Study outlines negative effects of changes to Disney's disability policy

As a frequent Disneyland Visitor, who does not use the DAS, it is obvious that the change has certainly decreased the number of users of the DAS system. Whether those people who are now denied were fraudsters or not, or were people who needed the benefit and now don't have it, I don't know.

All I do know is that the hordes using the system, in packs of 8 or more family/friend groupings has decreased dramatically. Sadly there is no ideal method to screen for those that need reasonable accommodation, so there will be people hurt by whatever process is in place. However, the rampant abuse of the previous incarnation required this change.

Something needed to drastically change, it was extremely obvious that the previous system was being overused. You shouldn’t have the standby line not get through merge for 30-40 min (not a single person.).

It needed to change, but when you're filtering out legitimate need, it isn't "better."

I've said this before, but they had an equitable and fair system that you couldn't abuse. It was called Fast Pass.

Or how about adding enough attractions to the mix so that lines are not so extremely long that people aren't enticed to abuse the line cutting systems in the first place? If your parks are too crowded, make the parks bigger.

Filter out the abusers of the system by making the system not suck. That's my hot take.

I really don't think capacity is the problem at WDW. There are four giant parks.

You don’t increase capacity to dilute the crowd as a means to discourage behavior. You increase capacity to sell more tickets.

I get what you are saying, but hear me out. If the line is an hour+ long for all the rides, people are going to look for a way to skip them. If the lines are short enough for people not be mind waiting, less people are going to look for ways to skip them.

Change the negative aspects of the experience, and you change the negative behaviors that people look for to make those negative experiences more positive.

It's like the old story about when guests were cutting through the grass to get from point a to point b. Designers asked Walt if they should put up "keep off the grass" signs. Walt said no. He told them to create a new path to cut through.

But allowing cutting creates awesome profits, so having long lines is profitable. It's a balance.

And this is coming from someone who hasn't been to Disney in a very long time. I haven't been experiencing the long lings and supposedly insane crowds like some of you have, so you have better insight, probably.

Rides are like lanes on a highway. If they add more rides, more people will be attracted to the park, and the lines will remain the same if not get longer.

Induced demand.

Disney doesn’t have a capacity issue. Some people are a-holes. That doesn’t mean the system sucks.

The issue that we have seen in the UK (particularly at Alton Towers) is more that the number of people who are legitimately entitled to use the system under its terms of entry, is disproportionate to the number that the system can handle. Plus, they weren't using their own system properly, but besides.

On mass transit or in a shopping mall, for example, with non-ambulant users, the escalator / elevator mix is predicated on the fact that wheelchair users are a tiny percentage, <1% of people won't be able to use the escalator and will need an elevator. If that number changed in the same way use of these systems has done, that wouldn't work either.

bigboy:

You don’t increase capacity to dilute the crowd as a means to discourage behavior. You increase capacity to sell more tickets.

I'd have to put a big asterisk on this one. In Orlando, sure, more attractions, more gates, more tickets. For regional parks, increasing capacity rarely has the effect of selling more tickets, but definitely helps maintain attendance. (Double asterisk, I suppose the legacy Six Flags parks have room to grow after attendance took such a dump.)

I completely agree with that point. I was speaking more specifically to Disney. Adding capcity isn't going to change this problem. The people that are looking at exploiting DAS weren't going to stop because they added a couple of rides to Fantasyland the wait for Seven Dwarves Mine Train dropped from 90 minutes to 45 minutes.

For a while Universal and several other parks were using a third party system that required a doctors note to register. Once registered, they could then get an accessibility pass at the parks. This sounded like a good idea to me at the time, but Universal dropped it not long after.

What makes Disney parks so different from other parks in that adding more capacity would not help make lines shorter? I don't understand the logic.

They added two Dumbos for capacity. Same with Toy Story Mania.

And then take it a step further... What is the reason people are trying to cheat the lines? Because they are too long?

That's my thinking.

Guest experience is the most important thing. Everything else will will fall into place if the guest experience is solid. That goes with any business.

Not sure why it's different at WDW, but it is. Galaxy's Edge and Toy Story land didn't result in a huge boost in attendance, just 2% over the previous year, and that's one of the most well known, widely anticipated theme park openings ever. Even people who don't know Magic Kingdom from Six Flags know that Disney has a "Star Wars land". That's 4 rides added, with only the backlot tour and stunt shows lost. Throw in a 10% overall reduction in attendance from the pandemic and you'd think lines overall would be much shorter, right?

But they aren't, significantly. The two elder statesmen of the park still routinely have waits of 60+ minutes even though 3 newer eticket rides have opened in recent years. We already know the attendance isn't skyrocketing, so why do these much older rides have long waits too? I'd imagine people at WDW know why, and are making decisions accordingly.

I can't remember where I saw this phrase being used but "comfortably crowded" is how the ideal attendance level was described.

The goal should not be to eliminate all lines, it should be to manage the levers you have to maximize the guest experience and financial results.

From a guest perspective, there are diminishing returns on satisfaction when you have no lines because guests don't want to ride the same thing over and over. And from a financial perspective, parks without lines are just not a sustainable business model. The operators count on you spending enough time there that you have to eat more than once, and ideally staying over night at their hotel.

Great Adventure marketed a "War on lines" in 1999- adding 27 rides in one season. It was short lived, and most of those rides were removed once it was clear it it was not sustainable.

Fafolguy:

But they aren't, significantly. The two elder statesmen of the park still routinely have waits of 60+ minutes even though 3 newer eticket rides have opened in recent years.

How has whatever amalgamation that replaced fastpass affected this? Under FP+ the ride capacity was majority allocated for FP not standby, so the standby lines barely moved.

I would rather just abandon all of it and go back to standby only, at least the line moves when 100% capacity is dedicated to it.

Disagree. FastPass was great. It was as close to a perfect system as you could have, and it was fair and without additional cost. Even locals could effectively use it.

Legacy Fastpass (paper tickets) was great. Fastpass+ was good if you knew how to use it, but man did it destroy hourly capacity in the standby line.