Using FastPass+ Means You Can't Get A Regular FastPass?

[donsullivan]

Disney hasn't stated how it will work yet - but there is no way Disney would exclude APs while anyone with MYW tickets would be able to use the system. The system has not been limited to 'onsite' guests. The only thing really stated by Disney is that different ticket types MIGHT have different access to the FP+ experience. But I think that is terminology more related to 'lesser' tickets.. such as comp tickets, convention tickets, etc..

One of the high level concerns I've got absent any real information is the FP system causing the same issues that the Dining Plan did where non resort guests or local day guests are pretty much shut out of the system. Since the start of the dining plan, it's nearly impossible to get an ADR into most restaurants because of the crush for 6 months advance ADR's by all of the resort guests. As a local, I don't have any idea where I want to have dinner in 6 months and when I do, there is nothing interesting available anywhere since the start of the dining plan.

I completely understand the lack of sympathy most will have for this but if the same sort of reservation model we saw with dining plan is repeated, a day guest of any sort (not just AP) will be pretty much shut out of FP.

 

[lentesta]

I am from Britain and have booked a holiday to Disney World in late March 2013. I am aware that it is busy then but I thought, 'oh well, they have free fastpass, no worries.' I am now horrified to learn that Fastpass is being replaced with Fastpass+, and there is no indication that I have been 'selected' for this new system at the time of booking, nor have I received any confirmation that I will be able to pre-book on the new system from Britain. Is original Fastpass likely to be gone by the time I go on my holiday? If so, it's looking like I will be going at a busy time with absolutely zero access to any Fastpass through no fault of my own. If this is the case, I feel positively discriminated against as an international visitor and am absolutely disgusted Disney could treat its international guests in this way.

You'll almost certainly have the original FASTPASS system available to you. I think there's virtually no chance Disney would have this entire thing rolled out in the next 90 days.

 

[lentesta]

Speculation that it's either FP or FP+ is based on the following WDW webpage:

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/media/park-experience-terms-and-conditions.html

According to this webpage:

This has some very good details on how FP+ is going to work. Thanks very much.

 

[DisneyDebRob]

Is it just me or does anyone else's head hurt?

 

[Clamman73]

I'm not sure how Fastpass+ is handling park hopping??? You can only book fastpasses in one park on one particular day or not???

 

[jklakeview]

I heard from ride operators that it will be available to everyone in the park. The people in the park that have not pre-booked their attractions will be able to do this through a smart device or kiosks located around the park. They will probably even let you choose the time that you'd like to go on an attraction (which is great). The problem is going to be that while it's available it's not really going to be. The people staying in the park that have booked in advance are going to pre-select their passes. This in turn will use up all of the fastpasses for Soarin, Test Track, Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, TSMM, Rockin Roller Coaster, Tower of Terror, Everest, and anything else that people know is a MUST DO. This means that now others who either booked late or are not staying on property will have the left overs. Why do you think that they are adding Fastpass + to EVERYTHING! They want to be able to say it is available to everyone when in essence it's not. Now the bigger problem comes in when people now begin to use their fastpass + in the park to book all of the other rides since the bigger rides are gone. This is going to create longer lines for things that NEVER have a line on a regular stay. So if you want to use the system for the best results follow these simple steps; book your trip early, stay on property, and plan exactly what park you're going to be in, and also plan what rides you're riding and when. My understanding is that it will be a certain number of attractions from 2 or 3 lists. These lists will group different attractions and parades together.

 

[jklakeview]

They could have improved the old system by just making everything touch windows where you could select your times for attractions. No need to pre-select times before you arrive and if they didn't want to give us paper tickets, that's fine as well. I'll use my device or kiosks if I can't remember times in my head.

 

[lentesta]

I'm not sure how Fastpass+ is handling park hopping??? You can only book fastpasses in one park on one particular day or not???

One park per day, according to the terms and conditions.

 

[fosse76]

How is 2 hours the MAXIMUM amount of time? I got to DHs at 9am and got fast pass for toy story at 2pm. If you go on a less busy day or get FP for less popular rides maybe it's likely to be 2 hours or less, but there is no guarantee and if its less crowded or a less popular ride you probably dont need FP anyway. On an average day how many FP's do you actually need or use? For me it's probably right around 3 or 4 depending on the park.

If you get your TSMM FP at 9am and the return time was for 2pm, you can get your next FP at 11am. If your return time had been 10am, you could get your next FP at 10am. It's not rocket science. Other than Soarin' and TSMM (and on rare occasions Space Mountain and Splash Mountain), I've always been able to get another FP within an hour or so.

 

[fosse76]

What fosse was getting at is this: Say you want TSM FP's. You get them. Then you want to go to ToT and get FP's there immediately afterwards. No can do: the system blocks you out from getting another FP anywhere in the park for two hours. That's what fosse meant.

Exactly, and that's the maximum amount of time. If the return time for your FP is less than two hours, then your next FP is available at the return time of that first FP.

 

[fosse76]

As we all know.. your next FP is either after your return time or 2hrs.. whichever comes first. Your return time is almost always at least 45mins away. For marquee things.. it's going to be later. The time can realistically be 1-2hrs between FPs... throw in actually riding attractions.. and you get occupied and may not hit that optimum time. The time was just a ballpark (why I said 'or so') because between return times, you riding, and where you are vs the next FP you are going to get.. it's not going to be the optimum all the time. The closest you get to optimum is probably when you keep riding the same attraction (get a FP before going into the line).

Your post neglected the "your next FP is either after your return time or 2hrs.. whichever comes first" and only stated 2 hours. I was just clarifying.

I think if people took a methodical look at how many FPs they actually use in a day.. they may be surprised. Disney's choice of how many passes wouldn't have been arbitrary.

I would say that's the average guest. Those of us who know the system use more (I probably go through at least 6 or 7).

 

[flynnibus]

Since the start of the dining plan, it's nearly impossible to get an ADR into most restaurants because of the crush for 6 months advance ADR's by all of the resort guests. As a local, I don't have any idea where I want to have dinner in 6 months and when I do, there is nothing interesting available anywhere since the start of the dining plan.

I understand the concern - but we must also remember rides have much much higher capacity then a table service restaurant. I'm optimistic the new way of distributing load will lead to 'good' availability of FP+. I could be wrong.. but I'm putting faith in some level of competence

 

[flynnibus]

I would say that's the average guest. Those of us who know the system use more (I probably go through at least 6 or 7).

In every model there is the extreme.. that you don't aim for.

 

[MichWolv]

I must say that some of this discussion sounds bad, but I don't think the note on the website must be read that way. All it says that once you do FP+, regular FP isn't available to you. I believe that all that means is that if you are using an RFID for FP+, your ticket will not work in the FP machines.

While it's possible that it means more than that, it doesn't have to. So, it is possible that the only change in park is that instead of sliding your ticket in a machine to get a day-of FP like you do now, you'll tap your RFID on the a machine to get a day-of FP, or, even better, you'll go a central kiosk or use your smartphone to load a day-of FP. The system could be set up to know what park you're in (the App already knows this), offer you the available FP times for each location, and let you pick one, informing you as the paper tickets do when you can get another.

In other words, I don't see FP+ as necessarily meaning that only the pre-book style "choose a limited number of experiences" are available. It could by that you get the pre-booked limited number PLUS whatever number of day-of FP windows as you would be able to get now -- you'll just do it through your RFID/smartphone, rather than slipping your ticket in the machine.

 

[stlbobby]

I would say that's the average guest. Those of us who know the system use more (I probably go through at least 6 or 7).

I think the new stricter return times will have a hand in reigning the number in. I used to do at least 5 FP's a day, but on my last trip I only did 2 or 3 because I was unable to return at the designated time so I didn't get the pass. And the new rules force people using the system to traipse back and forth across the park more often cutting down on both opportunities and demand. It would still be possible to use more FP's, but they just aren't as convenient.

 

[stlbobby]

I have been privy to some of the new things coming with NextGen and how they will work but there is still a lot that I don't know, including a timeline. This being a true guess, I would say that by the end of 2013 it will be available to all ticket media. But as I said, that is really just a guess. I honestly have no idea.

Thanks.

 

[Witchy Chick]

Once the system is fully operational, it will be interesting to see if there is a mad rush in the morning of people trying to "swap" their, for example, Stitch's Great Escape FP+ for Space Mountain FP+. Will the system allow that and, if so, what kind of limitations will there be?

Based on the groupings of FP+ testing thus far (i.e choose up to four experiences from one "E" ticket attraction, a couple of "D" ticket attractions, a couple of "C" ticket attractions, one M&G, one parade/fireworks experience), I for one am extremely doubtful that one would be able to "trade up" a SGE FP+ for a Space FP+.

I have no inside knowledge, but my best guess is that rescheduling an attraction/experience would entail: 1) reschedule for the same attraction, just a more convenient time, or 2) reschedule to a lateral attraction/experience -- i.e. SGE for CoP/Country Bears/Tiki/TTA/Small World. Some "similar" experience -- not an "upgrade." My 2 cents.

 

[Irie]

I must say that some of this discussion sounds bad, but I don't think the note on the website must be read that way. All it says that once you do FP+, regular FP isn't available to you. I believe that all that means is that if you are using an RFID for FP+, your ticket will not work in the FP machines.

While it's possible that it means more than that, it doesn't have to. So, it is possible that the only change in park is that instead of sliding your ticket in a machine to get a day-of FP like you do now, you'll tap your RFID on the a machine to get a day-of FP, or, even better, you'll go a central kiosk or use your smartphone to load a day-of FP. The system could be set up to know what park you're in (the App already knows this), offer you the available FP times for each location, and let you pick one, informing you as the paper tickets do when you can get another.

In other words, I don't see FP+ as necessarily meaning that only the pre-book style "choose a limited number of experiences" are available. It could by that you get the pre-booked limited number PLUS whatever number of day-of FP windows as you would be able to get now -- you'll just do it through your RFID/smartphone, rather than slipping your ticket in the machine.

^^^This. That is the way I read it as well.

 

[sshindel]

I know that things can (and probably will) differ between test phase and regular implementation, but I was able to have both FP+ and FP at the same time (at one point, for the same window for the same ride) last week when I was at DHS.
Not sure if that will change by full-on implementation, but that was how it worked for us last week.

 

[stevehousse]

This whole FP+ is just dumb! I don't want to schedule my time months in advance especially when I have a 4 ad 2 year old and plans always Jane with such young kids!

Also it seemed to me that still a lotnofbpeople dont know how to even use the regular fast pass! I really hope normal fast pass stays