Fast passes still “fast”?

[alyssa18o6]

We’ve been here since Thursday, Thursday we didn’t need FPs, crowds were low. Since then we’ve had to rely on our FPs. On MULTIPLE occasions we’ve had to wait upwards of 20+mins to get on rides with our FP. We’re in line now for Safari, have been waiting since 11:50am and as of 12:25pm we’re still in line. Is this the new norm?

 

[DaisyDuck001]

It appears that the real goal of FPs is to distribute the crowds more evenly among more attractions, but not necessarily to make every wait short. For some of the more popular rides, FPs often don't seem to be all that fast.

 

[CAS239]

Usually FP line is about a 0-15 min wait

 

[maalca23]

FPs were our friend last week. Short and I mean very short most of the time but no waits over 10 mins.

 

[DIShawn]

I’d say 90% of the time you’re waiting under 10 minutes. That was my experience last week at least. Safari is difficult because the animals go on the road and the Safari trucks stop until they’re clear. Last week we had a Giraffe that wouldn’t move off the road for 5 minutes and that caused a huge backup. Also if a lot of rides go down throughout the day in one park that causes an influx of Anytime FastPasses which clog up the queues.

 

[ChristineOH]

Once we waited for Kali for 40 minutes with a FP. Not worth it.

But that usually only happens if the ride has been down Or as DIShawn explained, the Safari is a special case where delays happen somewhat frequently because of the nature of the ride.

 

[cavepig]

Fastpass for us was anywhere between walk on to 20ish minutes in Jan. The longer was due to the ride being down or other rides being down and causing a clog. It just varies and fastpass lines can easily have bad moments in their life We had a Land boat ride FP and the line was insane so we just changed it to something else cause we couldn't even figure out where it started. Next time there, no line for FP.

 

[disneydreamer1980]

I’ve never waited any longer then 15 mins in the FP line, but I did talk to someone i met in Biergarten on my last trip who said they waited 30 mins in the Space Mtn FP line

 

[DaisyDuck001]

Some of my longer FP waits have been at Soarin' and Toy Story Midway Mania.

 

[jenniferhouston2]

We were there today (Sunday March 4) and I joked to my friend that they needed fastpasses for the fastpass line.

First, I do think this is the new Disney normal, at least on weekends, in the Winter and Spring months.

Second, Good Ol Splash was down AGAIN for the entire morning.

These factors, plus a picture perfect beautiful day, caused us to experience the following:

Space Mountain Fast Pass line all the way to the People Mover overpass
BuzzLight year fastpass line was wrapped around toward the Monsters Laugh In
Pooh Fastpass was at least 20 mins long
There was a 20 min wait for People mover.

 

[Eccle]

We were there a couple of weeks ago. Generally FP waits were short despite very busy parks, the only exceptions were the day all the big rides were down in MK and we waited 20 min for Buzz. Part of our group also spent ages in the TT line but that was because it went down

 

[gap2368]

We’ve been here since Thursday, Thursday we didn’t need FPs, crowds were low. Since then we’ve had to rely on our FPs. On MULTIPLE occasions we’ve had to wait upwards of 20+mins to get on rides with our FP. We’re in line now for Safari, have been waiting since 11:50am and as of 12:25pm we’re still in line. Is this the new norm?

FP will always be Faster then standby line.

I was at Disney when space mountain FP was past the bathrooms to the fence that leads backstage and them went left some it took about 30-45 minutes to get through the line, but the standby was a good 3+ hour wait.

 

[slpeters]

We were there in November last and never waited more than 10 minutes for a FP with the exception of FOP--both times that was almost 20 minutes but we weren't complaining.

 

[mountdew1]

As a general rule of thumb, FP usually will make up about 80-90% of the riders. There are exceptions to the rule, and the mix can vary based on demand/attraction/CM working merge, etc. For instance, TSMM is supposed to be 2 tracks for FP, 1 for standby. And as mentioned, when there is a closure, those anytime FP will potentially cause havoc later on. We saw the FP line at EE last trip reach back across the bridge heading to Nemo. The ride had been down a few times during the day, and when it come back up, lots of people ran over to try to get on. Parks that have a smaller amount of desirable rides will stack up even more. Or on days where several headliners go down for a stretch. If SM, Splash, and PoTC go down over the span of the morning, even just for a few minutes (entirely possible, and heck some days even likely) thats alot of people to get absorbed into lines later on.

 

[Serenebean]

We were there today (Sunday March 4) and I joked to my friend that they needed fastpasses for the fastpass line.

First, I do think this is the new Disney normal, at least on weekends, in the Winter and Spring months.

Second, Good Ol Splash was down AGAIN for the entire morning.

These factors, plus a picture perfect beautiful day, caused us to experience the following:

Space Mountain Fast Pass line all the way to the People Mover overpass
BuzzLight year fastpass line was wrapped around toward the Monsters Laugh In
Pooh Fastpass was at least 20 mins long
There was a 20 min wait for People mover.

We experienced the same on 2/27 with Space Mtn. There always seems to be a huge line before the FP tap point (for most rides - happened at Star Tours, SDMT and BTMRR as well) We saw so many people arrive too early/late and it just backs everything up. They they have to have a long conversation with the CM about why they arent allowed into the line. One person in front of us tried to use a FP for a ride that he had already used his FP on - he thought you could ride the ride as many times as you wanted for the 1hr. However, once we actually tapped our bands at Space we walked straight through to the 2nd tap point.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

We experienced the same on 2/27 with Space Mtn. There always seems to be a huge line before the FP tap point (for most rides - happened at Star Tours, SDMT and BTMRR as well) We saw so many people arrive too early/late and it just backs everything up. They they have to have a long conversation with the CM about why they arent allowed into the line. One person in front of us tried to use a FP for a ride that he had already used his FP on - he thought you could ride the ride as many times as you wanted for the 1hr. However, once we actually tapped our bands at Space we walked straight through to the 2nd tap point.

We had an issue at Splash last year and the FP CM there was trying to help us. He asked us to stand there while he got some more people thru and then was going to help us. I was shocked at how many people either didn’t understand the system or were trying to get a kind CM to let them go on. Every 5th group was early/late/had no FP/thought they could go multiple times in an hour. I was shocked.

 

[fbarker]

As a general rule of thumb, FP usually will make up about 80-90% of the riders. There are exceptions to the rule, and the mix can vary based on demand/attraction/CM working merge, etc. For instance, TSMM is supposed to be 2 tracks for FP, 1 for standby. And as mentioned, when there is a closure, those anytime FP will potentially cause havoc later on. We saw the FP line at EE last trip reach back across the bridge heading to Nemo. The ride had been down a few times during the day, and when it come back up, lots of people ran over to try to get on. Parks that have a smaller amount of desirable rides will stack up even more. Or on days where several headliners go down for a stretch. If SM, Splash, and PoTC go down over the span of the morning, even just for a few minutes (entirely possible, and heck some days even likely) thats alot of people to get absorbed into lines later on.

Very interesting I am just curious where you got your information that FP makes up 80 - 90% of the riders. I know it might feel like that at times but do you know this for a fact or is it just a feeling your have.

Thanks

 

[mountdew1]

Very interesting I am just curious where you got your information that FP makes up 80 - 90% of the riders. I know it might feel like that at times but do you know this for a fact or is it just a feeling your have.

Thanks

WDW doesn't release these numbers for obvious reasons. On other boards several CMs as well as other people who are generally very knowledgeable about how the parks are run indicate those are the typical numbers. And from personal experience, I routinely see 30ish FP guests go by before they let our party of 3 or 4 go through on standby.

 

[JungleCruiseFan]

If you look at the CMs podium where the two lines merge there is usually a guide that tells them how many people to let through from FP compared to standby. It looked like a small chart with green and orange and maybe a few other colors. The chart changes based on what level of crowd there is. I've seen the card at buzz and the barnstormer for awhile as we were waiting there for quite a bit but I don't remember the numbers. Maybe someone who is there now could snap a picture of it. I think they are on every ride.

 

[mrzrich]

Since you were in line for the Safari, It is very possible that there was an animal in the road who just wasn't moving. If an animal is standing in the road, or close to the road, the trucks just wait.