News Round Up 2020

[rteetz]

News

https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/b...-festival-of-the-arts-saturday-at-755-p-m-et/

 

[rteetz]

News

https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/b...ur-star-wars-adventures-at-disneyland-resort/

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

You can refresh for FP's, even top tier FP's, and not be glued to your phone. On average we only look for 2-3 minutes for our next FP once we've tapped into the current one. After doing EEMH to ride Smuggler's Run twice in September we didn't even bother going on the ride in October because there weren't FP's and we weren't interested in waiting 45-60 minutes to ride it. With FP I hope to ride multiple times each day we're at HS.

I know people have success with this. And I have tried it and haven't had the best of luck. Yes, there are fastpasses to be found but in my experience, they aren't for the top tier rides.

 

[rteetz]

News

https://blogmickey.com/2020/01/disn...added-for-june-and-july-2020-at-magic-kingdom

 

[skier_pete]

I actually think I may be anti-FP. Never thought I'd say that.

But these days it seems like they load such a high percentage of FP versus standby that it's just ridiculous.

I remember trying to ride Spaceship Earth last October. Fastpasses were gone for the day. There was only one queue line of standby so we were like sweet, won't be long.

They never let the standby line move unless FP stopped coming.

It came to the point where the standby line was holding their breath and getting upset when FP people came. They literally would not let standby go if they saw someone entering the Fast pass queue but were nowhere near the merge point.

Took about 20 minutes to go one length of the standby line.

Yeah, they load some rides with 80-90% Fastpass. It's horrible.

 

[evlaina]

I am on the fence - I do worry that some e-tickets will always get long standby lines even without FP and the thought of going form like 60+ minute line to 60+ minute line is not super appealing

BUT I wonder if they can incorprate these boarding groups/virtual queue more? Either instead of FP or in addition to FP - so you have your FP line but then, for those that don't have standby, you use a virtual queue - and secure your spot only day of. This way people who pay to stay on site for long periods of time do get the benefit of getting FPs but for those that don't just show up at rope drop to secure your Virtual Queue spot and you don't have to wait in line for hours and hours

But then you have people complaining "I had to get up early and still got group 138!"...there's no winning for WDW, someone will always be unhappy.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

But then you have people complaining "I had to get up early and still got group 138!"...there's no winning for WDW, someone will always be unhappy.

Yeah I agree but knowing they want FPs to motivate people to stay on site and book longer stays I think this is a better option for others so at least you don't get stuck in an hours long line

If we assume they will keep FP I think a virtual queue is better - and better for Dis ey as you aren't spending money if you are standing in a queue

 

[dlavender]

Yes and no. It would bring longer stand-by wait times, but you have to weighted average them against the Fastpass wait times to understand if total wait times go up or down. Since Fastpass percentages are top secret info as far as I know, I'm just going to make up some examples.

If it's 40% Fastpasses at 15 minutes and 60% stand by at 90 minutes, the weighted average would be 60 minutes. If it's 70% Fastpasses at 15 minutes and 30% stand by at 90 minutes, the weighted average would be 37.5 minutes. I've seen wait times for MF:SR at between 30 and 75 minutes for the most part since opening. So one of these might be a wash and the other might be shorter on average. Unfortunately we just don't have enough information.

It's also hard to know if simply more people are riding now that there is FP, and if that number is material.

Since we wont know all the particulars, I'm going to just say that if the line gets over 70 mins consistently, then I'm calling FP+ a complete failure, lol.

 

[jknezek]

It's also hard to know if simply more people are riding now that there is FP, and if that number is material.

Since we wont know all the particulars, I'm going to just say that if the line gets over 70 mins consistently, then I'm calling FP+ a complete failure, lol.

In reality more people can't ride it. The capacity doesn't change whether FP is enabled or not unless Disney is currently running it below capacity. You may have more people trying to ride it, but so long as there is a wait, the ride is at the capacity Disney is willing or capable of running it. That's why the known variable that I'm using is the current average wait time with no Fastpass. From there I'm guessing at how many Fastpasses are handed out as a percentage of capacity.

I could easily solve it the other way and predict that if the FP line is 15 minutes, and the standby line is 120 minutes, and the average pre-FP enablement wait is 60 minutes, then Disney is handing out 57% capacity as FP+ and 43% of capacity is standby. And isn't that really bleak? Just over 1:1 would give you a 2 hour wait.

So it won't take much to push the standby line over 70 minutes consistently if the current average wait is 60 minutes, only about 19% of capacity as a 15 minute FP. It seems to me that average current wait is closer to 45 minutes, but even still, with a 15 minute FP line, that only gives Disney 45% FP and 55% standby before they hit 70 minutes.

I don't remember seeing too many FP rides where the split is close to 1:1, let alone under 1:1. But maybe they will ease their way in to giving out FPs...

 

[TheMaxRebo]

It's also hard to know if simply more people are riding now that there is FP, and if that number is material.

Since we wont know all the particulars, I'm going to just say that if the line gets over 70 mins consistently, then I'm calling FP+ a complete failure, lol.

Yeah, I know some people that just won't ride without a FP but then know others that expect to never get a FP as they stay off site and will wait in a reasonable time but not 3 hours in standby so beings some more people into equation but drops others out

 

[jlundeen]

News

Updated Block & Hans Menu Coming Soon to The American Adventure at Epcot

Dang, they used to have Cream CHeese pretzels there too... wish they still did!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

REPORT

Space 220 to ope to guests on March 30th (guess not an issue for my February trip)

https://twitter.com/x/status/1220425852439187458

 

[only hope]

You can refresh for FP's, even top tier FP's, and not be glued to your phone. On average we only look for 2-3 minutes for our next FP once we've tapped into the current one. After doing EEMH to ride Smuggler's Run twice in September we didn't even bother going on the ride in October because there weren't FP's and we weren't interested in waiting 45-60 minutes to ride it. With FP I hope to ride multiple times each day we're at HS.

I’d be shocked if SR is easy to get day of. I expect it to be as hard to get day of as 7DMT, SDD, and FoP.

 

[JETSDAD]

I’d be shocked if SR is easy to get day of. I expect it to be as hard to get day of as 7DMT, SDD, and FoP.

That's what I'm hoping....we ride those multiple times per day with FP.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

REPORT

Space 220 to ope to guests on March 30th (guess not an issue for my February trip)

https://twitter.com/x/status/1220425852439187458

Like the one TS place on WDW's property I'm super excited for. It won't ruin my trip if I can't get an ADR for it but I sure really want to try it out. Hoping the reviews once it opens are positive though. The concept is something both my husband and I really like which is space-related.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

That's what I'm hoping....we ride those multiple times per day with FP.

wish I had your luck/skill - I try all the time and have never gotten a day of fast pass for any of those

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Like the one TS place on WDW's property I'm super excited for. It won't ruin my trip if I can't get an ADR for it but I sure really want to try it out. Hoping the reviews once it opens are positive though. The concept is something both my husband and I really like which is space-related.

I love that it is unique and something that seems like "only at Disney" yet isn't specific IP related .... obviously I hope the food is good too but I think one of those places as long as there are a few options that are solid will be really popular and one I hope to get to do at some point

 

[ejgonz2]

REPORT

Space 220 to ope to guests on March 30th (guess not an issue for my February trip)

https://twitter.com/x/status/1220425852439187458

That’s not winter...

Just missing it this trip. Oh well.

 

[DGsAtBLT]

The move to FP+ was the beginning of all of this.

With FP-, not only was it offered at less attractions but I believe the amount of guests who actually used it was much lower, as well as the FP to SB ratio. It all changed when it became vital to Disney to have the greatest number of people using FP+. They needed more capacity to be able to provide enough FP for this, they got it by putting it at attractions that absolutely did not need it (like that SSE example) and increasing the ratio. It was to the detriment of guests like us, because what they really did was a really great job of distributing the crowds to slower attractions and turning stand by into a true stand by wait.

 

[only hope]

That's what I'm hoping....we ride those multiple times per day with FP.

You must be very lucky. Many days I have quite literally refreshed for 1-3 hours almost non-stop at HS whilst enjoying other things before seeing a SDD come up- if one came up at all. Only exception is if Disney decides to do a same day drop while I’m there. And this is for one or two people. 7DMT I haven’t refreshed constantly for hours, but we use around 10 fp; almost never does a single fp for that turn up.