Just an observation, wondering your thoughts

[jimmytammy]

My wife and me were talking earlier today about how it seems FP Plus has maybe affected the rides like Pirates and Haunted Mansion during less crowded times. Pirates before you could about count on a 5 or 10 min. wait on the board say in late Feb./early Mar. or mid May(these are our most recent trips, both this year). I realize that if Pirates says 20 mins. still typically not that long. But these used to be attractions that would be go too's, say if any of the previous attractions that had FP like any of the Mts. had wait times too long.

Does this seem to be the norm these days? Not intending on this to be a heated discussion, just wondering others observations to compare to ours.

 

[GoOfyInDisNEy]

We noticed that on our last trip. I think that is the overall point to the new system. To distribute us more evenly throughout the day. I actually don't mind it. A 15-20 minute wait at disney is always better than anything in Indy. Haha.

 

[DebbieB]

My wife and me were talking earlier today about how it seems FP Plus has maybe affected the rides like Pirates and Haunted Mansion during less crowded times. Pirates before you could about count on a 5 or 10 min. wait on the board say in late Feb./early Mar. or mid May(these are our most recent trips, both this year). I realize that if Pirates says 20 mins. still typically not that long. But these used to be attractions that would be go too's, say if any of the previous attractions that had FP like any of the Mts. had wait times too long.

Does this seem to be the norm these days? Not intending on this to be a heated discussion, just wondering others observations to compare to ours.

When I was there last month, I had HM first in the morning, little wait. My second FP was Pirates and when I went over there, there was a 5 minute wait. So I did standby and changed my FP to Buzz. That's what I love about FP+, you can change it on the fly.

Some are overestimated. I couldn't get Malestrom for my 4th FP+ at Epcot on my arrival day. I went over there around 8:00pm and it said 30 minutes. There wasn't a line outside, so I figured that was high. I walked in to see how long it was, it was walk-on! When I got out, they did change it to 5 minutes.

 

[Missyrose]

My wife and me were talking earlier today about how it seems FP Plus has maybe affected the rides like Pirates and Haunted Mansion during less crowded times. Pirates before you could about count on a 5 or 10 min. wait on the board say in late Feb./early Mar. or mid May(these are our most recent trips, both this year). I realize that if Pirates says 20 mins. still typically not that long. But these used to be attractions that would be go too's, say if any of the previous attractions that had FP like any of the Mts. had wait times too long.

Does this seem to be the norm these days? Not intending on this to be a heated discussion, just wondering others observations to compare to ours.

It's not just you. Touring Plans blogged about this phenomenon last week. Just a small excerpt:

FastPass+ Is Distributing Guests More Evenly Around the Park
Take a look at the attractions whose waits have dropped with FastPass+, and you’ll see mostly headliner attractions. Most of the attractions whose waits have increased slightly are secondary rides, like Living with the Land, Jungle Cruise, and Maelstrom. We think that more people are aware of these attractions now, because they’re being offered in My Disney Experience, and that’s helping Disney move crowds around the park.
Another interesting observation is that 3 of the 4 attractions with the biggest increase in wait times are high-capacity ride: Spaceship Earth and Haunted Mansion have continuous-loading ride systems that handle more than 2,000 guests per hour, while Pirates of the Caribbean can serve more than 2,500/hour when it’s running at top speed. It makes sense for Disney to dedicate a big chunk of these rides’ capacities to FastPass+, simply because they’ll be able to handle so many people per hour.

 

[MelissathePooh]

We experienced longer waits on virtually everything be it fp+ line or stand by. FP+ return lines were longer than they used to be. It was early summer and we did not use rope drop, but did use fp+ as much as possible. We know all about the advantages for rope drop, but they no longer outweigh the need for sleeping in on vacation. So to be fair - not having used rope drop on many occasions prior to fp+ - yes we found everything to have longer waits. Is it fp+, is it more people there in general - that I can't say. 45 min for HM when SB sign said 30, Pirates fp+ was about 10 min, sb was 45. FP+ return for Safari and Kali River were both 20 min. BTMRR fp+ return was just shy of 20 min from 1st scan to train boarding. Those are the ones that I remember really standing out as being out of the norm.