awilliams4
Well-Known Member
Been monitoring this thread waiting for all of them to arrive. It is probably a bit too early to suggest FP+ success just yet though. But I am patient...
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Hands On - FastPass+ for non-resort guests at Disney's Animal Kingdom
- Thread starter ptaylor
- Start date
jakeman
Well-Known Member
Color of Magic Bands...families are being destroyed. Non Magic Band folks are now a subservient class and formed their own fiefdom.
ParentsOf4
Well-Known Member
I don't thing detractors were predicting bedlam.
This week.
Standby times are a pretty good indication of crowd levels. 25 minutes is pretty tame.
At 25 minutes, I don't even bother with FP.
When I was at WDW Thanksgiving week, Safari wait time was over 2 hours.
That that nothing to do with FP+. That had to do with an animal on the path and then the gates to enter the trucks refusing to open.
Of course, EE worked fine and I think that wait time peaked at around 70 minutes. In my experience, pretty typical for Thanksgiving in recent years. (I haven't missed a Thanksgiving in over 10 years.)
FP+ shouldn't make the lines themselves noticeably better or worse. It just changes who's standing in them.
It will be interesting to see what happens next week at the FP+ kiosks.
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jakeman
Well-Known Member
Does it really matter though? Next week Safaris will be at over an hour. EE will probably be over 2 hours. FP+ will be blame because it's there regardless of what is actually going on on the ground.I don't thing detractors were predicting bedlam.
This week.
stevehousse
Well-Known Member
Glad to see this working! Hope it transitions well to the other parks...
Lucky
Well-Known Member
As ParentsOf4 and others have said several times in this thread, what will be interesting to see is what's happening at the FP+ kiosks.
Recon443
Active Member
Cartoon mice distributing pieces of colored plastic do not form the basis of government!
Tom Morrow
Well-Known Member
Well, this is generally the busiest time of day for DAK, and here are the current wait times:
Dinosaur: 20
Everest: 25
Kali: 10
Its Tough to Be a Bug: 5
Safaris: 25
Primeval Whirl: 20
Dinosaur: 20
Everest: 25
Kali: 10
Its Tough to Be a Bug: 5
Safaris: 25
Primeval Whirl: 20
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Things are still the same at the kiosks. The cast are continuing to keep things under control. I think guests may actually like having the cast member do the reservation for them on the iPads - more like a concierge service for their day at Animal Kingdom.
ParentsOf4
Well-Known Member
No, no. No one should blame FP+ for appreciably different Standby lines. FP+ does not add people.
However, FP+ does change people's patterns (as it was designed to do) so it might slightly affect lines one way or the other.
For example, any WDW expert who was use to always getting a FP for TSM (like me!) might find it more difficult to get FP+ unless they stay onsite. They might skip the attraction completely. Alternatively, some who skipped TSM because they never could get a FP for it might now be guaranteed a FP+. Depending on the numbers affected one way or the other, some Standby lines might be slightly longer or even shorter.
It's really difficult to be sure which way Standby lines will go on attractions that previously had FP because it requires knowing which group is larger and will dominate the system. Most numbers should wash and we'll end up with Standby lines roughly the same.
What will be interesting to observe is the lines at the FP+ kiosks.
The old FP ticket dispensers were pretty efficient. Even if there were 5 people ahead of me, I could get to a machine in a couple of minutes, often in less than 1 minute.
The FP+ kiosks are more user-interactive. What rides do I want? What times? Multiple screens, multiple buttons. To me, they seem obviously more time-consuming to use than sticking in a card and having it print a piece of paper.
I'm worried there are not enough FP+ kiosks.
Disney clearly is thinking along similar lines which is why they have extra CMs stationed and are distributing paper sheets to help guests make their selections prior to stepping up to a kiosk so that knowledgeable CMs can aid in the selection process.
Disney looks like they're getting ready for crowds, like they are trying to improve the efficiency of the kiosks. Good to see.
Will it be enough for next week? We'll see.
However, unless they intend extra CMs and paper to be part of the permanent process, they either need to build more FP+ kiosks or let offsite guests select from home.
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ParentsOf4
Well-Known Member
Yes, I think it's nicer to have a CM "take my order".
The question is will Disney management want to pay for the staff permanently?
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space42
Well-Known Member
That is good to hear. I also wonder if the fact that the the regular Fast Pass signs showing the return time are off is potentially steering guests away from Fast Pass? Plus the fact that wait times are not that high. Just maybe this whole fast pass + thing will result in less fast pass usage in general? That would be great!
I believe that once this system goes live and all guests will be able to utilize the MDE app that is the direction Disney will be pushing Guests to... therefore the kiosks will be in place to support those who experience issues with the app or those without the technology to support / access the app.
Therefore, there is no need to invest in the infrastructure of additional kiosks for the test period. Rather in the long run it is cheaper to just have the extra labor now with iPads for testing while MDE app is not available and remove that labor once the app is live.
jakeman
Well-Known Member
Why does it have to be permanent? They rolled out the original FP at Safari in 1999. I was there for it and we had probably a dozen extra people working to help people understand it. A year later, as it had rolled out across property more, there were less people at Safari, but still and extra team. Same in 2002.Yes, I think it's nicer to have a CM "take my order".
The question is will Disney management want to pay for staff permanently?
Rob562
Well-Known Member
Since the wait time went down rather quickly, a spike like that was probably due to either a ride breakdown or a post-Nemo crowd surge.
Edit to add: Current wait times on the app at 2:00 have EE at 30min, Safari at 25, PW and Dinosaur at 20 and everything else 10 min or less.
-Rob
ParentsOf4
Well-Known Member
Please see my previous post.
In summary, FP+ kiosks are more interactive and; therefore, require more time for the average guest to use. In addition, what someone selects will be based on what's available. If I have to choose between a 3 PM RnRC FP+ or an 8 PM TSM FP+, what do I do? What if it's 4 PM and 7 PM? With more than one person there making the decision, it could take some negotiation. Even with one person, decisions are not made instantaneously.
FP dispensers were simply a matter of sticking in a card and it spitting out a piece of paper. There was no negotiation. I either stick in my ticket now and get a FP for the posted return time or decide I don't want the posted return time and don't even bother to wait for a FP dispenser.
If you will, each FP dispenser should be capable of processing more guests per hour than each FP+ kiosk.
Both require some level of staff to be there to support guest issues. FP or FP+, that's not going to change much. However, if FP+ is slower to use, will Disney have to supplement that staff to expedite the process?
So...you are a detractor of the detractors?
jackson1954
Member
Yes, but the FP+ kiosks allow a guest to get 3 FP+ during 1 visit. The old system would require a guest to go to three different FP machines in 3 different locations. So if a visit to a FP+ kiosk takes twice as long as the old FP machines, guests are still spending less total time at them.
The other issue so consider is that resort guests can use their smartphones, eliminating the need to visit an FP+ kiosk all together.
jakeman
Well-Known Member
When the original FP was rolled out there were 3 extra greeters and 1 CM for every two FP machines (if I remember correctly) who had been specifically trained on the inner workings of the machine itself. In 2000 there were less. Now, 14 years later how many FP machines aren't even manned?
Saying FP+ is slower to use at this point is the equivalent of saying that FP was slower than just getting in line. Of course it is, it's brand new.
Purveyor of logic sounds better. Every hiccup (and legitimate failures) of NGE has been recorded here. Next week, with the natural surge in crowds, is low hanging fruit territory.So...you are a detractor of the detractors?