Is FastPass Messed Up?

[Kman]

We just came back from 12 days at WDW (had a great time). One thing we noticed was that the FP lines are ridiculous. There was a point, for instance, at SSE where the FP line was almost as long as the stand by line! We noticed this on several attractions. Seems crazy.

What's really frustrating is that this was the first time we noticed that there were times that the standby came to a dead stop for minutes at a time. I don't recall that being a normal problem. Disney has always been the master of the "line up". It's why I have never minded waiting. We became frustrated several times this trip. What was really annoying was because the FP lines were so long that you could see them letting through a "ton" of FP guests for just a few standby guests.

Something just seems really out of whack. I didn't see anything in other forums that addressed this specifically. We were debating whether, if you would "process" the same number of people but reduced the number of FP's and put more people in standby would the lines move more effectively? Seems to me they did before but maybe I am not recalling that correctly.

Obviously bigger crowds etc. play into this (we were kind of surprised by how busy it was during our stay considering we were in between Halloween and the US Thanksgiving) but still...something isn't right.

Comments?

 

[larryz]

Yep. Imagine life in a world where there is ZERO stand-by capacity because all of the ride's hourly capacity is filled with FP+s...

 

[Pixieish]

We haven't been down to WDW since October 2015, and it was like that much of the time even then.

 

[marni1971]

FP messes with everything. And adds stationary lines where previously they weren't as bad. SSE, PotC and HM in particular.

What you'll also find - and more so for attractions not designed for FP like the ones I mentioned above - is if an attraction is down for a period of time, guests who had FP slots during the downtime will swarm back to ride the recently reopened attraction. They add to those with a FP allocated for that current time period, and suddenly you may have 2.3, 4 or more hours worth of FP return guests all arriving in a very short space of time.

 

[KBLovedDisney]

When did they stop using both sides of Space Mountain for just stand-by alone? Did they really only utilize one side for FPs? I noticed this last time and the wait differences were outrageous. I walked on...by myself...took me two seconds to get on a ride. There was no one else in the FP line. The stand-by line was a 80 minute wait. I don't think a FP should have been used for Space Mountain especially.

 

[UKDisney Dave]

I always find it odd when you have to queue (sorry “line up” my American buddies!) just to enter the FP queue. TSMM always seems the worst with a line halfway down Pixar Place just to touch in with your fast pass.

 

[IanDLBZF]

I've seen this happen usually when an attraction comes back online after going 101. Went through this at Everest and TOT yesterday as well.

 

[IanDLBZF]

And adds stationary lines where previously they weren't as bad. SSE, PotC and HM in particular.

Adding to this HM had FP before IIRC.

 

[marni1971]

Adding to this HM had FP before IIRC.

It did. It was removed since it was an ops disaster.

 

[Christian Fronckowiak]

I never understood why they retrofitted FP and FP+, rather than introducing a system that would be integrated with the new attractions going forward, and not affecting the operations of forty year old rides.

But then again, that would require building enough new rides.

 

[copcarguyp71]

My crystal ball sees a revamping of FP where you have to pay for it either per day or per ride, Disney will make more money and FP lines will go down. Not that I agree with this tactic one bit but it is a logical cash grab to placate the stockholders.

 

[larryz]

I can see where MK could be "FP+ Only" on Tuesdays and Thursdays, "Standby Only" on Mondays and Wednesdays, with a mix on Fri, Sat and Sun.

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

I wouldn't be surprised if down the road they will allow you to add more fast passes to your magic band for an additional fee...

 

[KBLovedDisney]

I wouldn't be surprised if down the road they will allow you to add more fast passes to your magic band for an additional fee...

Stop giving them ideas...

 

[Chef Mickey]

1) FP is bad for omnimovers.
2) Fast Pass works, but it has to be managed well. They simply allow too many Fast Passes per window.
3) I think the number of FPs distributed increased tremendously with FP+ because they are so easy to get.
4) This is easily fixable with proper management, but Disney wants people to get a FP and feel like they "won."
5) FP is not needed on every ride, even if it's not an omnimover. Pirates is one that probably doesn't need it.

Since it's all computer controlled, they could very easily cut the number given or not run it at certain rides, but they seemingly refuse to do so.

 

[JIMINYCR]

Sure is and its never going to get any better. The increase in the FP+ lines are made by Disneys system of how its managed. With an increase the number of guests staying on property this makes everyone scramble at 60 days to fill up their FP quotas... some they choose not because its an attraction they really want to do, but its available. So they head for the attraction adding to the line backups. The popular ones get slammed right away by the 60 day choices and add ons. The system forces back ups because it throws rider numbers per hour whereas before all this mess started riders might or might not choose attractions... now they are forced into it.

 

[Disneyworld_here_we_come]

I'm just grateful they aren't charging what universal is. I looked into tickets for 6 people to universal for 2 days next fall and if I wanted the express pass it would cost me over 800 dollars. More if I wanted unlimited. I'll stick to the free fast passes with a little wait (the universal ones had waits sometimes too).

 

[Tom Morrow]

Something worth noting is that even if both lines are physically the same length, the Fastpass line will still be significantly faster because at that point they will be taking 90% from the Fastpass line.

Of course, this is still bad, and if there were only one solitary line, it would go even faster than the Fastpass line... but I've typed out this rant too many times.