closer I would probably eat dinner at EPCOT every night. And I would still fill my house with merch as if it were World of Disney V.2.

I'm sure there are some Orlando locals who go maybe 5 times a month (about 60 times a year) who pack lunches and don't spend a lot. And if their AP cost them around $700, then with 60 visits that's $11 per entry. That is pretty cheap, but I still think those guests are a very small number.

I used to have silver and would go most weekends all year long. I think I am a good barometer of normal. I am not wealthy I had to make a conscious effort to afford passes. I would still spend a good 150 or so a day in the parks sure that’s not a ton but that’s lunch or dinner and some merch and beers. A sane amount I wasn’t packing lunches etc. the biggest problem is that I can’t go during the week no matter how hard disney twists. Thus I’m just not going. Universal now gets that money all year round.

 

[RSoxNo1]

A better way to phrase it would be that it’s used to manage capacity

The $3 billion data mining project that was Next Gen was intended to help with staffing... @lentesta can predict wait times with a pretty low margin of error for a fraction of a percentage of Disney's cost. Besides everything, what are they doing wrong that necessitates an expansion to programs that further decrease guest satisfaction?

 

[bhg469]

The $3 billion data mining project that was Next Gen was intended to help with staffing... @lentesta can predict wait times with a pretty low margin of error for a fraction of a percentage of Disney's cost. Besides everything, what are they doing wrong that necessitates an expansion to programs that further decrease guest satisfaction?

At this point they could manage capacity with cattle prods and get better or equal guest satisfaction.

 

[maemae74]

So I just saw a tic tok that talked about all of these odd changes coming to Disney and it even mentioned guest having to start paying for transportation. The short of it was that Disney is trying to cater to the "luxury " traveler and basically price point the middle class out. I don't what truth there is to any of it but if I can figure out how to share it on here I will . My only thought it is that it's the middle class and Disney die hards who keep their so called "Deluxe" resorts filled because anyone looking for real luxury is booked over at the Four Seasons.

edit to add link

 

[Mousse']

The $3 billion data mining project that was Next Gen was intended to help with staffing... @lentesta can predict wait times with a pretty low margin of error for a fraction of a percentage of Disney's cost. Besides everything, what are they doing wrong that necessitates an expansion to programs that further decrease guest satisfaction?

Bad data leads to bad conclusions… and so does incompetence with that data. That pains me as a data guy to say, but with all of the “bad” changes going on at Disney somebody must have really flubbed this effort up…

 

[mikejs78]

So I just saw a tic tok that talked about all of these odd changes coming to Disney and it even mentioned guest having to start paying for transportation. The short of it was that Disney is trying to cater to the "luxury " traveler and basically price point the middle class out. I don't what truth there is to any of it but if I can figure out how to share it on here I will . My only thought it is that it's the middle class and Disney die hards who keep their so called "Deluxe" resorts filled because anyone looking for real luxury is booked over at the Four Seasons.

edit to add link

I wouldn't put too much stock in this video.

 

[MickeyLuv'r]

To what extent is the ‘12-‘15 attendance boost a result of Disney benefitting from an overall Orlando tourism increase prompted by Uni’s Wizarding World lands?

As a curious aside: Not too long ago, I looked back at 2001/2002 attendance. Uni's IoA saw a big shift in total annual attendance because they shifted the Halloween Horror nights to that park.

in 2001: US ranked #6 (in USA) had 7.2million, IoA ranked #7 with 5.5 million
in 2002: US ranked #6 (in USA) had 6.9million, IoA ranked #7 with 6.1 million

Their rank didn't change, but IoA went up 10% in attendance in a year when most Orlando theme parks saw a drop in attendance.

That same year, MK went down 5%, Epcot went down 8%, AK was down 6%. US was down 6%, HS (ten MGMG) went down 4%, and Sea World was down 2% from 2001 attendance.

 

[Andriadisney]

The big thing for me is the fact that you *have* to tap into your first park, even if it's after 2 PM.

Exactly. That should go away immediately.

 

[Nottamus]

I got it!

Starting in 2023, all the parks will open at 2pm making the hop issue, not an issue

Yay us! We won.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

Genie+ isn't even technically able to be sold out yet. It's possible that functionality was finally released in MDX 7.10 but no guests are being prohibited from purchasing Genie+ at 7am. It hasn't happened once.

It’s summer low season right now. The parks have not been that crowded.