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

[clsteve]

I could write a white paper on the reasons, but I'll just ask the question:

Anyone ever notice how the Self-Serv registers at Walmart and grocery stores take longer?

The average transaction time is much longer, the error rate much higher, and the potential for fraud expanded.

Technology is sometimes the solution looking for a problem, and it is most often applied to the least applicable scenario simply because of strong-armed projections that it will reduce costs, increase profits, or some combination of both.

Now compare to FP+

And a year's worth of Dilbert cartoons.....

 

[Marthasor]

I get what you're saying, but these 2 things don't go hand in hand with what the majority of guests are looking for.

Majority meaning you? I think most families with young children tour the way we do and, based on my experience in 3 of the 4 parks this week, it worked extremely well. BTW, we hit all headliners except 1 in EP and could have ridden TT easily if we wanted to. FP+ also gave us the ability to run over to sign up for Jedi Training and STILL walk right onto TSMM as soon as we were signed up. With the old system, this wouldn't have been possible. It would have been run to Jedi and then run to TSMM and either stand in a really long line or, if even still available, get a FP- for later in the day which would not have worked for us.

Again, we were in MK on Monday and overall it was extremely crowded. Lines were spilling out everywhere. People were everywhere. Still didn't wait more than 10 minutes for any ride with FP+. When the parks are crowded, they are crowded. People on this thread are acting like this is an everyday occurrence. The crowds lessened as the week went on and so did the lines - all lines. I'm just not getting these negative posts, particularly from people who haven't even experienced the system yet.

 

[tndisneyfan]

They got that feedback from plenty of us. Anybody paying attention in a FP line in October when both systems were still processing through together would've realized ohmigod, a group of four using FP- is getting through in the blink of an eye but four using FP+ take around a minute if nothing goes wrong, how is this going to add up when it's all FP+?

But apparently the feedback Disney was getting from a lot of "testers" was we love FP+!!! Between it and FP- we got to ride TSMM three times yesterday morning!

I agree. When we were in the long FP line at Buzz LIghtyear in Oct., we had a family in front of us with the bands. DH and I talked about how long it took them vs handing someone a paper FP. We thought that may have been some of the reason the line was backed up, since the people with the bands had to scan it twice. Once at the entrance and once at the merge.

I also think the MBs slow you down at the gate when you enter the park. We have APs with the RFID chip and I thought it took a lot longer to process the AP than sticking it thru the machine like we used to do. I'm sure the MBs are even worse because at least we didn't have to line the mickey head up.

 

[going/again]

Folks... at MOST rides the FP+ lines moves pretty quickly. You are not waiting "20 minutes" to get on the ride. It's just the entry point where you do your first FP+ scan is slower than handing a paper ticket to a CM (like you did with FP-), which is why the lines snakes out. But it moves quickly.

So if the wait outside is 20 minutes what's that called, the not waiting line?

 

[magicbob]

So if the wait outside is 20 minutes what's that called, the not waiting line?

You're not in the FP+ queue yet, so that time does not count. But I hear it does provide an excellent opportunity to "people watch" and "soak up the atmosphere."

 

[EMode]

So if the wait outside is 20 minutes what's that called, the not waiting line?

That is just being there and you should feel so fortunate for the opportunity to do it

 

[Redcon1]

If folks are having to stand in a FP line somewhere, you would think Disney (and guests) would prefer to do it inside the attraction, not out on the walkway where it could block the flow of traffic.

How Disney did not realize that such backups could occur when implementing FP+ is poor planning IMHO.

Hopefully, they'll figure out some solution before the spring breakers and heavier summer crowds show up.

 

[photo_chick]

So if the wait outside is 20 minutes what's that called, the not waiting line?

I think the point was that the line bottlenecks at the scan point then moves very quickly and the total is less than 20 minutes.


And really... have none of you ever hit an attraction with paper FP right at the return time and encountered a bottleneck like this? Or during EMH when they were checking KTTW cards? It seems like the scan points may be creating a similar phenomenon.

 

[JoshuaShaw]

So if the wait outside is 20 minutes what's that called, the not waiting line?

It's Disney's Not-Shoveling-Snow Opportunity Club!

 

[Silock]

have none of you ever hit an attraction with paper FP right at the return time and encountered a bottleneck like this?

Nope. Not even close to Star Tours being all the way down the street. Or Safari using the Jungle Trek as a FP line.

 

[Colleen27]

You do realize the laws of supply and demand here would state that there is too much demand for the supply and that means Disney should raise prices until the demand for attending the parks = the capacity level the parks could handle. I'm sure that would go over well...

Only if you buy into the short-term thinking that has so many companies shooting themselves in the foot these days. Otherwise you'd look at the other side of the equation - the supply - and consider the option of actually ADDING experiences and continuing to grow to match demand. That seems out of the question these days, though. Disney will build new hotel rooms to meet lodging demand but when it comes to the parks themselves cost-cutting and a billion dollar investment in avoiding the need for increased ride supply rules the day.

 

[JanaDee]

If folks are having to stand in a FP line somewhere, you would think Disney (and guests) would prefer to do it inside the attraction, not out on the walkway where it could block the flow of traffic.

How Disney did not realize that such backups could occur when implementing FP+ is poor planning IMHO.

Hopefully, they'll figure out some solution before the spring breakers and heavier summer crowds show up.

Those lines will be really fun April thru October, standing out there baking in the sun.

 

[sonofanarchy]

Majority meaning you? I think most families with young children tour the way we do and, based on my experience in 3 of the 4 parks this week, it worked extremely well. BTW, we hit all headliners except 1 in EP and could have ridden TT easily if we wanted to. FP+ also gave us the ability to run over to sign up for Jedi Training and STILL walk right onto TSMM as soon as we were signed up. With the old system, this wouldn't have been possible. It would have been run to Jedi and then run to TSMM and either stand in a really long line or, if even still available, get a FP- for later in the day which would not have worked for us.

Again, we were in MK on Monday and overall it was extremely crowded. Lines were spilling out everywhere. People were everywhere. Still didn't wait more than 10 minutes for any ride with FP+. When the parks are crowded, they are crowded. People on this thread are acting like this is an everyday occurrence. The crowds lessened as the week went on and so did the lines - all lines. I'm just not getting these negative posts, particularly from people who haven't even experienced the system yet.

Yes, me. I'm the majority. I'm not talking about the thousands of other posts saying the system sucks.

 

[I M Fearless]

It seems counter productive to remove parades as they have done also...

I would think keeping the Animal Kingdom Parade would be a real priority in a park short of big rides.

We have no parade at DHS anymore either.

Parades do absorb huge numbers of peak time crowds and in the short-term are fairly quick to develop. Even quality street entertainment attractions such as at DHS do take people away from rides freeing up capacity.

They obviously can't increase ride capacity overnight and so anything that distracts some guest for a while at peak times can't be a bad thing.

Why not combine aspects of the Jungle Jammin Parade, Pixar Parade and the old Magic Kingdom Parade and send it round Epcot World showcase a couple of times a day for a year or so?

Anything to keep people out of queues in parks with too few E-ticket attractions.

 

[kmb584]

I think the point was that the line bottlenecks at the scan point then moves very quickly and the total is less than 20 minutes.


And really... have none of you ever hit an attraction with paper FP right at the return time and encountered a bottleneck like this? Or during EMH when they were checking KTTW cards? It seems like the scan points may be creating a similar phenomenon.

I haven't. Maybe it's just luck but I had over 30 WDW vacations under my belt during the reign of legacy FP. The Star Tours FP+ line is, to me, the most intriguing of the bunch. With legacy I always entered the actual queue, not lined up for the queue all the way down near Indiana Jones. There's nothing fast about a line like that. It's absurd.

 

[glamdring269]

It seems counter productive to remove parades as they have done also...

I would think keeping the Animal Kingdom Parade would be a real priority in a park short of big rides.

We have no parade at DHS anymore either.

Parades do absorb huge numbers of peak time crowds and in the short-term are fairly quick to develop. Even quality street entertainment attractions such as at DHS do take people away from rides freeing up capacity.

They obviously can't increase ride capacity overnight and so anything that distracts some guest for a while at peak times can't be a bad thing.

Why not combine aspects of the Jungle Jammin Parade, Pixar Parade and the old Magic Kingdom Parade and send it round Epcot World showcase a couple of times a day for a year or so?

Anything to keep people out of queues in parks with too few E-ticket attractions.

You have to get rid of parades if lines are so long they block the route. Problem solved!

 

[Angel Ariel]

I think the point was that the line bottlenecks at the scan point then moves very quickly and the total is less than 20 minutes.

And really... have none of you ever hit an attraction with paper FP right at the return time and encountered a bottleneck like this? Or during EMH when they were checking KTTW cards? It seems like the scan points may be creating a similar phenomenon.

Except there were reports from this past weekend that the fp lines continued past the initial scan...that it wasn't a bottleneck that disappears after the 1st scan, but continued through to the merge.

Eta: and, no, to answer your question. I have never waited 15+ mins in a fastpass line.

 

[Planogirl]

Exactly.

This is a test.
In the event of a real emergency,
form a long winding line making sure to block all the pathways. This way it's fair to everybody, even the ones who sleep in...

Or equally unfair depending on your viewpoint.

 

[Planogirl]

It's even worse than that. Scanning may take more time in general but they took it to the extreme. Let's make sure the customer must align the mickey head to the mickey head for extra Disney magic! That may be neat for someone one time but after that the novelty is basically gone... if it was ever there to begin with.

The irony is that when we used our regular plastic passes to get into the parks, we didn't have to line anything up with the Mickey head. We could hold it up any old way and it worked just fine.

I can do without extra Disney magic - I just want a quick way to get through the lines.

 

[tazadd0420]

Yes, me. I'm the majority. I'm not talking about the thousands of other posts saying the system sucks.

Or the thousand of others that like it. Hmm...... Where is the majority? Even though there are not thousands of posts either way. 800, 49%, 257,000. Look I can make up numbers to.
Love first world problems.