Tour Groups and FP+

[anne60]

Not trying to get into the debate, but I am wondering if anyone else saw this or knows what it is. While waiting for Illuminations last week, I saw a tour guide for a quince group with an odd hand held device. Then I saw several girls come up to her, and she put the device up to their magic bands, then they walked over to the FP+ entrance. The device was kind of like an oversized cell phone with a handle on the bottom.

 

[Robo]

Not trying to get into the debate, but I am wondering if anyone else saw this or knows what it is. While waiting for Illuminations last week, I saw a tour guide for a quince group with an odd hand held device. Then I saw several girls come up to her, and she put the device up to their magic bands, then they walked over to the FP+ entrance. The device was kind of like an oversized cell phone with a handle on the bottom.

Sounds like a handheld FP+ scanner that's used to see if guests have a FP+ for a given attraction or event.

 

[anne60]

So Disney gives these to the tour guides?

 

[chartle]

People that buy the most expensive disney tour giude, something like 295 an hour 6 hour min, get front of the line acsess. Instead of the tour guide walking them up to the fp entrance they might just you this reader to give them instant fp.

 

[Wishes Count]

I don't know what you saw, as it is unlikely that Disney would allow a non CM to even touch any of their devices. But I do know that these groups often pay extra for special seating at fireworks, particularly at EPCOT.

 

[mom2rtk]

Not trying to get into the debate, but I am wondering if anyone else saw this or knows what it is. While waiting for Illuminations last week, I saw a tour guide for a quince group with an odd hand held device. Then I saw several girls come up to her, and she put the device up to their magic bands, then they walked over to the FP+ entrance. The device was kind of like an oversized cell phone with a handle on the bottom.

Could you tell if the tour guide was CM or dressed as one of the travel group?

 

[chartle]

So Disney gives these to the tour guides?

The op didn't say what kind of tour guide.

 

[SRUAlmn]

I was actually wondering about this. We always go in the summer which normally brings HUGE tour groups. Say, for example, they choose to do FP+ for reserved Wishes seating that would take up the entire area. Curious how this will all work with the big groups.

 

[anne60]

Sorry - the tour guide was not a CM. she was clearly an employee of the quince tour group, with a flag. That's why the whole thing struck me as so odd.

 

[cheesemouse]

Huh... I have no idea and haven't heard anyone mention something like this yet. Perhaps they have new devices for the large tour groups that helps monitor FP+ for the group - i.e. who has what FP+ and for what time. Obviously a group of hundreds of kids would be too much to view/manage on a smart phone.

 

[wrighter]

I'm wondering if big tour groups get special privileges that "regular" guests do not. Boy, I sure would like to just walk on up to a ride and get in the FP line! (Okay, I know that this possibility might exist - if I had a smart phone, with the right app, while the MDE site was actually working, and that the ride in question actually had any FP+ available for that exact moment. Hmmm - wonder what those odds are?)

I might jump off the proverbial FP+ cliff if I found out that these groups got more FP than I do, or if they have more flexibility than I do.

 

[KatieCharlotte]

I'm very curious about how they are handling large tour groups. From what I've heard here and in real life, Disney has not yet take steps to make FP+ work well for U.S. school groups, but they do such big business with the huge international groups that I couldn't imagine they would leave them w/o anything to make FP+ easier this winter. The BTGs I've seen were very FP- savvy and probably wouldn't accept, "Just go have fun and don't worry about FP+." It would make sense that the guides might have a special device to book and/or manage fastpasses for hundreds. It wouldn't necessarily mean they were receiving more FP+. I would certainly hope not. Maybe instead of putting a FP+ on the MBs, it just read whether the girls were among those who had FP+ for that particular attraction?

 

[2Tiggies]

People that buy the most expensive disney tour giude, something like 295 an hour 6 hour min, get front of the line acsess. Instead of the tour guide walking them up to the fp entrance they might just you this reader to give them instant fp.

If this was the case, for what those folk pay for the privilege, I have no issue with it. They are a drop in the ocean as far as I'm concerned. For $1800+ per person for a day at a park, I would expect some major perks