Around every corner, you’ll find more surprises, magic, and pixie dust than you what to do with.
But even the most magical of trips to the parks can have their hiccups, especially when it comes to the technical side of the aforementioned magic.
Attractions at Disney World hinge on some of the most advanced, state-of-the-art ride technology, but as anyone will tell you, even the best technology can have its snafus. The same is true at Disney World, regardless of the pixie dust that abounds.
Have you ever been on a ride when it has malfunctioned and stopped? (Hint: if you’ve ever experienced the Haunted Mansion attraction, there’s about an 80% chance you’ve been on a ride when it glitches.) If so, you know that most of the time, the glitches are more of a “pause” on the attraction, rather than a full meltdown, leading to the need for technical engineers to visit and assess the scenario.
But when a ride does stop for an extended time, Disney usually gives Guests the option of staying in the queue for the ride so they can enjoy it once it’s up and running or exiting the queue and returning later to experience the attraction again. If Guests choose to exit, they are guided to a Cast Member who grants them a “recovery pass,” which functions like a FastPass, once the ride is fully functional again. The pass usually says “Anytime Experience” on the My Disney Experience app.
But thanks to Disney’s new Lightning Lane, FastPass is no more, and, it would seem, that the Anytime Experience passes are a thing of the past as well.
Now, according to reports, when a ride malfunctions and Guests have to disembark from the ride, they will still have the option to stay in the queue and wait or exit. But Guests who choose to exit will have an altogether different experience in the parks.
That’s because Disney World is reportedly not offering a recovery pass for Guests who choose to exit and come back. The only recovery passes granted now will be to those Guests who were forced to evacuate the attraction or queue completely. So if there’s not a directive to evacuate completely from a Cast Member, but a Guest chooses to exit and return, he or she will have to wait in the queue as though there had never been an issue.
Some Guests feel like this protocol is another example of inconsistency in procedures on the part of Disney, while others feel it is an example of what they see as Disney’s greed and its apathy toward the very people who are paying to be in the parks in the first place.
