Tuesday March 15th
Not much of a trip report. This was about half way down the queue for Crush's Coaster, it goes way back past Studio 1
(http://i625.photobucket.com/albums/tt335/samninetysix/b5bba8df-9bc5-44fd-908a-b695547cd9d6_zpsqwxpkivb.jpg) (http://s625.photobucket.com/user/samninetysix/media/b5bba8df-9bc5-44fd-908a-b695547cd9d6_zpsqwxpkivb.jpg.html)
That's extremely depressing.. I'd never queue that long!
wow, never seen a queue that big for Crush's Coaster. that must be like 2 hour wait?
Quote from: Ohana on March 23, 2016, 12:08:50 PM
That's extremely depressing.. I'd never queue that long!
We didn't either, we were on-route to Ratatouille
the longest queue i saw last month was 180mins for Ratatouille.......that is madness you'd spend your whole day only doing 2 or 3 rides! glad we went when it was quieter!
Ratatouille was totally disorganised, people were waiting in what they though was the ride queue when in fact they were in the queue to collect a fastpass ticket, a cast member ushering people in the right direction would have been helpful. I can only imagine how peed off people would have been after an hour of queueing to end up having to get a fastpass and not on the ride.
I too was there 14-18th March. Bizarrely the parks were quieter on the Thursday and Friday than the Monday / Tuesday as normal.
The parks were still crazy busy though. There was a news article saying for some reason loads of people went away that week!!!!!
Debating whether to do a trip report because I had such a disappointing trip I don't want to be a dolly downer on this forum.
Debating whether to do a trip report because I had such a disappointing trip I don't want to be a dolly downer on this forum.
[/quote]
What a shame you had a disspointing trip, you should write a report as any experience is always good for others to read.
Hopefully next time you go it will be better! ;)
Quote from: rebecca20 on March 23, 2016, 02:26:00 PM
Debating whether to do a trip report because I had such a disappointing trip I don't want to be a dolly downer on this forum.
Well sometimes it's good to hear some negative feedback, so we all can learn from your experiences. :)
Quote from: billy on March 23, 2016, 03:44:12 PM
Debating whether to do a trip report because I had such a disappointing trip I don't want to be a dolly downer on this forum.
What a shame you had a disspointing trip, you should write a report as any experience is always good for others to read.
Hopefully next time you go it will be better! ;)
[/quote]
Sadly, I don't think there will be a 'next time' for some years. My fear is that it will put newcomers off going when I've had many wonderful trips, it's just sadly my 11th trip was horrendous.
Sorry to hear you had a bad trip >:(
I would be still interested to read your trip report though.
I was there those dates last year and it was really quiet and we had a great time. I nearly booked that week for this year, so I'm really glad I didn't (we go in May).
Wow, making people wait in a queue as long as that is ridiculous. I hope they sort queue times out before the 25th.
Quote from: MickeyAteMyCap on March 23, 2016, 05:08:47 PM
Wow, making people wait in a queue as long as that is ridiculous. I hope they sort queue times out before the 25th.
I'm not sure how they are supposed to "sort queue times out"... the attractions can only take a certain number of guests at a time so if there's a lot of guests in the park, then they need to be somewhere!
Quote from: stifle on March 23, 2016, 09:01:30 PM
Quote from: MickeyAteMyCap on March 23, 2016, 05:08:47 PM
Wow, making people wait in a queue as long as that is ridiculous. I hope they sort queue times out before the 25th.
I'm not sure how they are supposed to "sort queue times out"... the attractions can only take a certain number of guests at a time so if there's a lot of guests in the park, then they need to be somewhere!
I think it's due to closures more than anything. Half the studios was pretty much empty because of the closures and hence everything was crazy. I personally managed to get in for 9:40 and did Crush before 10am!
Quote from: stifle on March 23, 2016, 09:01:30 PM
Quote from: MickeyAteMyCap on March 23, 2016, 05:08:47 PM
Wow, making people wait in a queue as long as that is ridiculous. I hope they sort queue times out before the 25th.
I'm not sure how they are supposed to "sort queue times out"... the attractions can only take a certain number of guests at a time so if there's a lot of guests in the park, then they need to be somewhere!
Put on more shows and parades. Hopefully for the 25th they'll just splash their money about and not worry about how much they spend.
I think there's a number of ways in which they could attempt to alleviate the queue lengths a bit, but unfortunately all of them would cost money. It's become clear to me over the years that DLP just haven't got money to splash about on labour. There's one key issue that's lengthening these queues (even more than normal) and that's the current refurbishment programme. I think scheduling lots of big closures all in one period is just plain poor planning. Btm and star tours would take a good few hundred visitors out of other queues and having those plus others shut all at once is just condensing the same amount of guests into fewer queues. Having all available cars/buggies/carriages running would reduce waiting times, as would having more shows available throughout the day. Opening up Discovery Land's theatre would also take hundreds out of queues, even if it was just showing old 3D movies or trailers.
We weren't going to visit at all this year but our children are desperate to return and so we're seriously considering a week in the summer hols... How would I explain a 2 hour queue to a 6 year old...? Makes me sad.
Quote from: Mrsya on March 24, 2016, 12:30:49 PM
I think there's a number of ways in which they could attempt to alleviate the queue lengths a bit, but unfortunately all of them would cost money. It's become clear to me over the years that DLP just haven't got money to splash about on labour. There's one key issue that's lengthening these queues (even more than normal) and that's the current refurbishment programme. I think scheduling lots of big closures all in one period is just plain poor planning. Btm and star tours would take a good few hundred visitors out of other queues and having those plus others shut all at once is just condensing the same amount of guests into fewer queues. Having all available cars/buggies/carriages running would reduce waiting times, as would having more shows available throughout the day. Opening up Discovery Land's theatre would also take hundreds out of queues, even if it was just showing old 3D movies or trailers.
We weren't going to visit at all this year but our children are desperate to return and so we're seriously considering a week in the summer hols... How would I explain a 2 hour queue to a 6 year old...? Makes me sad.
I don't see why Disney can't give DLP more money. They've got plenty of it; look how much money the Marvel films make at the box office, for instance.
Quote from: MickeyAteMyCap on March 23, 2016, 11:12:46 PM
Quote from: stifle on March 23, 2016, 09:01:30 PM
Quote from: MickeyAteMyCap on March 23, 2016, 05:08:47 PM
Wow, making people wait in a queue as long as that is ridiculous. I hope they sort queue times out before the 25th.
I'm not sure how they are supposed to "sort queue times out"... the attractions can only take a certain number of guests at a time so if there's a lot of guests in the park, then they need to be somewhere!
Put on more shows and parades. Hopefully for the 25th they'll just splash their money about and not worry about how much they spend.
How many shows and parades do you want??
Enchanted forest, Goofys Garden party, Mary poppins, minnies little spring train, Jedi Academy, Magic on parade?? And all of these run multiple times a day.
People love to complain. But the reason its busy right mow is because of Easter. Last weel it was really quiet.
Quote from: DisneyDancer92 on March 24, 2016, 02:28:31 PM
Quote from: MickeyAteMyCap on March 23, 2016, 11:12:46 PM
Quote from: stifle on March 23, 2016, 09:01:30 PM
Quote from: MickeyAteMyCap on March 23, 2016, 05:08:47 PM
Wow, making people wait in a queue as long as that is ridiculous. I hope they sort queue times out before the 25th.
I'm not sure how they are supposed to "sort queue times out"... the attractions can only take a certain number of guests at a time so if there's a lot of guests in the park, then they need to be somewhere!
Put on more shows and parades. Hopefully for the 25th they'll just splash their money about and not worry about how much they spend.
How many shows and parades do you want??
Enchanted forest, Goofys Garden party, Mary poppins, minnies little spring train, Jedi Academy, Magic on parade?? And all of these run multiple times a day.
People love to complain. But the reason its busy right mow is because of Easter. Last weel it was really quiet.
Most of those shows/parades aren't on all year. Haven't heard of a Mary Poppins show but that's probably not on all year round either. And there's no nighttime parade or parade in Walt Disney Studios either.
Quote from: MickeyAteMyCap on March 24, 2016, 03:01:11 PM
Quote from: DisneyDancer92 on March 24, 2016, 02:28:31 PM
Quote from: MickeyAteMyCap on March 23, 2016, 11:12:46 PM
Quote from: stifle on March 23, 2016, 09:01:30 PM
Quote from: MickeyAteMyCap on March 23, 2016, 05:08:47 PM
Wow, making people wait in a queue as long as that is ridiculous. I hope they sort queue times out before the 25th.
I'm not sure how they are supposed to "sort queue times out"... the attractions can only take a certain number of guests at a time so if there's a lot of guests in the park, then they need to be somewhere!
Put on more shows and parades. Hopefully for the 25th they'll just splash their money about and not worry about how much they spend.
How many shows and parades do you want??
Enchanted forest, Goofys Garden party, Mary poppins, minnies little spring train, Jedi Academy, Magic on parade?? And all of these run multiple times a day.
People love to complain. But the reason its busy right mow is because of Easter. Last weel it was really quiet.
Most of those shows/parades aren't on all year. Haven't heard of a Mary Poppins show but that's probably not on all year round either. And there's no nighttime parade or parade in Walt Disney Studios either.
The mary poppins show "Welcome to spring" is on 3 times a day everyday on the castle stage.
There are other shows and parades on for different parts of the year. Frozen instead of Forest of enchantment. Christmas and halloween cavalcades. Villian show. Princess show. New Animaqiue opening soon. Etc i could go on.
You cant get everything.
Quote from: DisneyDancer92 on March 24, 2016, 03:29:25 PM
Quote from: MickeyAteMyCap on March 24, 2016, 03:01:11 PM
Quote from: DisneyDancer92 on March 24, 2016, 02:28:31 PM
Quote from: MickeyAteMyCap on March 23, 2016, 11:12:46 PM
Quote from: stifle on March 23, 2016, 09:01:30 PM
Quote from: MickeyAteMyCap on March 23, 2016, 05:08:47 PM
Wow, making people wait in a queue as long as that is ridiculous. I hope they sort queue times out before the 25th.
I'm not sure how they are supposed to "sort queue times out"... the attractions can only take a certain number of guests at a time so if there's a lot of guests in the park, then they need to be somewhere!
Put on more shows and parades. Hopefully for the 25th they'll just splash their money about and not worry about how much they spend.
How many shows and parades do you want??
Enchanted forest, Goofys Garden party, Mary poppins, minnies little spring train, Jedi Academy, Magic on parade?? And all of these run multiple times a day.
People love to complain. But the reason its busy right mow is because of Easter. Last weel it was really quiet.
Most of those shows/parades aren't on all year. Haven't heard of a Mary Poppins show but that's probably not on all year round either. And there's no nighttime parade or parade in Walt Disney Studios either.
The mary poppins show "Welcome to spring" is on 3 times a day everyday on the castle stage.
There are other shows and parades on for different parts of the year. Frozen instead of Forest of enchantment. Christmas and halloween cavalcades. Villian show. Princess show. New Animaqiue opening soon. Etc i could go on.
You cant get everything.
Frozen's just a cheap singalong and I assume the villain and princess shows are just during Halloween and Christmas. If I were the person in charge of the park, I would at the very least make Forest of Enchantment all year round, introduce three other new shows, a nighttime parade for Disneyland Park and bring Stars N Their Cars back for Walt Disney Studios.
I think the issue is if you compare the past couple of years to say 10 years ago, there seems to be a lot lacking. That's what I always feel when I go now. Less characters out, shows not on all year round and fewer parades. Even the descent of the stairs took a bit of a burden off the parks.
I feel like they haven't handled the closures well as they seemingly have done it area by area meaning the rest of the lands are busy.
I don't agree in just ploughing money in - Disney share prices have dropped and the fact they bought Marvel and Lucasfilm has been a huge burden on their finances. Not to mention the structure meaning money can't just be taken from anywhere.
Hopefully in years to come the Disney takeover will be a good thing - think it was just a little too late for the 25th Anniversary year... roll on 30th?!!
We picked 14th March because it was outside any of the national holidays as far as I could tell but it was still busy in the parks. The problem we encountered was not just volumes of people as the queues at the security tents were pretty much non existent, it was busier inside I suspect partly due to Frontierland being all but closed. When we were there, BTM was obviously closed, lake is drained so no riverboats, Phantom Manor was also closed, Cowboy Cookout closed - All the people that would normally be at any of these were elsewhere hence swelling other crowds
Daughter is there now. I keep getting updates because she knows it's annoying me she there & I'm not haha She said weather not great but queue times in main park are about 5mins & park is empty. She is having a fab time, meeting loads if characters, so I'm a horrible mammy because I wouldn't let her take her autograph book- I was worried she might get picked on by rest of school mates. She thought it would be really busy being Easter.
Just home been there a week. Same as you expected it to be quiet. Sat/sun were quiet and it was great. But then it went mad, Wednesday and Thursday were chaos.
I think it didn't help that frontierland and adventureland were half closed. Everyone was in fantasyland and discovery land all at once or the studios.
They tried FP's for Crush once or twice, but apparently it didn't work out like they wanted to, because there still isn't an FP for it.
The single riders line even goes up extremely in waiting time lately.
Was there March 12th, 205 minutes for Ratatouille!
Ugh I hope it isn't so bad when I go! I go 9th-14th may, Monday til Saturday so hoping it isn't constantly heaving.... I'm thinking though, we have extra magic hours so can get stuff done then whilst it's more chilled and I'm sure it won't be mental right up until the 10pm closing time, and we only really want to see the parade and dreams once or twice so can take advantage of lighter queues during parade and the hour leading up to dreams in which everyone is finding a spot for dreams. Although what I really can't understand is why on earth studios shuts at 6, that'll result in a big swell in crowds in the main park during the evening :(
Which is kind of the point I think (in my opinion).
WDS in my opinion still isn't a park where you can spent the entire day from opening till closing.
When WDS closes, it moves people to the parks for everything going on in the evenings, which is mainly dining in the park and Dreams.
To have it be open more longer they'd need a parade again themselves, and maybe like in WDW where every park has it's own night time show.
I think this would be a great idea, less crowding in both places, maybe easier to get out of the parks on a night.
Not to mention how cool ToT and RC Racer would be in the dark!!!!
Quote from: nathalie on April 23, 2016, 05:47:28 PM
They tried FP's for Crush once or twice, but apparently it didn't work out like they wanted to, because there still isn't an FP for it.
The single riders line even goes up extremely in waiting time lately.
Was there March 12th, 205 minutes for Ratatouille!
FastPass at Crush's Coaster doesn't work because the capacity is so low. Only 12-16 guests can ride at a time (3 or 4 shells with 4 guests per shell). They can't send the shells out any faster because they could crash into one another (and in any case unloading and loading guests on that ride is organised chaos already). The principle of FastPass is that a limited amount of the ride's capacity is set aside for FastPass guests throughout the day, but there's already so little capacity on Crush's Coaster that they would make the standby queue even longer whilst still having given out all the FastPasses for the day by 11am. So guests would be less happy rather than more.