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

[surferdave]

Maybe they can FP+ line wait times to all the apps.

 

[JayLeeJay]

I had some problems with FP lines that looked really long but actually moved pretty quickly. At AK, I waited five minutes just to scan my MB at the first entry point. After that, though, I was on the ride in under five minutes. I also could barely find the end of the FP line for Everest but, again, after a short wait outside of the ride, once I scanned my MB I made it quickly on the ride. I think there might be some backup at the entry point with people needing to scan their tickets/MBs, but once inside it seems to be a little bit better. I think they are going to have to do something so people know where the FP lines start, though. I saw lots of people accidentally cut in line and lots of people without FP get in line thinking it was the standby line.

 

[mom2CaitlinRyan&Erin]

MK is the least recommended park. Of course it's going to be a mess on as non-recommended crowd level 8 day.

When we were there last month, the FP+ lines extended a distance past the attractions, but only because the queue wasn't being fully utilized. So, the line would *look* long, but would only be 5-10 minutes.

 

[mesaboy2]

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

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

 

[glamdring269]

If FP+ truly has capacity then I don't understand how that line should ever back up unless the ride breaks down. Standby lines should get longer on busier days. Not FP+. At least I hope that's how it is designed...

 

[FLchick415]

I'm not saying it doesn't suck, because I'd be having a panic attack right about now in those crowds...but we only know what it looks like from the OUTSIDE. The line looks long, but is it actually a long wait or is it fast moving once inside?

 

[BuckeyeBama]

I had some problems with FP lines that looked really long but actually moved pretty quickly. At AK, I waited five minutes just to scan my MB at the first entry point. After that, though, I was on the ride in under five minutes.

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.

 

[photo_chick]

So is this just a massively higher attendance level or a redistribution of people in line as compared to the old system? Did the standby lines anywhere go down? And as already asked, can anyone actually report on the real wait time in one of these monster FP lines?

 

[JoshuaShaw]

The line looks long, but is it actually a long wait or is it fast moving once inside?

There's no time to be rational! Get my pitchfork!

 

[erddig]

It's not a Mickey scan issues atJC or BTMR, the cues were filled. The standby posted time was 50 forBTMR and 65 for JC, the FP queues were long depending on how they merged much longer!.

Yes the park is crowded, we are here either presidents week or Easter every year and its always been doable and fun! Frustrating, stressful and exhausting this year.

AK was ok yesterday, but no lion king, we didn't do Rafaiki and no character spot- all we would normally do, we also didn't multiple ride EE, Dino and Kali. So definitely a lesser experience.

I want to note, the crowds are just blindly standing in these long lines--- disney says sorry but no compensation, in the past ride issues would get you 'open ended' FP to use at your convience.

It's 3:40 and we have yet to use 1 FP, normally we would have had 3-4 Legacy FP.

we were a bit late- arrived at8:30 and had success with buzz, SM and UTS, all <15 min

About to go into Laugh Factory, with the magic. We are hoping for a laugh.

 

[JennaDeeDooDah]

It makes me think about when I had a FP+ for the safari at AK back in January. The stand by time said 25 minutes. The FP+ line looked really long. Guests were talking to the CMs saying that the FP+ line looked a lot longer than the standby line. The CMS kept saying to trust them and that looks could be deceiving - we would be through the line in no time. It took us 20 minutes to get to the first scanner. And, when we got up there, the CMs weren't even having us scan our bracelets. The manager told them to just let us go in because it was taking so long. Then we were in line for another 5-10 minutes or so. So, I guess the CMs were right - the stand by line wasn't A LOT faster, but it wasn't slower, either. And no telling how much longer it would have taken had we not gotten to just go in without having to wait for people to scan their bracelets.


All I know is I never had that sort of thing happen (fast pass line just as long, if not longer, than the stand by line) when we had regular fast pass. Maybe I just happened to be one of the lucky ones on my multiple trips with legacy fast pass. Or maybe I was the unlucky one on my ONE trip with FP+.

 

[JennaDeeDooDah]

I'm not saying it doesn't suck, because I'd be having a panic attack right about now in those crowds...but we only know what it looks like from the OUTSIDE. The line looks long, but is it actually a long wait or is it fast moving once inside?

But the lines haven't changed. The line you walk through for FP+ was the same line you walked through for FP. The only difference is, where you originally showed or handed off your paper fast pass, you now scan your bracelet - which does take longer than showing or handing off a piece of paper. When I have gone in the past, the FP lines were not as backed up as the FP+ lines are now or were when I was there a few weeks back.

 

[FLchick415]

I understand that, but what I'm saying is...is it long outside because it's just taking a long time for people to scan their bands at the first scanner and then it's moving relatively fast once inside, or is it just long all the way through and it's TRULY backed up?

 

[morethananyonex]

People keep claiming more lines outside means less inside, but that is not what we experienced at the beginning of the month. There seems to be more FP users, period.

The lines are jammed at the entrance because of the scanners, that much is true. It's not just the scanning, it's the countless numbers of people who try to get in when they don't have a FP, have one for hours later, or something is messed up with the FP. However, the lines inside are the same as they always were in our experience. A bottleneck of people at the entrance didn't mean smooth sailing once we got in the line.

The ride we experienced the worst outside the line wait was Soarin'. That was 5+ minutes to enter, 10-15 to get to the merge point, and another 10-15 minutes after that. The regular line was 60 minutes for reference. I have no doubt the FP lines are very frustrating during a busy day. Ours was during recommended days in a slow season.

 

[TreeSapp]

We were there Saturday and the line for the Safari FP+ was almost double the wait outside the first scan point as inside. The problem seemed to be mickey-scan poles. But the time we got to them: they were just waving us thru to the second point. But after that, We never stopped moving til we got to the loading area.

I think guests with bands are getting thru nice and easy, but day-ticket holders with RFID cards seem to be struggling to access their cards, hand them out to party members and then line up mickey-to-mickey. Just a few of these groups clogging up the works really slows down the rest of the group.

It's easy to just 'demand' at others be more prepared, but trying to juggle two young kids, another kid running around hyped up on sugar and disney music while managing a bag of souvenirs and a camera.... Means families may not be fishing their wallets out to find their tickets until AFTER they've already arrived at the scan point?

 

[WhateverLolaWants]

How do I find those long FP line pics on Twitter?

Here are some I found.

https://twitter.com/mist3rm4tt/status/435501713311936513/photo/1
https://twitter.com/spchampion/status/435480451554480128/photo/1
https://twitter.com/kelbelle/status/434800115619217408/photo/1
https://twitter.com/Libsterdoodles/status/434803700113346560/photo/1

And one for the kiosk line

https://twitter.com/AutismAtThePark/status/435090271441661952/photo/1

 

[glamdring269]

It's funny you guys are mentioning how people could be having trouble with the bands. We tested this out in October and the first thing I mentioned after seeing how it worked was how inefficient it was going to make the entry process. Would be much better if it were just a scan and did not require alignment.

 

[Momtomouselover]

Here's some I found.

https://twitter.com/mist3rm4tt/status/435501713311936513/photo/1
https://twitter.com/spchampion/status/435480451554480128/photo/1
https://twitter.com/kelbelle/status/434800115619217408/photo/1
https://twitter.com/Libsterdoodles/status/434803700113346560/photo/1

And one for the kiosk line

https://twitter.com/AutismAtThePark/status/435090271441661952/photo/1

Wow! These are crazy. I have seen the back up outside the poles before but these are much worse. I can't see how it isn't backed up a little inside as well. Terribly bad PR for sure!

Can't wait for spring break.

 

[JennaDeeDooDah]

I understand that, but what I'm saying is...is it long outside because it's just taking a long time for people to scan their bands at the first scanner and then it's moving relatively fast once inside, or is it just long all the way through and it's TRULY backed up?

Okay I see what you are saying. For my experience, it varied. Thunder Mountain moved fast after standing in a long line to scan my bracelet while Soarin' was still really backed up. But, it really doesn't make much of a difference to me. If it takes me 20 minutes just to get to the scanner, that doesn't seem fast to me, especially when I never had that for the previous system.

 

[mesaboy2]

It's funny you guys are mentioning how people could be having trouble with the bands. We tested this out in October and the first thing I mentioned after seeing how it worked was how inefficient it was going to make the entry process. Would be much better if it were just a scan and did not require alignment.

Definitely less so than before.