Fastpass late entry to finish 7th March

[2Tiggies]

I don't understand really why they didn't enforce the times from the beginning. Not much point having them otherwise.

Now I have a different take on this. I don't see that it was ever a 'rule' to begin with. They were always very clear that you couldn't turn up even a minute before the time printed on the FastPass. There is always a bottleneck when it's busy with folk trying their luck and CM's don't bend on this at all. So if you turn up and get that message, then look at the time on the fastpass, most folk will automatically assume that it is a rule that you can't use it after the hour. BUT, as far as I was concerned, it was a perceived rule not an actual one as it does not say on there that you may not turn up late for your FastPass return time. Therefore in my opinion, if they don't have issue with it, neither do I.

Such a small percentage of people actually do this deliberately in any event that it makes little or no difference to the FastPass line at all.

 

[Rach78]

Now I have a different take on this. I don't see that it was ever a 'rule' to begin with. They were always very clear that you couldn't turn up even a minute before the time printed on the FastPass. There is always a bottleneck when it's busy with folk trying their luck and CM's don't bend on this at all. So if you turn up and get that message, then look at the time on the fastpass, most folk will automatically assume that it is a rule that you can't use it after the hour. BUT, as far as I was concerned, it was a perceived rule not an actual one as it does not say on there that you may not turn up late for your FastPass return time. Therefore in my opinion, if they don't have issue with it, neither do I.

Such a small percentage of people actually do this deliberately in any event that it makes little or no difference to the FastPass line at all.

I agree that not many people seem to do this therefore why do you think they would decide to start enforcing it?

 

[Cyrano]

I agree that not many people seem to do this therefore why do you think they would decide to start enforcing it?

Rach as I said in a previous post the suggested rumour is that with the NexGen updates guests who stay in the deluxe hotels will be able to pre-book their FPs.
I am guessing that depending on the amount of pre-booked tickets the FP machine will try to equalise the times (as they do currently) throughout the day for the remaining FP passes.

But if guests come back outwit their FP window they will clash with the guests who have paid for their FP; by virtue of their higher room rate.

 

[T16GEM]

Personally we found that it was very much descretionary of the actual CM on the entrance. We were only ever refused once on the BTMRR, the CM told us that we should only use them at the time stated.

As I said we have only every had the time enforced once. I will miss being able to us them after the time stated.

I think though that as you have to wait a certain time before you get another FP it may not affect us too much. If you get a ticket for 6pm on TSM for instance you couldn't get another one until quite late in the day anyway so have to plan your tour accordingly. Does that make sense?


It does make me sad if like Reid says the "Premium" guests are getting put ahead of the normal everyday guest.

Gems

 

[igk]

I find it useful if we're at a park first thing, then leave and come back again later, say in the evening - it's good to have a FP for Test Track for example...
Oh well, busier attractions get sold out early so probably can still get a suitable time by watching the return time if you see what I mean...
I also don't lilke the idea of the introduction of different 'classes' of guests in the parks... It'll be preferred ADR times next

 

[2Tiggies]

As I said we have only every had the time enforced once. I will miss being able to us them after the time stated.

I think though that as you have to wait a certain time before you get another FP it may not affect us too much. If you get a ticket for 6pm on TSM for instance you couldn't get another one until quite late in the day anyway so have to plan your tour accordingly. Does that make sense?

It makes perfect sense but this is why FP collecting only works effectively if you are there from park opening, or better still, if you stay onsite and do morning EMH. For example:

Enter MK for EMH at 8 am. Return time turnaround is actually really quick as the FP queue hasn't started 'stacking' numbers yet. So our usual MO would be to head to Space Mountain, grab a FP, get straight into the Standby line which is walk on at that stage. The FP return time would be for around 8.30. It takes a good 15 to 20 minutes to get through the queueing area and then through the exit after the ride so when we exit we are almost due for another FP. We would then nip over to Buzz and ride the Spaceranger Spin and as soon as we get out of there, we go right back to Space Mountain, get another FP and ride it on the standby line again. It should now be nearing 9 am. Frontierland only opens when the park officially opens so we would either stop at the castle for some photos or pick a couple of rides in Fantasyland that we can walk onto before going straight to Splash Mountain. Splash builds a queue earlier than BTMR by our experience but it is also a long ride so we tend to grab a FP for that without riding and go straight to BTMR and ride it (walk on). It is still too early for the next FP (usually the gap is around 25 to 30 minutes for the first hour) so we will often ride it again, then collect a FP for that and go ride Splash in the standby line. We found the first hour the wait times stick around 10 minutes or so and we therefore don't use our Fastpasses at all so early in the morning. We are usually ready to collect another FP for Splash or BTMR by that stage and then head off elswhere in the park. If DD decideds to stay and do some more stanby lines we will do that and wait for another FP.

So by 10 or 10.30 am we have already collected at least 5 FP's each for the day and the window to collect is reasonable so it is very doable to stack up a good few more during the course of the day.

Darn, we're going to have to find another mission now to keep us busy during the day

TSM? Well I dunno. We only ever got FP's for that if we did EMH and were there as soon as they let us in so the return window wasn't too bad, although we would rather skip it in favor of more RnR and ToT time

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

The rule won't affect me as we always use them in the time slot TBH I never knew you could use them after until reading it on these boards but it doesn't really bother me.

 

[crabbie1]

The rule won't affect me as we always use them in the time slot TBH I never knew you could use them after until reading it on these boards but it doesn't really bother me.

Well I never. I never even knew this. I thought u couldnt get another fastpass till u had used the previous one We hv been there early and FP havent been open till 9-10. all covered up. Have always gone back at the opening time of our fastpass.
So at present we can get fastpasses then pick up another when? Epcot in november was like christmas eve!!!! Manic anf soarin FP was 12 pm and we were there for 930 my first stop. Wasnt even thnks giving.
Anyway it wnt affect us as I never knew either

 

[wayneg]

So at present we can get fastpasses then pick up another when? Epcot in november was like christmas eve!!!!

You can get another FP after 2 hours but your 1st FP has a time on the bottom when you can get another, as we only go at busy time this was almost always 2 hours from the 1st but quieter times will have a shorter time.
Taking into account 1st FP's usually start from 10am and 2 hours before we could get another we found it almost impossible to get them for multiple rides at once, Lee and others must have more luck in quieter months.

 

[casinocolin]

Here are a few ideas that might improve the FastPass system a bit.

■ Surprise fastpasses. Send a digital fastpass to guests on their mobile phones.

■Shorten the wait time required to get an additional fast pass later in the day.

■Let guests pick their return window. Maybe just morning, afternoon, or night. But at least that way you have an option if you arrive at a fastpass machine only to find out you have an restaurant reservation scheduled for that same time.

■Rides with a through-put of more than 2000 guests an hour should not have fastpass. Instead move those machines to other low capacity attractions.

■Display publicly the number of fastpasses that can be redeemed an hour. Perhaps as a % of the standby queue. This will help guests decide if they need to get a Fastpass for the attraction or not.

■Limit the number of Fastpass that can be issued before 11AM to 50% of the day’s fastpasses. This saves some Fastpass capacity for guests who arrive later in the day

What do you think and what would you like to see?

 

[torsie24]

It's funny how I feel about this change.

As we were DLRP fans first, and they're very strict there, I konw we'll be fine, as our FP always worked great at DLRP.

But having then gotten used to the WDW system I know I'll be a little annoyed next trip being held to the return times.

Goes to show how easily we can get complacent about things.

We just have to count ourselves lucky to be in WDW in the first place, and that there is a FP system and we don't have to queue in the standby.

 

[casinocolin]

here are a few ideas that might improve the fastpass system a bit.

■ surprise fastpasses. Send a digital fastpass to guests on their mobile phones.

■shorten the wait time required to get an additional fast pass later in the day.

■let guests pick their return window. Maybe just morning, afternoon, or night. But at least that way you have an option if you arrive at a fastpass machine only to find out you have an restaurant reservation scheduled for that same time.

■rides with a through-put of more than 2000 guests an hour should not have fastpass. Instead move those machines to other low capacity attractions.

■display publicly the number of fastpasses that can be redeemed an hour. Perhaps as a % of the standby queue. This will help guests decide if they need to get a fastpass for the attraction or not.

■limit the number of fastpass that can be issued before 11am to 50% of the day’s fastpasses. This saves some fastpass capacity for guests who arrive later in the day

what do you think and what would you like to see?

anyone?