It began with the Meet and Greet of Anna and Elsa! It found it’s way to Soarin’ at EPCOT! Now, it has made it’s debut at Be Our Guest! What is it, you ask? It may bring about memories of an era gone by! What am I talking about? Read on…
A few weeks ago, Walt Disney World decided to limit the stand-by line at Anna and Elsa by giving guests a piece of paper with a return window time printed on it. You are given something that resembles the classic Fastpass that has a 30 minute window to return to the stand-by entrance and meet the Frozen royalty!
A week or so later, the same type of system was introduced for stand-by guests at Soarin’. It, too, has a 30 minute window for re-entry to the stand-by queue in time to get your flight!
This week, WDW has introduced this line reducing strategy at the Be Our Guest restaurant for lunch! You report to the entrance of the Stand-by queue, a Cast Member gives you ticket timed for a specific return. Once all of these Fastpass type tickets have been distributed, a sign stating that there is no more stand-by seating for the day will be put in place! So, there are now two primary ways to eat at Be Our Guest for lunch!! Either, you are one of the blessed on-site guests who get the email invitation for Fastpassing Be Our Guest, or you head Stand-by line and hope to get a lucky ticket!
In my mind there is an advantage to these attractions being managed in this manner. Instead of standing in a queue for as much as three hours, you can use that time to see some other attractions and shows! It may require moving a few things around, but if these are things on your Must-Do lists, it may be worth the adjustments!
Enjoy your weekends!! And, have a Blessed and Magical Day, my friends!
threestrandswdw 
I think it is a way to free up your wallet for other things, as much as a way to manage incredibly long lines. In my opinion, if someone wants to spend their day waiting in line, let them, as long as the line isn’t causing a problem. I’ve never seen Soarin’, for example, outside its own queue line area, whereas the BOG line snakes all the way down the street to the moonshine still/popcorn machine cart. If you’re standing in line for three hours, you aren’t buying pretzels and overpriced sodas and shopping in stores. They have to free up those wallets. Disney’s problem I think, is that it has become TOO successful. Four theme parks, two water parks, a dozen resorts or so. They could double the park ticket price and it would still be crowded. Its The Place to go in America. I’ve been to Disney world 15 times. I’ve never seen the Grand Canyon, or the Mississippi, or New England. They’ve successfully marketed themselves to the point where people are crowding the parks to death.
Thank you for tour input! I think you are right with the marketing success! Again, thanks for sharing!