Fast Pass Pet Peeve

[kerbear135]

CMs (and fellow park visitors)..does it bother you that people show up hours after their fast pass wait time and try to use it? I don't know why it bothers me so much, but I know I personally wouldn't do it. If you look at a fast pass as a way to save your place in line, then it's like someone is perpetually holding your place in line until you decide to show up, and I would imagine it makes every who shows up at their allotted time have to wait longer because you couldn't be bothered to make yours. This is especially annoying (at least to me) when people try to accumulate as many fast passes as possible so they can ride everything at the busiest time without having to wait long at any attraction. On our last visit, some guy got off the bus at our resort and offered us 5 fast passes for a ride (I can't remember which ride or park) that were for like, 11 am, and here it was 5pm...that just doesn't seem right to me. Thoughts?

[WEDFan]

I have to say, I do that, so I can't claim it as a peeve. :p:

Having been told by CMs that it is allowable, and my understanding is that this is policy, not just that the individual CMs decide it isn't worth an argument, I feel it is perfectly valid. Should the policy change, I would instantly stop doing so with no complaints. Right now, I think DIsney allows it because it helps keep lines short and people out in the park. The have the end time on hand so they can adjust if they need, but in the meantime, I would guess it benefits them as well as the people using the "out of window" passes.

[DLRFantasmic!Dan]

The official policy is that they can use the Fast Pass late, but not early. They are good until park closing. The one reason that they can not use the fast pass is when it is on a different day.

[ktulu]

Sometimes stuff happens out of your control and you can't make it back in that time frame.

[SmartGuest]

If Disney saw it as a problem they would change their policy. I've never once been turned away from the FP line for a "late" FP at Disneyland or WDW. I've also never seen a FP backed up due to those using late FPs. The guest who offered you the five valid FPs was just trying to spread a little pixie dust.

[delsdad]

This also puts the advantage on the guest who does use his fastpass at the earliest window possible. There always seems to be a shorter fastpass que earlier in the day than later, simply because not everyone with an 11am-12pm fast pass comes back then. As the day wears on, more and more of the outstanding fastpasses are eligible to be used, so more and more people end up in the FP que, so those people wait longer.
So if you want the shortest wait in the FP line, go at the appointed time.

[SmartGuest]

Right, delsdad, that is often the case. I think a lot of us use the planning sites that tell us which times of the day each ride is busiest. I try to use a combination of FPs and doing attractions at their slow times so that I never wait more than 10 minutes in any line. Except for some queues that warrant a slow walk-through the first time (Indy at DL comes to mind, as does EE @ AK), life is too short to wait in line! ;)

[Big Wallaby]

Honestly, when I am working an attraction, if you just want to get on the ride and I am working at return, I would rather let you on late and make you happy than have some big old fight, which I would lose anyway. It doesn't really bother me. In fact, when people ask, I will tell them that it makes the system work better if they use them on time, but ultimately, we also understand that stuff happens. In fact, I even had someone who told me they couldn't use it in the time they had got the pass for due to their lunch reservations.

The only time I have heard of people being turned away when late (and this really late, and I don't even know it's true, though I will use it with guests) is on an ultra-busy day at Soarin'.

[Shorty82]

The only time I have heard of people being turned away when late (and this really late, and I don't even know it's true, though I will use it with guests) is on an ultra-busy day at Soarin'.

Last I heard Toy Story is strict on the end time. Considering how busy that attraction always is that makes sense.

[5th Dimension]

It bugs me a little bit when people come a couple hours early, but as long as they don't come back in a couple minutes, then I brush it off. Going in late is usually no problem. I get annoyed when they come back about 5 minutes early, and they get huffy and angry when I don't let them in because we actually have a line right now.

"It's just 5 minutes"
"Are you really going to make us wait?"
"I'm going to stare at you until we can go in"

The best ones are when they say they have dinner reservations or plane flights, and they want to go in hours early.