March 7th Fast Pass Experiences

[WillAustin]

I'd guess very few if any. Contrary to popular opinion, those of us who used FPs late are not inconsiderate jerks. We understand that using a FP late is no longer allowed and we'll continue to behave as we always have... in accordance with standards of conduct that Disney deemed acceptable.

I plan on carrying a stopwatch to make sure we are always 14 minutes after our printed window. Just for spite.

 

[Nancy F]

Just wanted to get my foot in the door (so to speak).
Nancy

 

[doconeill]

The Mug Entitlements on your receipt for a dining plan that included one was labeled "Mub Entitlements" for at least two years. I wouldn't expect them to get right on fixing this spelling error. Makes you wonder why they don't have spell check enabled though!!

No, they just failed to capitalize properly. It was supposed to be "MUB Entitlements", as in "Mickey's Unending Beverages".

Just heard a report that they were still turning people away that were 5 mins early.

A CM reported yesterday that they were told the 5 minutes early would be allowed, IF the lines weren't backed up. Judgement call thing. Not sure if it's true.

If I am correct the memo posted on another thread said that if you late due to confirmed ADR delay or problem with another ride, you will be granted access.

I haven't seen anything that enumerated any sort of exceptions, only that there are "some". Some would likely be obvious, like a maintenance issue on the attraction you have a FP for.

Thinking it over for the third time I now (3/7/12) claim that late use of fastpasses does affect the standby line.

Let's imagine that during the hour 5 to 6 PM the ride can handle 1000 guests and that 700 fastpasses were issued with time windows starting in that hour. This leaves 300 "slots" (or seats) for standby guests. If 100 guests from an earlier time had delayed use of their fastpasses until that hour then there are now only 200 slots for standby guests.

Ah, but then there were 100 more slots in an earlier time frame for standby guests. Now, this DOES affect how long you wait in the line (compared to what was advertised before you entered). But you end up getting on the attraction at the same time of day you would have in either case.

I think there should be "truth in waiting". There should be a fudge factor put into the standby wait time as posted to avoid unexpectedly long wait times over and above that posted.

We don't know that they don't already do this - but a fudge factor would just be a guess, like anything else. You could work on historical averages like the touring plans do, but you just can't predict when a Brazilian Tour Group will finish their churros and get in a line...

At best, you could overinflate the wait times intentionally. That way on average the wait times will be shorter, and everyone is happy

 

[cinderwannabe]

I wonder if we will soon see Fast Pass ticket trading? Maybe a new App is in order. You could trade your morning fastpass for someone who pulled one for later in the day?

Good Call! I am down for that!

 

[granmanh603]

only went to Epcot today, got a FP for sorin return time 2:55 so did not want to ride TT or anything else up front wandered around came back in time frame...waited longer than every before and the stand by line was 140!!!! that is all I can say about today... Oh and I did not hear them say a word to anyone on the line in front of me .

 

[jkstewart1800]

After experiencing this today, I would have to say, 15 minutes is too short. If the parks are busy, which DHS was today, I would have to say the grace period has to be increased. It really depends on when the FP return is, but it really does restrict you if you want to hit up one of the more popular rides. Plus, if the standby time posted is inaccurate at the time you enter, you may have to choose to either leave the line you've been waiting in, or take the chance they will honor that FP past the 15min grace period. 40 minute ToT time posted was 1.5 hours for me. I almost missed my FP window because I assumed the ride i was getting on was 40 mins. A lot of variables to this. So far, it appears, to me, that 15 minutes is far to little.

If i remember correctly, the whole idea of the FP was 'to hold a place in line'... meaning you walk up to the ride, the line is long, so you get a FP and then 'hang out' (eating shopping etc) until your time is up. In effect, holding your place in the SB line while allowing you to do something else....

NOT - get a FP then ride a whole bunch of other rides and then come back.

So, 2 hours is almost TOO long of a wait!

 

[Suellen]

Someone at the first aid station could probably have had your fastpasses re-issued.

Thinking it over for the third time I now (3/7/12) claim that late use of fastpasses does affect the standby line.

Let's imagine that during the hour 5 to 6 PM the ride can handle 1000 guests and that 700 fastpasses were issued with time windows starting in that hour. This leaves 300 "slots" (or seats) for standby guests. If 100 guests from an earlier time had delayed use of their fastpasses until that hour then there are now only 200 slots for standby guests.


I think there should be "truth in waiting". There should be a fudge factor put into the standby wait time as posted to avoid unexpectedly long wait times over and above that posted.

I agree!!

 

[Sydnerella]

And in case you pointing at me, I only get passionate when some people screamed how ruined their vacations will be because they do not want to waste few moments to look at the clock but refuse that at the same time they affect others, even if it by little. I did not like compassion talk when none was shown to those in line. I never cared much about late FPs, you found way out, it worked for you, it was allowed, good for you but attitude from some screamed entitlement and that is what I really have problem with.

Now that we are clear, I am sure that people will get use to changes, after all many did it with no problems.

Why so insistent on maintaining this tone? LET - IT - GO!

The point of this thread and board is to learn from each others experiences and enjoy WDW. LET'S DO THAT!

Sydnerella's Mama

 

[Bob NC]

I can give you an example that happened to us...
Grandma came to MK with us on a rather hot, humid day. She didn't want to admit that she needed a break and kept going along with us until she got light headed and almost passed out in the ladies restroom. We found a cast member who got medical services and we got her to First Aid to lay down and rest. She didn't want all of us sitting around wasting our day staring at her so she sent us back to have fun and we kept checking on her until she was able to go back to the room.

If my Grandma got lightheaded and our family helped her, we would just chalk that up to something we had to do to help family and we wouldn't give a FP another thought.

Now, also, in our family if Grandma fell down and broke her leg and had to be transported to the ER, we would call THAT an emergency and we wouldn't be planning on riding more rides anyway.

I wonder how the memo will read to the cast members to spell out what an emergency is?

Will cast members be told that bathroom breaks that go a little longer than expected are to be classified as "emergencies"?

If I am cutting it close with an ADR and we decide to have an extra dessert and it takes the waitress 10 minutes to bring it out, is that an emergency?

 

[cinderwannabe]

Hey all! whats the deal with "x pass"??? Is this different than a fast pass? and what's an E ticket???

 

[doconeill]

Hey all! whats the deal with "x pass"??? Is this different than a fast pass? and what's an E ticket???

An '"E-ticket" is a term for a headlining, popular attraction, named after the old ticket books where you got so many A tickets, so many B tickets, etc. You got more A than B, more B than C, all the way to E, which were the most popular attractions.

"xPASS" is the current name for the Next Generation (NextGen) system that deals with attraction queue management (among potentially a number of other things), which will allow booking a ride time in advance, like a dining ADR. Beyond that there are little details and lots of rumors.

 

[magicbob]

Hey all! whats the deal with "x pass"??? Is this different than a fast pass? and what's an E ticket???

X-pass is the "working title" of the next generation system that is rumored to be rolling out at some point in the future. Still lots of speculation and not many verified facts on what this will entail.

E-ticket refers to the good old days when you used to get a book of tickets and had to use one for each ride. You could not ride every ride in the park unless you purchased additional tickets. Better rides had higher letters. E-ticket was the most expensive ticket and was used for the "best" rides.

EDIT: Doconeil: You typed faster and beat me to the punch!

 

[KellyNY]

1. I haven't seen anything that enumerated any sort of exceptions, only that there are "some". Some would likely be obvious, like a maintenance issue on the attraction you have a FP for.

2. Ah, but then there were 100 more slots in an earlier time frame for standby guests. Now, this DOES affect how long you wait in the line (compared to what was advertised before you entered). But you end up getting on the attraction at the same time of day you would have in either case.

1. I was not sure if it was memo or article but I definitely remember this from closed thread. If only I was not lazy to actually find it.

2. But we do not stand in one big line, we join at different times according to wait times. We are not promissed to ride at exactly 3:30 PM, are we? Also do not forget that because rides do not operate to full capacity in the morning hours, some of those 100 slots were never filled by SB line to begin with.
At the end, it is all about individual affect.

 

[hershey4]

What years were the E-tickets in place?

 

[magicbob]

At the end, it is all about individual affect.

Kelly,

Rest assured, when the effect is that you are individually inconvenienced by FP users from here on out, you can feel good about the fact that you are being inconvenienced only by upstanding, rule-following, on-time FP users and not inconsiderate jerks using them late.

 

[dzorn]

There is not a time I can remember planning to use FP late but I know there are times we used them late just because we could not get to the FP CM becasuse of all the people standing around blocking the entrance till their window opened.

Denise in MI

 

[doconeill]

2. But we do not stand in one big line, we join at different times according to wait times. We are not promissed to ride at exactly 3:30 PM, are we? Also do not forget that because rides do not operate to full capacity in the morning hours, some of those 100 slots were never filled by SB line to begin with.
At the end, it is all about individual affect.

Like I've said before, it's perception and frame of reference. I know they don't advertise when you'll ride. But people should take the wait time indicators with a grain of salt too...

As for the 100 slots and the morning...in my opinion, at the attractions where it really matters, they get up to capacity pretty fast, at least by the time Fastpasses start returning...

But there is no sense in continuing this discussion line any more anyways, since it is moot.

 

[A Mickeyfan]

If i remember correctly, the whole idea of the FP was 'to hold a place in line'... meaning you walk up to the ride, the line is long, so you get a FP and then 'hang out' (eating shopping etc) until your time is up. In effect, holding your place in the SB line while allowing you to do something else....

NOT - get a FP then ride a whole bunch of other rides and then come back.

So, 2 hours is almost TOO long of a wait!

You are correct, that was what FP was implemented for.. but with the average wait time constantly increasing during peak season, the return times are 2 hours minimum sometimes.. sometimes as much as 4-6 hours later (such as Sorin). That doesn't give you time to do another attraction sometimes either if we now have a window that we must return in. unless 4-6 hour time frame...

 

[KellyNY]

Why so insistent on maintaining this tone? LET - IT - GO!

The point of this thread and board is to learn from each others experiences and enjoy WDW. LET'S DO THAT!

Sydnerella's Mama

Maintaining what tone exactly?

And why exactly did not you comment when Mesaboy brought this up but feel the need to point me out?

 

[A Mickeyfan]

In my opinion, FP is not working out the way they had planned, it is time to dis-ban it totally and go back to regular standby lines for all involved. You watch how the lines will be shorter. You won't have so many "returning" causing the wait time to increase. If Disney just wants the guest to shop and eat, then maybe they should stop building attractions, lower the admission price and allow guests to do just that, come in to spend their money on food and merchandise. As it is now, on a crowded day, not many attractions will get done if we have to wait the 2 hour time frame to obtain another FP in some cases.. and wait the sometimes 4 hour time frame to return for the attraction, then only have an hour window to do so?????? We are there to enjoy ourselves.. not on a time clock as we are at work OK 2pm Thunder Mt.. oh no, missed my 5:30 appointment at Splash Mt due to Space Mt going down while I was on that line with my 4pm appt time..and told to come back tonight, but won't be here tonight.. I can just see this happening! now what.. wasted my money.. that's what... Like I said, do away with FP totally!