Some FastPass+ attractions eliminating second touch point

Mar 14, 2016 in "MyMagic+"

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Posted: Monday March 14, 2016 8:25am EST by WDWMAGIC Staff

In an effort to improve efficiency through the FastPass+ line, some attractions are making changes to the FastPass+ touch points.

The new system allows for just the first touch point at the beginning of the line to be used, eliminating the need for the second touch point that is found at the merge point between the FastPass+ and Standby lines.

The second touch point was originally installed to prevent line jumping from the standby line to the FastPass+ line after the initial touch point.

By removing the second touch point, the process for guests passing through the line is simplified.

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rct247Apr 04, 2016

There has been an increase in reports of line jumping. Most attractions are oblivious, but the ones with two touch still have seen more issues and have been able to catch them. Thank you internet to broadcasting it.

note2001Apr 04, 2016

I'd like to hear how this is working out. I can see this lack of a second touch point becoming an issue at HM if the cast members don't keep an eye on the queue to prevent kids from hopping or ducking the chain. And unless stopped, others will follow suit similar to those driving the breakdown lane in traffic jams.

LindsaySue2Apr 03, 2016

Good. Clearly there was or they predicted line jumping would occur on those rides. I don't care for this change. if you have to get rid of one sensor make it the second one, not the first.

RiderApr 03, 2016

An update. As of today only some of the attractions at Magic Kingdom have eliminated the 2nd touchpoint. Still using the 2nd: Space Mountain Big Thunder Mountain Seven Dwarfs Not using: Small World Jungle Cruise Haunted Mansion I didn't check any others but there appears to be a pattern as to which they felt they still needed to use it.

xdan0920Mar 30, 2016

I already wrote up my "Business Insider" piece. They paid me .11 cents, suckers.

flynnibusMar 24, 2016

Addressing it means confronting guests.. something Disney doesn't like it's rank and file CMs to do. Disney will turn the cheek and the abuse will continue... just like it always has at Disneyland with chain jumpers.. or the people who send one person ahead and then 2-10 people skip ahead in line to 'catch up with their friend', etc.

flynnibusMar 24, 2016

Your problem is your point of reference you are measuring and counting what matters. The real constraint is the ride itself.. the lines job is just to keep its loading fed at all times. When you have different lines, feeding the load at different ratios, the individual lines will be depleted at different rates.. but the ride's throughput remains the same. If the line 'moves quicker' is just a perception that can depend on a portion of the line, that doesn't actually answer 'what my total wait time was'. One line moves more uniformly.. but may not be necessarily 'shorter' depending on which line you were comparing to in the first place :) TL;DR - Two lines doesn't change ride throughput. Line moving fast or slow does not define your wait time.

flynnibusMar 24, 2016

until the internet starts publishing it as one of those 'ten best kept Disney secrets!'

flynnibusMar 24, 2016

The second point is not a choke point at all because people have already been filtered and streamlined at the first point. The flow of people through the second checkpoint is well below the threshold of how fast it can process people. It's just like backups on the highway at a merge point. There is no backup once you pass the merge because everyone is already paced and spaced properly. This has nothing to with line movement. There has to be some other reason not necessarily clear... simplification in implementation or something else.

flynnibusMar 24, 2016

Can't do that because there is no where to 'put' the people who are rejected. You need to reject people outside the attraction for that very space and egress problem.

rct247Mar 24, 2016

No, they just didn't budget it and fund it correctly. The who thing was starting to cost a lot so they somewhat rushed it out before fining tuning it in hope that thr money would start flowing in. Then it continued to keep costing to boost the wireless networks, hardware, etc. What about funding for replacements? We'll cross that bridge when we get there.

SonconatoMar 24, 2016

If what you say is true, then IMHO, this is a failed system because, 1) if they are already having to cannibalize the system when it is this young, it's simply poorly done and 2) usually when something is being cannibalized, it's to keep something in existence using the "band-aid" approach until it is completely replaced with something else. Could this be what is happening?

rct247Mar 24, 2016

The real answer being spun if for a less confusing Guest experience. Some at attractions were operating this way exclusively all the time like Splash Mountain and Safaris because when they were in operation they couldn't keep the load area full without flooding it with standby guests. Other attractions frequently went to this mode a temporary occurance during peak periods to reduce back ups inside. As a result, people didn't know when they did or didn't need their cards again making it more confusing. To reduce rhe backups and confusions, they have decided that eliminating the second touch all together is better. Another by product they won't admit to is that this also will allow them to save money on buying replacement hardware when existing hardware fails. They will then start to cannibalize the second set to fix the first set. You can see this already with some old kiosk locations like at the Epcot tip boards and storybook circus. They dont have screens if you look under the covers.

ninjaprincesstMar 22, 2016

It's going to be a huge problem, almost every time we ride Space Mountsin. people jump in the fastpass line as well as pirates and Splash and several others.