New strategies for park rides!!!!

[zacharyt25]

Could not agree more. I'm a nerdy math person, and even if the park is "sold out" at about 25% capacity, the lines cannot possible be that long. Not everyone will head to the same ride. Now obviously there will be some anomalies throughout the day with crowd spikes in certain parts of the park, or ride breakdowns or even weather. But it just doesn't seem realistic that the rides are going to have crazy long lines most of the time.

People also tend to forget 2 big things....there is only 1 line now and no separate FP queue which will significantly speed the lines up. Also, there is no park hopping which is HUGE for crowd control. Not everyone is going to show up right at opening. People will trickle in/out through the day. Some people will still take afternoon breaks. People need to eat, so not only will park capacity be spread out through the rides, but through the restaurants too.

My family is thinking headliners to be no longer than an hour, but realistically we are thinking 30 minutes or less (except for ROTR). We are also doing Universal, and their lines are VERY short, even for headliners (and they are still doing Express Pass).

This is SO reassuring to hear!! I thought I was alone on thinking like this after seeing a lot of people say otherwise but like you said, especially with no FP the lines will move at a much better pace. I also hadn't thought of park hopping helping a ton. Also, if Universal lines are moving quick, then that's the first place we should have looked to see how things might shape up at the world.

 

[Lumpy1106]

Belongs in another thread, but airline flight prices are RIDICULOUSLY low right now. Spirit (yuck) is $75 from LAX. I thought it was just them, but everyone else is $107. I never ever thought I'd see prices that low. Demand is...weak...to say the least.

Edit to add - To clarify; ROUND TRIP prices, not one way.

 

[Cattrip]

With people stuck in one park each day- lines will be shorter than we anticipate

 

[mickeyfanachey1999]

Going 8/21 and I'm trying my best to put together some sort of plan.... but the other part of me just wants to go with the flow! Things definitely seem like they'll be old school which is a bit exciting.

1.) day one: DHS. Gonna go for the classics and save star wars for night- I heard that's when it's the coolest! May have to adjust based on wait times though.... my plan is so head for the classics and keep an eye on ROTR wait time so we can head over whenever its the lowest. We arrive in MCO at around 9am so we wont get to the park til maybe 11:30? I figure with reduced capacity and no boarding groups, this should be a solid plan.
day two: MK. I never have a solid plan for MK and usually end up doing the typical Tomorrowland first thing, so probably head to space mountain first! Or whichever e-ticket has the shortest wait.
day four: Epcot. Hit up the future world rides first, then have majority of day in World Showcase. Probably do Spaceship earth first because its my fave. Might end that day with one last go on that too
day 5. AK. Head to Pandora to get the two rides there done first!

2.) I think I'm going to be relying heavily on the MDE app to look at wait times this go around- with no fastpass schedule built in, we can afford to go wherever the wind blows us!! Might be more fun this way too

3.) I don't think lines will be long. With 25% capacity, thats literally SOOOO much less people. Even with distancing on rides and in lines, it doesn't take THAT long to load a single ride car. I don't think they'll all be like, 5 minutes, but I think the days of seeing anything over an hour are gone for a while, except for maybe ROTR

FYI, sunset on 8-21 is 7:59 pm. DHS closes at 8. That is actually what bums me out most about our trip in September. No night time hours in the parks (well, nearly none).

 

[zacharyt25]

FYI, sunset on 8-21 is 7:59 pm. DHS closes at 8. That is actually what bums me out most about our trip in September. No night time hours in the parks (well, nearly none).

Ah, true, I hadn't even thought of this. Either way I still think its our best bet to leave Galaxy's Edge for the later half of the day- I figure people will run there early on, so might be less crowded as the day progresses.

 

[puffkin]

This is SO reassuring to hear!! I thought I was alone on thinking like this after seeing a lot of people say otherwise but like you said, especially with no FP the lines will move at a much better pace. I also hadn't thought of park hopping helping a ton. Also, if Universal lines are moving quick, then that's the first place we should have looked to see how things might shape up at the world.

One of my biggest annoyances on this board is the inability of people to realize that we are a very tiny percentage of the people who visit WDW. There is a lot of hysteria over things that don't come to fruition. Case in point, the park reservation system and that there would be NO availability. Except for a few obvious exceptions, there is plenty of availability!

Belongs in another thread, but airline flight prices are RIDICULOUSLY low right now. Spirit (yuck) is $75 from LAX. I thought it was just them, but everyone else is $107. I never ever thought I'd see prices that low. Demand is...weak...to say the least.

Edit to add - To clarify; ROUND TRIP prices, not one way.

We have RT out of PHL to MCO for $90, cheapest I have seen since 9/11 (early August). Car rental prices are insane though right now, and have not budged in over a month. So in total we are still about the same cost. They literally have stayed the same, and not moved up or down, which I have never seen before. Normally they jump all over the place.

 

[Lumpy1106]

One of my biggest annoyances on this board is the inability of people to realize that we are a very tiny percentage of the people who visit WDW. There is a lot of hysteria over things that don't come to fruition. Case in point, the park reservation system and that there would be NO availability. Except for a few obvious exceptions, there is plenty of availability!



We have RT out of PHL to MCO for $90, cheapest I have seen since 9/11 (early August). Car rental prices are insane though right now, and have not budged in over a month. So in total we are still about the same cost. They literally have stayed the same, and not moved up or down, which I have never seen before. Normally they jump all over the place.

Same. I am renting a large SUV and taking the family up PCH this weekend (Big Sur coastline in CA - if you ever get the chance...seriously!). We had a road trip through AZ planned for April when everything was closing down and the price just plummeted. This time, not so much. Kids can't wait to get out of So Cal and they don't care where we are going. I'm pretty much right there with them.

 

[Robertfam08]

FYI, sunset on 8-21 is 7:59 pm. DHS closes at 8. That is actually what bums me out most about our trip in September. No night time hours in the parks (well, nearly none).

I was literally just looking up sunset times in September and wondering when the best time would be to get good castle pictures. At least Epcot will get darker, and that's my favorite nighttime park. I plan to purposely position us as far back in the park as possible at closing so we can stroll through the nighttime ambience on the way out, haha. Also going to try to hop in ride lines and/or get dinner reservations as late as we can to stretch out our time.

I know it's not exactly the same, but a quick look at Universal's ride times for today show most rides at under 30 minutes with only a couple of the most popular rides at just under 60 minute waits.

 

[brockash]

Going 8/21 and I'm trying my best to put together some sort of plan.... but the other part of me just wants to go with the flow! Things definitely seem like they'll be old school which is a bit exciting.

1.) day one: DHS. Gonna go for the classics and save star wars for night- I heard that's when it's the coolest! May have to adjust based on wait times though.... my plan is so head for the classics and keep an eye on ROTR wait time so we can head over whenever its the lowest. We arrive in MCO at around 9am so we wont get to the park til maybe 11:30? I figure with reduced capacity and no boarding groups, this should be a solid plan.
day two: MK. I never have a solid plan for MK and usually end up doing the typical Tomorrowland first thing, so probably head to space mountain first! Or whichever e-ticket has the shortest wait.
day four: Epcot. Hit up the future world rides first, then have majority of day in World Showcase. Probably do Spaceship earth first because its my fave. Might end that day with one last go on that too
day 5. AK. Head to Pandora to get the two rides there done first!

2.) I think I'm going to be relying heavily on the MDE app to look at wait times this go around- with no fastpass schedule built in, we can afford to go wherever the wind blows us!! Might be more fun this way too

3.) I don't think lines will be long. With 25% capacity, thats literally SOOOO much less people. Even with distancing on rides and in lines, it doesn't take THAT long to load a single ride car. I don't think they'll all be like, 5 minutes, but I think the days of seeing anything over an hour are gone for a while, except for maybe ROTR

As far as the capacity goes it's really dependent on if it's 25% of actual capacity or just normal attendance. If it's 25% of capacity...that's still a pretty good crowd.

 

[zacharyt25]

As far as the capacity goes it's really dependent on if it's 25% of actual capacity or just normal attendance. If it's 25% of capacity...that's still a pretty good crowd.

Edit: Was confused for a second but now I see what you mean. I think theyre doing 25% of the actual capacity, which, well still probably thousands of people, we have all dealt with the parks at probably 70-80% capacity and still had a great time, so with the space available and like 50% less people than what most of us are used to, its gonna be a big enough difference to notice!!

 

[DL1WDW2]

The wait times can be deceptive. I know everybody wants to think low capacity must equal short lines BUT the seating might need to be wiped down before the next group can be seated AND you will be monitored for entrance to quickly squirt hand cleanser , face mask on , slowly allowed to enter to keep you apart, skipping rows of occupancy , and even told to remain seated as everybody must exit at a socially safe precaution level. It’s great if you hate crowds but does slow things down A lot!
I have successfully gotten on Hagrids and the new Bourne attraction.
Don’t know where that 30 minute wait times is. Even Jimmy Kimmel was slow entry to monitor every step of the way.
Just be prepared...

 

[runjulesrun]

The wait times can be deceptive. I know everybody wants to think low capacity must equal short lines BUT the seating might need to be wiped down before the next group can be seated AND you will be monitored for entrance to quickly squirt hand cleanser , face mask on , slowly allowed to enter to keep you apart, skipping rows of occupancy , and even told to remain seated as everybody must exit at a socially safe precaution level. It’s great if you hate crowds but does slow things down A lot!
I have successfully gotten on Hagrids and the new Bourne attraction.
Don’t know where that 30 minute wait times is. Even Jimmy Kimmel was slow entry to monitor every step of the way.
Just be prepared...

I believe I read on another thread that inside sources have noted that rides will not be disinfected between groups. Sanitizer will be available before boarding and ride capacity will be reduced to allow for distancing but no wiping down between.

 

[slothlord]

I've been watching wait times at Shanghai DL (admit it, you have too)- I've rarely seen a line over an hour. Soaring is consistently the longest line, that has drifted to about 70 minutes, never over 90. Second longest has been the explorer canoes. Tron has been short every time I've looked at it - weird.

Do we know if Shanghai opened with a similar capacity as WDW? I guess it would be a little tough to compare.

 

[serene56]

I have a 11 and 2 year old

MK (2.5 DAYS) - Big Thunder for oldest and youngest dumbo/tea cups/pooh/Little Mermaid while they have no lines
EP - Frozen then onto Soarin
HS - Oldest Slinky and youngest Railroad and ***
AK - Knowing us we will avoid the herd running to FOP and pick Safari

I'm typing all of this knowing i'll be with my youngest and we will fight over the mask and end up getting kicked out before long

2 year old doesn’t need a mask

 

[.landry]

I guess it’s a whole new Disney, isn’t it? We will have to make all new strategies. And then as things change, our strategies will stop working and we will have to make new ones.
Ooyyy!

We were *just* saying that even for choosing which parks to do on which days, everything we know is out the window
A brave new Disney

 

[Stefne]

2 year old doesn’t need a mask

Actually, face coverings are being required by Disney for everyone 2 and older.

 

[wareagle57]

Great question. I’ll be there the 7th and 9th, and if there is any way possible the 11th. All MK. I think the strategy will remain largely the same. How rope drop looks will be the first key in understanding any kind of strategy. But assuming it looks similar to how it did in the past (scaled down of course) my strategy will look like this.

I think all lines will be relatively short without FP and with lower capacity. So I don’t think running to 7DMT is the way to go. I’d hit it up in the middle of the day, until we get contradictory information that shows them closing to capacity ala Hagrids.

Basically I envision basically no need for strategy. I think it will look a lot like Universal did even before the closing.

Space/7DMT/Pan will have an average wait of 30-45 minutes.
Splash/BTMR/Pirates/HM/JC will be between 20-30 minutes.
Everything else will be below 20 minutes most of the time.

I’m going to either Splash or Space first. Probably Splash because even though it’s a longer ride, Space takes a long time with the queue length too and there is less pressing stuff on that side of the park. So I’ll either do BTMR/Splash or Splash/BRMR followed by pirates, JC, HM, I expect that to take 60-90 minutes, as it has in the past. Then I’ll spend the rest of the day filling in what I missed in the west and doing Fantasyland/Tomorrowland.

The other good strategy could be doing all thre low demand FL rides at opening. You could certainly speed through them, but is that really a satisfying start to the day?

 

[zebrastreyepz]

I'm not expecting lines to be shorter at all. I'm not sure what the situation is at Universal, but at Silver Dollar City, the social distancing/cleaning protocols have people saying that even with the parks practically empty, it's taking just as long to ride things as if the park was full.

 

[wareagle57]

I'm not expecting lines to be shorter at all. I'm not sure what the situation is at Universal, but at Silver Dollar City, the social distancing/cleaning protocols have people saying that even with the parks practically empty, it's taking just as long to ride things as if the park was full.

“just as long” but not longer, still equals a better experience to me. The same wait, but being socially distanced the whole time and moving constantly is way easier than being trapped in the same spot filled with people for 5 minutes at a time wondering if the ride has broken down.

I think almost every ride at Universal has been shorter. The only thing I don’t like is the ability to queue up for Hagrids, which is our favorite ride in Orlando. I’ve waited for it longer than my maximum wait time for rides a dozen times. I don’t think I’ve ever done that for a single Disney ride.

 

[#1eeyoregirl]

We will be there opening week and will more more than happy to wait an hour (for certain rides) in a spaced out shorter line (figuring that the long wait will be more because of the limited capacity for the rides) than sitting in a long line where everyone is crammed in like sardine. This is our plan for first go to rides:

MK: Day 1 SDMT, Space Mtn, Day 2 BTM, Splash Mtn
AK: FOP
Epcot: TT then Soarin
HS: Day 1 ROTR then MFSR, Day 2 SDD or MMRR (depending on what we do & don’t get to ride on our first day)