Why Fastpass at Disney can be horrible

RG: For the Land ride, and the land ride ONLY as it has been explained to me, the line was INTENTIONALLY lengthened. For the last few seasons, the Land ride has had vitually no wait at all. And coincidentally, the food court @ the Land Pavillion was empty too. By reducing the capacity of the ride, Disney effectively made getting a FastPass for the Land a MUCH more attractive option, witht he hopes that people will hang out in the food court for their time to come up.

MAKE NO DOUBT I THINK THIS IS A CROCK OF SH!+. This *particular* installation of FP was done with no thought to improving the guest's experience. The *other* FP stalls actually meet a need, but The Land hasnt had a line for years. The ONLY reason The Land has a line is because Disney chooses to run it at a lessened capacity.

On rides like Splash Mountatin, Space Mountatain and others working @ max Q, FP has recuded the waits in both the FP and regular queues (ask Absmillard for a detailed descrip). But in this particular case FP sux!

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"Nobody writes about the planes that land." Steve Salerno Washington Times 7-10-01

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SLFAKE said:
I just happen to think it is funny that the "Regular line" has now become the "Stand By" line.

 

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That was a point I was trying to make.  In a year or 2 when everyone learns about fastpass and how to use it, they will realize that this is the only way you can ride something without waiting an hour or 2 in the "regular line."  When everyone is on the fastpass lane, then it won't work that great since the number of people will be way too much.  Like I said, if everyone from the regular line is going to end up in the fastpass line, how can it work?  Will you get 1 ride a day?  I seem to hear about people on this board getting 5, 10, or even more rides on the same ride in 1 day.  That's won't happen on fastpass, or any of the other versions.
Zimm

SLFAKE:

Your comparison isn't fair because Fast Lane and Fast Pass are completely different systems. 

Out of all the "line cutting" systems i would probably prefer Lo-Q because you have a "virtual" spot in line so you are not really cutting in front of anyone, you just give the impression that the line is shorter than it actually is.
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D.o.t. Crew 2000
Flight of Fear/Wave Swinger crew 2001-2002

Yep! At IoA the line for the log ride posted 45minutes. All the fast-passes were gone so I waited, and waited, and waited. My line went to 45minutes to1hr 30minutes.
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Good Times!! Good Times!!
-Patrick

Ive had no problems with fastpass at all!!!! The original poster caused his own problems by not utilizing the system or returning later in the day when the line would have been far shorter. The system is free and not used as a way to force you to spend more money like six flags does. If you use fastpass correctly it saves alot of time and lets you maximize your day at the park. Why would anybody wait that long for the land ride anyway?????

I don't see how they could have removed boats on Living with the Land.  When I was there last October the boats were constantly heading into the station one after another.  There wouldn't have been room for more boats.  I think the line has just grown over the past few years because of increasing popularity.  I really don't think it's because the Disney empire has some sort of evil plot to lengthen lines.

*** This post was edited by mamba on 2/12/2002. ***

All these "systems" bite the big one, IMO.  It just takes more staffing than parks are willing to keep working a ride to allow a "normal" line, a "fastpass" line, and a "single-riders" line.  Disney, and the FL parks, keep more staff than most, but I still believe any wait that you know about is WAY better than a wait that APPEARS small, only to grow.......and grow........and grow...

Lo-Q may be the best since it isn't really "cutting" but the distinction is a minor one at best...

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Florida needs an Intamin and/or CCI soon...PLEASE!
Son of Drop Zone - PKI CoasterCamp I Champions!!!

mamba: the boats we only very recently removed (I want to say in December, let me check on that). When the boats were running like you said (and like they did on my visit March 2001) there was practically no line EVER (again info via a local) RGW, you wish to add something?

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"Nobody writes about the planes that land." Steve Salerno Washington Times 7-10-01

I'm in favor of the fastpass system I think it works well.

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Wild Thing: 75Laps! Power Tower: 73 Rides. Valleyair Security 2002! 8Years Working at Valleyfair!

I'm amazed at how many of you don't understand the concept behind a FastPass type system. No one is cutting in line in front of you...ever!

Granted all systems are different but the idea is the same:

Rather than standing in line, you get a ticket that compensates for the time you would be standing there. Thus freeing that time to do other things at the park. Used intelligently, these systems can greatly improve the amount you can do and see at a park in a day.

Disney's FastPass system is essentially a reservations setup. You get a ticket for a predertermined time to ride. The numbers of these tickets are limited (otherwise the FastPAss line would turn into the "regular" line). These people have taken a few moment out of their day to guarantee a chance to ride the attraction in question. Optimally the numbers work out that your wait in the "regular" line is barely slowed, if at all, due to the low number of reservations accepted. Although I have to admit that if half of the stories I'm reading here are true, then I suspect Disney of upping the number of passes available in hopes of getting more people to use them.

A system like Lo-Q is more of a virtual queue. Say you show up at the ride or attraction at 3pm. The wait is 45 minutes. You use your little beeper thing in the slot (or whatever you want to call the components) to be notified of your ride time. Your friend decides to wait in line. You go ride another coaster while you wait. Your friend still stands in the queue. At 3:45 your beeper goes off. You get to the ride at 3:50 (5 minute walk from the time you were alerted) and get on. Your friend is getting off of the train you get onto.

In a 45 minute period you rode two coasters while your friend rode one and nobody had to wait in line any longer than they would have without the system...in fact you double your experience in that 45 minute time frame. It's actually a very brilliant idea.

I still fail to see how this is "cutting in line" - sounds like good planning to me.

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www.coasterimage.com

My experience has been mixed but I'm still very much in favor of the FastPass ssytem Disney has. My bad experience was on Test Track two years ago (October, so lines were somewhat shorter). The ride shut down and out Fastpasses were stamped to allow us to come back later. Since the window of opportunity for the fast passes were stacking up (I heard later that it was down for over an hour, which may be three sets if the times overlap) we ended up waiting for an hour (and I don't even want to think about how long the regular line was).

Under normal circumstances, getting to the park early and picking up new passes as soon as the old ones are used is the best way to use the service, and I saw a 15 minute wait when teh regular line was 30-45 minutes. Not a bad difference, and the half hour you "saved" lets you do something else that the park might benefit from (ie shopping or getting food). Even if most people would go right to another ride, a good percentage of people would do exactly what the park wanted and it increases the amount of money coming into the park.

I love fastpass.  I was at MGM and rode Tower of Terror and Rock n' Roller Coaster with a 4 minute wait for ToT and a 10 minute wait for RnRC, and the park was JAMMED.  Used it the whole day...it was great!  I also would like to see the single rider lines that they have at IOA implemented at other parks.

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Lord Gonchar said:

nobody had to wait in line any longer than they would have without the system...

Except the people behind you on the second ride...

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Lord, I've said this before. The concept of Fastpass does look very good on paper. So does Communism.

Don't act like we're ignorant for not liking it. Obviously there's a problem when so many people have bad experiences with it. Our argument is as good as yours.

*** This post was edited by scanz on 2/13/2002. ***

Well...if the GP isn't liking it, why is Disney coming out with version 2.0?  It must be working for somebody.  If it weren't, i would assume they would scrap it completely. 
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Idle hands were orient to her.

As for single rider lines....

Again, an example from SFA.  There was ONE ride op that I saw using common sense there!  He was working on BatWing with its 4 across seating.  When a train was loading and they saw the rows fill in, he would yell down to the crowd waiting in the queue... "Single Rider?  Single Rider?"  Instead of sending away a 32 person train (Are Batwing trains 32 person trains?) with possibly 8 empty spaces (3 people in each 4 seat row), he filled those with as many single riders as he could find.  Dispatch time was not reduced significantly if at all because he would not wait for single riders, he would just fill in what he could. 

I know this is not a single rider line... but the theory is the same...  Speeds up the lines drastically for single riders, and to a lesser degree for non single riders. 

I'll tell you this much. Without the Fastpass system, I would never set foot in another Disney park, period. This system saved at least one customer from never returning. One of Disney's bread and butter is their capacity, you just can't do it any better than they do it. Yet the number one complaint from tourists was the absolutely horrible wait times for rides like Indiana Jones and Splash Mountain, and I agree. I got to the point where I just stopped wasting my money on their parks and went to the ones where the crowds weren't so bad, until Fastpass. This system is pure genious, and allows my family and I time to *breath* between standing in four hours line in ninty degree heat. Give me a break.

I'll be the first to admit that *NO* system is going to please everyone, and in order for it to work the park needs to play fair. But I'm sorry, that in NO way changes my opinion of this fabulous system.
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Have you ever considered that maybe it's not the park that's the problem, but YOU?

*** This post was edited by DWeaver on 2/13/2002. ***

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Youdontnojack said:
"Maybe it was the VIP tour's that they do.   They get first priority when in line since they pay so much for them.  Also In Universal the pepole that used the fastpass system there all had to just enter the ride in the extra places in the ride.   "

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The VIP (upcharge) tour at The Land doesn't even take the boat ride. I know...I've taken that tour. Really a neat way to see the pavilion.

Personally, I think the real purpose behind these queue management systems is mostly to increase length of stay. Consider: When you get a Fast Pass ticket, if the park is busy, then odds are pretty good that you're not opting for a shorter wait...you're opting for a longer wait although you spend less of it waiting in the queue.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

If you want to see what a ride reservation system looks like when all park patrons are participating...well, then you have a system remarkably like the one Cedar Point tried on Millennium Force for the 2000 season. That system was so remarkably successful that they opted to NOT bring it back in 2001. For comments on the system, have a look here and then here.

In short, it was an unqualified disaster. The only way a reservation system helps anybody is if it is only available to a small proportion of the people planning to ride. Otherwise, it's basically little more than a scam to increase length of stay in hopes of building per-caps. If you think it's about customer experience, you're sadly mistaken!

--Dave Althoff, Jr.