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View Full Version : Bonus things coming out of the Fast Pass Machines (Including FP for Capt EO)



Teddi
01-03-2012, 06:38 PM
Saw a couple of bonus things come out of the Fast Pass machines last week. When did this start?

Star Tours FP: Got 2 bonus Captain EOs pop out. But only two...? Not very useful huh? Did anyone ask a CM if their entire party could use the FP for the group? We didn't even use it. Note: the fast pass was different in that it said "good for use any time BEFORE 12:20" and the other one said "good for use any time BEFORE 12:25". . they only had the ONE time listed.

ToT FP: Got a two part FP (they were connected) that had a bonus "free token for Flynn's Arcade". It had no instructions on how to redeem but when we made it there later that night, I finally saw the CM working the arcade and gave it to him and he gave us the bonus token. It did say it had to be redeemed that same day.

Has anyone else seen any other offers/bonus fast passes come out? I love the idea of bonus surprises coming out of the FP!

MidwayManiac
01-03-2012, 06:55 PM
Has anyone else seen any other offers/bonus fast passes come out? I love the idea of bonus surprises coming out of the FP!


Have seen the Flynn's ones on the regular for a while now and I always get them at Goofy's Sky School. Got a couple VIP Aladdin passes at Indiana Jones Adventure that were marked as exclusive for Annual Passholders. From my trip report:


So back to the surprise we encountered at IJA fastpass queue at 8:45am. The FP machine dispensed a couple annual passholder VIP tickets for the 12:40 Aladdin show. We’ve only ever viewed the show from balcony and mezzanine so I was compelled to go ... Family in front of us in the VIP queue was sure the VIP giveaways are the result of some recent –less-than-full crowds at Aladdin. I have no idea if that’s accurate but .... either way, show is great as always and seeing it from the floor second row was an altogether new and exciting deal.

Didn't put this in my report but they were pretty thorough about scanning both our fastpasses and our annual passes to be sure the two matched up. The fine print said to have both in-hand but I kinda assumed they wouldn't check, but they did. Non-transferrable tickets for sure.

disneyobsessed
01-03-2012, 06:56 PM
Yeah, they've been doing these for a while. We've gotten a couple of those Captain Eo ones from the Space Mountain machines. We are not Eo fans, but even if we were, why waste precious morning time doing that? You can always get a seat for Eo. It's a gimmick to try to encourage people to visit less crowded rather than more popular attractions when they're waiting for their fastpass window to open. I too can't figure out what the rest of the group is supposed to do if it spits out a fastpass for only one or two members of a larger party. The Flynn's arcade one showed up pretty early on if not right when Electronica started. We've gotten several but have never made it over there to use them. We usually try to leave them laying around on a fastpass machine or something so someone who is interested can benefit.

Teddi
01-03-2012, 07:14 PM
Thanks for the feedback. DisneyObsessed... were you on an AP too? I've been on 4 trips this year and done plenty of FastPassing... but this was the first time we had Hopper tix. That's interesting that it is linked to media admission type (and probably why I haven't seen them before). It's a cool idea, though I did think Capt EO was a bit of a funky choice...but you're probably right it was done to encourage attendance for that attraction.

katiesue
01-03-2012, 08:24 PM
My daughter went with some friends before Christmas and got the EO ones at Autopia. She said there were tons of them on the ground. And one for her plus 4 to World of Color from Splash Mountain. She had to leave the parks around 3 for another commitment so didn't get to use it.

candles71
01-03-2012, 09:10 PM
DS got a Flynn's arcade one either from Tower or Soarin' in May with a hopper. I and my friend (but not the husbands) Cptn EO from Space, mine with AP hers with hopper, last month.

disneyobsessed
01-04-2012, 06:53 AM
Thanks for the feedback. DisneyObsessed... were you on an AP too? I've been on 4 trips this year and done plenty of FastPassing... but this was the first time we had Hopper tix. That's interesting that it is linked to media admission type (and probably why I haven't seen them before). It's a cool idea, though I did think Capt EO was a bit of a funky choice...but you're probably right it was done to encourage attendance for that attraction.

We have APs.

AJDerrick
01-04-2012, 07:08 AM
We got EO tickets with our hoppers at the Space Mountain FP machines a couple weeks ago. We giggled and moved on with our day--there was no way we were watching EO at 8:00 am. Precious time! My cousin (also using a hopper, not an AP) got the Flynn token at ToT.

bumblebeeonarose
01-04-2012, 07:10 AM
I understand that they are trying to get people to EO, but why would you need a FP? The show isn't full.

AJDerrick
01-04-2012, 07:20 AM
I believe it was 'priority seating' or something like that. Again, as you said, it doesn't really matter. You can pretty much sit wherever you want, especially that early in the morning!

shawnman
01-04-2012, 10:57 AM
i remember this happening as prefferred seating also when it was Honey I shrunk the Audience. We used the pass, but really it was pretty empty inside.

bumblebeeonarose
01-04-2012, 12:01 PM
I think the priority seating for Aladin sounded cool. That show has always been pretty full when I've seen it. Perhaps Disney should consider running EO once an hour instead of every 20 minutes.

candles71
01-04-2012, 12:05 PM
consider running EO once an hour instead of every 20 minutes.
I think this would be worse not better, because I would not go out of my way to see it. Once an hour means you don't wander into the queue with a little bit of a wait, but that you have to "plan" ahead to make the showtime. Like Aladdin, we plan ahead as to which showtime we want to see it and then work our day around it. I ,personally, would not do this for Captain EO.

jananafish
01-04-2012, 01:24 PM
I've never gotten anything "bonus" per se, but I have gotten an extra ticket pop out that says "This is not a Fast Pass"

I used to get those a LOT but I don't get them anymore.

disneyobsessed
01-04-2012, 02:30 PM
I understand that they are trying to get people to EO, but why would you need a FP? The show isn't full.

A lot of people don't frequent message boards like these and don't do a lot of research and *gasp* go to Disneyland anyway. The average out-of-town vacationer may not realize that this "fastpass" isn't anything special so might actually make some effort to use it. This then helps fill seats for Eo at a time of day when a lot of the seats might be empty and keeps people from being in line for something else that is going to have longer lines later in the day thus helping to keep the average rides per guest ratio about where Disney likes it. Just my cynical take on Disney's strategy here.

currence
01-04-2012, 02:40 PM
A lot of people don't frequent message boards like these and don't do a lot of research and *gasp* go to Disneyland anyway. The average out-of-town vacationer may not realize that this "fastpass" isn't anything special so might actually make some effort to use it. This then helps fill seats for Eo at a time of day when a lot of the seats might be empty and keeps people from being in line for something else that is going to have longer lines later in the day thus helping to keep the average rides per guest ratio about where Disney likes it. Just my cynical take on Disney's strategy here.

I totally agree. This is why I prefer to go on blackout days for the lower tiered passes. It may be equally or more crowded as on a non-blackout day but it is filled with people who don't understand the parks as well as I do. When it is full of more sophisticated users, it is a lot harder to successfully game the system.

We have received a few tokens for Flynn's arcade but only stayed long enough to collect it once. I think we may have received some bonus tickets for theaters also, but I can't now remember where.

My husband's tickets used to always pop out the invalid ticket based on not being used for admission - and a valid fastpass. I don't think this has happened since our lasted APs issued, so hopefully the glitch it fixed. It lasted about 2 years I think.

danyoung
01-04-2012, 06:18 PM
Just my cynical take on Disney's strategy here.

I don't think there's anything cynical at all about what you posted. I'm sure this is exactly what Disney is doing. The ticket itself has no value, as if you use it for Eo you don't get anything more than the average person who waited a few minutes to see the show. But there are lots of folks who just don't know that there's no value, so they'll go see Eo when the ticket tells them to. It's simply a way to move people around, and to create crowds for an attraction that isn't bringing in the crowds on its own.

Don't get me wrong - I still love seeing Eo, both in DL and in Epcot. But I don't think it's a real crowd generator.

ImAlwaysCrazy
01-07-2012, 02:03 AM
The EO and Flynn tokes FPs have been around for awhile. I think the EO ones are good for up to 6 guests per FPs. And it was available fir everyone. The Aladdin ones were only for APs and only for a week during christmas.