Fast Pass Changes (with Pic)

[disneyfanatic101]

I got this from WDW News Today:

Apparently, there are some more changes to the fastpass system at the Walt Disney World Resort on the way. Notice in the picture below that they have moved the date stamp on some fastpasses (as well as the addition of a the year of distribution) right underneath the redemption time, as well as greatly improved the size of the text. This is yet another step towards decreasing Fastpass fraud on WDW attractions. One might just wonder why they just don’t start scanning the tickets….

[Toad's Buddy]

Yeah, I thought I saw something different on my trip. I'll get a few pics and put em' in my trip report.

[doconeill]

I had heard that they were doing something about the date on the ticket, and this is exactly what I expected - its just to make it easier for the CM to check the time AND date.

As for why they don't scan, changing the print on the passes is easy. Installing scanners at all locations costs a lot more money. This is probably a stopgap measure for now - I think scanners are still in the plans...

[clion]

This would be a great place for portable hand-held scanners with wireless networking -- like what you see in some grocery stores.

[doconeill]

This would be a great place for portable hand-held scanners with wireless networking -- like what you see in some grocery stores.

There were reports they were trying something with scanners a month or so back. I don't know the outcome of the tests. This was probably a simpler change to make in the meantime.

[LordMoeschi]

I actually saw a cast member with a Symbol scanner terminal at Rock n Roller Coaster some weeks ago - she wasn't using it at the fastpass gates, though...still, the ride was great.

//Michael

[plutopuppy]

I was in Magic Kingdom on Saturday and almost had a problem with fastpass. My friend and I had fastpasses for Splash Mountain to return at 7:15 and my friend's mom had a pass to return at 7:20. We got to Splash Mountain at 7:18 and the cast member wasn't going to let my friend's mom in. She pointed to us and kept walking past the cast member because it was rediculous that they would make her wait two minutes when she was obviously with us and it's not like she was there an hour before her time.

[doconeill]

I was in Magic Kingdom on Saturday and almost had a problem with fastpass. My friend and I had fastpasses for Splash Mountain to return at 7:15 and my friend's mom had a pass to return at 7:20. We got to Splash Mountain at 7:18 and the cast member wasn't going to let my friend's mom in. She pointed to us and kept walking past the cast member because it was rediculous that they would make her wait two minutes when she was obviously with us and it's not like she was there an hour before her time.

Ah...but the rules state that you cannot get in early with a FP. If for some reason your group has split times, you should wait until all have reached their return times.

[plutopuppy]

Ah...but the rules state that you cannot get in early with a FP. If for some reason your group has split times, you should wait until all have reached their return times.

I could understand that if it was a long time before her fastpass. But two minutes, that's a little ridiculous.

[Jetjaguar]

It looks like the datestamp is still on the ticket, at the bottom of the picture?

[doconeill]

It looks like the datestamp is still on the ticket, at the bottom of the picture?

There are several dates on the ticket.

The real change which you can see if you compare against the example on my page here is that the valid date, which was in large type at the bottom, has been moved up directly under the return time, and includes the year (just in case the holder managed to save it for an entire year and then use it on the same date )

Two additional dates are on the ticket:

1) In the lower left corner in small type is the date on which the Fastpass was printed - the time is in the lower right.

2) In the bottom center, also in small type, is information on the ticket that was used to obtain the Fastpass. The date is when the ticket was purchased (or in the case of vouchers, the voucher was turned in and activated).

Both if these are identical to the way they were before.

[Jetjaguar]

Ah, gotcha... thanks for explaining!

[mini-V]

I'm resurrecting this thread because I'm wondering if there is a new policy as to how guests in the fast pass line are going to board attractions. We were on Everest today and the stand-by line came to a stand still once we got into the last cue line. The cm was taking 1 family or 4 people at a time from the stand-by line and letting the fast pass line through with barely a break. It took forever for us to board. I've never seen the fast pass line move almost non-stop with only a couple people from the stand-by line get to move. The two women ahead of us weren't too pleased to have to wait for 3 or four trains before we got a turn. In fact, if the woman hadn't said that there were 4 (meaning the two of them and us) in their party when we got to the final cm, we would have been waiting for the next train. They even took a bunch of single riders before the stand-by line. It wasn't too big of a surprise when we saw that the stand-by wait had grown from 25 minutes to 45 while we were in the attraction. I wondered if anyone else had experienced this on Everest or any other attraction? Is Disney hoping that everyone will only use fast pass to ride attractions? If so, then guests will need to be able to fast pass more than one attraction at a time.

[Spodie]

The cm was taking 1 family or 4 people at a time from the stand-by line and letting the fast pass line through with barely a break. It took forever for us to board.

You know, the same thing happened to us a couple of trips back while we were waiting for Soarin'. The FP people walked right though and they would let a couple of people through in the standby line at a time. I have to admit, it was kind of frustrating and the other people in the stand by line were not too happy either.

It has only happened that one time to me though - I've never had a problem since, even on Soarin'. In fact, on our last trip, there was a FP line on Soarin' and the stand by line had no one in it even though the stand by wait time was posted as a 55 minute wait!

[doconeill]

Well, the Fastpass line DOES have priority - after all, that is the POINT of it. If you have to WAIT in the Fastpass queue, it defeats the purpose.

The problem is that when there is a maintenance issue, the Fastpass line can get backed up, and it can snowball if the problem exists long enough.

They do try and moderate as best they can in some circumstances, but some CMs seem to do it better than others.