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

[Tom Morrow]

One thing that should be noted is that with Fastpass+, attractions never actually "sell out", availability comes and goes based on many factors such as other guests changing their Fastpass times and the size of your party, so fortunately (and unfortunately) an attraction may not show up as available to you, but could show up as available to the party beind you, or you again a little later if you try again. Remember that you can also modify the time and attraction for any Fastpass+ booking that you have not already used, so for instance, lets say at Epcot it says Test Track and Soarin' are not available. Book Maelstrom, set it for later in the day, and check back later to see if you can change Maelstrom to Soarin' or Test Track. This often does work.

And now for my obligatory personal rant about how I continue to be disgusted by how poorly Passholders are being treated through all of this. I'm sitting with a Premier Passport and waiting in line for 20 minutes to not be able to get any FP's.

1. As an annual passholder you are not entitled to anything, and you are spending far less cash than a family visiting for a week staying in one of Disney's resorts. Only at Disney Parks do annual passholders think they are "above" everyone else...
2. You arrived at 1 pm on one of the busiest days of the year. Fastpass or Fastpass+, most things are going to be pretty much "sold out" early on.
3. The trade off of waiting a bit longer to book your Fastpasses is offset by the fact that you do not have to cross the park multiple times going to each attraction twice just to ride it once, etc.

Meanwhile, I continue to be unable to ride any headliner attraction when I visit a park.

If only there was some other way to ride the attractions without a Fastpass!

Also, again, busiest week of the year, you don't get there early, you have to wait.

 

[Captain Chaos]

@donsullivan Did you notice if people were getting frustrated and completely ticked off at the long wait at the kiosks as well as not being able to get a FP selection for the major rides? Was the complaining loud? Were Guest Relations lines just as long? In your estimation, how many ed off people and irate customers who just had a terrible Disney experience did Disney create today?

 

[donsullivan]

@donsullivan Did you notice if people were getting frustrated and completely ticked off at the long wait at the kiosks as well as not being able to get a FP selection for the major rides? Was the complaining loud? Were Guest Relations lines just as long? In your estimation, how many ed off people and irate customers who just had a terrible Disney experience did Disney create today?

I didn't notice anyone getting noticeably frustrated and/or loud but there is so much confusion in these areas right now it's kind of hard to tell.

As I was heading out of the park around 3PM there was a line at Guest Relations ~25 people long. However, there is absolutely no way for me to tell whether that line has anything to do with FP+. There are so many reasons someone might be at Guest Relations it could be tied to it, it could also be completely unrelated.

 

[Captain Chaos]

I didn't notice anyone getting noticeably frustrated and/or loud but there is so much confusion in these areas right now it's kind of hard to tell.

As I was heading out of the park around 3PM there was a line at Guest Relations ~25 people long. However, there is absolutely no way for me to tell whether that line has anything to do with FP+. There are so many reasons someone might be at Guest Relations it could be tied to it, it could also be completely unrelated.

Thanks for the first hand information! I still would not call this a success by any stretch of the imagination though... Appreciate you taking the time to post your experiences and observations!!!!!

 

[donsullivan]

..........1. As an annual passholder you are not entitled to anything, and you are spending far less cash than a family visiting for a week staying in one of Disney's resorts. Only at Disney Parks do annual passholders think they are "above" everyone else...

Thanks for your condescending response. You have absolutely no idea how much money I spend at Disney Parks during the course of a year between $900+ for my AP, typically at least one stay-cation resort stay at WDW each year, countless day visits at WDW, countless full service dining experiences, countless counter service meals, at least one trip including resort stay at Disneyland each year and more. So despite your disdain for AP holders feeling entitled, I have made a point of only asking that Disney deliver what they committed last spring but have not delivered. I've been reminded by many on this board that they committed back then that Passholders would be able to reserve in advance 'later this year' but have not delivered on that commitment and will not state when or if they ever actually will. And now since they flipped the switch in October with FP+ advance reservation, getting a day-of FP for most headliner attractions requires being there at rope drop since they are all gone within an hour on most days. This is a dramatic reduction in experience vs what was available to me when I purchased the pass in July.

2. You arrived at 1 pm on one of the busiest days of the year. Fastpass or Fastpass+, most things are going to be pretty much "sold out" early on.

Don't disagree and acknowledge that availability was likely to be limited when I arrived but I had to wait 20 minutes in line only to then be told that nothing was available but Nemo & ITTBB. They need to come up with some other way to deal with this.

 

[freediverdude]

I agree with donsullivan that if I am staying in a Disney resort and have premium (like I do) or premier (like he does) passes, we are actually paying MORE for our vacation than the family with magic your way tickets. Now granted my passes can be linked in MDE so I'm on equal footing with the package people as long as I stay in a Disney hotel, but there's no excuse whatsoever for the premier passes not to be linkable.

 

[JimboJones123]

The Premier Pass in general has been nothing but a mess for both coasts.

Now add in the fact that DL guests get discounts out the wazooo on dining and the 20% merch discount, the WDW side sucks even more.

 

[JimboJones123]

I am a WDW AP, and honestly, if they added the 20% CS dining discount, we would upgrade instantly and NEVER stuff ourselves before heading to the parks. My last 12 entries, I have eaten exactly 2 meals in the park. One split between two kids and myself, the other a kids meal. Why buy a $3 soda when the HESS just outside MK and DHS has sodas for $1.40 when we leave?

I am just too priced out to spend any extra money at WDW anymore. And again, if the burden was eased by the DL 20%, my wallet would be exponentially looser. Until then, granola bars, Taco Bell, and packing PBJs will win.

 

[Buried20KLeague]

So here's an attempt to be a little more coherent than I was in typing in frustration on my phone this afternoon while in the park.

1) When I arrived a little after 1PM, the lines at nearly all of the FP+ locations ranged from 30 to 50+ people. To understand it I walked around the park to get a reasonable sense of whether the one up front behind the tip board was an anomaly and while others were a little shorter, there were long lines at all the FP+ locations.
2) The line I got in had about 25 people ahead of me and took ~20 minutes to get through since there is so much interaction between the guest and CM to get everything booked.
3) There is no way when you get in line to know what the available FP+ returns times are for attractions, nor is there any way to know if FP+ is even still available for an attraction you want. You have to wait the entire length of the line before you may find out that there are no FP+ available until after you have to leave the park or no FP+ for the attraction you wanted left available for the day. So then, not only do you not have an FP's, you wasted 20 minutes of your day to not get any FP's.

If this is going to be the model for FP+, they're going to have to come up with some way to alert guests what attractions are 'sold-out' and what time windows are available from what's left before they get in line. I get that today is a ridiculously busy day but the pattern will always be the same. If people are waiting 20 minutes in line and then you tell them there are no FP's for anything but Nemo and ITTBB they are not going to be happy campers. Especially since that 20 minutes could have otherwise been spent in the SB line of some attraction they were interested in instead of wasted in a FP line with nothing to show for it.

And now for my obligatory personal rant about how I continue to be disgusted by how poorly Passholders are being treated through all of this. I'm sitting with a Premier Passport and waiting in line for 20 minutes to not be able to get any FP's. Disney continues to make absolutely no commitment on what if any advance reservation options Passholders may have. And when you push them for something you get a patronizing "We understand you're disappointed, but we have nothing to announce at this time." Meanwhile, I continue to be unable to ride any headliner attraction when I visit a park.

Did you go to guest relations? Just curious. Wondering how they're handling those kind of complaints "on the spot".

 

[donsullivan]

Did you go to guest relations? Just curious. Wondering how they're handling those kind of complaints "on the spot".

I did not. As you can imagine for this week the park with really busy so I just headed out and after a brief stop at AKL headed over to Epcot.

I will acknowledge that I thought about at least recording my perspective but experience has taught me that it would be a waste of time. I've communicated with them via email and phone in recent months on this specific topic with nothing productive coming out of it. The response I've gotten each time is "we understand you are disappointed but we have nothing to announce at this time".

 

[flynnibus]

@donsullivan you repeatedly project expecting to be treated better based on what you've bought.

Instead of appreciating attention/treatment you may get... You instead get upset you are not put on a pedestal or given special treatment.

There is a difference between appreciating special treatment and EXPECTING it

 

[Buried20KLeague]

I did not. As you can imagine for this week the park with really busy so I just headed out and after a brief stop at AKL headed over to Epcot.

I will acknowledge that I thought about at least recording my perspective but experience has taught me that it would be a waste of time. I've communicated with them via email and phone in recent months on this specific topic with nothing productive coming out of it. The response I've gotten each time is "we understand you are disappointed but we have nothing to announce at this time".

Yeah, I've seen your other posts on the topic, and what their response has been. I just wondered if their response would have been different "in the moment".

 

[donsullivan]

@donsullivan you repeatedly project expecting to be treated better based on what you've bought.

Instead of appreciating attention/treatment you may get... You instead get upset you are not put on a pedestal or given special treatment.

There is a difference between appreciating special treatment and EXPECTING it

Let me be absolutely and totally clear here and if I have used language that some might interpret otherwise let me correct that here. I am not looking for any special treatment of any kind. I'm not in the crowd complaining about a 3 FP+ limitation. I'm not complaining about only one park per day for FP+. I'm not complaining that there should be more discounts for Passholders. The ONLY item I've raised is that in the spring when all of this started (and many here have reminded me of repeatedly) Disney committed that Passholders would have the same privilege 'later this year'. Then in October when the flipped the switch on the qty of available day-of FP (which I totally understand) the experience of a non-resort-guest Passholder visiting the parks to experience headliner attractions was made significantly more difficult than it was when I purchased the admission media.

They have not delivered on that commitment and have provided absolutely no new communication since the spring on what if anything we should expect. They have the ability to do this because if a Passholder has stayed at a WDW resort since all of this started they now have access to reserve FP+ in advance from home just as described on the page I linked to above. However, since I've not stayed in a resort at that time I am ineligible to use that aspect of the service.

 

[Buried20KLeague]

Thanks for your condescending response. You have absolutely no idea how much money I spend at Disney Parks during the course of a year between $900+ for my AP, typically at least one stay-cation resort stay at WDW each year, countless day visits at WDW, countless full service dining experiences, countless counter service meals, at least one trip including resort stay at Disneyland each year and more. So despite your disdain for AP holders feeling entitled, I have made a point of only asking that Disney deliver what they committed last spring but have not delivered. I've been reminded by many on this board that they committed back then that Passholders would be able to reserve in advance 'later this year' but have not delivered on that commitment and will not state when or if they ever actually will. And now since they flipped the switch in October with FP+ advance reservation, getting a day-of FP for most headliner attractions requires being there at rope drop since they are all gone within an hour on most days. This is a dramatic reduction in experience vs what was available to me when I purchased the pass in July.


Don't disagree and acknowledge that availability was likely to be limited when I arrived but I had to wait 20 minutes in line only to then be told that nothing was available but Nemo & ITTBB. They need to come up with some other way to deal with this.

For the record, I agree with your thoughts and position in general.

The problem is... Without some kind of "reward system" for dollars spent, there's nothing in place to separate you and your AP spending habits from our dear @JimboJones123 (for example).

I used to be you. Just a few short years ago. It sucked, but eventually I came to realize what I mean to TDO as a customer, and changed my habits accordingly. I've been much happier since then. I'm two months away from another visit to Disney Sea, and am smiling as I watch this MM fun from a distance. I'll likely never be a pass holder again (and I have been a premier holder as well). And I'll still visit WDW once every couple years. But instead of a 2 week onsite stay, I'll stay off and wrap WDW in with other parks or the beach or a cruise. I count my lucky stars often that I didn't sign those DVC papers 8 years ago.

It's a painful realization to make... Like ripping off a band aid. But it feels a lot better since then.

 

[JimboJones123]

For the record, I agree with your thoughts and position in general.

The problem is... Without some kind of "reward system" for dollars spent, there's nothing in place to separate you and your AP spending habits from our dear @JimboJones123 (for example).

I used to be you. Just a few short years ago. It sucked, but eventually I came to realize what I mean to TDO as a customer, and changed my habits accordingly. I've been much happier since then. I'm two months away from another visit to Disney Sea, and am smiling as I watch this MM fun from a distance. I'll likely never be a pass holder again (and I have been a premier holder as well). And I'll still visit WDW once every couple years. But instead of a 2 week onsite stay, I'll stay off and wrap WDW in with other parks or the beach or a cruise. I count my lucky stars often that I didn't sign those DVC papers 8 years ago.

It's a painful realization to make... Like ripping off a band aid. But it feels a lot better since then.

I would rather not be so cheap... but they have priced me out.

 

[Todd H]

Sounds like their new crowd distribution plan is in full effect. Moving people from Fastpass and standby lines into the kiosk lines. Brilliant!

 

[Buried20KLeague]

I would rather not be so cheap... but they have priced me out.

I hear ya.

For me, it's not about being priced out, but rather becoming intolerant of the lowering of value.

Funny part is, the results of the two are the same!

 

[flynnibus]

I hear ya.

For me, it's not about being priced out, but rather becoming intolerant of the lowering of value.

Yeah - I don't owe Disney anything and if they don't entice me to visit I don't. History be damned.

 

[Zummi Gummi]

@donsullivan -

Have you done one of your Disney resort staycations since they started giving out magic bands?

Because if you have and you own a magic band, all you need to do is make sure it's linked to your my Disney experience (and your AP). Once it is, you can make fp+ reservations ahead of time just like resort guests.

 

[disney4life2008]

Thanks for your condescending response. You have absolutely no idea how much money I spend at Disney Parks during the course of a year between $900+ for my AP, typically at least one stay-cation resort stay at WDW each year, countless day visits at WDW, countless full service dining experiences, countless counter service meals, at least one trip including resort stay at Disneyland each year and more. So despite your disdain for AP holders feeling entitled, I have made a point of only asking that Disney deliver what they committed last spring but have not delivered. I've been reminded by many on this board that they committed back then that Passholders would be able to reserve in advance 'later this year' but have not delivered on that commitment and will not state when or if they ever actually will. And now since they flipped the switch in October with FP+ advance reservation, getting a day-of FP for most headliner attractions requires being there at rope drop since they are all gone within an hour on most days. This is a dramatic reduction in experience vs what was available to me when I purchased the pass in July.


Don't disagree and acknowledge that availability was likely to be limited when I arrived but I had to wait 20 minutes in line only to then be told that nothing was available but Nemo & ITTBB. They need to come up with some other way to deal with this.

Well said. I am also an AP holder for many years on top of spending thousands on multiple resort stays per year, food, shopping, and large tips. AP holders should be treated with the utmost respect and entitled value (same as those staying at the expensive resorts expect). However, under MM+ we are getting treated as second class citizens.