No fastpasses available today?

[luv]

The more I read and hear about this, the sorrier I feel for a typical family who sees a commercial and just decides to go the next day, without becoming obsessive Disney planners or making all these appointments for meals and rides.

 

[RSoxNo1]

But the issue I have is I May be a super user (not always) but everyone can do what I do. In the case of the FP+ only people on site can get the 3 therefore the playing field is more uneven than if someone if just a planner.

I do like that we can pre-choose 3 but I just really wish that paper FP would still be available for those rides that aren't covered like the no wait ones that maybe you want to plan for the evening.

Sigh.... I just get a feeling that this is a bad decision for them and people may be really turned off by it.

The other issue is that people can get Fastpasses later in the day, and guests are no longer rewarded from a Fastpass perspective for being in the park early. Yes you may be one of the select few to get a single Fastpass for an E-Ticket attraction, but you were already able to do that. Now, it's more likely that Fastpass will be later in the day. More often than not, guests will be wasting time in order to save time to utilize that Fastpass set up for later in the day. This would be in lieu of Park Hopping, which is apparently also by design.

 

[RSoxNo1]

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.

I disagree with @flynnibus on most of what he says. However, I really find it harder to believe that these are anything more than isolated incidents.

 

[RSoxNo1]

10 AM update
Soarin': 60 minute wait, Fastpass 6:10-7:10 PM
Test Track: 60 minutes wait, Fastpass 5:25-6:25 PM
Toy Story Mania: 105 minute wait, Fastpass 7:05-8:00 PM

 

[RSoxNo1]

So this problem centers largely on Soarin', Test Track and Toy Story Mania right now. I find it funny that it's these three attractions when there are equivalents in California that don't have this issue with the exception of Radiator Springs Racers. Eliminating Radiator Springs Racers from the conversation, California has several attractions that are superior than these 3 Disney World counterparts and the psychotic distribution of Fastpass doesn't apply there. To me, this is the most logical resolution until the problem is fixed at Disney World.

 

[openendedsky]

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

I'm not disagreeing with this at all. I was under the impression that this was going to be a slow season, but quite the contrary.

 

[RSoxNo1]

I'm not disagreeing with this at all. I was under the impression that this was going to be a slow season, but quite the contrary.

It still is a slow season, but they are distributing fastpasses prior to guests entering the park. What it means is that you can't use Fastpass distribution rates as a determination of crowd level right now.

 

[muteki]

So this problem centers largely on Soarin', Test Track and Toy Story Mania right now. I find it funny that it's these three attractions when there are equivalents in California that don't have this issue with the exception of Radiator Springs Racers. Eliminating Radiator Springs Racers from the conversation, California has several attractions that are superior than these 3 Disney World counterparts and the psychotic distribution of Fastpass doesn't apply there. To me, this is the most logical resolution until the problem is fixed at Disney World.

Demand for those attractions is difficult to correlate with their counterparts in California because they are located in a park with a much higher attraction density.

Test Track and Soarin have issues because for many people going into the park they are the only rides there. TSMM has issues because DHS has a severe lack of rides for younger guests.

 

[Buried20KLeague]

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.

There's no need to guess. That's exactly correct. Look at the one in DCA that doesn't have FP. The line hovers around 45 to 60 minutes.

We don't come near the one at WDW because of it.

 

[ford91exploder]

10 AM update
Soarin': 60 minute wait, Fastpass 6:10-7:10 PM
Test Track: 60 minutes wait, Fastpass 5:25-6:25 PM
Toy Story Mania: 105 minute wait, Fastpass 7:05-8:00 PM

Thank you @RSoxNo1 REAL DATA for a change!

 

[Bairstow]

There's no need to guess. That's exactly correct. Look at the one in DCA that doesn't have FP. The line hovers around 45 to 60 minutes.

We don't come near the one at WDW because of it.

As others have pointed out, there are far more rides for younger children at California Adventure than at MGM.
Also, MGM sees over two million more guests per year than DCA does.

Seeing as how the standby queue already touches 110 minutes on a lot of days, I don't think 2 hours is too far fetched.

 

[ford91exploder]

The more I read and hear about this, the sorrier I feel for a typical family who sees a commercial and just decides to go the next day, without becoming obsessive Disney planners or making all these appointments for meals and rides.

As do I, The people who are really going to get hit are the families visiting relations in FL who might go for 1-2 days, They are going to be totally locked out of the E-Tickets unless they have the fortitude to stand in lines for hours.

 

[ford91exploder]

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.

The problem is TDO feels that they have such an irresistable product that people will deal with any amount of pain that TDO inflicts on them, TDO is wrong on many levels how much and how they recover from this will be interesting to say the least.

 

[ford91exploder]

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!

Did Unit 98L65B take the place of 96L66B/27 as I have not seen that unit around recently...

 

[ford91exploder]

I disagree with @flynnibus on most of what he says. However, I really find it harder to believe that these are anything more than isolated incidents.

@RSoxNo1 you are a voice of reason here, I'd like to think that they are isolated incidents but troubles with AP's especially the Premium and Premier levels etc - Right now I don't know WHAT to think other than this is a slow moving train wreck.

 

[Bairstow]

As do I, The people who are really going to get hit are the families visiting relations in FL who might go for 1-2 days, They are going to be totally locked out of the E-Tickets unless they have the fortitude to stand in lines for hours.

Unless our theoretical family knew to arrive to the park early in the morning and head directly to Midway Mania or Soarin' to reserve an afternoon fastpass time, the old system would have been just as bad for them as the new one.

 

[doctornick]

The other issue is that people can get Fastpasses later in the day, and guests are no longer rewarded from a Fastpass perspective for being in the park early.

Quick thought: I wonder if FP+ will encourage people to "take it easy" on vacation and sleep in/arrive late in greater numbers since they "already have rides reserved" before the day begins. This might make getting to the park at RD even more beneficial and might even extend the early morning time frame when rides have quick access.

 

[JenniferS]

@RSoxNo1 you are a voice of reason here, I'd like to think that they are isolated incidents but troubles with AP's especially the Premium and Premier levels etc - Right now I don't know WHAT to think other than this is a slow moving train wreck.

I feel the most sorry for people who will be vacationing in the next few months.

I was a tester 09/23 - 10/02, and except for charging issues with my band, we had an outstanding experience. The parks were deserted, only a few resorts were involved in the testing, and traditional FP's were still accessible.

As the testing rolls out to more, and eventually all resorts, heading into the busiest season of the year, Disney is going to have to do some tweaking, on the fly. I foresee a complete mess for months. The good news is that apparently it CAN be tweaked - to a degree. In the meantime, tens of thousands of families who paid big bucks for their vacation will definitely receive a sub-par experience, while execs and programmers muck around with the algorithms. I'm not sure who has it worse - regular vacationers who know that this is a complete boondoggle, or first time vacationers who may be completely disillusioned with this mess!

I am thrilled to have been part of the first wave of testers. We accomplished more in this last trip than ever before! However, the more I read, the more panicked I become about next year's trip. Next year is all about my niece and her first F & W visit as an adult. Despite being legal in Canada, she won't be US legal until after 10/17, so no September trip for us.

I am quickly inching my way over to the "Just scrap FP's altogether" camp. Unfortunately, that's not likely to happen. Again, I know there will be tweaking and adjustments, but from where I stand, it looks bad. They had a pretty good system, and then goofed it up completely, all because they want to squeeze ever last $$ from guests' pockets.

Scrap this FP+ crap; keep the MagicBands for charging, park entry and room keys; and just build some more freakin' rides.

 

[janoimagine]

Scrap this FP+ crap; keep the MagicBands for charging, park entry and room keys; and just build some more freakin' rides.

This, 1000 times over.

 

[Bairstow]

just build some more freakin' rides.

I think this is the core problem, and the FastPassPlus change is just a distraction.
Disney hasn't added anything new of note to their 3 second-tier parks in a long, long time, and any ride that is remotely new and interesting is mobbed pretty much from open to close.
No matter how fastpasses are distributed, or whether they're distributed at all, this is not likely to change.
Worse, there's not a single E-ticket officially announced for any of these parks, so looking at the rate that it takes Disney to build anything, don't look for the situation to change much for the next 4-5 years.