No fastpasses available today?

asianway

Well-Known Member
Someone on Twitter posted a pic of the email guests receive if their selected attraction is down during their return window. They are provided with a full list of other FP+ attractions (headline attractions included) they can visit through the end of the day, including their original option if it reopens.

So much for SOL.
System isn't 100% in use. We'll see what happens when it goes down NYE
 

ExtinctJenn

Well-Known Member
Eventually, FP will go away. Completely.
As I understood it, there would be FP kiosks that those not staying on property would be able to continue to use with their RFID enabled tickets and what was going away was paper FPs. Are you saying the only people that will be able to get FPs will be those staying on property with Magic Bands via the FP+ system?
 

Bairstow

Well-Known Member
As I understood it, there would be FP kiosks that those not staying on property would be able to continue to use with their RFID enabled tickets and what was going away was paper FPs. Are you saying the only people that will be able to get FPs will be those staying on property with Magic Bands via the FP+ system?

I'm curious how the system would work otherwise.
If all annual passholders were allowed to use MyMagicExperience and reserve FastPassPluss return times throughout the validity period of their passes, what's to stop the entire population of annual passholders from reserving spots on Midway Mania for every single non-blackout day of the year, just in case they might want to go? The same is essentially true of people who buy single-day passes as well. Additional constraints and mechanisms have got to be put in place for park guests whose time of visit cannot be keyed to a resort stay.
 

flynnibus

Premium Member
Someone on Twitter posted a pic of the email guests receive if their selected attraction is down during their return window. They are provided with a full list of other FP+ attractions (headline attractions included) they can visit through the end of the day, including their original option if it reopens.

So much for SOL.

The problem with this methodology is it stands to create huge increases in FP+ users on other attractions unexpectedly. This is the best Customer service option for the FP+ guy who lost.. but it's one of the worst options for the rest of the park and it's guests. Choices like these re-enforce the concern that Disney isn't going to give a @%@$ about length of lines.

The pendulum needs to swing back... if the lines get unbearable (even the FP+ lines) - guests are going to be even more upset then they were prior.
 

ParentsOf4

Well-Known Member
As I understood it, there would be FP kiosks that those not staying on property would be able to continue to use with their RFID enabled tickets and what was going away was paper FPs. Are you saying the only people that will be able to get FPs will be those staying on property with Magic Bands via the FP+ system?
Again, FP goes away completely eventually.

There will be FP+ kiosks. You'll be able to use these to book your FP+ experience once you enter the parks, subject to availability and all the FP+ rules (e.g. 3 per day, all in 1 park).

You can use either your RFID card or MagicBand but some experiences (e.g. special character meet & greets) will be MagicBand only.

I am saying that like ADRs, only those who book early will be able to get the FP+ experiences they want. 3 of WDW's 4 theme parks have serious capacity issues that NextGen does nothing to address. For example, on an average day, there's only enough capacity on Soarin' to handle about 1/3 of Epcot's guests. Since the entire NextGen initiative does nothing to increase capacity, WDW will have the same capacity issues it had in the past. For guests, NextGen's $2B budget is a lot of window dressing. It does not get to the source of the problem. At 3 of WDW's 4 theme parks, there simply aren't enough good attractions.
 

muteki

Well-Known Member
As I understood it, there would be FP kiosks that those not staying on property would be able to continue to use with their RFID enabled tickets and what was going away was paper FPs. Are you saying the only people that will be able to get FPs will be those staying on property with Magic Bands via the FP+ system?
There will be kiosks, but those would be pulling from the same FP+ pool as everyone else. Not a separate FP pool as it is now.

The kiosks for same day FP+ reservations will be attempting to get the same time slots as resort guests made 60 days earlier.
 

Bairstow

Well-Known Member
The problem with this methodology is it stands to create huge increases in FP+ users on other attractions unexpectedly. This is the best Customer service option for the FP+ guy who lost.. but it's one of the worst options for the rest of the park and it's guests. Choices like these re-enforce the concern that Disney isn't going to give a @%@$ about length of lines.

The pendulum needs to swing back... if the lines get unbearable (even the FP+ lines) - guests are going to be even more upset then they were prior.

...but if an attraction is down, wouldn't that be increasing the queues for other available attractions one way or the other?
It's not like Disney can just start kicking people out of a park if Test Track breaks.
 

doctornick

Well-Known Member
...but if an attraction is down, wouldn't that be increasing the queues for other available attractions one way or the other?
It's not like Disney can just start kicking people out of a park if Test Track breaks.

Agreed. FP+ doesn't seem to me to change this dynamic. The issue, once again, is a lack of ride capacity in the parks which gets exacerbated when a popular ride goes down.
 
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flynnibus

Premium Member
...but if an attraction is down, wouldn't that be increasing the queues for other available attractions one way or the other?

Standby lines would increase.. but under this form of guest recovery... BOTH standby and FP+ lines would increase.

It lets people jump into a FP+ line.. which slows both lines. It effectively increases the FP+ allocation for an attraction.

Now.. Disney does this all the time with paper passes.. so its not an entirely new concept. But it just stands to compound other bad behaviors.
 

flynnibus

Premium Member
Agreed. FP+ doesn't seem to me to cahnge this dynamic. The issue, once again, is a lack of ride capacity in the parks which gets exacerbated when a popular ride goes down.

It changes where the guests flow.. here right into the FP+ line. Contrast that when a ride goes down.. normally people would be forced to goto a standby line somewhere.. now they jump right into a FP+ line.. slowing both the existing FP+ line and the corresponding standby line.

Contrast this with existing behavior where Disney would just honor the late FP at the same attraction. Now, this kind of surge is dispersed over many attractions... vs causing a clog in this single attraction once it comes back online.

It's similar to the open FP passes Disney would often give out to people in line.. but on a bit more of an industrial scale.

It's lesser of evils in many ways... but I kind of would have preferred the token would have been released to be reused.. vs a 'golden ticket' for any FP+ line.
 

danv3

Well-Known Member
...but if an attraction is down, wouldn't that be increasing the queues for other available attractions one way or the other?
It's not like Disney can just start kicking people out of a park if Test Track breaks.

Yes, but under this FP+ model, when Space Mountain is down, instead of just increasing the standby line at Buzz, Disney is now increasing the FP+ line at Buzz (and indirectly the standby line) ing off the people who have Buzz FP+ reservations but now will have to wait in a longer FP+ line than they would have. It arguably makes the problem of a ride going down worse than under the current model.
 

wogwog

Well-Known Member
I'm curious how the system would work otherwise.
If all annual passholders were allowed to use MyMagicExperience and reserve FastPassPluss return times throughout the validity period of their passes, what's to stop the entire population of annual passholders from reserving spots on Midway Mania for every single non-blackout day of the year, just in case they might want to go? The same is essentially true of people who buy single-day passes as well. Additional constraints and mechanisms have got to be put in place for park guests whose time of visit cannot be keyed to a resort stay.
The details have not been released but managers at WDW have told me they hear that AP holders will have a limit or quota to book in a time period, week, month, quarter, or ... . The time period is being studied. They want to find the perfect number that will not drive too many AP holders away but not use so many to discourage the high value visitor who spends more. A similar formula is being constructed for cast members who will also have a restriction on FP+ . AP and cast members are less profitable for many reasons. Like Vegas casinos WDW wants more high rollers and less nickel slot players.
 

TimeTrip

Well-Known Member
Has anyone noticed a pattern in how close you can reserve fp+ times. Is it possibly to book 3 fp+ over 4 hours? I wonder if that possibility would actually result in people spending less time at the parks. Rather than waiting around and working the paper fp to get the 3 rides over the course of a full day befor fp+, perhaps they would center the visit around that 4 hour block leading to a less than full day visit.
 

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