Just back and I'm upset with fastpass!

[4formickey]

Earlier this week while at Disney we say that the fast pass tickets was out or the times was for night even when we arrive at the parks early in the morning. One day I got to see up close why this was happening. The large tour groups would giving all of their tickets to one person and this person would spend over 30mins at the rides collecting fast passes. It does not seem fair that large group take up the bulk of the fastpasses or cause parks to run out of then. If you ever wondered why the fast pass would have a return time of 6pm when you arrive at the parks before 10am this is why.

 

[Cinderella94]

Don't be upset with Fastpass, be upset with the fact that there's a large number of people. There's really nothing that Disney can do about large tour groups getting them all. Just bad luck for the people who show up behind them. Sorry that happened to you!

 

[mamacatnv]

In a sense we have done the same thing, been at the rope drop and then sent DS with all our tickets to the days chosen fast pass kiosk

If I remember correctly the fastpass will only issue if the daily ticket has been activated so even though the tour company sent one person to the kiosk it is my understanding that all those people are in the park somewhere. Its been several years since we went. I could be way off but thats the way I remember it.

 

[fall08CP]

It can be frustrating but they have every right to FP as you do

 

[Acklander]

Once they get a fast pass they can't get another for several hours, so it isn't just a tour group going around getting all the fast passes and leaving your family without. The problem is, is it's high season and there are lots of people in the parks and the fast passes are limited.

 

[DebbieB]

If each person in the group stood at the fast pass machines individually, it would have been a huge crowd and people would be complaining about that, they would be saying why didn't they give them to 1 person so that only 1 machine was tied up.

 

[momof1princess]

yep, july is prime season for the brazilian tour groups. my cousin was at wdw 4th of july week, and had an absolutely miserable time, thanks to the tour groups who kept her family up all night at the resort, chanting and singing in portuguese. sorry that happened to you, OP.

 

[GinnyEmma]

Why does it matter if they went to large groups? The same groups could only get fp's every couple of hours like anyone else.

 

[Acklander]

yep, july is prime season for the brazilian tour groups. my cousin was at wdw 4th of july week, and had an absolutely miserable time, thanks to the tour groups who kept her family up all night at the resort, chanting and singing in portuguese. sorry that happened to you, OP.

It's also prime season for family vacations, with 4th of July being the busiest week of the summer high season. I don't think you can pick one group to blame for that.

 

[momof1princess]

It's also prime season for family vacations, with 4th of July being the busiest week of the summer high season. I don't think you can pick one group to blame for that.

this is quite true, but families don't normally travel in groups of 100+ and chant and sing in the hotel corridors all night long. i was simply commiserating with the OP and relaying my cousin's recent experience. YMMV.

 

[GinnyEmma]

Lol, we were there one january with cheerleaders. It was terrible!

 

[MM27]

Fastpasses are available to anyone with a ticket. So if those groups have a ticket, just like you have a ticket, they have the same right to a fastpass. No difference if one stands in line or 100 stand in line. They are still getting the same number.

 

[DVCLiz]

Large tour groups have nothing to do with FastPasses running out. The same number of tickets have to go into a FastPass machine one at a time. It doesn't matter if a dad is feeding in 4 for his family or a tour guide is feeding 400 for her tour group. The machine spits out one FastPass at a time for one ticket at a time.

If there were only one FastPass machine at each ride tour groups would have an impact, but there are at least 6 at every ride I can think of and the Cast Members are there to make sure each of the machines are moving along. If you get behind a tour guide person and you really feel that you are running the risk of not being able to get a FastPass, ask a Cast Member to place you in another line.

Along with the tour groups, there are twenty thousand other people in the parks with you who want to ride Rock n' Roller Coaster and Toy Story Mania, too. It's just the luck of the day - how busy the park is, how quickly people take advantage of the FastPass system, and how late the park is open.

Believe me, on a day like the one you are describing, when FastPsses are out or return times are late in the day, that would happen whether or not any large groups were in the parks.

If you are there early - and that does NOT mean you get there around 10am, it means at rope drop - and you go directly to the ride, you will get a FastPass for at least a time before lunch. As soon as that time window opens up, go get another set of FastPasses. Even on a busy day you can get FastPasses for two or three of the busiest rides. And yes, you must be willing to stay and take advantage of the return time. It's not Disney's fault if you get tired and don't want to come back.

 

[bumbershoot]

It can be frustrating but they have every right to FP as you do

Exactly.


What I think is at the heart of the negative feelings is that you just didn't KNOW. There was a shorter line, so you didn't know that you actually had 100 people in front of you. Your expectations weren't correct.

If there were huge lines, you would have known. (and then have been upset because took SO much longer as each new person tried to figure out how to get the FP, instead of one expert person just doing it bam bam bam) You didn't know, so it makes you feel worse.

 

[Christine]

They did nothing wrong.

When I travel with my party of six, ONE of us goes up to the FastPass kiosk and inserts the six park tickets to get the six FastPasses. It's just more efficient that way. Plus, our group always has "the ticket holder" that is responsible for everyone's park ticket (that's usually me or my dad).

You went to Disney in July. It kind of sucks there in July. I did it in July 2009. The parks are VERY full. I remember going to Hollywood Studios one day and all the passes for everything were just gone.

 

[Jennasis]

Agree with the others. Doesn't matter if one person walks up with 100 tickets or 100 walk up to the FP machine...100 people are ahead of YOU and are going to get Fast Passes.

 

[4forMe]

Earlier this week while at Disney we say that the fast pass tickets was out or the times was for night even when we arrive at the parks early in the morning. One day I got to see up close why this was happening. The large tour groups would giving all of their tickets to one person and this person would spend over 30mins at the rides collecting fast passes. It does not seem fair that large group take up the bulk of the fastpasses or cause parks to run out of then. If you ever wondered why the fast pass would have a return time of 6pm when you arrive at the parks before 10am this is why.

Unfortunately, this is because of the time of year you chose to go. I made the same mistake back in 2008 and learned the last two weeks of July are a nightmare with the tour groups. It's hard for other people to understand unless you've been there and have 3-6 different tour group companies collecting 50-100 fastpasses at a time. The day we were in Hollywood Studios I counted at least 10 different tour groups!

The following year, we went two weeks later (the 2nd week of August) and had a much better experience - no tour groups and much less crowded.

 

[escape]

If I recall correctly, I think you are limited in the number of FPs you can get at Tokyo Disneyland. I'm thinking it was like 4-6, maybe. ??? As others have suggested, it makes for very long lines to get a FP. We went to Tokyo DL last Christmas. It was very crowded. We had to wait an hour in the FP line for the Tower of Terror (different theme from the American parks). If we wanted to do the stand-by line for the ride, we would have had to wait 3-4 hours. Most of the other FP lines were shorter but still took an average of 20 minutes to get the FP.

I think I prefer the American way of doing FPs. Standing in the long lines to get the FP prevented me from enjoying other parts of the parks. However, if you wanted a FP, you had to pay for it by standing in the longer lines.

 

[Dancind]

The tour groups were there in January too. No guarantees that you will miss them when ever you go.

 

[Aisling]

If you ever wondered why the fast pass would have a return time of 6pm when you arrive at the parks before 10am this is why.

This has happened to us during peak tour group times. It's annoying as all heck, but now when I go at those times, i make sure we get to the FP kiosks at park opening, ahead of the groups.