Big changes coming to FASTPASS in March

[the-reason14]

Then they better work on their data network availability.

We just spent 6 days at the parks and I had the Disney Parks app for the iPhone on AT&T, and literally not once was I able to use it while in the parks. Not once. At no point could I look at FP distribution times for attractions across the park from me to find out if it was worth walking over there to even GET a FP. I would get timeout errors and data connection errors and nothing more.

The new enforcement rule cost me at least two E-ticket rides per day. That's at least 12 E-ticket rides over the course of our stay. The reasons I missed were all legit, too... We were stuck at Garden Grill for close to two hours one day. One day we got to Splash with 10 minutes to spare and it was down and the FP's weren't honored later in the day since the downtime was "relatively short". Many, many times I simply didn't want to trek to the other side of the park since I had absolutely no clue if FP's were still available and for what time window considering we had dinner reservations, parades, fireworks, etc to work around. CM's in other areas of the parks didn't have FP time information available to them, either. If I was at Buzz, there was literally no way for me to know if I could still get a FP at Splash at that point in the day, or if I could, what time window it would be for and if it would work for my schedule for the night... Hell, Splash might have even been 101 at the time and I couldn't even GET a FP no matter what. I had no idea.

The policy is horrible.

Some of the issues would be solved by a better data network (so the parks app would actually work), or by having FP times posted on a sign at the entrance to each area and one near the hub. With that knowledge available, it wouldn't be such a shot in the dark.

But of course, rather than planning ahead properly and addressing these shortcomings, WDW just pulls the trigger on changing things without putting thought into it and preparing.

Surprise, surprise.

I really hope you and a lot of others who feel this way let Disney know at guest relations or something. I'm sure it won't change a thing, but still I hope the place gets flooded with complaints.

It's funny because I tried using the app effectively once during my trip. I can't remember for what, but it 'came to life' when I put the gps and all that other foolishness on. It didn't seem too bad, but my phone battery is poor enough so I can't keep 3g and gps on all day.

It does sound like this policy change is doing more harm then good, but I'm sure it's all in Disney's plan. I think the hardest adjustment for me personally is being back in time while still wanting to park hop. I can't imagine it being difficult for me at all if I did one park a day. But either way even though I can't stand this change right now, I think it'll be easier to adjust to then I originally thought.

 

[Buried20KLeague]

I really hope you and a lot of others who feel this way let Disney know at guest relations or something. I'm sure it won't change a thing, but still I hope the place gets flooded with complaints.

It's funny because I tried using the app effectively once during my trip. I can't remember for what, but it 'came to life' when I put the gps and all that other foolishness on. It didn't seem too bad, but my phone battery is poor enough so I can't keep 3g and gps on all day.

It does sound like this policy change is doing more harm then good, but I'm sure it's all in Disney's plan. I think the hardest adjustment for me personally is being back in time while still wanting to park hop. I can't imagine it being difficult for me at all if I did one park a day. But either way even though I can't stand this change right now, I think it'll be easier to adjust to then I originally thought.

Oh, it's still a problem if you stay in one park... Especially from later afternoon on. We had dinner reservations at 6:15, parade at 9, wishes at 10. We had very small windows we would have been able to use for FP's, but with no way to tell what was available and for what times, we were completely handcuffed.

We found ourselves only being able to use FP from the time we got to the park in the morning till around 1. We absolutely rode less rides than in previous trips.

 

[Tom Morrow]

Question: did you, you know, try waiting in the standby line?

 

[menamechris]

Amazingly, Disney has managed to make HS and AK full-day parks with this new policy. And now MK and EPCOT can be stretched from one day to two-day parks. And they didn't have to add one attraction or entertainment option. This is the type of innovation we can continue to see from Disney, folks. Not ground-breaking experiences and attractions...

 

[Buried20KLeague]

Question: did you, you know, try waiting in the standby line?

Nah. We wandered around aimlessly with no idea you could actually wait in a standby line.

Of COURSE that's what we did. But that's the POINT. Before, we wouldn't have had to do that. We spent much more time in lines than ever before on any trip we've ever taken. My point was that we weren't able to ride nearly the number of attractions as in the past for varying reasons.

 

[flynnibus]

Nah. We wandered around aimlessly with no idea you could actually wait in a standby line.

Of COURSE that's what we did. But that's the POINT. Before, we wouldn't have had to do that. We spent much more time in lines than ever before on any trip we've ever taken. My point was that we weren't able to ride nearly the number of attractions as in the past for varying reasons.

How many conflicts did you have after 1pm? Considering the shortest you can normally get a FP is on average every 2hrs.. what was your real opportunistic loss here? How many conflicts did you have that kept you from getting FPs from 1pm to closing?

Did your lower # of rides have anything to do with it being.. spring break crowds?

 

[Buried20KLeague]

How many conflicts did you have after 1pm? Considering the shortest you can normally get a FP is on average every 2hrs.. what was your real opportunistic loss here? How many conflicts did you have that kept you from getting FPs from 1pm to closing?

Did your lower # of rides have anything to do with it being.. spring break crowds?

We had quite a few conflicts after 1. Somewhere between 1 every day and when the park closed, we had to get our 3 year old back to the room for a nap, we would have dinner reservations, and we would have some night time show to see (Illuminations, Wishes, F!). Some nights we had a parade to work in there, too.

Before, we'd grab a FP before we left the parks for the little one's nap because they could be used later. Now, we couldn't do that because we wouldn't be back in time for the window. (That's one lost ride)

When we'd get back to the parks, since the mobile app wasn't working and we had no way of knowing current FP distribution times at rides, we'd head off in whatever direct we would want to. When we'd come to the first FP attraction, the time may or may not have worked for us because of our schedules for the evening. About half the time it didn't work, or at the very least it would have been difficult to make.

Then we had a choice to make. Do we get the FP for Space that we'd probably have to really rush through dinner at Liberty Tree to make and then hike across the park to try to be there in time for? Or do we get a FP for Buzz because we know we would be able to make that time?? Or do we walk further around the park and hope that another ride we'd like a FP for much more than Buzz would work for our window instead? (often times this was where our second FP ride was lost for the day)

Then, of course, there's the now "unuseable windows" we had that we couldn't get a FP for because we knew we wouldn't be able to use them no matter what because of whatever reason, and we didn't want to hold FP's for those time periods and cost us the ability to grab others along the way... Before that wasn't a concern. We'd get the FP anyway, and just use them later than the window (third FP ride absolutely was lost here every day).

Spring Break crowds were heavy, but our issue wasn't that FP's were gone for the day too early. In fact, to us it seemed they were giving out way more FP's per window than we had ever seen before... And it wasn't a case of FP's being gone for a ride for the day by 1. So I would say that no, our issues weren't related to crowd level what so ever.

 

[flynnibus]

So the short version is... you prioritized what attractions you wanted and because FP is no longer a 'use anytime' you couldn't use FP like you used to.

We survived for decades having to do just that.. prioritize what you want to do without a 'return anytime you want' pass and I see this as simply returning to what we had before and were perfectly fine with.

I get the conflicts you listed... but are they really an issue with the system, or simply you hanging onto a prior situation that was special and treating it like it was the baseline. I mean, are you equally as upset because there wasn't enough time in the day to do all the attractions you wanted AND get a nap, etc.

People are simply upset that the model they got spoiled on is no longer around.. and are forced to operate just like everyone else have managed to survive both before the model existed and for those who didn't know you could exploit the model in that way.

People were getting MORE than they actually deserved.. and are upset when they are taken back down to the target level. Instead of simply acknowledging what was before was more like a BONUS... now people want to treat it as the MINIMUM they expect.

It's kind of like being upset something is no longer on sale like it used to be.

 

[lebeau]

Lines offers FP Return times. Is that not accurate? Or do people not use it because of the subscription fee?

 

[Tom]

Yesterday, March 27, 2012, we killed the morning in the MK before we departed. It's the middle of Spring Break week. The MK was a 9 on Touring Plans' crowd calendar. And we slept in and packed....getting us there at 9:30am.

Between 9:30 and 1:30, we rode 7 rides - mostly Fantasyland, Haunted Mansion, and Splash - with Splash being our one Fastpass. We also ate lunch at Columbia Harbor House during that time, for 30 minutes. So, in 3.5 hours, we experienced 7 attractions.

If we had gotten there on time, we would have been able to ride Peter Pan, perhaps with an additional FastPass.

On Monday, we got a Fastpass for ToT, explored the rest of DHS, shopped, had lunch, and used the Fastpass without issue. DHS was a 9/10 on the crowd calendar.

If we had used the Touring Plan to it's fullest potential, and arrived at the MK on time, we would have experienced the entire park without issue, and probably only with 2 Fastpasses...maybe 3.

We checked the return times each time we obtained a Fastpass to see if we could make it back. There were a couple we had to forego because the return times were after we would be leaving that park.

It's really just that simple. If you can use the Fastpass, get one. If you can't, don't. And if you put just a teeny tiny bit of effort into a touring plan (even if you make up your own rather than just looking at the park map, pointing randomly, and saying "let's do this next"), the system works fine.

BTW, Fastpass queues were never any longer than they have been in the past. We used one for Buzz at 9pm, and the rest were between high noon and late afternoon.

 

[tuppence]

No doubt this is going to create a lot of angry people in the parks. There has to be some sort of leniency outside of the 5/15 minute thing or it will really make people upset. I can't see how the current policy is even affecting Disney in a negative way, at least enough to make them change the policy.

So imagine. It's a HOT Orlando day....say 95-degrees and very humid in the middle of summer......you go to get your fast pass for Winnie The Pooh because your kids are freaking out and you want to at least get them on the Pooh ride before the day ends so they don't scream.......you go to lunch and because the lines are as long as you've ever seen, your lunch takes WAY longer than you expected. You look at your fast pass and have 5-mins to go before the window is up and you're not even done feeding the little ones. You rush through lunch, gather the kids and RUN LIKE HECK to see Pooh and lo and behold you missed the window by 10-mins and they won't let you in. Tell me how angry you'll be....how upset the kids will be....?

Recipe for disaster.

 

[jed012788]

In that case, if it's really that important for you and your children to ride Pooh, you get in the standby line and wait it out.

 

[disneyeater]

No doubt this is going to create a lot of angry people in the parks. There has to be some sort of leniency outside of the 5/15 minute thing or it will really make people upset. I can't see how the current policy is even affecting Disney in a negative way, at least enough to make them change the policy.

So imagine. It's a HOT Orlando day....say 95-degrees and very humid in the middle of summer......you go to get your fast pass for Winnie The Pooh because your kids are freaking out and you want to at least get them on the Pooh ride before the day ends so they don't scream.......you go to lunch and because the lines are as long as you've ever seen, your lunch takes WAY longer than you expected. You look at your fast pass and have 5-mins to go before the window is up and you're not even done feeding the little ones. You rush through lunch, gather the kids and RUN LIKE HECK to see Pooh and lo and behold you missed the window by 10-mins and they won't let you in. Tell me how angry you'll be....how upset the kids will be....?

Recipe for disaster.

The window is an hour and 20 minutes long, a more than reasonable amount of time to eat a CS lunch even on a busy day.....and that's only if you went to lunch exactly when your FP window opened. Otherwise you would have even more time.

 

[Tom]

No doubt this is going to create a lot of angry people in the parks. There has to be some sort of leniency outside of the 5/15 minute thing or it will really make people upset. I can't see how the current policy is even affecting Disney in a negative way, at least enough to make them change the policy.

So imagine. It's a HOT Orlando day....say 95-degrees and very humid in the middle of summer......you go to get your fast pass for Winnie The Pooh because your kids are freaking out and you want to at least get them on the Pooh ride before the day ends so they don't scream.......you go to lunch and because the lines are as long as you've ever seen, your lunch takes WAY longer than you expected. You look at your fast pass and have 5-mins to go before the window is up and you're not even done feeding the little ones. You rush through lunch, gather the kids and RUN LIKE HECK to see Pooh and lo and behold you missed the window by 10-mins and they won't let you in. Tell me how angry you'll be....how upset the kids will be....?

Recipe for disaster.

See below...

In that case, if it's really that important for you and your children to ride Pooh, you get in the standby line and wait it out.

EXACTLY!

 

[Scuttle]

In that case, if it's really that important for you and your children to ride Pooh, you get in the standby line and wait it out.

I hate this response. People don't get it.

 

[Buried20KLeague]

So the short version is... you prioritized what attractions you wanted and because FP is no longer a 'use anytime' you couldn't use FP like you used to.

We survived for decades having to do just that.. prioritize what you want to do without a 'return anytime you want' pass and I see this as simply returning to what we had before and were perfectly fine with.

I get the conflicts you listed... but are they really an issue with the system, or simply you hanging onto a prior situation that was special and treating it like it was the baseline. I mean, are you equally as upset because there wasn't enough time in the day to do all the attractions you wanted AND get a nap, etc.

People are simply upset that the model they got spoiled on is no longer around.. and are forced to operate just like everyone else have managed to survive both before the model existed and for those who didn't know you could exploit the model in that way.

People were getting MORE than they actually deserved.. and are upset when they are taken back down to the target level. Instead of simply acknowledging what was before was more like a BONUS... now people want to treat it as the MINIMUM they expect.

It's kind of like being upset something is no longer on sale like it used to be.

I think we just have a philosophical difference on the topic. You view it is being upset something is no longer on sale. I view it as being upset because they raised the price.

And truthfully, it's not like I was furious. I think it's a bad policy, for CERTAIN, and a lot of why I think that is because I'm wary of the nefarious motivation behind the change. I don't believe they're just trying to "level the playing field". I believe there's much more to it than that, which makes me unable to view this completely objectively.

I merely was stating the fact that because of this rule change (no matter how you describe the rule change) we absolutely rodes less FP attractions on this trip than we ever have in the past... INCLUDING before FP even existed, because standby lines moved much faster in those days.

I understand your point that getting a nap, having ressies, etc, are all things I brought on ourselves and without those things I could have more freely gotten FP's an criss-crossed parks as needed... But my point was that in the past those things didn't even have to conflict. In the past, those things were more easily dealt with.

Is it that the model that allowed us "more than we deserved" is gone, or is it that they're made the parks much more difficult to tour on your own schedule... Potentially to offer that freedom that so many of us got accustomed to back down the road at a cost?

 

[Buried20KLeague]

Yesterday, March 27, 2012, we killed the morning in the MK before we departed. It's the middle of Spring Break week. The MK was a 9 on Touring Plans' crowd calendar. And we slept in and packed....getting us there at 9:30am.

Between 9:30 and 1:30, we rode 7 rides - mostly Fantasyland, Haunted Mansion, and Splash - with Splash being our one Fastpass. We also ate lunch at Columbia Harbor House during that time, for 30 minutes. So, in 3.5 hours, we experienced 7 attractions.

If we had gotten there on time, we would have been able to ride Peter Pan, perhaps with an additional FastPass.

On Monday, we got a Fastpass for ToT, explored the rest of DHS, shopped, had lunch, and used the Fastpass without issue. DHS was a 9/10 on the crowd calendar.

If we had used the Touring Plan to it's fullest potential, and arrived at the MK on time, we would have experienced the entire park without issue, and probably only with 2 Fastpasses...maybe 3.

We checked the return times each time we obtained a Fastpass to see if we could make it back. There were a couple we had to forego because the return times were after we would be leaving that park.

It's really just that simple. If you can use the Fastpass, get one. If you can't, don't. And if you put just a teeny tiny bit of effort into a touring plan (even if you make up your own rather than just looking at the park map, pointing randomly, and saying "let's do this next"), the system works fine.

BTW, Fastpass queues were never any longer than they have been in the past. We used one for Buzz at 9pm, and the rest were between high noon and late afternoon.

You make it sound as if someone is complaining they can't do everything in the parks without the old FP rule. I can't speak for anyone else opposed to the change, but for me personally, I've never said the parks weren't possible to get done without it.

We got everything done that we wanted to get done in each park on our last trip. That wasn't the complaint I had, personally. My complaint was that we weren't able to do AS MANY FP rides per day.

I disagree that FP lines weren't any longer than had ever been. I felt they were extremely long compared to our trips in the past. I've never seen the FP line for Splash extend out to the bridge like this trip. Soarin' was insane. TT also. For examples.

And the FP system currently can not be effectively utilized without accurate knowledge of FP distribution times, which on my past trip was an absolute lost cause. Even armed with Disney's own parks app, I was completely flying blind because I couldn't get the app to work once while in the parks due to data network crowding (I'm assuming).

 

[the-reason14]

I hate this response. People don't get it.

It's true though. If you really really wanna ride then ya they could. But with kids it's a whole different game. Why would anyone want to stand an extra 60 or whatever minutes for a ride with kids when they were just 18 minutes late for a fastpass? I know I wouldn't just say oh well and leave or head to the regular line. Yes rules are rules, but 2 or 3 minutes late? That extra 60 minutes we could have been back at the resort.

 

[Buried20KLeague]

No doubt this is going to create a lot of angry people in the parks. There has to be some sort of leniency outside of the 5/15 minute thing or it will really make people upset. I can't see how the current policy is even affecting Disney in a negative way, at least enough to make them change the policy.

So imagine. It's a HOT Orlando day....say 95-degrees and very humid in the middle of summer......you go to get your fast pass for Winnie The Pooh because your kids are freaking out and you want to at least get them on the Pooh ride before the day ends so they don't scream.......you go to lunch and because the lines are as long as you've ever seen, your lunch takes WAY longer than you expected. You look at your fast pass and have 5-mins to go before the window is up and you're not even done feeding the little ones. You rush through lunch, gather the kids and RUN LIKE HECK to see Pooh and lo and behold you missed the window by 10-mins and they won't let you in. Tell me how angry you'll be....how upset the kids will be....?

Recipe for disaster.

I personally witnessed many parents a FP return lines pleading this exact case to the CM's stationed there.

The policy won't HELP CM's... It will create more problems. It has to. The reason? There are more restrictions than ever before. And these real-time issues that come up like you described will never go away. The masses won't get "trained" and just know that if they show up 20 minutes late because they were trapped by a parade or what have you, they'll know better than to even ask. They'll plead their case and try to get the CM to let them through. Why? Because they know those tickets in their hand save them an hour (or more) of thier time standing in a line with their 2 year olds (that they're late because of, because they took forever to eat). They're going to do everything they can in many cases to try to use those FP's.

 

[invader]

If you have a problem with the change, you brought it upon yourself.