LOVE or HATE FP+ Anyone's mind been changed ??

[Belle2009]

I think FastPass+ is the devil. Tomorrow my boyfriend and I are scheduled to fly out at 8 am from Baltimore MD for our first Disney Vacation together. I'm just praying that we get out on time with all this snow, because my first FastPass is at MK for Space Mountain at 12:50 pm. Scheduling all of the FastPasses was a pain in the butt to begin with between considering your ADRs, parades, shows etc. I hate that if for some reason you can't make your scheduled times, those FastPasses are just a lost cause. There is no way I would be able to ride Space Mountain later in the night or get a FastPass for it later in the day. Might try and rearrange my times later, just to be safe. However, we have an ADR at 5:30 pm and Wishes at 8 pm, so once again the constant FastPass Struggle.

During the summer, I visited WDW with my family and we also encountered problems with FastPass+ with rides being broken down. For example, we went to Epcot in the evening and had a Fastpass for Test Track. Well the ride had been broken down all day, so they had been telling everyone who had a FastPass that they could come back at anytime after it was up in running to ride. When they finally got it up and running, it was late in the night and the wait time with all the FastPass+ returners was over an hour. We were able to schedule another FastPass+, but all that was left were dumb rides you didn't need a FastPass for. Even Maelstrom (RIP) was not available. It sucks especially with the Tiers. I hate that I have to pick between Soarin and Test Track when I got to Epcot. Especially in this case, because the ride we picked we couldn't even ride because it was broken down, so it would have been better if we FastPassed Soarin, but how can you predict those things?! You can't!

I hate how planned Disney Vacations have to be now. You can't be spontaneous at all. I've heard from Disney Cast Members that Disney realizes this system is not working, but they spent so much money on this new system that FastPass+ and Magic Bands are here to stay. Also heard that the creator of the Magic Bands was fired because it cost Disney too much money. So alas we are stuck with this shambly FastPass system. I miss the good old days of paper Fastpasses

 

[mom2rtk]

During the summer, I visited WDW with my family and we also encountered problems with FastPass+ with rides being broken down. For example, we went to Epcot in the evening and had a Fastpass for Test Track. Well the ride had been broken down all day, so they had been telling everyone who had a FastPass that they could come back at anytime after it was up in running to ride. When they finally got it up and running, it was late in the night and the wait time with all the FastPass+ returners was over an hour.

At least with legacy FP if the ride went down, they stopped distributing even more FPs while it's down. With FP+ they distribute them for the entire day ahead of time, so no way to make adjustments on the fly when it goes down.

 

[jade1]

It's not about how much time we can spend in the park each day it's about the cost. Between airfare, hotel, food and park tickets we don't have much left over for anything else. So about the only choice we have left is to use our park tickets for Disney World. I'm glad it works the way it does for you but for us we can't afford anything else each day. And we felt like we had to spend more time in the park to get anything done.

My point is if you are visiting and the parks are open 20 hours-FP+ can be helpful to the later in the day visitors than in the past, those peak weeks guests burned through headliner disbursements at an amazing rate. As for slower weeks, much more can be done with either system (than peak) and either or no system is fine with me.

 

[Jennasis]

Using it didn't change my mind. I disliked reserving the passes at 60 days out at 1am (and having the system CRASH about halfway through my reservation making, then by the time it came back online the next morning I couldn't move certain reservations to the times I wanted/needed). I found just picking what I wanted so far in advance to be nerve-wracking. I felt like I was taking the SAT's. But I got what I got and went with it.

In park I felt like I had appointments hanging over my head all day long. I was able to change some on the fly which was nice...and then there were MANY times the app didn't work to allow me to switch. FP reservations would disappear once the window opened so I couldn't change the times. Too few and poorly marked kiosks. If I stumbled across one I considered myself lucky. By the time my third pass was used I felt an overwhelming RELIEF to be rid of the hassle of FP+ for the day.

On our next trip I will try going without them as much as possible.

 

[SeanTomorrow]

I guess you could say I've come around to liking FP.

The old FP- never appealed to me. My family toured old-school with printed-out touring plans from the unofficial guide folks. We had minimal waits, and never once had to think about "optimizing" day-of or sending runners to pick up receipts. (In fact, I felt a little sorry for people spending time at the kiosks). It was like having a tour guide in my pocket who had crunched all the numbers beforehand.

The new FP+ is working well in planning my upcoming trip. I can still rely on my touring plan, and FP+ just opens up options because I don't have to hit the biggest rides first. Most importantly, I don't need to do any "optimizing" when I'm in the park. We'll see how things go during the actual visit, but if lines are long, I'm honestly not sure how I'd be able to tell if that's the fault of FP+ or simply bigger crowds.

I've been reading the other FP fight-club threads with fascination and horror. Why does my experience feel so different than many of the complaints? Here are a few observations:
- I had nothing invested in the old system, so no "who moved my cheese" problem
- I like to have a plan, but place a premium on not re-optimizing while in-park
- "Not in the mood for..." is not in our vocabulary when we're at Disney

But big scheme of things, this is just not a big deal for my family. If all of our dining and FP reservations disappeared, we'd still have a good vacation. If they cut back on FP+ to just one reservation per day, we'd still have a great vacation. If it rained every day, we'd still have a good vacation. If Mickey kicked me in the shin, stole my MB, and then told me I was ugly, I'd still have a good vacation. And probably a good picture, too.

 

[Suvadoo]

Using it didn't change my mind. I disliked reserving the passes at 60 days out at 1am (and having the system CRASH about halfway through my reservation making, then by the time it came back online the next morning I couldn't move certain reservations to the times I wanted/needed). I found just picking what I wanted so far in advance to be nerve-wracking. I felt like I was taking the SAT's. But I got what I got and went with it.

In park I felt like I had appointments hanging over my head all day long. I was able to change some on the fly which was nice...and then there were MANY times the app didn't work to allow me to switch. FP reservations would disappear once the window opened so I couldn't change the times. Too few and poorly marked kiosks. If I stumbled across one I considered myself lucky. By the time my third pass was used I felt an overwhelming RELIEF to be rid of the hassle of FP+ for the day.

On our next trip I will try going without them as much as possible.

This is exactly how I feel! I know that it's only appointments for 3 rides, but it's the perception of having appointments that really bugs me.

 

[trstno1]

I've got mixed feelings about FP+ overall, most of which has already been discussed.

The one thing I don't think I'll ever get over, though, is the opportunity cost of MDX and FP+. It's reported that this system cost 2 billion dollars to implement. For reference, the original Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Islands of Adventure (not including Diagon Alley at Universal Studios) cost $150 million.

I would have much rather had $300-500 million worth of new attractions in each Disney park than any of the benefits I might get from MDX.

*EDIT: I've read that $2 billion number in a couple of different articles, but a New York Times article from 1/2013 estimated it was only $1 billion. That's still the equivalent of at least 1-2 major attractions per park.*

 

[MOmousefan]

We used FP+ for the first time last August. It was a last minute decision involving four adults, a youth, and one toddler. Since the two GDs are Princess fanatics the trip centered around all things Princess. A&E was the big attraction followed by BBB and Princess characters. Getting an early time for E&A was difficult for the six of us, my Daughter worked the system by dividing us up into 2s we got over-lapping times. She also secured Belle, 7DMT, and we saw every Princess with the exception of Jasmin. I hate having to be somewhere at a given time, but with the August crowds FP+ was a lifesaver. A&E was a 240 minute wait at standby. 7DMT was never less than 90 minutes.
We found that other than the top attractions, using FP+ before 9:00 AM was a waste of that FP+. We walked in to M&M at AK, M & Tink at MK, and Dumbo were all walk-ons.
We are going back at the end of April and use FP+ in the mid and later part of the day, counting on a less crowded attendance. I am now a fan of FP+

 

[Angel Ariel]

But if the parks are open from 7AM to 3AM-just when would visit? Can you go 20 hours a day?

I have done RD to Close before. We don't do it multiple days in a row, but we have enjoyed doing just that. Since we only have 4 days in the parks (armed forces salute tx), we want to spend as much time as possible in the parks.

That changed a bit on our 2 trips with DD, but since we had grandparents with us there were still 1 or 2 nights on each trip that we were able to stay out for late EMH while the grandparents took her back to the hotel.

Yes, it's tiring. No, it's not for everyone. But is it something we enjoy when we can? Yep.

 

[jade1]

I have done RD to Close before. We don't do it multiple days in a row, but we have enjoyed doing just that. Since we only have 4 days in the parks (armed forces salute tx), we want to spend as much time as possible in the parks.

That changed a bit on our 2 trips with DD, but since we had grandparents with us there were still 1 or 2 nights on each trip that we were able to stay out for late EMH while the grandparents took her back to the hotel.

Yes, it's tiring. No, it's not for everyone. But is it something we enjoy when we can? Yep.

I have no doubt you visit 20 hours per day, I'm just saying for some of us getting back to the room at 4AM (especially many nights in a row and also leaving the room again at 6AM to make 7AM RD) would put us past the 10AM final dispersed valuable headliner some days.

 

[Angel Ariel]

I have no doubt you visit 20 hours per day, I'm just saying for some of us getting back to the room at 4AM (especially many nights in a row and also leaving the room again at 6AM to make 7AM RD) would put us past the 10AM final dispersed valuable headliner some days.

As I said, we don't do it multiple days in a row either. It's usually followed by a sleep in day.

But "sleeping in" with a toddler is still waking up around 8:30 or so. She doesn't exactly understand the value of sleeping til 10am on occasion We never ran into headliners running out of FP by 10am. 12, maybe, for 1 or 2 rides (TSMM/Soarin usually), but our experience did not have them running out at 10am. AS for MK headliners, those were always available to us well into the afternoon/evening (5-6ish at least, later at times also).

If we had the ability to do 9-10 days in the parks, and were doing more 1/2 days in the parks than full days I would likely have a much different opinion of FP+. We definitely saw the benefit of it for days that we weren't able to be in the park all day. Unfortunately, for us, the benefit for those days does not outweigh the negative impact it had on the other days and we don't have the ability to take longer vacations (for a multitude of reasons, budget being the least of them).

 

[jade1]

As I said, we don't do it multiple days in a row either. It's usually followed by a sleep in day.

But "sleeping in" with a toddler is still waking up around 8:30 or so. She doesn't exactly understand the value of sleeping til 10am on occasion We never ran into headliners running out of FP by 10am. 12, maybe, for 1 or 2 rides (TSMM/Soarin usually), but our experience did not have them running out at 10am. AS for MK headliners, those were always available to us well into the afternoon/evening (5-6ish at least, later at times also).

If we had the ability to do 9-10 days in the parks, and were doing more 1/2 days in the parks than full days I would likely have a much different opinion of FP+. We definitely saw the benefit of it for days that we weren't able to be in the park all day. Unfortunately, for us, the benefit for those days does not outweigh the negative impact it had on the other days and we don't have the ability to take longer vacations (for a multitude of reasons, budget being the least of them).

I got ya.

Have an interesting group going down in a few weeks.

A regular 7 person family (and now a 6 month old) that have been numerous times, but still enjoy headliners.

And a 50 yo couple that have never been.

The 50 yo couple said by far they would rather buy an 8 day pass for about the same price as a 4 day pass-even though they are not sure how many park days they will do.

Loved the idea of a few headliners and 1/2 days over commando full days.

Interested to see the results.

Oh and the 6 month old totally put the other family in the same category-Soarin on one day and TT on another, TSM on one and RNR on another etc.

Got all the FP+'s last week no problem.

 

[Bullseye]

We do not hop and never really utilized more than three FP's a day anyway so FP+ works out great for us! Knowing way ahead of time where I need to be at certain times of the day (just like with ADR's) lets me be as spontaneous as I want the rest of the time I'm there.

While we love WDW rides I never felt the need to ride them more than a couple of times in a day which can easily be accomplished by getting to the park early, taking advantage of EMH, and using FP+.

 

[Mickey&Mouse]

We reserved the night before a lot XMAS/NYE week.



Now your getting it.

Poor me, stuck with these pesky FP+'s. Just annoying.

NYE

MK NYE Preview midnight fireworks:

Oh and that dang XMAS Eve when we reserved these for XMAS Day. Yes we had a clean slate for XMAS Day even up until XMAS Eve.

Well since we never had them in the past (every valuable one was gone by the time we arrive) I wouldn't have anything to compare to. I will take my chances-and it hasn't happened yet.

While you were apparently successful with your very late in the day ride appointments made the week of NYE, they’re still scheduled appointments all the same (not the clean slate that was being discussed). And all so very late. Were you really able to schedule SDMT that week? I also noticed that at DHS there was no TSMM in your schedule. Was that due to waiting until the week of and it was unavailable? As far as some of the other attractions: Spaceship Earth, character meet, & Star Tours were usually just walk-ons in the past and never really required a FP. TOT & Big Thunder often had lower wait times so as not to really require a FP either.

It's not about how much time we can spend in the park each day it's about the cost. Between airfare, hotel, food and park tickets we don't have much left over for anything else. So about the only choice we have left is to use our park tickets for Disney World. I'm glad it works the way it does for you but for us we can't afford anything else each day. And we felt like we had to spend more time in the park to get anything done.

This is a great point. We go to WDW for just their theme parks as well. Due to the high cost overall it’s hard to afford anything outside of Disney. And now with FP+ it seems we need even more days at Disney just to equal what we used to get accomplished in fewer days.

As I said, we don't do it multiple days in a row either. It's usually followed by a sleep in day.

But "sleeping in" with a toddler is still waking up around 8:30 or so. She doesn't exactly understand the value of sleeping til 10am on occasion We never ran into headliners running out of FP by 10am. 12, maybe, for 1 or 2 rides (TSMM/Soarin usually), but our experience did not have them running out at 10am. AS for MK headliners, those were always available to us well into the afternoon/evening (5-6ish at least, later at times also).

If we had the ability to do 9-10 days in the parks, and were doing more 1/2 days in the parks than full days I would likely have a much different opinion of FP+. We definitely saw the benefit of it for days that we weren't able to be in the park all day. Unfortunately, for us, the benefit for those days does not outweigh the negative impact it had on the other days and we don't have the ability to take longer vacations (for a multitude of reasons, budget being the least of them).

This is what we experienced pre-FP+ as well.

 

[mellyf]

I probably have no business posting on this thread because we have not used FP+ yet. However, the reason is because of the whole idea of scheduling rides. We typically go every 1-2 years, but our last trip was 2011. We have no trips scheduled because neither my husband nor myself is interested in scheduling rides. (and our first few times to WDW, I was armed with Unofficial Guide touring plans, so I am a planner). We usually go during busy times because I'm a teacher. There have been a couple of exceptions, when I take my two personal days along w/ a weekend.

However, I do have to give FP+ credit for a great mini-vacation that we're taking right now to Universal. We probably would have gone back to Disney (my two personal days/weekend), but finally decided to visit Harry P. I'm a huge fan, but could never seem to allow myself to break away from the Disney bubble. FP+ changed that, and I'm really glad! We've had a wonderful time.

 

[Tarheel girl 1975]

What about arrival day, check out day, US/IOA day, water park day, sleep in day, golf day, hang over day, sick kid morning day etc. Doesn't have to be fishing-but I can fish out my front door today if I want to drill through a foot of ice.

I can see how this plan works great when you go suring peak times. We plan on trying this on one day during our next trip, but since we go in October, MK is only open late on Saturdays.


In general, I don't like FP+. It is nice to have on arrival day, but that isn't enough benefit to offset the rest of our vacation. I feel like it works okay at AK and I get the feeling I could make it work better for me at MK on our next trip. I think the biggest shortcomings are at Epcot and DHS. It does nothing but highlight the lack of attractions in these parks. Epcot only has 2 rides that I would normally FP, but because of tiering I can only FP one. IF the headliner I chose to FP goes down, I can not use my FP to ride the other headliner. I know my family will want to FP TSMM at DHS. My DD may also want to ride RnR or ToT (she has before,) but I can't get her to commit to them. If Disney had addded attractions to these parks before implementing FP+, it might not be as big of an issue.

 

[ORMom2Four]

I love it!!

--except when it is having glitches and it is not working.

For example, at HS, every time we went to scan our bands, one of our family would have trouble. At one, it said I had no FP at all reserved for the day. At the next, it said Dh did not have any--and at the 3rd and final (Tower of Terror) it said neither Dh or I had the FP!

We had to log in via our phone to prove we had FP reserved. It was frustrating and annoying.

For the most part though, it is nice to be able to pull fastpasses at home, for later in the afternoon, and not need to be in the parks in the morning to pull a paper fastpass like "in the old days"

 

[Rebekkap]

I've decided to FP+.

I just wish I could get as many as I could on the old FP system.


That was a great first post!

You can, or more in my experience, you just can't get them all in advance. April 2014 in MK I got 11 FP+ including my original 3, on a day when we spent 12 hours in the park with two ADRs. Three of them were for Space Mountain.

Can't wait to go back for a flying visit this March.

 

[edk35]

This new system probably works WELL for the following people:

1. Those that sleep in, hit the pool for most of the day and then go to the parks in the evening and don't care if they ride much.
2. Those people that do rope drop, hit the pool or rest in the room and maybe go back to a park in the evening for dinner and the occasional ride.
3. Those people that ONLY care about riding/seeing a few attractions.
4. NEWBIES that have nothing to compare it to.

IN my opinion.....IT does not work well for those of us that LIKE to ride things A LOT more than once in a park day, for those of us that might be called park commandos, and those of us that have been going to Disney FOR EONS and liked the old system and knew how to MAKE THE MOST of it.

 

[edk35]

You can, or more in my experience, you just can't get them all in advance. April 2014 in MK I got 11 FP+ including my original 3, on a day when we spent 12 hours in the park with two ADRs. Three of them were for Space Mountain.

Can't wait to go back for a flying visit this March.

You were able to get 3 FP's for Space Mountain ON THE SAME DAY??