Fastpass for Astro Blasters is back...

[sweethannah]

As an out of town guest the advantage is amplified if you have an internet connection which adds to my costs. I know there are ways around this but it's most useful for those with a smartphone/internet connection.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

YAY, this news makes me happy! This is one of DS7's favorites so it will be much easier for us to ride it after dinner or during other crowded times. Also, since Autopia (another of DS's favs) no longer has it's FP machines available, we can plan to ride that in the morning with short lines and grab FPs for Buzz.

Yes, I would also like to see FPs for TSMM. We've never been able to ride that one since the lines are always sooooo long!

So Autopia no longer has Fastpass? That's a bummer. The stand-by line is always so long. What did they do with the Autopia FP machines? Are they just sitting there, or have they been repurposed?

 

[figment_jii]

So Autopia no longer has Fastpass? That's a bummer. The stand-by line is always so long. What did they do with the Autopia FP machines? Are they just sitting there, or have they been repurposed?

The're behind the construction walls that were put up around Innoventions when it closed. We don't know if that means they'll come back when Innovention re-opens, at some point before that, or not at all.

 

[SMD]

Here is how I would handle FP+ at the Disneyland Resort.
Disney Resort Hotel guests can book FP+ in advance when they get to the hotel. They are able to choose 4 attractions plus one show or parade.
Day guests and Annual Passholders can only use FP+ when they are shown to be at the Disneyland Resort via GPS.
FP+ kiosks will be available in certain areas of the park instead of being near the attraction.
For example, The current Haunted Mansion FP area, the Skyway area, the Small World area, the seating area near Aladdins Oasis, the current Autopia FP Area, and the Mad Hatter store will be relocated from Main Street.
There will also be a app available so you can make changes on the app instead of going to the kiosk.
Day Guests and AP's will be able to select 2 attraction plus one for a show or parade. After the return time of your 2nd Fastpass you can get 2 more.
The kiosks will also include the attractions in DCA if the guest has a park hop ticket or AP. You can even up sell the guest to a park hop ticket if they decide later in the day that they want to park hop. Maybe they can even offer a discount to upgrade the park hop ticket the later in the day it gets.

Attractions with FP would be...
DL: Matterhorn, Small World, Star Tours, Space Mountain, Autopia, Roger Rabbit, Mickey's House, Magical Map, Fantasmic, Big Thunder, Indiana Jones, Splash Mountain, Firework view, and Parade view,
DCA: Radiator Springs Racers, Toy Story Mania, California Screamin, Frozen Meet n Greet, Soarin, Grizzly, Tower of Terror, Goofy Sky School, Parade view, and World of color

The app will be able to notify you on when to use your FPs and when an attraction breaks down so you can make changes if you need it.

This would create bottle necks and penalize people who don't own smartphones or don't enable GPS for battery/performance issues. The current FP locations are fine. They're near the most popular attractions and out of the walkways. Maybe they can be made to handle more than one attraction.

 

[figment_jii]

A lot of what MouseEXP proposed sounds like the FP+ system in WDW (different reservation time windows, but the rest really reminded me of FP+ in WDW). WDW has centralized FP locations throughout the parks to get FP, which in theory works fine, but sometimes the lines are very long and it can take 30+ minutes just to get a chance to see what is still available. It works okay in less busy parks, but in MK it was especially time consuming (guests joked about needing a FP to get FPs!).

 

[Angrose]

So Autopia no longer has Fastpass? That's a bummer. The stand-by line is always so long. What did they do with the Autopia FP machines? Are they just sitting there, or have they been repurposed?

Yep, I read it in another thread. I agree that the line can get long so we were always grateful for the FPs. We'll try to ride it first thing in the morning now. We did that once last year and rode like 3 times in a row with no wait!

 

[SMD]

A lot of what MouseEXP proposed sounds like the FP+ system in WDW (different reservation time windows, but the rest really reminded me of FP+ in WDW). WDW has centralized FP locations throughout the parks to get FP, which in theory works fine, but sometimes the lines are very long and it can take 30+ minutes just to get a chance to see what is still available. It works okay in less busy parks, but in MK it was especially time consuming (guests joked about needing a FP to get FPs!).

I was referring to traffic in the specific locations mentioned. The corner in Adventureland is already a bottleneck on busy days, why would you move the FP machines away from Indy to put them there? DLR is small enough that it works to go to the attraction to get your return. Why would FP+ make that any different?

 

[figment_jii]

When WDW instituted FP+, they eliminated the ride-specific location FP machines and set-up specific locations where guests could get FPs for any attraction in that park. MouseExp's system sounded a lot like that. I don't know why s/he selected the locations s/he picked, but sounded like s/he was going for a centralized system rather than having guests go to specific ride locations to get a FP.

 

[MouseEXP]

Not sure if I have ever seen a bottle neck near right side of the entrance to Aladdin's Oasis. Heck they can even use the Aladdin Oasis area on its own. I figure, if FP+ does come to more attractions the queues for Standy By will need more space.

The main difference between my FP+idea and WDW current version (besides the park hop ption) is that you cannot book your FP's early. Only hotel guests that are in the hotel can book based on their length of stay. An added perk for people to stay there, which Disney would want.

For the average guest/AP's, if you don't have a smartphone you can use the kiosk, like they use in WDW.

 

[figment_jii]

Heck they can even use the Aladdin Oasis area on its own.

Aren't they using that area for the folks getting the Aladdin On-The-Go package? I remember a CMs saying you can take the food to go or dine at one of the tables inside the Oasis area.

For the average guest/AP's, if you don't have a smartphone you can use the kiosk, like they use in WDW.

As I've said, great in theory, a little less great in practice.

 

[Creaking Crypt Door]

I hope the Mansion still has one when I'm there in 3 weeks! I'll still ride it multiple times regardless, but it would be nice to do so without a big wait...

 

[SMD]

When WDW instituted FP+, they eliminated the ride-specific location FP machines and set-up specific locations where guests could get FPs for any attraction in that park. MouseExp's system sounded a lot like that. I don't know why s/he selected the locations s/he picked, but sounded like s/he was going for a centralized system rather than having guests go to specific ride locations to get a FP.

I don't know why we'd assume it will be the same or want it to be the same. DAS works differently to with the kiosks vs. getting the return at the ride. DLR is small enough that maybe the kiosks work because even in a different land you're not too far from any ride in either park. And like I said, it's not too far to go to 2 different attractions to get an FP. If there were enough central areas to support a line for the million plus APs to go get their FPs I'm sure DLR would be using them already. I don't expect them to make major infrastructure changes to support this, it's going to have to fit into what's already there. And having people book their FPs from outside the park before they arrive makes the most sense from a crowd control perspective. I also don't see the major impact on the standby queue. It's not like they hold the standby queue waiting for FPs to arrive. If APs book all the FPs and don't show up to use them then the standby queue moves faster.

 

[figment_jii]

Just to be clear, I am not advocating bringing WDW's version of FP+ to DLR. I was just explaining that WDW uses a centralized system for FP+ distribution rather than having the FP machines at each attraction. I fully expect (and hope) that the system will be different if it ever shows up at DLR.

 

[Keels]

I think - for the sake of argument here - we need to look at the concept of FP+ more granularly to see what could be the easiest levels of implementation at DLR IF testing were to start happening as soon as August or whatever was projected.

Going from FP to FP+ just means taking the paper away and making everything digital and accessible via iPad kiosk, Smartphone, laptop, whatever way you can access the internet.

To even begin to do this at DLR, the park needs to be upgraded from the extremely antiquated paper admission tickets. If going to digital FP+ means DLR finally gets RFID-chipped ticket media instead of those flimsy paper tickets I remember from WDW in the 90's, then I'm all for it.

Once that happens, then you can set up kiosks for FP+ like they did during the initial testing at WDW. You just go to these kiosks once you're inside the park and you pull a digital FP+ for a certain time from a central location instead of at each ride.

Upgrading ticket collateral, entry gates, adding FP+ kiosks in park AND RFID-reader FP return turnstiles at DLR would already be a pretty significant undertaking. Not to mention that we're talking about summertime during one of the sure-to-be most trafficked years at the park because of the 60th. But I digress.

Also, if you're going to jump from paper tickets to RFID, why not skip plastic cards and go straight to MagicBands? But that's already been shot down publicly by executives, so ... anyway. Let's move on!

At the base-level, those are the immediate needs that would have to be in place for testing of FP+ to even be a consideration at DLR.

At that's not even scratching the surface of in-park technology upgrades that will need to be made for FP+ to be possible in the capacity that it is at WDW. There will need to be an app, Disneyland.com will need to interface with MDE, there needs to be probably a dozen more small-cell towers for both cell signal AND WiFi through out property, there needs to be more locations for individuals to charge phones/devices after their batteries get drained for dealing with the app.

 

[VandVsmama]

You know, it IS possible that they added the FP to HM because of the hat box ghost. And maybe they added FP back to Buzz because of the increased overall crowds at DL due to the 60th anniversary.

In other words, there might be no reason for alarm.

 

[MouseEXP]

If the reason is crowd then why would you want to give people the option for FP, which would lead to more people on paths and not the queues.
The inclusion of FP+ isn't something to be alarmed about.
The alarm is if they would implement it correctly.

I assume this FP+ test started with the Anna and Elsa Meet n Greet.
Then Fantasmic and Fantasy Faire Show.
Then the Haunted Mansion and Astroblasters, which are two attractions that don't need Fastpass at all due to the ride system that is used.
Lets see what happens when Peter Pan opens.

 

[Angel Ariel]

When WDW instituted FP+, they eliminated the ride-specific location FP machines and set-up specific locations where guests could get FPs for any attraction in that park. MouseExp's system sounded a lot like that. I don't know why s/he selected the locations s/he picked, but sounded like s/he was going for a centralized system rather than having guests go to specific ride locations to get a FP.

If I could influence what Disney did here, I'd suggest they do have a centralized system (as in being able to book any FP from any machine), but I would keep the machines located at the rides. There just aren't enough FP+ kiosks in the WDW parks...they aren't well marked, there aren't that many of them. I don't think moving the kiosks would work well in DLR at all.

 

[PinkBudgie]

At WDW, the centralized kiosks took so long because you didn't know what was available until you got up there. Then you would tell the CM what you were looking for and if that wasn't there you'd try another and another. Then when you found one, you'd have to pick a time so you have to discuss with your group which time to pick. Last summer each kiosk had a CM manning each screen and they did it for you most of the time. Sometimes the screens were hard to click and they wouldn't go. Sometimes it would show nothing available but you click and back and forth and then a FP would show up. Some CMs let you do that, other CMs just said sorry, nothing here after looking once. I don't mind it at WDW because that place is so huge and you have to plan what park you going to be in 6 months ahead anyway just to eat.
But at DLR, I'd rather walk right to FP machine I wanted. Now if they just let you tap a Magic Band (which they said we won't have) instead of getting a paper ticket, that would be faster. No picking times, just tap, get the posted time, and go. In my opinion, centralized kiosks for all rides would not be an improvement.

 

[SMD]

They're already attaching DAS and wheelchair/HA entrance return times to tickets electronically. This could be as simple as switching from CM at the front reads paper FP, CM at merge collects paper FP to both CMs scan ticket to read digital FP. Swap human error with scanner error.