No standby for Toy Story Mania this week?

[Dulcee]

Look: this is awful for people who are there during this testing week. No doubt about it.

They are being used as guinea pigs.

Other than that, this testing is completely necessary. Disney is trying to solve a problem. They tried something similar at Soarin (similar, but not exactly the same) and it didn't work.

Now they are testing a tweaked version on the test at TSM.

These are only tests. We don't know why they're testing or what exactly they are testing.

It stinks for the guinea pigs, but I do think they are testing these things to try and make the experience better for us.

Agreed. They aren't going to dump FP+ (and personally I think it would be foolish for them to even consider it). They need to figure out how to make it work for high demand attractions because at the end of the day no one wants to wait in stand by lines anymore. Your average disney guest would not be happy to return to the old days of regular stand by lines.

[Tekneek]

The trick about having it FP only is balancing the number of FPs given out. Too many and you create a line that negates the FP; too few and you are not running the ride a capacity. If they do build another track and do the queues like this it will also be interesting to see how much faster the walk on line moves.

Certainly they are familiar enough with the attraction by now to know what their load times are. They know what load times they designed for and what the load times have been thus far. With FP they might not have been able to easily track returns and what percentage usually turn up, but after nearly a year of FP+ returns they should have reasonably good data on that by now. I wonder if part of the test is not just what happens with TSM, but what impact closing it to FP+ only has on the rest of the park as well.

It is a bit of a nightmare for Guest Services, though. I would not want to be the CM put in the position of trying to explain why somebody making a once-in-a-lifetime trip is not going to be able to go on the attraction they looked forward to the most (presumably there are going to be a few matching that demographic over the span of a week).

[DizneyRox]

Certainly they are familiar enough with the attraction by now to know what their load times are. They know what load times they designed for and what the load times have been thus far. With FP they might not have been able to easily track returns and what percentage usually turn up, but after nearly a year of FP+ returns they should have reasonably good data on that by now. I wonder if part of the test is not just what happens with TSM, but what impact closing it to FP+ only has on the rest of the park as well.

It is a bit of a nightmare for Guest Services, though. I would not want to be the CM put in the position of trying to explain why somebody making a once-in-a-lifetime trip is not going to be able to go on the attraction they looked forward to the most (presumably there are going to be a few matching that demographic over the span of a week).

Disney knows exactly what the throughput of an attraction is with x number of employees working. And they can tell by hotel numbers what to expect in terms of attendance.

As I said in the past, Disney is now in a position to limit FP distribution so they can limit staff if they wanted to. On the flip side, if they leave the doors wide open, they know by how many FPs they distributed what kind of staff they need in place to make it happen.

I wouldn't be surprised if they are using option 1.

They are doing to the rides with FP+ what they did to dining with the DDP.

[Ian]

Here's the issue ... TDO spent literally BILLIONS of dollars implementing FP+ with the sales pitch to Burbank that it would be a revenue generator. They had ROI predictions and all kinds of justifications they used to justify the expenditures on the program (as opposed to using the dollars to ... oh I don't know ... BUILD NEW RIDES AND ATTRACTIONS!!).

It was reported late last year that Burbank was essentially furious over the program's cost overruns and delays and they put TDO on notice that they'd better fix it ... NOW.

This was only compounded by the overwhelmingly negative social media buzz about the program. It got so bad that even mainstream media outlets were running stories about how bad the reviews of the program were.

So now TDO is absolutely scrambling trying to stem the bleeding and salvage the program (and its associated ROI). All these "tests" and "tweaks" you're seeing are essentially the suits at Disney scrambling to try to save their jobs.

FP+ is either going to be rammed down the guests throats until the point where people just learn to live with it or it's going to flame out in spectacular fashion and take a lot of WDW's leadership with it.

[Tekneek]

My wife approached me about going down to WDW for just 1 day this week. It makes no sense at all for a family to go down for 1 day. Not only do you pay way more than people with multi-day MYW tickets, but you're basically stuck with what is left (if anything) in FP+ slots for any big attractions (even if you're the first one in the park at rope drop). If we went down to Orlando on a spur-of-the-moment sort of trip, it makes way more sense to go to Universal, Legoland, etc, where they don't hand over pre-reserved attraction spots 2 months in advance.

Knowing they may begin locking out entire attractions like this seals the deal. As a person who used to enjoy planning out details for a Disney trip, the *required* planning has made it a chore.

[DizneyFreak2002]

Hope this calms some fears... Yes, this is only a test... And yes, there is a reason behind it...

They are testing to see how things work with FP+ only lines... Remember, they are adding a third track, which is supposed to be for stand by only... This test will help them determine which works better: two FP+ lines/one stand by line, or two stand by lines/one FP+ line...

And the results of this test will determine how they move forward with the third Soarin theater... And other rides as well...

[1DisneyNut]

This whole FP+ system stinks just like most of us predicted when it was first announced. It has been debacle after debacle. I had friends finally take their first trip this summer after hearing us rave for years......they absolutely hated it and I believe them when they say they will never go back. They said it was the most stressful so called "vacation" ever with all the planning and not knowing what or how to do anything and then trying to wade through the mess.

I have family there right now and they are already irritated with all the running around trying to make reserved times. They said they are stressed out from worrying about what time it is, when is their next FP+, do we have time to squeeze this in before we have to run all the way across the park, what about dinner, etc.

We still are on hold waiting for this mess to play out. I have a reservation offsite scheduled for before Christmas but after reading this I have pretty much decided to cancel and wait some more.

I expect in the next year as return guest bookings continue to drop, heads will start rolling. We will see changes to FP+ but who knows how much longer they will continue to alienate guests with it before they finally throw in the towel. I am with others, the only way this system will ever work without ticking day trippers and short notice guests off is to return to some form of the old system where FP's are reserved in the park with no more advanced reservations. They need to throw ADR's out for dining too while they are at it.

They are basically handing Universal and the other parks the short notice and day trip customers.

[BrerGnat]

Maybe TDO should realize that the ONLY reason the lines for TSMM are so long in the first place is because of the utter lack of RIDES for the "whole family" at DHS. Maybe instead of building another track (which sounds like a ridiculous idea, IMO) build some new RIDES that everyone can go on. I bet if they did that, TSMM would not be so popular. The attraction itself is not that good. This is evidenced by the lack of insanity generated over at DCA for the same ride. That is because there are plenty of other rides at DCA.

[DizneyFreak2002]

Maybe TDO should realize that the ONLY reason the lines for TSMM are so long in the first place is because of the utter lack of RIDES for the "whole family" at DHS. Maybe instead of building another track (which sounds like a ridiculous idea, IMO) build some new RIDES that everyone can go on. I bet if they did that, TSMM would not be so popular. The attraction itself is not that good. This is evidenced by the lack of insanity generated over at DCA for the same ride. That is because there are plenty of other rides at DCA.

Yep... some of us have been saying that for years... But hey, we never ran a theme park before... OBVIOUSLY we do not know what we are talking about...

[DonaldDuck1117]

I am against any park telling guests that they can't wait in line. If I drop $90 on a ticket I should have the option to wait in whatever line I want no matter how long it is. I'm glad to hear this is only a test being done for our future benefit.

And why isn't it worth it to do a day trip to Disney? (Which is basically what Disney wants, they don't want you to go for a day and their pricing system is designed to discourage it) now if it's a price thing I get that, I think $94 for a day at Disney or universal is ridiculous. However, if it is because of FP+ I think that's crazy. It's not worth it? You know you are allowed to ride rides without a FP, right? Just like the old days, just like our local parks. It seems like FP has spoiled a certain sector of Disney fans who think they can't wait in a line that's longer than 20 minutes.

[dnickels]

They are testing to see how things work with FP+ only lines... Remember, they are adding a third track, which is supposed to be for stand by only... This test will help them determine which works better: two FP+ lines/one stand by line, or two stand by lines/one FP+ line...

Any idea what they're looking for in terms of 'better' Freak? I mean the hourly throughput for the ride doesn't change if the guests are coming from 1 standby line or 2 fastpass lines or 1 standby and 1 fastpass. Are they looking for 'better' in terms of fewer CMs required per rider or just keeping guests out of lines and in other areas they can be tempted to buy things or what?

[Isabella]

Today in MK we were able to book "fast" passes for Haunted Mansion, Jungle Cruise and Pirates. We waited in the "fast" pass lines 15, 20 and 35 minutes. I think i know what the + stands for in FP+. It's all the extra time you get to spend in line. For true Disney lovers, we will put up with a lot, just to be here, but for newbies it's way too stressful and convoluted and confusing and discouraging. Old way to get fast passes really worked alright, just needed a trickle of FP all day to avoid no FP left by 10AM.
Ahhhhhh well, I'm sitting in MK and listening to the wonderful sounds of Disney. Love being here, always will. Hope one day someone with Walt's heartand joy and Roy's financial brilliance will revive what was intended. Until then, I'm grateful to sit here with memories of Walt in so many things around me!

[LittleDreamer]

The hourly throughput for the ride doesn't change if the guests are coming from 1 standby line or 2 fastpass lines or 1 standby and 1 fastpass. Are they looking for 'better' in terms of fewer CMs required per rider or just keeping guests out of lines and in other areas they can be tempted to buy things or what?

I think it's just Disney making sure their models are right. Let's say 10% of people with fastpasses dont show and this number increases to 15% as the day goes on. But these values are based on a smaller sample size. In a mixed line this doesn't matter since the standby can just fill in. But if it is a Fastpass only line you might not be running at full capacity (and you can't run to the line on the other side of the building to grab standby people). So do you give out 105% capacity worth of Fastpasses? Disney just wants another data pool to look at before they make final decisions. Sadly this is the best ride to do this test on since it is the most consistently "sold out" ride in the parks.

[DizneyFreak2002]

Any idea what they're looking for in terms of 'better' Freak? I mean the hourly throughput for the ride doesn't change if the guests are coming from 1 standby line or 2 fastpass lines or 1 standby and 1 fastpass. Are they looking for 'better' in terms of fewer CMs required per rider or just keeping guests out of lines and in other areas they can be tempted to buy things or what?

Read Dreamer's post above... Hits the nail on the head... People don't always show up for their FP... and now, with FP+, people can change their selections...

If TSMM has a hourly capacity of 1000 per hour, and 700 of those are FP, 300 are stand by.. if 30 FP guests do not show up, no harm... 30 extra stand by guests make up the difference.. if/when they go to all FP only, and give out 1000 FPs for the hour, and 30 people do not do not show up, now you had a hourly ridership of only 970, cutting capacity and inflating the FP wait time line...

This is all data gathering to decide the best option... It stinks for the people there now who received no warning about this, and yes, this is the way Disney now treats guests, with contempt... Not to even warn guests a head of time is poor customer service... And Disney should be ashamed... and guests have the right to be mad... And from all accounts, today was not a good day for management and guest satisfaction...

I just wanted to make sure people didn't run with DISNEY IS GETTING RID OF STAND BY LINES ALTOGETHER cause that isn't true... yet...

[Melanie]

Maybe TDO should realize that the ONLY reason the lines for TSMM are so long in the first place is because of the utter lack of RIDES for the "whole family" at DHS. Maybe instead of building another track (which sounds like a ridiculous idea, IMO) build some new RIDES that everyone can go on. I bet if they did that, TSMM would not be so popular. The attraction itself is not that good. This is evidenced by the lack of insanity generated over at DCA for the same ride. That is because there are plenty of other rides at DCA.

Yes, this! But I do enjoy TSMM.

I can't WAIT for my trip to Disneyland in a few weeks. Ahhhh, relaxing. What am I riding on October 23? I have no idea, nor know what park we'll be in. And I'm loving it!

[TheVBs]

I agree that they should put more rides there rather than adding an extra track to TSMM.

I'm hoping that this FP only thing is temporary as suggested. Doing this on any kind of permanent basis would be horrible. And, I don't blame those guests who were expecting to do stand by for being angry. Not being able to get on a ride because it's down for maintenance or weather is one thing. Being told you're not going to be allowed to wait stand by is another thing entirely. Disney should have been prepared to offer something really nice to the people who were turned away.

As a side note, someone mentioned that Universal or Legoland are more feasible for a day visitor. I have to disagree, not at $96 for Universal and $69 for Legoland. We've discussed trying a day trip to one of these parks many times, but the prices have turned us away. Now, we wouldn't want to pay just for 1 day at Disney either, it is a better deal to go longer. But, if we were choosing a place to spend one day, MK would be it. We know we will enjoy ourselves there.

[PirateLover]

Not a fan. At all. Hopefully it IS just a test, but even so, that really stinks for those who are there on the test days and can't ride. I don't care if they add another track, but yes, they MUST add more rides. No ifs, ands, or buts.

[Aurora]

We were in Disneyland on Aug. 5 and Toy Story Mania had a standby wait time of 40 minutes at 10:45 a.m. Just sayin'.

[minnie04]

Right! Another good point. With the tiers, if this remains, if you choose RnRC, you won't ride TSM. What???? That's insane that Disney would/could dictate that.

But can't you ride both ?? just one with FP and the other you will have to wait.

[Melanie]

But can't you ride both ?? just one with FP and the other you will have to wait.

I was saying that if what they are testing remains (no standby for TSM), if you choose R'nRC (as part of one tier) as your FP+, you wouldn't be able to ride TSM since there would be no standby.

Anyone confused yet? I am!

I don't see how this could ever come to be long term though.

INTERCOTee Nikki reported this morning that the standby line for Anna & Elsa is back. Who can tell me what the point of that test was?