No fastpasses available today?

[Cardinals314]

Out of curiosity - how will FP+ effect sites like Touring Plans?

Planning wise, the website will probably ask you for your FP times, similar to restaurant reservations when creating your plan. There will still be a general plan for touring that doesn't include any FP reservation

 

[Bairstow]

What Disney is ALSO doing is holding the Standby line so the FP+ riders can go ahead so the RATIO of FP to Standby is what TDO Operations expects it to be otherwise the CM's get abused by TDO. There are empty ride vehicles because of this and this is why you are hearing stories of EMPTY FP- lines with immobile Standby lines.

I never witnessed this being done in September, especially since all the really high-demand attractions have a merge point well ahead of vehicle load.

From what I've seen, the increased wait time at Pirates may be due to reduced overall ride capacity caused by boats taking on too much water.
When exiting a boat last month I witnessed cast members moving to our vehicle as soon as we were out and using dust pans to bail out as much water as they could between go-rounds. If this is holding up the boats returning to load on a regular basis it would surely decrease the hourly capacity of the ride. Because the FastPass distribution allotment is likely calculated without factoring in this problem, the standby queue would be the hardest hit under these conditions.

 

[ford91exploder]

I call BS on this.. and so does Bill who I trust far more than you.

And as for 'data' - anyone who calls themselves an engineer knows there is more to conclusions than observing an outcome.

How much data do YOU have to back up YOUR claims that everything is going swimmingly???, Guess all the reports we've seen here on the boards are just 'Isolated Incidents',

Does not change the fact that NONE of US with premier passports (the ones that let you into DL as well as WDW) can use FastPass Minus. No guess that's all in our heads.

 

[flynnibus]

How much data do YOU have to back up YOUR claims that everything is going swimmingly???, Guess all the reports we've seen here on the boards are just 'Isolated Incidents',

You seem confused. I did not claim anything was going swimmingly - but I don't need to know the correct answer to know when a claim is flawed or baseless. Unless you're hoping we subscribe to the broken clock theory?

Does not change the fact that NONE of US with premier passports (the ones that let you into DL as well as WDW) can use FastPass Minus. No guess that's all in our heads.

And that doesn't change the fact that has absolutely nothing to do with any of this. But keep trying to deflect and change the subject.

 

[Bairstow]

What Disney is ALSO doing is holding the Standby line so the FP+ riders can go ahead so the RATIO of FP to Standby is what TDO Operations expects it to be otherwise the CM's get abused by TDO. There are empty ride vehicles because of this and this is why you are hearing stories of EMPTY FP- lines with immobile Standby lines.

Wait a second.
Disney has hard data logging every time a magic band or card returns a fastpassplus reservation, and similarly has data showing them when a paper ticket creates a paper fastpass. There's no way to fool Disney as to the number of fastpass users coming back to ride an attraction.

Therefore, even if your theory was true, sending empty vehicles through an attraction would make the ratio appear more in favor of standby riders than Fastpass users of either stripe.

 

[George]

Wait a second.
Disney has hard data logging every time a magic band or card returns a fastpassplus reservation, and similarly has data showing them when a paper ticket creates a paper fastpass. There's no way to fool Disney as to the number of fastpass users coming back to ride an attraction.

Therefore, even if your theory was true, sending empty vehicles through an attraction would make the ratio appear more in favor of standby riders than Fastpass users of either stripe.

What about the magic band wearing robot army I've been sending on rides again and again? Unit 98L65B has been on TSMM 58 times in the last week! However, your claim is fundamentally true if you don't care that Disney can't discriminate between artificial and real humans!

 

[stlphil]

But in reality, early bird planning was necessary before fp+. Look at the trouble people go through for ADRs. Monitoring specials and discounts. Online check-in.
I over heard a young woman on a bus heading to Magic Kingdom say it best, "Disney World is NOT a vacation, it is an experience."

I respectfully disagree.

ADRs? In many many trips, I have had a total of 2 ADRs (still manage to have some nice table service meals though). But table service dining is not the main draw at WDW, the attractions are. ADRs are not necessary to have a great time, but the big attractions are.

Monitoring specials and discounts? Many of these are dubious values or so insignificant as to not be worth the time.

On-line check in? Never used it, never seemed to provide much value.

However, I will give you EMH as a reason to sometimes do some planning (although we've used it for planning which park to avoid as much as for which park to attend ).

But ultimately there is nothing to compare to the sense of adventure you get by waking up and only deciding then which park or part of the World to explore that day.

 

[LapsedWDWFan]

We also 'know' the wait times are only higher if there are actual people getting on the ride in front of you. You can't increase the wait times everywhere without actual bodies. So either the bodies are all concentrated in the same places.. or there are a lot more bodies than you think there are.



It's F&W dude.. and leading into holloween. It's not the dead time people think it is anymore.



Again.. you can't make all the lines longer without bodies. So the theory that everything is longer and lower crowds at the same time does not compute. FP/FP+ doesn't change that. A FP+ can't be on two rides at once... yes they are getting more rides in per hour when they are enabled.. but they are limited to ~3.

So the main impact will be how many FPs disney actually makes available - a variable that will be manipulated constantly. But giving out 100,000 or 10.. your wait is always going to be based on people getting on the ride. And adding or subtracting FPs doesn't change how many bodies are in seats.

My man you are wise beyond your years.

In the pre-FastPass days, the only way to "beat the system" was to go to an attraction when the bodies were simply not there. In the FastPass era, that hasn't changed much. If the stand by bodies aren't there, neither are the FastPass bodies. Forget FastPass. The real trick is knowing when the bodies will not be there.

 

[DisneyCane]

More and more I get the feeling that NGE is an elaborate Kabuki theater act to fool Wall St into thinking that Disney P&R is experiencing actual GROWTH, As the examples there are longer lines and the hotels are 'full' even though many of the hotels have more than half the rooms 'out of service' ESPECIALLY the DVC resorts so many DVC members are UNABLE to make reservations.

Disney has become untrustworthy to say the least

Wall Street isn't that stupid. They look at financial reports and company projections. SEC rules make it illegal for companies to intentionally mislead investors. Nobody (well, no professional trader or analyst) will buy Disney stock because of reports about the wait times in parks.

 

[ford91exploder]

Wall Street isn't that stupid. They look at financial reports and company projections. SEC rules make it illegal for companies to intentionally mislead investors. Nobody (well, no professional trader or analyst) will buy Disney stock because of reports about the wait times in parks.

You mean the same crew who made Enron the highest flyer on the 'Street, and the same guys who could not catch Bernie Madoff. The street will buy anything that 'looks good' and can by hyped to the sheep,

The SEC guys are paper tigers who want jobs after they retire in 20 years with the same companies they regulate. So may <$DEITY> help you if you don't fill out a form correctly, But if you are bilking investors by putting fake financials on the street. No problem SEC will give you a pass.

If you have money in Chase - Pull it out now as they are sending letters to businesses informing them that they will only be able to withdraw $50,000 per month in cash and will be unable to send international wire transfers as of Nov 17.

 

[mr spalding]

I read on another forum where someone stayed offsite in a 3 bedroom suite at a luxurious resort (for half the cost compared to staying onsite at a deluxe shoebox) and then rented a room at POP to get Free Dining and all the perks of staying onsite (EMH, FP+, etc..).

 

[draybook]

The increased wait times on Pirates is also from forcing everyone into one line. Add to that that about half of the time or more there wasn't anyone manning the "how many in your party" spot and the person working the controls on the dock had to come over and direct your party to it's row.

 

[cbsav]

********UPDATED: looks like they might be holding some FP+ back as just now (848) a slew of new TSM return times throughout the day became available -1045, 215, 530,620.

Hmmmm, maybe not time for doom and gloom yet.

Quick TSM FP+ update for day of FP prior to park open (using iphone app):

At 730am there was only FP 450-550
At 745am there was FP for 450-550 and 625-725
At 815 there was only FP for after 530

 

[merry68]

Ok, I'm headed to DHS in a bit with my Hunger Games tracking device on.

For the record, my family aren't huge FP users. I just hate that EVERY thing- attraction, M&G, parade, fireworks has FP+ signs. If I didn't know better, I'd think I was at Uni wanting to use EP.

Yesterday at Epcot, we only wanted FP+ for 1 ride, TT. The system forces you to reserve 3. And being stuck to 1 park is worse. We don't like Soarin nor do we like MS. So we got FP for things we've never had before, Spaceship Earth. Now this was a good thing as the standby time was 25min. We we're let right on, the Standby was stopped so we could walk right up the ramp and into the ride.

I just have this feeling that TWDC is going to tier this to a stay, as another poster said, stay n play, with deluxe resort guests getting most perks. TWDC isn't about fairness, they are about profit, so I mean no disrespect to those that stay in values.

I don't mind this ride reservation but do not want this ability to be 60 days out.. How about a week before.

I didn't ride TT yesterday. Our FP+ return was 10:10-11:10. Hubby said almost everyone in the line was swiping their MBs. He did notice other guests who were trying to swipe and go to ride when CMs had to stop them and get them out of line because they didn't have a reservation for TT. Imagine the mess when more folks do that. Some folks want more unlimited FPs, ie Uni. And the official response from CMs- this is a test, you agreed to be part if a test. This was what was told to man trying to swipe thru TT when he had no TT reservation.

I'm curious as to when legacy FPs will be gone.. Now that I'm here and seeing many MBs, I'm wondering if they'll be gone by early Jan?

Off to watch TSM nonsense while my family rides ToT and RnRC.

People watching is still my number #1 thing to do at Disney. Until I need FP+ for it! ;-)

 

[King Capybara 77]

Because the 'rich Manhattan Moms' have such a built in entitlement mentality that they would just pay off their pediatrician. He can declare that their "little Biff" has an upcoming week long episode of temporary Autism coming on. So they get a DAS card instead. "Totally Fabulous Muffykins!! - pass the caviar!! "

 

[lentesta]

Yet. Apparently Meet n Greets will lose the standby option first if rumors are to believed.

Planning wise, the website will probably ask you for your FP times, similar to restaurant reservations when creating your plan. There will still be a general plan for touring that doesn't include any FP reservation

We've had FP+ support since April, and yeah, that's part of how it works: If you have your FP+ reservations already set, we ask you to input them and we'll build a plan around them.

We'll also tell you if any of the FP+ options aren't needed, so you can use them on something else. For example, we'll tell you that your 9 AM MuppetVision isn't useful if you've not got FP+ for TSMM, ToT or RnRC.

If you don't have FP+ reservations, you can ask the software to make suggestions for you. And the software will rank the attractions from 1 to N, prioritized by how much time you'll save using FP+ at those attractions.

There's a couple of minor bugs I need to fix (one is that if your plan is so efficient that you show up really early for a show that you're using FP+ with, we don't always print a reminder that you're using FP+ on the step), but in general it's pretty solid.

If I can throw in a plug: the touring plan software is free to use, both the desktop version and the mobile app for in the parks. You need to sign up for a 'basic' account, so we can match you to your plans, but it's free.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Wow, I would NOT be happy right now if I was an WDW annual passholder. It appears that Disney is really giving them the shaft. I agree with some of the previous posters that FP+ wouldn't be such a bad thing if it were to coexist with the current fastpass system. But to get rid of paper fastpasses altogether and only hold a few fastpass time slots for day-of guests is a huge problem in my opinion. Those who don't book ride times for the major E-tickets 60 days out are going to be faced with very long waits. It'll be even worse during the busy season.

What puzzles me the most about My Magic+ is why they felt the need to add fastpass options to attractions that are not in high demand and usually have little or no line. Who would ever want (or need) fastpasses to Journey Into Imagination or Primeval Whirl?

To your greater point about Fastpass on attractions that don't need it. The reason behind it is to "make the numbers work". If every guest is eligible for 3 Fastpasses they needed to get that added capacity somewhere. In short, they are deceiving guests with this program where all attractions are equal. I will however say that Primeval Whirl has used Fastpass off and on for a while now. Regardless of what you think of the attraction, it has utilized Fastpass effectively for a bit. Journey Into Imagination, Spaceship Earth, and about 30 other attractions however fall under the "deceiving guests" category.

 

[RSoxNo1]

I can't speak for other attractions, but soarin has been on par with the distribution rate of the past couple of weeks. One, it's a Friday, two food and wine. Soarin has generally been running out between 11-12 every day, sans the last couple of days with the system going nuts.

Relative to previous years at this time, it's running out 4-5 hours before it should be.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Yes FP+ works great on paper.The concern is when it is actually deployed for everyone we'll see more guest dissatisfaction because the ideal rides/times will be gobbled up by the hoggers at 60 days out. What next? Penalize people for NOT using their FP+ time? Works for the dining.

IMHO allowing ride booking so early is just stupid. It invites abuse and problems. Keep it something reasonable like the week of. Not months before people come to the state, before anyone has an idea what the weather forecast will be.

I find the first sentence of this post funny. The one component of Fastpass+ that is beneficial is that it's not actually on paper. That actually creates smaller problems as well (in that every Fastpass is now linked to a ticket so if a family doesn't all want to get a Fastpass for something it's a bit more annoying to split it up and keep track of everything. A good friend of mine is coming down from Canada for 3 weeks and is trying to book Fastpass+ reservations for 3 weeks over Christmas time for him and his family. So far it has taken him 4 hours to book just 7 days of Fastpass+ reservations. Oh... and he's a computer programmer.

This is ridiculous.

Keep the current distribution rules, eliminate the extra Fastpass attractions except on the busiest days, make it electronic using smart phones or in park kiosks and call it a day. Otherwise, expect people to stop going because it's too much of a pain in the a$$ to go to Disney World.

 

[RSoxNo1]

If there were no Fastpasses at all, wouldn't the standby queue for Midway Mania be over 2 hours for the entire day?

No. Look at it this way. Not everyone will wait 90 minutes for Toy Story Mania which is why many people use Fastpass. People have a certain length of time that they're willing to wait for an attraction and that helps govern line lengths. In many cases, you could speculate that standby times would be cut in half upon the removal of Fastpass. For higher demand attractions I wouldn't expect that to be as true, simply because people still want to go on the rides even if they can't get a Fastpass. Some people will be weeded out, but not all. Those people that won't wait 90 minutes for Toy Story Mania may be willing to wait 45, 60 or 75 minutes, just not 90.

I would guess that elimination of Fastpass at Toy Story Mania would see the wait time hovering in the 45-75 minute time frame most days.