The Fast Pass improvement suggestion thread

[wilbret]

Let's have a civil, friendly chat about how the FP system might be improved. Lot's of great park experience here, maybe we will get lucky and the MDE app guy is reading the thread, taking notes. Would love to read opinions and thoughts on this hot topic.

Full disclosure. I do not like the Disney FP+ System. Customers should not be forced to plan months in advance, nor should they have to play the refresh refresh refresh game constantly. NOR, should anyone that decides to go to the park for a last minute trip be punished for not being able to grab a spot. The experience should be logical, if not magical.

I much prefer the Universal Express Pass system. No planning, and on most days the waits are extremely short. Two options, 1x per ride, or unlimited, and priced accordingly.
Some say it is not scaleable, but I do like the fact that it is sustainable. You get value for what you purchase.

Six Flags Flash Pass (formerly q-bot). You get a device (now available as a band), which allows you to check into a ride, and gives you an indication on when to return to the ride. I don't think it's worth the cost on most days, but if you are a once-a-year or once-ever visitor, it's pretty awesome. I've had the luxury of using it, and I really do like it.

Legoland. They sell different levels of "FastTrack" passes. You can get a 3-pack (the bundle of rides may not be what you want,) or pay for unlimited. Legoland pretty much only has 1 ride that has a constant wait time, but there are days when you can get value out of a pass, if you are an infrequent visitor.

Carowinds (Cedar Fair) uses "Fast Lane" passes. It's another super premium add-on that gets you on (most) rides instantly. It's so premium, I've never actually done anything other than walk back to get on the ride.

I know most of those don't compare, but the point is for illustration. There is no planning required, and they mostly focus on keeping their "fast" passes at a heavy premium.

I think that FP's for all tickets should be done away with, and moved toward a day-of park visit thing. Sorry, that's how I'd see it. There could be some priority level set for resort guests, but I'm just not seeing how FP+ x 3 is sustainable as rooms are added almost every day to the system.

Looking forward to the conversation!

 

[disneygirlsng]

I love, love, love the current system. So easy to use and efficient. I especially like having things already planned out before I get to the parks, then being able to modify and add as the day goes along. I can't think of anything to improve it. I think it is what works best for as massive as WDW is, I don't see any of the other systems working anywhere near as well.

 

[wilbret]

I love, love, love the current system. So easy to use and efficient. I especially like having things already planned out before I get to the parks, then being able to modify and add as the day goes along. I can't think of anything to improve it. I think it is what works best for as massive as WDW is, I don't see any of the other systems working anywhere near as well.

Cool, thanks for the reply. What is your typical group size?

 

[disneygirlsng]

Cool, thanks for the reply. What is your typical group size?

Usually 3-4.

 

[JETSDAD]

I like the current system and would hate to see a move to a system requiring additional costs for what I can already do now.

 

[DISNEYFOS]

I'm with you.. Desperately needs a change. The FP availability currently makes you spread your rides throughout the day requiring everyone to stay in the park waiting for their next scheduled ride...which is typically much longer than you used to in the past. It leads to overcrowding of other spaces, stores etc. bathrooms,

Planning 180 days for dinning and 60 days for FPs and still not have an enjoyable time due to overcrowding is just not working for us. I like Universal's system, deluxe resorts provide express pass/priority dining... I made my reservation a week before...rode every ride we wanted, some twice. I pay the same in Disney and get 1 good ride, 2 mediocre as long as plan way in advance..

Personally, I think it's a status or identity for some people.. oh I got this coveted reservation..or this FP for my family..somethign to brag about how Disney savvy they are.. they can get the hardest thing to get..without thinking why the heck is it supposed to be hard. You are paying a heck of a lot of money to go there. This isn't a competition..its supposed to be a family vacation.

 

[DGsAtBLT]

If something like maxpass at DLR could work at WDW I would be all for it. Otherwise, I’ll take the devil we know .

 

[Future_WorldPhonencian]

I think there are some great elements of the current system but also some downsides. As a planner I like the advance booking, but 2 months is almost too far in advance (180 days for dining is ludicrous) I think they should move the advance booking for FP+ and ADR's closer to trip dates. Maybe Onsite books 30 days out and offsite books 20. Dining reservations need to be no more than 2 months ahead. Right now park hours usually aren't finalized until about a month out which makes planning all these things incredibly difficult and shifting plans around a month out when the hours are final forces you to either make duplicate dining bookings (which fills up slots that could go to others) or give up the favorable fastpasses you "score" at your 60 day window.

I love the planning but wish there was also a same day option for those who want to show up that day and "go with the flow" Maybe 2/3rds of FP are available in advance and 1/3 can only be obtained day of. The national park system does this with hiking and camping permits at many of its ultra popular parks like yosemite and yellowstone.

 

[rebbyparker]

I'm planning an October vacation. We want to do Halloween party (tickets dropped today), Circle of Flavors (dates not available yet), Cruella's Dessert Party (dates not available yet), HS after hours (dates not available yet), character dining (can't plan til I find out what what day we need to be in what park for the event and FP's (again can't plan until the dates are available for the events and which park has which hours). This is beyond frustrating. The ONLY thing I have settled is the hotel. Not fussing, just find it ironic that a Disney vacation requires SO much planning and Disney doesn't release vital information needed for planning that vacation in a timely manner. I can look back and figure that AK needs to be a Wednesday for the tour but holy cow, really? I actually found myself saying to the other two families that "we're going for the Halloween Party. Anything else that we get to do is gravy". That seriously sucks when you're paying an ungodly amount of money to walk crowded walkways, stand in crowded lines for rides, bathrooms and food and may end up not getting to do what you wanted anyways (RoTR, I'm looking at you). I will take all the amazing suggestions from this board, try to implement them so that our vacation is awesome but this is a one and done for us. We've had so many stress free vacations at Universal and Discovery Cove and Seaworld that I can't help comparing. This is Disney we're talking about, they wrote the book on "magical" vacations. They should be better than this. And I totally agree that FP planning should be very close to the arrival date, after you've scheduled parks, events, dining, then pick the rides. Common sense.

 

[Traveling on cc points]

I would love to see some changes but fear the replacement would be worse than what we currently have.

I am a planner/researcher by nature but I really hate having to guess/plan what time & what park we will want to go to 60 days from now.
I have a love/hate relationship with the old paper fastpass system. I loved the fact that we could pick the park we wanted to go to the day of but hated that you basically has to ropedrop to get the headliners.

IMO, Disney has drastically devalued any perks to staying on property by reducing to extra magic hours to virtually none. My scenario below would bring some value back to staying on property. Disney could issue guests x amount of anytime fastpasses depending on where they are staying and how many park passes they have. AP’s would fall into the offsite/good neighbor category unless they had an on-site reservation or maybe an upgrade option for the year.

4 anytime/any tier fast passes per day for deluxe
3 anytime/any tier fast passes per day for moderate
3 anytime fast passes. 2 any tier, 1 tier 2. For value
3 anytime fast passes. 1 any tier, 2 tier 2 for offsite & good neighbor hotels.

 

[Beer Me]

Disney has a “skip the lines” deal- the vip tour. Yes it’s expensive but that’s the going rate.

I suppose they could offer a stripped down express pass without a guide but that would likely still cost thousands per day. I would be fine with that but keep the current fp system for us peasants.

 

[nmcclellan]

I really preferred the old Fastpass way....there was a kiosk outside the ride and it printed out your ticketed time to come back. I feel like this has become entirely too complicated for a theme park vacation.

 

[wilbret]

I think there are some great elements of the current system but also some downsides. As a planner I like the advance booking, but 2 months is almost too far in advance (180 days for dining is ludicrous) I think they should move the advance booking for FP+ and ADR's closer to trip dates. Maybe Onsite books 30 days out and offsite books 20. Dining reservations need to be no more than 2 months ahead. Right now park hours usually aren't finalized until about a month out which makes planning all these things incredibly difficult and shifting plans around a month out when the hours are final forces you to either make duplicate dining bookings (which fills up slots that could go to others) or give up the favorable fastpasses you "score" at your 60 day window.

I love the planning but wish there was also a same day option for those who want to show up that day and "go with the flow" Maybe 2/3rds of FP are available in advance and 1/3 can only be obtained day of. The national park system does this with hiking and camping permits at many of its ultra popular parks like yosemite and yellowstone.

I am also traditionally a planner, but I think it's getting out of control and increasingly difficult. We have 1 trip per year that we plan in advance, and that's because we coordinate with family members. The other times we go could be decided weeks or days prior. I think the rationing idea is interesting, and maybe they spread out the 1/3 over the entire day, so they can't all be grabbed just at rope drop? I dunno, just thinking out loud.

 

[wilbret]

I would love to see some changes but fear the replacement would be worse than what we currently have.

I am a planner/researcher by nature but I really hate having to guess/plan what time & what park we will want to go to 60 days from now.
I have a love/hate relationship with the old paper fastpass system. I loved the fact that we could pick the park we wanted to go to the day of but hated that you basically has to ropedrop to get the headliners.

IMO, Disney has drastically devalued any perks to staying on property by reducing to extra magic hours to virtually none. My scenario below would bring some value back to staying on property. Disney could issue guests x amount of anytime fastpasses depending on where they are staying and how many park passes they have. AP’s would fall into the offsite/good neighbor category unless they had an on-site reservation or maybe an upgrade option for the year.

4 anytime/any tier fast passes per day for deluxe
3 anytime/any tier fast passes per day for moderate
3 anytime fast passes. 2 any tier, 1 tier 2. For value
3 anytime fast passes. 1 any tier, 2 tier 2 for offsite & good neighbor hotels.

I do think a premium should be placed on Fast Pass, it's really the only way to keep it a premium feature. It will not make everyone happy, but the current system doesn't, either.

I would love a more advanced interface where you could see what's available, across parks, more easily. Maybe just drag and drop. It just isn't user friendly currently.

If all the tier 1 stuff is constantly booked solid, should that trigger some "next step?" Do you eliminate the standby queue and go completely virtual? I'd be happy waiting 3 hours for a ride, if I didn't have to stand in a friggin' line. Scan in, and report back when your time is up. (sound familiar?) Pre-booked fast pass lane, with an in-park virtual queue.

 

[wilbret]

I really preferred the old Fastpass way....there was a kiosk outside the ride and it printed out your ticketed time to come back. I feel like this has become entirely too complicated for a theme park vacation.

Yeah, I like the option of a virtual queue. Doesn't even have to be a paper ticket anymore, 99.9% of people have a smart phone. What % of guests are using the MDE app now?

 

[wilbret]

Disney has a “skip the lines” deal- the vip tour. Yes it’s expensive but that’s the going rate.

I suppose they could offer a stripped down express pass without a guide but that would likely still cost thousands per day. I would be fine with that but keep the current fp system for us peasants.

Would you pay $100/day per ticket to have a real FP experience, on every ride, or at least a group of attractions that include tier 1 stuff? That would mean the the current system is stripped down.

Just having a conversation folks... we are talking hypothetical. ;-)

 

[skippytx]

I don't know how you improve the situation at WDW, but I am against any major pay to play changes. Even as expensive as it is, I think WDW has kept a basic 4 or 5 day visit at least somewhat in reach of most folks. People staying at Pop on non park hopper tickets still get the same 3 FP+ chances everyone else does. (Yes I know about CL guest being able to buy more). It's already in my opinion gotten ridiculous with the explosion of desert parties, hard ticket events, and everything else.

I will say we do enjoy the Disneyland experience and it's total lack of planning. We do pop for MaxPass though when we visit. 3-4 days, show up, go with the flow and have fun.

Even if you did offer the 100/day ticket ultra FP option, you'd have to limit it. That opens the discussion on who gets to buy them. The rides (which are breaking down more often than ever from what I've seen) only have so much capacity to them, and WDW seems busier than ever. Most rides can handle less that 2,000 people an hour in perfect conditions, many much less than that.

I think the DAH events, and pre park opening breakfast events are their attempt to answer that.

 

[Lumpy1106]

I detest all of the pay-for-cuts systems. Reason being, it costs the park NOTHING to give it to you - the people who really pay for it are the other guests who now have to wait in longer lines. I was at Great America one time and they had a "pay $5 to spin the wheel for a cut-the-line pass" set up at the entrance to the Gold Striker. What do you know? Everyone who spun the wheel lucked out and got a cut-the-line pass - what luck! Great America made $5, and our wait got longer, every time someone spun the wheel - how is that right?

I like DL's fastpass system best - I will give a pass to the DL maxpass system (that you do have to pay for). Even though maxpass users are getting more fastpasses, it is because they don't have to traverse the park to get them. Otherwise, other guest have an equal shot at just as many fastpasses. Second place is WDW's FP+ system. Yes, you have to plan 2 months ahead of time (1 month if staying off-property). That may seem like a pain, but not a big deal considering you booked the room 11 months ahead, and meals 6 months ahead. I really don't know how else you would give an incentive to staying on property without it. I haven't used the ROTR BG's yet, but it makes as much sense as rope drop IMHO.

All of the pay-for-cuts systems should be abolished. I won't use them out of principle alone.

 

[Beer Me]

Would you pay $100/day per ticket to have a real FP experience, on every ride, or at least a group of attractions that include tier 1 stuff? That would mean the the current system is stripped down.

Just having a conversation folks... we are talking hypothetical. ;-)

I’m dead set against paying for any part of the current system. If they want to offer paid options above and beyond the current system anything is possible.

 

[wilbret]

I’m dead set against paying for any part of the current system. If they want to offer paid options above and beyond the current system anything is possible.

Anything is an option in this blue sky scenario. Someone mentioned above tiers for type of reservation or ticket you have, maybe everyone gets the standard fast pass, but there are "reserved" slots available for a platinum elite diamond level fast pass or something. I know people would gladly pay to skip the line for many rides.

My preferred option would be a cap on the amount of people in the park, set at a number that makes sense for the capacity of the park, and a system that effectively distributes people thruout the park (without the 60 day advance planning)