Not a fan of FP+..positive update #193 (sort of...)

[richmo]

Just got back last night myself...a few observations:
- First, and not really FP related, is that the parks were much busier this year at this time than I've seen in the past. I don't necessarily mean lines, although that translates, but just volume of people. I'm guessing lots of folks up north were trying to escape winter.
- Personally, FP+ worked OK for me. I especially liked having things set up in advance the day I didn't get to DHS until afternoon, but was still able to do a scheduled Toy Story Mania. That wouldn't have worked in the old days.
- A few days ago, there was a long line outside Big Thunder Mountain RR FP+ entrance. I'm not sure if its the same line a PP was mentioning, but it also should be pointed out that earlier that day (I want to say Tuesday, but I'm not positive) there was a lengthy shutdown of the ride. I happened to be there on standby and reverse my way out. Anyway, the FP+ holders were given paper FP-'s to return anytime. Needless to say, the FP+ return was likely long the rest of the day. It took me 5-10 minutes to get to the initial FP+ checkin (and I was a little nervous because my window expired while I was waiting...turned out that wasn't a problem), but once thru, I was on the ride pretty quickly.
- I also had a chat with a CM who was in the park as a guest who said the next thing they're going to roll out will be to allow one more FP+ selection after you use your initial three.
- To me a present weakness of the system is the difficulty in making changes. I did notice that kiosk lines were, at times, quite long and heavily manned by CM's with iPads, that I assume are virtual kiosks. That means they don't have enough kiosks...and, especially if what I was told about adding the additional FP+ selection above is true, there would be an even heavier demand on the kiosks. A lot of that could be alleviated if the MDE app was good. It isn't. This is an area where Disney needs to make huge improvements. The guests front end experience was surprisingly poorly designed and add to that the back end server response is terribly slow.
- The rest of my requests are the standard: let the hoppers/AP's schedule across parks, remove tiering and increase the number of selections, especially at MK.

 

[morethananyonex]

I don't understand why so many people are upset at the lack of FP availability when trying to switch times/attractions.
We never had that option before MM+ so why can't everyone just accept the changes for the better and learn how to get the most out of the trip they have planned.
I personally like this new system, but I've learned how to acclimate it to our families needs.

Because so many people stress that being able to change times and be "flexible" is one of the new awesome aspects of FP+. It's either an awesome new aspect of it, or it's not.

The option never existed before, but having the ability to select FP+ before you enter the park and see the crowds, your mood, etc. never existed before. Being limited to 3 (sometimes less with tiers) never existed before either. The limits make some people (including me) feel like the FP+ need to be used in the best way possible. Therefore, if for some reason you walk up ToT at 10 AM for your FP+ and there is a 10 minute line, you're going to want to switch your time to one later in the day. In the past, you could have just pulled another one so the ability to switch really didn't matter. Nothing was being wasted.

One of my biggest complaints about the system was the way it made us feel a lot more concentrated on the actual system. Meaning, with FP- it greatly helped our touring but it was never something we had to constantly think about all day long. With FP+ we found ourselves watching the clock, constantly thinking about how our day was going and if anything needed to be switched (because the earlier the better), and generally trying to be one step ahead of ourselves so we could use our FP+ accordingly.

 

[MaryKatesMom]

I have the opposite reaction, I think it will add more flexibility for us. For our trip in June we are scheduling all our FP+ times for the evenings. We have PAP's and we love the waterparks and hopping. We also tend to do a lot of Rope Drops and take a long afternoon break. At least for us, FP+ seems a good fit. We can decide with weather and how everyone is feeling if we want to hit a waterpark in the morning or hit a park at Rope Drop and do as much as we can standby before the crowds build in. We know we have 3 headliners booked for the evening so we can enjoy our afternoon break (I have a 20 month old that takes a long afternoon nap). In the past we didn't get to utilize the waterparks as much because we were too busy collecting FP's for the headliners and hoping the return times would work before we had to leave and we would not have a lot of expectations when we returned in the evenings of riding a lot. So for us, it seems to fit our touring style well, gives us more opportunities to do other things we enjoy and take some of the morning stress off. We are not they type that need to ride the headliners more than once or twice a trip though and we don't go to Disney just to ride rides....we enjoy the entire experience, so for us the system seems like a huge plus. I am sure there are plenty things we won't like or feel will need tweaking (Tiering, no hopping) but we are cautiously optimistic it will enhance our trip.

How many TS restaurants do you book a day? Going to the places we love, our must do's are part of our experience. We end the day with a signature restaurant, they take longer overall as you need to get to other resorts, so should we give them up to ride the headliners?

I think the time of year is going to make all the difference especially at RD. I am not counting on being able to do as much during the first two hours like I used to because there are now FP+ that start at opening. Crowds levels and the SB lines rise exponentially so I am expecting to fall farther behind at a faster rate.

Have you seen the "lipstick" chargers (search on Amazon). I bought myself and my 2 nieces these for Christmas and they are awesome and really reasonable price and small. I have an iphone 5s and my battery drains fast, especially in places like Disney when I and the kids are on it constantly. The lipstick charger gives me at least 1.5-2 charges a day and works fast. I think I got it for $20 and it is small. The one I have also will charge up our ipad which comes in handy on the plane when the kids watch movies. I love mine for travelling and it was a really affordable and easy solution to the battery life issue.

I have a large heavy charger that can recharge my battery 4/times a day and a smaller one that gives me at the most twice a day, it is slighter bigger than the lipstick. I really don't want to pay for a third one.

 

[puffkin]

How many TS restaurants do you book a day? Going to the places we love, our must do's are part of our experience. We end the day with a signature restaurant, they take longer overall as you need to get to other resorts, so should we give them up to ride the headliners?

I think the time of year is going to make all the difference especially at RD. I am not counting on being able to do as much during the first two hours like I used to because there are now FP+ that start at opening. Crowds levels and the SB lines rise exponentially so I am expecting to fall farther behind at a faster rate.



I have a large heavy charger that can recharge my battery 4/times a day and a smaller one that gives me at the most twice a day, it is slighter bigger than the lipstick. I really don't want to pay for a third one.

I guess just chalk it up to some people will never be happy

And if you need more than 6 charges a day on your cell phone, I think you need a new phone

 

[mom2faith]

I was just there for 2 nights and trying to change times was horrible. It kept saying not available or "something is wrong with out system try again later". If Disney doesn't do away with this system we will probably stop going. It's a great idea if it was a bonus or benefit but it's not. I saw 2 FP+ queue where those without smart phones or those not staying onsite had to schedule their FPs for the day. Both were on tomorrowland. Both were at least 75 people deep. So they were standing in line to avoid staying in line. Unbelievable. My daughter went to BTMR, she said more people were in the FP line than the standby line. We've been AP holders since 1995, passes are up not month and I'm not renewing.

You shouldn't drop your original Fast Pass to change it....you go in to modify it and you can see the times of the new one. That way if you decide not to change it you still have your original choice. I did that all last week with no problem.




I was also there last week and didn't wait in long Fast Pass lines either. Occasionally we would get to one with a small wait...but they moved fast and didn't take any longer than the paper ones. We saw a long line at the Safari once but it was just bad timing and 5 minutes later the line was gone.

We did ride every headliner last week...most more than once (we didn't want to ride the others more than once). Longest standby line we waited in was probably 20 minutes. And not that it matters but we drove 20 hours to get there. Fast Pass Plus works for me.

I'm really glad you had a very similar experience - I'm sure you were probably just as pleasantly surprised as I was. We also saw a big line in front of the FP queue for TSMM, RnRC, and the Safari... turned out to be just a group forming while they waited for their FP window to open up. We actually waited in a group like that for TSMM, because we got there 1 minute before our FP window. As soon as it was time, we went right in and it was a very short wait - <10 minutes.

Like you, we also rode every headliner (some multiple times) with three exceptions... Test Track (because we didn't want to), Space Mountain (again, because we didn't want to), and Splash Mountain (because it was closed for refurb). We hit rope drop for standby and used FP in the afternoon.

I am so happy to hear this positive feedback! Sounds like you both had a plan, did rope drop and knew what you were doing. I am expecting our experience in May to be the same. Thank you!

I'm not lambasting you. Overdramatize much? I'm just over the "expectations" excuse by now. It's been far too long for that excuse to still hold water. Things change, yes, but nobody should have less of an experience than they were having in the past, and many are.

I don't want to accuse people of making stuff up to fit their story, but it amazes me how those that defend FP+ never seem to experience long waits, while everybody else does experience long waits. Either we have a small group of people not being 100% truthful, or a large group of people who don't know what they are doing.

There is SO much more to successful Disney planning than just FP+ - what park are you going to, what day, what time are you getting there, what order are you seeing it in. To say this is all FP+ lovers VS haters is only looking at one piece of a large puzzle of trip planning.

Just wondering...have you personally experienced the parks lately? Because I WAS there last week and did ride everything multiple times and longest wait was I believe 15 minutes for the Great Movie Ride. We did a couple of rope drops...used Fast Passes in the evening...did EMH hours....took breaks which we have always done.....and had a blast with no waits. But since it worked for me I'm guessing I'm just delusional or lying.

Honestly when we went the week before Christmas I wanted to hate Fast Pass Plus....but I found that it really worked for us AND let us sleep in sometimes which is always good.

I think we have the same strategy and I am looking forward to the FP+ addition to our trip planning.


Oh on another note - I do have to say I bought a back up charger for my iPhone as well that I was not planning to buy, but it will be useful for more than just Disney. To say Disney cost me an extra $20 is very narrow minded - Disney assisted me in making a decision that I was already pondering is more like it.

 

[Planogirl]

I Don't mean to sound snarky, but I find it hard to believe people are upgrading to smartphones JUST so they can use FP easier at WDW. That would be a ridiculously dumb life choice since most smart phones come with hefty price tags, pricey monthly charges, and lengthy contracts. Js.

That said, I'm really hoping they have more of these issues worked out before we get there on July. I really feel for the people that have had such negative experiences with it. I'm holding out hope that Disney is listening and will respond accordingly.

I've been told by a few here that I needed to get a smart phone and a few others have acted like those of us who don't have one are in some way inferior or at least very odd. You see it all.

 

[Planogirl]

It looks like this thread is going in the same direction as most of them with wildly varying opinions and "experiences" on both sides. While a few seem to get it, others just can't seem to grasp that we all have different needs and expectations and the new system will work for some and not so well for others. That doesn't make anyone right or wrong.

As for "abusing the system", no one did that. People did exactly what Disney allowed and I think that Disney is smart enough to be well aware of it. As for getting extra fastpasses with the plastic cards, that happened only briefly during conversion to the new system. That had nothing to do with long lines except in the short term at the time.

 

[Amanda999]

Just wondering...have you personally experienced the parks lately? Because I WAS there last week and did ride everything multiple times and longest wait was I believe 15 minutes for the Great Movie Ride. We did a couple of rope drops...used Fast Passes in the evening...did EMH hours....took breaks which we have always done.....and had a blast with no waits.

We went Feb 19 and 20, and never waited less than 15 minutes FOR A FP+ KIOSK. And that was after lunch - not first thing in the morning with offsiters (we were onsite, but had a non-Disney issue so needed to change our FP+ times - our iTouch never got the app to work in park (did fine at AoA)). We waited 30 minutes standby for Barnstormer, and did one ride via FP+.

I'm planning on never changing FP+ selections once made next trip.

 

[MikeandReneePlus5]

It seems to me that most of the complaints come from the people who rope dropped, hoarded FPs and rode the headliners multiple times a day (by multiple I mean more than 3 times)

If you are in that camp FP+ hurts you. And that is a bummer, no doubt.

We are rope droppers most of the time...(sometimes we sleep in)

and we didn't really hoard per se, but we did make sure we always had a FP- at all times so we efficiently used the windows...

and we were pretty happy riding the big rides twice a day, on average.

So I guess we are going to be ok under the new system.

 

[minniemous]

I have a question. I was last there in November. Had no issue with the new system. Is there still kiosks where you can get paper tickets at the parks?

I truly feel (could be wrong) that part of the problem people are experiencing is the abuse of the system. I have heard and saw while there people getting multiple fast pass tickets at the kiosks. I am sure this accounted for the long wait times at the more desirable rides. I keep bringing this question up on multiple threads where people are down on the new system. I bring up possible past and current abuse of the system and no one ever responds that are haters of the new system.

I do not know if this is because this idea rings true?

 

[minniemous]

It seems to me that most of the complaints come from the people who rope dropped, hoarded FPs and rode the headliners multiple times a day (by multiple I mean more than 3 times)

If you are in that camp FP+ hurts you. And that is a bummer, no doubt.

We are rope droppers most of the time...(sometimes we sleep in)

and we didn't really hoard per se, but we did make sure we always had a FP- at all times so we efficiently used the windows...

and we were pretty happy riding the big rides twice a day, on average.

So I guess we are going to be ok under the new system.

Ah you posted just before me. Thank you for be so honest in your post. This is kind of what I meant, but I still wonder if those paper kiosks are the trouble of the system and once those are all gone if it will make a difference for the better. Perhaps they are gone already...not sure.

 

[minniemous]

It looks like this thread is going in the same direction as most of them with wildly varying opinions and "experiences" on both sides. While a few seem to get it, others just can't seem to grasp that we all have different needs and expectations and the new system will work for some and not so well for others. That doesn't make anyone right or wrong.

As for "abusing the system", no one did that. People did exactly what Disney allowed and I think that Disney is smart enough to be well aware of it. As for getting extra fastpasses with the plastic cards, that happened only briefly during conversion to the new system. That had nothing to do with long lines except in the short term at the time.

Not sure I agree with the idea that the system was not abused? (will not get into the argument of taking advantage of loopholes, I guess that might be a broader issue). It does explain some of the early issues of the new system. It explains why it was impossible to get a fast pass for Toy Story early on.

 

[2Tiggies]

I have a question. I was last there in November. Had no issue with the new system. Is there still kiosks where you can get paper tickets at the parks?

I truly feel (could be wrong) that part of the problem people are experiencing is the abuse of the system. I have heard and saw while there people getting multiple fast pass tickets at the kiosks. I am sure this accounted for the long wait times at the more desirable rides. I keep bringing this question up on multiple threads where people are down on the new system. I bring up possible past and current abuse of the system and no one ever responds that are haters of the new system.

I do not know if this is because this idea rings true?

Under the old system you had to insert a valid park ticket into the FP machine to get a FP and could not get another one attached to that ticket until the window for the one you held opened. If you saw people pulling more than one FP it was probably because one person from the party gathered the family's tickets and collected for the whole group rather than having 5 people standing in line, so no I don't believe it was abuse of the old system.

 

[LisaMc]

We leave Sat to spend 3 days at WDW. We have been over 40 times, but never with this new FP+ system. I am an avid planner for the hotel and we normally have a vague plan, but now with FP+ and the dining plans you cannot do anything without planning your every min of every day. Gone are the days that you could wake up and say, hey, let's not do MGM today, let's go to Epcot and do rides and lunch there. Heck, you can't get into a sit down rest without ressies now and now you cannot ride the rides you want either. When I say flexibility, it isn't just changing the times on a FP, but being able to wait out a storm or go to a different park if you want. Kind of sad. I really enjoyed not having a commando vacation.

 

[johde]

Obviously, times of year makes a huge difference. However, going by people's reports over the past month, it seems impossible to believe that the longest line one person experienced was 20 minutes and others couldn't get on anything without waiting at least an hour. So, what I'm saying is, it's a perception angle both ways.

Plus, one person's idea of seeing everything will differ greatly from anothers.

Time of year of course makes a huge difference. But what's surprising is time of day can make a difference that is not the normal ride early at RD or wait until late at night. One of the interesting features of Touring Plans that I just found was their ride by ride, minute by minute, recap of what happened in the parks. For Example, yesterday at Space Mountain is Here http://touringplans.com/magic-kingdom/attractions/space-mountain/wait-times/date/2014-03-19 . (I'm currently not a paid subscriber but I am a registered user). Yesterday they were predicting wait times of 80-85 minutes from noon until 7:00 PM. Posted wait times got to 60-65 minutes with actual reported wait times of about 50 minutes until about 4:30 when the lines started drying up and at 5:00 Disney was posting a wait time of 45 minutes and a user posted a wait time of 37 minutes. An hour and 15 minutes later at 6:15 Disney was posting an 80 minute wait time and people were waiting 80 minutes.

That's a long way to say, if you had gotten in line turning the downswing, posted wait time of 50 minutes waited 40 you're happy. If you caught the upswing at an unlucky time it might have said 50 minutes and you waited 70 minutes. While not directly a FP+ effect, it could an exaggeration because of MDE effect leading to "heartbreak". You're in Fantasyland, look at the APP and see Space Mountain has a 45 minute wait (It's been over an hour all afternoon). But by the time you get there 1,000 other people were also looking at the app, had the same thought and you end up waiting 70 or 80 minutes.

There not predictable but over the past week, for about an hour at a time TP users are reporting actual wait times of 30-40 minutes when the posted wait time 80 minutes. http://touringplans.com/epcot/attractions/soarin/wait-times/date/2014-03-18 The line just seems to "disappear" only to reappear an hour later. TP actual wait times are calculated by starting the app timer when you enter the line an stopping it when you ride. So it's not people typing in false information.

 

[lisalis]

We went Feb 19 and 20, and never waited less than 15 minutes FOR A FP+ KIOSK. And that was after lunch - not first thing in the morning with offsiters (we were onsite, but had a non-Disney issue so needed to change our FP+ times - our iTouch never got the app to work in park (did fine at AoA)). We waited 30 minutes standby for Barnstormer, and did one ride via FP+. I'm planning on never changing FP+ selections once made next trip.

I think the times you both visited made a difference in your experiences. Most spring breaks don't start until the 3rd week of March and later. Some universities let out the 2nd week, but not many elementary or secondary schools(or maybe that's just more of a Midwest trend). It is also necessary to rope drop if you expect to ride attractions several times.

 

[mom2mickeyfan]

I think another thing that affect how much you like the new system is how many park days you have. Most all of our family trips we have 3 park days. We spend 1 day in each park but skip AK. There is no coming back another day and FP+ing the ride you missed the first day you were there. During the second week of June last year, we rode over 20 rides on our MK day. I do not expect to repeat that day with the new system. And that day included an early dinner ADR in the park.

 

[minniemous]

Under the old system you had to insert a valid park ticket into the FP machine to get a FP and could not get another one attached to that ticket until the window for the one you held opened. If you saw people pulling more than one FP it was probably because one person from the party gathered the family's tickets and collected for the whole group rather than having 5 people standing in line, so no I don't believe it was abuse of the old system.

Thanks, So basically people could just use the fast pass and then get a new one after the pervious was used. We never used the fast pass much. Well that is not abuse I agree.

But early on in the new system I saw people taking many old plastic cards (park tickets etc.) and getting many fast passes over and over. This was not one person going for the entire family. That is abuse of the system. They would go to the kiosk furthest away from a CM. I saw some people get called out by the CM but not much came of it. So I was wondering if that was still going on. Someone said no. Not sure though. Thanks

 

[flatlandcycle]

It is one of the factors that is making our family looking at upgrading to a smart phone. I won't say it would be the only reason but it is a driving force into us looking into it. I will also say that it was one of the reasons we went ahead a purchased a Samsung tablet and put an a data plan on it last summer. We knew what was coming. It wasn't until after we bought it that we found out the app won't even work on it. Do we use and enjoy the tablet for other things, yes, but it was one of the big reason we went ahead and got the it.

Has anyone tried to force install the android phone app on a tablet? In theory it might work.

 

[wuzzy6]

Just some thoughts as I've read through the rest of this thread...

As evidenced by this particular thread, I think many of the complaints are coming from people who haven't had the opportunity to try out the new FP+ system and are basing the majority of their opinions on assumptions given by other people who haven't used the new FP+ system either. I completely expect that there will be far less "ruined" vacations when people actually get to use FP+. But, I also expect that we will continue to see every possible experience on the spectrum... but that's not exclusive to FP+, as it's always been that way for one reason or another.

Maybe, if people would stop jumping on the opportunity to spew so much negativity, it would be easy to recognize that not every positive experience is happening only to those who've been labeled "defenders of FP+"... similarly, it needs to be noted that not all of the negative opinions are coming from people who actually know what they're talking about based on a real experience.

FP+ isn't perfect - not by a long shot. There will be plenty of people who actually use it and hate it. I, personally, did not find it to be a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad thing. But, really, don't you think you should at least USE IT first, before verbally vomiting all over the place about how terrible it is?