Did not use fast pass +

[Waddler]

I suspect the 10 minute wait minimum is a deliberate exercise in crowd control. Disney probably wants to ensure you spend a minimum amount of time in each attraction, before they release you back on the streets to join the crowd. That's why it sometimes feels more crowded in the park when ride times are short... there are more people wandering around, instead of confined in lines.

Maybe, but I think they just haven't bothered to change their protocol on TSM, ToT, SpM, etc. when crowds are low. Many other queues are designed so that you do walk-on when your FP window opens up.

I'm sure lots of people are going to feel duped when they realize that their morning & low season FP+ reservations are pointless. WDW could mitigate this somewhat by minimizing the amount of time that FP/FP+ guests spend waiting in line at the attraction.

 

[deserrai]

This sounds like way too much planning for me. I can't even say for sure which park I'll be in each day, much less which rides I want to ride and when.

 

[kaytieeldr]

We're on the same page on all of the above, with one exception:

My issue is that during slow seasons, you don't necessarily pass "many, many, many" guests in the standby line. Sometimes, you pass very few.

Take my ToT example. We pulled fastpasses at around 10:30 am and our return time was around 11:45 am. We returned at the beginning of our window. At that point, the standby line was posted at 20 minutes, but there were only a few people in the standby line before the preshow (the line didn't even go out the door of the hotel). After the 5-minute preshow, we still had a 15 minute wait in the boilerroom. We didn't actually board until 12:05 pm.

Once the guest is in the preshow, they're considered being on/in the attraction. With this example, you seem to be asking for a second FastPass access after the (any) preshow. It's not going to happen.

We were a little miffed that we had pulled fastpasses and waited an hour and fifteen minutes for our fastpass window to open up, only to wait 15 more minutes in line (avoiding less than 5 minutes of waiting).

So, just to clarify, when you say you waited an hour and fifteen minutes for your window to open - do you mean you did nothing else? Just hung around wasting time? Or do you mean you took advantage of both not having to wait in line and having an appointment window for ToT and did one or more other things during that hour and fifteen minutes?

Also, if the standby line wait time was 20 minutes, you can be pretty sure it was in that range - unless FastPass holders weren't returning at the expected rate.

During slow times, they could make fastpass (and fastpass+) more appealing if they modified the flow of people through the merge point, so those with FP could essentially "walk-on" after their window opens up. This would benefit both WDW and guests.

The merge point for ToT is before the library. While there may not have been a lot of guests in the standby line, I'm willing to bet they were literally standing, waiting to be allowed into the preshow, while returning FastPass holders walked right by them, delayed only by the wait for the current one to end. You just don't "see" it because you're not in that line.

 

[Waddler]

Once the guest is in the preshow, they're considered being on/in the attraction. With this example, you seem to be asking for a second FastPass access after the (any) preshow. It's not going to happen.

They could reduce the amount of time FP people spend in line by stacking most of the SB line before the library (as I detailed in a previous post), or even by collecting the FP tickets in the boilerroom (if they can configure a second line and keep it filled). There's no real need to merge everyone so close to the end of the SB line.

So, just to clarify, when you say you waited an hour and fifteen minutes for your window to open - do you mean you did nothing else? Just hung around wasting time?

No. We rode other rides, walked around, etc. But the FP was essentially a wash.

The merge point for ToT is before the library. While there may not have been a lot of guests in the standby line, I'm willing to bet they were literally standing, waiting to be allowed into the preshow, while returning FastPass holders walked right by them, delayed only by the wait for the current one to end. You just don't "see" it because you're not in that line.

Maybe. They could've been holding those 10 people for 20 minutes. I doubt it, because they all ended up in the preshow with us.

Still, they could've reduced our wait in line by allowing us to return 15 minutes later, and merging us closer to the front of the line. It wouldn't have affected the standby guests' wait time at all.

 

[DakotaRose]

we used character meet time. splash and thunder were both down during our times and we were told we could not use them when the ride was back up

That's interesting. Haunted Mansion was down during my + window, and I was told to come back later - whenever it's up, which I did and sailed right on through. The standby line wasn't more than 15-20 minutes and everyone with fast passes (either kind) walked on.

 

[jkjs]

I would like to forget this new FP+ and go back to original FPs with no return time enforcement....I thought that worked beautifully!

One of the ideas behind FPs is to level the demand for a ride. If you don't enforce the return time, you don't control the demand for the ride. Thus, you could end of with instances when the FP line has a considerable wait. That's not good.

During our recent trip, it was our impression that FPs for popular rides were still available later into the day because people stopped grabing/hoarding a FP first thing in the morning.

 

[mjp12831]

What did the standby line look like when you pulled your fastpasses in the first place?

I always take a peek at the line before bothering with fastpass. If it's 20 minutes or less, and looks short, I'll simply hop into the standby line.

Of course this makes sense.

But it isn't always this way.

Usually you are at least a few hours out with the FP return time when you pull it and you have NO idea what the SB line is going to be like during your return window. If you go back for your return and the SB posted wait is 20 minutes, you just wasted your FP and add on the opportunity cost of not being able to get a FP during the 2 hours following the FP pull.

When this happens it's pretty disapointing.

 

[mom2rtk]

During our recent trip, it was our impression that FPs for popular rides were still available later into the day because people stopped grabing/hoarding a FP first thing in the morning.

...... or perhaps they are just distributing more FPs over the course of the day as reported by some CMs.

 

[jkjs]

...... or perhaps they are just distributing more FPs over the course of the day as reported by some CMs.

Perhaps that is true. But I would say that is a result of enforcing the return time. Now that Disney knows there won't be a rush to use FPs at the end of the day, thereby negating the benefit, they can issue more FPs throughout the day to keep the demand for the ride at a constant level.

 

[Magpie]

Of course this makes sense.

But it isn't always this way.

Usually you are at least a few hours out with the FP return time when you pull it and you have NO idea what the SB line is going to be like during your return window. If you go back for your return and the SB posted wait is 20 minutes, you just wasted your FP and add on the opportunity cost of not being able to get a FP during the 2 hours following the FP pull.

When this happens it's pretty disapointing.

But like I said - if you weren't going to ride at that moment anyway, then your Fastpass is just insurance.

If you think of it that way, it's not disappointing, any more than it's disappointing to buy homeowner's insurance and never need to use it. The lines are short - yay! My house wasn't swept away in a tornado - yay! There's nothing being "wasted", other than the 2 minutes it took you to insert your ticket in a machine. (Unlike homeowner's insurance, which can cost you real money.)

That said, you're correct in that you do need to have your priorities straight when you pull a Fastpass. It makes no sense, for instance, to Fastpass Mickey's Philharmagic, especially if it means now you won't be able to collect a Fastpass for BTMR.