Magic Bands/FP+ and Legacy FP (Rumor)

[Spacedog1975]

There needs to be a park hopping solution or they'll have severely diminished the value of park hopping at all.

 

[pigletto]

There needs to be a park hopping solution or they'll have severely diminished the value of park hopping at all.

Agreed. And I do remember thinking awhile back that they were pretty much going to phase out most people buying park hoppers if it meant those people were going to hit standby lines a mile long when they got to their second park. Not many people would bother with hoppers in that case.

So maybe just maybe once they phase out the KTTW cards, the people who they are taking them away from are going to report they were have more fastpasses available once they have used their first and/or can get them in another park.
I've heard basically nothing to support this so far.. but it makes sense doesn't it? That phase one was 3, but that it won't be staying that limited. Hmmm.. all very interesting.

 

[zamboniman333]

Agreed. And I do remember thinking awhile back that they were pretty much going to phase out most people buying park hoppers if it meant those people were going to hit standby lines a mile long when they got to their second park. Not many people would bother with hoppers in that case. So maybe just maybe once they phase out the KTTW cards, the people who they are taking them away from are going to report they were have more fastpasses available once they have used their first and/or can get them in another park. I've heard basically nothing to support this so far.. but it makes sense doesn't it? That phase one was 3, but that it won't be staying that limited. Hmmm.. all very interesting.

Hoping so!!!!

 

[mjem216]

i dont think youll be able to use your kttw card or paper pass because on my disney experience you have to select which you want to use...

 

[AmyKat]

i dont think youll be able to use your kttw card or paper pass because on my disney experience you have to select which you want to use...

Right now, you can book 3 Fast Pass Plus experiences on My Disney Experience before you get to the park. Then, you can use your KTTW or paper ticket to get regular paper Fast Passes (old style). So, you can effectively double dip.

If the KTTW cards are not given out anymore, you would only be able to get the 3 FP+ that you book on MDE.

Unless you are staying off site. Then you would have a paper ticket and would be able to get the paper Fast Passes from the in-park machines.

Unless they are getting rid of the in park machines all together. Then off site guests would have to use an in park kiosk to book FP+ by they are in the park.

There's just a lot of unknowns right now and it has the potential to change my touring plans depending on how those unknowns are resolved.

 

[PaperDolls]

Right now, you can book 3 Fast Pass Plus experiences on My Disney Experience before you get to the park. Then, you can use your KTTW or paper ticket to get regular paper Fast Passes (old style). So, you can effectively double dip. If the KTTW cards are not given out anymore, you would only be able to get the 3 FP+ that you book on MDE. Unless you are staying off site. Then you would have a paper ticket and would be able to get the paper Fast Passes from the in-park machines. Unless they are getting rid of the in park machines all together. Then off site guests would have to use an in park kiosk to book FP+ by they are in the park. There's just a lot of unknowns right now and it has the potential to change my touring plans depending on how those unknowns are resolved.

I agree, this is how I understand it as well.

However, we purchased a room only reservation and will have MB and made FP+ selections. But our tickets were purchsed seperately so I anticipate we can use them as well to get paper, traditional FAst passes when were in the parks. We checkin after oct 27 so I anticipate we will not receive a KTTW. BUT, we will have the regular park passes since we purchased them seperately. They should work the same as those staying off site using regular park passes, in the paper fast pass machines. At least I hope so. I've never seen anywhere on MDE where I had to choose between the two so I'm not sure about that. I just hope it works and we can still use the regular passes in addition to the FP+. I know this is not the case for those booking packages that include tickets, because KTTW won't be issued, so they will have nothing else to put in a traditional machine, but it should still work for those with separate passes, APs, etc. This is my hope at least, fingers crossed! Were there for a short 3 day trip and plan to park hop every day, so I hope this works. If not, we'll be fine, I know it could backfire, but I'm hoping for the best!

 

[Minniekins]

I've talked a few different CM's in the last few days, concerning my trip coming up in Dec. All each assured me that KTTW cards would continue to be given out, particularly as this is still a testing phase. And because not all guests want to or can wear the MB's, and because the MB's need a back up for that or in case they don't work properly. If they don't give one, be sure to ask for it. They all also confirmed it was definitely acceptable to use the Kttw cards to pull additional paper FP's. They also confirmed only 3 FP+ in one park per day, no additional ones at this time, no word on future plans concerning the number of fp or more than one park. But, they each stressed using the Kttw card for getting more fp in another park.

 

[dsneprincess]

Ugh! I still don't see this MagicBand thing as magical in anyway. I don't want to pick my 3 fast passes now or choose what parks I am going to be in what day just because I need to plan FPs so we can ride. I was going to purchase 4 park hoppers next week for a February trip, now I thinking will hold out and see what happens with this thing and not bother with the hoppers at all. I do think, though, that without a hopper, I wouldn't go to HS or AK at all. So then I need to figure out if I should just maybe buy 2 day MYW and do 2 days at Universal and 1 at Gatorland or Legoland. Which adds the additional question: if I do 2 days at Universal, I should probably book at least 1 night there for their on site privileges.

This just made planning sooo much harder and added in a ton of decisions I need to make sooner than later! Until I opened this thread, I was just going to book Disney property and buy 5dPHs like I do every year. I did already book the airfare, so we are going to Orlando, but I haven't booked anything else.

This makes me wonder what Disney thinks they are getting out of this. My family was a slam dunk; we come in February, get 5 or 6 day park hoppers, stay on property usually moderate level, eat and purchase in the parks/resorts for those days, but I don't plan ahead and i don't rope drop. Now I am questioning, if I get to the parks late, which I will, and I didn't plan fast passes, will I get to ride what my 3yo wants when he sees it? He is ok with coming back for Pooh after lunch, but what if it needs to be I can make a reservation for tomorrow? Should I take my money elsewhere and go see other things?

Sorry to be so long, but I just don't understand why Disney wants me to even think about spending my money elsewhere? Why are they willing to risk all this money walking out the door? Or maybe I am the only one feeling this way and exploring other options.......

 

[beer dave]

Ugh! I still don't see this MagicBand thing as magical in anyway. I don't want to pick my 3 fast passes now or choose what parks I am going to be in what day just because I need to plan FPs so we can ride. I was going to purchase 4 park hoppers next week for a February trip, now I thinking will hold out and see what happens with this thing and not bother with the hoppers at all. I do think, though, that without a hopper, I wouldn't go to HS or AK at all. So then I need to figure out if I should just maybe buy 2 day MYW and do 2 days at Universal and 1 at Gatorland or Legoland. Which adds the additional question: if I do 2 days at Universal, I should probably book at least 1 night there for their on site privileges.

This just made planning sooo much harder and added in a ton of decisions I need to make sooner than later! Until I opened this thread, I was just going to book Disney property and buy 5dPHs like I do every year. I did already book the airfare, so we are going to Orlando, but I haven't booked anything else.

This makes me wonder what Disney thinks they are getting out of this. My family was a slam dunk; we come in February, get 5 or 6 day park hoppers, stay on property usually moderate level, eat and purchase in the parks/resorts for those days, but I don't plan ahead and i don't rope drop. Now I am questioning, if I get to the parks late, which I will, and I didn't plan fast passes, will I get to ride what my 3yo wants when he sees it? He is ok with coming back for Pooh after lunch, but what if it needs to be I can make a reservation for tomorrow? Should I take my money elsewhere and go see other things?

Sorry to be so long, but I just don't understand why Disney wants me to even think about spending my money elsewhere? Why are they willing to risk all this money walking out the door? Or maybe I am the only one feeling this way and exploring other options.......

I thought similarly in the beginning, but I am seeing the light, I think.

I discovered that my trips are predictable, even though we wing it. Chances are that if you look at what you do each trip, you can find a pattern. I won't bore you with mine. A certain one is that if you can make a dining reservation, you can schedule some fpp around it. No rope drop, no extra planning. We found our trip easier and had more down time. The only difficult park will be MK. too many attractions. But a lot of attractions is a good thing, right?

 

[EAWildman]

We were part of the testing in early September. We were staying at Pop and walked over to AoA for lunch on our first day. In the lobby we were stopped by a CM who had a table with a couple of laptops doing surveys for guests with Magic Bands. I took the survey. It was all about the planning process. Did you make FP+ reservations? Did you use the web site? Did you use the app? What did you like about the planning process? What did you not like? They had canned choices to pick from when it came to what did you NOT like, and I vivedly remember that one of the choices was "being limited to attractions in only one park per day." Another was "being limited to only 3 Fast Passes per day."

So, Disney is aware of these issues, and they are asking real guests who have actually tested out the system what they think about these things. Because of this survey and the types of questions they are asking, I expect changes to the current system to come along at some point.

We scheduled our Fast Passes for the afternoon and that worked pretty well. The best was actually having Fast Passes for TSM without having to be at the Studios for rope drop. In early September, the crowds were so low, that we didn't even need or use most of our Fast Passes. We used them for TT, Soarin, TSM, a character meet and greet at EPCOT, and that's about it.

 

[zamboniman333]

I havn't heard any reports yet of any changes happening yesterday. Will have to keep watching for a report.

 

[zamboniman333]

Just got word that it sounds like it was just a rumor for now at least. people that checked in yesterday and today still got KTTWC's along with having the MB's and were still able to use the old FP machines.

 

[AmyKat]

Thanks for updating us! I've been watching (stalking) for more information. It seems odd to me that this was a rumor given how specific the information was. Normally, you hear "at the end of October", not "on October 27".

 

[Spacedog1975]

I hope the status holds for 2 more days. I really want to be able to do traditional fast passes during the day this week.

 

[Planogirl]

Some are saying that the CM's are actually testing using FP+ without access to legacy fastpasses first and then parkgoers will lose access to legacy gradually. Who knows if this is actually true though.

 

[Spacedog1975]

Some are saying that the CM's are actually testing using FP+ without access to legacy fastpasses first and then parkgoers will lose access to legacy gradually. Who knows if this is actually true though.

This is a wise idea.
If FP+ negates the value of park hopping or restricts resort guests to 3 FP at one park per day, I don't see it as a value add.

 

[gokdog]

It will not kill us one way or the other, but with Hoppers, the loss of the KTTW card would offer less flexibility.

We arrive in two weeks, but we are planning on using our Fastpass + differently on some days. For example on the days we are at rope drop, we are using the Fastpass + in the Hopped to park, as opposed to the first.

 

[alana22]

I was told by a CM at my itinerary planning number that I would not have access to paper FP. Only the 3 FP+ with the MBs. I'll be very disappointed if this is true because we plan to park hop a few days. I'm hoping the CM was just trying to keep people from doing it but once we actually get there I hope we can with the KTTW cards. If we get them too. We are going 12/7 thru 12/13. Interested to see if anyone else gets this same info when calling.

 

[zamboniman333]

I was told by a CM at my itinerary planning number that I would not have access to paper FP. Only the 3 FP+ with the MBs. I'll be very disappointed if this is true because we plan to park hop a few days. I'm hoping the CM was just trying to keep people from doing it but once we actually get there I hope we can with the KTTW cards. If we get them too. We are going 12/7 thru 12/13. Interested to see if anyone else gets this same info when calling.

When did they tell you that? Just wondering thanks

 

[Hoodie]

I just wish they would finalize this and let us know what is going on! We are booked for the end of February and was told when we booked that MagicBands would be fully rolled out for the resorts before then, so the removal of the paper fast pass machines in January follows that timeline.

It does impact our trip though. If we are limited to 3 FP+ a day, then best bet would be to schedule them in the afternoon at one park and hit rope drop at another to hit standby there. If you can get new Fast Passes as you use the first ones, then you'd be better off getting morning FPs and adding new ones as you use them.

My 60 day window starts on Christmas. Hoping they figure it out before then!