Fastpass return or replacement?

[Lilsia]

The kines are unnecessarily long right now. The line for space mountain snakes through tomorrow land. If fastpass plus was in use you'd wait just as long in standby but the line would at least be contained within the queue. I have been many times and never have I seen 55 minute waits for winnie the poohwhen fastpass was available but it's an everyday occurrence right now. Just because the line is moving doesn't make the wait any better.

That is because of distancing measures. Every ride has a certain number of people that can go on it in a given hour. So by adding all of the hundreds of extra people in the FP line, the stand by line takes longer. That is just a fact. The stand by line does go faster without FP people. You are also forgetting that not all of the shows are available yet, those eat up a bunch of people. Trust me, it is better without FPs.

 

[ellbell]

That is because of distancing measures. Every ride has a certain number of people that can go on it in a given hour. So by adding all of the hundreds of extra people in the FP line, the stand by line takes longer. That is just a fact. The stand by line does go faster without FP people. You are also forgetting that not all of the shows are available yet, those eat up a bunch of people. Trust me, it is better without FPs.

Ummm, the distancing measures ended about a month ago. People are now being told to fill in all the available space. The stand by lines are just THAT long.

 

[DJJimmy9]

That is because of distancing measures. Every ride has a certain number of people that can go on it in a given hour. So by adding all of the hundreds of extra people in the FP line, the stand by line takes longer. That is just a fact. The stand by line does go faster without FP people. You are also forgetting that not all of the shows are available yet, those eat up a bunch of people. Trust me, it is better without FPs.

Maybe; maybe not. I get that not having all the shows and parades to eat up crowds is contributing to the lines. But you know what else is making standby longer, adding people who normally wouldn’t wait in standby because they normally would only ride with a FP.

I have never waited in the standby queue for 7DMT, Space Mtn, Splash Mtn, BLSRS, Peter Pan, FOP, Slinky Dog, RNRC, I would only ride these rides if and when I had a FP.

I do see your point though. I feel like they previously gave away too many FP. Perhaps this new system will significantly reduce the free passes and require a paid option to get more. I will admit that my family thought it was a bad day if we didn’t get and use at least 6 FP per day. One time in MK, we used 12 FP in one day and they weren’t junk ones. I understand those days are gone but there needs to be some balance.

 

[Ssplashhmtn]

Ummm, the distancing measures ended about a month ago. People are now being told to fill in all the available space. The stand by lines are just THAT long.

There 2-3 weeks ago, and yes, it was surprising how they were having people cram in to “fill all available space”, even within an indoor queue. Close quarters.

 

[Disneylover99]

Maybe; maybe not. I get that not having all the shows and parades to eat up crowds is contributing to the lines. But you know what else is making standby longer, adding people who normally wouldn’t wait in standby because they normally would only ride with a FP.

I have never waited in the standby queue for 7DMT, Space Mtn, Splash Mtn, BLSRS, Peter Pan, FOP, Slinky Dog, RNRC, I would only ride these rides if and when I had a FP.

I do see your point though. I feel like they previously gave away too many FP. Perhaps this new system will significantly reduce the free passes and require a paid option to get more. I will admit that my family thought it was a bad day if we didn’t get and use at least 6 FP per day. One time in MK, we used 12 FP in one day and they weren’t junk ones. I understand those days are gone but there needs to be some balance.

Yes! to the bolded.

If you want to ride the ride, you have to be in that standby line. That's why it's so long. The majority of people would not be getting into those long snaky lines at all and making the walkways congested if fp was available.
Bring back fp!

 

[Nabas]

Of course my children asked, “Why did Disney take away FP?”. We had a discussion about profits and supply & demand. The best response was from my 9-y/o who said “why don’t they just raise the ticket prices and keep FP the way it was if they want more money?” Honestly, I didn’t have a good answer.

Let’s keep the return of FP discussion going!

You could explain to your 9-year-old that Disney wants to make as much money as they can, so Disney will both raise prices on things they already sell (i.e. theme park admission) and also will create new things to sell (i.e. the FastPass+ replacement).

Disney thinks they will make more money by selling theme park admission and FastPass+‘s replacement separately rather than selling them together.

Increasing the price of an admission ticket only a little will keep lots of people coming to the theme parks, which will keep the theme parks crowded.

Crowded theme parks mean more people spending on food, beverages, and merchandise.

But crowded theme parks also mean that wait times for rides will be long, meaning Disney will be able to sell the FastPass+ replacement for more money.

You sell more ice cream on a hot day than a cold day. You can think of crowded parks as a hot day, and the FastPass+ replacement as the ice cream.

I hope this explanation makes sense to your 9-year-old.

 

[malba2366]

FOP is hitting 3 hrs, others easily hitting well over an hour, sometimes 2. People are complaining about snaking lines crowding and disrupting the parks. The lines are most definitely not better.

The lines are physically longer, but they move much quicker because the fastpass line is no longer in use. I was just in the MK on Friday….space mountain line snaked out into Tomorrowland but only took 60 mins. With fastpasses this line would regularly be 2 plus hours. If they modify the fast pass system they will have to reconfigure the standby lines to handle more people.

 

[ellbell]

The lines are physically longer, but they move much quicker because the fastpass line is no longer in use. I was just in the MK on Friday….space mountain line snaked out into Tomorrowland but only took 60 mins. With fastpasses this line would regularly be 2 plus hours. If they modify the fast pass system they will have to reconfigure the standby lines to handle more people.

Only 60 minutes!!!!! 60 minutes is not a short wait. I've never waited more than 20 minutes. The lines don't move faster and lines that had short waits like winnie the pooh and it's a small world also have long lines now. On average the waits are longer.

 

[Looper]

I would have said the ‘lines are always moving so it‘s not so bad’ back in May. The line for HM when we were there in May would be all the way back to the ferry boat, but it only took 20 minutes maybe. So really not too bad. But now I’m seeing HM at 45 minutes or more for a lot of the day. I love HM, but I don’t want to wait 45 minutes.

 

[malba2366]

Only 60 minutes!!!!! 60 minutes is not a short wait. I've never waited more than 20 minutes. The lines don't move faster and lines that had short waits like winnie the pooh and it's a small world also have long lines now. On average the waits are longer.

Yes because you had a fastpass, but people without fast passes were waiting much longer. The problem with fast passes for guests is that it requires planning months ahead of time and takes the fun out of walking around the park and exploring what you want to do. The fastpass system had become a system that some people (mainly AP holders), and travel agents who charged commissions to disney learned to "game". Disney obviously realized that less profitable guests (who race around the park with fast passes and then leave without spending $$), and travel agents (many of whose value add is booking fast passes) were the biggest beneficiaries of the current system, the COVID pandemic was the situation that gave them the ability to reset it and profit from the fast passes while improving the experience for most guests.

 

[yaya74]

That is because of distancing measures. Every ride has a certain number of people that can go on it in a given hour. So by adding all of the hundreds of extra people in the FP line, the stand by line takes longer. That is just a fact. The stand by line does go faster without FP people. You are also forgetting that not all of the shows are available yet, those eat up a bunch of people. Trust me, it is better without FPs.

Please tell me that you have been back to the park since July and waited in the 80 minutes line for SDD, 50 minutes for MMRR in the pouring rain and 60 minutes for test track, all in the summer heat.

My family could only go to WDW in the summer and only one visit every couple of years since we need to save up for this very expensive trip. We don't do rope drop. Trips with FP+ were amazingly awesome!!! But the most recent trip in July was brutal without FP+. My stingy DH told me that he won't go back without FP+ even if it comes with a price tag.

 

[ellbell]

Yes because you had a fastpass, but people without fast passes were waiting much longer. The problem with fast passes for guests is that it requires planning months ahead of time and takes the fun out of walking around the park and exploring what you want to do. The fastpass system had become a system that some people (mainly AP holders), and travel agents who charged commissions to disney learned to "game". Disney obviously realized that less profitable guests (who race around the park with fast passes and then leave without spending $$), and travel agents (many of whose value add is booking fast passes) were the biggest beneficiaries of the current system, the COVID pandemic was the situation that gave them the ability to reset it and profit from the fast passes while improving the experience for most guests.

Guests without fastpasses were not waiting in 60 minute lines for it's a small world or winnie the pooh. I've also managed to plan trips a week in advance and get fastpasses for headliners. There was no gaming the system and you didn't need to plan months in advance. There is no excuse for the state of the parks right now and people who say the current state of things is an improvement are lying to themselves.

 

[luv2cheer92]

Yes because you had a fastpass, but people without fast passes were waiting much longer. The problem with fast passes for guests is that it requires planning months ahead of time and takes the fun out of walking around the park and exploring what you want to do. The fastpass system had become a system that some people (mainly AP holders), and travel agents who charged commissions to disney learned to "game". Disney obviously realized that less profitable guests (who race around the park with fast passes and then leave without spending $$), and travel agents (many of whose value add is booking fast passes) were the biggest beneficiaries of the current system, the COVID pandemic was the situation that gave them the ability to reset it and profit from the fast passes while improving the experience for most guests.

I guess some people feel that way, but no, it definitely did not for us. Quite the opposite actually.

 

[SarahWI]

The fastpass system had become a system that some people (mainly AP holders), and travel agents who charged commissions to disney learned to "game".

Disney obviously realized that less profitable guests (who race around the park with fast passes and then leave without spending $$)

How was reserving FP at 60 days gaming the system? That’s how the process was set up. We followed the rules and booked our FPs 60 days from arrival. I’m not understanding how that is gaming the system.

We also would book all our ADRs at 180 days. After our “race around the park with fast passes,” we would return to our DVC, shower, and go to a table service dinner such as V&A’s chef table. I would argue we are profitable guests and FPs kept us out of lines so we could hit up the restaurants, bars, and shops.

 

[luv2cheer92]

Please tell me that you have been back to the park since July and waited in the 80 minutes line for SDD, 50 minutes for MMRR in the pouring rain and 60 minutes for test track, all in the summer heat.

My family could only go to WDW in the summer and only one visit every couple of years since we need to save up for this very expensive trip. We don't do rope drop. Trips with FP+ were amazingly awesome!!! But the most recent trip in July was brutal without FP+. My stingy DH told me that he won't go back without FP+ even if it comes with a price tag.

I had a great time on my trip last weekend, but I will say that we focused our ride times to rope drop and end of day and spent the afternoons at Food & Wine. Didn't wait more than 30ish minutes for anything that we did and found the posted times to be very inaccurate (Lines app was much better). But overall it was a more relaxed trip ride-wise, which I get isn't how everyone is vacationing right now.

 

[Wandering Oaken]

The lines are physically longer, but they move much quicker because the fastpass line is no longer in use. I was just in the MK on Friday….space mountain line snaked out into Tomorrowland but only took 60 mins. With fastpasses this line would regularly be 2 plus hours. If they modify the fast pass system they will have to reconfigure the standby lines to handle more people.

Fastpass did not, has never, and would never cause a line to double in wait time. That is just patently false. It might add a few more minutes extra onto your wait time but it's not adding 60 minutes, 120 minutes, 180 minutes, etc. That is just outright ridiculous.

 

[Wandering Oaken]

Yes because you had a fastpass, but people without fast passes were waiting much longer. The problem with fast passes for guests is that it requires planning months ahead of time and takes the fun out of walking around the park and exploring what you want to do. The fastpass system had become a system that some people (mainly AP holders), and travel agents who charged commissions to disney learned to "game". Disney obviously realized that less profitable guests (who race around the park with fast passes and then leave without spending $$), and travel agents (many of whose value add is booking fast passes) were the biggest beneficiaries of the current system, the COVID pandemic was the situation that gave them the ability to reset it and profit from the fast passes while improving the experience for most guests.

That's what it does for you. I was able to plan three fast passes for each day of our trip yet still walk around and ride other things at my leisure. If planning fast passes locked you down into a rigid schedule of every day only riding the things that you were able to fast pass then that's your problem. We were very happy hitting the parks at open, riding several headliners in a row before the large crowds built up, go eat lunch, then spend the next several hours riding our fast passes and other rides in between and then just meandering around the parks until we were ready to head back to the resort for the evening. There was nothing strict or scheduled about that. Just because you don't like to plan doesn't mean that you need to make things up to support your point of view. My way of touring the parks doesn't work for everybody. And I understand that. What you don't understand is your way of touring the parks isn't the only way.

 

[Lsdolphin]

Yes it is. I hope they make changes to make a Disney vacation more spontaneous and enjoyable vs a rat race to book everything 60-90 days in advance which is what it has become. Dining reservation windows should be made much shorter for those without a resort stay. Paid fast pass will be a positive move for all as standby lines will be manageable vs the 3+ hour waits for the most popular rides when there were fastpasses. Hopefully they do something about the disability access like requiring a doctors note or proof of handicapped placard and limiting it to four people or something…too many people renting a scooter and using it to get 10 people ride reservations. Annual passes will probably have to keep the park reservation limits to avoid flooding the parks. We just returned from Disney and MK was as busy as I have ever seen it, however the wait for 7DMT was 90 mins, Space Mountain 75 mins while with fastpass The standby waits for those rides would get up to 3 hours.

Uh NO! people are not renting scooters to get “10 people ride reservations” nor to get themselves “ride reservations “!!! As a matter of fact many use ECVs to avoid needing a DAS! I certainly hope you or a loved one never needs to use an ECV in a crowded park...it’s not fun!

 

[KittyKitty]

I had a great time on my trip last weekend, but I will say that we focused our ride times to rope drop and end of day

This will help for sure. I would be at the park 1 hour before opening. Last time I was there, in March, the gates/big rides opened at least 30 min. before, and you would be in front of the crowd.

Ok, now I'm going to sound like a Pollyanna, but WDW is too expensive to be Grumpy on the trip. Bring snacks, play games on Disney's app. Make a a small token, to give to the ppl next to you in line. Tell them you like their, Mouse ears, outfit, etc., or just say hi. It makes the time go by faster. How often are we forced(... er..get a chance) to spend time with our loved ones, with nothing else to do. If you have the money, take a VIP tour. Figure out what to do to enjoy your trip.

WDW is going to be busy for a long while. We all want to go. FP may not be back soon. Lines are going to be long. If you think you will have a bad time the way it is now, then maybe reschedule.

Oh nooo. I hear the Mary Poppins song in my head.

Sorry.

 

[ellbell]

This will help for sure. I would be at the park 1 hour before opening. Last time I was there, in March, the gates/big rides opened at least 30 min. before, and you would be in front of the crowd.

Ok, now I'm going to sound like a Pollyanna, but WDW is too expensive to be Grumpy on the trip. Bring snacks, play games on Disney's app. Make a a small token, to give to the ppl next to you in line. Tell them you like their, Mouse ears, outfit, etc., or just say hi. It makes the time go by faster. How often are we forced(... er..get a chance) to spend time with our loved ones, with nothing else to do. If you have the money, take a VIP tour. Figure out what to do to enjoy your trip.

WDW is going to be busy for a long while. We all want to go. FP may not be back soon. Lines are going to be long. If you think you will have a bad time the way it is now, then maybe reschedule.

Oh nooo. I hear the Mary Poppins song in my head.

Sorry.

Nobody is saying that those who choose to go won't have a good time. The issue is lime yoy said Disney is too expensive. We shouldn't be forced to stand in the hot Florida sun for hours which is what is happening because the lines aren't contained in the queues. Disney is capable of fixing this issue and that's what the problem is. The lines the way they are aren't necessary. I'm going and won't be complaining when I'm there but I will be letting guest services know that their customer service on this front is failing. I'm a passholder, this doesn't make me want to renew. I don't care if they choose to charge for their fastpasses or give them for free but the lines snaking all over the park are not a great experience and that has nothing to do with standing in those lines.