Next Big Thing
Well-Known Member
In all honesty, if they're going to cut something, I think this is something most of us can get behind.
It wasn't really necessary from the beginning. RoL though? That may be different.
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Wishes no longer a FP option?
- Thread starter alissafalco
- Start date
It wasn't really necessary from the beginning. RoL though? That may be different.
Spikerdink
Well-Known Member
It might be a guest satisfaction thing too. I know, I knowBut I have seen people complaining that holding one of these means that they can't get a 4th Fastpass and that's frustrating. And people have been complaining how full the viewing areas have been, and they would have been better off just getting a seat somewhere else.
I might call it a labor cut, they felt might not get too much negative reaction.
I agree. I had a FP for Wishes last week, and we arrived towards the end of the window. There was almost no space available, and the only room we found was in the far corner which had obstructed views due to the lamp posts.... Wouldn't waste my FP on this again....
djkidkaz
Well-Known Member
That's the current rumor.
tissandtully
Well-Known Member
If you're on Dumbo during Wishes the CM will usually let you ride during the whole show, I did that a few months ago and was able to ride like 5 times in a row. It was awesome to watch Wishes in a flying elephant.
Rob562
Well-Known Member
Presumably Wishes was happening at park close and you were the last group of riders for the night? I don't see them keeping a line of people waiting 10 minutes while the people on the ride keep going around...
-Rob
Miss Heinous
Well-Known Member
As part of the budget cuts could we have FP+ removed from Haunted Mansion, and Pirates of the Caribbean as well? That would be great.
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tissandtully
Well-Known Member
Well, it's not a very busy area during Wishes, there wasn't anyone else waiting to get on and no it wasn't at park close.
I actually came here to post about this.
Our flight arrives in the evening on a Saturday at the end of April, and I was hoping to grab a fast pass to Wishes that night.
That way, we could drop some bags over at the hotel, have a bite to eat, then slide over to watch Wishes without having to worry about finding a spot.
Not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but FP was useful in certain circumstances.
Flight Safety
Active Member
Wishes FP was a good idea IMO but they blew it. It gets way too crowded inside the FP viewing area and I'd rather be elsewhere than waste a FP on just another crowded area of people.
What never ceases to amaze me is the lack of common courtesy between guests. 9/10 times I decide to see a show I am blown away at the utter rudeness of people around me. If I do go to a show, even in FP, I arrive early (which to me defeats the purpose of FP) and get a good spot. But there's always a group who show up last minute and expect to nudge me out of the way so they can see. And they're never the least bit polite about it, they just come up and crowd my personal space and push me aside.
If they made the real estate a bit better and also limited the amount of people in the viewing area I think it could've been better. But considering it's just as crowded in FP as out, it's silly to use FP on it. It's not like you can show up 5 min before hand and have a clear view.
What never ceases to amaze me is the lack of common courtesy between guests. 9/10 times I decide to see a show I am blown away at the utter rudeness of people around me. If I do go to a show, even in FP, I arrive early (which to me defeats the purpose of FP) and get a good spot. But there's always a group who show up last minute and expect to nudge me out of the way so they can see. And they're never the least bit polite about it, they just come up and crowd my personal space and push me aside.
If they made the real estate a bit better and also limited the amount of people in the viewing area I think it could've been better. But considering it's just as crowded in FP as out, it's silly to use FP on it. It's not like you can show up 5 min before hand and have a clear view.
Goofnut1980
Well-Known Member
I am not saddened by this news at all!
UncleMike101
Well-Known Member
Yup....
And I'm betting that even more people will try to crowd into the former FP locations to get a better view.
Actually I'm hoping this will happen.
That way our usual viewing area won't be as crowded.
Mark P.
Well-Known Member
I'm a little disappointed by this, as we were considering FP+ for Wishes for our arrival day this August (otherwise, we probably wouldn't bother doing any of the parks since we're staying POFQ and planning for dinner at DS). Hopefully at least some of the nighttime entertainment will still be FP+ eligible so that we have something we can look forward to without the hassle of rushing into the park and staking a claim...
JediMasterMatt
Well-Known Member
This news makes me want to share a story. It's the story of the Hub 2.0 and it's birth. It's a scary story, so parents mind your children please.
For years, Park Ops have wanted to do "something" with the Hub and its crowd control and flow patterns; but, as we all know - getting the Mouse to open up the checkbook takes considerable doing. They thought they had the deal with the devil made when Wishes replacement was almost a go and it would've brought to life 360 degree action all around the Hub with projections and fountains. Then that project got axed and any hopes of revamping the Hub were squashed.
Then along came everyone's favorite WDW project - MM+ and it's evil sibling FP+. For the project to be successful, there had to be perceived value in the system. You can't have everyone getting FP+ reservations for the attractions they want (since those attractions have finite capacity and the smoke-and-mirrors that is FP+ isn't allowing any additional people per day on any attraction), so FP's footprint had to grow and spread throughout the Kingdom. So desperate for additional "value" to be added to the available allotment of attractions in the roster that "non-queuing" attractions were proposed to be added to the pipe. Things like parades and spectaculars. Anything and everything was considered in an effort to get people to select Option B over what everyone wants to reserve in advance - the Option A's (the mountains, Pan, and other "popular" attractions).
Now, for the naïve, they may think "golly gee, isn't it great that I can pre-reserve a space to watch a parade or fireworks", they also need to recognize what they are usually giving up by doing so. They are giving up 1 of the 3 available slots for other rides and attractions as usually, the nighttime spectaculars have to be pre-reserved well in advance of their arrival or else they won't be available. For some parks, that also means giving up a top tier pre-reservation. If a guest selects a nighttime spectacular as their pre-reservation, that means for the Mouse - you at best only get 2 possible FP's for other attractions the entire day as you can't add more until your advance reservations are depleted.
With the possibility of selling a guest something the would covet (a pre-reserved space for a nighttime spectacular) for virtually nothing (other than the cost of staffing the FP+ entrances) AND taking that guest out of the mix of using more than 3 total FPs for the day AND potentially limiting to a reduced tier of available FPs for their other choices, you better believe that TDO was finally ready to move forward with doing something like the Hub 2.0 after all the years of waiting.
There in lay the genesis of why the Hub 2.0 finally happened. It got approved because they needed/wanted more pasture for FP+ patrons to keep them away from other attractions FP's though out the entire day.
That is why the news of the FP+ removal for Wishes makes me laugh and also makes me so sad and angry. Laughing because of the absurdity of it all. I'm sad for all the Cast Members that the budget cuts are going to be making an already bad situation in the workplace much worse and the hit to their paychecks and livelihood. Angry because Parks is being punished because of all of us have made it so successful that Burbank can keep cutting to the bone and they are probably right... people will still come.
The refurbished Hub could've happened simply because it was what Park Ops has wanted for so long to keep guests from congesting the main artery... but, it didn't.
Hub 2.0 could've happened because they wanted to redo Wishes... but, it didn't.
Hub 2.0 might have happened because it was the right thing to do... of course that would never happen with this regime.
It all happened because of FP+ and TDO's hope that PT Barnum was right and people would reserve a spot well in advance and limit them the rest of the day.
So, maybe I just found the one positive thing I can say about MM+. It finally gave us Hub 2.0.
Oh, and for those that are wondering why IllumiNations hasn't followed along - that has more to say about the limited number of tiered options in the pool at EPCOT than it does about TDO wanting to save a dime. EPCOT, unlike MK, really doesn't have much to steer people away from the headliners these days.
Maybe someday, we can live in a world where WDW treats it's FP's for Spectaculars like DLR. Where you recognize that you can give them a return time and not hold it over their head all day preventing them from doing other things (at DLR the Spectaculars and shows with FP are unlinked from the rest of the attractions and you can hold a ticket AND still do other FPs).
For years, Park Ops have wanted to do "something" with the Hub and its crowd control and flow patterns; but, as we all know - getting the Mouse to open up the checkbook takes considerable doing. They thought they had the deal with the devil made when Wishes replacement was almost a go and it would've brought to life 360 degree action all around the Hub with projections and fountains. Then that project got axed and any hopes of revamping the Hub were squashed.
Then along came everyone's favorite WDW project - MM+ and it's evil sibling FP+. For the project to be successful, there had to be perceived value in the system. You can't have everyone getting FP+ reservations for the attractions they want (since those attractions have finite capacity and the smoke-and-mirrors that is FP+ isn't allowing any additional people per day on any attraction), so FP's footprint had to grow and spread throughout the Kingdom. So desperate for additional "value" to be added to the available allotment of attractions in the roster that "non-queuing" attractions were proposed to be added to the pipe. Things like parades and spectaculars. Anything and everything was considered in an effort to get people to select Option B over what everyone wants to reserve in advance - the Option A's (the mountains, Pan, and other "popular" attractions).
Now, for the naïve, they may think "golly gee, isn't it great that I can pre-reserve a space to watch a parade or fireworks", they also need to recognize what they are usually giving up by doing so. They are giving up 1 of the 3 available slots for other rides and attractions as usually, the nighttime spectaculars have to be pre-reserved well in advance of their arrival or else they won't be available. For some parks, that also means giving up a top tier pre-reservation. If a guest selects a nighttime spectacular as their pre-reservation, that means for the Mouse - you at best only get 2 possible FP's for other attractions the entire day as you can't add more until your advance reservations are depleted.
With the possibility of selling a guest something the would covet (a pre-reserved space for a nighttime spectacular) for virtually nothing (other than the cost of staffing the FP+ entrances) AND taking that guest out of the mix of using more than 3 total FPs for the day AND potentially limiting to a reduced tier of available FPs for their other choices, you better believe that TDO was finally ready to move forward with doing something like the Hub 2.0 after all the years of waiting.
There in lay the genesis of why the Hub 2.0 finally happened. It got approved because they needed/wanted more pasture for FP+ patrons to keep them away from other attractions FP's though out the entire day.
That is why the news of the FP+ removal for Wishes makes me laugh and also makes me so sad and angry. Laughing because of the absurdity of it all. I'm sad for all the Cast Members that the budget cuts are going to be making an already bad situation in the workplace much worse and the hit to their paychecks and livelihood. Angry because Parks is being punished because of all of us have made it so successful that Burbank can keep cutting to the bone and they are probably right... people will still come.
The refurbished Hub could've happened simply because it was what Park Ops has wanted for so long to keep guests from congesting the main artery... but, it didn't.
Hub 2.0 could've happened because they wanted to redo Wishes... but, it didn't.
Hub 2.0 might have happened because it was the right thing to do... of course that would never happen with this regime.
It all happened because of FP+ and TDO's hope that PT Barnum was right and people would reserve a spot well in advance and limit them the rest of the day.
So, maybe I just found the one positive thing I can say about MM+. It finally gave us Hub 2.0.
Oh, and for those that are wondering why IllumiNations hasn't followed along - that has more to say about the limited number of tiered options in the pool at EPCOT than it does about TDO wanting to save a dime. EPCOT, unlike MK, really doesn't have much to steer people away from the headliners these days.
Maybe someday, we can live in a world where WDW treats it's FP's for Spectaculars like DLR. Where you recognize that you can give them a return time and not hold it over their head all day preventing them from doing other things (at DLR the Spectaculars and shows with FP are unlinked from the rest of the attractions and you can hold a ticket AND still do other FPs).
CaptainAmerica
Premium Member
Can someone help me wrap my head around how this is part of "budget cuts?" What are we talking about, two $8 employees for an hour per night? So they save six grand from this? That's a rounding error of a rounding error of a rounding error to TWDC.
punkabella
Well-Known Member
I'm just sad that this is going away because it meant silly people chose the fireworks as a FP leaving me with better options!
It might be a rounding error for WDW as a whole but it wouldn't be for the person in charge of staffing crowd control for wishes.
The FP+ for wishes were always all taken, so it can't be a reduction because no one was using it.
I can't think of any reason besides budget cuts that would cause them to remove this.
CaptainAmerica
Premium Member
Guest satisfaction? I know it's anathema to suggest that Disney does anything to make the guest happier, but maybe guest feedback has indicated displeasure at the fact that some people are in cages in preferred viewing locations, which causes confusion at a pinch point in the park at its most crowded time.
networkpro
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- Yes
Only if it can be used as a roach motel.