humor me...how does current FP work with guests clamoring for top E-tickets at the top times? it's first come, first serve and that's what people have to live with. so FP+ will be no different. there will be a certain allotment for prebooking and a certain allotment for same day. that means there will be opportunity for all to attempt to obtain FP+'s. Like the current FP system, everyone is afforded the opportunity to obtain FP's but not all will. Either they run out, they don't know about it, they don't understand it or they don't want or need to. FP+ will be the same way for prebooking and same day. Current FP works great for those of us who use it and those that know the best ways to maximize it. It sucks for those who don't...so why isn't there outrage over current FP since not everyone gets equal results?
Is everyone assuming that there will be more guests in the parks or something? it's a fixed system. XX capacity for attractions, XX capacity in the park. Disney knows those exact figures. They also know what the crowd trends are.
They also probably know how many FP's are not used vs. distributed. I'm willing to bet that mathematically they have been able to figure how it all balances out because unused FP+'s roll back into the system upon expiration time, not day. Current FP's that are unused, die a miserable death at the end of the park day, either to be discarded or become a trip keepsake.
What we have no clue about is what percentage of FP's are not being utilized on a daily basis. I'm willing to bet it's more than we realize. Virtually every trip we have leftover FP's both pre and post "return time enforcement" era's. When we were allowed to stack FP's and use after the return time, we would be giving them away on our way out or bringing home 4x FP's for each of our favorite attractions. I bet the enforcement of FP return times has as much to do with understanding how many are wasted when adhering to the rules as it is about actually adhering to the rules. Even with the enforcement of FP return times, we still have oddball leftovers as not everyone in our family does all the same attractions and we might have single FP's in our pocket at end of day. Under FP+, those go back into the system. I'm willing to guess that there are a good amount of FP's wasted every day. Ones, that if captured and put back into the system, help tremendously.
I still don't see why all the panic. To me, it is a system to "fill in all the available spaces".
I certainly haven't heard any calls for pre FP days so everyone is in the same boat and can all be spontaneous, so Disney must have been on to something with FP to begin with.
It has everything to do with three things
1: those ignorant to FP. There are a lot. I was at TDL once, and met some other Americans. I saw them later in line for Space. They said "decided not to do the Fastpass thing? ". They were clueless. I still had a FP, and knew everything would run out before I got another one, and had to do stabdby. A lot of families are clueless, even those staying on property. Disney wants all of them happy, so they come back. FP+ is much more idiot proof, and I still think resort guests will get FPs assigned to them, even if they're too ignorant to do it themselves. Or Disney will make it nothing more than tapping a box when they sign in to get 3 free rides a day.
The usage of FP will increase from these folks. Plus, now if they are staying on property, they can easily learn that they can get FPs with a click of a button in their den, instead of in the hot Florida sun, where they're confused, tired, and overwhelmed. So, they go from minor users to gobbling up 3 prime FPs a day. They are MUCH happier, and will return to their Disney resort again, instead of going home and saying they waited in the sun for 90 minutes for Splash, and wouldn't do it again.
2. The math. The only way FP has worked for everyone is that turbo users could used them a lot, because they knew all the ins and outs. Others got some if they remembered, and probably quite a few either thought it cost money, or were just ignorant. They all left farly happy. Now, the turbo users are not allowed to exist. The only way that won't happen is if so few people use FP plus that all the majors don't get taken in advance. Disney spent a billion bucks on this, they're going to make sure folks use it. I'll be amazed if all the allotted advanced FP+ don't get taken every day. The math shows that will GREATLY REDUCE FPs available day of.
3. The new wrinkle of resort guests getting a week head start on making FP+ reservation. All the Disney worshipped have said this isn't to monetize Fastpass. That's flat out wrong. If you aren't staying on property, not only will you only get 3 FPs, but you likely won't get any E ticket ones. Even the off season. Disney runs specials to always keep their hotels over 90% full. S, in the off season, the resort guests are a larger % of guests. Plus, they are open fewer hours, plus run lower capacity on the coasters, and shows.
Did I and many others use FP to its absolute best? Sure! Can Disney decide I used it too much, so I'm being throttled? Yup! Do hardcore cell phone and internet users hate new usage restrictions? Yep!
I've yet to see anyone, including you, give a solid argument how this wont greatly reduce the FPs available to hardcore users, which is probably 90+% of DiISers.
So yeah, we're mad. And since the mods actually LET us debate this, you're seeing a healthy discussion on the topic that you won't find on other sites.
Jason
