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

["El Gran Magnifico"]

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.

Pretty much what I observed about a month back. Not nearly as crowded as I am reading about now. But social distancing is out the window. It’s just mask wearing now.

 

[flutas]

We estimated around 11,000 people in DHS on both Saturday and Sunday.

Has this been increasing at all parks lately, or maintaining steady since reopening?

 

[tanc]

Not surprising, people seem to argue about the waits for some reason too. When I thought about going in october when trying to book in August, it was completely booked.

The only time I could find open was in December which probably is fully booked now. Had a great time in August. Ashame people won't fully experience how great it was during that time.

 

[donsullivan]

In my experience today, all of the wait times are around 75% or less of what is posted and move along well. The issue is that due to distancing, they are letting the lines get far too physically long to operate safely. They’re going to have to find some way to limit the physical length of the lines or they’ll lose control of all of this. It will not be easy to turn people away from lines but they cannot be allowed to extend endlessly across the park.

I rode the riverboat this afternoon and we noticed that the line for Big thunder extended all the way along the path in front of Splash Mountain and then turned down the wooden bridged walkway, all the way back to in front of Country Bear. That is kind of completely ridiculous.

 

[MisterPenguin]

 

[MisterPenguin]

 

[Lilofan]

...don't forget less Cast Members, and for those remaining, crappy morale since they'll now be forced to do more work.

The ones who have been recalled back to work are lucky to have a job while their peers are still furloughed.

 

[Lilofan]

We estimated around 11,000 people in DHS on both Saturday and Sunday.

3/4 of the 11K guests could even fit in the Fantasmic theatre that holds about 8K guests.

 

[lentesta]

Has this been increasing at all parks lately, or maintaining steady since reopening?

That number has been increasing.

For what it's worth, we're showing the daily ratio of actual wait times to posted wait times, to get a better sense of how long the lines are. And we've counted each ride's throughput, so we know the current hourly capacity.

 

[arich35]

I wonder how much they have to increase capacity to bring back Fast Pass, for at least the big ticketed rides

 

[Jennuh13]

200,000 Americans have passed away and it is very sad. But to paint a real factual picture that is .001% of the US population. The parks need to get busy so they do not go bankrupt or have to layoff another 28,000 people. If you don’t feel safe, I totally understand that but just do not go. People keep complaining about the parks getting busier but why???? What’s your goal???? You want them to close forever???? You clearly won’t feel safe until there’s a vaccine, so in the interim stay inside if you feel unsafe and let others just live their life. I was at Disney today and cast members do an amazing job and asking people to pull their masks up and keep distant from each other. I never felt close enough to even worry about someone sneezing on me. They’re doing the best they can and we should all be grateful they haven’t had to layoff more than 28,000 considering they’ve already taken a $3.5 billion dollar loss this year.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

Well.. Disney World is open!

There’s people on this board who judge adults who like to meet characters so you’re gonna be judged by someone on here for anything, so that I can’t help you with.

But you are more likely to die from covid than from an automobile accident, numbers wise.

 

[Giss Neric]

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.

Do you only go to Disney? Cause if you also go to other parks in Orlando, you will have a nervous breakdown.

 

[Giss Neric]

They’re going to have to find some way to limit the physical length of the lines or they’ll lose control of all of this.

How would you be able to do that without turning new riders away? You can't limit people wanting to ride, you just have to manage which they are doing. Having a long line doesn't mean the wait time is long, it's social distancing and lines usually moves constantly cause there is no Fastpass.

 

[eliza61nyc]

Did anyone really think that disney could keep operating indefinitely with low capacity? That they are upping the limit cannot be a surprise.

 

[Touchdown]

Don’t forget, not only did they up capacity they decreased the hours. Disney is a terrible value right now, and I’m disappointed enough of the public is still buying.

 

[donsullivan]

How would you be able to do that without turning new riders away? You can't limit people wanting to ride, you just have to manage which they are doing. Having a long line doesn't mean the wait time is long, it's social distancing and lines usually moves constantly cause there is no Fastpass.

It's the lack of any management of crowd flow around the excessive length of the lines that is the issue.

When the line for Pirates goes all the way back to the Jungle Cruise no guest needs to pass thru it or closely by it to move through the park. However, when the line for Peter Pan stretches outside the building, all the way down the hill under the bridge for the upper seating area in Columbia Harbor House and then all the way back up the hill to the entrance and there is no lateral spacing or physical barrier between those two rows that's an issue. When It's a Small World, directly across from it is doing the exact same thing, with two switching lanes spanning the entire front of the attraction building and beyond and there is no spacing or physical barriers between those lanes, that's a problem. And then when you combine both of those, the space left for guests to pass along that already narrow path is so narrow distancing cannot be achieved and there is absolutely no guest flow control of any kind, you have an issue that will get them in trouble if it persists. They cannot push the message of social distancing unless they come up with a way to manage these conditions, and at least right now, they have not.

Attraction lines cannot be allowed to grow to endless length snaking all across the park and only worry about social distancing after you get inside the building which is less than half the physical length of the queue you waited in. That is not a sustainable operating model as it creates far too many compromises to the goal of social distancing. They did a fantasic job with the structural changes made to queues (except for no solution for people sitting down in queue) but seem to have absolutely no plan for how to deal with the line extending outside the physical building.

I don't know how they manage it but they are going to have to come up with a way to get better control on those conditions within the parks or something is going to go terribly wrong. It might be as simply as making areas like the path between Peter Pan and Small World one-way, or something like that but they are going to have to do something as the crowd numbers continue to grow.

 

[donsullivan]

Do you only go to Disney? Cause if you also go to other parks in Orlando, you will have a nervous breakdown.

I've seen the images from parks like Universal in recent weeks and have chosen not to go there until things settle down after the launch of the Halloween offerings.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Did anyone really think that disney could keep operating indefinitely with low capacity? That they are upping the limit cannot be a surprise.

I think the case that the limit has been upped is still not settled.

Martin keeps saying that hasn't been the case. Those who say the limit has been upped do so based on how more crowded the parks feel, which could be that crowds previously weren't bumping up against the lime, but now regularly are doing so.

 

[GimpYancIent]

I think the case that the limit has been upped is still not settled.

Martin keeps saying that hasn't been the case. Those who say the limit has been upped do so based on how more crowded the parks feel, which could be that crowds previously weren't bumping up against the lime, but now regularly are doing so.

I read a lot about "Limits" and "Capacity" yet I have read nothing about numbers? What is the capacity limit? What impact would more operating hours per day have?