News FastPass+ comes to Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run at Disney's Hollywood Studios

[durangojim]

Where are the first three images coming from? The Disney parks app?

Edit: never mind, I did not read your whole post. Interesting! Is pirate the best I wonder? Are these all the ranks?

Looking on the net it seems like there might be a “master pirate” rank for a score >11000. I’m happy with my pirate rank.

 

[TheDuke]

I was liking the current set up. Millennium Falcon was usually not much more than an hour and it was pretty easy to get bonus fastpasses for RnRC and ToT in the middle of the day due to the strict tiering. One time I was repeatedly getting RnRC fps as soon as I used the last one and was just riding it over and over. Not going to happen now with everyone being able to eat them up in advance like they did before.

 

[TheDuke]

Wait times should not be significantly different. When people have a fastpass, they aren't in the standby line. The same number of PPH will be going through. More people don't magically come to the park and want to ride Falcon because suddenly there is FP.

The average wait might stay the same, but that includes people with FP's waiting 10-15 minutes and then everyone else's wait is longer.

More people won't ride the ride but people with FP's will be let ahead of people in standby even if they got in line afterward. Not sure how people behind you in line getting let ahead of you can not make your wait longer.

If FP didn't make the lines longer why would Disney have opened the ride without them? Seems like they were trying to avoid a situation like Flight of Passage when it opened with six hour waits. I'm expecting the waits to shoot up to 2-3 hours.

 

[natatomic]

Wait times should not be significantly different. When people have a fastpass, they aren't in the standby line. The same number of PPH will be going through. More people don't magically come to the park and want to ride Falcon because suddenly there is FP.

What also will happen is that peak times will probably decrease a bit, and off peak times (say, night) will increase a bit because FP spreads out crowds throughout the day, so you can't look at single point in time comparisons. But average wait time across the whole day will be fairly static.

That's the basics of queue theory anyways. Based on what I've seen I think that's the case. But the data sets we've had have always been imperfect comparisons. Now we will have a much more direct comparison to finally put to rest the debate of whether or not FP actually significantly affects wait times or not. There may be a small increase or difference (or even decrease), but I would bet that it won't be much different than similarly crowded days before FP. As a data geek, I'm excited to see what happens here, and prove my argument right, or, possibly prove it wrong. But seeing the actual data and comparing will be fascinating as it's really the first opportunity we've had to compare since FP was introduced, and there were a ton of other variables in play back then that potentially skewed the data set.

With an 80/20 ratio, if you’re gonna (essentially) guarantee 80% of riders have only a 10 minute wait (FP line), then the other 20% stuck in the standby - those schmucks - are gonna have to have their wait times increased a pretty crazy amount.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Single rider can at times be longer than current standby. If the single rider line is backed up past the stairs (in that you haven't gotten to the stairs and there's a line), leave it and go to standby. If you do get to the stairs, go left. Most people go right. Thus continuing the perennial queue advise for all Disney attractions: go left.

That will change with FP causing standby time to balloon making single rider faster.

 

[Tom Morrow]

I've probably ridden MFSR somewhere in the ballpark of 15 times. Every single time, the wait time was literally half of what was posted. Once Fastpass is activated, get ready to wait what is actually posted, and most likely consistently higher posted wait times. @Kram Sacul said it right on the first page - Fastpass is a cancer. Fastpass is garbage. The only reason you need a Fastpass is to skip the long line that Fastpass created.

Another poster also made a good point - currently it's pretty easy and painless to get multiple rides on Smugger's in one day. For many, this is an okay trade-off for only being able to ride RotR once in a day along with a miserable hassle at 6:00 AM. Now, if you don't have a resort reservation and book that Fastpass 60 days out, they will also be stuck with a long line for Smuggler's Run too.

 

[Green Fox]

When Disney makes significant changes like this (or extends park hours), do they send out notices to people who already have FP+ booked, or do they just have to stumble upon the change in MDE or a website?

 

[thecouch]

When Disney makes significant changes like this (or extends park hours), do they send out notices to people who already have FP+ booked, or do they just have to stumble upon the change in MDE or a website?

They only advise you if your fastpass is effected like later opening time for a ride you already have. They don't advise you if they make any changes to the park like a new ride or extra hours

 

[WowFactor]

if they don't have a resort reservation and book that Fastpass 60 days out, they will also be stuck with a long line

It’s impressive how all that freedom feeling you want on your vacations fades away when you have to schedule your days months before. I mean, I don’t know about you, but I have a LOT of commitments during my work days and think we all deserve some free planning days... Maybe WDW is loosing your magic touch... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[WowFactor]

I saw on Twitter the site that should not be named posted a photo of this morning on DHS. PACKED, as usual after RoR. Until when do you guys believe this will go on? Any hint of how do they intend to deal with this in the summer, with all those tour groups?

 

[Tom Morrow]

I saw on Twitter the site that should not be named posted a photo of this morning on DHS. PACKED, as usual after RoR. Until when do you guys believe this will go on? Any hint of how do they intend to deal with this in the summer, with all those tour groups?

It will unfortunately probably continue because, to their surprise, people are willing to do this, and they've figured out a way to guarantee a packed park at 7:00 AM as well as potentially making people stay longer than they would otherwise.

 

[durangojim]

It will unfortunately probably continue because, to their surprise, people are willing to do this, and they've figured out a way to guarantee a packed park at 7:00 AM as well as potentially making people stay longer than they would otherwise.

Interesting too that boarding groups were released at 6:59 this morning and only backups were available at 7. Kind of crappy on Disney's part.

 

[Purduevian]

Who cares about line length when the standby slows to a crawl because they added stupid Fastpass?

Follow the quotes up. This was all in a response to someone complaining that the extended queue would be used more often with the shipping containers. Which is directly related to the length of the line.

 

[DisneyDebRob]

That's assuming this change won't make them hard to get. Remember, this new ability will be open to you and everyone else and they haven't increased capacity on any of these attractions.

I imagine most people who were picking things like Little Mermaid to fill out their FP+ will be thinking the exact same thing you are. Will be interesting to see how it plays out but I'd be a bit cautious with the optimism if I were you - just until we see how this actually impacts things.

I still think at 60 days out you mostly have no worries but I understand what you are saying.

 

[mikejs78]

The average wait might stay the same, but that includes people with FP's waiting 10-15 minutes and then everyone else's wait is longer

No, I'm talking about the average standby wait time. Analysis done by @lentesta's team at the time FP was first introduced showed little impact to standby wait times. Not total average wait time. Again, if you have 2000 people who want to ride, and no FP, all 2000 will ride in about an hour. If you have the same 2000 people who want to ride, but 1500 have FPs, it will still take the remaining 500 people in the standby line an hour - but there will only be 500 people in standby. Thus line size will decrease dramatically but wait time will be about the same.

Now, as I said, I could very well be wrong. But I'll let the data determine that and look forward to any analysis done by @lentesta and his team once we have enough dates to compare. The period from Feb 19 until Runaway Railroad opens will be quite interesting to watch.

More people won't ride the ride but people with FP's will be let ahead of people in standby even if they got in line afterward. Not sure how people behind you in line getting let ahead of you can not make your wait longer.

It doesn't make your wait longer because without FO, many of those FP people would already be in the standby line.

If FP didn't make the lines longer why would Disney have opened the ride without them? Seems like they were trying to avoid a situation like Flight of Passage when it opened with six hour waits. I'm expecting the waits to shoot up to 2-3 hours.

It's logistically a lot more complicated to run and manage FP, and the daily boarding groups (which they assumed would be needed for Falcon, but weren't) are easier to manage on a day to day basis as they can easily adjust capacity as needed. Not knowing reliability of the ride probably had a lot to do with it.

 

[UNCgolf]

No, I'm talking about the average standby wait time. Analysis done by @lentesta's team at the time FP was first introduced showed little impact to standby wait times. Not total average wait time. Again, if you have 2000 people who want to ride, and no FP, all 2000 will ride in about an hour. If you have the same 2000 people who want to ride, but 1500 have FPs, it will still take the remaining 500 people in the standby line an hour - but there will only be 500 people in standby. Thus line size will decrease dramatically but wait time will be about the same.

That analysis is correct as far as it goes, but I think it's a mistake to assume there would only be 500 people in standby. It's more likely that you'd have the 1500 people riding FP, and another 1000-1500 people in the standby line because it looks shorter, thus increasing the number of people attempting to ride and also increasing the standby wait time. Plus, not everyone who wants to ride will be able to get a FP, either because they're all booked or because they wanted the Slinky Dog FP more.

The other issue, which is unrelated to actual wait times but does have an effect on guest satisfaction, is that an hour wait when the line is constantly moving through the queue feels shorter than an hour wait when you are standing in place for 5+ minutes at a time.

But it will definitely be interesting to see how it all shakes out; I'm looking forward to seeing the data as well.

 

[MrPromey]

I still think at 60 days out you mostly have no worries but I understand what you are saying.

For those of us with 30, we're pretty much SOL

 

[drizgirl]

For those of us with 30, we're pretty much SOL

I bet Disney would rent you a room.

 

[MrPromey]

I bet Disney would rent you a room.

And for my hour drive there, that makes perfect sense... but yes, for the price of $100+, I can access those free fastpasses 60 days out assuming I'm fast to the draw and not completing with too many people with longer stays who have an even bigger booking window - you're absolutely right.

 

[mikejs78]

That analysis is correct as far as it goes, but I think it's a mistake to assume there would only be 500 people in standby. It's more likely that you'd have the 1500 people riding FP, and another 1000-1500 people in the standby line because it looks shorter, thus increasing the number of people attempting to ride and also increasing the standby wait time. Plus, not everyone who wants to ride will be able to get a FP, either because they're all booked or because they wanted the Slinky Dog FP more.

The other issue, which is unrelated to actual wait times but does have an effect on guest satisfaction, is that an hour wait when the line is constantly moving through the queue feels shorter than an hour wait when you are standing in place for 5+ minutes at a time.

But it will definitely be interesting to see how it all shakes out; I'm looking forward to seeing the data as well.

People don't wait in a line at Disney based on how long it looks - they usually can't see the queue.. They wait based on the posted wait time (or, if they're smart, the actual wait time that apps like Lines shows). So if the posted wait time is the same as it was before, why would an additional 500-1000 people be waiting? And where do those people come from that weren't there before?

As far as the perception issue you mentioned, I can see that argument, even if I don't share that opinion - to me in a hour of my time is an hour of my time, whether it's a very long line that moves quickly, or a shorter line that starts and stops. The difference doesn't affect the number of attractions I can get on in a single day. But I can understand how others might prefer the continuously moving line. But that still doesn't change my argument that standby line won't change that much because of fast pass.