Unghh, got my 60 day email. From bad to worse

[leebee]

I'm glad that works for you. But with FP now taking an estimated 70-90% of ride capacity, you can't just pretend it doesn't exist. In the days before fastpass standby was the only option. Now with FP patrons prioritized over standby you're basically just filling leftover spots. And that applies to far more rides than ever before.

This is what I dread the most. Everyone is focusing on the ease of having those FP+ times booked, without paying much attention to what FP+ is doing to the standby lines. Standby wait time at all attractions seems to be going up, up, up. I am fine with knowing when my FP+ time is… it's waiting 60 mins to get on IASW or HM that is worrying me. Last March, DD and I waited in a 90 minute line at TSMM; we'd never been on the ride and had about 2 hours to wait before our ADR at 50s Prime Time, so we decided, why not? What a nightmare! Try standing basically in one spot, on hard cement floors, for 90 minutes. I was a wreck after- my back just can't take that- and we barely made our ADR. Yes, yes, I know I'll never have to experience this again at TSMM because I can make a FP+ for it. What I worry about is having a similar experience at StarTours, Great Movie Ride, or Tower of Terror because my ability to pull a fastpass is restricted, and ALL standby lines are now increasing in time. I really, really don't want to wait in line 45 mins to an hour for attractions that usually have had 10-20 minute standby waits. THIS is what concerns me most about FP+.

 

[larryz]

Time spent waiting between fast passes was time better spent than standing in lines.

Don't forget -- standing in line can be very relaxing.

 

[Planogirl]

OP, we all have different ideas on what relaxing is all about. I'm with you when it comes to time spent using FP- versus FP+. I much preferred our old way of touring and no one will convince me that I'm wrong (just as I won't convince others that they are wrong).

However...if you just want to relax why not skip the headliners except for those that you absolutely have to do? Eat at favorite restaurants, ride the minor rides, see some shows and movies, spend time out of the parks... Just some ideas while at the same time fully understanding what you mean.

 

[Planogirl]

We are heading down in May and have no intention of using the FP. We never have. We fly by the seat of our pants! It seems astonishing to many, but has always worked for us. No expectation, no disappointment. Can't wait!

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

I would LOVE it if you would consider posting a review once you get back. There are those who say that it's not the same for those that don't use FP and some who say that they can't see much of a difference. I'd love to read an unbiased opinion.

 

[Mickfarland4]

I'm confused...... I would LOVE to have a vacation planned for 60 days from now and also have on the plans 4-5 park days.

No one is FORCING you to use FP+. Yes, FP- isn't available, but if you want to take a relaxing vacation, why are you stressing about the FP+ situation to begin with? Like another poster said, why don't you just take it easy, not plan so much and enjoy just being in the parks, seeing the details, spending time together, plan some nice dinners, etc.? You said you would be spending 4-5 days in the MK, thats a lot of time to be able to spread out seeing lots of different things in one park without having to schedule and go commando.

I just don't get posts like this. If you really are that down about going on a vacation in 60 days, why not just cancel? Like I said, I would LOVE to have a trip in the works, it just confuses me so much that people are upset about going on vacation?? It's vacation. It is what you make of it. No one is making you to do anything.

Just my opinion - from someone in the north (where it's currently snowing for some reason) who has no plans for a vacation to WDW anytime soon, but would literally love to just go down and just BE there right now.

I don't get it either. My family has not been able to afford to go on a vacation since my husband and I went on our honeymoon in 2007! All these people that are on here complaining about the changes at Disney, I would be willing to change spots with you so that my 5 yo could go on a real vacation! Vacation is supposed to be fun and if I were in your shoes, I would not be worrying about FP+, I'd be so freaking happy I could go! Maybe you guys should consider the thousands of people that would love to be able to go to WDW once a year or even every few years as my family would.

 

[Planogirl]

I don't get it either. My family has not been able to afford to go on a vacation since my husband and I went on our honeymoon in 2007! All these people that are on here complaining about the changes at Disney, I would be willing to change spots with you so that my 5 yo could go on a real vacation! Vacation is supposed to be fun and if I were in your shoes, I would not be worrying about FP+, I'd be so freaking happy I could go! Maybe you guys should consider the thousands of people that would love to be able to go to WDW once a year or even every few years as my family would.

I certainly hope that you get to go soon somehow but I don't see how this changes anything. If the current system doesn't work for the OP then it just simply doesn't work. As shoppers, we all have to decide every day whether something is worth it.

But again, I so hope that you get the chance to go soon!

 

[MolonLabe]

Posts like this makes it really hard for me to feel sorry for you all. Disney is a luxury, and the beautiful thing is that there are many great places to vacation here in the United States.

Luxury is a very subjective thing. People in Ethiopia think 3 meals a day is a luxury. Someone driving a 1980 corrolla may think driving a 1995 corrolla is a luxury. Someone driving a brand new 2014 Focus may think driving a 2014 Mustang is a luxury... Perspective is everything.

I don't get it either. My family has not been able to afford to go on a vacation since my husband and I went on our honeymoon in 2007!

Sorry to hear that. In 2007 my third daughter was a year old and we hadn't been on vacation in a long time too and we couldn't afford to for awhile after that either.

I worked hard, improved myself and now we can go to Disney once a year... or in this case what would have been our fourth trip in less than 4 years.

I never begrudged anyone for having that ability back when I couldn't... from the tone of your posts you seem to have some sort of issue with people who can. Why?

All these people that are on here complaining about the changes at Disney, I would be willing to change spots with you so that my 5 yo could go on a real vacation!

What would you and yours realistically be willing to do in order to improve your spot? Eat out less? Put in more hours at work? Do a stellar job when you show up at work so you get a promotion? Get some better training so you can command a higher wage? Plenty of ways to get there, none of them are as easy as changing spots with someone.

Vacation is supposed to be fun and if I were in your shoes, I would not be worrying about FP+, I'd be so freaking happy I could go! Maybe you guys should consider the thousands of people that would love to be able to go to WDW once a year or even every few years as my family would.

I don't understand. What does your families vacation plans/habits (or lack there of) have to do with mine?

Am I supposed to be grateful that some people are less fortunate than others? Should I disregard the hard work and sacrifices I put in every day to be able to do what I want to when I can?

You speak of consideration? If you *were* in my shoes, you'd realize the most precious asset you have is time. Spending all day in line queues is a waste of that time.

If going to WDW once a year was a top priority for someone, they'd find a way to make it happen.

We see it here with some members, they spend all year couponing so they can save the $2,000~ up to go down for a week at Pop Century. If some one wants something bad enough, they do what it takes to get it.

 

[Alice Royal]

It could be worse, I could be living back in FLA and stuck with an AP right now.

What the heck? I live in FL, I have an AP, I never used FP- and I rarely use FP+...and I can do 4 parks and all my favourite rides on a good day.

On a crowded day, we stay away or do things 'off-the-beaten-path'. I have no qualms with the system and I see a lot of potential for expanded use of it.

I know a lot of non-locals are angry with FP+, but please do not speak for an entire group like that. Jeez.

 

[MolonLabe]

My wife and I (both former Florida residents) decided we are going to cancel this trip.

We are selecting a cruise for the same week now, the plus side is we are going to save a boatload (pun intended) of money for a 7 or 8 day cruise as opposed to the 9 days in WDW we had planned.

Unless WDW fixes this mess, I'll probably cancel the BounceBack for a week at the Poly we booked while we were at Contemporary in September. We've still got about four and half months before the 45 day mark on that trip.

What the heck? I live in FL, I have an AP, I never used FP- and I rarely use FP+...and I can do 4 parks and all my favourite rides on a good day.

On a crowded day, we stay away or do things 'off-the-beaten-path'. I have no qualms with the system and I see a lot of potential for expanded use of it.

I know a lot of non-locals are angry with FP+, but please do not speak for an entire group like that. Jeez.

I'm a former Florida resident myself. I remember the pre FP days well. Being local and able to go on good (low) crowd days is one thing. Being local and going on a day of a 6-7+ is quite another.

Weird you never used FP... unless you went on off days almost exclusively.

Which is fine, our last trip in Sept we had several low crowd days and except for PP and BTMRR everything else was 10 min or less on those days. I don't see how that correlates to a moderate to busy park day though, which is exactly what crowds are like in the middle to end of May.

 

[ArwenMarie]

What the heck? I live in FL, I have an AP, I never used FP- and I rarely use FP+...and I can do 4 parks and all my favourite rides on a good day.

On a crowded day, we stay away or do things 'off-the-beaten-path'. I have no qualms with the system and I see a lot of potential for expanded use of it.

I know a lot of non-locals are angry with FP+, but please do not speak for an entire group like that. Jeez.

You make a really good point. I think that this new FP+ is better for locals than tourists.

 

[Suellen]

It could be worse, I could be living back in FLA and stuck with an AP right now.

Actually those of us local enough LOVE FP+ since we tend to only go for a few hours at a time. 3 FP+ is fine for us.

 

[morethananyonex]

Actually those of us local enough LOVE FP+ since we tend to only go for a few hours at a time. 3 FP+ is fine for us.

Yeah, I think FP+ would be pretty awesome as a local (a true local, who can make day trips and pop in for a few hours). If you're close enough that theoretically you could go after work for a few hours if you wanted, the ability to walk in whenever you want with 3 FP+ in hand would be way better than FP-.

 

[Aliceacc]

I'm bowing out. The best of luck to you, OP. I hope you're able to find some joy in this vacation.

 

[mom2rtk]

Yeah, I think FP+ would be pretty awesome as a local (a true local, who can make day trips and pop in for a few hours). If you're close enough that theoretically you could go after work for a few hours if you wanted, the ability to walk in whenever you want with 3 FP+ in hand would be way better than FP-.

Agreed. I would love FP+ if I was a local.

 

[ZoZo]

I would LOVE it if you would consider posting a review once you get back. There are those who say that it's not the same for those that don't use FP and some who say that they can't see much of a difference. I'd love to read an unbiased opinion.

I'm not the OP, but I'd like to share my experience. I went to WDW a month ago, with six days in the parks. I had read many of the threads about FP+ and was pretty worried about how the changes would affect us. I am what I would consider a "power user" of the legacy FP system, often pulling six or seven FPs a day. As soon as my FP window opened up, I'd pull another one. And I'm definitely a "ride repeater" for my favorite rides, often riding Soarin'. BTMRR, and TSM multiple times in one day.

I was surprised that FP+ ended up working okay for us! I'm not saying I'm totally in love with it - I definitely prefer the old system. But by arriving at the parks before opening (which I always do on my WDW trips), riding as many rides as possible while the lines were shorter, and saving my FPs for the afternoon/evening (often at a different park than the one I went to in the morning), it worked out okay. And when I would get a little sad that I had "only" gotten to ride Soarin' three times on my trip, I would reminded myself that I have ridden it many, many times over the years and enjoyed it every time.

To make our trip as fun as possible, we also decided to "enhance" our trip by scheduling some extra special things like the Backstage Magic tour and ""Lunch with a Disney Animal Expert" at AKL. These two activities were extremely fun, and helped increase our overall enjoyment of our trip.

One thing that I do need to mention is that we had a few things that were definitely working in our favor. 1) We were staying on site. 2) We had access to a smart phone, which made changing our FPs "on the fly" much easier. 3) Our trip was during a lower-crowd week, with crowd levels predicted at a level 4 most days during our stay.

So I guess I'd recommend keeping an open mind, as much as you can. For us, anyways, the changes did affect our trip somewhat, but not nearly as much as I had feared. Using strategies like arriving at the parks early, using things like EMH and single rider lines, and strategically booking FPs will help a lot.

 

[Suellen]

Yeah, I think FP+ would be pretty awesome as a local (a true local, who can make day trips and pop in for a few hours). If you're close enough that theoretically you could go after work for a few hours if you wanted, the ability to walk in whenever you want with 3 FP+ in hand would be way better than FP-.

We are true locals. I can be at MK parking lot in about 10 minutes. We usually will head over in the evening after dinner for a few rides or a snack or just to watch a show. Often we don't use FP at all.....now that I can decide and book something usually on my way out the door though... I do.

 

[Cee]

I would LOVE it if you would consider posting a review once you get back. There are those who say that it's not the same for those that don't use FP and some who say that they can't see much of a difference. I'd love to read an unbiased opinion.

I will try to remember to do that.

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[morethananyonex]

We are true locals. I can be at MK parking lot in about 10 minutes. We usually will head over in the evening after dinner for a few rides or a snack or just to watch a show. Often we don't use FP at all.....now that I can decide and book something usually on my way out the door though... I do.

That sounds awesome.

Your family is exactly the type I was thinking of. I think for families like yours, and families who just don't care about rides, FP+ would be a big improvement.

 

[nancipants]

We are true locals. I can be at MK parking lot in about 10 minutes. We usually will head over in the evening after dinner for a few rides or a snack or just to watch a show. Often we don't use FP at all.....now that I can decide and book something usually on my way out the door though... I do.

Yup. Got to the park around 9:15, had a Fast Pass for Buzz (I'd never done it before), rode Peoplemover, got in line around 10 for an early Be Our Guest lunch (fiance had never eaten there before), watched Dream Along with Mickey (we've never actually seen the entire show before), used our Fast Passes for Space Mountain and BTMRR, then watched the Festival of Fantasy parade. Fiance even moved our FP for Space Mountain to an hour later so we could have time to digest after lunch. It was a great day, we were out of the park as soon as the parade ended and home by 4:15.

 

[glamdring269]

OP, not sure what your travel arrangements are but if you fly to Disney just cancel and book something else. What you're getting for your Disney trip is definitely NOT the best bang for your buck relaxation trip. Not sure how big your family is but I'll bet you could fly to Maui and stay at a place like the Aina Nalu for less than what your Disney trip will cost. (Like I said this assumes you fly to Disney.)

Want relaxation and real magic? Do that.