FastPass+ Most Certainly Not Coming Back As It Was

[PirateFrank]

Marginally.

I would prefer the old free FP+ return. Learn to use it and you time wisely and standby lines will not matter. Get to the parks early, walk on a good chunk of rides first thing with very little wait, eat lunch, then go ride some afternoon rides with the late FP+ options. Easy.

I know we've gone back and forth on this a bit - so I want to avoid revisiting that debate. I'm just curious as this might have a bearing on our differing opinions on FP+. When do you generally travel to WDW? Do you generally travel to WDW during off-peak (to the extent off-peak still exists) or peak times?

The reason I ask is because I've *never* been able to employ FP+ like this. I still get to the parks at the drop - but within an hour or two, no attraction has a tenable standby wait anywhere. So the methodology I've been forced to employ is to start unspooling my fastpasses between 10-11am.....and by 1, we're done with FP's and the park is a disgusting mess of sweaty park guests and 75 minute waits for the spinners.

Prior to FP+, we used to spend all day/night in the parks. After FP+, we've been forced to evacuate the parks at lunch time and hope things improve after dinner......hence my hatred of FP+. It's literally changed (reduced) how I consume a product that has gotten exponentially more expensive over the past 15 years.

 

[M:SpilotISTC12]

Marginally.

I would prefer the old free FP+ return. Learn to use it and you time wisely and standby lines will not matter. Get to the parks early, walk on a good chunk of rides first thing with very little wait, eat lunch, then go ride some afternoon rides with the late FP+ options. Easy.

I'm with you. I prefer the free FP+ system. We would use 10 a day. It was great but I'm not going to pay those high prices. If it's like Maxpass I'm in. I'm trying to find SOME silver lining.

 

[CastAStone]

I know we've gone back and forth on this a bit - so I want to avoid revisiting that debate. I'm just curious as this might have a bearing on our differing opinions on FP+. When do you generally travel to WDW? Do you generally travel to WDW during off-peak (to the extent off-peak still exists) or peak times?

The reason I ask is because I've *never* been able to employ FP+ like this. I still get to the parks at the drop - but within an hour or two, no attraction has a tenable standby wait anywhere. So the methodology I've been forced to employ is to start unspooling my fastpasses between 10-11am.....and by 1, we're done with FP's and the park is a disgusting mess of sweaty park guests and 75 minute waits for the spinners.

Prior to FP+, we used to spend all day/night in the parks. After FP+, we've been forced to evacuate the parks at lunch time and hope things improve after dinner......hence my hatred of FP+. It's literally changed (reduced) how I consume a product that has gotten exponentially more expensive over the past 15 years.

while I agree with you about fast pass causing wait time issues, I think the main driver comparing to 15 years ago is that attendance is up over 1/3 since then

 

[Disstevefan1]

There might be a bright side to this. If WDW stops free fastpasses there will be less fastpass users and perhaps overall wait times will go down.

 

[LAKid53]

They are indeed struggling with cast. It’s a medium term issue that would mean parks cannot handle “normal” capacity. Attractions are just about staffed. F/B and stores a different matter. Some areas are not pretty. Measures are being taken to try and mitigate this but you can only go as fast as you can.

^^THIS

Employers are having a hard time hiring. Regions pays starting tellers around $17 an hour, with benefits. That's $35K. And no degree required.

When you're having problems HIRING because you're not getting applications, that's a shortage of labor. Daughter's branch in Florida is down 4 positions.

If a financial institution willing to pay a starting employee $35K can't get applicants, what makes you think Disney can?

 

[havoc315]

I think bumping up of capacity has more to do with staffing than anything else. More employees across the board are needed to be able to handle the old average daily number of guests. The good news is that the Disney Jobs site is showing a lot of positions for which they're hiring in this regard, from housekeeping to food service to bus drivers. With these being filled, as well as the college program restarting, I think we'll see larger capacity increases before too long.

It's good news that they are in the process of hiring those people.
But it's quite bad news that they are needing to so widely recruit for those positions. It suggests there are A LOT of open positions and they are having difficulty filling them.
So there is light at the end of the tunnel, but filling those positions may become a very long tunnel.

Take a look at the announcement of the re-opening of Sebastian's. Good news: They increased staffing and are opening another restaurant!!! BUT.... now look more closely. Instead of offering their full menu, they are going to offer a set family style meal.
The most likely reason for this: Staffing. Takes a smaller staff if you are serving every guest the same meal. You can do that with a smaller kitchen staff. Even a smaller waitstaff (the whole service is simplified if you are just bringing the same dishes to the same table again and again).
So Sebastian's is a good example of, "We need to open more urgently! But we don't have enough staff... so let's figure out a way to open it with smaller staff"

The whole question is how long it will take to staff up. And the Sebastian's opening is evidence that they aren't able to staff up overnight, it's going to be a fairly long process. (My guess is that staffing remains a significant issue until September/October).

 

[G00fyDad]

I know we've gone back and forth on this a bit - so I want to avoid revisiting that debate. I'm just curious as this might have a bearing on our differing opinions on FP+. When do you generally travel to WDW? Do you generally travel to WDW during off-peak (to the extent off-peak still exists) or peak times?

The reason I ask is because I've *never* been able to employ FP+ like this. I still get to the parks at the drop - but within an hour or two, no attraction has a tenable standby wait anywhere. So the methodology I've been forced to employ is to start unspooling my fastpasses between 10-11am.....and by 1, we're done with FP's and the park is a disgusting mess of sweaty park guests and 75 minute waits for the spinners.

Prior to FP+, we used to spend all day/night in the parks. After FP+, we've been forced to evacuate the parks at lunch time and hope things improve after dinner......hence my hatred of FP+. It's literally changed (reduced) how I consume a product that has gotten exponentially more expensive over the past 15 years.

Fair point. I had not thought of it like that. We typically go in mid-October. "Slow" season so yes, I can see your point. Even though it may seem selfish on my part I wish the free FP+ would come back.

 

[disneyfreak0710]

Jumping in, not reading previous pages. My biggest question is: one way or another, when on earth are they actually going to make an announcement?

 

[LittleBuford]

We can all agree that FP slowed down the standby line.

Perhaps, but it made my (and many others’) overall wait times much, much shorter. I kind of admire the democratic attitude that many here have expressed by hoping for a World in which most people wait equally long for everything, but as someone who made very effective use of FP+, I much preferred how things were before COVID and can’t see myself being content with spending significant lengths of time in queues that I was previously able to bypass.

 

[LittleBuford]

So the methodology I've been forced to employ is to start unspooling my fastpasses between 10-11am.....and by 1, we're done with FP's

This was my strategy, but willingly adopted. I would use my three pre-booked Fastpasses as early in the day as possible and then immediately begin booking a succession of new Fastpasses throughout the day. Refreshing the app would often reveal some fantastic “deals” well into the evening. My sense is that it’s those who didn’t have much luck with, or patience for, day-of Fastpasses that least liked the old system.

 

[disneyfreak0710]

Perhaps, but it made my (and many others’) overall wait times much, much shorter. I kind of admire the democratic attitude that many here have expressed by hoping for a World in which most people wait equally long for everything, but as someone who made very effective use of FP+, I much preferred how things were before COVID and can’t see myself being content with spending significant lengths of time in queues that I was previously able to bypass.

Exactly.

 

[Dreaming of Disney World]

This was my strategy, but willingly adopted. I would use my three pre-booked Fastpasses as early in the day as possible and then immediately begin booking a succession of new Fastpasses throughout the day. Refreshing the app would often reveal some fantastic “deals” well into the evening. My sense is that it’s those who didn’t have much luck with, or patience for, day-of Fastpasses that least liked the old system.

We did the same, and it worked very well for us. We traveled in May, August, and November and purposely did not choose to travel to Disney World during the more crowded times. We would schedule our first three fast passes to happen before lunch and immediately get a 4th one after checking in with our 3rd one. Then throughout the day we were easily able to schedule new ones. One time I really wanted Splash Mountain, but no fast passes were available. My husband spent 10 minutes on the phone and got us 3 fast passes for Splash Mountain by repeatedly refreshing and modifying. First he got them for 9:30 pm, which he accepted, then modified them to 7:30, then modified them to 5:30, then 3:30, then 1:30, at which point we kept them. For the super popular rides (FOP, SDD, 7DMT) I booked them asap during our fast past selection day and knew to reserve them first for the last days of the trip. I had done our research, and we knew how to work the system and get what we wanted. I really hope free fast passes come back. It would be hard for our young kids to wait in long lines. We just use fast pass or naturally short lines all day long.

 

[M:SpilotISTC12]

Perhaps, but it made my (and many others’) overall wait times much, much shorter. I kind of admire the democratic attitude that many here have expressed by hoping for a World in which most people wait equally long for everything, but as someone who made very effective use of FP+, I much preferred how things were before COVID and can’t see myself being content with spending significant lengths of time in queues that I was previously able to bypass.

I completely agree with you. We knew how to use FP+ to the max. But if a majority of us are going to be forced to standby (which unfortunately seems likely) at least the line should be moving faster. In theory of course.

 

[pdude81]

Capacity for the rides isn't really different based on which line you start in, so it's just about strategy given the current rules. I liked fastpass because I could pick anchor times for certain things and set those around my dining reservations. Knowing how the system works I would use it to my advantage.

Now if they were totally gone forever, then no biggie we'd all adapt. The issue is that they are changing procedures and park hours while letting us know that something new is coming... but without saying when that will be. I have to plan every other aspect of this vacation by 60 days, so I'd like to at least lock in a few rides if we're staying on property.

 

[PirateFrank]

while I agree with you about fast pass causing wait time issues, I think the main driver comparing to 15 years ago is that attendance is up over 1/3 since then

No, not the main driver. A contributing one. You can't discuss attendance increases without also recognizing that planned capacity decreases (via attraction closures/redesigns) and guest redistribution (via FP+) throughout the parks have also ruined wait times. The effect is synergistic.

 

[matt9112]

You know at first I was totally against the whole paid FP concept. With the rumored high prices we won't be doing it. However with it being so high many others won't either. So if less people purchase it more people will be in stand by. We can all agree that FP slowed down the standby line. So if less people are using FP, standby will move faster. Disney gets their money and the poor peons get a faster stand by. Win-win. Trying to look at this in a positive light given Disney's expensive pay to play model.

Sort of....but they will likely be far more strict on fastpass waits (aka always emptying fast pass side) before allowing stand by vs the small wait you almost always have now. I agree there could be a little tangible benefit. But i do feel we will see some kind of tiers. I think you will be able to buy single rides somehow.

 

[Jedijax719]

You know at first I was totally against the whole paid FP concept. With the rumored high prices we won't be doing it. However with it being so high many others won't either. So if less people purchase it more people will be in stand by. We can all agree that FP slowed down the standby line. So if less people are using FP, standby will move faster. Disney gets their money and the poor peons get a faster stand by. Win-win. Trying to look at this in a positive light given Disney's expensive pay to play model.

But to what extent does it really work that way? I've asked several times how much shorter will that make lines and nobody has answered. And while lines may move faster, does it really matter if they are quite a bit longer? I'm guessing the length of the lines balances things out. The difference being that those who could do fast passes before may not be doing them if the prices are too high.

If lines are 10 minutes quicker, that really won't help if the standby was 60 minutes or more.

 

[acup313]

Jumping in, not reading previous pages. My biggest question is: one way or another, when on earth are they actually going to make an announcement?

It’s been asked a few times and not really a clear answer. It was suggested that this is still several months away. However, there has been some indication that the recent changes may speed things up. So, essentially I think the answer is we have no idea.

 

[UNCgolf]

But to what extent does it really work that way? I've asked several times how much shorter will that make lines and nobody has answered. And while lines may move faster, does it really matter if they are quite a bit longer? I'm guessing the length of the lines balances things out. The difference being that those who could do fast passes before may not be doing them if the prices are too high.

If lines are 10 minutes quicker, that really won't help if the standby was 60 minutes or more.

My guess is that the standby times won't be much (if any) longer for most rides and will be shorter for many. It's not like everyone who was in the FP queue will now automatically go into the standby line and thus double the wait; most people will just skip it and come back later if the line is too long at any given time.

A 60 minute standby time without a separate busy FP queue will feel faster to most people than a 60 minute standby time with one, because the former will move constantly instead of shuffling forward then standing in place for 5 minutes.

 

[disneyfreak0710]

It’s been asked a few times and not really a clear answer. It was suggested that this is still several months away. However, there has been some indication that the recent changes may speed things up. So, essentially I think the answer is we have no idea.

I was kind of hoping they'd want to have something announced in time for the 50th.