An operative change (actually started during Easter Eggspress) is that we will form a boarding line only for the next train. Only folks with a boarding pass for the next train will be in that line, like waiting for a specific movie at a theater. We’ll have signs and volunteers that help folks understand that, and will have activities (such as Eric’s model trains) to give folks something to do since we don’t want them waiting in line till the right time.
Everyone in a boarding line for a specific train will need a boarding pass for that specific train. It doesn’t matter how they got the pass (ticket booth walk-up line, will-call line, or black market). Once in the line with the correct boarding pass, all are equal.
The number of boarding passes per train are intentionally a little lower than the actual capacity of the train, so we have a little wiggle room for misunderstandings.
The total number of boarding passes gives a total event (both days) capacity of 1600, broken down as 900 on Dec 16 and 700 on Dec 23. These limits were our best effort at optimizing the limiting capacities of all parts of the event: parking, people flow, AC activities, etc. In years past only train capacity was considered; we’re trying to grow beyond that mentality.
We have only made 1/2 of the total number of boarding passes available by reservation. In this way, we reserve a substantial portion of our capacity for folks who don’t know about or choose to use the reservation system.
This is a working experiment; we hope it helps make the event more predictable and enjoyable for visitors and volunteers alike, and we hope to learn from it and make improvements as necessary.
Thanks,
Jason
