Park pass is no longer anything to do with COVID, but part of labor and cost control measures. It is now a permanent fixture so don't expect to see it go away.
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News Walt Disney World says goodbye to the final remnants of its COVID-19 safety protocols
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Disstevefan1
Well-Known Member
Park Pass Reservations unfortunately is the new normal
Used to be a COVID protocol. Thanks to Disney's MAGIC, it's now a staffing management tool.
Disstevefan1
Well-Known Member
Well, the park pass reservation system is/was ALLWAYS created ONLY as staffing management tool, but TWDC USED COVID as an excuse to launch this system.
An unfortunately it is here to stay. I personally hate it BTW.
Staffing mgt tool falls under something called efficiency which is key to running a business.
Disstevefan1
Well-Known Member
I still hate it.
Funny,
WDW ran fine for about 49 years without it.
DLR ran fine for about 66 years without it.
New guy running the company and has the full support of the Board which extended his contract .
Stepping over dollars to pick up pennies. So Bob.
If the consumer would start thinking with their head and voting with their wallet...
Whatever he did, impressed his bosses and he moved up the food chain to get the top job/ get contract extension .
Andrew C
You know what's funny?
They have too many people visiting and not enough capacity. It’s a problem they created themselves by poor choices over years.
Disstevefan1
Well-Known Member
They had too many people visiting and not enough capacity for literally decades and now they suddenly see the need for park pass reservations, oh wait that was for COVID, but wait, COVID is over and we still have park pass reservations.
I guess you could say better late than never.
I say it’s worse than ever and we have park pass reservations.
Ayla
Well-Known Member
No, trams are not back at all parks.
My post does not say they are. A case for the oxford comma perhaps, is a list of until.
Ayla
Well-Known Member
Actually, it does.
disneyfireman
Well-Known Member
I just got back. There is hardly anyone that is cast members wearing masks. Like maybe one out of 500. Literally almost zero. As for guests. Same things. Hardly anyone is anymore. At some point. There will be none. That’s pretty soon. I would assume they’ll be pressure to. As there should be. Anyone wearing a mask. Whether is a CM or a guest is an outlier. You’ll see more unicorns.
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disneyfireman
Well-Known Member
Agreed. It’s stupid that’s it’s there. It was stupid from the start.
Wow, lots to address here.
1. Before the pandemic, Iger recognized that guest enjoyment of the parks were measurably lower (GSATS) when it was overcrowded. That hurt the brand. People can't pay for overpriced meals if all the restaurants are already full. They're just standing there trying to find food at QS's that don't have a 30 minute line. They leave, and they don't come back. This hurts "the brand" and "the brand" is Disney's most valuable asset. It makes people pay extra not only for really good services and goods... but they'll also give Disney a pass and pay extra for stuff that's only 'meh.'
2. So, Disney had been looking for ways to reduce peak attendance and bring in more people to the 'off times' so that the parks would be constantly and comfortably full for maximum profit.
3. So, Disney kept raising prices while offering discounts to the dead-times, to even out the highs and lows. The holiday parties in the Fall were to entice more people to those previous dead times, and that worked tremendously.
4. And yet, park overcrowding still happened, especially at MK. They were a victim of their own success. And so, let's make this clear: IT WASN'T WORKING PERFECTLY LIKE YOU CLAIM IT WAS. At least, not in the past decade. Millions more people were crowding into WDW year after year and it seemed no matter how much Disney jacked up the prices way above inflation and the cost of living, more and more people attended WDW every year. This is what happens when anyone with a ticket or AP can show up whenever they want, and they all show up on the same weekend and holiday days creating a very unpleasant overcrowding situation. It wasn't working.
5. Park reservations was the obvious answer, but, it was also the nuclear option, since guests would hate the restrictions it imposed. Something which I kept on saying on these forums for years before the pandemic.
6. When the pandemic hit, do you remember "six foot distancing"? You can't let the usual 50,000 people enter the MK and maintain six foot distancing. On top of that, the governments weren't letting large entertainment venues operate at full capacity and limited them to just 10% or 25% or 50% of normal. But, when Disney sells "any time tickets" and has tons of AP holders, how do they limit attendance? With park reservations. The pandemic pretty much forced them to limit capacity.
7. So, how do you limit capacity? Well, on Christmas or New Years Day, you can just turn people away at the tapstile and tell them you're full because there's an hour line to use the restrooms, like WDW has done in the past. (See, it didn't always work in the past). Or, you can make people make reservations so you never get to that level of attendance that overwhelms the facilities and your staffing.
8. So, yes, park reservations, which was always an option, but a nuclear one, was the only real solution, due to severe capacity reductions imposed by the pandemic.
9. And yes, of course they're keeping it. And I understand the hate for it. I struggled with it on my visits in December and May. But, it's the only solution that will work to keep capacity from overwhelming staffing (and there is still a labor shortage despite some peoples' disbelief). The only other solution is to keep raising prices dramatically until they find the tipping point at which people won't pay... and apparently, it's much, much higher than anyone thought it would be.
I understand you want to go the MK anytime you want. But so do 21 million other people. And letting them all chose whatever day they want is just crazy. There will be days that just too many show up. What do you do, let in 90,000 people into the MK to live in 2 hour long lines and scrambling to find something to eat in 40 minute lines?
[And yes, Disney's fault for not increasing capacity, but what if consumer demand constantly outstripped increased capacity?]
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disneyfireman
Well-Known Member
I love genie plus. We just went July 23-30. It worked perfectly. I don’t find it complicated. Not sure why some do. It works as it should. No issues. As for park reservations. They are here forever.
Disstevefan1
Well-Known Member
Well said.
I have some comments.
I never said the parks were WORKING PERFECTLY.
All I said was both DLR and WDW "ran fine" without park pass reservations for decades and its now TWDC chose to implement park pass reservations.
Letting folks choose whatever day they want to the park wasn't considered "crazy" until now.
Universal/IOA, SeaWorld still don't think it's crazy.
Vegas Disney Fan
Well-Known Member
This gives me hope, the problem in DL is it’s often oversold so the Genie lines just become the new standby lines (30+ minute wait) while the standby lines become longer than they’ve ever been (hour or more for rides that were 30 minutes prior to Genie+ and 2 hours or more for headliners that used to be an hour prior to Genie+).
The other problem is Fastpass lines weren’t designed for so many people so the Genie+ lines often extend into the walkways, this creates congestion problems just trying to get around the Genie lines.
It’s not that it’s hard to use, it’s just a horrible system when it’s oversold.
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