TSM standby-less test Oct. 6-9

[mommajo143]

Subbing

 

[mesaboy2]

I couldn't agree more! I just tried to play the game the best I could.

You did well and you have my admiration.

It doesn't seem like this little experiment they're doing is for that purpose though, does it? Sounds like they're toying with the idea of 2 stand by lines vs 1 fp or vice versa.

While I'm not real sure how I feel about no standby lines- I waver- I can't envision them ever doing it at WDW. But then, I've been surprised before.

I haven't a clue what their thinking is with this stuff.

 

[famy27]

I couldn't agree more! I just tried to play the game the best I could.

Did you keep grabbing them indefinitely or did they run out at a certain point?

I thought someone posted a picture yesterday saying, "This ride has reached capacity for the day" or something along those lines. I believe that was in the mid-afternoon. Was this sign out again today?

We just returned from a short trip, and with the way our FPs worked out, the time we were planning to ride TSMM was ride before it closed for the fireworks. We would have been hopping from MK, and I'm guessing the FPs would have been gone by the time we got there. I'd love to be wrong.

 

[glamdring269]

I thought someone posted a picture yesterday saying, "This ride has reached capacity for the day" or something along those lines. I believe that was in the mid-afternoon. Was this sign out again today?

The sign was out again today. It mentioned something about 'FP+ Test' when we passed by around noon. When we came back by at around 2PM the sign had been changed to the capacity one.

 

[ktlm]

These reports are so strange to me because it seems like people were having totally different experiences today. We were there, and we talked to a family at about 10:30 this morning who had been told by the iPad people there was no availability when they tried to schedule one. Others report getting them much later. We were there about 9:30 and the area was pretty bizarre. There were a few CMs before you got around the corner from the hat stopping as many people as they could to check for fast passes. Those CMs were sending people to a different kiosk area instead of down into the ride area. We saw an upset family there. When you turned the corner, there were practically more CMs than guests. They lined both sides of the street. It was crazy. Management types, crowd control types. I agree it gave the feeling that they did not want you in the area if you did not have a fp+. We saw an upset family who had chosen RNRC fp+ for the older kids, and planned to get in line with the littles at TSM. We saw a kid or two that didn't understand why they couldn't ride more than once. As far as the ride with a FP+, it was walk on. We did see empty cars. Also management was standing inside the ride area with their tablets taking notes. On the bright side, it was a pin trading bonanza. Most of the CMs lining the streets had on lanyards and there were some good pins. It seemed like they were trying to appease the kids in the area by having everyone wearing pins and trading. We actually found the crowds very light today. On another interesting FP+ note , as we sat in our nice good spot frozen sing along standby seats today we picked up by walking up 15 minutes before the show started, we watched a bunch of FP+ people who wound up having to stand up on the side the whole show. They let them in because they had FP+, but had nowhere for them to go ad the place was full. So, don't come late to that with your FP+.

 

[jtowntoflorida]

So to summarize everyone's experiences at DHS today:

It was an unpredictable cluster****.

I can't believe they were turning guests away from Pixar Place. What if someone just wanted to meet Buzz & Woody, or get a pressed penny from the machine there, or just hit the bathroom by the Jack Sparrow experience thing that is never busy?

 

[g-dad66]

Installment #2 for the Wish-I-Could-Just-Read-The-Informational-Reports-Wihtout-Having-To-Wade-Through-The-Rest-of-The-Thread Crowd.

We got there yesterday late afternoon without any FP+ because we were meeting cm. There were no FP available for TSM, F!, Mermaid, TSM or the singalong. And the only kiosk available was the one beside TSM. The street was lined with cm in red shirts. Surpringly, I didn't hear a single grumble from anyone. I expected to see people up in arms.

I am in line now for toy story mania and they just opened up the standby line! Pretty sure they figured out that was a dumb idea!

Not sure about earlier line but there is no one in line standing outside at this time.

FYI, the signs cast members are holding have been changed from notification that there is an fp+ test today to notification that ride capacity has been reached. I think I may experience a new ride at HS today... People watching interactions as people discover this.

Here now, not happy. No warning and daughter in law and our son always take their 3 yr old on it. We are leaving park. Doubt we will renew ap since we have vacation house house and booking 30 days out does not work. Maybe we spend our $ at Lego lan and Univ.Disney you are shutting out AP.

Not sure what the long term plan is but here is what is actually happening...


Just entered at 2pm. Walked back outside at 2:11pm. Saw several cars that only had 2 on one side and none on the other. Did see a steady stream of walking in and hopping right on the ride but still seems to be some wasted throughout if they're only sending cars at somewhere in the 50-75% capacity range. Granted this was based on my very limited, probably 2 minute or so viewing of car transit as we waited to board and left the ride.

Will hit ToT immediately when window opens at 2:55. Will be amazed if any fp still remain.

Side note, saw several frustrated folks outside the ride as we walked in. Not sure if it was due to initial understanding of what was going on or if fp is no longer available.

We just used our 3rd fp at ToT. Unsurprisingly, even on an fp+ only day, there were no more tsmm available as of 3pm. I expect throughput to deteriorate even more as the day progresses since people will likely cash it in instead of waiting for that late day fp slot. We were planning to take advantage of typically lower end of day crowds to sneak in another ride (or 2) via standby but are now on the way back to the boardwalk instead.

Plenty of time left for us this week but I feel bad for those who may have only been here during the test.

At WDW now. Did not make a FP+ for TSM because we usually go first thing at opening with no issues. Also, did not know about this change. I read somewhere that more FP times have been added, but I have not been able to score any. Very sad. Addressing the other topic in this thread: we've spent more time at US/IoA this week than Disney...and that was not our original plan. Having a wonderful time!

Some of this may have already been mentioned, but I haven't read through the whole thread and am only sharing my experience.

On what should have been a low crowd day due to short hours the park was surprisingly busy. My initial plan was to ride TSM at rope drop then use my early FP which I scheduled at 60 days out....obviously that didn't happen today.

I will say that my party of 6 was able to ride 4 times, 3 of which were with the additional FP. However, because we can't use the app yet, it was a major pain.

There were at least 25-35 employees working the area. The employees consisted of greeters advising of the debacle, mobile FP+ CMs, ride operators, survey administrators, front line management, and a couple management supervisors, one of which offered to help me cancel my unneeded Tier 2 FPs so that I could get an additional TSM FP.

The CMs we're counting traffic not only on the ride, but also in the alley. Almost seemed as if they were trying to keep people from even going through the area if they didn't have a FP. Of interest to me was the data gathering inside the ride. On all 4 rides I viewed at least one front line manager observing and a non-uniformed CM marking a clipboard. She appeared to be marking as each car was loaded and my only assumption was that she was tracking the demographic of the riders.

The queue was empty all day and the first three rides had about a 3 minute wait. They added more FP in the last hour and the queue was actually out to Mr. Potato head and the wait was about 12 minutes.

Front line manager stated they were adding a third track and the test would assist them with that.

Survey was a joke. Of the 5 I listened in on, 4 were foreigners who stated they were not familiar with the paper FP system but just loved the new FP+ system. They all stated that a 20 minute wait was too much and they waited much less than anticipated because of the test. All stated they were happy with the test procedure.

My answer was much different, but ended in "when I rent space in your park I want to ride what I want to ride, not what Disney wants me to ride when they want me to ride it"!

That's all for now as I just wanted to get this data point out there as I had time since the park closed at 6 because some private company bought out the park for its 2000 employees to have exclusive access to for the evening. I'll have to look into his company Monday morning when I get back to work, but that's a whole other issue.....

Just wanted to add, the "extra" FP from the absent SB line were added in on the hour. I confirmed this at three different hours as I was able to change times with the app once I already had the "additional" scheduled via the kiosk. CM advised of this also, but I only like to use my own data points for obvious reasons.

Once you use your initial three (mine we're AM loaded) you can get one additional at a time. We rode, went to the kiosk and scheduled the next one. We had enough time in between to go and do another attraction and then come back to TSM. That's the good (or bad) thing about studios....there really isn't anything else you need a FP for. My third TSM was initially scheduled for 4ish, but by using the app, I could move the time up (around the top of the hour) as I previously posted.

They added FP to account for the people that would typically be riding in the SB line. I'm not aware of them denying anyone the opportunity to ride as long as you had a magic band and either cancelled all three if your initial FP to schedule the additional or used all three or let them expire and then scheduled your additional. That's why they had the FP+ mobile "task force" out there to help everyone get their "additional" if they needed it.

These reports are so strange to me because it seems like people were having totally different experiences today. We were there, and we talked to a family at about 10:30 this morning who had been told by the iPad people there was no availability when they tried to schedule one. Others report getting them much later. We were there about 9:30 and the area was pretty bizarre. There were a few CMs before you got around the corner from the hat stopping as many people as they could to check for fast passes. Those CMs were sending people to a different kiosk area instead of down into the ride area. We saw an upset family there. When you turned the corner, there were practically more CMs than guests. They lined both sides of the street. It was crazy. Management types, crowd control types. I agree it gave the feeling that they did not want you in the area if you did not have a fp+. We saw an upset family who had chosen RNRC fp+ for the older kids, and planned to get in line with the littles at TSM. We saw a kid or two that didn't understand why they couldn't ride more than once. As far as the ride with a FP+, it was walk on. We did see empty cars. Also management was standing inside the ride area with their tablets taking notes. On the bright side, it was a pin trading bonanza. Most of the CMs lining the streets had on lanyards and there were some good pins. It seemed like they were trying to appease the kids in the area by having everyone wearing pins and trading. We actually found the crowds very light today. On another interesting FP+ note , as we sat in our nice good spot frozen sing along standby seats today we picked up by walking up 15 minutes before the show started, we watched a bunch of FP+ people who wound up having to stand up on the side the whole show. They let them in because they had FP+, but had nowhere for them to go ad the place was full. So, don't come late to that with your FP+.

 

[mom2rtk]

4

There were at least 25-35 employees working the area.

I'm so glad they are testing this under "real world" conditions.

Just wanted to add, the "extra" FP from the absent SB line were added in on the hour. I confirmed this at three different hours as I was able to change times with the app once I already had the "additional" scheduled via the kiosk. CM advised of this also, but I only like to use my own data points for obvious reasons.

While some find this to be a good thing, how can that be the case when people were turned away earlier or a sign was in the area saying the ride had reached capacity. If even one person was turned away, then FPs added later, I find that to be reprehensible.

QUIT PLAYING GAMES WITH PEOPLE'S VACATIONS!

This part is important. I was not able to get a 4th FP+ for TSMM at 3PM, even though I had been on the ride ~an hour before and know it wasn't being used to capacity. It also requires some level of knowledge of the system. Perhaps a FB Tip/Trick WDW is sharing today?

AWFUL. JUST AWFUL.

The sign was out again today. It mentioned something about 'FP+ Test' when we passed by around noon. When we came back by at around 2PM the sign had been changed to the capacity one.

Thank you for confirming that. So the sign was out at 2, but more FPs were added what...... at 3? Then again at 4 and so on?

Just awful.

But everyone who rode did so with an uber short wait. So I'm sure 99% of the survey results will say it was fabulous.

 

[MaryKatesMom]

I haven't read the whole thread because I got disgusted of finding something new every day for almost 2 years now.

I come on the disboards and something is being taken away like a standby line.

Really, this is ridiculous.

Our days in Universal ran so much smoother. Yes, there was a mad rush to Gringotts but once you got off there plenty time to explore Diagon Alley.

It reminded me of years ago doing EE before Disney flooded the market with room capacity while neglecting ride capacity.

Now it is crowded with no where to go.

 

[Suvadoo]

But everyone who rode did so with an uber short wait. So I'm sure 99% of the survey results will say it was fabulous.

I think this is what Disney is perfecting: skewing data in some attempt to convince themselves and their guests that everyone is loving FP+.

 

[heartse]

I think this is what Disney is perfecting: skewing data in some attempt to convince themselves and their guests that everyone is loving FP+.

right, because they are only asking the people who rode, not those who were turned away. VERY SKEWED RESULTS that way!

 

[Ellwood970]

They use to be at the top of the theme park game. What in the world happened.

 

[ktlm]

So to summarize everyone's experiences at DHS today: It was an unpredictable cluster****. I can't believe they were turning guests away from Pixar Place. What if someone just wanted to meet Buzz & Woody, or get a pressed penny from the machine there, or just hit the bathroom by the Jack Sparrow experience thing that is never busy?

They would let you go that way for those things, you just would have been asked at least 3 times if you had a TSM FP+ and you would have felt like you were walking down the aisle at a wedding with the CMs lining both sides of the streets. They were all being VERY nice, I think probably to try to diffuse the expected angry guests.

 

[ktlm]

right, because they are only asking the people who rode, not those who were turned away. VERY SKEWED RESULTS that way!

We weren't surveyed at all yesterday, but we did see CMs all throughout the parks surveying people yesterday, not just in that area. I would have loved to have given my opinion, but nobody asked me!

 

[faneuil]

I couldn't agree more! I just tried to play the game the best I could.

Here's the problem.

Your average Disney guest doesn't know there's a game to play, let alone how to play it well. I am glad it worked for you. Knowing the system is 90% of the battle.

If they really released more FP+ at the top of the hour - can you imagine the possible overload every hour, on the hour that the app will experience, if they do this for multiple attractions?

 

[Friendlyadvice2]

Did you keep grabbing them indefinitely or did they run out at a certain point?

I thought someone posted a picture yesterday saying, "This ride has reached capacity for the day" or something along those lines. I believe that was in the mid-afternoon. Was this sign out again today?

We just returned from a short trip, and with the way our FPs worked out, the time we were planning to ride TSMM was ride before it closed for the fireworks. We would have been hopping from MK, and I'm guessing the FPs would have been gone by the time we got there. I'd love to be wrong.

I made my last "additional" FP+ Around 3:00 for the 4:45 - 5:45 slot. I checked around 4 on my app and for at least a half hour there was the option for me to change times to the 5:00-6:00 slot. Obviously my thinking was get on at 4:45, come out and grab another one. I tried but all were gone just prior to 5 and the kiosks were being covered.

The reason for the conflicting reports is because people did not keep checking back......I too was told there were no experiences as early as 11:55, but backed out of the selection screen and went back in a couple times and got my selections. As I previously stated, new FP we're being added throughout the day, at least on the hour, if not more. Also, it appeared they added many more for the last hour, in my mind, so that the line would be busier until park close and not risk people leaving the park early and the ride sitting empty since you could only ride with a FP......obviously nobody could just walk up and get on it even if all the people who had FP scheduled decided to leave early, which would have resulted in an empty ride.

Regarding the capacity and test signage.....I admittedly did not pay any attention to the "man behind the curtain", I just tried to use their system to hit the curveball they were throwing at me.

 

[Friendlyadvice2]

Here's the problem.

Your average Disney guest doesn't know there's a game to play, let alone how to play it well. I am glad it worked for you. Knowing the system is 90% of the battle.

If they really released more FP+ at the top of the hour - can you imagine the possible overload every hour, on the hour that the app will experience, if they do this for multiple attractions?

I agree, my experience served me well yesterday.

For the record, the app is overloaded and slow on a normal day.....this would just be a blip on the screen.

 

[lovethattink]

So to summarize everyone's experiences at DHS today:

It was an unpredictable cluster****.

I can't believe they were turning guests away from Pixar Place. What if someone just wanted to meet Buzz & Woody, or get a pressed penny from the machine there, or just hit the bathroom by the Jack Sparrow experience thing that is never busy?

When we arrived the first day of testing, the FP+ kiosk beside TSM was the only one we could find opened after trying at the hat and Muppets. Anyone could walk through Pixar Place, meet Buz and Woody, or use the restrooms, etc.

After the kiosk we walked right through the area to get to the sing-along.

 

[HelenParr]

But, if someone had booked their FP+ (in advance) for another park for that evening, and assumed, like a normal person, that they'd be able to wait SB if they went to DHS earlier in the day, they were out of luck unless they sacrificed the other park FP+, correct?

If true, that's not cool at all. To those guests, the ride is essentially out of service.

 

[MKMomma]

Did any posters that were there yesterday complain to Guest Services?