Fastpass Window Enforced?

[tappenfeat]

I thought that too.

[Drince88]

Ill go ahead and say it... thats pushing it just a wee bit too far.

Seriously, if they catch someone doing that, I think they should take their AP/admission media away.

[GusMan]

Seriously, if they catch someone doing that, I think they should take their AP/admission media away.

Or at least put them in a time out - making them ride Stitch for an hour straight or something like that.

[bochnikm]

I agree that enforcing the return time will lessen the waits on both the fastpass line and the standby line at the end of the day, or at other high peak times.

One thing that hasnt been mentioned is the flip side to this. Since the amount of fastpasses per day per attraction remains the same -if people do come back at the window instead of later, the stand-by and the fastpass lines during the day must get a little longer.

The extra waiting time wont be as bad as late in the day since these extra in the time window people are spread over a longer time frame

[danyoung]

And the flip side of that is that if people wait till later in the day to ride, well past their FP window, then they're making the FP line longer, which makes the standby line move slower.

[currence]

I agree that enforcing the return time will lessen the waits on both the fastpass line and the standby line at the end of the day, or at other high peak times.

One thing that hasn’t been mentioned is the flip side to this. Since the amount of fastpasses per day per attraction remains the same -if people do come back at the window instead of later, the stand-by and the fastpass lines during the day must get a little longer.

The extra waiting time won’t be as bad as late in the day since these extra “in the time window” people are spread over a longer time frame

You may be correct but I am not sure that we have enough knowledge of how Disney does Fastpasses. if they know that xx fastpasses will not be used in the original window but will be used by people who come back later in the day, they may skew their fastpass distribution to account for this. So if they want to average 100 fastpasses per period they may start with 110 fastpasses and end with 80. They could also decrease the number of fastpasses given out with a return window that is during a high peak time to account for people who have saved their tickets. In such a scenario, there would not be a significant difference between continuing this model versus switching to a model where fastpass return times are rigorously enforced but the amount of new fastpasses distributed for peak periods increases. Again, no idea how Disney currently works their proprietary formulas.

[TinaMouse]

When we were there, they were just enforcing the start time window

[peginpgh]

We were in WDW 9-25 thru 10/2 and they were only enforcing start times on the fastpasses. We did use them later in the day and nothing was said.

[jheigl]

I want to say right off the bat, that I have not read every post in this thread, but I agree with them wanting to enforce the return time. I believe it will be a more efficient way to keep the lines moving faster. However, I disagree with some posts that want a grace period. As the saying goes, if you give an inch, they will take a mile. If Disney allows 1 hr or whatever after the printed time, if the family returns 5 minutes after that 1 hour grace period, they will cause a stink about that. I wouldn't be opposed to a 2 hour formal return time, instead of the one hour time.

[dawz1026]

I made sure to be there in the time frame stated...I believe in not abusing something ...I am shocked people did this later in the night..hhmm

[jrsharp21]

When I was there this past May, we were in the studio room of the Rocking Roller Coaster ride and the CM came in and just threw a ton of fastpasses all over the floor. She responded with "Oops, I dropped something. Oh well, I guess you guys benefit from my clumsiness". I picked up a couple and they were Fastpasses from earlier that day. There was easily 100 or so scatter all over the place. No one knew what to do until someon said that you could use them anytime in the day. Then people started picking all the tickets around them.

[fleming]

I want to say right off the bat, that I have not read every post in this thread, but I agree with them wanting to enforce the return time. I believe it will be a more efficient way to keep the lines moving faster. However, I disagree with some posts that want a grace period. As the saying goes, if you give an inch, they will take a mile. If Disney allows 1 hr or whatever after the printed time, if the family returns 5 minutes after that 1 hour grace period, they will cause a stink about that. I wouldn't be opposed to a 2 hour formal return time, instead of the one hour time.

Agree. Its not fair to get one in the AM with no intention of using it until later in the day. It makes the lines longer for the rest of us who cant run all over the place grabbing fast passes willy nilly. Its hoarding, and is no diferent than if you budded in a line up. A 2 hour window may be the compromise here.

[scoobydooby]

Accounting for issues of disability which is different everyone has the same opportunity to run around 'willy nilly' for fast passes. I think it's kind of a choice really. Planning for best exploitation of fast pass is the same as any other park touring strategy. The better you plan, the more you can exploit it. Remember fast passes you get for super headliners around early lunch often have quite a late return time. We often do this, go back for a swim then come back to the same park later and use fast passes within their correct window. It's all in the planning and how much back tracking you are prepared to do to exploit the (legitimate) use of fast pass to the max. Me and my DH take it in turns to be the fast pass runner.

[fleming]

If your within the window then of course its totally cool. I just mean if you grabbed one at 9:30 AM and the window was 10:30-11:30, but you didnt use it until the peak time of the day at say 3 in the afternoon, thats budding into the 'line' IMO and goes against the spirit of the system and against the spirit of Disney World in general.

[winnapegjets96]

I think return times should have been enforced from the start, I've seen people get their fast passes and imediately enter the attraction well before they're even supposed to initially return, Disney does need to crack down on the issue, I myself always return the minute I am allowed I never wait till the last 10 minutes or so if I did that I'd forget about it and I already have a collection of unused fast passes at home, back to the topic, it would cut wait times in half I'm in California and our space mountain fast pass line as of late has been almost as long as the stand by wait line and I bet its full of abusers

[scoobydooby]

I think return times should have been enforced from the start, I've seen people get their fast passes and imediately enter the attraction well before they're even supposed to initially return, Disney does need to crack down on the issue, I myself always return the minute I am allowed I never wait till the last 10 minutes or so if I did that I'd forget about it and I already have a collection of unused fast passes at home, back to the topic, it would cut wait times in half I'm in California and our space mountain fast pass line as of late has been almost as long as the stand by wait line and I bet its full of abusers

I am sure you can't use a FP at WDW before the return time.

[stan4d_steph]

I am sure you can't use a FP at WDW before the return time.

Agreed. They are very careful to check from my experience.

[Silvercat]

Got back from the World a week and a bit ago, and all our FPs were being checked carefully for times before we were allowed on any rides. I don't know whether we would have been able to use them later than the stated times, we didn't try. Apart from one time when Big Thunder Mountain broke down and we were told to come back later; when we did, the CM looked carefully at our FPs and then back at us, until we explained that they were from the time it had broken down (a couple of hours earlier); then they let us through okay.

[dawz1026]

I am leaving in a few hours and wanted make sure I got this correct.Show up between 330 and 430 as my FP says and I am safe! If I go past 430 which I never have I will be turned away?

[currence]

If they are enforcing the return time, which they apparently tested and may or may not have abandoned. It's obviously safest to return during the return time but the fact that a crackdown/test made the news does indicate it's not the normal procedure.

If convenient, you could chat up a fastpass CM and casually ask how strictly the fastpass return time is being enforced on the day you are there. Since we don't know when they may choose to enforce return times that would likely be the safest course of action, aside from simply returning during the appropriate window.

[Drince88]

During MouseAdventure in the Studios on November 12th, it was recommended that we "get fastpasses for Star Tours" and I don't think anyone was turned away for coming late (when we'd figured out what we needed to look for). I know we were HOURS later than our return time.

[candles71]

I think return times should have been enforced from the start, I've seen people get their fast passes and imediately enter the attraction well before they're even supposed to initially return,

Um, that is called strategy. Get a FP for later, then get in the regular line. If they are in the FP line right after gettting a FP, most likely they have one from an earlier time that is now mature. You are not allowed into the FP queue (at DL, which is in my experience), until the time on the FP.

[arnoldvb]

I'm at WDW right now and today my wife and I used Buzz Lightyear FPs about 2 hours after the return window had ended. The CM didn't comment or anything.

[D2000lands]

A few days ago when I was still there, they only checked the date and start time of the FP window. This has been the same experience I have had each year. I don't think they enforce the end time on the FP because sometimes rides can go down, etc., so I'd bet it's a policy that they only need to check the date and window start time for the FP's.

[HTanner]

We just returned. We used several fast passes after their window was over.... mostly because we had the luck of getting fast passes every single time smack dab in the middle of an ADR. These were for ones like Toy Story that we *had* to get first thing or not get one at all. No one ever questioned us when we returned to use them.

I do have to say the parks were MUCH more crowded than the "predictions" seemed to suggest so fast passes were really necessary.