Disney Cruise Line Tests a Theme Park Idea
As I recently discussed, I’ve become a Disney cruise person.
I never saw it coming, as the primary reason why I even tried one was because Disney invited me.
Photo: Disney Cruise Line
Had it not been for that thoughtful gesture, I’d likely have remained happily landlocked for life.
Now, I’m actively shopping for cruise itineraries daily, and I know that I’m not the only one.
Photo: Disney
Why else would Disney Cruise Line (DCL) more than double the size of its fleet over the next six years?
As part of its long-term strategy, DCL is considering solutions for problems that won’t even bother you much.
In fact, Disney Cruise Line just tested a theme park idea on one of its ships. Here’s what just happened.
What’s a Pain Point?
Merriam-Webster defines a “pain point” in business as “a persistent or recurring problem (as with a product or service) that frequently inconveniences or annoys customers.”
Disney officials care so much about pain points that the theme park division recently added an entire User Experiences team.
Photo: Disney Cruise Line
Their sole job is identifying the problem spots guests encounter while trying to book Disney vacations and also while taking them.
As an example, fans complained about the so-called 7 A.M. Struggle.
Guests complained that we had to wake up early on the morning of a park visit to buy and schedule Lightning Lanes.
Disney listened to the criticism and fundamentally changed the system.
Now, guests can book Lightning Lanes up to seven days in advance. And it’s better!
That’s the thing about Disney’s customer service team. They’re always searching for new ways to improve your vacations.
Lines
You may not even consider something a serious problem, merely an aggravation.
Disney doesn’t want you feeling aggravated, though, which leads to this particular pain point discussion.
Long Lines at Spaceship Earth in EPCOT
What’s the worst problem at Disney theme parks? The answer is standing in line…and it IS a huge problem at times.
Imagineers invented Lightning Lane specifically to reduce the time you spend waiting on various attractions.
Long Lines at Joffrey’s in EPCOT
Here’s the thing, though. You sometimes stand in line on Disney cruises as well.
Don’t get me wrong. It doesn’t happen often. Really, the primary examples are the water coaster and character greetings.
Demand for the Aquaduck and AquaMouse is constant throughout the day, sometimes leading to waits of 45 minutes.
As for character greetings, the lines may include 50+ people.
Since costumed Cast Members give each person a healthy dollop of quality time, the wait can be significant.
Disney Tests a Theme Park Idea
Allow me to speak to you as a grizzled veteran of exactly one Disney cruise.
As the world’s foremost authority on Disney cruises, I can relay details of the six times I rode the Aquaduck.
In each instance, the weather, itinerary, and time of day played a factor in the duration of our wait.
On the windiest day, DCL required guests to ride the Aquaduck in pairs. Otherwise, solo riders may have lacked the requisite velocity.
On this day, the line swelled to more than half an hour, which surprised me.
I say this because we’d noticed short lines on the previous day. Not coincidentally, it was a port day.
I quickly realized that the lines were short because most people had gotten off the boat.
On our typical boat rides, the wait was 20 minutes, which wasn’t bad at all.
I go to theme parks all the time, so 20 minutes is nothing to me. On a Disney cruise, it’s arguably the longest wait you’ll have, though.
Well, some of the most popular character greetings on our cruise took a similar amount of time.
We did a LOT of them because…my wife. And they typically took about 20 minutes as well.
Again, I found these waits perfectly reasonable. DCL officials believe that’s too much, though.
They don’t want guests wasting extra time standing in line. So, DCL has come up with a solution, one borrowed from the parks.
Photo:Rappler
DCL just tested in-app bookings of cruise experiences like character greetings and the AquaMouse.
If you’re a Disney cruise person like me, your ears just perked up.
About the Test
Back of Ship (Aft) on Disney Wish
Here’s what we know about the recent test. According to The Street, DCL tried this on April 21st on the Disney Wish.
Disney requested that guests download and use the DCL Navigator app, which tourists should have been doing anyway.
Credit: Disney
On the app, guests could schedule booking windows for the AquaWish.
If that sounds familiar, it should. It’s the same premise as booking Lightning Lanes, just in a different app.
Photo: wirefly.com
Here’s how the test worked on the Disney Wish. Guests would use the app to schedule a reservation.
Once the reservations were booked for that timeframe, they showed as no longer available.
Photo: Disney
“For the AquaMouse water ride, additional reservation times were added every hour during the test period.”
Since this was a test, the ship also offered the typical standby time during the overwhelming majority of the cruise.
Photo: Disney
This was simply a limited-time attempt to decide the practicality of the idea.
Since people hold strong opinions about all things Disney, the outcry began immediately afterward.
Photo: Disney || AquaMouse
Fans who heard about the trial worried about the amount of time their kids would have on the water coaster.
Their concerns centered on the fact that kids couldn’t repeatedly do the ride like they can now.
Others noted that this newfound reliance on the DCL Navigator app may strain the onboard WiFi.
While I understand both concerns, my counter is that the reservation window will improve the efficiency in lines.
We have more than a quarter-century of theme park history to prove this point.
As for the Navigator app, you don’t exactly need a strong connection to make an online reservation.
So, the worries strike me as premature and overzealous. Conversely, the idea strikes me as long overdue.
Should DCL Make This Change?
Earlier this month, I spent a disproportionate amount of time standing in line at character greetings and have the pictures to prove it.
I would have loooooooved a more efficient, app-based solution.
With the water coaster, I had a slightly different experience. When I waited the longest in line, Moana was playing behind me.
That half-hour wait was glorious since it was the start of the film, and I could hear the audio even when I couldn’t see the screen.
Of course, that’s an isolated instance. Virtually all the time, I’d prefer an app to signal me that it’s nearly my time in line.
That’s why I hope DCL moves forward in implementing this idea.
But that presumes that the test went well. So, we must all stay tuned to find out whether DCL liked what they saw with this trial.
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Feature Photo: Disney
