Originally Posted By DVC_dad Okay, I am quite sure HOURS and HOURS...no hundreds...no thousands of hours have been spent on the subject by Disney People, probably many like yourself sjhym4. So if it's so bad why is it still around? And don't say the old "because people would get mad" thing. Some people get mad about ANY change.
Originally Posted By DVC_dad Also it seems to me that there are just more people visiting the parks each and every year. I mean there HAS to be a higher attendance say summer of 05 than there was ten years earlier? Or maybe not, I dunno, I would like to know.
Originally Posted By mrichmondj 1995 MK attendance: 12.9M 2005 MK attendance: 16.1M source: Amusement Business
Originally Posted By DVC_dad Hummm well that's not huge, only a little over 3 million more a year. However, on a per centage basis, that is very significant.
Originally Posted By sjhym4 I think that the reason FP is still around is because as I said on the other post, FP definately has a mental component to it. You can see just from the postings here the number of different views there are. I would suggest that Disney isnt as amored with FP as it used to be. Hasnt DL reduced the number of FP attractions?
Originally Posted By alisserae sjhym4, I don't understand your shock over long lines in the parks this week. It's Orlando's spring breaks, the parks have been quite full. I've been cross-uing for Main Street's PAC, the crowds have been massive. Of course the wait is 80 minutes.
Originally Posted By sjhym4 Yeah, I know. I live in Orlando and have kids. My point was that on a day with the number of guests that were in the park the lines were overly long compared to comparative days before FP. I worked at Disney for many years, several in MK Attractions Mgmt. I have a good feel for capacity and wait times.
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA sjhym4, I have observed this 'shift' at Disneyland too. 'pre-FastPass' one could walk into Disneyland at 4:00pm, and see a very short wait for Big Thunder -- 15-20 minutes. Now, it's always at 35-40 minutes -- or more! And the walkways are always bumper-to-bumper-cheek-to-cheek.
Originally Posted By barboy One very troubling byproduct of FastPass is the flagrant disrespect towards the elaborate queues. The queue plays an extremely important role for an attraction. It gives us proper context and prepares us for the main event(the actual ride itself). Simply put it gets us in the mood. FastPass allows guests to just march right through like hedonistic children who lack respect for the imagineers and their amazingly detailed creations like Indiana Jones and Roger Rabbit out in Cal. or Universal Orlando's Dueling Dragons. We need to stop and smell the roses; take our time and savor the splendors. FastPassing beautiful queues is worse than jumping into sex without foreplay.
Originally Posted By sherrytodd ^^^ OK, I was going to comment on this one, but for my husbands honor I'll keep my mouth shut. =P
Originally Posted By danyoung >My take is that across the time span of a year it makes the experience worse not better...And that is all I am going to say anymore about FP.< Hey sjhym4, please don't get frustrated with this discussion. You have presented your argument quite eloquently. Just because I don't agree doesn't mean that I'm right and you're wrong! I was visiting Disney parks long before FP, and somehow found a way to enjoy myself. But I recognize the shift that FP now brings. And for some people, those who won't take the effort to learn the system, things are far worse than they used to be (well, maybe not far worse, but not as good). But for those of us who do work the system, who understand that the only way to get on Soarin' is to get a FP early and come back later, who are willing to pass up an attraction if it has an 80 minute line, then the current system is much much better.
Originally Posted By DVC_dad Yeah and I gots 5 kids almost 6! My oldest is only 11. I can't live without FP. Skaaaa-Roo waiting in line and getting in the mood.
Originally Posted By barboy "Skaaaa-Roo waiting in line and getting in the mood." I can only assume that you have not experienced either of the Indiana Jones at DL or Tokyo's Disney Sea as well as Roger Rabbit, Dueling Dragons across town, Tower of Terror or Journey to the Center of the Earth at Tokyo's Disney Sea. Now if you are talking about Soarin over Cal. or Space Mountain then I agree-- march right through those boring lines with a FastPass.
Originally Posted By DVC_dad Actually I have been to DL twice since Indy opened. And yes Roger Rabbit is a great que as well. I do appreciate the que for the rides, if I don't have my 3 year old and 20 month old...with me in line. I won't fly to Tokyo with my kids this small, and I won't go on vacation without them. So Tokyo will have to wait a few years for me unfortunately. We are however WDW regulars. In fact the Expedition Everest has an awesome queue line.
Originally Posted By Tiggirl I'm in the "anti-fastpass" group. LOL! I know very well how to take advantage of it and do so because it's better for me to do so since it exists. But I'd be happy if they got rid of it. I see FastPass causing longer standby times (and my best friend works attractions at DL and can confirm that without fastpass the lines move much faster) and I think it causes overcrowding in the walkways because there are less people in the lines. Of course I have no way to prove that but its what I notice from my years of going to Disney parks. ) ~Beth
Originally Posted By LacyBelle I'm sort of torn on the FP issue. I guess I like it when it works to my advantage. As Tiggirl mentioned, the lines do tend to move a lot slower since FP was introduced. I recall being in the standby line at BTMRR in the MK a few years back. The FP line was allowed down the ramp constantly. The standby line didn't move at all -- and when it did only a few people were allowed to move forward because a new stream of FP holders came up, so standby was halted again. The CMs working the line at the time must have been under the impression that FP holders are not to wait at all. IMO there has to be SOME amount of waiting, even if you have a FP. It would have been okay to stop the FP line to allow a dozen or so standby riders down the ramp every so often.
Originally Posted By Tiggirl Each ride has a certain ratio of FP to standby people they are let on at a time. For example if may be that the CM is supposed to let only 20 standby through for every 60 FP people. Of course this may not apply if there are no FP people in line. ~Beth
Originally Posted By LacyBelle The ratio seemed pretty unfairly skewed that day. The CMs were allowing the FP line run dry (so to speak) before letting any standby through. As soon as they started letting standby go, no more than 3 - 6 people were let through before it was stopped to allow newly arriving FPers in. When a new CM took over, he remedied the situation and distributed the lines more fairly. I think it was really just a poorly trained CM that was managing the line for the majority of the time we were up there. Just our luck, of course. This was a bit of an anomaly, though. It was the one bad experience I can point to where the FP to standby ratio was handled so poorly.
