Why are lines so long?

[GADisneyDad14]

I agree with OP about the lack of rope drop advantage. Our prior summer trips (last three years) have been late June/first week of July. We had to travel later this year and were there last week.

The “rope drop advantage” we had enjoyed over prior summers was pretty much nonexistent this year at MK. It was almost like “instant on” when it came to crowds.

I personally think fewer open park hours and the lack of any single one major draw were the primary drivers.

 

[Delirium]

Shorter hours at MK is a significant factor. Same number of people trying to do the same things at the park, but with 3-4 fewer hours to do it in.

I will never, ever understand why Disney wants people to wait in line. People in line are not shopping in stores or eating in their restaurants.

 

[Upatnoon]

1. Shorter hours reduce park capacity, save money on labor.

2. People are waiting in line in more than one attraction because of Fastpass. Capacity going to fastpass makes the standby lines long. More and more people are using fastpass than ever.

3. Reducing labor expenses by having "just enough" workers.

4. Saving money now for the big hour expansions planned for the opening of the new Galaxy's Edge area.

5. New Skyliner service is coming, so you won't need as many bus drivers, so stop hiring them now.

6. More visitors are more savvy about how to visit thanks to all the advice on the Internet.

7. Great economy means more visitors.

I think that after years of using "tradition" to manage labor and crowds, erroring on the side of having too much capacity, Disney has likely been using all that magic band and other data to optimize its parks to squeeze as much money out of them as possible. The "Big Data" bean-counting approach is never great for customer experience.

 

[mmackeymouse]

Let me give you my perspective: it's been years, YEARS since we have done Disney in summer. We are talking 20 years probably. Since then, we have shot for fall, sometimes winter times. We were there last week, and I was very shocked and pleasantly surprised by the crowds. I've seen worse in September in some cases, and it was much better than I ever dreamed for a July vacation.

- At Blizzard Beach, the main rides (Summit Plummet, Slush Gusher, and Teamboat Springs) were less than 15 minute wait the entire day. I went on Summit Plummet, and turned around and there was NO line for Teamboat Springs. For SP, I waited appx 10 minutes for the chair lift, and another 10 minutes or less to get to the slide. I will say at our local water park, lines for the big ticket attractions are typically 45 minutes or more. So, at a Disney water park, in the middle of summer, to have such short waits we were kind of blown away.

- We stayed at Saratoga, and the buses were never full. Heck, they were rarely even half full. And the buses back to the resort, I think the longest line we encountered was maybe 5 or 6 people ahead of us. Also, additionally, we had little to no wait for DME and the ME bus was half full. Maybe. With 4 different resorts on it.

- Pools were about what you would expect. Very easy going before noon, and increasingly busier as the afternoon went on. But, they were never crowded. We even did the main pool a couple of times, which we usually avoid, and they were fine. There were rarely lines for the slides; if so, maybe 3 or 4 kids in line at any one time.

-Bathrooms: never had to wait in any lines in the bathroom, either in the parks or resorts or anything. I think that is a pretty good indication of how busy it is.

- Bear in mind we only did one park, Hollywood Studios, which is kind of not the best bellwether, as ToT is at half capacity. Also, during our day, weather cancelled Fantasmic. So, Sunset Blvd was pretty congested while they were waiting to decide if Fantasmic would go forward or not. But, attraction-wise, I feel like it was probably a very manageable crowd, and for a summer day, decent. We waited 20 minutes for Single Rider Rock n Roller Coaster; 15 minutes for Mickey and Minnie; a little less than an hour for SDD in the evening; 15 minutes or so for AS2; I think my biggest surprise was 15 minutes for BB8 which I expected to be quicker, as I had often seen BB8 at 5 minutes. Less than 10 minutes for Daisy Duck, which made my niece's day. We also waited a little under an hour for ToT, which we normally wouldn't but...again, with reduced capacity, it wasn't terrible. These are not wait times that I would consider out of control. As far as the general "feel" of the park, it did feel more busy than the last few times I have done the Studios. But, that's not exactly a high bar, as it's easier to seem busier than a ghost town. I never felt like I only had 2 square feet or no room to breathe or anything.

- The busiest and most crowded it felt, by far, was at Disney Springs. I've seen it worse, in September even. But, in Blaze Pizza, there was the aforementioned no room to breathe. We had to wait 3 boats to get on a boat from the West Side to the Marketplace. I was actually surprised at how busy the boat docks were. It was a regular occurrence to see the lines out beyond the ramps/shelters.

Anyway...all of these just goes to the point of....depending on where you stay, how you travel, which parks you do, when you travel to and from the parks, what shops/restaurants/attractions you go to....they can all factor in and create vastly different experiences.

 

[spleuchan]

Went to Disney Springs this afternoon and bus service was great there and back. Seemed like buses every 15 minutes or so and we only actually waited a few minutes each way. Wish that was my experience for the parks.

The MK day was tuesday that i had the issues. Doesnt seem reasonable to have a 40 minute wait for space mountain 10 minutes after park opening. They were only running at half capacity, which was added salt to the wound. This morning at MK, the speedway had a 40 minute wait at 9:25.

On past trips they didnt let everyone in the parks until they opened, so people getting through the gates was a funnel. Maybe that has something to do with it.

Maybe I was spoiled by my past experiences with short wait times except for the top rides midday (which we were back at our hotel by then). I am not used to rides like the speedway having 40 minute waits, especially so early in the morning.

Even the fastpass lines seem much longer. If I have three fastpasses back to back, we really didnt have time to fit in more than one other regular ride.

We had a few good days, like the epcot morning day, so it wasnt all bad, but we arent a family willing to wait much more than 30 minutes for a ride, so if that is the new normal, Disney is no longer for us. I will stop my venting now and maybe look into Universal or something closer to home (kids are teen/tween now so it might be a better fit anyways).

 

[yulilin3]

Went to Disney Springs this afternoon and bus service was great there and back. Seemed like buses every 15 minutes or so and we only actually waited a few minutes each way. Wish that was my experience for the parks.

The MK day was tuesday that i had the issues. Doesnt seem reasonable to have a 40 minute wait for space mountain 10 minutes after park opening. They were only running at half capacity, which was added salt to the wound. This morning at MK, the speedway had a 40 minute wait at 9:25.

On past trips they didnt let everyone in the parks until they opened, so people getting through the gates was a funnel. Maybe that has something to do with it.

Maybe I was spoiled by my past experiences with short wait times except for the top rides midday (which we were back at our hotel by then). I am not used to rides like the speedway having 40 minute waits, especially so early in the morning.

Even the fastpass lines seem much longer. If I have three fastpasses back to back, we really didnt have time to fit in more than one other regular ride.

We had a few good days, like the epcot morning day, so it wasnt all bad, but we arent a family willing to wait much more than 30 minutes for a ride, so if that is the new normal, Disney is no longer for us. I will stop my venting now and maybe look into Universal or something closer to home (kids are teen/tween now so it might be a better fit anyways).

On Tuesday they have Early Morning magic event, people were already in the lands when the park opened at 9

 

[wdwrule]

I think there’s so many factors involved. We were there a few weeks ago and had tremendous luck with bus transportation (All Star Sports). I don’t think we waited more than 15 minutes ever. And that includes right after fireworks...although we’d watch them near park exit. The only big wait we had was one of the mornings we rope dropped MK and we ended up taking an Uber...this was the only Uber that we used during our 8 day stay. Every day we would rope drop a few rides then back to back scheduled early morning fast passes which then allowed us to gain extra same day fastpasses including early afternoon fastpasses for Flight of Passage and Slinky Dog. Maybe schedule your fastpasses early morning next time? This always works for us.

ETA: Also as @yulilin3 stated above, we avoid parks with Early Morning Magic events. I really check calendars etc before I decide on which parks to visit on which days.

 

[spleuchan]

On Tuesday they have Early Morning magic event, people were already in the lands when the park opened at 9

They didnt used to have that. Just comparing to my previous trips

 

[yulilin3]

They didnt used to have that. Just comparing to my previous trips

I understand that. I was just stating why SM had that sort of wait at park opening

 

[GADisneyDad14]

This morning at MK, the speedway had a 40 minute wait at 9:25.

I’m not meaning to sound like I’m poking holes in your experience this AM as that’s not my intent, but Fridays are AM EMH at MK. Speedway was open for EMH eligible guests starting at 8am. The 40 minute wait (assuming that is posted wait?) at 9:25am doesn’t surprise me all that much. Not sure about this AM, but I’ve also seen them only run one side and/or run a limited number of cars in the AM, so that probably had something to do with it as well. Running one side (if that was the case) personally bugs me to no end.

 

[spleuchan]

I understand that. I was just stating why SM had that sort of wait at park opening

Thanks. Also explains the crazy mad rush to splash and btmr that morning.

 

[spleuchan]

I’m not meaning to sound like I’m poking holes in your experience this AM as that’s not my intent, but Fridays are AM EMH at MK. Speedway was open for EMH eligible guests starting at 8am. The 40 minute wait (assuming that is posted wait?) at 9:25am doesn’t surprise me all that much. Not sure about this AM, but I’ve also seen them only run one side and/or run a limited number of cars in the AM, so that probably had something to do with it as well. Running one side (if that was the case) personally bugs me to no end.

Yes, they were just running one side, which I also noticed. I guess I really liked how there used to be a big advantage to getting their early, but that doesnt seem to be the case anymore. Plus it used to be easier to get my family going in the morning, but it is much more difficult with teen/tweens.

 

[brockash]

We are staying at boardwalk so we can walk/boat to epcot and HS, which is nice. Rain/thunderstorms have been more often (we had really good luck in the past). Two years ago we went over July 4th and lines/transportation seemed much better.. The other times were ltwice late august and once early december,, which were better times to go, but with kids being older are no longer possibilities.

I will say we stayed at YC a couple weeks ago and didn't have very good luck with buses, but BW always seemed packed at the bus stop. - We shared with them frequently and even when we stopped at arrival for ME I couldn't believe how packed their bus stop was... like so crowded it was backed up and ppl couldn't even get to the bus stop. I'm not sure if that kind of stuff is typical with BW or not, but I def. saw it. Buses weren't horrible, but also was beliw average for us this time around...almost always had to wait a decent amount of time and to/from the water parks was kinda ridiculous. Epcot was by far our best day.

I will also say in general in our 15+ years of going to Disney we have def. seen a decrease in them operating at full capacity. The worst and when it just feels like a direct slap in the face is when they only run 1 side of something and you're stuck waiting 1/2 hr., 45 mins for something that should be/could be/used to be 5-10 mins. - Nothing like feeling the magic as they send every other boat empty on Pirates because they've only manned 1 side. - We did not see this this past July trip, but have seen it on multiple occasions during our last few Aug./May trips.

 

[brockash]

I think there’s so many factors involved. We were there a few weeks ago and had tremendous luck with bus transportation (All Star Sports). I don’t think we waited more than 15 minutes ever. And that includes right after fireworks...although we’d watch them near park exit. The only big wait we had was one of the mornings we rope dropped MK and we ended up taking an Uber...this was the only Uber that we used during our 8 day stay. Every day we would rope drop a few rides then back to back scheduled early morning fast passes which then allowed us to gain extra same day fastpasses including early afternoon fastpasses for Flight of Passage and Slinky Dog. Maybe schedule your fastpasses early morning next time? This always works for us.

ETA: Also as @yulilin3 stated above, we avoid parks with Early Morning Magic events. I really check calendars etc before I decide on which parks to visit on which days.

I agree and we try to do the same, however it's gotten pretty hard to avoid lately. It seems they have a special ticketed event more days than not at some parks.

 

[ttintagel]

If two headliners are closed, it kind of stands to reason lines would be longer for the ones remaining open.

 

[jewels4488]

It's also possible that people that had planned vacations the months of September and October changed them to July/August to avoid SWGE crowds.

 

[mamaofsix]

I totally share your frustration. This summer, I took our kids to our local park ("Canada's Wonderland - very similar to a 6 Flags). We rode every single ride we wanted to (I think 18 rides?) in 6 hours - that included a 1 hour break for lunch. The tickets cost us $49.99 Canadian dollars each (about $100 dollars less EACH than what we paid in Canadian dollars for a Disney ticket per day).

Our longest wait was 25 minutes on one of their busiest summer days. They also have a great waterpark that we've spent the day at before.

When I asked our kids which park they liked better for rides, experience, etc., - Disney or Wonderland - they all said "Wonderland!" Yikes.

Really made me second guess our $10,000 Disney vacations. I think in the future we will only return to Disney perhaps once every 5 years, and then only if there's been a recession / slump in the U.S. to ensure that the crowds are lower. If Disney's solution to the crowds is to half-staff their busing, run rides at half capacity, not maintain their rides properly so that they break down often, etc., than I see no reason to waste our hard earned money there. I love the Disney experience, but if I can pay a fraction of the cost for something my kids like better - it's a no brainer.

 

[mco65]

Sad to say but i think it is the new norm. Our oldest kid hit high school several years back which altered our trips to WDW... that's when we noticed the lines were super long just about every day and all day. That has not deterred us from going... IMO, there is so much more to disney than just the rides but obviously rides are a big part of it. We were there the week after the 4th of July and rope dropped every day. Which for us is still the best strategy to get the most headliners in. We were able to hit many of the headliners by rope dropping and had fast passes for many other headliners so we got everything in that we really really wanted but somethings we missed that we typically don't because we didn't hit them at rope drop and we didn't have a FP for them were ToT (crazy lines, 1 hour plus, the entire day we we were at HS), Indiana Jones (don't even recall the times there but we were so busy at other places, never got around to it), Festival of the Lion King, (we got in line but were told we would have to wait for the next show, we didn't), Small World (can't imagine waiting 45 min to ride that.. not me), Speedway (kids are just about over that ride, can't say i am disappointed but if the line had been 15 vs 45, we might have done it).

Still, there were many rides we hit several times including Yeti, Dinosaur, Space Mtn, Test Track, and my daughter watched the Sing A long Frozen show like 3 times, she loves that.. so overall it was a great trip... Already bouncing dates around in my head for our next trip... either early summer or late summer of 2020... maybe spring break? who knows, but i need to nail a time down soon.

 

[DisneyOma]

I’m familiar with the convention center being a busy place. What your not familiar with is how many youth attend this week long event which could cause this week to be busier. I’m not a rookie I know Disney is always busy. I just suggested this event could be a factor with others things already mentioned.

But it's nothing compared to a dance and cheer convention onsite, LOL! Those are to be avoided at all costs, IMO. When a convention is not held onsite, there are multiple other attractions they will go to as well - Universal, Sea World, etc. The onsite ones tend to corral families onto WDW property with little ability to escape, whether it is the time frame of the competitions or a lack of transportation. If you are offsite for a convention, you've already thought of how you are going to get around to the attractions, and have a plan. Or you don't have a plan, and can't get to the attractions.

 

[Dizznee Freak]

The difficult thing with that for a lot of people (like myself) is that Disney has conditioned us to plan so far in advance with dining and FPs that unless you're willing/able to adjust on the fly, you're kinda stuck with what you spent half a year planning on any given day.

You are spot on with this! On our last trip, one of my daughters noticed we could get FP's for just about whatever we wanted, with a little patience. Some of the rides were not even available at the 60 day mark. Next Spring we are going to go with the same day FP's to see how that works out.