FastPasses

[AKemel]

Just back from the world. It was not crowded at all, with many rides being a walk-on. I did get some FastPasses with return time being one and a half to two hours. All of them had a time till next FastPass of only one hour rather than two hours. Is that a new policy?

 

[disneychrista]

Was the next FP time the same or close to the begining of your return window?

My understanding is that you can get a second FP at the beginning of your return window OR 2 hours which ever is sooner.

 

[wdwguide]

Originally posted by disneychrista
My understanding is that you can get a second FP at the beginning of your return window OR 2 hours which ever is sooner.

The 2-hour rule no longer exists as such - depending on the crowds, you may be able to get a second pass earlier than that. I got a couple of passes where that "blockout time" was reduced to 80-90 minutes just this past week. I don't remember exactly when they started doing this - sometime late last year I believe.

 

[AKemel]

The return time was in two hours, while time to next FastPass was one hour.

Also at Test Track I was given a “Surprise FastPass” for Honey, I Shrunk The Audience, in addition to the Test Track FastPass

 

[Dznefreek]

We were at DAK yesterday and our return times for another Fast Pass was 40 minutes.

 

[larworth]

Is the issuance of a "surprise" fastpass relatively new? I assume this is an attempt to move people to attractions that currently have low attendance.

Akemel

Did the HISA window start right after the TT time expired or did they build wait time between the two (for getting a drink of water or using the restroom of course)?

 

[Grumbo]

We got the Surprise Fastpass last week too and it was for Honey I shrunk the Audience after getting a Fast Pass for Test Track. The crowds for Honey were so small a Fast Pass was actually redundant.
I found the Fast Pass system for rides like Tower of Terror a total waste. If you were going to stay in one park all day and got there early enough fine but the Fast Pass for Tower were all gone before noon hour.
I remember it working much better when we went in early 2001.
The lineups for the most part weren't too bad, but Disney could be sued for False advertising calling them "FAST" passes
Cheers,
Grumbo

 

[DC7800]

Originally posted by larworth
Is the issuance of a "surprise" fastpass relatively new? I assume this is an attempt to move people to attractions that currently have low attendance

With a little tweaking, this could potentially be a tremendous boon for less-popular attractions. I wonder how many people could be diverted into often under-utilized attractions such as COP or Timekeeper who otherwise would never see them? These attractions presently lack FastPass (they don't need it) but are the very rides which need more guests; anything with FastPass already has plenty of people lining up regardless, like HISTA in Epcot. Mexico, though, has a fine attraction (almost a well-kept secret, it seems) to spend time while waiting on your Test Track return.

 

[AKemel]

TT Fast Pass was issued at 11:30 am, with return time 1:50-2:50 pm, next FastPass available after 12:35 pm.

Surprise FastPass for HISTA was for between 11:00 am and 1:00 pm.

 

[d-r]

That suprise fast pass is pretty nifty and smart.

Did you know that if you book a package at a disneyland resort through wdtc you get an unlimited fast pass? Meaning that you can hold fastpasses for multiple attractions with no wait period.

DR

 

[larworth]

Thanks Akemel for the info.

Nice to see it recognized you had plenty of idle time before your TT FP was open and tried to fill it. Just curious what the system is capable of doing. Sounds like we can expect to see more of this type of programming enhancements in the future.

 

[MELSMICE]

JMO but I still think they should issue FASTPASSES to resort guests only. I think you should be able to put your room key in the machine & get the passes.

This would do so many different things:

1. It would give an incentive for more guests to stay on-site

2. It would alleviate people "overcrowding" rooms & having extra "guests" that weren't registered.

3. It would make FASTPASSES available for a longer period of time during the day. The popular attractions such as TT, ToT, RnRC, SM, etc. wouldn't run out of FASTPASSES before noon on busy days.

Like I said, JMO, but I actually thought when FASTPASS was introduced it was for on-site guests only & actually, I wish it had been that way.

 

[Grumbo]

Respect your opinion Melsmice, but totally disagree.
I have stayed onsite half a dozen times in the past and the last two times have traded a condo week and stayed just outside, and earlier in life used to stay at hotels in the Orlando area as I couldn't afford the Disney Hotel prices.
With the way the economy as well as the downturn in tourism is going, to take away another thing from the regular "Joe" would be counterproductive imho. Disney cuts the hours giving people less times to see or do a ride, which has a huge impact.
Disney Hotel patrons SHOULD get some perks, but to make Fastpasses their own isn't an answer. Instead of E-nights keep the park open just for hotel guests and let that be a part of the perk. Maybe give Hotel guests the opportunity to have two fast passes on the go at the same time.
It just seems that rather than take things away from the off site guests (Who I'm sure are in the majority) give the onsite guests something extra without penalizing the others.
If the tourism crunch continues I'm afraid Disney is going to have a lot of problems with getting people into the parks.
Cheers,
Grumbo

 

[seashoreCM]

>>> Maybe give Hotel guests the opportunity to have two fast passes on the go at the same time.

>>> It just seems that rather than take things away from the off site guests give the onsite guests something extra without penalizing the others.

But letting on site guests have two fast passes at the same time is still penalizing the others. Fastpasses are too finite in quantity to be the something extra.

Disney hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

 

[d-r]

Originally posted by seashoreCM
>>> Maybe give Hotel guests the opportunity to have two fast passes on the go at the same time.

>>> It just seems that rather than take things away from the off site guests give the onsite guests something extra without penalizing the others.

But letting on site guests have two fast passes at the same time is still penalizing the others. Fastpasses are too finite in quantity to be the something extra.

Disney hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

They are doing this at disneyland.

 

[HauntedMansionFan]

Originally posted by MELSMICE
JMO but I still think they should issue FASTPASSES to resort guests only. I think you should be able to put your room key in the machine & get the passes.

This would do so many different things:

1. It would give an incentive for more guests to stay on-site

2. It would alleviate people "overcrowding" rooms & having extra "guests" that weren't registered.

3. It would make FASTPASSES available for a longer period of time during the day. The popular attractions such as TT, ToT, RnRC, SM, etc. wouldn't run out of FASTPASSES before noon on busy days.

Like I said, JMO, but I actually thought when FASTPASS was introduced it was for on-site guests only & actually, I wish it had been that way.

Unfortunately with over 20,000 guest rooms, it really isn't feasible for Disney to do something like this, they will lose the interests of the day guests. While I feel that Disney on-site guests should recieve perks, FastPass shouldn't be one of them.

 

[HauntedMansionFan]

Originally posted by d-r
They are doing this at disneyland.

They also have less hotel rooms, thus less guests then Disney World could accomodate.

 

[disneychrista]

The unlimited FP at Disneyland is not limited to onsite guest, anyone can get this option by purchasing the passport plus through WDTC or AAA.