Changes to Fastpass+ Tiers at Hollywood Studios Effective 8.29

[EPICOT]

New HWS FP+ strategy: put your tier 2 show at the earliest show of the day. Scan in as early as possible then immediately leave (or watch if you like) the show. Now you can try for the same-day fastpasses earlier than most everyone else.

 

[Mjt5126]

New HWS FP+ strategy: put your tier 2 show at the earliest show of the day. Scan in as early as possible then immediately leave (or watch if you like) the show. Now you can try for the same-day fastpasses earlier than most everyone else.

Yep, this def going to be the move.

 

[Touchdown]

Or instead of wasting a Fastpass why don’t you just alter your FP to another park and then back to DHS?

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

New HWS FP+ strategy: put your tier 2 show at the earliest show of the day. Scan in as early as possible then immediately leave (or watch if you like) the show. Now you can try for the same-day fastpasses earlier than most everyone else.

We're planning to schedule our Tier 1 FP as early as possible and then schedule our 2 tier 2 FPs for after that. As soon as we scan our Tier 1 FP, I'll hop on and try and move our Tier 2 FPs up closer to the current time. Since those are mostly just shows, those should be easier to move. At MK last year we did that and ended up getting like 10-11 FP for the day because as soon as we scanned the FP, I would hop on my phone and pick up another one that was available soonest and repeat that all day long.

 

[rct247]

This is most definitely to "spread the wealth" of the limited number of rides with fastpass As is, a busy day in the park now is not even close to what the park will see as it's new norm and on those busy days fastpass for rides are usually gone. So this forces people to pick the bad fastpass choices. Plain and simple. They are wrestling with the math and it just doesn't work very well.

 

[drizgirl]

They're rationing rides. It's what FP+ was designed to do.

 

[Gainesvillain]

Boo tiers.

 

[huwar18]

If this is true, I'm going to call/email Disney daily to complain. Using FPs for shows is a COMPLETE waste, so that means there is only one real use for a FP in Tier 2, and I'll have to do standby for nearly every ride in the park! ☹

I don't think we ever used any of our FP at Hollywood Studios. It is such a waste. We usually wait in the stand-by lines and hop to another park to use the 3 FP.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

If this is true, it is a head-scratcher.

It’s to draw people into the stand by lines and bog them down so they are NOT mulling around the new stuff - hypothetically

That represents the antithesis of the fast pass concept

Gotta say I'm pretty happy if this comes to fruition. This dramatically cuts down stand-by times at all rides with the exception of Star Tours.

I’d really like to say “not quite”...but it’s actually “not at all”

Not really.

Indeed, my good man

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Boo tiers.

Amen

Also boo for allowing their normal crowds to outgrow comfortable ride capacity...but we lost the battle and died on that hill 10 years ago

 

[ToTBellHop]

I get that currently there are often few ride FPs available 30 days out but it is a bit surprising to remove an incentive for on-site guests. At least it’s only temporary until SWL and MMRR are added to the FP inventory.

 

[TeriofTerror]

I get that currently there are often few ride FPs available 30 days out but it is a bit surprising to remove an incentive for on-site guests. At least it’s only temporary until SWL and MMRR are added to the FP inventory.

I keep thinking of @marni1971 's discussion of paid FPs and wonder how/if these changes are part of that.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I get that currently there are often few ride FPs available 30 days out but it is a bit surprising to remove an incentive for on-site guests. At least it’s only temporary until SWL and MMRR are added to the FP inventory.

There are no longer any need for those incentives...
Big shot has experimented for years on his lab rats and knows they are going to come anyway with rarely a peep or a glance of disapproval.

That’s why you have to be a responsible consumer...everyone ends up paying more for less.

They built a really bland timeshare on the bones of a $49 1988 Moto lodge and charging $190 a point for it...If that isn’t indicative of where the bar is...I don’t know what would be.

 

[larryz]

There are no longer any need for those incentives...
Big shot has experimented for years on his lab rats and knows they are going to come anyway with rarely a peep or a glance of disapproval.

That’s why you have to be a responsible consumer...everyone ends up paying more for less.

They built a really bland timeshare on the bones of a $49 1988 Moto lodge and charging $190 a point for it...If that isn’t indicative of where the bar is...I don’t know what would be.

Well, I'll tell you what... if I had booked a trip a few months ago and just found out that I'd be limited in booking because of a new group of Tier 1 FP+s before my 60 day window opened, I'd be on the phone to Guest Services complaining about how they've screwed up my meticulous planning on how I was going to enjoy DHS.

 

[danheaton]

This makes no sense. I could see flipping things around and doing Alien Swirling Saucers as Tier 2 and swapping with something else. But making them all Tier 1 is odd. I guess it could work if you do two Tier 1 picks, but that's about all that makes sense.

 

[Goofnut1980]

interesting... so basically almost every "ride" at the park will be tier 1? might as well just do away with fastpasses and reduce all standby lines

I couldn't agree more.. so dumb! Why bother having a tier. Just let it go back to paper tickets or none at all. Then its only 1 at a time.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Well, I'll tell you what... if I had booked a trip a few months ago and just found out that I'd be limited in booking because of a new group of Tier 1 FP+s before my 60 day window opened, I'd be on the phone to Guest Services complaining about how they've screwed up my meticulous planning on how I was going to enjoy DHS.

You would and others here would (not as many as say they would though)...but the overwhelming masses would swallow and then go back to their vacation countdown and ask “how magical is POR?”

 

[WDWFREAK53]

Yeah of course. You're right. My point was only that standby lines will move much faster. Let's say I couldn't get a ToT FP under the current system, then my only recourse is to ride standby line which is so long because so many other people got a FP for it. In the new system, I'll still have to ride standby, but the standby line will move much faster because so much less of the ride's capacity is dedicated to FP users.

But you are saying this as if the Fastpasses for those attractions won't book up to capacity.
It means that the most popular attraction will book up first...then people will try for the next which will book up...and then all of Tier 1 will be booked. If the Fastpasses are at max capacity for that attraction, that means that the same amount of people are using Fastpass for it and those that get shut out will be forced into standby.

Whether I personally use Fastpass on 2 of those attractions or two people use 1 Fastpass on each attraction, the same amount of Fastpasses are being used...just by different people.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

This makes no sense. I could see flipping things around and doing Alien Swirling Saucers as Tier 2 and swapping with something else. But making them all Tier 1 is odd. I guess it could work if you do two Tier 1 picks, but that's about all that makes sense.

That park doesn’t have enough capacity and it never did!!!

So that’s not going to get better while they try to pump 5 mil more in there with 4 rides that last a minute or two each. That was disaster a la Iger as your recipe of the day.

And they are falling short on the Mickey ride which is a big ops snafu.

It is what it is

 

[GhostHost1000]

That park doesn’t have enough capacity and it never did!!!

So that’s not going to get better while they try to pump 5 mil more in there when 4 rides that last a minute or two each. That was disaster a la Iger as your recipe of the day.

And they are falling short on the Mickey ride which is a big ops snafu.

It is what it is

agreed they need some people eater attractions and shows - to bad they can't have a nice show during the daytime in the fantasmic theater