Laketravis
This avatar sponsored by: FastPass+
- Joined
- Nov 14, 2010
My bad - I posted that we were headed back to MK today on a party night day but I was wrong - MK is open to midnight but there is no MVMCP tonight. I'll post some pictures when I can, but I find the conditions to be somewhat strange and difficult to assess for a touring strategy. We arrived at 11:30am, well after rope drop but the lines to get in were very short. Bus areas almost looked deserted. We took that as a good sign, and when we started down Main Street we still thought the crowds were relatively light. I was even able to score a Mocha Frap in less than 5 minutes at Starbucks. So where the heck was everyone?
Turns out they were all in line somewhere. 50 minute standby for IASW? 60 minutes for Haunted Mansion? 110 for Space Mountain? Wow.
So I decided to try something. I had a set of bands from a previous visit so I thought I'd try making 3 same-day FP's while in the park like so many other guests seemed to be doing. First challenge was getting to one of the only three FP kiosk areas in the entire park. Headed to the one by Mickeys Philharmagic. Now, remember that in a park that can accommodate upwards of 50,000 guests, there are only 12 FP kiosks in the entire park. Each of them can sometimes be supplemented by an iPad toting CM, so best case is 24 channels of FP capability in the entire park for same-day guests and those who have already used their initial 3.
Somehow, those odds don't seem attractive. So I ended up with a CM who was ready to spend as long as necessary to guide me thru the process. She was somewhat taken aback when I started punching buttons on her iPad, navigating thru the screens, finally selecting Option B for the three. One of which was 7DMT which she was honestly surprised I was able to get. I made the comment to her how the process might be intimidating for a first time user and she wholeheartedly agreed. I was able to secure three FP's (one for 7DMT, one for HM, and one for Speedway) within a reasonable range of time in the afternoon. It took me a total of 25 minutes. 10 minutes to get to the kiosk and 15 minutes to get to an IPad CM and make my selections. Incidentally, I could NOT modify these FP's from the MDE app. It would generate an error each time.
I think the best touring strategy is to simply make the best 3 FP's you can and count on using Standby for everything else. The irony is that the FP system is regressive, meaning that it is the least effective when you need it the most. Drawing a comparison to the call center industry which is based solely on queuing, it's a well known fact that you can't mix calls of short duration with calls of long duration and offer quick response times to either one. In other words, during busy times when you need it the most, FP is the new standby and standby is pretty much for the severely desperate intent on that attraction no matter the wait time. This is further complicated by the fact they don't seem to have perfected the SB to FP ratio yet, perhaps the reason for the recent FP only tests on some key attractions.
The advantage of pre-reserved FP's remains the ability to do so later in the afternoon or evening. But that seems to be at the expense of Rope Drop and increased SB wait times for everything else throughout the entire day.
Turns out they were all in line somewhere. 50 minute standby for IASW? 60 minutes for Haunted Mansion? 110 for Space Mountain? Wow.
So I decided to try something. I had a set of bands from a previous visit so I thought I'd try making 3 same-day FP's while in the park like so many other guests seemed to be doing. First challenge was getting to one of the only three FP kiosk areas in the entire park. Headed to the one by Mickeys Philharmagic. Now, remember that in a park that can accommodate upwards of 50,000 guests, there are only 12 FP kiosks in the entire park. Each of them can sometimes be supplemented by an iPad toting CM, so best case is 24 channels of FP capability in the entire park for same-day guests and those who have already used their initial 3.
Somehow, those odds don't seem attractive. So I ended up with a CM who was ready to spend as long as necessary to guide me thru the process. She was somewhat taken aback when I started punching buttons on her iPad, navigating thru the screens, finally selecting Option B for the three. One of which was 7DMT which she was honestly surprised I was able to get. I made the comment to her how the process might be intimidating for a first time user and she wholeheartedly agreed. I was able to secure three FP's (one for 7DMT, one for HM, and one for Speedway) within a reasonable range of time in the afternoon. It took me a total of 25 minutes. 10 minutes to get to the kiosk and 15 minutes to get to an IPad CM and make my selections. Incidentally, I could NOT modify these FP's from the MDE app. It would generate an error each time.
I think the best touring strategy is to simply make the best 3 FP's you can and count on using Standby for everything else. The irony is that the FP system is regressive, meaning that it is the least effective when you need it the most. Drawing a comparison to the call center industry which is based solely on queuing, it's a well known fact that you can't mix calls of short duration with calls of long duration and offer quick response times to either one. In other words, during busy times when you need it the most, FP is the new standby and standby is pretty much for the severely desperate intent on that attraction no matter the wait time. This is further complicated by the fact they don't seem to have perfected the SB to FP ratio yet, perhaps the reason for the recent FP only tests on some key attractions.
The advantage of pre-reserved FP's remains the ability to do so later in the afternoon or evening. But that seems to be at the expense of Rope Drop and increased SB wait times for everything else throughout the entire day.