My wife and I went to Disney for a day trip yesterday since we winter in Florida. Over the years, we have enjoyed about 15 Disney weekly vacations mostly staying inside at each of the moderate or value resorts multiple times. Like many visitors we have seen a plethora of changes. But I really think Fast Pass has taken a lot of the enjoyment out of Disney. I would assume Disney put a lot of thought into adding FP. They also spent big bucks redesigning just about every attraction to handle separate entrances. I am sure the continual price increases the lst few years reflect the implementation of FP. But I don't see the advantage of the system to the average visitor.
To my wife and I travelling without children, Disney can be pretty easy to navigate. We went to the Magic Kingdom so we made sure the waether was good and then booked a few days before a FP for Haunted Mansion, Pirates and Peter Pan. As soon as we arrived at 9:00am we went right to 7 Dwarfs and just waited for the 60 minutes. I realize it is the hottest attraction and a 60 minute wait is no big deal for adults. WE then wandered around and picked and chose ridesmany of which are the ones our kids never wanted to ride. But things like Small World had at least a 30 minute wait all day. Peter Pan posted a 70 min wait most of the day but we had a FP and walked right on. People Mover had a line!!! Since going to Disney beginning in 1975, I have never seen a line extending into the common area for People Mover( for oldtimers Wedway). Attractions like Hall of Presidents, Carousel of Progress and Country Bear were deserted. According to the crowd websit yeasterday was a 6 out of 10 crowd. My overall impressions:
1. Big attractions like PP( 70 minute wait) has the same waiting times e that it did before FP came along. If the crowd is the same size why doesn't FP lower the standy-by times since some portion of the crowd go through the FP line.
2. Remember when you went to Disney at opening, did those 2 or 3 must see attractions before 10 or 11 and then played it by "ear". Well I felt sorry for one family in line at the Haunted House whose 2 8-10 year olds wanted lunch but Dad said the had to wait a while because they couldn't not use a FP. Just as bad as another young couple where the husband hollered to the wife to take their 10 yr old on HH with their FP and he would skip it since the 5 or 6 year old was sound asleep in his arms.
3. Everything but the "dead attractions" now have lines. Before, certain secondary attractions like Small World had certain times of day like lunch parade time etc where the wait was 5 minutes. We pased it avout 3 times yesterday and the wait was always 30 minutes.
4. A friend told me about going for 6 days and booking fast passes for 5 and picking mid-week for Typhoon Lagoon. Unfortunately it rained on the Wednesday and they had to change days and lost out on the FP advantage.
5. I will be honest. If you were an organized Disney visitor who had a basic plan before you arrived at the park each day, it was pretty easy to see everything you wanted to. However, the person who slept in and just arrived at noon with no plan probably struggled to get their to-do list accomplished. I remember when the kids were 5-9, we would always take a break around 1:00 and go back and let the kids hit the pool or nap and go back around 4-5. I think that idea would really limit your ability to see everything you wanted in the age of FP.
6. Yesterday was a very enjoyable day for my wife and I. The only must-see we had was 7 Dwarfs and we accomplished that. We did go to many of the things the average person does not go to because we had to skip them for the teenagers many times. But I think the average family needs more days at the park to accomplish what we used to do with 2 children. I really think FP forced you to spend more time waiting for all the rides not less.
7. I think a Disney vacation is not a project that requires a lot of work and planning. That would not bother me becuase I like toresearch a trip. But I know a lot of people who like to show up on a vacation and not pre-plan. Do that nowadays at Disney and you will be one of many I saw yesterday growling rather than smiling.
8. Maybe FP for only the top 2 or 3 attractions would be a good idea.
To my wife and I travelling without children, Disney can be pretty easy to navigate. We went to the Magic Kingdom so we made sure the waether was good and then booked a few days before a FP for Haunted Mansion, Pirates and Peter Pan. As soon as we arrived at 9:00am we went right to 7 Dwarfs and just waited for the 60 minutes. I realize it is the hottest attraction and a 60 minute wait is no big deal for adults. WE then wandered around and picked and chose ridesmany of which are the ones our kids never wanted to ride. But things like Small World had at least a 30 minute wait all day. Peter Pan posted a 70 min wait most of the day but we had a FP and walked right on. People Mover had a line!!! Since going to Disney beginning in 1975, I have never seen a line extending into the common area for People Mover( for oldtimers Wedway). Attractions like Hall of Presidents, Carousel of Progress and Country Bear were deserted. According to the crowd websit yeasterday was a 6 out of 10 crowd. My overall impressions:
1. Big attractions like PP( 70 minute wait) has the same waiting times e that it did before FP came along. If the crowd is the same size why doesn't FP lower the standy-by times since some portion of the crowd go through the FP line.
2. Remember when you went to Disney at opening, did those 2 or 3 must see attractions before 10 or 11 and then played it by "ear". Well I felt sorry for one family in line at the Haunted House whose 2 8-10 year olds wanted lunch but Dad said the had to wait a while because they couldn't not use a FP. Just as bad as another young couple where the husband hollered to the wife to take their 10 yr old on HH with their FP and he would skip it since the 5 or 6 year old was sound asleep in his arms.
3. Everything but the "dead attractions" now have lines. Before, certain secondary attractions like Small World had certain times of day like lunch parade time etc where the wait was 5 minutes. We pased it avout 3 times yesterday and the wait was always 30 minutes.
4. A friend told me about going for 6 days and booking fast passes for 5 and picking mid-week for Typhoon Lagoon. Unfortunately it rained on the Wednesday and they had to change days and lost out on the FP advantage.
5. I will be honest. If you were an organized Disney visitor who had a basic plan before you arrived at the park each day, it was pretty easy to see everything you wanted to. However, the person who slept in and just arrived at noon with no plan probably struggled to get their to-do list accomplished. I remember when the kids were 5-9, we would always take a break around 1:00 and go back and let the kids hit the pool or nap and go back around 4-5. I think that idea would really limit your ability to see everything you wanted in the age of FP.
6. Yesterday was a very enjoyable day for my wife and I. The only must-see we had was 7 Dwarfs and we accomplished that. We did go to many of the things the average person does not go to because we had to skip them for the teenagers many times. But I think the average family needs more days at the park to accomplish what we used to do with 2 children. I really think FP forced you to spend more time waiting for all the rides not less.
7. I think a Disney vacation is not a project that requires a lot of work and planning. That would not bother me becuase I like toresearch a trip. But I know a lot of people who like to show up on a vacation and not pre-plan. Do that nowadays at Disney and you will be one of many I saw yesterday growling rather than smiling.
8. Maybe FP for only the top 2 or 3 attractions would be a good idea.
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. Heaven forbid if a little one is sick or tired! Nope, must ride that ride or miss out on our only chance for a shorter wait! It must be a pain in the bottom for them. I like to just change things up a little and change our park on a whim. Nope, can't do that anymore cause we miss out on fp for TSM. So, I just wish WDW would fix this so ALL of the guests can enjoy the parks without all this preplanning stuff!
There is seriously 7 hours of my life I will not get back. ha ha.
