DVDizzy Forum

Disneyland's become way too hyper. I think the Fast Passes do more harm than good. First of all, they wind up defeating their own purposes, because they don't take any time off your wait in line. THAT'S because you have to wait in line for the Fast Passes. We waited over 1/2 hour in line for the Splash Mountain passes. And then the passes probably knocked 1/2 hour off our wait in the real line, so what's the point anyway?

And I also think the Fast Passes drive people a little crazy. Suddenly, they have this card in their hands, and it's almost like having an appointment to go on the rides. And all day long you overhear parents saying, "come on, we have to GO. We HAVE to use the ticket by 4:45! Let's go...NOW!" And they drag their kids off to their "appointment" with the Pirates of the Caribbean or whatever, and nobody gets to enjoy the park because they're always rushing around, back and forth, trying to get wherever they're supposed to be on time.

I think a lot of Disneyland is getting missed nowadays because of all the weird rushing around, trying to keep those appointments. Ya know, back in the day before Fast Passes, even on the busiest days of the year, the park just seemed more....leisurely, and enjoyable. It was a break from all the rushing around in our daily lives. Now the park seems like rush hour on a busy freeway. If you think I'm imagining things, then go to the park and actually look for this kind of behavior in families, and see if it's happening to your family too. You'd be surprised.

Are you serious??? I've never waited more than 10 minutes (Usually it's around 1 or 2 minutes....) for a fastpass! I do agree that they don't really matter as much on some of the rides. You only get to bypass a short portion of the line sometimes.

Oh I am serious. I went on a fairly busy day last time and the lines for the Splash Mountain and Indy Jones fast passes were at least 1/2 hour each. The Pirates one was pretty bad too but we didn't bother with that one. Even the Jungle Cruise one was out of control.

I also think that the queues that form for those Fast Passes take up too much room in an already-crowded park. All that space they were wasting for the Splash Mountain fast pass could have been used to have little popcorn stands and souvenir carts...nice little touches. Instead they were wasted on sweaty people standing in line, just so they could go stand in line again.

And another thing (while i'm on a roll)...I wouldn't even bother with the Indy Jones Fast Pass. Because 12 years after its debut, the dang ride still breaks down every 20 minutes anyway. Yes, I have wasted a precious Fast Pass on the thing, only to have it break down while I was 2 minutes away from boarding the ride. What do you do then? Go to City Hall to complain? That's halfway across the park. That would be another 20 minutes wasted, just trying to get there.

The fast pass system can be really beneficial if you use it right. There's a sort of unwritten rule about what rides you should fast pass and what rides you should just wait for (because at certain times in the day, some of those rides have very short lines). As for there being long fast pass lines, that is probably due to rides breaking down and the line accumulating while it is waiting to be fixed. Thats the way the lines get long at the Magic Kingdom. The actual obtaining of a fast pass shouldn't take so long. What holds up the line is families who have each person insert their own pass as opposed to sending one person to the machine to get them all.

Owlzindabarn wrote:

I also think that the queues that form for those Fast Passes take up too much room in an already-crowded park. All that space they were wasting for the Splash Mountain fast pass could have been used to have little popcorn stands and souvenir carts...nice little touches. Instead they were wasted on sweaty people standing in line, just so they could go stand in line again.

Aren't there enough souvenir carts and popcorn stands? There's around 4 in every land. 4 on Main Street alone. And the lines for those can be horrendous. Much longer than the fast pass line and the people waiting are just as sweaty.

1/2 hour wait is unheard of at DL for fastpasses.

I have only waited 1/2hour to get Fastpasses at Tower of Terror at Tokyo DisneySea and Pooh's Hunny Hunt at Tokyo Disneyland.

i havent been to disney land in over 10 years, i think its time i plan a trip back and see what the fast passes are all about...

I think the fast passes generally help, because Disneyland gets so crowded nowadays its kind of hard to do almost anything with out spending too much time in hour long lines.

Last time I went to Disneyland we went on Veterans Day, and that was the dumbest thing ever!! But it was my fault because I had planned to go on November 10th, but that Friday was the day there was no school. So we went and it was extermely crowded. While I didn't have as much fun as I usually do at Disneyland, we did get to do a lot of rides and that was because of the fast passes, the way it worked seemed to go okay because right after Indiana Jones we got to go straight to Thunder Mountain in like a little over a half hour. And then our Space Mountain "appointment" lol, was like an hour later and we just did Fantasy Land rides and other rides in between since those lines weren't as long as the other ones. So while we got to do most of Disneylands rides from like 12pm-12am, we didn't get to do a lot of other things that Disneyland has to offer, like Parades and Shows and walking around going to other little interesting areas...we did watch the fireworks standing in a crammed crowd like sardines lol.

But anyways, I think when the park crowd is moderate, then I don't think fast passes are really needed, but when it's super crowded and you want to do more then 3 things the fast passes help a lot. But really though everytime I get a fast pass theres never really any long lines, and if there is, it's probably nothing over 5 minutes, well the times I use fast passes anyway.

For people with children this is a pain relief, you will wait for sure but not in line and that is the whole idea there.

WHERE IS THE FAST PASS FOR THE CHURRO'S STANDS!!!! < wishful mind...

Wow, a half and hour IS a long time....I myself have never waited that long, even 5 min seems too long to me .... We usually collect fast passes en route to other rides and them use them whenever it seems convenient later on... I didnt see it mentioned that fast passes dont actually expire. You can use them anytime after the start time!...
I have to say though that I could never go in a super busy day anymore anyways though. We try to go as much as possible in the mellower days and take our time. I know not everybody can do this, but I would probably never go otherwise....Its one reason I am also not in a hurry to go to WDW.All the crowds seem kinda daunting. I like the ease of DL and I think we're pretty spoiled by it. I always feel bad about peoples bad experiences at DL, and even warn people that I know if they're going on a Busy weekend or in the Summer.. they almost never listen to me though

We went on a Friday in Oct and it was hysterically crowded. I couldn't believe it. You couldn't even move around with any ease in that park that day. I don't know if there was some sort of convention or whatever was going on--just loads and loads of people. I do think that the park has suffered from traffic problems for a long time now. I don't know what the problem is, but back in the day it just seemed easier to get around.

Not just at Disneyland:

Big changes coming to FASTPASS in March
http://www.wdwmagic.com/Other/FASTPASS/ ... -March.htm

I'm slightly confused by what this means...so, 15 minutes after an attraction with fastpass has been opened, nobody can go on it?

Whatever the new system is, I'm sure it will be an improvement on the old one. I distinctly remember a few years ago at Disneyland Paris that the fastpass queue for an attraction was much longer than the normal queue.

Dr Frankenollie wrote:I'm slightly confused by what this means...so, 15 minutes after an attraction with fastpass has been opened, nobody can go on it?

Currently, let's say your FastPass says to be at the attraction from 1:00 to 2:00. If you get there at 5:00, you'll still be able to use your FastPass. With this new rule, if your FastPass says to be at the attraction from 1:00 to 2:00 and you get there at 2:20, you won't be able to use your FastPass.

^Finally, I always wondered why at certain times the Fastpass line were longer then the regular. People will wait till after lunch or after a parade and then all show up at once (which is unfair to those who actually have that time).

Which WDW attractions are becoming part of the xPASS experience?
http://jimhillmedia.com/editor_in_chief ... ience.aspx

There still isn't much information out yet about this new system, but judging from the comments section on JHM, so many guests are not feeling this. I have mixed feelings...I think that if it remains an add-on, where it's not necessary, then it might not be so bad, but if it becomes almost mandatory to minutely plan your whole vacation, then WDW (and later DL) vacations won't be nearly as fun. At all.

So how exactly is Disney World's new xPASS system supposed to work?
http://jimhillmedia.com/editor_in_chief ... -work.aspx

.Not to mention being able to use the xPASS system to avoid lines at the Parks' Quick Service Dining locations by ordering your meals in advance using your iPhone & Smart Phones (That's another aspect of xPASS that we'll get to in an upcoming JHM article. So hang in there, folks. There's lots more info to share yet about this NextGen project).

FastPass for meals? I am torn. On the one hand, it's pretty neat that you won't have to wait in lines, but...I guess I'm confused about this part (and Jim said that there's an upcoming article about that, so I'll have to reserve judgment until I read it).

according to the survey work that Disney's marketing staff has done, the xPASS name has been testing poorly. So as of right now, Disney's looking for a better handle for this service.

That's kind of exciting- I wonder what names they're thinking of! Does anyone have a name that you'd want it to be named?

Disney’s Next-Gen Problem
http://thedisneyblog.com/2012/03/20/dis ... n-problem/

Disney to begin field-testing xPass / FASTPASS Plus at the Magic Kingdom this week
http://jimhillmedia.com/editor_in_chief ... -week.aspx

The one ride where the waits got even worse with Fastpass at Disneyland is Indiana Jones. You spend more time outside as the castmembers shift between letting in Fastpass people and standby people so that by the time you get inside, you basically end up having to walk a ways before you see people in either line again. Not to mention what it did with Peter Pan in Florida where it's a continuous loader where shifts often hold things up.

FastPass+ Coming in May (pics)
http://ultimateorlando.blogspot.com/201 ... s.html?m=1
(via disneyreport.com)

First day of xPass / FASTPASS+ field testing suggests that Disney World may have a new Guest pleaser on its hands
http://jimhillmedia.com/editor_in_chief ... hands.aspx

Will xPass or FASTPASS+ Be Worth It?
http://disneyatwork.com/?p=736
(via disneyreport.com)