March 7th Fast Pass Experiences

[sandymandr]

Isn't there already an app for Fp return times and ride wait times? I downloaded a WDW wait times, but have not looked at it yet...guess I just assumed it had FP return times too? Anyone know? This is the forst trip where I planned my days to use the late FP, but am glad I know in time to change my plans. And if I have an app that is good, that will be fine for me. Of course, I also agree with the OP that MK should put boards up like at Epcot, I love those!

 

[Sydnerella]

Just a guess, but my money's on the poster not agreeing with your POV. They probably agree with POV of the poster before you who actually posted a reply along the same lines, but with an opposing view. This is the first FP enforcement thread I've read, & I'm surprised by the amount of ganging up going on. Obviously, there is a back story to it, but the bashing is obvious & detracts from the conversation. Maybe, everyone needs to let it go.

Exactly, stop holding grudges, arguing, whatever and stay on thread topic.
I don't agree with getting mad about something that does not even exist any longer. Share insights for how to best tour now and leave it there.

Be mad about something important like child abuse... not fastpass use!

I would love to hear from kelly and mesaboy how to best tackle spring break touring with FP enforcement and midday naps, evening returns with no useable FPs. Or from people there now who can tell me what to expect.

Let it go indeed!

Sydnerellas Mama

 

[phillyteamhater]

I know the lines app thru touring plans (if you are a subscriber) gives you ride wait times and fast pass distribution times.

 

[CarrieR]

Lines (TouringPlans app) does give FP return times. However, they are not always accurate. (More often than not, we found them out further ahead than they really were, over presidents week.)

Disney's Mobile Magic is accurate for FP return times; its downside is that it doesn't always like to "find" you where you really are and it's useless unless it thinks you're in the park!

And, the "tip boards" only show that there are still FP available, not WHEN they are available for, so they're not terribly useful in this situation. Plus, that spot by Caseys is often just as much of a trek as Frontierland is!

 

[MouseEarsForAll]

Sadly...again.

 

[g-dad66]

There is a nice, first hand, blog on easywdw.com about the new FP policy. Maybe someone more computer savvy than I could post a link.And, I apologize if it has already been mentioned. I scanned the thread quickly and didn't see it.

It's here--
http://www.easywdw.com/uncategorized/the-beginning-of-fastpass-enforcement-or-something/

Wonder if anyone tried to use a FP five or six hours late today, like we usually do?

Anyone?

 

[magicbob]

BTW, you are the only one calling late FPers names

It's called self-deprecating humor. I think (almost) everyone reading my post understands that I am NOT calling late FPers names.

and on previous thread, nobody else was doing it but you.

Factual inaccuracy of my lone "guilt" aside, I was not calling anyone names on the previous thread either. Any "names" used were referring to people like myself and done so only to illustrate how we felt we were being labeled based on the attitudes of others, who questioned the integrity of late FP users in countless posts from numerous threads spanning years. I'll let the record of past posts speak for themselves. The evidence is there for anyone who wishes to do a search and read it.

If you, personally, posted nothing that supported that position then you need not be defensive about posts referring to those who DID take that position.

Not to be picky but I do believe it was "inconsiderate oaf".

I stand corrected.

Exactly, stop holding grudges, arguing, whatever and stay on thread topic.

Agreed. Now that we're all going to be using FPs on time no matter what, let's go back to singing Kum-bah-yah.

Share insights for how to best tour now and leave it there.

Not to be an inconsiderate oaf (there's that self-deprecating humor again), but that's technically not the topic of this thread either. The OP asked for first-hand accounts of whether or not Disney is, in fact, enforcing the policy. Of course, what you referred to is sort of a natural extension of the discussion. In fact, I started a thread a while back specifically to discuss new touring strategies now that FPs will not be accepted late.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2881788

Last I checked, it had not descended into incivility or debate. It was pretty much all positive suggestions on adapting to the new enforcement. A few of the things discussed were also mentioned here, such as using the "Lines" app from Touring Plans (or other apps mentioned here) to monitor FP distribution rather than hoofing it over to the other side of the park without knowing what time you might get.

 

[g-dad66]

And I believe the Mobile Magic App already gives FP return times.

Yes, it does (but only for one park when you are in that particular park).

And as noted on other threads, "Disney Mobile Magic" is now available for the iPhone as well.

With FP enforcement, this App becomes much more valuable (at least to me) than it was previously.

 

[LBIJim]

What years were the E-tickets in place?

E-tickets (as well as A to D) were in place when the Magic Kingdom opened in 1971 until, I believe, soon after Epcot opened in 1982. Disney then realized it was more profitable to charge a "pay one price" admission.

Some of the countries in World Showcase in Epcot have no ride, film, etc., and many people probably would have complained if Disney charged a ticket for a look-see at Italy or Germany.

Jim

 

[DRDISNEYMD]

Ridemax has always had a little radio button you could click to "take advantage of late fastpass". If you unclick the button, then it makes your plan so that you use them during the return times. I do wonder how accurate the plans will be now. They were always right on with the late fastpass option. I never tried it the other way, though.

Also, to the PP who said the pic may be photoshopped-- it's not-- Ridemax just posted a similar pic on their FB page for Space Mountain (http://www.facebook.com/ridemax) .

It looks like it's really happened . --Katie

~Wow, thanks so much for posting this! LOL @ "accomodate", but I have to give Disney props for addressing this issue right on the FASTPASS -- I wasn't expecting that. This should make it a whole lot easier for the CMs to enforce the new policy.

I just posted this on the other thread. Anyone notice on the Space Mountain pass at the bottom right hand corner it says, "GP 11:40". Do you guys think that could mean "grace period 11:40"?? 11:40 would be 15 minutes after the FP expires. I can't read the print at the bottom of the Soarin' pass, so no way to check the theory yet. --Katie

~Good call! That's exactly what it is. Thanks for sharing that.

~I also find it interesting how the fastpass was pulled at 9:45AM and the earliest return time is 10:25AM, that's just a 40 minute wait! I would probably criss cross over to Frontierland to pull a FP for Splash and criss cross back to ride Space and criss cross back to pull a fastpass for Big Thunder and cross back over to ride Splash Mountain.

 

[doconeill]

~I also find it interesting how the fastpass was pulled at 9:45AM and the earliest return time is 10:25AM, that's just a 40 minute wait! I would probably criss cross over to Frontierland to pull a FP for Splash and criss cross back to ride Space and criss cross back to pull a fastpass for Big Thunder and cross back over to ride Splash Mountain.

I wonder what the crowds are like this week. Calm before the storm of Spring Break maybe?

 

[mom2rtk]

~I also find it interesting how the fastpass was pulled at 9:45AM and the earliest return time is 10:25AM, that's just a 40 minute wait! I would probably criss cross over to Frontierland to pull a FP for Splash and criss cross back to ride Space and criss cross back to pull a fastpass for Big Thunder and cross back over to ride Splash Mountain.

It's entirely possible that at 9:45 on a Wednesday the first week of March, the stand-by time was less than 40 minutes.

 

[Alesia]

~I also find it interesting how the fastpass was pulled at 9:45AM and the earliest return time is 10:25AM, that's just a 40 minute wait! I would probably criss cross over to Frontierland to pull a FP for Splash and criss cross back to ride Space and criss cross back to pull a fastpass for Big Thunder and cross back over to ride Splash Mountain.

That's because the return time on the first fastpass is 10:25. That's working exactly the same as it always has.

 

[doconeill]

That's because the return time on the first fastpass is 10:25. That's working exactly the same as it always has.

I think she was referring to the fact that it was only 45 minutes from Fastpass pull to Fastpass entry...not a terribly long time - but I don't think it was terribly busy, and I think Splash gets more popular later in the day in general.

 

[granmanh603]

It has not been slow this week at all ....the parks are open later and people are slower getting to the park at opening...but it is not slow.... last week slow this week crowded... my fast pass yesterday at Sorin was for 2:55 and I got it at round 10:30 and when we got back to ride at around that time all fast passes were gone... like back in the old days when Sorin opened. Plus we had the longest wait ever for a FP at that time,

 

[goofy4tink]

I have absolutely no issue with returning within the stated window. If you don't think you can make it back to that attraction before the window closes, don't take a FP. FP were not put out there in order to allow guests to get a FP and then head off and eat or ride 15 other rides. They were given in order to let guests do something other than stand in the standby line...doing nothing. Now, with FP, you can head to a gift shop, or maybe ride another ride. But seriously?? You want the ability to take a FP, with a return window of 11:45-12:45, and then head off to a table service restaurant??? And then, when you can't make it back before 12:45, you want to still be able to use the FP??

I really wish Disney hadn't allowed us to use the FP past the return time. If they had held us to the stated times, this wouldn't be happening. People get used to taking advantage of something, and then when it's changed back to what it was 'supposed' to be, they get all in a dither and say they can no longer plan accordingly and they will miss things.

Take a FP if you can return within the times...if you want to head to BTMRR or SpMt, then you may not want to take a Space Mt FP with a return time of 11:45-12:45, at 10:00...you may very well not make it back. Especially if you want to grab something to eat in there.

 

[doconeill]

FP were not put out there in order to allow guests to get a FP and then head off and eat or ride 15 other rides. They were given in order to let guests do something other than stand in the standby line...doing nothing.

I'm curious about the apparent contradiction in your statement...if they weren't put out to allow the guests to "head off and eat", but there were there to let the guests "do something other than stand in the standby line", then what are they supposed to be able to do?

But this gets back to trying to understand the intent of FP...the only obvious intent was to get people out of the standby lines. People not standing in lines for hours are happier people. Now, whether they expected or at least hoped that those people would instead be shopping and eating instead of sitting in another line is debatable, but you can only hold people off from doing something else they want to do for so long. they could have put different enforcements in, like "if you pull this Fastpass, you can't ride any other attraction for at least 30 minutes, so go shop instead!" or some such, but that's really getting too restrictive. So they placed limits on how often you could get Fastpasses.

 

[doconeill]

It has not been slow this week at all ....the parks are open later and people are slower getting to the park at opening...but it is not slow.... last week slow this week crowded... my fast pass yesterday at Sorin was for 2:55 and I got it at round 10:30 and when we got back to ride at around that time all fast passes were gone... like back in the old days when Sorin opened. Plus we had the longest wait ever for a FP at that time,

So glad the FP enforcement has helped with the FP line...

Depending when the first return times available (9:30 or 10:00 vs. a 9:00 opening), that's a moderate to busy day (say a 6-9 on the Touring Plans scale) from what I remember. I know TP reported that Monday was a 9 at MK while Epcot was a 3, but I haven't seen any reports since.

 

[bigtony777]

I am interested to know what will happen when rides are down for an extended period of time.

As far as late FP usage changing wait times, it most certainly could. The disagreement may be over what each it thinking. Use of late FP's will not change the total number of riders in a day. The ride has a constant that will not change unless there are problems with the ride. But if a large tour group, say from Brazil, would come with 150 late FP's, the standby line that was suppose to be 45 minutes when you got in line will suddenly jump to 60 minutes. Now this is likely a short term change as those coming up to ride standby would then likely not get in line if this were a longer than normal wait. After a short amount of time, the standby would then drop back down to the normal wait time for that particular day.

In short, if a large number of FP's were used in a short amount of time, then those waiting in standby will have to wait longer than what was stated when they first got into line.

 

[White_Sox_Fan]

Plus we had the longest wait ever for a FP at that time,

Oh no, now all those people in the standby line are being adversely affected by FP enforcement.

I'm curious, how much longer was your wait? 5 minutes, 10?