Latest on "Standby Plus"?

[the-reason14]

When I was there a few weeks ago - some attractions at MK they did not even scan bands. While waiting in line for Space Mountain there were several families who were not staying on property that got to ride.

Are they doing something new with emh? Do you have to scan your band at every ride or something to prove you're staying on property?

 

[cw1982]

Are they doing something new with emh? Do you have to scan your band at every ride or something to prove you're staying on property?

That's the way it's supposed to work. I think what @disney4life2008 was saying is that some CM's aren't enforcing it consistently. I can tell you they did scan our bands at HS during EMH in June.

 

[John]

So let me get this straight.....they invest tons of money to give us this brand new evolutionary way of visiting the parks. Make us preplan our attractions two months in advance, give us these fancy schmancy bracelets and now resort to handing out paper Fp's. Why? Well lo and behold the old system worked......huh.

Just cant believe it. A theme park that will not allow you to stand in line. A restaurant half full? Am I missing something here?

 

[disney4life2008]

That's the way it's supposed to work. I think what @disney4life2008 was saying is that some CM's aren't enforcing it consistently. I can tell you they did scan our bands at HS during EMH in June.

All the other parks scanned the bands but at MK evening hours - they were just waving people in.

 

[roj2323]

So let me get this straight.....they invest tons of money to give us this brand new evolutionary way of visiting the parks. Make us preplan our attractions two months in advance, give us these fancy schmancy bracelets and now resort to handing out paper Fp's. Why? Well lo and behold the old system worked......huh.

Just cant believe it. A theme park that will not allow you to stand in line. A restaurant half full? Am I missing something here?

Apparently we both are.

This is so disappointing. Be our Guest was the one thing I really enjoyed about new fantasyland and the one stop I would make every single time I went to the park. Be our Guest has the best food in the park as far as i'm concerned.

 

[roj2323]

And you are very likely right . Consider getting out of the Park for dinner .

I ate dinner at BOG once. It was expensive and not much more food than lunch. Lunch however is a reasonable price and more of an experience than say Harbor House, so I like it. As for eating outside the park I do that a lot too but when I go to WDW part of the fun is eating there.

 

[the-reason14]

All the other parks scanned the bands but at MK evening hours - they were just waving people in.

So they scan your bands on the way in the park and then you don't have to get them scanned at each ride? What if you were already in the park before emh started and wasn't staying on property?

 

[bethymouse]

 

[jaklgreen]

The OP was referring to a system that was being tested at pfth and Soarin recently where guests would get a return time on a ticket instead of being allowed to wait in a standby queue. Once all return time tickets were gone, the idea was guests would be turned away. There were several days when guests complained enough about not being allowed in line that the standby queues were reopened, causing even worse than normal wait times and even more angry guests. It was a hot mess, according to multiple counts.

So basically a person gets to ride Soarin without waiting in a huge line and it does not take up a FP+. Sounds great to me. Who the heck would complain about that? I would LOVE that!

 

[ratherbeinwdw]

So they scan your bands on the way in the park and then you don't have to get them scanned at each ride? What if you were already in the park before emh started and wasn't staying on property?

They do scan your bands unless something is wrong with the system or scanners which is what happened at one after hours in MK during our June trip. They still asked us which resort we were staying in. Every other trip this year, they did scan our bands.

 

[cw1982]

So basically a person gets to ride Soarin without waiting in a huge line and it does not take up a FP+. Sounds great to me. Who the heck would complain about that? I would LOVE that!

The problem is that people who were expecting to have the option to wait in that line if no fastpasses were available didn't have that option under This system. So people ran the risk of being involuntarily shut out from the ride altogether without any kind of warning that this would happen. Disney is encouraging people to plan their rides two months in advance, and then even people who had done just that couldn't ride because they didn't know they had to get a return time until it was too late.

What's even worse is that guest services got so bogged down with complaints that they reopened the standby queue that evening, which quickly became even more congested than usual because there were people with return times mixed in with those who walked up and got in the standby line... so everyone got screwed.

 

[jaklgreen]

The problem is that people who were expecting to have the option to wait in that line if no fastpasses were available didn't have that option under This system. So people ran the risk of being involuntarily shut out from the ride altogether without any kind of warning that this would happen. Disney is encouraging people to plan their rides two months in advance, and then even people who had done just that couldn't ride because they didn't know they had to get a return time until it was too late.

What's even worse is that guest services got so bogged down with complaints that they reopened the standby queue that evening, which quickly became even more congested than usual because there were people with return times mixed in with those who walked up and got in the standby line... so everyone got screwed.

Oh, well they probably should not have reopened it. I mean there are only so many people that can go on it in a day and if it is booked full then you can't really squeeze more on there can you? I wonder what time of the night they shut the line down for park closing?

 

[cw1982]

Oh, well they probably should not have reopened it. I mean there are only so many people that can go on it in a day and if it is booked full then you can't really squeeze more on there can you? I wonder what time of the night they shut the line down for park closing?

Reopening was part of the problem.

But usually, lines like that one are self regulating anyway. People will only get in line if the wait is worth it, which means that people are choosing to not get in line if it's too long for them. This new idea took away a guest's prerogative to wait, so people who wanted to ride and would have been able to do so any other day could not. It's really not the good service move that it appears to be.

 

[disney4life2008]

So they scan your bands on the way in the park and then you don't have to get them scanned at each ride? What if you were already in the park before emh started and wasn't staying on property?

At the entrance your band is definitely scanned. However, my experience at evening EMHs at MK was that the CMs did not scan the bands.