This is what a FastPass+ line looks like

ParentsOf4

ParentsOf4

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
We were at the Magic Kingdom today, the day before Thanksgiving. As expected, holiday crowds were in full swing.

I was a bit stunned to see the below FP+ line at Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at about 2:10 PM.

Mind you, this was the line outside the FP+ entry, which continued all the way up the path to the attraction itself.

Seems to me Disney needs to reevaluate its FP+ distribution algorithm. :D

IMG_0403 (2).jpg
 
GoofGoof

GoofGoof

Premium Member
ParentsOf4 said:
We were at the Magic Kingdom today, the day before Thanksgiving. As expected, holiday crowds were in full swing.

I was a bit stunned to see the below FP+ line at Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at about 2:10 PM.

Mind you, this was the line outside the FP+ entry, which continued all the way up the path to the attraction itself.

Seems to me Disney needs to reevaluate its FP+ distribution algorithm. :D

View attachment 39850
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You are a week late my friend. In mid afternoon last week the standby line never reached 30 mins. Although the day we did have a FP+ for BTMRR the clueless CM at the merge point was completely useless. There was a steady moving line of people coming through the standby line. We scanned our bands the second time at the merge point and he told us to go through but instead of stopping the standby line he just stood there. We had 8 people in our group. I eventually had to step into the standby line and stop traffic while the rest of my party merged in.
 
GoofGoof

GoofGoof

Premium Member
Andys2992 said:
Yeah.. FP+ does not work. Disney broke something that did not need fixing.

Test Track Fastpass line yesterday:

20131126_145039-jpg.39777


Courtesy of wdisney9000
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Part of the problem is people still don't get it. I can't tell you how many times people walked up to the FP line without reservations and eventually got turned away in front of us. Maybe it's poor advertising or "training" for guests. I also think maybe some people are just hoping to be waived through by the CM even though they don't have a reservation.
 
wm49rs

wm49rs

A naughty bit o' crumpet
Premium Member
Lucky said:
Could you tell whether the wait was caused by slow band-scanning or whether there was much of a wait past that point?
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There's been lines like these outside of the FP queues in all of the parks this week, including this past weekend. Even Maelstrom had a backup. It appeared to be a combination of factors, none of which was related to the length of the line past the entrance point....
 
disney4life2008

disney4life2008

Well-Known Member
Does anyone know on the My Magic Experience site - if they issue FP+ during EMHs? I am thinking no and hope that is the answer. I would rather just enjoy EMHs as I have in years past vs FP+
 
Zummi Gummi

Zummi Gummi

Pioneering the Universe Within!
In fairness I've seen this happen all week, and it was because of idiotic guests, not the fp+ system itself. Guests didn't know how to scan the bands, weren't using both posts, didn't have the bands out, didn't actually have reservations (and then wanted to argue about it), or some other calamity.

Once you made it past the touch point, you proceeded almost directly to the attraction.

I'm not sold on fp+ either, but let's calm down folks.
 
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Glasgow

Glasgow

Well-Known Member
At some point, demand over-reaches ride capacity and no amount of finaggling, rerouting or jedi-related mind trickeration will fix that. They are at this point and have been for about 2 years now. The resort (MK in particular) needs more ride capacity, plain and simple. The southeast end of Tomorrowland, in particular, needs to become more utilized and to swallow up more crowds.

Hopefully MM+ will evolve and improve, but I don't have high hopes. Still, need to give it some time to get 'tuned'.
 
Lucky

Lucky

Well-Known Member
Nick_A said:
In fairness I've seen this happen all week, and it was because of idiotic guests, not the fp+ system itself. Guests didn't know how to scan the bands, weren't using both posts, didn't have the bands out, didn't actually have reservations (and then wanted to argue about it), or some other calamity.

.
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But shouldn't you design a system for the guests you have, not the ones you wish you had?
 
rct247

rct247

Well-Known Member
It is a combination of a lot of things to be quite honest.
  • Is this the line? - Guests who get in line for the wrong line who find out they meant to stand in line for Standby
  • This wristband means I have a Fastpass - Guests who don't undestand the FP+/MyMagic+ experience and think they have Fastpasses authomatically.
  • I just changed my Fastpass - Guests who just made a change and it hasn't registered with the system so it slows down the line while they talk and figure it out.
  • I made my selections here..oh wait... - Guests who selected attractions they plan to visit thinking they made a Fastpass selection, but really didn't.
  • Touch Mickey to Mickey. Try again. - Guests can't align their MagicBand and get it scanned faster than a CM glancing a paper FP
  • High demand/crowds - Naturally, it's crowded to begin with and some of these attractions have high demands.
  • Too early/too late - Guests get in those long lines knowing they are too early or too late and thus cause the line to stop moving.
  • Ride stop/Slow loading - Whether it is because of a guest or ride malfunction, these can throw a wrench into the who system.
  • Connectivity/Technical Issues - The system is being overloaded and can't keep up or fails from time to time.
This week I've seen it at most high demand attractions like Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear, Test Track, Maelstrom, Rock n' Roller Coaster, Toy Story Midway Mania, etc.
 
GoofGoof

GoofGoof

Premium Member
disney4life2008 said:
Does anyone know on the My Magic Experience site - if they issue FP+ during EMHs? I am thinking no and hope that is the answer. I would rather just enjoy EMHs as I have in years past vs FP+
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I don't think so. We went to AK and DHS last week during morning EMHs and the earliest time offered was 9am to 10am. I didn't check for the evening. We were able to make FP reservations for MVMCP (between 4 and 7) so it is active for special ticketed events. Then again the MK was technically open to anyone until 7PM. I didn't try to book a FP later than 7PM and we pretty much did parades and fireworks after 7 so I didn't see if people were doing rides with the bands or not.
 
ParentsOf4

ParentsOf4

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Lucky said:
Could you tell whether the wait was caused by slow band-scanning or whether there was much of a wait past that point?
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Today at Big Thunder Mountain, the FP+ line had nothing to do with slow band scanning. The line I photographed stretched from the actual attraction itself, down the walkup path, all the way to the attraction's exit.

The cause of the long line has to do with how FP+ are distributed.

Disproportionally, FP+ are being distributed from hour-to-hour, e.g. 1-to-2 PM, 2-to-3 PM, etc. Inevitably, those with FP+ are rushing to the attraction at the start of each hour. As a result, FP+ lines grow outrageously long from the start of the hour until about 20-to-30 minutes later. By 40-to-50 minutes after each hour, FP+ lines are mostly filled only by those with FP, making them much shorter.

As of now, the way to avoid long FP+ lines is to wait until the last 15 minutes of each hour.

Disney needs to change the way FP+ are distributed to more evenly distribute crowds throughout the hour.
 
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