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celluloid

Well-Known Member
Seriously? This is what they are going to open while a zillion better places are still closed or reduced hours?

Well it has a staff of 3. A doorperson, A DJ and a bar tender the latter of which sells high profit margin drinks with the awkward people who care too much what other people think.

My wife and I loved dancing there for free, and it was funny because it is exactly what we witnessed.
 

ToTBellHop

Well-Known Member
I’d be surprised if they get rid of it anytime soon, since doing so would kind of undercut the Park Pass system. That said, I hope that “true” Park Hopping returns at some point, I’m just not optimistic about it in the near future.
If they’d just move it up to 12 noon, it would be much easier to work with. I never hop before then, personally, but 2 pm feels late.
 
In the Parks
Yes
I’d be surprised if they get rid of it anytime soon, since doing so would kind of undercut the Park Pass system. That said, I hope that “true” Park Hopping returns at some point, I’m just not optimistic about it in the near future.
The Park Pass system has nothing to do with it since it is possible to add in a requirement to reserve the park you wish to hop to - something the language on WDW's website warns may be implemented at any time at their discretion (and which I would expect to see implemented alongside an elimination of the 2PM park hopper time restriction.)
 
In the Parks
Yes
On the subject of Park Passes, the latest capacity bump has gone a long way towards trivializing them.

I could reserve any park I want to go to today, right now at 9:35 AM, with no issue if I have an Annual Pass and only the Magic Kingdom is closed to me if I have a day-of ticket. (I have neither at the moment, but this is what their pre-purchase availability calendar shows.)

I suspect this will largely be the case going forward, which is good news for anybody who wants to be able to decide on their park day-of, but will continue to check it for a while.
 

MisterPenguin

President of Animal Kingdom
Premium Member
On the subject of Park Passes, the latest capacity bump has gone a long way towards trivializing them.

I could reserve any park I want to go to today, right now at 9:35 AM, with no issue if I have an Annual Pass and only the Magic Kingdom is closed to me if I have a day-of ticket. (I have neither at the moment, but this is what their pre-purchase availability calendar shows.)

I suspect this will largely be the case going forward, which is good news for anybody who wants to be able to decide on their park day-of, but will continue to check it for a while.
Indeed. The supposed maximum capacity of the MK is 90K (this is when phased closings start).

Based on TEA numbers, the last non-pandemic year saw an average attendance of 57.5K per day. That's 64% full.

So, let's say Disney, under the park reservation system, sets MK's capacity for reservation at 75K. That can be pretty crowded, but it's not a one hour wait for TTA level of crowdedness.

So, if 58K was average, just how many days does the MK hit 75K? Probably not a lot. And so, once everything is open, the MK reservations can be capped at 75K, and almost all the time, people wouldn't know it, because it doesn't hit that capacity.

But when Christmas and Spring Break comes... then people will find the MK's reservations are full.

This keeps the MK from becoming a very unpleasant experience because it's overcrowded.

It will be unpleasant, tho, for people who can't get a reservation at those crunch times. But, better to be turned away in their living rooms than at the gate.
 
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castlecake2.0

Well-Known Member
Indeed. The supposed maximum capacity of the MK is 90K (this is when phased closings start).

Based on TEA numbers, the last non-pandemic year saw an average attendance of 57.5K. That's 64% full.

So, let's say Disney, under the park reservation system, sets MK's capacity for reservation at 75K. That can be pretty crowded, but it's not a one hour wait for TTA level of crowdedness.

So, if 58K was average, just how many days does the MK hit 75K? Probably not a lot. And so, once everything is open, the MK reservations can be capped at 75K, and almost all the time, people wouldn't know it, because it doesn't hit that capacity.

But when Christmas and Spring Break comes... then people will find the MK's reservations are full.

This keeps the MK from becoming a very unpleasant experience because it's overcrowded.

It will be unpleasant, tho, for people who can't get a reservation at those crunch times. But, better to be turned away in their living rooms than at the gate.
I like this system, like you said, once it gets up to normalish levels most of the time you’ll be able to get in, just not super busy times, in which case I probably wouldn’t want to be there anyways lol
 

CaptainAmerica

Premium Member
On the subject of Park Passes, the latest capacity bump has gone a long way towards trivializing them.

I could reserve any park I want to go to today, right now at 9:35 AM, with no issue if I have an Annual Pass and only the Magic Kingdom is closed to me if I have a day-of ticket. (I have neither at the moment, but this is what their pre-purchase availability calendar shows.)

I suspect this will largely be the case going forward, which is good news for anybody who wants to be able to decide on their park day-of, but will continue to check it for a while.
I've been beating this drum for months. There is absolutely no reason for a guest to pre-book their Park Pass if they're traveling outside of Christmas or the opening of a major new attraction. Disney supposedly loves the Park Pass system because they get guest behavior information ahead of time, but that's always been in a capacity-restricted environment when guests HAD TO use it in advance or risk being locked out. I suspect once things settled in at full capacity and demand stabilizes, they're going to end up with even less information than they used to get with FastPass+.
 

Sirwalterraleigh

Premium Member
Any idea if/when they may get rid of the 2 PM cutoff for park hopping? Thanks :)

If they’d just move it up to 12 noon, it would be much easier to work with. I never hop before then, personally, but 2 pm feels late.

The Park Pass system has nothing to do with it since it is possible to add in a requirement to reserve the park you wish to hop to - something the language on WDW's website warns may be implemented at any time at their discretion (and which I would expect to see implemented alongside an elimination of the 2PM park hopper time restriction.)
I think you have to consider that dropping the 2 pm makes the park passes irrelevant to Disney…and they love them.

maybe it’s not about attendance at all? And it’s about staffing?

because it probably is. They don’t particularly care where you are…just who they have to pay to watch you.
 
In the Parks
Yes
Indeed. The supposed maximum capacity of the MK is 90K (this is when phased closings start).

Based on TEA numbers, the last non-pandemic year saw an average attendance of 57.5K per day. That's 64% full.

So, let's say Disney, under the park reservation system, sets MK's capacity for reservation at 75K. That can be pretty crowded, but it's not a one hour wait for TTA level of crowdedness.

So, if 58K was average, just how many days does the MK hit 75K? Probably not a lot. And so, once everything is open, the MK reservations can be capped at 75K, and almost all the time, people wouldn't know it, because it doesn't hit that capacity.

But when Christmas and Spring Break comes... then people will find the MK's reservations are full.

This keeps the MK from becoming a very unpleasant experience because it's overcrowded.

It will be unpleasant, tho, for people who can't get a reservation at those crunch times. But, better to be turned away in their living rooms than at the gate.
I like this system, like you said, once it gets up to normalish levels most of the time you’ll be able to get in, just not super busy times, in which case I probably wouldn’t want to be there anyways lol
Yeah, this is the crux of why I actually like Park Pass even as someone who prefers to pick a park day of based on whatever mood strikes me - if there's something going on that I wasn't aware of and one of the parks is crush loaded, I'd much rather find that out in my hotel room or living room pre-trip and adjust my plans accordingly, rather than get to the park and need to turn around. And on the flip side, if I do decide I want to plan to attend a maximum capacity day (such as Day 1 of Food and Wine 2022 or Epcot's 40th Anniversary Day), I can book that now/a year out/with my hotel and not have to worry about getting there early enough to beat the phased closures. It's great.

The only way this system can be improved in my opinion is, again, requiring reservations for each park you wish to hop to, which I fully expect to be coming along with the end of the 2pm time restriction and a return to anytime park hopping. (Which, again, is great for me because I can look on my phone while I'm in Epcot and find out whether DHS is at capacity before I start the 20 minute walk over, or vice versa.)

I think you have to consider that dropping the 2 pm makes the park passes irrelevant to Disney…and they love them.

maybe it’s not about attendance at all? And it’s about staffing?

because it probably is. They don’t particularly care where you are…just who they have to pay to watch you.
The Park Pass system has nothing to do with it since it is possible to add in a requirement to reserve the park you wish to hop to - something the language on WDW's website warns may be implemented at any time at their discretion (and which I would expect to see implemented alongside an elimination of the 2PM park hopper time restriction.)



I just don't get it. I don't understand what information they get from Park Pass that they didn't get from FastPass+.
This gives them information about all the people who didn't bother with FP+, whether that's because they have no intention of riding anything, weren't aware or were disinclined to try pre-reserving, or had some FP+ in a park they're not in that they decided to let go because it just felt like an Epcot day instead.
 

pdude81

Well-Known Member
I just don't get it. I don't understand what information they get from Park Pass that they didn't get from FastPass+.
I'm sure FP+ gave them useful information about who would be in the park and more specifically when they'd still be likely to be there, but FP+ isn't operating right now and was already headed towards replacement.

Park pass was probably needed to limit capacity in the beginning, but at this point it cuts way down on people driving to a park and buying tickets that morning since they still need to make a reservation in MDE to get in. You could also know days/weeks/months ahead of time also whether you'll need more buses at ASM to/from Epcot on a particular day as oddly many parties from a particular resort will be at the same park that day. I hate the reservations, but I don't think they're going anywhere.
 

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