Fastpass changes are coming

[ASteelersMidget]

 

[jade1]

That said, I wonder what impact "reserving FPs from your room" might have on the typical rope-drop dash.

As it stands now, the strategy for many park visitors is to arrive at the park prior to rope drop, then spend the first hour or two of park time dashing from one superheadliner to another, in some combination of riding and acquiring FPs.

But if visitors are allowed to reserve up to, say, 4, sets of FPs from their rooms, the need to employ this kind of "commando" touring could be significantly mitigated.

Plus late risers could sleep in, or at least take thier time and actually aquire a FP.

 

[ASteelersMidget]

Plus late risers could sleep in, or at least take thier time and actually aquire a FP.

"BUT THATS UNFAIR TO THE EARLY RISERS ETC"

There is no PERFECT system. Lets just be glad we have it as an option and move on. I don't want to get in another debate with jade1

 

[FWDisneyfan]

If I worked for Universal Studios I would be watching this scenario closely and I would be looking at implementing something to take advantage of the backlash that "tightening of the rules" in regards to Fastpass would bring. As one of the "abusers" (I prefer to call it being smarter than the average bear) it would make me think twice about spending my money/time at a Disney park. The Fastpass system and it's ease of use/lax rules are one of the things that brings me back to Disney over and over. If the changes cause me to stand in long lines, I won't go.

 

[nytimez]

If I worked for Universal Studios I would be watching this scenario closely and I would be looking at implementing something to take advantage of the backlash that "tightening of the rules" in regards to Fastpass would bring. As one of the "abusers" (I prefer to call it being smarter than the average bear) it would make me think twice about spending my money/time at a Disney park. The Fastpass system and it's ease of use/lax rules are one of the things that brings me back to Disney over and over. If the changes cause me to stand in long lines, I won't go.

Universal already has a much better system -- one that wouldn't work at Disney. They don't need to change a thing.

 

[skier_pete]

"BUT THATS UNFAIR TO THE EARLY RISERS ETC"

There is no PERFECT system. Lets just be glad we have it as an option and move on. I don't want to get in another debate with jade1

Actually - I was thinking that pre-reserving FP would be a huge benefit to early risers. My guess is there's a significant portion of people that make it to rope drop ONLY because of the need to get to the parks early for those prime rides. If you could now reserve 2-4 FP at the start of your day instead, I bet the early morning crowds would get lighter than they are now (I'm guessing by 20 %.) So I can get my 2-4 FP for the afternoon and arrive early and have an even EMPTIER park!

Where I see problems with the FP system changing is the 75 % of the population that wants nothing to do with plans of any kind. Reversing FP will really make the anti-planners head's spin.

 

[nytimez]

Actually - I was thinking that pre-reserving FP would be a huge benefit to early risers. My guess is there's a significant portion of people that make it to rope drop ONLY because of the need to get to the parks early for those prime rides. If you could now reserve 2-4 FP at the start of your day instead, I bet the early morning crowds would get lighter than they are now (I'm guessing by 20 %.) So I can get my 2-4 FP for the afternoon and arrive early and have an even EMPTIER park!

Where I see problems with the FP system changing is the 75 % of the population that wants nothing to do with plans of any kind. Reversing FP will really make the anti-planners head's spin.

I'm anti-planning... and yes, my head is spinning. The flipside of your argument is that the early risers tend to be the planners -- and they don't just arrive to ride, say, Toy Story, before the crowds -- they arrive to start getting FPs as well. The ability to reserve them in advance won't stop them from showing up early.

Additionally, if there are fewer FPs distributed during the actual day, the machines for popular rides will run out earlier -- and rides that tend to have FPs until late in the day might also start running out much earlier.

Wouldn't planners feel even more obliged to get their early and get their FPs?

Remember, just because people reserved one or two or whatever the limit is doesn't mean they will be satiated -- people want as many as they can get.

I don't know how this will work out in the end, but I would bet that the philosophy of many won't be "I have TSM reserved in advance, now I don't need to go get a FP" it will be "I can ride TSM twice now by reserving it and getting there early enough to grab a FP."

 

[tjkraz]

I don't think we'll see traditional FASTPASS go away. There will still be machines accepting tickets from day guests and those who don't want to plan. How return times are tweaked for these groups remains to be seen.

The biggest drawbacks to the current system (IMO) are the inefficiency of claiming passes and the system's lack of flexibility.

Guests have to do a lot of extra running around--often crisscrossing the park--to get and use FPs. There's nothing "Magical" about trudging back to Kilimanjaro Safari to claim FP tickets--not even knowing what the return time will be before arriving--and then trying to fill time until the FPs can be used.

Additionally, the only real option in the current system is the return time presented when the FP is first claimed. Undoubtedly there are people getting FP tickets for times much earlier than they want (especially knowing they can use them later) and there are others who wish they could get an earlier FP.

The new system will allow guests to pick their ride time block for several attractions before even arriving at the park. The day can then be structured around those ride reservations rather than spending the day attempting to react to the uncertainties of the current system.

I'm sure there will be trade-offs to some degree. But when I think of the amount of time we spend chasing tickets and touring the park in a haphazard, FP-reactionary manner, this strikes me as a dramatic improvement. I don't to plan my every move, either. But I'm certainly willing to commit to riding Space Mountain and Buzz in the Morning, Peter Pan and BTMR in the afternoon, and then build the rest of my day around that.

 

[Max Rebo]

If the FP reservation system is implemented, has there been any speculation on when a guest would be able to reserve his/her FPs?

Whatever is decided, it will obviously benefit those who are "planners."

If it's same-day reservations, it will benefit the early risers, who call/go online as soon as the window opens up, even if it's 5 in the morning.

If it's 5 days, or 30 days or 180 days out, etc., you know there will also be folks ready to snatch up their FPs the minute they become available.

I'd also be curious to know if there has been any speculation on whether multiple sets of reserved FPs could be obtained for the same attraction on any given day. (i.e.: Will I be able to hoard TSM FPs? )

 

[tjkraz]

If it's 5 days, or 30 days or 180 days out, etc., you know there will also be folks ready to snatch up their FPs the minute they become available.

I wouldn't expect it to be much more than 24-48 hours.

No system is perfectly equitable. Personally I don't view this option--as it has been described to me--as being materially better or worse than what we have now.

If you look hard enough, there are ways to improve your odds for success in any system.

I'd also be curious to know if there has been any speculation on whether multiple sets of reserved FPs could be obtained for the same attraction on any given day. (i.e.: Will I be able to hoard TSM FPs? )

Highly unlikely.

 

[doconeill]

There were some screenshots of what looked like a prototype system for xPASS in the RFID thread. It appears that at least to start, xPASS may be limited to a subset of FP attractions, and you choose the order in which you can visit them. Nothing seen about choosing a time. So given the limit info from that screen, you might be able to choose the order in which you visit the attractions but could possibly have no time limit in which to do it - as long as you do it in the right order. It would also mean that you couldn't do it more than once with just xPASS.

I could see where they might enforce a minimum amount of time in between to prevent "fly-through" touring plans of just the major attractions, as well as to provide the "benefit" to the standby line much the same as the FP future return time does (deferring your entry to a later time in exchange for the shorter wait, which gets some people in the standby queue get through slightly faster).

 

[anthony2k7]

There were some screenshots of what looked like a prototype system for xPASS in the RFID thread.

where was the RFID thread? I missed that thread somehow and cant find it.

 

[doconeill]

where was the RFID thread? I missed that thread somehow and cant find it.

Post 88 on this page has images of the Epcot turnstiles, plus some of the RFID wristband promotional material, and a screenshot of a prototype XPass web interface.

From what little is seen, my theory is that there will, at least to start, be a limited number of XPass attractions - a subset of Fastpass attractions - and you choose the order in which you visit them. There may not be a time constraint as with Fastpass, but instead you might be restricted as to how soon you can visit the next one. But that's just based on the one screenshot and some logic.

It looks like there could be some sort of touring plan system as well from the other screenshots.

 

[dISNEYlOveer]

I heard some good argruments and some bad ones....not naming names but the way fastpass works now is good but the way for morning afternoon, etc. is better...People just should learn to use the fasstpass in the correct time...I always use at the first minute that they will accept, or even before and i dont think they should have fastpasses for parades...get to the parade before it starts and wait . even if they did, it would be to hard to get fastpasses for one and put a section for them...but i dont want to get lol