Hands On - FastPass+ for non-resort guests at Disney's Animal Kingdom

[weedles]

Thank you very much for taking the time to provide updates Enjoy your visit!!!

 

[ptaylor]

Here is the Everest kiosks and ipad wielding cast.

 

[ptaylor]

What are Standby line wait times like right now?

Minimal. Everest 10, safari 5

 

[ParentsOf4]

Minimal. Everest 10, safari 5

Thanks, that's why it's working today.

Essentially, everything is a walk-on right now.

Next week ...

 

[ptaylor]

The kiosk has an option to email your FP+ times - useful if you do not have the app.

 

[space42]

Thanks, that's why it's working today.

Essentially, everything is a walk-on right now.

Next week ...

Interesting - If that is the case then why is the return time for Everest 2pm?

 

[ptaylor]

Here is the Primeval Whirl kiosk

 

[Soarin' Over Pgh]

There is an option on the kiosk to "create your travel party" and you can scan several RF enabled tickets so you can all book your fastpasses together.

If you are traveling with a group of six, it will only show you a window in which at least 6 fastpasses are available. For example if Everest had 20 Fastpasses to give out for the 1:30-2:30 range, and 15 of them had already been given out, it won't show you that option because your whole travel party wouldn't be able to ride together.

But you can also specify certain FPs for Certain people, so again if you have a party of 6, and one kid is too short for everest, four of them could book Festival of the Lion King, and two of them could book everest.

Ok, that's actually pretty nice.

11am for Safari
12pm for Dinosaur
2pm for Everest

Yes I can alter them at a kiosk

That's a good lineup. Roughly how long did you wait in the fp+ line to set your times?

Guests are using the kiosks to make FP+. It is not paper based.
View attachment 41271

This guy in the white shirt looks positively thrilled!

 

[ptaylor]

Thanks for the response. I should have been more specific. I wonder if you could have changed your FP + for Everest to the a.m.

I just changed my Everest time to 10am at a kiosk.

 

[Tip Top Club]

Interesting - If that is the case then why is the return time for Everest 2pm?

Because they already have FP+ times earlier in the day. The kiosks will also not show you a time that overlaps with your current selections. You can usually find other times if you shift things around.

For example if you have Safaris booked for 10:00-11:00 it won't show you an everest time that is 10:50-11:50. The first available time it would show would be 11:00-12:00. If you move that safari time to 1:30-2:30 for example, then it would show you the 10:50-11:50 Everest time.

 

[ptaylor]

Ok, that's actually pretty nice.




That's a good lineup. Roughly how long did you wait in the fp+ line to set your times?!

I waited 5mins at the kiosk.

 

[ptaylor]

Good amount of guests entering the park, yet very minimal waits at the kiosks.

 

[Tinous]

A quick shout out thank you to @ptaylor and others for the updates -- going in Jan as an off-resort'er, and while I'm an optimist, it's still reassuring to know things are fairly smooth.

 

[Bolt]

Makes sense to have a lot of cast. You no longer need that FastPass distribution team. They alone was staffed by 8 people and a coordinator at Toy Story.

 

[ptaylor]

I am surprised, but it still appears to be going well. The lines at the kiosks are no more than a few minutes and the park is average attendance.

The CMs seem very enthusiastic and from what I have seen the guests seem to like doing everything at one kiosk and being done.

I have not seen anyone using the paper to make notes of times - I doubt many have a pen. Most people are taking a photo of the confirmation screen or entering an email address.

 

[ptaylor]

Here is the Kali kiosk. 20min standby, no wait at kiosk.

 

[ptaylor]

Bit busier at Everest but no worse than a regular day at the old FP distribution.

 

[ptaylor]

Park is approaching something like a summer day attendance now. Lines still low at the kiosks. Here is a photo of the first kiosk guests can get to.

 

[flynnibus]

Notice the paper doesn't say 'no regular FP available' - I wonder how many people got all the way to EE before realizing they needed to hit a kiosk to get what they wanted

 

[hpyhnt 1000]

I am surprised, but it still appears to be going well. The lines at the kiosks are no more than a few minutes and the park is average attendance.

The CMs seem very enthusiastic and from what I have seen the guests seem to like doing everything at one kiosk and being done.

I have not seen anyone using the paper to make notes of times - I doubt many have a pen. Most people are taking a photo of the confirmation screen or entering an email address.

Good to hear overall. There is certainly an advantage of being able to see/select all your FPs for the day at one time. I do wonder what the long term plan for CMs with iPads is; this system only works if the kiosk wait is minimal (5 mins isn't bad, but I personally think thats about the limit. Anything over 9-10 mins is, I think, too long). I assume dedicated kiosks would eventually be added after the test phase...whenever that is.

Still find it amusing/ridiculous that people are relegated to taking a pic of the kiosk screen to record their return times because there is no way to print a paper receipt.

Out of curiosity, what are stand-by wait times like now as we approach midday? Also, could you comment on the actual kiosk experience? Was it slow, responsive, easy to navigate, straightforward, confusing, etc.?