Anyone there now that can comment on FP enforcement

[mesaboy2]

Noting that the original poster wants a calm discussion, which I do too (please). Think this above is a really interesting point.

I also discovered the allowance of late use of fastpass by accident on our last trip, and although I am mostly ambivalent to whether they enforce or not, I agree for those fast pass tickets you get that are for way, way later in the day, it was nice to be able to not stress about being there at exactly the right hour - which for a party of 8, mixed generations, toddlers through to grandparents, who do all want to experience say TSM together, can be a task. Although I do appreciate that we have the responsibility to organize ourselves appropriately, sometimes in a full park, its easier said than done.

I would hope (dream!) that if as a larger group we tried our best effort to get from one side of the park to the other, but was say 30 mins late because on route baby needed changing, grandma could only move at very slow pace, toddler got distracted by cast member blowing bubbles in face, 8 year old daughter got mesmerized by opportunity to say hello to a princess who was out and about, and overweight uncle Joe just needed to stop to get a water before he keeled over in the heat - I just hope that they would acknowledge that we tried to make it, and not punish us. I think this is very different to someone actively collecting up fastpasses to circumvent the rules

WDW can be a bit stressful and confusing, and perhaps this enforcement does make it a bit more stressful for some (me!) - however I am sure there are heaps of benefits and operational reasons for it way beyond our awareness. Doubt Disney would do it just for the fun of it. So something else is coming - I'm sure of it. Just hope you don't have to have booked into the most expensive resorts to gain the benefit of what may be coming?

and from the looks of boxes like the one below appearing outside of some fast pass attractions, is coming soon

I just hope that any new variant if the fastpass scheme will be fairly made available to everyone who pays the same amount of cash to get into and experience the parks, regardless of where they stay.

Those boxes are now apparently gone.

 

[Jennasis]

We rode Soarin' on March 7th at approx. 12:45 pm and got off the ride and were able to pull another Fastpass around 1 pm or 1:15-ish which had a stated return time of 8:30-9pm. We know that we got among the last available Fastpasses for the day because all the Fastpass machines were covered except one and the CM overseeing it said that they were about to run out. It was like scoring a real prize. We felt really lucky to get to ride Soarin' twice that day.

I don't know how Fastpasses used to work because we are first time WDW visitors. It seems kind of sad to me that you pull a Fastpass at 1pm and you have to wait until almost park closing time to use it. And that week was not peak season. I would never go to WDW during peak crowd times. Seems like too much aggravation for me.

Before March 7th, would we have not been able to obtain a Fastpass for this ride at 1pm? Or would they have all been gone by then? Were they all scooped up by 11 am prior to the new enforcement? Just asking because I have no experience with this to compare to.

If I'm reading your post correctly, even under the old system you couldn't have used that FP until after 8:30pm anyway.

You could NEVER use a FP until after the window opened. It doesn't matter what time of day you pulled the ticket.

And before I get accused of going off topic, 2 of my students just returned from WDW yesterday. I had tasked them with checking out FP lines and how the enforcement was going after explaining what we all heard was happening. This morning I got a text from one of them before she headed of to school that said simply "You were right about Disney".

I can't wait to pick her brain when I see her this afternoon!

 

[Wadecool]

You should get yourself arrested. The police will be prompt and efficient in letting you know who are .

Identity crisis solved.

 

[vacationclub]

OK, now I am confused. If you are posting to a specific person, have you tried sending him or her a private message? I believe this thread is on fastpass enforcement. When we get caught up in trying to converse with specific people sometimes the thread gets sidetracked. All of us here are reading this, trying to get info on fastpass emforcement, but we keep reading discussions that read like arguments about something else. I realize you are only trying to defend what you wrote or meant to write, but it can get confusing.

Yes, I was responding to someones comment aimed directly at me, as you could clearly see from the quote I included...which is the method to show who you are responding to. That persons comment to me, was directly above mine. So why are you confused?

Yes, this thread is on FP enforcement. That's exactly what I and others were talking about when someone asked how people couldn't possibly have known about the old lax enforcement. If you read back you will understand how it arrived there. It wasn't as if a random un-related conversation just popped up out of the blue, it developed. It happens. Many threads (if not all) are intertwined back and forths between multiple people and others. This is not unusual, so I'm not sure what you're getting at here. The post you just made is exactly what you're saying others shouldn't be doing; something that may appear as off-topic and directly responding to someone else.

No one is trying to get a thread closed. Conversation happens.

You should get yourself arrested. The police will be prompt and efficient in letting you know who are .

But can we even trust them to be the police? If they said "Stop, Police" I guess I'm supposed to wonder if they really are the police. Or are they the thread police?

 

[Eastern]

Reading this thread sucks the life out of me

 

[WDSearcher]

Noting that the original poster wants a calm discussion, which I do too (please). Think this above is a really interesting point.

I also discovered the allowance of late use of fastpass by accident on our last trip, and although I am mostly ambivalent to whether they enforce or not, I agree for those fast pass tickets you get that are for way, way later in the day, it was nice to be able to not stress about being there at exactly the right hour - which for a party of 8, mixed generations, toddlers through to grandparents, who do all want to experience say TSM together, can be a task. Although I do appreciate that we have the responsibility to organize ourselves appropriately, sometimes in a full park, its easier said than done.

I would hope (dream!) that if as a larger group we tried our best effort to get from one side of the park to the other, but was say 30 mins late because on route baby needed changing, grandma could only move at very slow pace, toddler got distracted by cast member blowing bubbles in face, 8 year old daughter got mesmerized by opportunity to say hello to a princess who was out and about, and overweight uncle Joe just needed to stop to get a water before he keeled over in the heat - I just hope that they would acknowledge that we tried to make it, and not punish us. I think this is very different to someone actively collecting up fastpasses to circumvent the rules

IMO, this is one of those, "sometimes life just happens and you suck it up" things. Say, for example, that you were all planning to go for a family portrait. You're a large group and so you started off on time with plenty of time to get to the studio. But then you end up 30 min late because on route the baby needed changing and grandma forgot her pearls, and the family got distracted watching some ducks play in the park while they were stopped at a stop sign and there was traffic and the 8-year-old had a meltdown because she wanted to wear the pink blouse after all and you had to calm her down and convince her that yellow was really pretty and then walking from the parking garage a block away, overweight uncle Joe just needed to stop to get a water before he keeled over in the heat ... would you expect the studio to have had everyone behind you wait so that they could do your session as soon as you arrived, 30 min late? Probably not.

Life happens. Sometimes you're late. But there's a difference between being late due to something unavoidable and being late because you didn't give yourself enough time. In your example above .... if you've got a one-hour FP window, coupled by a baby, a slow-moving grandma, two easily distracted kids, and an overweight uncle who likely can't sprint to the finish, then perhaps you just need to start planning a little more out front and start that trek across the park a bit sooner. Disney's already giving you a 15 min grace period. If you're still 15 min behind THAT, then I think that falls on you to manage, not Disney. You have, basically, an hour and 15 min to get from point A to point B. If you doubt that your large group can travel that amount of space in that amount of time, then it's up to you to backtime that to make it.

WDW can be a bit stressful and confusing, and perhaps this enforcement does make it a bit more stressful for some (me!) - however I am sure there are heaps of benefits and operational reasons for it way beyond our awareness. Doubt Disney would do it just for the fun of it. So something else is coming - I'm sure of it. Just hope you don't have to have booked into the most expensive resorts to gain the benefit of what may be coming?

and from the looks of boxes like the one below appearing outside of some fast pass attractions, is coming soon

I just hope that any new variant if the fastpass scheme will be fairly made available to everyone who pays the same amount of cash to get into and experience the parks, regardless of where they stay.

From my understanding of "what's coming", it will be rolled out in phases, starting with the deluxe resort guests, mostly because fewer people stay in the deluxe resorts than in the moderates and values. And if you're testing something, you start with a smaller group. But the deployment is supposed to be fairly quick to include all Guests, on property and off, local and not, AP holders and one-day ticket folks. It will roll out to everyone.

 

[mom2rtk]

We rode Soarin' on March 7th at approx. 12:45 pm and got off the ride and were able to pull another Fastpass around 1 pm or 1:15-ish which had a stated return time of 8:30-9pm. We know that we got among the last available Fastpasses for the day because all the Fastpass machines were covered except one and the CM overseeing it said that they were about to run out. It was like scoring a real prize. We felt really lucky to get to ride Soarin' twice that day.

I don't know how Fastpasses used to work because we are first time WDW visitors. It seems kind of sad to me that you pull a Fastpass at 1pm and you have to wait until almost park closing time to use it. And that week was not peak season. I would never go to WDW during peak crowd times. Seems like too much aggravation for me.

Before March 7th, would we have not been able to obtain a Fastpass for this ride at 1pm? Or would they have all been gone by then? Were they all scooped up by 11 am prior to the new enforcement? Just asking because I have no experience with this to compare to.

I don't think it's unususal for Soarin to have fastpasses at 1 in the afternoon in off-peak season. I would never COUNT on them being available after 1, but I don't find that to be notable either.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Saying "Not a big deal if you followed the rules from the beginning." implies that people who used FPs after their noted time were breaking the rules. Clearly, they were not,

Okay, given that I know what I mean when I write, I can understand the poster you quoted using the words they used.
Being someone who takes things literally, I understand your issue, too.
Hindsight is 20/20 and all that - and this is NOT a critique of anyone's choice of words nmbut merely a panacea for WDWSearcher - but maybe, "not a big deal if you followed the return window printed on the ticket..."'

 

[vacationclub]

IMO, this is one of those, "sometimes life just happens and you suck it up" things. Say, for example, that you were all planning to go for a family portrait. You're a large group and so you started off on time with plenty of time to get to the studio. But then you end up 30 min late because on route the baby needed changing and grandma forgot her pearls, and the family got distracted watching some ducks play in the park while they were stopped at a stop sign and there was traffic and the 8-year-old had a meltdown because she wanted to wear the pink blouse after all and you had to calm her down and convince her that yellow was really pretty and then walking from the parking garage a block away, overweight uncle Joe just needed to stop to get a water before he keeled over in the heat ... would you expect the studio to have had everyone behind you wait so that they could do your session as soon as you arrived, 30 min late? Probably not.

Life happens. Sometimes you're late. But there's a difference between being late due to something unavoidable and being late because you didn't give yourself enough time. In your example above .... if you've got a one-hour FP window, coupled by a baby, a slow-moving grandma, two easily distracted kids, and an overweight uncle who likely can't sprint to the finish, then perhaps you just need to start planning a little more out front and start that trek across the park a bit sooner. Disney's already giving you a 15 min grace period. If you're still 15 min behind THAT, then I think that falls on you to manage, not Disney. You have, basically, an hour and 15 min to get from point A to point B. If you doubt that your large group can travel that amount of space in that amount of time, then it's up to you to backtime that to make it.


From my understanding of "what's coming", it will be rolled out in phases, starting with the deluxe resort guests, mostly because fewer people stay in the deluxe resorts than in the moderates and values. And if you're testing something, you start with a smaller group. But the deployment is supposed to be fairly quick to include all Guests, on property and off, local and not, AP holders and one-day ticket folks. It will roll out to everyone.

yes to all of this. Another important point to consider, is that before Fastpass, people had to simply wait in lines, period. FP gives an opportunity to manage some of those lines. As you say, it's up to them to figure out how to manage it, with or without enforcement.

Also, in the off-season, FP isn't all it's cracked up to be. Many times the FP line is only slightly shorter than the standby line. But no matter what season, I think you have to pick what's most important, and identify the ride that's hardest to get on, and be prepared to wait a bit for at least some rides, and simply accept that you might not get on every ride. If you're there for a week, and have a park ticket for every day, especially a park hopper, you should be able to hit just about anything you want, picking certain rides as your "first do" for certain days. If you're only there for day or two, you need to make choices. It's just not possible to do it all.

 

[Tarffri]

We rode Soarin' on March 7th at approx. 12:45 pm and got off the ride and were able to pull another Fastpass around 1 pm or 1:15-ish which had a stated return time of 8:30-9pm. We know that we got among the last available Fastpasses for the day because all the Fastpass machines were covered except one and the CM overseeing it said that they were about to run out. It was like scoring a real prize. We felt really lucky to get to ride Soarin' twice that day.

I don't know how Fastpasses used to work because we are first time WDW visitors. It seems kind of sad to me that you pull a Fastpass at 1pm and you have to wait until almost park closing time to use it. And that week was not peak season. I would never go to WDW during peak crowd times. Seems like too much aggravation for me.

Before March 7th, would we have not been able to obtain a Fastpass for this ride at 1pm? Or would they have all been gone by then? Were they all scooped up by 11 am prior to the new enforcement? Just asking because I have no experience with this to compare to.

If I'm reading your post correctly, even under the old system you couldn't have used that FP until after 8:30pm anyway.

You could NEVER use a FP until after the window opened. It doesn't matter what time of day you pulled the ticket.

March 7th was the first day of enforcement. I knew that the Fastpass could never have been used prior to the end time listed on the Fastpass ticket. I was just very surprised that the time listed to come back was 7 1/2 hours later. Was it always like that? If so, how was anyone able to collect a pocket full of Fastpasses? No judgement on my part. I say, if you can get away with something (and it's not illegal or at anyone else's expense), then go for it. It seemed to me that from March 3rd to March 6th, the return times listed on our Fastpasses were about 1 1/2 - 2 hours later. I don't know, maybe Soarin' is just so incredibly popular and this was the way it's always been for that particular ride. We weren't in Epcot prior to the 7th. I have no basis for comparison, being a WDW newbie.

 

[mesaboy2]

March 7th was the first day of enforcement. I knew that the Fastpass could never have been used prior to the end time listed on the Fastpass ticket. I was just very surprised that the time listed to come back was 7 1/2 hours later. Was it always like that? If so, how was anyone able to collect a pocket full of Fastpasses? No judgement on my part. I say, if you can get away with something (and it's not illegal or at anyone else's expense), then go for it. It seemed to me that from March 3rd to March 6th, the return times listed on our Fastpasses were about 1 1/2 - 2 hours later. I don't know, maybe Soarin' is just so incredibly popular and this was the way it's always been for that particular ride. We weren't in Epcot prior to the 7th. I have no basis for comparison, being a WDW newbie.

That's not unheard of for the two superheadliners at least, Soarin' and TSM. No matter when the return window is, you could always get another FP two hours after the previous. Rinse, and repeat. By early evening you could have a half-dozen or more to be used at your convenience. Whether or not that strategy was--note past tense--at the expense of others' convenience is an open and hotly-debated question.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Reading this thread sucks the life out of me

Can't help you. This is the, "what's happening/what's the big deal, did you/didn't you know, FastPass trauma" thread.

You'll have head to the Community board or something for vampire/zombie/life-sucking help.

 

[Wadecool]

March 7th was the first day of enforcement. I knew that the Fastpass could never have been used prior to the end time listed on the Fastpass ticket. I was just very surprised that the time listed to come back was 7 1/2 hours later. Was it always like that? If so, how was anyone able to collect a pocket full of Fastpasses?

The return time for that FP may have been 7 1/2 hours later but the person can collect another FP for another attraction 2 hours after that last one. In that particular case, the guest could easily be carrying 2 or even 3 FP's at once.

 

[Jennasis]

March 7th was the first day of enforcement. I knew that the Fastpass could never have been used prior to the end time listed on the Fastpass ticket. I was just very surprised that the time listed to come back was 7 1/2 hours later. Was it always like that? If so, how was anyone able to collect a pocket full of Fastpasses? No judgement on my part. I say, if you can get away with something (and it's not illegal or at anyone else's expense), then go for it. It seemed to me that from March 3rd to March 6th, the return times listed on our Fastpasses were about 1 1/2 - 2 hours later. I don't know, maybe Soarin' is just so incredibly popular and this was the way it's always been for that particular ride. We weren't in Epcot prior to the 7th. I have no basis for comparison, being a WDW newbie.

Absolutely it was. Especially for the popular headliners like Soarin; and TSMM, and especially during peak times like Spring Break. heck, I've seen it get like that during slower times too!

 

[Wadecool]

Can't help you. This is the, "what's happening/what's the big deal, did you/didn't you know, FastPass trauma" thread.

Pretty much sums it up.

 

[WDSearcher]

Reading this thread sucks the life out of me

Oooh! Ooooh! I know this one!

Stop reading.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Oooh! Ooooh! I know this one!

Stop reading.

I like my suggestion better - send the poster to a more appropriate thread

 

[magicbob]

The return time for that FP may have been 7 1/2 hours later but the person can collect another FP for another attraction 2 hours after that last one. In that particular case, the guest could easily be carrying 2 or even 3 FP's at once.

Also, the return times are shorter first thing in the morning. So, if you showed up for EMH (as early as 7 am at MK or AK; 8 am at EPCOT or DHS), you might only have to wait 45-60 minutes before being allowed to pull another FP (rather than waiting the full 2 hours). So, someone could already have collected 3-4 FPs (theoretically maybe even 5, but I think 4 was the most I managed) by lunch time.

Now, if you show up early, you'll still be able to pull FPs just as quickly (assuming the return times in the morning remain shorter, which would seem to be the case), but you'll have to use them "as you go" (i.e., within the window) rather than saving them for later. Net result, you still have acquired the same number of FPs. You just haven't "collected" or "hoarded" them to use at a later time in the day.

 

[goherdibg]

Based on the reports we've been reading here and on some of the other threads (that showed FP lines at Kilimanjaro Safari, etc.), it would appear that FP enforcement has accomplished two things so far:

1. Longer standby lines.

2. Longer FP lines.

The long lines could be because of the Spring Break crowds too. I would wait until later in April and May to judge the fallout.

 

[Balt ravens fan]

FP enforcement + Spring Break = Some angry people