Standby Lines a Thing of the Past?

[McLaughlinS]

What if....

Once everyone has the ability to reserve FP+, there will be no need for standby lines. Disney just allocates 90-99% of a ride's capacity to FP+. You show up during your window and you wait only as long as there are people in front of you. There is no need for 2+hour waits standby, because everyone is back on equal footing.

Think of it as not a FastPass as traditionally used (front of the line access), think of it as a reservation system. So 1000 people don't line up for a ride with a 500 person per hour capacity, causing person #1000 to wait 2 hours. Instead, 500 people's reservation won't come up until most of the first 500 people have rode. You can have even less time in line waiting if return time windows are shortened to 30 minutes.

Disney could implement the No Standby with all rides or with certain rides. It becomes the Great Equalizer and put people back to where Disney wants them, inside shops and restaurants.

 

[sonofanarchy]

Keep dreamin'.

 

[CassieF]

In order to eliminate having an hour long FP line they would have to do much smaller windows for return times. Personally, I would not want to plan out my vacation down to the minute. Figuring out what time I wanted to ride 3 rides a day was already too much

 

[lroger01]

I can see Fast Pass only for a few specific rides as something that could work. For example when the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train opens, that should be FP only. Everyone that wants to ride it (up to capacity) gets one ride at a scheduled time. Being the new thing, having a strict scheduled time shouldn't cause too much vacation stress and would be better than a 2+ hr line.

I don't think this will work if used for all or most rides. The ride lines hold a lot of people. If no one was in line, they'd all be crowded into the walk ways and open areas. As it is now even on a slower level 3-4 day the walk ways are still full of people.

It's a good idea on paper but not really practical crowd-management wise.

 

[1000HappyWishes]

So...I pay thousands of dollars to ride three rides a day?

 

[redrosesix]

What if ny Mickey waffles aren't settling so well and I just don't feel like riding dinosaur that day? If all of the ride times are allocated does this mean I just go ans do nothing? I need more flexibility than that.

 

[sunkissed4]

So...I pay thousands of dollars to ride three rides a day?

Exactly! So after you use those 3 FP "reservations" what's next? Leave?

Our day trips are already cut in half with the limit, if we're not able to wait in standby either I'm better off staying home.

 

[crostorfer]

They had better charge me no more than $45 for admission, then. Even then, at $15 per ride, that is pushing it. $30 sounds better.

 

[DebbieB]

What if....

Once everyone has the ability to reserve FP+, there will be no need for standby lines. Disney just allocates 90-99% of a ride's capacity to FP+. You show up during your window and you wait only as long as there are people in front of you. There is no need for 2+hour waits standby, because everyone is back on equal footing.

Think of it as not a FastPass as traditionally used (front of the line access), think of it as a reservation system. So 1000 people don't line up for a ride with a 500 person per hour capacity, causing person #1000 to wait 2 hours. Instead, 500 people's reservation won't come up until most of the first 500 people have rode. You can have even less time in line waiting if return time windows are shortened to 30 minutes.

Disney could implement the No Standby with all rides or with certain rides. It becomes the Great Equalizer and put people back to where Disney wants them, inside shops and restaurants.

Never going to happen. Less popular rides would have no one in them.

 

[leebee]

What if....

Once everyone has the ability to reserve FP+, there will be no need for standby lines. Disney just allocates 90-99% of a ride's capacity to FP+. You show up during your window and you wait only as long as there are people in front of you. There is no need for 2+hour waits standby, because everyone is back on equal footing.

Think of it as not a FastPass as traditionally used (front of the line access), think of it as a reservation system. So 1000 people don't line up for a ride with a 500 person per hour capacity, causing person #1000 to wait 2 hours. Instead, 500 people's reservation won't come up until most of the first 500 people have rode. You can have even less time in line waiting if return time windows are shortened to 30 minutes.

Disney could implement the No Standby with all rides or with certain rides. It becomes the Great Equalizer and put people back to where Disney wants them, inside shops and restaurants.

Well… first, FP wasn't really "front of the line" access. You'd still usually have to wait a bit, but it was DEFINITELY a shorter wait than the standby line!

Second, to comment on other posts, I don't see anywhere in the original post that it says you'd only get three FP+ per day, so I'm not sure that's an issue.

While I think that this is a plan that could have merit- think about having 10 guaranteed FP reservations and what a selling point that'd be for Disney- I know we wouldn't like it. NO spontaneity at all. What do you do when you are waiting for that next FP time? I wouldn't be shopping every hour, especially as there's nothing particularly unique at the parks anymore (it's all the same in all the parks). They would have to have some attractions with no FP at all; then you could get one FP per hour, and pad it with some minor rides or shows while waiting for the next FP. While I don't see EVERYTHING going to FP, I can see a possibility of making some attractions FP-only.

 

[abner1776]

I certainly hope it will not happen cause unlike my DD who I swear plans out her bathroom breaks 60 days in advance when visiting WDW, I don't even know what park I am going to on a particular day let alone plan out the rides I am going on.

 

[mesaboy2]

Syndrome: And when I'm old and I've had my fun, I'll sell my inventions so that *everyone* can have powers. *Everyone* can be super! And when everyone's super... [chuckles evilly] - no one will be.

 

[disnut8]

Well… first, FP wasn't really "front of the line" access. You'd still usually have to wait a bit, but it was DEFINITELY a shorter wait than the standby line!

Second, to comment on other posts, I don't see anywhere in the original post that it says you'd only get three FP+ per day, so I'm not sure that's an issue.

While I think that this is a plan that could have merit- think about having 10 guaranteed FP reservations and what a selling point that'd be for Disney- I know we wouldn't like it. NO spontaneity at all. What do you do when you are waiting for that next FP time? I wouldn't be shopping every hour, especially as there's nothing particularly unique at the parks anymore (it's all the same in all the parks). They would have to have some attractions with no FP at all; then you could get one FP per hour, and pad it with some minor rides or shows while waiting for the next FP. While I don't see EVERYTHING going to FP, I can see a possibility of making some attractions FP-only.

I agree with this completely. For us (two adults in our early 50s), planning out our day is not going to work. We can and will do every ride at Disney World since we have no physical limitations but..... we are on vacation and we go often enough that we can just say "eh, we'll do it next time". So what do we do with our extra time in the parks? Lots. We might grab a beer when we are tired, sit on a bench and just people watch. If we had a FastPass starting in fifteen minutes, we couldn't do that.

Or, the classic from a trip last year. Right next to the Promenade Refreshments (the stand right after you get to World Showcase and head towards Canada), we saw a momma duck and her eight babies. But that wasn't the cute part. The cute park is they were all snuggled together and napping except for momma who had her head up making sure all were safe. They were over behind the fence on the grass but they were close enough to the fence you could see them very clearly. Had we been in a rush to get to our next FastPass, we wouldn't have stopped to have a very nice moment with them.

I don't want a locked in schedule, even with 10 FastPasses that would get me on a ride in ten minutes.

Would some like this option? Sure. But there are many others who would find their vacation too structured. I think, in the end, the FastPass Plus system will never be solidified to just one option. What I envision is a system where you can get "up to" X amount of FastPasses before you enter a park. But changes can only be made the day before or the day of. I also envision the opportunity for those "up to" amounts to be stretched across all four parks so park hopping can happen.

 

[Robo]

What the OP is relating is akin to the line-less "NextGen" queue that has been enacted as one of the routes to riding Dumbo in MK.

A guest would show up at the attraction entrance and be given a time to return for boarding.
That time would likley have a very small window (say, 5 minutes.)
For example, 1:40PM. The guest would return at 1:40PM-ish and be put into a short waiting
line to board the attraction.
No need for the traditional long serpentine standby queues.

Of course, getting thousands (tens of thousands?) of guests to get back to their
appointed attractions in that 5-10 minute window would simply not be practical.
So many would arrive too early and too late that it would create a mess
that nobody could clear up.

That's why with this limited system at Dumbo, guests are "contained" within the building as they await their boarding time.
At least they are not spending that time standing in a serpentine queue.
They can play games, etc. while waiting for their boarding time.

I don't expect very many of these kind of "appointment" queues to be built, (maybe no more, if the Dumbo situation proves inadequate) but there are a few attractions (like TSM, RNRC, Peter Pan) that might benefit from having them.

 

[ucfknight]

Having everything going to FP+ and removing standby would be a logistical nightmare. What happens for something as common as a ride going down for an hour? You've now thrown off that attraction for the whole day, and thrown off all of the reservations for everyone that had FP+ for that attraction during the down time.

 

[MrInfinity]

What if....

Once everyone has the ability to reserve FP+, there will be no need for standby lines. Disney just allocates 90-99% of a ride's capacity to FP+. You show up during your window and you wait only as long as there are people in front of you. There is no need for 2+hour waits standby, because everyone is back on equal footing.

Think of it as not a FastPass as traditionally used (front of the line access), think of it as a reservation system. So 1000 people don't line up for a ride with a 500 person per hour capacity, causing person #1000 to wait 2 hours. Instead, 500 people's reservation won't come up until most of the first 500 people have rode. You can have even less time in line waiting if return time windows are shortened to 30 minutes.

Disney could implement the No Standby with all rides or with certain rides. It becomes the Great Equalizer and put people back to where Disney wants them, inside shops and restaurants.

Nah, I don't see that as being necessary or filling any sort of actual demand. Remember theme parks and places like WDW in general are about the vacation time... walking around, taking in the atmosphere, having a slushy, looking at stuff, etc. You can't plan down to the minute "... ok we'll go on rides from 5-5:09 then have 3 minutes for ambiance and follow that up with a 4 minute seat on this bench... "

FP+ is nice cuz there is a wide window of return, and it guarantees you'll get on 3 things - fast - plus others fast if you rope drop, and yet more fast if you stay late. It really seems to meet the bulk of visitors' demands nicely. Those who want to come in late, leave early and take it slow (the majority of guests) all get to get on 3 rides (plus standby on many others)... whereas power riders can get on 6-9 headliners by utilizing FP+ combined with RD, park close, and single-rider strategies.

 

[PeterPanic]

Back when FP was first introduced there was a lot of buzz about how Disney wanted to make all rides a reservations type thing. That way they could control numbers of people at each attraction and having the crowd more distributed would stop all the long lines.

It didn't really make sense at the time because of the way that they introduced the program. It really was based on the old E-ticket setup, where the popular rides would end up reserve only and the rest would be just whenever.

FP+ has more of that in it, but I still don't see how it can become a 100% system. Where they could have had a more controlled setup for E-ticket rides they threw that away when they started adding FP lines to every attraction. That is one giant heap of controlling in my mind.

 

[mom2rtk]

It will never happen.

Because if they did that, then the answer to every FP+ complaint could no longer be "remember, you still have standby".

 

[surferdave]

It will never happen.

Because if they did that, then the answer to every FP+ complaint could no longer be "remember, you still have standby".

 

[Planogirl]

It will never happen.

Because if they did that, then the answer to every FP+ complaint could no longer be "remember, you still have standby".

I haven't seen anyone mention capacity. Wouldn't some of the rides run out of slots before everyone in attendance had the chance to get fastpasses? Since some people never use fastpass I can't imagine everyone going through the trouble to book ahead of time. In the interest of fairness, what about them?

Also, the Disney APP and online website would probably collapse under that many people trying to book FP+. I guess that I don't have much faith that Disney could handle that kind of traffic.