Soarin' SB+ test...Fail

[mom2rtk]

Yes, of course.... I agree completely. If this were to become permanent...

This is essentially a Legacy Fastpass, so now I will revert back to my old ways of getting to the park at opening to secure my SB+ pass..... just as I would have for a Legacy Fastpass.

This will also change the FP+ that I pick.... since I am limited to 1 top tier FP+, I will make that selection Test Track..... since I now know I can get a paper Fastpass (SB+) for Soarin'.

If/when this becomes permanent it may cause FP+ passes for Test Track to become harder to get.

They've come full circle.

Except of course that with legacy FP you had a fallback position if you didn't get one. And I'm sure they distributed far more legacy FPs than they do standby return tickets (since the majority of spots are now gone through FP+ before the day even starts).

As for Soarin vs. TT...... If they went live with this, I would be shocked if it didn't include BOTH of those attractions so as not to skew things as you describe.

 

[tsme]

This all seems like a complete nightmare. I really do not want to have rush to an attraction to get a slip of paper just to be able to ride it ONCE! It's stupid & makes things way too complicated. People go to Disney to relax & have fun, not to stress out, running around hoping to get a chance to ride a ride that they've already paid in advance to ride. It's seems like the people at Disney coming up with all these new ideas have jumped on the crazy train.

 

[mom2rtk]

It's seems like the people at Disney coming up with all these new ideas have jumped on the crazy train.

Can't you just see how it got here though? A bunch of execs sitting around the table at a staff meeting discussing the latest satisfaction survey results. "People say they love everything about their trips to Disney except the long lines. We must find a way to fix that and then it will all be perfect! I want 10 suggestions from everyone on how to get rid of the long lines. Everything is on the table except adding more attractions. NOW GO!"

 

[think-like-tink]

This sounds like a mess.

 

[ElenaJane]

Can't you just see how it got here though? A bunch of execs sitting around the table at a staff meeting discussing the latest satisfaction survey results. "People say they love everything about their trips to Disney except the long lines. We must find a way to fix that and then it will all be perfect! I want 10 suggestions from everyone on how to get rid of the long lines. Everything is on the table except adding more attractions. NOW GO!"

I'm guessing the meeting was more about how to crank out profit though! People in line less for rides they enjoy, and more in lines for Elsa dolls and Pricey alcohol!

 

[HeyIt'sMe]

I'm guessing the meeting was more about how to crank out profit though! People in line less for rides they enjoy, and more in lines for Elsa dolls and Pricey alcohol!

FP+/SB+

I'm gonna need that pricey alcohol.

 

[Planogirl]

(Read to page 30, so if this has been said - sorry!)

I think those of you who like this idea aren't considering what could possibly a major fatal flaw. See, this was only a test, and other than the very small percentage of people who follow blogs and forums like this, very, very few guests probably knew about it. Therefore, very few guests changed their touring plans to accommodate this temp procedure. Now imagine it's implemented on a permanent basis, and it become common knowledge that if you want to ride a certain ride AT ALL you MUST get a return ticket as soon as possible. Every single guest is now going to rush to that attraction first thing in the morning to ensure they get that pass. Yeah, the passes lasted till 5pm on a day that maybe .1% of guests knew about it. You honestly think they'll last more than an hour once EVERYONE knows about it?

I think that this is an excellent point and something people should really think about.

Say you have your three FP+ at MK but there's a lot more there that you want to ride. You get to the park at rope drop and then have to decide which herd of stampeding bulls to join. You get your Standby pass for whatever and then you might be able to grab another Standby for something but who knows? Will you be limited to only one until you use the first one? What if the times available clash with your original standby pass and your FP+? It doesn't sound like people were choosing times so I expect that these will be much like legacy where you take whatever you can get.

People also mention getting the 4th FP+ later on but how available will those be with this new Standby system? If they go with a strictly reservation only ride system (ugh!) then I suppose that you'd better grab your People Mover and MK train passes when you can too. The logistics of this just seems way too complex to even think about so I hope that it's false.

My head hurts.

 

[DebbieB]

They did a test a year or two ago using a virtual queue with RnR. It never was seen again.

 

[FlipHipster]

(Read to page 30, so if this has been said - sorry!)

I think those of you who like this idea aren't considering what could possibly a major fatal flaw. See, this was only a test, and other than the very small percentage of people who follow blogs and forums like this, very, very few guests probably knew about it. Therefore, very few guests changed their touring plans to accommodate this temp procedure. Now imagine it's implemented on a permanent basis, and it become common knowledge that if you want to ride a certain ride AT ALL you MUST get a return ticket as soon as possible. Every single guest is now going to rush to that attraction first thing in the morning to ensure they get that pass. Yeah, the passes lasted till 5pm on a day that maybe .1% of guests knew about it. You honestly think they'll last more than an hour once EVERYONE knows about it?

Maybe that's why they didn't announce it.

It all sounds good on paper, they know how many FP+ they allocated per hour for the ride. They should know how many people booked those so they know how many to expect every hour. They know how many they can load in an hour so they should be able to figure out how many SB+ they need and how to space them to maintain an (x) minute SB line. Still the big unknown is guest behavior and how people will respond. That's probably the crux of most of the issues they are having IMO. I agree completely that no matter how they shuffle it around, those that are informed will always have an advantage to maximizing whatever solution Disney comes up with. It's really more fair this way

 

[MaryKatesMom]

Did they test it today?

 

[ArwenMarie]

I think that this test is not really about paper Standby+ tickets. It's about moving more and more FPs over to MDE without having totally insane wait times spiking. The tickets will be a way to manage that.

The goal is to "lock people in." The more people they can get prebooking the better, even if it means there are zero spots on headliners open for standby. It might be that the prebooking rate is picking up rapidly now, for offsite as well as onsite.

I do think the goal is a 100% ride reservation system. When they put FP on Figment and Captain EO, the writing was on the wall IMO.

 

[mummabear]

Well my opinion is going to be unpopular I'm sure, but I get why they implemented this, I had suggested it in a post myself for A&E and was flamed.

I don't think Disney's aim is to be controlling but to attempt to make guests day more enjoyable because standing in a line for 3+ hours is not enjoyable and for Disney the happier the guest the more they spend and the more likely they are to return (and spend more) and recommend a Disney vacation to others (who will spend more)

I don't see it as removing the standby option, everyone has the option to ride, with a wait you just get to wait while enjoying other parts of the park.
The rides have always had a daily capacity, this hasn't changed that.

Why given the option of standing in line for 3 hours twiddling your thumbs or going on another ride, grabbing some food and coming back to ride would you pick standing in line?

 

[mom2rtk]

I think that this test is not really about paper Standby+ tickets. It's about moving more and more FPs over to MDE without having totally insane wait times spiking. The tickets will be a way to manage that.

The goal is to "lock people in." The more people they can get prebooking the better, even if it means there are zero spots on headliners open for standby. It might be that the prebooking rate is picking up rapidly now, for offsite as well as onsite.

I do think the goal is a 100% ride reservation system. When they put FP on Figment and Captain EO, the writing was on the wall IMO.

I had that same thought last night. Makes no sense to run 2 systems. I also think it's about seeing how far they can push FP+.

 

[Planogirl]

Well my opinion is going to be unpopular I'm sure, but I get why they implemented this, I had suggested it in a post myself for A&E and was flamed.

I don't think Disney's aim is to be controlling but to attempt to make guests day more enjoyable because standing in a line for 3+ hours is not enjoyable and for Disney the happier the guest the more they spend and the more likely they are to return (and spend more) and recommend a Disney vacation to others (who will spend more)

I don't see it as removing the standby option, everyone has the option to ride, with a wait you just get to wait while enjoying other parts of the park.
The rides have always had a daily capacity, this hasn't changed that.

Why given the option of standing in line for 3 hours twiddling your thumbs or going on another ride, grabbing some food and coming back to ride would you pick standing in line?

The problem for me is that we don't always know what we want to do at every minute of the day. The idea of scheduling the people mover for 2-3 and Buzz for 3-4 and COP for 4-5 is just mind-boggling to me. Sometimes we get tired and want to leave to rest, sometimes we just want to get a snack and watch a parade or simply sit down for a while. But it sounds like doing such things are a thing of the past because we have appointments to keep if we want to ride certain things.

No thanks. That's not how we vacation and not how we ever will vacation. I refuse to schedule every meal, every ride, every show. That's not fun at all and I doubt that I'm the only person who feels that way. I'll just have to get my WDW fix by visiting these forums.

 

[mummabear]

(Read to page 30, so if this has been said - sorry!)

I think those of you who like this idea aren't considering what could possibly a major fatal flaw. See, this was only a test, and other than the very small percentage of people who follow blogs and forums like this, very, very few guests probably knew about it. Therefore, very few guests changed their touring plans to accommodate this temp procedure. Now imagine it's implemented on a permanent basis, and it become common knowledge that if you want to ride a certain ride AT ALL you MUST get a return ticket as soon as possible. Every single guest is now going to rush to that attraction first thing in the morning to ensure they get that pass. Yeah, the passes lasted till 5pm on a day that maybe .1% of guests knew about it. You honestly think they'll last more than an hour once EVERYONE knows about it?

A) does it matter if people get to ride
b)Split the passes and hand them out in 3 or 4 hour blocks.

 

[Don Disney]

The problem for me is that we don't always know what we want to do at every minute of the day. The idea of scheduling the people mover for 2-3 and Buzz for 3-4 and COP for 4-5 is just mind-boggling to me. Sometimes we get tired and want to leave to rest, sometimes we just want to get a snack and watch a parade or simply sit down for a while. But it sounds like doing such things are a thing of the past because we have appointments to keep if we want to ride certain things.

No thanks. That's not how we vacation and not how we ever will vacation. I refuse to schedule every meal, every ride, every show. That's not fun at all and I doubt that I'm the only person who feels that way. I'll just have to get my WDW fix by visiting these forums.

I agree whole-heartedly...that is no way to vacation..every darn minute "scheduled" with no spontaneity whatsoever!!!! Disney is really making it hard for me NOT to cancel our Dec. FD trip!

 

[mummabear]

The problem for me is that we don't always know what we want to do at every minute of the day. The idea of scheduling the people mover for 2-3 and Buzz for 3-4 and COP for 4-5 is just mind-boggling to me. Sometimes we get tired and want to leave to rest, sometimes we just want to get a snack and watch a parade or simply sit down for a while. But it sounds like doing such things are a thing of the past because we have appointments to keep if we want to ride certain things.

No thanks. That's not how we vacation and not how we ever will vacation. I refuse to schedule every meal, every ride, every show. That's not fun at all and I doubt that I'm the only person who feels that way. I'll just have to get my WDW fix by visiting these forums.

No one is suggested it for Buzz or COP. Only for those with waits of several hours 2 or 3+
Also getting these passes does not change your planning, before you would walk up to Soarin and see a 3 hour wait and either decide to wait and ride or decide to skip it and leave for your rest. Now you can do the same-except depending on your resort and how long your rest break is you could grab a pass go for your break and return to ride

 

[Luvchefmic]

Well my opinion is going to be unpopular I'm sure, but I get why they implemented this, I had suggested it in a post myself for A&E and was flamed.

I don't think Disney's aim is to be controlling but to attempt to make guests day more enjoyable because standing in a line for 3+ hours is not enjoyable and for Disney the happier the guest the more they spend and the more likely they are to return (and spend more) and recommend a Disney vacation to others (who will spend more)

I don't see it as removing the standby option, everyone has the option to ride, with a wait you just get to wait while enjoying other parts of the park.
The rides have always had a daily capacity, this hasn't changed that.

Why given the option of standing in line for 3 hours twiddling your thumbs or going on another ride, grabbing some food and coming back to ride would you pick standing in line?

Not going to flame you but here are my thoughts: CHOICE If I choose to stand in a line so be it. Don't dictate to me what I have to do to experience what I want to at WDW. Yes it is a choice to go there but once there can I decide nothing for myself ?

I had an interesting Live Chat on the website with a CM after I purchased a ticket for MNSSHP. The options were print it at home, will call, or have delivered. As in previous years, I chose print at home. I choose not to stand in a will call line and I choose not to pay the nominal fee to mail it to me.

His attitude was " Oh sorry the website should not have given you the option of print at home that was an error. It will be automatically linked to your MB, I don't see why you have a problem with that. Why did you need/want a ticket in hand ? " I promise you my jaw almost hit my desk when I read that

Again choice...I did call the ticket office and they did understand my concern IF MB didn't show the MNSSHP ticket ( because those things ALWAYS work right ) They are Fedex sending free of charge. I know she wasn't just trying to appease me, she really was kind, and today I got an email with the tracking number.

Again choice

 

[Planogirl]

No one is suggested it for Buzz or COP. Only for those with waits of several hours 2 or 3+
Also getting these passes does not change your planning, before you would walk up to Soarin and see a 3 hour wait and either decide to wait and ride or decide to skip it and leave for your rest. Now you can do the same-except depending on your resort and how long your rest break is you could grab a pass go for your break and return to ride

Except that people are conjecturing that these SB+ passes will likely run out pretty quickly once people become more familiar with them. So you hit rope drop and get one for whatever in MK. I'm still wondering if you will only be allowed to have one at a time like Legacy? If all rides end up requiring a FP+ or SB+ to ride you would then have a total of four rides scheduled. You might not be able to do anything else while you wait to ride those, again if everything has to have a pass of some sort. Isn't that what 100% reservation system means? Will anything be left over to do without passes? And if there are some attractions omitted then won't those likely be inundated with people who have nothing scheduled?

I know that I'm rambling but all of this is just mind-boggling.

 

[GotLabradors]

I think we can all agree that SB lines peak in the afternoon/early evening or else RD, lunch, back to the resort for pool & dinner, and then back to the park would not be the standard touring advice on this board.

My question/thought is would the SB+ "thing" be better applied if it was only used to manage the lines during these peak times. Once a SB line becomes 90+ minutes, then start handing out the cards for a certain block of time while closing the SB line. Once the block is over, the SB line would then reopen. I feel like the key to this is to not hand out all the cards at 10am and to allow the SB line to reopen at some point. IDK?

The mere fact that I have to put this much forethought into planning a trip that is still a year out is starting to take away some of the magic I experienced during previous trips.