The most frustrating part of any Disney vacation is waiting in line. However, the long YouTube video that explains the process is quite entertaining.
Defunctland was a popular YouTube channel with Disney-adjacent content for many years. They often dive into the mysterious history of iconic Disney parks attractions. The channel was created by Kevin Purjerer and features a long-form investigation into the history behind the Disney Parks line. Or, more specifically, Disney’s troubled history with alleviating the need to wait in line at Disney Parks. “Disney’s FastPass: A Complicated History” isn’t just a thorough and entertaining look at an aspect of the Disney Parks experience we all try and avoid; it’s also a sobering, frequently surprising experience that anyone who has visited the parks can relate to.
The documentary looks at the first time. “ticket book”This system was used at Disneyland as well as Walt Disney World when it opened in 1971. Each show or attraction was assigned a letter in the book – an “E”The most exclusive and sought-after distinction in ticketing was historically the highest. But when Walt Disney World opened, management assigned attractions that maybe weren’t actually an “E”This disrupts guest flow and creates unwarranted demand for tickets. Hilariously, Country Bear Jamboree is an attraction that is miraculously still in operation to half full rooms. “E” ticket attraction. The building was packed with people waiting to see the show, which featured animatronic bears who made unsavory jokes and sang questionable songs. Thus began, as the documentary states, Walt Disney World’s troubled legacy with the attempted management of lines.
As the title suggests, a bulk of the Defunctland documentary is devoted to the history and implementation of FastPass, a late-’90s initiative engineered by park operations and an enterprising executive named Bruce Laval, who sought to maximize guest satisfaction while increasing the park’s overall efficiency. Once they had a paper FastPass, guests would be able to skip the line. This allowed them the freedom to explore the rest of the park, or, if desired, buy food and drink or shop a bit. But there were problems from the get-go – outdated technology, communication hiccups and a general lack of understanding from the guests. But it worked most of the time.
Of course, all good things come to an end, and as the documentary beautifully points out, a program started by parks operations people was soon co-opted by marketing wonks (during a particularly fraught period of the company’s history, especially for the parks). FastPass was redesigned at Walt Disney World. This was the foundation of a $1 million project. FastPass+ and My Disney Experience was born, a system so labyrinthine and incomprehensible that, in one of the documentary’s funniest stretches, Perjurer plays a seeming endless montage from other YouTube creators who are desperately trying to explain the procedure.
Perjurer was not content to just explain the history of FastPass. He also wanted to ask a question: Does FastPass really work? Does it cut down on overall wait times, and does it positively impact the average guest’s experience? He created a simulation in a computer and animated it to show the points. The documentary, which you can see above, is not affected by these results. However, they are shocking and unexpected when you consider the class warfare that was implemented by FastPass. Defunctland focuses on attractions and experiences that are no longer available at Disney Parks (and other parks). Everything you see in this video has been scrapped. A new process was introduced in October at Walt Disney World, and will soon be launched at Disneyland.
It gets worse.
If you’ve ever asked yourself why you have to wait so long for Space Mountain or wondered if the system was ever better, “FastPass: A Complicated History” has you covered. It’s easily the best documentary about Disney you’ll see all year, and its length and complexity is a testament to how byzantine the process of going to a Disney park has become. “FastPass: A Complicated History”This is what Oliver Stone might have done if he had been particularly traumatized by his trip to Pandora: The World of Avatar. It has a rich texture of ideas and concepts. It might change your perception of Disney vacations.
The full video is available here “FastPass”Documentary Above.