Has anyone been invited to try the new Fast Passes?

[Buckalew11]

We were chosen to participate last week in this. Our Fastpasses were for Sunday. We stayed at BLT on points and did use ME going back to airport.

This is what I did not like about Fastpass+ : The choice between 2 sets of rides/attractions (pick 2 from each group) and only 2 were things I would ever FP. Both of those were in the same group. OK, I'm OK with this...

You do not get to choose your times--they give you options. I think I was given 3 options of 4 fastpasses. Choice #1 would not work for me because FP#1 was for before I was even arriving at the parks. Choice #2 was OK and spread out evenly throughout the day (12:15-1:15, 2:15- 3:15, 3:15-4:15, 4:15-5:15) and choice #3 was in the evening (it was EMH) but I was supposed to eat dinner at Ohana said my DH who had no ADR and we were going over around 5:30 so that cut out the last ride too. .

So I went with option #2 and our first ride was BTMRR and it was broken down. We'd have an hour to wait for Splash Mountain. HM was at 3:15 and we walked down that way and it was a 30 min. wait but the wait looked more like 50-60 minutes to us. So, no way! Pirates was also a long wait and the JC was backed up as far as I had ever seen that line--completely passed the stairs.

So, we walked down to the new Fantasyland and poked around and looked at what we could see there. The park was extremely busy (to me, but I do not go when it is really crowded) and it was so hot, sweat was running down my the back of my shirt.

Because of dinner, the screwed up schedule of the fastpasses we had, and the crowds, we cut our losses and left, went back to BLT and relaxed by the pool and showered and went to dinner at BLT where they, much to my surprise, took us and fed us a wonderful meal.

Originally Posted by aan1701

I tried it, and while using them is easy enough, all it did was stress me out. Have to try to balance FP with ADR. Just to much planing. I personally do not like this at all. We even had two last min additions to our res, and while they were able to participate, they could not get any of the FP we had. Vacation is supposed to be stress free. Now Disney wants me to plan my meals 6 months early, and now pick what rides I want and when. Next thing you know they will ask me to plan my restroom stop. So I am not a fan.

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THIS is exactly how I feel. I did not like even trying to chose an option and thinking what I wanted to be doing every minute of the trip. Esp. as DVCers, those days are LONG GONE for me and mine. Thank God!

Originally Posted by Tamar

I think we would like this during F&W festival. We used to get FP for Soarin' first thing in the morning and then use them when we had a break between seminars. Now we won't be able to do that (I suspect the stars will rarely align), but if we could book FP for those breaks, it would be almost the same....

I think this would be great if you could pick your times (I'm talking general *you*). I'd like to do early a.m., then leave and go back to the resort until the late afternoon or evening. This was NOT an option with the options they gave me to choose from. It was really keeping me n the parks ALL DAY LONG. Sorry. We don't do the parks all day long--and when DD was younger, we napped and swam in the afternoon.

Originally Posted by dianeschlicht

I'm quite sure I would feel the same way! I no longer make ADRs for that very reason, and I certainly do not want to plan my touring days that far ahead. It takes all the fun and spontaneity out of a trip. HATE that they are doing this.

Originally Posted by DougEMG

I'm looking foward to the new Fastpass+. I have it planned out which parks I'm going to be in each day (passed on crowd level ratings), so it shouldn't be a problem. Plus my wife doesn't like to hit the parks till the afternoon which can sometimes make it hard to get normal fastpasses.

Trouble was, it seemed like they spread the fastpasses out to keep you there a long time. I would have liked picking my own times but you pick from their options. So, one broken ride and plans for dinner were screwing with my options. Sure, since we did not have ADRs for Ohana we probably could have stayed and then went but after a shower and getting ready for dinner, it would have gotten later and later and my chances would be slimmer and slimmer.

So I am not a fan of this new system. I'm seriously not planning out my day like that. Overkill.

We eneded up doing the pool in the a.m. (Tuesday, Wed. and Thursday) and the parks in the afternoon and evening. It was great.

[jpeka65844]

That last post made my brain hurt.

[dianeschlicht]

Originally Posted by Buckalew11

We were chosen to participate last week in this. Our Fastpasses were for Sunday. We stayed at BLT on points and did use ME going back to airport.

This is what I did not like about Fastpass+ : The choice between 2 sets of rides/attractions (pick 2 from each group) and only 2 were things I would ever FP. Both of those were in the same group. OK, I'm OK with this...

You do not get to choose your times--they give you options. I think I was given 3 options of 4 fastpasses. Choice #1 would not work for me because FP#1 was for before I was even arriving at the parks. Choice #2 was OK and spread out evenly throughout the day (12:15-1:15, 2:15- 3:15, 3:15-4:15, 4:15-5:15) and choice #3 was in the evening (it was EMH) but I was supposed to eat dinner at Ohana said my DH who had no ADR and we were going over around 5:30 so that cut out the last ride too. .

So I went with option #2 and our first ride was BTMRR and it was broken down. We'd have an hour to wait for Splash Mountain. HM was at 3:15 and we walked down that way and it was a 30 min. wait but the wait looked more like 50-60 minutes to us. So, no way! Pirates was also a long wait and the JC was backed up as far as I had ever seen that line--completely passed the stairs.

So, we walked down to the new Fantasyland and poked around and looked at what we could see there. The park was extremely busy (to me, but I do not go when it is really crowded) and it was so hot, sweat was running down my the back of my shirt.

Because of dinner, the screwed up schedule of the fastpasses we had, and the crowds, we cut our losses and left, went back to BLT and relaxed by the pool and showered and went to dinner at BLT where they, much to my surprise, took us and fed us a wonderful meal.




THIS is exactly how I feel. I did not like even trying to chose an option and thinking what I wanted to be doing every minute of the trip. Esp. as DVCers, those days are LONG GONE for me and mine. Thank God!



I think this would be great if you could pick your times (I'm talking general *you*). I'd like to do early a.m., then leave and go back to the resort until the late afternoon or evening. This was NOT an option with the options they gave me to choose from. It was really keeping me n the parks ALL DAY LONG. Sorry. We don't do the parks all day long--and when DD was younger, we napped and swam in the afternoon.







Trouble was, it seemed like they spread the fastpasses out to keep you there a long time. I would have liked picking my own times but you pick from their options. So, one broken ride and plans for dinner were screwing with my options. Sure, since we did not have ADRs for Ohana we probably could have stayed and then went but after a shower and getting ready for dinner, it would have gotten later and later and my chances would be slimmer and slimmer.

So I am not a fan of this new system. I'm seriously not planning out my day like that. Overkill.

We eneded up doing the pool in the a.m. (Tuesday, Wed. and Thursday) and the parks in the afternoon and evening. It was great.

Well that seals the deal for me....Will NOT be doing the new fastpass sytem. I wonder if they will still have regular fast pass machines too, or with this be the only way to take advantage of fast pass?

[Doug7856]

I have a question for those who have participated:

Can you pick a specific time for the schedule Fastpass? We have a toddler who still naps and we generally don't like to be at the parks from about 1 pm to 5 pm. Could you schedule around that type of touring?

[Buckalew11]

Originally Posted by Doug7856

I have a question for those who have participated:

Can you pick a specific time for the schedule Fastpass? We have a toddler who still naps and we generally don't like to be at the parks from about 1 pm to 5 pm. Could you schedule around that type of touring?

Doug, the answer is no. I would have liked to pick my own times. You pick your day and you pick your "option."

They give you like 3 options of times. Each option has all 4 fastpass times already set. You can't move times around.

In general, I would like to do 2 in the a.m. and then 2 later on after 4pm.

However, this was not an option that they gave me. One option started at 10:30 (my plane arrived at 9:30) and that option finished mid-afternoon.

One option was from 12:15-5:15. And the last option started at about 5 pm. But we were going on over to Ohana for dinner so that wasn't going to work.

The reason I chose to participate in the MK's Fastpass program on Sunday (OMG, who does MK on a Sunday?! The answer: everyone, lol) was because I knew that's be the day I'd NEED FP there. This proved true because when we returned on Tuesday we walked on to everything.

I have no idea why this needs to be changed unless it has something to do with Disney manipulating their crowds and all that. I'd hate to be a first timer having to plan ADRs, plan ride times and figure out where everything is and how to get there.


So Doug--you might be given the option to pick FP times that allow you to split your day so your DS can nap. BUT, if you aren't, don't skip the nap for the FP. I saw so many very tired, very unhappy kids and parents who needed to rest and eat. Honestly, it seemed like I saw more unhappy kids than happy kids. And that's just wrong but when you are micromanaging every second on your vacation, I think it is just too stressful for everyone.

Good luck!!

[aan1701]

The above is not not correct. After the initial selection is done you can change the experience and the times but you can not say you are looking for Space Mountain at 2PM. It gives times based on the other times. This really does stink. I can't wait to get my survey to tell them.

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[Doug7856]

Originally Posted by Buckalew11

Doug, the answer is no. I would have liked to pick my own times. You pick your day and you pick your "option."

They give you like 3 options of times. Each option has all 4 fastpass times already set. You can't move times around.

In general, I would like to do 2 in the a.m. and then 2 later on after 4pm.

However, this was not an option that they gave me. One option started at 10:30 (my plane arrived at 9:30) and that option finished mid-afternoon.

One option was from 12:15-5:15. And the last option started at about 5 pm. But we were going on over to Ohana for dinner so that wasn't going to work.

The reason I chose to participate in the MK's Fastpass program on Sunday (OMG, who does MK on a Sunday?! The answer: everyone, lol) was because I knew that's be the day I'd NEED FP there. This proved true because when we returned on Tuesday we walked on to everything.

I have no idea why this needs to be changed unless it has something to do with Disney manipulating their crowds and all that. I'd hate to be a first timer having to plan ADRs, plan ride times and figure out where everything is and how to get there.


So Doug--you might be given the option to pick FP times that allow you to split your day so your DS can nap. BUT, if you aren't, don't skip the nap for the FP. I saw so many very tired, very unhappy kids and parents who needed to rest and eat. Honestly, it seemed like I saw more unhappy kids than happy kids. And that's just wrong but when you are micromanaging every second on your vacation, I think it is just too stressful for everyone.

Good luck!!

That was my fear. I can't quite figure out the benefits of being able to select 4 fastpasses and not being able to pick a specific time. Is it possible Disney spent $1 Billion on this "NextGen" project and didn't consider ADR's, arrival times, Pirate League reservations, etc.?

[Doug7856]

Originally Posted by aan1701

The above is not not correct. After the initial selection is done you can change the experience and the times but you can not say you are looking for Space Mountain at 2PM. It gives times based on the other times. This really does stink. I can't wait to get my survey to tell them.

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I'm not liking these reports at all.

[Buckalew11]

Right, I could change my option but I'd couldn't say 2:00 would be better for me so let me pick that that time, I was at their mercy.

Of course, when you get to the FP machines now, you can only get a FP for when it says you can. So if they are giving out a FP for 2:00-3:00 and you'll be back at the resort napping, it doesn't work either. So, you're still at their mercy.

I guess, for me, the big negative was picking and planning so far ahead. I did not have one ADR this trip so it wasn't like I was working around meal times (plus time to get to meals too!)

[mousefan1972]

I really don't understand all the complaining.

When you want to obtain a fastpass for a ride, you don't get to choose the return time. If the available return time works for you, great. If not, don't pull the fastpass. The same logic applies to the fastpass + system. If it works for your schedule, great. If not, no one is forcing you to use it.

Whining "but that time isn't convenient for us!" is just silly. The fastpass system would be totally out of whack if everyone could choose whatever time worked best for them. The system is what it is. Either be flexible and use it, or choose not to. But don't use it, then turn around and complain why it didn't work for you.

[Sammie]

Originally Posted by mousefan1972

I really don't understand all the complaining.

When you want to obtain a fastpass for a ride, you don't get to choose the return time. If the available return time works for you, great. If not, don't pull the fastpass. The same logic applies to the fastpass + system. If it works for your schedule, great. If not, no one is forcing you to use it.

Whining "but that time isn't convenient for us!" is just silly. The fastpass system would be totally out of whack if everyone could choose whatever time worked best for them. The system is what it is. Either be flexible and use it, or choose not to. But don't use it, then turn around and complain why it didn't work for you.

Thank you, totally agree. No one is forced to use it.

[Buckalew11]

Originally Posted by mousefan1972

I really don't understand all the complaining.

When you want to obtain a fastpass for a ride, you don't get to choose the return time. If the available return time works for you, great. If not, don't pull the fastpass. The same logic applies to the fastpass + system. If it works for your schedule, great. If not, no one is forcing you to use it.

Whining "but that time isn't convenient for us!" is just silly. The fastpass system would be totally out of whack if everyone could choose whatever time worked best for them. The system is what it is. Either be flexible and use it, or choose not to. But don't use it, then turn around and complain why it didn't work for you.

Originally Posted by Sammie

Thank you, totally agree. No one is forced to use it.

You're both right. And we didn't.

But we did use the regular FPs while there. There is a big difference is using FP when there and picking before you go.

[BestDadEver]

Originally Posted by A&M's Mommy

The current trial ended on Sept. 24th. There was been no word of any future trials.



As PP stated, you choose the fastpass attractions you wish to visit 1 week in advance of your trip. Perhaps you are confusing this with ADRs, which are available to be booked 180 days in advance of your trip.

I guess that makes a better chance . But you would have to bank on the weather report being spot on .

[BestDadEver]

I see the bigger issue being when. They need to do it for the masses . I an willing to bet a lot of people are going to get left out . In this small sample side I may work . But not when they are accomadting the regular crowds

[aan1701]

So I got the survey and the survey was a joke. It never even asked if I like it. That tells me they know they have a dud and most likely negative feedback. Maybe from the first rounds of tests. I did tell them I thought the survey sucked and still offered my feedback in that spot provided.

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