Fast Pass Plus Changes ....

[JimmyV]

So this doesn't really bear into the WHY argument

The "Why" has been right in front of us all along. It's just that people who didn't want to believe that the news was true also refused to believe the reasoning behind it. If Disney is going to run ads with Lumiere singing that we should pre-book our adventures, then Disney has to have the FPs available to back that up. It really is that simple.

 

[mom2rtk]

The "Why" has been right in front of us all along. It's just that people who didn't want to believe that the news was true also refused to believe the reasoning behind it. If Disney is going to run ads with Lumiere singing that we should pre-book our adventures, then Disney has to have the FPs available to back that up. It really is that simple.

Agreed. If Disney's goal with FPP is to lock people in, then it would be illogical to save FPs out for day of. It makes no sense that someone wanting to lock in a day at Disney might come up empty because Disney was holding back same day slots.

 

[ArwenMarie]

Agreed. If Disney's goal with FPP is to lock people in, then it would be illogical to save FPs out for day of. It makes no sense that someone wanting to lock in a day at Disney might come up empty because Disney was holding back same day slots.

I also think we have the proof with A&E...there hasn't been any mention of anyone getting FPs on the day-of for that attraction. It's prebook or do the Rope Drop Dash. So it seems they aren't holding back for that, why would they hold back for any others...

 

[mom2rtk]

I also think we have the proof with A&E...there hasn't been any mention of anyone getting FPs on the day-of for that attraction. It's prebook or do the Rope Drop Dash. So it seems they aren't holding back for that, why would they hold back for any others...

That occurred to me just recently. It seemed that if they were holding any back this would be the one attraction where it would have been shouted from the rooftops. And while I see an occasional post from someone who found some mid-afternoon on a random day....... I have seen no reports of people getting that morning.

And only rightly so. I would be quite ticked off to have hovered over my computer daily for weeks, only to come up empty, only to have someone next to me in line for rope drop squeal that they had just gotten one.

 

[subtchr]

Ok, just trying to get a handle on this.

So does this mean that if guests without any pre-reserved FP+ enter a park at RD and visit a kiosk, there are NO FP+ left for them to book?

So someone who drives to the park and buys a ticket at the ticket booth is out of luck, other than maybe a few openings from cancelled or rescheduled FP+?

I bring groups (marching bands, orchestras, and choirs mostly) to the park, and generally speaking, they do not receive their park passes until the day of arrival. And I am sure that in spite of the advertisements and other ways that Disney is promoting the system, there will still be people who do not preplan, for a myriad of reasons. So they are just SOL?

 

[clsteve]

And only rightly so. I would be quite ticked off to have hovered over my computer daily for weeks, only to come up empty, only to have someone next to me in line for rope drop squeal that they had just gotten one.

Squeal after they'd gotten which: the FP+ ressie or your kick to their shin.......

 

[mom2rtk]

Squeal after they'd gotten which: the FP+ ressie or your kick to their shin.......

Couldn't have been me. I would have had mine at midnight 60 days earlier.

Although we're still kicking around our plans for summer vacation and last night the troops were making their plea for a return to Sanibel Island. My only thought was how awful it would be to get a chance to pop into the parks and try the Mine Train, but not have enough advance notice to score a FP.

Turns out we're back to our original plan of driving west. Unless I need a fastpass to hike Bryce Canyon, I'm good. I might need a medical team, but at least I won't need a fastpass.

 

[clsteve]

Couldn't have been me. I would have had mine at midnight 60 days earlier.

Although we're still kicking around our plans for summer vacation and last night the troops were making their plea for a return to Sanibel Island. My only thought was how awful it would be to get a chance to pop into the parks and try the Mine Train, but not have enough advance notice to score a FP.

Turns out we're back to our original plan of driving west. Unless I need a fastpass to hike Bryce Canyon, I'm good. I might need a medical team, but at least I won't need a fastpass.

Bryce Canyon, love that place

 

[JimmyV]

Ok, just trying to get a handle on this.

So does this mean that if guests without any pre-reserved FP+ enter a park at RD and visit a kiosk, there are NO FP+ left for them to book?

So someone who drives to the park and buys a ticket at the ticket booth is out of luck, other than maybe a few openings from cancelled or rescheduled FP+?

I bring groups (marching bands, orchestras, and choirs mostly) to the park, and generally speaking, they do not receive their park passes until the day of arrival. And I am sure that in spite of the advertisements and other ways that Disney is promoting the system, there will still be people who do not preplan, for a myriad of reasons. So they are just SOL?

There should still be FPs for many rides. But the most popular ones will be limited or gone, at least for large groups. A group of 200 baton twirlers is not going to get FPs for the big rides all at the same time. Form follows function, so if enough group bookers complain about FP access and threaten to stop coming, Disney will figure out a way to get FPs into the hands of bands and cheerleaders. As for people who just drive up and buy a day pass, they will get whatever is left that morning. But there aren't many people who buy $100 day passes the day of. All one has to do is buy a pass in advance and FP access opens up. You don't have to know when you are going if you buy a pass. Just have one on hand, link it to MDE and book FPs once you establish when you are going to go.

 

[practicallyperfect77]

Ok, just trying to get a handle on this.

So does this mean that if guests without any pre-reserved FP+ enter a park at RD and visit a kiosk, there are NO FP+ left for them to book?

So someone who drives to the park and buys a ticket at the ticket booth is out of luck, other than maybe a few openings from cancelled or rescheduled FP+?

I bring groups (marching bands, orchestras, and choirs mostly) to the park, and generally speaking, they do not receive their park passes until the day of arrival. And I am sure that in spite of the advertisements and other ways that Disney is promoting the system, there will still be people who do not preplan, for a myriad of reasons. So they are just SOL?

I'm sure there will be some left but probably not any for A&E &mine train.

 

[MightyGitis]

I also think we have the proof with A&E...there hasn't been any mention of anyone getting FPs on the day-of for that attraction. It's prebook or do the Rope Drop Dash. So it seems they aren't holding back for that, why would they hold back for any others...

We have 100% confirmation from Disney now they are holding nothing back. And you're right it should have been obvious based on A&E but I know the debate probably would have raged on anyway.

Between the email response I got above and The Hub asking his superiors The official word is that all passes are released up front and when their gone their gone.

 

[JimmyV]

We have 100% confirmation from Disney now they are holding nothing back. And you're right it should have been obvious based on A&E but I know the debate probably would have raged on anyway.

Proving again that "There Are None So Blind As Those Who Will Not See".

 

[OtherScott]

Glad to see the "Disney's plan was to limit guests to 3 FPs but public outcry caused them to release additional FPs" crowd suddenly realize that it's not in Disney's business interest to hold back FPs.

 

[MightyGitis]

Proving again that "There Are None So Blind As Those Who Will Not See".

I'm sorry are you implying I was refusing to see? Because I wasn't involved in the giant debate of were they weren't they. I said I was a little sad for it and while everyone argued I emailed Disney and asked if they were.

Or are you using my post to subversively jab at other people. *confused*

 

[JimmyV]

I'm sorry are you implying I was refusing to see? Because I wasn't involved in the giant debate of were they weren't they. I said I was a little sad for it and while everyone argued I emailed Disney and asked if they were.

Or are you using my post to subversively jab at other people. *confused*

Not you.

 

[JimmyV]

Glad to see the "Disney's plan was to limit guests to 3 FPs but public outcry caused them to release additional FPs" crowd suddenly realize that it's not in Disney's business interest to hold back FPs.

The two concepts are not inextricably intertwined. We have yet to hear about a single person say that they have been shut out of a FP for any attraction other than A&E. Maybe the Mine Train here and there, but there is no outcry here that there are not enough FPs to go around. So even with advanced booking, there are leftover FPs for Space Mountain, BTMRR, Splash and apparently TSMM at least on most days. So the question was, what to do with those "same day" passes. Sell them? Give them out as rewards? Allow people who didn't book them in advance get them, or allow commandos to double up on them by getting more of what they already had.

 

[heyitsmejosh]

The two concepts are not inextricably intertwined. We have yet to hear about a single person say that they have been shut out of a FP for any attraction other than A&E..

you can get shut out of fast passes at epcot pretty early in the day its happened a few times during the busier days

 

[ArwenMarie]

We have 100% confirmation from Disney now they are holding nothing back. And you're right it should have been obvious based on A&E but I know the debate probably would have raged on anyway.

Between the email response I got above and The Hub asking his superiors The official word is that all passes are released up front and when their gone their gone.

Yep!

Off-topic, but I like your instagram pictures!

 

[OtherScott]

The two concepts are not inextricably intertwined. We have yet to hear about a single person say that they have been shut out of a FP for any attraction other than A&E. Maybe the Mine Train here and there, but there is no outcry here that there are not enough FPs to go around. So even with advanced booking, there are leftover FPs for Space Mountain, BTMRR, Splash and apparently TSMM at least on most days. So the question was, what to do with those "same day" passes. Sell them? Give them out as rewards? Allow people who didn't book them in advance get them, or allow commandos to double up on them by getting more of what they already had.

The concepts aren't inextricably intertwined, but the rationale you've chosen to support the argument that hold-back makes no business sense for Disney is the exact same rationale I used to make the case that 3-and-out was never Disney's plan - Get FPs into the hands of people who are going to redeem them.

I suppose Disney might have initially planned to sell additional FPs outright but several things seem to cut against that.

40% of guests didn't use FP when it was free, a percentage of the rest used it at a rate of 1-3, a percentage used it a >3 because it was free, and so on. Giving people 3 guaranteed and letting them buy additional FPs assumes that there is a market for these FPs that would use up the supply in a manner consistent with the overall goal of FP+. Did such a market exist? What would that market require of a system that now charges what was before free? Can you meet that expectation?

I suppose they could have initially planned to use additional FP capacity for rewards/incentives, but if the goal is to get people to redeem FPs (as opposed to merely pulling FPs), how do you effectively apply this? Do resort guests use FPs at a different rate that non-resort, Deluxe guests more than Value?

And how would this be any different than the hold back strategy we're currently debating where Disney denies this guest 60 days out for the potential benefit of another guest day of?

None of this matters, as Disney's actions demonstrate a classic case of the dog that didn't bark. When looking for evidence, you have to see not only consider what is present but also what should be present, but isn't.

If either of these strategies were seriously contemplated, they would have been included in Disney's survey to fix problems you said were only exposed by guest complaints. Why wouldn't Disney simply move to implement either of these strategies instead of scrapping them and implementing one of 3 different strategies?

The question answers itself. The theory that asks me to assume the least is usually the correct one.

 

[lugnut33]

I casually asked one of my leaders if this had changed and the answer is yes, it did. It changed the day offsite guests without Annual Passes had the ability to prebook. The reasoning is due to the heavy number of users who now have the ability to make reservations before arriving. Hopefully, knowing this, you will be able to make sure you schedule the FastPasses you want.

Thanks, that is great information to know and it's what I always suspected; there would be no way for Disney to hold back for day of since you don't want to upset anybody before their vacation begins. Eventually booking the major attractions at 60 days out will become a must, just like ADRs.