Fastpass Woes

[writerevie]

So my guess is that it won't matter if there are 3 people in my group that show up late? I'm polite to the CMs and everything, but the reaction of that CM when he saw my FP somewhat caught me offguard. My sister speculates that it may have been his idea of flirting, trying to strike up a conversation or something, but I don't think so.

[Main Streeter]

So... it looks like exactly what you'd expect: the standby line will move faster when fewer FPs show up, and it will move slower when more than expected show up

WOW BRWombat, you have lots of time on your hands! :D: Your post blows my mind cuz I suck at math. ]

[BRWombat]

Ok, without quoting your entire post....your reasoning is sound, except that first of all there aren't quite that many FPs given out for a ride with that capacity (or at least I don't think so I've never really figured out how many go out in an hour) and the reason why late FPs make no discernible difference is that the vast majority of the time people return within their window and those that don't are rarely if ever all going to come back within the same late window. At least that's been my experience working with FP.

I'm sure you're right. I was just making up the numbers anyway. I think the analysis of the effect would hold true, it just may not be very noticeable if the # of FPs given out is low compared to the capacity of the ride.

WOW BRWombat, you have lots of time on your hands! :D:

No argument from me, and you're not the first person to say that! Reminds me of when I was doing a Disney trivia game onboard the Disney Wonder. The lounge had a handful of Disney trivia buffs, yours truly included, mixed in with many who were in the lounge already and took part in the game just for the fun of it. At one point midway through the questions, one of the casual players laughed at the difficulty of the questions and loudly asked, "How do people know this stuff?" To me, it was simple to answer his question: "We have no life!"

Okay, maybe it's just more of a "Disney-centric" life than none at all. Either way, yep, I spend way too much time on this stuff -- but hey, as "mid-life crises" go, you can do a lot worse than acting like a kid again and spending time on Disney stuff!

[LittleDollClaudia]

I know the feeling about playing the Disney trivia games. None of my family will play with me because I know 90% of the answers. :( Being raised on Disney entertainment will for sure make you the Queen or King of useless knowledge. But the fun is when you get that 2am call asking who was the villain in Sleeping Beauty? And what are the two names of the princess? (Which I did recieve, by the way, about two weeks ago)

Answers: Maleficent, Briar Rose and Aurora -HA!!

[smart1hermione]

I'm guilty of FP abuse. Like, really bad.

I go to DL with a strategy:

-Get signed in by CM friend at DL, skeedaddle to Splash and get fast passes (cause by 10-11ish, the line's already 50 minutes)
-mosey on over to DCA
-FP for soarin', head over to hollywood.
-ToT
-Screamin'
-Grizzly River Rapids
-FP line for Soarin' (it's usually the longest line for me)
-DL again
-pass for Space
-Splash
-Pirates
-HM
-Whatever else to do in between NOS and tomorrowland
-Fireworks
-Space
-done.

It's all about knowing the FP system, DCA and DL aren't connected, and you can get FPs every two hours. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it's always worked for me..

[CMGUY89]

It's all about knowing the FP system, DCA and DL aren't connected, and you can get FPs every two hours. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it's always worked for me..

You can get FPs every two hours or whenever your FP becomes active, whichever happens first.

[EeyoresButterfly]

I like the system personally. I know what you all are saying about the standby lines being shorter, but that's probably because there's only so long people are willing to wait. Fewer people will want to wait for the ride, so the line is shorter. Many times people FP rides they are willing to wait for. There are certain rides I will never wait for, Peter Pan being one of them. That line is consistently the longest in the park, it has apparently always been this way, don't ask me why. It's not worth a 90 minute wait. I like the idea that I can FP a ride, and then go do something else, whether it is another ride, get something to eat, etc. There could be a million reasons a person doesn't want to wait in a long line: it's hot, many of the queue's are claustrophobic or are exposed to heat/inclement weather, etc.

At least at Disney you don't have to pay for it. Many parks you pay 30 or more for one special entrance per ride. This really penalizes families with multiple people or those who had to save up a long time to visit because they are less likely to afford it.

[CMGUY89]

Actually the system makes the standby line longer because FP gets preferential treatment. I know at The Land when we are running FP we run 7 FP rows to 2 Standby rows for a 9 row boat. We are supposed to minimize FP wait because they have a reservation as opposed to the guests who are "Standing By". This is the main reason you will see a 2+ hour wait for Soarin' during the day and a shorter wait during EMH even thought the physical line is longer. Even though the queue is a 1/4 mile long it can only hold about 30 minutes of standby only lines. So for EMH they create a switchback with the unused FP side since they aren't used during EMH. Still I don't know how I lived without it. I remember my first time on Space Mountain waiting for two hours just to ride it.

[Theme Park Where]

It's not preferencial treatment. You've waited with a fastpass - just not in line. If the attraction has their math correct, the fastpass return time is equal to or higher than the wait time on standby. Fastpass gives you a choice. You can wait 2 hours in line or you can wait 3 hours while doing other attractions, eating, or shopping. Fastpasses are available to everyone equally, so no one gets unfair advantage. Those that wait in the standby line either chose to do so because they didn't want to return later in the day to ride at a fastpass return time, or they arrived at the attraction too late to get a fastpass.

[CMGUY89]

It's not preferencial treatment. You've waited with a fastpass - just not in line. If the attraction has their math correct, the fastpass return time is equal to or higher than the wait time on standby. Fastpass gives you a choice. You can wait 2 hours in line or you can wait 3 hours while doing other attractions, eating, or shopping. Fastpasses are available to everyone equally, so no one gets unfair advantage. Those that wait in the standby line either chose to do so because they didn't want to return later in the day to ride at a fastpass return time, or they arrived at the attraction too late to get a fastpass.

That's kinda what I meant. I meant that we have an obligation to FP before Standby. As for the math part, the window usually starts at about 45 minutes after the current time. After all the FPs for that window have been distributed it moves on to the next one until there are no more windows. Hence the fact that an attraction can "run out" of FPs.