Trying to understand the logic of removing Fastpasses

[Tormania]

As we all are aware all FP have been cancelled and removed for all guests who had already booked them. I'm trying to figure out the rational for this particular action. I've heard that it can be due to attempts at social distancing in the lines. I don't see why the separate line for FP vs standby achieves this goal by removing FPs. And with no FPs it makes rode drop even that more critical for getting an opportunity to ride certain attractions. Which will result is potential much larger crowds waiting outside the gates before opening and outside the gates Disney will have much more difficulty with any level of enforcement of social distancing and other things. So how is it better for thousands of people to be lined up at rope drop but to allow FPs is a bridge too far? Just trying to get my head around how some of these decisions have come to be, just doesn't pass the logic test. I mean WDW SOLD the FP+ product as a way to AVOID waiting in lines and having to get to the park at rope drop so guests could have a more "relaxed" park experience. It's like they are forgetting the original benefits of FP+ one of which already lends itself to HELP with social distancing.

 

[FCDub]

There’s been no indication about capacity numbers, so any fears about thousands of people stacked up on top of each other is unwarranted, in my opinion – at least until people can see what it looks like in person.

And Disney is not “forgetting” why they started FP+ ... they’re adapting to a pandemic.

 

[Disneychoirnerd]

I believe they are planning to utilize the additional queue space to help with physical distancing. Plus, if capacity will be so low, and they are using virtual queues anyway, they obviously feel that FP will be superfluous.

 

[Momtomouselover]

It occurred to me that we don’t even know if a “reservation” is for all day or will it have an arrival time associated.

 

[ktlm]

You will have to have a reservation in advance for theme park entry. They are in a situation where most likely not everyone with tickets and fast passes booked for that day will even be able to get a reservation to enter the park that day. I would bet more people have booked fast passes than are going to be admitted into the park. I think there were looking at a slew of FPs that they knew they would not be able to honor. It is also possible that there are more FPs for each time slot than their modified capacity is going to allow to be in line for the ride at that time.

I think a lot of people who were still waiting to see what happened probably booked their FPs. No matter how they spin it-- I think the cancellation was more about not having any choice because there were far more booked than they could honor and they could not even guarantee the people with FPs would be getting into the parks if they are operating at 20% or 30% crowd capacity as predicted. I suspect they didn't have much of a choice--- just like with the ADRs (although a good chunk of those were booked before any of this happened unlike FPs). Also if they are going with a virtual queue where everyone has an advance reservation time-- that would pretty much eliminate FPs, I would think. I think they are just struggling to do what they can in a bad situation.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

I think "capacity" during however long they go with no FPs is going to be drastically lower than what many people are thinking. In addition to whatever line space they want/need since many FP lines are side by side... I tend to think they simply won't be needed given the low guest counts.

 

[randumb0]

You won't need a FP with a virtual queue

 

[wilkydelts]

Their analytics are going to be set up in such away that with the reservation system they are going to have it mapped out that on average, rides are going to have around a 25-30 minute wait. That amount of time is about what FP still takes. Otherwise they would have no crowd control at all.

 

[Jess.stw]

They have said its so the can use the queue space for social distancing...if they use both the fast pass queue and the standby queue for standby, that gives them a lot more distance of queue for those empty 6' gaps

 

[vinotinto]

I think the are moving towards a virtual queue system for everyone, instead of a standby and FP line, to help manage capacity and how many people are in a queue (and ensure the number of people in the queue allows for 6 feet of distancing). nd they would use both sides - the standby and the FP side for the virtual queue.

It will definitely be a different Disney experience, for sure.

 

[wilkydelts]

Virtual Queues will not work for social distancing. The purpose of a Virtual Queue is so that you wait for the ride while being in other locations. Right now Disney does not want everyone waiting in random other locations. They want to ensure lines are being divided equally around the park and a VQ does not do that.

I do not understand why people think VQ are new and improved. A VQ is essentially the system of paper FP+ that Disney already upgraded from but you can do it on your phone instead.

 

[meremac]

Virtual Queues will not work for social distancing. The purpose of a Virtual Queue is so that you wait for the ride while being in other locations. Right now Disney does not want everyone waiting in random other locations. They want to ensure lines are being divided equally around the park and a VQ does not do that.

I do not understand why people think VQ are new and improved. A VQ is essentially the system of paper FP+ that Disney already upgraded from but you can do it on your phone instead.

I think VQ will help with help a lot with social distancing for popular attractions. Without a VQ, you risk having an overflow of people standing around in a crowd until they are able to join the queue where they can then spread out using the stickers on the ground. With a VQ, you can control how many people will be entering the queue at any given time. For the less popular attractions, a VQ won't be necessary.

 

[Tormania]

How is a VQ any different then FP+? I have a FP for SDMT at 2:30pm, why would I need to be in a VQ instead? The FP+ IS a VQ. They are making things unnecessarily complicated IMHO.

 

[wilkydelts]

They have made it clear that capacity is going to be very low. If this is true it will organically balance out. If you have ever been to an After Hours event, it organically balances out because you do not want to wait because you can come back later and not wait.

 

[James Rhoades]

are we sure they arent cancelling FP only to allow people with confirmed reservations to reschedule FP as they get closer to the date, so that Disney knows who all is actually going to be in the parks?

 

[DisneyWishes14]

are we sure they arent cancelling FP only to allow people with confirmed reservations to reschedule FP as they get closer to the date, so that Disney knows who all is actually going to be in the parks?

Good point. We don't. Other than letting us know they are utilizing a park reservation system and cancelling out current existing FP+, we have no other information. I'm kind of hoping for a DAH model where FP+ isn't used and, because capacity is so low, it isn't needed.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

are we sure they arent cancelling FP only to allow people with confirmed reservations to reschedule FP as they get closer to the date, so that Disney knows who all is actually going to be in the parks?

I think this is a distinct possibility. My first thought on cancelling FPs is that they expect not all the people currently with FPs will actually be selected to enter the park - and they don't want a situation where I have a FP for Everest, but am not allowed entry to AK that day. Just like dining, they're cancelling and starting with a clean slate based on drastically less capacity at the resorts, restaurants, and theme parks.

 

[CastAStone]

Virtual Queues will not work for social distancing. The purpose of a Virtual Queue is so that you wait for the ride while being in other locations. Right now Disney does not want everyone waiting in random other locations. They want to ensure lines are being divided equally around the park and a VQ does not do that.

I do not understand why people think VQ are new and improved. A VQ is essentially the system of paper FP+ that Disney already upgraded from but you can do it on your phone instead.

From "people who know things" on another board, VQs are for the rides that do not have queues long enough to support or are not laid out in a way that supports effective social distancing. Think more for Frozen Ever After and probably not for MFSR.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Good point. We don't. Other than letting us know they are utilizing a park reservation system and cancelling out current existing FP+, we have no other information. I'm kind of hoping for a DAH model where FP+ isn't used and, because capacity is so low, it isn't needed.

I agree with this. I think we’re talking DAH style crowd levels and setup for the near term. VQs for the more headliner rides, walk on or very low waits for everything else.

 

[Tormania]

Good point. We don't. Other than letting us know they are utilizing a park reservation system and cancelling out current existing FP+, we have no other information. I'm kind of hoping for a DAH model where FP+ isn't used and, because capacity is so low, it isn't needed.

Hopefully that is the rational that is behind this decision. And I guess we can't expect Disney to explain the WHY for all of their decisions, but I was one of those kids growing up that asked Why? Why? WHY? And I'm never satisfied with the reason "Because I said so." Sell me on it logically and I'll support the decision. It's what I get for being a Data Analyst for a living.