Toy Story Mania Testing FastPass+ Only Option This Week
For those who are visiting Walt Disney World this week and will be making a stop at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, be aware that if you want to ride Toy Story Midway Mania, you must obtain a FastPass+ reservation in order to do so.
Currently the attraction is testing a situation where is no standby line. To ride, guests must make a FastPass+ reservation via the My Disney Experience website or app or by using one of the FastPass+ kiosks located in the park. Disney has said that it is adding additional FastPass+ reservations to the system for guests, so if you don’t currently have a reservation for the attraction, you should check to see if one is available.
This test will take place through Thursday, October 9. The regular standby line will return for guests to be able to use alongside FastPass+ on Friday, October 10. Previously Soarin’ and Princess Fairytale Hall – Meet Anna and Elsa have tested this “FastPass+ Only” configuration.
Was there 10/8 with FP+ and was in line only 14 minutes. Very nice not to have to swim though the sea of strollers. Lots of cast members trying to warn about FP+ only, lots of managers or whatever checking iPads and making notes, interviewing guests. If they converted the 3rd studio next door to Toy Story Mania also then it probably wouldn’t be enough. Maybe they will swallow the gap between TSM and Jack Sparrow meet and greet? Or just take over one of the unused theaters?
Sorry, meant to type “soundstage” instead of studio, it’s to the left of TSM.
I guess most of us that love the touringplans.com blog and other Orlando based park websites are very experienced visitors to the Disney parks.
We’ve got to spare a thought for first timers, that pay up to $100 for a day pass, enter the park gates in amazement, and leave later that day, very shocked at the inability to get into restaurants, or experience character greets and popular attractions.
Exactamundo!
Yes!
Also, we were there the first day of this and observed many angry and confused guests. We ourselves were pretty perplexed and it congested a lot of the rest of the park. With a higher capacity attraction having just closed (Backlot Tour), the park felt really busy. We ended up leaving early because we just were not having any fun by early afternoon with Starring Rolls even closing an hour early despite the crowds. We had to give our love to the CMs on duty though, because it must have been a really hard day for them with more to come and they were awesome.
They’re doing this during a relatively slow (by WDW standards) time of year. I wonder if the test can really be useful for extrapolating out to peak crowd periods. Also, the park is a little low on attractions right now, being down one American Idol Experience and one Backlot Tour.
Disney…….what are you doing????? Seriously??? I’m hoping this has nothing to do with going to Fast Pass only and more to do with adding the additional track…please, please let that be the case. Not everything can be on your terms all the time, there is this thing called free will, and some of us would still enjoy using it.
I hope this isn’t foreshadowing of things to come. I like FPP as it is now. But if there is the potential to in the future of only being able to ride a favorite ride once all day, even if you are willing to wait in a super long standby line, then it’s not something I support. What if it was your only chance to visit HS, and you LOVED Toy Story, and were willing to wait in the standby line.. TOO BAD… you only get to ride once.
Huh?
Are they really going to turn people away from riding Toy Story if they just decide to pop into Hollywood Studios for the day and can’t get a FPP?
*seriously confused ears*
Yeah, the big question this causes for us is about Fantasmic. I don’t want to wait for an hour for a seat at Fantasmic so I got that FPP and I hope to get a decent wait for Mania first thing in the AM. But now I can’t ride Mania without dropping my Fantasmic anyway?!?! Ouch, I don’t mind the FPP, I think it can help if you know what your doing, but if it’s going to make us actually miss experiences then I might have to join the haters!
If you want to ride Toy Story Mania without a FP+, you need to make an extra effort to get there early and be at the front of the pack when the rope drops. On our annual trip this summer, I noticed a big difference in how the morning rush played out. It used to be that many people who were there early would just go collect their FastPasses from the machines with a plan to ride later. But now *everyone* who is there early rushes to get into the line for the ride. It is much crazier than it used to be, and that is saying something.
What if you already have your FP+ set and this ride isn’t in there? Will you be able to add it separately or are you just out of luck? We are making our first trip since FP+ has been in place in a few weeks, and so far I am not a fan of having to have so much planning done so far in advance of my trip. Not having a standby line at all for a ride sounds like a nightmare.
This test is only for this week, so you won’t have to worry about it during your vacation! You will be able to utilize the Standby line at that point. 🙂
Could this be to help them gauge needed configuration of the attraction following the addition of the yet announced third track, if indeed they do add that? They would need to know which to have two of: standby or FP+. Or they could even make the configuration adjustable depending on the crowd level, the season, staffing, etc. I can’t imagine an attraction being FP+-only permanently.
Is there any good reason why they’re doing this? Seems like a lot of guests are going to be quite angry…
Just experienced the attraction. We were in and out in under 15 minutes. Lots of manager types observing. Plenty of signs explaining that do to testing it will be a fast pass plus experience only for today. With extra FP+ slots didn’t see too many angry guests.