-
The new WDWMAGIC iOS app is here!
Stay up to date with the latest Disney news, photos, and discussions right from your iPhone. The app is free to download and gives you quick access to news articles, forums, photo galleries, park hours, weather and Lightning Lane pricing. Learn More -
Welcome to the WDWMAGIC.COM Forums!
Please take a look around, and feel free to sign up and join the community.
FastPass should be no more
- Thread starter d'Isigny
- Start date
TimeTrip
Well-Known Member
The fp rules are like so. If you get a fastpass, you will have a time printed on it that states when you use the fastpass (with a range of an hour). Then there is also a time that is the next time you can get a fast pass.
For example.. I got a FP for Space mountain at 5:18pm to return between 5:55 and 6:55. My next FP was available at 6:00.
There are times (especially on busy days and busy rides) where you will be able to get another FP before you are able to use the current one. If you park hop, the passes are also on different systems. So a FP on Space Mountain would not affect your ability to get a FP on Test Track.
ToTBellHop
Well-Known Member
If the wait time was posted as 45 minutes, and it took 90 minutes, they encountered an unexpected delay. It happened before Fastpass was introduced and it still happens, and you either deal with it or get out of line. As an example, look at the Tower of Terror and Rock 'n' Roller Coaster. Before Fastpass, they both averaged 45-50 minute wait times when I went, which meant it took about 2 hours to ride them both. Now, if you plan it right with Fastpass, you can ride them both within an hour, as they both still average a 45-50 minute standby wait during moderately busy times. I know I get on more rides than ever with Fastpass. Admittedly, some attractions that have Fastpass don't really need it, and others, I feel, should get Fastpass...like I think Pirates needs it more than the Haunted Mansion, which I have never waited more than 10 minutes for.
TheDisneyGirl02
New Member
Originally posted by TimeTrip
Well.. what you're *supposed* to do then, is take the FP and ride some other rides during the 1-2 hours before you use the FP. That's if you want to make the best use of the FP system. That's just my opinion though.
Yes...true...but to each his own! :animwink:
TheDisneyGirl02
JackSkellington
Active Member
I just want to add my ten cents worth here. I think the FP system is wonderful, granted not perfect. But it gets the job done. It really helps save time for those who use it. I don't think it will ever go away. But there may be some changes, we are just going to have to see. But just because a sign posts a particular time does not mean it is set in stone. I know there are rides/times when people get in line and the wait was shorter than the time posted. So you take some and give some, even if you wait longer than the post, eventualy it all evens out. But you have to use the FP properly to be beneficial. You don't cut food with the dull side of a knife and blame it for not cutting the food. So don't get mad at a FP if it isn't being used properly.:king:
JackSkellington
Active Member
Well like I said the time spent all evens out. So just be prepared. I mean I was in line for 2 and 1/2 hours for a 50 min. wait at Space Mountain. I hated waiting so long, but I met a bunch of people in the line. We all shared our own stories and even played 20 questions. So there is an upside to waiting in line.
«T ?li]Originally posted by JackSkellington [/i]
Well like I said the time spent all evens out. So just be prepared. I mean I was in line for 2 and 1/2 hours for a 50 min. wait at Space Mountain. I hated waiting so long, but I met a bunch of people in the line. We all shared our own stories and even played 20 questions. So there is an upside to waiting in line. [/QUOTE]
Gee....now I don't feel so bad...
and I really don't mind waiting...
I'm just so happy that I'm at Disney.
Well like I said the time spent all evens out. So just be prepared. I mean I was in line for 2 and 1/2 hours for a 50 min. wait at Space Mountain. I hated waiting so long, but I met a bunch of people in the line. We all shared our own stories and even played 20 questions. So there is an upside to waiting in line. [/QUOTE]
Gee....now I don't feel so bad...
and I really don't mind waiting...
I'm just so happy that I'm at Disney.
mickhyperion
Active Member
FP allows me to take a very casual approach to the parks. I pick up an FP when I happen to be near an attraction, but I don't plan which one I'm getting next. I like FastPass because I'm not ride obsessed. Not that there's anything wrong with being focused on that, but it's just not my style to dash from attraction to attraction or count the number I hit in a day. I am there for the atmosphere and the relaxation. To soak in the theming and immerse myself in another time and place, taking a million pictures as I go. I LOVE the queues, but get impatient in long lines. So even in the FP line, I'm in no hurry and am usually waving people on ahead of me while I leisurely stroll through and take pictures (without making anyone wait for me, of course).
Now if they could just add FP to the bus queues at closing time...
Now if they could just add FP to the bus queues at closing time...
cherrynegra
Well-Known Member
I found this article archived at jim hill's site. I know he's a either hate him or love him person on these boards. So take it as you like it. I found it interesting that according to him, there are some in WDI who would like to not only get rid of FPs, but bring back the ticket books. I thought at first does who want to rid FPs were crazy, but now I think I see their position.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Jim -
I was wondering, though, if you could answer a theme park related question for me. As in: What became of all the great themed queues & pre-shows that Disney used to do for its theme parks attractions & rides. These days, particularly over at DCA, it's just painted steel rails and overhead monitors. You don't really get a sense of a story anymore. That you're about to embark on some magical adventure. You're just crowded in like cattle.
So am I wrong, Jim? Are the glory days of the Disney pre-show - where we'd get an elaborate queue like the one is "Star Tours" that set up the whole story before you even got on your Star Speeder - really dead and gone?
Please say it isn't so.
Thanks in advance for whatever info you can throw my way.
Ted E.
Sadly, yes, Ted. I honestly do think that -- at least for the foreseeable future -- the elaborate queue (An item that -- back in the late 1980s / early 1990s, anyway -- was the hallmark of a truly great Disney theme park attraction) is dead.
At least here stateside, where WDW and Disneyland Resort visitors are constantly complaining about the amount of time that they have to spend in line, no one at WDI is thinking about creating elaborate queues anymore. They're just looking for ways for even faster ways to load guests onto attractions.
The introduction of Fast Pass did help to deal with this issue a bit. But what's complicating that matter is the significant number of complaints that Disney Guest Relations Dept. has been received from theme park guests who now find themselves stranded in the "Stand By" line. People who really seem to resent being held back as those guests who are clutching their "Fast Passes" are allowed to board these attractions that much faster.
Strange as this may seem, Ted, there are actually Disney theme park regulars who are strongly advocating that the Mouse drop the Fast Pass system entirely. To go back to the old ways. When everybody had to stand in line together. When no one got special treatment.
Even more intriguing are the folks with WDI who are suggesting that the Disney theme parks take a real step backwards. Abandoning the pay-one-price-to-ride-every-attraction-in-the-park-as-often-as-you-like admissions media in favor of returning to ticket books. That's right. Ticket books.
Mind you, this may not be as odd an idea as it initially appears to be. After all, back in the day when both Disneyland and WDW's Magic Kingdom used tickets, guests were more evenly distributed around the theme parks. In order to get the most out of their investment in Disney admissions materials, these folks would deliberately try to use every one of their tickets. So they'd go out of their way to visit the park's A, B, C, D and E Ticket attractions.
Which is how attractions like the Mike Fink Keelboats and Disneyland's Motor Boat Cruise were able to justify their existences. By turning over the admittedly-not-large-but-still-rather-steady number of tickets that guests handed over each day. Which allowed the operators of those Disney theme park attractions to say "See? People DO like us. They're still willing to pay good money in order to ride us."
And -- based on the number of tickets that a Disney theme park attraction would taken in annually -- WED could then justify making additions and/or improvements to that attraction during its yearly rehab. How would the Imagineers do this? By pulling an annual tally for the number of tickets that had been collected for a particular ride, show or attraction. "Snow White's Scary Adventure," for example.
WED's reasoning would go something like this: "4.5 million rode 'Snow White's Scary Adventure.' Given that a C Ticket has a cash equivalent of 50 cents, that means that this Fantasyland attraction made $2.25 million for the Disney corporation last year. Which is why I think it's reasonable for Imagineering to spend $100,000 next year on upgrades and upkeep for this show. So that 'Snow White's Scary Adventure' will continue to stay popular with the guests. So that this Fantasyland dark ride will continue to pull its weight -- financially, that is -- for Disneyland."
But once the stateside Disney theme parks switched over to the Passport system in the late 1970s, that financial model flew right out the window. And the Imagineers found it harder and harder to justify to increasingly cost-conscious executives how it made sense to continually attempt to improve (or -- at the very least -- maintain the status quo) the theme park's older attractions. This was just about the same time that Disney management became fixated on the idea that they'd use a brand-new E Ticket -- something that they add to the parks, with much hoopla, every 3 to 4 years -- to keep attendance levels at the theme parks consistently high.
Of course, when you tie this mentality in with all of the cost cutting that Disney has done at its stateside theme parks over the past few years, you can end up with a pretty lame lean bunch of new attractions. Rides like "Aladdin's Magic Carpets" at WDW's Magic Kingdom and "Tricera Tops Spin" at DAK -- even though they are new rides -- don't exactly inspire tourists to catch the next flight to Orlando.
So what's it going to take to bring back the good old days at Disney's stateside theme parks? That time when you got to wander through a wonderfully detailed queue like the one you find in Disneyland's "Star Tours" and/or that quarter of a mile of thrills and chills you encounter while you're making your way through the Temple of the Forbidden Eye? According to some folks at WDI, ticket books would be "just the ticket" to clean up this particular mess.
I know that this all sounds rather unlikely, folks. But there are some staffers at Walt Disney Imagineering -- some rather senior staffers, I might add -- who are actively advocating for this idea. We'll keep you posted as to whether they actually make any progress.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Jim -
I was wondering, though, if you could answer a theme park related question for me. As in: What became of all the great themed queues & pre-shows that Disney used to do for its theme parks attractions & rides. These days, particularly over at DCA, it's just painted steel rails and overhead monitors. You don't really get a sense of a story anymore. That you're about to embark on some magical adventure. You're just crowded in like cattle.
So am I wrong, Jim? Are the glory days of the Disney pre-show - where we'd get an elaborate queue like the one is "Star Tours" that set up the whole story before you even got on your Star Speeder - really dead and gone?
Please say it isn't so.
Thanks in advance for whatever info you can throw my way.
Ted E.
Sadly, yes, Ted. I honestly do think that -- at least for the foreseeable future -- the elaborate queue (An item that -- back in the late 1980s / early 1990s, anyway -- was the hallmark of a truly great Disney theme park attraction) is dead.
At least here stateside, where WDW and Disneyland Resort visitors are constantly complaining about the amount of time that they have to spend in line, no one at WDI is thinking about creating elaborate queues anymore. They're just looking for ways for even faster ways to load guests onto attractions.
The introduction of Fast Pass did help to deal with this issue a bit. But what's complicating that matter is the significant number of complaints that Disney Guest Relations Dept. has been received from theme park guests who now find themselves stranded in the "Stand By" line. People who really seem to resent being held back as those guests who are clutching their "Fast Passes" are allowed to board these attractions that much faster.
Strange as this may seem, Ted, there are actually Disney theme park regulars who are strongly advocating that the Mouse drop the Fast Pass system entirely. To go back to the old ways. When everybody had to stand in line together. When no one got special treatment.
Even more intriguing are the folks with WDI who are suggesting that the Disney theme parks take a real step backwards. Abandoning the pay-one-price-to-ride-every-attraction-in-the-park-as-often-as-you-like admissions media in favor of returning to ticket books. That's right. Ticket books.
Mind you, this may not be as odd an idea as it initially appears to be. After all, back in the day when both Disneyland and WDW's Magic Kingdom used tickets, guests were more evenly distributed around the theme parks. In order to get the most out of their investment in Disney admissions materials, these folks would deliberately try to use every one of their tickets. So they'd go out of their way to visit the park's A, B, C, D and E Ticket attractions.
Which is how attractions like the Mike Fink Keelboats and Disneyland's Motor Boat Cruise were able to justify their existences. By turning over the admittedly-not-large-but-still-rather-steady number of tickets that guests handed over each day. Which allowed the operators of those Disney theme park attractions to say "See? People DO like us. They're still willing to pay good money in order to ride us."
And -- based on the number of tickets that a Disney theme park attraction would taken in annually -- WED could then justify making additions and/or improvements to that attraction during its yearly rehab. How would the Imagineers do this? By pulling an annual tally for the number of tickets that had been collected for a particular ride, show or attraction. "Snow White's Scary Adventure," for example.
WED's reasoning would go something like this: "4.5 million rode 'Snow White's Scary Adventure.' Given that a C Ticket has a cash equivalent of 50 cents, that means that this Fantasyland attraction made $2.25 million for the Disney corporation last year. Which is why I think it's reasonable for Imagineering to spend $100,000 next year on upgrades and upkeep for this show. So that 'Snow White's Scary Adventure' will continue to stay popular with the guests. So that this Fantasyland dark ride will continue to pull its weight -- financially, that is -- for Disneyland."
But once the stateside Disney theme parks switched over to the Passport system in the late 1970s, that financial model flew right out the window. And the Imagineers found it harder and harder to justify to increasingly cost-conscious executives how it made sense to continually attempt to improve (or -- at the very least -- maintain the status quo) the theme park's older attractions. This was just about the same time that Disney management became fixated on the idea that they'd use a brand-new E Ticket -- something that they add to the parks, with much hoopla, every 3 to 4 years -- to keep attendance levels at the theme parks consistently high.
Of course, when you tie this mentality in with all of the cost cutting that Disney has done at its stateside theme parks over the past few years, you can end up with a pretty lame lean bunch of new attractions. Rides like "Aladdin's Magic Carpets" at WDW's Magic Kingdom and "Tricera Tops Spin" at DAK -- even though they are new rides -- don't exactly inspire tourists to catch the next flight to Orlando.
So what's it going to take to bring back the good old days at Disney's stateside theme parks? That time when you got to wander through a wonderfully detailed queue like the one you find in Disneyland's "Star Tours" and/or that quarter of a mile of thrills and chills you encounter while you're making your way through the Temple of the Forbidden Eye? According to some folks at WDI, ticket books would be "just the ticket" to clean up this particular mess.
I know that this all sounds rather unlikely, folks. But there are some staffers at Walt Disney Imagineering -- some rather senior staffers, I might add -- who are actively advocating for this idea. We'll keep you posted as to whether they actually make any progress.
TheDisneyGirl02
New Member
I would rather go down to WDW in the dead heat of August than go around Easter. The last two Easters (this year excluded) I worked down there and it was so busy! At Epcot, the line fo Spaceship Earth went through the queue! (sp?) I knew it was full then!
But last year, I did go to MK with my family the Friday before Easter and with the help of FP, we got on every ride we wanted to ride plus taking in both parades.
TheDisneyGirl02 :lol:
But last year, I did go to MK with my family the Friday before Easter and with the help of FP, we got on every ride we wanted to ride plus taking in both parades.
TheDisneyGirl02 :lol: