Curious how FP+ has changed your touring style, if at all?

[itchin2go]

Before FP+ we didn't always stay CL and the fastpasses were not as critical for our park days, they were a nice bonus. Now, I know 60 days ahead of time what FP we will have and in which park so the anytime/anywhere passes are even more valuable. To us. So we will only book club level. And we will VIP tour again.

Then, I'd say the change from legacy to FP+ was an expensive one for you.

Last trip, we did book a throwaway room so we did incur that extra expense. It seemed worth it at the time, but I'm not sure now. Still mulling over whether we need to do that for our next trip.

 

[Lisaloo]

Then, I'd say the change from legacy to FP+ was an expensive one for you.

Last trip, we did book a throwaway room so we did incur that extra expense. It seemed worth it at the time, but I'm not sure now. Still mulling over whether we need to do that for our next trip.

This isn't the budget board and I wasn't asking for advice on how to save and scrimp, I was answering the question the same as everyone else. For some reason, it elicited quite a few responses. Hmmm.

 

[richmo]

I like OP's idea of finishing a day at Epcot. Haven't really thought about it a lot, but one of my favorite things to do at WDW is finishing a night in World Showcase. Don't need any rides; its just a great atmosphere.

As far as changes, having FP+ probably changes my AK or DHS days the most. Since neither is a full day for me, I like to combine the two into one day: hit AK early (not necessarily rope drop) and do standby, then use my FP+'s at DHS late afternoon/early evening. That may all change once AK has night options and Pandora and DHS uses up some of the property that is presently idle.

Another change, and a good one, is the time less spent zigzagging for paper fastpasses. I never really minded doing it...I'd let the family go do something else in a park while I obtained FP's, but the time not spent doing that should be considered.

On the minus side, I'd say the only park I miss having more FP's is Magic Kingdom. Yes, you can get a fourth (or more), but the process of doing that is a bit of a pain.

 

[avic77]

I have not been since FP+ launched but I can see it will change our strategy some.
60 days out: pick 3 rides per day in park of choice
Day of ride rides with FP+, enjoy rides without FP if lines are manageable, no need to send anyone on crazy fast pass sprint. Enjoy our vacation.

 

[itchin2go]

This isn't the budget board and I wasn't asking for advice on how to save and scrimp, I was answering the question the same as everyone else. For some reason, it elicited quite a few responses. Hmmm.

Sorry if I offended. If it elicited a few responses, it's probably because, with the exception of the folks who said they cancelled their trips and won't go anymore, your changes are some of the more, for want of a better word, extreme that I've seen. As I've said, money aside, booking VIP is certainly an effective strategy for mitigating against any ill effects of the new system. Based on what I've read here, it doesn't appear to be a common strategy. So, that's probably why people have been curious, asked questions, etc. It's more ... notable than someone saying they park hop more, or sleep in more. That's all.

 

[itchin2go]

As far as changes, having FP+ probably changes my AK or DHS days the most. Since neither is a full day for me, I like to combine the two into one day: hit AK early (not necessarily rope drop) and do standby, then use my FP+'s at DHS late afternoon/early evening. That may all change once AK has night options and Pandora and DHS uses up some of the property that is presently idle.

This is something I'm considering for our next trip. It will mean adding hoppers, which we typically don't do, though. But if hoppers didn't cost more, that would definitely be what we'd do.

 

[LOL!]

I like OP's idea of finishing a day at Epcot. Haven't really thought about it a lot, but one of my favorite things to do at WDW is finishing a night in World Showcase. Don't need any rides; its just a great atmosphere.

I like that idea too. I don't know that we ever really had a touring strategy before, so I think FP+ has motivated us to have one now. In fact, I think you just about have to even if that strategy is nothing more than deciding what time you are reserving your FP's for.

 

[Geoff_M]

The biggest change for us was that for the first time since they rolled out MYW ticketing we did NOT spring for the Park Hopper option. So, Disney got a little less money out of us this time around versus what they would have received. Since you are limited to FPs in a single park, we didn't see going to another park like we used to.

For us the pros/cons were:

Pro:
- It was nice not having to make a dash for a FP at rope drop for things like TSM
- It was nice that we didn't have to be at rope drop, if we didn't want to be (though we did so for all but one day because you STILL can get so much done in the first couple of hours after opening).

Cons:
- I don't like having to lock into a given park 60 days ahead of time. Lucky, we didn't have any majorly rainy days that would have necessitated re-arranging the schedule to go to a "rain friendly" park. In past years, We've had a framework of what parks we wanted to do each day, but would leave the final decision to the night before based on current conditions and what we had gotten done on previous days. That's all gone now.
- The 4th FP+ is basically a joke. When we checked, the only FP+s left were for things that were already walk-ons. I never kept track before, but I'm pretty sure that we routinely pulled FPs for more than three attractions per day in each park in the past... and it wasn't for things like Barnstromer or Living With The Land.
- The Tiering system in Epcot stinks. It has three major Tier I attractions that are on almost everyone's "must do" list... and you only can pick ONE! Sure, you can "rope drop" a 2nd attraction... but you'll likely have to go SB for the 3rd or hope you'll be there for a 2nd day. We used to be able to do all three using rope drop & FP on the same day in the past.
- We agree with the observations made by others that FP+ often results in longer waits for both FP and SB lines at some attractions. In past visits we've never waited 30 minutes to ride Soarin' with a FP, for example... we did so both times we rode it this trip. We also noted that the FP+ queue for Peter Pan was often well out beyond the end of the queue chains. The first time we went to get into it, I thought it was the SB line!

 

[Nancyg56]

Sounds like FP+ changed your lodging preference, not your touring style. In fact, your touring style may not have changed at all if extra FP's were necessary. I agree that making oneself visible to staff by tipping heavily could lead to extra considerations but I wouldn't bank on them to continue.

I agree. A change in touring is far different than a change in resort levels, additional spending, and VIP tours.

I think that while you are enjoying the same toying plan, yoy have changed the cost and the way you stay, which is not something everyone can affird or is willing to do. I also think that tipping the staff is fine but please do not let anyone know if you tip the CL people. If they accept the money they must turn it over to their manager who pools it for a group treat. They are told they MUST refuse three times. Their jobs depend on doing this, so if the management thinks they are "selling" perks, it will be frowned upon. Please be careful of these kind people

 

[Jennytoon]

We have been in August around this same time in 2009, 2011, and 2013, and also in May of this year.

We are just finishing up a 16 day trip now. Our touring style this time was dramatically different, but not because of FP+:

• We stayed on-site the whole time which we have never done before (we bought DVC when we were here in 2013)
• We have older kids and so we planned more park evenings / different parts of the day than we have done before
• We brought a friend of my daughter's with us instead of just being family
• We ate like we were on the dining plan, instead of eating at least one meal / day in our room
• We had a touring plan where we did not before -- this was not a result of FP+, but a result of having opinionated teens and tweens and therefore having discovered that not having a plan is now a recipe for arguing about what to do.

I posted a lot of this upthread quite a bit, but my reason for returning is to note that while we did a tremendous amount of experimentation with our touring style on this trip, I think the crowds have made far more of a difference to how we have felt about touring the parks than FP+ did. I posted in May when we went with FP+ that it felt "like a normal Disney trip" to us. We noticed the crowds increasing steadily across our years of August trips, but it almost seems like they have gone over a tipping point this trip where they made it physically difficult to get around the park, so that it sometimes felt like work to get from ride to ride, even if when we got there we skimmed right on with our FP. This trip as others we have straddled the break-point where the Southern schools return and the crowds lessen dramatically, and it has been very obvious to us, using the same touring style across this whole trip, how much the last week has felt like our trips of old, where the first week and change seemed to be a somewhat new animal.

Just to be clear, we've had a fantastic time anyway. More downs of our vacation can be attributed to weather or experiments that didn't work out than anything else.

 

[Nancyg56]

We have been in August around this same time in 2009, 2011, and 2013, and also in May of this year.

We are just finishing up a 16 day trip now. Our touring style this time was dramatically different, but not because of FP+:

• We stayed on-site the whole time which we have done before (we bought DVC when we were here in 2013)
• We have older kids and so we planned more park evenings / different parts of the day than we have done before
• We brought a friend of my daughter's with us instead of just being family
• We ate like we were on the dining plan, instead of eating at least one meal / day in our room
• We had a touring plan where we did not before -- this was not a result of FP+, but a result of having opinionated teens and tweens and therefore having discovered that not having a plan is now a recipe for arguing about what to do.

I posted a lot of this upthread quite a bit, but my reason for returning is to note that while we did a tremendous amount of experimentation with our touring style on this trip, I think the crowds have made far more of a difference to how we have felt about touring the parks than FP+ did. I posted in May when we went with FP+ that it felt "like a normal Disney trip" to us. We noticed the crowds increasing steadily across our years of August trips, but it almost seems like they have gone over a tipping point this trip where they made it physically difficult to get around the park, so that it sometimes felt like work to get from ride to ride, even if when we got there we skimmed right on with our FP. This trip as others we have straddled the break-point where the Southern schools return and the crowds lessen dramatically, and it has been very obvious to us, using the same touring style across this whole trip, how much the last week has felt like our trips of old, where the first week and change seemed to be a somewhat new animal.

Just to be clear, we've had a fantastic time anyway. More downs of our vacation can be attributed to weather or experiments that didn't work out than anything else.

We are here now and I think that it is more crowded than the last August trip. I will say tht last October the crowds in the MK and EPcot were horrendous! Like you, any issues we had were not FP+ issues, but had more to do with kids who were tired, and rain the opened up over us! But we are still having a blast!

 

[mickeyluv'r]

I see your point but I have a hard time blaming guests for things disappearing because they didn't keep it a secret.

Try reading: http://www.disboards.com/threads/waking-up-tinkerbell.2407496/

Anyone else remember the (sometimes) comical double bun threads? This one isn't comical, but explains WDW's approach to ending them: http://www.disboards.com/threads/price-of-the-extra-bun-has-soared.2479684/

This is all relevant to FP+, and why WDW went from FP- to FP+.

WDW uses cost analysis and publicity-levels when deciding which changes are worthwhile.

Publicity = change.

 

[mom2rtk]

Try reading: http://www.disboards.com/threads/waking-up-tinkerbell.2407496/

Anyone else remember the (sometimes) comical double bun threads? This one isn't comical, but explains WDW's approach to ending them: http://www.disboards.com/threads/price-of-the-extra-bun-has-soared.2479684/

This is all relevant to FP+, and why WDW went from FP- to FP+.

WDW uses cost analysis and publicity-levels when deciding which changes are worthwhile.

Publicity = change.

I remember those threads. Some of those discussions have been pretty epic.

I'm not sure what you mean about it being relevant in discussing why WDW went from FP- to FP+.

 

[tlmadden73]

The problem I have with FP+ is that most of the attractions you don't need a FP for (depending on crowd levels). So it feels wasted when you get one (60 days in advance) that you didn't need.

Here is what I FPed last week (low crowd levels)
Enchanted Tales with Belle (9:40 am) .. definitely not needed
Peter Pan (10:40) - Needed .. the line for this ride is oddly crazy long for an old dark ride that has constantly loading vehicles.
SDMT - (11:40) .. NEEDED .. but it thunderstormed during our window and we got a "freebie" Fast Pass to come back ANY time until close.

I got a 4th fast pass for Buzz Lightyear for 7:30 pm, but that wasn't really needed either as the line was like 15 minutes long.


At DHS:
Disney Junior (9:40) .. nope .. they didn't even bother scanning us and the theatre was 1/2 full
TSMM - YEP .. at 10:40 the line was already 60 minutes long. Again .. I'd rather have 3 fast passes for Toy Story than ANYTHING else at the park
Star Wars .. 11:40 - NOPE . .line was walk-on .. did it two times in a row. The standby line the second time through went faster than the previous fast pass line.

So half of my fast passes weren't needed and I could (or should) have used them for other things (but I couldn't at DHS due to tiering).
I enjoyed being able to skip the lines that it was needed, but I would rather have been able to skip those lines AGAIN then skip a line (that wasn't a line).

So knowing how the crowds were that day .. there were so many things I would have done differently.

 

[bluezy]

I *thought* it would make things/planning much worse for us, but it didn't. We were FP- power users and really knew how to use it efficiently so I was really worried about our trip in June (our first with FP+). I always plan what parks we're going to be in what days based on crowd calendars so having to do that for FP+ really wasn't any different than before. We almost always do rope drop once per park per trip along with additional short/half days at EP, DHS, & MK. FP+ eliminated our need for a FP runner. We would spend the first hour or 2 riding things standby and have our first scheduled FP+ for approx. 10:00-11:00 a.m. We'd use our 3 FP's and schedule another one before heading out of the park for a break. We'd return in the evening and spend a few more hours in the park either getting additional FP's or just riding standby. Without even trying, we set our record for the most FP's ever used in MK for our family. We used 10 FP+'s on our full day at MK in June (crowd level 8). The most we had ever used before was 7 (with FP-). If we hadn't taken a 5-hour break in the afternoon, we could have easily used another 5 or 6 (at least) during that time. Our longest s/b wait that week was 20 minutes and our longest FP+ wait was about 12 minutes at Soarin' (the standby wait at that time was 65 minutes). The biggest plus for us was that we knew we had a FP for 3 rides that we wanted to do at each park and we could focus on doing the standby lines first thing in the morning without having to worry about sending some one for FP's and not knowing what time those FP's would be for. The stress was taken care of 60 days before we even arrived in the parks. And we found that we could still be as spontaneous as we were on previous trips. While we always know what park we're starting at each day, we never know where we're ending (with the exception of MK -- we know we always spend a full day there).

 

[disneyjunkie]

Try reading: http://www.disboards.com/threads/waking-up-tinkerbell.2407496/

Anyone else remember the (sometimes) comical double bun threads? This one isn't comical, but explains WDW's approach to ending them: http://www.disboards.com/threads/price-of-the-extra-bun-has-soared.2479684/

This is all relevant to FP+, and why WDW went from FP- to FP+.

WDW uses cost analysis and publicity-levels when deciding which changes are worthwhile.

Publicity = change.

I really wish people would stop yapping about all of the tricks/extras/pixie dust... As soon as the masses find out the tricks, then things change.

I loved the old FP system. We only visit during school breaks. So knowing how to use the old system was a huge perk for us. We had no problem riding headliners in 4 or more times a day. We didn't have to spend hours standing in line in order to do so. As a matter of fact, we refused to wait more than 20 minutes for any ride.

This new system has changed that. This time around, we only able to get 3 rides on 2 headliners. We were not able to ride TT or Soaring. We were there during Easter week. Most of our trips have been during Easter. The crowds never impacted our touring style in the pass. FP+ knocked us on our butts.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

I'm not sure what you mean about it being relevant in discussing why WDW went from FP- to FP+.

Well I don't work in a Disney board room, so I can't say for sure, but I'm pretty sure all changes at WDW involve careful analysis. That's about all I was saying. Publicity matters.

If one person complains about x (or does x), it's probably not worth fixing. If a 1,000 people complain about x (or use x strategy to avoid a fee), then the value of making a change goes up.

 

[mesaboy2]

Well I don't work in a Disney board room, so I can't say for sure, but I'm pretty sure all changes at WDW involve careful analysis. That's about all I was saying. Publicity matters.

If one person complains about x (or does x), it's probably not worth fixing. If a 1,000 people complain about x (or use x strategy to avoid a fee), then the value of making a change goes up.

I thought that too, and then I saw the poop desserts at AK.

 

[Magpie]

FP + definitely enhanced our touring style.

We like to hit one park at rope drop, return to our rooms for a midday nap, and see another park in the evening. In the past, by the time we got to our evening park, all the legacy FPs were gone, so we generally only rode the "anytime" rides like Peoplemover (which, admittedly, is awesome in the dark!).

These days, I swing between booking our FPs for the evening (yay, for walking into HS at 4pm and straight onto TSM!). Or else I use them in the morning to get "extra" rides - Rope Drop Soarin', Single Rider Test Track, and FP a second Soarin', making for one very, very happy husband. Things will likely shift up again when Animal Kingdom is no longer the park you can go to at 4pm and walk onto everything until it closes at 6pm. But I'm confident in my ability to adapt.

For me, it was a real thrill getting to ride BTMRR at night, and I have FP+ to thank for that!

I've always picked my parks months ahead, based on EasyWDW's crowd calendars, so it's no hassle for me. I enjoy making our FP+ selections 60 days out and plugging them into a beautiful spreadsheet that I will then periodically ogle over the next few weeks, dreaming of our vacation. My husband also likes to know how many times we'll be in a particular park, and when. Neither of us are particularly keen on "spontaneity", except in the sense of, "Hey, let's stop and listen to these street performers! We've got plenty of time, since our FP+ window won't expire for another 45 minutes." That's us, being spontaneous.

 

[Lucius Best]

Well I don't work in a Disney board room, so I can't say for sure, but I'm pretty sure all changes at WDW involve careful analysis.

"careful analysis"