Wait times do reflect attendance

[RSD Part Deux]

I have been at WDW the past month. I typically snowbird every year this time of year. The wait times have been really bad. However the parks are not overly busy. The reason for the disparity is the staffing. Things have been cut. For example POTC had. 45 minute wait the final two hours of the park hours. There was one staff member doing the load! He was working the line up, asking the amount of people in the parties, seating them, and sending the boats off. Needless to say the other side wasn’t even open already cutting capacity in half. Jungle Cruise: only had two boats going around. One train for the Railrod, etc. While normally the crowds would support “walk on” status, the staffing brought the wait times way too high. I saw this same pattern at KS, SM, IASW, Soarin, TS and many other rides. Same thing on the Monrail. Only 1 train for the resort loop. So don’t just look at the park wait times and think the park is busy. Staffing has been cut - majorly. I asked a CM supervisor and they told me they had a lot of people call in sick, quit, etc and there is a lot of turnaround. Might be just the PR spin.

 

[CoasterSnoop]

The awful flu season this year could also be playing a factor if CMs are calling in sick.

 

[drizgirl]

Acceptable wait times. Disney thinks that people year round at any time will accept wait times of X amount. Disney simply cuts staff and slows the rides down to match made up wait times. There will never be a time that you can walk on a bunch of rides. Disney saves some money on staff. Got to wring that last dollar out of the parks.

This is a big piece of why Disney was willing to throw all that money at MM+. It gives them the data they desired to staff down when they expect lower crowds.

 

[EOD K9]

I remember when I would travel solo around this time of year back in 2004, 05, 06 and Pirates was a walk on or 5 min wait. BTTMRR used to be about 10-15 min. I cant believe how much it has changed.

 

[RSD Part Deux]

This was Saturday wasnt it.

Yes and pretty much every other night too. However, Saturday was really bad.

 

[Weather_Lady]

I remember when I would travel solo around this time of year back in 2004, 05, 06 and Pirates was a walk on or 5 min wait. BTTMRR used to be about 10-15 min. I cant believe how much it has changed.

We visited over Easter break in 2005. Even then - during what must have been one of the busiest weeks of that year - we'd find that during morning EMH and even during certain parades, we could do just about any attraction with little-to-no-wait. During evening EMH at the Magic Kingdom, we spent the last hour literally walking on to every attraction in the park that we wanted. It seems like a dream now. Sadly, I don't think anyone will ever be able to do that again - at any park, hour, or time of year.

 

[Jeff456]

Yeah that was a bad night. 45 minute a piece to wait for Pirates and Jungle Cruise at 10:30 pm.

I just ended up doing tree house, belles show, tea cups and carousel of progress, lol and called it a night to beat the closing crowd.

Even people mover was a 40 minute wait.

Wow 40 minute wait for the TTA, that's bad!

 

[Captain Barbossa]

I remember when I would travel solo around this time of year back in 2004, 05, 06 and Pirates was a walk on or 5 min wait. BTTMRR used to be about 10-15 min. I cant believe how much it has changed.

I remember and miss those days too

 

[Captain Barbossa]

One train for the Railrod,

What time of day was it?

 

[kelknight84]

I was quite intrigued the other day in the Peter Pan line where they let too many fast pass through and I was stopped by the cast member computer so I took a look. It said posted wait time for standby was 60 minutes and then under that it said actual standby wait time was 12 minutes. I knew they inflated and messed with times but wow what a difference.

 

[drizgirl]

I was quite intrigued the other day in the Peter Pan line where they let too many fast pass through and I was stopped by the cast member computer so I took a look. It said posted wait time for standby was 60 minutes and then under that it said actual standby wait time was 12 minutes. I knew they inflated and messed with times but wow what a difference.

It helps if you look at posted wait time as a tool to control influx of new guests in the standby line as opposed to ...... well....... the actual wait time.

 

[RSD Part Deux]

What time of day was it?

Can’t remember exactly but it was in the late afternoon, early evening. I asked the cast member why it was taking so long for a train to come and he told me they only run one train at this time. As a result they hold train at the station for a much longer time giving people a chance to board.

And yes People Mover had a 35 minute wait. I was super ed to line up for Space Mountain for an hour to discover they only had one side loading.

 

[Captain Barbossa]

Can’t remember exactly but it was in the late afternoon, early evening. I asked the cast member why it was taking so long for a train to come and he told me they only run one train at this time. As a result they hold train at the station for a much longer time giving people a chance to board.

During this time of the year, they sometimes put the locomotives up early. Assuming that they were running two, which is normal operation, they could of already taken one back to the roundhouse.

 

[The_Jobu]

Predictive staffing got you down?

Just pay more than a day's ticket for 3 hours. You don't get all the rides but you get ice cream!

 

[jimbojones]

Can’t remember exactly but it was in the late afternoon, early evening. I asked the cast member why it was taking so long for a train to come and he told me they only run one train at this time. As a result they hold train at the station for a much longer time giving people a chance to board.

And yes People Mover had a 35 minute wait. I was super ****ed to line up for Space Mountain for an hour to discover they only had one side loading.

I have not been to wdw now in a bit over 2 years and the idea of a 35 minute wait, actually any wait for the people mover just blows my mind! I am really nervous about crowd levels when I go back this August. From what I am reading on these boards about recent crowds I am preparing myself for what might end up being my last visit.

 

[Andrew Appleby]

I have not been to wdw now in a bit over 2 years and the idea of a 35 minute wait, actually any wait for the people mover just blows my mind! I am really nervous about crowd levels when I go back this August. From what I am reading on these boards about recent crowds I am preparing myself for what might end up being my last visit.

We're also there in August (last 2 weeks) and i'm super nervous about crowd/wait times as we have our children with us for their first visit.

 

[jimbojones]

We're also there in August (last 2 weeks) and i'm super nervous about crowd/wait times as we have our children with us for their first visit.

In the past late August was hot but with reasonable crowds, I was there mid to late August in 2015 and although it took some strategy the crowds were manageable. I won't wait more than about 30 minutes for any ride and we were able to do everything we wanted back then without breaking that barrier. Of course our key strategy is to get to each park before opening, most folks don't like to get up early when they are on vacation, hopefully that still works, fingers crossed for both our sake!

 

[Andrew Appleby]

In the past late August was hot but with reasonable crowds, I was there mid to late August in 2015 and although it took some strategy the crowds were manageable. I won't wait more than about 30 minutes for any ride and we were able to do everything we wanted back then without breaking that barrier. Of course our key strategy is to get to each park before opening, most folks don't like to get up early when they are on vacation, hopefully that still works, fingers crossed for both our sake!

Indeed lets hope it does. Thankfully we have 14 days so should tick off most things but we will be planning as much as we can. We'll do rope drop arrivals where possible but with UK time difference and 5 and 6 year olds it could be hard doing it daily.

 

[lentesta]

For what it's worth, we're leaning towards capacity cuts as the primary reason for higher than expected wait times too.

It's not international travel, which is down 4% overall (and ~15% for Brazil in particular).

It's not increased attendance, because that wouldn't be enough to explain the 15-20% increase in wait times.

The economy and consumer confidence are definitely helping. I just don't think those are the primary drivers.

 

[RSD Part Deux]

I have not been to wdw now in a bit over 2 years and the idea of a 35 minute wait, actually any wait for the people mover just blows my mind! I am really nervous about crowd levels when I go back this August. From what I am reading on these boards about recent crowds I am preparing myself for what might end up being my last visit.

You have nothing to worry about for crowd levels. They are totally manageable. It’s the low staffing you are going to have to battle.