TSM standby-less test Oct. 6-9

[SirDuff]

There were no FP+ when I checked at 5am, but now they are wide open. Not helpful, Disney. If I were a normal person (which, clearly I am not), I would have assumed that meant FP+ were gone for the day and made difference plans. What's the point of opening them all up at 9am, when it's too late for a visitor to decide whether it's worth it to go to DHS or not? Frustrating.

I thought 6am was the "dump" time?

 

[cakebaker]

I thought 6am was the "dump" time?

I don't know what the dump time is, or if it even exists, but there is availability now (up to 3 is all I can check) where there wasn't a couple of hours ago when I first read that post. Maybe they've dumped by now....

 

[mom2rtk]

I'm not willing to accept that Disney is driven by a motivation to see to it their guests enjoy their WDW vacations anymore. Their actions reveal a determined focus upon Disney's enjoyment of their guests' wallets.

Amen.

There were no FP+ when I checked at 5am, but now they are wide open. Not helpful, Disney. If I were a normal person (which, clearly I am not), I would have assumed that meant FP+ were gone for the day and made difference plans. What's the point of opening them all up at 9am, when it's too late for a visitor to decide whether it's worth it to go to DHS or not? Frustrating.

And that is one of my biggest complaints about this. You need to know every little tip and inside bit of information (like when to check, or that you even NEED to check back) to find what you want. And people used to complain how unfair it was that not everyone knew you could use paper FPs after the window!

By leading each guest through a very user-friendly experience.

You're kidding, right?

 

[jahber]

Yes, supposedly today is the last day. If I lived locally, and TSMM was that important to me, I wouldn't pick today for a run to HS. What a luxury to be within an hour of WDW!

We are certainly lucky to be close-ish to WDW, but that doesn't mean we can just cancel our plans and go another day because Disney decided to mess with the system THEY made US adapt to. We do still have lives. So stunts like this make it even harder for us to plan a trip that isn't a waste of time, gas, and tolls.

 

[vacationer1954]

Please don't assume that people who disagree with you are pulling your leg.

 

[mbrittb00]

Generally, but not always. We really don't know when this test was scheduled. It may have been on short notice. Also it may be that an advance notice like that might nullify the test and so it was important that it not be announced in advance. I think it is silly to assume the most sinister assumption about Disney.

Maybe, but I guess that begs the question as to what is the real purpose of this test. Is it to see how the ride would work as a FP+ reservation only? Are they trying to determing the FP+ return rate? The problem is that in either of those cases or pretty much anything else we can come up with having the test unannounced invalidates the test since in practice it would be know well in advance that attraction X is reservation only. Reguardless a couple of days running an attraction at 1/2 capacity should have been more than enough data, especially coming on the heals of the same issues at Sorain and ??.

Disney is by no means obgliated to tell why they are doing what they are doing. However, we as guest are also not obgliated to spend our $$ at WDW either. We go about every other year (just can't afford to go more often than that). And the success or failure of our vacation is not based on a single attraction. We can deal with closures (such as TT on our last trip), but to spring something like this on people and not even letting them know at the gate, is really a violation of trust. We spend $1000s on each trip to WDW, and I honstly believe we deserve to be treated better than that.

 

[vacationer1954]

We spend $1000s on each trip to WDW, and I honstly believe we deserve to be treated better than that.

Having just returned from a business trip I can definitely agree that we should be treated better by everyone associated with travel and hospitality given how much we're paying.

 

[JanaDee]

I'm not willing to accept that Disney is driven by a motivation to see to it their guests enjoy their WDW vacations anymore. Their actions reveal a determined focus upon Disney's enjoyment of their guests' wallets.

 

[cakebaker]

There were no FP+ when I checked at 5am, but now they are wide open. Not helpful, Disney. If I were a normal person (which, clearly I am not), I would have assumed that meant FP+ were gone for the day and made difference plans. What's the point of opening them all up at 9am, when it's too late for a visitor to decide whether it's worth it to go to DHS or not? Frustrating.

I think they're decision was based on trying to get fp+'s available to guests who walk up wanting to ride and find they're running a test. I'm not sure they're aiming at local day guests at this point. Not saying that's fair, but pretty sure that's they're intent.

If they opened it up earlier, they run the risk of them being snapped up before park opening, leaving guests planning to do standby with no options.

 

[cakebaker]

We are certainly lucky to be close-ish to WDW, but that doesn't mean we can just cancel our plans and go another day because Disney decided to mess with the system THEY made US adapt to. We do still have lives. So stunts like this make it even harder for us to plan a trip that isn't a waste of time, gas, and tolls.

I don't disagree- it is extremely frustrating for locals as well as those vacationing right now. But it's always a risk that there will be one or more things unavailable to park goers on any given day. There is no guarantee of being able to ride anything.

I just don't think it's quite the disaster that some would make it out to be. It's 1 ride, 1 park for 3 days. There are a certain number of people that this will greatly effect, but between already having fp+'s scheduled for TSMM, and the opening of additional fp+ every day, I think the number is small and I think they've mitigated the damages as much as they could, given the notion that this was a test they needed done and they needed it done with the natural flow of guests.

I'm willing to take that leap of faith that Disney doesn't do this to be mean to people.

 

[minnie-apple-mouse]

At around 6pm today it took us over 45 mins to ride TSMM with our FPs. people were angry and several groups left through the emergency exit which aggravated the CMs. at one point someone said we should start chanting and all walk out. right before you got on the ride there was a manager passing out FPs to another ride and these passes were good until Oct.31st. didn't help us since we are leaving in a day though. The passes also were not good for shows, Fantasmic or Toy Story which doesn't leave much if you don't like thrill rides. Big pain!

Great feed back-OK unfortunate feed back sorry to hear.

DD said TSM was shut down from 2:30 to 4, so the back up at 6 would be expected IMO. Wonder if they ever caught back up?

 

[leebee]

A 30 minute wait in the "FastPass+" line? Doesn't sound like fastpass to me!

 

[minnie-apple-mouse]

A 30 minute wait in the "FastPass+" line? Doesn't sound like fastpass to me!

That always happened with FP- as well after a breakdown of that length anyway.

 

[mom2rtk]

That always happened with FP- as well after a breakdown of that length anyway.

But the effect would be multiplied when distributing 100% of the ride's capacity via FP+.

Slots that would have gone in by standby during a breakdown are just lost. With FP+ anyone with a FP during that time can still show up and expect to use it. Plus, FP returns could be prioritized over standby .... unless you have no standby.

 

[minnie-apple-mouse]

But the effect would be multiplied when distributing 100% of the ride's capacity via FP+.

Slots that would have gone in by standby during a breakdown are just lost. With FP+ anyone with a FP during that time can still show up and expect to use it. Plus, FP returns could be prioritized over standby .... unless you have no standby.

I think that's why DD "suspected" this may have been on purpose.

Maybe they are handing out 100% F+ but at 90% capacity (some reports of cars not full etc) and then seeing how the "recovery" from the breakdown shakes out. Just a guess of course-but things they may want to know for the future. Yes a rip off for those guests that went through, but DD had a great day there all last minute.

 

[mom2rtk]

I think that's why DD "suspected" this may have been on purpose.

Maybe they are handing out 100% F+ but at 90% capacity (some reports of cars not full etc) and then seeing how the "recovery" from the breakdown shakes out. Just a guess of course-but things they may want to know for the future. Yes a rip off for those guests that went through, but DD had a great day there all last minute.

I wasn't thinking about it being on purpose until I typed out my response. The more I typed, the more I thought that was definitely a possibility.

They probably needed to quantify how many would still use the FP and how many would redeem it for another attractions.

Forget the mouse. Yesterday the park was filled with lab rats.

 

[minnie-apple-mouse]

I wasn't thinking about it being on purpose until I typed out my response. The more I typed, the more I thought that was definitely a possibility.

Yep-they could see just how many guests changed to a different FP+ in the first 10 minutes, 30 min 60 min and at an hour and a half.

How many returned (kept it) after it reopened in the first 10 min, 30/60/90 etc.

When did the line swell the most, when did it finally decrease etc.

 

[Laketravis]

What a luxury to be within an hour of WDW!

Ain't that the truth!

 

[minnie-apple-mouse]

They probably needed to quantify how many would still use the FP and how many would redeem it for another attractions.

Forget the mouse. Yesterday the park was filled with lab rats.

Ha I think you added a bit after I quoted you.

But to be honest-DD is the type to want to be that lab rat, just loves WDW and will participate to no end if needed. Actually the reason she went to DHS yesterday when I texted all the TSM testing was going on.

She grabbed this mid morning and really like that ability-also worked in B&B (best Belle she ever saw by the way), and Fozen was super cute she said-far better thing than the "B" rides, VOTLM, had all choices for 4th FP available at 5PM-took Fantasmic.

 

[grimley1968]

Generally, but not always. We really don't know when this test was scheduled. It may have been on short notice. Also it may be that an advance notice like that might nullify the test and so it was important that it not be announced in advance. I think it is silly to assume the most sinister assumption about Disney.

Any test that changes the rules on which guests have made plans and which will obviously negatively affect their experience should have been made known at least as early as the FP+ booking window opened for this week. It really doesn't matter whether people feel an all-FP+ experience is better or worse in the long run; what matters is that this was forced on unsuspecting guests who followed the Disney rules (willing to wait in a long standby line) up to that point, and had a crappy experience as a direct result.

If advance notice had been given, they still could have had whatever test they are trying to conduct (and hopefully fail, IMHO), and at least a fundamental level of fairness would have applied.

While I may not be paying admission for one particular attraction, I am paying admission for any and all attractions that are open, operating and supposedly open to the public. Disney essentially took that away from all guests willing to wait in standby for one attraction from 10/6 through 10/9.

I'm not assuming Disney has sinister aspirations, but this was one massive blunder on their part to do this without warning. What makes me feel like Disney seems to care less these days about the guest experience is that this "test" was not aborted before it began or early in the process, after they surely knew the effect it was having on people who paid good money to enter DHS during this time. For a company that is supposed to be 100% about making customers happy, this is incredibly poor customer service.