the why behind fastpass+

[ArwenMarie]

ok I know this is a dumb question but I have to ask: what does commando mean? is this another way of saying as fast and furious as you can through the parks??

It usually means starting before Rope Drop, so getting there early. And then maximizing your time to ride as many rides as you can, using Fastpass as much as you can (although that's obviously been chopped down now). Basically a go, go, go attitude, "The hotel room is for sleeping, we are here for the rides!"

 

[Love Tink]

ok I know this is a dumb question but I have to ask: what does commando mean? is this another way of saying as fast and furious as you can through the parks??

Basically. It is a term used to refer to guests who try to pack the maximum number of park experiences into each day. It is most often used pejoratively, i.e. "I want to relax on my vacation, not run around like a park commando."

 

[PoshMom]

It usually means starting before Rope Drop, so getting there early. And then maximizing your time to ride as many rides as you can, using Fastpass as much as you can (although that's obviously been chopped down now). Basically a go, go, go attitude, "The hotel room is for sleeping, we are here for the rides!"

in other words, what my husband does at Disney! bahaha!! but seriously he does.

 

[White_Sox_Fan]

I would be considered a commando, but that doesn't mean it's all go, go, go and no relaxing. We always get there at rope drop & we used FP- as much as possible not so we could maximize the number of attractions but so we could minimize our time in line. We leave the park in the afternoon, head back to the resort and spend the middle of the day relaxing and doing non-park activities.

 

[Love Tink]

I would be considered a commando, but that doesn't mean it's all go, go, go and no relaxing. We always get there at rope drop & we used FP- as much as possible not so we could maximize the number of attractions but so we could minimize our time in line. We leave the park in the afternoon, head back to the resort and spend the middle of the day relaxing and doing non-park activities.

Nope. Sorry. Around here you have to be either a commando or a person who truly appreciates and enjoys the Disney magic. Either/or.

 

[JimmyV]

I would be considered a commando, but that doesn't mean it's all go, go, go and no relaxing. We always get there at rope drop & we used FP- as much as possible not so we could maximize the number of attractions but so we could minimize our time in line. We leave the park in the afternoon, head back to the resort and spend the middle of the day relaxing and doing non-park activities.

That would make you part of the "Peace Keeping Force", not a commando!

 

[Arsenal1982]

I would be considered a commando, but that doesn't mean it's all go, go, go and no relaxing. We always get there at rope drop & we used FP- as much as possible not so we could maximize the number of attractions but so we could minimize our time in line. We leave the park in the afternoon, head back to the resort and spend the middle of the day relaxing and doing non-park activities.

This is what I do. And what I will continue to do. Last trip, I usually stayed in the parks till 3pm.. maybe I will just go back to my routine of leaving at 1 after lunch.

I will utilize SB in the morning (Magic is best for this), and then book FP+ for either late afternoon/evening.

 

[Sacha_L]

Here's one thought of many I have had. FP was created so that guests could spend less time waiting in lines and more money elsewhere. A win for the guest (less waiting) and Disney since you don't have to spend the money if you don't want to. However I think you guys will agree that a good percentage of guests didn't even know FP- existed. So they were unhappy with waiting in the long lines and Disney saw $$$ going to "waste". This way you can't miss FP+ when you book online ect...and in Disney's eyes everyone gets a chance to use enough to make them happy (not the super users from this board) because if you never knew about FP this sounds great. I do agree they will also be tracking because data is gold in today's world. But really anyone with a cell phone in their pocket or who goes online with a computer at home or uses OnStar ect..can be "tracked" more easily than you would like to think. I for one don't believe Disney wants to do anything more sinister than help us spend our money and make us enjoy their parks more so we will continue to do so. I work in marketing for a tech company so perhaps my viewpoint is a little different.

 

[Arsenal1982]

Here's one thought of many I have had. FP was created so that guests could spend less time waiting in lines and more money elsewhere. A win for the guest (less waiting) and Disney since you don't have to spend the money if you don't want to. However I think you guys will agree that a good percentage of guests didn't even know FP- existed. So they were unhappy with waiting in the long lines and Disney saw $$$ going to "waste". This way you can't miss FP+ when you book online ect...and in Disney's eyes everyone gets a chance to use enough to make them happy (not the super users from this board) because if you never knew about FP this sounds great. I do agree they will also be tracking because data is gold in today's world. But really anyone with a cell phone in their pocket or who goes online with a computer at home or uses OnStar ect..can be "tracked" more easily than you would like to think. I for one don't believe Disney wants to do anything more sinister than help us spend our money and make us enjoy their parks more so we will continue to do so. I work in marketing for a tech company so perhaps my viewpoint is a little different.

This might be an elitist mentality, but I simply cannot fathom how someone wouldn't know about FP -. Wouldn't someone with even slightly below average intelligence question why people are showing a card and going in a line that appears much faster? Wouldn't you ask a CM about that?

 

[redrosesix]

Here's one thought of many I have had. FP was created so that guests could spend less time waiting in lines and more money elsewhere. A win for the guest (less waiting) and Disney since you don't have to spend the money if you don't want to. However I think you guys will agree that a good percentage of guests didn't even know FP- existed. So they were unhappy with waiting in the long lines and Disney saw $$$ going to "waste". This way you can't miss FP+ when you book online ect...and in Disney's eyes everyone gets a chance to use enough to make them happy (not the super users from this board) because if you never knew about FP this sounds great. I do agree they will also be tracking because data is gold in today's world. But really anyone with a cell phone in their pocket or who goes online with a computer at home or uses OnStar ect..can be "tracked" more easily than you would like to think. I for one don't believe Disney wants to do anything more sinister than help us spend our money and make us enjoy their parks more so we will continue to do so. I work in marketing for a tech company so perhaps my viewpoint is a little different.

about half way into our second FP+ window I realized that the only thing you have enough time to do between rides on busier days is shopping. With one hour windows, unless you go at the end of one and the beginning of the next you really are doing a lot of waiting around. It's too much time to get from one ride to another, yet not enough time to fit in another ride or a meal. So I think it's mostly about the money.

But I think once the offsite guests are allowed to book in advance it's going to give them a lot more information about when people will be using their tickets and in which parks. Hopefully this will mean they're more prepared when people show up to ride.

 

[Arsenal1982]

But I think once the offsite guests are allowed to book in advance it's going to give them a lot more information about when people will be using their tickets and in which parks. Hopefully this will mean they're more prepared when people show up to ride.

Has that been confirmed that outside guests will be able to book FP+ in advance?

 

[faneuil]

This might be an elitist mentality, but I simply cannot fathom how someone wouldn't know about FP -. Wouldn't someone with even slightly below average intelligence question why people are showing a card and going in a line that appears much faster? Wouldn't you ask a CM about that?

There were people, as recently as a few months ago, that still thought FP- was a paid service. I also heard, saw, correct people who thought FP+ was the same.

Anyone remember Minority Report, when walking by a billboard suddenly personalized it towards you? We're headed in that direction. Not just a Disney, but everywhere. It's creepy.

 

[Sacha_L]

We would, I include myself in the Super User group (and as an OCD planner lol) but I do that with all of our trips not just Disney. But no I don't think the majority do. Disney is overwhelming to most first time/casual visitors. I mean how many stories do we hear about people not even realizing there are 4 parks ect...Disney has made it very clear that they don't think it's all about the rides, even though it may be that for some users. They want to increase the satisfaction with the majority. DIS boards while an active (and addicting) community is a small group in the scheme of things. Compare the total users of this site to the number of people who visit Disney yearly. And I'm not defending FP+ or saying it's great heck I won't use it till August. But this thread is about the why.

 

[redrosesix]

Well I can tell you what you don't want if you're Disney, and that's what you saw on your trip recently. Not only is the beautiful feel of the parks being disrupted, but the poor CM's have to hate going to work. And this is what messes with their "core", very scary implications... Whatever they do the stupid thing has to work right. That's my issue with it. You can't ruin people's days, not for the kind of monies they're charging. If thye can get FP+ to truly work under load then it will be fine. My bet is they opened Pandora's Box and they can't. Its simply beyond the stability of the computers they're using.

Brilliant!!

There is nothing wrong with the premise of FP+ (so no flaming please) but it's just not working at all the way it was intended to -- or the way it's advertised to work. Day after day, almost all of the concierge CMs at the desk (and they had every station open) were dealing with FP+. Two weeks ago they were annoyed by the system -- by the time we left CMs were openly joking about it.

Btw, they added a FP+ button on the concierge CMs' computer software (and didn't bother to send them a memo about it -- they found it on their own). They're still tweaking the system more than I would have expected.

On the other hand, something is also wrong with the reservation system -- it takes each family about half an hour to check in. The system is very slow and there is so much more for the CMs to do in the process. It makes wait times ridiculously long, even for people who have checked in online. Even with 1-2 CMs helping out with IPads in the queue areas, it is just not nearly as fast as it used to be. So the problems with FP+ are just a symptom of a bigger IT problem I think.

 

[redrosesix]

Has that been confirmed that outside guests will be able to book FP+ in advance?

nope, but it has been hinted at and offsite members have found small print that supports the idea. Seriously, unless Disney knows where and when people are going to use the tickets they bought through UT or some tour group, FP+ doesn't really give them enough information. People could buy a 7 day pass and hold onto it for a year. So I think they will do it.

 

[JimmyV]

This way you can't miss FP+ when you book online ect...and in Disney's eyes everyone gets a chance to use enough to make them happy (not the super users from this board) because if you never knew about FP this sounds great.

It bears noting, (and this ties in to the earlier discussion about this Board not being representative of the public at large), that a high percentage of people who are now being "educated" about FP+ for the first time are coming away very disgruntled. This "non-representative" Board is often accused of hating FP+ too much because it sucks the life out of the commando touring style, with the implication that the rest of the public will love it. Well, consider that this Board is far more tailored to people who stay on site, pay attention and know how to use the system before their 60 day window opens up. Given that this Board is a small minority, that means that the majority of guests are either offsite guests, guests who do not learn how to use the system in advance, or some combination of both. I can tell you first hand that from:

• speaking with the CMs,
• speaking with people who stood in long lines for their "day of" FPs,
• being in line with people getting their "same day" FPs,
• listening to people grumble about the length of the FP return lines, and
• seeing peoples' reactions when they eventually found the end point of the FP return lines

that there were very few pixie dust spreading, Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah singing, Cheshire Cat grinning guests in those lines. People were livid. They were frustrated. They were ornery, and they were missing the old system very badly. So if Disney is trying to make people happy with this system, it had better learn something from all this testing. I am sure that on site guests were having a grand time. But the people in hour+ long queues just to get their FPs, only to find out an hour later that they weren't going to get what they wanted, were not singing a happy tune. While it is true that this Board is not "representative", we have to realize that this Board is seeing FP+ at its best, because the people here stay on site more, and know how to use the system. Many people now being educated about FP+ are seeing it at its worst. The looks, comments and facial expressions of the CMs betray a system that is giving them headaches, so all cannot be right in the kingdom. Not yet, anyway.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

... So if Disney is trying to make people happy with this system, it had better learn something from all this testing. I am sure that on site guests were having a grand time. But the people in hour+ long queues just to get their FPs, only to find out an hour later that they weren't going to get what they wanted, were not singing a happy tune. While it is true that this Board is not "representative", we have to realize that this Board is seeing FP+ at its best, because the people here stay on site more, and know how to use the system. Many people now being educated about FP+ are seeing it at its worst. The looks, comments and facial expressions of the CMs betray a system that is giving them headaches, so all cannot be right in the kingdom. Not yet, anyway.

It is possible that this is by design. Disney has no problem filling parks or selling DVC properties. Disney's only struggle is in filling resort rooms.

It is possible that Disney is finally creating a perk for on-site guests that patrons really value - something short of free dining that will fill their hotel rooms.

 

[jamoka]

I have had this same question. I really don't understand the business behind it. So interested to read all of the responses. Generally I believe that the underlying motivator has to be money... So, somehow this is going to improve their bottom line. Just my opinion... Looking forward to hearing others thoughts!

 

[PoshMom]

This might be an elitist mentality, but I simply cannot fathom how someone wouldn't know about FP -. Wouldn't someone with even slightly below average intelligence question why people are showing a card and going in a line that appears much faster? Wouldn't you ask a CM about that?

You would think people would ask. But most first timers don't even know what a cast member is or that most have many tips to help. We wouldn't have known that fastpasses- were for us except I had talked to a person who has been many times to Disney before we went. Even if I didn't know what they were about I would have found out quickly by asking. We had one couple tell us it was just like going to six flags...long lines. made me so sad.

 

[flicx]

What makes me chuckle is many on this board who are hard core Disney people can't keep up with the plethora of changes or possible changes to the fast pass plus system. How do you think newbies are gonna do it? Bottom line is this was a pure money move by Disney( yes I know Disney is a business,please don't tell me this) they are just trying to PR the thing as something wonderful for the guests. The old system and a butt load of rides(same cost) would have been so much better and easier for guests to understand and enjoy.