Statements about WDW that grind your gears

[Tinkwings]

The one that gets me now that I am 19 is that I am getting too old to be this obsessed still over Disney. I hear it all the time that Disney is for little kids and , "I can't believe you are going to Disney again, why don't you wait until you have a little kid of you own to take." Well it is because I enjoy it myself and I love to go and have fun there, that's why.

Ha yes......and I didn't get to go until I was like 29 and fell in love......been many times and it's still my favorite vacation destination!!! Kids or no kids in tow.....

 

[Pepper's Ghost]

"Without FP+, we'd have to stand in 2hr long standby lines. That's for suckers."

This is inherently incorrect. Before FP existed, lines were frequently 30 mins long or less. Yes, attendance has gone up, but FP+ is the cause of 2hr standby lines.

If you did away with FP+, lines would be 45 mins or less. Making restaurant reservations a half year in advance (or whatever), and FP+ 3 months in advance has ruined the entire experience. Who wants to do an intensive homework assignment mapping out every minute of every day before vacation. It sucks. I haven't been to WDW since because I don't care to do the excessive planning it requires to have a decent time. Not even a great time... a decent time. Disney is picking winners and losers with the excessive planning. If you're ridiculously organized and super tech savvy, you'll have yourself an ultra-organized and I suppose good time at WDW. If not, you leave there feeling gypped and frustrated. And the annoyance isn't restricted to just 3 or 6 months ahead. When you're there it'd have to be annoying to know our FPs today are at AK... "but daddy, I wanna go to MK today!!!"

And gone are the days of... "HEY, I've got a slow work week in three weeks!!! Let's go to WDW!!!" If you don't know you're going 6 months in advance, no point of going at all. Disney really screwed the pooch when they put in FP+.

Okay, pull the pin, and throw the grenade! lol

 

[UNCgolf]

"Without FP+, we'd have to stand in 2hr long standby lines. That's for suckers."

This is inherently incorrect. Before FP existed, lines were frequently 30 mins long or less. Yes, attendance has gone up, but FP+ is the cause of 2hr standby lines.

If you did away with FP+, lines would be 45 mins or less. Making restaurant reservations a half year in advance (or whatever), and FP+ 3 months in advance has ruined the entire experience. Who wants to do an intensive homework assignment mapping out every minute of every day before vacation. It sucks. I haven't been to WDW since because I don't care to do the excessive planning it requires to have a decent time. Not even a great time... a decent time. Disney is picking winners and losers with the excessive planning. If you're ridiculously organized and super tech savvy, you'll have yourself an ultra-organized and I suppose good time at WDW. If not, you leave there feeling gypped and frustrated. And the annoyance isn't restricted to just 3 or 6 months ahead. When you're there it'd have to be annoying to know our FPs today are at AK... "but daddy, I wanna go to MK today!!!"

And gone are the days of... "HEY, I've got a slow work week in three weeks!!! Let's go to WDW!!!" If you don't know you're going 6 months in advance, no point of going at all. Disney really screwed the pooch when they put in FP+.

Okay, pull the pin, and throw the grenade! lol

I am totally in favor of dumping FP+ and agree it artificially increases standby times. I think your wait time estimates are overly optimistic, though -- you'd see longer waits than that at some attractions. There are too many attractions that don't have enough capacity for the increase in attendance. Rides like Flight of Passage would almost definitely still have waits well over an hour and maybe up to 2+ during really busy periods. There aren't as many omnimover and other high capacity attractions at WDW as there were 25+ years ago.

 

["El Gran Magnifico"]

Walt Disney is frozen and his body is in a cryonic chamber either here in the Magic Kingdom or in Disneyland.

To which (sometimes) I'll chime in with: "It was, but they recently moved it to EPCOT near the Frozen ride. It's actually underneath the new building where the Anna and Elsa Meet and Greet is held."

 

[Pepper's Ghost]

I am totally in favor of dumping FP+ and agree it artificially increases standby times. I think your wait time estimates are overly optimistic, though -- you'd see longer waits than that at some attractions. There are too many attractions that don't have enough capacity for the increase in attendance. Rides like Flight of Passage would almost definitely still have waits well over an hour and maybe up to 2+ during really busy periods. There aren't as many omnimover and other high capacity attractions at WDW as there were 25+ years ago.

I'm with you. Based on my last experience, for example the HM, they would let in 10 FP for every 2 standby line. Strictly an estimate, but it's pretty close. Figure without FP you would let in 12 people from standby. That's 6 times as many people, so figure divide the wait time by 6. I'm being even more conservative than that by dividing by less than 4. All estimates of course, but still.

 

[NelleBelle]

FP+ and the 6 mo planning of dining is why we started doing DLR instead of WDW (plus it’s closer being on the west coast for us). Even during DLR’s “busy” times, we can still ride stand-by and manage to ride plenty without FP or Maxpass. Most places don’t require reservations to eat at either! Love it!

 

[Pepper's Ghost]

I'm not going to argue that Epcot doesn't need some work (which it appears to be getting now), but too many people seem to think that Epcot version 1.0 could have lasted forever. It was great for its time, but that time has long passed.

While, I don't disagree, I don't get why Disney "fixes" things that ain't broke.

Soarin' Over CA was so far superior to the now Soarin' OtW. Why change it? So it fits the idea of the World Showcase better? Who cares. I could see if the ride wasn't insanely popular which it was with ridiculous wait times, and FPs gone in mins. Why change something that's so popular even if it fits the park less than the new version. How many rides get cheers at the end of every ride? Not many. So dumb.

The Test Track change I understand a bit more because of the sponsorship "change", but I HATE the Tronified version. So terrible. It was far more enjoyable and a cohesive story before with the hot and cold environment tests., the braking in a curve test, the crash test... it was just more fun. Now it doesn't make sense IMO. You go from Tron and then when you go for the speed test the road looks old fashioned exactly how it was before. How does that make sense? And honestly who cares if it didn't "fit" in Future World as it seems they probably thought. Does Rock N' Rollercoaster really fit HS that well? It's not Hollywood. Hollywood is about the movie industry, and RnR is about the music industry. Don't get me wrong, like most that's one of my faves in the park, but it doesn't always have to make complete sense. Sh*t, I shouldn't have said anything. Now they'll "fix" that ride too with a retheme. Wait, what am I talking about. Disney doesn't listen to their fans/customers!

I guess this relates kinda to the thought that WDW isn't a museum. Well, it's not, but why change things that are extremely popular (and also not offensive to anyone btw) when there's SO much other stuff that needs improving or repair. Is leadership really that incompetent, or just stupid?

FP+ and the 6 mo planning of dining is why we started doing DLR instead of WDW (plus it’s closer being on the west coast for us). Even during DLR’s “busy” times, we can still ride stand-by and manage to ride plenty without FP or Maxpass. Most places don’t require reservations to eat at either! Love it!

This is something to ponder. I'm inexplicably emotionally tied to WDW, but maybe DLR is an alternative until WDW fixes their FP problem. Or maybe I just continue to boycott Disney altogether. In 12 years I've been to WDW exactly ONE day because of the FP+ change. It's just not fun to vacation there anymore due to the required intense homework assignment required to experience even a little of the parks now. It's not that I don't have the funds for vacation. I'd just rather go on a relaxing and fun vacation... book a flight, book a room, and go.

 

[lazyboy97o]

I am totally in favor of dumping FP+ and agree it artificially increases standby times. I think your wait time estimates are overly optimistic, though -- you'd see longer waits than that at some attractions. There are too many attractions that don't have enough capacity for the increase in attendance. Rides like Flight of Passage would almost definitely still have waits well over an hour and maybe up to 2+ during really busy periods. There aren't as many omnimover and other high capacity attractions at WDW as there were 25+ years ago.

I'm with you. Based on my last experience, for example the HM, they would let in 10 FP for every 2 standby line. Strictly an estimate, but it's pretty close. Figure without FP you would let in 12 people from standby. That's 6 times as many people, so figure divide the wait time by 6. I'm being even more conservative than that by dividing by less than 4. All estimates of course, but still.

Just doing away with FastPass+ won't fix anything, it would just highlight the underlying issue that the parks intentionally lack capacity. The capacity of an attraction does not change, just how it is perceived along with the park. What would immediately improve is crowding as people could no longer effectively occupy two spaces at once, in a queue as a sort of virtual person and somewhere else like another attraction, a restaurant, shop or just out in the walkways.

 

[UNCgolf]

Just doing away with FastPass+ won't fix anything, it would just highlight the underlying issue that the parks intentionally lack capacity. The capacity of an attraction does not change, just how it is perceived along with the park. What would immediately improve is crowding as people could no longer effectively occupy two spaces at once, in a queue as a sort of virtual person and somewhere else like another attraction, a restaurant, shop or just out in the walkways.

Exactly.

The standby lines would also move faster/more regularly, which is a more pleasant experience than shuffling forward then standing still for a couple of minutes before shuffling forward again. But many attractions would still have long waits due to both the lack of hourly capacity for the ride itself and a lack of capacity overall.

 

[Pepper's Ghost]

Just doing away with FastPass+ won't fix anything, it would just highlight the underlying issue that the parks intentionally lack capacity. The capacity of an attraction does not change, just how it is perceived along with the park. What would immediately improve is crowding as people could no longer effectively occupy two spaces at once, in a queue as a sort of virtual person and somewhere else like another attraction, a restaurant, shop or just out in the walkways.

I respectfully disagree. It TREMENDOUSLY improves the experience of everyone since they don't have to plan every minute of every day months in advance, and then have to live their vacation like rushing to multiple job interviews at different rides or parks. The FP+ system puts way too much pressure on the experience which makes it inherently less enjoyable for vacationers.

Additionally, if I no longer have to book appointments for my favorite rides to get on in 4 mins, and then wait in 2 hr long standby for other rides, I can average out my wait times so it's only 30-45 mins for each ride. Sure, I don't walk right on to a couple rides every day, but then I also don't wait hours in other queues getting slightly resentful of those who were lucky enough to win the FP lottery 3 months ago. The system is stupid as sh*t. Anyone out there remember when you used to walk past a ride, and say "HEY! A 20 min wait for Pirates! Let's go!!" That doesn't happen anymore because FP+ has made it so there is always a long standby line.

That said, I absolutely agree that the parks don't have enough attractions to eat up crowds. They need more shows and rides. They need to expand the parks beyond their current borders which can absolutely be done, but scrapping FP+ would be an immediate improvement of the overall experience while they try to expand capacity which I think we all know they aren't doing.

 

[lazyboy97o]

I respectfully disagree. It TREMENDOUSLY improves the experience of everyone since they don't have to plan every minute of every day months in advance, and then have to live their vacation like rushing to multiple job interviews at different rides or parks. The FP+ system puts way too much pressure on the experience which makes it inherently less enjoyable for vacationers.

Additionally, if I no longer have to book appointments for my favorite rides to get on in 4 mins, and then wait in 2 hr long standby for other rides, I can average out my wait times so it's only 30-45 mins for each ride. Sure, I don't walk right on to a couple rides every day, but then I also don't wait hours in other queues getting slightly resentful of those who were lucky enough to win the FP lottery 3 months ago. The system is stupid as sh*t. Anyone out there remember when you used to walk past a ride, and say "HEY! A 20 min wait for Pirates! Let's go!!" That doesn't happen anymore because FP+ has made it so there is always a long standby line.

That said, I absolutely agree that the parks don't have enough attractions to eat up crowds. They need more shows and rides. They need to expand the parks beyond their current borders which can absolutely be done, but scrapping FP+ would be an immediate improvement of the overall experience while they try to expand capacity which I think we all know they aren't doing.

You’re wait can’t average out. You can only get 30 - 45 minute waits if the park is designed to provide guests with 1.5 - 2 attractions per guest per hour (industry standard). The Disney parks have effectively conditioned many people to accept one or fewer attractions per guest per hour and have based capacity around that goal of lower attractions per hour. FastPass is a means for getting people to tolerate that reduced offering but it does not actually reduce that overall capacity. You’ll get some small gains from people being unable to be at two attractions at once but not near enough to dramatically improve wait times.