Got in the FastPass line for Test Track at 11:05 this morning......

[Laketravis]

.....and actually got into a Test Track vehicle at 11:55.

That's 50 minutes in the FP line.

 

[BridgetR3]

How frustrating!!! Wish we could turn back time to the good old fast pass ONLY days. I don't like this at all!



(Sadly, now we can wait patiently for the people who will come and tell you that you are wrong or that it was a once in a lifetime thing..... )

 

[arcticdisneylovers]

Yikes

 

[rebbyparker]

Wow.

 

[Mad Hattered]

.....and actually got into a Test Track vehicle at 11:55.

That's 50 minutes in the FP line.

Yep, this new FP system is wonderful.

That is not cool at all. But in all honesty, TT is notorious for being a slow loader. It's been like that since the refurb (which is a joke, but that's another thread). It's because they throw you into the standby mix when you "design the useless car" part of the line. The quickest way to get through that line is to do single rider and skip the portion where "you design a car that may or may not show up on a screen somewhere past the neon Xmas tree part".

Had they enclosed the outside track and had visual effects as you fly through...well then that would make the refurb something to talk about. But then that is another thread as well.

But if the line just to get into the attraction is backed up like it was at Space Mountain in the video that Lug posted then that just makes things worse.

 

[DOOM1001]

There was a rumor that they were going to enclose the outside portion of TT and I was worried sick about it until I learned for sure that it wouldn't be done.You enclose it you kill the ride,nothing like riding that ride when it's cold outside and coming back with a frozen face.I'm not going to go into the FP issues as Disney needs to figure it out quickly or scrap the new FP+ system.They keep talking about that they're testing it and what that really means people are having lousy trips due to they're testing,either make the system work well for everyone or go back to good ol legacy FP which I never had an issue with.

 

[ajfd]

I'm not going to go into the FP issues as Disney needs to figure it out quickly or scrap the new FP+ system.

FP+ doesn't change the capacity of the ride. The total number of FP+ and FP- slots now is the same as the number of FP- slots a few months ago (pre-FP+).

There is more likely another element at play. Was there a temporary interruption in the ride? Did the CM give too much preference to the SB line? Giving an hour FP window guarantees that there will occasionally be "constructive interference" between the waves of FP riders which will overwhelm capacity for a period of time.

For example, imagine that everyone that had a valid FP that included 10:30a showed up at that precise minute. The first person would get right on the ride and the last person (who only showed up 60 seconds later) would get on in about an hour later.

 

[Mad Hattered]

There was a rumor that they were going to enclose the outside portion of TT and I was worried sick about it until I learned for sure that it wouldn't be done.You enclose it you kill the ride,nothing like riding that ride when it's cold outside and coming back with a frozen face.

Maybe it's just me....but I can't help but notice my surroundings on the outside portion of the ride.

Where I live it was 69 degrees today....tomorrow is 29 with snow and sleet. I can get the same effect you like by going out at lunch and driving 65 mph down the highway while sticking my head out of the window. I just think they could have incorporated some really cool effects, but to each their own.

 

[Planogirl]

Maybe they could have done a combination of effects and outdoors? Put up walls with stuff going on but leave the top open for those who like frozen faces.

 

[Mad Hattered]

FP+ doesn't change the capacity of the ride. The total number of FP+ and FP- slots now is the same as the number of FP- slots a few months ago (pre-FP+).

There is more likely another element at play. Was there a temporary interruption in the ride? Did the CM give too much preference to the SB line? Giving an hour FP window guarantees that there will occasionally be "constructive interference" between the waves of FP riders which will overwhelm capacity for a period of time.

For example, imagine that everyone that had a valid FP that included 10:30a showed up at that precise minute. The first person would get right on the ride and the last person (who only showed up 60 seconds later) would get on in about an hour later.

No, the problem is the merge. I don't know the exact number of people they allow in the design room, but it's a lot (maybe 50, possibly more). They merge standby and FP at that point. Even if they let ALL FP people fill those spots, you are still going to be in a line afterwards by the way it's designed when you exit that part.

 

[wisblue]

FP+ doesn't change the capacity of the ride. The total number of FP+ and FP- slots now is the same as the number of FP- slots a few months ago (pre-FP+).

There is more likely another element at play. Was there a temporary interruption in the ride? Did the CM give too much preference to the SB line? Giving an hour FP window guarantees that there will occasionally be "constructive interference" between the waves of FP riders which will overwhelm capacity for a period of time.

For example, imagine that everyone that had a valid FP that included 10:30a showed up at that precise minute. The first person would get right on the ride and the last person (who only showed up 60 seconds later) would get on in about an hour later.

TT does have a lot of breakdowns. I remember once being in the loading area about one cycle away from boarding for about 30 minutes because the ride shut down. It's very possible that something like that was going on

 

[kddisney502]

.....and actually got into a Test Track vehicle at 11:55.

That's 50 minutes in the FP line.

Yep, this new FP system is wonderful.

Another DISer posted a video about the FP line at Space Mountain a couple days ago...it was very long and slow. I'm getting so nervous now about our trip next week

 

[ajfd]

No, the problem is the merge. I don't know the exact number of people they allow in the design room, but it's a lot (maybe 50, possibly more). They merge standby and FP at that point. Even if they let ALL FP people fill those spots, you are still going to be in a line afterwards by the way it's designed when you exit that part.

Right. I was on it twice on Saturday and remember thinking that the post-design queue was annoying from a FP perspective. The merge should happen right at loading (like EE or SM, for example).

 

[ajfd]

Another DISer posted a video about the FP line at Space Mountain a couple days ago...it was very long and slow. I'm getting so nervous now about our trip next week

...and as I posted in that thread, the length of that line has NO bearing on you getting onto SM any sooner. It simply splits your wait time between the two FP checkpoints instead of being only at the second one.

That is:

CHECKPOINT1 + CHECKPOINT2 = Total wait time

From a wait time perspective, there is no difference between:

CHECKPOINT1 = 0 min
CHECKPOINT2 = 10 min

and

CHECKPOINT1 = 5 min
CHECKPOINT2 = 5 min

 

[Mad Hattered]

Maybe they could have done a combination of effects and outdoors? Put up walls with stuff going on but leave the top open for those who like frozen faces.

You mean like compromise? Hmmmm....that could work.

 

[wisblue]

But if the line just to get into the attraction is backed up like it was at Space Mountain in the video that Lug posted then that just makes things worse.

Did you look at the whole thread about that video, including the part that described how someone who appeared to be at the back of the line in the video was shown passing through the turnstile about 2 minutes later?

Even though that video was posted to show an outrageously long wait to get past the first touch point, it really showed that things were moving through quite smoothly.

BTW, I totally agree with you about the refurb and design a car element. We only ride it using single rider now. I like the old version better, but still enjoy the ride aspect. The car design to us is a useless way to pass time before being allowed to board, so we skip it. Once you get a car loaded in your account, you can use it on future rides anyway.

If tiering is still in place, I would always use the FP+ on Soarin and go single rider on TT. Because of the 3X3 seating in the car, a single rider or 2 gets into almost every car, and sometimes 2 of us have ended up in the same car with a party of 4.

 

[btk2333]

ouch- unfortunate for you- i've used FP+ on Test Track three times and never waited more than 10 minutes- looks like you got a bad break

 

[Disney_Princess83]

A friend of our had a similar experience. The stand by line for Test Track was FASTER than then the FP+ line. They waited 1 hour and 10 to get on the ride using their FP+, the wait time was only 50 minutes for stand by

 

[WillAustin]

.....and actually got into a Test Track vehicle at 11:55.

That's 50 minutes in the FP line.

Yep, this new FP system is wonderful.

Whatever the reason, that's not "fast". I would have complained about it taking so long. The word FastPass has certain reasonable expectations associated with it.

 

[wisblue]

Whatever the reason, that's not "fast". I would have complained about it taking so long. The word FastPass has certain reasonable expectations associated with it.

If the reason was that the ride went down, there's nothing anyone can do about it, except make an announcement about it.