Injustice at Test Track

[Withacy]

WOW it is fun to drive in Atlanta. Here they do not care about slowing highways, I saw them hiding behing a regular cars and following someone whose speed was higher then allowed, maybe this is why we have so much traffic on highways
Back to Disney, you are right, getting upset is something I try to avoid on vacations but letting them know about new trend can be useful for their training programs and so. Personally I would not get into that, but again I try to keep my mood up, but I totally respect OP view and search for the truth.

Trust me, the traffic does eventually slow down and come to a complete stand still. Friday, 5:00 PM, it can take an hour to go 2 miles. It's just when traffic is actually MOVING, they want to keep it moving. I've sat cursing in a traffic back up for 45 minutes (moving less than 3 or 4 miles total) only to get up to the reason for the back up, and it's a single car accident. ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE HIGHWAY!!!

When traffic is moving, they want to keep it that way. That's all.

Letting a CM know is fine. Letting it upset you - or loudly (and longly) complaining so that it can upset everyone around you - is not so good, as responses go. The fact that someone, somewhere did something wrong is not going to upset the curve and somehow affect your final grade. Promise.

 

[Mlissa88]

It is that attitude that makes me shake my head. No wonder bullying is so rampant. Teach our kids that tattling is a greater sin then the offense.

Well stated!

 

[kidrericha]

I just want to address a few things…

First, I want to make it clear that this didn’t ruin my vacation in any way and it didn’t continue to upset me. I did find it an interesting enough story to share with everyone here. I’m not sitting here a week later with steam coming out my ears.

As far as not reporting it, or being a tattle tale as someone so eloquently put it, I really don’t think I was being that petty. What he’s trying to pull stinks. And not just for me, for all of us. If it is someone’s prerogative to just let the incident pass I have no problem with that. Just when that sort of thing snowballs, don’t come on these boards complaining about what a problem it has become.

I also read that several people think not much could have been done. This is not true. At the very least, the CM could have asked him for the valid fastpasses. At the very least, he could have stopped him from doing it again that evening. And I assure you, he was not so far away that he could not have been called back. He was about 5 yards away at the rear of the crowd of people waiting for the doors to the video room to open.

As far as the comments to the offender while in line… I stated from the get go that I did not feel all that great about doing that. But in all honesty, I would be shocked if my little girl heard it. It was in very hushed tones and she was playing with her grandma, not paying me much mind at the time. And while it was not that mature, all I said to him was, “Real nice, pal.” Not exactly a profanity laced tirade.

Perhaps if this was an anecdote within a trip report detailing the number of truly magical moments (and there were many), there would be a little more scope. I am an easy going dude, but can’t stand cheaters, liars and thieves. And I will always be ready to call someone like that out. People talk about karma coming back to haunt him. Well, karma isn't going to be slipping on a banana peel in the fastpass return. In the end, it will end up being some other guy who can't stand that sort of dishonesty saying something about it. So am I really the jerk for being the guy who decided to stop the buck instead of the guy who is ccheating not only me, but everyone else?

P.S. I didn't get his scheme either. At some point you just mobbed around the parks getting fastpasses but not ggoing on anything. Seems like tremendous waste of time for the eventual payoff. So I guess he's a stupid cheater.

 

[KellyNY]

I'm not op, but I didn't read that this guy actually forged his fp's. I read it more likely that this guy simply saved them from prior trips. If he was actually forging fp's - why wouldn't he print one with the current date?

So that right there puts a serious limit on this guy's ability to do what he's doing. You can only collect so many fastpasses in a day, and you are only likely to ride Test Track so may times ina given day. Even witha fastpass, it still takes a fair amount of time to get through the attraction.

Not exonerating his activity - just putting it in perspective. It's a very limited operation. Every time he uses an old fastpass, that's one less old fastpass in his collection. He's only got so many. I mean in all our trips, we have had leftover fastpasses sure, but really, not that many. He can only collect so many - and when he's collecting them - he missing an opportunity to use them when they are valid - thereby making the fastpass line shorter.

What I'm saying is that if you look at the big picture- it sort of evens out. It's not at all like reusing a theater ticket, or speeding on a highway. It's more like reusing a 'wait-in-line' number at the local bakery/deli - assuming the bakery guy collects your ticket each time. He'd have drive all the way to the bakery to get a ticket in the first place, and then not use it. As long as all the other patrons arrive before the bakery closes - they will still get served. Meanwhile this guy wasted all his gas multiple times to collect his tickets that may or may not work. His system of cheating is of VERY limited value. And even the bakery analogy is not equal - the bakery may run out of raisin bread. The only thing that MAY happen at TT, is that it MIGHT happen to breakdown just as this guy is exiting the ride.

Forging and printing FP came from another post, you can find it if you read all of them, I just summarized the weird things people do.

Using old FP may lead to longer line, they give away particular number of FP per hour so if someone will use a spot that was not suppose to be there there going to be a longer line, not in case of 1 person sure but in general.

 

[jillhagler]

I'm with you OP. TT is always long. They snake you into that room that's blazing hot. You can only get so many FPs and standby line is the only option sometimes. After all.....there's not that many rides at Epcot. My sister and I started doing single rider sometimes, but we know we will be split up..but who cares? To know that someone is shooting through the line with out dated FPs would boil my blood. And yes I'm one of those people that mutter under my breath at people.. It's just like the people who let their kids listen to profanity on their CDs or go to R rated movies..they say " They hear it at school anyway" . But you have to show them you don't approve and that it is wrong and not exceptable.Then they have the choice to make, but they know your stand. That guy's daughter needed to see that that was not exceptable.She needed to see him get caught and the consequences . Might stop her from cheating on a test.I've raised 3 kids and believe me they copy and retain the bad stuff you do at 10 times the rate of the good. I'm sure I'd get stopped if I'm a few minutes late. That's my luck..although I will sprint across a park with a heart condition to make sure I'm on time and following the rules..I wouldn't ever think of breaking in line. Guess my Southern Mama taught me right! You know, people will try to walk all over you in this world..the question is will you let them? Not worth getting in a fight, but he knew, you knew he was a cheater.

 

[skier_pete]

People are questioning the "scheme"...here's how I could see it.

Mr. Jerko comes to the parks frequently as a local resident. Discovers there are days in which the park is uncrowded enough that he doesn't really need to use a FP. Instead, he keeps collecting them. (On a good day - perhaps as many as 10 sets of FP.)

Any day he comes when the lines are short, he collects more FP.

Now, he comes back on a day when the lines are long. He gets a single set of FP for his family. He shows these FP when he gets into line, but swaps them with "old" FP before handing them in at the second station...where he noticed that they never look at the date/time. He then goes on the ride multiple times in the FP lane while saving his one set of FP. He can repeat this for other rides as well.

Now, again, this is fairly complicated for Mr. Jerko to complete, as it means he has to run around collecting FP on slow days when there are little to no lines. It would take him quite a long time to collect his "bag of FP".

It still seems to me to be an awful lot of effort to "cheat", but I do see how it could be considered advantageous.

SkierPete

 

[JT1962]

Disney could stop this by allowing you to return only during the times printed on the Fast Pass. I used FPs in past visits several years ago and always thought you had to return during your window. From other postings I have seen, apparently Disney only checks to see that you are not returning early and allows you to return any time after your window opens. Some even promote using this strategy to collect as many FPs during the day as possible, see the non-FP attractions early, then use your FPs later in the day when the lines build. While cutting in line is a problem, I don't see using an old unused FP as a big deal, as long as Disney is allowing it.

 

[babyfacebabe86]

Whats the difference in using a fast pass from yesterday and a fastpass from 10-2pm and it now 8pm. If its expired, its expired! I know someone is gonna try to justify the difference but there in NoNe!

 

[Withacy]

OR he was at Disney with a group of people a year ago, they had a bunch of fastpasses they never used sitting around (I never throw that kind of thing away, since I'm a pack rat) and he thought "Hey, I wonder if I could use those this time when I go..."

Yeah, so he was a jerk. That doesn't mean he's some plotting, scheming master criminal. He was just some idiot with a bunch of old fastpasses he was trying to use. I'm sure he convinced himself that the OWE it to him, since he didn't get to use them the first time.

It's not necessarily some HUGE conspiracy - or even a big deal.

I just spent 2 hours of my day on the most awful, boring conference calls you can imagine. I'd rather be standing in line, in the heat, for Test Track with 59 people with fake FPs pushing in front of me. Or better yet - EE, or ToT, or TSM, or...heck, even IaSW!

 

[Sammie]

Ok, this is what has to happen for this type of behavior to be stopped by Disney, is enough people have to complain to Guest Communications to get their attention.

If it is just one upset guest their way to "fix it" is trying to placate the upset guest with some offer such as the ice cream, not deal with the problem.

The CM taking up the passes is not going to risk a scene or even getting hurt by some idiot that would go to this much trouble.

Guests have to make Disney understand that yes it is the happiest place on earth but at what cost to others.

There once was a time where the line breakers, cheats, scammers, etc. etc were the exception, that is not the case now.

Those that follow rules, don't break lines, don't cheat or scam the system, have to stand up and be heard by Disney.

Take back the happiness.

 

[johnGorski]

I ran into this same problem too and I let Disney know about it. This fellow I meet he was a FL resident on a tram ride back to the parking lot. I pulled out a bunch of un used fast pass from that day. We were at DHS and AK that day. I made the commit these are a waste he then asked if he could have them, "some people like to collect weird things" so i gave him the fast passes and asked why. He told me Disney CM rarely check the dates they just see the times. He said he has done that many times and got away with it too, lucky my car was right there so i left. Driving back to our resort I was thinking how wrong that was and how someone can get by with is. All of the colors are the same! Next day I went into guest relations at the magic kingdom and talked to a mgr at guest relations. He agreed how simple it would be to fraud the system. He did say something that they are looking at overhauling the system. He did have me fill out an official commit card for the R&D department.
That CM should of listen to your concern.

 

[JT1962]

Using a FP after the window passes does not bother me near as much as the families that use strollers to bulldoze their way through the crowds (which I am sure has been discussed endlessly here before). There will always be people who don't follow the rules and never seem to have any consequences. I figure it will all balance out at some point, even though I may not get to see it - I'm not going to let it ruin my vacation.

 

[ShannonMB]

Whats the difference in using a fast pass from yesterday and a fastpass from 10-2pm and it now 8pm. If its expired, its expired! I know someone is gonna try to justify the difference but there in NoNe!

Okay, I'll bite. Disney policy is to accept FPs on the same day even if they are past the window. That is not the case with FPs that are not on the same day. Using those is intentionally trying to get away with something. I don't know why some people get so miffed about this concept -- use it! It makes touring so much easier, and I hope they continue to let us do it!

 

[Plumeria]

Okay, I'll bite. Disney policy is to accept FPs on the same day even if they are past the window. That is not the case with FPs that are not on the same day. Using those is intentionally trying to get away with something. I don't know why some people get so miffed about this concept -- use it! It makes touring so much easier, and I hope they continue to let us do it!

I agree. There's a big difference between using expired fastpasses for the same day, which Disney ALLOWS, and pulling a switcharoo with a year old fastpass.

 

[Acklander]

If I saw someone pull out an old fast pass to use (and to be honest,I probably never would have known - to me it's not worth the effort to pretend to tie my shoe to see what someone is or isn't doing) I might do an eye roll at dh, but that would be the extent of it. I don't think I'd take the time out from my day to track down someone to complain about it. It doesn't seem that big of an issue to me.
Also, I'm very well aware that sometimes things aren't always as they appear. I do mystery shopping on the side (and I know there are other mystery shoppers on the boards here so they know what I'm talking about) and there are many times I'm asked to do things that on the surface seem wrong, but I'm hired by the company to do those things wrong for a reason. The OP felt that the CM "stole the moment" from her by doing nothing but tearing up the fast passes - but maybe the OP actually stole the moment from a mystery shopper by alerting the CM who then proceeded to tear up passes that would have shown he wasn't doing his job properly when he handed them in. Was this the case? Maybe, maybe not - but that's not my place to judge. Unless someone is doing something that is dangerous or clearly illegal (and no, I don't consider using old fast passes in the same category as stealing a car) then I tend to Mind my own business.

 

[Scrooge Jr]

ice cream solves everything!

That's why I eat so much ice cream at WDW!

That many problems?

 

[kidrericha]

Disney could stop this by allowing you to return only during the times printed on the Fast Pass. I used FPs in past visits several years ago and always thought you had to return during your window. From other postings I have seen, apparently Disney only checks to see that you are not returning early and allows you to return any time after your window opens. Some even promote using this strategy to collect as many FPs during the day as possible, see the non-FP attractions early, then use your FPs later in the day when the lines build. While cutting in line is a problem, I don't see using an old unused FP as a big deal, as long as Disney is allowing it.

It doesn't matter to me that Disney allows you to return later than your window - just don't allow people to use ones from another date. It takes the same amount of effort to check the time as it does the date.

 

[remark44]

Karma is going to come back to him one day. The lesson his 9 year daughter learned was it is ok to lie to authority figures. One day this child is going to grow up and think it is ok to lie to her parents.

I also think it is a huge waste of time and effort to save old fastpasses. But if that's what get's him through the day

 

[kidrericha]

If I saw someone pull out an old fast pass to use (and to be honest,I probably never would have known - to me it's not worth the effort to pretend to tie my shoe to see what someone is or isn't doing) I might do an eye roll at dh, but that would be the extent of it. I don't think I'd take the time out from my day to track down someone to complain about it. It doesn't seem that big of an issue to me.
Also, I'm very well aware that sometimes things aren't always as they appear. I do mystery shopping on the side (and I know there are other mystery shoppers on the boards here so they know what I'm talking about) and there are many times I'm asked to do things that on the surface seem wrong, but I'm hired by the company to do those things wrong for a reason. The OP felt that the CM "stole the moment" from her by doing nothing but tearing up the fast passes - but maybe the OP actually stole the moment from a mystery shopper by alerting the CM who then proceeded to tear up passes that would have shown he wasn't doing his job properly when he handed them in. Was this the case? Maybe, maybe not - but that's not my place to judge. Unless someone is doing something that is dangerous or clearly illegal (and no, I don't consider using old fast passes in the same category as stealing a car) then I tend to Mind my own business.

So as consumers, we should all keep any displeasures to ourselves because there may be a mystery shopper out there whose job we're trivializing?

Ugh.... of course it's not the same as stealing a car. And it wasn't about my moment so much as why have rules that they're not going to enforce. You're missing the point.

 

[Scrooge Jr]

Ok, this is what has to happen for this type of behavior to be stopped by Disney, is enough people have to complain to Guest Communications to get their attention.

If it is just one upset guest their way to "fix it" is trying to placate the upset guest with some offer such as the ice cream, not deal with the problem.

The CM taking up the passes is not going to risk a scene or even getting hurt by some idiot that would go to this much trouble.

Guests have to make Disney understand that yes it is the happiest place on earth but at what cost to others.

There once was a time where the line breakers, cheats, scammers, etc. etc were the exception, that is not the case now.

Those that follow rules, don't break lines, don't cheat or scam the system, have to stand up and be heard by Disney.

Take back the happiness.

The way I see it, it is a real easy fix for Disney;

The fastpasses are color coded to each ride, just change the colors up every six to eight months. This will throw a wrench in the fastpass villains plans. (Big Evil Laugh)

I’ve seen the CMs standing there looking for the number of fastpasses to match the number of guest and not looking at the date or time on the fastpasses.

I myself have used old fastpasses on the same trip, but not year old or even fake fastpasses. (Too chicken to be banned or thrown out of a park(s) my wife and son would KILL me.)

I think anyone that would hold on to fastpasses for a year is special, I can say that because I have some from last year. (They are/were for display purposes only.)

Sorry if I offended anyone, .