Annual Pass/FastPass Situation

[tonypitt]

Spent today at the Magic Kingdom on day 1 of a 5 day Christmas WDW vacation.

Had something unusual happen that I wasn't prepared for. We ordered FL annual passes via the web about 2 months ago and received the yellow plastic voucher cards. When we checked in at the park this morning they indicated that their computers were down and we should just use these vouchers today in lieu of a ticket. We could go by Guest Relations at City Hall later today (or tomorrow!) to actually have our vouchers turned in to annual passes.

This created an odd situation. We were able to use these vouchers to get a FastPass at Splash Mountain, but every other time we tried this we ran into problems. Typically we got a "not a valid ID" error slip. When this happened the first time, the CM at the FastPass station handed us two FastPass slips when we showed him our cards. A bit later at another station, we put our card in and the machine "ate" it. When trying to get it out, I pressed a button located on the machine (in a location I won't post here) and got a "surprise." A CM later retrieved our card.

For the rest of the day we either had a staff member hand us FastPasses or on 1 occasion we helped ourselves since the CM was very busy fixing a machine.

As a result of our not being able to get a real ticket, we couldn't use the FastPass system as we should have. On the plus side, as a result of this we were able to get a lot of FastPasses simulaneously since none of them were tied to our tickets.

At the end of the day we went by City Hall to swap out our vouchers for our Annual Passes. One "interesting" thing happened there--the CM (who was very nice and professional) accidentally keyed our passes to be annual passes with an expiration date of today. Fortunately my wife caught that before we walked off.

Lastly, in my mind I had thought that our actual Annual Passes would look like the vouchers (be a plastic card or similar). We were surprised to see that they were identical to the park-hopper-style tickets, just with "annual pass" printed on the back. Is that normal?

 

[egionet]

Ticket problems happen all the time. But at least you had the probably resolved without a major problem, which is great for you.

As for "helping yourself" to fastpasses because the CMs are fixing another problem, I very much suggest not doing it. First of all, rarely are the buttons turned. Usually the CM has a key for it. And second, if you get caught, you can get kicked out of the park. And that's not good at all. We certainly wouldn't want that to happen to anyone!

 

[NemoRocks78]

Lastly, in my mind I had thought that our actual Annual Passes would look like the vouchers (be a plastic card or similar). We were surprised to see that they were identical to the park-hopper-style tickets, just with "annual pass" printed on the back. Is that normal?

APs at Walt Disney World are just your normal park ticket with Annual Pass labeled on the back. I wish they'd go to using cards though....

 

[gobuckeye@wdw]

Ticket problems happen all the time. But at least you had the probably resolved without a major problem, which is great for you.

As for "helping yourself" to fastpasses because the CMs are fixing another problem, I very much suggest not doing it. First of all, rarely are the buttons turned. Usually the CM has a key for it. And second, if you get caught, you can get kicked out of the park. And that's not good at all. We certainly wouldn't want that to happen to anyone!

I have read that post multipule times and not once does it say that they "helped themselves" to FP's!!!!! They have ever right to "abuse" the system in this case since it was Disney who screwed them in the first place. Besides, it was just for one day they used those vouchers, is that really going to hurt anyone? I could see it being wrong if they repeatedly abused the system to their advantage but it was only once!!!!!!

All I saw them say in their post was that they pushed the "button in back" to retrieve their vouchers. What is wrong with that?

I do agree with you that it is wrong to push this button and take more fastpasses than you deserve!!!!! But.......... in a way it is the CM's fault as well!!! First of all..... they leave the FP kiosk unlocked!!!!!!! Second of all........ any fastpass obtained by using this "magical button" does not have a time written on the bottom in which your next FP will be availible!!!!! CM's should maybe catch on!!!!!!!

Now I'm not trying to just blame this on the CM's....... I'm just bringing a little more light to the situation

 

[TURKEY]

I have read that post multipule times and not once does it say that they "helped themselves" to FP's!!!!! They have ever right to "abuse" the system in this case since it was Disney who screwed them in the first place. Besides, it was just for one day they used those vouchers, is that really going to hurt anyone? I could see it being wrong if they repeatedly abused the system to their advantage but it was only once!!!!!!

All I saw them say in their post was that they pushed the "button in back" to retrieve their vouchers. What is wrong with that?

I do agree with you that it is wrong to push this button and take more fastpasses than you deserve!!!!! But.......... in a way it is the CM's fault as well!!! First of all..... they leave the FP kiosk unlocked!!!!!!! Second of all........ any fastpass obtained by using this "magical button" does not have a time written on the bottom in which your next FP will be availible!!!!! CM's should maybe catch on!!!!!!!

Now I'm not trying to just blame this on the CM's....... I'm just bringing a little more light to the situation

Says the boy who doesn't park where he should.

 

[egionet]

Says the boy who doesn't park where he should.

Exactly, and next time he gets kicked out of the parks for trying to cheat the system, no one will be crying but him!

 

[DisneyPhD]

Paper ticket AP are the great mystories of WDW. Why would they give you a plasic voucher to last one day or so, and little flimisy paper card to last you a year, possibly 365 or more times in and out of those machines. Countless times on fastpass. Hoppers are also cc like and AP paper. It has puzzled many a vister and member her at this site. :veryconfu


I am sure they have their reasons, but them seem to escape me. Espcailly when the voucher was pastisic. I thought it was to save money since they aren't making as much on the AP members by park entery. But they make money on us, oh yes they do. More visits, more hotel rooms, more spending.

Enjoy your AP. I find them a little dangerous. If I could get to WDW right now I could get in for free. Let's plan another trip! :lookaroun

 

[Just A Big Kid]

I agree that cheating the system is really a bad idea because it's those who keep doing it which makes WDW keep tightening things up for all of us. Plus who really wants to get kicked out after spending a months worth of salary to go??

 

[Gail Hayden]

Paper ticket AP are the great mystories of WDW. Why would they give you a plasic voucher to last one day or so, and little flimisy paper card to last you a year, possibly 365 or more times in and out of those machines. Countless times on fastpass. Hoppers are also cc like and AP paper. It has puzzled many a vister and member her at this site. :veryconfu


I am sure they have their reasons, but them seem to escape me. Espcailly when the voucher was pastisic. I thought it was to save money since they aren't making as much on the AP members by park entery. But they make money on us, oh yes they do. More visits, more hotel rooms, more spending.

Enjoy your AP. I find them a little dangerous. If I could get to WDW right now I could get in for free. Let's plan another trip! :lookaroun

The APs are not paper they are mylar, and they last quite well. Especially if you keep them in the sleeve provided.
I don't get vouchers, I use the "will call" system.
The plastic passes are usually purchased via Disney, the mylar are purchased from agents like ticketmania.
I don't understand the confusion. A 5 day pass be it mylar or plastic is a 5 day pass. What I would like to cut down on real confusion, is a way to tell how many days have been used. THAT has caused some people real angst.

 

[Gail Hayden]

I have read that post multipule times and not once does it say that they "helped themselves" to FP's!!!!! They have ever right to "abuse" the system in this case since it was Disney who screwed them in the first place. Besides, it was just for one day they used those vouchers, is that really going to hurt anyone? I could see it being wrong if they repeatedly abused the system to their advantage but it was only once!!!!!!

All I saw them say in their post was that they pushed the "button in back" to retrieve their vouchers. What is wrong with that?

I do agree with you that it is wrong to push this button and take more fastpasses than you deserve!!!!! But.......... in a way it is the CM's fault as well!!! First of all..... they leave the FP kiosk unlocked!!!!!!! Second of all........ any fastpass obtained by using this "magical button" does not have a time written on the bottom in which your next FP will be availible!!!!! CM's should maybe catch on!!!!!!!

Now I'm not trying to just blame this on the CM's....... I'm just bringing a little more light to the situation

Disney did not screw them in the least, the computers were down, hardly what anyone could call being screwed.
The fact that a CM was in the wrong does not make it ok to push buttons.
And, they did, indeed, need the CM to retreive their pass. The fact that the CM was busy is not an excuse to ask for help. That is their job. The OP never said what the surprise was, so, I am not sure if he got a fast pass or not.
Actually he did say that he helped himself to FPs. "For the rest of the day we either had a staff member hand us FastPasses or on 1 occasion we helped ourselves since the CM was very busy fixing a machine."
There was absolutely NO harm in using the vouchers, especially since they were told to because of the computers being down.
What impressed me was the fact that the OP actually got his annuals the same day. Some would have taken the "free ride" and not activated them until the next day. I am not sure if the date of first use is actually recorded or not.

 

[Gail Hayden]

I agree that cheating the system is really a bad idea because it's those who keep doing it which makes WDW keep tightening things up for all of us. Plus who really wants to get kicked out after spending a months worth of salary to go??

I agree, cheating the system is wrong, but, in this thread no one has done that.

 

[tonypitt]

I did not know that my post would generate such a controversy here. I don't in any way feel that WDW or any CM created a problem or was trying to cheat us. Also, we didn't cheat as well. I posted what I did here just because I thought it was an ususual situation.

I have no idea if this had any relation at all with the computer systems being down at the end of the day, but as we went around the park yesterday we continuously saw FastPass machines pulled open and people working on them--mainly it seemed retrieving cards. Several machines had stacks of available FastPasses on them, presumably for people to help themselves as the CM worked on the machines. (At one ride, I forget which, a rather harried CM seemed to have 3 machines open at the same time trying to help people with a problem. It was at that ride where we helped ourselves to the tickets on the machine.)

 

[zone15int]

I did not know that my post would generate such a controversy here. I don't in any way feel that WDW or any CM created a problem or was trying to cheat us. Also, we didn't cheat as well. I posted what I did here just because I thought it was an ususual situation.

I have no idea if this had any relation at all with the computer systems being down at the end of the day, but as we went around the park yesterday we continuously saw FastPass machines pulled open and people working on them--mainly it seemed retrieving cards. Several machines had stacks of available FastPasses on them, presumably for people to help themselves as the CM worked on the machines. (At one ride, I forget which, a rather harried CM seemed to have 3 machines open at the same time trying to help people with a problem. It was at that ride where we helped ourselves to the tickets on the machine.)

You really shouldn't be helping yourself to the tickets. The override button on the fastpass machines are for the Castmembers ONLY.

 

[DisneyPhD]

I did not know that my post would generate such a controversy here. I don't in any way feel that WDW or any CM created a problem or was trying to cheat us. Also, we didn't cheat as well. I posted what I did here just because I thought it was an ususual situation.

I have no idea if this had any relation at all with the computer systems being down at the end of the day, but as we went around the park yesterday we continuously saw FastPass machines pulled open and people working on them--mainly it seemed retrieving cards. Several machines had stacks of available FastPasses on them, presumably for people to help themselves as the CM worked on the machines. (At one ride, I forget which, a rather harried CM seemed to have 3 machines open at the same time trying to help people with a problem. It was at that ride where we helped ourselves to the tickets on the machine.)

Tony, you did nothing wrong, it just apears that for some reason members on WDWmagic are in debate mode resently. Maybe it is something in the air. :lookaroun

Welcome to WDWmagic, thanks for sharing that unsual situation. I never thought about that happening before. Glad you had a good trip and enjoy your AP. Maybe in a few weeks the need to debate and turn everything into a moral issue will die down. :lol: Don't let it scare you away from posting again.

Gail, don't get me wrong, I like you, but do you have to correct every little thing you see? I don't see the difference between paper and mylar and most other people don't either. Infact it wouldn't even occur to me to call them mylar instead of a little bit thicker then normal reinforced paper. We got our myalr AP from Disney GR at Epcot.

 

[egionet]

I did not know that my post would generate such a controversy here. I don't in any way feel that WDW or any CM created a problem or was trying to cheat us. Also, we didn't cheat as well. I posted what I did here just because I thought it was an ususual situation.

I have no idea if this had any relation at all with the computer systems being down at the end of the day, but as we went around the park yesterday we continuously saw FastPass machines pulled open and people working on them--mainly it seemed retrieving cards. Several machines had stacks of available FastPasses on them, presumably for people to help themselves as the CM worked on the machines. (At one ride, I forget which, a rather harried CM seemed to have 3 machines open at the same time trying to help people with a problem. It was at that ride where we helped ourselves to the tickets on the machine.)

I would like to apologize then. I thought you meant that you helped yourself by pressing the "magic" button on the back of the machines. I also wasn't trying to say that you did anything wrong considering your situation. I just didn't want you or anyone else to possibly get kicked out of the park because of it. But if the reason you got the fastpasses was because they were out in the open for you, then there is no harm done. Of course, there are always the few that are just trying to get more fastpasses to cheat everyone. Sorry if I was rude. I wasn't trying to be!

 

[PhotoDave219]

Tony, i know what youre talking about. I was there, the turnstyles were down and it happens every now and again.

Traditionaly when that happens, they usually just shut down the FP machines alltogether. Im expecting that theyre gonna have some difficulties in the system due to volume over the next week and a half.

Of course, when they roll out the new update for the turnstyles come January 2, i'm predicting Chaos, confusion and mayhem. Considering that anyone who didnt work on Main Street Ops today didnt realise that the parade didnt start in its usual spot, i'm betting that things are gonna be insane come Jan 2, with nobody knowing anything that goes on....

 

[Gail Hayden]

Tony, you did nothing wrong, it just apears that for some reason members on WDWmagic are in debate mode resently. Maybe it is something in the air. :lookaroun

Welcome to WDWmagic, thanks for sharing that unsual situation. I never thought about that happening before. Glad you had a good trip and enjoy your AP. Maybe in a few weeks the need to debate and turn everything into a moral issue will die down. :lol: Don't let it scare you away from posting again.

Gail, don't get me wrong, I like you, but do you have to correct every little thing you see? I don't see the difference between paper and mylar and most other people don't either. Infact it wouldn't even occur to me to call them mylar instead of a little bit thicker then normal reinforced paper. We got our myalr AP from Disney GR at Epcot.

Nope, I sure don't. BUT....paper gives the impression of being flimsy and easily destrutable and that seems to worry people. Mylar is much stronger and for some reason makes people feel better about not getting plastic APs.

 

[gobuckeye@wdw]

Nope, I sure don't. BUT....paper gives the impression of being flimsy and easily destrutable and that seems to worry people. Mylar is much stronger and for some reason makes people feel better about not getting plastic APs.

Wow!!!!!!! Who CARES!!!! For all I'm concerned my AP could be on toilet paper, just as long as it works!!!!!!!!

 

[PhotoDave219]

Nope, I sure don't. BUT....paper gives the impression of being flimsy and easily destrutable and that seems to worry people. Mylar is much stronger and for some reason makes people feel better about not getting plastic APs.

You'd be suprised about the magnetic field strenght of the hard plastic tickets. Teh ones you get from The Disney Store and at the TTC are pretty good, magnetic stripe wise, but they still have problems. The room key tickets have the worst times, they get demag'd very easily. If you did that for AP's with the same technology, you'd have the same problem. Except with PO'd AP holders, as opposed to PO'd resort guests.

 

[TURKEY]

You'd be suprised about the magnetic field strenght of the hard plastic tickets. Teh ones you get from The Disney Store and at the TTC are pretty good, magnetic stripe wise, but they still have problems. The room key tickets have the worst times, they get demag'd very easily. If you did that for AP's with the same technology, you'd have the same problem. Except with PO'd AP holders, as opposed to PO'd resort guests.

It's awful at the resorts. Of course, I've seen guests that tried to use Disney Store and pre-ordered park hoppers to try and get into their rooms.