Very Odd Issue Regarding Headliners

[tchrrx]

AK Day- arrived at RD to hit EE several times. It was down due to 'technical issues' until about 9:30.

MK Day- arrived at RD and headed to PP. As we passed 7DMT, we saw it was down. It opened around 9:30.

Today we are at DHS. The plan was to hit RnR a couple of times before doing SW stuff. Oddly enough, it's also down to 'technical difficulties.'

Is this the new norm? It's really irritating when you've booked your FPs based on which headliner you planned on doing at RD.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

It is irritating.

The good news is your FP can be used later when it comes up.

The better news is they ensured they are keeping you as safe as possible.

 

[tchrrx]

It is irritating.

The good news is your FP can be used later when it comes up.

The better news is they ensured they are keeping you as safe as possible.

Except that I didn't have FPs for any of those bc I had planned on doing them stand by at RD. and I can't even switch to RnR without giving up my TSMM.

 

[larandtra1990]

Our last weekend trip it seemed TT was constantly having issues. It happens. This is high tech machinery and they are going to have issues from time to time.

 

[JanaDee]

It is irritating.

The good news is your FP can be used later when it comes up.

The better news is they ensured they are keeping you as safe as possible.

If people plan on doing RD, most plan on using FP for "lesser" rides later in the day, while riding headliners at RD.

 

[RafikiTiki21]

When we were there in February, Everest had the same issue and was down during our FP window. MDE displayed a message and automatically gave us another "free" Everest FastPass for use anytime that day due to the technical ride issues.

Did you not get anything in return for the troubles?

EDIT: I see now you didn't have FP, trying to hit at RD. Yes, unfortunate.

 

[cakebaker]

We don't rope drop the headliners, so I've never experienced exactly this scenario, but I'm sure it's frustrating to have your plans thrown off like that. There's not much anyone can do, these things happen, but that makes it no less irritating.

A popular trend is to ride secondary rides in the mornings, then use your fp+ for headliners later when it's crowded. That at least gives you a little insurance should rides go down. We've been doing that for some time now and it really does work quite well.

Sorry OP, it stinks when that happens.

 

[Mikie]

Definitely stinks that you seem to have a black cloud over your rope drop mornings! I imagine it makes a mess of many people' mornings, as the hundreds who intended to ride those are also now on all the other attractions that guests with a different strategy decided to hit first. Worst in the tiered park, where everyone who does a FP/rope drop plan to get all headliners in is unable to execute that plan. It's one thing to know what you need FP for, what the "hot ticket" items are, and then to know that RnR often goes down & how should that affect your plans.

Hope you're having a great time regardless!!

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Except that I didn't have FPs for any of those bc I had planned on doing them stand by at RD. and I can't even switch to RnR without giving up my TSMM.

Misunderstood. Happened to us a couple of weeks ago with RNR. But if it isn't cleared for guests, it isn't cleared. And I don't think it is new.

ETA: and as I stated before, it is irritating.

 

[BuzzinDownToDisney]

Still have never ridden EE because in my 3 RD mornings at AK it has been down each time.

 

[Tomh]

Yup, that'll outright ruin you touring in a tiered park. Your only options are miss that attraction all together, or stand in a heck of a line later on. Sorry that happened to you OP!

 

[LSKN]

Still have never ridden EE because in my 3 RD mornings at AK it has been down each time.

Maybe they're trying to fix that broken track that the Yeti busted up?

 

[ArwenMarie]

We had a trip where in one day we got stuck on Splash Mountain right at the top before the drop and had to walk down.

On the same day, we didn't get to use our Space FP because it went down and then it was late and we had to leave the park.

The day before, TSMM went down right after we had scanned our bands at the second checkpoint (they did give us a paper return pass for that).

It was comical, we were laughing that we were breaking everything.

 

[Lucius Best]

Is this the new norm? It's really irritating when you've booked your FPs based on which headliner you planned on doing at RD.

Not normal for rides to be down at rope drop. I've always found that WDW is better than any other theme park in terms of having rides up and running and ready to go at rope drop.

It is, however, normal for rides to often go down for technical difficulties, it is just bad luck if it screws up your plan. We had one day in April where Splash, Thunder, Space, AND 7DMT were all down at one point or another between 10am-2pm. That messed up our plans, and when headliners start going down, the crowds move to other rides and waits get longer.

 

[Jennytoon]

We had a trip where in one day we got stuck on Splash Mountain right at the top before the drop and had to walk down.

On the same day, we didn't get to use our Space FP because it went down and then it was late and we had to leave the park.

The day before, TSMM went down right after we had scanned our bands at the second checkpoint (they did give us a paper return pass for that).

It was comical, we were laughing that we were breaking everything.

On our last trip I was waiting with my son for the rest of my family to get of off EE, and another woman was with us doing the same ... she said to her daughter "it's been a while since the last train" and I said that occasionally it stops for a few minutes and then resumes, esp. if there are people that need to transfer from wheelchairs. But she said that things had been breaking around them everywhere they went as if they were a jinx, and sure enough, 5 minutes later they announced it was down. Of course, we had been there several days over the course of the week and while Kali had been down earlier that day, this was the only day on which we had encountered any rides that were down.

On another note, TT is down so frequently in our experience that with old FP we never actually got to ride it because either it was down when our return window arrived or the return time was outside of our window. I know that can't be everyone's experience, but I've sworn that I'll never make a FP+ for TT, better to choose Soarin and catch TT at RD for less frustration if things go awry.

 

[Flamingeaux]

That happened to me last year. Had it all planned to do RnRc 1st thing and then hit ToT as many times as possible before meeting up with DW and DD. Just like your experience RnRc was down and naturally the line for ToT was longer then it should have been. My avatar is from one of my ToT rides that day.

 

[Jadyreen1282]

RnR was down so much during our last trip we never got to ride. Missed o Canada too.... The horror.

 

[TheDisneyNurse]

I imagine that's really frustrated. I'm really outspoken, I would've spoken to someone at guest relations. I totally understand that it is no one's fault and that they are ensuring our safety, but I do pay a lot for these tickets and the trip in general. I had a familiar experience with test track. We had a FP at 11:05 and went in around 11:15. While in line, the ride kept starting and stopping and starting and stopping due to technical difficulties. Rather than having us all exit, they just kept us all stalled in line without any instruction. Eventually, we finally rode, but didn't officially exit test track until nearly 12:30. An hour and 15 minutes for a FP. Wow! That sure is fast I should have spoken up, but I was pretty behind on schedule due to the hold up and chose to just move on with my day.

 

[si-am]

It's happened to me before, too. We planned to rope drop Space Mountain and had FP for Splash and Thunder. Of course Space was down at Rope Drop! By the time we were able to return to it after our other plans, the line is prohibitively long.

This is one of the biggest drawbacks of having to make such specific plans with FP+. The only thing you can do is that if it's something you REALLY want to ride, make sure you've scheduled a FP.

 

[Monykalyn]

RnR was down a lot during our trip last year too- seems like that ride never stays running a whole day.

Sure- you get an "anytime" FP- BUT good only that day in that park! What happens if you can't get to that ride and can't get back to that park? My DH and DD were past the tap styles and a car away from boarding when it went down. My other DD and I were on our way to RnR when we got the message it was down. DH and DD got paper FP good for up to ??? 3 days to be used (may have been a week- can't remember). Well great for them- we hopped to DHS last day to ride- I complained to guest relations that our "electronic" FP was gone and it was really confusing plus now we can't ride it and missed out. We did get a couple FP to use but that whole thing could be set up way better.