I had this thought recently, upon hearing of 4 hour wait times for FoP over the holidays, and wanted to put it out for discussion.
Considering how long wait times for new attractions can be, Disney really should find a better way to manage crowds and the standby lines. There's no good reason in the world why people should have to wait in a standby line for more than 2 hours. It's just bad show, plus a lot of people can not physically stand in a line this long without having to go to the bathroom.
So, here's my proposal.
Cap or close the standby line at the 2 hr mark. This should be a known number of people in the line, based on the ride capacity per hour and Fastpass+ line numbers. Once it reaches that point, start handing out standby return tickets, that allow a guest to come back in an hour or so, and get back in the actual standby line. This could be done using a paper ticket like the original Fastpass, or they could do it electronically via MDE or a text message to a cell phone. Each ticket would issued would increment the return time based on the current standby plus the previous issued standby ticket times by x number of seconds/minutes (as determined by an algorithm of when the approximate time to return should be). The return time would allow the guest to "virtually stand in line" and have an approximate return time. If needed, the return time can be adjusted up or down based on other issues that may occur.
Considering how long wait times for new attractions can be, Disney really should find a better way to manage crowds and the standby lines. There's no good reason in the world why people should have to wait in a standby line for more than 2 hours. It's just bad show, plus a lot of people can not physically stand in a line this long without having to go to the bathroom.
So, here's my proposal.
Cap or close the standby line at the 2 hr mark. This should be a known number of people in the line, based on the ride capacity per hour and Fastpass+ line numbers. Once it reaches that point, start handing out standby return tickets, that allow a guest to come back in an hour or so, and get back in the actual standby line. This could be done using a paper ticket like the original Fastpass, or they could do it electronically via MDE or a text message to a cell phone. Each ticket would issued would increment the return time based on the current standby plus the previous issued standby ticket times by x number of seconds/minutes (as determined by an algorithm of when the approximate time to return should be). The return time would allow the guest to "virtually stand in line" and have an approximate return time. If needed, the return time can be adjusted up or down based on other issues that may occur.
