Fastpass changed?

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

dl noes not need fastpass+ like wdw. wdw has fewer rides per park so it has to micromanage the system with all the guests they have.. wdw should have built more rides instead of spending money on fastpass+ and china.. oh well

Seriously?
There are plenty of attractions at WDW they are just not crammed together like most plain old amusement parks are.
Walt learned from his mistakes with only buying a very small amount of land for DLR which is why he secretly bought up that much land in Florida.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

If you get rid of the paper passes what do you do when the network goes down?

WDW no longer has paper fastpasses and for the most part it runs quite smoothly.

 

[tarheelalum]

WDW no longer has paper fastpasses and for the most part it runs quite smoothly.

I've heard some people have said it runs great, when it's working. Lots of others describe it as a nightmare. And what do you do when the network goes down and you don't have any paper passes? I think Disney can much better spend it's money on more attractions.

 

[pmaurer74]

Hmm doesn't seem like they gave it much of a chance.
Although with much of their guests being local they do end up being a huge influence and from what I saw the locals were not interested in a next gen fastpass.
Meanwhile me being used to MB's and FP+ now feel like I'm moving backwards going to DLR in June.

me too.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

I've heard some people have said it runs great, when it's working. Lots of others describe it as a nightmare. And what do you do when the network goes down and you don't have any paper passes? I think Disney can much better spend it's money on more attractions.

I have utilized FP+ on 5 trips now since it's introduction. I have only ever had a problem once and it was that a magic band suddenly stopped working so we went to guest relations and were given a new magic band for free.
I'm not aware of too many people that have horror stories about the network going down.

 

[mom2rtk]

dl noes not need fastpass+ like wdw. wdw has fewer rides per park so it has to micromanage the system with all the guests they have.. wdw should have built more rides instead of spending money on fastpass+ and china.. oh well

No joke!

We actually swapped to DLR as our resort of preference because of the changes to the FP system at WDW. We love rides. We love to ride our favorites ...... gasp....... sometimes over and over! The tiering is a nightmare. And the ability to reride headliners without a long wait is important to us. I don't want to feel like I won the lottery by getting a second FP to a headliner. If that's what we want to do, I want to count on it. If my kid gets off the ride and says "let's ride again" I want to be able to do that without a huge wait. Sure people get FPs after they use their first 3. But most of what you will find available are things you didn't need a FP for at all previously. And while you can sometimes get FPs for headliners after your first 3, it's certainly not something you can count on.

Parks were busy during our last DLR visit and I don't recall standing in line for anything more than about 15 or 20 minutes. And we rode our favorite headliners over and over. Did Soarin 3 times in one day. We almost always do RnR twice in a day. I think that's a thing of the past even if the new system just goes digital (doesn't have advance reservations). I think it's going to happen, but it will almost certainly come with some down sides. I cannot even imagine how a Disney IT system will be able to handle so many hits simultaneously at rope drop.

 

[Frozen2014]

I think the current fast pass system works great. They just need to expand it to more rides. The WDW system would be awful for southern California residents who get up and decide they want to go to Dland today. That system is best left to tourist parks, not locals park like Disneyland.

Have only tried the WDW FastPass+ system (and loved it) so can't comment about Disneyland/DCA yet. Can totally see though how booking in advance doesn't work for locals so makes sense why they don't change it. But I did notice your comment...at WDW most, if not all rides are on FastPass. At Disneyland only some are. I do remember on another post someone commented that the layout of some rides isn't build for FastPass, such as Peter Pan where there is no room for a second queue.

 

[mom2rtk]

Have only tried the WDW FastPass+ system (and loved it) so can't comment about Disneyland/DCA yet. Can totally see though how booking in advance doesn't work for locals so makes sense why they don't change it. But I did notice your comment...at WDW most, if not all rides are on FastPass. At Disneyland only some are. I do remember on another post someone commented that the layout of some rides isn't build for FastPass, such as Peter Pan where there is no room for a second queue.

I heard a rumor that a shop near PP is closing and might be used to expand the queue area for PP. I can see FP being added for that ride, but that's about all I would like to see it added to at DLR.

The rest of Fantasyland really doesn't have room to add FP return lines so I have no idea how they could add it. That probably won't stop them though. Electronic systems are easy to use. So much easier to use than a system that requires you actually walk to the ride to get a ticket. And because they are easier to use, the inventory disappears exponentially faster and they need more and more capacity to offer guests.

 

[Frozen2014]

I heard a rumor that a shop near PP is closing and might be used to expand the queue area for PP. I can see FP being added for that ride, but that's about all I would like to see it added to at DLR.

The rest of Fantasyland really doesn't have room to add FP return lines so I have no idea how they could add it. That probably won't stop them though. Electronic systems are easy to use. So much easier to use than a system that requires you actually walk to the ride to get a ticket. And because they are easier to use, the inventory disappears exponentially faster and they need more and more capacity to offer guests.

From what I hear (and noticing wait times on the app), PP can really use a FastPass so that would be great if the rumor is true.

I often check the app just to get an idea, and have noticed that too, that the FastPass for the really popular rides (Radiator Springs, Californa Screamin, etc) are often gone quite early.

 

[mom2rtk]

From what I hear (and noticing wait times on the app), PP can really use a FastPass so that would be great if the rumor is true.

I often check the app just to get an idea, and have noticed that too, that the FastPass for the really popular rides (Radiator Springs, Californa Screamin, etc) are often gone quite early.

The headliners do go quickly, and will go even faster if access is electronic. I love that (outside of peak times) fastpasses are often still available later in the day for headliners at DLR (keep in mind that currently only headliners have FP right now, compared with WDW which has FPs for a lot of rides that never needed or were designed for FP).

 

[wongck]

Save the forest use less paper.
Have the FP appears on your handphone and show it to the CM.
The app can draw the FP in RED, GREEN (or any colour or icon) to indicate if the FP is up.
So it don't even need a network to ride.
Only need the network to make the booking.
OK... I copyright this and so if Disney does something similar they will have to pay me.
I will take 1% of the years income from DLR entrance.

 

[mom2rtk]

Save the forest use less paper.
Have the FP appears on your handphone and show it to the CM.
The app can draw the FP in RED, GREEN (or any colour or icon) to indicate if the FP is up.
So it don't even need a network to ride.
Only need the network to make the booking.
OK... I copyright this and so if Disney does something similar they will have to pay me.
I will take 1% of the years income from DLR entrance.

Wouldn't it be fun to stand behind a bunch of people who forgot to bring their FP up on their phone before getting in line?

 

[Darkbeer1]

Wouldn't it be fun to stand behind a bunch of people who forgot to bring their FP up on their phone before getting in line?

Or those whose battery died.

Or can't connect to the network/cloud to bring up the FP.

Or if Disney installs WiFi, will it be able to handle a massive crowd of locals, that will use the WiFi for many things not related to Disney, or will there be service issues.

How about those phones that get lost/stolen, it happens all the time at Disney, especially on rides...

 

[mom2rtk]

WDW no longer has paper fastpasses and for the most part it runs quite smoothly.

I travel a long way at great expense to be at DL at most one time per year. I'm not ok with it running smoothly "for the most part". The current system works fine. I don't want to switch to something that "mostly" works. If it's down today, I probably can't come back tomorrow to pick up what I missed.

 

[mistyinca]

I travel a long way at great expense to be at DL at most one time per year. I'm not ok with it running smoothly "for the most part". The current system works fine. I don't want to switch to something that "mostly" works. If it's down today, I probably can't come back tomorrow to pick up what I missed.

Yeah, but anything could cause a similar situation and does all the time. Rides go down temporarily all the time. I cant imagine that it would go down with anymore frequency than that.
If the fastpass network goes down, the worst thing is that you have to stand in line.

 

[mom2rtk]

Yeah, but anything could cause a similar situation and does all the time. Rides go down temporarily all the time. I cant imagine that it would go down with anymore frequency than that.
If the fastpass network goes down, the worst thing is that you have to stand in line.

I get that rides go down but I don't need two factors working against me. And yes I think anything that relies so heavily on disney IT is going to have more issues. Just hang out on the wdw board for any length if time and you will see it. Glitches galore. I've never had paper fastpass disappear from my hands but they sure do disappear on MDE.

 

[SMD]

People lose paper fastpasses all the time, and many may prefer FP linked to their ticket medium. Your ticket doesn't entitle you to anything when you walk into the park other than to walk into the park. If there were an electronic FP system, and it was down, then the standby lines would still be available. They'd move faster too, because there wouldn't be FPs coming through their line. If that's someone's only day in the park for the year or forever, and they choose not to use standby in that situation, that's on them, not Disney. If a guest won't wait in the Peter Pan line because it doesn't have FP, then that's their choice not to ride, it's not on Disney that they don't offer FP for that ride. Part of the experience involves waiting in line, and if you're buying admission, and going in with the idea that you don't wait in lines or you don't wait in lines over a certain amount of time, that's you limiting your experience, not Disney.

 

[mom2rtk]

People lose paper fastpasses all the time, and many may prefer FP linked to their ticket medium. Your ticket doesn't entitle you to anything when you walk into the park other than to walk into the park. If there were an electronic FP system, and it was down, then the standby lines would still be available. They'd move faster too, because there wouldn't be FPs coming through their line. If that's someone's only day in the park for the year or forever, and they choose not to use standby in that situation, that's on them, not Disney. If a guest won't wait in the Peter Pan line because it doesn't have FP, then that's their choice not to ride, it's not on Disney that they don't offer FP for that ride. Part of the experience involves waiting in line, and if you're buying admission, and going in with the idea that you don't wait in lines or you don't wait in lines over a certain amount of time, that's you limiting your experience, not Disney.

No need to lecture. We are all entitled to our own thoughts on the matter.

 

[SMD]

No need to lecture. We are all entitled to our own thoughts on the matter.

Fair point. But that doesn't change the fact that admission to Disney is a one sided contract in Disney's favor. If you don't the terms, vote with your money.

 

[KenyaSierra]

Interesting experience: I was at DL on Monday and was issued a re-entry pass after being evacuated from BTMR. They asked for people's tickets and just electronically scanned the re-entry onto the ticket/pass. You could use it on any ride- they scanned your ticket again and let you in the FP line. I got to ride ToT on the last day after dark with my re-entry so that was a total win! But I've never seen that handled electronically before.