How RotR BG's ruined HS

[Revan46]

I’ll admit my concern about the BGs is when the hours move later like in early March or late February when opening is for 9 am, can’t help but feel there will STILL be thousands arriving at 6 for rope drop and BG which is a tad ridiculous. Though I am hopeful this won’t be the case.

 

[5kidsmommy]

For me I’m not too stressed about it. Everyday life is pretty stressful so I try to use my Disney time to be happy and go with the flow. Next trip we are bring our son who has autism. He’s older now and I’ve explained how the process works. He’s a tech geek so he’s totally into the process. I’ve explained as of now we’ll need to get there a little early so that we are in the gates before it opens. He said he’s fine with that. We aren’t going until September and giving him info well in advance works better. I’ve also explained that means we might have a long day and that there is no guarantee we will get to ride it.

we’ve honestly never spent a whole lot of time at HS. We are Epcot people but I’m looking forward to checking out more of the park. For once we’ll probably spend more than a couple hours there.

I guess I’m just not stressed about it. I understand why people are though. For me it’s vacation and vacation with a special needs kid totally changed vacations. We’ve literally had Disney days where we’ve walked into the park and turned around and left due to situations outside of our control. It’s really changed my perspective and I’ve learned there is so much I can’t control. I’m okay with that.

 

[hertamaniac]

I guess DHS is no longer a half day park as many complained about before, and in a month even less so

What it does answer, for me, is that once I heard RotR was going to be delayed at WDW that a massive wave would come. I didn't expect it to be this continuous wave for this long.

 

[yulilin3]

What it does answer, for me, is that once I heard RotR was going to be delayed at WDW that a massive wave would come. I didn't expect it to be this continuous wave for this long.

I looked at historical, recent openings. FoP and 7DMT still get waves of people, even with both attractions working properly and offering fp/standby. AK continues to open earlier than posted times because of FoP, MK gets a rope drop line for 7DMT that goes all the way to Storybook Circus.
The demand for RotR doesn't surprise me, especially after it's getting rave reviews from almost everyone. The SW pull is there as well, something that FoP never had.
I know once the queue goes into standby the lines will be multiple hours long and we will have people complaining about hours long lines without the ability to do anything else.
Like I've said before, the BG/VQ system is the only system available right now for this attractions in its current state. And like others have said, the guest has the option to always step back, decide not to ride and enjoy other aspects of the parks or go elsewhere.

 

[yulilin3]

OP, I have been following this situation from day one and I agree with you. I feel very pleased with my choice to back away from WDW for a while to let the dust settle. I thought I would have serious FOMO, but I do not.

It's nice to see a decent discussion on this without it being overrun with Disney apologists. I know they are doing what they think is best and no, it won't work for everyone. I do think it's ok to tell myself and others to avoid it until things calm down.

We were there Thanksgiving week and didn't even attempt or plan to ride the Falcon. We enjoyed the land and the rest of HS. I was so glad we weren't there for the opening of Rise.

It's all about guests expectations and realistic goals. You are taking the healthy approach and realizing, if it doesn't work for you and your family, you can absolutely opt out of partaking in it. The problem is when people come expecting things that cannot happen. Believe me, CMs do not like getting yelled at on a minute by minute basis, they are doing the best they can under the circumstances.
People going through the BG process still come out on the other end saying it was worth it, for them, almost 100% of the time

 

[xipotec]

I mean, you upset they added a much wanted and loved new area that is crowding the park?
Guess your not a SW fan?
I think they finally made HS a destination park, and not a throwaway park.
Had SWGE not existed, I would be going to MK next week and AK...

 

[choirfarm]

I hate this site.

 

[choirfarm]

I hate this site.

 

[choirfarm]

I hate this site.

 

[yulilin3]

No, they do not for kids that are 18-25. They had NO interest in Jedi academy, Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, etc. We DID want to ride Slinky Dog and Toy Story Mania ( we rope dropped that one AND got a FP when we were there in 2008...wish we could have ridden that multiple times like back then, but not with the current crowds) but didn't get to. They want rides.

No, they do not for kids that are 18-25. They had NO interest in Jedi academy, Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, etc. We DID want to ride Slinky Dog and Toy Story Mania ( we rope dropped that one AND got a FP when we were there in 2008...wish we could have ridden that multiple times like back then, but not with the current crowds) but didn't get to. They want rides.

that age group is prime attraction group. What would people (not really kids at that age anymore) would want to do instead of rides? I understand at Epcot they have the countries and AK has the animals but other than that, everywhere on property is attractions.
You can't do all the current attractions at DHS in half a day (without including RotR)

 

[yulilin3]

Oh, I'm sure Disney loves this... We LOVE Star Wars, but also wanted to ride the rest of the rides. It was way too crowded, especially for my two older boys and husband who tend toward social/crowd anxiety. They wanted to go, but it was not like we remembered at all. Last time (2008) with my planning we waited for nothing and avoided crowds, especially at rope drop. You can no longer do that.

And this is a crucial piece of information you had not shared before. Obviously yes, the situations at all Disney parks are not good for anxiety. It is very hard to enjoy any of the parks in this situation

 

[choirfarm]

I hate this site.

 

[choirfarm]

I hate this site.

 

[yulilin3]

Yes, that is my point and why we spent the other 4 days at Universal where they could ride rides and easily park hop with the Hogwarts express. They have no interest in Disney anymore... Well, they DID love RorT and Falcon. They really wanted to ride them again, but could not. More rides like that would attract them. AS I said, maybe in 5 years when they have opened another 4 or 5 rides like that we will come back. Not before.

They loved Universal...even on Jan 4th/5th when it was crowded because I could manage it. My husband is fine with it, but like me much prefers vacationing with our RV in colorado.

I tell people all the time that Universal is a great alternative. Each time I'm at Universal you're just more relaxed. That's the beauty of Orlando, you can enjoy so many different destinations with different offerings. I love Universal and visit once a week, also they give guests offerings that Disney would charge for, like the Christmas parade and Mardi Gras parade, concerts with real relevant performers. And the Ragtime Gals at the Jimmy Fallon pre show are the best (biased cause my son performs with them )
RVing is a dream of mine, maybe one day

 

[choirfarm]

I hate this site.

 

[tinkerhon]

Was thinking more about this before - I really do hope that down the line they go to a FP system - if you think about it - ( realizing that all situations are different) - the BG system is really one that makes you plan for two days ( at least in our case) - I have an 8YO and a 13YO - the night before , we are going to need to be in bed kind of early ( certainly earlier than we are used to during a July trip) in order to be up by 5 AM for you DHS day - so, if we had planned on staying late in one of the parks the previous nite ( or maybe hitting DS- we have a tradition of seeing a Disney release at the AMC- this year, Jungle Cruise slated for a 7/24 release date) , we are going to have to change those plans ( or not make them) - then you are looking at the possibility of not even getting a ROTR and being exhausted as well -
Or getting to ride and still being exhausted - but exhilarated

 

[disneylover102]

I was frustrated with the BG system at Disneyland but clearly it’s better there. While the BG system is exactly the same, the wait times were fairly reasonable the first and second day (those were the days we were there) ROTR was open and it was easy to get lots of FPs. The one time we did get to ride ROTR, the FP we had was for Indiana Jones but it very conveniently broke down briefly and our one hour FP turned into a rest of the day FP (it was about 5:30 and the park closed at 12). So the opening of ROTR only affected the rest of the park a little. I’ve always thought the WDW FP+ system was broken and that they should change it back to the way it was prior to 2014. Or they should adopt Disneyland’s Maxpass which is AMAZING.

This is why I’m planning on staying at the campsites in August so I can pay a reasonable amount and get the 60+ day FPs and EMHs.

 

[yulilin3]

I was frustrated with the BG system at Disneyland but clearly it’s better there. While the BG system is exactly the same, the wait times were fairly reasonable the first and second day (those were the days we were there) ROTR was open and it was easy to get lots of FPs. The one time we did get to ride ROTR, the FP we had was for Indiana Jones but it very conveniently broke down briefly and our one hour FP turned into a rest of the day FP (it was about 5:30 and the park closed at 12). So the opening of ROTR only affected the rest of the park a little. I’ve always thought the WDW FP+ system was broken and that they should change it back to the way it was prior to 2014. Or they should adopt Disneyland’s Maxpass which is AMAZING.

This is why I’m planning on staying at the campsites in August so I can pay a reasonable amount and get the 60+ day FPs and EMHs.

Even though it's the same system you can't really compare crowds between WDW and DL, along with the difference in fp system.

 

[basketlacey]

Well yeah, but that is any park, any day - you have to work around the FPs you can get. Or you could skip them - all Disney trips come with making choices

This to me is just like rope dropping any other park just you have to have some flexibility for your BG return time

Now, for people that typically don't rope drop it stinks as they need to do so if they want to ride .... But I don't know if any better alternative - everything else I have seen proposed creates as many or more issues

We aren’t normally rope droppers but we will be to ride this. I like the BG option. We absolutely wouldn’t stand in line for 4 hours and I expect the FP+ will be really hard to get. Our March trip is 4 days with HS planned on day 3 and I couldn’t get SDD for any time at all on our FP day. At least with the BG option we have as much chance as anyone of being able to ride.

 

[ZJ5/9D47]

Here is the problem though, Because we had been up since 4 am, by 4pm my kids were POOPED. We still had several attractions we hadn't ridden and they said...forget it. We don't want to wait. So we went home. To me, I spent over 600 bucks so my family could ride 5 rides..... Just wow...

A 4AM wake-up requires a 7PM bedtime and probably getting ready for bed by 5:30 or 6. That is the reality of rope-dropping any theme park anywhere. Getting a pass for the most popular theme park attraction in the world currently is going to take some sacrifices...waking up early seems reasonable from that perspective. I’m guessing your family did not get a proper night’s sleep so the resulting tiredness was not Disney’s fault.

I’m confused as to how you ended up only doing 5 attractions over 9 or 10 hours. Your family had 3 fast passes which are a 10 minute wait plus attraction length. You also rode RotR with a minimal wait. That is 4 attractions with very minimal wait as well as one standby line that would have been very short at 6 or 7AM when the park first opened. What else were you doing all day?

Staying off-site does come with drawbacks such as not having priority scheduling for FPs and if you only want the most popular FPs for a park then it will be even more difficult. On-site transportation is also wonderful since it takes the stress out of traffic and parking.

The choice to have three children also comes with sacrifices, especially as they turn to an “adult” age where standard hotel rooms only sleep 4 “adults”. Disney does offer many rooms now if the fifth person still qualifies as a child but this is well beyond industry standard. Tickets also cost more for a family of five “adults”...again not Disney’s fault and something to be factored in when choosing to have lots of offspring.

Long waits at amusement parks for the most popular rides is standard and it has always been that way. When I was growing up in the 90s, roller coasters at my local park would normally have 2 hour waits..same as today. When the Brady Bunch filmed an episode in the 70s it was reported guests were angry that the celebrities were allowed to cut in line to film because they had been waiting so long...and you can see all the grumpy faces in the tv episode.

So while your day at HS was unfortunate for your family, it seems more a situation of unrealistic expectations and the result of poor planning rather than any fault by Disney.