PDA

View Full Version : Disneyland's "Frozen" meet-and-greet gets modified FastPass



Pages : [1] 2

AVP
09-04-2014, 09:16 AM
David Koenig reports: (http://www.mouseplanet.com/10802/Frozen_Gets_Fastpass)


Management doesn’t want to call it "Fastpass," but that’s pretty much what debuted yesterday at the Frozen meet-and-greet at the cottage next to the Village Haus in Disneyland’s Fantasyland.


Inspired by a previous test at Walt Disney World, the system works like this: A guest walks up to the line for the meet-and-greet. A cast member scans the guest’s admission media and gives them a ticket with a time to return. The guest must return within a 20-miute window as stated on the ticket. If you arrive later than that, you’re out of luck.

On day one, tickets for all slots were distributed in two hours. Ticket distribution started when Magic Morning opened and ended about an hour after the park opened.

Admission tickets are scanned for fear that guests would begin forging the character Fastpass tickets; when you return at your appointed time, you must show both your admission media and corresponding Fastpass, or you won’t be allowed in. The stand-by line has been eliminated.

Yesterday, managers were all over the Frozen location to gauge how the experiment was working out.


Plus side: No more three-hour lines.


Minus side: For those who don’t grab a Fastpass soon after the park opens, they probably won’t get to meet Anna and Elsa, even if they would have been willing to suck up the three-hour line.

houseofmouse
09-04-2014, 11:48 AM
So now instead of a three hour wait to meet them, there will be a mad rush at the opening of the park to get a FP ticket.
Seriously??
They did this at WDW too but they still had a stand by line towards the end of the night.

AVP
09-05-2014, 09:23 AM
I have an update on this "virtual queue" system, with additional details about exactly how it works.

The return time tickets are distributed starting with early entry or park opening, whichever is earlier. To get a return time, you must present your admission media (ticket or annual pass), which will be scanned to ensure it was used for admission that day.

This means you can't get a return time ticket for people who aren't in the park - no sending dad for return time tickets while the rest of the family sleeps, or having mom pick up tickets to use after the kids get out of school.

Your return time ticket has a 20-minute window, and you can't ask for a specific time - first come, first return.

When you return, you must show the return time ticket AND your admission media. The cast members will scan each ticket to ensure that person was actually issued a return time pass that day. You can't give your return time pass to someone else as you can with traditional paper FastPass tickets.

Once they've issued all of the return time tickets, that's it for the day. There is no standby queue.

Adrienne

Maus
09-05-2014, 09:30 AM
So this means you and the child must be in the park at the same time to get a return time ticket. I'm assuming one person can take all the admission media and get the ticket?

AVP
09-05-2014, 09:43 AM
So this means you and the child must be in the park at the same time to get a return time ticket. I'm assuming one person can take all the admission media and get the ticket?Yes, I assume one person can take all of the admission tickets and get the return time tickets, so long as all of the admission media have been used for entry that day.

houseofmouse
09-06-2014, 07:17 AM
I just do not see this working for long.

BlkPearlCptn
09-06-2014, 09:01 AM
I'm thinking of a person on another Disney site who is autistic and his fixation/area of expertise is Frozen. He said that he has seen the sisters close to 300 times since they first started their meet and greets. He is there almost every day and works in the morning so he only comes in in the afternoons. He will get in line, see them, and then get immediately back into line. It's not going to be pretty if he can't get there in the morning to get passes to see them. I can't help but worry about him and how this is going to affect him.

*Nala*
09-06-2014, 11:55 AM
I also wonder how long the line will be in the mornings just to get this not-a-Fastpass once the word gets out. On the other hand, this means my family might actually experience this attraction this year.

currence
09-06-2014, 02:10 PM
I'm thinking of a person on another Disney site who is autistic and his fixation/area of expertise is Frozen. He said that he has seen the sisters close to 300 times since they first started their meet and greets. He is there almost every day and works in the morning so he only comes in in the afternoons. He will get in line, see them, and then get immediately back into line. It's not going to be pretty if he can't get there in the morning to get passes to see them. I can't help but worry about him and how this is going to affect him.

I think this is the basis of the lawsuit against Disney for the general change in the disability access pass. I get that certain individuals with autism have specific patterns and that change disrupts those patterns, but as long as Disney is trying to make things better for the majority then I am all for it. Having waited in the 3 hour line, I'm glad that they are trying something different. As much sympathy as I have for that person (and please believe me when I say that I do have sympathy) I don't think that Disney should make their decisions based exclusively on a disabled minority. If that was the criteria, they would have never turned Rapunzel's tower into the Frozen meet & greet, as I imagine some individuals had a fixation with Rapunzel prior to Frozen's release.

That said, I would hope that the disability access cards would provide some sort of return time accommodation for those who are not at the park right when it opens and/or who need to go on it more than once per day. Ironically, part of the lawsuit was that people with autism/other cognitive impairments could not wait in line and thus needed immediate boarding. It sounds like this person may have problems when he can't wait in line.

BlkPearlCptn
09-06-2014, 03:39 PM
I don't think it's the waiting in line that is a problem as he has posted that he has waited two and three hours then will immediately get back in the line again. I think it's his need to meet with them over and over and the difficulty if the passes are not available when he gets there after work. I do wonder if because he has a disability if Disney can or would accommodate him.

leota's necklace
09-07-2014, 06:54 AM
Would they also have to keep the location open in perpetutity to accomodate him?

newhdplayer
09-07-2014, 07:46 AM
I don't think it's the waiting in line that is a problem as he has posted that he has waited two and three hours then will immediately get back in the line again. I think it's his need to meet with them over and over and the difficulty if the passes are not available when he gets there after work. I do wonder if because he has a disability if Disney can or would accommodate him.
What did he do before the movie came out?

BlkPearlCptn
09-07-2014, 10:03 AM
What did he do before the movie came out?

He was obsessed with the Princesses and Fairies. He would go and visit them over and over and take pics with them and make scrapbooks of the pics and give presents to them. However, when Frozen came out everything changed and he focused almost exclusively upon the sisters. He really appears to be very sweet. I guess I worry about him because I work with special needs and autistic students, so they have a special place in my heart.

leota's necklace
09-07-2014, 10:41 AM
Most people can be concerned with the needs of others in the abstract.

Hopefully this individual does not work seven days a week and can see the attraction on his days off, though the availability of any attraction is not guaranteed. I think it still says so right on the admission media.

If someone was fixated on a parade but could not be in the Park when it was presented, does the Park have a responsibility to put on another show?

newhdplayer
09-07-2014, 01:32 PM
He was obsessed with the Princesses and Fairies. He would go and visit them over and over and take pics with them and make scrapbooks of the pics and give presents to them. However, when Frozen came out everything changed and he focused almost exclusively upon the sisters. He really appears to be very sweet. I guess I worry about him because I work with special needs and autistic students, so they have a special place in my heart.
Thank you for the explanation

bumblebeeonarose
09-07-2014, 09:43 PM
I think this is good news and hope it works out. I'm glad Disney is trying to find a way to deal with the Frozen mania and Uber lines. We're going to be in the parks this Saturday, but we're going for Halloween fun. If this "FP" system works out, we'll give it a try next time we visit.

DisneyGator
09-08-2014, 07:34 AM
I like this idea, and don't like it. It means once we're in the parks, I'll be getting in line to get a FP to return later. So that means I wait twice. The up side is no rushing to get to the gate early, running down Main Street, sitting in line for an hour - not very Magical. Now I can leisurely get to FL in the morning, scan the tickets, and do something productive. I think the pluses exceed the minuses.

Angie2009
09-08-2014, 12:20 PM
Another plus, it's not a "real" fp so I can get it and one for indy at the same time!

Angie2009
09-08-2014, 12:23 PM
I'm thinking of a person on another Disney site who is autistic and his fixation/area of expertise is Frozen. He said that he has seen the sisters close to 300 times since they first started their meet and greets. He is there almost every day and works in the morning so he only comes in in the afternoons. He will get in line, see them, and then get immediately back into line. It's not going to be pretty if he can't get there in the morning to get passes to see them. I can't help but worry about him and how this is going to affect him.

This seems like a one-off that screams reasonable accommodation can be made. Isn't that the point of all the accessibility laws/processes, to get people to accommodate as much as they can when and if it is feasible? If he gets there at 5, give him a FP for 7 and one for 10. It can't increase wait times that much.

Mermaid
09-08-2014, 02:47 PM
I think this sounds like a great solution- provided the line to get the FP isn't awful. We don't visit until Feb, so I am sure the procedure will change 20 times between now and then, but I am cautiously optimistic for this development.

Malcon10t
09-09-2014, 03:42 PM
I'm thinking of a person on another Disney site who is autistic and his fixation/area of expertise is Frozen. He said that he has seen the sisters close to 300 times since they first started their meet and greets. He is there almost every day and works in the morning so he only comes in in the afternoons. He will get in line, see them, and then get immediately back into line. It's not going to be pretty if he can't get there in the morning to get passes to see them. I can't help but worry about him and how this is going to affect him.He is doing well with the change. He wasn't pleased, but Tiana, Cinderella, and Elsa all reassured him it would be ok soon. And he did get to see Elsa and Anna twice on Sunday. (Once with his ticket, and once when they left and they knew where he was.)

BlkPearlCptn
09-09-2014, 04:12 PM
He is doing well with the change. He wasn't pleased, but Tiana, Cinderella, and Elsa all reassured him it would be ok soon. And he did get to see Elsa and Anna twice on Sunday. (Once with his ticket, and once when they left and they knew where he was.)

I just read his post. I am so happy that his princesses look out after him.

cstephens
09-09-2014, 06:21 PM
I just read his post. I am so happy that his princesses look out after him.

So there was never an issue at all? Ummm, ok.

Seashellmama
09-09-2014, 10:50 PM
So there was never an issue at all? Ummm, ok.

Nobody ever said there was. "I can't help but worry about him and how this is going to affect him." It was an expression of concern about a change that most people seem to like (seems awful to me, for how my family does the parks, but we're not meet-and-greet people so it doesn't directly affect me despite the fact that we NEVER arrive at or near opening), not a claim that there was DEFINITELY a problem.

Drince88
09-10-2014, 07:42 AM
This sounds much like the FP for Radiator Spring Racers when it first opened. And you'll still have a wait when you return.