ToTBellHop
Well-Known Member
It's always sunny in FL. And the Farmers Almanac is released WELL in advance.
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No fastpasses available today?
- Thread starter britlightyear
- Start date
ABQ
Well-Known Member
Ah, ok, that's the part I was not under standing. Gotcha.
Lucky
Well-Known Member
And this would explain the huge increase in WDW resort room rates for 2014.
Exactly. I got that invite in the mail and via e-mail a few weeks ago, and I responded. I am part of the test. Yet, still nothing. It is frustrating. The FP+ feature, which is the only real benefit for the guest, doesn't work for us. The ability to spend money easier benefits the company, not the guest.
Again, massive failure for this vacation. I will be leaving tomorrow without ever having the opportunity to ride Test Track or Soarin using a FP or FP+ because of this lousy system.
And I'm being told that this is all just a test, and when it is fully rolled out my enjoyment will increase? How is that exactly? Will attractions have shorter wait times? Will Fast Passes not run out as quickly?
This place is supposed to be the vacation kingdom of the world - not the plan-all-in-advance-and-use-your-smartphone-all-the-time kingdom. These Magic Bands, the My Disney Experience, Fast Pass +, etc has made this visit so much more stressful than any past visit, and I gave up on the band 2 days ago. Still, it is stressful because the relaxation and spontaneity factor is fading fast. Eventually, it will be gone.
tissandtully
Well-Known Member
It would make sense for the times to back up if people who had reserved FP+ didn't show up for their appointment. So those times would get added back into the passes that need to be distributed. This seems like the system is actually working as long as they enforce return times with FP+.
danv3
Well-Known Member
The entire system relies on people being satisfied to receive fastpasses for things like the teacups, iasw, maelstrom, etc. but this is where Disney has really misjudged I think. In the parks that have only three or fewer headliners (i.e., everything but MK), it is going to be very hard to get "good" fastpasses, and people are not going to be happy, especially once Disney starts to hype the new system.
As a WDW AP holder, I am not happy. I just renewed my pass on Tuesday, but am not planning on renewing it again. That is a first for me since beginning to visit regularly as an adult back in 2008. I will not waste money on an AP for a resort that doesn't really seem to want me anymore.
Disney, in their attempt to get a few more $ out of their WDW guests, have lost me as a regular customer.
Bairstow
Well-Known Member
...but you just renewed.
wogwog
Well-Known Member
Another one breaks the code.
OswaldTheRabbit
Well-Known Member
Ok.... I am not a disney complainer. I love the place more than anything. That said I am hating this program!
Great now I get a painful, awkward, horrible fitting band with 3 fast passes to it vs me getting 6-10 a paper FP at any park.
I can't get over the thought of only getting 3 and why on earth disney would think I would like this change.
We have APs and will see how our trips go this year. We have one in 2 weeks and have our magic bands and reservations in place. I'll report back when we get back!
Great now I get a painful, awkward, horrible fitting band with 3 fast passes to it vs me getting 6-10 a paper FP at any park.
I can't get over the thought of only getting 3 and why on earth disney would think I would like this change.
We have APs and will see how our trips go this year. We have one in 2 weeks and have our magic bands and reservations in place. I'll report back when we get back!
1- FP+ has expanded to additional resorts recently and is planned to be available at all resorts by 11/1/13
I belive it will be at all Disney Resorts for Guests checking in on or after 10/21/2013
2- As a result of this expansion, Disney appears to have reduced the number of Day-of FP's available for day guests (seems obvious they would need to) to a much smaller quantity than would have been previously available. At that new lower quantity level, they are running out of FP's for most high popularity attractions such as TSMM, TT, ToT, etc.. within ~60-90 minutes after the official opening of the park.
Not sure if they were directly reduced, but FP+ seems to be pulling from the same inventory, so a large chunk of paper FP are gone before the park even opens.
3- FP+ is only available to Disney resort guests 'selected' to be a part of the test
All guests are 'selected', as long as you link your reservation and ticket media in MDE
4- Annual Passholders are not eligible to use FP+ unless they have recently participated in a resort test and linked their AP to the system. This appears to be an unintended loophole that they've decided it's not really worth trying to stop because it's such a small number of people, it's not worth worrying about.
5- In my discussion with Disney earlier this week I was told that they do not have a publicly available timeline for if or when FP+ might be made available to AP holders of any kind.
6- Day guests are not eligible to use FP+ at all under any circumstance at this time.
Others have reported that any RFID ticket media can be used for FP+ at the in park kiosks as long as you have MDE setup correctly. I have not personally verified this.
7- There are a number of reports that after they get all of the resorts launched in November the system is going to be essentially frozen until after the holiday season with no changes or additions. Also, not an unreasonable thing, you don't want to be messing with it substantially during that peak holiday period and risk a complete meltdown.
I hope with all the extra revenue that MM+ will be generating will be used to give Guest Services CMs a raise. The offsite guests that come every year for the holidays aren't going to take the disappearance of paper FP lightly.
The only option I have to potentially change this is to spend even more money than that $950 I already spent on my Premier Passport and spend a night at a resort and hope I get selected to 'test' so that I can get FP's in coming months.
I'd suggest getting together with some other local APs and booking a campsite for 1 night. One campsite should allow 10 guests, so if you can get enough people together you can force your way into MM+ for around an additional $8/person.
Comments in Bold
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Bairstow
Well-Known Member
How would you be getting 10 fastpasses at MGM if even one of those was a Midway Mania or Tower of Terror pass?
DougK
Well-Known Member
Please install a LOVE button now.
xdan0920
Think for yourselfer
Eh, lot of variables there.
donsullivan
Premium Member
That would not surprise me at all. Before the introduction of FastPass, during busy holiday periods I remember seeing lines for Space Mountain that stretched all the way out to Rocket Tower Plaza under the PeopleMover track with an estimated 3-1/2 hour wait. However, on peak days in recent years, its also not all that uncommon for attractions like Soarin' or TT to have 4+ hour standby lines on days like NYE.
The reality is that it's impossible to fully predict all of the human behavior aspect of completely removing FastPass and therefor we have no idea how folks would react once everyone got comfortable with such a condition.
Funny because the argument you get from a lot of people is the FP line slows down the standby line considerably.
ExtinctJenn
Well-Known Member
That's kind of where I was going earlier when I asked folks who were upset if they visited before 1999 when FPs went live. I know FPs effected standby slightly but I remember many very long waits before they were introduced as well. I vividly remember waiting in line for Space Mountain in 1989 and it being so long that it stretched outside the building. The only reason I'm sure of the date is because I remember who I was in line with and I only visited with them once in my life. Long lines aren't something new to the parks in general... though I will agree that during times that are usually considered "off peak" there are some attractions that seem to be consistently long (TSMM as an example) and maybe that's related to FPs. Either way... you're gonna wait for the E Tickets.
wannab@dis
Well-Known Member
It's about noon on a busy day at the parks. That is about the normal time that fastpasses for Soarin would be out or into the late evening for return times. Same is true for Midway mania, if they hadn't already run out much sooner. These return times don't appear to be that much different than the old paper fastpasses.
Really? With the old system, they had to get to the parks at a reasonable hour to get a FP for the headliner attractions. As you can see above, passes were still available today just like the old system. IF they get any ability to reserve times prior to their visit, then they will be better off than they were under the old system.
What's really annoying here is some people are trying to pass conjecture off as fact. Or just whine to be part of the pack. If twitter, facebook and this forum had been this popular back in 98/99 when the orginal Fastpass system debuted, the same people would be whining about the end of the world. Now, they are just whining and wanting the old system back.
Oh, it took YEARS before the original fastpass system was mostly glitch-free. They seem to forget that. I can remember trips not long after it rolled out where people were having to go back to guest services all they time because the machines didn't think they were even in the park. Or when guests couldn't get a pass because the system thought they had passes even though they didn't have any. I remember the entire system being down across the whole park for multitple hours. Yet, somehow we survived.
