No fastpasses available today?

[donsullivan]

Jumping back into this thread after a few weeks. Has anyone heard anything new on when/if Annual Passholders will ever be able to utilize FP+ without first having paid additional $$$ for a resort room? I'm an Orlando local and not interested in paying even more money than I already have for my AP.

I'm still trying to find someone at Disney that can link my Premier Passport to my MyDisneyExperience account. It can't be done on the site (acknowledged by Disney and confirmed by my own failed attempts), it can't be done on the iPhone app (acknowledged by Disney and confirmed by multiple failed attempts), it can't be done over the phone (acknowledged by Disney on multiple calls) and apparently since I've tried twice without success it can't be done going to by Guest Relations. I know I can't do anything with it even if I get past this (other than stop getting error message on the website) but now it's become a bit of a quest.

It seems like we continue in the mode that if I'm not there for rope drop I don't have a prayer getting an FP of any kind for most of the E-Tickets in any of the parks.

 

[danv3]

Exactly. They gave us the paper pass to get around FP, but the tickets were "broken" and only fixable at GR. Regardless of FP, broken tickets everyday is unacceptable.

To further compound this, a CM at Epcot said that the problem was that he registered his tickets on My WDW like it ASKS you to do. Said once you do that, the tickets don't work. suggested he get out of line,after waiting 30 minutes, and use one of the kiosks to DELETE his My WDW account so it would fix the tickets. He's like " What if I delete my account and that doesn't fix it? And my friend is setup the same way and all his tickets work. So how about YOU fix them?"

They then proceeded to fix them by stacking his tickets to make all of them a duplicate of his. We found that out the next day at MK. He went in first and nobody else could. Another trip to GR. And they fixed them by doing the same exact thing. Found that out at MK again. Weeeeeeeeeeee!!

Even at the entrances they have specail CMs with iPads to handle this, but they can't. They just send you to GR where the line is ridiculously long. They even said just go into the park but when we asked if FP would work, they said no. So why tell us to go in?

I came here for vacation. Not this crap.

And this kind of guest experience is supposed to increase guest spend? LOL.

 

[awoogala]

Slightly off-topic...

It has been expected by people on here that the addition of FastPass+ will result in the removal of EMHs.

Here in the UK, now that the free gift cards promotion finished, the WDW Website is now promoting their 2014 packages as follows...



It's going to be interesting to see if they try to get rid of EMH before the end of 2014, as they are now promoting them as part of a package that they are selling...

I don't know they are totally "getting rid of them", but they are way down from a few years ago. It used to be a daily occurrence, now it's sprinkled throughout the week (at least in off-season, when we go) Every year has been shorter emh (from 12 down to 11 or 10), and less of them (1-3 nights of emh, down from every night our first year). They are absolutely cutting back.
I don't go in "peak" times, so I'm not sure this is applicable to summer/vacation times.
Makes me crazy, since ticket prices are the same whether they are open 8 or 15 hours.

 

[MrNonacho]

And their answer is Sorry go see GR, They are no longer allowed to help.

As NowInc has stated, this is completely false. Distribution CMs still get a stack of Fastpass Key Cards to assist with the exact problem being discussed, and management does not frown on their use at all.

 

[awoogala]

I believe it was mentioned that FP+ users could also get regular FP as well. Lots of double dipping maybe?

I am assuming double dipping is playing a part. As much as I don't want to admit it, I am sure I will double dip if the opportunity exists. I will feel bad about it, but I probably will still get fp along with fp+ if I can. Just being honest here!

 

[OswaldTheRabbit]

And this kind of guest experience is supposed to increase guest spend? LOL.

I know! It will decrease our spending for sure. We will sleep in now instead of getting to the park at rope drop to grab FPs. Disney is definitely losing money on us by adding FP+.

 

[ford91exploder]

...right. He just happened to be able to pull out these magic paper passes that are designed SPECIFICALLY to help in this situation...printed them out from his magic printer thats in his pocket.

He had a large stack of them, and I am pretty sure that they were provided by park management...which I am failing to see falls into him "breaking the rules"

Paper FP's are usually given out when a ride goes 101 - I have not seen CM's with them otherwise, does not mean that they are not issuing them at other times but usually only GR has them. I got ONE in august because of a problem with PP which took 1 hour to fix.

 

[ford91exploder]

Actually, FP+ just might be boosting the lines at some headliner attractions even if attendance hasn't change.

We are getting lots of reports of longer than normal lines for late October. (Especially at Guest Relations.) Something has changed. Do I think what we are seeing is permanent? I hope not. I hope Disney gets the right balance between FP+ and Standby and things return to normal but, given reports, it seems what they have today is encouraging more to stand in line, especially in popular attractions. In other words, FP+ might be making a bad problem worse.

First, I believe Disney is distributing too many FP+ or, more specifically, a higher percentage of guests are actually using their FP+ selections. We all understand that a lot of FP tickets went unused. (I have a pretty big stack of them at home!) As a result, WDW got into the habit of distributing more FP than they had capacity for.

When switching over from FP to FP+, it's not too difficult to imagine that management would be reluctant to reduce the combined number of FP/FP+ being distributed. "What? We just spent $2 Billion for this system and you are telling me I have to hand out fewer return times? You want me to try to justify that to my boss?"

Disney wants us to plan our days around our FP+ selections. Perhaps guests are doing exactly that. Perhaps, as a result, a much higher percentage are actually redeeming their FP+ selections. Perhaps, as a result, Disney is going to have to adjust its FP+ distribution algorithm.

Second, FP+ is designed to change the way guests tour the parks. Given the reports of longer lines on some of the more popular attractions, it could very well be that rather than distributing crowds evenly, FP+ is encouraging guests to concentrate on the more popular attractions and discouraging guests from riding less popular attractions, attractions that tend to have spare capacity.

Hypothetically, let's say it's before FP+ and I arrive at DHS at 10 AM. I walk over to TSM and the return time is already for 7 PM that night while there is a 120-minute Standby line. Not wanting to wait, I grab a FP and head to something else with a short wait. Maybe I do One Man's Dream, Backlot Tour, Lights, Motor, Action, Honey I Strunk the Kids Playset, Star Tours, Indiana Jones. Anything with a typically short wait. Now it's getting around 5 PM and the kids are tired. They really want to head back to the pool to swim. Do I really want to hang around for another 2 hours for TSM? Maybe. Maybe not.

The point is that I've spent hours in the park and not one minute in the TSM FP or Standby lines and, possibly, very little time in a headliner attraction line. (Despite the best intentions of tourplans.com, most guests still tour the parks randomly. )

Conversely, let's say FP+ is now in use and I get a TSM FP+ for 7 PM because that's what was left. I'm not going to bother to show up at DHS at 10 AM. I'm going to do something else. Maybe sleep in. Maybe shop. Maybe go to another theme park with better rides. (Hello Magic Kingdom!) I'm not going to try to fill my day on the Backlot Tour (which always has excess capacity) or One Man's Dream. Instead, if I go to another theme park in the morning, I'm more likely to head to that theme park's premiere attractions. If I'm at MK, I'm going to ride Peter Pan, not Hall of the Presidents. The point is, now I'm going for more E ticket attractions at another park, knowing that my FP+ selection for TSM for later in the day is secure.

Something has changed. We're reading lots of reports of long FP+ lines on the headliners, particularly at DHS and Epcot where there simply aren't enough E ticket attractions.

Are there suddenly more guests at WDW than in the past? Maybe. But, just maybe, FP+ is changing the way guests tour the parks, as it was intended to do. And, just maybe, Disney hasn't yet taken this into account in their FP+ distribution models.

As usual great analysis, As you recall the early tests would only allow 1 headliner and 1 guest pick and third pick was system generated, and these were all clustered in a 4 hour window. Surprise this generated all kinds of negative feedback.

Biggest problem is there are too few 'people eater' headliners and the 'Strategic Planning' group came up with NGE to attempt to reallocate guests among the lesser used rides which was supposedly cheaper than creating attractions. Due to apparent poor planning the cost has ballooned and system simply does not work for many corner cases.

Since TWDC IT outsources nearly everything you probably have dozens or hundreds of contracts each focusing on a specific portion of NGE and TWDC does not have the internal capacity to integrate these subsystems. So you now have lots of components which all 'meet spec' but do not interoperate because there apparently was no team with a global overview of the development process.

What remains is a hot mess and will probably require the services of a specialist firm which picks up the pieces of a project like this and re-assembles Humpty Dumpty - figure another few hundred million for this effort.

Bottom line is large systems that work evolve from small systems that work. These 'god box' software systems nearly always fail because they usually are directed from a group who actively block input from the technical side of the business. - Projects run the opposite way usually fail for a different set of reasons these types of projects need both business and technical leadership on a co-equal basis if the project is to suceeed.

 

[ford91exploder]

Jumping back into this thread after a few weeks. Has anyone heard anything new on when/if Annual Passholders will ever be able to utilize FP+ without first having paid additional $$$ for a resort room? I'm an Orlando local and not interested in paying even more money than I already have for my AP.

I'm still trying to find someone at Disney that can link my Premier Passport to my MyDisneyExperience account. It can't be done on the site (acknowledged by Disney and confirmed by my own failed attempts), it can't be done on the iPhone app (acknowledged by Disney and confirmed by multiple failed attempts), it can't be done over the phone (acknowledged by Disney on multiple calls) and apparently since I've tried twice without success it can't be done going to by Guest Relations. I know I can't do anything with it even if I get past this (other than stop getting error message on the website) but now it's become a bit of a quest.

It seems like we continue in the mode that if I'm not there for rope drop I don't have a prayer getting an FP of any kind for most of the E-Tickets in any of the parks.

Us premier passport holders are equally S----ed by NGE, Don't think I'll be renewing next year, Yup maximized my spend indeed, By spending money anywhere BUT WDW

 

[Admiral01]

Us premier passport holders are equally S----ed by NGE, Don't think I'll be renewing next year, Yup maximized my spend indeed, By spending money anywhere BUT WDW

I held the Premier Passport for the first two years of its existence...but after the price kept going up I stopped. I hit 5 visits to DL/WDW combined in both 2010 and 2011, 26 days in the parks in 2011. This year, 2 visits for a total of 9 days in the parks at WDW only. If we even bother to go back to WDW next year, it will be a single visit, for 3 or 4 days.

All WDW seems to do is things to get me to spend more money without providing any increased quality (or quantity).

 

[msteel]

Paper FP's are usually given out when a ride goes 101 - I have not seen CM's with them otherwise, does not mean that they are not issuing them at other times but usually only GR has them. I got ONE in august because of a problem with PP which took 1 hour to fix.

But he wasn't talking about paper fastpasses. He was talking about a "ticket" that, although it cannot get you into the park, will allow you to get fastpasses from the machines. Like your regular ticket would let you do if it were not "broken."

I truly have no idea if such tickets exist because I had never heard of them until reading about them in this thread. But by actually reading the thread it seemed pretty clear that's how they work.

 

[NowInc]

Paper FP's are usually given out when a ride goes 101 - I have not seen CM's with them otherwise, does not mean that they are not issuing them at other times but usually only GR has them. I got ONE in august because of a problem with PP which took 1 hour to fix.

What was handed out was NOT a fastpass...it was a "ticket"..that is used in fastpass machines (good for one day) to use in place of your park ticket in case its not working. These are not new...and they are not considered a fast pass...they are also not "breaking the rules" by any means. I have seen them MANY MANY MANY times in the past (before next gen), and are for EXACTLY the purpose I listed. Its to PREVENT the guest from having to go to guest relations.

 

[ford91exploder]

But he wasn't talking about paper fastpasses. He was talking about a "ticket" that, although it cannot get you into the park, will allow you to get fastpasses from the machines. Like your regular ticket would let you do if it were not "broken."

I truly have no idea if such tickets exist because I had never heard of them until reading about them in this thread. But by actually reading the thread it seemed pretty clear that's how they work.

DVC also gives these out periodically - especially after a sales presentation although the DVC ones are limited 3FP's during a 3 day period. The fact that these are being handed out speaks volumes to the brokeness of the system, My assumption had been that CM's were giving out the paper FP vouchers that have shown up recently when a ride goes 101 or the MickeyHead only reads white for everyone

 

[NearTheEars]

Shut out of TSM.

Was the standby line closed off??
I know it's not convenient, but you can still ride any ride you want without a Fastpass.
I'm not trying to be a jerk, just don't understand these statements.
If I really want to ride something, then I wait with everyone else.
Maybe I'm just too used to going to Cedar Point as a kid, where lines for the new coasters were hours long and they didn't have a FOTL pass.

 

[ford91exploder]

Was the standby line closed off??
I know it's not convenient, but you can still ride any ride you want without a Fastpass.
I'm not trying to be a jerk, just don't understand these statements.
If I really want to ride something, then I wait with everyone else.
Maybe I'm just too used to going to Cedar Point as a kid, where lines for the new coasters were hours long and they didn't have a FOTL pass.

Sorry - waiting for hours in a uncovered queue with humidity at 80% RH and temperature 90 deg+ is a recipe for heatstroke and you cant just duck out of line for some water. Rides which formerly had no FP queues and wait times under 10 minutes now have 45 minute wait times. With the new FP- system you need a hydration pack and frankly at this point it's not fun anymore

 

[NearTheEars]

Sorry - waiting for hours in a uncovered queue with humidity at 80% RH and temperature 90 deg+ is a recipe for heatstroke and you cant just duck out of line for some water. Rides which formerly had no FP queues and wait times under 10 minutes now have 45 minute wait times. With the new FP- system you need a hydration pack and frankly at this point it's not fun anymore

Like another poster has said, and I agree with, FP+ isn't magically creating more people. It's distributing them into the lines differently.

I have been to the parks a lot this month, and for the "slow" season, its been packed. I'm not basing that on wait times, it's just noticeable when walking down main street.

I think an overall boost in crowd level, combined with FP+ actually encouraging folks to ride things like Imagination, which many often skip, is the bigger culprit.

Whether folks are getting Fastpasses electronically, or the smaller paper share, I believe the overall amount is still the same as before. So the same amount of people are walking up to an attraction with Fastpass in hand, or linked to a band is the same as before.

I just don't see how that would increase wait times.

What I do know for a fact, is that this AP will be waving from the standby line for now with a smile on his face just being thankful that I can head over to WDW a lot more often than most folks.

 

[doctornick]

Was the standby line closed off??
I know it's not convenient, but you can still ride any ride you want without a Fastpass.
I'm not trying to be a jerk, just don't understand these statements.
If I really want to ride something, then I wait with everyone else.
Maybe I'm just too used to going to Cedar Point as a kid, where lines for the new coasters were hours long and they didn't have a FOTL pass.

Agreed. I totally understand the sentiment that less FP access means less efficient touring and fewer rides. I get that and it's a valid concern.

But I wish we could do away with the hyperbole of "not being able to ride x". If riding TSMM or Soarin' or whatever is so critical that not doing so ruins your vacation, then why don't you get in the standby line and ride it? Nobody is being prevented from riding any ride; worst case is it involves a long wait -- which is annoying, but far different from not riding at all.

 

[Longhairbear]

I know! It will decrease our spending for sure. We will sleep in now instead of getting to the park at rope drop to grab FPs. Disney is definitely losing money on us by adding FP+.

And with more guest sleeping in, what does that do to housekeeping? I'm sure room cleaning will start to back up. They'll have to add more housekeeping staff, and that won't save the company any money. It could happen.

 

[muteki]

I just think there is more than just 'adding FP+...' happening here. The paper FP must be way down, the total FP+ slots must be way up, as well as the crowd numbers. Else, if people are limited to 3 FP+, where are all the extra bodies coming from in the FP+ lines... and what are the FP+ users doing AFTER their 3 FP+ allotment is up?

Perhaps if everyone has 3 FP+, that usage is higher than when anyone could get however many FP they wanted but many people didn't know/get as many/use it efficiently.

 

[ford91exploder]

Agreed. I totally understand the sentiment that less FP access means less efficient touring and fewer rides. I get that and it's a valid concern.

But I wish we could do away with the hyperbole of "not being able to ride x". If riding TSMM or Soarin' or whatever is so critical that not doing so ruins your vacation, then why don't you get in the standby line and ride it? Nobody is being prevented from riding any ride; worst case is it involves a long wait -- which is annoying, but far different from not riding at all.

The real tr

Agreed. I totally understand the sentiment that less FP access means less efficient touring and fewer rides. I get that and it's a valid concern.

But I wish we could do away with the hyperbole of "not being able to ride x". If riding TSMM or Soarin' or whatever is so critical that not doing so ruins your vacation, then why don't you get in the standby line and ride it? Nobody is being prevented from riding any ride; worst case is it involves a long wait -- which is annoying, but far different from not riding at all.

Go to Anaheim and ride TSMM where no form of FP exists total wait time is 30-45 minutes in PEAK season. FP definitely increases wait time and it looks like FP+ dramatically increases waits.