Upset with fastpass+ ?

[BearsMom2011]

Is anyone upset about being limited to 3 fastpasses a day like I am? I am used to using the fastpasses all day and using at least 6 a day! And you can only choose 1 out of the tier 1 category! During busy season it is just not enough for one day! If you are you need to write to Disney and let them know. (guest.mail@wdw.disneyonline.com)This is part of what they replied to me...

Disney will always listen to what our guests want and if there is great enough demand for increasing the amount of Disney's FASTPASS+® selections per day then we will seriously look into raising the limit. There are more guests than just yourself that have mentioned your displeasure with the amount selections you are given, and we will look at the system to make sure we do what is best for our guests.

I told a CM on the phone that I was not thrilled with the limit and she told me they did it because too many people will hoarding FP in the park and not enough people could get them. I haven't been to WDW in 10 years, but I seriously doubt that this was the case. Most people I have talked to don't know anything about FP before going and don't even figure it all out. So the small amount of folks who "abuse" (ie figure out) the system are not affecting that many people.

 

[GoofGoof]

I told a CM on the phone that I was not thrilled with the limit and she told me they did it because too many people will hoarding FP in the park and not enough people could get them. I haven't been to WDW in 10 years, but I seriously doubt that this was the case. Most people I have talked to don't know anything about FP before going and don't even figure it all out. So the small amount of folks who "abuse" (ie figure out) the system are not affecting that many people.

Sounds like BS to me, but the poor CMs are given very little actual info so I don't really blame them. There was another thread around here that had a quote that the average person used around 2 FPs a day so if there were people using a lot more than 3 that means the average Joe was less than 2. I do think the idea was to make FP+ the socialism of FP where everyone gets 3 and the FP veterans will be limited, but the average Joe who used less than 2 or none will all now have 3.

 

[Zummi Gummi]

I told a CM on the phone that I was not thrilled with the limit and she told me they did it because too many people will hoarding FP in the park and not enough people could get them. I haven't been to WDW in 10 years, but I seriously doubt that this was the case. Most people I have talked to don't know anything about FP before going and don't even figure it all out. So the small amount of folks who "abuse" (ie figure out) the system are not affecting that many people.

I don't understand how getting that many fastpasses would be considered "abuse." You're not doing anything untoward or illegal.

 

[Redhawk]

I agree that a great many guests never did figure out paper FP, and a number might have only used 1-2 per day. Those who used 5-6 per day weren't doing anything wrong or abusing the system.

By saying "hoarding" could the CM have meant that people pulled passes and then ended up not using them and not giving them away to someone else? I don't think that happened often enough to cause a big problem of running out of FPs each day.

I guess the CMs at some point just decide to say whatever they feel like saying as the "reason" for the 3 per day limit.

 

[GoofGoof]

I agree that a great many guests never did figure out paper FP, and a number might have only used 1-2 per day. Those who used 5-6 per day weren't doing anything wrong or abusing the system.

By saying "hoarding" could the CM have meant that people pulled passes and then ended up not using them and not giving them away to someone else? I don't think that happened often enough to cause a big problem of running out of FPs each day.

I guess the CMs at some point just decide to say whatever they feel like saying as the "reason" for the 3 per day limit.

In their defense they haven't been told the right answer so they go with whatever rumor is floating around at the time.

 

[Kurt Hauk]

Seeing as how I am 60 days out from my trip to the world we sat down last evening to plan our fastpasses. My biggest complait would be the limited times or choices you are given once you pick the rides you want. For example our Epcot choices were Soarin, Mission Space, and The Seas. It then lists 4 options. What they call the best option and then A, B, and C options.

The "best option" Had us at Soarin from 9:20-10:20. Mission Space at 10:35 to 11:35. The Seas at 12:10 to 1:10. So the "best option" had us rushing to Soarin right after the park opens. Then headind all the way to the other side of the park shortly after for Mission Space. Then back over to the Seas during lunch time.

The other options were not much better with one of them putting you in The Land during the lunch rush to ride Soarin. I just don't understand why they can't let you choose from times that would fit what you would want to do more. Maybe I am missing something but it seems very rigid in the way it works and really isn't very benficial compared to the old system.

 

[Redhawk]

The "best option" Had us at Soarin from 9:20-10:20. Mission Space at 10:35 to 11:35. The Seas at 12:10 to 1:10. So the "best option" had us rushing to Soarin right after the park opens. Then headind all the way to the other side of the park shortly after for Mission Space. Then back over to the Seas during lunch time.

I understand your complaint but you don't have to "rush" to Soarin' after the park opens, unless you want to try to ride it twice, using Standby first and then using your FP. You can show up at the FP entrance at 10:19, so that's not exactly having to rush if the park opens at 9:00. Then you have another hour to get to Mission Space. Don't know where you want to eat lunch or when, but perhaps you could change the Seas FP to a time later in the afternoon so you can go from Mission Space to lunch somewhere the World Showcase and then work your way back to The Seas.

 

[Dwarful]

Will it let you select later FP's times? My plan was to hit the morning EMH's and ride all of our favorites at that park, making late FP's for another park in the evening. Will this not be an option?

 

[Susan Savia]

We have been in the parks the past 10 days and every FP+ kisok has LONG lines. Kinda funny, wait all that time for a FP...

 

[jlsHouston]

Seeing as how I am 60 days out from my trip to the world we sat down last evening to plan our fastpasses. My biggest complait would be the limited times or choices you are given once you pick the rides you want. For example our Epcot choices were Soarin, Mission Space, and The Seas. It then lists 4 options. What they call the best option and then A, B, and C options.

The "best option" Had us at Soarin from 9:20-10:20. Mission Space at 10:35 to 11:35. The Seas at 12:10 to 1:10. So the "best option" had us rushing to Soarin right after the park opens. Then headind all the way to the other side of the park shortly after for Mission Space. Then back over to the Seas during lunch time.

The other options were not much better with one of them putting you in The Land during the lunch rush to ride Soarin. I just don't understand why they can't let you choose from times that would fit what you would want to do more. Maybe I am missing something but it seems very rigid in the way it works and really isn't very benficial compared to the old system.

Ok this is kind of the trick I learned in November. It does give you 4 options based on how you prioritize the rides you pick and then what times are open. So I kind of look at when my meals are going to be and my most important pick will be what I base the option choice on. Then with the other two I will go back and tweak the time. For instance.....we are arriving about 1 and I want to get lunch in at Liberty Tree. So I got a ressie for 2:20. When I picked my MK FP+, I put BTMRR as most important so it comes up at 3-4, followed by PP, and the Belle. So I decide I would rather walk out of the restaurant towards FL than the other way, so I then change the time only on BTMRR to 7-8. It will be the last ride then we will walk out and catch the monorail to GF for character dining at 1900 Park Fare.

That is how I pick the options...I focus on one or two of the time slots I get, take that option then I tweak it, one ride at a time. In November I would reschedule times or change experiences constantly. It was one of the things that worked fine for me with MM+.

I just feel sorry for the people that can't make the changes from their phones or a laptop and have to go to a kiosk.....

 

[jlsHouston]

Will it let you select later FP's times? My plan was to hit the morning EMH's and ride all of our favorites at that park, making late FP's for another park in the evening. Will this not be an option?

Yes this is what I have done. If I am entering a park in the morning, I will do it in the stand by lines. Saving the FP+ selections for the afternoon/evening park

 

[Dwarful]

Good to know. Until I have done this once myself I think there will be a lot of unanswered questions.

 

[MrPromey]

I told a CM on the phone that I was not thrilled with the limit and she told me they did it because too many people will hoarding FP in the park and not enough people could get them. I haven't been to WDW in 10 years, but I seriously doubt that this was the case. Most people I have talked to don't know anything about FP before going and don't even figure it all out. So the small amount of folks who "abuse" (ie figure out) the system are not affecting that many people.

I don't know if it was a problem on the old system but I could see where it would be a problem on the new one. First, the new system specifically encourages people staying on property to use it. Allowing someone to book their fastpass a few months in advance tells them that if they don't book, they can expect waits for those attractions and it is entirely set up to encourage them to begin planning the activities of individual days well in advance...

Now if you give those people say, 6 fastpasses instead of the 3, how many do you think they will book? Remember, these are the same people who may never have used more than 2 on the old system or possibly none at all. Remember, with the paper tickets, we had to run around to the entrance for each attraction to get a paper ticket during the window of opportunity to do so between return time windows. It isn't surprising that most people wouldn't get a lot of them over the course of a day doing it this way. Now, someone can do it on their smart phone or computer before heading to Florida rather than figuring out what the system is about and how to use it the first day they enter a park so I'd expect a lot more to be doing it. Of course, someone using all six of what they have booked or not becomes another matter but since Disney doesn't know if they will or not until the time has lapsed or they re-schedule, it limits the number they can offer anyone else. Since each attraction has a finite number of people that can be pushed through it during the course of a day, too much advanced booking could really mess it up.

It is understandable how this would be upsetting to those who over the years, learned to use the previous system to their own best advantage but a small percentage of people using many fastpasses over the course of a single day with the majority using few to none was probably not considered a success by Disney. As an AP holder, I was in that minority but I can see why it wasn't working over the long term...

That said, let's be optimistic and remember that not only is it still in testing right now but it'll probably be something that gets tweaked for years to come as they learn more about traffic patterns in the parks. I don't think the old system was really that sophisticated because let's face it, they were dealing with little pieces of paper that I don't think they were even saving so it would be difficult to track which people were using their assigned fastpasses and which weren't and at what times during their windows of use. They should be able to streamline a LOT to improve things in the future, maybe allowing more than 3 a day by over-booking fastpasses when they know 20% won't be used on certain attractions during certain times or even making standby times for rides like Peter Pan more realistic... One would hope.

 

[cooleo]

.... or even making standby times for rides like Peter Pan more realistic... One would hope.

You silly rabbit. How could ever think they would do that?

 

[irnmanjames]

Good to know. Until I have done this once myself I think there will be a lot of unanswered questions.

Just for a visual, I chose MK for this Saturday - 2/15/2014. And as someone just mentioned, you can tweak individual times immediately after you confirm your first selection. In the example below, I confirmed with Option C and went on to edit the time slot for Peter Pan's Flight. (Don't worry, I canceled the Fast Passes used for this example )

 

[MrPromey]

You silly rabbit. How could ever think they would do that?

I said "more realistic" - not short.

In all seriousness, the two big game changers in terms of guest experience with this new system are getting more people online using it and having better control over the way people use it.

The old system only benefited those with a ticket and to a large degree, hurt everyone else. People who got six fastpasses a day for good rides were making lines all over the park longer for everyone else by getting in front of them. They were having a great time but at the detriment of other guests. This was Disney's fault for creating a flawed system.

Now, not only will it not be possible for people to maximize* their individual usage, it'll be possible for Disney to better manage everyone's usage while encouraging more people to use it.

Think about the old system. You had a block of time in the morning and people came up and got tickets for that time till it was full and then the next closest block of time opened up and it went that way till tickets were gone. There may have been some load balancing built into those blocks of time but if there was, it wasn't obvious.

Now, your suggested return times aren't based purely on when the closest possible time to ride from when you're trying to get the ticket is so they have a lot of room to play with this. Without going into too much more detail on what I'm thinking, they could reduce fastpass availability to almost nothing during the busiest times of the day while offering them a lot more heavily during the lightest times. If you plan to be at the park till closing and are given the option to choose that final hour for your window, it isn't a penalty the way it was with the old system when a popular attraction was spitting out fastpasses for the end of the day by 10am - especially when they can offer you something else for that busier time of day as an alternative, right there at the same time. If you accept one of those times, you aren't even trying for that attraction when the wait would otherwise be the worst... Unlike before, they have the ability to exercise a lot more crowd control with this new system. How well they manage the data is the big question.

*Not trying to imply that those who were getting the most out of the old system were doing anything at all wrong. They were being smart about things and playing totally by the rules but obviously, the old system was not improving many people's visits much and may in some cases, have been making things worse for many because of those using it more aggressively.

[Edited because I forgot to type the *copy ]

 

[Dwarful]

Thanks for the visual!

 

[10Magic]

I'm a Park-Hopper by nature, and over the years we've figured out strategies that work pretty well to reduce the wait times. It has become more difficult to do that now, in my opinion, as the current system is constructed. My main gripe is with the "one park only" system. I also don't like the three-FP limit, and the fact that the times for your three attractions are kind of "multiple-choice" instead of setting it up where you can just pick your times as they work best for you. And, with the tiered levels, at Epcot especially, once you FP "Soarin", they automatically give you two lesser attractions, whether you're planning on riding them or not. I had passes for "Living With The Land" and something else I can't even remember that I had no intention of riding when I was there for two days last month. Seems like a waste. I'm sure they'll tweak it, but as of now, I miss the old system, especially with the loosely-enforced return times!

 

[irnmanjames]

I'm a Park-Hopper by nature, and over the years we've figured out strategies that work pretty well to reduce the wait times. It has become more difficult to do that now, in my opinion, as the current system is constructed. My main gripe is with the "one park only" system. I also don't like the three-FP limit, and the fact that the times for your three attractions are kind of "multiple-choice" instead of setting it up where you can just pick your times as they work best for you. And, with the tiered levels, at Epcot especially, once you FP "Soarin", they automatically give you two lesser attractions, whether you're planning on riding them or not. I had passes for "Living With The Land" and something else I can't even remember that I had no intention of riding when I was there for two days last month. Seems like a waste. I'm sure they'll tweak it, but as of now, I miss the old system, especially with the loosely-enforced return times!

I, too, am a park hopper. One of the great benefits of being a passholder is parkhopping. I think they really devalued the parkhopper ticket option limiting the FPs to one park/3 per day.

I was disappointed my first visit using MM+/FP+ but my second visit was better. Just had to visit one park early and make the FP reservations for the 2nd park for later in the day. And although they don't give you a large variety of times initially, I have changed times and experiences on many occasions on those visits, both earlier and later times (of course depends on availability).

 

[mintpint]

Is anyone upset about being limited to 3 fastpasses a day like I am? I am used to using the fastpasses all day and using at least 6 a day! And you can only choose 1 out of the tier 1 category! During busy season it is just not enough for one day! If you are you need to write to Disney and let them know. (guest.mail@wdw.disneyonline.com)This is part of what they replied to me...

Disney will always listen to what our guests want and if there is great enough demand for increasing the amount of Disney's FASTPASS+® selections per day then we will seriously look into raising the limit. There are more guests than just yourself that have mentioned your displeasure with the amount selections you are given, and we will look at the system to make sure we do what is best for our guests.

I, too, am very unhappy with the fast pass policy. We have annual passes and are planning a trip to Epcot. We only have one fast pass selected--Soaring. I cannot book a fast pass for the fireworks show at the end of the day until I use my first fast pass?? I am not using 3, as the limit states. The limits on the fast pass categories really are a downgrade on the annual passes. It seems this happens each time they make a change.