Originally Posted By bobbelee9 How did the FP get so carried away? It seemed a good idea, but now it's impossible. Years ago the only dinners I had to reserve in advance, Luau, Hoop De Doo, and Castle. Now you have to know 6 months in advance what you're going to want on a particular night. My daughters and I are spending way too much time figuring where to eat, instead of thinking about all the fun we'll have. It stinks.
Originally Posted By Dznygrl ^^^Amen to that! We just spent a great deal of time figuring out when and where we wanted to eat for our trip in December and made all our reservations. It was exhausting! I've only been to WDW once before, but PS is getting way out of hand!
Originally Posted By TDLFAN Bobbelee9, you nailed it on the head so to speak. I agree with you 100%. And I wish you could see how FP has damaged TDR... where now, people RUN (stampede) style to some FP attractions to make sure they will get on later on... (and sometimes they wait 45 mins or more TO GET a FP as is the case with Hunny Hunt at times) It's ridiculous and unsafe.
Originally Posted By DLer TDL: I agree with you - the downside of something like FastPass is that if there are only one or two attractions in the park which are immensely popular, unless one plans their visit in such a way as to get one of those "golden tickets" then they might be looking at a very long standby wait for one of those popular attractions. I've seen that happen the last two times I visited Epcot - if we didn't send out a "scout party" to get FPs at either Test Track or Soarin then we were looking at no FPs later on and/or a long standby wait. Can't resist pointing out that in a park such as Epcot, with only those two attractions really being the ones where FastPass is required, if a "premium" Disney resort guest was able to hold FPs for two separate attractions at one time, what an advantage that would be to them and how quickly that might mean all the FPs would be gone sooner in the day for the rest of the "rank and file". In a park like MK where there are lots of attractions it would probably be no big deal but in a park like Epcot with only a few real popular attractions it would alter things quite a bit.
Originally Posted By DLer vb: Going only on my personal experiences over 4-5 trips to WDW since Test Track opened, the lines before FP were in the 45-60 minute range but with the FP system the standby lines have almost always seemed to be in the 70-90 minute range. Add to that is the fact that on both of the last two trips I made, on TT as I was watching from the FP line there were some serious "customer service emergencies" where irate guests in the standby line were giving the business to the CM's regulating the flow of guests from the standby line into the attraction - with the obvious flow of guests in the FP line visible to the the poor devils in the very slow moving standby line guests, especially for those unfamiliar or unknowing of the intricacies of FP and not used to waiting in line, the situation can be stressful (never mind the poor CM who gets stuck at the entry point of the standby line to the FP queue into the ride!) I don't perceive FP to be as much of an issue at Disneyland as the park is so much smaller with so many attractions in close proximity (and with many without FP at all) that there always seems to be a nearby standby line that is not so long as to allow one to get an FP and do something else as opposed to having to go standby due to a lack of other attractions in the vicinity or due to "sold out" FPs. Splash Mt. and Autopia at Disneyland are probably the only attractions that get superlong lines with FP at DL. Again, just my limited experiences. In this day and age of instant and available communications, one thing that might help would be more "ride boards" placed throughout the parks - with ride boards strategically placed in the park it might help to allow guests to find close-by attractions with small standby lines where they could wait for those attractions after getting an FP or helping to decide what attractions to get FP for. As long as the FP system is going to be there, at least provide the "user" with the information to make a reasonable choice - this is particularly important in WDW parks like Epcot or MK where the distances between attractions might be vast (compared to DL for example).
Originally Posted By Disney515 The last time I was at the DAK for after hours, my kids and I stood on the line for Everest and you would think we would have had a 120 min wait! But no, we only waited 20 min...why??....Because there was no FastPass line. I don't care for the FP only because us nonearly risers don't stand a chance of even receiving one by the time we get to the park at 11:00am.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 DLer - I respect your opinion on FP and it certainly is a charged discussion usually - and I totally agree that somehow it would be good if more people knew the 'rules' of FP -- but who can force them to read. Some of those same people you correctly single out as giving the biz to Cm's are the same morons cutting lines / and b***ing and moaning about everything else also. As for the times on TT - I certainly have not been there as many times as some people here - but I have almost always been there in peak times - summer usually because of having kids in school. I have 38 trips to WDW, and would have about 15 since TT went in. My experience is that by mid day in summer the waits were 60 - 75 mins - and at times 90 mins before FP. Now lots of variables I can't test out because MS was not open next to it before FP - and that eats some people ( although not as many today as they planned on) - and Soarin was not open --
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 Just wait my fellow Disney spirits, Disney Marketing is getting very pushy about adding the much bandied about tiered levels of FP to the WDW magical vacation experience. You won't want to be off-site ... or value resort ... or even moderate ... or, if some people get there way, or even on a discounted rate (yeah, you read that right) at any level, including deluxe, because your chances at getting a FP will be greatly reduced. Again, this hasn't happened yet ... and having that boob Mendenhall leave is a good sign, but it isn't dead either ...and, if that happens, I'd say go ahead and get rid of the whole thing.
Originally Posted By DLer Spirit: I unfortunately have to agree with your prognosis that eventually a tiered system will come into being. Just look at the past in terms of the way the multi-day park tickets have been handled at WDW: Originally a 4 day ticket was a parkhopper with no expiration date; now the base 4-day ticket has became a set of 4 one-day park tickets with no park hopping and expiration (the latter two features becoming "upcharge" items) It just seems inevitable that some kind of tier system will come into being with (a) onsite Disney guests getting better access than offsite guests and (b) onsite guests at more expensive resorts (or buying upgrade packages) getting better FP access in the parks It seems inevitable because the "way of the world" these days has become one of preferred services being in demand among those willing to pay the extra money for those privileges - and for companies wanting to make a bigger profit, that kind of situation means more income and is a compelling reason to add such services to their offerings. Yes, for many people the chance to "get away" from the real world at an amusement park meant escaping from the class distinctions of the real world - but at this point in time, it looks like the Disney parks may lose a bit of that charm by reflecting more of the class distinctions from outside the walls. And that, perhaps, might be a sad day for many if and when it comes.
Originally Posted By MPierce I'm afraid I have to agree with DLer in post #50. It certainly has all the appearance of the Disney Corp. going in this direction. I hope I'm very wrong on this.
