FP vs. FP+ effect on standby times

[tractorm3]

I tried searching but I could not find an article on this. I know some of us are un-happy with what the old fast passes did for standby times. The stand-by lines seemed to crawl compared to a time before fast passes.

Has FP+ made the standy by times any better? Just woundering is Disney is better monitoring the system now to keep all lines moving faster and limiting the number of FP+ for a given ride at a given time

 

[DisneyCane]

From my observations, much worse for things like Spaceship Earth, Dinosaur, Haunted Mansion and POTC. The major attractions seem about the same. The exception might be the Safari at AK. On a light day last month I saw a 90 minute standby posted. I've never seen close to that on a light day before. A the same time EE had a 25 minute wait posted (although it took a little longer in reality) but it was in the afternoon.

 

[lentesta]

This might help.

http://blog.touringplans.com/2014/04/03/how-fastpass-plus-affects-your-wait-update/

 

[Penelope]

Its a shame that its making standby worse, if that rumor is true. It would seem the intent was to have the opposite effect, or so I would hope. Toy Story in DHS - if that would get any worse than it was for standby the last time we were there, it would be to Anna and Elsa proportions...

 

[dadddio]

As I understand it, it's pretty much a wash. Some rides have slightly longer waits while others have slightly shorter waits and most rides are pretty much unchanged.

At the end of the day, those of us who maximize their FP+ usage are going to have shorter waits.

 

[Mista C]

I was just there 2 weeks ago, and waited in many stand-by lines, and I really did not notice any longer waits than usual...

 

[DizneyPryncess]

As I understand it, it's pretty much a wash. Some rides have slightly longer waits while others have slightly shorter waits and most rides are pretty much unchanged.

At the end of the day, those of us who maximize their FP+ usage are going to have shorter waits.

This was pretty much my same experience last month also.

 

[sjhym333]

I think FP+ has had an effect on standby wait times. Things that used to be walk on's now have a wait time. Other standby wait times have gone up. I am not talking huge increases in standby wait times but FP+ has most definately had an effect. I am a big fan of FP+ so for me it balances things out.

 

[DrewmanS]

I think FP+ has had an effect on standby wait times. Things that used to be walk on's now have a wait time. Other standby wait times have gone up. I am not talking huge increases in standby wait times but FP+ has most definately had an effect. I am a big fan of FP+ so for me it balances things out.

The problem may be perception versus reality. The lines may be longer because: the park was more crowed that day, you happened to be on the ride when it had a surge of guests, the physical line was shorter because people who would have been in line in front of you were using FP+ but the wait time for stand by was the same, etc. The benefit of FP or FP+ is not to reduce the wait times for individual guests on individual rides, but to reduce the total wait times for the majority of guests. This is done in two ways: better use of guest time instead of waiting in line for a few rides and spread out guests across more rides to help balance capacity. So the question becomes, for the average guest at the end if the day, did they spend less total time in line and/or get to enjoy more rides than they would have on a similar day with similar park attendance? The only people who have the data that can answer that question is TDO.

 

[CaptainShortty]

From my experience over many days in the parks since FP+ rolled out is that it depends on the attractions. Some that didn't have FP prior and do now are now getting slightly longer wait times while some that had crazy long wait times have decreased since the induction of FP+. Overall, I think that it's a wash as far as total time is concerned. Those that plan their FP+ out well will maximize the amount of time spent out of long lines.