Anyone there now that can comment on FP enforcement

[vacationclub]

Actually the rules were that you could use them anytime after the start of the window. It just wasn't printed on the FP but just about every website on Disney would talk about it. Many times I asked the CMs if that was the Disney policy and they would say yes. Just because someone did not know all of the the Disney policies for FP does not mean that FP hoarders were breaking "rules". They just made the effort to know the rules.

Gotta disagree there. Those that knew the secret weren't making any special effort to know the rules. They stumbled across them or discovered them. And those who didn't know the secret still made the effort to learn the rules by doing it the way any normal person would find out a rule; they did it by looking at Disney's rules. They weren't derelict in their duty to learn any rule. They observed the sign. They read the ticket. They went to the web site. They watched the TV channel. They weren't at fault if none of those methods didn't reveal that Disney's unofficial policy was actually much more lenient. You can't blame anyone for not knowing.

 

[4HppyCamprs]

Came home last night. Wednesday they started with fast pass enforcement. We were at magic kingdom that day and the CM at the FP machine stated the rules. The CM's in line checked the times at return. I overheard some CMs talking and one was telling the other that overall it was going very well but that the few who got upset were "fighting mad". It never occurred to me to break the rules or arrive outside the window so it didn't bother my family at all. The fast pass return time for Soarin clashed with dh's dive at Nemo and Friends so we got fast passes for test track and stood in line for Soarin. It worked just fine.i see no reason to try and be "special" and assume that rules/guidelines do not apply to me. I guess we just plan on the fly to work it all out

 

[sewingmolly]

I'm leaving on Wednesday for WDW and I'm interested in reading reports of how fastpass returns are being handled when the attraction is down during your return time. Are you given a fast pass to return later or is it just case of too bad, so sad?

 

[Wadecool]

You can't blame anyone for not knowing.

Just like you can't blame anyone for knowing.

 

[DisneyRookie2007]

We just got back last night from a 10 day visit. On Thursday March 8th we had a FP for Soarin' between 525pm - 625pm. We arrived late @ 630pm (5 minutes late). I approached the CM and told them I was late by 5 minutes and if it was still OK to go on the ride. She politely said "yes, no problem, but next time please try to adhere to the time on the FP card".

 

[canoe86]

Actually the rules were that you could use them anytime after the start of the window. It just wasn't printed on the FP but just about every website on Disney would talk about it. Many times I asked the CMs if that was the Disney policy and they would say yes. Just because someone did not know all of the the Disney policies for FP does not mean that FP hoarders were breaking "rules". They just made the effort to know the rules.

But I do have to agree that Disney enforcing the FP times is being blown way out of proportion. They have every right to do it and a few folks will have to adjust their touring plans (myself included). I will just have to plan a little more each day and I am sure the kids will not even notice the difference.

I will say, I've been on many sites, read many of the books.....often. I've never seen that FP could be used anytime. I always figured, it had a time range, that was when I should go. In fact, I know this year, we gave away SIX Soaring fast passes because it was going to interfere with our lunch ADR.

 

[magicbob]

overall it was going very well but that the few who got upset were "fighting mad".

Notice that they refer to a FEW who got upset. Of course, there will be SOME who get upset, but it will probably be even fewer as the new policy settles in and becomes the norm for those who knew you were allowed to use them late in the past.

Also worth considering: it's entirely possible that those throwing a fit were not "in the know" serial late FP users. They could have been first timers who never knew they could be used late before but got delayed and were just the kind of people who throw a fit about anything that doesn't go exactly their way. We've all seen that type at Disney.

It never occurred to me to break the rules or arrive outside the window so it didn't bother my family at all.

If you're explicitly told you cannot come back late and blatently attempt to do so anyway, then I tend to agree that you are attepting to break the rules (and perhaps even figuring that by throwing a fit you'll get away with it).

However, the point that I've been trying to convey is that, in the past, it was not a matter of being told you could NOT do it and deciding to do it anyway, it was a matter being told that you COULD do it. There was no throwing of fits. No need to. The practice was considered 100% acceptable.

That has now changed. The vast majority of former late FP users will now comply with the new expectation. Will there be a few "bad apples?" Probably. But that's likely to be the exception rather than the rule.

i see no reason to try and be "special" and assume that rules/guidelines do not apply to me.

Please read what I wrote a few posts back. Of course the rules apply to us. We just had a different understanding of what the rules were. You may think that using a FP late was unacceptable, but Disney allowed it unconditionally. We were never warned or shamed by a CM that what we were doing was not ok. They welcomed us with a smile. So please do not judge us for engaging in a practice that Disney considered acceptable. They are no longer allowing late FP. We will now continue to follow the rules by adapting to the new expectation.

 

[ftballfan7]

Came home last night. Wednesday they started with fast pass enforcement. We were at magic kingdom that day and the CM at the FP machine stated the rules. The CM's in line checked the times at return. I overheard some CMs talking and one was telling the other that overall it was going very well but that the few who got upset were "fighting mad". It never occurred to me to break the rules or arrive outside the window so it didn't bother my family at all. The fast pass return time for Soarin clashed with dh's dive at Nemo and Friends so we got fast passes for test track and stood in line for Soarin. It worked just fine.i see no reason to try and be "special" and assume that rules/guidelines do not apply to me. I guess we just plan on the fly to work it all out

Here we go again. It was Disney's official policy to allow the use of fastpasses after the printed time as long it was on the same park day. This was in books and on many websites such as the disboards. Noone was breaking the rules, it was just a case of not everyone knowing exactly what Disney's rules were in this regard. I see no reason to try to be "special" and make assumptions about people who were following the rules Disney had in place at the time.

 

[ftballfan7]

I will say, I've been on many sites, read many of the books.....often. I've never seen that FP could be used anytime. I always figured, it had a time range, that was when I should go. In fact, I know this year, we gave away SIX Soaring fast passes because it was going to interfere with our lunch ADR.

You were either on the wrong sites and reading the wrong books, or you should have paid closer attention.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

Okay - we were at WDW this past week. Before 3/6, CM's acted like they had no idea what I was talking about when I asked about FP enforcement.

On 3/6, MC's in MK were warning guests that they were going to start enforcing FP time windows. There were signs posted on FP machines.

On 3/7 we were at Epcot. the only FP we got was for Soarin' and we did not use them. At the start of the time window, I handed them off to someone else. It was our second day at Ecpot and we were there mostly to see the Flower Festival. The only attractions we rode: Imagination, Living with the Land, Nemo, and Mexico. Epcot was pretty crowded as it was the first day of the festival. I didn't look carefully at the FP to see if they were any different. (on 3/6, the FP looked the same as always)

A few points: CM's have always looked carefully at the return time and date printed on the ticket. You have never been allowed to use tickets before the hour. They have also always checked to see that your FP were issued on the SAME day you were using them.


Second, even though CM's were allowing late arrivals on 3/6, we knew they might be enforcing the hour window. We ended up with two sets of FP for several rides. So we ended up getting more FP's than we might have had in the past. The crowds were not bad on 3/6, so we didn't end up getting (or using) all that many FP. One example was Buzz; we got a round of FP with a retur window around 10:45am. We left Tomorrowland around 10:20. I grabbed a second set later in the afternoon. We returned in the time window for the second set. I showed the earlier set and they told us we could use them, so we did. We never used the second set. Buzz stalled while we were on the ride, and we all ended up with perfect scores. There was no reason to re-ride. Truly though, the standby lines was only ten minutes at that time. We really didn't need FP at all, I was curious to see how they were enforcing return times. Later that night, we used late FP for Splash (again mostly to test the waters - ha ha!), but literally the FP line was LONGER than the standby line. There was NO standby line at all! Most of the fluimes were empty! There were a couple folks ahead of us in the FP queue, and I'm pretty sure the route of the new Splash FP queue is a LONGER walk than the regular queue.

As for collecting FP, yes - I long ago commented that no matter what, accusing folks of 'hoarding' FP's was always a bit of overstatement. Muchof the time, FP return times START at 10:00am - so right form the get go - you OFTEN have to wait at least one hour to get a second set. As the day progresses that return time gets further away. If parks are slow, then there may be a time frame when your return time is CLOSE to the current time and you MIGHT be able to have multiple sets of FP at the same time (Maybe three or four sets tops in MK, likely only two in the other parks). But IF and WHEN that happens, then the STANDBY ride rimes are nearly always ALSO short. For us, it has happened that we got FP for a ride like Pooh before looking at the standby line. If we saw the standby line was short, we just rode the attraction.

Also, many times we've given away FP's and sometimes been given FP's. Even this trip, we ended up with unsued FP's, handed some away, and came home with some we never used.

 

[vacationclub]

Here we go again. It was Disney's official policy to allow the use of fastpasses after the printed time as long it was on the same park day.

It may have been their policy, but not officially. They officially told the public something else via their public communications. As you say, only the insiders websites and various other sources of secrets would reveal this information if you knew it was there to look for in the first place. But, you're right, those that were allowed, were allowed. They did nothing wrong...they did what Disney let them do.

As far as the "wrong sites" or the "wrong books" or "you should have paid closer attention", closer attention to what? Disney clearly publishes their policy. How could you know after reading and listening to their rules in various places that Disney was lying to you? How would "paying closer attention" solve that problem? People who knew the secret, weren't paying any closer attention, they simply stumbled upon or discovered a secret that Disney wasn't talking about.

 

[FairydustyPrincesses]

You were either on the wrong sites and reading the wrong books, or you should have paid closer attention.

It may have been their policy, but not officially. They officially told the public something else via their public communications. As you say, only the insiders websites and various other sources of secrets would reveal this information if you knew it was there to look for in the first place. But, you're right, those that were allowed, were allowed. They did nothing wrong...they did what Disney let them do.

As far as the "wrong sites" or the "wrong books" or "you should have paid closer attention", closer attention to what? Disney clearly publishes their policy. How could you know after reading and listening to their rules in various places that Disney was lying to you? How would "paying closer attention" solve that problem? People who knew the secret, weren't paying any closer attention, they simply stumbled upon or discovered a secret that Disney wasn't talking about.

I believe the back of the ticket said something to the effect of please return in that time window on the original fp. It's Been debated endlessly here and the wording being a request and not an absolute shows the Disney preferred you retrn during those hours but was not required.

So no one was acting superior or special others were just not reading the back of the ticket in the fine print to realize that disneys policy was a request not an order.

 

[magicbob]

So let me get this straight, all these trips to Disney, I've been going to get a FP, and they've been gone, and some people have been collecting them all day and the NOT using them at the prescribed time???

If FPs are all gone every time you go to Disney, it sounds like you must be going during peak crowds and arriving to the parks late. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but this policy change is highly unlikely to prevent that from happening. Many of us will still show up early (think 7am EMH in some cases) and get FPs. During those first few hours, we can get more FPs than later in the day because of the shorter wait time before another is available... even if we are using them on time instead of saving them for later. FPs WILL still run out on crowded days. If you sleep in, have a leisurely breakfast, and mosey over to the park between 11am and 1pm, guess what? A lot of attractions WILL be out of FPs.

From one of the people who has followed the rules, thanks.

Can I get a "sticky" in my signature like Cheshire Figment's ticket sticky? That way I can just post "refer to the sticky in my signature block" anytime someone makes this kind of statement.

 

[smitch425]

With all due respect, does it really matter who knew you could use them late and who didn't? A "knowing person" is no better or worse of a planner than a "person who didn't know". It is also not a "knowing person's" fault for using them late because they knew Disney would allow them to do so.

I think all that matters now is that everyone travelling from this point on knows that they will only be allowed to use their FP during the 1 hr 15 min window and never again "late". Doesn't it seem a bit silly to nitpick and bicker over something no one can even do anymore?

 

[TwiddleDeeTwiddleDum]

Came home last night. Wednesday they started with fast pass enforcement. We were at magic kingdom that day and the CM at the FP machine stated the rules. The CM's in line checked the times at return. I overheard some CMs talking and one was telling the other that overall it was going very well but that the few who got upset were "fighting mad".......The fast pass return time for Soarin clashed with dh's dive at Nemo and Friends so we got fast passes for test track and stood in line for Soarin. It worked just fine.......

We just got back last night from a 10 day visit. On Thursday March 8th we had a FP for Soarin' between 525pm - 625pm. We arrived late @ 630pm (5 minutes late). I approached the CM and told them I was late by 5 minutes and if it was still OK to go on the ride. She politely said "yes, no problem, but next time please try to adhere to the time on the FP card".

Thank you for posting about your experiences since start of FP enforcement effective 3/7. Hopefully there will be a few more who can tell us about what is happening in the parks now & how in your opinion the FP enforecement is proceeding.....positive or negative impact on the lines, etc. Thank-you!

 

[Glennie5]

I too was a fast pass hoarder While hoarding my fast passes I didn't feel special or entitled.

 

[canoe86]

If FPs are all gone every time you go to Disney, it sounds like you must be going during peak crowds and arriving to the parks late. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but this policy change is highly unlikely to prevent that from happening. Many of us will still show up early (think 7am EMH in some cases) and get FPs. During those first few hours, we can get more FPs than later in the day because of the shorter wait time before another is available... even if we are using them on time instead of saving them for later. FPs WILL still run out on crowded days. If you sleep in, have a leisurely breakfast, and mosey over to the park between 11am and 1pm, guess what? A lot of attractions WILL be out of FPs.



Can I get a "sticky" in my signature like Cheshire Figment's ticket sticky? That way I can just post "refer to the sticky in my signature block" anytime someone makes this kind of statement.

I should clarify.....gone for the time I will be in the park. I posted in another post our situation.

Also, we have never been any later than 15 minutes after park open for the morning.

 

[FairydustyPrincesses]

I too was a fast pass hoarder While hoarding my fast passes I didn't feel special or entitled.

But did you feel like an abuser?Nor a Villan perhaps

 

[amikelee]

Gotta disagree there. Those that knew the secret weren't making any special effort to know the rules. They stumbled across them or discovered them. And those who didn't know the secret still made the effort to learn the rules by doing it the way any normal person would find out a rule; they did it by looking at Disney's rules. They weren't derelict in their duty to learn any rule. They observed the sign. They read the ticket. They went to the web site. They watched the TV channel. They weren't at fault if none of those methods didn't reveal that Disney's unofficial policy was actually much more lenient. You can't blame anyone for not knowing.

Let me clarify - They made an effort to know "all" the rules. Never blamed anyone for not knowing - just saying there was nothing wrong with the ones who did.

 

[edolee]

It may have been their policy, but not officially. They officially told the public something else via their public communications. As you say, only the insiders websites and various other sources of secrets would reveal this information if you knew it was there to look for in the first place. But, you're right, those that were allowed, were allowed. They did nothing wrong...they did what Disney let them do.

As far as the "wrong sites" or the "wrong books" or "you should have paid closer attention", closer attention to what? Disney clearly publishes their policy. How could you know after reading and listening to their rules in various places that Disney was lying to you? How would "paying closer attention" solve that problem? People who knew the secret, weren't paying any closer attention, they simply stumbled upon or discovered a secret that Disney wasn't talking about.

I hate to beat a dead horse... but Disney's official policies and their printed materials, websites, and other communications are often in conflict. Yes, the old Fastpass policy was OFFICIALLY set to ignore the back end of the printed time window. If not, it would have been irregularly enforced and created a big old mess... Clearly cast members were instructed to ignore the back end of the window and did so for years. I am not sure how it could be any more official than that!

Let me give a different example. Let's say you arrive at Epcot at 8:30am in order to be there for the opening at 9am. In fact, it is clearly printed on the Times Guide that the park OFFICIALLY opens at 9am. However, for whatever reason, on this day the CM's open the turnstiles at 8:45. Well... scandal! This for goodness sake is in VIOLATION of the printed policy! All those who enter early MUST be cheaters! I presume you would wait the extra 15 minutes?? Of course you wouldn't... the OFFICIAL policy that day was to open the park at 8:45... probably because all the CM's were in place and ready to go. You can bet your bottom dollar that Disney knows EXACTLY how much extra revenue they will get for every extra minute they are open in the morning, particularly at busy times. People cannot spend any money while they are stuck in a queue waiting for 9am.

Disney does what is best for Disney... until March 7th apparently the powers that be thought ignoring the back end time window was in their best interest. Now they think it is not. In fact, the printed information is still not accurate as they are giving a 15 minute grace period... I repeat that Disney will always do what is best for Disney as long as it will help, rather than hurt revenue and profitability. It seems highly unlikely to me that this change in policy will have an appreciable impact on either, but I would imagine the rumored changes coming for Fastpass will.

Ed