Misled by fastpass plussers

[JimmyBean42]

I like FP+ b/c I understand how to use. But the OP seems to be complaining about lines at noon and 3:30. This is prime waiting time on standby. Of course you'll have long lines. You would have had these lines with paper fast pass system and (gasp) when no fast pass was available.

 

[hsmamato2]

what a crock people who defend fast plus+. I had numerous fears about fp+ but was hopeful because of all the people who said "oh it's great". It's great if u want to sweat in long lines at rides like haunted mansion that should never need a fastpass. 60 minute wait right now at 3:30. Ariel ride at noon-I couldn't believe how many people were doing fp+ for it. It's fast loading, why on earth would you fp it???? People actually fp small world. It's madness. all the stories of how great it is are "misleading" at best.at worst well.........

As someone who has been visiting for MANY years...I agree with OP. Our last visit was remarkably changed as far as lines go.... ALL the rides that were previously a non issue for lines are now an issue. I still can't get over the Buzz lightyear and Pirates lines.... I don't know the reasons, I just know things have changed. I too cannot stand FP+,the older system was so much nicer.

 

[MrInfinity]

Ok... my view.. if it matters.

I love FP+

Here is why...

1) I HATED!!!!! the Sprint for FastPasses. Whenever we got into a park, instead of enjoying the park as it unfolded, I left my family and headed straight to get the FP for the ride I wanted. Thats it, I got 1 ride. Hiked over to Soarin, didn't look at anything, get the passes, likely for many hours later. Then hiked back to the family, still putting on sunscreen near the lockers up front.
... you then started to tour the park, until your FP time came close. Then no matter where you were, you had to drop and go back to future world and go do your ride. Then hike back to where you were. It was more than once when we would look at each other and say.. "I don't care what we do, but I feel like we have been in this same area for hours"
2) Dinner/Lunch conflicts with FP. Doesn't need to be a reservation for TS, we get a 100p FP for Test Track, and we decide we don't want to eat lunch before (stomach issues) so we wait until after the ride. We really wanted to eat in World showcase, so we leave WS to hike up front again, to go to Test Track (which we already ran to earlier in the day to get the FP) and then ride and hike back to WS for lunch, much later than we planned. Now we have a 530p TS reservation, which is screwed because we ate lunch at 2pm, and are not hungry.
3) You get blocked out of even a second fastpass because by the time you rode the first one (or the 3 hour wait) you couldn't get back to the ride for the second fast pass until it was already gone.

New system...
1) YOU pick the times. We plan them around meals, YOU decide which FP is important to you each day, and YOU pick your 3. Sure they can run out, but at least you gave it a shot from your chair, rather than run to TSMM and find out their gone, then double back to Tower of Terror to get those instead. I would rather wait in line for a ride a little longer, than run around a disney park in florida heat trying to get unknown timed fastpasses.

2) The ability to edit and change... I was in line on my last trip for standby at Splash mountain. We had been together with the kids for 5 days already and were out of things to talk to each other about. So I spent the time (about 20 minutes) trying to change a later fastpass (pirates! I think) to SDMT. I just kept working the buttons on the app, and then trying again. It took about 10 minutes, but I manager to get SDMT Fastpasses while standing in line for another ride. Totaly awesome... same day, and only about 90 minutes after the ride I was in line for. I'd like to see you try that with a paper fast pass. Once those covers go on, its over. If I throw away a paper fastpass, then no one gets to ride during my window, with my seats. But if I change a fastpass in the new system, the old FP becomes availilbe to others to use.

3) Broken down rides, and rain....Several times we went to rides that were down for some reason. Pirates opened late one day, and I got to change my fastpass to another of a group of rides that I could get on EVEN IF THEIR WERE NO FAST PASSES LEFT. I managed to ride Soarin because Test Track was down. That didn't happen on the old system. Oce we tried to get on Test track with our old FP and it was down when we returned, later in the day. We wasted all of that running around time with nothing to show for it. Rain.. that one is great, got a FP+ for Test Track in the rain, last hour park was open. When the ride didn't open the rest of the night we got a FP for any ride in any park the next day! Even rides that had no FP availability left... we could have done Anna and Elsa on Tuesday any time via FP just because it rained the night before. (We ended up doing SDMT AGAIN!)

4) Stress... less stress with the new system. For me I prefer to know what I am getting into. Having my FP's done and ready to go, is just simpler for me. I would much rather know what my plan and schedule are for a given day, then to show up at the park and see what happens. For example, I tend to do EPCOT left side one day and right side another. I can plan my meals around it, and my FP's around it. No hope and pray that it all works out ok.

Of course Disney is a lot of things to a lot of people, and we are all very different, but that is my experience and my opinion on it.

... now time to go cash that kick back check from Disney..lol

Your experience pretty much matches ours. We were FP- masters, but all these benefits here so vastly exceed the loss of getting to pull those extra in-park tickets. With some good planning, we spend our time together in the park, not splitting up to get passes. We enter the Soarin pavilion once... not once to get a ticket and then again later to use it. All that walking is overlooked when ppl compare the time savings of the old vs new. All 4 of your points are probably the top 4 to our family.

Stress is such a big one. Because you plan everything from the comfort of your home, you save yourself all that in-park time of going to pull this or that ticket, then having to come back to the ride hours later, and having no say in when you'll get to come back. And I hated that run to get FPs in the morning.

But, know that I'm not trying to mislead anyone. Old touring styles have to go out the window for new ones, and if you show up planning to use FP+ like you used FP-, it won't work that way. The savings come from identifying where FP+ can save you time. BTW, read your post several times cuz it's got me excited about picking FP's next week.

 

[ELSA711]

I guess it is all how you tour whether you like it or not.
We love it. But we are the typical 10-7/8pm family. I don't like to set an alarm and wake up early to book it to the park to get FP for TSMM or Soarin. We sleep in and don't stay at the parks late because my kids just can't hang.
I like to have my 3 rides a day known ahead, without worry and then possibly get more after lunch. We were very successful last year with that.
And yes, if my 3 younger kids want Buzz as a FP+ then that's what they get. We all have different itineraries and priorities. Rides are not why we go to Disney anyway, so 4/5 rides a day is enough for us. It's the ambience. My kids go to other parks for 'rides'.

 

[DisDayz]

A little off topic but I am curious about something... do many people keep logs of wait times by day of the week, month, etc. It just seems to me that anytime the subject of FP+ comes up there are people that can quote statistics that seem amazing to me. Back in 1992 on Tuesdays during October wait times between noon and 2:00 pm for Small World were only 7.3 minutes and now, thanks to FP+ they are all the way up to 12.6 minutes. And it seems to work both ways. Sometimes I struggle to remember what we had for dinner two nights ago so when my DW asks how long has this meatloaf been in the refrigerator I can't give a good answer and respond "throw it out, it's probably bad", which is a safe bet with meatloaf. Anyway, since I can't remember whether we had meatloaf on Tuesday or Wednesday, it simply amazes me that people can give me a to the minute wait time for a minor attraction at Disney parks 5 plus years ago off the top of their head. Simply amazing...

 

[jsmla]

Yeah, I guess I should have added that I'm an extreme early bird (5:00 AM is my normal get up time no matter where I am. The worst aspect of FP+ for me is staying up late to make them.) and have also been to the MK many, many, many times. I know what I want to see/do and the best times to plan for them.

I was extremely leery of FP+ when it first rolled out but a little research and a few trips trying out different scenarios really made a difference in how I feel about it. It helps that I'm not one to spend much time fretting over what used to be. I plan to make the best of what is and don't worry too much about things I can't change. Personally I felt like my, albeit over priced for what you get, BoG breakfast was well worth the price when my head start was taken into account. I figure $10 for the food and $10 for the ability to ride both Mine Train and Peter Pan before 9:00 AM.

It's paper FastPass for a theme park ride that died, not the dog.

 

[AJ1983]

FP + worked great for us! I did enough research prior to our trip to know that the SB lines were crazy in the afternoons so we went first thing in the morning,did rides with little to no wait then used Fp either between 12-2 or we would make them for our return to the park for 6,7,8.we would then take advantage of shorter lines during parades,fireworksor late nights at the park. One night durinh EMH we rode BTMRR 9 times in less than an hour...we didnt even get off the ride on two occasions!

 

[threeboysmom]

I wish they would have a separate kiosk line for people who don't know what they are doing.

Haha, I love this!!! Although not sure who exactly would get into this line. Most people like to think that they know what they're doing... when clearly they do NOT!

 

[jsmla]

A little off topic but I am curious about something... do many people keep logs of wait times by day of the week, month, etc. It just seems to me that anytime the subject of FP+ comes up there are people that can quote statistics that seem amazing to me. Back in 1992 on Tuesdays during October wait times between noon and 2:00 pm for Small World were only 7.3 minutes and now, thanks to FP+ they are all the way up to 12.6 minutes. And it seems to work both ways. Sometimes I struggle to remember what we had for dinner two nights ago so when my DW asks how long has this meatloaf been in the refrigerator I can't give a good answer and respond "throw it out, it's probably bad", which is a safe bet with meatloaf. Anyway, since I can't remember whether we had meatloaf on Tuesday or Wednesday, it simply amazes me that people can give me a to the minute wait time for a minor attraction at Disney parks 5 plus years ago off the top of their head. Simply amazing...

When FP+ was first instituted I did check the ap periodically to see how the lines and FP availability changed throughout the day. The cheat sheet at easywdw is very close to what I've experienced.

As far as the kiosks go, I agree that more are needed. For instance, what was the point of getting rid of the ones at the tents at the back of Storytime Circus?

I don't need assistance at the kiosks unless there's a major glitch but always have a cast member who insists on "helping" me. I did get one snarky CM who got a bit offended when I told her that I was fine and she could help another party.

It helps that I haven't been during peak times since the kiddos grew up.

 

[threeboysmom]

I have NOT used the new fast pass system yet (will get to try it next month!!!) so I really don't have much of an opinion yet.

I was an avid user of the old fast pass system though. Always made it work to our advantage and felt that we could be completely spontaneous depending on wait times as we made our way around the park.

However, I can see both sides of the argument.

Positives:
As the designated runner in vacations past, I am SO looking forward to not having to crisscross the park several times a day!

I'm an OCD planner, so I really really enjoyed making my itinerary and figuring out the best fastpass attractions and times

And yes, it was even fun staying up to midnight in order to actually book my preplanned attractions/times (got everything I wanted except for one SDMT on my 2nd day - but was able to book it for 2 other days later in my week)

Negatives:
The only thing I'm worried about is all the reports about longer standby lines because of the FP+ system. I have NEVER stood in line for more than 15 minutes at anything before. Pirates, Buzz, HM... have all been walk-ons in the past. Goodness I've even heard that Small World and the Peoplemover have lines!! (WHAT?!!)

Along the same line, gone are the days of my riding Tower of Terror over and over again. I once did it 7x in a row before moving on to other parts of the park. Based on the long standby line reports, I can guarantee I won't be able to do this anymore. Use my ONE pre-booked FP+ and sadly move on to other things.

 

[BugsDaddy]

I'm sorry that it didn't work for you, but the fact that it does work for us and we love FP+ doesn't mean I'm misleading anyone. We've gone several times now with FP+ and have found it has always enhanced our time spent in the park. We get to ride some rides we used to always miss out on and we love that we can adjust our plans on the go. We were there just this past May and didn't experience any long waits. We rode everything we wanted to ride and never entered a line with more than a 20 minute wait. If it was longer we were usually able to add another FP for it or we came back at another time of day when it was shorter.

There are those that like FP+ and those who do not. Of those that do not like it, there are a certain percentage of those people who have wrongly directed their frustration towards the people that have had positive experiences with the new system and have posted their opinion.

The good news is that the more extreme of these people are no longer active on this site. Some even go to another message board to continue to bad mouth members here. Some are still around and they like to post little bait threads occasionally to "stir the pot", so to speak. You cannot take it personally or seriously. They are trolls in the truest sense.

 

[tlmadden73]

I love FP+

Here is why...

Without re-quoting his post. I agree with this.

The new system (while may be frustrating to "schedule" rides 30-60 days in advance) , but is pretty flexible and lets you work around show times at DHS, meal reservations, etc.

A little off topic but I am curious about something... do many people keep logs of wait times by day of the week, month, etc. It just seems to me that anytime the subject of FP+ comes up there are people that can quote statistics that seem amazing to me. Back in 1992 on Tuesdays during October wait times between noon and 2:00 pm for Small World were only 7.3 minutes and now, thanks to FP+ they are all the way up to 12.6 minutes. And it seems to work both ways. Sometimes I struggle to remember what we had for dinner two nights ago so when my DW asks how long has this meatloaf been in the refrigerator I can't give a good answer and respond "throw it out, it's probably bad", which is a safe bet with meatloaf. Anyway, since I can't remember whether we had meatloaf on Tuesday or Wednesday, it simply amazes me that people can give me a to the minute wait time for a minor attraction at Disney parks 5 plus years ago off the top of their head. Simply amazing...

I still don't buy the "Fast Pass Plus causes longer lines". All of the people saying "wait times were X" are missing another component of the equation. What was the park attendance that day and how did that compare to park attendance to when you went using FP+?"
Are the posted wait times really accurate? Or somewhat exaggerated to be on safe side? (If a ride posts 30 minute wait time and you only wait 20 minutes .. happy guest. If it says 30 minutes and you wait 40 minutes - upset guest).

Isn't it just busier at all times of years now due to tons of promotions, discounts, parties, special events that fill the parks in the "slow" season?
Disney and the tourist industry were hurting in the mid 2000's due to 9/11, a recession, etc. People weren't flying or vacationing as much. So are the memories of "low wait times" for some attractions just due to low attendance?

Negatives:
The only thing I'm worried about is all the reports about longer standby lines because of the FP+ system. I have NEVER stood in line for more than 15 minutes at anything before. Pirates, Buzz, HM... have all been walk-ons in the past. Goodness I've even heard that Small World and the Peoplemover have lines!! (WHAT?!!)

Along the same line, gone are the days of my riding Tower of Terror over and over again. I once did it 7x in a row before moving on to other parts of the park. Based on the long standby line reports, I can guarantee I won't be able to do this anymore. Use my ONE pre-booked FP+ and sadly move on to other things.

I think it all depends on when you try and go on those rides or how crowded the park is. If lines are long for those rides, you can still utilize a 4th fast pass to skip the longer line later in the day.

As for Tower of Terror, again it depends on the park crowd that day. When I went to DHS in late August .. I could have just waited for ToT (not very long all day) .. or grabbed a 4th fast pass for it at pretty much any time the rest of the day. I was able to get a FP for Rock-N-Roller coaster 5 minutes from the time I was looking for the reservation.

 

[Karin1984]

Never mind, misread the post I wanted to quote.

 

[GreatLakes]

When the ability to select your 4th, 5th, etc FP+ is added to the app, and I fully expect it will be during some future update, the kiosk problem will either lessen or go away completely since you won't have to wait in line for one.

 

[ELSA711]

When the ability to select your 4th, 5th, etc FP+ is added to the app, and I fully expect it will be during some future update, the kiosk problem will either lessen or go away completely since you won't have to wait in line for one.

Curious, I'm not tech savvy but once they make that upgrade, they wouldn't be able to limit you to the park you are in , correct?

 

[threeboysmom]

I still don't buy the "Fast Pass Plus causes longer lines". All of the people saying "wait times were X" are missing another component of the equation. What was the park attendance that day and how did that compare to park attendance to when you went using FP+?"
Are the posted wait times really accurate? Or somewhat exaggerated to be on safe side? (If a ride posts 30 minute wait time and you only wait 20 minutes .. happy guest. If it says 30 minutes and you wait 40 minutes - upset guest).

Isn't it just busier at all times of years now due to tons of promotions, discounts, parties, special events that fill the parks in the "slow" season?
Disney and the tourist industry were hurting in the mid 2000's due to 9/11, a recession, etc. People weren't flying or vacationing as much. So are the memories of "low wait times" for some attractions just due to low attendance?

From what I've "heard" and again, I have not experience the new FP+ system yet, is that MORE people are now using fast pass than ever before. I've also heard that Fast pass holders have priority over standby people, which means as long as people keep coming through the fast pass line, the standby line will sit there stagnant..... with the line growing longer with every passing minute. Once there's a break in the fast passers, then the standby line can start to filter in, but only until the fast passers start up again and then it's back to a halt.

 

[jsmla]

I've been going in early September since the mid 90s and have noticed a gradual increase from deader than dead (especially on the extremely common rainy days) to not as busy as other times. As late as 2010 I was able to hit the headliners in all four parks with very little wait except for Soarin'. My itinerary went DHS, Epcot, AK, MK and the Soarin' paper FPs were always a few hours out by the time I got there.

 

[cakebaker]

[QUOTE="DisDayz, post: 54435648, member: 286368"Back in 1992 on Tuesdays during October wait times between noon and 2:00 pm for Small World were only 7.3 minutes and now, thanks to FP+ they are all the way up to 12.6 minutes. /QUOTE]

Well, fp+ and about 8 million more people per year. I'm a little surprised it's not considerably more than that.

 

[Lucius Best]

Along the same line, gone are the days of my riding Tower of Terror over and over again. I once did it 7x in a row before moving on to other parts of the park. Based on the long standby line reports, I can guarantee I won't be able to do this anymore. Use my ONE pre-booked FP+ and sadly move on to other things.

It's still possible under the right conditions. If you rope drop HS on a recommended weekday (and non-EMH day), I think ToT is #3 in popularity behind TSMM and RNRC, the standby line doesn't build up as quickly. The majority of people at rope drop are headed to TSMM.

 

[GreatLakes]

Curious, I'm not tech savvy but once they make that upgrade, they wouldn't be able to limit you to the park you are in , correct?

If we are speaking about just the technology, yes, they could if they wanted. They could also limit you to the park you are in only if you didn't use a park hopping ticket to enter the park.

They also may roll it out in phases. At first you can only use the app to secure a 4th FP+ from the same park your other 3 were in and use a kiosk to hop. Then, after any bugs or issues are worked out, open it up based on the media you used to enter the park.