No fastpasses available today?

[bugsbunny]

No fast passes available today at TSM by 10:30. And by that time,RnR was 4pm return time. But it didn't seem like the park was all that busy, so I have to think that the number of FPs was purposely lowered.

And thanks to NextGen, none of the kids park tickets worked to get FPs. The gust relations line was 50 deep when we want back to get the tickets fixed. A lot of other people with the same problem. It wouldn't give FPs because it thought the tickets were never used for admission. These were new RFID tickets and I saw them turn green when we came in.

If this is the future, oh boy. Got another week here and hope this gets better.

 

[wogwog]

Just spent over an hour trying to make fp+ selections. The entire system was a mess. Kept saying some people were not able to make selections. Lost half of our selections. Called tech. They suggested we wait until Monday to try, because the website isn't working. Lovely.

"It is a known issue" The stock hotel and guest relations answer you will here on issues like this.

 

[merry68]

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.

Last week, we booked our FP+ back to back times.. for example, at DHS, we did ToT from 10-11, TSM from 11-12 and then we wanted to try GMR to see how it worked for FP+ and that was after that.

The system spreads them out, but then you can go back into your MDE account and move the times around.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Giving guests lots of good FP+ selections each day does not lengthen their time in the WDW's theme parks. If anything, it shortens it. Seriously, if I have FP+ selections on the same day for Soarin', Test Track, and Mission Space (or Turtle Talk), exactly why do I need to visit Epcot a second day?

It's not an unreasonable line of thought. If FP+ saves guests 50 minutes on Mission Space, 100 minutes on Test Track, and 140 minutes on Soarin', guests can reasonably expect to do all of Epcot in a day. The only way to get them to stretch out their time at WDW is to not offer all those FP+ selections for the same day. After all, being manipulated into to visiting Epcot on 2 days to get those additional time savings means guests can sleep in and still spend less time in line. Slowing down, sleeping in, and spending less time in line (and more time in WDW's restaurants and stores) sure sounds like a much more enjoyable vacation, the thinking went. All they have to do is make their FP+ selections from home for 2 days at Epcot and they'll be guaranteed short waits for 6 attractions, not just 3, including all of Epcot's headliners.

This is an excellent point. I'm disappointed in myself for not framing it this way previously. The original intent is so far removed from what they're doing they are now basically modifying this into something that totally defeats the initial purpose. Initially it was the numbers not working for # of Fastpass attractions in 3 of 4 parks, they addressed that by adding Fastpass to other attractions. Then, it was the somewhat arbitrary groupings of attractions that put some people at a disadvantage. They eliminated the groupings and now we see the effects of that outlined above (and also frustrating day guests).

The end game should be utilizing the new infrastructure but the legacy distribution rules. That is the easiest solution. The only other way this works is if a significant roster of new attractions is added to each park.

One other component of this that was mentioned at the original xPass pitch meeting was a 3rd theater for Soarin'. This would alleviate some of the problems at Epcot, but is far from a true resolution.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Just spent over an hour trying to make fp+ selections. The entire system was a mess. Kept saying some people were not able to make selections. Lost half of our selections. Called tech. They suggested we wait until Monday to try, because the website isn't working. Lovely.

I've been hearing this more and more. Even with the system working correctly the reservation selection has been slow for many people.

 

[steve2wdw]

I've been here for ten days and have tried to throw whatever I could at the system.....switching entire days just hours before they were supposed to take affect, and I've been able to do everything I wanted. The system worked flawlessly and as quick as I'd expect any computer transaction to take. I'm an AP holder and a DVC member and was expecting a huge hassle and it has been the exact opposite. I don't like to plan in advance but when changing things to fit our spontaneity, the system has still worked. I've also only picked headliners when booking and rebooking FP+. So for something at I wanted to hate, I'm having a hard time doing just that. I will say that I've noticed lines at other attractions (not headliners) obviously caused by the addition of FP+, and those lines don't seem to move at all. Haven't been stuck in one of those, but I'm sure it's going to happen. It's going to take another visit or even two, for my final judgement.

 

[Bairstow]

II will say that I've noticed lines at other attractions (not headliners) obviously caused by the addition of FP+, and those lines don't seem to move at all. Haven't been stuck in one of those, but I'm sure it's going to happen. It's going to take another visit or even two, for my final judgement.

Which attractions were those? If it's Pirates, there's probably another reason for that.

Also, I'm curious- were you able to reserve a fastpass for either Soaring Over California or Midway Mania only one day in advance?

 

[Admiral01]

I've been here for ten days and have tried to throw whatever I could at the system.....switching entire days just hours before they were supposed to take affect, and I've been able to do everything I wanted. The system worked flawlessly and as quick as I'd expect any computer transaction to take. I'm an AP holder and a DVC member and was expecting a huge hassle and it has been the exact opposite. I don't like to plan in advance but when changing things to fit our spontaneity, the system has still worked. I've also only picked headliners when booking and rebooking FP+. So for something at I wanted to hate, I'm having a hard time doing just that. I will say that I've noticed lines at other attractions (not headliners) obviously caused by the addition of FP+, and those lines don't seem to move at all. Haven't been stuck in one of those, but I'm sure it's going to happen. It's going to take another visit or even two, for my final judgement.

Glad to hear you had a good experience with it. We certainly did NOT have a good experience with it. Even from your description, though, in order to be spontaneous I still need to get back on my iPhone or my laptop and change my selections...not very "vacationey."

I hate to say it, but with our terrible experience last week using the Magicbands, My Magic +, and all the rest, I'm not looking forward to a return trip like I usually do. Our MagicBands, both the original set and the replacement set that I had to get, were a dysfunctional disaster. With 5 days of dysfunction, what is my motivation to do that all again? What is my motivation to give Disney any additional money if what they do with the profits they do get from people like me is to design a system that doesn't improve the guest experience. For $1.5B Disneyland gets Carsland and a redesigned California Adventure. For $1.5B, WDW gets MagicBands, and a 15 minute wait for Journey into Imagination with Figment (seriously, it was 15 min last week).

So, I didn't pass judgement until I tried it, and it was terrible. Waste of my time and money - I didn't go on a 5 day trip to WDW to be a guinea pig for a system that should be in beta test at best. I know I will head back to WDW eventually, but if this idiotic FP+ system is here to stay, disrupting the flow of the rides, I don't see a point. Longer lines, no FP available at the parks, and a My Magic + system that wouldn't let me use the "new and improved" stuff that NextGen is meant to offer.

 

[stevehousse]

Glad to hear you had a good experience with it. We certainly did NOT have a good experience with it. Even from your description, though, in order to be spontaneous I still need to get back on my iPhone or my laptop and change my selections...not very "vacationey."

I hate to say it, but with our terrible experience last week using the Magicbands, My Magic +, and all the rest, I'm not looking forward to a return trip like I usually do. Our MagicBands, both the original set and the replacement set that I had to get, were a dysfunctional disaster. With 5 days of dysfunction, what is my motivation to do that all again? What is my motivation to give Disney any additional money if what they do with the profits they do get from people like me is to design a system that doesn't improve the guest experience. For $1.5B Disneyland gets Carsland and a redesigned California Adventure. For $1.5B, WDW gets MagicBands, and a 15 minute wait for Journey into Imagination with Figment (seriously, it was 15 min last week).

So, I didn't pass judgement until I tried it, and it was terrible. Waste of my time and money - I didn't go on a 5 day trip to WDW to be a guinea pig for a system that should be in beta test at best. I know I will head back to WDW eventually, but if this idiotic FP+ system is here to stay, disrupting the flow of the rides, I don't see a point. Longer lines, no FP available at the parks, and a My Magic + system that wouldn't let me use the "new and improved" stuff that NextGen is meant to offer.

I don't understand why if you had badluck with lines, why you chose to complain about a 15 min wait and not something with a more serious time issue?!?

 

[HakunaMatata89]

i've been scratching my head since they first announced FP+ and im still at a loss for words at the whole system.

 

[danv3]

The end game should be utilizing the new infrastructure but the legacy distribution rules. That is the easiest solution. The only other way this works is if a significant roster of new attractions is added to each park.

This. eFastpass.

 

[bugsbunny]

I'm not staying on property but I've had new RFID tickets for months and had them associated with My Disney. Never offered the opportunity to try Fastpass+. I wonder when this will be tested or offered for ticket only guests. But it wouldn't surprise me if WDW made it that you had to stay on property in order to use FP+. Their want to hold your wallet captive is enormous enough I can see them trying that.

 

[stlphil]

The Band's default card limits are the same as the KTTW. When we stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge this past September it was preset to $1.5k. (or rather, it should have been had an error not temporarily fixed it at zero, but that's another story).

I strongly believe that while the RFID-based "tap-to-pay" functionality of the MagicBand is fundamentally identical to the KTTW card, the different kinetics of using the band are importantly different. With a KTTW card, you still have to reach into your wallet or back pocket or purse and pull out the card to use it, the same exact motions one goes through to use a credit card. With the band, you don't; there's no reaching into your pocket or purse or handling anything (other than the keypad) that looks anything like we see in or daily money-spending lives back home. There's a handsome-looking Mickey-shaped scanner that glows a pleasant green when it's used, the same as when we do other fun things like enter a theme park or return a Fastpass reservation to ride an E-ticket attraction. I feel like these differences are all very deliberate and will have a real psychological effect on the average Disney guest and the money-spending experience because it very carefully makes spending money not feel like spending money. Even if from a rational perspective there have been no changes here, I feel as though the psychological effect of the new band-charging equipment will cause a dramatic uptick on guest spending, if it hasn't already.

I might agree with you on the different kinetics of using the bands if there were no lines to buy things. The reality is that there are always lines to buy things, and usually long ones. The moment of impulse to decide to buy something is so separated in time from the moment of actually using the bands that it is hard to believe the "kinetics" of the bands will have any effect on the impulse.

Also, as I have argued in the past, it is only clueless executives who don't visit the parks like regular guests (if at all), and experience things like long lines to buy stuff, that could have missed this point and approved the bands project in the first place.

(Edited to remove inadvertent quote of a second post.)

 

[steve2wdw]

Which attractions were those? If it's Pirates, there's probably another reason for that.

Also, I'm curious- were you able to reserve a fastpass for either Soaring Over California or Midway Mania only one day in advance?

I was able to change times for both of those attractions less than 12 hours before I was supposed to use them. Long lines at SSE, HM, JC, to name a few.

 

[fbb]

For $1.5B Disneyland gets Carsland and a redesigned California Adventure. For $1.5B, WDW gets MagicBands, and a 15 minute wait for Journey into Imagination with Figment (seriously, it was 15 min last week).

DL peeps have their head in the sand if they think they're safe from this tech.

 

[wogwog]

i've been scratching my head since they first announced FP+ and im still at a loss for words at the whole system.

Loss for words? You can borrow mine. Waste of money. Too complicated. Not necessary. Greed driven. Too expensive to fail no matter the final cost. New "known issues" daily.

 

[Cletus]

I don't understand why if you had badluck with lines, why you chose to complain about a 15 min wait and not something with a more serious time issue?!?

Because the wait was for Freakin' Figment! When was the last time that attraction had a line that was even 5 minutes long?

 

[awoogala]

I've been here for ten days and have tried to throw whatever I could at the system.....switching entire days just hours before they were supposed to take affect, and I've been able to do everything I wanted. The system worked flawlessly and as quick as I'd expect any computer transaction to take. I'm an AP holder and a DVC member and was expecting a huge hassle and it has been the exact opposite. I don't like to plan in advance but when changing things to fit our spontaneity, the system has still worked. I've also only picked headliners when booking and rebooking FP+. So for something at I wanted to hate, I'm having a hard time doing just that. I will say that I've noticed lines at other attractions (not headliners) obviously caused by the addition of FP+, and those lines don't seem to move at all. Haven't been stuck in one of those, but I'm sure it's going to happen. It's going to take another visit or even two, for my final judgement.

Well, hasn't worked for us. So far, some problems:
1. switch times for a fp, only to have a "blank". fp selection just disappeared, now I only have 2 on that day
2. fp+ selection only went through for 1 or 2 of my party (on multiple days/attractions/and dates). My 8 year old is the only one with a fp+ for soarin- no amount of re-selecting will allow the rest of us to have a fp+ for that day.
3. changed times of fp+, but it will not update, continues to show the "old" time.
4. attempted about a dozen times on a second day to change a fp+ time, page keeps going blank, then telling me there's a problem "behind the scenes.

Tech says all of this is "known", so you may be the exception, or got it at a good time of day.

 

[doctornick]

I've been hearing this more and more. Even with the system working correctly the reservation selection has been slow for many people.

I found the system to be far quicker on Firefox than it was on IE, for what it is worth. Which is odd because I generally have had much more success with IE on Disney's website.

 

[awoogala]

Well, hasn't worked for us. So far, some problems:
1. switch times for a fp, only to have a "blank". fp selection just disappeared, now I only have 2 on that day
2. fp+ selection only went through for 1 or 2 of my party (on multiple days/attractions/and dates). My 8 year old is the only one with a fp+ for soarin- no amount of re-selecting will allow the rest of us to have a fp+ for that day.
3. changed times of fp+, but it will not update, continues to show the "old" time.
4. attempted about a dozen times on a second day to change a fp+ time, page keeps going blank, then telling me there's a problem "behind the scenes.

Tech says all of this is "known", so you may be the exception, or got it at a good time of day.

Oh, and today.. I just get "server is busy" over and over again, no matter what I do.