Illuminations Fastpass line

[ericar]

Hi
Just back from 1 week vacation. We did fastpass 2 nights for Illuminations. The first night we got there around 8 and the line was back to almost Mexico. The second night we got there at 7:10 and there were about 12 people ahead of us. We were in line about 35 minutes and a couple in there 60s walked right in front of us and stood there. After a few minutes I went over and pointed to where the end of the line was and stated that my family and the others in line were there for 35 minutes and they should go to the end of the line. They didn't. People are getting more rude all of the time and with Disney having fewer cast members watching , It is easier for these types of people to do this stuff. Also when the line started moving , many people tried to blend in and cut the line.
On our last night we were watching wishes and a man in his 20s stood up on the seat of a scooter which blocked the view of a woman behind him. She in turn pushed her way in front of my wife and held her phone in front of my wife while she recorded wishes. As people loose any sense of polite civilized behavior Disney is going to have to make up for this with better planning and more policing . The Illuminations fastpass line should all be roped off and more staff to watch for line cutters. Also Disney should try to educate people on not holding phones , ipads and cameras above there head for shows. It's sad but I think too many people are going backwards with how they treat other people and Disney has to do something with signage or announcements to help this.

 

[Twilight Sparkle]

Oh, wow. I wonder if your Illuminations couple is the same couple we saw at Epcot the last week of Jan who kept cutting in line all day. It started in the security line where they cut right in front of us, then continued their way up past about 5 families. I could not believe it! I've gotten used to younger people cutting in line, but this couple had some mileage on them. I wanted to say something so badly, but I didn't want to start the day off that way. I thought that would be the end of it, but no. We saw them do the same thing in line for a few attractions. It got so bad, we dubbed them Mr. and Mrs. Cutter. I would say they are probably in their mid to late 60s, quite tall, and the woman is the instigator. It seemed like the man was reluctantly following behind, sometimes hanging back like he was mortified but eventually joining up with her.

I agree with your assessment of how people treat each other. Common courtesy and kindness seem to have become rare things. We tried to combat this on our trip by taking advantage of opportunities to extend random acts of kindness whenever we could. It really does create a warm, fuzzy feeling when you're able to do something nice for someone else no matter how small the gesture.

 

[eeyoreandtink]

I am not surprised by any of this behavior that I see anymore. Its entitlement mentality at its worst.

 

[Realfoodfans]

Hi
Just back from 1 week vacation. We did fastpass 2 nights for Illuminations. The first night we got there around 8 and the line was back to almost Mexico. The second night we got there at 7:10 and there were about 12 people ahead of us. We were in line about 35 minutes and a couple in there 60s walked right in front of us and stood there. After a few minutes I went over and pointed to where the end of the line was and stated that my family and the others in line were there for 35 minutes and they should go to the end of the line. They didn't. People are getting more rude all of the time and with Disney having fewer cast members watching , It is easier for these types of people to do this stuff. Also when the line started moving , many people tried to blend in and cut the line.
On our last night we were watching wishes and a man in his 20s stood up on the seat of a scooter which blocked the view of a woman behind him. She in turn pushed her way in front of my wife and held her phone in front of my wife while she recorded wishes. As people loose any sense of polite civilized behavior Disney is going to have to make up for this with better planning and more policing . The Illuminations fastpass line should all be roped off and more staff to watch for line cutters. Also Disney should try to educate people on not holding phones , ipads and cameras above there head for shows. It's sad but I think too many people are going backwards with how they treat other people and Disney has to do something with signage or announcements to help this.

We've never been to Illuminations - excuse my ignorance but what do you queue for? I assumed it was visible all around the park - were you queuing for a front row view? We're hoping to book ADR at Via Napoli when we want to see them - do you know where that would leave us? Thank you!

 

[ericar]

There are a lot of great spots but if you use a fastpass and wait in line 2- 2 1/2 hours ahead of time, you can get front and center with a perfect centered view which is amazing. Fireworks at Disney are my favorite thing. I love many rides but will always use 1 or more of my fastpass picks for Illuminations. I find that with the new hub at magic kingdom it is easy to get a good spot for wishes but with Illuminations there are so many posts and trees that block the view that we don't leave it to chance anymore.

 

[maxiesmom]

E-mail your thoughts to Disney. The only way to get them to fix this sort of stuff is for lots of people to complain.

 

[Anal Annie]

We have never fast passed Illuminations but we're going to be in EP on July 4th (first time there that week) so I was considering it for once as I'm expecting huge crowds. First, where is the FP viewing area located and 2nd, how does the tiering work there if I use a FP selection for Illuminations? Does that knock us out of being able to use a 2nd one for Soarin or FEA? I didn't realize that if we booked a FP for Illuminations that we'd still have to queue in a line for that long to get in. That sorta defeats the purpose. I don't know how the July 4th fireworks differ from Illuminations so I don't know how important it is to have a clear lake view. We have a dinner ADR that night at 8:00 at Tokyo Dining so I was also considering just trying to watch from the steps of the Japan pavilion after dinner. Wondering if we need to see about moving our ADR up to an earlier time (I've read that the fireworks that night will be at 10:00). My alternative plan to either of those options might be to book the dessert party (but I'm getting impatient on waiting for the dates to open for July - I'm tired of the constant checking every day).

 

[siskaren]

how does the tiering work there if I use a FP selection for Illuminations? Does that knock us out of being able to use a 2nd one for Soarin or FEA?

Yep, IllumiNations is a tier 1, so you wouldn't be able to get one for Soarin' or FEA.

 

[Anal Annie]

Yep, IllumiNations is a tier 1, so you wouldn't be able to get one for Soarin' or FEA.

Thanks. I think we will stick with our plan to try to watch from Japan after our dinner there. We just changed it from 8:00 to 7:30 to give us more time to "squat" somewhere.

 

[elaine amj]

Thanks. I think we will stick with our plan to try to watch from Japan after our dinner there. We just changed it from 8:00 to 7:30 to give us more time to "squat" somewhere.

We thoughtbthe view from Japan was horrible - so many trees blocking the view. We tried from the top of the stairs and then moved to the railing. I was so bummed that we didn't really have time to move to a better spot so we just made the best of it. I watched from the FP area in Sept and didn't like it as much as a railing spot in Canada/UK.

 

[Anal Annie]

We thoughtbthe view from Japan was horrible - so many trees blocking the view. We tried from the top of the stairs and then moved to the railing. I was so bummed that we didn't really have time to move to a better spot so we just made the best of it. I watched from the FP area in Sept and didn't like it as much as a railing spot in Canada/UK.

Hummm. I don't remember there being THAT much in the way. I just watched a video of it from Japan that was taken in January and it was pretty good. I remember watching from France once and that darned island was in the way. When we were just there in January we watched from Norway - actually not a bad spot either. We will be in EP a couple of days before the 4th too so I guess we can try to see where else would be good - or maybe experiment with Japan that night. We've never watched from Canada. I didn't think there was a lot of open space there?! We usually just stop & watch from wherever we are at the time. Now that we've moved our dinner up to a little earlier time we'll have more time to move around before the fireworks start at 10:00. Maybe we'll mosey back over to Norway.

 

[pattyw]

We did the Illuminations dessert party and thought that view was wonderful! I think it's next to the FP area. The tables are up against the railings and we had a center view. The desserts and savory items were great as was the champagne and rum punch. There was a CM at the line who "policed" the line but we luckily didn't have the rude line cutters you experienced. I've seen that behavior and while it is infuriating I don't want to fight with other guests and the CMs will probably not do anything either.

 

[atkinstogram]

I am not surprised by any of this behavior that I see anymore. Its entitlement mentality at its worst.

Me and him went to Universal HHN in California when we did our Big Road Trip of All The Places in 2015. Queueing for one of the rides, and there was a young couple, early twenties, who just kept climbing over the barriers, chatting to people to make it look like they were with them, then moving on, and on.. They worked their way to the head of the queue in about 10 minutes..

And when they got there, a couple of burly chaps escorted them away.

It was VERY satisfying to watch..