Fastpass Disappointments

[bellesbeast2]

The problem is that Disney advertises that the Extra Magic Hours as a time when the lines are shorter and promotes staying at their resorts to take advantage of those extra magic hours. This was our first visit since 1999, and our experience was that the late night extra magic hours actually lengthened the lines from the regular day-- all because of the many people who waited unti after midnight to use fastpasses. And the huge tour groups made it even worse. Disney could fix this either by requiring people to use their fastpasses before the extra magic hours begin at night (they don't issue fastpasses during the morning extra magic hours, so they shoudl be consistent) or by requiring people to use their fastpasses before the window listed on the fastpasses expires, meaning only a reasonable number of fastpasses would be used after midnight.

 

[bellesbeast2]

As I was waiting for Animal Kingdom to open, one of the cast members explained to be that the Brazilian tour groups are exempt from having their fingers scanned. This allowed the tour group operators to hold hundreds of theme park tickets at one time and facilitate spending all day running them through fastpass machines. If Disney made the tour groups go through the finger scanning, it could help the situation. Each ticket has to be specifically matched to a finger. The tour group operator would then have to collect all these hundreds of tickets after everybody goes through the turnstiles, keep track of who has which ticket and then redistribute those tickets back to the correct person so they can be admitted to the propert theme park the next day. Doing this would discourage all this collecting of mass fast passes so they can't build up to the point where they ruin the evening extra magic hours for everyone else. Besides, I would think that, post 911, Disney would want everybody's fingers scanned, especially from the international tour groups. What's to stop Bin Laden from recruiting some Brazilian tour group people as part of a plot to blow up the Magic Kingdom?

 

[meandtheguys2]

Besides, I would think that, post 911, Disney would want everybody's fingers scanned, especially from the international tour groups. What's to stop Bin Laden from recruiting some Brazilian tour group people as part of a plot to blow up the Magic Kingdom?

Huh? Exactly what purpose would finger scans serve to defeat terrorists, whether they were Brazillion or Martian?

 

[bellesbeast2]

An FBI agent told me a couple months ago that, besides checking for stolen theme park tickets, the finger scans also check for fingerprints of known terrorists. If you are a terrorist and don't have to have your finger scanned, you can get around the system.

 

[meandtheguys2]

ummmm...yeah....

And you believe this? I believe your buddy was pulling your leg.

 

[seashoreCM]

As I was waiting for Animal Kingdom to open, one of the cast members explained to be that the Brazilian tour groups are exempt from having their fingers scanned. This allowed the tour group operators to hold hundreds of theme park tickets at one time and facilitate spending all day running them through fastpass machines.?

I'm not ready to buy that but, if there is a mob at the turnstiles, a supervising CM can switch the finger scanners to "cursory" mode or "off" mode to speed things up. Although I think that even during "off" mode, guests should still have to at least put their fingers in.

 

[Mkrop]

As I was waiting for Animal Kingdom to open, one of the cast members explained to be that the Brazilian tour groups are exempt from having their fingers scanned. This allowed the tour group operators to hold hundreds of theme park tickets at one time and facilitate spending all day running them through fastpass machines. If Disney made the tour groups go through the finger scanning, it could help the situation. Each ticket has to be specifically matched to a finger. The tour group operator would then have to collect all these hundreds of tickets after everybody goes through the turnstiles, keep track of who has which ticket and then redistribute those tickets back to the correct person so they can be admitted to the propert theme park the next day. Doing this would discourage all this collecting of mass fast passes so they can't build up to the point where they ruin the evening extra magic hours for everyone else. Besides, I would think that, post 911, Disney would want everybody's fingers scanned, especially from the international tour groups. What's to stop Bin Laden from recruiting some Brazilian tour group people as part of a plot to blow up the Magic Kingdom?

Maybe I am dense here without my caffeine but what does the finger scanning have to with getting FPs. I think the tour groups should be scanned but regardless once they are in it doesnt matter who holds the tickets and goes to get FPs. Many people on here discuss having a "runner" for the FPs so that person is holding the tickets for their group, now their group is probably only 4or 5 not 50 but even with a grand gathering your numbers could be higher.

 

[Mkrop]

My family LOVES the FPs system and wishes more parks beside WDW would use it. DH and I once stood in a Splash Mtn line for 90 min pre FPS days with my little brothers at the end of July! DH said never again would he go back in the summer and he was thrilled when we researched our next trip that they had the FPs system.

We go to Hershey Park a lot and we just got back from Busch Gardens VA and really wish they had FPs and wait times posted. I love this about Disney, no trying to guess or wasting time.

 

[sjreed]

Unfortunately some of this problem has been created by the castmembers letting people use their FP after the alloted time period. Why do you think they print a return time on the ticket? You are suppose to use it between the time frame printed on your ticket. Once Disney starts following their procedure and people start using it correctly, it should work the way it was meant too. We like FP and use it regularly, but we use it the way it was meant to be used....we return during our alloted time. Are we wrong to follow the rules? Or should we be like some other people and say "well, they let us do it this way, so why not?"

 

[bellesbeast2]

sjreed is absolutely right. The word has gotten out that there is NO ending limit to the fastpasses, so more and more people are saving them for the end of the day, and now it encroaches onto the evening magic hours time. The evening magic hours are no longer magic. I had planned our trip to WDW for three years, and really looked forward to enjoying the evening magic hours. The abuse of fastpasses caused by Disney not enforcing the end times has created a monster. I know that Disney and the cast members are all caring people. Don't they realize what they have done?

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

This is exactly why I love Universal's system. Everyone staying on-site just shows their room key and it's an unlimited fastpass for the length of your stay. That little card is worth its weight in gold.
I know Disney could never do this since there are so many onsite resorts but I think they should give more incentives to stay onsite.

 

[BamaFan121s]

Why would tour groups not have to put their fingers in? I don't get that... It couldn't slow things up anymore than when you have hundreds of guests lined up at park opening to get in--they still make you do it then.

 

[bellesbeast2]

They don't make the tour groups put their fingers in because the tour group operator holds all their tickets for them. I don't know why this is true, I just know it is true. The cast member at the Animal Kingdom said there were 800 of them the day we went.

 

[doconeill]

Getting fingers scanned or not has no bearing on them being able to - and entitled - to getting Fastpasses still. The tickets still need to be run through the gate machines in order to be activated to be able to get fastpasses. Whether they are done in bulk to make things easier or not really doesn't matter.

It's no different than one person in any party holding everyones pass and getting fastpasses.

They are perfectly entitled to fastpasses, and its actually BETTER for one person to get them all instead of lining up 50+ people and blocking access. In these cases it probably would be helpful for the CM to be aware and have people queue up at the other machines so that they aren't sitting waiting - and they should probably be limited to one of the machines.

The real difference that sets the brazilian groups aside is the rudeness many people witness out of them (I personally saw very little rudeness from them last month, but others reported problems...)

 

[dqpowell]

An FBI agent told me a couple months ago that, besides checking for stolen theme park tickets, the finger scans also check for fingerprints of known terrorists.

Nonsense. The finger scanners do not read fingerprints. They read more generic biometric info, such as the distance between the two knuckles.

David

 

[blondemom]

I still firmly believe that WDW should hand out those dream fastpasses (or something like that) to all guests checking into WDW resorts. I think it would be a nice perk for our patronage. It would give resort guests a little extra - being able to use the fastpass for Space Mountain, for example, immediately while also being able to access another fast pass when you put your park pass through. To me, this will keep the flow of fast pass traffic moving quickly. We went to WDW in June, and waited 20 minutes for Buzz Lightyear - and we had fast passes.

If not the dream fastpasses, give out the fastpass card that you get if you preview the Disney Vacation Club which allows you to get three (or something like that) fastpasses from any fastpass machine with a current return time on the ride.

I think that when it works, it is a great idea. However, as I said, when I went in June, the fast pass lines were pretty bad (although not as bad as stand by). I would think that by staying on property - anywhere from POP to Grand Floridian - we should be given a little something extra. That's my opinion and I don't mean any disrespect to anyone who chooses not to stay onsite.



Have a great day.

 

[rosiep]

I still firmly believe that WDW should hand out those dream fastpasses (or something like that) to all guests checking into WDW resorts. I think it would be a nice perk for our patronage. It would give resort guests a little extra - being able to use the fastpass for Space Mountain, for example, immediately while also being able to access another fast pass when you put your park pass through. To me, this will keep the flow of fast pass traffic moving quickly. We went to WDW in June, and waited 20 minutes for Buzz Lightyear - and we had fast passes.

If not the dream fastpasses, give out the fastpass card that you get if you preview the Disney Vacation Club which allows you to get three (or something like that) fastpasses from any fastpass machine with a current return time on the ride.

I think that when it works, it is a great idea. However, as I said, when I went in June, the fast pass lines were pretty bad (although not as bad as stand by). I would think that by staying on property - anywhere from POP to Grand Floridian - we should be given a little something extra. That's my opinion and I don't mean any disrespect to anyone who chooses not to stay onsite.



Have a great day.

I like this idea too, but I think it would overwhelm the system. I imagine that the amount of Dream FP's handed out is no where near as many as it would be if each resort guest got one.
I'm not familiar with the DVC passes.

While I love being immersed in the Disney Magic...I need more persuasion.
I usually prefer offsite because the Value rooms are too small, Moderate Resorts do not have room service (and I LOVE room service ), EMH seems like it's always crowded, and I refuse to pay the prices they want for Deluxes.

Anyone at Disney listening??

 

[disneyfantotheend]

I still firmly believe that WDW should hand out those dream fastpasses (or something like that) to all guests checking into WDW resorts. I think it would be a nice perk for our patronage. It would give resort guests a little extra - being able to use the fastpass for Space Mountain, for example, immediately while also being able to access another fast pass when you put your park pass through. To me, this will keep the flow of fast pass traffic moving quickly. We went to WDW in June, and waited 20 minutes for Buzz Lightyear - and we had fast passes.

I would think this would make the waits at a fp line a lot longer and would not solve anything. Unless they totally did away with the fp machines and did this, but that i would think would just create more problems.

 

[BamaFan121s]

I still firmly believe that WDW should hand out those dream fastpasses (or something like that) to all guests checking into WDW resorts. I think it would be a nice perk for our patronage.

Don't they do something similar to that at Universal? I'm not sure b/c I've never been there, but I seem to remember someone telling me that once.... Wonder how that works out for them...

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Don't they do something similar to that at Universal? I'm not sure b/c I've never been there, but I seem to remember someone telling me that once.... Wonder how that works out for them...

Yes, they do but it works only because there are only 3 hotels so it's not really that many people, compared to Disney's onsite capacity.