How MyMagic+ handles attraction closures with FASTPASS+

[Mr Bill]

My understanding of how the FP+ system will work with downtime involves much less input on the guest's side than is being suggested by many. If you choose to use the FP+ reservation at another ride instead of the original, it will work similarly to how attraction readmission passes work now. You'll be notified of what other choices you have (no, your Space Mountain FP won't be replaced with the Carousel of Progress or the reserved dancing zone at Club 626). You won't need to make a new reservation and it won't be subject to FP+ availability. Just walk up, scan your MagicBand at an eligible attraction and you're in. No changing things in an app, no trips to a kiosk on Main Street and backtracking to Frontierland. It's just done.

 

[RSoxNo1]

That is exactly the point. FASTPASS+ can salvage you another FP+ where it was previously not possible.

It's definitely a good trade off, but I feel the cost is still too much of a detriment. I've seen guests get Fastpasses for anything in the park in the event of downtime on a ride. I think they're making this far more difficult than it needs to be.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Outside of Disney? None of them, they don't have the infrastructure in place to do it, or the money.

Well, let's not pretend that installing the infrastructure would take $2 billion for another company to do. @lentesta, could you model something similar for under $10k if you're not factoring in the input terminals at each attraction?

 

[RSoxNo1]

You have that problem right now though. If you hold a FP for Space Mountain tonight and it closes at your FP window due to tech problems what are you going to do? At least with this system you get a FP credit for something else. With the current system you get nothing.

Not true. If you show up for your Fastpass window now and the attraction is closed, you have access to get a Fastpass for any attraction where it's still available. The only change here is the next day Fastpass.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Is looking at your phone a few times a day really putting you out that much? You don't have to answer calls, you can turn off email and facbook, you can just use it for the 1/2 a dozen times you will need it for MyMagic+.

Yes, but if we concede this, then people will be marrying animals and the animals won't be allowed to have guns.

 

[RSoxNo1]

The outcome is largely up to Disney. Like I outlined before... you can devise systems that allows 'new' FP+ reservations to be made for an attraction that previously was all booked up.

People need to come to terms with the idea that what can be booked is completely up to Disney. They can control it and devise lots of ways of making capacity appear or disappear depending on your situation. So these things are not so Black and White as everyone wants to think they are.

It all boils down to what Disney is motivated to do.

Unless their is a monetary incentive to do so, I don't see Disney at all motivated to improve something.

 

[wdwmagic]

Not true. If you show up for your Fastpass window now and the attraction is closed, you have access to get a Fastpass for any attraction where it's still available. The only change here is the next day Fastpass.

You think late in the day there will be any availability with the current FP? I don't.

 

[RSoxNo1]

The reason why many of us have viceral reactions to every decision Disney makes lately is that they appear to be made by someone who is completely disconnected from what is actually in the parks and what guests want. Yes, attractions go down and there needs to be a way to deal with that. But its as if the decision makers don't understand that a space mountain fastpass is not the same thing as a MILF or even a Pirates FP. If someone who understood their product just spent an hour thinking through these issues, they'd be able to spot and resolve the problems. But instead, every decision seems incredibly short-sighted. That's not to say that this decision was debated for weeks with several meetings convened, just that no one at those meetings seems to have ever been to Disney World.

The reason why we have visceral reactions to every decision Disney has made lately is because they have been bad decisions.

 

[wdwmagic]

Well, let's not pretend that installing the infrastructure would take $2 billion for another company to do. @lentesta, could you model something similar for under $10k if you're not factoring in the input terminals at each attraction?

Lol you think something of this magnitude can be done for under $10k? People who do this stuff on this kind of scale don't even get out if bed for $10k.

 

[RSoxNo1]

You think late in the day there will be any availability with the current FP? I don't.

Why would availability change? Throughout this process Disney has failed to recognize that all attractions are not created equal. That means that if Space Mountain has downtime at 6 PM, the only equally in demand Fastpass would be Peter Pan's Flight. Sure, not everyone wants a Peter Pan's Flight Fastpass, but I speculate that in both the current and new system it wouldn't be available. Your choice will be based on what's available. Today, that would be Jungle Cruise, Buzz Lightyear, Barnstormer, etc. I suspect that under the new system it will include attractions that never needed Fastpass in the first place.

 

[RSoxNo1]

I think you misread my original post. I want a +1 allocation if one of my 3 FP+ picks goes down. I want a "Sorry for the inconvenience" FP and I want a "redistributed for original choice attraction if possible" FP. So if I don't get to ride it, yes, I still got 3 FPs to use, but if it does come back online, i have the ability to still experience the attraction i wanted in the first place, and I was given an extra bonus for my troubles of having to reschedule my plans that I painstakingly set up 3-6 months ago.

I want the ability to get paper fastpasses in the park same day and the ability to make reservations on my phone same day. I want both systems to be linked to the current Fastpass distribution policies and I don't want to have to worry about all of this unnecessary stuff that they're also trying to integrate.

They seem to be desperately clinging to an idiotic idea.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Here's another factor about simple 're-ride' problems.

If an attraction re-opens - and you have a large # of people with a token that allows them to re-ride at any time. What happens when all those people surge back because the ride is open now! Lethargic lines.

The only way to counter that is not let all the FP people return at the same time.. so you have to ration them out. The longer the attraction is closed, or the closer to the end of the day - the harder it is to do that.

The benefit of this is that it favors standby lines. However, Fastpass has always received a priority. Now all of a sudden that's changing because they're trying to roll all of this into Fastpass+.

 

[RSoxNo1]

This also means that nobody can count on these new FPs. No reason to get a FP for Space Mountain if there is doubt about whether or not you'll be able to actually ride it.

If I were planning, I'd go back to planning as if they didn't exist at all, since I couldn't count on them.

Well that's not fair. If an attraction closes it doesn't matter how you want to ride it, you're not getting on.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Be sure to queue up in Guest Relations to let them know of this tragedy...

Will that be one of my 8 alternative Fastpass+ options?

 

[wdwmagic]

I want the ability to get paper fastpasses in the park same day and the ability to make reservations on my phone same day. I want both systems to be linked to the current Fastpass distribution policies and I don't want to have to worry about all of this unnecessary stuff that they're also trying to integrate.

They seem to be desperately clinging to an idiotic idea.

It isn't an idiotic idea. It is a significant change, but one that will bring a lot of benefits. I remember when FP was trialled, people hated it. Now they are trying to hang on to what they once hated. People fear change.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Lol you think something of this magnitude can be done for under $10k? People who do this stuff on this kind of scale don't even get out if bed for $10k.

At it's core, this is a computer program that has multiple input devices. I speculate that the cost of the input devices is far more costly than the computer program itself.

 

[RSoxNo1]

It isn't an idiotic idea. It is a significant change, but one that will bring a lot of benefits. I remember when FP was trialled, people hated it. Now they are trying to hang on to what they once hated. People fear change.

I'm with @t3techcom18, so far the only benefit I'm seeing here is the ability to push one FP+ reservation to the next day. The ability to make reservations on your phone seems to be at the cost of marquee availability. If these replacement options were going to take effect while using the current distribution policies I wouldn't have an issue with it. It's almost like the distribution policies are taking a step backwards while the technology and other aspects are taking a step forward.

How can you justifiably say that the new distribution policies are beneficial? We've already had @lentesta tell us that it will result in an increase in wait times. We've already seen based on 14 years of actual implementation that many attractions do not need Fastpass, yet it's being added back for daily distribution. These decisions are being made based on attraction capacity numbers and not demand. The people that are closest to this (those pulling the strings) seem to be the ones most uninformed of the guest experience. I have a real problem with that and if my fears are realized I'll be voting with my wallet.

 

[wdwmagic]

At it's core, this is a computer program that has multiple input devices. I speculate that the cost of the input devices is far more costly than the computer program itself.

Well as a software developer, I can tell you that the computer program would cost an absolute fortune to develop, most likely dwarfing the hardware.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Well as a software developer, I can tell you that the computer program would cost an absolute fortune to develop, most likely dwarfing the hardware.

If you're talking about all of My Magic +, yes, I agree. If you're talking about just the Fastpass system, it seems like a relatively simple program that only requires the following:

• Fastpass Distribution formulas
• Ride Capacity formulas
• Fastpass+ available attractions
• Input devices

Back in my days of High School computer science, I think this would be something I could have done as a final project for the class. Integrating it all with every other aspect of your Disney vacation is what makes this complex.

 

[Buried20KLeague]

I'm with @t3techcom18, so far the only benefit I'm seeing here is the ability to push one FP+ reservation to the next day. The ability to make reservations on your phone seems to be at the cost of marquee availability. If these replacement options were going to take effect while using the current distribution policies I wouldn't have an issue with it. It's almost like the distribution policies are taking a step backwards while the technology and other aspects are taking a step forward.

How can you justifiably say that the new distribution policies are beneficial? We've already had @lentesta tell us that it will result in an increase in wait times. We've already seen based on 14 years of actual implementation that many attractions do not need Fastpass, yet it's being added back for daily distribution. These decisions are being made based on attraction capacity numbers and not demand. The people that are closest to this (those pulling the strings) seem to be the ones most uninformed of the guest experience. I have a real problem with that and if my fears are realized I'll be voting with my wallet.

Quoted for absolute truth.