Paid FP options coming soon to WDW?

[Missingmypooh]

How long did you spend with the phone to get the same day fastpass for the really popular ride? From the time you picked up the phone until you got it back in your pocket or purse or belt holder. Include the "unsuccessful" sessions for example when you decided to give up and try again later.

Too long.
But when I was with other APs that were DVC, they always seemed to get the fastpasses before me. Sometimes I’d just have them add me so I didn’t have to fuss with it.

it’s anecdotal, I know, but it happened so many times it certainly wasn’t a coincidence.

and by so many times, I mean every single month and *almost* every time I went with a DVC. (And I *think* they were all blue card but I’ve never asked)

 

[glocon]

How long did you spend with the phone to get the same day fastpass for the really popular ride? From the time you picked up the phone until you got it back in your pocket or purse or belt holder. Include the "unsuccessful" sessions for example when you decided to give up and try again later.

Literally a minute. You had to get on mde at specific drop times for specific rides. I think fop was 3:01, and sdd was maybe 12:01 (May have that wrong, don’t remember any more). But hardly any time at all.

 

[afan]

Literally a minute. You had to get on mde at specific drop times for specific rides. I think fop was 3:01, and sdd was maybe 12:01 (May have that wrong, don’t remember any more). But hardly any time at all.

SDD had a drop in the morning. I was able to move up my SDD fp with that drop while I was spinning between boards on TSMM. Ridic yes, but I wanted to ride with a friend and we had different times, and it didn't mess my game up. I beat her

Otherwise most of my fp stuff is done while I'm in line or eating, since I go solo it's not a big deal. Or if I'm with a friend I'm looking while we're in line and chatting, doesn't take anything away. I much prefer FP over maxpass. The only advantage of maxpass was that we didn't have to go to a machine and could get them quicker than the paper if we had to wait for our window to open. But to me it's just not as friendly of a system and we used far fewer over the 3 days we were there than we would have at WDW.

 

[xipotec]

When FP was available, you definitely could get a same day FP for FoP, Mine train and SDD, we did. You just had to know when to look for them. I learned a lot on these boards, and that was one of the most valuable things I learned, when to watch for FP availability.

I also agree with this. Claiming that FP makes the lines longer for everyone else is not any one persons issue. If you prepare and know how to use the system properly you can ride most of the major rides you want in under 20 minutes wait.....it’s not cheating it’s ment to work that way.
People whom read and prepare for life will always have an advantage to people that do not. Or choose not too. I mean if you goto a resturant on Valentine’s Day without thinking to have a reservation your going to have a bad time.
You can’t get mad at a system that it there for all to see, and causes those who ignore it to suffer?

 

[Heather07438]

Literally a minute. You had to get on mde at specific drop times for specific rides. I think fop was 3:01, and sdd was maybe 12:01 (May have that wrong, don’t remember any more). But hardly any time at all.

Remember Fast Pass Drop Times

 

[disneygirlsng]

How long did you spend with the phone to get the same day fastpass for the really popular ride? From the time you picked up the phone until you got it back in your pocket or purse or belt holder. Include the "unsuccessful" sessions for example when you decided to give up and try again later.

About 95% of the time I had my next FP before walking through the FP line of the ride I was on. Just a minute or two usually.

 

[Lisse24]

People whom read and prepare for life will always have an advantage to people that do not. Or choose not too. I mean if you goto a resturant on Valentine’s Day without thinking to have a reservation your going to have a bad time.
You can’t get mad at a system that it there for all to see, and causes those who ignore it to suffer?

Look, ANY system that requires intense thought and study for a single use is a bad system. The best design, whether that be architecture, tools, or line systems is the design that slips seamlessly and easily into the environment while making the experience objectively better. The fast pass system did not do this and for most people only added stress. It was a bad system. Can you take the heart of that system and make it better? Sure, but first you have to "sacrifice the child" of the old system and admit it's faults, namely that it preferred the uber user at the expense of the average user.

 

[JakeAZ]

Look, ANY system that requires intense thought and study for a single use is a bad system. The best design, whether that be architecture, tools, or line systems is the design that slips seamlessly and easily into the environment while making the experience objectively better. The fast pass system did not do this and for most people only added stress. It was a bad system. Can you take the heart of that system and make it better? Sure, but first you have to "sacrifice the child" of the old system and admit it's faults, namely that it preferred the uber user at the expense of the average user.

Great points.

Defenses to the old FP+ that start with:
"As a solo traveler"
"We go monthly"
"We go during the slow times"
"I have a cheat sheet that shows when the drop times are at each park" (I love this one and man, way to go! That is some next level FP wizardry!!)
shouldn't be looked at as the average experience.

Just like criticisms starting with:
"During our last trip over New Year's with 15 people in our party..."

For the average traveling family, it was a system that required a lot of juggling. For the family that was on their first trip in awhile (or ever), there was no way to master the ins and outs by the end of the trip. If you had 4-6 people in your family and you had FP scheduled at a certain park, you went to that park. Deciding to release them all and hit up a different park and play the odds of snagging same day at a new park, wasn't the best idea. Could it be done, sure. Was it likely, during times when families usually travel, not really.

The easiest fixes:

Tier the rides
Make the FP+ anytime
Give a certain number in advance based on where you are staying and what level (yes, sorry, Deluxe should get more. Club level should get more. But, so should guests who pay insane rates for motel rooms "values" VS people who stay offsite).
Charge for extras (again tier it based on accommodations, time of year, etc)
Post the FP times so people can decide when / if they want to use their FP

 

[Missingmypooh]

Great points.

Defenses to the old FP+ that start with:
"As a solo traveler"
"We go monthly"
"We go during the slow times"
"I have a cheat sheet that shows when the drop times are at each park" (I love this one and man, way to go! That is some next level FP wizardry!!)
shouldn't be looked at as the average experience.

Just like criticisms starting with:
"During our last trip over New Year's with 15 people in our party..."

For the average traveling family, it was a system that required a lot of juggling. For the family that was on their first trip in awhile (or ever), there was no way to master the ins and outs by the end of the trip. If you had 4-6 people in your family and you had FP scheduled at a certain park, you went to that park. Deciding to release them all and hit up a different park and play the odds of snagging same day at a new park, wasn't the best idea. Could it be done, sure. Was it likely, during times when families usually travel, not really.

The easiest fixes:

Tier the rides
Make the FP+ anytime
Give a certain number in advance based on where you are staying and what level (yes, sorry, Deluxe should get more. Club level should get more. But, so should guests who pay insane rates for motel rooms "values" VS people who stay offsite).
Charge for extras (again tier it based on accommodations, time of year, etc)
Post the FP times so people can decide when / if they want to use their FP

Excellent breakdown.

this *could* be the goal of Genie if we get to see it in action anytime soon. Genie could be that ‘seamless’ user experience the first timers/once in a whiles are desperately needing.
no one wants to stress about vacation! I’ve seen people hoof it to FOP like it was a Black Friday sale and there was only one TV available. Who wants to spend 10k to do that?

 

[JakeAZ]

Who wants to spend 10k to do that?

Not me! haha

 

[Eric Smith]

Great points.

Defenses to the old FP+ that start with:
"As a solo traveler"
"We go monthly"
"We go during the slow times"
"I have a cheat sheet that shows when the drop times are at each park" (I love this one and man, way to go! That is some next level FP wizardry!!)
shouldn't be looked at as the average experience.

Just like criticisms starting with:
"During our last trip over New Year's with 15 people in our party..."

For the average traveling family, it was a system that required a lot of juggling. For the family that was on their first trip in awhile (or ever), there was no way to master the ins and outs by the end of the trip. If you had 4-6 people in your family and you had FP scheduled at a certain park, you went to that park. Deciding to release them all and hit up a different park and play the odds of snagging same day at a new park, wasn't the best idea. Could it be done, sure. Was it likely, during times when families usually travel, not really.

The easiest fixes:

Tier the rides
Make the FP+ anytime
Give a certain number in advance based on where you are staying and what level (yes, sorry, Deluxe should get more. Club level should get more. But, so should guests who pay insane rates for motel rooms "values" VS people who stay offsite).
Charge for extras (again tier it based on accommodations, time of year, etc)
Post the FP times so people can decide when / if they want to use their FP

I'd add in removing fastpass from rides that don't need it. There's no reason that Living with the Land, Spaceship Earth, Journey in to Your Imgaination....etc need fastpasses. The lines would never be long enough to make it necessary.

 

[JakeAZ]

I'd add in removing fastpass from rides that don't need it. There's no reason that Living with the Land, Spaceship Earth, Journey in to Your Imgaination....etc need fastpasses. The lines would never be long enough to make it necessary.

If they went to an anytime model with tiers (big vs smaller rides), I'd say keep them in the smaller tier. If people want to use their FP on those rides, more power to them.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

I'd add in removing fastpass from rides that don't need it. There's no reason that Living with the Land, Spaceship Earth, Journey in to Your Imgaination....etc need fastpasses. The lines would never be long enough to make it necessary.

Fastpass was great for those rides because it worked as a crowd management tool. I have young kids and will grab any ride that has a fastpass available. I'm sure I'm not the only one. I've ridden the seas, or turtle talk, or the land plenty of times because I grabbed a fastpass for it and knew I didnt' need to worry about one of my little ones having to go potty 30 minutes into waiting on line. Disney could therefore use it to shift crowds over to the "walk on" rides that weren't runnign at capacity.

 

[Eric Smith]

If they went to an anytime model with tiers (big vs smaller rides), I'd say keep them in the smaller tier. If people want to use their FP on those rides, more power to them.

I'd argue that the smaller tier isn't really necessary in any park except for possibly Magic Kingdom. They just end up being "filler" fastpasses as people feel like they need to make their whole three fastpasses.

 

[JakeAZ]

I'd argue that the smaller tier isn't really necessary in any park except for possibly Magic Kingdom. They just end up being "filler" fastpasses as people feel like they need to make their whole three fastpasses.

I get it, but in my scenario, the FP become anytime / any ride (within a tier). If somebody wants to use a second tier FP on a "filler" ride, that's just one less person in another FP line.

 

[Jmljasmine]

Look, ANY system that requires intense thought and study for a single use is a bad system. The best design, whether that be architecture, tools, or line systems is the design that slips seamlessly and easily into the environment while making the experience objectively better. The fast pass system did not do this and for most people only added stress. It was a bad system. Can you take the heart of that system and make it better? Sure, but first you have to "sacrifice the child" of the old system and admit it's faults, namely that it preferred the uber user at the expense of the average user.

I was an average user and I want it back and won't return until it is. I have no need to ride popular rides multiple times, there are shorter line rides for while waiting for the next fastpass. I only used 3 a day but they allowed us to get all the rides in on a trip we wanted. With kids under 5, waiting 40+ minutes for a ride even if the line is moving isn't possible. We rope dropped (kids wake at 6am anyway), started fast pass an hour after rope drop when lines were lengthening but some still had reasonable rates to alternate with. Got lunch and had a rest during peak crowds, had an early dinner and while most people got their normal dinners, got in some of the shows and less line rides again.

 

[Missingmypooh]

Fastpass was great for those rides because it worked as a crowd management tool. I have young kids and will grab any ride that has a fastpass available. I'm sure I'm not the only one. I've ridden the seas, or turtle talk, or the land plenty of times because I grabbed a fastpass for it and knew I didnt' need to worry about one of my little ones having to go potty 30 minutes into waiting on line. Disney could therefore use it to shift crowds over to the "walk on" rides that weren't runnign at capacity.

This is me exactly.

 

[Eric Smith]

I get it, but in my scenario, the FP become anytime / any ride (within a tier). If somebody wants to use a second tier FP on a "filler" ride, that's just one less person in another FP line.

Ah, I didn't catch that part. That's an interesting idea.

 

[TiggerBouncy]

I had a recent survey from Disney that asked if the lack of FP+ affected my enjoyment of the park. It was not possible to determine from the question if they were looking for "how important is it to bring it back sooner" or "do we even need it at all?"

However, at this point I am assuming they are going to use this as an opportunity to remove FP+ and replace it with the much talked about and over-hyped Genie.

 

[xipotec]

Look, ANY system that requires intense thought and study for a single use is a bad system. The best design, whether that be architecture, tools, or line systems is the design that slips seamlessly and easily into the environment while making the experience objectively better. The fast pass system did not do this and for most people only added stress. It was a bad system. Can you take the heart of that system and make it better? Sure, but first you have to "sacrifice the child" of the old system and admit it's faults, namely that it preferred the uber user at the expense of the average user.

I don't think its study....but just being aware of how it works.....it does not take an advanced degree to use FP at the basic level.

You need to learn how to ride on a cruise ship....you just do not walk on.
You need to understand TSA at the airports and the needed documentation to fly.
You need to understand passports if you leave the country , along with a gigantic amount of information on the country you plan to visit.

WDW is not something anyone should expect to go to with no knowledge about things like transport, ticket rules, dining and a whole host of other things....FP is just a small part of the learning experience. And the wealth of free information is literally off the charts for anyone to easily access and understand. I am constantly amazed at people who drop thousands of dollars on a vacation of a "lifetime" without reading a thing about the place. I am even more amazed at their rancor and entitlement when they think its somehow its not their own fault.

Being informed is power.....

As the Boyscouts said "Be Prepared"