Walt Disney World Holiday Season 2024

[JohnD]

Morocco is a former colony of France. Makes total thematic sense.


<add sardonic comment about how busy or not busy WDW is>

Try explaining Candelight standby line in Morocco.

 

[erasure fan1]

This is one of those conspiracies that won’t die. Attractions don’t purposely decrease capacity to sell lightning lanes.

Call me a tin foil hat guy then. It's happened way too much for me to think it's not a thing. It's either happening or Disney management is terrible at running the parks. If it's not a thing, I be absolutely dumbfounded.

How many billions of reports do we need to see from regular people who say the "official" wait time was much longer than the real wait time?

Yea, it's hard for me to believe it's not a thing. I've experienced it on multiple trips. I have family members who have seen the same trend. If it was 5 or 10min I'd say ok, +/- a certain percentage, it can happen. But when it was almost every ride, and 15 to 30min off at a minimum, it makes you wonder. Only one ride my last trip was within 5min under. There's a big difference between an 1hr and 20min wait and a 50min wait psychologically.

 

[peter11435]

Call me a tin foil hat guy then. It's happened way too much for me to think it's not a thing. It's either happening or Disney management is terrible at running the parks. If it's not a thing, I be absolutely dumbfounded.

Yea, it's hard for me to believe it's not a thing. I've experienced it on multiple trips. I have family members who have seen the same trend. If it was 5 or 10min I'd say ok, +/- a certain percentage, it can happen. But when it was almost every ride, and 15 to 30min off at a minimum, it makes you wonder. Only one ride my last trip was within 5min under. There's a big difference between an 1hr and 20min wait and a 50min wait psychologically.

They absolutely do not reduce capacity to sell more LL. It’s not a thing.

 

[Cliff]

Call me a tin foil hat guy then. It's happened way too much for me to think it's not a thing. It's either happening or Disney management is terrible at running the parks. If it's not a thing, I be absolutely dumbfounded.

Yea, it's hard for me to believe it's not a thing. I've experienced it on multiple trips. I have family members who have seen the same trend. If it was 5 or 10min I'd say ok, +/- a certain percentage, it can happen. But when it was almost every ride, and 15 to 30min off at a minimum, it makes you wonder. Only one ride my last trip was within 5min under. There's a big difference between an 1hr and 20min wait and a 50min wait psychologically.

Yep,..I have two cast member friends that were told specifically under orders to NEVER tell a guest a "real" wait time. They were told to ONLY repeat the official posted time. If they are at the entrance and a guest says:

"Hi,..the official time says 65min,...but is that right?" The cast member will look back at the line and see it's 20 min from their excellent experience every day, and turn back to the guest and say: "Um,..yeah, [clears throat]...more or less?"

Burbank can try to fool the guests but they are also demanding that Cast Member's to get in on the game too.

I'd be fired right away if I was a Cast Member. If an official que time said 65min and I saw the "real" wait time was only 15min? I'd say: "Well?...from my experience, it's really only about 15min. If you are OK with that...you could save some money" Haha!

 

[James Alucobond]

I'd be fired right away if I was a Cast Member. If an official que time said 65min and I saw the "real" wait time was only 15min? I'd say: "Well?...from my experience, it's really only about 15min. If you are OK with that...you could save some money" Haha!

Hope you like having guests mad at you, dude. They wouldn't be pleased if your guesstimate were deeply inaccurate.

 

[peter11435]

Yep,..I have two cast member friends that were told specifically under orders to NEVER tell a guest a "real" wait time. They were told to ONLY repeat the official posted time. If they are at the entrance and a guest says:

"Hi,..the official time says 65min,...but is that right?" The cast member will look back at the line and see it's 20 min from their excellent experience every day, and turn back to the guest and say: "Um,..yeah, [clears throat]...more or less?"

Burbank can try to fool the guests but they are also demanding that Cast Member's to get in on the game too.

I'd be fired right away if I was a Cast Member. If an official que time said 65min and I saw the "real" wait time was only 15min? I'd say: "Well?...from my experience, it's really only about 15min. If you are OK with that...you could save some money" Haha!

This anecdote does not represent reality. The wait times being posted are not arriving from Burbank or some superior entity. The cast and coordinators at the attraction are the ones determining what is posted as the wait time. If they think it’s too high they have the power to have it lowered. It’s their job.

 

[HauntedPirate]

This anecdote does not represent reality. The wait times being posted are not arriving from Burbank or some superior entity. The cast and coordinators at the attraction are the ones determining what is posted as the wait time. If they think it’s too high they have the power to have it lowered. It’s their job.

Even someone as jaded with park direction as I am knows they aren't manipulating wait times or capacity (both of which would be recipes for disaster, at best, and lawsuits if proof ever got out). They just often aren't good at estimating. I would have to place a lot of that on unexpected downtime, DAS, and hiccups in ride ops. Maybe with the changes in DAS they may get better?

This goes back to the parks after the Covid shutdown - the wait times of the extended, social-distanced queues would often be wildly inaccurate (but, in fairness, sometimes dead-on accurate). My wife (who visited a few times because airfare was cheap and DVC availability was plentiful) could look at a line and tell you if the posted wait time was accurate or not based on her experience with those lines. And she was correct 95% of the time.

 

[DisneyFanatic12]

Yep,..I have two cast member friends that were told specifically under orders to NEVER tell a guest a "real" wait time. They were told to ONLY repeat the official posted time.

Has anyone argued that they don’t repeat the determined wait time?

 

[Chi84]

Has anyone argued that they don’t repeat the determined wait time?

Not that I’ve seen. All that would lead to is every guest annoying the CMs to no end.

 

[erasure fan1]

They absolutely do not reduce capacity to sell more LL. It’s not a thing.

I guess it's they suck at running the parks then?

This anecdote does not represent reality. The wait times being posted are not arriving from Burbank or some superior entity. The cast and coordinators at the attraction are the ones determining what is posted as the wait time. If they think it’s too high they have the power to have it lowered. It’s their job.

That's probably true, Burbank isn't mandating space mountain needs to have a 85min posted wait no matter the actual wait time. But they have every incentive to sell paid fastpass. And that's a very easy thing to manipulate. From cutting hours so there's less staff to running rides at less than full capacity... To just doing what just about EVERY corporation does that sells things. Make selling product X a priority, and then start holding people accountable for not hitting the numbers. It's amazing the things people will manipulate to keep their job. You see it all the time. The other thing that's a blatant manipulation is virtual queue. It's there for the sole purpose of selling LL for those rides that had it.

Now Disney might be completely on the up and up. But there's something really screwed up with how things work at the parks. So I might be tinfoil hat-ing, but if there's one thing I've learned in life, it's always follow the money. It rarely doesn't hold true.

 

[ToTBellHop]

WDW has done a lot in the past decade that I have strongly disagreed with and not liked. But they still dominate the industry as far as operating rides and attractions with efficiency. No other park or operator can even come close. The throughput of WDW rides and attractions is untouchable.

Will a posted wait time be elevated by 10-15 minutes to allow for an unexpected delay? Possibly. Are attractions being operated at a reduced capacity with fewer vehicles or ride units to create artificial demand with a longer, slower moving line? Absolutely not! There *are* park chains out there that do this. But not Disney.

I’ve always been told the elevated wait times, as you suggest, are due to the constant possibility of a delay. People are happy to wait in a shorter line than expected. They complain when the wait is longer.

Side note: DHS and Epcot were slammed today. Busiest I’ve seen them post-pandemic. But, we still managed plenty of rides.

Lots of breakdowns unfortunately. Rise at opening, Rat when we got in line, and GotG in the evening. You win some, you lose some. At least it was warm and sunny all afternoon!

 

[DCBaker]

Disney has added a new pop-up in the My Disney Experience app for New Year's Eve events:

Here's the New Year's Eve Fireworks addition to the schedule at Disney's Hollywood Studios at 11:57pm:

 

[monothingie]

They absolutely do not reduce capacity to sell more LL. It’s not a thing.

Now go over how CM are trained to proportion LL and Standby line guests at the merge point.

 

[bmr1591]

I don't understand why there is ANY debate about parks attendance declining. Burbank has explained this FACT to investors multiple times in SEC filings and quarterly's. I know it's hard for many fans here to accept this. Many seem to dismiss these people who state this fact as just "haters and liars" of some type. It seems that these same people think that even Burbank itself,...the only people with the actual numbers...are lying too!

Why would Burbank lie about parks attendance declining? They legally CAN'T do that to investors or the Securities and Exchange Commission. It's not something they "want" to say but they are FORCED to be honest about it to Wall Street.

I don't understand why there is soooo much fan resistance to this actual "fact".

Attendance can be down overall throughout the year and still be jam packed at certain portions. Saying Christmas is busier than ever (even if I disagree) doesn’t negate that other weeks are slower than normal.

They absolutely do not reduce capacity to sell more LL. It’s not a thing.

They certainly do. I’ve gone when they intentionally only had one theater running for FoP because attendance was lower that week. Went a few months later during a busier season and they had all four running. This obviously is only one ride and a unique one due to how it works and the CMs needed at each part of each theater, but it does happen. I doubt they pull a train out of Big Thunder during slower periods, but there are situations where capacity is intentionally lowered on some rides due to lower attendance, seemingly from a desire to sell LL during that time.

 

[Ayla]

Attendance can be down overall throughout the year and still be jam packed at certain portions. Saying Christmas is busier than ever (even if I disagree) doesn’t negate that other weeks are slower than normal.



They certainly do. I’ve gone when they intentionally only had one theater running for FoP because attendance was lower that week. Went a few months later during a busier season and they had all four running. This obviously is only one ride and a unique one due to how it works and the CMs needed at each part of each theater, but it does happen. I doubt they pull a train out of Big Thunder during slower periods, but there are situations where capacity is intentionally lowered on some rides due to lower attendance, seemingly from a desire to sell LL during that time.

We've ridden BTMRR many times when only one side was running. There are countless examples of lowered capacity through all 4 parks at one time or another.

 

[bwr827]

We've ridden BTMRR many times when only one side was running. There are countless examples of lowered capacity through all 4 parks at one time or another.

I don’t think that’s in question. It’s the intent behind staffing/capacity/estimates being argued — that it’s all intentional to sell more Lightning Lanes.

If I’m running a store and expecting a slow day, I’ll schedule fewer clerks.

 

[Jrb1979]

I don’t think that’s in question. It’s the intent behind staffing/capacity/estimates being argued — that it’s all intentional to sell more Lightning Lanes.

If I’m running a store and expecting a slow day, I’ll schedule fewer clerks.

For me I don't believe they do it on purpose to sell more LL. They just at bad at estimating times. For all the data they have they should be better at it.

 

[Starship824]

Disney has added a new pop-up in the My Disney Experience app for New Year's Eve events:

View attachment 833221

Here's the New Year's Eve Fireworks addition to the schedule at Disney's Hollywood Studios at 11:57pm:

View attachment 833219

When was the last time they actually advertised fireworks at DHS on NYE? I know they didn't last year. Could maybe this could be an indicator they want to bring fireworks back to DHS in general or am I reading into it too much?

 

[ToTBellHop]

For me I don't believe they do it on purpose to sell more LL. They just at bad at estimating times. For all the data they have they should be better at it.

And on those days when they are unexpectedly slammed, they call CMs to offer extra shifts, move cast around, and work to increase capacity as quickly as they can. They won’t purposely force a 70-minute wait at BTMRR all day.

 

[Jrb1979]

And on those days when they are unexpectedly slammed, they call CMs to offer extra shifts, move cast around, and work to increase capacity as quickly as they can. They won’t purposely force a 70-minute wait at BTMRR all day.

I'm not saying they purposely force waits at all. I'm saying for a company that relies on data as much as they do, they should be better at estimating wait times