FastPass

[Treat]

I just viewed the RU Roger Rabbit Car Toon Spin video and it really makes me angry how the best themed Stand-By queues get zipped thru by fastpass. I know it saves time and everything but the Queues were designed to keep guest occupied during the hour and above wait. Thats One reason I really liked Space Mountain(when it was open). That was pretty much the only ride that had a pretty good themed queue that you could actully wait in the line for. But Star Tours, Indiana, and Roger Rabbit need something done. Why can't you still wait in Stand-By in the building. Not outside, and every five minutes let a couple people on.
I want to know your comments on this.

[Darkbeer]

Why did Disney make the changes.... by using the large queue, they got a lot of folks off the "street" and into the building. I think that the Stand By folks are happy to get out of the sun. Plus it makes the outer area look nicer without the queue that went around the fountain, and sometimes down the entry pathway. The prior way, they sent everyone down the main queue, but never filled it up, to keep the wait short for those with a FASTPASS.

Yes, those folks that use FASTPASS miss the well done queue, but nobody is forcing you to get a FASTPASS for the attraction.

And most folks that use FASTPASS, especially for Cartoon Spin, have ridden it many times before, and more than likely have seen the queue multiple times already.

I think Disney did the right thing.

[Bass Shakers]

But isn't what Treat is saying that even without getting a Fastpass, you don't get to experience the queue nowadays? Sure, those who opt for Fastpass should zip through the elaborate indoor queues despite how wonderful they are, that's the whole point. But on some rides it seems that you no longer have the option to experience the queue no matter what. If you choose standby, you get to wait outside until they open the floodgates and then everyone goes rushing through the queue. It calls to my mind an analogy with the moments before a drop on Splash Mountain or Pirates -- you pause at the top of the hill before those metal arms and then they swing open and whoosh! you're away.

I can't recall exactly where the stand-by lines are for each of the mentioned rides, but thinking back on my Disneyland visits of late, I miss seeing the Star Tours queue and Indy queue. I haven't gotten to immerse myself in quite awhile. Maybe when DL attendance increases and there's actually a line to stand in.

Maybe they should implement a "walk on the left, standing on the right" kind of policy for queues, a la airport speedramps. Those who'd like to go slowly through the queue and crane their neck at all the sights may do so, yet get passed on their left by more anxious stand-by riders.

Deja Vu, haven't we had the Fastpass discussion before? :o

[dlrfanatic]

Star Tours doesnt have fastpass anymore, and both sides of the line (well just one in the morning and when it slows down in the evening) are filled to the door. Thats makes the inside portion of the line about 25 minutes with both sides used and 15 with just one side used.

[Treat]

:bow:

[Treat]

But isn't what Treat is saying that even without getting a Fastpass, you don't get to experience the queue nowadays? Sure, those who opt for Fastpass should zip through the elaborate indoor queues despite how wonderful they are, that's the whole point. But on some rides it seems that you no longer have the option to experience the queue no matter what. If you choose standby, you get to wait outside until they open the floodgates and then everyone goes rushing through the queue. It calls to my mind an analogy with the moments before a drop on Splash Mountain or Pirates -- you pause at the top of the hill before those metal arms and then they swing open and whoosh! you're away.

I can't recall exactly where the stand-by lines are for each of the mentioned rides, but thinking back on my Disneyland visits of late, I miss seeing the Star Tours queue and Indy queue. I haven't gotten to immerse myself in quite awhile. Maybe when DL attendance increases and there's actually a line to stand in.

Maybe they should implement a "walk on the left, standing on the right" kind of policy for queues, a la airport speedramps. Those who'd like to go slowly through the queue and crane their neck at all the sights may do so, yet get passed on their left by more anxious stand-by riders.

Deja Vu, haven't we had the Fastpass discussion before? :o

Thats EXACTLY what Im saying. I really miss waiting in the themed queues
Im thinking about writing disney(not that its gonna make a diffrence) but what do you think

[CaptainCM]

Fastpass isn't designed to pull people out of the themed queue, it's just designed to keep you there for less time. The Fastpass program was developed to deal with guest concerns regarding excessive wait times, and later to compete with similar programs at Universal, Busch and Knott's theme parks. Sometimes, due to poor planning, the fastpass guests don't get the benefit of seeing the entire queue, but that's never planned that way. If you see people waiting outside for RRCTS, it's usually due to maintinance being done to the queue (there's lots needed, the kids tear that place up), people already in the queue, or the line is so short, filing people through the queue would take significantly longer than queuing up outside (RRCTS has a Loooong queue, once you get inside the building). Sometimes it's just a bad lead that set things up wrong, but it's more than often one of the former reasons.

[Treat]

although it takes longer, your not in the sun, and you get a nice themed pre-show

[Bass Shakers]

Oh yeah, that's right -- no more Fastpass for Star Tours. :bow: That's awesome. I need to go back on it.

For situations where there is a standby line, I'd really just appreciate it if they'd let people wait in doors so we can gawk at the purty scenery, rather than holding people at bay out in an outdoor boring switchback, only to run through the indoor themed queue -- the good part -- upon release. It's probably more a matter of the lines being shorter in these post-Fastpass days.

I think the Fastpass should perform the function of allowing people who have one to zip through the line and get on the ride with minimal waiting. And then I think the alternative (stand-by) should preserve the original queue experience, as intended by its designers, as it was before FastPass' inception. (This is a moot issue for rides designed more recently, post FastPass, with FastPass in mind). But, at least before, FastPass did not simply add the benefit of a no-waiting option. It did not leave the alternative untouched, but rather in some cases displaced it to a switchback holding cell. It was like there was no longer a choice to see the queue, no matter which line you got in. But, with the removal of FastPass on a lot of the classic pre-FastPass rides, I think this has been remedied a lot. I've been speaking in a general sense and I can't really think of an attraction now where FastPass still robs the attraction of its queue. So, someone please teleport my argument back to the days when Star Tours and Pirates still had FastPass while I revel in the realization that things are getting better all the time.

[VWSpawn]

They should make fast pass riders go up through the exit way or a different path altogether and allow the standby to go through the themed queue's.

Thats my 2 cents anyway.

[Treat]

:bow: I AGREE!!!