At the park now, FP+ lines are snaking through the park

[bcrook]

Man, I wish that were the case. At least that would make some sense in all of this.

But, somethings wrong, seriously wrong on the back-end. Something that didn't show up in all of the data modeling and in the real "testing."

And, before I get flamed by some, if they'd known this was going to happen, they would have had a plan in place to manage the FP+ lines ahead of time and the crowds around the bottlenecks



You know, still calling it a test may be the smartest thing they've done so far.....

The other piece in this is forcing the system on everyone to get them hooked. Disney said 90% of their guests are using the system now compared to 50% before. Maybe they underestimated how fast people would latch on to the FP.

But if they couldn't predict these problems based on their capacity, their management is not much better off than the IT department.

But you have to be correct, something is not going right, because they wouldn't have created these long FP return lines this way on purpose. Or they just don't care.

 

[wordwitt]

Wow. Looks like a pretty miserable day for guests. I am a FP+ proponent in general. Used it. Liked it, but hate tiers, although I can live with the 3 FP limit in conjunction with RD. But this was not a good day for Disney. Twitter backlash from people on-the-scene is a lot worse than random folks getting on the DIS and complaining in abstract about the new system.

I guess we can all hope Disney learned something from this before spring break.

 

[bcrook]

I'm right with you! I have stayed out of these FP+ threads but have read them. Now with a trip this June which btw my sister and her family have finally decided to go even though I told them next year might be better, and seeing these lines I am starting to get a little worried. We are a family who goes to Disney for 6 days so we want to ride more than 3 rides a day and I feel like what we pay we deserve to ride more than 3. I understand the power that be is wanting us out of the lines and spending our money eating or buying souvenirs, etc and they have a right to want that but it looks like we will still be in even longer lines and have less time for other things so maybe that in itself will encourage some changes before summer.

The crazy thing is... There are no solutions. This whole problem is shortage of rides. By increasing the percentage of people using the system to 90%, they can now only further ration rides. There simply isn't enough capacity.

On top of that, they are taking their sweet time in creating more interactive standby lines.

This is quite a mess for peak season.

 

[poeticdiabetic]

So here's what you all can do: Google Search "Presidents Day weekend 2013." What you will have are articles and blogs about Presidents Day weekends in 2012 and 2013. They will talk about how some rides had 3, 4 or longer wait times at WDW. That's with the old Fastpass system. They call it "One of the busiest times of the year." They call it "One of the worst times to go in terms of wait times" for WDW. And these articles are from 2011, 2012 and 2013.

One article said that "MLK day is much more manageable than Presidents Day." So the FP+ system didn't add to the crowds. It's always unusually crowded during that time. So these pictures could have been taken in 2013.

 

[k5thbeatle]

...FP+ wasn't put in place to enhance your WDW experience. It was put in place to enhance Disney's bottom line....
.

Ding, ding, ding...we have a winner!!!

 

[bcrook]

So here's what you all can do: Google Search "Presidents Day weekend 2013." What you will have are articles and blogs about Presidents Day weekends in 2012 and 2013. They will talk about how some rides had 3, 4 or longer wait times at WDW. That's with the old Fastpass system. They call it "One of the busiest times of the year." They call it "One of the worst times to go in terms of wait times" for WDW. And these articles are from 2011, 2012 and 2013.

One article said that "MLK day is much more manageable than Presidents Day." So the FP+ system didn't add to the crowds. It's always unusually crowded during that time. So these pictures could have been taken in 2013.

Crowds are the same, line management is much different.

Disney has encouraged "incentivized" the fastpasses and the participation rate has jumped from 50% using the system to 90% tapping in now. So the system is out of whack. It is causing a whole new set of problems. This is a whole new world (Disney world that is).

 

[prudence64]

There's a new thread from someone else there who said it was manageable and the lines went quicker than they appeared.

 

[bcrook]

There's a new thread from someone else there who said it was manageable and the lines went quicker than they appeared.

Did you see those twitter pictures?

 

[Mad Hattered]

The other piece in this is forcing the system on everyone to get them hooked. Disney said 90% of their guests are using the system now compared to 50% before. Maybe they underestimated how fast people would latch on to the FP.

But if they couldn't predict these problems based on their capacity, their management is not much better off than the IT department.

But you have to be correct, something is not going right, because they wouldn't have created these long FP return lines this way on purpose. Or they just don't care.

I'm pretty sure these are the same people who thought we all used only 3 FPs per day. And what was that marketing spiel we all brought up soooooo long ago? They should have just left the less than brilliant out of this mix.

 

[Shaden]

It's a busy holiday weekend. Was was to be expected?

Short FP lines. You know, like legacy FP had.

That's pretty much the best response possible, and its perfectly accurate.

 

[clsteve]

The other piece in this is forcing the system on everyone to get them hooked. Disney said 90% of their guests are using the system now compared to 50% before. Maybe they underestimated how fast people would latch on to the FP.

But if they couldn't predict these problems based on their capacity, their management is not much better off than the IT department.

But you have to be correct, something is not going right, because they wouldn't have created these long FP return lines this way on purpose. Or they just don't care.

It all goes back to Kenny the Pirate. The hole he found pointed out exactly how they were taking "the ole shortcut" between speed and data integrity.

They got caught, and are now paying the price.

 

[prudence64]

Did you see those twitter pictures?

Yes,but I like to tKe into account more than one person's point of view and this person was there today and felt the crowds weren't bad

 

[Angel Ariel]

Yep - this is much ado about nothing. Consider that the longest fast pass lines in WDW have always required a 10-15 minute wait. Think about rides like Space Mountain and Soarin'. From the time that you pass the first set of scanners to the time that you get on the ride, you will wait and walk for at least 10 minutes.

Yes, WDW should have created better queues to handle the longer FP+ lines, but the wait is still very reasonable for a fast pass. But, hey, let's not get in the way of another FP+ rant.

Never on any of our trips with legacy FP did we ever wait 10-15 mins in the FP line.

 

[bcrook]

I'm pretty sure these are the same people who thought we all used only 3 FPs per day. And what was that marketing spiel we all brought up soooooo long ago? They should have just left the less than brilliant out of this mix.

In addition to the uneducated, now fastpass users are competing with people who chose not to get in early enough to grab fastpasses, they are in play now (with advance online). And people who never even wanted fastpasses are given three and now they are perceived as paid for entitlements that they are not going to waste.

This would be a fantastic system if capacity was doubled in each park and attendance didn't increase. But with 40,000 people showing up to the three "minor" parks and 70,000+ rolling into MK with the current limited ride selection, the numbers can't possibly work out. Even with an 80% FP allotment. The parks don't even have three FP to give out to 40000 guests counting everything in the park.

 

[bcrook]

Never on any of our trips with legacy FP did we ever wait 10-15 mins in the FP line.

Never for me. Not on 4th of July, not during a Friday night at food and wine, not during June Star Wars weekends at DHS, not Memorial Day, not Father's Day, never.

 

[postage stamp]

Never on any of our trips with legacy FP did we ever wait 10-15 mins in the FP line.

We did one time. When we were next in line (after about 5 minutes) and the ride went down. This was during the busy summer season too. So yeah, in my experience it certainly didn't used to be the norm.

 

[Angel Ariel]

Remember folks, the parks are VERY VERY crowded right now, especially Magic Kingdom. It's President's Week and a LOT of families have school off.

FP+ lines are normally not this long. And even when I was at Pirate's yesterday and it was snaking out, it moved VERY quickly.

It's not as bad as the pictures make it.

Many people on this board, I'm sure, will be traveling during peak times like spring break/summer/etc...I don't fault people with trips during these times for being concerned after seeing pictures like that

 

[dmoore718]

What was wrong with the old system?
Seriously. I don't get it.

 

[shellsd]

So the Mine Train should not have taken nearly this long, they really didn't need to pay attention to detail to the FP queue if you spend all of your time on the outside.
I am worried about our Spring Break trip. My kids were in year round schools so we could always go off-peak. Now we're at a magnet which is an exceptional school but traditional calendar. My 9 year old has been to Disney 5 times and never has experienced much waiting at all.

 

[Shaden]

For proper comparison between FP+ and -, what were FP return wait times like during a busy time with FP-? I know my own experience in a slow time was that the waits were longer, but not excessively so, maybe 5-10 minutes. How much worse is a crowded day?

We were at WDW for President's day weekend/week 2012. I remember nothing like this. Were things busy, yes. But we were able to use FPs and generally walk on to rides with them with little to no waits.