Walt Disney World to Crack Down on Guests Taking Advantage of FastPass+ System

Thought this was interesting and probably a good thing...

It only takes a few selfish individuals to ruin something for the rest of us...

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Walt Disney World to Crack Down on Guests Taking Advantage of FastPass+ System
Posted by: Christy Caby


There have been numerous guests and unofficial tour guides that take advantage of the FastPass+ System at Walt Disney World. This has been occurring since the system first launched. How they have been doing it is by using second tickets that haven’t been scanned yet at the park entrance to obtain extra FastPass+ selections in addition to the 3 that they get for the admission that they used to get into the park. There are also guests that have a buddy with an Annual Pass book them FastPass+ and give them their band to utilize the FastPass+ selections, even if that person didn’t enter the park. This results in these guests getting extra FastPass+ selections, thus resulting in other guests not getting selections for desired attractions.

Walt Disney World has decided to crack down on this by confirming if the ticket linked to the FastPass+ was activated at the park that day. If the FastPass+ is linked to a ticket that wasn’t scanned in, even for an Annual Passholder that hasn’t going through park entry for the day, the guest won’t be allowed to use the FastPass+ and will be directly to the standby line. If a guest is a frequent violator of this rule, their My Disney Experience account will also be locked out. The is now word yet on what the guidelines will be to have the account reactivated, but they will have to work with Guest Relations and/or the support help for My Disney Experience to obtain access to their account.

This new policy will hopefully crack down on those out there abusing the system and make it easier for all guests to get some of their desired FastPass+ selections during their visit. What do you all think about this change?

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Please feel free to move this if I have put it in the wrong forum.

"Nothing is foolproof, fools are too ingenious."

To be honest, I actually thought that already was the policy - that you had to have a activated ticket to use the fast passes on a given day. I guess that was easier to enforce when you had to run the actual ticket through a kiosk for a paper fast pass. I hope they tighten this up quickly. It shouldn't be too difficult to enforce with this new system.

I'm glad they are cracking down - that gives everyone a better chance at getting the fast passes they want. Of course, someone will figure out a way to cheat - they always do! But, at least Disney is addressing it.

Glad they're doing this. I don't know how big of a problem it is, but it's been an issue for as long as Fastpass+ has been around. I feel like I contacted Disney over a year ago about this and got a call back that they were working on it. Better late than never right?

I am assuming it is a hack they are using to get more FP+? Will the average user notice a difference or will you still by stuck riding 7DMT at 10:45 PM instead of 10:45 AM when you wanted to?

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Originally Posted by baldburke

I am assuming it is a hack they are using to get more FP+? Will the average user notice a difference or will you still by stuck riding 7DMT at 10:45 PM instead of 10:45 AM when you wanted to?

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It depends on how many people are cheating the system. If it is only a dozen or so each day, the average guest will not notice. If it is hundreds of people each day then yes, the average guest will eventually notice, as word gets out that this hack no longer works. Initially, the multiple fastpass times will still be taken up, just no one will use them.

My guess is that it is hundreds of people doing this every day, if it was only a few people each day Disney would not waste the resources to fix the problem.

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Originally Posted by Toodle

I'm glad they are cracking down - that gives everyone a better chance at getting the fast passes they want. Of course, someone will figure out a way to cheat - they always do! But, at least Disney is addressing it.

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Unfortunately, you are correct. Worse yet, with the rise of social media they share it with the world. So instead of one person cheating the system (which almost no one would notice), you get 100's of people cheating the system.

Well that explains a lot. I just assumed they were giving out too many fastpasses for all the attractions or something. It didn't make sense how long all the lines were all the time when it is obvious the park isn't as packed.

I just assumed the system was designed this way from the beginning. Why in the world was is not is beyond me. I am glad I didn't even hear about this loophole because we always have multiple tickets on our account and it would have been way to tempting to do this.

I am glad they are cracking down.

So, could you still buy 2 tickets to double up on FPs? Use your left hand on one ticket, right on another?

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Originally Posted by texas211

So, could you still buy 2 tickets to double up on FPs? Use your left hand on one ticket, right on another?

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As long as you went through the turnstiles twice and activated or used one day from each ticket, but why would you?? Pay two entrance fees to get extra FP??

I'm not even quite understanding why someone would HAVE extra tickets they aren't using....I get the Annual Passholder thing but I'm confused about the other.

Ironically, this is the way the old paper system was. A few years back, my daughter's ticket wouldn't work at the park entrance and they had to manually override it each day. However, each time she tried to get a paper FastPass ticket, the machine wouldn't except her ticket because that ticket hadn't "officially" entered the park. We ended up getting her ticket replaced.

<BEGIN MINI-RANT>

I am totally over Fastpass. Any kind of Fastpass ... paper ... + ... whatever. Just WAIT IN LINE for heaven's sake!! It worked in Disneyland for like 50 years, so what now all of a sudden we're too special to just wait in line for a ride. I firmly believe that if they got rid of Fastpass the lines would settle in and everything would have a much more modest wait.

This is supposed to be a VACATION!! Relaxing, enjoyable, away from all the craziness of regular life and I swear it's gotten to the point where the "vacation" is more stressful than work! Worrying about Fastpasses so much you stoop to scamming the system??? Look at all the crazy lengths people go to to get ADR's?!?! I mean it's risen to the level of absurdity.

Put it back the way it was. No ADR's. No Fastpasses. Just go, relax, enjoy yourself, and de-stress. Eliminate the need for a Microsoft Project Plan for vacations, Disney, I beg of you!

</Mini-rant over>

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Originally Posted by Ian

<BEGIN MINI-RANT>

I firmly believe that if they got rid of Fastpass the lines would settle in and everything would have a much more modest wait.



</Mini-rant over>

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I believe you are correct here, the lines tend to "self regulate" themselves without any FastPass type system. The sad thing is they are more likely implement a fee based FassPass system (the more you pay the more you get) instead of going back to none at all.

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Originally Posted by Ian

<BEGIN MINI-RANT>

I am totally over Fastpass. Any kind of Fastpass ... paper ... + ... whatever. Just WAIT IN LINE for heaven's sake!! It worked in Disneyland for like 50 years, so what now all of a sudden we're too special to just wait in line for a ride. I firmly believe that if they got rid of Fastpass the lines would settle in and everything would have a much more modest wait.

This is supposed to be a VACATION!! Relaxing, enjoyable, away from all the craziness of regular life and I swear it's gotten to the point where the "vacation" is more stressful than work! Worrying about Fastpasses so much you stoop to scamming the system??? Look at all the crazy lengths people go to to get ADR's?!?! I mean it's risen to the level of absurdity.

Put it back the way it was. No ADR's. No Fastpasses. Just go, relax, enjoy yourself, and de-stress. Eliminate the need for a Microsoft Project Plan for vacations, Disney, I beg of you!

</Mini-rant over>

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Ian, in a lot of respects I agree with you whole-heartedly, but I understand what Disney did (or at least their thought processes) with these FastPasses as well. It started out, as you well know, as a perk for Disney Resort guests, but turned into a monster. I don't think they really understood how many guests were staying at Disney Resorts. When they opened it up to everyone, it just became unmanageable. [That thing that beavers make {The word I would have used would have been censored! LOL} broke and flooded the FP queues.]

In my opinion, (and we all know what that's worth! LOL) they could do something like the YoaMD park 'pass' (I believe it was called a 'MagicPass' or something to that effect) and issue every resort guest one per park for their visit. Have all the major attractions on the pass and let them be used at any time for 'front of the line' access one time only. That way every resort guest could have access to the 'E-ticket' attractions one time per visit, guaranteed. This would be a definite perk for those staying 'On Property' and, possibly, eliminate or manage some of the queue backups. If you Park Hop, you could still use the 'pass' for that park, but with the knowledge that it would still be 'one and done.'

ADRs, yeah, they could go away, but would you stand in a queue for any extended period of time for a restaurant? OR could you think of traipsing around a park (like World Showcase) for any length of time to find a table service restaurant that had an opening? If they did something like that, even if they allowed 'same-day' reservations, they would have to do away with 'Free Dining' except for Counter Service. Maybe that would be a good thing, maybe not.

In the long run, these 'perks' have nothing to do with the visitor, but more to do with park, and restaurant, management, and have proved to be less than effective, or popular, to most regular guests.

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Originally Posted by Ian

<BEGIN MINI-RANT>

I am totally over Fastpass. Any kind of Fastpass ... paper ... + ... whatever. Just WAIT IN LINE for heaven's sake!! It worked in Disneyland for like 50 years, so what now all of a sudden we're too special to just wait in line for a ride. I firmly believe that if they got rid of Fastpass the lines would settle in and everything would have a much more modest wait.

This is supposed to be a VACATION!! Relaxing, enjoyable, away from all the craziness of regular life and I swear it's gotten to the point where the "vacation" is more stressful than work! Worrying about Fastpasses so much you stoop to scamming the system??? Look at all the crazy lengths people go to to get ADR's?!?! I mean it's risen to the level of absurdity.

Put it back the way it was. No ADR's. No Fastpasses. Just go, relax, enjoy yourself, and de-stress. Eliminate the need for a Microsoft Project Plan for vacations, Disney, I beg of you!

</Mini-rant over>

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I 100% agree. I was saying this as soon as they started announcing FP+. I knew it was going to be an irritating mess to deal with.

The thing about the attractions and fastpasses is that the attractions have a maximum throughput per hour. No matter what kind of passes, que lines or special tickets they throw out there, it does not change how many guests can go through any particular attraction per hour. All fastpasses do is give you a false warm and fuzzy feeling when you get to go through a few attractions without waiting a very long time (although now, they are allowing so many fastpasses that you even have moderate waits in the so called "fastpass" lines). The trade off to that short wait in a few attractions is an extremely long wait in the rest that you didn't have fastpasses. Regardless, guests are going to have an average wait time of roughly the same amount with or without any fastpasses at all with the exception of locals or others that show up, do their 3 fastpasses and leave.......Those are the only people that truly benefit from the system.

Totally agree with Ian. I really miss the spontaneity. There are so many things that I dislike about the Fastpass+ system and the 180 days out for ADR. I am also convinced that it creates longer lines. I think this is especially true about rides that never had Fastpass to begin with. I liked the old Fastpass system. That way you could be spontaneous about what park you wanted to visit but still have some rides where you didn't have to wait.

However, someone else posted that Fastpass was originally only for Disney Resort Guests. I don't think that this is true. I believe it was true for Fastpass+ but never the original Fastpass system.

This whole vacation has me totally stressed out with spreadsheets and "plan a" and "plan b". I am so frustrated with the ADRs as well. I remember when the only place you needed a reservation for was for character dining. Now we have to decide where we want to eat six months out and pray that you don't oversleep, your internet doesn't go out,and that there isn't a glitch in the MDE system. Turns out that people cheat the ADR system as well?

Now they make everything so complicated and people have developed these crazy ways to cheat the system. I had no idea that this was going on. This is just sad, sad , sad. It is just as sad as people faking a disability to cut lines. It makes life difficult for those who really tried to do the right thing.

On the other hand I have friends who are Disney newbies and will probably only go once. They love the Fastpass+ system.

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Originally Posted by Ian

<BEGIN MINI-RANT>

I am totally over Fastpass. Any kind of Fastpass ... paper ... + ... whatever. Just WAIT IN LINE for heaven's sake!! It worked in Disneyland for like 50 years, so what now all of a sudden we're too special to just wait in line for a ride. I firmly believe that if they got rid of Fastpass the lines would settle in and everything would have a much more modest wait.


</Mini-rant over>

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I have been saying something similar to this for years. In Disneyworld they went almost 30 years without a fastpass system. And from 1982 till the Fastpass system was implemented (I don't remember which year that was I want to say 1999, but I am not sure), most attractions topped out at a 45 minute wait (dumbo always seemed to be an exception).

Prior to 1982, your admission ticket did not include all the attractions you had to purchase the A-E ticket books, which really limited the time you had to wait for most things (again except for Dumbo, that always had a huge line when I was a kid). Most people did not want to have to buy more tickets to ride something a second or third time.

As for the current state of Dining, I believe that has more to do with Disney Dining Plan than the ADR system. Prior to DDP you used to be able to get dining reservations for most restaurants when you arrived at the park (I used to call WDW-DINE from my hotel room when I got up in the morning). With the DDP everyone needs to make sure they have their dining booked to use up all their credits.

I'm in the beginning phase of planning our upcoming December trip and I hate that I have to make my ADRs already this week. I miss the days of planning only a couple months in advance. I don't want to plan my days around where I eat, I want to plan my meals around where I'm at. Of course, I guess we could just eat at counter service locations and that would take care of the problem. I haven't even begun to think about what and where we want our fast passes each day. Too much stress planning a WDW vacation anymore. BUT, I am still thankful that we can even go to WDW as I know it's only a dream for some families. :mickey:

Not to say I disagree with any of your points, but as a super-organized person I am glad with the new FP+ and ADR system. It puts all my stresses and worries away about my vacation ahead. I also think it might not be a bad idea for Disney to offer FP+ to resort guests only or offer less FP+ to off-site guests. Just my two cents. And as homeschool mom said, I am just fortunate I am able to visit WDW no matter what FP or ADR system they have.

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Originally Posted by Ian

<BEGIN MINI-RANT>


This is supposed to be a VACATION!! Relaxing, enjoyable, away from all the craziness of regular life and I swear it's gotten to the point where the "vacation" is more stressful than work! Worrying about Fastpasses so much you stoop to scamming the system??? Look at all the crazy lengths people go to to get ADR's?!?! I mean it's risen to the level of absurdity.



</Mini-rant over>

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This is a Disney vacation. This is no time for relaxation or enjoyment. (Think of Tom Hank's voice saying There's no crying in baseball.)


To me, the FP+ spreads the anxiety out, and takes away from it. But, that is progress. I do like the billing to the bracelet.

Until I saw last two post I thought hubby and I were in a minority of two! We like booking Fastpasses and ADR's as it takes stress out of where we're going to eat and how long we have to wait for rides. Knowing we've got favourite rides "booked" and a place to sit and eat in a relaxed manner in advance means less stress. Hubby's disability means we're not opening to closing people and what he can do, for how long and pain level varies day to day. Having some things already sorted means not having to worry.

I actually enjoy the FP+ and ADR because I love planning and the stretched out planning helps to build anticipation for the trip. As my father has said for many years (even in the pre FP and ADR days) Disney World is a work vacation so just go into it with that mindset. If I want a completely relaxing vacation with minimal planning I head to the beach or on a cruise.

Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk

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Originally Posted by ian

I am totally over fastpass. Any kind of fastpass ... Paper ... + ... Whatever. Just wait in line for heaven's sake!! It worked in disneyland for like 50 years, so what now all of a sudden we're too special to just wait in line for a ride. I firmly believe that if they got rid of fastpass the lines would settle in and everything would have a much more modest wait.


This is supposed to be a vacation!! Relaxing, enjoyable, away from all the craziness of regular life and i swear it's gotten to the point where the "vacation" is more stressful than work! Worrying about fastpasses so much you stoop to scamming the system??? Look at all the crazy lengths people go to to get adr's?!?! I mean it's risen to the level of absurdity.

Put it back the way it was. No adr's. No fastpasses. Just go, relax, enjoy yourself, and de-stress. Eliminate the need for a microsoft project plan for vacations, disney, i beg of you!

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amen!

I think, in part, that the other issue is Disney thinking that they NEED to know what the patron is doing at any particular time. Just because they can... but, should they?

I thought Fastpass was created so guests would spend less time waiting in line and more time shopping/dining/spending money anywhere. It was never intended to be convenient for us as vacation goers, it's supposed to increase their bottom line.

I miss the OLD DISNEY DAYS when you could go and enjoy the magic. A time when you could see Mickey just walking down main street and stop and take a picture. But I guess society has changed so Disney had to change. Now it is more stress than rest. It lost some of the pixie dust in my eyes, but I still love to go.
As for Fastpass+ I feel it just adds to the disappointment months out. If the FPS are all gone now I know I will not get on that particular ride without a long wait which will eat up my day at the park. I usually by pass it and say next trip. I have only been on SDMT once and it was not worth the FP frenzy.
As for ADR's I think free dinning killed the Disney meal. It is a business and they need to make money. The food has IMHO gone down hill except at the signature restaurants. Everywhere else it is $$$$ for crowd pleasing foods that are not in any way worth the extra money. The ADR fill up fast to use up those credits and now you are forced to think about what you want to eat 180 days in advance.

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Originally Posted by BriarRose0708

I thought Fastpass was created so guests would spend less time waiting in line and more time shopping/dining/spending money anywhere. It was never intended to be convenient for us as vacation goers, it's supposed to increase their bottom line.

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And bingo.. Great point.

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Originally Posted by BriarRose0708

I thought Fastpass was created so guests would spend less time waiting in line and more time shopping/dining/spending money anywhere. It was never intended to be convenient for us as vacation goers, it's supposed to increase their bottom line.

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That was the intended purpose but it hasn't worked as they imagined. We spend far more time standing in other lines that never had much of a wait prior to FP+. We used to FP the big name rides and blow right through the others that didn't have much of a wait with the paper FP system. We had all kinds of time for looking through shops and getting snacks and such but now, we spend most of our time in lines. By the time we get the attractions done, we are ready to get the heck out of there.

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Originally Posted by 1DisneyNut

That was the intended purpose but it hasn't worked as they imagined. We spend far more time standing in other lines that never had much of a wait prior to FP+. We used to FP the big name rides and blow right through the others that didn't have much of a wait with the paper FP system. We had all kinds of time for looking through shops and getting snacks and such but now, we spend most of our time in lines. By the time we get the attractions done, we are ready to get the heck out of there.

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Exactly. What I should have added to that post is that no one can account for how people will actually behave - it's backfired on them in many ways, and it's also made our experience as guests more difficult in many ways. At the end of the day, though, I'll always choose to believe that guest experience is not necessarily the priority or the criteria used when the "powers at be" make decisions.

I agree with most on these issues. We still like going to Disney World but FP+ and the Disney Dinning Plan have done much to take away from the experience (magic). I want to say the dinning has improved a bit lately, but you still have a lot of industrial offerings that are more or less the same at each restaurant. I will always be a fan of the old FP system, where there was more spontaneity and less chance (if you got to the parks early, like we did) of not getting a FP unless you have an itinerary ironed out months in advance. It has made vacations and planning a bit more stressful. There is one advantage to FP+ in that you can be guaranteed of an E-ticket without standby and without having to get to the park really early, but the tiered system makes it so that is about all you will get. Perhaps they could split the FP+ to allow less spots for preplanning and then allow some for people that come to the park (like the old system - you have to be there to get it). I know there would be many issues with this, but it is just a thought. They may be better to just get rid of it all.

Of course, my biggest wish is that they took the money they spent on FP+ and added some more E-tickets - if they had done that, the lines would not be nearly as bad. As it is now, they have only a limited selection of E-tickets. I do believe this is getting better, but it took them a long time to realize it.

As mentioned, we still like Disney, but for a while they were spending all their resources on figuring out how to get every last dime out of people, rather than building new/more experiences. I am thankful to Universal for providing competition to push them towards building. I am still convinced that Disney World is far more concerned with getting new customers than getting people to return.

After reading all these post and thinking about, you know what I hate the most about FP+ and the DDP? It's that I am always looking at my watch, trying to figure out if I have time to do something else before whatever it is I planned to do months in advance. Prior to the original FP system I almost never looked at my watch while I was in one of the parks.

Actually this past week I took a vacation day in the middle of the week, and took my kids to a local amusement park. The only time I looked at my watch was late in the day, when I was wondering how much time we had left until the park closed.

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Originally Posted by Park Hopper

Of course, my biggest wish is that they took the money they spent on FP+ and added some more E-tickets - if they had done that, the lines would not be nearly as bad. As it is now, they have only a limited selection of E-tickets. I do believe this is getting better, but it took them a long time to realize it.

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Yeah I agree completely with this. They wasted close to $2 billion on this silly system that's turned a vacation in Disney World into something you need a PhD to complete successfully. If you consider they spent $100 million on Mission:Space, $2 billion could have built 20 new e-ticket caliber attractions. Probably not given that MS is like 20 years old now, but even if you double those costs you could have put 2-3 top quality attractions in each of the four parks. Now THAT would have cut down on wait times!

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Originally Posted by Speedy1998

After reading all these post and thinking about, you know what I hate the most about FP+ and the DDP? It's that I am always looking at my watch, trying to figure out if I have time to do something else before whatever it is I planned to do months in advance. Prior to the original FP system I almost never looked at my watch while I was in one of the parks.

Actually this past week I took a vacation day in the middle of the week, and took my kids to a local amusement park. The only time I looked at my watch was late in the day, when I was wondering how much time we had left until the park closed.

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Agree with this, as well. Even more so, I hate what it does to our kids. The opportunity to be spontaneous if there's an opportunity that presents itself for them to do something magical (like a character meet and greet or one of the little side shows or events they do around the parks) half the time you have to disappoint them and say, "No sorry we have a Fastpass for such-and-such in 10 minutes or no we have a dining reservation we can't be late for so you can't see Mickey Mouse."

I hate that as a parent.

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Originally Posted by Speedy1998

After reading all these post and thinking about, you know what I hate the most about FP+ and the DDP? It's that I am always looking at my watch, trying to figure out if I have time to do something else before whatever it is I planned to do months in advance. Prior to the original FP system I almost never looked at my watch while I was in one of the parks.

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Originally Posted by Ian

Agree with this, as well. Even more so, I hate what it does to our kids. The opportunity to be spontaneous if there's an opportunity that presents itself for them to do something magical (like a character meet and greet or one of the little side shows or events they do around the parks) half the time you have to disappoint them and say, "No sorry we have a Fastpass for such-and-such in 10 minutes or no we have a dining reservation we can't be late for so you can't see Mickey Mouse."

I hate that as a parent.

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This sums up my feelings about it as well. We visited WDW last month for the first time since 2012, the days of the old FP paper system. We did not have the dining plan because we didn't want to wind up with more time constraints, in addition to the pre-scheduled FP. I was disappointed in how little spontaneity we were able to have. Many times I felt like we were rushed for time and could not linger and enjoy the little side shows and things like that for more than a minute or two.

When we visited in 2012 we were able to be more spontaneous and because the lines were shorter, we were able to ride more, see more, do more. We met many characters with a 5-10 minute wait. In the summertime when crowds are high.

The kids know they want to ride the things you have FP for but they also get caught in the magic and want to stop and see this or do that and we have to keep on walking to get to where we need to be. I would say "we'll come back" but in most cases we never made it back there. :(

IMO, Disney is cracking down on this because private VIP tour companies are taking a bite out of "official" Disney VIP tours. With constant crowds year round now there has never been a bigger demand for VIP tours with no waits. Obviously the official VIP tours get access to whatever Disney chooses to give (including underground tunnel movement and prime placement at shows and on rides.) Those tours cost a lot of nickels though and most of us aren't going to drop several thousand dollars for a day at the park to avoid lines.

A slightly less expensive option are the unofficial "VIP" tours. They cost less, use former cast members with lots of knowledge, and prepare everything, but by using a supply of annual passes they were able to provide lots of fast passes as well. This business model is why Mine Train fast passes are never available. VIP companies were reserving lots of good passes early in the day.

That business model is kind of sucky for people like me who aren't going to spend the coin for a VIP tour because a relatively small number of guests were getting lots of fast passes leaving fewer for everyone else. But I don't think Disney cares about that aspect. I do think they care about expanding their own official VIP tour business. If unofficial VIP tour companies can't provide a steady flow of fast passes then lots of their customers will spend the extra money for an official tour. And believe me, if there are guests with money in hand willing to pay thousands of dollars for no wait you'd better believe Disney will accommodate.

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Originally Posted by Ian

Yeah I agree completely with this. They wasted close to $2 billion on this silly system that's turned a vacation in Disney World into something you need a PhD to complete successfully. If you consider they spent $100 million on Mission:Space, $2 billion could have built 20 new e-ticket caliber attractions. Probably not given that MS is like 20 years old now, but even if you double those costs you could have put 2-3 top quality attractions in each of the four parks. Now THAT would have cut down on wait times!

Agree with this, as well. Even more so, I hate what it does to our kids. The opportunity to be spontaneous if there's an opportunity that presents itself for them to do something magical (like a character meet and greet or one of the little side shows or events they do around the parks) half the time you have to disappoint them and say, "No sorry we have a Fastpass for such-and-such in 10 minutes or no we have a dining reservation we can't be late for so you can't see Mickey Mouse."

I hate that as a parent.

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You must have missed the official word from Disney that fastpass + INCREASED spontaneity.

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Originally Posted by sicemdawgs

IMO, Disney is cracking down on this because private VIP tour companies are taking a bite out of "official" Disney VIP tours. With constant crowds year round now there has never been a bigger demand for VIP tours with no waits. Obviously the official VIP tours get access to whatever Disney chooses to give (including underground tunnel movement and prime placement at shows and on rides.) Those tours cost a lot of nickels though and most of us aren't going to drop several thousand dollars for a day at the park to avoid lines.

A slightly less expensive option are the unofficial "VIP" tours. They cost less, use former cast members with lots of knowledge, and prepare everything, but by using a supply of annual passes they were able to provide lots of fast passes as well. This business model is why Mine Train fast passes are never available. VIP companies were reserving lots of good passes early in the day.

That business model is kind of sucky for people like me who aren't going to spend the coin for a VIP tour because a relatively small number of guests were getting lots of fast passes leaving fewer for everyone else. But I don't think Disney cares about that aspect. I do think they care about expanding their own official VIP tour business. If unofficial VIP tour companies can't provide a steady flow of fast passes then lots of their customers will spend the extra money for an official tour. And believe me, if there are guests with money in hand willing to pay thousands of dollars for no wait you'd better believe Disney will accommodate.

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How did I miss all this going on? I feel guilty doubling up on child swap and Fastpass+, although it is sort of necessary in our current family situation. Maybe I will hire out our toddler to help people skirt the system. I seriously won't be going back till everyone is tall enough to ride everything.

It is the same thing that happened with the GAC card. People were taking advantage and then the people who really needed it paid the price.

The fact people would go through such great lengths to not have to wait in a line speaks volumes about society and mostly my generation of parents. Everyone's kids are too special to wait in line.

I would write more in my rant but I am currently experiencing double vision and migraines from starting at our laptop screen trying to plan my "spontaneous" vacation. Sure hope the kids are in the mood for Tower of Tower and the Brown Derby two months from now and they certainly better refer to the Clipboard of Fun before asking to use the toilet. Toilet breaks are highlighted in yellow!