Fast passes still “fast”?

[jo-jo]

In early Dec, we had a FP for buzz. The line was way out the door. We figure ride break down, we'll sit here and wait a few mins. We waited about 20 mins, the line never got shorter. It was moving, but more people joined the line. The line zig zagged three deep along the wall before you even got to the tap point, then you went into the building. We joined the line before out FP ran out. It took at least 15 mins just to get in the building.

 

[leahlefler]

We were there over President's Day week and most fastpass lines were quite fast - maybe 15 minutes max. The exception was at MK on the Thursday we were there - every headliner went down at some point during that day. In the morning, BTMRR, Splash, and Pirates (briefly) went down. Then the Mine train, carousel, and Pooh went down. The Space Mountain Fast Pass line was 40 minutes long, but it was really the only headliner operating. Later that evening, it also went down. It was a bad day to be at MK, but also unusual. The next day everything but Space was up and running.

 

[Shanti]

We’ve been here since Thursday, Thursday we didn’t need FPs, crowds were low. Since then we’ve had to rely on our FPs. On MULTIPLE occasions we’ve had to wait upwards of 20+mins to get on rides with our FP. We’re in line now for Safari, have been waiting since 11:50am and as of 12:25pm we’re still in line. Is this the new norm?

Waiting 20+ minutes for a ride with a FP is due to either:

• the ride breaking down (currently breaking down or broken down earlier, so that more people are crammed into a later FP window to "catch-up"),
• the popularity of a brand-new ride,
• having the bad luck to enter the line behind a huge tour group, or
• multiple other top-tier rides being down, funneling FP holders into just one or two top rides for that park

20+ minute waits with FPs do happen, but they aren't normal, even on very busy days. We were there the day after Christmas this year and didn't wait for 20+ minutes with a FP.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

FP+ is not a skip the line pass.
Its a wait in a shorter line pass.
It has always been that way.
Sure you can certainly hit it at the right time that you walk right onto a ride especially the less popular FP+ attractions that people usually just wait in the SB line for vs scheduling a FP+ for but you should always be prepared to wait.

 

[Louie7080]

It think Steve on a Disunplugged podcast said that CMs are supposed to let in 1 standby person for every 10 fastpass people. In case it wasn't him, it was some other former CM that reported that.

 

[Gentry2004]

WDW doesn't release these numbers for obvious reasons. On other boards several CMs as well as other people who are generally very knowledgeable about how the parks are run indicate those are the typical numbers. And from personal experience, I routinely see 30ish FP guests go by before they let our party of 3 or 4 go through on standby.

My husband asked the Everest CM once. We were in FP+ and got stopped at the front of the merge for standby to go. We weren’t upset - just chatty. The CM said he counts in his head - roughly 20-25 standby to 75ish FP+ at a time. It’s not an exact science but they are given guidelines.

 

[alyssa18o6]

Since you were in line for the Safari, It is very possible that there was an animal in the road who just wasn't moving. If an animal is standing in the road, or close to the road, the trucks just wait.

We thought that too, but trucks were coming and going ahead of us. It could be that a while before we got in line it happened.

 

[alyssa18o6]

This happened to us on Spaceship Earth too, but the ride broke down atleast 4 times when we were on it, so maybe that’s why. Peter Pan, Mission Space, Star Tours and Jungle Cruise. We’ve never had this experience with FPs, usually we wait a few minutes if that. I know there was “talk” that the new offerings at the club level would flood FPs, didn’t know if we were seeing this so soon.

 

[duketennisgal]

We noticed the FP line for Buzz was ridiculous on Princess Weekend. I think BTMRR and Splash were both down at the time so I assume it was an influx of anytime FPs, which is what we were trying to do. I had fps for splash but since it was down we headed towards tomorrowland.

I also waited almost an hour in the ToT FP line, but that's because only half of the elevators were working...

 

[brockash]

We’ve been here since Thursday, Thursday we didn’t need FPs, crowds were low. Since then we’ve had to rely on our FPs. On MULTIPLE occasions we’ve had to wait upwards of 20+mins to get on rides with our FP. We’re in line now for Safari, have been waiting since 11:50am and as of 12:25pm we’re still in line. Is this the new norm?

We've been going for 10+ years and our conclusion has been that with fastpass + basically all lines are longer for us. The fastpass lines, while still shorter (generally, except in the beginning of day and it's basically a walk on), they're noticeably longer than the fastpass lines used to be with the old system. Standby rides that we used to be able to do under 10 mins. are also almost nonexistent anymore.

 

[Eccle]

We noticed the FP line for Buzz was ridiculous on Princess Weekend. I think BTMRR and Splash were both down at the time so I assume it was an influx of anytime FPs, which is what we were trying to do. I had fps for splash but since it was down we headed towards tomorrowland.

I also waited almost an hour in the ToT FP line, but that's because only half of the elevators were working...

Was that the Wednesday or Thursday before? Those were the days we had issues due to multlple closed rides

 

[alyssa18o6]

We've been going for 10+ years and our conclusion has been that with fastpass + basically all lines are longer for us. The fastpass lines, while still shorter (generally, except in the beginning of day and it's basically a walk on), they're noticeably longer than the fastpass lines used to be with the old system. Standby rides that we used to be able to do under 10 mins. are also almost nonexistent anymore.

My Dad hasn’t been here since 2012, with the old system. He’s said multiple times he thinks the old system operated much better. I can’t honestly remember because I only went once with the old system.

 

[CeruleanMoon]

It sounds like Disney needs a FP for the FP line...call it Super Fast Pass (SFP), and all those will be pay only (of course.) Since it won't make sense to have 3 lines, they'll just do away with stand-by altogether, Fast Passes will be renamed to "Free Passes," and everyone will need some sort of pass to ride at all. Lines will be controlled and Disney makes even more money!

Yes, I just made all that up, but hey you never know...

 

[duketennisgal]

Was that the Wednesday or Thursday before? Those were the days we had issues due to multlple closed rides

The MK issues were Thursday before, so the 22nd. The ToT issue was on Sunday, the 25th.

 

[Princess_Lisa]

Most of the time, I have not waited more than 15 minutes for a FastPass. There have been a few exceptions and it doesn't always seem to match the ride's popularity either.

1. Talking Mickey -- It took well over 40 minutes just to get to the room where Mickey was plus some more waiting for the 2-3 groups in front of me to finish.
2. Mission Space: Green -- This one was the worst because it was all standing in place. I was at the very front of the line and they let multiple groups go on the other side while we waited and waited. I don't remember exactly how long, but I believe it was around 30-40 minutes.
3. Seven Dwarfs Mine Train -- One time, I managed to snag a same day FastPass for 7DMT. I got in line and waited and waited. They were making announcements that due to difficulties, it was going to take longer than usual. Eventually, the ride went down completely and they gave us paper FastPasses good until the end of the month.
4. Star Tours -- Quite often, this one takes 20 minutes for me. I've had it on one or two occasions even take slightly longer than the posted Standby time (standby was listed as 20 minutes), though I suspect the standby actually took even longer.
5. Buzz Lightyear -- One time (only time this has happened) the queue was out the door, down to Stitch, and wrapped back around to the entrance. It took 10-15 minutes just to reach the tap point, but the line inside was pretty quick.

 

[Bullseye]

FP+ is not a skip the line pass.
Its a wait in a shorter line pass.
It has always been that way.
Sure you can certainly hit it at the right time that you walk right onto a ride especially the less popular FP+ attractions that people usually just wait in the SB line for vs scheduling a FP+ for but you should always be prepared to wait.

Yes This! It's all relative to the standby line. In my experience if standby is packed then FP tends to take longer also. If lines are normal or low you usually can get on FP pretty quickly.

 

[disuni2018]

I was there 3/2 and never waited more than 10 minutes for a FP line. Must depend on when you go

 

[DVC_Dad_Canada]

WDW doesn't release these numbers for obvious reasons. On other boards several CMs as well as other people who are generally very knowledgeable about how the parks are run indicate those are the typical numbers. And from personal experience, I routinely see 30ish FP guests go by before they let our party of 3 or 4 go through on standby.

Just because the cast member lets 10 people go before they let one non-fastpass go when you are riding doesn't mean it's 90% fastpass riders. The number is dynamic. In busy times, the cast members hold the non-FP people for more FP riders, and during slow times less.

 

[DVC_Dad_Canada]

We've been going for 10+ years and our conclusion has been that with fastpass + basically all lines are longer for us. The fastpass lines, while still shorter (generally, except in the beginning of day and it's basically a walk on), they're noticeably longer than the fastpass lines used to be with the old system. Standby rides that we used to be able to do under 10 mins. are also almost nonexistent anymore.

The longer wait recently has zero to do with the new fastpass system, there are just more people in the parks. The new system just distributes the fastpasses differently, it doesn't create more people.

 

[Marcus A. Jordan]

This argument always makes me chuckle. They prioritize FastPass riders. Pay attention when you get to the front of the line where FP and standby merge. The cast member will let FastPass into the attraction and a much higher rate than standby.

It's a ratio. Even if the FP wait is 10-15 minutes because the ride had been down earlier in the day, the standby line would be quite a long wait.