Latest news and rumors regarding fastpass?

[Peter Pirate 2]

as far as being at a disadvantage when you park hop and dont get to the park until later in the afternoon, that was a choice those folks made. if it was important to ride soarin, then go to epcot and ride soarin. but dont spend the first half of your day in the magic kingdom riding all those rides and then just decide to hop over to epcot, then get mad because all the fp's are gone. life is full of choices. make the best choice you can and move on. im just sayin.

We're talkin' about FP and theme parks and you're talkin' "lifes tough choices"? Theme park decisions???

 

[Peter Pirate 2]

as far as being at a disadvantage when you park hop and dont get to the park until later in the afternoon, that was a choice those folks made. if it was important to ride soarin, then go to epcot and ride soarin. but dont spend the first half of your day in the magic kingdom riding all those rides and then just decide to hop over to epcot, then get mad because all the fp's are gone. life is full of choices. make the best choice you can and move on. im just sayin.

We're talkin' about FP and theme parks and you're talkin' "lifes tough choices"? Theme park decisions???

 

[doconeill]

what may be at issue here is the GKTW lanyard, it allows FP at all attractions and express pass at all universal attractions. this is not given out by the parks, it is issued by GKTW and honored at the parks.

Hmm...hadn't heard that they had these before...so I tried a little research on it. And there is a little conflicting information (shocking, I know). But from the official GKTW site:

The Wish Child’s GKTW “Magic” button and a WDW Guest Assistance Pass provides “fast pass” service to the families, allowing them to fully enjoy the attractions offered at each park and cost-free parking!

So it actually sounds like the combination of a special button plus the GAC card acts as a FP.

But I also read on another site about something called a "green light" card (perhaps not an official name), that acts like a Fastpass, and is only available through organizations like GKTW. It may in fact be the same thing, or a newer one since the GAC specifically states that it is not meant to make wait times shorter.

 

[dalt01]

what may be at issue here is the GKTW lanyard, it allows FP at all attractions and express pass at all universal attractions. this is not given out by the parks, it is issued by GKTW and honored at the parks.

Hmm...hadn't heard that they had these before...so I tried a little research on it. And there is a little conflicting information (shocking, I know). But from the official GKTW site:



So it actually sounds like the combination of a special button plus the GAC card acts as a FP.

But I also read on another site about something called a "green light" card (perhaps not an official name), that acts like a Fastpass, and is only available through organizations like GKTW. It may in fact be the same thing, or a newer one since the GAC specifically states that it is not meant to make wait times shorter.

i am only aware because a co worker was approached by her sons specialist and got qualified for a trip.....they just returned last week and that was when the "Button" was explained to me. she said GKTW explained it to them on their first day and that they were never questioned either at WDW or UNI.

 

[pinkle]

Beyond Dream Fastpasses, which haven't been given out since 2008, and Guest Assistance Cards (which are more to indicate to the CMs that a person requires special assistance, not necessarily FOTL access), and Premium VIP tour attendees (not sure if they have lanyards for anything, but the tour guide is their "Fastpass" in a sense), I've not seen a "Magic Fastpass" on a lanyard.

Our family won dream fastpasses 2008..it was awesome.
I thought fass passes and EMH were both only for resort guest.....Am i wrong....just curious!

 

[pinkle]

Beyond Dream Fastpasses, which haven't been given out since 2008, and Guest Assistance Cards (which are more to indicate to the CMs that a person requires special assistance, not necessarily FOTL access), and Premium VIP tour attendees (not sure if they have lanyards for anything, but the tour guide is their "Fastpass" in a sense), I've not seen a "Magic Fastpass" on a lanyard.

Our family won dream fastpasses 2008..it was awesome.
I thought fass passes and EMH were both only for resort guest.....Am i wrong....just curious!

 

[skiingfast]

Our family won dream fastpasses 2008..it was awesome.
I thought fass passes and EMH were both only for resort guest.....Am i wrong....just curious!

EMH is for Resort Guests. Fast Pass is for anyone.

 

[diamondpixienc]

Now, I may get flamed for this but here goes....I don't think that having or allowing someone to pay a premium for a VIP fast pass is catered to the "Rich" or people w/ unlimited means. For most people WDW is a dream vacation that is planned for at least a year or in some cases 2 years in advanced and if a VIP "option" is available and YOU choose to save & plan for this upgrade I say have it available. I mean some people would probably choose a cheaper dining plan or no DP at all and upgrade their park ticket to allow more quality park time on the rides. Oh no, I think I may have found a problem w/ a VIP FP. Less eating more riding at least some ADR's would be easier to get

 

[floridaminnie]

There are cards out there that you put in the fp machine and spits out a fp for that time and you can walk on to the ride. That's why you'll see fp machines close, but one will be open for this purpose. We received some when we bought points at Bay Towers. I would also guess that Disney has these available for VIPs and such.

 

[Figment632]

They are not changing FP they might start to centralize them like in DAK but they are not chainging the system.

 

[doconeill]

There are cards out there that you put in the fp machine and spits out a fp for that time and you can walk on to the ride. That's why you'll see fp machines close, but one will be open for this purpose. We received some when we bought points at Bay Towers. I would also guess that Disney has these available for VIPs and such.

VIPs usually get the VIP tours, not the Fastpass Exchange Cards. Those are given out by DVC for people attending tours, buying in on-property, etc. in exchange for their time away from the parks, as well as for the Give A Day promotion (and last year's Birthday promotion).

Interestingly, they've been giving the DVC cards out for a while and they work very similar to the GAD cards, except they are only good for three FPs total, no restriction on rides. And they never guaranteed you could use them after the FP kiosks closed - but I bet they still work in the one left open for GAD cards.

 

[Oglet]

If Disney had started out with making people pay for FP's guests would have been more accepting of the idea. Disney have marketed FP as something that is included with your price of admission and promoted that very heavily. People have come to expect FP as something they are entitled to and rightfully so since that is how Disney chose to market it which was probably done to help overcome some of the hurdles of their ever increasing ticket costs.

It's hard to take something that has always been free and make people start paying for it without causing major negative publicity and guest complaints. Simply changing it to a different system and making people pay wont cut it either IMHO because people will see right through it.

Without a doubt there would be a lot of people willing to pay for the benefit of shorter FP lines however the issues that taking something that was free and making people pay for it would outweigh the benefits. Currently if something is wrong with FP you can't really complain too hard about it since it didn't cost you anything anyway, start making people pay for something and you had better have it working and make sure their wait isn't too long.

Is FP pefect? I think we all know the answer is a resounding no.
Do people miss out on tickets to TSM because all of the FP's are gone?, of course they do. I don't see how there is any perfect system that can handle tickets for everyone at the time they want.

Its simple math, if there are more people wanting to go on a ride than the ride can handle over the course of a day then there is and always will be people who will miss out and I don't see any logical business smart way to change that and that is the fundamental flaw of the FP system be it free, paid, centralized or not centralized.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Apparently plans are to include Fastpass on the Double Dumbo attracton as well as Ariel's Undersea Adventure, so I doubt it's going away.