Does Disney want you in lines?

[Dave Gray]

I just got back from Disney World.

We used to have annual passes and go about 4 times per year.

They had a system called Fastpass.  The way it worked is that every ticket came with 3 fast-passes.  Essentially, you signed up through kiosk in the park or app on your phone and scheduled to walk onto a ride without waiting.  You could still wait in lines, but this would essentially hold your spot.  You would have to pick times available and the passes would run out.

A secondary effect of this was that lines, in general, were shorter even if you were going to wait because it was using analytics to evenly distribute where people were located in the park.

And you had more time to go into stores, walk around, get food or just look at stuff.  It just felt like a great system and made for a much more relaxed pace for your day.


This system was abandoned, citing COVID (not sure why) and has not returned.  There is something in its place, where you have the option to pay per ride to skip lines.  In my experience, it is ineffective and lines across the park are now long everywhere.  In addition, you feel like you can't be wasting time eating popcorn while you walk around because you could be in a line eating popcorn, so you need to manage your time wisely if you intend to do things.


My question is ....why?

I initially thought that FastPass would change the world because now I'm out walking around and spending money on food and in stores, rather than couped up in a line. 

But I'm starting to think that Disney wants me in a line.  Thousands of people crammed into a small queue means that the park is more open and that you can fit a lot more people inside.

I am sure that it all comes down to money.

But my most recent experience was that the park felt a lot less crowded, but all of the lines were way longer.

[Spider-Dan]

A while back, I watched a nearly-two-hour video about the history of Disney's various fast passes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yjZpBq1XBE

Under the old system, Disneyland and Disney World had completely different fast pass mechanisms.  The Disneyland fast pass worked somewhat similar to how you describe, but the Disney World fast pass allowed (and therefore effectively required) booking of rides many days in advance of your visit.  And Disney's resort sales arm would leverage this to give first dibs to those who book their hotel stays (etc.) through Disney Resorts.  The upshot of this is that if you were visiting Disney World from out of state and tried to book a fast pass on your way to the park, you would find out that oops, you needed to book that ride two months ago.  (The Disneyland system allowed same-day booking only.)  This resulted in a pretty terrible experience for those who are not experienced Disney World goers and didn't know how to work the system.

The fast pass systems were suspended at all Disneyparks during COVID, and in winter 2021, Disney implemented the new two-tier fast pass "Lightning Lane" system for all US parks.  Like most other theme parks (Six Flags, Universal, etc.), you can pay to upgrade your park ticket to Genie+ Lightning Lane, which allows you to reserve a spot at most (?) rides; one ride at a time, all day long.  For certain premium (i.e. newer) rides, there is Individual Lightning Lane, where you pay to go in the fastpass line once.

Genie+ Lightning Lane and Individual Lightning Lane are completely separate; paying for a day-long Genie+ does not let you skip the line on a premium ride, and you don't need Genie+ to pay for and use the Individual Lightning Lane.

To be honest, Genie+ is how most competitors' theme parks already work.  As for Individual Lightning Lane... enjoy capitalism, I guess.  They wouldn't do it if people weren't willing to pay.

P.S.  I know that Disney World changed their fast pass system several times, and the version you recall may have been one of the most recent implementations, changed to be more like Disneyland's old Max Pass.  But there were a lot of complaints from customers under the old Disney World fast pass system.

[pondwater]

Haven't been to Disney in 20 years and it was crowded as shit back then. But the last couple times I've gone to Busch Gardens in Tampa I planned it out differently. Usually we would all just pick a certain day to go. But there are calendars online that show what days are busy and what days are slow. So I would always pick the slower days to go. Then we would get up early and be there when they first opened.

What normally would take all day just to ride the most popular roller coasters only took until about 1 pm. Then we would grab a good sit down meal for and hour of so. Then hit the less popular rides in the afternoon. That's the best way I've figured out without spending any extra money on BS skip the line shit.

[Spider-Dan]

I went to Universal Orlando when I was in FL last month.  Got a 2-park fast pass ticket, which was a little over $300.  I was able to go on 8 rides in 6 hours (every ride I was interested in) and I feel like I did enough that I don't see any reason to go back.

That's really my only motivation to pay extra for a fast pass: if I'm just trying to speedrun a park and I don't want to feel like I need to come back again because I missed something.

[CF DolFan]

A while back, I watched a nearly-two-hour video about the history of Disney's various fast passes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yjZpBq1XBE

Under the old system, Disneyland and Disney World had completely different fast pass mechanisms.  The Disneyland fast pass worked somewhat similar to how you describe, but the Disney World fast pass allowed (and therefore effectively required) booking of rides many days in advance of your visit.  

I can't speak for the evolution of Fast Pass but it certainly didn't start that way at Walt Disney World. In the beginning you went to the ride and got a fast pass which was basically a timeslot to return and get on the ride. Others had to wait in line and wait their turn. As passholders we weren't given any but did get passes to ride on attractions as a preview before they opened tot the public. We were annual pass holders for many years in the late 90s and into the 2000s. I remember running into Brian Fein and his wife at times. I want to say we were both at Animal Kingdom to ride Expedition Everest before it opened to the public in 2006.

[Dave Gray]

I can 100% see how they shouldn't let you book things prior to like...the day or week before...whatever.

But the old system just seemed to be much better.  This way, I felt stressed out all day.  Every second we weren't in a line, I felt like we should be.  Why have a conversation looking at something for 10 minutes, when those 10 minutes talking could be in a line?

It was just a less enjoyable experience, in general....lines notwithstanding.

We still had fun and like Pondwater, I did what I could do to make the experience better (like, we got up at the asscrack of dawn to do the biggest ride in each park).

Back when we had Fast Passes, we had a much more leisurely-paced day. 

Ultimately money wins the day, but for me, it seems to make this trip something you do every couple of years.  Save up, go hard, and wear yourself out.  The idea of going regularly to kinda fart around and enjoy the gardens and the food is dead to me, which is what we used to do all the time.  I would never want to get an annual pass if I can't go ride the rides without waiting for 2 hours.   It just doesn't make any sense.

[CF DolFan]

If you want to enjoy the parks without crowds then go after Labor Day week until the week of Thanksgiving. Anytime kids are in school parents aren't traveling. After Thanksgiving can be ok but Christmas time can be pretty crazy. The week of Christmas to New Years is definitely a no-no. After New Years until the Daytona 500 is the best as it is typically cool and crowds are at their smallest.

[FinFanCR]

Disney is now doing what Universal and Sea World have been doing for years.   You pay extra for your park ticket and you get to go in lines that supersede the normal queues.   Those who can afford the extra money can enjoy the entire park in a day, while those who can't need to plan their time wisely in order to get through the lines with as little wait as possible.

That being said, I've never really been a theme park guy.   I'm more into the state and national parks.   I pay $80 bucks a year for a pass to all the national parks in the United States, and once I hit the ripe old age of 62, I pay $80 one more time and I get free admission for as long as I'm still breathing.