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

[Buried20KLeague]

I can see so many problems with this. First, early in the morning, off site guests will be waiting in line for about 20 minutes or longer to use the kiosk. Then when they get to the front of the line, they will find out that Everest, Kali and the Safari are only excepting fast passes for 3-5pm, meaning the family has to sit around and wait to ride the only 3 attractions animal kingdom has to offer.

... And those return times could be a problem because they've already got ADR's during that time. So now you have to pick (because lord knows changing ADR's day-of probably won't happen, not at the popular spots anyway) between one of the only few FP options open and keeping your ADR. Which you've had to give a credit card for.

 

[LapsedWDWFan]

As someone who has rarely ever used FastPass, I am perplexed by something. It's the "I show up a rope drop to run to [insert popular attractions here] and get a FastPass" mentality, which seems to be the most disturbed by the MyMagic+ changes.

The reason we have rarely used FastPass is that we show up at rope drop to ACTUALLY RIDE [insert popular attractions here] before lines get long. We've been doing that long before FastPass was even around.

Maybe I'm just old school and don't get the modern touring strategies so maybe it's just beyond me.

 

[JerseyDad]

Just wait until FotLK is closed next year and people have one less FP+ option...and then Dinosaur or Everest breaks down...

.....I'm sure you meant, "When ....Everest breaks down ...more than it is now"

....AK Guest, "Hey CM ....is Everest fixed"?
....AK CM, "Not Yeti".

 

[kap91]

This doesn't quite make any sense...why the kiosk only limit? I can see why you only want day guests to be able to make selections the day of-that seems fair enough-but why limit them from using the my Disney experience app? I thought that was the whole point - that you wouldn't have to line up at kiosks? Is this just a temporary thing because they don't think the servers can handle it yet? The app is set up to easily allow you to link your plastic tickets...resort guests don't need that functionality, as they use magic bands that are automatically linked to their account.

 

[donsullivan]

I was referring to the idea of getting booking rights without any room reservation... more so than worrying about what your ticket is.

Think about it.. Disney has no idea what day you are going to use your ticket... it's not tied to any day, while FP+ is tied to days. So using tickets to decide what days you can book or not is not as direct as using your resort ressie (which is tied to specific days) to gate when booking should open for you. Since advanced booking was the first thing rolled out for FP+.. it makes sense to have entitlement done by hotel ressies done and implemented before worrying about entitlement for day of bookings.
.......

I understand the thought process there but there are too many AP holders who have reported a similar experience. They stayed at a resort that was testing back in Sep or Oct and now in December, without any active, scheduled or pending resort reservations they are able to go into the system and reserve FastPass+ in advance of their day visit for multiple attractions. The functionality is there, it seems to only be available to me if I'm willing to spend even more money than the $900+ dollars I spent on my AP this year.

I think what has me most frustrated/disappointed is that Disney has been absolutely mute about this whole thing when it comes to Passholders. They had some high level 'later this year' language back in the spring when they started switching over to Touch-To-Enter and then absolutely nothing since.

 

[rael ramone]

I know one result is we did not get the Park Hopper option for our trip in 2014. With the continual increase in price for that "service" and the FastPass changes, we no longer see the value of getting it, even on a lengthy stay ticket. Part of me thinks that they are actually trying to price out Park Hopping as part of the plan with My Magic+ is to better anticipate where people will be ahead of time (the reason for the 60 booking window) so that they can allocate staff "appropriately" and therefore continue to reduce operating costs.

Of course. The thought of them being forced to offer their low wage employees enough hours that they can afford to feed themselves boiled potatoes has had TDO crying over their lobster dinners for years.

Make MM-Minus the 'sole' reason to stay on property, so they can dispose of all the other 'benefits' - like monorail, service, cleanliness, water features, etc. Make park hopping such a miserable experience for their cu$tomer$ that they will stop doing it.

 

[flynnibus]

I understand the thought process there but there are too many AP holders who have reported a similar experience. They stayed at a resort that was testing back in Sep or Oct and now in December, without any active, scheduled or pending resort reservations they are able to go into the system and reserve FastPass+ in advance of their day visit for multiple attractions. The functionality is there, it seems to only be available to me if I'm willing to spend even more money than the $900+ dollars I spent on my AP this year.

The difference is those examples have already been entitled through a resort stay. Different scenario... Like I said, it's not about being an AP or not - but about the decision on when to entitle the user. From a developer standpoint this is significant.. when you are looking at this as 'Im an AP, and so are they...' the nuances may be lost.

 

[kap91]

Yes word on the advance reservation for AP has been very quiet so far. I am starting to wonder if there will even be an option for advance reservations for APers. Hopefully I am wrong.

Stayed at a resort last week...I still have the ability to book fastpasses and can do it for days in advance...might just be a bug though...this seems to indicate once they send out magic bands to ap's they'll activate the ability. Even if not most of my fastpasses have been made day of

 

[ParentsOf4]

I think this is it and more, the goal may also be to reduce the number non-site guests as well.

Onsite or offsite, Disney always wants more guests (and their money ).

The problem Disney faces is what to do when you spend $2B without expanding capacity.

It's simple. You focus resources on high value guests.

Given the situation, it makes sense.

However, as @WDWYankee15 aptly summarized it:

"I will say one thing for sure, it will never be for the guests what we would want to have spent billions of dollars on."

 

[ParentsOf4]

As someone who has rarely ever used FastPass, I am perplexed by something. It's the "I show up a rope drop to run to [insert popular attractions here] and get a FastPass" mentality, which seems to be the most disturbed by the MyMagic+ changes.

I think it's those with the "Disney just spent $2B on what?" mentality that are most disturbed by FP+.

 

[Tinous]

...meaning the family has to sit around and wait to ride the only 3 attractions animal kingdom has to offer.

You make it sound like you can only go on rides for which you have a FP... It is possible to use the standby lines, it's not like you have to sit at a bench all day waiting, you can actually still do stuff

...So now you have to pick (because lord knows changing ADR's day-of probably won't happen, not at the popular spots anyway) between one of the only few FP options open and keeping your ADR. Which you've had to give a credit card for.

But this is no different than legacy FP. You could easily pull a FP for which you have something else planned. Nothing has changed here, other than you actually have the option of choosing other times.

 

[Buried20KLeague]

Eh, I just look at it like this. I've been to Disney before, I'll be back again. If I don't get on the ride - I'm not going to get mad about it. Heck, one of my favorite things to do is to just walk around the World Showcase and people watch. Crap I'm getting old. Get off my lawn

That's a pretty friggin' expensive walk.

 

[Buried20KLeague]

But this is no different than legacy FP. You could easily pull a FP for which you have something else planned. Nothing has changed here, other than you actually have the option of choosing other times.

Return times were not enforced previous to MM for this reason. It was a conflict on paper, but not in reality. Now, it's both.

 

[asianway]

As someone who has rarely ever used FastPass, I am perplexed by something. It's the "I show up a rope drop to run to [insert popular attractions here] and get a FastPass" mentality, which seems to be the most disturbed by the MyMagic+ changes.

The reason we have rarely used FastPass is that we show up at rope drop to ACTUALLY RIDE [insert popular attractions here] before lines get long. We've been doing that long before FastPass was even around.

Maybe I'm just old school and don't get the modern touring strategies so maybe it's just beyond me.

There is a lot of unused capacity at rope drop. By starting return times as early as park open they plan on trying to draw more people in early to use it

 

[Nmoody1]

I understand the thought process there but there are too many AP holders who have reported a similar experience. They stayed at a resort that was testing back in Sep or Oct and now in December, without any active, scheduled or pending resort reservations they are able to go into the system and reserve FastPass+ in advance of their day visit for multiple attractions. The functionality is there, it seems to only be available to me if I'm willing to spend even more money than the $900+ dollars I spent on my AP this year.

I think what has me most frustrated/disappointed is that Disney has been absolutely mute about this whole thing when it comes to Passholders. They had some high level 'later this year' language back in the spring when they started switching over to Touch-To-Enter and then absolutely nothing since.

I honestly think we passholders will be a thing of the past soon. I used to purchase the premium annual pass.... But the benefits have dwindled from the 20% off merch down to 10%, the room discounts aren't what they used to be. Compare the benefits to Disneyland where passholders continue to get a good discount, special events and are clearly way more valued than we are in Florida.

I have been a fan of the advances disney are putting in place. It's exciting to see changes - I think everyone needs to remember that disney still offers fast pass for free.... Universal don't, six flags don't. However, I don't think it's fair that we lose out on fast passes, knowing the system and how to get the most out of it, but all guests will be losing out on maximising fast passes - everyone will be in the same boat - and unseasoned visitors will waste their fast passes on character meet and greets and getting a fast pass for carousel of progress (love the ride, wouldn't get a fast pass for it!), so long term when the whole thing is rolled out we may see a fairer theme park experience for all.

I do feel as an annual passholder my business means very little to TDO. As an international pass holder I'm even more at a loss.... No Mickey monitor because disney won't pay international postage!

 

[Buried20KLeague]

This doesn't quite make any sense...why the kiosk only limit? I can see why you only want day guests to be able to make selections the day of-that seems fair enough-but why limit them from using the my Disney experience app? I thought that was the whole point - that you wouldn't have to line up at kiosks? Is this just a temporary thing because they don't think the servers can handle it yet? The app is set up to easily allow you to link your plastic tickets...resort guests don't need that functionality, as they use magic bands that are automatically linked to their account.

I'm guessing they don't believe they can handle the traffic load effectively.

 

[DisneyJoe]

As someone who has rarely ever used FastPass, I am perplexed by something. It's the "I show up a rope drop to run to [insert popular attractions here] and get a FastPass" mentality, which seems to be the most disturbed by the MyMagic+ changes.

We were told at an agent conference that this was one of the driving reasons behind FP+ - to eliminate the morning Fastpass dash.

 

[ParentsOf4]

But this is no different than legacy FP. You could easily pull a FP for which you have something else planned. Nothing has changed here, other than you actually have the option of choosing other times.

What's changed is that corporate Disney just spent billions (billions that could have been used for some really outstanding theme park additions) for something that's essentially "no different than legacy FP".

What's changed is that, as a result, Disney is now in a position to eventually eliminate the Extra Magic Hours benefit for onsite guests and claim that FP+ replaces it.

 

[ToTBellHop]

I understand the thought process there but there are too many AP holders who have reported a similar experience. They stayed at a resort that was testing back in Sep or Oct and now in December, without any active, scheduled or pending resort reservations they are able to go into the system and reserve FastPass+ in advance of their day visit for multiple attractions. The functionality is there, it seems to only be available to me if I'm willing to spend even more money than the $900+ dollars I spent on my AP this year.

I think what has me most frustrated/disappointed is that Disney has been absolutely mute about this whole thing when it comes to Passholders. They had some high level 'later this year' language back in the spring when they started switching over to Touch-To-Enter and then absolutely nothing since.

My Mickey Monitor mentions access to MyMagic+ early next year. The treatment of AP holders in this has been appalling. That would have been a smart group to START this testing with since they have the most knowledge of the parks and how to navigate them and also would be the most relaxed if there were any issues. Instead, they've been disenfranchised. Of course, treatment of AP holders over the last decade has been a continuous disenfranchisement.

 

[Buried20KLeague]

I think everyone needs to remember that disney still offers fast pass for free....