BRING BACK FAST PASS ASAP!! Wait times are ridicules at all Disney Parks right now!

[Disney12345!]

I have been going to Walt Disney World for 15 years now. We just got back our annual passes and went to Hollywood Studios for the first time since the pandemic. This new system that took the place of the the FAST PASS is a joke! We got the the park at 9am and left at 430pm. At 7am when I logged on to purchase a LL pass the first available was for 630pm? Genie+ which was available for purchase had a ride available at 4pm so we decided to just wait in line. Got into the slinky dog line at 10:10am and we got on the ride at 215pm! 4 Hours and 5 min in a line with a 6 year old. This is no fund for anyone but we live in Florida and have annual passes and we will learn this new system when we go back and we will never wait this long again. However the family in front of me was here for the first time from NC. They said that they will NEVER come back to Disney and honestly I do not see our family continuing with the annual pass that we have had for the last 10 years (took a 18 month break with the pandemic). The old FAST PASS system allowed for you to get on three rides with waits that were never more than 30min. The new system will let you (if you are lucky) book one ride at a time and then maybe not another one until late in the day. So you are now forced to stay in the park all day with small kids if you want any chance to ride more than one or two rides. Of course for a family of four this will also (if you can even get the Genie+ or LL to work an extra $100+). I am sad that this new system is so bad and that wait times are longer than they have ever been in the history of the parks. This is while the attendance is still not even to pre-pandemic levels which proves that this new system does not work at all. I have loved Disney my whole life and have never heard a family that was there for the first time say that they will NEVER BE BACK to Disney. This is not good and Disney needs to make some changes at the very top on the company QUICKLY as this is not good at all.

Families continue to come back (like ours always has) because how good the experience always has been. This experience was so bad today, that if this continues kids that go to Disney will not want to bring their families back to this place. Please bring back the old fast pass system just the way that it was. You can even charge for it if you want, but allow the system to be the same as it was so at least you can take the kids on a few rides without having to wait literally all day!!

 

[gregskellington]

Ah yes, bring back fastpass and watch how the capacity of rides throughout the parks magically quadruples!

 

[zebrastreyepz]

I have been going to Walt Disney World for 15 years now. We just got back our annual passes and went to Hollywood Studios for the first time since the pandemic. This new system that took the place of the the FAST PASS is a joke! We got the the park at 9am and left at 430pm. At 7am when I logged on to purchase a LL pass the first available was for 630pm? Genie+ which was available for purchase had a ride available at 4pm so we decided to just wait in line. Got into the slinky dog line at 10:10am and we got on the ride at 215pm! 4 Hours and 5 min in a line with a 6 year old. This is no fund for anyone but we live in Florida and have annual passes and we will learn this new system when we go back and we will never wait this long again. However the family in front of me was here for the first time from NC. They said that they will NEVER come back to Disney and honestly I do not see our family continuing with the annual pass that we have had for the last 10 years (took a 18 month break with the pandemic). The old FAST PASS system allowed for you to get on three rides with waits that were never more than 30min. The new system will let you (if you are lucky) book one ride at a time and then maybe not another one until late in the day. So you are now forced to stay in the park all day with small kids if you want any chance to ride more than one or two rides. Of course for a family of four this will also (if you can even get the Genie+ or LL to work an extra $100+). I am sad that this new system is so bad and that wait times are longer than they have ever been in the history of the parks. This is while the attendance is still not even to pre-pandemic levels which proves that this new system does not work at all. I have loved Disney my whole life and have never heard a family that was there for the first time say that they will NEVER BE BACK to Disney. This is not good and Disney needs to make some changes at the very top on the company QUICKLY as this is not good at all.

Families continue to come back (like ours always has) because how good the experience always has been. This experience was so bad today, that if this continues kids that go to Disney will not want to bring their families back to this place. Please bring back the old fast pass system just the way that it was. You can even charge for it if you want, but allow the system to be the same as it was so at least you can take the kids on a few rides without having to wait literally all day!!

Unfortunately, you choose the most difficult park to manage with Genie+.

I've been watching every vlog I can find about maximizing early entry and Genie + for our upcoming trip.

 

[Jen81NYC]

Okay that sounds terrible but I also can’t imagine waiting in line for 4+ hours?? Why not readjust after hour…2 at least? Genuinely puzzled

 

[lisaviolet]

I've been watching every vlog I can find about maximizing early entry and Genie + for our upcoming trip.

Can you share your favourites please? Thank you. (PM if necessary). My nieces will be going soon and they have not gone for years - so they do not even have the layout of any park in their heads, to assist their strategy.

And even though I have been year after year and have DVC, my brain does not even want to understand the change right now.

Thank you.

OP, so sorry to hear. That is so disappointing to take in while you are trying to unwind and have fun on vacation.

 

[zebrastreyepz]

Can you share your favourites please? Thank you. (PM if necessary). My nieces will be going soon and they have not gone for years - so they do not even have the layout of any park in their heads, to assist their strategy.

And even though I have been year after year and have DVC, my brain does not even want to understand the change right now.

Thank you.

OP, so sorry to hear. That is so disappointing to take in while you are trying to unwind and have fun on vacation.

I'll send them via PM since I'm not sure what links are allowed and I don't want to get flagged.

Happy to help!

 

[MrWonderful]

Ah yes, bring back fastpass and watch how the capacity of rides throughout the parks magically quadruples!

No need to be a jerk... Sorry if I'm reading that wrong, but seems snarky and the OP doesn't deserve that. I'm curious about your perspective; Have you actually been in the parks since G+ started? Just trying to understand why you post like you do. Nothin personal.

I think you missed her point... that being FP+ allowed preplanning of the 3 which she preferred, and the current system was horrible in HER experience. I agree wholeheartedly with the OP. Our trip last December was just FUBAR compared to all our previous trips. Hotels and restaurants were doing well all things considered, but the parks/lines are just a big fat G+ mess. IMO of course.

 

[gregskellington]

No need to be a jerk... Sorry if I'm reading that wrong, but seems snarky and the OP doesn't deserve that. I'm curious about your perspective; Have you actually been in the parks since G+ started? Just trying to understand why you post like you do. Nothin personal.

I think you missed her point... that being FP+ allowed preplanning of the 3 which she preferred, and the current system was horrible in HER experience. I agree wholeheartedly with the OP. Our trip last December was just FUBAR compared to all our previous trips. Hotels and restaurants were doing well all things considered, but the parks/lines are just a big fat G+ mess. IMO of course.

Did you read their whole post? My snark feels about spot on considering they didn't frame this as not working for them, but that (similar to what you posted) G+ is the problem and FP+ is the solution. Logically, that makes zero sense because the total capacity for the rides hasn't shifted.

 

[DeeBee3]

I am trying to wrap my head around the Genie (regular), Genie +, and separate lightning lanes for our upcoming trip. Seems complicated but maybe just a matter of use.

I congratulate you for having the patience to stay in line that long. If it was longer than 45 mins, I'm out. No way I could make it let alone my kids.

 

[CP3uhoh]

I'm surprised to hear that you couldn't get a LL until 6 pm right at 7 AM....For slinky that seems right but you would think the 120 rule would let you get at least Star Tours at some point in the day. The attendance is absolutely back so it's not going to get "worse" but Fantastic returning will help a little at DHS. Issue right now is that there's really no reason to buy it at AK with FOP being individual LL, Epcot, not sure I would ether, just buy Remy a la carte or use extended hours. MK is the only one which seems to function ok. There's a lot of tricks to utilize , constantly refreshing, stuff like that but I agree for first timers or once every couple of years people, it't tough to navigate. Example, you got in line at pretty much the worst time possible for Slinky, which you realize now I'm sure and I'd like to know what the posted wait time is because I doubt it was posted for 240 minutes. Not saying you're lying , just curious what they claimed the wait time was. We went more than once with no Genie+ or FP+ during the pandemic and preferred that. FP+ was sort of ridiculous too. Max Pass at Land worked great and this is sort of a version of that but Hollywood has issues for sure. We're going over Spring Break so I'm prepared to be irritated at Hollywood. I do wonder if this was one of they days Aerosmith was down and Tower only had one elevator because that would have made the issue worse. Also, you can go to guest experience at the end of the day and say you got one or two LL's the entire day and booked your first one at 7AM and be nice about it and they'll refund your money more times than not.

 

[Disney12345!]

Okay that sounds terrible but I also can’t imagine waiting in line for 4+ hours?? Why not readjust after hour…2 at least? Genuinely puzzled

Because, once you are in line with a 6 year old and there are 2 hours plus waits for other rides you don't really have a choice. We we 4 in our party so we were leaving the line and getting drinks/food and coming back but its really just the point.

What a shame Disney has become since the pandemic, I hope they fix this system very quickly.

 

[Disney12345!]

I am trying to wrap my head around the Genie (regular), Genie +, and separate lightning lanes for our upcoming trip. Seems complicated but maybe just a matter of use.

I congratulate you for having the patience to stay in line that long. If it was longer than 45 mins, I'm out. No way I could make it let alone my kids.

We have never waited like this before, but there was really no other option as all of the rides were over 1.5 hours waits (which is what this one said). The line took over 4 hours, but was not supposed to take that long.

I have spoken to two of our friends since this trip who like us used to go to Disney all of the time. They have confirmed what I have found out this new system is not working at all.

Even if you are lucky enough to get a LL pass, you may not get a 2nd one until 6 hours later, so that means you have to stay in the park all day with small kids. Just a shame what is going on right now.

Once you go for yourself you will see.

 

[Disney12345!]

I'm surprised to hear that you couldn't get a LL until 6 pm right at 7 AM....For slinky that seems right but you would think the 120 rule would let you get at least Star Tours at some point in the day. The attendance is absolutely back so it's not going to get "worse" but Fantastic returning will help a little at DHS. Issue right now is that there's really no reason to buy it at AK with FOP being individual LL, Epcot, not sure I would ether, just buy Remy a la carte or use extended hours. MK is the only one which seems to function ok. There's a lot of tricks to utilize , constantly refreshing, stuff like that but I agree for first timers or once every couple of years people, it't tough to navigate. Example, you got in line at pretty much the worst time possible for Slinky, which you realize now I'm sure and I'd like to know what the posted wait time is because I doubt it was posted for 240 minutes. Not saying you're lying , just curious what they claimed the wait time was. We went more than once with no Genie+ or FP+ during the pandemic and preferred that. FP+ was sort of ridiculous too. Max Pass at Land worked great and this is sort of a version of that but Hollywood has issues for sure. We're going over Spring Break so I'm prepared to be irritated at Hollywood. I do wonder if this was one of they days Aerosmith was down and Tower only had one elevator because that would have made the issue worse. Also, you can go to guest experience at the end of the day and say you got one or two LL's the entire day and booked your first one at 7AM and be nice about it and they'll refund your money more times than not.

Posted wait time was 120 min when we got in line which was part of my issue. We are camping at fort wilderness tonight (we go a lot, at least we used to not sure anymore after this experience). I logged in at 7am to try and book the LL for Seven dwarves at is was SOLD OUT IMMEDIATELY, no times could be booked. So I am back on the chat letting Disney know, but of course they could care less.


I am telling you that it may not appear this way right now, but Disney is in trouble long term if they do not get this system fixed.

We are going to try Magic Kingdom today, I will be on posting again later and I hope the experience is better but I have major doubts!

 

[zebrastreyepz]

We have never waited like this before, but there was really no other option as all of the rides were over 1.5 hours waits (which is what this one said). The line took over 4 hours, but was not supposed to take that long.

I have spoken to two of our friends since this trip who like us used to go to Disney all of the time. They have confirmed what I have found out this new system is not working at all.

Even if you are lucky enough to get a LL pass, you may not get a 2nd one until 6 hours later, so that means you have to stay in the park all day with small kids. Just a shame what is going on right now.

Once you go for yourself you will see.

I would have taken my small kids back to the hotel/campground for a swimming break or playground break or a nap depending on ages.

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

Do keep in mind that it's not Genie+ per say that is making the wait times longer. I preferred the previous system better as well as it allowed planning, but it was also broken. There is huge pent up demand for the parks but the rides have finite capacity. Staffing shortage are also likely exacerbating the situation.

Anyway, I'm not defending Genie+ as a service, just wanted to bring in some larger contexts.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

Fastpass isn't coming back and they won't be returning to booking rides months ahead of time, that approach had its own problems. Genie + works more like the original paper fastpass option, except without the need to actually enter the park and go to the attraction to pick up the return time. however, if Disney is going to offer line-skipping options to their guests for a fee, they need a simpler option than Genie+

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

No need to be a jerk... Sorry if I'm reading that wrong, but seems snarky and the OP doesn't deserve that. I'm curious about your perspective; Have you actually been in the parks since G+ started? Just trying to understand why you post like you do. Nothin personal.

I think you missed her point... that being FP+ allowed preplanning of the 3 which she preferred, and the current system was horrible in HER experience. I agree wholeheartedly with the OP. Our trip last December was just FUBAR compared to all our previous trips. Hotels and restaurants were doing well all things considered, but the parks/lines are just a big fat G+ mess. IMO of course.

I didn't think that PP was being a jerk. I think it implied that Disney is intentionally trying to push people, by artificial means, to buy the Lightning Lane. (I think that's what it's called; the one where you pay the most and only get one ride.)

If they brought back FP+, it would eliminate the whole Genie clusterf***, and things would run smoother.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]