News Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance to begin Standby September 23rd

[CaptainAmerica]

The only “fair way” to run a park is that the inclusive ticket can handle the customer load…even if it takes all day to do so.

There's no such thing because you're always going to have bottlenecks. If Hollywood Studios had 20 different omnimovers with the capacity of Haunted Mansion, they still only have one Rise of the Resistance and that's what everyone wants to ride.

Disney has a minor "total capacity" problem. They have a gigantic "distribution of demand" problem.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

There's no such thing because you're always going to have bottlenecks. If Hollywood Studios had 20 different omnimovers with the capacity of Haunted Mansion, they still only have one Rise of the Resistance and that's what everyone wants to ride.

Disney has a minor "total capacity" problem. They have a gigantic "distribution of demand" problem.

There’s no distinction between the two…more capacity would naturally diffuse the crowd…even if one spot was insane

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

"Virtual Queue Required for Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure

When Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure initially opens, in order to experience the attraction, Guests will be required to join the virtual queue. A standby queue will not be available at opening. The virtual queue will be limited and subject to availability. Each Guest can enter the virtual queue no more than once per day.

Guests with a valid ticket or pass and theme park reservation who will start their day at EPCOT can access the virtual queue system via the My Disney Experience app and check for an available boarding group starting at 7:00 AM on the day of their park reservation. This can be done before you arrive at the theme park. You'll need to have park admission linked to your Disney account and applicable theme park reservations. If you are unable to join the morning virtual queue opportunity, you may check for an available boarding group starting at 1:00 PM that day after you have entered the park."

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/en_CA/experience-updates/parks/#drawer-card-epcot

ahhh…good to know

 

[Disstevefan1]

There's no such thing because you're always going to have bottlenecks. If Hollywood Studios had 20 different omnimovers with the capacity of Haunted Mansion, they still only have one Rise of the Resistance and that's what everyone wants to ride.

Disney has a minor "total capacity" problem. They have a gigantic "distribution of demand" problem.

20 different omnimover attractions with the capacity of Haunted Mansion. That would be awesome! Rise of the what?

 

[ToTBellHop]

Rat is definitely opening with the VQ, and is then moving to Standby and IAS when Genie comes online.

So it will use VQ for like…a week?

 

[MickeyLuv'r]

Granted…

but most of that ain’t new

Wait, a few days ago in another thread, you said the exact opposite, that nobody makes a special trip to a theme park just to see one new ride.

And when I said some rides get long waits, you said that was pure 'anecdote.'

Now you are agreeing that people make special trips to see new attractions.

Okay.....

 

[DisneyCane]

There’s no distinction between the two…more capacity would naturally diffuse the crowd…even if one spot was insane

Exactly. Eons ago before the original FP, at MK there were always a few things with really long lines like Space, Splash in the hot weather, Dumbo and the lawnmowers on a track (which is the only thing where the wait times have gone down since FP+). However, you could experience a whole bunch of attractions with sub 30 minute waits. Then you could decide if you wanted to hit the ones with 60-90 minute waits but it was only a small percentage of the overall day.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Wait, a few days ago in another thread, you said the exact opposite, that nobody makes a special trip to a theme park just to see one new ride.

And when I said some rides get long waits, you said that was pure 'anecdote.'

Now you are agreeing that people make special trips to see new attractions.

Okay.....

and I that’s still the case…people don’t plan additional trips for new rides…they coming or they aren’t.

now…once they get there or in the run up…do they gravitate towards whatever is “new”? Yes.

 

[MickeyLuv'r]

They will have to close the line hours before park close to make sure it’s cleared out for the Guests who will be coming over from the Galactic Starcruiser. If I remember correctly those Guests were supposed to be getting time in Galaxy’s Edge after park close.

Long ago, when Toy Story Midway Mania was the hot new HS ride, they also used to close the queue for that some time before park close. Mind, I don't think two hours will be necessary most of the time, but they used to close TSMM early.

WDW's other common strategy is to inflate posted wait times, especially in the later hours. Actually, Universal does the same thing. half an hour before park clsoe, and 70 minutes is posted, but that just deters people from entering.

Of course, it also matters if the parks are offering their PM shows/fireworks. The PM shows/parades/fireworks draw most people out of the ride queues.

Currently, I think Hs has been busy before 2pm, but not at all busy late in the day. There just isn't much reason to stay late in HS. The only reason to stay late was if you had a late BG or dinner ADR

And I bet few people were making dinner ADR's in HS.

 

[doctornick]

But you're going to approach the upper limit of people's willingness to wait no matter what alternative queue you offer.

If you're a random guest walking by a ride and you see a 60 minute standby line, you don't care if it's 2,000 people in front of you loading at 2,000 people per hour or 500 people in front of you loading at 500 people per hour while a virtual queue uses up the other 75% of the capacity. If you're willing to wait an hour, you're willing to wait an hour. If you're willing to wait three hours, you're willing to wait three hours.

That's why "FastPass increased wait times" is a myth. FastPass made the Standby line move slower, obviously, but it also reduced the number of people in the standby line.

If Space Mountain shows a 45 minute standby wait with FastPass running side-by-side, then *poof* FastPass disappears in an instant, initially the standby wait would fall because the line would start to move faster. But as soon as the sign out front refreshes to show a 20 minute standby wait, more people are going to pile into the standby line until it gets back up to 45 minutes because 45 minutes is the equilibrium queue tolerance for the guests in the park that day.

I don't disagree with anything you wrote. I'm talking more about on a guest satisfaction scale: once you are talking about 3 or 4 hour waits - I mean physically standing in line for that long to be able to ride - I view it as unreasonable and the park should be doing something to provide an alternative to manage that demand. It's just guest unfriendly to have people waiting for so long and I believe that some sort of virtual queue makes sense. I don't have a problem is guests returning for a virtual queue then have a 30 or 60 minute wait; my concern is to eliminate the entire "wait around in a line for half the day" phenomena which is terrible for everyone.

To me, the better question is, how do we make a virtual queue work best than just scrapping the entire idea for a virtual queue.

 

[JMcMahonEsq]

Of the eight expected IAS attractions (Mine Train, Space, Rat, Test Track, Rise, Slinky, FoP, and Safari), I think only Rise and Rat will see meaningful uptake (at meaningful price points) to generate significant numbers for Disney. I just don't see anyone saying "yep, I'll pay $15 per person to skip a 45 minute wait at Space Mountain, which I've been riding since 1975," especially when Splash, Thunder, Pirates, Mansion, and Peter Pan are included in their $15 Genie+ purchase.

IAS feels like an afterthought. Genie+ will be the cash cow, because the uptake will be huge.

I think the bolded part of your quote is an assumption that I think negates some of your thoughts on money generation. Sure for those people that have been going to Disney for 40+ years, or who are AP holders, they might only pay the $15 bucks for the brand new rides. However, in addition to the people whose disposable income would allow them to splurge on multiple $15 rides ( come to mind for this) there are a significant portion of people who's trips to Disney are once in a lifetime events. For them, who have not gone on the rides before, and who are planning on going only once, adding in even an extra $300 for LL lines, knowing this is the only time they are going to be at WDW and they are not going to waste time in line or miss rides, is small price (percentage wise) to pay.

 

[MickeyLuv'r]

You can't design for the busiest days when the parks are busting at the seams to allow for this because you'd end up wasting a lot of money on capacity that is only needed a handful of days per year.

Well, they sorta can in the sense that theme parks can add what I call soft attractions on busy days.

These were things like an extra parade, dance party-type shows, extra character greets, and other stations. On busy weeks AK has little educational tables, where people can see tarantulas and other critters, or touch an animal skull. HS had special Star Wars events for the opening of the land: special merchandise, author book signings, etc. MK sometimes offers face painting over beyond Space Mtn. Epcot can always add Easter Egg and other scavenger hunts, extra food/merchandise booths....

Most don't cost much. They might not draw huge crowds, but they don't necessarily need to draw huge crowds. In some cases, a beer/wine company might even pay for the sponsorship opportunity of running a beer/wine stand in Epcot.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Not every ride can be built in a way to handle 3000 guest per hour or whatever. At some point, you have to make a decision whether you want to built the experience you are imagining or not. It's also quite possible/likely that a version of RotR that could accommodate more people would be an inferior product and not have as high demand (also would probably get criticism for not being a good enough ride).

I mean, it's not always a simple as "make capacity greater". There's not unlimited funding or land.

What “experience”? Like dinky dog or mine train? Or rat clones?

they just aren’t very good and Meeting the parks needs anymore.

If you want to build a $300 mil “hybrid trackless simulator” that can’t handle volume…fine

then you build another innings eater or two to blunt it.

but ya didn’t

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I think the bolded part of your quote is an assumption that I think negates some of your thoughts on money generation. Sure for those people that have been going to Disney for 40+ years, or who are AP holders, they might only pay the $15 bucks for the brand new rides. However, in addition to the people whose disposable income would allow them to splurge on multiple $15 rides (***** come to mind for this) there are a significant portion of people who's trips to Disney are once in a lifetime events. For them, who have not gone on the rides before, and who are planning on going only once, adding in even an extra $300 for LL lines, knowing this is the only time they are going to be at WDW and they are not going to waste time in line or miss rides, is small price (percentage wise) to pay.

Statistically…the Number of “first timers” is small

Disney knows this…they created it - actually.

so how will they profit off this? Strangle the capacity and force people to commit in the moment to avoid frustration.

sounds like a solid business plan, huh?

 

[JMcMahonEsq]

and I that’s still the case…people don’t plan additional trips for new rides…they coming or they aren’t.

now…once they get there or in the run up…do they gravitate towards whatever is “new”? Yes.

That's totally not true. There are plenty of people that plan additional trips based on new Rides. We did so for RotR after being there in November 2019. Plenty of people who live in Florida, or in surrounding area, or are AP holders make added trips to park based upon new rides, or new fire work shows, ect.

 

[doctornick]

That's totally not true. There are plenty of people that plan additional trips based on new Rides. We did so for RotR after being there in November 2019. Plenty of people who live in Florida, or in surrounding area, or are AP holders make added trips to park based upon new rides, or new fire work shows, ect.

Yeah, I think one thing is that when new rides open that it encourages repeat visitors to potentially come more often. I mean, we just went and saw a bunch of stuff new to us in DHS but might go back sooner than we typically do since Rat/Tron/GOTG (and the new fireworks shows) are slated to open in the next year (we are typically about every 3 years, but might make it more like 2 years). I'm sure we are not alone in that when there is new stuff it encourages more frequent visits.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

What “experience”? Like dinky dog or mine train? Or rat clones?

they just aren’t very good and Meeting the parks needs anymore.

If you want to build a $300 mil “hybrid trackless simulator” that can’t handle volume…fine

then you build another innings eater or two to blunt it.

but ya didn’t

Are you on team "they're clueless about how their parks operate" or team "they did this on purpose to sell upcharges"?

 

[Andrew25]

There's no such thing because you're always going to have bottlenecks. If Hollywood Studios had 20 different omnimovers with the capacity of Haunted Mansion, they still only have one Rise of the Resistance and that's what everyone wants to ride.

Disney has a minor "total capacity" problem. They have a gigantic "distribution of demand" problem.

It's the problem horror nights has. Everyone wants to go to the popular IP houses (like Stranger Things), while a smaller few want to do the entire event. Most people who hit Horror Nights mostly do 5-6 houses, a few rides and call it a night.

If you didn't go on Pirates of the Caribbean or Haunted Mansion, did you really go to Disney World?

The problem is that Disney hasn't produced that many rides over the years to adjust with increased attendance, and the new rides are extremely low on capacity.

There's no reason why Animal Kingdom should only have 4 E-Tickets when they charge about the same for a day at Disneyland.
Epcot has great capacity rides, but the majority avoid them such as Living with the Land, Imagination, Nemo.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Are you on team "they're clueless about how their parks operate" or team "they did this on purpose to sell upcharges"?

In reality…it’s both

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

That's totally not true. There are plenty of people that plan additional trips based on new Rides. We did so for RotR after being there in November 2019. Plenty of people who live in Florida, or in surrounding area, or are AP holders make added trips to park based upon new rides, or new fire work shows, ect.

Florida, DVC and APs are largely going anyway in a short window…definitely the last two

the amount beyond those categories that would add on a whim is very small