Is FP+ forcing people into the parks?

[hookedonears]

It just seems to me that the parks have become much more crowded since the introduction of FP+. The question is why? I'm sure there are several reasons, but 2 that stick out for me I believe are 1, Locals/Florida Pass holders, who in the past would have stayed away from the parks during certain times of the week/month/year, because of crowds, are now going because of FP+, and 2, people who in the past who planned down days away from the parks, are now feeling more obligated to go to the parks everyday, to use their FP's. What ever the reasons are, the parks unfortunately seem to be much more crowded since we've started going regularly as a family 18 years ago.

 

[BarbieGal457]

To me it honestly feels the same. Maybe FP usage is up, but I feel that they've promoted FP+ A LOT more than the legacy FP, which I would run into people who either had no idea about it at all or thought you had to pay. Maybe now that people know about it and you're able to schedule them in a way that doesn't force you to be there at 8am or miss out on the headliners for the whole day results in people coming to the parks a bit later in the day and staying for longer instead of coming for the morning and taking afternoon breaks. Since the introduction of FP+ we definitely wake up later and take more time in the morning because we now know we aren't going to miss FPs for any headliners we really want to do, since we already have them set up. FP+ definitely does not make me feel any more obligated to go to the parks than legacy FP did - in fact, as I said, it makes me feel a lot freer and even less obligated to get up and go go go or risk huge lines for the big names.

I also go at historically busy times of the year, so I can see how if someone goes at what is (was) a historically slower time, things could seem a lot busier. I'm used to crazy summer and holiday crowds so maybe my perception is off!

 

[Planogirl]

My thinking is that we can also arrive early to ride a few rides and then ride FP+ rides and be done by lunch. Then we can go elsewhere. We are doing this the day of the Christmas party for example. We'll be in and out of Animal Kingdom and then we can relax or shop in the afternoon before we head to the party.

I guess that my point is that we do feel more compelled to do our rides but only for part of the day. Maybe more people are showing up for at least part of the day?

 

[Nancyg56]

I don't think so. I think that Disney is doing a better job of getting more guests to visit, and they are working hard to educate guests to use FP+. I never was told by a CM when I called to make sure I checked into the FP attractions to get one, But I think not a call goes by that the CM does not at least mention FP+ and booking dining. I think that in general, more people are using advanced booking options and that impacts the lines as well as the ability to book ADR's.

 

[Nancyg56]

I wanted to add that I think for many, FP+ is allowing folks who used to feel trapped into arriving at RD, and then waiting til their FP option at 2:45 on ToT was used before they could leave. Now folks can actually plan when to arrive and about when to leave depending on what they want to accomplish on any given day. I'm not sure if this is what Disney wanted when they introduced the system, but for my family, we are in the parks for what we want now, and really are not killing time by shopping or eating. We schedule that too! OL!

 

[grimley1968]

We just got back from a week's stay last night. For us, FP+ drove us OUT of the parks. We did the FP+ rides we had reservations for, and then the lines were so ridiculously long at rides that never needed FP's before this system that we mostly gave up and went back to the resort. "Killing time" is okay to a certain extent in the parks, but I'd prefer to be killing time by actually experiencing the lesser attractions than trying to look at the overpriced trinkets in the gift shops because Under the Sea has a 45-minute wait.

 

[larryz]

1, Locals/Florida Pass holders, who in the past would have stayed away from the parks during certain times of the week/month/year, because of crowds, are now going because of FP+...

I agree -- do the "Three and Flee" and then go spend the rest of the day doing something else...

 

[BrianL]

Blame the recovering economy really. and the Disney marketing department. Like it or not, they've made something that nearly everyone wants to visit, and as more people can afford to do it, you can bet that they will. FP+ is more like a response to high crowds. It's an attempt to "direct the traffic" so to speak. Whether it's doing a great job of that is up for debate, but that was definitely one of it's purposes.

 

[Dis703]

I really don't think the crowds have much to do with FP+. I think like pp said the economy is recovering and the park attendance has consistently been increasing over the past several years. That said I can't say that I've really noticed any significant change during our trips. We go during generally average or perhaps slightly below average crowd levels and it seems about the same for us from year to year.

I can't really see FP+ as being a draw in and of itself.

 

[starsweeper]

We just returned from a fall break trip. It was definitely much more crowded than fall break 2013. Whether that's due to more schools having a fall break, people showing up to use FP+ or just a general increase in crowds, I'm not sure. I just know we were ready to leave the parks by 1-2pm instead of 3-4pm due to the crowds and lines for lesser attractions. If the intent of FP+ was to get people to stay in the park longer, it did the opposite for us this trip.

 

[hookedonears]

Blame the recovering economy really. and the Disney marketing department. Like it or not, they've made something that nearly everyone wants to visit, and as more people can afford to do it, you can bet that they will. FP+ is more like a response to high crowds. It's an attempt to "direct the traffic" so to speak. Whether it's doing a great job of that is up for debate, but that was definitely one of it's purposes.

Recovering economy? I guess I've missed that somewhere.

 

[nilla]

Recovering economy? I guess I've missed that somewhere.

Have you visited Walt Disney World recently?

 

[5kidsmommy]

Just google WDW attendance, more people, a lot more people are going to Disney. I think that has little to do with FP+, it's just more people going, also gas prices are down which makes travel costs lower for many people.

 

[5Hfan]

To my un educated eye it seems like fast pass plus encourages a lot more waiting/milling around, not shopping and dining "instead". Plus stopping to check the wait times and plans and read an email now that Space Mt is down and the fast pass window is open. I know we often don't try to fit anything but a small snack or bathroom break between a fast pass, and if ride lines are 45-60, don't want to "risk" missing a fast pass when the line is longer or breaks down (talking about you Pirates). So I think a lot of people just sort of wait. Which leads to the really crowded feeling walk ways. I mean the area outside of Pirates is very wide, yet seems to be filled to the brim more often than not! And I don't know, but the gift shops have seemed like ghost shops...

I do like the feature on MDE with the wait times grouped with short, moderate, long waits, that really seems like it should help balance some lines.

But it also makes sense that more people would sleep in or decide on a whim to go to the park because they know they have 3 rides...vs before if you missed RD you knew there wasn't any point to going to HS if you really really wanted to not wait hours on end for TSM, RnR and TofT.

 

[DebbieB]

Recovering economy? I guess I've missed that somewhere.

I don't want to turn this political but have you noticed the lowest unemployment rate in years? Low gas prices? Housing recovery? It was announced this weekend that social security would not be getting a raise in 2016 because inflation is stable. Not saying who gets credit, but the economy is definitely in better shape.

 

[larryz]

Jiminy Crickets...

 

[Chelley00]

We just got back from a week's stay last night. For us, FP+ drove us OUT of the parks. We did the FP+ rides we had reservations for, and then the lines were so ridiculously long at rides that never needed FP's before this system that we mostly gave up and went back to the resort.

This happened to us last year. We found ourselves doing our 3 fastpasses and then heading back to the resort to swim instead of waiting around to do lesser rides with really long waits.

 

[cakebaker]

I think fp+ is a result of the increase in guests not the cause of them.

 

[Canuck16]

It just seems to me that the parks have become much more crowded since the introduction of FP+. The question is why? I'm sure there are several reasons, but 2 that stick out for me I believe are 1, Locals/Florida Pass holders, who in the past would have stayed away from the parks during certain times of the week/month/year, because of crowds, are now going because of FP+, and 2, people who in the past who planned down days away from the parks, are now feeling more obligated to go to the parks everyday, to use their FP's. What ever the reasons are, the parks unfortunately seem to be much more crowded since we've started going regularly as a family 18 years ago.

I don't know if FP+ is the cause or not. DLR still has FP- and the crowd levels there are increasing as well.

 

[hakepb]

I think FP+ And expensive tickets keep more people in the parks when it rains instead of the old mass exodus.