We are in Disney now - Newbie Fast Pass Questions! TIA!

[magnoliaparadise]

Hi,
We are in Disney. It's great.
I have two questions that I am hoping someone can give advice on.

First question is... I know we 'get' 3 FP and then can go to a kiosk and ask for another one, but I honestly can't understand how this all works. When we finished our FP on the first day, the lines at the kiosk were sooooooo long and not moving that I was incredulous that anyone would wait that long just for one FP - really, they were like 30 or 40 minutes long and since I was with the kids, I just gave up each time! (OK, I really do understand that a 30-40 minute wait on the kiosk is still better than an hour or more for some of the more popular rides, but I thought getting a subsequent FP past the first three would be much easier and faster!)

Have others had this experience? It happened both days I have been here, tho the second day long lines might have been aggravated by a computer glitch (see below).
Am I doing something wrong?
Are the kiosks just long because it is so crowded right now (9 out of 10 and a 10 out of 10 expected tomorrow!)?

What is means is that once we are done with our 3 FP, we really have not been able to get another FP and ended up just returning to the hotel. Which has been fine, but I thought it was easy to get another FP.

Second question is... we were on our way to our second FP this morning (second day here) when my DD1 (7 yo) got really sick and we decided to leave. Before leaving, I tried to change the date and time of my two unused FPs in the hope that we could use it later in the day. I wasn't able to do it on my iphone or ipad so I went to a kiosk line.
The kiosk line was very long, as I mentioned, so I gave up. But first, I went and asked one of the kiosk Disney guys what I was doing wrong that I couldn't change the time or type of FPs to later in the day. He said that I wasn't doing anything wrong and that they were having difficulty in their system - no one could change the time or type of FP right then and everyone had to do it by kiosk.

So... my question is... has anyone complained about a FP glitch and gotten 'extra FPs because of it? I mean, if it's possible that Disney will give me extra FPs for my troubles (since technically, we could have returned tonight for later FPs had I been able to change it, tho it's looking like my DD1 is still sleeping, and sicker than we thought we probably not possible anyway) then I will try to pursue it.

If it's just absolutely so unlikely that I would get extra FPs, I won't...

Has anyone had this experience and gotten more because of a computer problem based on Disney's fault?

Thanks!

[egoldber]

So... my question is... has anyone complained about a FP glitch and gotten 'extra FPs because of it? I mean, if it's possible that Disney will give me extra FPs for my troubles (since technically, we could have returned tonight for later FPs had I been able to change it, tho it's looking like my DD1 is still sleeping, and sicker than we thought we probably not possible anyway) then I will try to pursue it.

YES! Complain LONG and LOUDLY. When we went with my extended family in August, we had SO much trouble every.single.day that we ended up with tons of free passes. You don't want the FP+ kiosks, ask them where the "FP+ supervisors" are located. Also go to park Guest Services. They ended up giving us STACKS of magic paper FastPasses.

And yes, the lines at the FP+ kiosks can be incredibly long. We gave up more than once. There are often less busy FP+ kiosks, but it is not uncommon for the lines for the kiosks to be very, very long.

I can't believe Disney has implemented this system in such a half-a**ed way. DH and I commented more than once that we hope whoever designed this system AND whoever decided to implement it park wide without a real test has been fired. The system barely works at the best of times and it often goes down completely.

[alexsmommy]

Ha! We just got back home. Though we didn't tons of trouble, I do wish I'd seen this. It was low census so we just waited a few times, but I kept thinking back to people on here who warned that the app was "glitchy" and internet was "sketchy."
Yep, dead on.
I commented to DH that it was good we were not going to be there for the weekend as the census was climbing and those fast passes would have made a big difference.

The one thing I had no trouble doing? Canceling our last days fast passes outright. The app worked seamlessly there. We'd managed to do the park we had fast passes to in pieces on other days and had hit the big rides so we decided to just hang out and eat/drink our way through the World Showcase and let the boys do the Agent P thing at a slower pace. I'm glad we did it that way because if we had been on any sort of schedule, the Agent P thing would have made me nuts. Fun for the kids, but time consuming.

[MSWR0319]

I would say the crowd level isn't helping you get a fourth fast pass. You are there during a very crowded time, so I would expect the lines to be long (minus the glitch of course). I might mention the glitch issue, as you could have had your other fast passes, but probably wouldn't complain too much if you weren't even able to go back. We lost 2 fast passes too one day I ended up in the ER. I figured it was my issues I was sick, but I didn't try to change them to later, so that's a whole different scenario.

[egoldber]

I absolutely think it's Disney's fault when the lines at the kiosks make them unusable to the typical visitor, even during a busy time. They adjust in other ways: more lines open, some food courts are only open in the high season, they add more cars to some rides, etc.

They need to re-vamp their online system to allow people to get the extra FP+ selections that way, or put more kiosks at more locations, or have more people working at the kiosks (3-4 kiosks are often staffed by only one harried employee). And remember that guests who do NOT have a Magic Band or a smartphone (!!) can ONLY make FP+ selections at a kiosk. The current kiosk system is a nightmare. I've been told by WDW employees that staff members now need to take crying breaks because they get so overwhelmed at people getting angry at them for how awful the system is.

People need to complain or nothing will change.

[brittone2]

I was also really disappointed in the entire FP system on our trip last February. A lot of changes were still occurring, and there were many glitches that left us quite unhappy. I felt like I spent a considerable amount of time with my face buried in my phone, trying to make changes, having the system not cooperate, etc. It wore down the battery on my phone rapidly, I disliked feeling glued to my phone, and there was just a lot left to be desired. On the upside, we were there during low crowd levels overall, so it was more manageable than it might have been otherwise. When we got the survey upon returning home, I did let my opinion fly. I don't know how much they care, but I had to get it off my chest ;)

It was a great trip, but we are not frequent Disney-goers, and it was disappointing to be dealing with such a glitchy system for our entire trip. For us it was manageable enough, but I felt like it detracted more than it added.

[Tenasparkl]

So with this new FP+ system it's no longer possible to get a fast pass at the rides themselves? Just at a central location? That would make me crazy. Fingers crossed the Disneyland never changes to this system!

[keh602]

So with this new FP+ system it's no longer possible to get a fast pass at the rides themselves? Just at a central location? That would make me crazy. Fingers crossed the Disneyland never changes to this system!

Correct. I have to say, though, that we were there right before Christmas when it was crazy busy, and the FP+ system didn't take away from our fun. We're a family that likes to GO GO GO when we're at WDW, too. It will take some getting used to for sure.

[magnoliaparadise]

Hi,
OP here. Thanks, everyone, for your advice to tell Disney about the glitches and ask for more FPs.
We are back now.

Based on your suggestions, I mentioned the glitches from the previous day and the long kiosk lines and also mentioned that my daughter was sick so we wouldn't be using the park that day, and therefore losing more of our FPs.

Disney staff were great - they basically made up for our missed FPs and gave free FPs (called 'general' or 'non-inventory') that we could use wherever we wanted and whenever we wanted (except for Anna and Elsa and the parades or fireworks). It helped a huge amount when we finally did go to the park (the last two days).

I'm not sure whether they gave us the number of FPs that we missed because I mentioned the glitches and long kiosk lines or because my kid was sick.

We actually didn't end up using all of our extra general FPs because we could only use an extra 3 per day and my DD was still a little sick the first day we tried to use them, but it was TOTALLY great that Disney gave them to us.

Thanks again for giving me advice to say something.