I guess that’s what confuses me about this whole thing. It’s been a couple years since I took my family to Disney World in what was effectively peak summer season, but we just didn’t stand in any lines that weren’t for food. Not only is the FastPass thing pretty easy to do, but their queue management is pretty impressive – even if you find yourself standing in a longish line, there is plenty to read and do while you’re waiting.
It just seems like a ludicrous waste of time and money to hire someone to line-sit for you.
If you’re rich you can probably afford to take some time off and take the kids out of school for a couple of days. Go in February. There’s hardly a line in the place, at least based on my experience at Disneyland (don’t know about World). We’ve done it a couple of times, and we sure ain’t rich. I think the longest I stood in line was 10 minutes. Most rides you just walk right on.
They are free at Disneyland. You get your fast pass and return to the ride at the time listed on the pass. In practical use you can only use a couple a day because of the times involved and you still end up in lines for most rides.
At Six Flags, you pay a bunch on top of the already expensive admission, then you can just show up at any ride, show your wristband or whatever, and get seated ahead of everyone who’s been in line for two hours. So one is a sensible measure that works for everybody, and one is a way for rich people to never spend any time suffering the indignity of being treated like everybody else. Apologies for tarring Disney with the same brush because they use similar terms. I guess the disabled thing is just the free market solution to Disney not offering the premium experience.
Go on an overcast weekday, preferably not the summer - where overcast days are less likely anyway - be there when the gates open, and hit the most popular rides immediately, then move on to the others once those lines build up. And they won’t be all that long if you picked your day well.
Of course, there was the day when I was young when The Haunted Mansion first day of operation and we got in line immediately. Half hour wait. When we got out it was a three hour wait. Fast passes were far in the future.
All this advice for Disney Fast Passes and what time of year to go to avoid the worst crowds is great for us, but we’re talking about people that don’t want to put up with any inconvenience whatsoever. They want to go during the most gorgeous summer days, they want to ride the rides in whatever order they feel like, they don’t want to wait at all, and they apparently have $130 an hour to do exactly that.
They don’t live in our world.
I feel bad for the Disney workers. Even if they recognize the same disabled kid with different families all year, they can’t say anything. They have to smile and escort the jerks to the front anyway and I imagine the people using this loophole probably don’t have the best personalities.
“Once it becomes common knowledge that people like us are exploiting it like this, the policy will be revoked, to the detriment of genuinely disabled people and their families. But that will affect people who, while far more deserving, are not me, so why should I give a shit?”
I may be wrong, but I don’t think it’ll turn out that way. I think Disney will always do what they can for their disabled guests. Knowing people will game the system is a small price to pay for having the system, in my opinion.
A better approach would be to figure out more ways everyone can shorten their time in line. One example, it should be a piece of cake with today’s technology for Disney to model expected lines at any given time, on any given attraction, on any given day. They could then communicate to guests something like “Attraction X will have ~2 hour waiting times tomorrow. If you utilize such and such method, it’ll be 45 minutes, this other method will be 30 minutes” and so on with each method having its own advantages and disadvantages depending on the guest’s plan for the day.
Wait - why the hell is this in politics and religion?
I mean, unless “Disney obsessive” counts as a religion…
Anyway, I’m sure there are obsessives out there - some who have the yearly pass know the dates to get the special release pins and show up on those days, why not line charts?
I used one of those apps when we went to WDW last year. It worked beautifully. The times were generally accurate to +/- 5 minutes. The results are based partly on estimated wait times based on years worth of data and live user contributed “check-ins”. Pretty clever.
The Disney Fastpass system is great, as is their policy for disabled visitors. It’s a shame some people are such complete assholes.
Rich people buying handicap parking plates, or just plain parking in handicap zones would be an easy choice - laws, and thus ultimately politics, are involved. No laws are involved here. I suppose thematically (rich people abusing the system) they are similar, and thus one might want to place it in P&R as a similar interest or audience. But in fact it was a rhetorical question - it doesn’t really matter if it is here or not, I just wanted to compare Disney to religion. ;-)
Hours waiting in line, exorbitant ticket prices, crowds, screaming, crying, overpriced fast food, stomping around on asphalt all day under a hot sun… remind me again why so many people subject themselves to this?
That’s the thing Zylon, it doesn’t have to be that way. My brother is a big time Disney World fan, and the way he described doing it, it actually sounded fun. Stuff I never would have even considered, such as if you stay at one of the onsite hotels you can just take a shuttle back to your room, when it’s hot/busy/you’re tired, etc. Combine that with the Fastpass system and other tips and you’ll be having a good time while most of the crowd are the ones suffering. As far as cost, well, a trip like this is a luxury. It’s like complaining a Porsche cost too much.
Sure, the crowds can be bad, the food is overpriced, and the lines can be long. And yes, the whole thing is very expensive.
Like gameoverman said, you can mitigate a lot of that by being smart, planning ahead, and setting expectations. Best bit of advice? Don’t try to cram everything into one or two days. You’ll just get frustrated with every line and wait. Give yourself a few days (yes, more than two) to take in the sights and ride the attractions. Second, take a break in the middle of the day. This is especially true if you have kids with you. Go back to the hotel and take a nap for an hour or two. You’ll avoid the hottest part of the day, save money on lunch by eating somewhere other than in the park, and you’ll be refreshed for the long evening. Don’t get locked into a schedule. Be flexible because shit happens. You’re on vacation, so don’t add any more stress than you need to yourself. Finally, don’t neglect the oddball lame stuff like the Jungle Cruise or the Tiki Room. They aren’t as exciting as Space Mountain, but they can be fun anyway and the more sedate nature of the attraction gives your legs a mini-rest.
