Disney's FastPass: A Complicated History

0:00How much do you know about lines?

0:13A line, or a queue, is an organized group of people or, in this case dots, waiting their

0:19turn for some... thing.

0:21The amount of time it takes to get from the start of the queue to the end of the queue

0:24is the wait time.

0:26In its simplest form, the wait time is affected by two factors, the service rate, and the

0:31arrival rate.

0:32The service rate is the rate at which people get pulled from the queue to do the thing.

0:37The arrival rate is the rate at which people arrive to the queue.

0:40Speed up the service, and the wait time decreases.

0:44Increase the arrival rate, and the wait time increases.

0:47At its core, this is all a line is.

0:50How fast do people get in line, and how fast do they get out, but in any real-world scenario,

0:55queues become anything but simple.

0:57And there’s no better showcase of this complexity than the Disney Parks.

1:01Disney is world-famous not only for their wait times, but for the bold strategies that

1:04they have implemented to cut them down.

1:06To truly understand this topic, it is not enough to simply learn the history.

1:10We must deep dive into the technicalities and psychology of queuing and fully examine

1:15the many ways that Disney has tried to tackle the issue of lines, and unfortunately, there

1:20is no FastPass for this explanation.

1:22So without further wait, let’s take an excruciatingly deep dive into everybody’s least favorite

1:27aspect of theme parks.

1:57On October 1, 1971, Walt Disney World opened to the public with two resort hotels, and

2:02one theme park, the Magic Kingdom.

2:04Within the first year of opening, Walt Disney World began to experience the problem that

2:08had long plagued Disneyland Park in Anaheim.

2:10Long waits for attractions.

2:12Two of the most dreaded waits were for the 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea ride and the

2:16Country Bear Jamboree show.

2:17The wait for 20,000 Leagues consistently sat at one hour, and the wait for the Country

2:21Bear Jamboree could go over an hour on busier days.

2:25This might be surprising to you if you’ve visited the parks recently.

2:28Today, the Country Bear Jamboree almost never fills its theater, and 20,000 Leagues no longer

2:33exists.

2:34However, when Magic Kingdom opened, these two attractions had some of the longest waits

2:37in the park.

2:38This can be explained by looking at the arrival rate and service rate of these attractions.

2:46The service rate for theme park attractions is generally measured in hourly capacity,

2:50or how many guests can board an attraction within one hour.

2:5320,000 Leagues was a low-capacity attraction, only able to accommodate around 1200 guests

2:58per hour.

2:59Compare this to the Haunted Mansion, which can accommodate around 2800 guests per hour.

3:03This difference was due to their ride systems.

3:05The Haunted Mansion is a continuously operating omnimover system, while 20,000 Leagues could

3:10only seat 40 guests in each submarine, and could only operate up to 9 submarines at a

3:14time.

3:15So in a 12 hour day at the park, over 33,000 guests could ride the Haunted Mansion, while

3:20only around 14,000 guests could ride 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

3:24Looking at this difference another way, if 1000 guests were in line for both attractions,

3:28the wait time for the Haunted Mansion would be 35 minutes while the wait time for 20,000

3:32Leagues would be 1 hr and 20 minutes.

3:36The Country Bear Jamboree had an even lower capacity than 20k leagues, but its issue was

3:40less in its service rate, but more its arrival rate.

3:43While the capacity of a ride is determined by design and operation, the arrival rate

3:47is mainly determined by guest demand.

3:50This demand can be influenced by such factors as the quality of the ride and the marketing

3:54done for the attraction.

3:55The demand and capacity relationship is somewhat similar to the relationship between the supply

4:00and demand of a product, except rather than determining price and quantity, demand and

4:05capacity determine the wait times and number of riders.

4:09Today, once a guest has entered a Disney theme park, they are able to ride any attraction

4:13they choose, but there are only so many operating hours each day, so time becomes a currency

4:17that they must spend.

4:19For instance, a guest might want to ride the Jungle Cruise if the wait were 30 minutes

4:23but that same guest might not want to ride the attraction if the wait was one hour.

4:27In queuing, this is called balking, when someone decides not to wait in a queue due to its

4:31length.

4:32This can reduce wait times by turning people away that were not determined to experience

4:36the attraction.

4:37The situation becomes even more complicated when guests are spending both their time and

4:41money to ride rides.

4:43When it opened, Walt Disney World utilized a ticket book system in which guests needed

4:48to purchase tickets both to enter the park and to ride the majority of the park’s attractions,

4:53with each attraction distinguished with a letter A through E, with E being the most

4:57thrilling and popular attractions.

4:59This was the same system used at Disneyland, and it became so well-known that the term

5:03E-ticket became a common phrase to refer to something as premium or exciting.

5:07By charging guests more to ride the popular attractions, Disneyland was able to curb demand

5:12for these rides.

5:13However, at Walt Disney World, this system often had the opposite effect.

5:17When the resort opened, guests knew little about the park’s unique attractions, but

5:21they already understood the A through E ticket system.

5:24So when visitors made their decisions, they often looked at how Disney ranked and priced

5:28their own attractions.

5:29The Country Bear Jamboree, a musical show with animatronic characters unknown to guests,

5:34was listed as an E-ticket, while the Mickey Mouse Revue, a musical show with animatronic

5:38characters well known to guests, was listed as a D-ticket.

5:41This led many guests to assume that The Country Bear Jamboree was the better show, resulting

5:46in a false demand, leading to longer lines.

5:49This false demand was recognized by a Disney employee named Bruce Laval.

5:52Laval graduated from the University of Florida with an MBA, specializing in operations research,

5:58and he joined Walt Disney World right as the resort opened in 1971 as an industrial engineer.

6:03Industrial engineers are specialized in studying and optimizing complex systems and processes,

6:08finding ways to make systems more efficient, a field that Disney was increasingly relying

6:12on as their theme parks became more complex and brought in more people.

6:16Laval was among the first industrial engineers to utilize computer simulations to optimize

6:21systems, impressive considering at the time computers looked like this.

6:26Within the first few years he worked for the company, Laval noticed the false demand being

6:30created by the A through E ticket system and argued for its removal.

6:33The idea made it almost to the testing phase for Magic Kingdom when top Disney executives,

6:38resistant to change, learned of the plan and shut it down.

6:41However, it was soon decided that Disney’s third theme park, EPCOT Center, would not

6:45use the A through E ticket system, so the decision was made to discontinue the system

6:49at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World as well.

6:52After the switch, Laval’s theory was proven.

6:55Wait times at E-tickets went down, and more guests visited the underutilized attractions.

7:09Long lines were by no means eliminated from the guest experience after the A through E

7:13ticket system was discontinued.

7:15In fact, lines were the number one guest complaint at all three Disney parks.

7:19This is why when Disney opened its first international park Tokyo Disneyland in 1983, many within

7:24the company were surprised at the patience and endurance of Japanese tourists to withstand

7:29long lines, especially when compared to Americans.

7:32This is because different cultures have different reactions to queuing, with Americans tending

7:36to be some of the most impatient, right up there with the French, which Disney would

7:40learn soon enough.

7:41Also, people’s reactions to queues change significantly over time, and the Disney Parks

7:45have played a major role in this evolution.

7:48The most common type of queue at Disney is called the switchback queue, in which guests

7:51snake back and forth in a zigzag motion.

7:54This was pioneered by Disney’s Imagineers at the 1964 New York World’s Fair.

7:59The lines for Disney’s attractions at the fair were long and out of control, so Disney

8:02developed the switchback concept which organized and condensed the line.

8:06Reportedly, Walt Disney himself also felt the concept had a psychological benefit.

8:11Because guests were moving back and forth, they were face to face with other guests,

8:15allowing them to interact with strangers back when people were into that sort of thing.

8:18Switchback queues were soon implemented throughout Disneyland, then at Walt Disney World, EPCOT

8:23Center, and eventually everywhere, but since queueing is always evolving, by the mid 1980s,

8:29distaste for the switchback queue had grown.

8:31People were no longer tricked by its condensed nature, and the endless zig zagging soon became

8:36grating.

8:37To combat this, Disney went back to the drawing board, coming up with a simple three-tiered

8:40strategy to improve guests' time in line.

8:43Number 1: Keep waits to a maximum of 15 minutes.

8:46Number 2: If a guest must wait more than 15 minutes, give them entertainment, such as

8:51immersive queues and pre-show videos.

8:53Number 3: Hide the queue from view, sectioning off different parts of the queue so that guests

8:57can’t see how long the line really is until they’ve already waited in it.

9:01This strategy really came down to one basic principle.

9:04If you remove the guests’ ability to visualize the wait, the wait itself will feel shorter.

9:09In 1987, Bruce Laval was named director of the Studio Tour for the soon-to-open Disney

9:14MGM-Studios.

9:15The new theme park was designed to focus primarily on the tour of the new film and television

9:19production facilities being constructed alongside the park, so when Disney-MGM opened in 1989,

9:25it had few attractions, and worse, few productions.

9:27What it did have was an excess of people.

9:30Crowds flocked to Disney-MGM to find long lines and little to do.

9:34The issue was widely reported on, and when asked about the crowds, Laval said “You

9:38could have the greatest show in the world, but if you have a three-hour wait out there

9:42people are going to leave the park dissatisfied.”

9:44Immediately after this article was published, the Orlando Sentinel received a call from

9:48a man, named Michael Eisner, who was the CEO of Disney at the time.

9:51Eisner assured the public, as well as the Disney employees quoted in Sunday’s paper,

9:56that the park would be expanded with more attractions, stating “We do not want the

9:59lines to be that long.

10:01We are trying to rectify that as soon as we can.”

10:04In 1995, Laval was promoted to Executive Vice President of Operations, now assuming responsibility

10:09for all park and resort operations at the Disney Parks.

10:12Laval had held many different positions at the company, but his industrial engineering

10:16background had stayed with him, and the mounting issues with wait times led Laval and his team

10:20to develop something big.

10:25In the mid 1990s, Laval and his team began experimenting with the idea of transitioning

10:29certain attractions at the Disney Parks to a reservation-only system.

10:33The idea was to give guests a reservation time for an attraction so that they would

10:37not have to wait in line.

10:38Similar to a restaurant, guests would simply arrive at the attraction for their reservation

10:42and would be seated immediately.

10:44While the idea would eliminate waits for guests at the park's most popular attractions, there

10:48were obvious issues with the concept.

10:50First, it was nearly impossible to ensure that park guests arrived for their reservations

10:54on time.

10:55Often they would be doing something else around the park.

10:57When a guest would miss their reservation time, this would leave empty seats on the

11:01ride, therefore reducing the total capacity of the attraction.

11:04Second, if the attraction experienced downtime for any reason, then the guests holding reservations

11:09during this downtime would no longer be able to ride, as reservations for the rest of the

11:13day would already be filled, or if they were allowed on, the ride would now have a line

11:18of people for the rest of the day, defeating the point of the system.

11:21The idea was abandoned for these reasons, and it seemed that reservation-based attractions

11:25was a dead concept.

11:27This was until Laval had an epiphany, not while at work, but while on vacation.

11:32In 1997, Laval went on a skiing vacation in Colorado.

11:35While on the slopes, he observed the queue to get on the ski lift.

11:39Each lift chair held four people, and the queue was split into two lines, a regular

11:43line and a single rider line.

11:45Laval viewed how the single riders were squeezed in the empty seats on the ski lift when a

11:49party did not fill an entire chair.

11:51He realized that this was the compromise to the reservation-based system.

11:55Rather than a regular line and a single rider line, Laval could have a reservation-based

11:59system and a standby line.

12:00Whenever a guest would be late for their reservation, operators could take someone from the standby

12:04line so that the attraction would never lose capacity because of the ebbs and flows in

12:08guest behavior.

12:09Plus, if the attraction did experience downtime, then the ratio of reservation based guests

12:14to standby riders could simply be adjusted to favor those that had reservations during

12:18the downtime.

12:19Despite the idea coming from the initial reservation-based concept, what Laval was proposing was closer

12:24to a virtual queue.

12:25A virtual queue functions similarly to a normal queue just without the physical line.

12:30A common example of a virtual queue can be found in many quick service restaurants, in

12:34which guests take a number and wait for their number to be called.

12:37Unlike reservations, this still retains the first come first serve nature of a physical

12:41line but it removes the ability to visualize the wait, therefore, increasing the quality

12:47of it.

12:48After returning from vacation, Laval pitched the concept to other executives, but he was

12:51met with skepticism.

12:53Believing in the idea, Laval proposed that he test the idea to prove that it could work.

12:57Using the newly opened Animal Kingdom due to its limited amount of attractions, testing

13:01began with a select group of guests who were given paper diaries to keep track of their

13:05day, including how long they waited in line.

13:07The test subjects were split into two groups, a control group and a group that would use

13:12the virtual queue system.

13:13The control group simply logged their day at the park, while the other group were told

13:16to approach cast members at attractions entrances, who would hand them a ticket with a return

13:21time on it.

13:22This return time was equal to the time that it would have taken guests to wait in the

13:25line for the ride.

13:26The test subjects were then encouraged to explore the park, and return at the time listed

13:30on the ticket, where they would then be allowed to skip the line.

13:33The test was a huge success.

13:35The virtual queue subjects were able to experience 25% more rides than the control group, and

13:39their wait times were reduced by 50%.

13:42The virtual queue subjects left the park much more satisfied and far more likely to return

13:46than the control group.

13:48If this was not convincing enough for executives, the tests also showed that those using the

13:52virtual queue system spent more of their time at gift shops and dining locations, resulting

13:56in more spending when compared to the control group.

13:59Executives approved the concept for further testing, which continued throughout early

14:031999, both at Disneyland and Walt Disney World.

14:06That summer, testing focused on Space Mountain at the Magic Kingdom, which often had the

14:10park’s longest wait.

14:11In these early tests, Cast Members were physically writing return times on cards and giving them

14:16to guests, while using handheld clicker counters to keep track of how many were handed out

14:20and how many guests returned.

14:22The tests were often haphazard and chaotic, but they were successful enough to prove that

14:26not only the system could work, but it would make guests happier and more likely to spend

14:30money.

14:31Many within the company, including Laval, felt that the system should be free and available

14:35to all visitors so as not to create different classes of park guests, citing Walt Disney

14:39himself, who was known to wait in the park’s lines with his guests.

14:43With the tests labeled a success, executives approved the permanent installation of the

14:47new virtual queue system, officially titled...

14:56“Hey, did you know that you don’t have to wait in line to ride some of your favorite

15:02attractions?

15:03Just look for the signs at selected attractions and insert your park ticket.

15:06You’ll get a complimentary Fastpass with a return ride time stamped right on it.”

15:12Guests who entered a Walt Disney World park in late 1999 were met with a brand new system,

15:17FastPass.

15:18On the surface, the system was simple.

15:20Guests would approach an attraction where they would be able to view the posted standby

15:23wait time.

15:24If this was manageable, they could join the standby queue right away.

15:27However, if the wait was long, they could instead choose to receive a FastPass at the

15:32kiosks placed outside of the attractions.

15:34Guests inserted their park admission ticket into the kiosk to receive their FastPass with

15:38a one-hour return window listed on it.

15:40They could then enjoy the rest of the park, and once their return window arrived, they

15:44would hand their ticket to an attendant and enter the FastPass queue, boarding the attraction

15:48with a minimal wait.

15:49Each guest could only hold one FastPass at a time, and they could not receive another

15:52until their return window arrived.

15:54Behind the scenes, the system was far more complex.

15:57Each attraction’s FastPass data would be stored on a local computer housed in each

16:01attraction, controlling the standby wait time display, keeping track of how many Fastpasses

16:05have been handed out, and determining the return times being printed on each FastPass.

16:09The computer was connected to a server so all wait times could be monitored throughout

16:13the park, and so that the system would know when a guest had already been given a FastPass

16:17to prevent them from obtaining another.

16:19The system also allowed ride operators to tell the computer when an attraction was experiencing

16:23downtime, and in response, the kiosks would slow down or cease disbursing FastPasses until

16:29the attraction was operating again.

16:31Some Cast Members reported this feature not working properly or not implemented on some

16:35rides, resulting in ride operators having to go to the FastPass kiosk, manually disburse

16:39a stack of paper Fastpasses so that return times were pushedd back, and then immediately

16:44throwing those FastPasses in the trash.

16:46When news broke on FastPass in the summer of 1999, Laval said quote, “We are going

16:50to use it on the three, four or five attractions that historically have the longest lines at

16:54each park.”

16:55By the end of the year, thirteen attractions at Walt Disney World utilized FastPass.

17:00Five at Magic Kingdom, two at Epcot, five at Disney-MGM, and 3 at Animal Kingdom.

17:05In early 2000, FastPass was implemented in Disneyland on three attractions, Space Mountain,

17:10Splash Mountain and Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin with plans to expand the program.

17:15“One way to keep it moving is called Disney’s FastPass.

17:18Mi un favorito.

17:19Check this out.

17:21We roll up to the FastPass kiosk.

17:22Boom.

17:23Boom!

17:24Kicks back a ride time.

17:25Then you just come back to the ride at that time and giddyup.

17:28Pretty sweet little invention.

17:29Let’s hit it.”

17:30FastPass was a huge learning curve for guests.

17:33Despite heavy marketing, many guests did not know about the program and even fewer understood

17:37it.

17:38In the early days, it was referred to as Disney’s best kept secret, and many guests waiting

17:42in standby lines were visibly and vocally frustrated to see priority being given to

17:46those that had FastPasses.

17:49Believing that they were being skipped or cut in line, which in a way, they were.

17:53Some people believed that FastPass was simply holding their place in the attracion’s line,

17:57which is not the case.

17:58The FastPass kiosk and ticket system was a virtual queue, so there was a first come first

18:03serve system built into the program, but that just determined guests return windows.

18:08Once guests redeemed their pass, that queue was over, and they were admitted to a new

18:12preferred queue that shared the service rate of the attraction with the standby line.

18:16The arrival of FastPass guests did affect the rate at which guests moved through the

18:20standby queue.

18:21There were a few exceptions to this, such as with Space Mountain at the Magic Kingdom,

18:25which has two separate tracks.

18:27So if operated as such, one track could be standby only, and the other could be FastPass

18:32only.

18:33If this is the case, then FastPass guests are not skipping or cutting the standby line,

18:37they essentially just have their own attraction, as there are two separate service rates, and

18:41the arrival of FastPass guests have no impact on the standby line.

18:45The main issues with implementing FastPass beyond the learning curve for guests was perfecting

18:49the technology for the kiosks and finding space in each attraction for two lines.

18:53Luckily, many attractions already had two lines, and guests were given the choice of

18:57either the left line or the right line when they entered.

19:00A common advice from vacation planners was to always go left, because the majority of

19:04people are right handed and thus tended to go right, a phenomenon found outside of Disney’s

19:09parks and studied by queuing experts for some time.

19:12Some attractions already had a split point, but not until later on in their queue.

19:15For instance, Space Mountain at Walt Disney World had a wide single line hallway up to

19:19the ramp leading to the main show building.

19:21Here, a railing was added and all guests had to go to the right side, so that Cast Members

19:25could walk on the left.

19:27This made installing FastPass fairly simple because Disney only needed to extend the railing

19:31to the beginning of the queue and build a staircase to the entrance so the left side

19:35and the right side remained split the entire time.

19:38Reviews from those guests that used FastPass were overwhelmingly positive.

19:41On average, guests that utilized the system waited 75% less throughout the day.

19:46A few skeptics believed that the system would increase standby waits significantly throughout

19:50the park.

19:51Laval responded to this concern saying quote, “It’s only a problem if they don’t self-select.

19:55The only challenge has been getting people to understand FastPass.”

19:58He added that quote, “People go on to what you might consider the secondary attractions

20:02in that area of the ride they have the Fastpass for.

20:05We found that these were typically attractions that they didn’t go on before because they

20:08were spending too much time in line.

20:10This does increase rides per capita by backfilling less-attended attractions.”

20:15FastPass also had the potential in certain situations to reduce standby wait times because

20:19it altered the arrival rate of popular attractions.

20:22By giving guests return windows, it spread out arrivals more evenly throughout the day,

20:27flattening the mid-day rush and reducing standby waits during this peak period.

20:31Those that loved FastPass argued that the system should be added to all of the rides

20:35in the park.

20:36Dale Stafford, VP of Operations Planning and Development for Walt Disney World believed

20:40that this was not practical, saying quote, “If you did it everywhere, you wouldn't

20:43have enough space in the park.

20:45Where would everyone go?”

20:47One year after FastPass was introduced, both guests and Disney officials were confident

20:51in labeling the program a massive success.

20:53Eisner said quote, “They now have more time to spend money and to do other things.

20:57They’re also a lot happier not having to wait in line.”

21:00In August of 2000, FastPass was recognized by the Florida Engineering Society and was

21:04awarded a 2000 Governor’s New Product Award.

21:07Laval said quote, “FastPass continues to exceed our guest expectations.

21:11It’s a free service and it’s making their time in the parks more fun and productive.”

21:15Laval retired in 2000 after 30 years with the company, with FastPass being his last

21:20major project.

21:21Perhaps the greatest success of FastPass was the name.

21:24It was catchy and concise, so much so that it immediately became a household name and

21:29a colloquialism for any sort of expedited line.

21:32It also pushed other parks to develop their own expedited queue systems and it even inspired

21:37a hit song.

21:39“‘cause if you like it then you shoulda got a Fastpass.

21:51If you like it then you shoulda gotta Fastpass.

21:53Don’t you hate on me because you came in last.

21:54If you like it then you shoulda gotta Fastpass.

21:55Oh oh oh.

21:56Oh oh oh oh oh.

21:57Oh oh oh oh.”

21:58It was not long until touring experts started to learn best practices for the FastPass system.

21:59For instance, guests still needed to arrive earlier in the day to receive FastPasses with

22:02optimal return times.

22:04If a guest arrived at the park’s opening they could receive a FastPass with a return

22:07window only an hour away.

22:09However, by mid-day, many FastPasses return times could be four to five hours in the future,

22:14and on busier days, FastPasses for popular attractions would run out by 1 or 2 o’clock

22:18in the afternoon.

22:19While the system itself worked well, there were a few issues.

22:23One was the decision to not allow guests to receive another FastPass until their return

22:26window arrived.

22:28This left many guests upset when they went to get a FastPass for an attraction only to

22:31realize that the return window was hours away and they could not get another FastPass until

22:36then.

22:37The solution to this was allowing guests to receive an additional FastPass 2 hours after

22:41receiving their initial one.

22:43Some less than honest guests found that they could simply keep their FastPasses from previous

22:47days or trips and reuse them over and over again.

22:50To combat this, Disney changed the design of FastPass tickets to more clearly show the

22:55date, although this did not entirely curb the practice.

22:58Others found ways to best the system to get as many FastPasses as possible.

23:02Guests found that some attractions did not communicate with the rest of the park’s

23:06computers, so if they were to get a FastPass from one of these rogue attractions, they

23:09would not communicate that the guest already held a FastPass and they could therefore obtain

23:13another.

23:14FastPass kiosks were also used in creative ways.

23:16For instance, guests obtaining a FastPass for Who Wants to be a Millionaire Play It!

23:20might have received a special ticket inviting them to sit in one of the special contestant

23:24seats at the attraction.

23:26Sometimes the kiosks were used to direct people to other attractions by giving them a bonus

23:30FastPass, such as The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh which sometimes dispensed bonus FastPasses

23:34for Mickey’s Philharmagic.

23:36On February 17th, 2003, the 100th Million FastPass was distributed to the Dillon family

23:42of Atlanta, who were given a special Golden FastPass that allowed them FastPass access

23:46to all attractions at the resort.

23:48Mike Dillon said quote, “Things like this don’t happen to the Dillons.”

23:54On a particularly stormy night in the year 1871, Jebediah Dillon stowed away on a cargo

24:00ship named the Queen Marge, which would soon navigate the tumultuous waters of the Atlantic

24:04Ocean, bound for the… whoa, think I lost my thread there.

24:09Sorry about that.

24:10Where was I?

24:11By 2003, FastPass had grown significantly to 263 attractions at Walt Disney World.

24:16Five at Animal Kingdom, Six at Disney-MGM, Five at Epcot, and Ten at Magic Kingdom.

24:21Disneyland Resort now had a total of 16 FastPass attractions, 9 at Disneyland and 7 at California

24:27Adventure.

24:28The significant increase in FastPass attractions was due less to logistics and more to the

24:31monetary benefits of the system.

24:34During the late 90s and early 2000s, Paul Pressler, the chairman of Walt Disney Parks

24:38and Resorts, had instituted drastic cost cutting measures, slashing budgets across the board

24:43to increase profits.

24:44At the same time, Pressler, whose background was in retail, dramatically increased the

24:49amount of shopping and merchandise carts throughout the parks.

24:52FastPass was a quick fix in many ways.

24:54Not only did the system promise to get guests out of line and into gift shops, but FastPass

24:59itself could be marketed far and wide as if it were a new attraction, during a time when

25:03Disney didn’t have anything else to promote.

25:05For a period of time in the mid-2000s, FastPass was used as a perk for vacation packages,

25:10namely once booked through Triple A, which allowed guests access to what was referred

25:14to as Enhanced FastPass, which removed the 2 hour limit on guests tickets, allowing them

25:19to obtain as many FastPasses as available, with the only restriction being that they

25:23could not receive multiple passes for the same attraction until the first pass for that

25:27attraction had expired.

25:29With this, guests could enter Disneyland Park in the morning, obtain a FastPass for every

25:34FastPass attraction in the park, exit Disneyland Park, walk over to California Adventure, obtain

25:39a FastPass for every FastPast attraction at that park, and now holding, 16 FastPasses,

25:44have the best day ever, with the only downside being that they now have to experience seven

25:49attractions at a mid-2000s California Adventure.

25:52The over-implementation of FastPass did exactly what Stafford had predicted, and walkways

25:56at the park were more congested than ever.

25:58This was especially noticeable at Disneyland which is a much smaller park in comparison

26:02to the Magic Kingdom.

26:03The park was designed to have people waiting in line, but now, with most attractions using

26:08FastPass, guests found themselves wading through a sea of people, all waiting for their return

26:12time to arrive.

26:14Also, standby waits for high-capacity attractions, such as Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted

26:18Mansion, were noticeably increased with FastPass,

26:22In 2002, Paul Pressler resigned to model for the Gap, where he would also serve as CEO.

26:26He was replaced by the Chairman of Disneyland Paris, Jay Rasulo.

26:30When Rasulo and other management took over, they reevaluated Disneyland’s FastPass system,

26:35determining that the best solution was to begin removing FastPasses from certain attractions.

26:40At Disneyland, Pirates of the Caribbean, Winnie the Pooh, and Star Tours had its FastPass

26:44kiosks removed, and Haunted Mansion’s FastPass would only be utilized for Haunted Mansion

26:48Holiday.

26:49In California Adventure, It’s Tough to be a Bug and MuppetVision had their FastPasses

26:53removed as well.

26:54Eventually, the Haunted Mansion at the Magic Kingdom would have its FastPass removed as

26:58well.

26:59While FastPass worked well on some rides and did increase customer satisfaction significantly,

27:03the over implementation within the first few years of its debut seemed to be clear proof

27:07that it was a bad idea to put FastPass everywhere.

27:12It is now September of 2007.

27:18It has been two years since Bob Iger became the CEO of Disney after an embattled Michael

27:22Eisner resigned, FastPass has just turned eight years old, and Jay Rasulo is still heading

27:26the parks division.

27:27It has also been recently announced that Disney was patenting a technology that would utilize

27:31a centralized computer system to manage FastPass tickets throughout Walt Disney World and Disneyland,

27:37allowing guests to obtain FastPasses from their mobile devices, which at the time looked

27:41like this, so most of the plans relied on sending text messages to guests.

27:46The patent application also stated that the new system could allow quote “spending per

27:50guest at hotels” to determine hierarchies of access to Fastpass.

27:55Disney stated publicly they had no plans to change FastPass at the moment, merely that

27:59they were monitoring how to take advantage of technological developments.

28:02However, within the company, executives were formulating plans for a massive project in

28:07complete secrecy.

28:08In 2007, Jay Rasulo and four other senior Disney Parks officials formed an exploratory

28:14committee to determine how the ongoing technological revolution could reinvent the guest experience.

28:20Like Walt Disney and Imagineers in the 1960s and like Bruce Laval in the 1990s, discussions

28:25once again centered on how to improve crowd control and wait times.

28:29The group was exploring multiple concepts when one member had an epiphany.

28:32While on a flight, VP of Business Development John Padgett was browsing through the in-flight

28:37magazine, SkyMall, when he came across a magnetic wristband that promised to improve balance

28:42and reduce joint pain.

28:43This was of course a scam, but it gave Padgett an idea.

28:46What if Disney Parks guests had their own wristband that contained technology that they

28:50could use around the park.

28:52It would be like a magic wristband, so naturally, they called it the experience Band, or xBand

28:58for short.

28:59The team opened a testing space for the xBand in the abandoned Body Wars attraction in the

29:03Wonders of Life Pavilion at Epcot.

29:05After an ideation phase, Disney CEO Bob Iger was given a tour where the team explained

29:10their idea for the xBand.

29:11The proposal was to house an RFID tag inside the band that would allow guests to interact

29:16with touch points throughout the park.

29:18The xBand could act as guest’s park tickets or their hotel room keys.

29:21They could even use it as a credit card.

29:23When Iger was shown the technology, he was impressed enough to give the project a proper

29:28budget.

29:29In 2008, development officially began on Disney NextGen Experience, an initiative that promised

29:33to bring the guest experience into the modern age.

29:36This encompassed multiple strategies, ranging from reinventing the way guests order food

29:40at the parks to experimenting with different queue-types to increase guest enjoyment while

29:45in line.

29:46Perhaps the most ambitious part of NextGen was MyMagic Plus, a complete overhaul of Walt

29:50Disney World’s technological infrastructure and the introduction of a new website and

29:55mobile application.

29:56“Ever wish you could have the magic of the parks right at your fingertips”

29:59Wait, what is this?

30:01“Thanks to Disney Parks...

30:02This is not MyMagic Plus I don’t know what this is.

30:04“Introducing Mobile Magic.

30:06A magical app that will turn your Verizon mobile phone ”

30:09Ugh.

30:10Exclusive to Verizon?

30:11“...super easy to use.

30:12Just touch characters.

30:13Look, Mickey…

30:14Ahh.

30:15Oh gosh, I forgot about this.

30:17Ok, so real quick, in 2009, Disney and Verizon partnered on a new mobile app named Mobile

30:23Magic, that allowed guests to see a map of the park, view showtimes, and play trivia

30:27for $9.99 every 180 days, geez.

30:32And you had to send a text message to download the app?

30:35Ugh.

30:36Most impressive, the app allowed users to view wait times and FastPass return times

30:40from their phone, with real time information from the park’s computer system.

30:44They could not book or view their FastPasses from the app, but this was still a powerful

30:48tool for the time, and it had a valuable feature.

30:50Guests could now balk at an attraction’s wait time from the other side of the park.

30:55Understanding the power the app had over guest decisions, Disney began to inflate posted

30:59wait times to point guests in certain directions.

31:02For instance, if there were too many people in Tomorrowland, Space Mountain’s posted

31:06wait time might be adjusted to 90 minutes despite the actual wait only being 60, in

31:11order to dissuade guests from visiting the crowded area of the park.

31:14This also served the additional function of improving guest satisfaction, as actual waits

31:19were almost always shorter than posted waits, and giving ride operators a buffer in the

31:23event of delays or downtime.

31:25It is unclear when this strategy began, but it would become an integral part of MyMagic+’s

31:30crowd control features when the new app launched.

31:33In November of 2009, two years into the development of Next Gen Experience, it was announced that

31:38Jay Rasulo would become the CFO of the Walt Disney Company, switching places with then

31:43CFO Tom Staggs, who would be taking Rasulo’s position as the head of the Disney Parks.

31:48The switch was Iger’s decision, and it was done to see which executive adjusted better

31:52to their new role.

31:53This was a way to help Iger determine his successor, as he planned to retire from the

31:57company in 2015.

31:59Staggs was inheriting the NextGen program and MyMagic+, and the pressure was immediately

32:04on for him to deliver on the team’s plans, which had only become more ambitious.

32:08Not only did the NextGen team want to reinvent park tickets and hotel keys, they wanted to

32:13completely overhaul FastPass as well.

32:15The new system would be titled XPass, and it was the key feature of NextGen’s Guaranteed

32:21Experience initiative.

32:22The philosophy behind Guaranteed Experiences was to increase customer satisfaction and

32:26guest retention at the resort by removing unwanted variability in vacations.

32:31The program sought to ensure that guests would be able to eat at their favorite restaurant

32:35and ride their favorite rides during their vacation.

32:37This is where XPass came in.

32:39Guests would now be able to book multiple FastPasses before they arrived at the park,

32:43and rather than using paper tickets, they would use their xBands to enter the expedited

32:47queue.

32:48In late 2011, news broke on XPass, mainly focusing on a rumor that FastPass would cost

32:54money.

32:55People took that great, but despite the uproar, the rumor turned out to not be true, at least

32:59not entirely.

33:01FastPass would still be available to everyone, but priority access would be given to those

33:05staying at a Walt Disney World resort hotel.

33:07The plan was for guests to be able to book between 2 and 4 FastPasses before they arrived.

33:12The specific number would be different for each park and would vary based on attendance.

33:16On the busiest days at Magic Kingdom, guests would only be allowed to book 3 Fastpasses,

33:21but on most days, they would be able to book 4.

33:23However, at Epcot, which had significantly less attractions, guests would only get to

33:28book 2 FastPasses on busy days, while most days they would get to book 3.

33:32The times for the reservations would be determined by guest preferences.

33:36Guests would input which attractions they wanted to ride, and an itinerary would be

33:39created with FastPasses to optimize guest flow throughout the park.

33:43When paired with the rest of the NextGen technology, this had the potential to radically redesign

33:47crowd control.

33:49There was just one problem.

33:51Actually there were a thousand problems, but this was one of them.

33:54XPass sought to offer multiple FastPasses to the majority of guests before their arrival.

34:00The problem was there were not enough FastPasses available at the resort’s FastPass attractions

34:05to do this.

34:06In the original FastPass system, popular attractions would run out of FastPasses for the day by

34:10noon or even before, and that was when people could only obtain one FastPass every two hours.

34:16Since FastPass already took up the majority of a ride’s capacity, and most rides at

34:20Walt Disney World were already operating at maximum capacity, it was not feasible to simply

34:25give out more FastPasses for these rides.

34:27When the industrial engineers ran models for XPass, it became apparent that there was not

34:31enough FastPass availability at the parks to make the system work.

34:35The engineers quickly realized that in order to offer multiple FastPasses to guests before

34:39they arrived, they would need to add FastPass to nearly every attraction at the resort.

34:44The total number of FastPass attractions at Walt Disney World would increase from 28 to

34:4950.

34:50When the industrial engineers put the increased FastPass availability into the model, it still

34:54didn’t work.

34:55Even with an additional 22 attractions, there were still numerous days throughout the year

34:59where FastPass availability would be gone before a significant amount of guests could

35:03book all of their passes.

35:05To solve this, it was suggested that FastPass be added not just to every attraction, but

35:09also to things that were not typically considered attractions, such as meet and greets with

35:13characters.

35:14Apparently, this still wasn’t enough, so it was suggested that guests could obtain

35:18FastPasses to things that don’t even have lines, such as firework shows or parades.

35:23Rather than skipping the line, special viewing areas would be created for these experiences

35:27and guests could book a FastPass to gain access to them.

35:30Finally, this increased, or more accurately inflated, the amount of FastPasses that could

35:35be offered, which helped support the idea to offer multiple FastPasses to guests before

35:40they arrived.

35:41With the basic framework figured out, plans moved forward on XPass as NextGen and MyMagic+

35:46continued to develop.

35:47In February of 2011, the Walt Disney Company’s Board of Directors approved MyMagic+ with

35:53a budget of around $1 billion.

35:55Iger reportedly sternly told Staggs, “This better work.”

36:00Which became a mantra for the entire team.

36:03Staggs was under enormous pressure to deliver on a project that didn’t really make the

36:07parks or Disney money.

36:09“Now when I put this in, does money immediately begin flowing out of my checking account?”

36:14“If it’s working correctly, yes.

36:17Yes.”

36:18“Yeah.”

36:19In a shocking twist, most of the rhetoric surrounding NextGen and MyMagic+ internally

36:23was not about the potential profit from the system.

36:26Those developing the new technology and even much of the executive team, believed in the

36:30more altruistic benefits of the program.

36:32The ability to guarantee experiences for vacationers, to simplify the experience of visiting the

36:37resort, to improve traffic flow and crowd control at the parks, to create an IT infrastructure

36:42that could be built on over the coming decades, even to make Cast Members jobs easier so they

36:47could focus more on providing great interactions with guests.

36:50These were the key components of the pitch.

36:52This is not to say that there were not some ulterior motives.

36:55Disney definitely wanted to impress with the program to establish themselves as a major

36:59player in the tech space, but this did not create a clear path to generate income.

37:04Apart from the new digital PhotoPass system, which had direct monetary benefits, the revenue

37:08that the billion dollar MyMagic+ overhaul would generate was almost entirely theoretical.

37:14Maybe guests would think less about their purchases when using their xBands which would

37:17then lead to more spending.

37:19Maybe the novelty of the xBand would encourage more people to stay at Walt Disney World resorts

37:23which would increase revenue.

37:25Maybe the data collected from everyone’s xBands and account profiles could be leveraged

37:29in ways to increase spending.

37:31Maybe a few Cast Member positions could be automated with the system which would save

37:34money.

37:35Maybe the traffic flow improvements would be so great that more guests could fit into

37:38the park?

37:39And the biggest maybe that the entire project was predicated on, maybe MyMagic+ would create

37:44such a wonderful experience for our guests that they would be more likely to return and

37:49more likely to recommend that others visit.

37:51Sure, the end goal was to increase revenue, but Disney’s focus was on improving the

37:55guest experience, and hoping that the money would come as a result.

37:59This optimistic and almost quaint approach seemed to be at odds with the $1 billion dollar

38:03price tag, but Iger, Staggs, Rasulo and other executives believed in the program enough

38:08to keep it going.

38:09Others throughout Disney had a much different opinion, which quickly led to infighting.

38:13Disney hired multiple tech contractors to manufacture and deliver much of the MyMagic+

38:18technology, and it was an open secret in the tech industry that they hired subpar firms

38:22that saw the project as a cash cow, over charging and under delivering.

38:27These firms also did not get along with the park’s IT team, especially when major issues

38:31were found with implementation.

38:32Walt Disney Imagineering was not all in on the MyMagic+ technology either.

38:36The parks hoped that the Imagineers would take advantage of the Magic Band technology

38:40to deliver unique experiences in attractions, but Imagineering viewed the xBand’s as a

38:45gimmick, and a risky one at that.

38:47Plus, placing xBand readers throughout the park’s lands so that guests could redeem

38:51FastPasses clashed with the theming.

38:53Imagineer Joe Rohde said, “If I’m supposed to be living with fairies, fairies don’t

38:57have iPhones or MagicBands.”

38:59The Imagineers ended up barely integrating the xBands into new attractions, with EPCOT’s

39:04Test Track being one of the only real benefactors.

39:09“What’s FastPass+ you ask?

39:12Come on, I’ll Show you.

39:13It makes your stay a treat.

39:16Reserve that meet and greet.

39:19Come on, get it now.

39:20Make your trip go wow.

39:22It’s sweet.”

39:23That is technically my second favorite FastPass parody song, but it’s really not even a

39:27competition.

39:29In January of 2013, Disney officially announced the creation of MyMagic+, along with the introduction

39:34of new high tech wristbands, now renamed to Magic Bands.

39:38XPass was also announced, renamed to FastPass Plus.

39:41The system had been altered slightly, and it would allow guests to book three FastPasses

39:45in advance.

39:46This static number applied to all four parks rather than XPass’s proposed dynamic system.

39:51As rumored, guests staying at Walt Disney World resort hotels would get early access

39:55to FastPasses.

39:56Hotel guests would be able to book their Fastpasses 60 days in advance while everyone else could

40:00book 30 days in advance.

40:02When guests went to book their FastPasses, they were given a list of attractions that

40:06had FastPass available.

40:07They then selected three of them, no more, no less.

40:10If the guests didn’t select three, the system picked two at random.

40:14After the selections were made, the computer would intelligently create multiple itineraries

40:18that guests could choose from.

40:19After this, guests could still edit the selections, either by changing the time of the FastPass

40:23reservation or by selecting another attraction within the initial attraction’s time frame.

40:29FastPasses were now redeemed with MagicBands or guests park tickets, but during the initial

40:33rollout, paper FastPass kiosks would still be available.

40:36MyMagic+ was introduced in phases throughout 2013 and early 2014 and issues with the system

40:42were immediate, apparent, and overwhelming.

40:45Reportedly, those on the rollout team and IT pleaded to executives to pull the plug,

40:49as the tech was making operations much worse, to which executives essentially responded,

40:54“We know, but we’re in too deep.”

40:56Spotty Wifi, malfunctioning MagicBand readers, website crashes, an at times unusable mobile

41:02app, and many more issues plagued the system and thus the resort.

41:05There are too many issues with MyMagic+ to discuss, but if you’re curious here are

41:10a few.

41:16The biggest disappointment with the system was that the tech was so broken that it was

41:23never able to take the guest experience to the next level.

41:26At best, it worked, but it never impressed in the ways that the team had hoped, and many

41:31of the more ambitious plans for the technology, such as leveraging data to give guests recommendations

41:36or even being able to communicate to Cast Members via MagicBands that it was a guests

41:40birthday, could never be implemented, because IT was too busy keeping the entire system

41:45afloat to ever have time to take it to the next step.

41:48Most damning, by and large, Cast Members hated it, and it made many positions much more frustrating

41:53to work at.

41:54It automated few if any jobs, and because of the issues, Disney had to triple the size

41:58of its customer support department.

42:01Despite all of the issues, Disney publicly labeled MyMagic+ a success, and Staggs even

42:06said that thanks to the system’s ability to distribute guests more evenly throughout

42:10the parks, Magic Kingdom’s maximum capacity was increased by 5000 people, although it

42:15is unclear whether this has anything to do with the New Fantasyland expansion that also

42:19debuted around this time.

42:21Staggs was determined to be the winner of Iger’s competition, and Rasulo stepped down

42:25from CFO in 2015 while Staggs was promoted to Chief Operating Officer, with Bob Chapek,

42:31the president of Disney’s consumer products division, was promoted to head the parks.

42:35Stags would leave the company the following year, with no confirmed reason for his departure.

42:40Overall, My Magic+ and MagicBands streamlined the guest experience as much as it stalled

42:46it.

42:47Some guests loved it, some guests hated it, and others simply didn’t care.

42:50In many ways, the introduction of the technology was a wash.

42:53A $1 billion wash.

42:55But what about the new program’s headlining feature, FastPass Plus?

43:00By the end of its life in 2014, the original paper FastPass system was still operating

43:04off of a Windows software from the late 90s, so the update in technology, as buggy as it

43:10could be, was definitely a welcome one, but FastPass Plus was much more than its touch

43:14points.

43:15It was an entirely new system, and like the original FastPass, it was a huge learning

43:19curve for guests.

43:20The new system could only be accessed on the website, on the My Disney Experience app,

43:24or with a Cast Member at one of the FastPass kiosks set up throughout the park.

43:29During the initial roll out, this led to huge lines for the FastPass+ kiosks, or to put

43:33it another way, there was a line to get the pass to skip the lines.

43:38While guests adjusted to the new system, the system itself was undergoing constant adjustment.

43:43In November of 2013, Epcot and Hollywood Studios transitioned to a tiered FastPass+ system,

43:48in which the park’s most popular attractions were separated from the rest and only one

43:52popular attraction could be held at a time.

43:55In February of 2014, the transition to FastPass+ was complete and all paper FastPass kiosks

44:01were removed from the park.

44:02Rumoredly, the speed of the transition was part of an effort to force guest adoption

44:07of the new technology to prove its efficacy.

44:09Two months later, the system was altered once again to allow guests to receive additional

44:14FastPasses after they redeemed their first three.

44:17Once guests redeemed their third FastPass for the day, they could go to a FastPass Plus

44:20kiosk and choose one additional pass.

44:23After they redeemed this additional one, they could select another, and repeat the process

44:27until the end of the day.

44:28The next major change would not come until mid-2016, when the itinerary system was dropped,

44:33and now guests had to choose each of their FastPass times themselves.

44:36This also removed the three initial FastPass rule, allowing guests to select only one or

44:40two FastPasses without forcing them to start with three.

44:44Finally, guests could now choose their additional FastPasses from the My Disney Experience app

44:48rather than only at the kiosks.

44:50It would not be until 2017 that Disneyland would update their FastPass system.

44:55Rumordely, Disneyland was set to receive MyMagic+, MagicBands, FastPass Plus, and all, but the

45:00major issues with the system resulted in the expansion being cancelled.

45:04Instead, Disneyland would receive an entirely different system called MaxPass.

45:09For $10 a day, visitors could book FastPasses from their phone, except they could only do

45:13so when inside the park.

45:15Like paper FastPass, users could only receive one FastPass at a time, unable to receive

45:20additional passes until the first return window had arrived or 90 minutes after the initial

45:24pass was booked.

45:26The system received mixed reviews upon announcement, but after installation, many warmed up to

45:30it, believing that MaxPass was superior to FastPass Plus, which by this point, was the

45:35subject of a heated debate.

45:40FastPass Plus was a divisive program, and many had strong opinions on it.

45:43There are pros and cons to the system, so I’d like to take this moment to examine

45:47the biggest ones.

45:49Before we get into this, I want to mention that we will not be discussing or factoring

45:52in other ways guests are able to cut the line, such as with tour guides or the Guest Assistance

45:57Program.

45:58These systems have their own complex histories during this period that, while interesting

46:02and important, are not factored into this list or this discussion on FastPass in general.

46:08That said, here are some of the pros and cons to FastPass Plus.

46:12Pro #1 You get to skip the line more.

46:15Obviously.

46:16Pro #2 Improved traffic flow throughout the park.

46:19One of the biggest downsides to the original FastPass was that guests had to travel to

46:23an attraction’s entrance to obtain a paper FastPass just to return to the same location

46:28when it was time to ride.

46:30This backtracking was causing major traffic flow issues, so allowing guests to make reservations

46:35from their phone eliminated this unnecessary foot traffic.

46:38Plus, it was more convenient for guests.

46:40Pro #3 Reduction in length of stay.

46:43As park attendance climbed through the early 2000s, FastPasses for major attractions ran

46:48out earlier in the day, so in turn, guests arrived earlier in the day, resulting in more

46:53people arriving in the morning and staying for longer, which increased the amount of

46:57people in each park.

46:58With FastPass Plus, guests would know three of their FastPass reservations before arriving,

47:03which would encourage guests that had FastPasses for later in the day, not to arrive until

47:07later, thus relieving morning and mid-day crowds.

47:11Plus, guests no longer had to wake up early to rope drop FastPasses, allowing for a more

47:15relaxing vacation.

47:17Con #1

47:18Irrelevant FastPasses.

47:19In the mad dash to add as many attractions to the FastPass system, the implementation

47:24of certain attractions were less thought out than others.

47:27For instance, FastPasses for Monsters Inc Laugh Floor and MuppetVision 3D rarely saved

47:32guests any time, as these attractions were theater shows that held guests in large waiting

47:36areas before the next showing.

47:38Guests who had FastPasses for these types of attractions soon learned that all their

47:42FastPass did was give them a different entrance to the same giant room where they had to wait

47:47with other guests.

47:48Con #2

47:49Long FastPass Lines.

47:51Many using FastPass Plus reported waiting longer after redeeming their FastPass than

47:55they did with the original FastPass system.

47:58The original intention of FastPass was for guests to wait no more than fifteen minutes

48:01before boarding, but with FastPass+, guests were now having to wait over half an hour

48:06at certain points.

48:07This was in part due to the fact that FastPass plus was basically guaranteeing that an attraction

48:12would be operating sixty days in advance.

48:14As previously explained, paper FastPass had a built-in response to downtimes, or at the

48:19very least a ride operator could throw a bunch of FastPasses in the trash to give operations

48:23some wiggle room.

48:24This was much more difficult with FastPass+, when an attraction went down, it might have

48:29already had an entire day's worth of FastPasses distributed.

48:32If the downtime was significant, anyone with FastPasses during the downtime were given

48:36an any-use FastPass with which they could use on any ride they chose, which backed up

48:41FastPass lines at other attractions throughout the park.

48:44If the ride was delayed but did not completely shut down, this caused a backup in the FastPass

48:48line for that ride.

48:50When there was a backup, the FastPass to Standby ratio had to be altered to get the FastPass

48:54line under control.

48:56This was the same compensation plan as paper FastPass, but the new system seemed to be

49:00disbursing any use FastPasses much more frequently, leading to Disney to eventually put limits

49:05on these passes.

49:07Con #3.

49:08The FastPass to Standby Ratio.

49:09We have yet to discuss the FastPass to Standby ratio in detail.

49:13It is no secret that of the two lines, the FastPass line was given priority over the

49:17standby line.

49:18In fact, that’s the whole point.

49:20The question is how much was FastPass favored over standby.

49:23There is no definitive answer to this, because it was different for every attraction and

49:27ultimately up to the Cast Member stationed at the merge point.

49:30Bruce Laval recounted that this was the most difficult position to train, and it was the

49:34key position to getting the original FastPass system to work.

49:37This Cast Member not only had to keep the attraction’s ratio steady, but they had

49:41to manage the expectations and frustrations of two very different lines of people experiencing

49:46two very different waits.

49:48The FastPass to standby ratio cited on the original FastPass patent was 80/20, or in

49:53other words, for every four FastPass guests, 1 standby guest was let through.

49:57This is consistent with Cast Member and guest recollections of the system at the time.

50:02The 4 to 1 ratio remained standard after the transition to FastPass Plus, but with backups

50:06occurring much more frequently, Cast Members at merge points had to modify the FastPass

50:11to Standby disparity more often.

50:13There were three phases Cast Members had to go through.

50:15Phase 1 was standard operating procedure with a 4:1 ratio.

50:19If there was a backup in the FastPass line, Cast Members would go to Phase 2, which was

50:23a 20:1 ratio, and if the backup was significant enough, Phase 3 would be initiated, which

50:29was for every 1 standby guest, 100 FastPass guests were let through.

50:33Once the FastPass line was under control, Cast Members would return to Phase 1, but

50:37the disparity of Phase 2 and 3 was infuriating to guests waiting in the standby queue, which

50:42during these phases would almost completely stop.

50:45There was also a psychological gamble to FastPass.

50:48Disney was banking on the idea that guests would not remember the three or four times

50:52they were cut in line, they would just remember the one time they got to cut the line.

50:57This seemed to pay off, but they were also working against another issue with the psychology

51:01of queueing.

51:02Now that FastPass was slowing down the standby line, the pace at which guests moved through

51:06the queue was much slower.

51:08In most cases, people prefer to spend 20 minutes walking at a steady pace rather than spend

51:1320 minutes standing still, but the latter was now happening frequently on FastPass attractions.

51:18In the pre-FastPass days, lines often stretched out of an attraction’s dedicated queue,

51:23but it is important to remember that back then, these lines were moving three, four

51:27or five times as fast.

51:29With FastPass, guests found that the amount of people waiting in the standby line was

51:33less than before, despite the wait being the same or longer.

51:37Con #4 FastPass Availability

51:39After guests became accustomed to the FastPass+ system, it didn’t take long for them to

51:43figure out the best ways to use it.

51:45In turn, FastPass availability was running out extremely fast for popular rides.

51:50Practically every day of the year, popular attractions would run out of FastPass availability

51:54completely before the day of operation.

51:57This was the case for 5 attractions at the Magic Kingdom, 3 at EPCOT, 3 at Hollywood

52:01Studios, 2 at Animal Kingdom, and 4 meet and greets throughout the resort.

52:05This meant that nearly 17 experiences were out of FastPasses before guests even arrived

52:10to the park.

52:11This prompted Disney to hold back a small amount of FastPasses until the day-of, where

52:15they would then drop these held-back passes at different points throughout the day.

52:19This also gave them the option to not drop these additional passes at all if the attraction

52:23was experiencing downtime.

52:24Still, unless a guest got lucky and snagged a FastPass during one of these random drops

52:29or after another guest modified or cancelled theirs, if they wanted a FastPass for a popular

52:34ride, they had to plan in advance.

52:37Which leads me to Pro #4 and Con #5, Planning.

52:42Many people love planning their Disney trips, and do a lot of research and groundwork beforehand.

52:46MyMagic Plus and FastPass Plus significantly increased the amount of planning necessary

52:51to have a consistently good experience at Walt Disney World.

52:54FastPass Plus was supposed to give guests the option to plan their trip in advance,

52:58but in practice, the system forced guests to plan their trip in advance or risk not

53:03getting to experience the most popular attractions without an extreme standby wait time.

53:08Hotel guests could book an entire trip's worth of FastPasses 60 days out from their check-in

53:12date.

53:13This allowed some guests to book as many as 70 days in advance, resulting in certain attractions

53:18like Slinky Dog Dash at Hollywood Studios and Flight of Passage at Animal Kingdom running

53:22out of FastPasses even before the 60-day mark.

53:25Securing these FastPasses practically became a sport, and everyone had tips and tricks

53:30to snag those passes.

53:31“Alright, so we’re going to start with prep you need to do beforehand.

53:34So you get three FastPass+ reservations per day.”

53:37“So once you hit the 60 day mark from your first night at your hotel, you can actually

53:40go on and book FastPasses for the whole length of your stay.”

53:43“Start with the last day of your vacation first.”

53:47“So the further out you can make it, the more likely you are able to get it.

53:51Also, if you take a longer trip, you are more likely to get it too, so if you need an excuse

53:55to take a longer trip, there you have it.”

53:58“So, on my 60 mark day, I log on to My Disney Experience and I can start making FastPass

54:03selections at 7am eastern standard time.

54:07Or 6am central standard time, which is where I live.”

54:10“Because you want to make sure that you are logged in about 5 minutes before your

54:15FastPass window opens.”

54:16“If at all possible, book them early in the day, that way you can get different FastPasses

54:21for different parks later in the day.”

54:22“You save that first hour of the day to ride some of the smaller rides, but then you

54:27try to set up your three FastPasses as soon as possible after that hour as close as possible

54:32together.”

54:33“I have filled in a vague idea of what I want to do.”

54:36”I make a FastPass+ list with all of the days, times and rides I’m hoping to

54:42reserve.”

54:43“All it takes is some luck.

54:45That is a huge part of it.

54:47Please do not be thinking that this is like a super guarantee.”

54:50“So I guarantee you, by the time your 30 day window comes up for off property guests...”

54:56“Flight of Passage...”

54:57“Flight of Passage…”

54:58“Gone.”

54:58“Slinky Dog.”

54:59“Gone.”

54:59“Seven Dwarfs.”

55:00“Gone.”

55:01“Keep checking the app.

55:02Seriously, keep refreshing, refreshing, refreshing.

55:05Last minute FastPasses pop up all the time.”

55:08“You’ll be able to click hour by hour and if you just keep clicking hour by hour

55:13it will reload and reload and reload and reload.

55:16That’s called ‘pounding the app’ by seasoned veterans of Walt Disney World.”

55:21“And there are also tickets that are available like after 5pm tickets.

55:27What you can do is buy these tickets and essentially, what that gains you is three extra FastPasses.

55:32And I would put this under a dummy name and then what you can do is use it again the next

55:38day because you never enter the park with it.”

55:45Some savvy guests that knew how to use the system loved the new FastPass, and the extra

55:49planning was a welcome activity, adding even more anticipation to their upcoming trip while

55:53also guaranteeing certain experiences during it.

55:56Others knew how to use the system, but did so begrudgingly, disliking the overplanning

56:01and longing for the days of flexibility.

56:03Many more guests did not know the tips and tricks of the system, and thus missed out

56:07on the most valuable FastPasses, leaving them with only one option if they wanted to experience

56:12these popular rides.

56:14Con #6 Standby

56:16By far the biggest complaint with FastPass Plus is the belief that the new system drastically

56:21increased wait times throughout the parks.

56:22When the system was first introduced, Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean, two

56:26attractions that did not previously offer paper Fastpass, reported consistently higher

56:31wait times.

56:32On the other end of the spectrum, Space Mountain and Expedition Everest saw their standby waits

56:37decreased slightly.

56:38As the system was fully implemented, standby waits appeared to be longer, and for years,

56:43fans have argued back and forth whether or not FastPass increases or decreases standby

56:48waits, increases or decreases overall waits, or increases or decreases the amount of attractions

56:53a guest can experience in a day.

56:56Unfortunately, it is nearly impossible to answer these questions.

56:59Statistics like these have not been reported by Disney, and wait times before FastPass

57:03were not consistently recorded, and even if they were, it would be unfair for numerous

57:08reasons to compare these numbers.

57:10Even doing the math ourselves would be almost impossible.

57:13The equations necessary to determine what a virtual queue system such as FastPass does

57:17to a theme park is much too complicated for a spreadsheet.

57:20In order to answer these questions, we would actually need to create a computer simulation,

57:25like one of the one’s Bruce Laval created during his time at the company.

57:29Even then, this is no small task.

57:31Someone would need to pay an industrial engineer to create a complex computer simulation of

57:35a theme park populated with agents, all with unique preferences, riding attractions of

57:40varying capacities and run times in order to compare and contrast wait times, number

57:45of rides ridden, and other factors with and without a virtual queue system just to get

57:50to the bottom of this ridiculously niche curiosity.

58:01Hey everybody I made a theme park in the computer.

58:08Welcome to Shapeland, where all the guests are dots, and all the rides are shapes.

58:12Here’s how it works.

58:14I decide how many people are going to visit the park each day.

58:17They then arrive based on an arrival schedule that is similar to that of a real theme park,

58:22with most of the guests arriving in the first few hours of the day, and few guests arriving

58:26in the last few hours of the day.

58:28From there, each guest independently makes decisions on what they are going to do.

58:32To ensure variability, there are seven different archetypes of guests: Ride Enthusiast, Ride

58:38Fan, Average Tourist, Activity Fan, Annual Passholder, Entitled Annual Passholder, and

58:47Vlogger.

58:48Each of these archetypes determines three factors.

58:50The first is stay time preference.

58:52This dictates how long the guest wants to stay at the park.

58:55For instance, the ride enthusiast archetype wants to stay at the park for 9 hours, while

59:00the average tourist archetype only wants to stay around 7 hours.

59:03The second factor is balking point.

59:05The ride enthusiast has a balking point of four hours, meaning that they refuse to ride

59:10a ride that has over a four hour wait.

59:13On the other hand, the average tourist refuses to wait more than two hours for a ride.

59:17The annual pass holder won’t wait more than thirty minutes, and the vlogger won’t wait

59:20more than fifteen.

59:21The third factor is attraction preference.

59:25This determines whether a guest wants to ride an attraction or do an activity such as eat

59:28at a restaurant or go gift shopping.

59:31Obviously, the ride enthusiast much prefers attractions, but the average tourist is more

59:35open to doing activities.

59:37After a guest enters the park, they will begin flipping coins and rolling dice, weighted

59:41based on their own preferences.

59:42For instance, this guest’s name is Bernadot.

59:45Bernadot is the average tourist.

59:47They are open to both attractions and activities, they will only wait around two hours for a

59:51ride, and they will stay for seven hours.

59:54Once in the park, Bernadot decides whether they want to do an attraction or an activity

59:58based on a weighted coin flip.

59:59Let’s say they choose to do an attraction.

1:00:01They then decide which attraction to do.

1:00:04Bernadot’s decision is now based on a weighted die roll.

1:00:07Each attraction in the park has a different popularity ranking, and the more popular the

1:00:10attraction, the more likely it is that Bernadot wants to ride it.

1:00:14Let’s say Bernadot decides to ride Shapeland’s most popular attraction, the Triangle.

1:00:19Since Shapeland is currently operating off of the original FastPass system, Bernadot

1:00:23first looks at the posted standby wait time.

1:00:25If the wait time is under 30 minutes, they join the standby line.

1:00:29If it is over 30 minutes, Bernadot will check if the attraction has FastPass.

1:00:33If it doesn’t, whether it be because the attraction doesn’t offer it or because there

1:00:37are no more available for the day, Bernadot will make sure that the current standby wait

1:00:41is less than their balking point.

1:00:43If it is, they will join the standby line.

1:00:45If it isn’t, they will go back to the hub and decide to do a different attraction.

1:00:49In the case that the attraction does offer FastPass and still has some available, Bernadot

1:00:54will grab one and be assigned a return time.

1:00:57The equation that determines Bernadot’s return time is the same one used at the original

1:01:01FastPass kiosks.

1:01:02With their spot in the virtual queue secured, Bernadot can now go back to the hub, and repeat

1:01:06their logic over again, deciding whether to do an attraction or an activity, deciding

1:01:11which attraction or activity to do, but this time, Bernadot ensures that they will still

1:01:15have time to make it back for their FastPass.

1:01:18Bernadot’s stay time preference is 7 hours, so after they have been at the park for seven

1:01:22hours, they will choose to leave and their day at Shapeland will be finished.

1:01:25This same logical and preference based progression is repeated for every single guest in the

1:01:30park over the course of the operating day.

1:01:32At the end of each run, the simulation gives me a plethora of data to comb through.

1:01:36Almost everything in my simulation is dynamic.

1:01:38I can change the number of attractions, attraction capacity, runtime, popularity, and whether

1:01:44each individual attraction has FastPass or not.

1:01:47I can change the behavior archetypes, the park’s arrival schedule, and even how many

1:01:51guests are able to utilize the FastPass system.

1:01:53The simulation is by no means perfect and there are many factors that it does not take

1:01:57into account, such as these…

1:02:07I ran the simulation three times.

1:02:09One with no FastPass, one with original paper FastPass, and one with a system that simulates

1:02:15FastPass+ to the best of the simulation’s ability.

1:02:18More info on that here.

1:02:19So after obtaining and organizing the results, some fascinating patterns emerged.

1:02:23First, let’s discuss what results we will be looking at.

1:02:27Whenever discussing the pros and cons of Fastpass, three factors always seem to emerge: Standby

1:02:32Wait Times, Overall Wait Times, and Average Number of Attractions Ridden.

1:02:36Thanks to Shapeland, we finally have answers as to how virtual queue systems affect these

1:02:40results when all other factors remain constant.

1:02:43Let’s first examine Standby Wait Times.

1:02:46These are the average standby waits for Shapeland’s 10 attractions throughout a 12 hour operating

1:02:50day, when there is no FastPass implemented throughout the park.

1:02:54As you can see, we still get huge waits.

1:02:56The triangle has a wait of over three hours, because everyone wants to ride the triangle.

1:03:01There are two rides, the square and the circle that have one hour waits.

1:03:05While the Hexagon and Octagon have no waits and are typically walk ons.

1:03:09Let’s see what happens when we add FastPass to the three most popular attractions and

1:03:13operate the park with the original paper FastPass system.

1:03:17Wait times increase for every single attraction.

1:03:19The Triangle’s average standby wait increases by 15 minutes, the Hexagon is no longer a

1:03:24walk-on, but the Octagon still is.

1:03:27Now let’s simulate FastPass+.

1:03:29Again, every wait time increases, except for one.

1:03:32The standby wait for the most popular ride, the Triangle, is 20 minutes less than with

1:03:37the original FastPass system, and 5 minutes less than with no FastPass.

1:03:41The reason for this is clear when you look at the wait times throughout the rest of the

1:03:45park.

1:03:46The Octagon, which was a walk-on with both no FastPass and the original FastPass system,

1:03:50now has a fifteen minute wait.

1:03:52The oval has jumped from a 5 minute wait with no FastPass to a 35 minute wait under FastPass

1:03:57Plus.

1:03:58Hexagon, which was a walk-on with no FastPass, now has an hour wait with FastPass Plus.

1:04:03This pattern can be seen throughout the park when Fastpass+ is added.

1:04:06It is safe to say that overall that both FastPass and especially FastPass+ increases standby

1:04:12wait times throughout a park.

1:04:14The average standby wait with no FastPass was 41 minutes.

1:04:17With FastPass+, it is now 67 minutes.

1:04:20If FastPass was completely removed from the Walt Disney World parks, wait times would

1:04:24almost certainly decrease.

1:04:26But this is not the full story, because many guests aren’t waiting in the standby line.

1:04:30They are skipping them.

1:04:32Let’s now examine the average overall wait.

1:04:35This takes into account both the guests waiting in standby and the guests waiting between

1:04:395 and 15 minutes in the FastPass line.

1:04:42For our purposes, we’re not considering the time in between guests obtaining their

1:04:45FastPass and redeeming it as part of their wait.

1:04:48While in the original FastPass system, guests are technically waiting during this period,

1:04:52their ability to multitask would throw off these calculations, resulting in some guests

1:04:56being able to wait more hours than there are in the day, and it would make FastPass look

1:05:00like it increased waits for everybody, which is not fair to the system.

1:05:04Also, with FastPass Plus, how would you even do this?

1:05:07Did this guy wait 60 days to ride Seven Dwarfs, I guess technically but that might throw things

1:05:12off a bit.

1:05:13Anyways,

1:05:14The average posted wait in Shapeland with no FastPass is 41 minutes, so if a guest did

1:05:19every attraction in the park in a single day, their average wait per ride would be 41 minutes.

1:05:25However, few guests actually do this, and most gravitate toward the popular attractions,

1:05:29so Shapeland guests actually find themselves waiting on average, 58 minutes per attraction.

1:05:34With the original paper FastPass, the average posted standby wait was 48 minutes.

1:05:39but the overall average wait when factoring in both guests' standby line decisions and

1:05:43those skipping the line entirely with FastPass, was only 40 minutes.

1:05:4818 minutes less than without Fastpass.

1:05:50But how is this possible?

1:05:52As we’ve discussed, service rate or capacity is determined mainly by design and operation,

1:05:57and it’s nearly impossible to increase an attraction’s maximum capacity after it’s

1:06:01been constructed.

1:06:02You can’t safely put more ride cars on Space Mountain or make it go faster, it wasn’t

1:06:07designed for that.

1:06:08So when we add paper FastPass to Shapeland, Shapeland’s top rides such as the triangle

1:06:12and the square see little to no increase in the number of riders, because they are already

1:06:17serving their maximum number of guests.

1:06:19However, other rides at Shapeland are not operating at maximum capacity.

1:06:24The reason for the increase in the average amount of rides ridden goes back to what Bruce

1:06:28Laval claimed about FastPass backfilling less attended attractions, and it brings up a new

1:06:32concept within queuing.

1:06:34We know about how capacity and arrival rate can affect a wait time in different ways,

1:06:38but we have not discussed is the concept of a negative wait time.

1:06:42Now a wait time cannot be negative in the sense that you can get time back.

1:06:46For instance, I can’t ever give you back the time you’ve wasted watching this video.

1:06:50What I mean by negative wait time is that when attraction is not filling it’s capacity,

1:06:55it is losing capacity.

1:06:56Look at this way.

1:06:57Let’s say a ride has a capacity of 1000 guests per hour, but only 500 people per hour

1:07:02ride it.

1:07:03It could be considered that this attraction has a wait time of negative 30 minutes, meaning

1:07:07that 30 minutes worth of people, in this case 500, could show up throughout the hour, and

1:07:12the attraction’s wait would still be 0 minutes, because these additional guests are merely

1:07:17filling empty seats on the ride.

1:07:19You might recall that this was one of the problems with the original reservation-based

1:07:22system pitch in the mid-90s.

1:07:24If a guest missed their reservation, they leave an empty seat, and thus the attraction

1:07:28lost capacity.

1:07:29FastPass not only avoids this problem, but it actually helps other attractions at the

1:07:34park.

1:07:35Without FastPass, 1900 guests rode the Octagon, with paper FastPass, 4800 guests rode the

1:07:40Octagon, an increase of over 150%, but the average posted wait time never breaks 0, because

1:07:47these people are filling empty seats, and increasing the capacity of the ride.

1:07:52This explains why with FastPass, despite most attractions' standby waits rising, guests

1:07:57on average waited less, because unlike with no FastPass, guests were actively being pushed

1:08:01to attractions with zero waits, which dropped the average overall wait per attraction.

1:08:06However, with FastPass Plus, this 0 wait threshold is broken in most cases, as with the Octagon,

1:08:12which previously went from a walk-on to an average of a 15 minute wait.

1:08:16The average standby wait in Shapeland with FastPass Plus is 67 minutes, but the overall

1:08:21average wait per attraction was 42 minutes.

1:08:24This is interesting, because while more people are skipping the line more often than with

1:08:28the original FastPass, the rise in standby waits throughout the park are so significant

1:08:32that there is no change to the overall wait.

1:08:34In fact, the average overall wait per attraction with paper FastPass was 2 minutes less than

1:08:39FastPass Plus.

1:08:41FastPass does reduce average overall wait times by encouraging guests to go to underutilized

1:08:46attractions, so long as those exist.

1:08:47Finally, let’s look at the average number of attractions ridden, and if you’ve been

1:08:51paying attention, you should already know the answer to this.

1:08:54In the park with no FastPass, guests ride an average of 3.31 rides, but really the distribution

1:09:00looks like this.

1:09:0122% of guests ride 2 rides, 21% ride 3, 16% ride 4, and the percentage declines from there.

1:09:09You can also see that around 13% of guests only ride 1 ride and 3% ride none.

1:09:14These are mostly people that favor activities and have a limited amount of time in the park.

1:09:18When the original Fastpass system is added, the amount of attraction ridden increases,

1:09:23going from 3.31 to 3.77.

1:09:26With FastPass+, we again see an increase, jumping to an average of 4.23 rides per guest

1:09:32per day.

1:09:33On average almost every single guest gets to ride one additional ride with the new system.

1:09:39This is significant and proves FastPass+ merit as a tool for guest distribution, but it’s

1:09:44not the full story.

1:09:45This is the distribution graph we viewed early for when Shapeland has no FastPass implemented.

1:09:51This is what it looks like with FastPass+, when the average amount of attractions ridden

1:09:55increases from 3.31 to 4.23, assuming that the distribution is even and the system is

1:10:01fair to all guests.

1:10:02However, that is not FastPass+.

1:10:05This is the actual distribution graph for Shapeland under FastPass+.

1:10:09As you can see, more people experience less attractions, and more people experience a

1:10:14lot more attractions, while less people are able to do what could be considered a reasonable

1:10:19amount of attractions, in this case 3 to 7 in a single day.

1:10:23With FastPass+, more guests are able to experience 8, 9, 10, 11 and someone found out how to

1:10:30do 39 rides in a day.

1:10:32These are people that got FastPasses for long waits like the Triangle and spent most of

1:10:36their time riding shorter waits like the Octagon, over and over again.

1:10:40Meanwhile, the amount of people riding only 2, 1, or even 0 attractions is up from no

1:10:46FastPass and is far more than in the ideal FastPass+ distribution.

1:10:51This is because the waits for rides like the Triangle, Square and Circle are so long that

1:10:55if a guest chose to wait in it, they don’t have time to do anything else.

1:10:59Other guests want to ride rides, but they don’t want to wait over an hour, so if they

1:11:03enter during mid-day, they instead choose to eat a meal, gift shop, and then leave because

1:11:08the waits are so high throughout the park.

1:11:10So yes, FastPass and FastPass+ increases the average amount of attractions ridden per guest

1:11:16per day.

1:11:17It’s a system that pushes people to go fill empty seats around the park, and as a guest

1:11:21distribution tool, FastPass and FastPass+ works.

1:11:25But in practice, from a guest perspective, the system benefits those that use the system

1:11:29and know how to use it well, while those that don’t use it or don’t know how to use

1:11:33it well, have it much worse than they did before.

1:11:36So at this point, your mid to late 2010s trip to Walt Disney World might have some additional

1:11:41context.

1:11:42Perhaps you even know where you land on this distribution graph, and I can probably predict

1:11:46your opinion on the entire subject based on that.

1:11:48If you were here, booking 60 days in advance, and then riding 8 or more attractions per

1:11:53day, I imagine hat you enjoyed FastPass+.

1:11:55If you were here, not using the systeem, facing astronomical standby wait times and thus only

1:12:01experiencing between 0 and 2 attractions per day, you probably didn’t like FastPass Plus.

1:12:06Now these two sides might have some opinions on the other.

1:12:09If you didn’t use the system to its full effect you might have been waiting in long

1:12:13standby lines, watching hoards of guests in the FastPass line cut you just because they

1:12:17researched the tips and tricks, and were able to pay for an on-property hotel.

1:12:22Those using FastPass Plus to their advantage believed it was those people’s fault for

1:12:26not doing their research and using the system that was available to everyone, despite that

1:12:30system requiring a certain amount of time, energy, technological literacy, English-proficiency,

1:12:35and money for on-site hotels.

1:12:37Even if you benefited and loved FastPass, the truth is that it only worked well for

1:12:42these people, because it worked so poorly for these people, otherwise most everyone

1:12:46would be here in the middle.

1:12:48But since that is not the case, a palpable disdain exists between boths camps of guests.

1:12:53In queuing theory, this is called…

1:12:59Within the Disney Parks, there has become a class system, just like in the real world,

1:13:04except for this one is silly, mostly inconsequential, and you aren’t forced to live in it like

1:13:08a nightmare you can’t wake up from.

1:13:10The class system at the Disney Parks, for a long time, wasn’t based on money.

1:13:14After the discontinuing of the A through E ticket systems, all guests had equal access

1:13:18as long as they could pay for the price of admission.

1:13:21As we discussed earlier, the in-park currency is time and any advantage came from knowledge.

1:13:26Those that read the guidebooks, knew the parks, and planned their trips had a leg up on other

1:13:31guests, but apart from paying for a tour guests knew to rush for Space Mountain in the morning,

1:13:35go into the left lane when available, experience the rides with the longest waits during a

1:13:40parade or fireworks, and so on and so on.

1:13:43In Shapeland, under no FastPass, it takes guests an average of 6 and a half hours to

1:13:47experience the top six attractions.

1:13:49If people showed up earlier in the day, they would have a jump on other guests, but for

1:13:53the most part, there are no hard lines separating visitors.

1:13:57This was introduced with the original paper Fastpass, but this was still a system that

1:14:00was free, with knowledge still being the dividing factor.

1:14:04This is how long it takes on average for a guest to do the top six attractions at Shapeland,

1:14:08but this time with paper FastPass.

1:14:10Here we see the different knowledge classes emerge.

1:14:13This is split between those that know the system in and out, those that know how to

1:14:16use the system on a basic level, and those that did not use the system at all.

1:14:20Those that knew the system best could do the six attractions in less than four hours.

1:14:24Those that knew the basics of the system could do the six attractions in six hours.

1:14:28And those that didn’t use the system would have to spend eight hours in order to experience

1:14:32the six attractions.

1:14:34Money was reintroduced into the equation with FastPass+.

1:14:37Guests that stayed on-property would get to book 60 days in advance as a perk of their

1:14:41stay, and if they utilized this perk, they could experience Shapeland’s six attractions

1:14:45in less than four hours.

1:14:47Those that understood the system but had to book within the thirty day window as opposed

1:14:50to the sixty day window would have to spend six hours to do Shapeland’s six attractions.

1:14:55And those that did not use FastPass Plus at all would have to spend 10 hours on average

1:15:00to do these attractions.

1:15:01And this is not accounting for walking, meals, bathroom breaks, or any other non-attraction

1:15:07activity.

1:15:08The disparity between these three systems and their categories of access is staggering,

1:15:12and it showed just how much FastPass+ favored those that got premier access to the system.

1:15:17But you might be thinking, this doesn’t mean anything.

1:15:20Shapeland isn’t a real park, these are just fake numbers you made up.

1:15:24But that’s not actually true.

1:15:26Because Shapeland is actually Animal Kingdom.

1:15:31The Triangle is Flight of Paasage, the Square is Expedition Everest, the Circle is Navi

1:15:37River Journey and so on.

1:15:39More than that, the entire simulation is based off of a specific day at Animal Kingdom, Saturday

1:15:44March 23, 2019, a day with medium high crowds.

1:15:48We adjusted the dynamic factors of the system to replicate this day as closely as possible,

1:15:53and then simply turned off FastPass and examined the differences.

1:15:57So all of these results, including this graph, is based off of Animal Kingdom with the top

1:16:02six attractions being Flight of Passage, Kiliminjaro Safaris, Expedition Everest, Navi River Journey,

1:16:08Dinosaur, and Kali River Rapids.

1:16:10For good measure, we also simulated Magic Kingdom and observed the same results, and

1:16:15while the park’s more diverse set of attractions helped to mitigate the effects of the system

1:16:19in some areas, all of the basic patterns we observed were the same as with Animal Kingdom.

1:16:25So this disparity is real, and it has created rigid categories of preference among park

1:16:30guests.

1:16:31While the system does not treat everyone the same, it should be noted that not all of Walt

1:16:35Disney World’s guests are the same.

1:16:37For instance, you have families that save up for a once in a lifetime trip to the resort,

1:16:41you have regular vacationers that come every year or two, and then you have annual passholders

1:16:45that might go multiple times a month.

1:16:47Many argue, with good reason, that a system that gives preference to these once in a lifetime

1:16:52vacationers is necessary, and a system with a distribution like this might seem like the

1:16:57solution, while a distribution graph like this might seem like it’s treating everyone

1:17:01almost too equally.

1:17:02However, this conclusion ignores many factors we’ve learned about queuing, such as capacity

1:17:08and demand.

1:17:09Let’s use an analogy.

1:17:10So there is a company that makes shoes, and you have two potential customers.

1:17:14Customer 1 really wants the shoes.

1:17:17Customer 2 does not feel strongly about the shoes.

1:17:19If the shoe company offered the shoes for $30, Customer 1 would buy them, because they

1:17:24really want the shoes, and since $30 is a great deal for a pair of shoes, Customer 2

1:17:29would buy them as well.

1:17:30However, if the shoes cost $100, Customer 1 would still buy them, because they really

1:17:36want the shoes, but since Customer 2 doesn’t feel strongly about them, they would pass

1:17:40on the offer.

1:17:41Now let’s say the shoe store offered Customer 2 the shoes for $30, while offering Customer

1:17:461 the shoes for $200.

1:17:48Customer 2 would take their offer, despite not caring for the shoes, and Customer 1 would

1:17:52also take their offer, because they really want the shoes.

1:17:55Rather than using simply supply and demand to find a fixed price to maximize profits,

1:18:00many companies will find ways to maximize profits via price discrimination, especially

1:18:05when there is an exess of supply.

1:18:07But as it applies to queuing, we’re not trying to maximize wait times, we’re trying

1:18:11to minimize them.

1:18:12While it sounds like a good idea to give preference to once in a lifetime vacationers, while those

1:18:17that visit frequently are favored less, it is extremely difficult if not impossible to

1:18:22enforce this.

1:18:23And with the way FastPass+ was set up, it often produced the exact opposite results.

1:18:28Instead of priority access going to once in a lifetime vacationers, with secondary access

1:18:33going to those making semi-regular trips and with remaining or no access given to those

1:18:37making regular visits, the actual categories often looked like this, with semi-regular

1:18:42visitors that understood the system booking 60 days in advance, regular visitors and annual

1:18:48passholders without reservations booking within the 30 day window, and once in a lifetime

1:18:52vacationers often finding themselves out of luck, not realizing that they needed a bachelor's

1:18:57degree from MyMagic+ University with a major in FastPass+.

1:19:01So dynamic system, great in theory, not so much in practice, and while this distribution

1:19:06might not look good at first glance, it often produces better results, because while there

1:19:11is no system in place separating guests, guests are still self-separating.

1:19:16The person that comes once in a lifetime gets to ride the top six rides in a little over

1:19:20six hours while the annual passholder or semi regular visitor likely will choose to not

1:19:25ride the top six rides in a single day because they go so often.

1:19:29The guest that comes once a month will probably not ride Kilimanjaro Safaris if it has a 90

1:19:34minute wait, but they would if it had a fifteen minute wait, and because they come so often,

1:19:39they know the system, which means they can get a fifteen minute wait.

1:19:42And this family who comes once every three years is determined to ride Kilimanjaro Safaris

1:19:47no matter the wait, but because they come so infrequently, they don’t know the system,

1:19:51so they have to wait longer, which they do because they don’t visit that often.

1:19:55And to raise the stakes, for the regular vistor with an annual pass, the cost of their visit

1:20:00is abstract, as they paid a fixed annual price and likely already got their money’s worth,

1:20:05while this family, knows exactly how much it cost for them and their children to be

1:20:09inside of the park that day, increasing the pressure to get their money’s worth, thus

1:20:14increasing the amount of time they are willing to wait.

1:20:16And because capacity of rides are determined by design and operation, the supply is finite,

1:20:22so this exact scenario plays out over and over again, to the point where someone might

1:20:26just wonder, hey if you have a limited amount of shoes to sell, stop giving them to people

1:20:32that don’t want them for $30.

1:20:34Instead, just get rid of the system, and let people self-select.

1:20:38Some rides will have long waits, some rides will have short waits, but at least everyone

1:20:42will be making a personal decision based on the context of their visit and not how good

1:20:47they are at playing the My Disney Experience app as if it were a slot machine.

1:20:50I know that some might disagree with this conclusion, there you are, and I understand

1:20:55there is a level of subjectivity to this.

1:20:57Your experiences are not incorrect, FastPass+ allowed guests that were not frequent visitors

1:21:02to have incredible vacations, but based on the evidence both in the simulation and in

1:21:07real life, the truth is that, in practice, FastPass+ was not a more fair system than

1:21:13no system, and it often was the opposite.

1:21:16Perhaps the best compromise between FastPass+ and a no FastPass park, is unsurprisingly,

1:21:22the original paper FastPass system, in its initial limited capacity.

1:21:26This retains the guest distribution benefits of the system, while also maintaining the

1:21:30natural self-selection process that guests go through when making decisions.

1:21:35Most importantly, while knowledge remains a dividing factor among guests, the original

1:21:40FastPass system reset every single day.

1:21:42With FastPass+, when guests arrived at the resort, it was too late to educate them on

1:21:47the system.

1:21:48FastPasses for the most popular rides had already been gone for months.

1:21:52With paper FastPass, guests might find themselves unaware of the system on Day 1 of their vacation,

1:21:57but they could quickly learn it and be properly utilizing it by Day 2.

1:22:00This is why Disneyland’s MaxPass system was more favorable to many guests.

1:22:04It was essentially the original FastPass system, except for digital rather than physical, the

1:22:09only caveat being that it cost money to utilize, which was its most divisive aspect.

1:22:14The original paper FastPass was an idea that was birthed from within operations, while

1:22:19FastPass Plus, by all indications, was a system birthed from marketing.

1:22:24Its intention was not to make operations more smooth within the park, its purpose was to

1:22:28be a key part of a larger guest experience initiative.

1:22:31So it should not be shocking to suggest, based on all of the evidence we have viewed, that

1:22:36guests and operations would fare better without FastPass+.

1:22:42But what am I talking about, they spent a billion dollars on this, they’re not getting

1:22:47rid of anything.

1:22:52So….

1:22:57(Ominous Music)

1:23:07(ROAR)

1:23:11So what started as a neat little idea has turned into a billion-dollar monster that

1:23:15is now actively eating guests at the park, what do you do?

1:23:19You could kill the monster, but you don’t want to because you spent a billion-dollars

1:23:23making it and some guests have befriended the monster and have really come to like it

1:23:27so that would be sad for them.

1:23:29Ok so we’re not killing it.

1:23:30What if the monsters was friends with everybody.

1:23:32Can’t do that, as long as the monster is still alive, it has to eat a certain amount

1:23:36of people.

1:23:37What if the monster had more friends than it does now?

1:23:40In order for the monster to be able to have more friends, i.e.

1:23:43FastPass users, there would need to be more ride capacity.

1:23:46This could be done by adding new attractions, however, many argue that this will trigger

1:23:50induced demand, which is when increasing the supply of something also increases its demand.

1:23:55The most common example being a highway adding another lane, and rather than reducing traffic,

1:24:00it actually increases congestion.

1:24:02This is not perfectly comparable to theme parks.

1:24:04The reason traffic increases when you add a lane to a highway is because the increased

1:24:08supply reduces the price, or in this case, congestion, enough for the demand to increase

1:24:13in response.

1:24:14New drivers are not generated simply by the allure or appeal of the lane itself, however,

1:24:19in theme parks this is the case.

1:24:21New rides, especially good ones, almost always draw in new guests, often offsetting any capacity

1:24:27gained by the addition.

1:24:28Also, building new rides is expensive and takes time and is by no means a quick fix.

1:24:34What if you could increase the capacity of an already existing ride.

1:24:37As we’ve discussed ride capacity is finite, and is determined by design and operation.

1:24:42You can’t just put more ride cars on Space Mountain or make it go faster.

1:24:46What if it wasn’t finite?

1:24:48Well unfortunately it is, unless you were to just build a second dumbo right next to

1:24:52the first one, so they did that.

1:24:53But that’s an easy one, you can’t do that with most rides, like can you just build another

1:24:57theater for Soarin’, you can actually and they did.

1:25:00But that was to support the new Soarin Around the World ride film, would they really do

1:25:04that with a ride just to quietly increase capacity.

1:25:08But despite all of these strategies to increase capacity and thus slow down the monster, the

1:25:14monster continued to grow for a factor we have not even discussed yet.

1:25:17Attendance.

1:25:18When paper FastPass was introduced in 1999, 42.6 million people visited Walt Disney World

1:25:24annually.

1:25:25When XPass was developed in 2008, 47.1 million people visited annually.

1:25:29By the time FastPass+ rolled out in 2013, 50.1 million people visited annually.

1:25:35In 2014, 51.5 million people visited.

1:25:38In 2015, 54 million.

1:25:41By 2019, over 58 million people were visiting the resort annually, a sixteen percent increase

1:25:47since when FastPass+ was introduced.

1:25:49The FastPass system was designed to be dynamic but the rate at which attendance increased

1:25:53was unpredictable, and FastPass+ did not operate well under it, so the monster only grew bigger.

1:25:59Some parks fared better than others.

1:26:01For instance, Magic Kingdom has a wide array of attractions and appeals to many different

1:26:05demographics.

1:26:06When attendance increases, not all of those additional visitors want to go to one specific

1:26:10ride.

1:26:11If the park has an annual increase of 100,000 visitors, not all 100,000 visitors want to

1:26:15ride Space Mountain.

1:26:17Compare this to a park like Animal Kingdom, that in 2017, added Pandora: The World of

1:26:21Avatar a heavily promoted and well-received addition to a park that doesn’t have that

1:26:26many attractions to offer.

1:26:27From 2016 to 2017, Animal Kingdom saw an increase of 1.7 million guests.

1:26:33From 2017 to 2018, it saw an increase of an additional 1.2 million guests.

1:26:38Because this was sparked by a single land that only had two attractions, it is safe

1:26:42to assume that the majority of these visitors not only wanted to ride Flight of Passage,

1:26:47but that they were determined to.

1:26:48Not only were they determined to, but it was the only reason they chose to visit Animal

1:26:52Kingdom in the first place.

1:26:54This is known as inelastic demand, when the wait time of a ride has little to no effect

1:26:58on the amount of people to ride it.

1:27:01This was the case of Flight of Passage, as it seemed that no wait time would turn guests

1:27:05away.

1:27:06As a result, wait times increased to 1 hour, 2 hours, 3 hours, 4 hours, 5 hours, and one

1:27:14day, there was a posted 6 hour and forty minute wait for the 4 and a half minute attraction.

1:27:20So with attendance increasing, and with additional capacity, on its way, guests were starting

1:27:25to notice the issues.

1:27:26In response, departments throughout Walt Disney World argued that they should be given additional

1:27:31FastPasses.

1:27:32Guest services wanted more Fastpasses for compensation purposes, while the resorts argued

1:27:36they needed more Fastpasses at the 60 day mark so that hotel guests could receive their

1:27:41perks.

1:27:42In 2018, club level guests at select resorts were allowed access to a new tier of FastPass+,

1:27:47allowing them to book six fastpasses in advance, 3 at the 90 day mark and 3 more at the 60

1:27:52day mark for an up charge of $50 per person per day.

1:27:56The more FastPasses that were handed out the more the monster grew and grew and grew.

1:28:01Then, in the summer of 2019, Universal Orlando debuted a new ride at their Islands of Adventure

1:28:06theme park, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter’s Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike AdventureTM.

1:28:13The new ride was heavily anticipated and drew large crowds.

1:28:16There was only one issue, it did not work, at least not consistently.

1:28:21This led to frequent downtimes throughout the first few weeks of operation, and when

1:28:24paired with the massive demand, waits climbed to up to 10 hours.

1:28:28Why is this relevant?

1:28:29Because, also in the summer of 2019, Disney was opening its heavily anticipated Star Wars:

1:28:34Galaxy’s Edge.

1:28:35After reports that crowds for the new land were far less than expected, the chairman

1:28:39of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products Bob Chapek took a jab at Universal saying

1:28:44quote, “The deep secret is that we don’t intend to have lines ... If you build in enough

1:28:48capacity, the rides don’t go down and it operates at 99% efficiency, you shouldn’t

1:28:52have 10-hour lines.

1:28:53So, 10-hour lines are not a sign of success.

1:28:56It should be seen as a sign of, frankly, failure.”

1:28:59Coincidentally, Disney was about to debut another ride for Galaxy’s Edge, Star Wars

1:29:03Rise of the Resistance, the land’s signature attraction, which, like Hagrid’s, did not

1:29:07work consistently, and the ride was primed for the FastPass monster to swallow guests,

1:29:13resulting in huge wait times.

1:29:15Under pressure to open the ride anyways, Disney took extreme measures to ensure that wait

1:29:19times remained under control, to keep guests comfortable and satisfied and not at all because

1:29:24the chairman of the parks publicly deemed a ten-hour line a failure in the press months

1:29:28earlier.

1:29:29When Rise of the Resistance opened at Walt Disney World in December of 2019, it utilized

1:29:33a new virtual queue system that completely eliminated the standby line in favor of assigning

1:29:37guests boarding groups that would be called throughout the day.

1:29:40The idea reportedly came from, of all places, the DMV, that had implemented a customer service

1:29:46system in which guests calling the help line were given a call back rather than being put

1:29:50on hold.

1:29:51So that’s where we are everybody.

1:29:53The virtual queue nearly eliminated lines for Rise of the Resistance, but it left many

1:29:57guests frustrated when boarding groups ran out almost immediately in the morning, with

1:30:02the app informing guests that the ride was booked for the rest of the day before the

1:30:05sun had even come up, but hey, there were no ten hour lines so it did its job.

1:30:09Speaking of new systems, also in 2019, at the D23 Expo in Anaheim, Bob Chapek announced,

1:30:16whatever this is.

1:30:17“It’s called Disney Genie” (Applause and laughter) “It will put customized itineraries

1:30:22geared towards your interests at your fingertips, cutting down on the need to plan and research.”

1:30:32So with the old system raging on, a new one just beginning, and a future one in development,

1:30:37the beast was growing faster than ever.

1:30:39Every attempt to fix the problem was at best a stall, but most often, the attempts only

1:30:43made the monster’s damage worse.

1:30:45The amount of guests that the system benefited declined, while those that did benefit were

1:30:49more loyal to it than ever, because it was more necessary than ever to have a good time

1:30:53at the parks.

1:30:54The more FastPasses that were added to the system, the more the monster grew, the more

1:30:58people that came to the parks, the more the monster grew, The monster grew and grew, until

1:31:03Walt Disney World had succumbed to the beast.

1:31:15“Well, boss, good news.

1:31:17We broke everything.”

1:31:19“Huh?

1:31:20What do you mean?”

1:31:21“You know that thing that doesn’t directly make us money that we spent a billion dollars

1:31:24on?”

1:31:25“Yeah…”

1:31:26“Well it’s broken, but on the bright side, it also broke everything.

1:31:31Look.”

1:31:32“Those people are just trying to go to the attractions, why is it…”

1:31:37“Eating them?

1:31:38I don’t know.”

1:31:39“Why isn’t it eating those people?”

1:31:41“Oh, those people are friends with it.”

1:31:44“Oh my gosh, how is this good news?”

1:31:47“Everything is broken.”

1:31:49“Yeah but how is that good?”

1:31:51“Come on boss don’t you see?

1:31:54Everything is broken, which means we can charge people money to bypass the mess we created.”

1:31:59“Huh.”

1:32:00“Right now, most of the people that have befriended the monster are buying rooms at

1:32:04our hotels, and as a perk, the monster won’t eat them, as much.

1:32:09But our research shows that getting rid of this perk won’t really hurt our hotel business

1:32:14all that much, so instead, let’s just start charging people to be friends with the monster.

1:32:20Look at this graph, this kind of advantage shouldn’t be a hotel perk, it should be

1:32:24an additional charge.”

1:32:26“Dotson, you’re a genius.”

1:32:27“Boss, that’s not even the best part.

1:32:30Look at these people, they’re where the real money is.”

1:32:33“We’re going to charge people to have a worse day?”

1:32:36“No of course not, but we’re going to make money from them.

1:32:40See, it takes these people 10 hours to do six rides, that’s not even accounting for

1:32:45walking, bathroom breaks, or meals.

1:32:48The park is only open for 12 hours.

1:32:50There’s no way they’re going to do those six rides in a single day, which means...”

1:32:55“They’ll have to come another day, which means they'll have to buy more tickets.”

1:33:02“They’ll have to buy more tickets!”

1:33:03“Exactly, either they buy into the system to do everything they want to do in one day,

1:33:08or they have to do multiple days, which means more money for us.”

1:33:12“This really is genius.”

1:33:14“And all it took was a billion dollars and a lot of mistakes.”

1:33:18“Well Dotson, in life, you win some, you lose some, and sometimes you manage to do

1:33:23both at the same time.”

1:33:25“There’s just one problem, the friends of the monster are not going to be happy with

1:33:28us when we charge for this.”

1:33:31“You’re right.

1:33:32That would a PR nightmare.

1:33:33It would take some sort of global cataclysmic event that would shut down our business long

1:33:39enough for us to make drastic changes to our operating procedure~ while also giving us

1:33:43a shield from criticism of those changes.”

1:33:45(Thunder crack) “Oh, did you not hear-”

1:33:47“Breaking just in to our news room.

1:33:50A historic move amid the Coronavirus.

1:33:53Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando, both announcing they are closing their theme parks.”

1:33:58“And your reaction?”

1:33:59“Sad.

1:34:00Heh heh.”

1:34:01“Do you understand why?”

1:34:03“Yeah.”

1:34:04“Yes”

1:34:05After being closed for four months for the Covid-19 Pandemic, Walt Disney World reopened

1:34:09in July of 2020, while Disneyland would not reopen until April of 2021.

1:34:14When they did, both Fastpass Plus and Maxpass had been suspended for social distancing purposes,

1:34:19and a new park reservation system was implemented to limit crowds.

1:34:23Bob Chapek was now the CEO of Disney, after Bob Iger suddenly and coincidentally retired

1:34:282 weeks before the world shut down.

1:34:30Chapek commented on the changes coming to the parks as they reopened, saying quote “Obviously,

1:34:35nobody wants to have the parks closed for up to a year.

1:34:38But at the same time, we realized that was a unique opportunity maybe to advance some

1:34:42things that would have been difficult, if not impossible, for us to go change in an

1:34:46operating environment.

1:34:47And so we’ve made some moves already, but we’re going to make further moves.”

1:34:50These moves were revealed in August of 2021, when Disneyland announced that both FastPass+

1:34:55and MaxPass would be officially discontinued.

1:34:58Replacing the programs would be the long-anticipated Genie app.

1:35:01The Genie app would use all of Disney’s internal data as well as guest preferences

1:35:05to intelligently plan itineraries in order to maximize efficiency throughout the parks.

1:35:10Unlike FastPass+, Genie is simple.

1:35:12There are now four ways to visit attractions, the standby queue, the virtual queue, Lightning

1:35:16Lane through Genie Plus or Lightning Lane through additional purchases.

1:35:19For any ride, guests can still choose to wait in the standby line, except for the rides

1:35:22in which they can’t, which are the ones using virtual queue.

1:35:24If an attraction is using virtual queue, guests must wake up at 7 am on the day of and attempt

1:35:28to join the virtual queue from their phones.

1:35:29If they don’t get a boarding group then they will have another chance once they are

1:35:32inside the park at 1 pm.

1:35:33If guests don’t want to wait in the standby line or use a virtual queue, for $15 per person

1:35:37per day, they can upgrade to Genie+, which is similar to Disneyland’s MaxPass, allowing

1:35:41them to obtain one Lightning Lane Pass every two hours or after the first one is redeemed,

1:35:44except rather than being inside the park they can make their first reservation from anywhere

1:35:47at 7 am on the day of.

1:35:49However, not all Lightning Lane attractions are included in Genie+, some are available

1:35:52for additional purchase with varying prices depending on the season.

1:35:55For instance, the Lightning Lane for Rise of the Resistance, which moved to a seasonal

1:35:57standby queue, will cost $15 per person.

1:36:00So guests either pay $15 per person to enter the Lightning Lane or enter the standby queue,

1:36:03if it is available, if not they need to wake up at 7 am to enter the virtual queue, or

1:36:06just pay the $15 per person to enter the lightning lane.

1:36:08See, simple, and hugely popular.

1:36:11Or is it?

1:36:12Who’s to say?

1:36:13There were rumors of paid FastPass long before the pandemic, since Disneyland, Hong Kong

1:36:17Disneyland, Disneyland Paris, and Shanghai Disneyland all utilized some form of a paid

1:36:22FastPass system, and with the introduction Genie Plus, Tokyo Disneyland is now the only

1:36:27remaining park to utilize free FastPass, still using a combination of paper and digital passes.

1:36:32There’s two ways to look at this change, the optimistic version and the pessimistic

1:36:36version.

1:36:37The optimistic version is that Disney is once again trying to improve everyone’s enjoyment

1:36:41of the parks, this time by reducing the amount of people using the FastPass system.

1:36:45If this occurs, it will reduce standby wait times while giving once in a lifetime vacationers

1:36:50the option to experience more.

1:36:52The fact that they are using the MaxPass model of only allowing guests to book passes day

1:36:56of, seems to be a deliberate attempt to reduce the negative side effects caused by FastPass+.

1:37:02Combining this with rising ticket prices, which reduce demand, and a park reservation

1:37:06system to place a cap on guests and predict how many guests will visit, Disney now has

1:37:10more control over crowds than ever.

1:37:12Plus, the Genie app’s suggestion and itinerary tools will be able to reproduce some of the

1:37:17positive distribution features of FastPass+, by directing guests to underutilized areas

1:37:22of the park, and it could even increase the average number of attractions per day.

1:37:26The pessimistic version is that Disney wants money.

1:37:28They increase ticket prices not to reduce demand and lower crowds, but because they

1:37:32can.

1:37:33They’re not charging for FastPass to get less people to use the system, they’re charging

1:37:37for it because they can.

1:37:39The $15 price for Genie Plus seems to be a good indication that Disney expects a majority

1:37:43of vacationers to buy into the system, and if utilization remains anywhere close to FastPass

1:37:48Plus, every travel agent and vacation guide will suggest that their travelers buy into

1:37:53the system, because $15 to experience all of the rides in one day is a lot cheaper than

1:37:58spreading out a park visit over two or more days.

1:38:01The paid FastPass system also gives Disney more motivation than ever to inflate wait

1:38:05times, and favor Lightning Lane over standby , with the job of the Cast Member at the merge

1:38:10point becoming even more difficult.

1:38:12The truth might be somewhere in the middle of these two outlooks.

1:38:14Disney understands they need to reduce usage of FastPass Plus, and rather than getting

1:38:19rid of it, they choose the option that also makes them money.

1:38:22So far, the amount of passes offered seems somewhat limited.

1:38:25With Lightning Lane on popular attractions running out quickly in the morning, but who

1:38:28knows if this will remain the case.

1:38:30As with FastPass and FastPass Plus the true effects of the new system likely will not

1:38:34be seen for quite some time.

1:38:37So the FastPass Beast has finally been killed, or maybe it’s just been put inside a cage,

1:38:42behind stronger paywalls.

1:38:43Maybe it will get out one day, or maybe it will remain under control, but what a monster

1:38:48it has become.

1:38:49In a way, we’ve truly come full circle.

1:38:52In 1971, Magic Kingdom opened with a ticket book system in which guests had to pay to

1:38:56ride each ride, and exactly 50 years later in 2021, guests are once again paying to ride

1:39:02rides, or at least skip the line.

1:39:05Despite a similar destination, the path that queueing at the Disney Parks has taken over

1:39:09the past five decades was anything but predictable, and this long, winding narrative shines a

1:39:14light on an oft-overlooked aspect of the theme park industry.

1:39:17We have examined ad nauseum the ways in which Imagineers and theme park designers create

1:39:22immersive worlds that transport guests out of their reality and into a new one, but the

1:39:27story of FastPass is one of the rare tales that belongs not to the Imagineers, but to

1:39:33operations.

1:39:34If the Imagineers job is to design and construct environments that entertain and immerse guests,

1:39:38it is the job of operations managers, Cast Members, and industrial engineers to operate

1:39:43and maintain these environments, and their job is more involved in a park’s escapism

1:39:47than one might initially think.

1:39:49When operations finds strategies and tests systems that have the potential to take the

1:39:53guest experience to the next level, they are not merely increasing guest satisfaction,

1:39:58but they are supporting the environments and stories of the parks by offering a higher

1:40:02level of escapism.

1:40:04There is no better example of this than FastPass.

1:40:07Long lines have always been a disruptive force in the Disney Parks, detracting from the guest

1:40:11experience and often the design intentions of the park’s theming.

1:40:15After all, the real world has lines, at the bank, at restaurants, at the DMV.

1:40:21Attempting to remove them, or at least giving guests the ability to avoid them, has the

1:40:25potential to create an experience better than reality, thus assisting in the escapism and

1:40:30immersion of the parks.

1:40:32However, with the evolution of FastPass, we also saw the opposite side of this coin.

1:40:37Instead of operations creating a reality better than ours, the disparities and inequalities

1:40:42of the real world were allowed to creep in.

1:40:44Whether guests were separated by knowledge specific to the park or their personal financial

1:40:49situation, utilizing a system that allows for these disparities can take away from the

1:40:54intention, uniqueness, and beauty of the theme park experience.

1:40:58This is not to say that these strategies weren’t worth experimenting with, and I’m sure we’ll

1:41:02see many more in the future.

1:41:03As we know, queueing is always evolving, and no one knows for sure what the next step will

1:41:08be, but what does seem certain, is that as long as there is something worth waiting for,

1:41:13there will probably be a wait for it.

1:41:17So, I’ll ask you again, how much do you know about lines?