News Walt Disney World theme parks increase capacity but see longer waits and less physical distancing

[DVCakaCarlF]

In addition to WDW twice this summer, I’ve been to a number of other “outdoor” type attractions locally such as apple picking farms, outdoor zoos, etc, and they are all slammed.

People, families with kids, couples, etc are all looking for an “escape” from the daily quarantine. They cannot stand to be in the same house anymore, and, from what I have seen, this points straight to that. I’m going to bet that as soon as the cruise lines are allowed to sail, the first ships will be at capacity.



That all being said, for a recession, I don’t know where the money is coming from.

 

[DVCakaCarlF]

I would also say that it’s only busy compared to how slow/closed it was recently. The same effect happened from the prior recession. Places that employed 28 people, went to 7, and those 7 were always “slammed.” With 28,000 less staff, vendors, etc, it’s going to seem “busy.” A better indicator of head count will be the hotel bookings, and with resorts staying closed, you can bet the numbers are way down.

 

[StevenVillager]

I was at Hollywood Studios Thursday and here’s the parking lot at noon. In one day we rode MMRR, Smugglers Run (they sent us around twice) slinky Dog, Star Tours Alien Saucers, saw Mulan preview, and the Muppets. A parade, shops, and rode the sky liner over to Rivera and back for a great lunch. All of this with an 80 year old. So, I believe we did way more that we could have with fast pass. the best part, eveyone was calm. We left 2 hours before closing

 

[marni1971]

So Disney quietly upped capacity without letting the customer know. This seems like it would be the opposite of transparency and safety

Only by a small amount in certain parks. DHS for example has not increased.
As I understand things.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Btw, Thursday we were surprised how happy the CMs seemed, especially greeters, security, etc. and we actually saw a group being trained in Epcot.

 

[Unbanshee]

Only by a small amount in certain parks. DHS for example has not increased.

Ok, thank you. The title of the thread made it sound like much more than it apparently(?) is

 

[phillip9698]

The entire draw of even going at this time was supposed to be the short waits. No way im waiting in normal Disney lines and not have all the other attractions (fireworks, parades, M&Gs) going as well.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

Ok, thank you. The title of the thread made it sound like much more than it apparently(?) is

As did the article posted by the site owner who has actually been in the wdw parks.

 

[FeelsSoGoodToBeBad]

I wish I knew what the crowd numbers and park capacity numbers were when we went several years ago; it felt quite crowded and not always pleasant, but we got to ride everything we wanted with no issues. Granted, this was about six months before TSL opened (and no SWGE, obviously), so that gives you an idea how long it has been. I would love to have something concrete to compare what the attendance was then vs now to. Looking at the video it doesn't appear nearly as crowded as when I last visited HS, but was the park at capacity when the video was made? How do we know unless the reservations were all taken for the day?

Blarg..... Dangit, Disney! I really don't want to have to cancel our trip next March!

 

[Eduardo Cz 1982]

DHS needs to reopen those shows and implement the ‘stand by pass’ as seen on other parks

 

[Dan Deesnee]

I should mention about the wait times. From our experience, they're inflated by 25-50%. We have ridden A LOT of rides this trip and haven't waited the posted wait time yet for anything. That might change, but that is our experience so far.

 

[danlb_2000]

I'm bummed about this. We had such a great time immediately after they opened in July and felt very safe. Now I'm worried that Disney is starting to drop the ball when it comes both to safety and experience, but on the upside I guess more guests means more Inclusion .

Yeah, I am sure people who went early on loved the light crowds, but there is no way Disney could continue to operate at those levels.

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

I was there last Saturday through yesterday. The parks are definitely more crowded than when they first opened. Most wait times were HIGHLY inflated. Splash showed a 45 minute wait but we walked right on. Space showed a 30 minute wait, again a walk on. We waited 90 mins in the noon sun for MMRR at DHS. As far as social distancing, people seemed to follow the rules about staying on the "please wait here" lines in the queues. Walking around though was another story. We saw people walking and eating / drinking but the cast members were very diligent in telling people to either stand to the side and finish up or to put on their mask if they wanted to keep walking. For the most part people obliged. There was one instance though when a man was in the FOP queue. A CM told him to put his mask on 3 times to which he replied "oh shut up!!"
We stayed at AKL and since only the DVC floor is open there, we always got on the first bus that arrived. It was a ghost town at the resort so I really have no idea how the other resorts looked at bus stops.

 

[CAV]

increased park capacity = longer waits and less physical distancing , am I missing something?

And they are increasing the size of the ups, but liquid ounces will increase.

 

[annsene]

I should mention about the wait times. From our experience, they're inflated by 25-50%. We have ridden A LOT of rides this trip and haven't waited the posted wait time yet for anything. That might change, but that is our experience so far.

Same here. I was at MK last Saturday where some waits were posted as 60 minutes and we were on in 20 minutes. Not sure how wait times are so far off. Lines are long due to physical distancing but keep moving for the most part and guests try to stay on the line markers.

 

[MaryJaneP]

let's see... hmmm...more people wanting to ride attractions, fixed sized of park, fixed number of attractions. Yeah, wait times up and less space between people. Seems to make sense. Dog bites man?

 

[GimpYancIent]

let's see... hmmm...more people wanting to ride attractions, fixed sized of park, fixed number of attractions. Yeah, wait times up and less space between people. Seems to make sense. Dog bites man?

Hey! How about more hours?

 

["El Gran Magnifico"]

That all being said, for a recession, I don’t know where the money is coming from.

Keep in mind that there haven't exactly been a plethora of options to spend expendable income on for about 6 months. This includes just regularly going to the local Fridays and dropping $70 - $100. I think there is a lot of cabin fever and for those lucky enough to not have been negatively impacted financially - They got some cash to burn (or maybe credit).

 

[donsullivan]

I was in Magic Kingdom this afternoon and after what I saw in a couple of areas, I will not likely be back there for some time unless I see a change in operating protocols. While it’s not clear that they have raised the reservation caps, they are clearly now approaching the caps in a way they had not been before. When you start looking at all of the queues with social distancing that spread well outside of buildings there are some significant issues that need some work for me personally to feel safe.

One example I saw twice this afternoon is the area between Small World and Peter Pan. Both queues had spread outside the building and were wrapped two layers deep along the full front of the attraction building. As a result, there is absolutely no social distancing in those lines with just ropes separating the two segments wrapped from the entrance of Peter Pan, all the way down to the bridge at Momento Mori <sp?>The result was a very narrow area in what is already a constriction point. Nobody kept to the right, people were just mashing their way through and pushing past others with zero regard for distancing of any kind. And there was not a single cast member anywhere doing anything to manage the crowd flow. They do a better job on NYE and things flow more smoothly.

I’m one who is okay being out in public while wearing masks, using a lot of hand sanitizer, etc.. but social distancing is extremely important to me. But the complete lack of crowd flow management in these already tight areas is more than I’m comfortable dealing with.

EDITED to temper my tone a little after thinking about it a little.

 

[DVCakaCarlF]

I was in Magic Kingdom this afternoon and after what I saw in a couple of areas, I will not likely be back there for some time. While it’s not clear that they have raised the reservation caps, they are clearly now approaching the caps in a way they had not been before. When you start looking at all of the queues with social distancing that spread well outside of buildings there are some significant issues.

One example I saw twice this afternoon is the area between Small World and Peter Pan. Both queues had spread outside the building and were wrapped two layers deep along the full front of the attraction building. The result was a very narrow area in what is already a constriction point. Nobody kept to the right, people were just mashing there way through and pushing past others with zero regard for distancing of any kind. And there was not a single cast member anywhere doing anything to manage the crowd flow. They do a better job on NYE and things flow more smoothly.

I’m one who is okay being out in public while wearing masks, using a lot of hand sanitizer, etc.. but social distancing is extremely important to me. But the complete lack of crowd flow management in these already tight areas is more than I’m comfortable dealing with.

It’s to be expected.