2. Interactive, efficient and just plain sensible lines
Boredom is inherent in the standing-in-line experience. Boredom leads to frustration. Disney is not in the business of either, and thus has made line management an effective priority. Disney knows the best way to combat boredom, and thus frustration, is to engage their guests and give them something to think about other than standing and waiting in line. At Disney parks guests don’t wait. When everything’s working properly, they don’t stand. From Soarin’ to Haunted Mansion to the Tower of Terror, before guests even enter the queue they are assaulted, pleasantly, by sights, sounds and sometimes smells to occupy their minds and engage their enthusiasm.
Some theme parks have colorful lighting. Other parks play music. Even the most limited of local fairs smells like livestock and fried feet. But what makes it work is Disney’s ability to blend the environment and every sensory input into a seamless, harmonious experience. At the fair you simply exchange one unpleasantness for another. Singed nose hair or a goat eating your phone will take your mind off being in line, but who wants either? At Epcot, Disney's Animal Kingdom, or Disney California Adventure the signs and the music, and even the railings add to the experience. What’s going on around you is a distraction in a fashion, but Disney isn’t hiding the inevitability of being in line, they’re helping you celebrate the process of being part of an attraction.
You don’t just go on a Disney ride, you participate. More and more new rides, and a fair amount of the old and renovated, are going interactive. We’ve all toiled in line for roller coasters at Six Flags: the switchbacks, the monotony, the exposure and heat in too many cases. Now consider the entirely different experience of Star Tours and Big Thunder Mountain. Six Flags and Universal long ago embraced the film and comic book character theming, but no one matches Disney’s delivery. Most of Disney's success stems from pure genius, but part of it is simple adaptability. Dumbo in the Magic Kingdom has been transformed from a beloved ride that elicited considerable aggravation from parents stuck in the heat or rain or both, in that hopelessly slow line, into a more universally beloved and relaxing attraction where adults and children together enjoy spending significant parts of their day. Where Six Flags adds a few cutouts of super heroes and mist machines, which are wonderful, Disney creates an entire playland oasis. Which brings us to the following:
3. Effectively controlled attraction wait times
Nearly every other theme park in the world understands Disney to be the gold standard in entertainment and customer service. Those that don't are horribly mismanaged. Disney is also rather astute as it pertains to efficiency. FastPass is viewed by many to be an experiment that has failed, or is failing. MyMagic and FastPass+ could be just making it worse. But it takes an entity like Disney to even attempt something so revolutionary. Long lines are a natural byproduct of coveted rides, restaurants, even restrooms. What motivation does a management group have to tinker with something that is, by definition, popular? If you are part of Disney, your motivation is an enduring drive to please your guests. The cynical will say finances, but that’s another article.
Every aspect of a Disney attraction’s design prioritizes the highly discriminating theme park guest. Disney could easily make rollercoasters that are taller, faster and more terrifying, but Disney’s target is much more vast. Disney isn’t catering to simple thrill seekers, though they aren’t ignoring them. They are in the entertainment business, and the mission is to entertain everyone. Where it is determined they are falling short, they make adjustments.
Radiator Springs Racers, one of the newish attractions in Cars Land at Disney California Adventure is a perfect illustration. There was no doubt as to the potential popularity here, so the queue was designed with a Standby entrance, a FastPass entrance, and another for single riders. The first two are standard now, but have you considered how many seats go empty on a six-seater attraction that does not have the capacity to fill them with singles? Well, Disney thought about it a lot, and they got out in front of it. But they didn’t stop there. In Cars Land’s early days, the crush for a Radiator Springs FastPass threatened to create wholly un-Disneylike unpleasantness in the park. An alternative, easy access FastPass distribution point was quickly established away from what had become an area of congestion. Orderly lines were delineated, and to this day adequate staff stands ready to assist guests in keeping the process efficient, and thus completely Disney smooth and delightful.
No business is infallible. Disney just comes much, much close than most. Victims of their own popularity, Disney must also contend with the very high standards they set and consistently demonstrate. The perfect day that starts with the kid driving the shuttle, scanning your ticket or assisting you in the parking lot, actually began decades ago in a planning session between highly committed and likeminded designers. It continues there today, as from guests to groundskeepers, Disney is full of dreamers.
Comments
Disneyland Paris has a covered walkway on both sides of Main Street. While stil having access to the shops through backdoord you are able to pass by busy MainStreet.
Disney is far better at moving foot traffic, than Universal. However it never fails to have several groups of people that decide to stop and figure out where they are going or wait for another member of their party, right in the middle of the walkway, like they are they only people there. I frequent Universal and Disney often, it is the most aggravating thing. Islands of Adventure I find, is the hardest to get around be because there is no way to cut across to another land, and they don't always open the bridge from Jurassic Park to Lost Continent forcing you through the traffic jam of hogsmead. I thoroughly enjoy all the articles posted I'm an avid reader great tips!
I'm actually an MIT advanced degree candidate looking at pedestrian movement (and a Disney geek), and I have to question your assessment of point #1. By having fewer path choices vis a vis the hub and spoke system you actually create more congestion. You merely pass the crowds from, in network science parlance, the nodes to the edges. That's why Main Street is always crowded. At closing, everyone has only one choice to leave the park, therefore putting all the congestion at the central Hub and Main Street. To reduce the crowding, you actually want to diffuse the number of people across the entire network. That's the reason why Disneyland and Disneyland Paris have bypasses adjacent to Main Street. It's great for retail and theatrics, but you actually have a greater sense of congestion as a result.