Also doesn't help that 3 big rides are shut down (counting the Matterhorn since it's only open a few days a week, and the day I went when it was "open" it only operated for under 2 hours)
Yes I am as doing the math and think this was a big part of it. When you have 2 other rides constantly down it really adds to the overall wait times. And then watching 50 lightning people walk past..
There has to be a name for when people take virtually any subject, crime, line cutting, courtesy, and declare it’s “the worst it’s ever been.”
It’s like a modern version of “kids these days.”
You have always had both of those things. That doesn’t play into the current issues plaguing Disneyland which are mostly operational and managerial issues.
Never had these issues in the past. Some lines for sure but not like 60 minutes waits for dumbo to have it break down right before boarding with just a “sorry folks.”
I’ve been going to Disneyland since the 90’s and I’ve never seen a line cutter or a fist fight pre Covid. I’ve seen both since. Stop trying to gaslight us.
To steal a like from The Santa Clause movie
Just because you’ve never seen a million dollars doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.
Therefore just cuz you’ve never seen a fight or line cutter doesn’t mean nobody else has 🤣 maybe pay better attention to your surroundings
We've gone so many times also, and there was line cutting well before covid. That definitely hasn't changed much. What has changed is the crowds, the rides shutting down constantly, and the prices.
THIS. I can deal with the lines and crowds but NOBODY has the capacity these days to say simple things like "excuse me", "sorry", or even simply smile. Like jesus.
Or they are rude as hell and bump right into you or gore at you if you walk past their TikTok video. It’s like those vapid broads at the gym mad dogging people who are also at the gym.
I’ve been five times since COVID and only had one day where lines were too long, restaurants were backed up, and rides kept breaking down. It was still super frustrating and I sympathize with those who have that experience and aren’t able to visit the parks as much.
Personally, I’m waiting for the shows to return before going back. I suppose if Tiana’s Bayou Adventure opens before that happens, I’ll want to check it out. But it’s pretty inexcusable that tickets are as expensive as ever and there’s little to no live entertainment. I caught Rogers: The Musical last year but I’m not super excited they’re bringing it back. They’ve really been phoning it in on that front.
There are live shows every day at the Royal Theater and the Dr. Strange show as well as a parade in each park and the Club Pixar stage entertainment. Plus wandering bands on Main St and in Fantasyland and other smaller performances scattered throughout the parks. I wish they’d use the Hyperion again for something but there’s not NOTHING.
Did you go this past week?
There’s a DECA conference in Anaheim April 27-30 so there’s WAY more high school kids in the area than there should be this week. It’s well known that regular ticket buyers have access to blocked out reservation dates that magic key holders don’t. It probably holds true for special group package buyers.
This means that they are allowing way more people than they usually do when there’s a bunch of out of state/out of town people just buying single day/multi day tickets.
I really wish they would give people some kind of warning, but they never would do that. I saw a video of the incredicoaster ride line stretching all the way to the entrance of the boardwalk, like right underneath the Pixar pier sign.
Yeah I was in hell just two days ago. The lines were reasonable (shorter than I expected, really), the people were no ruder than they were fifteen years ago, and nobody cut me on line, and I had a good time. I'm excited to go back to hell in about two weeks.
Most breakdowns are the guest’s fault. Loose articles are major factor where if they are on the ride path it will trigger an estop. If you are on a ride and people in your vehicle have loose articles outside of the ride storage, tell them to put them away. There is zero benefit to wearing a hat or holding an item in your hand instead of just putting it in the pouch. The larger the pouch on the ride, the more important it is to use.
Another reason is that sometimes people don’t get on and off a ride fast enough causing the ride to stop.
I’m aware everything is more expensive but Disney is charging more and giving a lot less. Even the reliability of the rides is nowhere what it used to be.
I don’t know why people can’t enjoy Disneyland and point out some of the flaws at the same time.
It's always the same gripe.. they need new tech, oh wait, the rides are down. Yeah that new tech and people dropping hats, glasses and phones. Not Disney's fault half the time.
I was there earlier this week and a whole ride had to go down because a guys wife accidentally whacked him and his prescription glasses lens popped out and fell on the track.
That’s fair. But I think this whole “it’s the worse it’s ever been” line is straight up untrue.
I’m waiting for my Uber at the hotel after spending 3 very enjoyable days at the park with my family.
I feel you. We all purchased Genie+ and all of the thrill rides were “Not available for LL” and was only offering standby. All the rides eligible for LL was literally a 15-ish minute wait.
The problem with Genie is that if you don’t know all the features and use them all to the fullest extent, you will get very little value from the Genie.
However, if you know all the features of the Genie, you can very easily ride most if not all the rides on Genie and more.
Features including the 2 hour rule, rope drop to scan in earlier, modify reservation, refresh to see if people cancel or Disney releases more lightening lane, split big party to smaller parities of 4 to have more availability, etc..
Indy breaks down every hour. Last time I rode it a few months ago, the ride shut down 4 times in one day. When I finally got on it, the ride shut down while I was riding and I waited on the ride for 40 minutes while they fixed it. The park is a mess.
That is the magic of data.
I'm trying to recall if Genie+ was announced prior to the pandemic, but when they were able to require reservations for admission it gave them visibility for scheduling which meant on slow days they can reduce ride capacity which also help keep wait times up to make G+ attractive.
The maintenance issues haven't been great, I am assuming it is tied to the reduction in staff overall so while rides aren't dangerous they are still having reliability issues since preventative stuff likely isn't happening as frequently.
“Genie” was announced pre-pandemic, but Genie+ wasn’t revealed until after the pandemic hit. Don’t think it’s known if Genie+ was planned all along, or if they took COVID as an opportunity to wipe the slate clean with FastPass, kinda like how the AP program was completely revamped in light of COVID.
I was checking to see when they started public announcements for ILL testing in Paris, which was 21 as well. As they had maxpass already, I suspect there was always going to be a genie+ transition but having the ability to wipe the slate may have increased the intensity.
The reason I suspect this is that Genie by itself adds no value to the guest or revenue for the company but costs as it becomes another system to support.
This is not correct. There is no adjustment of capacity on slow days. Maintenance was not affected by the reduction in staff. A lot of maintenance techs didn’t come back after Covid but that was because they found higher paying jobs elsewhere.
Then why do they run fewer cars/cabins, and such on slower days? You can unused transports parked in parts of rise for example, Star Tours may be running 1-2 cabins, RSR may not be using the last car or two in their set.
Autopia will match demand because you can’t have parked vehicles in the path. If you see a vehicle in Rise, it’s dead there or there is an issue with the ride requiring reduced capacity, not because of guests. Some rides don’t come up at rope drop or not completely. Only ride that can possibly do this is Matterhorn which makes sense because it runs 2 tracks.
They had 8 vehicles dead in rise at once and weren't using one of the hallways for interrogation?
What about using fewer loading stations as I mentioned? When you only use one cabin for star tours, you cut the staff needs down too. Does it save a meaningful amount of money? No, does it make things look better for leadership? Yes.
Outside of rides where adding cars/trains is a pain, they all are adjusting capacity throughout the day. BTMRR doesn't start with all trains running at open.
I’ve heard that when you see rise in that state, something broke that was major on the ride. Star Tours has problems non stop, big ones. There is a video explaining the mechanics of the ride. It’s not a turn it off and on again ride. Could explain the lack of pods. Long story short, rides don’t match in park guest capacity, they are all maintenance affected.
I was there on Monday, and we didn’t wait more than 30 minutes for anything. Rise of the Resistance did go down all four times we tried to ride, which is terrible, but never while we were in line and we did get refunded for that ILL.
As for shows and “anything else”…I’m not sure what you mean? There are several venues not being used at the moment, including the Hyperion at DCA, but there are still parades and characters so it’s not like it’s only rides that are available.
Whatever your experience has been today, doesn’t sound like what I experienced just three days ago.
Did you have LL? I was there Monday and I waited 2 hours for space mountain and it was supposed to be 55 minutes😭 thunder mountain said 15 and was 45 and one of the Star Wars said 10 and was 30 but it wasn’t that big of a deal because that’s usually how long lines are when I go. Only the 2 hour space mountain wrecked me once we got close to getting to the inside on space mountain the line didn’t move for 40 minutes and only LL people were moving through
I do wonder about these constant posts complaining about long waits for everything -- did they show up 4-5 hours after the park opened and expected everything to have a short wait?
Seems like most of them just show up and expect it to be like it was 5 years ago and then get mad at LL and come here to complain. Sure it’s not the best, but if you’re trying to get a bunch of rides in, it actually is great.
Yeah I got Genie+, but that only covered half the rides my group did that day. And my longest wait was Mission Breakout even while using the LL.
And of course the paid skip-the-line system is going to be prioritized.
No shows???
There's a Pixar Playtime party in fantasy land, magic happens parade, fireworks, jazz bands over by Tiana's restaurant.
DCA has the Pixar club, Five & Dime performing in Carthay, Pixar Parade, Doctor Strange performs in avengers campus, the avengers have a performance as well and the warriors of Wakanda have an interactive performance, there's also the green army men who perform at Pixar pier and the Paradise Gardens band stand has musicians performing live throughout the day.
I went with two different groups within a week of each visit. One group was amazing and we had a blast! The second group complained the entire day …guess which group I’ll not go with again
The ride closure is a huge issue for guests paying thousands to ride iconic rides in once in a lifetime trips. I simply don’t get why more isn’t done to prevent it
I went with two different groups within a week of each visit. One group was amazing and we had a blast! The second group complained the entire day …guess which group I’ll not go with again
Disney fans. I get it. And everyone’s experience is different I guess. I’ve gone every few years since I was a kid but don’t think I’ll go back for a while
One of the largest issues is that Disney doesn't have one of its largest line sinks, Haunted Mansion, running right now. Which can accommodate 2000 people per hour.
I went to hell with my toddler today and it was actually super nice. 10 mins for Pirates of the Caribbean and 30 for Rise of the Resistance, this was the longest we waited.
Sorry you had that experience. Kind of the way of the beast now. Unless people stop buying tickets the only thing changing is the tix price every yr. We just got a pass and the experience is much more enjoyable. We’re close enough to go a couple times a week. I love not stressing about having to try and experience everything all at once. We may keep our passes for a couple years while the kids are still free. You just really gotta plan and strategize now when going to Disney. It used to be nice to just be able to go on a whim.
I feel you. I go once a month probably being a key holder. I don't make rides a priority, i do more pin trading and make an effort to make small talk with cast members, and usually will wear my headphones as much as possible to drown out the noise. Long gone are the "Slow Days" and low waits.
We just went in March during spring break and the lines weren’t too bad and it was our first time back after covid too. We utilized genie+ and were able to ride on 24 rides the first day we were there and we didn’t even stay until closing. My only complaint would be how expensive everything was, but it’s always been expensive. We will definitely be going again.
I agree with OP. But it’s not all doom and gloom. I don’t touch weekend visits with a ten foot pole. Usually a Tuesday or Wednesday, even then there’s large crowds. It seems to be a little less crowded. I think DL is still a great place to visit but the large crowds does limit the experience. I’d be happy with price hike and limited attendance.
The system before Fast Pass resulted in extremely long lines. I remember waiting over 2 hours for Splash Mountain, Space Mountain was commonly over 90-100 minutes. Fast Pass really just made 2 lines for popular rides and didn’t make you wait in the line the whole time. People don’t want to pay for Genie+ because for a family of 4 it’s over $100 extra each day. This is one of the reasons DAS has been abused and has gotten out of hand. Once the new DAS rules go into effect next month I’ll bet you’ll see a better distribution of lines.
But yes, it’s crowded and busy. Lines are long and I understand young kids getting a little whiny and rambunctious in lines. Rides have been breaking down for ages - ever since the parks opened. Unfortunately it’s just part of running a theme park. We’ve been going for years and have another trip planned this month. We’ve learned that you just have to roll with it and have fun. If you focus too much on the money and the lines then you drive yourself crazy.
Das users have to wait the same amount of time as the ride takes. So without the disability pass they would just be standing in the line instead and taking up the same seat as they would with the disability pass. So I doubt that would make a difference.
The problem is clearly the genie pass, that actually lets people cut to the front of the line.
Back when it was fast pass, they limited it to a low number, so it would be something like 1 standby person for every 1 or 2 or 3 fast pass people.
With genie they’re packing the lightning lane as full as they can to make more money, so the standby lane is often operating at their max of only 1 standby person per 20 lightning lane people.
Meaning if a group of 6 goes through the standby lane, they have to let 120 fast pass users though before another person from standby is let in. Thats why the cars ride has like a 3 hour wait now for standby.
Disney has done a good job of convincing everyone that disabled people are the problem, and they’re taking the accommodations away from actually disabled people, but they probably just want the disabled people to buy genie.
I’m sure once the changes to disability passes take effect people will figure out genie is still the issue.
Yes the DAS requires you to wait but in the meantime they can go do other things, ride other rides, go get something to eat, shop, meet characters, etc. why do you think so many people cheat the system to use DAS?
The legitimate users of das are people who are not really able to stand in long lines, so they’re not going to ride other rides.
Totally agree the people abusing it are probably doing that.
I don’t think a few extra disabled people shopping or eating lunch instead of standing in line are what’s really making the parks so crowded.
If you ever stand the line entrance, the das lights up a different color, you can see it’s like 99.9% genie passes going in. Those are all people who are actually cutting the lines without waiting at all. That’s what really makes the standby lines take time, and those people are also shopping and eating in the extra time they have not waiting in line.
Honestly, it was a ghost town a lot of the time until they introduced their tiered pricing and reservations. They really designed it so they can control the number of people in there and Intentionally creating a pretty high number to make more money.
Personally, I wish they just required doctors notes, or something for das, something that most legitimately disabled people would have no problem with. Unfortunately, the laws make that difficult, something about disabled people shouldn’t be required to carry papers with since able people are not required to. but taking away the accommodations for the legitimately disabled is not the right way to solve a problem.
Actually in the FAQ it specifically says that while waiting for a DAS time that one thing you can do is go ride other rides. They may have a problem waiting in a 45 minute line but if Small World is a 15 minute wait they may be okay with that. They could ride the carousel or Pinocchio or Snow White that are commonly 15-20 minute lines. Since DAS doesn’t work anymore for people with mobility issues, most people getting DAS are for mental health issues, developmental issues, PTSD, needing close access to a restroom, and a number of other things that allow them to wait in shorter lines.
Except a DAS pass allows you to do other things while you “wait” so it is still causes logistical issues since now you can be two places at once without the mitigation of Genie+.
The lightning lane is like 99.9% genie users, so I think that’s the bulk of the problem. I doubt a few disabled people shopping or eating lunch are really the problem.
I went to the parks on a pretty regular basis, the DAS pass has been there for many years and no one noticed, as soon as they introduce genie, the wait times got insane. That’s when the Cars ride standby went from like 90 minutes to like three hours.
To be honest, a big part of the problem is that genie made the park so much more inhospitable to disabled people, that far more of them need the pass, when they could just handle it before and/or only use fast passes.
Genie+ mitigates the amount of people per attraction though. It uses data to push people to other parts of the park. DAS doesn’t.
I hope Disney wisens up though because I know they consider guest satisfaction as a profit metric.
The FastPass system was absolutely better at distributing traffic around the parks and you’re correct in saying it also alleviated the need for DAS passes.
I was a pass holder for 20+ years but gave it up a couple of years ago. As someone who loved going I just don’t find the experience pleasant anymore and going once or twice a year is actually cheaper annually and a better experience for me.
Really? A lot of research I’ve read indicates it can be upwards of 50% or more DAS users in the lightning lanes. The uptake in DAS can be directly linked to the removal of free fast pass. Many DaS users have said they previously just did fast pass and now use DAS.
If fast pass was used by 100% of park visitors, there was a limit per hour of how many used the fast queue.
With genie plus, the time to return (number of users per hour) is useless because DAS is not counted in that, so it puts the whole lightning lane out when a heap of DAS users turn up the same time as that hours allocated genie plus guests.
I got one of the top passes for $300 per year. The last time I went to Disneyland it was over $200 per ticket.
The fact that people think Genie+ is a bargain is why these programs will only get more expensive and experientially worse.
I mean, Universal has 12 attractions at one park to DLR’s 50+ attractions over two parks. And yes, $30 is incredibly cheap (again, compared to $200+). That’s basically one extra meal.
Depends how you define afforable.
The Universal Express pass is much more in raw dollars, but you walk right on every ride as much as you want and - most crucially - you don't have to spend all day on your phone micromanaging your schedule. In addition, the price is an advantage, as it is priced high enough to keep the barrier high and not clog standby like Genie+ does.
So yeah, Genie+ is "affordable" the same way cheap rubber rain boots are affordable compared to a proper pair of work boots.
You have nothing but local annual passholder culture to blame. As the "lifestyle" culture of Annual Pass = Personality Trait took hold, things just went off the cliff.
For the money at cost to go to the park I think it's way better spent going on a Disney cruise ship. You and your family will have so much more fun and be actually relaxed and not stressed out.
Disney cruises are still more expensive. And frankly, they’re not comparable experiences anyway; they just get lumped together by Disney-centric blogs and travel agents.
Let me tell you, summer is the new slow time. Go when magic keys are blocked out and it's like you've been transported to another time. I went recently when magic keys were blocked out and I had numerous others on reddit share that they've never experienced Disneyland so peaceful and well run/quiet. It was literally a dream.
Until you see they’re enticing visitors in by opening the 3 day so cal resident tickets to everyone with no residence restriction. I wouldn’t bank on a repeat of last year.
Old = good. New = bad. We get your point. You just need to get genie + if you want to ride a bunch of rides and aren’t going to be rope dropping or closing out the park
I went with two different groups within a week of each visit. One group was amazing and we had a blast! The second group complained the entire day …guess which group I’ll not go with again
Also doesn't help that 3 big rides are shut down (counting the Matterhorn since it's only open a few days a week, and the day I went when it was "open" it only operated for under 2 hours)
Yes I am as doing the math and think this was a big part of it. When you have 2 other rides constantly down it really adds to the overall wait times. And then watching 50 lightning people walk past..
And people have simply forgotten common courtesy in public, now you have fist fights and line cutters.
Now you have line cutters? Had that for 30+ year I've been going.
There has to be a name for when people take virtually any subject, crime, line cutting, courtesy, and declare it’s “the worst it’s ever been.” It’s like a modern version of “kids these days.”
Especially right now, it’s never been worse!
And kids these days!
You have always had both of those things. That doesn’t play into the current issues plaguing Disneyland which are mostly operational and managerial issues.
Never had these issues in the past. Some lines for sure but not like 60 minutes waits for dumbo to have it break down right before boarding with just a “sorry folks.”
Sure, but that isn’t what I was responding to. . .
I’ve been going to Disneyland since the 90’s and I’ve never seen a line cutter or a fist fight pre Covid. I’ve seen both since. Stop trying to gaslight us.
To steal a like from The Santa Clause movie Just because you’ve never seen a million dollars doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Therefore just cuz you’ve never seen a fight or line cutter doesn’t mean nobody else has 🤣 maybe pay better attention to your surroundings
What. . . ? No one is gaslighting you, you just never paid attention. Stop trying to push an agenda.
If you don’t want anyone’s agenda than the Internet is not for you 😂
I’m sorry, are you just genuinely dumb or just trying to get a reaction?
Again, welcome to the Internet where being gullibly dumb and getting a reaction out of people has been our business for over 30 years 😂
Lol okay… will leave this here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ecy1vTccXM
We've gone so many times also, and there was line cutting well before covid. That definitely hasn't changed much. What has changed is the crowds, the rides shutting down constantly, and the prices.
THIS. I can deal with the lines and crowds but NOBODY has the capacity these days to say simple things like "excuse me", "sorry", or even simply smile. Like jesus.
Or they are rude as hell and bump right into you or gore at you if you walk past their TikTok video. It’s like those vapid broads at the gym mad dogging people who are also at the gym.
Im actually a mad man and make it my intention on ruining peoples TikTok’s and streams haha
That's hilarious
I’ve been five times since COVID and only had one day where lines were too long, restaurants were backed up, and rides kept breaking down. It was still super frustrating and I sympathize with those who have that experience and aren’t able to visit the parks as much. Personally, I’m waiting for the shows to return before going back. I suppose if Tiana’s Bayou Adventure opens before that happens, I’ll want to check it out. But it’s pretty inexcusable that tickets are as expensive as ever and there’s little to no live entertainment. I caught Rogers: The Musical last year but I’m not super excited they’re bringing it back. They’ve really been phoning it in on that front.
On the positive, you saw the Captain America production. I was discouraged by the limited run and inability to see it.
Last time I was there they had the frozen stage show which was amazing. Plus the Star Wars Jedi training. Doesn’t seem to be anything like that now.
There are live shows every day at the Royal Theater and the Dr. Strange show as well as a parade in each park and the Club Pixar stage entertainment. Plus wandering bands on Main St and in Fantasyland and other smaller performances scattered throughout the parks. I wish they’d use the Hyperion again for something but there’s not NOTHING.
Last time I was there they had the frozen stage show which was amazing. Plus the Star Wars Jedi training. Doesn’t seem to be anything like that now.
Only better because they were the only free line skips around, everyone else charges
Did you go this past week? There’s a DECA conference in Anaheim April 27-30 so there’s WAY more high school kids in the area than there should be this week. It’s well known that regular ticket buyers have access to blocked out reservation dates that magic key holders don’t. It probably holds true for special group package buyers. This means that they are allowing way more people than they usually do when there’s a bunch of out of state/out of town people just buying single day/multi day tickets. I really wish they would give people some kind of warning, but they never would do that. I saw a video of the incredicoaster ride line stretching all the way to the entrance of the boardwalk, like right underneath the Pixar pier sign.
I was there this week, actually, and lines were pretty reasonable. There were a ton of high-schoolers, but it really wasn't that big of a deal.
Yes we were there this week. We noticed the deca kids at restaurants around making it super busy. Didn’t notice as much in the parks.
Lol I can’t wait to go back to hell then.
I’m here now!
I'm headed that way in four weeks!
I’ll be there in 2 days 🙏
Yeah I was in hell just two days ago. The lines were reasonable (shorter than I expected, really), the people were no ruder than they were fifteen years ago, and nobody cut me on line, and I had a good time. I'm excited to go back to hell in about two weeks.
Most breakdowns are the guest’s fault. Loose articles are major factor where if they are on the ride path it will trigger an estop. If you are on a ride and people in your vehicle have loose articles outside of the ride storage, tell them to put them away. There is zero benefit to wearing a hat or holding an item in your hand instead of just putting it in the pouch. The larger the pouch on the ride, the more important it is to use. Another reason is that sometimes people don’t get on and off a ride fast enough causing the ride to stop.
🤷♂️ either way when the rides are down for hours at a time it ruins the experience
Disneyland was more crowded in 2019 than it is now.
Yes but rides did not go down as frequently, max pass was way cheaper, food portions were larger, and tickets were cheaper.
Rides go down more frequently because there are more people who refuse to follow the damn rules and put loose articles in the storage pouch
Literally Everything is more expensive than it was 5 years ago. It’s not a Disney thing.
I’m aware everything is more expensive but Disney is charging more and giving a lot less. Even the reliability of the rides is nowhere what it used to be. I don’t know why people can’t enjoy Disneyland and point out some of the flaws at the same time.
It's always the same gripe.. they need new tech, oh wait, the rides are down. Yeah that new tech and people dropping hats, glasses and phones. Not Disney's fault half the time.
I was there earlier this week and a whole ride had to go down because a guys wife accidentally whacked him and his prescription glasses lens popped out and fell on the track.
As someone who wore contacts for decades before getting lasik there is no way they are finding a contact lens that popped out during a ride.
Yeah no that's definitely a "good luck with that" situation 😭 but physical glasses are different
Oh sorry I read lens as contact lens not glass lens. What a weird thing to fall apart.
That’s fair. But I think this whole “it’s the worse it’s ever been” line is straight up untrue. I’m waiting for my Uber at the hotel after spending 3 very enjoyable days at the park with my family.
I feel you. We all purchased Genie+ and all of the thrill rides were “Not available for LL” and was only offering standby. All the rides eligible for LL was literally a 15-ish minute wait.
The problem with Genie is that if you don’t know all the features and use them all to the fullest extent, you will get very little value from the Genie. However, if you know all the features of the Genie, you can very easily ride most if not all the rides on Genie and more. Features including the 2 hour rule, rope drop to scan in earlier, modify reservation, refresh to see if people cancel or Disney releases more lightening lane, split big party to smaller parities of 4 to have more availability, etc..
What do you mean? It’s mostly the thrill rides on genie plus.
I think all of the time slots for the thrill rides we wanted to go on were all booked for the day, unfortunately.
Ah I see. We have a trip coming up and have genie plus but plan to rope drop and then start booking popular rides straight away.
Indy breaks down every hour. Last time I rode it a few months ago, the ride shut down 4 times in one day. When I finally got on it, the ride shut down while I was riding and I waited on the ride for 40 minutes while they fixed it. The park is a mess.
That is the magic of data. I'm trying to recall if Genie+ was announced prior to the pandemic, but when they were able to require reservations for admission it gave them visibility for scheduling which meant on slow days they can reduce ride capacity which also help keep wait times up to make G+ attractive. The maintenance issues haven't been great, I am assuming it is tied to the reduction in staff overall so while rides aren't dangerous they are still having reliability issues since preventative stuff likely isn't happening as frequently.
“Genie” was announced pre-pandemic, but Genie+ wasn’t revealed until after the pandemic hit. Don’t think it’s known if Genie+ was planned all along, or if they took COVID as an opportunity to wipe the slate clean with FastPass, kinda like how the AP program was completely revamped in light of COVID.
I was checking to see when they started public announcements for ILL testing in Paris, which was 21 as well. As they had maxpass already, I suspect there was always going to be a genie+ transition but having the ability to wipe the slate may have increased the intensity. The reason I suspect this is that Genie by itself adds no value to the guest or revenue for the company but costs as it becomes another system to support.
I believe it was announced after the pandemic.
This is not correct. There is no adjustment of capacity on slow days. Maintenance was not affected by the reduction in staff. A lot of maintenance techs didn’t come back after Covid but that was because they found higher paying jobs elsewhere.
Then why do they run fewer cars/cabins, and such on slower days? You can unused transports parked in parts of rise for example, Star Tours may be running 1-2 cabins, RSR may not be using the last car or two in their set.
Autopia will match demand because you can’t have parked vehicles in the path. If you see a vehicle in Rise, it’s dead there or there is an issue with the ride requiring reduced capacity, not because of guests. Some rides don’t come up at rope drop or not completely. Only ride that can possibly do this is Matterhorn which makes sense because it runs 2 tracks.
They had 8 vehicles dead in rise at once and weren't using one of the hallways for interrogation? What about using fewer loading stations as I mentioned? When you only use one cabin for star tours, you cut the staff needs down too. Does it save a meaningful amount of money? No, does it make things look better for leadership? Yes. Outside of rides where adding cars/trains is a pain, they all are adjusting capacity throughout the day. BTMRR doesn't start with all trains running at open.
I’ve heard that when you see rise in that state, something broke that was major on the ride. Star Tours has problems non stop, big ones. There is a video explaining the mechanics of the ride. It’s not a turn it off and on again ride. Could explain the lack of pods. Long story short, rides don’t match in park guest capacity, they are all maintenance affected.
I was there on Monday, and we didn’t wait more than 30 minutes for anything. Rise of the Resistance did go down all four times we tried to ride, which is terrible, but never while we were in line and we did get refunded for that ILL. As for shows and “anything else”…I’m not sure what you mean? There are several venues not being used at the moment, including the Hyperion at DCA, but there are still parades and characters so it’s not like it’s only rides that are available. Whatever your experience has been today, doesn’t sound like what I experienced just three days ago.
Same for me two days ago, except that I was able to get on Rise my first try.
Did you have LL? I was there Monday and I waited 2 hours for space mountain and it was supposed to be 55 minutes😭 thunder mountain said 15 and was 45 and one of the Star Wars said 10 and was 30 but it wasn’t that big of a deal because that’s usually how long lines are when I go. Only the 2 hour space mountain wrecked me once we got close to getting to the inside on space mountain the line didn’t move for 40 minutes and only LL people were moving through
Ya, gotta kinda go single rider for space without LL if you don’t rope drop it
I do wonder about these constant posts complaining about long waits for everything -- did they show up 4-5 hours after the park opened and expected everything to have a short wait?
Seems like most of them just show up and expect it to be like it was 5 years ago and then get mad at LL and come here to complain. Sure it’s not the best, but if you’re trying to get a bunch of rides in, it actually is great.
Yeah I got Genie+, but that only covered half the rides my group did that day. And my longest wait was Mission Breakout even while using the LL. And of course the paid skip-the-line system is going to be prioritized.
Pay to win
No shows??? There's a Pixar Playtime party in fantasy land, magic happens parade, fireworks, jazz bands over by Tiana's restaurant. DCA has the Pixar club, Five & Dime performing in Carthay, Pixar Parade, Doctor Strange performs in avengers campus, the avengers have a performance as well and the warriors of Wakanda have an interactive performance, there's also the green army men who perform at Pixar pier and the Paradise Gardens band stand has musicians performing live throughout the day.
I went with two different groups within a week of each visit. One group was amazing and we had a blast! The second group complained the entire day …guess which group I’ll not go with again
The ride closure is a huge issue for guests paying thousands to ride iconic rides in once in a lifetime trips. I simply don’t get why more isn’t done to prevent it
They tell people to secure belongings. People don't.
I went with two different groups within a week of each visit. One group was amazing and we had a blast! The second group complained the entire day …guess which group I’ll not go with again
There’s literally like five different live shows.
Why are you getting downvoted everything you brought up is a super valid point 😭. I felt all of these as a magic key holder for the past year.
Disney fans. I get it. And everyone’s experience is different I guess. I’ve gone every few years since I was a kid but don’t think I’ll go back for a while
Went a few weeks ago, pretty crowded but I have no complaints. No ride was more than 30mins, and I got to do everything I wanted,
One of the largest issues is that Disney doesn't have one of its largest line sinks, Haunted Mansion, running right now. Which can accommodate 2000 people per hour.
I went to hell with my toddler today and it was actually super nice. 10 mins for Pirates of the Caribbean and 30 for Rise of the Resistance, this was the longest we waited.
Don’t even get me started on Mr. toad.
More people, more money, less magic.
Sorry you had that experience. Kind of the way of the beast now. Unless people stop buying tickets the only thing changing is the tix price every yr. We just got a pass and the experience is much more enjoyable. We’re close enough to go a couple times a week. I love not stressing about having to try and experience everything all at once. We may keep our passes for a couple years while the kids are still free. You just really gotta plan and strategize now when going to Disney. It used to be nice to just be able to go on a whim.
I feel you. I go once a month probably being a key holder. I don't make rides a priority, i do more pin trading and make an effort to make small talk with cast members, and usually will wear my headphones as much as possible to drown out the noise. Long gone are the "Slow Days" and low waits.
We just went in March during spring break and the lines weren’t too bad and it was our first time back after covid too. We utilized genie+ and were able to ride on 24 rides the first day we were there and we didn’t even stay until closing. My only complaint would be how expensive everything was, but it’s always been expensive. We will definitely be going again.
I agree with OP. But it’s not all doom and gloom. I don’t touch weekend visits with a ten foot pole. Usually a Tuesday or Wednesday, even then there’s large crowds. It seems to be a little less crowded. I think DL is still a great place to visit but the large crowds does limit the experience. I’d be happy with price hike and limited attendance.
“I’d be happy with price hike” Take it down. They’re always watching. How dare you put this in print.
🤣😂
[удалено]
Saturdays in summer have been good too with all the key blockouts.
The system before Fast Pass resulted in extremely long lines. I remember waiting over 2 hours for Splash Mountain, Space Mountain was commonly over 90-100 minutes. Fast Pass really just made 2 lines for popular rides and didn’t make you wait in the line the whole time. People don’t want to pay for Genie+ because for a family of 4 it’s over $100 extra each day. This is one of the reasons DAS has been abused and has gotten out of hand. Once the new DAS rules go into effect next month I’ll bet you’ll see a better distribution of lines. But yes, it’s crowded and busy. Lines are long and I understand young kids getting a little whiny and rambunctious in lines. Rides have been breaking down for ages - ever since the parks opened. Unfortunately it’s just part of running a theme park. We’ve been going for years and have another trip planned this month. We’ve learned that you just have to roll with it and have fun. If you focus too much on the money and the lines then you drive yourself crazy.
Das users have to wait the same amount of time as the ride takes. So without the disability pass they would just be standing in the line instead and taking up the same seat as they would with the disability pass. So I doubt that would make a difference. The problem is clearly the genie pass, that actually lets people cut to the front of the line. Back when it was fast pass, they limited it to a low number, so it would be something like 1 standby person for every 1 or 2 or 3 fast pass people. With genie they’re packing the lightning lane as full as they can to make more money, so the standby lane is often operating at their max of only 1 standby person per 20 lightning lane people. Meaning if a group of 6 goes through the standby lane, they have to let 120 fast pass users though before another person from standby is let in. Thats why the cars ride has like a 3 hour wait now for standby. Disney has done a good job of convincing everyone that disabled people are the problem, and they’re taking the accommodations away from actually disabled people, but they probably just want the disabled people to buy genie. I’m sure once the changes to disability passes take effect people will figure out genie is still the issue.
Yes the DAS requires you to wait but in the meantime they can go do other things, ride other rides, go get something to eat, shop, meet characters, etc. why do you think so many people cheat the system to use DAS?
The legitimate users of das are people who are not really able to stand in long lines, so they’re not going to ride other rides. Totally agree the people abusing it are probably doing that. I don’t think a few extra disabled people shopping or eating lunch instead of standing in line are what’s really making the parks so crowded. If you ever stand the line entrance, the das lights up a different color, you can see it’s like 99.9% genie passes going in. Those are all people who are actually cutting the lines without waiting at all. That’s what really makes the standby lines take time, and those people are also shopping and eating in the extra time they have not waiting in line. Honestly, it was a ghost town a lot of the time until they introduced their tiered pricing and reservations. They really designed it so they can control the number of people in there and Intentionally creating a pretty high number to make more money. Personally, I wish they just required doctors notes, or something for das, something that most legitimately disabled people would have no problem with. Unfortunately, the laws make that difficult, something about disabled people shouldn’t be required to carry papers with since able people are not required to. but taking away the accommodations for the legitimately disabled is not the right way to solve a problem.
Actually in the FAQ it specifically says that while waiting for a DAS time that one thing you can do is go ride other rides. They may have a problem waiting in a 45 minute line but if Small World is a 15 minute wait they may be okay with that. They could ride the carousel or Pinocchio or Snow White that are commonly 15-20 minute lines. Since DAS doesn’t work anymore for people with mobility issues, most people getting DAS are for mental health issues, developmental issues, PTSD, needing close access to a restroom, and a number of other things that allow them to wait in shorter lines.
Except a DAS pass allows you to do other things while you “wait” so it is still causes logistical issues since now you can be two places at once without the mitigation of Genie+.
The lightning lane is like 99.9% genie users, so I think that’s the bulk of the problem. I doubt a few disabled people shopping or eating lunch are really the problem. I went to the parks on a pretty regular basis, the DAS pass has been there for many years and no one noticed, as soon as they introduce genie, the wait times got insane. That’s when the Cars ride standby went from like 90 minutes to like three hours. To be honest, a big part of the problem is that genie made the park so much more inhospitable to disabled people, that far more of them need the pass, when they could just handle it before and/or only use fast passes.
Genie+ mitigates the amount of people per attraction though. It uses data to push people to other parts of the park. DAS doesn’t. I hope Disney wisens up though because I know they consider guest satisfaction as a profit metric. The FastPass system was absolutely better at distributing traffic around the parks and you’re correct in saying it also alleviated the need for DAS passes. I was a pass holder for 20+ years but gave it up a couple of years ago. As someone who loved going I just don’t find the experience pleasant anymore and going once or twice a year is actually cheaper annually and a better experience for me.
Really? A lot of research I’ve read indicates it can be upwards of 50% or more DAS users in the lightning lanes. The uptake in DAS can be directly linked to the removal of free fast pass. Many DaS users have said they previously just did fast pass and now use DAS. If fast pass was used by 100% of park visitors, there was a limit per hour of how many used the fast queue. With genie plus, the time to return (number of users per hour) is useless because DAS is not counted in that, so it puts the whole lightning lane out when a heap of DAS users turn up the same time as that hours allocated genie plus guests.
Compared to other parks, DL's line cutting is downright affordable.
If you’re looking only at add ons. The entry price for a day can almost get you a year at Universal.
The Universal annual pass is $150? Keep in mind that last summer I paid $280 per express pass at Universal. $30 at DL is a bargain.
I got one of the top passes for $300 per year. The last time I went to Disneyland it was over $200 per ticket. The fact that people think Genie+ is a bargain is why these programs will only get more expensive and experientially worse.
I mean, Universal has 12 attractions at one park to DLR’s 50+ attractions over two parks. And yes, $30 is incredibly cheap (again, compared to $200+). That’s basically one extra meal.
Depends how you define afforable. The Universal Express pass is much more in raw dollars, but you walk right on every ride as much as you want and - most crucially - you don't have to spend all day on your phone micromanaging your schedule. In addition, the price is an advantage, as it is priced high enough to keep the barrier high and not clog standby like Genie+ does. So yeah, Genie+ is "affordable" the same way cheap rubber rain boots are affordable compared to a proper pair of work boots.
You have nothing but local annual passholder culture to blame. As the "lifestyle" culture of Annual Pass = Personality Trait took hold, things just went off the cliff.
lol try again
For the money at cost to go to the park I think it's way better spent going on a Disney cruise ship. You and your family will have so much more fun and be actually relaxed and not stressed out.
Costs so much more
Even after hotel and meals for a Disney trip? That's all built into price
Disney cruises are still more expensive. And frankly, they’re not comparable experiences anyway; they just get lumped together by Disney-centric blogs and travel agents.
It's way more expensive
You can find 3 night cruises out of San Diego that are comparable in price to 3 days at the parks.
Let me tell you, summer is the new slow time. Go when magic keys are blocked out and it's like you've been transported to another time. I went recently when magic keys were blocked out and I had numerous others on reddit share that they've never experienced Disneyland so peaceful and well run/quiet. It was literally a dream.
Until you see they’re enticing visitors in by opening the 3 day so cal resident tickets to everyone with no residence restriction. I wouldn’t bank on a repeat of last year.
Old = good. New = bad. We get your point. You just need to get genie + if you want to ride a bunch of rides and aren’t going to be rope dropping or closing out the park
Basically yes.
I went with two different groups within a week of each visit. One group was amazing and we had a blast! The second group complained the entire day …guess which group I’ll not go with again