I found these videos of how packed the park is.
[youtube:2x3jh9pk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxBXOmiCYc8[/youtube:2x3jh9pk]
[youtube:2x3jh9pk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6p7yE1v1txI[/youtube:2x3jh9pk]
:-"
hahaha I know what you mean! I dont get it either- I mean its the most visited theme park(tourist attraction?) in Europe- it has even beaten the eiffel tower :D
[youtube:4cu91mis]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_8tkfPEyMc[/youtube:4cu91mis]
I shot this video just after the new parade at the end of March this year. Busy or what? :shock:
I think this proves just how much Disneyland Paris is lacking in ride capacity. The walk ways are packed and Peter Pan Fast Pass is not available until 22:30 at night. Disneyland Paris has bigger walk ways compared to Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom. Both parks appear to attract more crowds on an annual basis and yet never feel this congested. Also I have never encountered during my Summer trips to Disneyland in California wait times for Pirates at 60 minutes or 85 minutes for Star Tours like I did on Thurs and Fri last week. Even last summer the wait time for the recently upgraded Star Tours was only 45 minutes. People were even lining up for 10-15 minutes to walk through the Wonderland Maze. Phillipe Gas recently remarked that he feels with the existing structure the Resort should be attracting 20 million a year. I find this figure very concerning since the Resort on certain days struggles to handle the 15+ million that visit each year.
One of the above videos is from Central Plaza while it sounds like the character train is there so of course it will be busy, the last one is just after the parade has finished filmed at Main Street USA which is always busy during the parade and with guests exiting and the one from Fantasyland that is pretty normal, Peter Pan has always been that way unfortunately. Tbh it is great seeing the park busy since it could do with the extra income.
I don't think you can just place it down to it being Parade times ect. When the parks are busy it's unable to handle the crowds who visit. I witnessed this last week. The video showing them walking around a packed Fantasyland was exactly the scenes I saw last week. The walk ways are crowded because people are looking for something to do that does not involve waiting 90 minutes for Big Thunder Mountain. Disneyland Paris is seriously lacking in ride capacity and as a result it's causing all the paths around the park to become gridlocked. Seeing how packed it can get for Guests during the 20th Anniversary Train is a sign to how much Guests are craving Character experiences. And how the Resort is failing to provide enough of them. I was shocked to find no Characters on Main Street or in the Front Lot of the Studios. Except for a couple that are stationed with an official photographer.
I don't think it's ride capacity that is the problem, it is the incompetent cast members! For example on Pirates I have seen boats half full and cast members walking around like headless chickens!
I suppose it doesn't help having staggered opening times for attractions! :roll:
Watching the vids actually made me quite happy :)! So many people wanting to experience the disney magic :D I actually didnt think it was looking crowded really- this however comes from a person who has only visited in late june/July and never in the true off-peak seasons. Having spend alot of time in London probably makes it seem quite normal to me too.
I guess we should all just be really happy that so many people goes to the parks :D but I do agree that if this a general trend, that more people visit, they should try to adapt the way they operate the park- like not having half-full-boats at pirates, etc and longer attraction opening hours.
Quote from: "dlpfan1992"I don't think it's ride capacity that is the problem, it is the incompetent cast members! For example on Pirates I have seen boats half full and cast members walking around like headless chickens!
I suppose it doesn't help having staggered opening times for attractions! :roll:
Please! Don't even..!
I've been an attractions cast member at dlp and no ride ever goes out half full unless there arent enough guests, we have to fill every single seat as far as possible - efficiency is one of 4 "key areas" that all cast members work towards. The attraction that is the most efficient (percentage-wise) even gets a payment bonus so believe me those cast members are working hard to keep those lines moving.
The managers are there watching over you to check you're doing this properly and when you go through those turnstiles on each ride it is measuring how many people are being loaded per hour and this has to be a very high percentage compared to the ride's theoretical capacity.
Hate when people make judgements without having any idea of how things actually work.
/rant over
I think in fairness, there are attractions that seem to commit and those that just don't, the high capacity ones such as ToT and Space Mountain seem to be very good but I too seen Pirates have lots of empty space but instead figured it was fussy guests not wanting people next to them.
Efficiency in Paris exceeds WDW for sure.
Quote from: "Malin"Also I have never encountered during my Summer trips to Disneyland in California wait times for Pirates at 60 minutes or 85 minutes for Star Tours like I did on Thurs and Fri last week. Even last summer the wait time for the recently upgraded Star Tours was only 45 minutes.
Then you where really lucky , I've been to Disneyland California for 6 days last July-Aug and we never encountered Star Tours waiting time under 100 mins, most of the days was at 120 mins or beyond.
The lines outside where huge (mind u, this was on weekend days) so we only ended up ridin' it once, with a fastpass, even then we had a 30 min wait time.
But like you said, at your visit was completely different, just shows how different it can be and some day(s) experience does not represent how it is most of the time.
As for Disneyland Paris, I've only seen Pirates boats not getting totally filled up, and even some empty boats getting send along in between boats getting filled , we always assumed it was a trick to keep lines longer so people could do less attractions in one day , to make people think about doin a multi day stay when they go to Disneyland.
Quote from: "DisneyFanB"As for Disneyland Paris, I've only seen Pirates boats not getting totally filled up, and even some empty boats getting send along in between boats getting filled , we always assumed it was a trick to keep lines longer so people could do less attractions in one day , to make people think about doin a multi day stay when they go to Disneyland.
With the pirate boats, if the seats are wet those rows are not filled for safety reasons.
Quote from: "gldc"Quote from: "DisneyFanB"As for Disneyland Paris, I've only seen Pirates boats not getting totally filled up, and even some empty boats getting send along in between boats getting filled , we always assumed it was a trick to keep lines longer so people could do less attractions in one day , to make people think about doin a multi day stay when they go to Disneyland.
With the pirate boats, if the seats are wet those rows are not filled for safety reasons.
Couple of towels would sort that :/
Concerning empty seats in potc - I had the feeling that sometimes it was better for the flow to let boats empty than to wait till they're are completely filled with passengers. Sometimes peolpe are not the quickest in moving up... ;-)
Quote from: "Trekkie101"Quote from: "gldc"Quote from: "DisneyFanB"As for Disneyland Paris, I've only seen Pirates boats not getting totally filled up, and even some empty boats getting send along in between boats getting filled , we always assumed it was a trick to keep lines longer so people could do less attractions in one day , to make people think about doin a multi day stay when they go to Disneyland.
With the pirate boats, if the seats are wet those rows are not filled for safety reasons.
Couple of towels would sort that :/
The post below yours is correct - it makes more sense for boats to go empty / with empty rows than to wait and clog up all the boats behind thereby reducing the ride's whole capacity. Whether this is because of them being wet or because of guests taking too long obviously depends on the situation.
It usually happens at the start and end of the day, when it's not worth having the extra Cast Members to supervise two loading bays.
Seems a bit harse saying that the Cast Members on rides cause poor capacity. I love watching the dynamics of ride flow and just how skilled the vast majority of Cast Member are at this.
Last trip I encounter a new way of loading Dumbo where the cast members where giving flight passes to people in the queue to remove the uncertainty of how many people would fit on the next ride cycle. It worked really well and you could see how quickly they went from the end of one ride to the beginning of the next. It keep the queue moving and my little girl was so happy to get a pass to ride and they handing it back. I bet it helps to ensure the safty check is done properly too. Who ever came up with that idea is a genius and should get a raise.
Quote from: "DisneyObsessive"Seems a bit harsh saying that the Cast Members on rides cause poor capacity. I love watching the dynamics of ride flow and just how skilled the vast majority of Cast Member are at this.
I'm not saying it's their fault. It's just the way things are done. :)
Sorry Josh it was not your comments I was refering too. I just thought someone saying "it is the incompetent cast members" was a little harse.