Why is Disney spending millions to develop and promote new, interactive queues for its attractions… at the same time it's spending millions to develop and promote new Fastpass+ systems to allow people to skip those queues?
Does anyone else see a conflict here?
What's the message we're supposed to take away from this: "Come to Disney, where we're making it easier to skip our cool new stuff"?
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Most guests will gladly take the shorter queues over a musical mausoleum, but if there's a long wait at least the interactive elements are there...so no, I don't see a conflict here at all.
-JEFF in Chicago
That strikes me as good customer service, not a conflicted policy....
Fast Pass, (whether plussed or not), is a different beast entirely as it's a premium skip-the-lines option available to a certain proportion. And if it really matters to you to experience the interactive line then no one is forcing you to take the fast Pass option.....
Interactive queues aren't the 'cool stuff' that they want you to come and see, they're simply a measure to distract those who do end up queuing in an effort to keep them happy. As Jeff in Chicago states, this dual measure just goes to show just why they are the best in the industry.
I don't have a problem with Disney doing both of these. But Disney used to be better at message discipline than this. I'm about to post another piece, with a similar topic.
What Disney needs to invent are nap pods installed on a movable conveyor system such as Haunted Mansion. 2 hour wait for Soarin'? No problemo. Just hop in the nap pod and take a little snooze. When you wake up you are boardin' with Patrick.
A crazy idea for sure, but it would keep people in the parks as many leave for naps at some point in the day.
If so, it seems like a totally bizarre thing to market to try and attract guests - I just thought it was an added bonus that guests would discover in the parks.
With Fastpass you stand virtually in line. During that time you need to shop and eat to put more money in Disney's pocket. It works otherwise they system would have left the parks. Disney likes it and most guests like it except for the fact that the different queue's get more and more divided so the different cattle doesn't meet.
Disney had quite some time tweaking and playing with the system resulting in a strategy to spread the cattle out to attractions that don't get enough customers when in other parts of the park it's crowded. They introduced extra Fastpasses to spread that crowd in another direction.
Now there is one group of guests that is the ultimate cash cow and that are the nice folks that stay in Disney's pricy hotels and have a tough time to exit Disney's realm. They eat, drink, shop and do everything at Disney. What if this group could do that even more? They could stay even longer in their hotel and have more character breakfasts, lunches and dinners? And they also could go to the parks and benefit from that wonderful Fastpass? Awesome, let's do that, Disney must have thought, because now there is a group that picks those tickets up and at 11 am they are all gone. But, someone else said, what about the locals and the not so nice folks that rent homes or stay off property? Will they feel second rated? Yes they will.
Disney only has Fastpass at the most popular, often e-ticket rides, and there are not a lot of them. At least not enough to make everyone happy. So what to do? Build more e-ticket rides? Nice but too expensive, the investors said, we have a lot of old attractions and our guests don't want us to take them out and we don't want to spent the money. Why not install Fastpass at more attractions, also the once who don't need them? We can give out more passes, spreading people between c-d-e-ticket rides. We know where they are and can manage them that way and they still feel appreciated. Great idea but still there are rides that will get more people than they can handle. Install something of a distraction so people won't notice we treat them as cattle, is the solution.
This is a investment in the future. Now it feels retarded (and it is) but people get used to manage their vacation like they manage the rest of their lives. At that point a Disney is managed from start to finish. The time you wake up, get a character breakfast you booked, get to Magic Kingdom at 11 am to be on time for Stitch, go to Dumbo, meet Ariel at 1 pm, eat at 1:30 pm at the beasts castle, etc.
Disney has an easy time to manage their staff and maintenance and the guests will have a "perfect" vacation, managed and predictable but perfect.
For some strange reason, that line made me laugh.
When millions of people consume your products you can't market to only one segment or market the same message over and over. I see no problem with them marketing both things and catering to the different groups. People will embrace the offerings that are meaningful to them and make their visit more enjoyable.
I actually haven't seen much marketing related to promoting interactive queues aside from maybe the new Dumbo ride. I see those investments as a way to keep people entertained, distracted, etc while waiting for rides. This may help keep people from becoming frustrated or at least help them make the most of a long wait. I think there are people that want one or the other experience. Some want immersion and the queues help to give that while others want to maximize ride time and get through the park quickly. Disney understands their diverse consumer base and markets appropriately.
When millions of people consume your products you can't market to only one segment or market the same message over and over. I see no problem with them marketing both things and catering to the different groups. People will embrace the offerings that are meaningful to them and make their visit more enjoyable.
Disney does all sorts of things and it tries to make it work. Elaborate queues were always the selling point of Disney attractions. Despite it, not everyone wants to wait a long time to ride something. Just because there is Fastpass doesn't mean you skip out on all that interactivity.
For some rides at Disneyland, you skip the bulk of the switchbacks and only see the last 30 minutes, which usually contain the best parts of the elaborate queues like for Indiana Jones and Space Mountain. For Splash Mountain and Thunder Mountain, you walk in the same queue in a separate line, but at a faster pace.
Of course, the Haunted Mansion skips the switchbacks and the elaborate queues entirely. You merely go to the very front. At Disneyland, they don't have the new queues yet, but they have installed more decorations for the Halloween/Christmas verson.
I like it both ways. If I never had to stand in line for Big Thunder, Space, or Splash Mountain again I would rejoice. But if I had fast passes to the Haunted Mansion I would pass them over every time to walk through the new cemetery.
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I do like the additions to the haunted mansion at Magic Kingdom because you have the choice in the line whether to take the slightly longer queue with the new stuff or skip it in favor of a slightly shorter line.