New fastpass strategy

[joeysmommy]

I'm so glad this thread is out there.
I have been worrying about this for our upcoming trip.

I'm guessing fastpasses won't run out like they used to since Disney Commandos like us won't be hoarding fastpasses anymore.

We'll just have to slow it down a bit and be prepared to ride more stand by lines.

I like the Disney Mobile Magic app for Verizon.
Found a cool app on my iphone Disneyland Explorer..it lets you look at different lands in the park but no ride times. The video ride throughs are cool but it would be great if it were more like mousewait.

theres one i havent tried yet called mouse time, will try that in June.

Last trip I felt like mousewait wasnt as reliable as its been in the past.
You're at the mercy of fellow guests updating the ride times and sometimes it doesn't happen for hours.

 

[mom2rtk]

I'll be curious to see what you all recommend on this at DLR.

We had our first trip to WDW post enforcement in December. Don't know if it will be different at DLR, but from all the anecdotal evidence reported over the past year (including reports from CMs) it seems that more changed than just the enforcement policy. The supposition is that at that time, they also started experimenting with how many fastpass slots they could put into the system every day. I very much agreed with that premise after our own trip. Fastpasses seemed to last much later into the day. Which seems like a good thing, but I just found it very difficult to work with. The return times didn't advance as far ahead as they used to.

My plan going into that trip was to run ahead of our group to get Fps, then return to the group and return to that area later in the day. Well, fastpass return times never seemed to be more than 30 to 45 minutes out. Not long enough to leave that land and come back. It was just an awkward in between delay that drove me nuts. We were there 10 days and I never did feel like I had a good handle on it.

 

[dtnrhi]

When I get the time I'll try to post my strategy I used during spring break to get most of California Adventure done in a few hours... Pretty much cracked it.

Now Disneyland on the other hand... No such luck.

 

[Freesia123]

I wish they had around h screen like the movies where you chose your time slot. What was available could be on a giant screen and a cm could check a few people from the distributed to make sure everyone had chosen and was ready

 

[rastuso]

We're 2 months out from our first post FP enforcement trip to WDW or DL. I'm NOT looking forward to it, but at least I'm not being rationed 2 or 3 FPs for the whole day like WDW is on the verge of.

I see a definite pattern in those who like the enforcement, they aren't turbo riders. One person said they like it because they get there at rope drop, grab a FP, hit another ride, then shop some. We NEVER shop in the morning, well, I have to drag my wife out of stores some, but.... That's wasting super valuable low crowd time. I have no desire to do that. And it's certainly improving my visit to have more time in the morning for shopping.

Having to "stay in the land" killing time is a huge decrease in value. I'm not paying over $200 a day for my family to shop, people watch, and relax for a while. I can do that for free in Downtown Disney.

Luckily, DL isn't crazy with their FPs, so there are options. Just have single rider for Matterhorn is a big plus. WDW is on the verge of destroying the type of visits I've enjoyed in the past, I'm afraid.


Jason

 

[Blue32]

We're 2 months out from our first post FP enforcement trip to WDW or DL. I'm NOT looking forward to it, but at least I'm not being rationed 2 or 3 FPs for the whole day like WDW is on the verge of.

I see a definite pattern in those who like the enforcement, they aren't turbo riders. One person said they like it because they get there at rope drop, grab a FP, hit another ride, then shop some. We NEVER shop in the morning, well, I have to drag my wife out of stores some, but.... That's wasting super valuable low crowd time. I have no desire to do that. And it's certainly improving my visit to have more time in the morning for shopping.

Having to "stay in the land" killing time is a huge decrease in value. I'm not paying over $200 a day for my family to shop, people watch, and relax for a while. I can do that for free in Downtown Disney.

Luckily, DL isn't crazy with their FPs, so there are options. Just have single rider for Matterhorn is a big plus. WDW is on the verge of destroying the type of visits I've enjoyed in the past, I'm afraid.


Jason

IMO you don't need to "stay in the land" and shop. There are always non FP rides close by you can ride while waiting for your window to open. And because things are closer together at DL, I don't really see the need too much to stay in that land anyways... there are other areas of the park just a couple minutes walk away.

I would also prefer that they had not changed this but I doubt it will kill a good touring plan.

 

[perlster]

I don't have any theories - just experience. I've visited Disneyland Park five times since FastPass enforcement started.

In relation to the change, there are really two classes of visitors to Disneyland:

1) as a group - people who rarely, if ever, will use Single Rider lines

2) as individuals - will use Single Rider queues whenever available


Fastpasses have become significantly less valuable for both classes.
Since "Get now, use much later" is now out (except for RSR at DCAP), the FP lines in the morning have become much longer.

I recommend that Class 1 visitors who used this tactic previously now try to enter the park at rope drop and get on as many rides as possible in those first hours - not going out of their way to get FPs, but picking them up when passing by a FP ride. Planning ahead is very difficult in that the only way to know when FPs will be good for a particular ride ("the window") is to be at the FP distribution location for that ride.

The [currently operating] rides at Disneyland Park that offer FPs, but do not have SR queues, are Autopia, Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin, Space Mountain, and Star Tours. Conversely, there is a SR queue for Matterhorn Bobsleds, but no FPs are available - an advantage for Class 2. I've seen that, for Class 2 visitors, the ability to go as a single rider means there isn't much point in getting a FP for Splash Mountain or Indiana Jones Adventure. Otherwise, Class 2 visitors are in the same boat at Class 1 visitors.

 

[Dizneydaz]

I personally don't collect as many FP as I used to when you could use them anytime after my window.

As far as FP being more available with the policy change I'm not so sure. We were there on Monday, the 10th. We went to get FP for Space at about 4:30ish and they were all gone for the day. DL closed at midnight. There were FP for Star Tours for 8-9 p.m. We ended up not using our ST ones. Just decided to sit and relax instead.

We use SR alot-I love it!

Also, I find it very annoying when you return to a ride to use your FP and the ride is down. This happened recently at ToT. And that was after we made our way over there just to ride it. What's the policy when you go to use your FP and the ride is down? I would love to know.

 

[AddictedtoDoleWhip]

I personally don't collect as many FP as I used to when you could use them anytime after my window.

As far as FP being more available with the policy change I'm not so sure. We were there on Monday, the 10th. We went to get FP for Space at about 4:30ish and they were all gone for the day. DL closed at midnight. There were FP for Star Tours for 8-9 p.m. We ended up not using our ST ones. Just decided to sit and relax instead.

We use SR alot-I love it!

Also, I find it very annoying when you return to a ride to use your FP and the ride is down. This happened recently at ToT. And that was after we made our way over there just to ride it. What's the policy when you go to use your FP and the ride is down? I would love to know.

They will honor your FP if the ride is down, when I had a TOT FP the ride went down and I asked the CM what to do and she said to return when it opens and that they will honor it (though they would not honor FP that were way earlier in the day, some people tried to use their FP that were in the morning way before the ride went down and were denied.)

I have found the CMs at TOT to be a bit more nice to people when it comes to FP enforcement, I had another incident where I was 10 minutes late so my FP expired. I must have looked really sullen or something (I was disappointed, but I understood that it was my fault for not being on time) and she turned the fast pass over and wrote something on it and I was able to ride it 50 minutes later [that was the SB wait time...].) I've also had that experience with Space Mountain and Indiana Jones [but they were a bit more finger shaking about it, which I deserved!]
--

This is completely unrelated to the person I quoted.

If you run late it really is on you, and I am sure my TOT experience was probably a minority but I have found that if you don't hassle the CM and get angry with them for something that isn't their own fault but yours.. they may surprise you and give you some pixie dust.

 

[coaches24]

I don't see the need to grab fast passes in the morning anymore like I used to and obviously collecting them isn't likely to happen anymore. Now it's more like if you go to a ride and the line is long then you get a FP and go elsewhere until the return time and then come back. You can still collect a few FPs if you wait till the afternoon and pay attention to the return time making sure they aren't too close to each other so you know you can use them but its much different now.

I was looking at FPs on Monday and ended up only getting RSR because the other FP rides that DD would go on I didn't need a FP for at the time we wanted to ride. I could have gotten a FP for Star Wars or Soarin later in the day but didnt do so because we weren't close to those rides when I thought of it. FP was not an integral part of my day on Monday. Now if DW had been there or when DD is older and likes more of the FP rides I know we will use the system more.

 

[fctiger]

We're 2 months out from our first post FP enforcement trip to WDW or DL. I'm NOT looking forward to it, but at least I'm not being rationed 2 or 3 FPs for the whole day like WDW is on the verge of.

I see a definite pattern in those who like the enforcement, they aren't turbo riders. One person said they like it because they get there at rope drop, grab a FP, hit another ride, then shop some. We NEVER shop in the morning, well, I have to drag my wife out of stores some, but.... That's wasting super valuable low crowd time. I have no desire to do that. And it's certainly improving my visit to have more time in the morning for shopping.

Having to "stay in the land" killing time is a huge decrease in value. I'm not paying over $200 a day for my family to shop, people watch, and relax for a while. I can do that for free in Downtown Disney.

Luckily, DL isn't crazy with their FPs, so there are options. Just have single rider for Matterhorn is a big plus. WDW is on the verge of destroying the type of visits I've enjoyed in the past, I'm afraid.


Jason

No I dont think you have to stay around the land either! I been about three times since the enforcement and for me a lot of the FP been out several hours as they always been. Im assuming most people are talking when you get there early morning and the FP times are closer. But by afternoon, depending on the ride of course, most passes are still usually an hour or more out so its still time to do whatever you want some place else. Now maybe people cant hop between parks as much if they keep to FP windows but I havent found a huge difference from just doing other things within the park.

And yeah they seem to linger a little longer as well. People arent just grabbing them up and have to think if they are going to use them or not.

Honestly for me, my strategy hasnt changed much at all and I probably used FP outside the window 50% of the time. The only difference now is if I want to ride something later I just wait for the window to come up. This has been brought up before, but it would be cool in the future if you can just pic FPs for certain hours at the machines. Its a little more complicated (and costly) but would go a long way for most people.

I suspect though for the Magic plus program thats what you can do, just online and in advance.

And yes SR is GREAT! Probably the best thing they did for RSR! I probably done SR, even with family, on that ride than I have ever done the stanby (litterally done it only once) or FP line combined. In fact I been on RSR about a dozen times and I think 3/4ths has been through SR.

 

[pennyring]

Until then, I think at least one positive thing about the enforcement of windows is that it will keep us in the various lands longer without backtracking so much to snag passes in other lands. I like the idea of grabbing a FP for SM and then hanging around in Tomorrow Land, riding other rides while the FP window approaches.

Yup. That's exactly what we did on our last trip.

Kinda makes me wonder if something was lost in terms of the overall immersive experience with all that pass grabbing before? Ya know? Us FP pros don't tend to linger in one area for very long. Trying to look on the bright side here and think of a new way to do Disney lol.

Exactly that. It was nice not to be so "all over the place". It almost negates the need for a Park Hopper, honestly. So it's a money saver too!

ggbb
Having to "stay in the land" killing time is a huge decrease in value. I'm not paying over $200 a day for my family to shop, people watch, and relax for a while. I can do that for free in Downtown Disney.

You're criticizing a system you haven't experienced. No one says you have to sit, relax, people watch and shop.

We didn't do that once on our last trip.

We stayed in the general area of our FP and rode ALL THE OTHER RIDES. There are more than FP rides in the park.

I find the new system to be efficient. You're not running all over the place. You're enjoying an area at a time, then moving to the next area.

I'm guessing fastpasses won't run out like they used to since Disney Commandos like us won't be hoarding fastpasses anymore.

??? I don't understand this train of thought. You're saying you won't get a FP when they're available? That seems like inefficient use of time.

On our last trip, we continued getting just as many FPs as ever, they were just more localized.

 

[mom2rtk]

You're criticizing a system you haven't experienced. No one says you have to sit, relax, people watch and shop.

Not sure, but maybe the PP has been to WDW or read stories on that board since they started enforcement 3/12.

I did find on our trip there last December that it really did mess with our touring plan, almost requiring us to stay in the same land until the window opened. This had to do with a combination of them enforcing the times combined with them reportedly adding a lot more capacity to the FP system in anticipation of using that added capacity for FP+. With more FPs to give out, the return times were never far enough out for us to leave that area and return. Yet it was more time than I wanted to stay there. Just sort of an awkward in between.

 

[fctiger]

??? I don't understand this train of thought. You're saying you won't get a FP when they're available? That seems like inefficient use of time.

On our last trip, we continued getting just as many FPs as ever, they were just more localized.

I think what the poster mean is a lot of people just use to horde FPs not worrying about the times and just used them whenever possible. Now with the 'new' system in place people have to now strategize FPs times more and may not get one if that window interferes with another event that hour.

Im one of them actually. Although I never really horde them I always just picked one up just in case for later that night. Now if I know if I pick one up but its doing a show or dinner I may not get it at all.

 

[pennyring]

I think what the poster mean is a lot of people just use to horde FPs not worrying about the times and just used them whenever possible. Now with the 'new' system in place people have to now strategize FPs times more and may not get one if that window interferes with another event that hour.

Im one of them actually. Although I never really horde them I always just picked one up just in case for later that night. Now if I know if I pick one up but its doing a show or dinner I may not get it at all.

Gotcha. We didn't "not" get them due to those reasons. We just picked a different one to get. Make sense? So like... DH would check wait times on his phone, and we'd just go to jet off to a different area to pick up a different FP. So we always had a FP chambered, we were just... less haphazard about it, I guess. More thoughtful of timing. But we still always had one (or two) that we hadn't used.

 

[rastuso]

To me, "wonder around and shop" and "ride other (lower level) rides we normally woudn't" are equally bad.

If I'm riding IASW because I have some time before my SM FP comes up, that is NOT a good thing

But, as another post said, I think DL is infinitely better with FP enforcement with the SR lines and the relatively small number of FP rides. WDW is horrible without FPs being usable. You're stuck with Pirates, and that's about it.

I didn't know Indy has a SR now. That's awesome. Now, if they would just let you not have to walk all the way out and back in, it would be excellent.

Jason

 

[mom2rtk]

You're stuck with Pirates, and that's about it.



Jason

Well, only until FP+ rolls out. Then all those lower level standby lines will slow down and not be a great filler option either. I guess that just leaves shopping. Hmmmmm...... funny how that works.

 

[sheetz]

Well I have an upcoming trip and plan to use Ridemax to see how well it optimizes FP usage. Does anyone know how well Ridemax estimates FP return times?