Walt Disney World to Crack Down on Guests Taking Advantage of FastPass+ System

Ian;2502821 wrote:

I am totally over Fastpass. Any kind of Fastpass ... paper ... + ... whatever. Just WAIT IN LINE for heaven's sake!! It worked in Disneyland for like 50 years, so what now all of a sudden we're too special to just wait in line for a ride. I firmly believe that if they got rid of Fastpass the lines would settle in and everything would have a much more modest wait.

This is supposed to be a VACATION!! Relaxing, enjoyable, away from all the craziness of regular life and I swear it's gotten to the point where the "vacation" is more stressful than work! Worrying about Fastpasses so much you stoop to scamming the system??? Look at all the crazy lengths people go to to get ADR's?!?! I mean it's risen to the level of absurdity.

Put it back the way it was. No ADR's. No Fastpasses. Just go, relax, enjoy yourself, and de-stress. Eliminate the need for a Microsoft Project Plan for vacations, Disney, I beg of you!

Ian, in a lot of respects I agree with you whole-heartedly, but I understand what Disney did (or at least their thought processes) with these FastPasses as well. It started out, as you well know, as a perk for Disney Resort guests, but turned into a monster. I don't think they really understood how many guests were staying at Disney Resorts. When they opened it up to everyone, it just became unmanageable.

In my opinion, (and we all know what that's worth! LOL) they could do something like the YoaMD park 'pass' (I believe it was called a 'MagicPass' or something to that effect) and issue every resort guest one per park for their visit. Have all the major attractions on the pass and let them be used at any time for 'front of the line' access one time only. That way every resort guest could have access to the 'E-ticket' attractions one time per visit, guaranteed. This would be a definite perk for those staying 'On Property' and, possibly, eliminate or manage some of the queue backups. If you Park Hop, you could still use the 'pass' for that park, but with the knowledge that it would still be 'one and done.'

ADRs, yeah, they could go away, but would you stand in a queue for any extended period of time for a restaurant? OR could you think of traipsing around a park (like World Showcase) for any length of time to find a table service restaurant that had an opening? If they did something like that, even if they allowed 'same-day' reservations, they would have to do away with 'Free Dining' except for Counter Service. Maybe that would be a good thing, maybe not.

In the long run, these 'perks' have nothing to do with the visitor, but more to do with park, and restaurant, management, and have proved to be less than effective, or popular, to most regular guests.

Ian;2502821 wrote:

I am totally over Fastpass. Any kind of Fastpass ... paper ... + ... whatever. Just WAIT IN LINE for heaven's sake!! It worked in Disneyland for like 50 years, so what now all of a sudden we're too special to just wait in line for a ride. I firmly believe that if they got rid of Fastpass the lines would settle in and everything would have a much more modest wait.

This is supposed to be a VACATION!! Relaxing, enjoyable, away from all the craziness of regular life and I swear it's gotten to the point where the "vacation" is more stressful than work! Worrying about Fastpasses so much you stoop to scamming the system??? Look at all the crazy lengths people go to to get ADR's?!?! I mean it's risen to the level of absurdity.

Put it back the way it was. No ADR's. No Fastpasses. Just go, relax, enjoy yourself, and de-stress. Eliminate the need for a Microsoft Project Plan for vacations, Disney, I beg of you!

I 100% agree. I was saying this as soon as they started announcing FP+. I knew it was going to be an irritating mess to deal with.

The thing about the attractions and fastpasses is that the attractions have a maximum throughput per hour. No matter what kind of passes, que lines or special tickets they throw out there, it does not change how many guests can go through any particular attraction per hour. All fastpasses do is give you a false warm and fuzzy feeling when you get to go through a few attractions without waiting a very long time (although now, they are allowing so many fastpasses that you even have moderate waits in the so called "fastpass" lines). The trade off to that short wait in a few attractions is an extremely long wait in the rest that you didn't have fastpasses. Regardless, guests are going to have an average wait time of roughly the same amount with or without any fastpasses at all with the exception of locals or others that show up, do their 3 fastpasses and leave.......Those are the only people that truly benefit from the system.

Totally agree with Ian. I really miss the spontaneity. There are so many things that I dislike about the Fastpass+ system and the 180 days out for ADR. I am also convinced that it creates longer lines. I think this is especially true about rides that never had Fastpass to begin with. I liked the old Fastpass system. That way you could be spontaneous about what park you wanted to visit but still have some rides where you didn't have to wait.

However, someone else posted that Fastpass was originally only for Disney Resort Guests. I don't think that this is true. I believe it was true for Fastpass+ but never the original Fastpass system.

This whole vacation has me totally stressed out with spreadsheets and "plan a" and "plan b". I am so frustrated with the ADRs as well. I remember when the only place you needed a reservation for was for character dining. Now we have to decide where we want to eat six months out and pray that you don't oversleep, your internet doesn't go out,and that there isn't a glitch in the MDE system. Turns out that people cheat the ADR system as well?

Now they make everything so complicated and people have developed these crazy ways to cheat the system. I had no idea that this was going on. This is just sad, sad , sad. It is just as sad as people faking a disability to cut lines. It makes life difficult for those who really tried to do the right thing.

On the other hand I have friends who are Disney newbies and will probably only go once. They love the Fastpass+ system.

Ian;2502821 wrote:

I am totally over Fastpass. Any kind of Fastpass ... paper ... + ... whatever. Just WAIT IN LINE for heaven's sake!! It worked in Disneyland for like 50 years, so what now all of a sudden we're too special to just wait in line for a ride. I firmly believe that if they got rid of Fastpass the lines would settle in and everything would have a much more modest wait.

I have been saying something similar to this for years. In Disneyworld they went almost 30 years without a fastpass system. And from 1982 till the Fastpass system was implemented (I don't remember which year that was I want to say 1999, but I am not sure), most attractions topped out at a 45 minute wait (dumbo always seemed to be an exception).

Prior to 1982, your admission ticket did not include all the attractions you had to purchase the A-E ticket books, which really limited the time you had to wait for most things (again except for Dumbo, that always had a huge line when I was a kid). Most people did not want to have to buy more tickets to ride something a second or third time.

As for the current state of Dining, I believe that has more to do with Disney Dining Plan than the ADR system. Prior to DDP you used to be able to get dining reservations for most restaurants when you arrived at the park (I used to call WDW-DINE from my hotel room when I got up in the morning). With the DDP everyone needs to make sure they have their dining booked to use up all their credits.

I'm in the beginning phase of planning our upcoming December trip and I hate that I have to make my ADRs already this week. I miss the days of planning only a couple months in advance. I don't want to plan my days around where I eat, I want to plan my meals around where I'm at. Of course, I guess we could just eat at counter service locations and that would take care of the problem. I haven't even begun to think about what and where we want our fast passes each day. Too much stress planning a WDW vacation anymore. BUT, I am still thankful that we can even go to WDW as I know it's only a dream for some families. :mickey:

Not to say I disagree with any of your points, but as a super-organized person I am glad with the new FP+ and ADR system. It puts all my stresses and worries away about my vacation ahead. I also think it might not be a bad idea for Disney to offer FP+ to resort guests only or offer less FP+ to off-site guests. Just my two cents. And as homeschool mom said, I am just fortunate I am able to visit WDW no matter what FP or ADR system they have.

Ian;2502821 wrote:

This is supposed to be a VACATION!! Relaxing, enjoyable, away from all the craziness of regular life and I swear it's gotten to the point where the "vacation" is more stressful than work! Worrying about Fastpasses so much you stoop to scamming the system??? Look at all the crazy lengths people go to to get ADR's?!?! I mean it's risen to the level of absurdity.

This is a Disney vacation. This is no time for relaxation or enjoyment. (Think of Tom Hank's voice saying There's no crying in baseball.)

To me, the FP+ spreads the anxiety out, and takes away from it. But, that is progress. I do like the billing to the bracelet.

Until I saw last two post I thought hubby and I were in a minority of two! We like booking Fastpasses and ADR's as it takes stress out of where we're going to eat and how long we have to wait for rides. Knowing we've got favourite rides "booked" and a place to sit and eat in a relaxed manner in advance means less stress. Hubby's disability means we're not opening to closing people and what he can do, for how long and pain level varies day to day. Having some things already sorted means not having to worry.

I actually enjoy the FP+ and ADR because I love planning and the stretched out planning helps to build anticipation for the trip. As my father has said for many years (even in the pre FP and ADR days) Disney World is a work vacation so just go into it with that mindset. If I want a completely relaxing vacation with minimal planning I head to the beach or on a cruise.

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ian;2502821 wrote:

I am totally over fastpass. Any kind of fastpass ... Paper ... + ... Whatever. Just wait in line for heaven's sake!! It worked in disneyland for like 50 years, so what now all of a sudden we're too special to just wait in line for a ride. I firmly believe that if they got rid of fastpass the lines would settle in and everything would have a much more modest wait.

This is supposed to be a vacation!! Relaxing, enjoyable, away from all the craziness of regular life and i swear it's gotten to the point where the "vacation" is more stressful than work! Worrying about fastpasses so much you stoop to scamming the system??? Look at all the crazy lengths people go to to get adr's?!?! I mean it's risen to the level of absurdity.

Put it back the way it was. No adr's. No fastpasses. Just go, relax, enjoy yourself, and de-stress. Eliminate the need for a microsoft project plan for vacations, disney, i beg of you!

amen!

I think, in part, that the other issue is Disney thinking that they NEED to know what the patron is doing at any particular time. Just because they can... but, should they?

I thought Fastpass was created so guests would spend less time waiting in line and more time shopping/dining/spending money anywhere. It was never intended to be convenient for us as vacation goers, it's supposed to increase their bottom line.

I miss the OLD DISNEY DAYS when you could go and enjoy the magic. A time when you could see Mickey just walking down main street and stop and take a picture. But I guess society has changed so Disney had to change. Now it is more stress than rest. It lost some of the pixie dust in my eyes, but I still love to go.
As for Fastpass+ I feel it just adds to the disappointment months out. If the FPS are all gone now I know I will not get on that particular ride without a long wait which will eat up my day at the park. I usually by pass it and say next trip. I have only been on SDMT once and it was not worth the FP frenzy.
As for ADR's I think free dinning killed the Disney meal. It is a business and they need to make money. The food has IMHO gone down hill except at the signature restaurants. Everywhere else it is $$$$ for crowd pleasing foods that are not in any way worth the extra money. The ADR fill up fast to use up those credits and now you are forced to think about what you want to eat 180 days in advance.

BriarRose0708;2503094 wrote: I thought Fastpass was created so guests would spend less time waiting in line and more time shopping/dining/spending money anywhere. It was never intended to be convenient for us as vacation goers, it's supposed to increase their bottom line.

And bingo.. Great point.

BriarRose0708;2503094 wrote: I thought Fastpass was created so guests would spend less time waiting in line and more time shopping/dining/spending money anywhere. It was never intended to be convenient for us as vacation goers, it's supposed to increase their bottom line.

That was the intended purpose but it hasn't worked as they imagined. We spend far more time standing in other lines that never had much of a wait prior to FP+. We used to FP the big name rides and blow right through the others that didn't have much of a wait with the paper FP system. We had all kinds of time for looking through shops and getting snacks and such but now, we spend most of our time in lines. By the time we get the attractions done, we are ready to get the heck out of there.

1DisneyNut;2503294 wrote: That was the intended purpose but it hasn't worked as they imagined. We spend far more time standing in other lines that never had much of a wait prior to FP+. We used to FP the big name rides and blow right through the others that didn't have much of a wait with the paper FP system. We had all kinds of time for looking through shops and getting snacks and such but now, we spend most of our time in lines. By the time we get the attractions done, we are ready to get the heck out of there.

Exactly. What I should have added to that post is that no one can account for how people will actually behave - it's backfired on them in many ways, and it's also made our experience as guests more difficult in many ways. At the end of the day, though, I'll always choose to believe that guest experience is not necessarily the priority or the criteria used when the "powers at be" make decisions.