To me this sounds like good old Disneyland, plus an app. I grew up a few miles down the street in the '70s. It was routinely as crowded then as the author is describing now, with hours to get on the Matterhorn, Pirates, Haunted House, Tom Sawyers Island. Hours to get a couple of pancakes at a restaurant. We'd ride the spinning teacups over and over just because the line was shorter. The "magical" trips were on the special events, like the yearly high school graduation days, with relatively few people and we could ride the best rides until we got sick of them. Back then the best rides were rationed by E tickets, which sort of entered the language. Those coupon packs sure felt expensive. I wonder if the prices haven't just kept up with inflation.