Problems with Passholder Preview of EE

[dflye]

I went on Thursday after lunch, got 3 fast passes (as neither my wife or son were willing / able to ride it), and then got in the single rider line, which was claiming a 20 minute wait, but was more like 30.

There seemed to be some loading confusion, as people weren't hopping onto the trains fast enough before they had to leave the gate, so people were getting left behind for lagging around.

The checkpoint at the Tarzan end had virtually no line. They were only checking picture IDs for the annual passholders and the actual DVC member cardholder. I had met a friend who is a CM for DIG, no problems getting him in for the one ride he could sneak in on his lunch break.

Coming back in a later time, a couple from out of town with annual passes were stuck trying to get in, as the woman hadn't brought her picture ID, but the CM had no problem when I marched up and said "she's with me" :lol:

With the fast passes there was virtually no wait, rode it 5 times in quick succession once I had several batches of fast passes.

 

[DDuckFan130]

Fortunately Disney doesn't do this. I to am a Seasonal pass holder for the same reasons you mentioned and I for one am glad the Disney doesn't discriminate between different levels of annual passes.

Same here...if we could afford the AP's, we'd get them. But seasonals are just fine

 

[bsandersjr]

Went on Thurs. 1/26/06.
10 min wait, and got a fast pass.

I don't know. If the line is too long, and you do not want to wait, then leave. I feel lucky that Disney has previews.

 

[ZapperZ]

I would have sworn that it was very well-known that AP cannot bring guests, while DVC members can. The Newsletters and e-mails for each of those people clearly are not identical. Even when I got to AK, I double check with a cast member to make sure that as a DVC member, I can bring in up to 3 guests. So for me, there wasn't any confusion at all.

I think the reason DVC members can bring in guests is that it is typically the parents who are DVC members. Allowing them to bring in "guests" means that they can bring their kids in.

In any case, the crowd control was exceeding well-done considering the number of people that showed up. The cast members still can't tell how long the queue is, so the times they tell you are usually quite a bit longer than the actual wait times (I was told at some point we were 1 1/2 hours away, but the whole line took only 45 mins).

So kudos to Disney and the cast members!

Zz.

 

[Amber]

Sunday, right around 4:00 or so, we tried to get thru at the Asia entrance. There were a few guest relations people at one side, and one CM at the other side asking for APs, IDs and fastpasses. Of course we didn't know about the fastpass catch until we got up to her, but the fun part was before that. There was one guy that had already passed her and another guy that was with him that was not past her yet. Guy #1, the one that was already thru, tapped her on the shoulder and said, "Excuse me, ma'am" and as she turned he flicked his pass over her head so his friend could use it to get in too. But what kind of pass did he have? It landed face down and the back looked like my AP, but that has my name on it and their little trick wouldn't have worked. Do seasonal have the passholder's name on them? What about whatever DVC was using to get in?
No wonder the lines were so darn long. I wonder how many other people tried to sneak in.
And, yes, I realize that I should have said something. I was so surprised that it happened I wasn't quick enough to catch it. That and my friend that was with me happened to be over with the guest relations people and didn't see anything. If I saw it again, I would say, "Umm, excuse me! I think you dropped something!" :drevil:

 

[OmegaKnight]

Its great to hear people praising the hard wark me and my fellow EE cast members did during the previews. It may have been busy but we handled it to the absolute best of our ability and we hope you enjoyed the ride and didn't have too much of a hastle trying to experience what one guest called "a Disney F-Ticket ride"

 

[wdwishes2005]

You do realize I went on it twenty three times in two days right? Just be thankful you even got the opportunity to ride something like this months before the average guest does. I admit it was slightly unorganized, with AP previews it is like opening flood gate of APs that have been watching this go up in front of their eyes.

 

[Amber]

I'm not really sure if your post was aimed at any one person or not, but I'll jump in. Of course it was somewhat disorganized. It was new to everyone - passholders and CMs alike. For what I saw, the CMs handled things wonderfully. We even chatted with one for a while who seemed to be enjoying himself. Me, no way I would have stayed cheerful for the whole time. Kudos to anyone who can. I myself went on it 6 times in two days - and that was after looking at the line on Saturday and deciding to come back later. We didn't experience any lines at all by Tarzan when our IDs were checked. The most confusion seemed to come from the different lines - standby, single rider, front row, and the souvenir one that I had a really hard time finding.
My point was the nerve of some people. Had my brain been working a little faster, I would have backed up the CM no question. But since I didn't realize what happened until it was too late, there wasn't a whole lot that I could do.

 

[indigo]

Went on Sunday and managed to have a good time despite some bad planning on Disney's part. Arrived just after 9AM and found the entrance crowds about mid-summer busy. Found ourselves walking to ASIA over the bridge as it was the most direct route to EE. Of course Disney had different plans and when we got to the new Tea House we were told to go back through Dinoland. It would have been nice to have been told that before hand. The guy there rudely stated that there were people stationed before the bridge directing us to Dinoland. We'll if we'd seen or heard them we wouldn't be in Asia, now would we. I think they should have allowed us through at that point, but instead we had to walk back and around. I only saw one Guest Relations CM before I got to Dinoland, and he was talking to guests not directing traffic.

If I'd missed getting FPs because of this little snafu on Disney's part, I would have been miffed, but as it turned out crowds were large, but not so bad as we couldn't get FPs for 1:40PM. Which was fine with me. Of course, getting the FPs was an issue. They hadn't seemed to take into account that the FP line would extend beyond the small queue they'd set up. So they had one CM holding a sign designating the start of the queue and, we found out shortly, two cast members bridging a gap where the ride exited. Of course, if you didn't see those cast members and just proceeded as best you could you somehow found yourself being cutoff by twenty guests. A misunderstanding like that is understandable in the crowds. But to ignore my protestations and cut me off without a second glance was rude beyond need.

The rest of the day was enjoyable and crowds later in the day were quite managable. I'd guess they were running an 80-20 ration of FPs to standby queue. But with the ride's throughput and no breakdowns that I noticed, the queues moved quickly.

 

[lunalovegoddess]

I can honestly say the this premiere was without a doubt one of the best handled from both a security and admission standpoint of any AP preview I have ever attended. Having the entire area shut off with 2 checkpoints requiring your AP and a photo ID was a great idea. I have been to a number of AP previews where this wasn't done and at those there were as many people there that sneaked past security as there were actually pass holders.

The description of the event as a "madhouse" couldn't be farther from the truth. Yes it was incredibly busy but it was very well organized. I rode twice on Saturday. If you arrived early to the park (we got there at 8:00 am) the ride was basically a walk on. Later in the day (about noon) it was about 20 min to get through the security check point and about 1.5 hours in the queue. The time in the queue passed very quickly because it is simply the best themed queue in WDW.

If you drove 2 hours one way ( I drove 3 hours one way with 3 kids) to ride EE why on earth did you turn around in the face of a 1 or 2 hour wait when you were at the ride?

I have to agree with you there. We arrived at about 9am because we stopped for breakfast first. Since we had just eaten we were not going on Everest right away, so we decided to do a few things before heading over there. The CMs really handled things well. The only problem that I had was a bit of confusion over trying to meet up with people from WDWmagic. If I had just gotten in the line from Dinoland, I would have seen that they were already past the checkpoint. Time did pass quickly. I told the kids that we were in line for the "exhibit area" and museum and that we had about an hour until the ride. They seemed fine with that. By the time that we got through the yeti museum, they were able to see the train station. Our daughter balked at the last minute. The only thing I would have done differently would be to ask for a rider switch. However, by the time I realized that she had not gotten on the ride with my husband, it was about to take off. The loading is done very quickly.
We left the park after that and had a late lunch at Epcot. The next time that we are at Animal Kingdom, I think we will go on as soon as we get there.

 

[shoppingnut]

We went on Saturday and AK was a zoo, yes a zoo. When stopped at the board to ask how long the wait was for EE they said about 1:15 and when we got through the checkpoint line they then told us 3 hours. Okay, now an 1:15 I can handle, but 3 hrs. I think is excessive. Others I know that afternoon waited 2 hrs. in line. I personally think that without the use of FP, the line wouldn't have been that long, that it created a longer line and allowed people to ride several times for the preview, but it was a preview and they shouldn't have used FP, but that is my opinion. I understand that they wanted to test it out, but still. So we went and got our lanyard and headed out of AK. Since we just happened to be down there this weekend and it wasn't as if we planned it to specifically ride EE, it's no big deal and I'll ride EE another time.

 

[figdonpat]

My Reply

We went on Saturday and AK was a zoo, yes a zoo. When stopped at the board to ask how long the wait was for EE they said about 1:15 and when we got through the checkpoint line they then told us 3 hours. Okay, now an 1:15 I can handle, but 3 hrs. I think is excessive. Others I know that afternoon waited 2 hrs. in line. I personally think that without the use of FP, the line wouldn't have been that long, that it created a longer line and allowed people to ride several times for the preview, but it was a preview and they shouldn't have used FP, but that is my opinion. I understand that they wanted to test it out, but still. So we went and got our lanyard and headed out of AK. Since we just happened to be down there this weekend and it wasn't as if we planned it to specifically ride EE, it's no big deal and I'll ride EE another time.

Thank goodness that someone else went on Saturday and can back me up! I have read everyone else's replies and I understand everyone's point of view. I was truly expecting the same experience as all of the other Passholder Previews that I have been to though, which was walk up and get on. When I said that it was like a madhouse, I simply meant that there were just soooooo many people. No disrespect to any CMs, they were doing the best they could; it’s just that there were no signs explaining anything though. Since I only live a few hours away, I will ride it when it opens up to the general public. Not a big deal, I just wanted to be the cool kid who already rode the rolley-coaster before everyone else. Thanks for all the responses!

 

[llrain]

you think it was a mad house this weekend....wait till it actually opens up to the public. this past weekend will prob be the last time i ride this ride for many months if not possibly a year....the lines are going to be worse than soarin and you will be lucky to get a fp for quite some time unless you get to the park at like 5am and wait in line. I'd rather just wait. Got my dose of 5 rides

 

[#1DizGal]

I was dubbed by the E:E CMs as the 'unofficial' record holder on riding 43 times. Thursday (no waits/single riders line) 20 times; Friday (same as mentioned before) 22 times; and once on Saturday because it was mobbed. Unbeknownst to me, the CM at the Standby Entrance timed me from that point all the way back to her - and it was 8 minutes. I was even escorted to the control room, and introduced as the attraction's most dedicated rider. The coolest thing I've ever encountered. Kudos to all the E:E CMs in all that they do. Very impressive!

 

[mkt]

I have been to 5 AP previews including EE and AP holders have never been allowed to bring guests. Someone told a fib or was very misinformed. Good to hear you got her in anyway.

I was able to get my whole family on for Soarin' AP previews, without having to lie, cheat, or steal.

 

[mkt]

I was dubbed by the E:E CMs as the 'unofficial' record holder on riding 43 times. Thursday (no waits/single riders line) 20 times; Friday (same as mentioned before) 22 times; and once on Saturday because it was mobbed. Unbeknownst to me, the CM at the Standby Entrance timed me from that point all the way back to her - and it was 8 minutes. I was even escorted to the control room, and introduced as the attraction's most dedicated rider. The coolest thing I've ever encountered. Kudos to all the E:E CMs in all that they do. Very impressive!

gotcha beat

I'm up to 49 times.. lol

 

[Centrifugeer]

I was dubbed by the E:E CMs as the 'unofficial' record holder on riding 43 times. Thursday (no waits/single riders line) 20 times; Friday (same as mentioned before) 22 times; and once on Saturday because it was mobbed. Unbeknownst to me, the CM at the Standby Entrance timed me from that point all the way back to her - and it was 8 minutes. I was even escorted to the control room, and introduced as the attraction's most dedicated rider. The coolest thing I've ever encountered. Kudos to all the E:E CMs in all that they do. Very impressive!

Just so you know, the "control room" is officially referred to as the "tower," even though it's at ground level.

Tower is the terminology for all the "control rooms" at Disney. Not sure why. Need to ask some of the Imagineers who have been there forever.

 

[lunalovegoddess]

*decides not to hold it against Rob since it's not his fault that I've only been on once*