Next generation FASTPASS system to begin guest testing this week

[Master Yoda]

We don't know if they're changing the number of FP's for rides that currently have FP... But they've obviously adding capacity to the system by adding a number of attractions to the roster.

You are correct, but many people are assuming that they are, and that standby lines will get longer. There is currently no evidence of this at all. All it looks like Disney is doing is distributing fast passes from a second source. If that is indeed the case the only difference we will see is fewer fast passes available at the fast pass machines in the park.

 

[G00fyDad]

This is essentially an ADR for attractions. You can only pick times that are available. Otherwise, what would be the point? FP lines would be just as long as standby. I imagine that the fact the system isn't running anywhere near full capacity makes it easier for those participating to get the time of their choice. If this were available ONLY day of, I would be a lot more supportive of the system. But we'll see. The only true way to combt wait times is to build more attractions. And not just headline attractions, but attractions that won't necessarily bring in any significant number of people, but rather exist to spread out the crowds.

Well if they will allow me to sign up for rides much like the current ADR system does for restaurants then I'll do it. I just want to schedule the rides for days 2, 3, 4, and 5. And only during the morning. After those rides are done we go eat lunch and then stroll through the park shopping, relaxing, and hopping onto rides here and there.

I'd like to have a MK day (day 2 for us) set up like this:
Space Mountain at 9am
Buzz Lightyear at 9:30am
Haunted Mansion at 9:45am
BTMRR at 10:15am
Splash at 10:40am
Jungle Cruise at 11:15am
lunch at Noon
And then relax and shop all day.


But of course, I doubt the system will be set up quite this well for us. So unless I can do what I have listed above, forget it. I'll just walk on all of thoise rides like I normally do with no wait anyway.

 

[RSoxNo1]

You are correct, but many people are assuming that they are, and that standby lines will get longer. There is currently no evidence of this at all. All it looks like Disney is doing is distributing fast passes from a second source. If that is indeed the case the only difference we will see is fewer fast passes available at the fast pass machines in the park.

If the distribution rates of Fastpass stay the same then the Standby lines will not get longer at the current fastpass attractions. However, by adding Fastpass to attractions that don't currently have it, the standby lines for those attractions will get longer.

 

[Buried20KLeague]

You are correct, but many people are assuming that they are, and that standby lines will get longer. There is currently no evidence of this at all. All it looks like Disney is doing is distributing fast passes from a second source. If that is indeed the case the only difference we will see is fewer fast passes available at the fast pass machines in the park.

If 8 attractions (hypothetically) are added to the FP+ roster, and each of those give out 4,000 FP's a day (500 per hour, for 8 hours... Totally hypothetical, but probably somewhere in the neighborhood... Probably even low since the parks are open longer than 8 hours), that's 32,000 people per day's worth of "stand by time" that doesn't exist anymore.

Although, maybe it would be balanced by the poor slobs that actually WERE standing in the standby lines for those added attractions twice as long now because other people were using FP+.

Ugh. Who knows.

 

[Buried20KLeague]

Well if they will allow me to sign up for rides much like the current ADR system does for restaurants then I'll do it. I just want to schedule the rides for days 2, 3, 4, and 5. And only during the morning. After those rides are done we go eat lunch and then stroll through the park shopping, relaxing, and hopping onto rides here and there.

I'd like to have a MK day (day 2 for us) set up like this:
Space Mountain at 9am
Buzz Lightyear at 9:30am
Haunted Mansion at 9:45am
BTMRR at 10:15am
Splash at 10:40am
Jungle Cruise at 11:15am
lunch at Noon
And then relax and shop all day.


But of course, I doubt the system will be set up quite this well for us. So unless I can do what I have listed above, forget it. I'll just walk on all of thoise rides like I normally do with no wait anyway.

I think you're going to find that your ideal situation above isn't even CLOSE to reality.

They're not using this system so that you can walk in a circular fashion around the park and hit virtually all major attractions in 2hours and 15minutes.

You know that, right?

If that was the way it was going to be, EVERYONE would be completely in favor of it. Who wouldn't be?

 

[Sigmundooze]

How will they recoup their investment?

Let's see...

Ok, well all of those people that normally wouldn't use FastPass decide to use it...that means they're waiting in line a lot less. If people have the opportunity to choose 4 FP's per day...they will use 4 per day rather than the average "1" now. People again, are waiting a lot less time in line.

Now...if they're not waiting in line, what are they doing? They are more likely spending money. You're not spending money if you're waiting in a queue.

If you fix the Yeti...how do you recoup your investment? Sure, it's good show...but the average guest doesn't even really notice the problems. The people that REALLY notice them are us...the people who know the place inside and out (and let's face it...we're always going to go.).

Sorry but I disagree with this. If I had more time I would just do more rides not buy more things. I would think people buy what they are going to buy regardless of time, because most come in with a budget. Only more people adds more money and this program will not add more people.

I would have gone the other direction personally and made the queues into experiences like for example at universal they have olivanders wand shop. Give people a fastpass like ticket (group a, group b, etc. I thought this was planned for the new dumbo circus area) they can enjoy the show while waiting for the ride and offer cool stuff they can only buy there. I think that might be one way to loosen peoples budgets and still make the whole experience (waiting and riding) fun and profitable.

 

[Master Yoda]

If the distribution rates of Fastpass stay the same then the Standby lines will not get longer at the current fastpass attractions. However, by adding Fastpass to attractions that don't currently have it, the standby lines for those attractions will get longer.

That is possible. Is HM the only attraction that has been added to the list?

I don't understand.

If 8 attractions (hypothetically) are added to the FP+ roster, and each of those give out 4,000 FP's a day (500 per hour, for 8 hours... Totally hypothetical, but probably somewhere in the neighborhood... Probably even low since the parks are open longer than 8 hours), that's 32,000 people per day's worth of "stand by time" that doesn't exist anymore.

Although, maybe it would be balanced by the poor slobs that actually WERE standing in the standby lines for those added attractions twice as long now because other people were using FP+.

Ugh. Who knows.

This pretty much sums it up. I see this as being a relativity neutral to good addition. If you did not use fast pass before there is going to be little change (unless they of course add this to every attraction under the sun). If you use fast pass this will give you a chance to get all or most of your days allotment of fast passes in one easy shot (I will like not having to sprint to Soarin to get a FP then back to TT to meet my family) or just use them like you normally do. Bottom line is until the final details are released we are just guessing at most of it.

 

[RSoxNo1]

That is possible. Is HM the only attraction that has been added to the list?

PhilharMagic as well, but several more have been rumored, + Dumbo, Little Mermaid, Barnstormer, and Seven Dwarf's Mine Train.

I posted some data a few pages ago, basically concluding that given the 4 attractions per guest, you can see 86% of Fastpasses distributed as Fastpass+. Having said that, I don't have the most accurate capacity numbers, but I think what I've come up with is far more accurate than anything else that's been attempted.

I'm also aware of the original proposal that Imagineering made to the suits on this where the Magic Kingdom guests would get 3 or 4 Fastpass+ attractions depending on the number of guests in the park on any given day. I believe the other 3 parks were at 3 or 2 Fastpass+ attractions depending on the number of guests per park.

 

[Buried20KLeague]

If you use fast pass this will give you a chance to get all or most of your days allotment of fast passes in one easy shot (I will like not having to sprint to Soarin to get a FP then back to TT to meet my family) or just use them like you normally do. Bottom line is until the final details are released we are just guessing at most of it.

I agree that one of the pluses to this could be the elimination of "back and forth" you describe... But my contention is that they could easily eliminate that "back and forth" by having a centrally located FP distribution area for all rides near the entrance to each park in addition to the current locations.

I guess I see this whole FP+ thing as killing a fly with a granade. Unless the real reason behind it is to make it a perk of staying in one of their hotels, and not everyone can take part. Then I get it.

 

[Master Yoda]

I agree that one of the pluses to this could be the elimination of "back and forth" you describe... But my contention is that they could easily eliminate that "back and forth" by having a centrally located FP distribution area for all rides near the entrance to each park in addition to the current locations.

I guess I see this whole FP+ thing as killing a fly with a granade. Unless the real reason behind it is to make it a perk of staying in one of their hotels, and not everyone can take part. Then I get it.

I do think that will be part of it. Disney could really use a good resort perk like this to get the resorts to a consistent 90% plus occupancy rate year round.

 

[Tom]

I'm betting they will be availble earlier than the day of. I would like to see them only be available the day of too, but I think part of this next generation is to track guests and plan for crowds. If they open the reservation system up a month ahead and it gets good use, they'll have a better idea of how many guests will be at each park each day and what time frames. Right now predicting park crowds is more of an art than a science. They'll also be able to recomend and strongly suggest going to a different park that day if all the FastPass+'s are gone, more evenly distributing the crowds between parks.

This would be a good use of the system, on Disney's side.

I'd like to know if they plan on doing this as well, can you get a FastPass+ and a FastPass for the same attraction at the same time and ride it twice with no standby line? Can you not get fastpasses for any attractions if you have some FastPass+'s that day already. I think in the end though they will not coexist, they are just giving us that line of bull for the moment, the ratio will change every year and eventually no more FastPass they'll be phased out.

Eventually, years from now when they integrate 100% of their systems, I imagine YOU will be limited to a total number of PC's. But for a while after they roll it out, the Yellow FP+ card will be exclusive of any regular PC's you get.

I disagree... They are adding FP+ to a multitude of attractions that currently don't have FP.

That tells me that those people won't in a standby line for those attractions... Hence, they're have to be somewhere else.

We don't know if they're changing the number of FP's for rides that currently have FP... But they've obviously adding capacity to the system by adding a number of attractions to the roster.

I don't think we know for sure how many attractions they're adding this to. For the trial, they've only added HM and Philharmagic. But yes, they will ultimately add some FP queue space, but overall, I believe it will free up time and allow guests to do more non-ride activities, even outside the parks.

Well if they will allow me to sign up for rides much like the current ADR system does for restaurants then I'll do it. I just want to schedule the rides for days 2, 3, 4, and 5. And only during the morning. After those rides are done we go eat lunch and then stroll through the park shopping, relaxing, and hopping onto rides here and there.

I'd like to have a MK day (day 2 for us) set up like this:
Space Mountain at 9am
Buzz Lightyear at 9:30am
Haunted Mansion at 9:45am
BTMRR at 10:15am
Splash at 10:40am
Jungle Cruise at 11:15am
lunch at Noon
And then relax and shop all day.


But of course, I doubt the system will be set up quite this well for us. So unless I can do what I have listed above, forget it. I'll just walk on all of thoise rides like I normally do with no wait anyway.

You'll be able to create your own version of this plan with more accuracy using FP+. But no, you can't schedule out everything you listed above. You would build your own itinerary, then go in an get FP+ for whatever you carnations the times you think you'll be at those attractions. You still get the hour window.

If the distribution rates of Fastpass stay the same then the Standby lines will not get longer at the current fastpass attractions. However, by adding Fastpass to attractions that don't currently have it, the standby lines for those attractions will get longer.

true

That is possible. Is HM the only attraction that has been added to the list?

This pretty much sums it up. I see this as being a relativity neutral to good addition. If you did not use fast pass before there is going to be little change (unless they of course add this to every attraction under the sun). If you use fast pass this will give you a chance to get all or most of your days allotment of fast passes in one easy shot (I will like not having to sprint to Soarin to get a FP then back to TT to meet my family) or just use them like you normally do. Bottom line is until the final details are released we are just guessing at most of it.

Philharmagic too, for the trial. Needed to get a show in the mix.

after using it today, I see pros and cons. Like you said, it won't harm you if you don't use FP, and it CAN help you if you do.

 

[DisneyJoe]

Eventually, years from now when they integrate 100% of their systems,

ROTFLMAO!!! Years? Try MAYBE decades from now.

 

[RSoxNo1]

There are many problems associated with this, most notably being equality amongst guests as well as no shows.

People stay off property, people have annual passes, they need access to the same perks.

What I expect is that this will operate the same way that Dining Reservations operate except effective only at check in. That means that you check into your hotel and you book your ride reservations for your entire trip. However, people staying off property will only be able to make their reservations when they check into a park on a particular day.

My preference would be for this system to only become active on passes that have been scanned at the turn styles that day. It would mean that you can schedule out your day, but you'd be doing it same day, not days in advance. That is the most fair way to do it, and it's an upgrade over the current system. Any of the other suggestions would be remarkably problematic.

 

[Tom]

ROTFLMAO!!! Years? Try MAYBE decades from now.

I didn't specify how many years

 

[Blueliner]

I agree that one of the pluses to this could be the elimination of "back and forth" you describe... But my contention is that they could easily eliminate that "back and forth" by having a centrally located FP distribution area for all rides near the entrance to each park in addition to the current locations.

I guess I see this whole FP+ thing as killing a fly with a granade. Unless the real reason behind it is to make it a perk of staying in one of their hotels, and not everyone can take part. Then I get it.

How about this: Put a FP+ distribution area in or near the lobbies at each of the on-property hotels, and possibly near the ticket booths outside of each of the parks. Do not allow FP+ reservations weeks or months in advance. Instead, require that guests be checked in to a hotel before they can start using FP+. That way, people can do a little bit of planning once they are at WDW, which to me is more reasonable than trying to map out an entire touring plan months before they arrive. There also would be less risk of people making reservations months ahead of time and then not using those reservations (which I see as the biggest potential problem in terms of maximizing ride capacity).

I do the Soarin' (FP)-Test Track (meet family to ride) run at rope drop nearly every time we go to Epcot. I do the Space Mountain (FP)-Splash Mountain (meet family to ride) run at rope drop nearly every time we go to MK. I do the Toy Story Mania (FP)-Rock n' Roller Coaster (meet family to ride) run at rope drop nearly every time we go to DHS. I do the Everest (FP)-Kilimanjaro Safaris (meet family to ride) run at rope drop nearly every time we go to Animal Kingdom. I'll gladly keep doing this, but I wouldn't mind a centralized location if there was a reasonable prospect of being able to get fastpasses.

 

[Blueliner]

There are many problems associated with this, most notably being equality amongst guests as well as no shows.

People stay off property, people have annual passes, they need access to the same perks.

What I expect is that this will operate the same way that Dining Reservations operate except effective only at check in. That means that you check into your hotel and you book your ride reservations for your entire trip. However, people staying off property will only be able to make their reservations when they check into a park on a particular day.

My preference would be for this system to only become active on passes that have been scanned at the turn styles that day. It would mean that you can schedule out your day, but you'd be doing it same day, not days in advance. That is the most fair way to do it, and it's an upgrade over the current system. Any of the other suggestions would be remarkably problematic.

I was typing when you posted this. Great minds must think alike!

 

[Tom]

My friend found these articles. Since this is currently the hot Next Gen thread, I'll share them here.

http://www.cmu.edu/homepage/computing/2012/spring/touche.DHTML

http://idealab.talkingpointsmemo.co...-a-touch-screen-thanks-to-disney-research.PHP

http://www.disneyresearch.com/research/projects/hci_touche_drp.htm

 

[DrummerAlly]

There are many problems associated with this, most notably being equality amongst guests as well as no shows.

People stay off property, people have annual passes, they need access to the same perks.

What I expect is that this will operate the same way that Dining Reservations operate except effective only at check in. That means that you check into your hotel and you book your ride reservations for your entire trip. However, people staying off property will only be able to make their reservations when they check into a park on a particular day.

My preference would be for this system to only become active on passes that have been scanned at the turn styles that day. It would mean that you can schedule out your day, but you'd be doing it same day, not days in advance. That is the most fair way to do it, and it's an upgrade over the current system. Any of the other suggestions would be remarkably problematic.

As someone who always stays on property, I would personally like some extra perks but I can understand the locals and AP's points of view. I think the best way to do this would be to allow people on property to book once they have checked in and allow people not on property to book once they arrive at the park for the day. It seems reasonable, it gives a slight advantage to people on property (which Disney needs to keep hotel rooms at a fuller occupancy rate), and doesn't screw the local crowd too much.

 

[Mawg]

The line just to get a fastpass for Toy Story when HS opens takes 30 minutes. Can you imagine the lines at some Kiosk to get FastPass Plus at opening for all the attractions in the park, not to mention it will take time to get a FastPassPlus with all the user interactions and confusion using the scheduling software. I'm not picturing how this can be implemented in the park. It would have to be done at home on the internet or at the resort.

 

[RSoxNo1]

My other problem with all this is that Disney has had horrible performance on their website lately. Certain areas of the company aren't talking to one another. There's quite a bit of leg work required to add your pass to a room reservation/online ID and then there are times when 180+9 days out you can't make dining reservations tied to your room because the online system doesn't always recognize your room reservation, despite that reservation showing up under your ID.

With these issues you're forced to call 407-WDW-DINE where you get to listen to the world's worst recording of in park music while you wait to speak to a technician. Depending on the day, or the offer that's going on, this can be 30 minutes +.

Add in another variable such as Fastpasses booked outside of the parks on a system that has to be more complex than a dining reservation system, I'm simply not optimistic that this can be pulled off flawlessly.

I've long been a proponent of being able to schedule your day in advance, but this isn't the way to do it. Scheduling out your entire trip before stepping foot into a park is the end of spontaniety. We've had Jim Hill on our show multiple times and he argues that nothing about a day at Disney is spontaneous, but that's certainly not true at all. Yes, getting there is far from spontaneous, but there is an element of flexibility once you're there. This makes things less flexible.

The previous system was far more flexible but they felt it was broken and are looking to fix it. The way to fix it is to keep the existing system, but also allow guests to not get the next available fastpass, but one for a time farther out. That's it. Otherwise, they're presented with so many more problems, and the system becomes less of an advantage to every guest.

Putting this on smart phones is a step in the right direction, but you also need to be able to scan each person's ticket into your smart phone app so that each person doesn't need their own phone or card. Then when you select the Fastpass that you want you're prompted to select the people in your party that should be issued a Fastpass. From your own phone, you should be able to see every ticket you've checked in, and when each ticket can get an additional Fastpass. This isn't difficult, I know they recently hired one of the guys from touringplans who could probably generate an app like this over the weekend.

Conceptually, this shouldn't be too difficult either. Say you get into the park at 10:00 AM, and head straight to Space Mountain for a Fastpass. Fastpass return time is 10:50, but you were planning on riding Buzz Lightyear and then heading to Fantasyland. So you decide to get a Fastpass for 1:00 PM for Space Mountain. Now if you had gone to Space Mountain at 10:00 and the earliest return time was 1:00 PM, you wouldn't be expected to acquire a new Fastpass until 12:00 PM (2 hours later). Disney could elect to do this, or they could choose to allow guests to get an additional Fastpass at 10:50 AM, while still holding that Fastpass for 1:00 PM. I'd obviously be in favor of the latter option as it better correlates to the approach that many people would take in hording Fastpasses, but this would allow guests to do it under the guidelines of the Fastpass system the way it was intended to work.