For those who think only DISers hate FP+, check their Facebook page

[Jennasis]

Wow. I couldn't get past the first minute of that commercial. Beyond stupid. AND it simply points out the loss of spontaneity that "locking it in" creates in life.

 

[JanaDee]

That is the worst thing they could do. Better to respond to their customers with how it will get better

They could, but how will it get better? I mean that seriously. If FP+ stays as is, how will it improve or get better? It won't.

The app is (still) a mess and has been since day one. MDE is a mess and has been since day one (a couple? few? years ago). WDW has sunk 2 billion dollars into a system their IT can not support. That was a major concern from the very beginning with FP+.

Their silence is shouting what they aren't willing to confirm in any other form. FP+ is not the success they gambled on it being.

 

[Pooksie]

Surprised at the negative feedback they are allowing to be posted.

For a large corporation like Disney, it's just water over the frog's back.

They will note the positive comments for marketing purposes, and ignore the negative comments with nary a response. If pushed, they might say they are considering them for possible future adjustments.

They are smart enough to know that it's in their best interest to let people vent. It makes people feel better to get their say in. If they suppress the negative comments, it would just cause ill will and they are smart enough not to do that. They also know that people are much quicker to condemn than to praise. Ultimately Disney's master plan will continue unimpeded.

 

[Spriesty]

Maybe I look at Disney differently than some but relaxing is not a term I often use when describing a WDW vacation to others. The beach and relaxation yes. Theme parks and relaxation no.

I don't go there to relax. But I also don't go there to schedule every minute of the day or be "locked in" to every aspect they offer -- meals, shows, rides, etc.

 

[DividedSky]

people generally don't take the time to give positive feedback. when they are mad, they want to share it. when they are happy, they just think things are how they should be.

so this really isn't newsworthy or meaningful in any way shape or form

but carry one

 

[ktlm]

As a former fastpass "runner" I can tell you that I felt much more rushed trying to move from one place to another under this new system than I ever did under the old one when trying to make fastpass+ appointments and dining reservations.

I felt very rushed on our last trip which was in November. Locked-in is actually the perfect word for how I felt .

I absolutely agree. That is how we felt too. The only thing I liked about FP+ was not having to leave my family upon park entry to make that first FP run of the day, and that was pretty great-- but I would gladly give it up and take that morning run back to have regular FP again. Towards the end of the week, we gave up trying to run place to place for FP+, and just relied on the old system unless FP+ happened to be convenient. Now, there is no more ability to do that.

But if we already have our FP+ appointment and our dining reservations set, then why would there be a rush? We know where we want to be and when...

We go at least once a year (or we did until this year), and I spent 3 hours at home tweaking FP+ to be sure to get it where I thought we would be in the park at any given time of the day. It didn't work. I thought I had a good idea of where we would be when as we are regular visitors, but we still found ourselves having to rush to criss-cross the park to make our FP+ times. Planning your day 60 days in advance is very difficult- and don't count on being able to change your times on MDE in the parks either. MDE flat out glitched and didn't work much at all for us in the parks. Now that FP+ is for everyone, I think the times are going to be like ADRs even if MDE does work in the parks. With everyone having to guess what they want to do 60 days in advance or first thing when they hit a park, there isn't going to be the availability to change. You are truly going to be LOCKED in.


Instead of being able to pull FPs as your day goes on and depending on the areas where your day takes you, you are absolutely locked into certain times. There is no more going to tomorrow land, seeing the line for Space Mountain is 40 minutes, but you can get a FP that kicks in a hour later, and grabbing the FP and getting other things in Tommorrowland done while you wait for the FP to kick in. Now, lets say you had plans to do Fantasyland and the Circus area and then move over to Tomorrowland to do Space Mountain, so you planned your FP+ for when you thought you would get over there... but it turned out the line for Pooh and another couple of attractions was longer than you expected, your child wanted to ride Small World twic,e you decided to stop and meet Peter Pan, it took you forever to drag your youngest out of the Dumbo play area and suddenly, you are not quite ready to head over to Tomorrowland because you have more of Fantasyland to do- but that FP+ time is looming over you, and it is your only time of the day to do Space Mountain without a line and you have no opportunity to send someone to get a fast pass to do it later and give you more time. In current times, you have to drop everything and book it over there to use your FP+. In prior times, you could monitor when the FPs kicked in and time it as your day progressed, or you could grab FPs and if the time didn't turn out to work for you, you could find a family and give them those FPs (which always made people happy) and grab new FP for a better time for you. That's over-- The term LOCKED in the commercial is very accurate- WDW is LOCKING you into what they want.

Here is an example of something that happened on our trip. DD spotted Sophia and that was suddenly the most important thing to her for the day. We got in line, 3 groups before the line got cut off, and the line didn't really look that huge but as we stood there it became clear (as verified by a CM) that the line was almost an hour long. This was going to cause us trouble making our Star Tours FP+ time before the window expired which was where we were headed when Sophia suddenly became the most important thing to DD. We couldn't ride Star Tours and come back because the Sophia line was cut off. We couldn't catch Sophia in her later meet and greet and wait in a line that long again because we had our day scheduled with an ADR and show times for B&B and Indy, and by the time we did that, Sophia would be done for the day. Couldn't get the FP+ changed on MDE because after multiple glitches it told us there was nothing available the rest of the day for Star Tours (and then when I tried to give up and make it for something else- it would not let me). So, I grabbed our KTTW cards, went down to Star Tours, and found paper FPs available for 40 minutes out. Grabbed the paper fast passes (which can no longer be done) and went back to Sophia. Finished Sophia and went back to Star Tours and used the FPs. With no more FP-, either I would have had to have dragged DD out of the Sophia line and told her she could not meet her, or we would have taken our chances on stand by as we couldn't make FP+. We no longer have the ability to pull a FP- based on our day.

Also, I think where a lot of times people would NOT pull FPs because they would get to a certain ride and find they really didn't need them (at least I know that is what we did- if the line was 30 minutes or less, we generally just got in it)- now everyone feels compelled to pull and have 3 FP+. As such, where you used to find FP available, now everyone is going to LOCK in early, so the availability day of is going to be extremely limited. Even if MDE works in the parks, I don't think being able to make changes is going to be likely because where you used to have a situation were some people had 1 FP, some had none- now everyone is holding 3 from the outset.

 

[kmarie99]

people generally don't take the time to give positive feedback. when they are mad, they want to share it. when they are happy, they just think things are how they should be.

so this really isn't newsworthy or meaningful in any way shape or form

but carry one

 

[Momtomouselover]

It sounds like (for now anyways) that you can only sit and enjoy that waffle if you are an onsite vacationer, pre bought tickets, and are happy with only one FP ride on TSMM and two lesser attractions, and/or going at slower times, or busy time but managed to book it before they run out..yada, yada, restrictions and limitations but yes you are "locked in"!

 

[Laketravis]

That is the worst thing they could do. Better to respond to their customers with how it will get better

Unless this is as good as it gets

 

[Mkrop]

That is the worst commercial ever. Even if you were forced to come up with positives for FP+, "locked in" isn't one of them. They are confusing what is a benefit for them as a business with what is a benefit as a consumer.

If anything, you would want to say how it can help make a vacation more leisurely or something.

I just showed the commercial to DH and DS16 and we all declared that to be the worst commercial ever.

It is still on Facebook.

 

[surferdave]

But if we already have our FP+ appointment and our dining reservations set, then why would there be a rush? We know where we want to be and when...

There is no rush if your next appointment is not very soon, in a place that you can get to fairly quickly from your current activity, and your current activity isn't falling behind schedule. That didn't seem to always work out for us, especially when it was dependent on Disney dining establishments or transportation.

If you spread out 3 Fastpass Plus attractions and a couple of dining reservations enough to feel confident that you can make them all then that can be your whole day in the park with little margin for doing any other attractions in the park. I felt that it made clock watching more stressful than I wanted a vacation to be, and I never felt that way with the old system.

Unless this is as good as it gets

 

[ArwenMarie]

I think it's natural to want to cluster the FP+s together. While efficient, it added to the rushed feeling for us. I think next time I will space the FPs and ADRs out more, and then do extra stuff in between as we can.

 

[morethananyonex]

The commercials are pretty brutal. There are so many different ways I (someone who dislikes FP+) can think of off the top of my head that they could have done this to make it actually seem appealing. Why are they not placing emphasis on what you can do now that you couldn't do before? I think a universal (not the park haha) perk of FP+ that even people who dislike it can agree with is not having to walk to an attraction to get a FP, and being able to select your own time. Talking about locked in over and over again is IMO a big turn off to people who already thought planning a WDW vacation is complicated. I can't tell you how many eye rolls I've received from family members when they hear about how much planning a Disney trip can have, and that's before FP+!

Like someone said, the emphasis should be on aspects of the system that help guests have a more relaxing vacation, while still being able to get lots done. Locking in is a Disney perk, not a guest one. The non DIS WDW population is likely full of people who absolutely do not want to plan their vacations in depth like "locking in" causes you to. Also, I think it's pretty funny that they liken locking yourself into a FP at a Disney park to locking yourself into winning lottery numbers. I don't know about some of you guys, but I'll gladly give up my locked in FP for those locked in numbers

The way they're emphasizing the locked in aspect of everything has me suspicious that once it is all said and done there won't be tons of in park flexibility. Hope I'm wrong.

 

[Eastern]

Instead of the whole FP+ picking system, they should just make the headliners (TT, Soarin, TSM, Peter Pan, Enchanted Tales?) FP+

Those are the rides people are fighting over. Making FP+ for most of the other rides is a colossal waste of time.

 

[xie]

There is no rush if your next appointment is not very soon, in a place that you can get to fairly quickly from your current activity, and your current activity isn't falling behind schedule. That didn't seem to always work out for us, especially when it was dependent on Disney dining establishments or transportation.

If you spread out 3 Fastpass Plus attractions and a couple of dining reservations enough to feel confident that you can make them all then that can be your whole day in the park with little margin for doing any other attractions in the park. I felt that it made clock watching more stressful than I wanted a vacation to be, and I never felt that way with the old system.

This was very much our experience as well. This last trip we were there NY week which obviously is peak season, and the standby lines were too long to fit in between FPs and table services. We ended up sitting around a lot cumulatively speaking - in 15 or 45 minute increments here and there where we were "stuck" waiting for the next FP window to open, or a dining reservation.

 

[mom2rtk]

The commercials are pretty brutal. There are so many different ways I (someone who dislikes FP+) can think of off the top of my head that they could have done this to make it actually seem appealing. Why are they not placing emphasis on what you can do now that you couldn't do before? I think a universal (not the park haha) perk of FP+ that even people who dislike it can agree with is not having to walk to an attraction to get a FP, and being able to select your own time. Talking about locked in over and over again is IMO a big turn off to people who already thought planning a WDW vacation is complicated. I can't tell you how many eye rolls I've received from family members when they hear about how much planning a Disney trip can have, and that's before FP+!

Like someone said, the emphasis should be on aspects of the system that help guests have a more relaxing vacation, while still being able to get lots done. Locking in is a Disney perk, not a guest one. The non DIS WDW population is likely full of people who absolutely do not want to plan their vacations in depth like "locking in" causes you to. Also, I think it's pretty funny that they liken locking yourself into a FP at a Disney park to locking yourself into winning lottery numbers. I don't know about some of you guys, but I'll gladly give up my locked in FP for those locked in numbers

The way they're emphasizing the locked in aspect of everything has me suspicious that once it is all said and done there won't be tons of in park flexibility. Hope I'm wrong.

I agree that the term "locking in" can be seen as positive in some light, but negative in others. If I had never been to Disney before and saw a commercial highlighting the "benefit" of locking certain things in, I would immediately start wondering "Why would I need to lock in rides ahead of time? Just hard IS IT to get on those rides?"

 

[*NikkiBell*]

One thing to consider is that people are more likely to post negative comments than positive ones. That's just human nature.

 

[mom2rtk]

Instead of the whole FP+ picking system, they should just make the headliners (TT, Soarin, TSM, Peter Pan, Enchanted Tales?) FP+

Those are the rides people are fighting over. Making FP+ for most of the other rides is a colossal waste of time.

But they have to have SOMETHING to offer when the other rides are full. And those are the very rides most likely to actually fill up.

 

[princessallegra]

Instead of the whole FP+ picking system, they should just make the headliners (TT, Soarin, TSM, Peter Pan, Enchanted Tales?) FP+

Those are the rides people are fighting over. Making FP+ for most of the other rides is a colossal waste of time.

 

[larryz]

No one has used the final form yet, since it's not in it's final form. So not sure what you're trying to say there.

Maybe what they're saying is, it's a good thing that MB/MDE/FP+ is just in testing right now, and no actual vacations have been ruined yet.