Fast Pass: Good or Bad?

[Plane Crazy]

I was just reading in another thread about how fast pass has made long, elaborate queues a thing of the past (whether MGM Studios has enough room for the Indiana Jones Adventure show building and queue was being discussed). And this got me to thinking about the impact that Fast Pass has one your theme park experience.

Typically, you are no longer waiting in long lines... which, I am sure everyone would agree, is a good thing. And this should alllow people to accomplish more within a given day, provide them with more time to shop, and maybe let them take time to dine at a restaurant (if they so choose) rather than eating fast food. And, again, these are all good things.

However, the folks at Disney have always seen to it that there are many things to look at and enjoy while you wait on line. Well... maybe not always, but certainly over the course of the last 15 years.

I really miss waiting in line at Splash Mountain, Muppet Vision 3D, Tower of Terror, Kali River Rapids, et cetera. There are many sights and sounds - in other words, theming - to take in. For a while, it even seemed like they were making efforts to theme the queues on older attractions (e.g., space mountain, carousel of progress); however, whether they were successful or not is subject to debate.

Nowadays, people get their fast passes... and rush to get on the ride/attraction, and take little notice of the elaborate theming around them. And to think that Disney may not invest their monies in this regard in the future, due to the Fast Pass system, really makes me sad.

So... I am wondering how everyone else feels. Is Fast Pass a good thing or a bad thing? And, do you think it will impact how future attractions are constructed and themed?

P.S. After my last visit, I have already made a promise to myself that I will take more time to enjoy the sights and sounds on my next trip. I was so consumed with seeing and doing everything... that I got to enjoy very little. Not that it wasn't a great vacation... because, for me, time spent at WDW is far more precious than time spent anywhere else. However, I found myself getting bent out of shape over the people who don't move all the way down the rows of seats (as they are directed), people in scooters and folks with strollers who move slowly/erraticaly and create congestion, individuals who do not wait in line and then advance in front of you to join members of their group, people who fail to turn off their phones or take calls during rides/attractions, parents that fail to stop their children from climbing on or grabbing everything they see, parents who allow their children to sit there and scream relentlessly during shows/attractions (you can't do much if you are on a ride), et cetera, et cetera. And, as a result, I failed take in the whole experience that the Disney parks offer. So, while some of things will continue to annoy me in the future... I am going to try to focus less on my pet peeves and focus more on having fun!

Sorry for the diatribe!

 

[Pongo]

I think FastPass is a great system. It has pros and cons, like everything else in WDW, but I think in general, it is an upgrade to the parks.

The queues will always have themeing, it just remains to determine if there is to be an excess or not that much.

Even if you get a FastPass, you still have to wait in the line for a ride within the two hours that you must wait to get another FP. Either that or eat or play or just sit. Either way you get to enjoy the subtlties of the parks.

 

[se8472]

Well if you are looking at this from a stand point that fastpasses are bad because they don't allow people to see t he queue themes then yes it is a bad thing, but most people (everday guest) don't care to much about how nice the lines look. Now with that in mind I move on to my next point.

All of the rides that have been created since fastpass was started being used in all of the parks have still had great themes in there queues. I look at large rides like M:S and its hugh wheel and just the lighting that is used. Also smaller rides like Phillhar both look awsome. As for things to come, its my understanding that EE is going to have a whole village area added onto it for its line.

So I don't think that themes in the queue area is going to be lost, but I do belive that less people will get to see it.

 

[MrNonacho]

My vote: Bad.

I don't like having to plan around using Fastpass just to break even. It would be nice if you could just enter a Standby line on a whim and not have it stand still while hordes of people pass you. I'd rather have a long line (people-wise) that is continuously moving than a short one that barely inches along.

 

[Halfling418]

I think Fastpasses are definately a good thing. Sometimes the lines are so long that you're in them for hours, and your whole day is shot.

I definately have to wait--even when in a Fastpass line--I think it usually gives me just the right amount of time to enjoy the atmosphere and get on the rides I want. I have seen all the detail in the regular lines before--I don't need to study them every time. Plus, there are some things that don't/didn't have Fastpasses.

I think some of the non-fastpass lines are so catostrophic that having a Fastpass is a life(and sanity) saver. Plus, it's actually very very easy and common-sense.

Some of the queues are so great though. One of my favorites is winding around the Tree of Life to get on It's Tough to Be a Bug...the carved animals are amazing. I found my favorite dinosaur on it--the ankylosaurus.

Other good ones are the ones for the Great Movie Ride, The Haunted Mansion, Space Mountain, Test Track, and definately Dinosaur.

If anyone's been to Islands of Adventure, the queue for the Dueling Dragons has to be one of my all-time favorites. Going through an ice cave(complete with frozen knight on the ceiling), and through dark, dank, dripping, skull-filled tunnels is incredible. I especially love the skull that talks in rhyme.

The Popeye and E.T. lines are really cute....and the Spider-Man one is so much fun!

What are some of your favorite queues?

 

[Pongo]

I think Fastpasses are definately a good thing. Sometimes the lines are so long that you're in them for hours, and your whole day is shot.

I definately have to wait--even when in a Fastpass line--I think it usually gives me just the right amount of time to enjoy the atmosphere and get on the rides I want. I have seen all the detail in the regular lines before--I don't need to study them every time. Plus, there are some things that don't/didn't have Fastpasses.

I think some of the non-fastpass lines are so catostrophic that having a Fastpass is a life(and sanity) saver. Plus, it's actually very very easy and common-sense.

Some of the queues are so great though. One of my favorites is winding around the Tree of Life to get on It's Tough to Be a Bug...the carved animals are amazing. I found my favorite dinosaur on it--the ankylosaurus.

Other good ones are the ones for the Great Movie Ride, The Haunted Mansion, Space Mountain, Test Track, and definately Dinosaur.

If anyone's been to Islands of Adventure, the queue for the Dueling Dragons has to be one of my all-time favorites. Going through an ice cave(complete with frozen knight on the ceiling), and through dark, dank, dripping, skull-filled tunnels is incredible. I especially love the skull that talks in rhyme.

The Popeye and E.T. lines are really cute....and the Spider-Man one is so much fun!

What are some of your favorite queues?

I love the ET queue. Ad the new mummy ride queue is pretty fun, but those are Universal, so we won't speak of them.

 

[KYfriedPanda]

Use fast pass on the rides without "themed queues", and while you wait for those return times, go on the lines with the themes... Of course, I always tell people to go early with EMH and get in a solid 3 typically long wait rides within the first hour to 90 minutes... Then if you see a line area that looks neat, go back later if you have time... If you don't have time, at least you got to go on the main attraction...
Of course, no one HAS to use the fast pass... if you're dying to wait 2 hours in the 100 degree heat under the very few and far between trees which happen to have talking chipmunks in them to get on splash mountain, by all means, go for it

 

[RedGear]

The good the bad and the ugly!

I think that fastpasses are both good and bad also.

The Pro's is that if you want to ride a very popular ride like Test Track or Space Mountain and the lines are over an hour long, then I am all for using them. THey save time and it makes you feel like you are MIP and you can just walk right on it.

The Con's is having to plan everything around the exact time you have to go back (like someone already said) and sometimes you can't get a fastpass because they have already been given all out.

My brother was lucky the last time he was there someone had like 8 fastpasses for splash mountain they weren't going to use and just gave them to my brother. He (along with my cousin) Just kept getting off and getting back on the ride and the cast member at the fastpass queue asked them where they got the fastpasses at, and my brother told him someone just gave them to him and he shrugged and let them go on it again and again! I told him he was lucky to go on it without a wait.

But overall I think it's good to use them sometimes and others to forget about it.

 

[FamilyMan]

FastPass for Space Mountain = GOOD

FastPass for The Haunted Mansion = BAD

There's no need for FastPass on various attractions (omni-movers) yet Disney is too dumb to realize that.

You don't need FastPass for Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin! The longest wait that thing ever had before FastPass was only 30 minutes. Now since they added FastPass, the line goes up to 90 minutes sometimes and they had to extend the line down the side of the building's exterior.

The Haunted Mansion NEVER needed FastPass. Thank Goodness they got rid of it.

Bottom line is some attractions need it, while others don't. As far as theming goes, Kali River Rapids has an amazing line. It was built long before FastPass came out. Mission Space has a neat line, just not as much to look at outside. I think that the standby lines need to be indoors in AC (in the summer) with highly themed lines.

The FastPass lines need to have a much more blatent storyline. Make the FastPassers wait five minutes in line, and make the line that they wait in overboard. Lots of effects in the cue, lots of easy to understand details.

That's my view on FastPass. Anyone agree with me?

 

[Robfasto]

Can't really say, I think I have only used Fastpass 2 or 3 times. That is just a perk of traveling during the off-peak season.

I personally don't like the system for the same reason I don't like Priority Seating at Restaurant's. I don't want to have to worry about the time all the time. Most of the time on vacation I don't even take a watch. Having to keep track of the time to make back to your Fastpass time or Priority Seating time is not a vacation to me.

 

[CaliSurfer182]

I think fastpass is a great system of course like everything else it has its pros and cons. I think that everybody is being a little dramatic about fastpass' effects on the future of lines. Not everybody can get a fastpass, so there will always be lines in some capacity.

 

[bork]

The other downside of Fastpass is that it makes the parks feel busier. When people get a Fastpass, then they're not in line. Instead, they're in the walkways, restuarants, shops, etc. So the parks feel busier, since fewer people are in the queues. This was more of a problem at Disneyland, since the park is smaller, with narrower walkways. That's why they scaled back the number of Fastpass attractions.

 

[shakes20]

I happen to like the fastpass system. With four children, there isn't much chance to enjoy the queue line anyway.
That being said, if fastpasses mean the end of elaborate queues for attractions, that would be sad. I was part of a team that did the theming for the Journey to Atlantis ride in Sea World Florida (the original). The ride was to have and huge back-story about Atlantis suddenly surfacing outside of a Greek fishing village. During the ensuing commotion, the media descended on the small town and your journey through the line would take you past various sights in the village and past media cameras and vans playing news reports about the incident. The old fisherman that you see at the beginning of the ride was to be seen warning all who come to beware, since no one who had tried to enter Atlantis had ever survived. There were going to be several fun scenes along the way (my favorite was a fish market where some of the fish would randomly squirt people in line. All of this was lost when the ride ran about $10 million over budget. It makes me sad to see the ride now knowing what it could have been.

 

[Northgurl24]

I think Fast Pass is one of the greatest things Disney has ever brought to the parks. I am new here on the whole post thing, but come on think about it. Not having to wait on line, gettin to walk by all the suckers who are waiting on line. And it was metioned that when u use Fast Pass, who miss out on the eloborate detail that Disney puts into their rides. I dont agree with this. The older i get, the more i appreciate how Disney works and how much effort goes into the rides. I use Fast Pass all the time and I dont think I have missed out on any of the queues for any of the major rides. My last trip to Disney, I rode TOT 8 times because of Fast Pass and good planning. I see Fast Pass as a pro more than a con


P.S. Good topic to bring about

 

[FourFourSeven]

Fastpass gets a HUGE thumbs-up from me. With young-ish children, any time not standing in line is good. We were at WDW in early March (moderately busy, not crazy), and between arriving at opening and using Fastpass during busier parts of the day, we really didn't wait for anything. And skipping 30-45 minute waits at non-great queues (Peter Pan, Pooh, etc.) is wonderful. We still saw most of the great queues (those tend to be rides we'd hit in the early morning). Mid-day, we could get, say, a Buzz fastpass, visit CoP and TTA, grab a Mickey ice cream, then go on Buzz, with no waiting. It's terrific! We probably used eight Fastpasses in one day at the Magic Kingdom.

One thing I'd suggest people NOT do - get one Fastpass, then go stand in the standby line of another Fastpass attraction with a long wait. You're not saving any time - you've essentially replaced your wait in one attraction with another. Instead, get a Fastpass, then go on non-Fastpass attractions.

Other tips to improve your Fastpass experience:

-Get a Fastpass before you go to lunch (pretty obvious, really).
-Get a Fastpass before staking out a spot for a parade.
-Generally, get a Fastpass WHENEVER you're going to have "downtime"
-Finally, most importantly, DON'T go to your attraction the second your window opens. Remember, you've got an hour. Instead, go get a SECOND Fastpass, THEN go do your first attraction. That way, you're "waiting" for two Fastpass attractions at once.

My goal during the mid-day crowds was to always have one Fastpass, and ideally have two.

 

[maxime29]

Fastpass is very good when it is being limited to a certain number of rides.

You have the obvious advantage with ToT and RnRC; I can't remember the last time we didn't use FP for Splash.

 

[darbiemc]

I think Disney should use a system like Universal. I think if you shell out the money for a deluxe resort romm that you should go to the front of the line on all attractions

 

[maxime29]

I like the idea, but there are a lot more people who stay at the Disney resorts compared to the Universal ones (for the obvious reasons). Combine that with the APs and regular guests's and we could have more bottleneck in lines than is currently seen.

 

[Scooter]

I, too. have mixed feelings about the Fast Pass system.

Some of my best family bonding has been done in queue lines.
I have met some wonderful people from all over the world while standing in queue lines.

But in some cases, a fast pass is a great option, like in the Living With The Land ride.
My wife and I always get a fast pass there and have lunch while waiting. There's not much to do there in that line except read a few things written on the wall so Fast Pass works well for us there.

I absolutely HATE Fast Pass at the Winnie The Pooh ride because it slows the stand by line down so much.

I LOVE doing the Fast Pass at Test track because I'm not interested in anything in the queue line. I just want to ride the ride.

My wife and I go during the off seasons so for the most part we don't use Fast Pass...

...but hey..it's one of those perks that are great sometimes..so MY thoughts are this...

..if you don't like Fast Pass...then don't use it..but don't glare at me if I walk past you and get on the ride before YOU do...you could have done it too. :animwink:

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

I dont know about you, but an hour window on a FP return is hardly an exact time that requires military precision. :hammer: Its about long enough to do another attraction. theres no law that says you haveto return the minute the time starts. Perhaps not everyone has sussed that yet


Originally I stayed at Universal for the benefits of Express pass, but now I stay cause its a great experience. Disney watch out :animwink: