FastPass+ open to all guests including offsite beginning next week at Disney's Animal Kingdom

donsullivan

Premium Member
My vote is 'MM- fully live for earnings call',

I would not be surprised if this isn't part of it. I'm sure they'd like to be able to say it is fully live in at least a couple of parks on the next call. They are so far behind plan on this whole thing (not just FP+) and you could hear the tension in the response on the last earnings call when they had to report that they would not be achieving the benefits of My Disney Experience they had originally projected for FY14 (started in October) due to those delays.
 

Buried20KLeague

Well-Known Member
I agree. If offsite guests continue to be able to access FP+ via the kiosks only, then I believe WDW will have to add more kiosks.

I'm hoping someone at DAK during Christmas posts photos of what the kiosk lines are like. The kiosks seem so much more time-consuming to use than the old FP ticket dispensers that I'm envisioning monster lines.

I hope I'm wrong. I hope Disney has thought this through and is ready.

I'd hate to see people's vacations ruined because they had to stand in those lines, only to be shut out of all the good attractions.

Here's the part I can't figure out.

Let's say I really want a FP/FP+ for Expedition Everest.

Using the old system, the return time is posted for all to see. Before I even step up, I know whether to get in line to wait for one. And because those dispensers are for only that one attraction, I have an idea of how many more will get used before it's my turn. Because the old FP dispensers were relatively simple to use, lines moved rather quickly.

The FP+ kiosks are much slower to use because they offer choices. With the FP+ kiosks handling multiple attractions, how do I know what's available until I step up to the kiosk?

Is WDW going to have a CM announcing "All FastPass+ selections for Expedition Everest are gone"? Is there going to be a tote board at all kiosk stations? (Sorry, I didn't pay attention during my last visit.) Are the kiosks going to be dedicated to attractions?

How does Disney not end up with a bunch of frustrated offsite guests who stood in a FP+ kiosk line only to end up with a FP+ for It's a Bug's Life?

The sad part is I find myself getting quickly frustrated at LEGACY FP machines when I'm 10 people deep and the group at the front can't figure out how to use those machines. I always notice people around me getting frustrated too. Now slow that process down my a factor of 10. Hoo boy.
 

GoofGoof

Premium Member
Fp+ should be unlimited to all guests, with time constraints like how it was with legacy fp. These fp+ should only be available day of. HOWEVER, to encourage on site stays, resort guests will have the option to book 3 fp+ in advance.

This would be a much easier pill to swallow.
There is no way to make it unlimited for anyone. There isn't nearly enough ride capacity. The old FP system worked because you had to physically arrive at the ride to pull a ticket. With the exception of a small percentage of "commando style" guests who used fast pass runners and ran around the parks collecting fastpass tickets most guests used the system on a somewhat limited basis grabbing a FP if the standby line was long. I think I read somewhere the average guest actually used less than 3 fast passes a day. If you made FP+ unlimited to everyone (even on the day of) you would have to arrive at the park at rope drop to try to book the best rides. The tier system isn't intended to punish guests. The reality is everyone would want FP for the same couple of rides in most parks. Without limiting it you would run out of supply much faster than demand.

The easy solution is to build more rides that people would want FP for, but that's a topic for another thread.
 

donsullivan

Premium Member
I am using windows phone. No functionality.

This will sound more harsh than I intend but given the very small market share that Windows Phone has in the US (<10% in most reports) I'm guessing creating an app for it is not high on the priority list. They've got a mountain of issues to grapple with right now and their resources are probably better spent solving those instead of working on an app for a very small portion of the total guest community. You aren't excluded from the system, just limited by the choice you made in smartphone platforms to how you can interact with the system when you are in-park.
 

RSoxNo1

Well-Known Member
They stopped adding FP distribution at all new attractions and will be removing them.
Right, but there are designated Fastpass locations in the parks already. If we see 30+ minute waits for the kiosks during the holidays, a solution is to put Fastpass+ kiosk banks in previous Fastpass distribution locations. Putting all this on a smart phone will ease the congestion at these kiosks, but limiting it to the kiosks during the test sounds ill conceived. I almost wonder if some of the people in ops are deliberately sabotaging tests like this because they know Fastpass+ is a horrible idea.
What's more likely is that there will be CMs with iPads near this kiosks to give additional support to people.
 

George

Liker of Things
Premium Member
....I read a press release elsewhere related to this and it's a pending nightmare ...so much so that it's also laughable. There WILL be many an angry guest .....that's a given.

....but ...maybe that's the point!! Maybe there is some kind of secret agenda at work here? WDW doesn't want to expand it's number of attractions .....so let's just tick off the non-hardcore guests SO much that they don't come back ...or do so less frequently. Then ...the lines are reduced ...the loyal guests book resort stays (big money maker) ...and Disney still makes a profit showing to Wall Street because they could cut expenses by not needing so many CM's to handle insane crowd levels.

......conspiracy theory hard at work!! (would not surprise me to see it be true in some manner ...really)

......and ...I had a really good laugh at the attractions that were put on the list as being "FP+ Attractions":
Character Greeting at Adventurers Outpost
Expedition Everest
DINOSAUR
Festival of the Lion King
Finding Nemo – The Musical
Kali River Rapids
Kilimanjaro Safaris
Primeval Whirl
It's Tough to be a Bug!


.....am I wrong? ...doesn't that list pretty much include EVERY AK attraction?!!

.....there's the problem!! There are 8 attractions, 1 ...maybe 2 which I'd say were "primary" (EE & Dino)) ....and 1 that's 'seasonal' (KRR). If there were 20 rides / attractions ...with 5 or 6 "primary" ...the FP issue would be ...a non-issue.

It doesn't include Triceratops Spin. It is a wonderful attraction where you set atop a powerful dinosaur as you soar majestically over a carnival listening to music that raises the consciousness. No one can pull of an anachronistic ride of this magnitude like Disney.
 
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