Next generation FASTPASS system to begin guest testing this week

[fosse76]

Six flags parks have had qbot for a long time and have had the newer version of qbot for like 2-3 years. The new qbot allows you to setup rides in advance .

The system that disney is testing out is doing this. It doesnt cause any extra problems at six flags parks so I cannot figure out why people are complaining about it at disney.

They way jimhill is saying how the testing is being done makes it sound like it dumps them into the normal fastpass line. I do not see this causing any major problems because these people would have normally gotten a regular fast pass anyway. I can see this actually helping to make fastpass lines shorter.

The Six Flags System is literally a virtual queue, not a reservation system like Disney nor a Line Jumping system like Universal. You receive a digital device and select your ride. Then you wait for however long the wait time is before you can go to the ride. My issue is with the cost, and how Six Flags puts up signs to force you to buy it (There are "30 minutes from this point" signs at the boarding platform!!!)

My understanding of FP+ is that they will come out of the current FP distribution, so there shouldn't be any effect on the standby waits.

 

[jakeman]

Personally I don't buy the whole "We can never get a last minute TS spot, ever, because of the DDP". I get a couple of last minute tables each time we go to WDW. Seems like a weak excuse to me. As a matter of fact, of all my friends that go to Disney, I am the only one who uses the DDP and plans ahead. All the rest just go and "wing it". And they never have issues getting seated within 10 to 15 minutes. Maybe that is the real problem people are having. They have to wait a few minutes for a table instead of being seated right away so there must not be any tables to be had. :lookaroun

I've actually done a fair amount of research on this (doing exactly what you did) for TouringPlans, and your results are fairly representative of what I have seen. During free dining, the results are different, but the complaints that you can never get last minute reservations anywhere are largely inaccurate.

Pretty much sums it up. I though the wife and I were just the luckiest people on the planet to continuously get dinning reservations at most places whenever we want.

After that happened over several trips, I came to the conclusion that the dinning issue was largely an internet myth.

I will admit that pickings are a little slimmer during free dining the rare occasion that we have visited then, but nothing insurmountable and I've never encounter anything like Brava Centuri is describing, even looking just an hour into the future with the dinning website.

EDIT: I realize that my experiences, however extensive, are anecdotal. Apologies for the future posters who have worse luck than me.

 

[dreamscometrue]

Pretty much sums it up. I though the wife and I were just the luckiest people on the planet to continuously get dinning reservations at most places whenever we want.

After that happened over several trips, I came to the conclusion that the dinning issue was largely an internet myth.

I will admit that pickings are a little slimmer during free dining the rare occasion that we have visited then, but nothing insurmountable and I've never encounter anything like Brava Centuri is describing, even looking just an hour into the future with the dinning website.

EDIT: I realize that my experiences, however extensive, are anecdotal. Apologies for the future posters who have worse luck than me.

I'm not sure that there hasn't been some affect with 180 day ADRs, but in my recent experience I've found it to be greatly exaggerated on here (surprise!).

We used to book 180 days out, and still do for 1 or 2 TS per trip, but for all other 'sit downs', we've made a point to try to be more spontaneous the past several trips (since Christmas 2009). We've been able to get seating (for 4 people) by doing same day ressies or walking up and waiting 15-20 min, about 90% of the time. Perhaps, people cancel as they get closer to ADR day, or the restaurants assume a certain percentage won't show. Whatever the reason, we've had good luck. The few times we haven't been able to get a table, we do what we did years ago...go somewhere else.

 

[Buried20KLeague]

I just logged into the reservation system and looked for a dinning reservation for dinner for a family of 4 tonight at Epcot.

Here is what is available with availability at 5:45 or later:

Biergarten
Bistro de Paris
Garden Grill
Las Hacienda
Le Cellier
Les Chefs de France
Nine Dragons
Restaurant Marrakesh
Rose & Crown
San Angel Inn
Teppan Edo
Toyko Dining
Via Naopli

There are exactly three table service restaurants without availability right now:

Akershus Royal Banquet Hall
Coral Reef
Tutto Italia

EDIT: Just to update, there are exactly nine restaurants without availablity for dinner at WDW today across the entire property.

It's not that black and white. At all.

Change your search to 5 people (the size of my family), and the prospects are WAY worse for dining tonight.

ZERO availability at:

Akershus
Bistro De Paris
Coral Reef
Le Cellier
Tutto Italia
Via Napoli

The following restaurants ONLY HAVE ONE TIME AVAILABLE ALL NIGHT, and for our family would be WAY too early for dinner:

Le Chefs De France 4:50
Rose and Crown 4:25
San Angel Inn 4:30
Teppan Edo 4:50
Tokyo Dining 4:40

The following restaurants have multiple times open, with one or more times in a "normal" dinner time:

Biergarten
Garden Grill
Nine Dragons
Restaurant Marrakesh

Change the criteria of the search and the results can vary dramatically, so it might not be a good idea to paint with such a broad brush.

Also, the first two weeks of May are known for having low crowd levels, which will effect availability positively. Do this same search during virtually any time period when kids are out of school (which is the only time many can vacation) and the pickings will be even slimmer.

I'll admit that since they started cracking down on duplicate reservations, it's gotten a bit better. But for many, the idea of being able to go wherever you want when you want to go is not possible a majority of the time.

 

[ToTBellHop]

It's not that black and white. At all.

Change your search to 5 people (the size of my family), and the prospects are WAY worse for dining tonight.

ZERO availability at:

Akershus
Bistro De Paris
Coral Reef
Le Cellier
Tutto Italia
Via Napoli

The following restaurants ONLY HAVE ONE TIME AVAILABLE ALL NIGHT, and for our family would be WAY too early for dinner:

Le Chefs De France 4:50
Rose and Crown 4:25
San Angel Inn 4:30
Teppan Edo 4:50
Tokyo Dining 4:40

The following restaurants have multiple times open, with one or more times in a "normal" dinner time:

Biergarten
Garden Grill
Nine Dragons
Restaurant Marrakesh

Change the criteria of the search and the results can vary dramatically, so it might not be a good idea to paint with such a broad brush.

Also, the first two weeks of May are known for having low crowd levels, which will effect availability positively. Do this same search during virtually any time period when kids are out of school (which is the only time many can vacation) and the pickings will be even slimmer.

I'll admit that since they started cracking down on duplicate reservations, it's gotten a bit better. But for many, the idea of being able to go wherever you want when you want to go is not possible a majority of the time.

What solution are you proposing? No reservations at all? That's the only thing that would solve your problem of a lack of enough options day-of. I personally would not enjoy waiting in line for dinner every night...restaurants sell out. Even here in New Haven, it'd be hard pressed to get my choice of restaurant for tonight.

 

[wilkeliza]

What solution are you proposing? No reservations at all? That's the only thing that would solve your problem of a lack of enough options day-of. I personally would not enjoy waiting in line for dinner every night...restaurants sell out. Even here in New Haven, it'd be hard pressed to get my choice of restaurant for tonight.

I agree once you get over a party of 4 it becomes hard anywhere to find day of dinning. Anything over 4 means they need more than 1 table or they have to put you at a bigger table which most restaurants don't have many of. That's why I love traveling with just a party of 2. We hardly ever have a hard time getting reservations where we want and every trip have been able to change last minute. We never had problems with getting a table somewhere until we had a party of 5 on day and it was only 1 restaurant we couldn't get into. The only reason we couldn't get it was because the only time open was during Illuminations or at 5:00. So if we really wanted to eat there we could have gone but decided we had so many other options why not just poke around and see. We ended up at the habachi place in the Japan pavilion. We got our reservation for dinner around lunch time.

So back to the topic of the thread though has anyone been in the parks since Tuesday? What have been your experiences? Did you notice longer wait times in stand-by?

Also I think it is interesting that Disney choose the 1st of May through the 15th. These are relatively slow weeks right before the summer kick off so it will only give them best case data and not jam packed crowd conditions data. I would venture to say in the slow periods not much would change anything. Heck you could probably get rid of fast pass during those few slow weeks each year and everyone would still have a great vacation and want to return. I know when I went in January we hardly ever needed our fastpasses and really only used them when we wanted to do multiple repeat ride very quickly on things like Space Mountain or Toy Story Mania.

 

[Buried20KLeague]

What solution are you proposing? No reservations at all? That's the only thing that would solve your problem of a lack of enough options day-of. I personally would not enjoy waiting in line for dinner every night...restaurants sell out. Even here in New Haven, it'd be hard pressed to get my choice of restaurant for tonight.

I think what I would do would be kill the DDP. I think it gives people an artificial sense of value, and at the same time drives "regular" cost up and hurts menus and table availability.

Once the DDP began, a whole different group of people started thinking of a table service meal every night in a park as a "right", almost... Which is all well and good if there's enough capacity to handle it.

Obivously, the DDP allows TDO to raise prices, get guaranteed food revenue from everyone that buys it, and keeps their tables filled at an insane rate, so I know they're not exactly going to kill the DDP. But you asked what I would do, so there ya go. :lol:

I do think the issue was worst when it was easy to make multiple reservations for dinner at the same time. It helped when they made it more difficult. Obviously, everyone knows you can still do it if you want to... It just takes a bit more work... But still.

EDIT TO ADD: The other solution I would propose would be setting 20% (or whatever) of tables aside every day simply for walk-ups. Tables would still get filled, the local day-visitor would have a better shot at a table, and there still would be majority capacity for those uber-planners that wanted to book 180 days out.

 

[G00fyDad]

I just did a search for TS places and found 48 of them open for dinner from 6:00pm and on tonight.

50's Prime Time Cafe
Artist Point
Biergarten Restaurant
Boatwright's Dining Hall
Boma - Flavors of Africa
Bongos Cuban Cafe
California Grill
Cape May Cafe
Cap'n Jack's Restaurant
Captain's Grille
Citricos
Flying Fish Cafe
Fulton's Crab House
Jiko The Cooking Place
Kona Cafe
Kouzzina by Cat Cora
La Hacienda de San Angel
Les Chefs de France
Liberty Tree Tavern
Mama Melrose's Ristorante Italiano
Maya Grill
Narcoossee's
Nine Dragons Restaurant
Olivia's Cafe
Paradiso 37, Taste of the Americas
The Plaza Restaurant
Portobello
Raglan Road Irish Pub and Restaurant
Rainforest Cafe Animal Kingdom
Rainforest Cafe Downtown Disney
Restaurant Marrakesh
Rose & Crown Pub & Dining Room
San Angel Inn
Sanaa Restaurant at Disney's Animal Kingdom Villas - Kidani Village
Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater
Shula's Steak House
Shutters at Old Port Royale
T-REX A Prehistoric Family Adventure
Teppan Edo
Trail's End Restaurant
The Turf Club Bar and Grill
Tusker House Restaurant
Victoria & Albert's
The Wave...of American Flavors
Whispering Canyon Cafe
Wolfgang Puck Cafe
Yachtsman Steakhouse
Yak & Yeti Restaurant

 

[jakeman]

EDIT TO ADD: The other solution I would propose would be setting 20% (or whatever) of tables aside every day simply for walk-ups. Tables would still get filled, the local day-visitor would have a better shot at a table, and there still would be majority capacity for those uber-planners that wanted to book 180 days out.

The local P.F. Changs can sport a two hour wait on weekend nights. How in the world is setting aside 20% of the tables going to solve anything except provide an expectation of availability that can't be reasonably be met?

Just 24 hours advance planning for a party of 5 yields availability at all but 13 restaurants on property.

Even if you just booked now for Saturday night of Memorial Day weekend, which is only 3 weeks away, all restaurants on property are available except 9. That's for a party of 5.

 

[Buried20KLeague]

I just did a search for TS places and found 48 of them open for dinner from 6:00pm and on tonight.

50's Prime Time Cafe
Artist Point
Biergarten Restaurant
Boatwright's Dining Hall
Boma - Flavors of Africa
Bongos Cuban Cafe
California Grill
Cape May Cafe
Cap'n Jack's Restaurant
Captain's Grille
Citricos
Flying Fish Cafe
Fulton's Crab House
Jiko The Cooking Place
Kona Cafe
Kouzzina by Cat Cora
La Hacienda de San Angel
Les Chefs de France
Liberty Tree Tavern
Mama Melrose's Ristorante Italiano
Maya Grill
Narcoossee's
Nine Dragons Restaurant
Olivia's Cafe
Paradiso 37, Taste of the Americas
The Plaza Restaurant
Portobello
Raglan Road Irish Pub and Restaurant
Rainforest Cafe Animal Kingdom
Rainforest Cafe Downtown Disney
Restaurant Marrakesh
Rose & Crown Pub & Dining Room
San Angel Inn
Sanaa Restaurant at Disney's Animal Kingdom Villas - Kidani Village
Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater
Shula's Steak House
Shutters at Old Port Royale
T-REX A Prehistoric Family Adventure
Teppan Edo
Trail's End Restaurant
The Turf Club Bar and Grill
Tusker House Restaurant
Victoria & Albert's
The Wave...of American Flavors
Whispering Canyon Cafe
Wolfgang Puck Cafe
Yachtsman Steakhouse
Yak & Yeti Restaurant

To clarify... I only searched for Epcot (as Jake did), and posted the results.

 

[PamelaNiebergal]

My understanding of FP+ is that they will come out of the current FP distribution, so there shouldn't be any effect on the standby waits.

I hope that's the case but then why are they adding FP+ machines to rides that don't currently have regular fastpass (Haunted Mansion)? What if the goal is to have FP+ implemented on every ride - even those that don't need them? If online reservations are pulled from current FP pools will their been any left for day-of traditional fastpasses or are they doing away with those altogether? If TSMM are gone by noon now how fast will it book up online? I guess all we can do is wait and see and hope for the best.

 

[Buried20KLeague]

The local P.F. Changs can sport a two hour wait on weekend nights. How in the world is setting aside 20% of the tables going to solve anything except provide an expectation of availability that can't be reasonably be met?

Just 24 hours advance planning for a party of 5 yields availability at all but 13 restaurants on property.

Even if you just booked now for Saturday night of Memorial Day weekend, which is only 3 weeks away, all restaurants on property are available except 9. That's for a party of 5.

I don't know what setting aside the 20% would do. How would you? I don't know the ratio of those that make reservations ahead of time vs. those that would like to walk-up. And if it wasn't publicized that a certain percentage of tables were saved for walk-ups, I don't know that it would change how anyone would act. It would seem to me that planners would still plan and and make reservations, and walk-ups would simply have more availability.

I'm not sure what point you're trying to make about Memorial Day Weekend. The only corrolary would be if you checked availability on that day around lunch time for dinner that night (like you did today). And I'd venture to say pickings would be slim.

 

[G00fyDad]

To clarify... I only searched for Epcot (as Jake did), and posted the results.

Oops. My mistake. Sorry 'bout that. I should have read more carefully.

 

[Buried20KLeague]

I hope that's the case but then why are they adding FP+ machines to rides that don't currently have regular fastpass (Haunted Mansion)? What if the goal is to have FP+ implemented on every ride - even those that don't need them? If online reservations are pulled from current FP pools will their been any left for day-of traditional fastpasses or are they doing away with those altogether? If TSMM are gone by noon now how fast will it book up online? I guess all we can do is wait and see and hope for the best.

Your question is pretty much how we all got on the topic of dining. Once the DDP began, it changed how people had to plan (for the most part). I'm guessing you can apply how dining reservations and availability currently work directly to what the FP+ system is going to be.

 

[G00fyDad]

I hope that's the case but then why are they adding FP+ machines to rides that don't currently have regular fastpass (Haunted Mansion)? What if the goal is to have FP+ implemented on every ride - even those that don't need them? If online reservations are pulled from current FP pools will their been any left for day-of traditional fastpasses or are they doing away with those altogether? If TSMM are gone by noon now how fast will it book up online? I guess all we can do is wait and see and hope for the best.

I wish everyone felt that way. Ultimately, this is going to happen. People that gripe about it are changing nothing. Personally I love the idea, but that is just my opinion. I know not everyone is going to like it. But no one really understands what is going to happen with it yet. Waiting is our only option right now. Who knows? It may turn out that I hate it, and those that hate the idea now will love it. :shrug:

 

[Buried20KLeague]

I wish everyone felt that way. Ultimately, this is going to happen. People that gripe about it are changing nothing. Personally I love the idea, but that is just my opinion. I know not everyone is going to like it. But no one really understands what is going to happen with it yet. Waiting is our only option right now. Who knows? It may turn out that I hate it, and those that hate the idea now will love it. :shrug:

And even those of us that end up hating it will still use it to our advantage!! :lol:

I'm sure I will, and I'll moan about it the whole time. But I'll still do it. Better to be one of the "haves" than the "have nots".

The biggest problem is going to be for the locals that just pop in from time to time. I think it'll probably tick them off.

 

[jakeman]

I'm not sure what point you're trying to make about Memorial Day Weekend. The only corrolary would be if you checked availability on that day around lunch time for dinner that night (like you did today). And I'd venture to say pickings would be slim.

Sure they would, but that is like saying you can't find a good restaurant on Valentines day.

The point of the Memorial Day search was to highlight that the 180-day or nothing is an exaggeration even on one of the busiest days of the year.

To be clear, I wasn't imply that you were making that point, but I think we can both agree that mental not only exist, but has been vocalized quite regularly here.

 

[Buried20KLeague]

Sure they would, but that is like saying you can't find a good restaurant on Valentines day.

The point of the Memorial Day search was to highlight that the 180-day or nothing is an exaggeration even on one of the busiest days of the year.

To be clear, I wasn't imply that you were making that point, but I think we can both agree that mental not only exist, but has been vocalized quite regularly here.

Gotcha.

Just speaking for me personally, I don't view it as a 180 day or nothing deal.

Usually I'll make ours 30-45 days out. This past trip in March, it got to be about two weeks before and I realized I hadn't messed with reservations, and there were a few places I couldn't get into at that point. Ohana and Coral Reef as examples. And it took more creative working of the schedule to make available times at other places work, too. But I've never waited that long to make reservations since the DDP started. Our past 4 or 5 trips were to Disneyland, where we didn't have to worry about reservations at all. I think I got a bit used to that, and my planning for WDW suffered.

Like I said, too... I don't LIKE that I've got to make reservations and all that so early, but I do it. I'd rather do it and deal with it than refuse to on principle and have the trip be less than ideal because of it. I just grin an bear it and go from there.

That's how I'm sure I'll be with FP+. I'll do it, because I want my kids to have the same ideal trip they're used to. But I venture to say I won't be happy about it.

Maybe I'll be proved wrong, but I doubt it.

 

[the-reason14]

I think one of the best ways to handle this is to ask everyone who's booking a trip if they'd like to participate in this next gen fastpass crap. It doesn't have to be 180 days out, but it can be whenever you're booking a trip, that is if you're staying at a Disney resort. So it can be for the upcoming 'spur of the moment trip' next week, or the 'planned but haven't booked anything yet' trip that's coming up in a few months. They ask if you want to participate, you say yes, and instead of having to book your ride times then, you get all that information and freedom to book once you check in. You can pick either to have your itinerary planned for the week, or plan on a day to day basis. An app on your phone, or a new channel could help push this along. If they were to do something like this, I can somewhat see the positive side in it. I know everyone's different and I don't think Disney wants to completely alienate people like me who are extremely skeptical about this change. Of course we all have to wait and see once it's fully implemented. And I think all the assumptions we've made are not fail proof. I just hope Disney has put more thought into this rather then "It'll make us more money!"

 

[BigThunderMatt]

The point of the Memorial Day search was to highlight that the 180-day or nothing is an exaggeration even on one of the busiest days of the year.

While I don't disagree that it's not impossible to get last-minute reservations, Memorial Day is hardly one of the busiest days of the year at WDW.

The last two were mildly busy, if I recall. No more than a typical Saturday in the summer.