MK to get SIX new FP attractions? UGH?!?!

[menamechris]

I can't help but think adding FP to Haunted Mansion and those kinds of attractions is in an effort to trick a clueless tourist reserving FastPasses from home. They would have no idea that Stitch never has a wait or that Haunted Mansion is usually a 10 minute wait at best. So this could get them to waste one FastPass for the day - all while they are probably paying for it...

 

[Zummi Gummi]

I can't help but think adding FP to Haunted Mansion and those kinds of attractions is in an effort to trick a clueless tourist reserving FastPasses from home. They would have no idea that Stitch never has a wait or that Haunted Mansion is usually a 10 minute wait at best. So this could get them to waste one FastPass for the day - all while they are probably paying for it...

That's exactly what it's about. Ma and Pa from Nebraska who don't visit the boards will just go ahead and start reserving as many fastpasses as they can, along with purchasing the deluxe dining plan because Disney tells them it's the "best value" while they arrange to stay at an on property room paying the rack rate.

That's the type of guest Disney wants. Not savvy locals or AP holders.

 

[Captain Chaos]

Dad: You will not speak of Universal in this house young man! Now go to your room and read 50 pages of Birnbaum and don't come back until you're done!

And make sure to Listen to 50 hours of Lou Mongello's WDW podcast just to see how awesome WDW truly is.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Everything I've seen, read, and dissected about Fastpass+ tells me that scheduling your day in advance is about creating false value for guests. More importantly, what's going to happen is that it's become a significant burden on cast members and require substantial infrastructure improvements. The dumbest part is, us Fanboys will understand the system well before the casual fan and it will still be us Fanboys that get the benefits of it.

Unless myself and everyone else reporting on this have a significant amount of misinformation, I see this as having the opposite effect that DCA 2.0 had on the Disneyland resort.

Some of the components of Next Gen are positive, if they are indeed enacted. If you can order your food at a QS restaurant from your smart phone, that can improve efficiency. It could be at the cost of that human interaction with the cashier, but if it's an added option then it's an improvement. If you can get Fastpasses for attractions from anywhere in the park on your smart phone and choose from available return times, that's an improvement. But is everyone going to have to rent a smart phone if they don't have one? What are they going to do about charging stations? Are people really going to want to leave their cellphones with a cast member for 45 minutes while it charges?

I wrote a small dissertation on Fastpass+ last month. In it, I spell out many of the benefits and problems of the program.

 

[WDW1974]

Everything I've seen, read, and dissected about Fastpass+ tells me that scheduling your day in advance is about creating false value for guests. More importantly, what's going to happen is that it's become a significant burden on cast members and require substantial infrastructure improvements. The dumbest part is, us Fanboys will understand the system well before the casual fan and it will still be us Fanboys that get the benefits of it.

Unless myself and everyone else reporting on this have a significant amount of misinformation, I see this as having the opposite effect that DCA 2.0 had on the Disneyland resort.

Some of the components of Next Gen are positive, if they are indeed enacted. If you can order your food at a QS restaurant from your smart phone, that can improve efficiency. It could be at the cost of that human interaction with the cashier, but if it's an added option then it's an improvement. If you can get Fastpasses for attractions from anywhere in the park on your smart phone and choose from available return times, that's an improvement. But is everyone going to have to rent a smart phone if they don't have one? What are they going to do about charging stations? Are people really going to want to leave their cellphones with a cast member for 45 minutes while it charges?

I wrote a small dissertation on Fastpass+ last month. In it, I spell out many of the benefits and problems of the program.

Anything that requires the use of tracking and smartphones is just an awful idea. Some of us, believe it or not, don't want to be tracked all the time by GPS, don't want everything we do sent to godknowswhere and don't need the stimulation of a hyperactive 6-year-old with a video game.

Like Jack Bauer, I use phones you can toss in a trash bin before the evildoers triangulate my position on the TTA!

If I need an iPhone to visit WDW, then that will be my final straw ...

 

[bubbles1812]

I wrote a small dissertation on Fastpass+ last month. In it, I spell out many of the benefits and problems of the program.

I read that last month! And your "like" is because I thought you did an excellent breakdown of what is known/rumored about Next Gen and giving the pros and cons of it.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Anything that requires the use of tracking and smartphones is just an awful idea. Some of us, believe it or not, don't want to be tracked all the time by GPS, don't want everything we do sent to godknowswhere and don't need the stimulation of a hyperactive 6-year-old with a video game.

Like Jack Bauer, I use phones you can toss in a trash bin before the evildoers triangulate my position on the TTA!

If I need an iPhone to visit WDW, then that will be my final straw ...

How often do you read 1984? Weekly?

I totally agree that it's unnecessary - the current system wasn't broken but it could be improved. It just looks like they're attempting to "improve" too much and the result is going to be a total failure. If this is as catastrophic a change as it could be, it's one that would also result in my limiting my vacations as well.

Here's hoping new management steps in at the 11th hour, sees what's going on, and asks, "What was wrong with building the best attractions on the planet? Why did we give up that idea?"

 

[SweetMagic]

I read on another site that the 2 other "attractions" getting FP might be fireworks and parade viewing areas. The addresses of the 2 attractions are 1220 and 1305B Monorail Way, with Monorail Way being the central Hub. Seems that Disney has been considering adding FP for some time. No facts here, just a rumor I'm passing on from another site.

Monorail Way extends through TL. I was looking these addresses up and found that the closest to the 1220 is COP at 1205 Monorail Way, and AO & TTA which are both at 1225 Monorail Way. Directly to one side of this is SM which has a World Drive address, and directly the opposite is Buzz which is 1305 Monorail Way. The Speedway also has a World Drive address.

The only TL addresses I can't find are MILF (which could, in theory, be 1305B since it's in the same building as Buzz), and SGE which is across the street and likely not 1305B, or the recipient of FP, for many reasons. So, 1220 and 1305B are a mystery waiting to be solved.

 

[lazyboy97o]

...the scary thing is, that once all this is implemented, WDW has a financial incentive to maintain wait times, rather than decrease them...

Even worse, the incentive is to increase Stand By wait times to create the greater perceived value of FastPass Plus. Disney fully expects this to occur, thus the NextGen queues that are being built. The hope is that people will be distracted in line and not go stomping to City Hall that they spent even more time standing in a line or, even better, be encouraged to purchase FastPass Plus.

'74 doesn't promulgate rumours, he just stirs the pot for his own entertainment.

Is that why Disney tested FastPass Plus on currently non-FastPass attractions?

 

[Monty]

Anything that requires the use of tracking and smartphones is just an awful idea. Some of us, believe it or not, don't want to be tracked all the time by GPS, don't want everything we do sent to godknowswhere and don't need the stimulation of a hyperactive 6-year-old with a video game.

Like Jack Bauer, I use phones you can toss in a trash bin before the evildoers triangulate my position on the TTA!

If I need an iPhone to visit WDW, then that will be my final straw ...

Priceless... You're worried about "Big Brother"? Trust me, neither you nor I are remotely significant enough for Big Brother to waste any effort or resources on. You can safely remove your tinfoil hat.

 

[danv3]

I think others have said this, but they have to add FP to rides that don't need them to help spread the FP+ load out across the park. Say you're able to schedule 4-6 rides per day. The system won't be able to handle everyone choosing alll headliners. Instead, you'll probably have to pick two from list A, two from list B, and two from list C. They'll have to have things like HM, Small World, SGE, Mermaid, etc., (none of which need FP) as filler.

And the best part? Longer standby wait times for all!

 

[John]

Next Gen = Bad solution to a manufactured problem

 

[Lucky]

Ole Pal Merfy is a good source. His problem is that he gets emotional from time to time.

That's putting it mildly. He seemed like a borderline sociopath, with a lot of obsessions, like thinking waiting times for rides would all be drastically lower if not for all the guests in ECVs or with GAC cards, who he thought were all cheaters.

 

[RSoxNo1]

I read that last month! And your "like" is because I thought you did an excellent breakdown of what is known/rumored about Next Gen and giving the pros and cons of it.

Thanks for the kind words. My only hope here is that Disneyland doesn't make the full scale changes.

 

[BigThunderMatt]

...like thinking waiting times for rides would all be drastically lower if not for all the guests in ECVs or with GAC cards, who he thought were all cheaters.

That's because many of them are. You work with them enough you become pretty adept at determining who is legit and who is faking it to attempt to get a shorter wait. The key thing is that many attractions have different policies on GAC cards and ECVs. The legit guests who actually need them (especially parents with severely autistic children) are usually very friendly and take whatever is offered to them without a fuss. The cheaters are the ones who rant and rave the second you tell them they can't do what they expected to do. My favorite are the ones with children that are mildly autistic. I actually had a mother screaming at me telling me "My child is autistic! He can't wait in line! You don't understand, you don't have an autistic child!!!" meanwhile the child was telling his mother he didn't want to experience the attraction anyway.

 

[Jim Handy]

Priceless... You're worried about "Big Brother"? Trust me, neither you nor I are remotely significant enough for Big Brother to waste any effort or resources on. You can safely remove your tinfoil hat.

Here in the U, S and A we are watched by Big Brother constantly. It's a fact.

But this Next Gen program will create the Disney Big Brother. They will know your every move. Right now they know where you are eating, and a couple of the attractions you visit, and when, with Fastpass. You will now schedule much more of your day, use your phone to book things, claim your spot, order food...and it will all tell Disney guest spending and physical movement patterns. It is very much a data mining program masked in screens and interactive crap. I, myself don't own a smartphone so I'll either have to go without and be left behind or rent one. Someone brought up charging stations, which is interesting. DL has special charging lockers. WDW guest services can charge phones but beyond that little exists for that. Funny story, actually....I follow the Twitterverse and the guy who runs Progress City USA (Great blog, BTW) attempted to charge his phone in DL and a CM told him he couldn't do that because their electric system is old.

So apparently DL's electric system is on the edge. So beware.

And, it's true. Nearly every attraction will have Fastpass when it's all said and done, so there's no point in challenging '74 here.

 

[dreamscometrue]

Thanks '74 for posting the rumour (yeah, that's how we spell it in Canada) suggesting which attractions, but for anyone interested, we have a 17 page thread already going about next gen FP. Probably no need to start a new one.

http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/...stem-to-begin-guest-testing-this-week.836623/

 

[SweetMagic]

Perhaps the unknown addresses are future meet & greet loations?

Dunno. Odd that 1220 doesn't seem to exist right next to 1205 and 1225. I'm still leaning toward 1305B being MILF due to 1305 being Buzz, but who knows.

 

[MickeyPeace]

Everything I've seen, read, and dissected about Fastpass+ tells me that scheduling your day in advance is about creating false value for guests. More importantly, what's going to happen is that it's become a significant burden on cast members and require substantial infrastructure improvements. The dumbest part is, us Fanboys will understand the system well before the casual fan and it will still be us Fanboys that get the benefits of it.
.

Fanboys are assuming that they will get the best benefits from the system. No one has yet seen the system. TDO makes bad decisions but they are not stupid.
Who's to say that NextGen won't be sort of a virtual ticket book.

Maybe the guest will get to choose three E ticket rides, two D ticket, two C, etc. in their Xpass reservation. In other words maybe it will be tiered. You don't just get to choose indiscriminately.

Somehow I don't think this will benefit Fanboys. But who knows, we have to wait and see what Disney has up it's sleeves.

 

[dreamscometrue]

Fanboys are assuming that they will get the best benefits from the system. No one has yet seen the system. TDO makes bad decisions but they are not stupid.
Who's to say that NextGen won't be sort of a virtual ticket book.

Maybe the guest will get to choose three E ticket rides, two D ticket, two C, etc. in their Xpass reservation. In other words maybe it will be tiered. You don't just get to choose indiscriminately.

Somehow I don't think this will benefit Fanboys. But who knows, we have to wait and see what Disney has up it's sleeves.

As you know, many people on here don't like to wait to see any finished product or attraction ever. It's fun to speculate and discuss, but I'm amazed at how many people pass judgement on things in their 'infancy'. Same issue with 7DMT, and many other WDW attractions. I'm with you...I like to judge what actually exits. Patience.