Latest news and rumors regarding fastpass?

[janica]

What is the latest news and/or rumors regarding fastpasses? Previously, I have read that they may be limited to resort guests, or that you may have to pay extra for your ticket to use them.

I'm sure this has been asked before, but I did a search and did not see any
recent information. We are planning a trip in June of 2011, and if the fastpass system is changed to one of the scenarios I mentioned above, we may decide to go somewhere else instead. Disney World in June without fastpasses would be too much for us!

Thanks for all your input to this forum!

 

[Faldred]

I've never seen a credible rumor that the fast pass system is going to change at all any time soon.

If the revised Dumbo "virtual queue" is successful, you may see some changes several years down the road if they choose to replace fast pass with VQ across the board, but that'll require significant refurbs to each attraction.

More credible is the speculation that resort guests might be offered additional perks, possibly for a fee, similar to the birthday/GAD fast passes given out over the last couple of years in lieu of park admission for people with multi-day tickets or annual passes.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

Disney has made a number of patent filings dealing with variations on FASTPASS. But that doesn't mean that Disney will fundamentally change how FASTPASS works.

The FASTPASS system works because the perception is that all guests are treated equally and have an equal opportunity to avoid long lines. Sure, there are special FASTPASS benefits associated with "Give A Day, Get A Disney Day" this year and with "The Year of a Million Dreams" before that. And there are undoubtedly some VIP guests who can get instant FASTPASS return times. But this is tiny part of FASTPASS. Overall, FASTPASS works because everyone can benefit from it.

If Disney ever changes FASTPASS to give rich guests an advantage at the expensive of not-so-rich guests -- who are paying the same high admission prices to get into the parks -- Disney will be shooting themselves in the foot.

FASTPASS is a function of being a Disney theme park guest, not of staying at a deluxe hotel or paying a premium or anything along those lines.

Keep in mind that FASTPASS does not change the total capacity of an attraction. If the "elite" have ability to grab the majority of FASTPASS spots for attractions where FASTPASS matters, then the FASTPASS system becomes largely meaningless for all other guests.

 

[doconeill]

I don't think there has ever been a credible rumor of restricting Fastpass to a certain group.

The more credible ones (which came about several years ago, and still haven't been realized) revolved around resort guests possibly getting from 1-3 extra FPs a day (depending on resort class) and/or being able to "order" FPs in advance for some attractions.

Who knows...perhaps the Birthday and the GAD Fastpass options were tests of the system impact of such FP usage...

 

[Peter Pirate 2]

Nothing will be done in this economy but as soon as Disney can profit from selling what was once free without adversely affecting attendance it will be done.

On a similar note, I'm not so sure something has not already been done for the RICH RICH RICH because on every visit I see a few guests with laynards that allow them FOTL access everywhere. I've never received an explanation as to what they are (and I've asked many CM's) but they are there.

 

[doconeill]

Nothing will be done in this economy but as soon as Disney can profit from selling what was once free without adversely affecting attendance it will be done.

On a similar note, I'm not so sure something has not already been done for the RICH RICH RICH because on every visit I see a few guests with laynards that allow them FOTL access everywhere. I've never received an explanation as to what they are (and I've asked many CM's) but they are there.

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.

 

[Peter Pirate 2]

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.

What I've seen are not guest assistance FP's for sure. More like VIP, but I've noticed lots of them which raises the question...

 

[CarnotaurDad]

Nothing will be done in this economy but as soon as Disney can profit from selling what was once free without adversely affecting attendance it will be done.

I really don't know the answer to this, but what has Disney started charging for at WDW that used to be free? The only thing I can think of might be parking. Was parking free once upon a time?

There isn't anything I can think of that used to be free that WDW now charges for but certainly could be wrong. Any examples?

 

[jlwhitney]

I have not seen anything like that...the only lanyards I have seen are the black lanyards with a red card they give to guests randomly that scans when they give it to the guest and than CM scans it when you get on the ride which updates the current ride time.

The biggest issue with FP that I have had is that at the big FP rides (RNRC, TT, TSMM are the worst) is that they will easily send 30 FP people at the merging point and 2-6 reg. people.....we watched the merging line(we could see it for a long time) for RNRC and they consistently would let 20-30 FP in and than 1 party (whether it be 1 or 6 people) same thing has happened at TSMM and so on.

 

[tfc3rid]

I have not seen anything like that...the only lanyards I have seen are the black lanyards with a red card they give to guests randomly that scans when they give it to the guest and than CM scans it when you get on the ride which updates the current ride time.

The biggest issue with FP that I have had is that at the big FP rides (RNRC, TT, TSMM are the worst) is that they will easily send 30 FP people at the merging point and 2-6 reg. people.....we watched the merging line(we could see it for a long time) for RNRC and they consistently would let 20-30 FP in and than 1 party (whether it be 1 or 6 people) same thing has happened at TSMM and so on.

That is an issue... A realllly long line on an E ticket without fastpass will keep constantly moving no matter what... With FP, you're standing and waiting and going nowhere...

I remember waiting in a line for Splash Mountain before FP that would go all around the entire line area and it would only take 45 minutes... Now, forget it, you're talking 90 minutes easy...

 

[doconeill]

That is an issue... A realllly long line on an E ticket without fastpass will keep constantly moving no matter what... With FP, you're standing and waiting and going nowhere...

I remember waiting in a line for Splash Mountain before FP that would go all around the entire line area and it would only take 45 minutes... Now, forget it, you're talking 90 minutes easy...

I've been in that same line and it look over 2 hours.

Fastpass does not change how many people can get on an attraction per unit time. If it handles 3000 people per hour, it is 3000 people per hour with Fastpass as well.

Fastpass theory states that those people loading into the attraction before you while you wait would have been in the standby line some distance in front of you anyways. Your wait time would not have changed, but the total length of the standby line would (because all those Fastpass people aren't standing in the line as well). It's all a matter of perception - short line == short wait. But Fastpass virtualizes the line, so what appears to be a shorter line really isn't. The perception really hits peak when you are close to the front and see those people pass you, even though they were virtually in front of you anyways...

 

[jlwhitney]

That is an issue... A realllly long line on an E ticket without fastpass will keep constantly moving no matter what... With FP, you're standing and waiting and going nowhere...

I remember waiting in a line for Splash Mountain before FP that would go all around the entire line area and it would only take 45 minutes... Now, forget it, you're talking 90 minutes easy...

FP only helps those with FP's....that RNRC line i mentioned said 30 mins when we got in line and we waited close to 2 hours.....

NO FP makes us all equal...FP segregates us into those who get there at park open and don't park hop and so on...

I have always found it ridiculs that the big FP rides will have all FP's gone within 2-3 hours of park opening leaving no time for those who come in the afternoon from another park.....

 

[doconeill]

FP only helps those with FP's....that RNRC line i mentioned said 30 mins when we got in line and we waited close to 2 hours.....

NO FP makes us all equal...FP segregates us into those who get there at park open and don't park hop and so on...

I have always found it ridiculs that the big FP rides will have all FP's gone within 2-3 hours of park opening leaving no time for those who come in the afternoon from another park.....

The big rides dump their FPs early based on supply/demand. They could increase the supply, but that would even more distort the apparent length of the standby line, and adversely affect those who need to use it more.

Yes, getting to the park later in the day is a disadvantage as far as being able to get a FP, but in the overall scheme it really doesn't change the overall wait - it's hard to explain but you can get some of it from here:

(For the REALLY bored - and I probably should re-write this soon)

Why using a late FASTPASS doesn't matter!


If it said 30 minutes and it took two hours, then one of two things happened:

- Maintenance issue. Happens all too frequently at RNRC.

- A large influx of people into the standby line shortly after someone with a timing card entered. It took 30 minutes for a person entering the building around the time you looked at the clock to get from entrance to attraction. But if 1000 guests entered the line after him and a timing card had not yet made it up to the attraction since, the clock wouldn't have changed.

Fastpass would not have affected it significantly, UNLESS this was shortly after park open and this was around the time where the first FP return times kicked in and a lot of people with those early times were like vultures at the entrance. This is when the standby clock is probably the most inaccurate.

 

[marius97]

I really don't know the answer to this, but what has Disney started charging for at WDW that used to be free? The only thing I can think of might be parking. Was parking free once upon a time?

There isn't anything I can think of that used to be free that WDW now charges for but certainly could be wrong. Any examples?

Park hopping

 

[troynkasey]

I'm one that is all for fastpass. It allows us to get a fast pass and do something else while waiting for our time to come up. It's available to everyone if you arrive at the park in time and choose to use it. If you don't like it or don't want to use it, then shame on you. That's like someone complainging because they live on property but choose to drive to the parks and then complain about the walk in the parking lot compared to riding buses. You can't be upset that someone uses fastpass and it causes you to wait longer. I've been on both ends of the let a few people through and then 30 fast pass people through part of the line. That's their reward for doing fastpass. Plain and simple.

I've also been on rides that say one thing and take quite a bit longer to get through. Those things happen. Nothing is perfect.

I don't see what the issue is. My issue is it's a service that you can choose to do or not do. If you don't utilize it, then don't complain when people who do use it get to walk right on a line.

 

[janica]

Thanks for all of the information and thoughts on fastpasses. We have enjoyed being able to use them in the past, and I hope Disney doesn't ever
decide to restrict them to resort guests or to those who can afford to pay extra for them.

 

[tikimimi]

Disney has made a number of patent filings dealing with variations on FASTPASS. But that doesn't mean that Disney will fundamentally change how FASTPASS works.

The FASTPASS system works because the perception is that all guests are treated equally and have an equal opportunity to avoid long lines. Sure, there are special FASTPASS benefits associated with "Give A Day, Get A Disney Day" this year and with "The Year of a Million Dreams" before that. And there are undoubtedly some VIP guests who can get instant FASTPASS return times. But this is tiny part of FASTPASS. Overall, FASTPASS works because everyone can benefit from it.

If Disney ever changes FASTPASS to give rich guests an advantage at the expensive of not-so-rich guests -- who are paying the same high admission prices to get into the parks -- Disney will be shooting themselves in the foot.

FASTPASS is a function of being a Disney theme park guest, not of staying at a deluxe hotel or paying a premium or anything along those lines.

Keep in mind that FASTPASS does not change the total capacity of an attraction. If the "elite" have ability to grab the majority of FASTPASS spots for attractions where FASTPASS matters, then the FASTPASS system becomes largely meaningless for all other guests.

What kind of special fastpasses with Give a Day, Get a Day?

 

[doconeill]

What kind of special fastpasses with Give a Day, Get a Day?

Give A Day Fastpass

 

[dalt01]

Nothing will be done in this economy but as soon as Disney can profit from selling what was once free without adversely affecting attendance it will be done.

On a similar note, I'm not so sure something has not already been done for the RICH RICH RICH because on every visit I see a few guests with laynards that allow them FOTL access everywhere. I've never received an explanation as to what they are (and I've asked many CM's) but they are there.

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.

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.

 

[kgar2121]

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.