Fast Pass Complaint

[DisneyDudet]

Prior to Fastpass lines for popular rides (even in the summer) were rarely longer than a hour. Now that kind of wait is common.

I beg to differ. When we went to WDW prior to FPs, it was only in the summer. I remember waiting, clearly, for Splash Mountain for about 3 hours, Body Wars for an hour and a Half, and don't even get me started on Space Mountain. Now, you don't see times like that at Space anymore, even though the times are long at times, it shouldn't be over ah hour and a half.

I actually find standby lines on rides like Splash, Space, and RnRC to be considerably shorter than before FP coming about.

The continuous loaders, and other rides of the such, is where the standby lines are greatly affected, it seems to me. I think there are longer lines for Peter Pan now that it is a FP ride than before. And when they took away FP from HM, the lines weren't as long.

I love FP, and have enjoyed our trips, and have been able to do things we never did before because of its existence. I wouldn't do Disney any other way.

[SurferStitch]

Wrong, what you are not accouinting for is all the people that run into the park grab a fastpass and then get on the ride they just pulled a fastpass for. Prior to Fastpass people would run in, ride their favorite ride, and then move on.

Personnally, I hate the Fastpass system, I hate the idea have having to "reserve" my place in line. Prior to Fastpass lines for popular rides (even in the summer) were rarely longer than a hour. Now that kind of wait is common.

All I know is, we never rode Splash until they started the FP. Even back in '96-'99 or so, the lines were easily 60-120 minutes, and that was during the slow month of October, which isn't slow at all anymore. Once the FP rolled around, we started using it, and never waited more than 10 minutes to ride.

I love FP, and we'll continue using it. We play by the rules, and only return during the designated window. If we don't return in time, we don't use the FP later in the day, even though it's technically tolerated so as not to upset the guests. I have a feeling now that many people know they won't get turned away, the system is getting abused a little, and possibly making standby lines a little worse at times.

[ThanxForNoticin]

Wrong, what you are not accouinting for is all the people that run into the park grab a fastpass and then get on the ride they just pulled a fastpass for. Prior to Fastpass people would run in, ride their favorite ride, and then move on.

Actually, I did account for that situation in my original post. I agree that can happen, but not really that often.

But the bottom line is FP is a system that more people like than dislike. If a majority of people didn't like it, Disney wouldn't continue to use it. I'm sure it costs Disney a lot of extra money to have the FP ticket machines and the computer system to keep track of when a person can get a new FP during the day. The reality is that FP is popular enough that they won't be planning to eliminate it anytime soon.

[indytraveler]

Ah, the FP debate. We have gone yearly since '98 and have found out our routine for each of the parks. For those who haven't found out exactly how to use, or when to use, or a general plan to get around a park it may seem like you are waiting in standby lines all the time. Our motto is if if has FP then ride as a FP. sometimes early in the am we can ride a FP ride as standby then come back later and ride as a FP. It all depends on the time of day and how long the standby line is. The rides in Fantasyland PP, and WTP are definite FP rides no matter how long the wait is for standby, b/c you know that there will be several FP'ers showing up during your wait.

If they did away with FP then it would seem to go back to the dark ages. As for getting rid of FP for HM... This was the ride that moved the most people thru every hour. Why would you FP that one in the 1st place?

[Young@Heart]

We love FP and couldn't imagine WDW w/out them. It can be annoying to see FP-ers get on ahead of you when you're in stand-by, but it's just part of the process that keeps everything running smoothly. Last trip, we had FP's for another attraction, so we couldn't get one for Buzz. We had to wait in the stand-by line and watch people go ahead of us, but when we were off, we used our FP's for the other attraction and everything evened out (IMO).

[Imagineer1981]

No, that's the correct ratio. When I worked at Splash, the CORRECT ratio of FP - standby was 80 FP/20 Standby. Once the FP line emptied, then you could let in many more Standby guests. Also keep in mind that there's attraction down times (mechanical/technical issues, breakdowns, etc.), and if that's the case, those folks with FPs issued to return during that downtime are returning later as well. FP guests are essentially holding their place in line with those FPs, so they may be "standing in line" for four, five, six, or more hours! They just have their "reserved time" to come back and can enjoy other attractions (or whatever) while they're "waiting in line".

There's a certain number of FPs issued for each FP attraction, depending on what the hourly occupancy is for that attraction. For example, if an attraction can get 1,000 guests through in an hour, 800 FastPasses (80% of the occupancy) will be issued during that hour. Then those FPs are split into (usually) five-minute intervals to keep all 800 guests from returning at once (remember, we take FPs *later* than the posted time, just not any earlier). Once the FPs are gone for the day, that's it. Just depends on how busy the park is. We've (MK) has been pretty busy the last week or so.

At Space Mountain our ratio was 4 - 1, not 8. That seems too high

[BMan62]

At Space Mountain our ratio was 4 - 1, not 8. That seems too high

UH! 4 - 1 = 80% So the ration is the same.

[mouselover93]

i agree with you i've also noticed with other lines like RnR one time i was at the front of the line where they ussually stop and i stood there for 20 minutes while they let all fast pass people go