4th fast pass coming??

[Reed Broderick]

I think how it works now is that you can get another fastpass after you use your first three. If You have tower of terror at 11-12, Rockin Rollercoaster at 1-2, and star tours at 3-4, then you can get fourth and then a fifth and so on. However if you have a fastpass for fantasmic at the end of the day, then you can only get 3.

 

[Luckybee]

I think how it works now is that you can get another fastpass after you use your first three. If You have tower of terror at 11-12, Rockin Rollercoaster at 1-2, and star tours at 3-4, then you can get fourth and then a fifth and so on. However if you have a fastpass for fantasmic at the end of the day, then you can only get 3.

You are correct, generally that is. However Disney has now been testing providing a 4th but only to those who don't follow the Disney built system, that is to book fp's 30 or 60 days in advance. In other words those who wait until the day or two prior to going to the park get an extra. Makes sense right ?

 

[disneypolybride2008]

all i said was 'should,' it is just my thoughts, not a joke or anything else. it could be tiered so deluxes get 5, mods 4, and 3 for value or off-site. i think it would be a good idea. deluxes are so expensive they should give those guests a couple more FP+'s.

 

[mom2rtk]

all i said was 'should,' it is just my thoughts, not a joke or anything else. it could be tiered so deluxes get 5, mods 4, and 3 for value or off-site. i think it would be a good idea. deluxes are so expensive they should give those guests a couple more FP+'s.

You're not alone in feeling that way. But it doesn't change the fact that they don't have the capacity to do it.

 

[LaidBackDad]

I can't see how capacity is an issue with FP+. Each ride has its own capacity and is only going to give a certain number of rides per day. The ride doesn't care what line (FP+ or standby) the riders come from or what percentage of guest come from each line. What would happen is the standby wait times will increase if more FP's are given in MDE (a higher percentage of guest come from the FP line). It may actually be a way for the parks to better control the crowds by spreading people throughout parks, which is what I thought was one of the long term goals of MDE anyways.

 

[mom2rtk]

I can't see how capacity is an issue with FP+. Each ride has its own capacity and is only going to give a certain number of rides per day. The ride doesn't care what line (FP+ or standby) the riders come from or what percentage of guest come from each line. What would happen is the standby wait times will increase if more FP's are given in MDE. It may actually be a way for the parks to better control the crowds by spreading people throughout parks, which is what I thought was one of the long term goals of MDE anyways.

So you're saying you want them to issue a higher percentage of each ride's capacity in FPs every day?

 

[LaidBackDad]

No, not at all. Just that capacity of a ride is not affected by the number of FP's issued.

 

[mom2rtk]

No, not at all. Just that capacity of a ride is not affected by the number of FP's issued.

I agree that capacity is a constant. But if you issue more FPs, don't they have to come from somewhere?

 

[LaidBackDad]

No, they would issue more FP's but allow less standby people to ride. It would speed up FP lines; but, slow down standby lines. It would increase the advantage of staying in a Disney property and utilizing the 60 day window for booking FP's. Stay on property and you get shorter waits in lines. Stay off property and you have to wait longer because all of the best FP time slots will be already taken.

 

[mom2rtk]

No, they would issue more FP's but allow less standby people to ride. It would speed up FP lines; but, slow down standby lines. It would increase the advantage of staying in a Disney property and utilizing the 60 day window for booking FP's. Stay on property and you get shorter waits in lines. Stay off property and you have to wait longer because all of the best FP time slots will be already taken.

We'll have to agree to disagree on this. With even more people going through the fastpass line, I'm not sure how it speeds up.

And while we stay onsite, Disney can't afford to tick off their offsite guests. They rely on those folks to fill the parks as well.

 

[tjkraz]

I can't see how capacity is an issue with FP+. Each ride has its own capacity and is only going to give a certain number of rides per day. The ride doesn't care what line (FP+ or standby) the riders come from or what percentage of guest come from each line. What would happen is the standby wait times will increase if more FP's are given in MDE (a higher percentage of guest come from the FP line). It may actually be a way for the parks to better control the crowds by spreading people throughout parks, which is what I thought was one of the long term goals of MDE anyways.

Not necessarily...don't forget that an extra FP would shift thousands of guests from Standby lines into FP side.

Imagine you're going to the Magic Kingdom. Your first 3 FP choices are the three mountains. When a 4th FP is issued, you choose 7DMT.

In theory, a 4th FP for everyone does mean more people going through the FP queue and fewer through Standby. But in many cases, it will also mean fewer people needing to use those standby queues in the first place. In the example above, instead of using Standby for 7DMT, you now have a FastPass. Throughout the day, the ride will pull fewer people from the Standby queue (due to greater FP %), but that's offset by fewer people waiting Standby in the first place.

The real question is what people do with the extra time they are given. Instead of standing in the 7DMT Standby queue, you have an extra 30 minutes to spare. What do you do with that time? Ideally for Disney, some of it will be spent dining / browsing / shopping. But even if the time is spent on other attractions, you may not be utilizing any additional park resources. If your goal is ten MK attractions before leaving, it doesn't really matter if you get through those ten in 5 hours with 3 FPs or 4.5 hours with 4 FPs. Your consumption of attraction resources (% of daily capacity) is unchanged.

 

[LaidBackDad]

We'll have to agree to disagree on this. With even more people going through the fastpass line, I'm not sure how it speeds up.

And while we stay onsite, Disney can't afford to tick off their offsite guests. They rely on those folks to fill the parks as well.

I don't mean to sound argumentative; but, it is not a matter of agreeing or disagreeing so much as it is a mathematical certainty. If a ride currently has a capacity of 1000 guest an hour with 100 FP+'s an hour issued, that leaves 900 guest an hour for standby. If Disney decided to issue 200 FP+'s an hour it could, leaving 800 guest an hour for standby. Thus, speeding up the FP+ line and slowing down standby. I'm not sure how this would tick off their offsite guest as the booking windows will remain the same as they are now.

Not necessarily...don't forget that an extra FP would shift thousands of guests from Standby lines into FP side.

Imagine you're going to the Magic Kingdom. Your first 3 FP choices are the three mountains. When a 4th FP is issued, you choose 7DMT.

In theory, a 4th FP for everyone does mean more people going through the FP queue and fewer through Standby. But in many cases, it will also mean fewer people needing to use those standby queues in the first place. In the example above, instead of using Standby for 7DMT, you now have a FastPass. Throughout the day, the ride will pull fewer people from the Standby queue (due to greater FP %), but that's offset by fewer people waiting Standby in the first place.

The real question is what people do with the extra time they are given. Instead of standing in the 7DMT Standby queue, you have an extra 30 minutes to spare. What do you do with that time? Ideally for Disney, some of it will be spent dining / browsing / shopping. But even if the time is spent on other attractions, you may not be utilizing any additional park resources. If your goal is ten MK attractions before leaving, it doesn't really matter if you get through those ten in 5 hours with 3 FPs or 4.5 hours with 4 FPs. Your consumption of attraction resources (% of daily capacity) is unchanged.

I see what you mean; but, that assumes the the standby riders that switch to FP+ aren't replaced with other standby riders that wouldn't have ordinarily waited for the ride. I should have stated it would slow down the standby line which usually results in longer wait times.

 

[mom2rtk]

I don't mean to sound argumentative; but, it is not a matter of agreeing or disagreeing so much as it is a mathematical certainty. If a ride currently has a capacity of 1000 guest an hour with 100 FP+'s an hour issued, that leaves 900 guest an hour for standby. If Disney decided to issue 200 FP+'s an hour it could, leaving 800 guest an hour for standby. Thus, speeding up the FP+ line and slowing down standby. I'm not sure how this would tick off their offsite guest as the booking windows will remain the same as they are now.



I see what you mean; but, that assumes the the standby riders that switch to FP+ aren't replaced with other standby riders that wouldn't have ordinarily waited for the ride. I should have stated it would slow down the standby line which usually results in longer wait times.

Disney already prioritizes FP riders over standby riders. Put more of the riders in that line and I don't see how it doesn't slow down.

And a lot of this depends on what the people who get through the line faster decide to do with that time. Given the boring selection of merchandise in the shops these days, I know what I'd be doing..... getting back in line to ride again.

 

[Planogirl]

I agree that the FP lines will slow down if you issue more FP+ simply because more people will enter that line. While it also means that less standby will be able to ride per hour that doesn't guarantee that even more people won't hop into the standby line. You could end up with longer fastpass and longer standby lines.

 

[LaidBackDad]

Disney already prioritizes FP riders over standby riders. Put more of the riders in that line and I don't see how it doesn't slow down.

And a lot of this depends on what the people who get through the line faster decide to do with that time. Given the boring selection of merchandise in the shops these days, I know what I'd be doing..... getting back in line to ride again.

The standby line will slow down considerably as more FP+ riders are "prioritized" in front of the standby riders. If you want to get back in the standby line you will have a much longer wait; but, lots more FP+ riders will go in front of you.

 

[tjkraz]

I see what you mean; but, that assumes the the standby riders that switch to FP+ aren't replaced with other standby riders that wouldn't have ordinarily waited for the ride. I should have stated it would slow down the standby line which usually results in longer wait times.

But all other things being equal (same number of guests in park, individual touring intentions unchanged), where do those other Standby riders come from? A guest can only be in one location at a time.

I suspect most people would see little change with the additional FastPass added. They'd see their wait time reduced for one additional FP experience, with the trade-off being a modest increase in standby wait time at others. As you yourself said, this wouldn't change attraction capacities. Really all it's doing is shuffling the proverbial deck...changing the way guests are distributed throughout the park.

 

[mom2rtk]

The standby line will slow down considerably as more FP+ riders are "prioritized" in front of the standby riders. If you want to get back in the standby line you will have a much longer wait; but, lots more FP+ riders will go in front of you.

....... and if it results in a less appealing overall experience, I likely just won't be back. Even if I were staying at a deluxe and getting 5 FP's in this scenario, that's not enough to keep me happy over the course of the day. If all the standby waits are too long to be realistically done, then I'm done. The sad part is that I probably WOULD like to shop more. But the merchandise is all the same trip after trip so there's really no point in investing much time with it.

 

[mom2rtk]

But all other things being equal (same number of guests in park, individual touring intentions unchanged), where do those other Standby riders come from? A guest can only be in one location at a time.

I suspect most people would see little change with the additional FastPass added. They'd see their wait time reduced for one additional FP experience, with the trade-off being a modest increase in standby wait time at others. As you yourself said, this wouldn't change attraction capacities. Really all it's doing is shuffling the proverbial deck...changing the way guests are distributed throughout the park.

Actually if I get in a standby line while I hold a FP, I'm technically in 2 lines at once.

 

[LaidBackDad]

I must be doing a horrible job of explaining this (sigh). More FP+'s issued means more people in line; but, if you let more FP+ people on each ride cycle and less standby, the FP+ line stays the same but the standby line moves slower as less standby riders ride during each cycle.

 

[tjkraz]

I must be doing a horrible job of explaining this (sigh). More FP+'s issued means more people in line; but, if you let more FP+ people on each ride cycle and less standby, the FP+ line stays the same but the standby line moves slower as less standby riders ride during each cycle.

I want to ride Space Mountain one time during my visit.

Give me 3 Fastpasses and I don't have enough for SM. I'm in the Standby line.

Give me 4 Fastpasses and I decide to use one for SM. Now I'm not in the Standby line. Standby line moves slower....but has fewer people in it.