Fast Pass

[disneypharm]

Yeah, we are slated to go in mid July. Increasing crowds + No Fastpasses = Ugly Scenario. I think we are on the verge of pulling the plug on our plans...

We already cancelled. DH refuses to go without FPs.

 

[DisneyFive]

We already cancelled. DH refuses to go without FPs.

I completely understand.

With the high cost of a Disney vacation, you want to know that you are getting your moneys worth. I’m not sure that we will get our moneys worth this summer if they do not reinstate fastpass, but it has been too long and we are willing to take the gamble.

If FP+ is not available and it significantly puts a negative on our vacation, we will not be going back sadly

Dan

 

[ST1TCH]

It's certainly fun to sit here and play armchair quarterback and wonder why aren't they doing this or will they do that, but I'm fairly certain that those in control and behind the scenes have been hard at work for a while now developing plans, backup plans, procedures, alternative procedures, etc. There may very well be plans and systems ready to go....just pending a CDC determination on removing mask requirements and social distancing. That goes for just about everything we're hoping will come back at Disney, not just FP+ (fireworks, shows, character meet n greets, etc etc).

I just hope that the return of FP in whatever form it takes, will strike a balance for those who are unable to get them in advance and not make the standby lines horrible.

 

[gharter]

We already cancelled. DH refuses to go without FPs.

We were there in April. I was concerned about the lack of FPs. While a few lines were long, most were under 30 minutes. It was nice to see the Standby line continually moving in stead of barely moving due to FP. We didn't miss FPs any where near as much as we expected. Now, how well that will work as they get nearer to normal capacity without FPs is an entirely different discussion. However, if at that point, they have all the rides, shows and parades back, it still may not be bad.

 

[jsbowl16]

You can still have the same success at rope drop (and park close) and probably more since there is no FP+line at all. And using HS as the example....yes, you could have three FP+ but only one of those FP+ would be a tier one. The other two would be for attractions you would never wait 40 minutes for and while the top attractions in a park may have 40 minute standby waits not, if FP+ was operating, those same standby waits would be double.

Sure, some people can get additional FP+ for tier one attractions but using Rock N Roller Coaster as an example, the time "savings" from what FP+ could offer has been greatly diminished. On most days, the highest the wait time is getting for Rock N Roller coaster without FP+ is like 45 minutes and that held true for basically all of spring break. Overall, the wait times have been greatly reduced

I don't think they would have tiers at HS right now if they brought back FP.

 

[jsbowl16]

Give me a 40 minute wait all day long vs 90 or 120 min stand by. I dont like getting 3 rides a day then 90 mins for everything else.

with no FP+ it is at least "fair" for everyone. FP+ stand by lines are a joke.

The minimum is 40. Most are 60 to 90.

 

[jsbowl16]

I am firmly in the opposite camp. 2 trips without FP+ have been awesome. I hope they never come bak.

It was awesome on our trips last July and over Christmas but Easter was bad and this summer will be horrible with increased capacity. It will just get worse and worse until they open more shows and meet and greets again. They need some capacity ”eaters" back ASAP.

 

[disneypharm]

I completely understand.

With the high cost of a Disney vacation, you want to know that you are getting your moneys worth. I’m not sure that we will get our moneys worth this summer if they do not reinstate fastpass, but it has been too long and we are willing to take the gamble.

If FP+ is not available and it significantly puts a negative on our vacation, we will not be going back sadly

Dan

Our last trip that was cancelled (early May 2020) was supposed to be for our 30th anniversary, daughter's college graduation, and DH's birthday. We had 2 deluxe resorts reserved for 10 days, FPs (including 4 FOP), dinner reservations, and many extras. It is hard to pay the same amount to go this summer and get a fraction of what we could have gotten last year. We are willing to wait for more things to open (including FPs) or take our money and use it for an international trip instead.

 

[DisneyFive]

Our last trip that was cancelled (early May 2020) was supposed to be for our 30th anniversary, daughter's college graduation, and DH's birthday. We had 2 deluxe resorts reserved for 10 days, FPs (including 4 FOP), dinner reservations, and many extras. It is hard to pay the same amount to go this summer and get a fraction of what we could have gotten last year. We are willing to wait for more things to open (including FPs) or take our money and use it for an international trip instead.

We're the same in 2020 but it was cruises, and instead of FP+, we won't cruise until masks aren't required (we're not anti-maskers). We had a 7 night cruise booked, our first with my parents, and for our nieces graduation. We also had a 9 night cruise in July with our adult friends but that also was cancelled. Stupid COVID!

Dan

 

[PanchoX1]

I hope the Fast passes are still gone for our next trip. Moving lines are so great. Standing still for long periods of time while dozens and dozens of fast pass holders go by you is super demoralizing. If they increase ride capacity as park capacity increases, doubt you will even feel the impact this summer. and with smaller social distancing requirements, the walkways won't have the queues spilling out into them. I'm looking forward to the trip.

 

[annadreamsofdisneyworld]

8 fast is not the norm and you know it. We go during busy times of the year, and don't stay in the park all day long. and most of the times, the 5th or 6th fast pass is for something like philharmonic or COP.

Waiting in line for 40 minutes any time I want to ride 7DMY is so much more enjoyable then 90 minute standby or hinging your entire trip off a FP+ reservation 60 days out.

No I don't know it. We've been in November, May, and August, and we've never had trouble getting fast passes all day long.

 

[disneypharm]

We're the same in 2020 but it was cruises, and instead of FP+, we won't cruise until masks aren't required (we're not anti-maskers). We had a 7 night cruise booked, our first with my parents, and for our nieces graduation. We also had a 9 night cruise in July with our adult friends but that also was cancelled. Stupid COVID!

Dan

Yes, stupid Covid! Bummer that you missed all these trips. Hope you have a great trip this time.

I hope the Fast passes are still gone for our next trip. Moving lines are so great. Standing still for long periods of time while dozens and dozens of fast pass holders go by you is super demoralizing. If they increase ride capacity as park capacity increases, doubt you will even feel the impact this summer. and with smaller social distancing requirements, the walkways won't have the queues spilling out into them. I'm looking forward to the trip.

As I mentioned before, we used to be able to get 5-10 FPs each day (yes many people have mentioned the same thing on this thread). Walking through the FP lines, I always wondered why people didn't get FPs instead of standing in standby lines!! I knew that getting FPs for headliners (mostly 1-2 rides in each park) last minute was hard, but why wouldn't they try to get FPs for other rides!

 

[annadreamsofdisneyworld]

Yes, stupid Covid! Bummer that you missed all these trips. Hope you have a great trip this time.


As I mentioned before, we used to be able to get 5-10 FPs each day (yes many people have mentioned the same thing on this thread). Walking through the FP lines, I always wondered why people didn't get FPs instead of standing in standby lines!! I knew that getting FPs for headliners (mostly 1-2 rides in each park) last minute was hard, but why wouldn't they try to get FPs for other rides!

I think most people don't know the best strategies for getting lots of fast passes. Some people don't even know that you can get more than 3! One time I stood in line behind a couple arguing about whether or not you could get more fast passes after the first 3. I also had a colleague who took her family to Disney World. When she returned home, and I asked her about her trip, she said "Well we only get 3 fast passes, so we did those, and then it was too crowded so we went back to the hotel." I didn't have the heart to tell her that she could have gotten fast passes all day long.

 

[disneypharm]

I think most people don't know the best strategies for getting lots of fast passes. Some people don't even know that you can get more than 3! One time I stood in line behind a couple arguing about whether or not you could get more fast passes after the first 3. I also had a colleague who took her family to Disney World. When she returned home, and I asked her about her trip, she said "Well we only get 3 fast passes, so we did those, and then it was too crowded so we went back to the hotel." I didn't have the heart to tell her that she could have gotten fast passes all day long.

I agree. We even used to stack fastpasses at Disneyland. We would get 4-6 FPs in the morning before getting crowded, keep them, would go back to the hotel, and come back and used them in the evening when parks were extremely crowded. I think they stopped allowing that. Even with FP+, we never had any problem getting 5-10 FPs (getting 3 in advance in the first park, then get 2 more, used those, park hop after taking sometime in our hotel room, and get 3-4 more in the second park. I rarely spent more than 2-3 minutes on my cell phone for each FP (I hate using my phone on my vacation).

 

[Tess]

So my recent trip (end of April) had me really missing FP+, and we are not people who usually get more than 4 FP+ a day (although we try!). Refresh and I have not been friends! Anyways, the main reason I missed it this last trip was because I found having FP+ really helps us slow down and not have to rush so much and really gives us a chance to enjoy the little things around the parks.

When we had FP+, we could stroll into the park at opening, taking pictures around the park with hardly anyone in them (and before our hair got frizzy ), enjoy the atmosphere, and not have to worry about rushing to the headliners since we had FP+ for them later. Even with our leisurely entry, we would still be able to ride a handful of rides with no waits before our first FP+ kicked in that we typically scheduled for about an hour after park opening. There was one year we were able to get on Splash 4 times in the first hour with no wait, it was awesome! Being able to have a relaxing morning exploring the park AND get on all the rides we wanted was amazing. This was, by far, the thing I missed the most this past trip without having FP+.

In April, every morning was spent running around the park to try to beat the crowds to each ride, and rides that I had come to expect to be walk-on at park opening during the days of FP+ already had waits (albeit not horrible waits, but walk-on is still better than 15-20 minutes!). After the first hour or so the lines built to longer waits than I ever saw when FP+ was around in the morning. The parks really seemed be more crowded earlier in the day than I have seen in past years. My theory is that more people are trying to get there at park opening now without FP+ to avoid long lines. Plus when FP+ was around, people would schedule theirs for later in the day and wouldn’t get to the park until later around when they kicked in which helped distribute the crowds better throughout the day. Just a theory, but makes sense to me!

Totally agree with this theory! We utilize the same type touring plan, although we would admittedly run for a headliner at park opening for which we did not have a FP+ and move on from there after a short ride wait.

We just returned on 5/14 and found the same as you--the crowds were there from early park opening but the masses arrived within the first hour, the stated opening time, and the queues became exceptionally long--60+ minutes for the headliners.

Our return home day was the day prior to the capacity increase although, frankly, we have felt the capacity has been understated since our prior trip in October. Disney can state it was 35%, but I have 10+ years of experience for our October/May weeks--always the same weeks for both months--and I assure you, it was far busier (from a crowd/wait time standpoint) than any of our prior trips in both October and May.

 

[Grumpy by Birth]

While I do feel somewhat sorry for all the people who don't understand how FP+ worked and stood in long lines unnecessarily as a result, my sympathy only extends a little bit. They have the same opportunity as anyone else to learn how to use FPs more efficiently.

If someone is waiting in a long standby line when FPs are readily available for a few minutes later, they really have no one but themselves to blame. I've even had people "argue" with me when I tried to be helpful and recommend that they check for a FP before getting into that long line.

The problem is that, for everyone on here (myself included) who boasts about being able to get 5-10 FPs a day, that number would go down significantly if every guest was more savvy in utilizing the system. The sad reality is that the FP "uber users" NEED those uninformed masses leaving those thousands of FPs "on the table" for us to snatch up. Ok, maybe "need" is overstating things, but we certainly benefit from it.

 

[gharter]

I don't think they would have tiers at HS right now if they brought back FP.

When they bring back FPs, whatever they look like, I would be surprised to not see the tiers come back. Especially with HS (but I expect RoTR to continue the virtual queue)
And EPCOT, whenever their new rides open, I can see the tiers there as well unless Guardians does the virtual queue as well.

 

[PanchoX1]

what are these tiers you're referring to?

 

[gharter]

what are these tiers you're referring to?

AK an dMK have not had tiers for FPs.

Previously HS
Tier 1 RnRC, ToT, SDD
Tier 2 all the others

EPCOT
Tier 1 Soaring, TT, Frozen
Tier 2 all the others

For your FPs, you could pick 1 tier 1 and 2 tier 2. After you used all 3 then you could pick from either tier after that.

 

[disneypharm]

While I do feel somewhat sorry for all the people who don't understand how FP+ worked and stood in long lines unnecessarily as a result, my sympathy only extends a little bit. They have the same opportunity as anyone else to learn how to use FPs more efficiently.

If someone is waiting in a long standby line when FPs are readily available for a few minutes later, they really have no one but themselves to blame. I've even had people "argue" with me when I tried to be helpful and recommend that they check for a FP before getting into that long line.

The problem is that, for everyone on here (myself included) who boasts about being able to get 5-10 FPs a day, that number would go down significantly if every guest was more savvy in utilizing the system. The sad reality is that the FP "uber users" NEED those uninformed masses leaving those thousands of FPs "on the table" for us to snatch up. Ok, maybe "need" is overstating things, but we certainly benefit from it.

I agree with you. I am ok with more people learning how to use the FPs. Our FPs were 90% walk on. I am ok with having to wait a bit longer (still less than 20 min) on FP lines if that means more people know how to take advantage of them. At that time, I am sure FPs will be less available (since there are only a limited number), but I am good with that as well. Our Express passes at Universal was definitely not walk on but still much better than waiting on standby lines.