Stand-by Fasspass tests????

[1DisneyNut]

So apparently, from a CM front line point of view, this was a failure... people turned away cause no more passes left? People mad cause they couldn't get on the stand by line without a fast pass... Wow who would have thunk it... Not TDO...

And reportedly, the testing at Soarin is already a failure as well... Again, lots of angry guests...

Shocker.....lol

Who in their right mind would have ever thought that was a good idea anyway?

I guess from an optimist point of view, one could say at least they are trying to do something. Trying to put more layers on top of an already overly complicated system isn't going to do the trick though.

I have to say, if I was there and walked up to say Soarin expecting to stand in line, even if the line was long but then was turned away because they had given out paper FP's for the standby line on top of filling the FP line with FP+'s.......I would probably be escorted to the exit gate before it was over with.

[Polynesian Dweller]

So apparently, from a CM front line point of view, this was a failure... people turned away cause no more passes left? People mad cause they couldn't get on the stand by line without a fast pass... Wow who would have thunk it... Not TDO...

And reportedly, the testing at Soarin is already a failure as well... Again, lots of angry guests...

People, any more proof TDO are morons?

Their morons for trying to control standby lines? Not in my book. They tried something and it didn't work so back to lots of frustrated people in very long lines. At least they tried which was better than doing nothing which I'm sure would get similar complaints. Very easy to complain when one can complain about all sides of an issue.

I do have a question, how many multibillion dollar theme parks have you run?

[DizneyFreak2002]

Shocker.....lol

Who in their right mind would have ever thought that was a good idea anyway?

Who? Meg... Georgie... And the other wonderfully gifted and talented individuals ruining, I mean running WDW...

Oh and of course those Disney fans who think Disney loves them, cares about them, and is perfect in every way...

[DizneyFreak2002]

Their morons for trying to control standby lines? Not in my book. They tried something and it didn't work so back to lots of frustrated people in very long lines. At least they tried which was better than doing nothing which I'm sure would get similar complaints. Very easy to complain when one can complain about all sides of an issue.

I do have a question, how many multibillion dollar theme parks have you run?

Yes they are morons...

Easy and simple solution: ADD MORE CAPACITY... oh but wait, that means spending money.. Never mind... it isn't DVC or else they would

And anyone with active brain cells could have known and would have known this wouldn't have worked... But hey, they run multi billion dollar theme parks... Guess they know what they are doing...


***They don't by the way...

[DizneyRox]

Yes they are morons...

Easy and simple solution: ADD MORE CAPACITY... oh but wait, that means spending money.. Never mind... it isn't DVC or else they would

And anyone with active brain cells could have known and would have known this wouldn't have worked... But hey, they run multi billion dollar theme parks... Guess they know what they are doing...


***They don't by the way...

Lines are a result of ride capacity and park capacity. More people in without adding get ride throughput results in lines. Charging $100 a day means people, dang nabbit, will try to get their money's worth, which doesn't mean shopping, it means rides.

This doesn't mean lowering prices will produce less lines, although it might mean people stay longer and are in less of a rush, but realistically, they need something for people to do besides shop. 9 out of 10 people have a vacation budget that ain't moving once they arrive at the park, so realize that making people shop instead of ride isn't going to work.

[Cheshire_Girl]

I do have a question, how many multibillion dollar theme parks have you run?

I'm still waiting, with baited breath , for the answer to this question...
Clearly it has been many

[DonaldDuck1117]

Except people's budgets DO change when they are on a vacation. Maybe not you, or others on this board but people do over spend their budgets while on vacation. And the magic bands are proving that. Spending is up. They are doing what they were designed to do. Are they doing it at the rate Disney hoped for? No way. It took longer to develop them than they hoped, and it cost more than the had thought, but, they are finally seeing a return on investment. Now they hope that grows.

Going back to Iger, as I said before you can say the Resort is no where what it was like back in the day (funny how there are always people saying that and not just about the parks but about life in general) and you have valid points about certain things-I would love if the spent money to fill out AK and Studios-but Iger's job is not to worry solely about the parks, but the whole company. We all know how big the Disney empire is. It has grown under Iger, and the company has never been more profitable.

You can crtizise the job he has done with the parks and resorts wing of the company if you'd like, however, calling him a terrible CEO is a ridiculous statement.

[DizneyFreak2002]

Except people's budgets DO change when they are on a vacation. Maybe not you, or others on this board but people do over spend their budgets while on vacation. And the magic bands are proving that. Spending is up. They are doing what they were designed to do. Are they doing it at the rate Disney hoped for? No way. It took longer to develop them than they hoped, and it cost more than the had thought, but, they are finally seeing a return on investment. Now they hope that grows.

Wrong... Spending is not up because of the magic bands... Spending is up on higher prices... Their SEC filings even state as much... When they report their financials, their releases always say spending up due to increase in prices, not because sales are up... Sales are stagnant... Spending does not equal sales... Even Rasulo said they won't see any kind of gains from the NextGen money spent until 2015, and that's a maybe...

I guess we should also toss in those money grab, hard ticket, after hours events too... Those add to the profits, and have absolutely nothing to do with magic bands...

Going back to Iger, as I said before you can say the Resort is no where what it was like back in the day (funny how there are always people saying that and not just about the parks but about life in general) and you have valid points about certain things-I would love if the spent money to fill out AK and Studios-but Iger's job is not to worry solely about the parks, but the whole company. We all know how big the Disney empire is. It has grown under Iger, and the company has never been more profitable.

Iger doesn't care about the parks at all.. I think that is evident...

You can crtizise the job he has done with the parks and resorts wing of the company if you'd like, however, calling him a terrible CEO is a ridiculous statement.

He is a terrible CEO... Just go look at the numbers from when Eisner was CEO to Iger's term as CEO... Eisner had better numbers all around... Someone posted online somewhere comparing their numbers... I am going to look for it... And if they give permission, I'll post it... It is eye opening just how bad Iger has really been...

And forget the stock price.. The stock split how many times under Eisner? Split how many times under Iger? How many times was the stock over $100 with Eisner? How many times with Iger? Stock price does NOT tell the whole story...

Sad thing is, if Iger has his way, the CEO after him will be even worse...

[yjgirl32]

If people are so unhappy with Disney why do you(they) keep coming on a website for Disney. I get Disney is not perfect but neither is any other park. Some parks(most that I have been to) either make you wait in line or charge you for their version of fastpass. Maybe their idea didn't work, but they are trying. Maybe im just not a negative person.

[VWL Mom]

Their morons for trying to control standby lines? Not in my book. They tried something and it didn't work so back to lots of frustrated people in very long lines. At least they tried which was better than doing nothing which I'm sure would get similar complaints. Very easy to complain when one can complain about all sides of an issue.

I agree, regardless of the outcome they attempted to fix it. Posts of this type with constant Disney bashing amaze me, mostly because they end with people saying they'll be taking their money to Universal where they are appreciated. Guess what, there are some really long lines there too! And you have to pay for your express pass which doesn't cover many of the rides! Maybe Disney should just throw in the proverbial free fp towel and start selling them…oh wait, they'd be wrong then too.

BTW, the wait for A&E at DL end of June was 30 minutes, go figure.

[Terra]

If people are so unhappy with Disney why do you(they) keep coming on a website for Disney. I get Disney is not perfect but neither is any other park. Some parks(most that I have been to) either make you wait in line or charge you for their version of fastpass. Maybe their idea didn't work, but they are trying. Maybe im just not a negative person.

I agree, regardless of the outcome they attempted to fix it. Posts of this type with constant Disney bashing amaze me, mostly because they end with people saying they'll be taking their money to Universal where they are appreciated. Guess what, there are some really long lines there too! And you have to pay for your express pass which doesn't cover many of the rides! Maybe Disney should just throw in the proverbial free fp towel and start selling them…oh wait, they'd be wrong then too.

BTW, the wait for A&E at DL end of June was 30 minutes, go figure.

I have been wondering this as well. I'm going to be honest. I adore Intercot. It does however feel more negative towards Disney as of late than any other time, and I've been a member for over 10 years.

And please don't cite "Cranking because we care". That line is getting old. It's one thing to not like a few things, but it seems to be constant bashing anymore. And that makes it very unappealing as a place to come and discuss love of Disney.

[Cheshire_Girl]

I have been wondering this as well. I'm going to be honest. I adore Intercot. It does however feel more negative towards Disney as of late than any other time, and I've been a member for over 10 years.

And please don't cite "Cranking because we care". That line is getting old. It's one thing to not like a few things, but it seems to be constant bashing anymore. And that makes it very unappealing as a place to come and discuss love of Disney.

I feel the same way. And yes, I complain about things I don't like-it's ok to do that to an extent-especially when we are here sharing information ...example-I hate they removed the Brides ring from HM Ques-so I shared about it...and moved on
It seems like there are a handful of people here who post novels full of their opinions and hearsay-cramming up the board with arrogance and hate and if you try to state any point of view that does not agree with their opinion of how bad Disney is or how to fix WDW, TDO etc...they just write another arrogant hateful novel...
Makes me not want to come and share on the board for fear one of these people will high jack my thread with their arrogant hateful BS...it takes the fun out of being a part of an on line community that is supposed to share similar interests...Just saying

[rjmdds]

So let's recap...

Disney started FP with paper fastpasses for guests to return at a later time during the day... Then they change FP to FP+, and eliminate the paper fastpasses... They add FP+ to rides which don't need FP thus increasing wait times... Also you can book 60 days out, not have to run to an attraction to get a paper FP, and so you could spend less time in lines (hasn't worked, guests are, on the average spending more time in lines)... only to now to create a situation where guests have to run to an attraction to obtain a paper fastpass to so you now don't have to wait on the stand by line and return when yourn new paper fastpass tells you to so you can wait in standby..

WDW is the most relaxing, most magical vacation EVER...

Makes complete sense.

[Melanie]

Well, I do crank because I care. And this is just a Fastpass for a standby line. Something is horribly wrong here.

[Cheshire_Girl]

Well, I do crank because I care. And this is just a Fastpass for a standby line. Something is horribly wrong here.

It's one thing to crank because you care- for me, this thread has gone way beyond cranking 'cuz you care for some people and entered the realm of meltdown!
Ugh...

[DonaldDuck1117]

Well I'm going to flat out disagree with you Disneyfreak. All the articles I have read in business journals about Magic Bands say they are doing what the were intending to do-make people spend more. The articles do say that it will take some time to recoup the cost but that they are finally seeing a return on investment.

They also talk about the future of Magic Bands. Disney wants to use it for more than getting you to buy more while in the parks, they want market research to then get you to spend more in the future. The article gives the example of 'hey that Bob guy rode Haunted Mansion 15 times on his visit. Lets send him a coupon for 25% off Haunted Mansion gear for our online store.' Or, 'hmm Gary stayed with us for 7 days but only bought park tickets for 5 days. He may be going off property for 2 days, what can we do to keep him on property next time? Maybe a restaurant coupon would do it.'

They go on to talk about tracking where guests are during the day and being better able to estimate crowd levels and can better staff the resort which saves the company money.

Point being the Magic Bands weren't created for something as short sighted as in park spending. We all know you hate everything Magic Band, but just because you dislike them and scream really loud about it doesn't mean they aren't working. They are

[DizneyFreak2002]

BTW, the wait for A&E at DL end of June was 30 minutes, go figure.

30 minutes? Really... Go figure... Especially since, if waits did decrease to 30 minutes at the end of June, would have had nothing to do with the testing.. Since the testing was done at the end of July...

And please don't cite "Cranking because we care". That line is getting old. It's one thing to not like a few things, but it seems to be constant bashing anymore. And that makes it very unappealing as a place to come and discuss love of Disney.

You know what else gets old? When someone who doesn't see things through pixie dusted glasses posts their opinions which may not be 100% positive, they get told to leave the site, stop wasting your time here, and to stop going to WDW... That just shows me, and proves to me, what I have said about some online Disney fans for a while now.. And no, I won't post it... I have stated it in the past... I'm sure you read it before..

Makes complete sense.

To TDO it did... Of course, they also think it makes complete sense to shut restaurants, cut entertainment, close attractions for good, and reduce capacity while some attractions, and the MK as a park, burst at the seams..

[cer]

It may appear to be working for Disney Corporate, but I do believe that it is completely debatable as to whether Fastpass Plus is improving the park experience of the guests - especially off-site guests or day-only guests. John testifies as such from his last park experience on the most recent podcast.

Most don't complain about the band, it's the Fast pass plus experience.

I think guests are completely justified when they show up at a standby line and are told they can't standby because they don't have a fast pass. It is absurd that they even offered that as a solution and so very wise of them to remove it.

[DizneyFreak2002]

Well I'm going to flat out disagree with you Disneyfreak. All the articles I have read in business journals about Magic Bands say they are doing what the were intending to do-make people spend more. The articles do say that it will take some time to recoup the cost but that they are finally seeing a return on investment.

You can disagree.. Doesn't mean you are right... And doesn't mean the articles you read are right... The numbers tell a different story.. As does Disney's own words in their SEC filings...

They also talk about the future of Magic Bands. Disney wants to use it for more than getting you to buy more while in the parks, they want market research to then get you to spend more in the future. The article gives the example of 'hey that Bob guy rode Haunted Mansion 15 times on his visit. Lets send him a coupon for 25% off Haunted Mansion gear for our online store.' Or, 'hmm Gary stayed with us for 7 days but only bought park tickets for 5 days. He may be going off property for 2 days, what can we do to keep him on property next time? Maybe a restaurant coupon would do it.'

Yep, this isn't anything new... This has been talked about plenty of times... Already knew they had this as a plan... However, the way they want to carry this out is backwards... Instead of targeting the people who may not spend a lot and maybe entice them to spend a little more, they are looking to target the already big spenders...

They go on to talk about tracking where guests are during the day and being better able to estimate crowd levels and can better staff the resort which saves the company money.

Already knew this and discussed this as well. Nothing new here either... All I got to say about that is, CMs, kiss your jobs bye bye...

Since when is it a good thing for more Americans to be out of work?

Point being the Magic Bands weren't created for something as short sighted as in park spending. We all know you hate everything Magic Band, but just because you dislike them and scream really loud about it doesn't mean they aren't working. They are

We know why Magic Bands were created... We have discussed it thousands of times... I never said they were created for the sole purpose of increasing park spending.. I did, however, see the defenders of the bands and NextGen state as much...

I say they aren't working cause they aren't... Rasulo's own words, regarding not just the bands, but this My Magic Plus in general was to the effect: the more we force you to plan ever minute of your trip, the more we force you to stay on property which will then equal you spending more money with us... Too bad that isn't working...

As far as my hatred for magic bands, did you bother to read my observations and thoughts from October? Or did you ignore it completely... I ask cause I stated I had no issues or no problems with the bands working... And I have no issues with the bands in general.. I DO have issues with NextGen and the cost associated with it...

[Terra]

You know what else gets old? When someone who doesn't see things through pixie dusted glasses posts their opinions which may not be 100% positive, they get told to leave the site, stop wasting your time here, and to stop going to WDW... That just shows me, and proves to me, what I have said about some online Disney fans for a while now.. And no, I won't post it... I have stated it in the past... I'm sure you read it before..

Well, I never told you to leave Certainly we all do have a right to our opinions. And I do agree with some in the past, of what you said. And I say this 'cause I HAVE agreed. It does seem like as of lately, everything you post is negative.
At some point, like with a job someone hates because there was new management and lots of change.
You have to decide if it's worth the level of frustration for you to continually post all negative. Personally? I couldn't hack it. But by all means, if you are comfortable with only negative thoughts, have at it.

If that makes me pixie dust colored glasses nerdy, then I'm in
Heck I do not AT ALL like the new GAC procedures. HATE IT. But I can't change it so I deal, and still choose to have a fun attitude.
People don't want negative all the time. In my experience anyway.

I find that the people (like me) who AREN'T Frozen fans are the ones immune to complaining about this the loudest, or to crying about the "greedy bottom line" or "mismanagement" of the parks, and how "Iger and co." are "disrespecting what's currently their biggest hit" and "blind to the audience demand" by not permanently plastering all four parks with it, or using it as an excuse to build another New Fantasyland this week to make the parks more interesting, and that they'll "vote with their dollars" now that "Harry Potter has changed the game".
Which, as I joked (or at least made the friendly appearance of joking) earlier, isn't about Iger, isn't about the lines, and isn't about attractions. It's because the complainant couldn't get his Frozen fix. Which sounds, to the outside Frozen-immune bystander observer, like a child throwing a meltdown because the line on Peter Pan was too long, and blaming anyone who gets in his way as "unfair".

Over on another board, we had one notorious poster who practically made a public board jackass out of himself claiming to have "Insider scoops" that MaelFrozen was happening, and stonewalled all argument to the contrary with "Nope, it's a doner, totally going to happen," and laughed off any poster response of "And you know this how?..." as just disgruntled pixie-dust fans who didn't want to face the inevitable. (Although most believed it as gospel truth completely out of hand on said lack of evidence, because it was "supposed" to happen at this point.)
When pushed to the edge, he later let it slip that he hadn't been to the park in years, and hated Epcot for the "mismanagement", his "insider scoop" had been on a chat board while waiting for a D&D game, and nearly every rumor was laced with long editorials about how I&C "would" bulldoze Norway, just like every other lame bad decision they'd made at Epcot, etc.

No 'ffense, DizFreak, but....you're sounding EXACTLY like that. Right down to the semicolon. Frustration with the management has the psychological effect of turning wishful rumors into fact, and "fact" into schedules, and you want to believe in cynical paranoia, because any thought that Disney might not be doing it is "just fooling yourselves".
The 5-hour lines, to the immune observer do not seem normal (in fact, they're bringing back old flashbacks of the days of when you couldn't turn in any direction and get away from High School Musical at DHS), and Disney is trying to make normal out of the abnormal, until such day, if any over the next few months, as it passes. And I'm one of those folks who think they're doing an able, or at least thankless, job of it.

Yes to this. Great insight.