Law of the Preservation of FP Machines

[Bolt]

The construction at Mermaid as noted in the Permits thread partly pertains to Mermaid Fast Pass. They will be losing 1 of their machines, the one closet to the gift shop.

 

[RSoxNo1]

I'm sorry; please explain the surprise Fastpasses....this thread is the first I've heard of them.

A Surprise Fastpass is a second Fastpass you get for an attraction you're not currently getting a Fastpass for. It's generally done by Disney when they want to try and boost attendance for an attraction. For example, you might go to Peter Pan's Flight to get a Peter Pan Fastpass, and after the Peter Pan Fastpass prints, a second "Surprise Fastpass" prints immediately afterwards for Mickey's Philharmagic.

Surprise Fastpasses are issues at both Peter Pan's Flight and Winnie the Pooh, typically before noon to move crowds over to Mickey's PhilharMagic. Occasionally this will also happen at Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin to get people over to Carousel of Progress.

In the past I've also seen them given away at Soarin' for Honey I Shrunk the Audience.

I agree, the standby lines creep along horribly because of this, and it makes the wait time signs incorrect. Whatever the wait time is you can almost double it because the lines do not move. Its going to make mermaid the same way when it opens.

This is definitely not true. Peter Pan's Flight and Toy Story Mania regularly overstate the standby wait times.

... because the machines are hosting the Pooh FP. Those machines got used for actual Philharmagic FP's as often as the Stitch ones do, but SGE still counts as a "Fastpass" attraction, doesn't it? I assume they would do the same thing if Pooh leaves as long as the machines are still physically present at Philharmagic.

There is little to no reason to reopen them as Philharmagic machines once the new Pooh machines open up (apparently where the construction walls currently sit). That area would be better used as stroller parking.

I've found them exceedingly rare, I don't think they do them consistently. I think I may have gotten one or two, ever. And I've gotten many 100's of FP over the years.

The other thing with them is that sometimes one member of the party gets one and the other doesn't, which can be problematic.

Not complaining about them, LOL - just sharing what I know.

I think they used to be sporadic, but as far as I know now they have a cutoff point in the day where they are distributed with all fastpasses up to a certain point of the day (I believe it's noon).

The construction at Mermaid as noted in the Permits thread partly pertains to Mermaid Fast Pass. They will be losing 1 of their machines, the one closet to the gift shop.

Are you talking about the Voyage of the Little Mermaid machines at DHS or the Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid machines that are part of the expansion. I assume the DHS attraction if so, what construction is going on over there? Also, that attraction shouldn't have Fastpass either.

The only reason Fastpass should be used for a show is for reserved seating at a stage show that has a set time schedule. Shows like PhilharMagic and Voyage of the Little Mermaid are continuous shows and it's really just like a ride with 20-25 minute dispatch intervals (compared to a 2 second interval omnimover).