Current wait time surprisingly low?

[DCLMP]

I've seen a lot of articles. We were at DL on July 4 and 5 and parks were empty by disney standards until around 1pm. It did get crowded in the afternoon. I think locals may have come late for the fireworks.

 

[raidermatt]

We've been to WDW seven times since re-opening, all during major holidays or events. I don't see any area that can be called filthy. Some people see one overflow trash can moments before it was emptied and keep fixating on it.

There is no doubt the parks are not kept up as well as they once were. But I agree, there does not seem to have been some kind of rapid, recent decline in upkeep.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Been seeing a lot of videos that WDW crowds this summer have been low. Anyone gone recently and can confirm?

Your question has been merged with an active thread discussing this topic. Many experiences/thoughts on this topic have been shared earlier in this thread which may be informative to read.

 

[ckelly14]

View attachment 776906
Wow! Yeah 4th of July was a great to go. This is a comparison of Tues July 4 vs today, Tues July 11.

View attachment 776907

^Wait times heat map from July 4

Does anyone really think that July 11th was that much busier than July 4th?

I stopped watching wait times after Len Testa showed that ride throughput was reduced during these "Busy" times a few years ago. Disney has been restricting ride access to save money on labor costs for a few years now.

Unfortunately, wait times have been picked up as the proxy for park busyness by The Wall Street Journal and other major papers. I have seen so many articles of how slow it is based on this false data.

 

[Minnie1222]

There is no doubt the parks are not kept up as well as they once were. But I agree, there does not seem to have been some kind of rapid, recent decline in upkeep.

I'm blaming the trashy guests among us. On one visit, I saw a worker picking up bottles near the water inside MK. Those bottles wouldn't have gotten there unless someone flung them there. Why deliberately trash the place and cause more work for the staff?

 

[Genie+]

Does anyone really think that July 11th was that much busier than July 4th?

I stopped watching wait times after Len Testa showed that ride throughput was reduced during these "Busy" times a few years ago. Disney has been restricting ride access to save money on labor costs for a few years now.

Unfortunately, wait times have been picked up as the proxy for park busyness by The Wall Street Journal and other major papers. I have seen so many articles of how slow it is based on this false data.

Oh yeah that’s going on as well. Park operations definitely impact guest experience. We’ve done many late winter and spring trips. The year we visited around Easter we expected it to feel the most crowded, and it did not. Park hours were extended, rides were fully running, every food cart was open, shops had multiple registers open, etc. Wait times are a piece of the puzzle. They help but are not the full picture.

It is interesting to see how manageable HS was on July 4th. Slinky Dog never made it over 60 minute wait.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Does anyone really think that July 11th was that much busier than July 4th?

I stopped watching wait times after Len Testa showed that ride throughput was reduced during these "Busy" times a few years ago. Disney has been restricting ride access to save money on labor costs for a few years now.

Unfortunately, wait times have been picked up as the proxy for park busyness by The Wall Street Journal and other major papers. I have seen so many articles of how slow it is based on this false data.

I guess it depends on how each person looks at 'busy'. For me, I base my desire to be in the parks based on ride wait times. You are quite correct that Len Testa's group has provided statistical data to say that Disney can modify the number of people it can put through an attraction greatly depending on how they load the ride.

My desire to be in the parks is based on how long I could potentially wait in line.

 

[4Ds4Diz]

Just came back from a May and June trips. I disagree with Fastpass + making stand by longer. Waited 90 minutes for Navi River that had a short line. Stood still for long periods of time due to staff letting Genie+ guest go first. Saw this repeat itself at Peter Pan and other rides during the week. Genie+ made the experience worse for us.

 

[PolymerSkywalker]

Hot as heck is a big driver I would think. It's much more pleasant to go to a mountain destination with low humidity in the summer.

Lots of loud, sweaty, and stinky people being very close to me is not high up on the list of things I love.

 

[Scalemaster34]

Just came back from a May and June trips. I disagree with Fastpass + making stand by longer. Waited 90 minutes for Navi River that had a short line. Stood still for long periods of time due to staff letting Genie+ guest go first. Saw this repeat itself at Peter Pan and other rides during the week. Genie+ made the experience worse for us.

Paying for front of line access is now an industry standard... that's not going away.

Now how it's implemented..... that's needs some tweaking. The whole 7AM lottery is way to frustrating for guest, and having Genie+, ILL and VQ just adds to the frustration and confusion.

I do like how other theme and amusement parks do these... but in the end those parks generally have much smaller crowds anyway.

 

[francie57]

I'm blaming the trashy guests among us. On one visit, I saw a worker picking up bottles near the water inside MK. Those bottles wouldn't have gotten there unless someone flung them there. Why deliberately trash the place and cause more work for the staff?

I agree with you on this! Every trip we have made recently there is always a bathroom attendant cleaning up but the people just throw things on the ground. Same with walking through the parks, there are trash can every 15 feet but people just throw their stuff on the ground and keep walking. People in the past were never like that, but now people just don’t care! I don’t mean everyone that goes because the majority of people still do the right thing

 

[PolymerSkywalker]

I agree with you on this! Every trip we have made recently there is always a bathroom attendant cleaning up but the people just throw things on the ground. Same with walking through the parks, there are trash can every 15 feet but people just throw their stuff on the ground and keep walking. People in the past were never like that, but now people just don’t care! I don’t mean everyone that goes because the majority of people still do the right thing

People are just slobs nowadays. I pick up a small bag of trash that cars throw out in my front yard weekly, it's just the overall erosion of the culture in general and no one respects anyone else anymore.

 

[Smugpugmug]

This conversation reminded me of a Reddit post I saw this morning where a Disneyland guest received a survey that had the question "The behavior of other guests had a negative impact on your visit" on it. That's a 100% strongly agree for me. Other guests are one of the worst parts of the park experience right now.

 

[PolymerSkywalker]

This conversation reminded me of a Reddit post I saw this morning where a Disneyland guest received a survey that had the question "The behavior of other guests had a negative impact on your visit" on it. That's a 100% strongly agree for me. Other guests are one of the worst parts of the park experience right now.

Loud obnoxious rude people of all races and nationalities are the norm in the parks now.

 

[leiaorgana]

This conversation reminded me of a Reddit post I saw this morning where a Disneyland guest received a survey that had the question "The behavior of other guests had a negative impact on your visit" on it. That's a 100% strongly agree for me. Other guests are one of the worst parts of the park experience right now.

I had this question and a couple similar to it on a survey I got about my AK visit the other week and had to answer strongly agree to it as well.

 

[Smugpugmug]

I had this question and a couple similar to it on a survey I got about my AK visit the other week and had to answer strongly agree to it as well.

Every time I have been on Haunted Mansion lately, people loudly recite the preshow and it sends me into a feral animal rage.

I also can't stand the line cutting and people who won't turn their flash off on the rides. I think other people agree since Disney included this in the survey.

 

[PolymerSkywalker]

I had this question and a couple similar to it on a survey I got about my AK visit the other week and had to answer strongly agree to it as well.

I hate it too, what has happened to people' s personal pride and mutual respect for others?

Bottom line is people are not held accountable for their actions anymore like they were in years past. When you behave badly and there are zero consequences, those individuals get more bold by the day.

 

[disneyseniors]

I hate it too, what has happened to people' s personal pride and mutual respect for others?

Bottom line is people are not held accountable for their actions anymore like they were in years past. When you behave badly and there are zero consequences, those individuals get more bold by the day.

I know you aren't asking this for an answer, but I think some people are more entitled with all the high prices at disney. They pay a high price just to get in, another one for D+ and LL's. Then there is the high priced mediocre food. Then the cheap Chinese made souveniers. There's just more and more pressure due to increased prices and more pressure to get on all the attractions whatever you have to do. If you don't, you wait a long time. Then there are the crowds and the summer heat. Not to mention the costs to get to WDW in the first place! I think it's all of this that makes people more entitled and the attitude of "I paid a lot of money for this and I Will get what I want".
I don't know what the answer is to this, but it seems to be getting worse.

 

[PolymerSkywalker]

I know you aren't asking this for an answer, but I think some people are more entitled with all the high prices at disney. They pay a high price just to get in, another one for D+ and LL's. Then there is the high priced mediocre food. Then the cheap Chinese made souveniers. There's just more and more pressure due to increased prices and more pressure to get on all the attractions whatever you have to do. If you don't, you wait a long time. Then there are the crowds and the summer heat. Not to mention the costs to get to WDW in the first place! I think it's all of this that makes people more entitled and the attitude of "I paid a lot of money for this and I Will get what I want".
I don't know what the answer is to this, but it seems to be getting worse.

Very well said, and I certainly think that is part of it.

 

[focusondisney]

You are quite correct that Len Testa's group has provided statistical data to say that Disney can modify the number of people it can put through an attraction greatly depending on how they load the ride.

We were in MK at rope drop on the 3rd, I commented to my husband how fast the cars seemed to be going on Haunted Mansion. They definitely can impact stand by lines by how they’re running the attractions.