FastPass+ Disappearing on Some Attractions?

[Chi84]

I think what you really would have enjoyed is what my son experienced when he went to WDW in July 2020, less than 2 weeks after the parks reopened.

He did FOP 5 times in about 70 minutes. A couple of times, Cast Members directed them to cut through the FP+ line, that's how empty the parks were! They could have kept going but after 5 consecutive times on FOP, they were ready to move on. EE was even faster. They got off and jumped right back on.

Pretty much every attraction was the same way for their entire trip. The most crowds they saw was for the Magic Kingdom opening at 9 AM. When they arrived at AK for the 8 AM opening, there was almost no one there. Even when they left AK in the afternoon, crowds were almost non-existent.

Obviously, no need to FP+ then!

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Nope. I’ll take the crowds with no COVID/masks.

 

[Goofyernmost]

No offense, but if you are debating that you can get on rides just as quickly in the standby line as you can if you had a FP+ for those rides, then I would love some of what you are smoking.

You’re right though that anyone can debate anything they want. They just can’t always do it reasonably.

I am not debating individual attractions, I am debating over all time spent in the course of a day. For the ones you have a Fastpass in hand, of course it will be quicker. But if you spend that much money to go to WDW and all you do is attempt to ride 5 or 6 attractions you will still be spending massive amounts of time in virtual queues. There are no free rides. If you can spend the daily admission fee for just a few FP attractions then by all means have at it. But when it comes to smoking something the idea that you saved any amount of time, over all, during the day, you might just need another toke.

 

[durangojim]

worth noting those trips were with parks at 35% or less capacity, would situation be the same when parks are back to more typical 85%+

Sure, and I'm well aware of that.

 

[durangojim]

I think what you really would have enjoyed is what my son experienced when he went to WDW in July 2020, less than 2 weeks after the parks reopened.

He did FOP 5 times in about 70 minutes. A couple of times, Cast Members directed them to cut through the FP+ line, that's how empty the parks were! They could have kept going but after 5 consecutive times on FOP, they were ready to move on. EE was even faster. They got off and jumped right back on.

Pretty much every attraction was the same way for their entire trip. The most crowds they saw was for the Magic Kingdom opening at 9 AM. When they arrived at AK for the 8 AM opening, there was almost no one there. Even when they left AK in the afternoon, crowds were almost non-existent.

Obviously, no need to FP+ then!

We were there the day after the opened in July and stayed for over 10 days. It was the most relaxing Disney vacation we've ever had and our longest line was 15 minutes for Splash. Amazing!

 

[JusticeDisney]

I am not debating individual attractions, I am debating over all time spent in the course of a day. For the ones you have a Fastpass in hand, of course it will be quicker. But if you spend that much money to go to WDW and all you do is attempt to ride 5 or 6 attractions you will still be spending massive amounts of time in virtual queues. There are no free rides. If you can spend the daily admission fee for just a few FP attractions then by all means have at it. But when it comes to smoking something the idea that you saved any amount of time, over all, during the day, you might just need another toke.

Well, that’s fine. But the problem is that I WAS talking about 3 individual FP attractions and you were the one who responded to me and in fact actually stated that you were debating me. Glad we got that cleared up, lol.

 

[havoc315]

Whatever.

Try flying a family of four from Europe first. Many of my friends can. not. afford. It. On top of flights.

Anyway thankfully the FP+ debacle is looking like a memory now.

There will be new debacles. Off-site guests are effectively losing the ability to rope-drop.

But yes... let's talk about "on top of flights" -- A family of 4 coming from Europe is going to pay a minimum of $3000-$5000 just on airline tickets.
A week at WDW,, tickets a minimum of about $2000.

Basically, a family coming from Europe is paying a minimum of $5,000 to $7,000 just for airfare and tickets, likely more.

Value resort room is $150 to $200... so often less with discounts. But about $1,000 to $1,400 for the week.
Off-site... maybe pay as little at $80 per night. Oh, but then you have to rent a car and pay for parking, or pay for Ubers every day. So off-site, it really a minimum of $100-$150 per night. So $700 to $1000 minimum off-site.

So onsite for a family from Europe for a week: $6,000 to $8,400 minimum.
Off-site, for a family from Europe, for a week, minimum -- $5,700 to $8,000 minimum.
That's without even considering food and incidentals.

But really... for a family already spending $5,000 to $7,000 minimum,.... the difference between a value on-site (with daily transportation included) compared to off-site (with extra fees for transportation)... the difference comes out to $300 to $400 total, or about a 5% difference in price.
Somehow, I think the family spending $8000 to stay off-site, could somehow change their choices and find another $300-$400 to stay on-site.

 

[marni1971]

There will be new debacles. Off-site guests are effectively losing the ability to rope-drop.

But yes... let's talk about "on top of flights" -- A family of 4 coming from Europe is going to pay a minimum of $3000-$5000 just on airline tickets.
A week at WDW,, tickets a minimum of about $2000.

Basically, a family coming from Europe is paying a minimum of $5,000 to $7,000 just for airfare and tickets, likely more.

Value resort room is $150 to $200... so often less with discounts. But about $1,000 to $1,400 for the week.
Off-site... maybe pay as little at $80 per night. Oh, but then you have to rent a car and pay for parking, or pay for Ubers every day. So off-site, it really a minimum of $100-$150 per night. So $700 to $1000 minimum off-site.

So onsite for a family from Europe for a week: $6,000 to $8,400 minimum.
Off-site, for a family from Europe, for a week, minimum -- $5,700 to $8,000 minimum.
That's without even considering food and incidentals.

But really... for a family already spending $5,000 to $7,000 minimum,.... the difference between a value on-site (with daily transportation included) compared to off-site (with extra fees for transportation)... the difference comes out to $300 to $400 total, or about a 5% difference in price.
Somehow, I think the family spending $8000 to stay off-site, could somehow change their choices and find another $300-$400 to stay on-site.

Okay. I can’t be arsed.

 

[JusticeDisney]

FYI in the main thread about Fast Pass +.... We are discussing the new rumor.

Not sure where that thread is. What’s the new rumor?

 

[Tom Morrow]

Not sure if this has been mentioned, but I doubt this is because Fastpass is gone for good. It's likely because guests are seeing users with DAS reservations enter the Fastpass queues (as they do) and complaining about why they "get Fastpass".

FP does not save the AVERAGE guest time waiting in line. But it is absolutely possible to be "good" at fastpass and beat the system, using it to come out ahead.

True. The average guest has to use Fastpass to experience the same number of attractions they would if Fastpass didn't exist. But experienced users can game it and experience a little more.

Which is why I'm a little torn on it leaving, as much as I've ranted against it in the past. I'm 100% a Fastpass power user, but at the same time I'd also prefer to not have to aggressively check the app and all that, plus the standby lines are much more pleasant now without Fastpass. That's also with reduced capacity, so they'd be even more pleasant when operating at full capacity.

 

[uncle jimmy]

Not sure where that thread is. What’s the new rumor?

Several people have been trying to say that this topic is in the News and Rumors section and has been discussed endlessly.
However, A new rumor broke today is being dicussed in the thread there: Version of MaxPass coming to WDW in May?

 

[spock8113]

Eventually, if people have to wait for literal hours (heat and humidity) to get on a ride and then consider wasting this time and money to ride only 4 rides in an entire $120 day, they may go elsewhere. There's only management/economics being considered here.
It's short-range and short-sighted.

 

[marni1971]

I think what you really would have enjoyed is what my son experienced when he went to WDW in July 2020, less than 2 weeks after the parks reopened.

He did FOP 5 times in about 70 minutes. A couple of times, Cast Members directed them to cut through the FP+ line, that's how empty the parks were! They could have kept going but after 5 consecutive times on FOP, they were ready to move on. EE was even faster. They got off and jumped right back on.

Pretty much every attraction was the same way for their entire trip. The most crowds they saw was for the Magic Kingdom opening at 9 AM. When they arrived at AK for the 8 AM opening, there was almost no one there. Even when they left AK in the afternoon, crowds were almost non-existent.

Obviously, no need to FP+ then!

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Snap!

 

[Angel Ariel]

Well, you must not have ever been to WDW during a peak time. And anyway, you sure as heck waited in line a lot longer than you would have with a FP+.

Actually, our waits at Disneyland have almost always been shorter than WDW, at similar times of year.

 

[Angel Ariel]

I know, that’s wasn’t directed at you. Just a reference to another post. I stand by my point though. If you can’t stay onsite, you can’t complain about not getting a perk of staying onsite.

except that "perk" did used to be equally available to everyone, when it was the original fastpass. The onsite perk aspect of it is new(er).

 

[JusticeDisney]

Actually, our waits at Disneyland have almost always been shorter than WDW, at similar times of year.

I’m not really sure what you’re point is.

Anyway, whatever it is, it doesn’t change the fact of what have been saying in this thread, which is that you are going to wait a lot less on your 3 or 4 fast pass rides with the fast pass than you would without it. Again, that point isn’t even debatable.

 

[ilovelabs2021]

I’m not really sure what you’re point is.

Anyway, whatever it is, it doesn’t change the fact of what have been saying in this thread, which is that you are going to wait a lot less on your 3 or 4 fast pass rides with the fast pass than you would without it. Again, that point isn’t even debatable.

This is so true. On our last trip in 2019, there was a 2.5 hour wait for FOP. We had a fastpass and out wait was about 10 minutes, if that!

 

[nickys]

I’m not really sure what you’re point is.

Anyway, whatever it is, it doesn’t change the fact of what have been saying in this thread, which is that you are going to wait a lot less on your 3 or 4 fast pass rides with the fast pass than you would without it. Again, that point isn’t even debatable.

Your wait time for the rides for which you have a fastpass is obviously less than if you don’t have one.

Your wait time on rides for which you don’t have an FP will be longer than if thee was no FP at all because 80% of the riders do have one.

So it comes down to a balance of what rides you have (or can pick up) an FP for, as to whether overall your wait time is longer or shorter.

 

[jaklgreen]

First off, your assumption is dead wrong.

And secondly, maybe if someone is spending a ton of money on a once-in-a-lifetime vacation they ought to make themselves aware of how things work and what perks are available to them. Just a thought. Anyway, it doesn’t make me entitled because they fail to do that.

This, right here, bothers me so much. The amount of people that go and not spend any time at all doing research is just baffling to me. I have a co-worker that said that they are planning on going down to the Orlando area and were just going to show up at WDW for the day. I told them about the system now and he was shocked. They have never been and have done zero research. So they would have shown up with their 3 kids and most likely not have been able to get in. Who does that? All of that time and money and you can't take an hour to look into where you are going. I really don't feel bad for those people because it is their own laziness that causes them problems. The information is out there and VERY easy to get. You don't need to be an "insider" or someone who goes often, you just have to go to the WDW website and read. So it really annoys me when people on here say "what about the first timers that don't know". That is on them for not wanting to take the time to do your research.

 

[JusticeDisney]

Your wait time for the rides for which you have a fastpass is obviously less than if you don’t have one.

Your wait time on rides for which you don’t have an FP will be longer than if thee was no FP at all because 80% of the riders do have one.

So it comes down to a balance of what rides you have (or can pick up) an FP for, as to whether overall your wait time is longer or shorter.

Totally agree with all of that. And obviously, everybody hits the parks differently. A lot of times my family does a park for just a few hours and concentrates on the “big” attractions. If you do a park like that, then FP+ is a godsend. And even when we stay at a park longer and do more rides, it’s often not that difficult to plan accordingly - such as doing rope drop, or when parades are happening, etc.

 

[JusticeDisney]

This, right here, bothers me so much. The amount of people that go and not spend any time at all doing research is just baffling to me. I have a co-worker that said that they are planning on going down to the Orlando area and were just going to show up at WDW for the day. I told them about the system now and he was shocked. They have never been and have done zero research. So they would have shown up with their 3 kids and most likely not have been able to get in. Who does that? All of that time and money and you can't take an hour to look into where you are going. I really don't feel bad for those people because it is their own laziness that causes them problems. The information is out there and VERY easy to get. You don't need to be an "insider" or someone who goes often, you just have to go to the WDW website and read. So it really annoys me when people on here say "what about the first timers that don't know". That is on them for not wanting to take the time to do your research.

Spot on.