FP "change" in return time enforcement question?

[mermaidmarian]

This has probably been discussed ad nauseum over the past couple of months, but I have been on hiatus, so maybe you all can bring me up to speed.

What was the big deal with people returning with FPs outside of the return window, aside from the fact that the rules stated that the pass was for the specific return time? If the system only releases a certain number of FPs for the day, and the window to get another FP prevents people from stocking up or trying to re-sell passes, why does it matter when people use them?

[MstngDrvnDsnyLvr]

It isn't just a select number of passes per day, but also a select number of passes per hour, etc. By allowing people to return outside the printed time, you then create a backlog in the current FP wait line because you've added X amount of people into the line that were supposed to have been in the line at an earlier time.

[MickeysBestPal]

If the system only releases a certain number of FPs for the day, and the window to get another FP prevents people from stocking up or trying to re-sell passes, why does it matter when people use them?

It simply doesn't matter (or used to not matter,) due to the mathematical realities that were the way guests actually did use FP's vs. the Standby line.

For instance, If a guest had, but did not use, a FP during the Return window, the FastPass Line was decreased by at least by one rider during that hour.

-------

However, now...

The principle reason of the new Return Time enforcement at WDW (they are NOT doing the Return Time enforcement at Disneyland, BTW)
appears to be that they are now, and will be even to an even greater extent in the future, adding to the number of FP's distributed per day (some say a LOT of new FP's) and even adding FP's to attractions that do not now have (or need) FP's... and that sheer increase in number of Passes per day would necessitate a tighter enforcement of Return Times.

[mermaidmarian]

I never experienced or observed a long wait in an FP line, nor did I ever think that my stand by line was made excessively longer by people using FPs out of their window. And, as was also said, some intervals might have far fewer people returning during the FP window, so both lines would move well.

I guess I can see the need for enforcement of the times if they are going to be introducing significantly more FP to the current system. Thanks for that bit of explanation. That makes more sense.

[squijee]

The only problem dh and I have encountered with using fp not at the time is that a lot of people wait until the park is closing to use their fp and the lines at popular rides is 30 to 45 minutes for the fp lines.

[Gator]

The only problem dh and I have encountered with using fp not at the time is that a lot of people wait until the park is closing to use their fp and the lines at popular rides is 30 to 45 minutes for the fp lines.

That's what I would see at Soarin'. If we had a FP for the evening, the FP line was still a 20-30 minute wait.

[gerald72]

How does waiting to use your Fastpass make the line longer later?
If I'm supposed to be there at 6, but don't show up until 9, that's means the line is one person shorter for 3 hours. Then at 9 its exactly as long as its supposed to be.

[Alaska Disney Fan]

It's simple, regardless of how many people did not use their FP at the designated time, if you have say 300 people show up when you are expecting 150, it still takes extra time to get those extra 150 people through the line. And if that builds up throughout the day ( more and more people not showing up when they are supposed to) then you have an excessive amount of people showing up when your not expecting them, and the wait time becomes longer. Kinda like people going to a drive through at lunch time, regarless of how slow they were at 5 minutes to 12, at 10 minutes after the line is getting longer and longer andthe wait gets more and more.

[Main Street Jim]

Thank you all for understanding the "problem" with people returning later

I was going to try and explain it, but it may have been more complicated than the way y'all did

Trust me. I worked at three FP attractions. i can't tell you how many times I've seen the FP line actually LONGER than the Stand-by side because people waited to use their FP's later (and wondering to myself, "Can't these people see it's a WALK-ON on the stand-by side, instead of wasting their FastPasses!?...LOLOL". At that point, if I was at the "merge point", I would dump the entire FP side and let the stand-by side build back up again.

[spoiledraf]

"Can't these people see it's a WALK-ON on the stand-by side, instead of wasting their FastPasses!?...LOLOL". At that point, if I was at the "merge point", I would dump the entire FP side and let the stand-by side build back up again.

Ahhh... a CM! What is the game plan in handleing the fast pass line and the stand by line. Sounds like you have a lot of control. Is there a protocol set by Disney or do you have freedom to do as you see necessary???

[RBrooksC]

I, IMOHO, believe Disney should have ALWAYS been enforcing this rule.

I always went back to the attraction at the time listed on the ticket. If I had something else planned at that time, I didn't take a FP. It was rather simple.

What happens is a rule like this never gets enforced and then it because of this, it because a "Disney Tip" or part of a "touring plan" for the parks. Then when the rule starts to be enforced, people become annoyed about it.

[MickeysBestPal]

I'm very glad that they didn't enforce the Return Time for years and years.
(They're still not enforcing it at Disneyland.)

People got to use their passes as they were needed, and other non FP users got to ride an attraction sooner due to the holding of a FP until later than the time stated.

And, I've seen many, many evenings when popular attractions have near-zero waits and the FP line is just shut down as it is no longer needed.

BTW, I, too, rarely used a FP outside the window...
not because I was being a good little Mousketeer, but because I wanted to ride a popular attraction ASAP... as do/did most guests who use FP's.

A major convenience has been lost, and a looming unknown "system" is about to be unleashed.

The FP devil you know is out the door.
The FP devil you don't know is poised to take over.

[Main Street Jim]

Ahhh... a CM! What is the game plan in handleing the fast pass line and the stand by line. Sounds like you have a lot of control. Is there a protocol set by Disney or do you have freedom to do as you see necessary???

As a CM, you have to use common sense And yes, the CM's *do* have control. Unfortunately, a LOT of them are not "properly trained", or don't really understand how the system is supposed to work, *because they've never even been to the parks*, (especially the International College Program kids), and because the trainers are only allowed to "spend so much time" training the "new kids" on how FastPass operates and how they need to "work" Return/Merge (most attractions only allow for about a half hour of this training - don't ask me, I only *used* to work here....LOL....).

My "protocol", if I was working the "merge point" (where the FP's are collected by the CM): If I saw that the FP line was backed up past a certain point in the queue, I'd hold the Stand-by side and just "dump" my FP guests, letting the Stand-by line back up (that's why it's called "Stand-by, correct? ). Once the FP side was gone, *then* I'd open the Stand-by line again.

Now, if the FP line *was NOT* backed up, and the Stand-by was at a decent wait time, then I'd go by the recommended ratio of about 80 FP guests to 20 Stand-by (if there was even that many FP guests in line). If not, and the FP side was pretty much empty, then the Stand-by side flowed much quicker as well.

What would hurt us is attraction downtimes, parades, and fireworks dumps (where it seemed *everyone* in the park would be rushing back to the attraction<s> to "make it in time" to use their FP; Splash was *notorious* for the afternoon parade dump....think about where the afternoon parades used to start...LOL) and the FP side would get pretty backed up.

To answer your question<s>: Does Disney have a "protocol" set? yes, it's supposed to be TRAINED by the TRAINERS.

Did we have freedom to do as we saw necessary? Yes, also; it's called "common sense" (like I said, if the CM sees the line backing up...they should know what to do...it's not *required* to go by that 80/20 number, especially if there's not 80 FP guests waiting....)