FP Issue

[CheshireVal]

Here's a solution: if you don't like waiting, get a fastpass yourself.

Everyone has an equal opportunity to take advantage of FP. If you choose to wait in a standby line, you can't really complain about the people whizzing on past you in the FP line because you could have chosen that, too.

 

[alicenwonder99]

Here's a solution: if you don't like waiting, get a fastpass yourself.

Everyone has an equal opportunity to take advantage of FP. If you choose to wait in a standby line, you can't really complain about the people whizzing on past you in the FP line because you could have chosen that, too.

I agree. I can't understand why anyone would choose to stand in a long line when FP is available??!! Here's another example: last week we stayed for MK's EMH evening. When we went up to ride Peter Pan, the line looked long...I think it said it was like 20-30 minute wait. But the FastPass machine was handing out tickets for 10 minutes later. I couldn't figure out why people would just rather stand in a long line instead of getting a FP.

One thing that got me mad happened at RnR coaster a few days ago. We had FP for it and while we were walking through the FP line to get to the front, there were people from the standby line who hopped over the rope to our FP line. As we were waiting to get up in the line to the spot where you have to hand in your FP ticket, we overheard the family (mom, dad, 2 kids) planning on what to say to the CM to get through. The CM pulled them aside and wouldn't let them just go through. Then a minute later, we saw the family come walking in behind us. I don't know what their real situation was, why they thought they didn't have to wait in line, but it got me mad. We waited for our FP time, and all the other people in standby had to wait in a long line to get through.

Mary

 

[eeyore0062]

The only time we will ride standby is when the wait is 30 minutes or less. We go into a park at opening, grab a FP, then ride 2 or 3 other things, grab another FP on the way to riding the FP line. After that, do other couple of things, go in shops, grab something to eat, get another FP on the way to riding that FP attraction. And so it goes on through the day. Never wait more than 30 minutes one way, or the other!

As for RnR, I have stood in the standby line, when the maze was full. Even then.. after we were waiting for about a minute, the sign said 40 minutes, we waited 30 minutes tops... and that was with the FP people going ahead of, too.

I swear by FP and the single rider line!

 

[MarkLem]

One thing that got me mad happened at RnR coaster a few days ago. We had FP for it and while we were walking through the FP line to get to the front, there were people from the standby line who hopped over the rope to our FP line. As we were waiting to get up in the line to the spot where you have to hand in your FP ticket, we overheard the family (mom, dad, 2 kids) planning on what to say to the CM to get through. The CM pulled them aside and wouldn't let them just go through. Then a minute later, we saw the family come walking in behind us. I don't know what their real situation was, why they thought they didn't have to wait in line, but it got me mad. We waited for our FP time, and all the other people in standby had to wait in a long line to get through.

Mary

When there are that many people representing a whole cross-section of the population, you've got to expect some a@@hol@s (sorry but no other word for people like that).

 

[seashoreCM]

There is supposed to be a formula for how many Fastpass riders and how many regular (standby) riders. Usually it is 4:1 Fastpass and can change during the day. But I suppose the CM's sometimes don't count well. Sometimes it goes the other way, a backup occurs in the Fastpass line and the CM uses the same formula as before.

Of the 3 briefing rooms at Test Track, one (the closest to the line heads) is exclusively for single riders.

If your window expires trying to get through the mass of people waiting for their Fastpass windows, you will still be let in.

 

[MHG26]

I have to say I was at WDW last week and I was surprised at how the FP line was working as compared to the year before (I went the same week last year). They let in A LOT more FP people in at a time than they have in previous years and the stand-by line barely would move at all at times, especially at RnRC. I frankly felt awful for the people in the stand-by line a lot of times and when I would ride a ride in the stand-by line, it would almost always take longer than the posted time. I too do not wait in lines that are more than 30 mins. I'm very familiar with the lines though so I know how to gage how long they'll take usually, but sometimes it was really hard to know cus there were so many FP people just breezing through constantly. Sometimes I saw the CM's had a counter and they would hold up the FP line in order to let in some standby people (maybe about 15 max), but in the majority of lines the CM's would wait until there was no one from FP to let any standby people in, this was basically the case at RnRC and Splash Mountain and Space Mountain. I can't believe I ended up waiting for an hour for this ride! I mean I had been on it earlier in the day with a fastpass, but didn't make it back over there til an hour before closing (when usually the line is emptier). The posted time was 40 mins, but I knew as soon as that guy gave me the pass to hold to count the time it would end up being different. It was an hour or more wait . It's my favorite ride and I knew I wasn't going back to MGM so I decided to wait it out :/. They've also changed the way they do some of the lines. Like instead of just letting everyone into Space Mountain through that long walk in the dark, they hold people outside for a long while then let in small groups of people at a time. Sure it makes the line look shorter when you get inside, but who wants to wait in the hot sun outside for awhile to be let inside the building? Space Mountain I will now never ride without a FP the way they are doing the line. I was thinking it was broken for awhile the way they were holding people outside like that. Then I got in with my FP and realized what they were doing. They were doing the similar method on a lot of other rides as well. I wonder what the reasoning is behind this whole holding check-point thing for lines. I'm just not used to being held up at so many points. Do they think it makes the wait seem shorter cus I don't think it does. My other qualm was why don't they use both sides of the line when there is one available. For instance on Splash Mountain, they have 2 paths to take. One side is for Fast Pass yes, but now when you get upstairs in the building they're filtering the Fast Pass people into the same line as the Stand-by people instead of how they used to just let the FP line use their own side the entire way which slows down everything. And they were using both loading sides so it wasn't due to this. I just don't get it.

 

[MHG26]

Oh yah I have to agree with the whole thing about people hovering in front of the fast pass line. It's so annoying, step to the side and let those who have legitimate fast passes through. I saw this happen well too often this past week. On some occassions I even saw the regular line start forming up behind the fast pass hoverers thinking they were waiting to get on the ride in the standby line. I just sort of have to move past these people but it's hard to do when you have other people with you who don't know what's going on. I don't want anyone to think I'm cutting in front of the line, but there's too many people at WDW who often don't know how things work and end up wasting other people's time by being in the wrong place or not utilizing all the space etc.

 

[princessmurdough]

You know, we just got back from the major holiday crowds, and the one question that kept coming to everyones mind was, Why would people even wait in the standby lines? Who wants to waste time like that? We just didn't get it - not when we were walking past 100 minute lines to walk onto SM and such. We saw all the major attractions, sometimes twice in a row -all on FP and baby switch passes.We LOVED FP.

 

[DebbieB]

I think there are still alot of people who don't understand it. You will hear people say in the standby "those people have a special card" or "how much does that cost?".

 

[seashoreCM]

You will hear people say in the standby "those people have a special card" or "how much does that cost?".

For the past 6 week long trips to the world I have walked slowly down the fastpass lane each time specifically listening for these comments and never once heard them. So I had concluded that practically everybody knows about Fastpass, and they are in the standby line because they already have Fastpasses to a different ride.

 

[cmonroe]

Honestly, unless the ride has broken down, I have NEVER waited even 20 minutes for a fast pass attraction. I have however gotten into lines like Buzz and been rather frustrated that an equal number of people are not allowed on (or even 75% to 25% it appears to me) when there is no backup in the fastpass line. I do see the CMs counting so there is some kind of formula at work here. I am sure most of the issue comes from people like me who would be rather grumpy to wait in a fast pass line for 20 minutes at this point, since I am so spoiled by short waits. i.e. - the name "fast pass" indicates quickly moving lines and when I get one, that is what I expect. I TRY to remember when I choose NOT to get a fast pass that it is just someone else's turn to ride quickly.

My fast pass peeve is different. Why oh WHY can't people whose time is NOT up yet move aside and not block the entrance to the fast pass return line? Ugh. We always go and do something else in between and are rarely standing around watching the minutes tick tock on by, but even if we were, I would stand off to the side or across the way from the fast pass return entrance. GGRRRRR Common courtesy people!

I agree! We ran into this issue for the first time on our last trip. Most people were obvious new visitors(or playing dumb like that would get them anywhere) to WDW and were attempting to enter the fastpass ride without a fastpass. I saw this multiple times at multiple rides. The CM's had to explain 1,2, even three times to some people that it was the fastpass line. And these weren't single riders trying to work their way into the fastpass line. These were families or groups of 4 and 5 people all standing at the fastpass entrance.
Does everyone in the group need to stand there? Again, this happened multiple times on multiple rides! In most cases another cm had to come over and have the people dispurse. I have to admit, I was slightly annoyed which I try not to do at WDW.

 

[DebbieB]

For the past 6 week long trips to the world I have walked slowly down the fastpass lane each time specifically listening for these comments and never once heard them. So I had concluded that practically everybody knows about Fastpass, and they are in the standby line because they already have Fastpasses to a different ride.

I've heard it during trips within the last year. About a year ago, the standby line was short at the safari so we decided to get a fastpass, do standby and then fastpass to ride it again (even in that short of time the animals move around). After the standby ride, we decided to skip the fastpass. I saw a couple walking towards the ride and gave them our fastpasses, which I think were already around the start time. I walked away and then turned around, they went into standby! I really don't think they knew what they were.

 

[tfc3rid]

Back to my whole pet peeve regarding FP... I always do get FP's... However, in the past I had gotten a FP for Mission:Space and waiting on the TT Standby line and easily moved through that one and got off it in time to get over to M:S for the Start of my window...

Much agreed that it seems that a preference is given to FP, as well it should. However, what if you want to ride a FP attraction when you can't get another FP... Or if you want to ride something and the FP time is long after you planned on leaving the park... You are stuck waiting SB if you want to ride... And Standby lines are then your only way to get on something like RnRC, or TT or M:S... Who would want to wait 90+ minutes?? People who can't wait for the FP window...

 

[lllovell]

I have been a fast pass dummy before and gotten one that had HOURS to wait on it. Then we were stuck in busy lines for the rest of the day. Not again! We always have one (unless there are just NO lines in which case they usually shut them down) in our pocket and are standing in other lines.

Things like Pooh and Peter Pan I try to fast pass because my two sons (2 and 4) are chain swingers to pass the time and it is something that I try to not let them do, but I also dont want to spend 30-45 minutes fussing at them for it. *smile* off topic - but just pointing out that not everyone waiting in line is there because they don't understand the FP system. Some of us are there because we are waiting for our times to come up on something else.

 

[cmonroe]

lllovell,

".....but just pointing out that not everyone waiting in line is there because they don't understand the FP system. Some of us are there because we are waiting for our times to come up on something else......"

Is this referring to my comments?

 

[lllovell]

Cmonroe - nope...not a specific comment, but more about several that were made in general about people not knowing about fast passes, etc. and standing in the regular line instead of getting a FP.

I do try to have patience with people that are wandering around with that lost look on their faces. I am also one of those people that will tell others if I overhear a comment and know they are going the wrong way, etc., but like you, I have gotten frustrated many times with the FP line issues. People just standing around waiting for their time or trying to "sneak" in or just not understanding what seems to me to be a simple comment. (I also try not to get mad or frustrated at the happiest place on earth - still working on that one. )

 

[cmonroe]

Cmonroe - nope...not a specific comment, but more about several that were made in general about people not knowing about fast passes, etc. and standing in the regular line instead of getting a FP.

I do try to have patience with people that are wandering around with that lost look on their faces. I am also one of those people that will tell others if I overhear a comment and know they are going the wrong way, etc., but like you, I have gotten frustrated many times with the FP line issues. People just standing around waiting for their time or trying to "sneak" in or just not understanding what seems to me to be a simple comment. (I also try not to get mad or frustrated at the happiest place on earth - still working on that one. )

Very good. I try to remember when I'm there and frustrated that, "I could be at work right now" That usually changes my frame of mind very quickly.

 

[lllovell]

lol - soooooooo true!!!


I want to be there NOW instead of here at work.

 

[cmonroe]

It will be here soon enough. If you feel the pressure take a look at my countdown. It will make you feel better.

 

[Dopey's twin Dippy]

we have gone to MGM and all FP were gone, this was in Aug. also by mid morning. I laughed though cause we stay at a disney hotel and i would rather make sure that hotel guests get on rides, before the people that are staying outside do. now dont flame me. but that is my opinion, i gues thats why people to to Univ. i know that SUMMER is packed , but there should be a little better way of having something for people onsite. not just 1 hour in the morning with all the crowds.