fastpass meet-n-greets

[Brian845]

Let's not forget all the character dining experiences with little kids. There should be a Fastpass for the waffle line at Crystal Palace!

Don't they already have ADR's for the character dining experiences?

Of course! But not the waffle line:). Being serious for a sec, my point is that the meet and greets and character dining experiences take up a lot of time that might otherwise be used for riding things and visiting other attractions. There's probably some sort of algorithm they use to balance the amount of time they keep people at the dining experience (that determines how long it takes for the characters to visit each table), vs the amount of money they make on moving diners through as quickly as possible. Or maybe not, since that idea seems pretty far fetched. I really just wanted to mention waffles.

[mindflipper]

Let's not forget all the character dining experiences with little kids. There should be a Fastpass for the waffle line at Crystal Palace!

Don't they already have ADR's for the character dining experiences?

Of course! But not the waffle line:). Being serious for a sec, my point is that the meet and greets and character dining experiences take up a lot of time that might otherwise be used for riding things and visiting other attractions. There's probably some sort of algorithm they use to balance the amount of time they keep people at the dining experience (that determines how long it takes for the characters to visit each table), vs the amount of money they make on moving diners through as quickly as possible. Or maybe not, since that idea seems pretty far fetched. I really just wanted to mention waffles.

Sounds like you need to be paired up with the Donkey from Shrek...

[rphillips14]

I'm all for it. I stood in one of those "Meet and Greet" lines for an hour and it was awful!!

[Polynesian Princess]

From what I've heard on Podcasts, etc... they have said that the Meet N' Greet with Mickey fastpass will be its own system and NOT associated with the other fastpass systems. So, it sounds like you can grab a FP for Mickey and still get one for Space Mountain.

I wonder if that means that they will stick to the one hour allotted time on the FP and not accept late FP??? Also, it's been speculated that there will not be a standby line for meeting Mickey, only FP. How does everyone feel about that???

It would make sense that the character FP system would be different than the attraction FP. I think if given the possibility of only being able to have one FP at a time, most guests would take the attraction FP over the character FP.

I don't know that I agree with Mickey only being accessible via FP. How many years has FP been around? I still hear people that don't understand the FP system and wonder how much you have to pay for a FP. It would be sad if someone missed out on seeing Mickey because they didn't understand the system...Plus, what happens for the folks who are only in the park for one day, and the FP are all gone by a certain point

Ugh, I agree that it's going to make it more confusing to people. So many people are there on that "once in a lifetime" trip, so they definitely don't know and understand everything. My husband on his first trip said it was extremely confusing to know what was what - all of the parks have names, then the lands, and then attraction. I think it took him about 3 trips before he started getting the hang of it, but even now after 7 trips there's things he'll forget (remembering which is which between Future World and Tomorrowland when just hearing the name seems to confuse him the most). And I know we've all heard people who have been several times and fairly regularly say things that are incorrect or be confused by something. Even though there's a lot of people like us who are fanatics and obsessed, I think we're greatly dwarfed by those other two groups who are going to get confused from time to time.

Sure, I agree that more people are going to choose the attraction fastpass over the character fastpass. I think people are more likely to revisit attractions, whereas they'll probably only visit the characters once or twice in a trip. If they were linked to the same system as the attractions, it would at least extend how long fastpasses are available to attractions. Even if it was only an hour, that would help some people out. Fastpasses are nice, but they're usually not an option if you like going later in the day or at the second park you hop to in a day.

I hate the idea of the characters only being available by fastpass. In theory it would work for people on week or so long trips, but as you said, a lot those who are only spending one day in each park will probably miss out. I actually wish they'd go back to how it was in the past where the characters were just out there and around. I remember as a child how you would walk down Main Street and there were characters everywhere interacting with guests. You might not have gotten that individual picture with JUST you and the character, but in my opinion that's not as magical as them being all around was. My husband says you shouldn't go 30 minutes without seeing Mickey around the park meeting people and riding attractions with guests. His idea is that there should be more than one Mickey out at all times (but placed far enough apart that it's not like you'd see one right after the other and wonder how he got around so fast).The shame is that with the way it is now where all of the characters are sequestered off in buildings with long lines, you can spend a week at Disney and never even see Mickey around (excluding parades) unless you spend an hour in a line. We had a season pass and I can't remember seeing him once outside of Spectromagic/MSEP.

[jlpeaches255]

I don't know that I agree with Mickey only being accessible via FP. How many years has FP been around? I still hear people that don't understand the FP system and wonder how much you have to pay for a FP. It would be sad if someone missed out on seeing Mickey because they didn't understand the system...Plus, what happens for the folks who are only in the park for one day, and the FP are all gone by a certain point

I agree Amy! Because other parks charge for that type of perk people just assume that Disney does too. I remember working at the Disney Store and telling some "lovely" ladies about the Fast Pass system being free, and they yelled at me saying that was stupid because now everyone will use it.
And you are sooooo right about the FPs running out! Especially if he is on Main Street. The Mickey FP machine will be everyone's first stop!!

[mindflipper]

Hmmmmmmm, got me wondering now - what about FP's for Spectromagic?

[Polynesian Princess]

Especially if he is on Main Street. The Mickey FP machine will be everyone's first stop!!

I hadn't thought about it in that context, but that's a very good point!

Hmmmmmmm, got me wondering now - what about FP's for Spectromagic?

Can we get those to come out of the same system as the attraction? If so, I'm all for it. Otherwise I wouldn't really think they're necessary. We've never had trouble finding a place to watch from and practically always end up being able to sit right at the rope. We don't look for a place until 15 minutes or less before the parade and never even have to look too hard.

[mindflipper]

Hmmmmmmm, got me wondering now - what about FP's for Spectromagic?

Can we get those to come out of the same system as the attraction? If so, I'm all for it. Otherwise I wouldn't really think they're necessary. We've never had trouble finding a place to watch from and practically always end up being able to sit right at the rope. We don't look for a place until 15 minutes or less before the parade and never even have to look too hard.

As many bad experiences I have had with people pushing and kicking their way in at the last minute, I have wished there could be a better system to handle waiting for parades and shows...

[NaCler]

I think the reasoning behind the speculation that there will not be a standby line for Mickey is due to the major bottle-neck potential for the front of the park around Town Square/Theater House.

[mindflipper]

I think the reasoning behind the speculation that there will not be a standby line for Mickey is due to the major bottle-neck potential for the front of the park around Town Square/Theater House.

That does make sense to me, as that area of MS always seems crowded any time during the day...

[Polynesian Princess]

Hmmmmmmm, got me wondering now - what about FP's for Spectromagic?

Can we get those to come out of the same system as the attraction? If so, I'm all for it. Otherwise I wouldn't really think they're necessary. We've never had trouble finding a place to watch from and practically always end up being able to sit right at the rope. We don't look for a place until 15 minutes or less before the parade and never even have to look too hard.

As many bad experiences I have had with people pushing and kicking their way in at the last minute, I have wished there could be a better system to handle waiting for parades and shows...

I don't think this is what you were implying, but I wanted to clarify that I've never asked anybody to scoot over or anything - I simply have found an open spot and taken it. I'm not convinced it would really work anyways because it would likely be similar to the Fantasmic dining package. You may have a reserved area, but could get a crummy seat in that section or it may fill up too much.

[mindflipper]

No, Poly, I'm not talking about taking an empty space, I'm talking about rude people who intentionally try to push (and even kick) people out of their spot in order to take it. It's happened to me and people I was with as well as watch it happen to others. In one time it happened to me and my friends they claimed to the CM they could not speak english, but when he called for "security" their english improved enough to know to run. My friend was kicked so bad she had a severe bruise and ended up going to her doctor when we got back for meds. There can always be bad eggs out there in the crowds waiting for a parade...

I wish there was a better system that could handle or prevent these people from trying to behave so badly because they think they can get away with it.

[Amy]

No, Poly, I'm not talking about taking an empty space, I'm talking about rude people who intentionally try to push (and even kick) people out of their spot in order to take it. It's happened to me and people I was with as well as watch it happen to others. In one time it happened to me and my friends they claimed to the CM they could not speak english, but when he called for "security" their english improved enough to know to run. My friend was kicked so bad she had a severe bruise and ended up going to her doctor when we got back for meds. There can always be bad eggs out there in the crowds waiting for a parade...

I wish there was a better system that could handle or prevent these people from trying to behave so badly because they think they can get away with it.

That's awful I've never had anyone be physical with me, other than a little nudge here and there. But I don't care for when people try to shove in front of me when I have taken the time to stake out my viewing spot