I can’t believe what’s happened to this place.
I've given myself time to cool down and get perspective on what was a surprisingly negative experience at WDW. It was so different from when I was there with my family in 2015 that I felt compelled to post about it. And to send a warning to parents who may not know about the "FastPass" system the park has.
Parents with small kids - read and take heed.
in 2015 my wife and 3 kids (all under 13) had a wonderful time at the park, even without using the FastPass feature. Yes, we waited for the major attractions like everyone else and saw a small group of FastPass users go in front of us from time to time. I opted not to use this feature because as you parents know, trying to plan a day with kids that age is a chore at best.
Last week (July 12, 2019) we went back and I was stunned at how different things were.
For starters it took an entire hour from the time we parked to get into the park. The outside ticket queue was very long and not all of the ticket windows were open. It was brutally hot and as we stood there people around us began to get dizzy and show the effects of standing in line for so long. One poor little girl got violently ill in line and it took a good 12 minutes or so for a staffer to clean it up.
Inside the park our experience went from bad to worse.
It became clear that Cast Members were operating under instructions to do everything they could to move FastPass holders through the lines quickly and ignore the huge number of "Standby" guests. "Standby" is just that now – you will stand by and watch dozens of people drift by as you stand still for 15 minutes or more at a stretch. At the Buzz Lightyear ride, I watched a CM let 72 FastPass people go by without letting a single Standby person in. When I asked what ratio he was using (he had a hand-counter) he said 10-1. Let that sink in for a minute... ten-to-one. And they would wait for FastPass guests too. At times the FastPass side of the queue would be completely empty for 5-7 minutes and still they would not allow any Standbys to pass.
Wait times became excruciating as the day progressed, reaching a conclusion at Space Mountain. One entire half of the final queue was 90% empty with the other completely full (pics below). When I asked a CM why the very long waits between Standbys being let through, he said "we're waiting for any FastPass holders that might come through.” I asked him what the ratio was supposed to be. He said "I'm not supposed to tell you that.. I can't give you that information.”
I kid you not, a Disney (Disney!) Cast Member gave me the Need-To-Know-Basis line.
After researching it a bit (because I had a lot of time on my hands in line) I discovered Disney gives first dibs on these to Disney Resort guests first – sometimes as much as 60 days in advance. It funnels down from there.
I don't fault the CMs. They’re just following direction and seems they have it hard enough if Abigail Disney's recent trip is any indication. And I don’t have any ill-will toward the FastPass users - hey it’s not their fault the park has changed up it’s crowd-control (let’s be honest: tracking) measures to completely favor them at the expense of everyone else.
Through the day I tried my best not to let it all get to me in the moment so it wouldn’t rub off on the kids. I wanted them to have positive memories despite the caste system we’d found ourselves at the bottom of in The Happiest Place On Earth.
I get it – Disney wants to "Maximize Customer Value" which is marketing jargon for getting guests to spend as much as possible at every turn through any means necessary.
But the effect, the experience in the “Magic” kingdom left me feeling like a swindled second-class citizen as I got on the monorail at the end of the day. A have-not in a place that’s charged me $117 a ticket to spend most of the day in line and fork-over $4.00 for a Coke. No FastPass? Sorry - you should have thought of that weeks ago or booked a room at one of our resorts for $500 a night. Now get in line chump.
The Mouse is still doing his best to cast a magical spell on it’s guests.
But these days it’s not your heart he wants to win over.
It’s your wallet.
I've given myself time to cool down and get perspective on what was a surprisingly negative experience at WDW. It was so different from when I was there with my family in 2015 that I felt compelled to post about it. And to send a warning to parents who may not know about the "FastPass" system the park has.
Parents with small kids - read and take heed.
in 2015 my wife and 3 kids (all under 13) had a wonderful time at the park, even without using the FastPass feature. Yes, we waited for the major attractions like everyone else and saw a small group of FastPass users go in front of us from time to time. I opted not to use this feature because as you parents know, trying to plan a day with kids that age is a chore at best.
Last week (July 12, 2019) we went back and I was stunned at how different things were.
For starters it took an entire hour from the time we parked to get into the park. The outside ticket queue was very long and not all of the ticket windows were open. It was brutally hot and as we stood there people around us began to get dizzy and show the effects of standing in line for so long. One poor little girl got violently ill in line and it took a good 12 minutes or so for a staffer to clean it up.
Inside the park our experience went from bad to worse.
It became clear that Cast Members were operating under instructions to do everything they could to move FastPass holders through the lines quickly and ignore the huge number of "Standby" guests. "Standby" is just that now – you will stand by and watch dozens of people drift by as you stand still for 15 minutes or more at a stretch. At the Buzz Lightyear ride, I watched a CM let 72 FastPass people go by without letting a single Standby person in. When I asked what ratio he was using (he had a hand-counter) he said 10-1. Let that sink in for a minute... ten-to-one. And they would wait for FastPass guests too. At times the FastPass side of the queue would be completely empty for 5-7 minutes and still they would not allow any Standbys to pass.
Wait times became excruciating as the day progressed, reaching a conclusion at Space Mountain. One entire half of the final queue was 90% empty with the other completely full (pics below). When I asked a CM why the very long waits between Standbys being let through, he said "we're waiting for any FastPass holders that might come through.” I asked him what the ratio was supposed to be. He said "I'm not supposed to tell you that.. I can't give you that information.”
I kid you not, a Disney (Disney!) Cast Member gave me the Need-To-Know-Basis line.
After researching it a bit (because I had a lot of time on my hands in line) I discovered Disney gives first dibs on these to Disney Resort guests first – sometimes as much as 60 days in advance. It funnels down from there.
I don't fault the CMs. They’re just following direction and seems they have it hard enough if Abigail Disney's recent trip is any indication. And I don’t have any ill-will toward the FastPass users - hey it’s not their fault the park has changed up it’s crowd-control (let’s be honest: tracking) measures to completely favor them at the expense of everyone else.
Through the day I tried my best not to let it all get to me in the moment so it wouldn’t rub off on the kids. I wanted them to have positive memories despite the caste system we’d found ourselves at the bottom of in The Happiest Place On Earth.
I get it – Disney wants to "Maximize Customer Value" which is marketing jargon for getting guests to spend as much as possible at every turn through any means necessary.
But the effect, the experience in the “Magic” kingdom left me feeling like a swindled second-class citizen as I got on the monorail at the end of the day. A have-not in a place that’s charged me $117 a ticket to spend most of the day in line and fork-over $4.00 for a Coke. No FastPass? Sorry - you should have thought of that weeks ago or booked a room at one of our resorts for $500 a night. Now get in line chump.
The Mouse is still doing his best to cast a magical spell on it’s guests.
But these days it’s not your heart he wants to win over.
It’s your wallet.
