FastPass+ Most Certainly Not Coming Back As It Was

[themarchhare]

When they close the line you then queue virtually, for free.

And what happens when Disney decides that that line is closed for the rest of the day? What happens when they decide that 50% of their attractions are closed for the rest of the day?

If this was just paid FP, again it would be fine. In fact, it would make the standby line go faster.

This is not that and it has the potential to suck.

 

[Unbanshee]

As I understand it the standby pass will not operate like the virtual queue. They are two different systems both in programming and implementation. The standby pass shouldn’t just “run out” for the rest of the day a minute after becoming available.

I think it's important to differentiate between Virtual Queue (which is what Standby Pass is), and a Boarding Group (exclusive to RotR and Web Slingers)

 

[Indy_UK]

We knew this was coming, and it's going to end up at every resort.

Many have said on these forums that the current fast pass system slows the lines down and extents the time in standby, so maybe this will partly improve those times.

I personally hate the current fastness system. I don't enjoy the level of planning thats currently involved. If it did lower standby times and then say I was able to walk up, pay $8 to Premier Access ROTR to walk straight on, then yeah I would pay it but I would only do it for 1, maybe 2 rides maximum.

What I'm more fearful of is they include for say 3 rides a day if you stay in a Deluxe resort/ DVC a la EMH. Then I can see there being fights

 

[dovetail65]

I was guaranteed 3 day passes per park ticket. Maybe not the exact time but a 1 hour window that I can plan around. I've never NOT gotten a ride that I wanted selecting them in advance. I've even said I'd pay for extra for convinience after 3. Again, like I said the people who complain about the current system and the longer standby waits CHOOSE to put themselves in that situation. They cant choose to not use fast pass..and the tell everyone the stand by lines are too long. Lol.

You are so right, but you will never convince them because they dont get it. Anything they say just proves they dont get it. Using Fp+ is never a wash it always is a much better day. I loved the old system, maybe it will just be fond memories. Hopefully Disney can prove me wrong, but not having a plan before getting in the park does not sound fun to me.

 

[SoFloMagic]

When your time is called yes. You can’t just wander up and queue up if a standby pass line is active. Nor can you get a return time until standby pass is active for your chosen ride.

Isn't that how uni does Hagrid now?

 

[havoc315]

I am so confused.

If WDW implements this - can we still choose just to wait in line for rides or no?

Depends on crowd. During low lines, you would still go wait on line.

When it gets busy, they activate “standby pass” and then you wait on a virtual line, not a physical line.

 

[marni1971]

I think it's important to differentiate between Virtual Queue (which is what Standby Pass is), and a Boarding Group (exclusive to RotR and Web Slingers)

Indeed.

 

[themarchhare]

Me: I don’t like standing super long lines for your attractions

Disney: we fixed that.

me: how?

Disney: we won’t let get on the attraction.

Exactly this.

Isn't that how uni does Hagrid now?

It is! But imagine if uni did it to ALL of the rides. That's what I'm expecting with Disney, knowing Bob.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I haven't even used my DVC points since buying them resale, but this might be enough to cause me to sell them already. I have no interest in this type of vacation whatsoever.

 

[GhostHost1000]

I kinda actually like this idea. It may be a little confusing at first but seems to make sense.

Put down the pixie pipe lol

 

[matt9112]

Not quite. FP is managed througput. The same number of people get to ride an any given day, it's just that a large % of them are managed via FP. You keep saying "laws of math" but there's a whole science around this called queueing theory that describes all this, and a managed line allows the same throughput than an unmanaged line while making wait times far more manageable.

The ideal scenario from a pure line management perspective would be to have 100% FastPass. Then everyone would wait for a very small amount of time. But then you would need to plan every attraction, which also wouldn't be ideal. I think the 85/25 split makes sense given what they are trying to achieve.

The real issue isn't FP - FP is needed given the current state of the parks unless they limit attendance (as they have been doing since COVID) or build more capacity. As it is, there are more people in the parks than can get on any one attraction and there aren't enough attractions to make the wait times short. So FP is necessary to distribute and manage the load.

You act liking you know....building more capacity is impossible FP might be needed due to the massive lack of park growth in relation to guest attendance increases. I think thats a more accurate statement.

 

[GhostHost1000]

I haven't even used my DVC points since buying them resale, but this might be enough to cause me to sell them already. I have no interest in this type of vacation whatsoever.

I have 2 contracts and this might make me reconsider long term. We’ll see

 

[Waters Back Side]

They're not saying you have to buy in here. They are saying that you line up in standby virtually. Then you come back when they call you. This is different than the paid skip the line thing.

So theoretically the top tier attractions you can still ride for free in a way. Just when they tell you to come back. And when you come back you still have to wait in an activated standby line albeit not as long as a typical stand by line now. If you want to completely walk to the front of the line you pay for Premier.

 

[marni1971]

When it gets busy, they activate “standby pass” and then you wait on a virtual line, not a physical line.

Worth pointing out after waiting in the virtual line, you will then be permitted to wait in a physical line.

It won’t be a way to minimise physically queuing as original FP was touted.

 

[mightynine]

Could they have picked a more sneering look to announce yet another way to get money out of you when you visit a park?

 

[drizgirl]

if they get rid of the ridiculous tiering and I can get a batch of 3 for Slinky, Millennium Falcon, and Mickey, then I'll be willing to jump.

I'd bet the farm that's not happening. Especially in that park. If they did that, the line to Guest Services would be the hottest ticket of the day.

 

[flutas]

Would ya look at that...

What if FastPass as we know it is dead, but the new version is already in the parks, very publicly visible and "battle" tested?

Imagine a system similar (aka cloned from) the ROTR virtual queue system.

Based off of multiple factors then ops could decide to open a virtual queue to guests for attractions at various points throughout the day. Instead of hard FPs for certain rides you get X number of virtual queues per day that allow you to skip the physical line. Maybe you could even set a list of priority experiences and get an alert when a virtual queue for that ride is about to open.

It would solve the "60+ day planning" problem, and allow ops to decide how many "FastPasses" they can hand out for a ride at any one time. It would also allow them to speed up or slow down groups when they need them rather than having people show up at a set time... Best of all for a certain Bob, it keeps people wandering the park and potentially spending money instead of waiting in line.

Just a thought...

Obviously I was wrong on some stuff, but sounds awfully familiar...

 

[Dayma]

Put down the pixie pipe lol

It's OK if something works for our style and not yours. lol

 

[nickys]

As I understand it the standby pass will not operate like the virtual queue. They are two different systems both in programming and implementation. The standby pass shouldn’t just “run out” for the rest of the day a minute after becoming available.

But if, for example, everyone wants to ride Tron. The physical line could reach 2 hours within about 30 minutes after official park opening.

So they open up the Standby Return. I can easily see it running out. Unless they stop letting people join it and re-open it when the number of people with a return time goes down. In which case you need to keep your eyes glued to the screen to see when it becomes available again. That’s even worse IMO.

On another point, do you know what kind of proportion of the hourly capacity of a ride will be open for Premier Access?

 

[CaptainAmerica]

They need to get their researchers and their social engineers out of the park operations business. If they want to raise prices, just freaking raise prices. I honestly have no problem whatsoever with the "trying to get more money" part of this. It's the convoluted, head-up-their-own-you-know-what way they go about implementing things. This is impossibly complicated. People are already spending a huge amount of their vacation with their heads buried in their phones, and this just brings the dynamic of "wait.... how does this thing work?" to a whole new level. It's convoluted and confusing.