Fast pass wait time

[mummabear]

So really just out of curiosity I am wondering about how long people feel they should wait in line with a fast pass.
A set time, and if so under what time?
A percentage of the standby wait time, and if so what percent?

 

[minnieralyks]

Hmm... good question! I'm going to go with a percentage of the standby, simply because a set time would be hard to promise with fluctuations in wait times. Maybe 25-30% of the standby time? If Indy is 60 minutes, I feel it's reasonable to wait 15 minutes. If it's 120 minutes, it's reasonable to have to wait 30 minutes or so. If it ends up being less, great. A little more, ehhh whatever. A lot more, grrrr...

 

[Rabb it]

Normally I think it's around 15 minutes or so, but even now when I've been walking up to the fastpass line and there's a ton of people there, particularly at Space Mountain. So I'ts gotten to be more of a percentage of the standby I think

 

[figment_jii]

I also think it's probably a percentage of the standby time, unless there is almost no standby wait. I'd go with somewhere in the 15% to 25% of the standby wait in general, but it can be longer or shorter. My general experience is that the wait is less than 15 minutes, but there have been exceptions (mostly when the standby lines were really long or the attraction had been down for a long period of time and just came back up).

 

[GatorChris]

For me, if a FP line is over 10 minutes, it's not fast. That's the way FP used to be 15 years ago (at least at WDW). The new MaxPass has really screwed things up. Used to, a FP on Splash Mt would mean about a 5 minute wait, where you would hit the end of the line about where the loading overlook is. Now it wraps way out. They should go ahead and call it FasterPass now. Because on our last trip, it was rarely fast.

 

[lalasmama]

I'd prefer a set time rather than a percentage of the stand-by time. I generally have a 15-minutes-or-less rule for waiting in lines Anything longer and I start getting fussy. Sometimes I will wait anyway (GotG had a 40 minute FP line, for instance, so I only rode it once, because I wasn't going to do that FP line again!)...

 

[agamble]

I think it should be (and usually is) within 10-15 minutes. My feeling on this is that the FP is supposed to be holding your place in line. So if the time tells you to come back at 5:45 then it should be your turn, or nearly your turn, to ride. Now, that is not always reality. We had a bad experience with Space Mountain in July, but generally we get on rides or into pre-shows with FP in 10-15 minutes.

My last thought on this is that Disney gives out too many FP. They have a good idea of riders per hour, and I think they are giving out too high of a percentage of FP tickets for some attractions. If the FP line is longer than 15 minutes, then too many FP were given out. Honestly, FP shouldn't back up because when it does that means it is holding up the standby queue. I have stood in long FP lines at GRR (and recently Space) and seen them highly favor the FP queue because it's so backed up. This is kind of unfair to the standby. Yes, they are standby and know they're going to wait, but it should still be reasonable. I would be okay with getting fewer FP per day if it meant that the FP and Standby queue times were more balanced. In a "perfect," more balanced system FP return waits would be closer to 5-10 minutes and the standby line should still be moving.

 

[Skyegirl1999]

My last thought on this is that Disney gives out too many FP. They have a good idea of riders per hour, and I think they are giving out too high of a percentage of FP tickets for some attractions. If the FP line is longer than 15 minutes, then too many FP were given out.

I hear you, but I think a lot of times the back-ups come from ride breakdowns. FP returns are typically fine in the morning, so I think the "ratio" is mostly ok, but as the day wears on, hiccups start to screw it up.

On Monday, HMH, Splash, and Space:Ghost Galaxy just rotated shutting down all day. At one point the app showed all three down simultaneously. I held four Multiple Experience passes as a result!

That means when they WERE open, you had all the FP people from earlier cluttering up the line, not to mention people with ME passes who could have been using them on other rides, flooding those FP lines...

They actually kept the FP lines moving pretty well, but as you noted, that basically means halting standby completely.

I do think they should go back to shutting down FP distribution when a ride is down.

 

[PHXscuba]

It really varies. The older rides at DL often have merge points that are far back, like Indy and Space Mountain. That means even with a FP it's always going to take longer than -- for example -- Big Thunder or Splash Mountain, which merge you practically on the loading dock. With some rides, how do you count the "wait?" Is the ToT/GotG wait over when you enter the library/office, or does the wait end when you board the elevator? Throw in the FP backups right after fireworks, someone who can't get their ticket to work, or when a ride has been down, etc.

So I guess I'd fall on the side of "percentage of standby wait time." I believe the CMs are supposed to take a certain percentage of guests from the FP line before letting standby merge in. I expect the FP to skip the bulk of the visible line, but I've never felt like it could/should be an instant entry.

PHXscuba

 

[az4boys]

I do think they should go back to shutting down FP distribution when a ride is down.

I completely agree with this. I think it backs up FP lines in the afternoons and evenings when they keep handing out FP during a ride break down. However, as long as they keep handing them out, I plan to collect them on our next trip. Multiple Experience FP's sound pretty awesome.

 

[mummabear]

For me, if a FP line is over 10 minutes, it's not fast. That's the way FP used to be 15 years ago (at least at WDW). The new MaxPass has really screwed things up. Used to, a FP on Splash Mt would mean about a 5 minute wait, where you would hit the end of the line about where the loading overlook is. Now it wraps way out. They should go ahead and call it FasterPass now. Because on our last trip, it was rarely fast.

I agree. It took us over 30 minutes in the GOTG FP to get to the library, on top of the 15 minutes that it took us in line to get into the FP line!
Most others have been fine, but I do think it should be a set time like 15 minutes not more than 20 regardless of how long the standby gets

It really varies. The older rides at DL often have merge points that are far back, like Indy and Space Mountain. That means even with a FP it's always going to take longer than -- for example -- Big Thunder or Splash Mountain, which merge you practically on the loading dock.

I think you are right about the merge point making a big difference, I do think that for a new ride the merge point for RSR is still pretty far back.

Slightly off topic but I wish they would add FP to some other rides like they did at WDW-Peter Pan sure needs it

 

[agamble]

Slightly off topic but I wish they would add FP to some other rides like they did at WDW-Peter Pan sure needs it

I would love it if Peter Pan had FP, but at the same time I can see it being a bit of a nightmare. But then again, maybe not. Perhaps the standby line would be just as many minutes, but have less people in it. Has anyone noticed that since FP was added the standby queue for Toy Story can look almost empty but have a 50 minute wait? This is another example of how it seems they are giving out too many FP. It's great because you can FP Toy Story and get on almost immediately. However, it's silly that the standby line looks so short yet is almost an hour. It's almost like they want guests to solely use FP for certain attraction.

 

[mummabear]

I would love it if Peter Pan had FP, but at the same time I can see it being a bit of a nightmare. But then again, maybe not. Perhaps the standby line would be just as many minutes, but have less people in it. Has anyone noticed that since FP was added the standby queue for Toy Story can look almost empty but have a 50 minute wait? This is another example of how it seems they are giving out too many FP. It's great because you can FP Toy Story and get on almost immediately. However, it's silly that the standby line looks so short yet is almost an hour. It's almost like they want guests to solely use FP for certain attraction.

I think FP has worked well for TSMM.

I agree though that the number given out can be too high

 

[agamble]

I think FP has worked well for TSMM.

I agree though that the number given out can be too high

Yes, I think it works well too. I love being able to pull a FP for this Toy Story and not have to wait. I just noticed when we were there in July the standby was almost non-existent and yet the posted wait was 50 minutes. It may not have been that long, but I know it was due to FP getting priority. In all fairness though, the wait was 50 minutes before FP was added and everyone had to wait. So, at least now we can choose to use FP. But I do wonder if they are skewing things in this direction. Get a FP to ride, or wait a very long time. Almost like the idea of queueless.