more-obs-and-experiences-on-fp-mb-mde-from-our-trip-this-week by a different person

[itchin2go]

Your first post immediately belittled the Original Poster's experience. Implied you could have done much better if it had been your trip but only it were in past years with the old FastPass system. The year is 2015 and unless you have a time machine - that system does not exist any longer. We are creatures of habit and programed to resist change. However, change does come and we eventually adapt for the most part. This family found that the new system worked for them. No statement proclaimed that is was the best plan for everyone or that FastPass+ was the best plan. I for one enjoy reading what worked or didn't work for a group. I use the information to plan our days in the parks and greatly appreciate the insight of others. Why is it necessary to proclaim your plan (in past years & with the old system) is superior?

To the bolded, maybe I'm wrong, but I kind of thought the point of these kinds of threads was to report back on how FP+ worked for people out in the real world, kind of against the backdrop of a lot of backlash against FP+, and comparisons of the two systems.

People have posted and said, OMG - it was horrible and didn't work for us and we're never going back, while others have said that it's great - better than before and they love it ... and everything in between.

I intended to do one of these reports, but never could really organize my thoughts, and the truth is, I still don't completely know how I feel about the new system, but if I had posted one, it would probably be along the lines of: You guys, it wasn't bad at all. I thought it would be way worse than FP-, but it was actually pretty much the same. We got the same amount done as trips of yore.

I guess my point is there's an inherent comparison between FP+ and legacy FP in these kinds of reports, so I'm not at all surprised that someone responded comparing the two.

We all know there's probably no going back, but I'm not surprised or offended when someone makes a comparison to a long-standing system that was fairly recently phased out.

It's also human nature to read one of these reports and think, "Well, that's great for you, but it wouldn't have worked very well for us, and here's why." I don't see the problem with reading that kind of response. I don't see any reason to belittle anyone, but I think that's a "tone" thing. I don't think my trips and the way we tour would look like great shakes to the "legacy fastpass super-users", but it's not insulting to me that they feel that way. I wouldn't have been happy doing things their way either, I don't think.

 

[itchin2go]

On the issue of what someone could have done in the old paper FP days, I obviously cannot specifically comment on what someone says they were able to do in those bygone days with paper FP and overall lower crowds at WDW. It really is irrelevant when the subject is how someone can plan their upcoming trips.

I totally get what you're saying in your post, but I wanted to respond to the bold.

I would argue that it is NOT irrelevant to some. Many people are in the throes of planning their first FP+ trip, and they are used to legacy FP. Seeing how things are different, and the difference between what they could do in the past, and what they can expect to accomplish now can be helpful, I think, for many reasons - to adjust their plans to account for the differences and yes, to perhaps adjust their expectations. (And I DON'T mean this in a bashing FP+ kind of way. Expectations may go down, up or just change in some other way.)

I was worried to pieces about my first FP+ trip (which you know all too well, because you tried to reassure me), but I educated myself, and I went in with a good plan and a pretty good attitude, and we had a great trip (you were right!).

I don't want to hear grumbling about the good old days any more than the next person, but noting the differences between the way it was and the way it is can, in some ways, help us adjust and tackle the new landscape better.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Disney doesn't use the term "ride"? I was just looking at Big Thunder Mountain on their website and they themselves call it a thrill ride. Not even Disney would apparently argue about a word.

Anyway, I do agree with the opinion that getting enough done all depends on what the individual considers enough. Clearly FP+ doesn't make getting more done any easier, at least it didn't for us. However this was a great review and really helpful.

They do officially call them attractions, though. Of those, it included shows and rides. So this discussion over vocabulary is kind of silly since it is merely used to dismiss the experience of others. However, the use of the term and the experiences are fully in line with what Disney has to offer. (Or in this case what they don't offer during set hours of today.)

 

[itchin2go]

They do officially call them attractions, though. Of those, it included shows and rides. So this discussion over vocabulary is kind of silly since it is merely used to dismiss the experience of others. However, the use of the term and the experiences are fully in line with what Disney has to offer. (Or in this case what they don't offer during set hours of today.)
View attachment 98505

I don't disagree that Disney calls them "attractions", but the problem was that one poster refused to recognize a distinction between "rides" and other types of attractions. As Planogirl pointed out, even Disney is not afraid to use the word "ride" when appropriate.

Again, I'm not belittling anything. For the record, my favorite "attraction" is Mickey's Philharmagic. But some people are there for the rides. I recognize that and it's okay with me. It isn't threatening to me and I don't find it insulting. Some people love rides, some people love shows ...

I totally agree with you, though, that the discussion over vocabulary is super silly. I feel like I went down some wacky rabbit hole.

Can we just agree that Disney calls lots of things attractions, but that one subset is "rides"?

 

[SmithSmith]

Jennytoon,

I always love reading what you have to say and this time was no different.
Thanks for taking the time to write a fabulous trip report!

 

[tlmadden73]

Glad to see a positive experience from FP+.

I found it very helpful to "roughly" sketch out your day. As long as you leave enough time between fast passes .. you can be spontaneous in between .. see shows .. go on a standby ride .. grab some food, etc.

It was also helpful (having a 2 year old) to know we didn't have to get there at rope drop and still have a short wait on a major ride shortly after the park opened (the Safari for example at AK).

I don't really see the problem with it besides the fact you have your park day locked in many days in advance with no flexibility for weather or just changing your mind mid-trip.

 

[cakebaker]

I don't disagree that Disney calls them "attractions", but the problem was that one poster refused to recognize a distinction between "rides" and other types of attractions.

Ummm, no I didn't. I said they're all attractions, some of them are quite different than others.

This was in response to a poster who completely discounted any attraction that was not what could be classified as a ride. So let's keep my comments in context please.

 

[itchin2go]

Ummm, no I didn't. I said they're all attractions, some of them are quite different than others.
This was in response to a poster who completely discounted any attraction that was not what could be classified as a ride. So let's keep my comments in context please.

Really?

Whether some of these can be called "rides" or "attractions" is irrelevant. I don't get your point either way.

I don't either and just for the record, Disney refers to all activities whether it's a "ride" or a show - Tiki Room, Hall of Presidents or RRC, as attractions. Disney doesn't do "rides".

Semantics. We all know what DisneyJediMaster was talking about. Even the youngest Disney fans among us know the difference in a ride and some sort of other attraction.

I disagree, it's not semantics. It's mindset, a way of thinking and one I admire Disney for a great deal. It's what makes them more than an amusement park. But I'm old school Disney and I don't expect everyone to get it.

We all know the difference between a ride and another type of attraction. To pretend you don't or that I'm "less Disney" or that I "don't get it" is just picking a fight over nothing. I'm sure that's not what you're trying to do.

Actually, seems like you're trying to pick a fight. They are all attractions- you may like one better than the other, but they're all attractions. RRC is quite different from The Hall of Presidents- but they are both attractions and in this case, the person was trying to discount any activity that was done that they didn't classify as a ride in his opinion, and I think that's inaccurate.

You are free to disagree, but I see no need to start throwing labels out and get insulting. Disney calls them all attractions. They're all quite different than the others, but it shortchanges attractions such as TOT when it's called a ride. In my book ( and in Disney's)- there are no rides at WDW. You are free to disagree if you want, but the only one getting snippy here is you. I am done.

 

[Jennytoon]

Cake, Itchin -- I enjoy both of your posts tremendously. But please let this rest. Or if you can't, take it to a PM.

I'm happy that people have reported they've found my experiences useful, and I'd hate for the thread to die an ignominious death getting locked by the mods after a slugfest over who said what and meant what about rides vs. attractions. Especially since I don't think any of us really are arguing anything (aside from what people said or didn't say) that everyone doesn't agree with.

 

[itchin2go]

Cake, Itchin -- I enjoy both of your posts tremendously. But please let this rest. Or if you can't, take it to a PM.

I'm happy that people have reported they've found my experiences useful, and I'd hate for the thread to die an ignominious death getting locked by the mods after a slugfest over who said what and meant what about rides vs. attractions. Especially since I don't think any of us really are arguing anything (aside from what people said or didn't say) that everyone doesn't agree with.

Sorry - you got it!

 

[mesaboy2]

Cake, Itchin -- I enjoy both of your posts tremendously. But please let this rest. Or if you can't, take it to a PM.

I'm happy that people have reported they've found my experiences useful, and I'd hate for the thread to die an ignominious death getting locked by the mods after a slugfest over who said what and meant what about rides vs. attractions. Especially since I don't think any of us really are arguing anything (aside from what people said or didn't say) that everyone doesn't agree with.

Here's my burning question. Why are there hyphens all over your subject line?

For the record, I've enjoyed reading about your experience also.

 

[Jennytoon]

Here's my burning question. Why are there hyphens all over your subject line?

For the record, I've enjoyed reading about your experience also.

Embarrassing but I'll own to it -- I wanted to make a connection with Hydroguy's post (as I said in my opening paragraph) so I made my subject like his but a bit different. But when I copied and pasted from his thread I did it out of the URL instead of the post itself, and then didn't notice or correct the hyphens because I was slightly in a hurry to get it posted before I went to work on Monday because I wanted to do it while it was all still fresh in my mind. Oops.

 

[mesaboy2]

No worries, just wondering how that happened! You can edit your title if you like (I really don't care, by the way) under Thread Tools.

 

[Jennytoon]

No worries, just wondering how that happened! You can edit your title if you like (I really don't care, by the way) under Thread Tools.

Great, thanks for the tip. Most of the (few) forums I've been active on before, if you messed up a title you were stuck with it, so it never even occurred to me to look.

 

[mesaboy2]

Great, thanks for the tip. Most of the (few) forums I've been active on before, if you messed up a title you were stuck with it, so it never even occurred to me to look.

I edit the one pointed at by my purple link all the time. Easier I think with the updated board software.

 

[trainingupmy4princes]

Hi Astridia,

Yes, we will be back in August. Perhaps I wasn't clear in my initial writing, but the comment about "waiting around" was based on everyone being already tired and wanting to go, and us having a FP+ for a future time. The point I was trying to make was that we were behaving differently with FP+ than FP- for no real reason:

1) In our last visit in 2013, if we had been holding 2:30 FP- for a ride but it was noon and everyone wanted to go, we would have just said we wanted to go and given away those FP
2) In this visit, when everyone wanted to go, they said "we have to wait around for our FP". If they had not wanted to go (as we experienced on other days), they would have said "let's do this or that" instead of "we have to wait around for our FP". So once it became clear that the real problem was that everyone wanted to go, we "gave away" our FP+ by switching them to something not difficult to come by so that our valuable slots would be open for somebody else and left, just as we would have done previously with FP-.

Overall, our family's experience with FP+ was actually pretty positive.

Do you have AP's by any chance or are you buying tickets each trip? I noticed when we went to DL, back when we lived in OR, our first trip we tried to maximize how much we got done as the ticket prices were a good amount of money. When we got AP's and went twice in the next year it was a different mentality. We slept in went to lunch at Blue Bayou watched the parade and let the kids play in the water area at DCA and left one day. We knew we had two trips and also that our cost didn't feel as much since it was spread out. On the first trip only getting 6 attractions done for the cost of a tickets, especially the cost of WDW tickets, would drive my value for money DH nuts. And when we go to WDW it is with just a ticket, not AP's, so this would never work for my family. We are going back in 2016 so I will try and learn the best way to maximize the system as I know we're stuck with FP+. I am glad it's working for some families but my kids would never be happy with just 4 rides in a day.

 

[trainingupmy4princes]

Well it is the best attraction ride experience journey at epcot. Your daughter understands the beauty of figment. Which is good because we need more people liking it so it stays forever.

I wish that they would bring back the original and yes I remember looking forward to the Figment ride when I was younger over anything else at WDW.

 

[Jennytoon]

Do you have AP's by any chance or are you buying tickets each trip? I noticed when we went to DL, back when we lived in OR, our first trip we tried to maximize how much we got done as the ticket prices were a good amount of money. When we got AP's and went twice in the next year it was a different mentality. We slept in went to lunch at Blue Bayou watched the parade and let the kids play in the water area at DCA and left one day. We knew we had two trips and also that our cost didn't feel as much since it was spread out. On the first trip only getting 6 attractions done for the cost of a tickets, especially the cost of WDW tickets, would drive my value for money DH nuts. And when we go to WDW it is with just a ticket, not AP's, so this would never work for my family. We are going back in 2016 so I will try and learn the best way to maximize the system as I know we're stuck with FP+. I am glad it's working for some families but my kids would never be happy with just 4 rides in a day.

Actually we did have AP's this time, but our situation is kind of completely opposite to how you have observed that your family felt.

We have always toured this way (except that we arrived at RD instead of mid-day). We were generally in the parks a max of 4-5 hours a day. We came for 13 nights at a time and bought a 10-day ticket which is the cheapest per day. We managed other choices so that the overall cost was similar to other vacations. We maximized our park time by almost never buying food there, so it usually was more than 6 attractions per day, but I think the key is that we measured the value more by how much we enjoyed the day and not how much of the park we got done. After 7 weeks in the parks over the last 8 years, there are still popular attractions we haven't gotten around to -- and we're OK with that. I am the value for money person in my family, but if we couldn't have made the cost line up with other vacations such as to be satisfied with what we could do on our touring style, we would have picked not coming to Disney as often over spending longer days in the parks.

On the other hand, the fact that we were even there this week *at all* was due to having the AP and DVC. We have always stayed off site, but the last time we bought DVC because of <very long backstory>. Due to the magic of pricing windows and late Labor Day and Cub Scout camp being in the wrong week this year, what would have normally been 13 nights worth of points stretched to 16 nights. After a lot of hemming and hawing, we decided to take advantage of the DVC discount and buy APs. Shortly after, I found that a professional conference that I always attend was being held in Orlando this year. Since we had bought APs my family could come with me for only the additional airfare and food cost. When I realized it was the last week of Flower & Garden and the first week of SWW, neither of which we thought we would ever see because we would have to pull the kids out of school, it seemed like a sign from above. So really, this last trip was just a mechanism for getting the maximum possible value out of our expensive APs.

 

[larryz]

So this discussion over vocabulary is kind of silly...

Yes, it is.

Easier I think with the updated board software.

Yes, it is.

 

[momof2n2]

Actually we did have AP's this time, but our situation is kind of completely opposite to how you have observed that your family felt.

We have always toured this way (except that we arrived at RD instead of mid-day). We were generally in the parks a max of 4-5 hours a day. We came for 13 nights at a time and bought a 10-day ticket which is the cheapest per day. We managed other choices so that the overall cost was similar to other vacations. We maximized our park time by almost never buying food there, so it usually was more than 6 attractions per day, but I think the key is that we measured the value more by how much we enjoyed the day and not how much of the park we got done. After 7 weeks in the parks over the last 8 years, there are still popular attractions we haven't gotten around to -- and we're OK with that. I am the value for money person in my family, but if we couldn't have made the cost line up with other vacations such as to be satisfied with what we could do on our touring style, we would have picked not coming to Disney as often over spending longer days in the parks.

On the other hand, the fact that we were even there this week *at all* was due to having the AP and DVC. We have always stayed off site, but the last time we bought DVC because of <very long backstory>. Due to the magic of pricing windows and late Labor Day and Cub Scout camp being in the wrong week this year, what would have normally been 13 nights worth of points stretched to 16 nights. After a lot of hemming and hawing, we decided to take advantage of the DVC discount and buy APs. Shortly after, I found that a professional conference that I always attend was being held in Orlando this year. Since we had bought APs my family could come with me for only the additional airfare and food cost. When I realized it was the last week of Flower & Garden and the first week of SWW, neither of which we thought we would ever see because we would have to pull the kids out of school, it seemed like a sign from above. So really, this last trip was just a mechanism for getting the maximum possible value out of our expensive APs.

I'm quoting the whole thing because editing on a phone is a headache. But I wanted to pipe in that measuring value IS different for each family, and you did a good job articulating how you measure it for your family. My best friend and her DH do things similarly and we shared one very awkward vacation together to Sesame Place. We both were astounded the other family didn't tour similarly, each thinking the logic behind our strategies was perfectly the norm.

I thing members of this board (no one in particular) often forget how differently some may approach the parks. Occasionally folks come across as dismissive of touring patterns different than their own. Thank you for describing yours specifically and understanding it is different for some.

It is different for us. We go five park days spread over 10-15 days. Each day is RD to being kicked out and never with a break. My brain computes it to cost-per-hour. On top of that, we do like to do wall-to-wall rides, as well as some attractions. Return on investment for us is clearly in quantity - which then translates into quality for us.