Not sure I'm getting why FP+ is "limiting" peoples experience.

[Lizzim]

I f you are disappointed with FP+,
complain loud and long (and be specific.)

If Disney thinks guests are happy with the current FP+ situation,
they will have no incentive to improve it.

Disney CM's read the fan sites, too.

And, put your complaints in polite (but firm) eMails to Disney, directly.

We just did this...our Sept trip was far better than our early Dec trip (and the crowds were similar).

So I sent an email expressing my disappointment with the new system....I got a call from a lovely CM but didn't get the impression that much will change.

We already have a trip planned for Feb (offsite ) but after this we will likely use our vacation time and DVC points elsewhere....maybe Hawaii

I wouldn't mind as much being limited to 3 fast passes IF I could get both Soarin and Test Track or ride the same ride more than once.....

When flights alone cost at least $1500 for 2 people there may be better places to vacation.

 

[Networth]

I love the new system minus one thing. Tiering if they would remove those I would be on board. I don't even mind the one park a day so much and we our AP holders it's just the picking one or the other really aggravates me. Our last trip this December was booked before they started the tiering but I'm not booking anything for next year till I see how tiering plays out.

I spoke to a survey person at the MK for about 20 mins he claims that once the old FP machines are gone things will be tweaked and that Disney is well aware of the 3 most common complaints and has every intention of addressing them. But again he is only one CM, not an executive so who knows.

 

[sixxmum]

I am feeling "limited" because this system is reducing the amount of FP- available for offsite guests, but FP+ hasn't been put into place for them yet. So, as an AP holder offsite, this will change my experience for the worse, because I'll spend more time in line. I know that we don't know yet how the offsite plan will work. Unfortunately for some of us who have trips in this in-between period… I don't feel "entitled" to anything, really, but I am a little bummed about it.

 

[KatieCharlotte]

My number one complaint is that this money and effort was not spent on adding attractions at Epcot and DHS, which would take the pressure off TSMM and Soarin/TT, while enhancing everyone's experience. It has been proven that these attractions have shorter lines when there are many more options at the park.

My number one concern is for families like mine who don't know what they might want to ride until that day -- in our case because our kids aren't sure if their bodies will feel like excessive motion. I'm afraid that same-day flexibility will disappear during the busy seasons that we are forced to travel in because we have a teen who can't miss a week of school anymore. So I will face ridiculous stress trying to decide whether to book the mountains or my kids' favorite rides for which FP is useful but less necessary.

I am also concerned about families who can't afford to stay on-site -- but I'm holding back judgment because we don't know how off-siters will be handled.

And, I have technology anxiety. What if my fastpasses disappear from the system? What if my MB doesn't work at the gate and I have to waste hours with guest services? What if it's time for me to book my spring break FP+ and we lose power and internet for a week like we just did here in the lovely north? What if my husband uses this as an excuse to never put his smart phone away? What if I want to travel to Disney w/o my husband and his smart phone/i-devices?

My selfish complaint is that the old system worked perfectly for us and our touring style, and under the new system we will obtain far fewer fastpasses at MK, be limited by tiering, and be prevented from fastpassing any ride twice. I admit that I also enjoyed the RD anticipation, the thrill of scoring fastpasses all day long, and making decisions on the fly to maximize my family's fun. It was this type-A mom's dream come true.

 

[Silock]

Those of us that stay off site need more FPs because we don't get EMH. So, the old system was necessary to really get the most out of a trip.

 

[si-am]

I know FP is essentially a "freebie" that Disney doesn't need to offer at all, but it used to be a nice perk. I haven't used FP+ yet but for me it's going to take the flexibility out of my trip. We often switch up our park days at the last minute, for example, due to weather.

Unexpected rainy day? We will choose to go to the park that is most tolerable wet. But now making that change will mean losing out on FP, if I understand the system correctly. I don't like that.

 

[Angel Ariel]

Unexpected rainy day? We will choose to go to the park that is most tolerable wet. But now making that change will mean losing out on FP, if I understand the system correctly. I don't like that.

Not necessarily..IF there is still fp+ availability for the park you want to change to, you should be able to change your fp+s as long as you have not yet used any that day.

 

[Networth]

The nice thing about FP + is being able to move times around if you need to. For instance on our last trip 2 weeks ago my fiancée woke up with a stomach so we slept in and grabbed food at Gasparilla Grill. While eating I moved our TSMM FP+ time 2 hours later in the day. Had this been back in the old days that literally would of been impossible.

I do agree they need to add attractions to Epcot and Hollywood Studios. Magic Kingdom shows more attractions means lower wait times. Which is why I think they have had no need to tier MK. I see Universal building like crazy. Disney needs to do the same AND implement MDE.

 

[Angel Ariel]

The nice thing about FP + is being able to move times around if you need to. For instance on our last trip 2 weeks ago my fiancée woke up with a stomach so we slept in and grabbed food at Gasparilla Grill. While eating I moved our TSMM FP+ time 2 hours later in the day. Had this been back in the old days that literally would go been impossible.
.

To be fair, though, at least half of wdw visitors (offsite guests) had no access to fp+ during your trip. We have no idea what same day availability will be when all wdw visitors have access to the system - even if offsite only have same day access.

 

[lugnut33]

It wouldn't limit anyone's vacation if Disney got rid of free parking at resorts, free pass holder parking, free cups of water, free transportation, free luggage delivery to your resort, and free towel animals. I mean, just because you got those things in the past shouldn't lead you to any future expectations.

 

[si-am]

Not necessarily..IF there is still fp+ availability for the park you want to change to, you should be able to change your fp+s as long as you have not yet used any that day.

That is good to know, thanks!

 

[WiganTony]

You have to remember that disboard members tend to be power gamers who will run back and forth using 12 FPs in a day. Many of them feel that they are being robbed by only getting three. There are millions of people who don't know the first thing about fastpasses and wouldn't walk back and forth all day if they did. Fp+ is Disney's attempt to get them on-board, but you aren't going to hear from them around here because they don't spend their time online figuring out how to max out their Disney time. As a pretty relaxed traveler, I like fp+, but I go in Jan or Sept so I don't have to deal with lines like the July vacationers do, so there you go.

I would suggest that it is not "power gaming" but people who simply wish to make the most of their vacation time and their hard earned cash.

Living in the UK with a school age child, our only real options to visit are during the main summer vacation (end July to early September), the Easter school vacation fortnight, or the Christmas fortnight. As the last two periods are among the most expensive (and busiest) periods, for us visiting in July/August is the only real option.

As the poster above notes, they can go at quieter periods when queues/crowds are not as much of an issue, but in late July/early August the queues can still be quite long, hence it makes sense for us to have had up to 8 FPs a day under the "old" system which makes us feel as if we have had value for money, and also being able to move to another park on the same day and still be able to obtain FPs.

Thanks to this, we have very rarely had to wait for more than 20 minutes at any of the Disney parks over the six occasions we have visited since 2005, which is one of the reasons we have kept returning.

Unfortunately as a number of posts have indicated, it will be inevitable that those "in the know" about FPs will end up waiting longer and accomplishing less in the parks, and if we do find this happening, it will be adios to WDW for us.

Another issue is that we booked our vacation for next August back in June with the Walt Disney UK Travel Company, and at the time of booking, no mention was made of any changes to the paper based FP system, nor have we received any formal communication from WDW advising us - everything I have heard has been as a result of posts on this forum and other WDW forums, pretty poor communication from Disney.

 

[crostorfer]

Not necessarily..IF there is still fp+ availability for the park you want to change to, you should be able to change your fp+s as long as you have not yet used any that day.

"Ohhhhh, IF" *evil giggles*

I just read this in the voice of Lady Tremaine telling Drizella and Anastasia that she told Cinderella she could go to the ball IF she got her work done.

 

[magicbob]

"Ohhhhh, IF" *evil giggles*

I just read this in the voice of Lady Germaine telling Drizella and Anastasia that she told Cinderella she could go to the ball IF she got her work done.

 

[morethananyonex]

It's obvious you don't have kids, and that's fine, but you aren't looking beyond you. You had stated that everyone vacations their own way, but you are then turning around and saying, but you need to vacation my way. You have to look at it from other sides, which, to me, is what the OP was originally kind of looking for (or so I thought). A please explain.

It's not that you can't enjoy a vacation at WDW with FP+. No one has said that. What has been said is that it is a *lesser* vacation (at a higher price tag). Than before. That the new system is LIMITING *compared to* the Legacy FP system. Just because Disney did it, doesn't mean it is the smartest decision.

I don't understand why some people cannot comprehend that this new system is in fact limiting to some people. I'm not disputing that it works out great for some, it just doesn't for us. If it was just DH and I, I would probably think it was great. What's not to love about having a leisurely morning (or RD if we want), booking FP+ in the afternoon, having a nice supper then taking advantage of late EMH riding whatever we want? Unfortunately, toddlers kind of put a damper on that kind of touring

For us, the system is absolutely limiting. We usually stay at deluxes that are convenient to either MK or Epcot and hop to those parks in the evening. Now, we have to decide if we want to use our FP+ in the morning park (which is kind of a waste sometimes) or book the second park which can be made difficult by unpredictable naps, a reasonable hour for dinner, and bedtime. In the past, even if we didn't use tons of FP in one day, we most definitely used them in more than one park even if it was just for 1 or 2 rides. It is making the park hopper look seriously unappealing, if nothing changes this may be our last trip with it.

I understand people love the changes, I really do, but it's frustrating when people get all condescending and "don't understand" why people don't like the changes just like they do. People are entitled to have differing opinions.

 

[mom2rtk]

Because 3 is less than 6.

Well, there you go with the math again.

We were always big evening EMH fans as my kids are older...college-aged now. We would ride our favorite attraction Splash Mountain over and over. Guess which attraction is no longer included in EMHs? Not to mention evening EMH are now two hours instead of three. WDW has even impacted our ability to enjoy that.

I'm not an evening person. At all. But even if I could manage to stay awake long enough to take advantage of a PM EMH, it really has lost its advantage. It often takes a couple hours just for the crowds to start to thin out. With a 3 hour EMH that last hour was golden. Now that it's down to 2, it's much harder to justify hanging around for slightly reduced crowds. We stayed through the 2 hour EMH one night in June and were really disappointed in the crowds still around when the park closed at 1 AM.

I love the new system minus one thing. Tiering if they would remove those I would be on board. I don't even mind the one park a day so much and we our AP holders it's just the picking one or the other really aggravates me. Our last trip this December was booked before they started the tiering but I'm not booking anything for next year till I see how tiering plays out.

I spoke to a survey person at the MK for about 20 mins he claims that once the old FP machines are gone things will be tweaked and that Disney is well aware of the 3 most common complaints and has every intention of addressing them. But again he is only one CM, not an executive so who knows.

But Disney didn't add tiering to punish anyone. They added tiering because they NEEDED to. Once you let the fastpass genie out of the bottle (by making it far easier to access than ever before) you need the capacity to back it up. And for some attractions, Disney just doesn't have it. And they have been clear about not wanting to add that capacity.

"Ohhhhh, IF" *evil giggles*

I just read this in the voice of Lady Tremaine telling Drizella and Anastasia that she told Cinderella she could go to the ball IF she got her work done.

 

[JennaDeeDooDah]

Well, there you go with the math again.



I'm not an evening person. At all. But even if I could manage to stay awake long enough to take advantage of a PM EMH, it really has lost its advantage. It often takes a couple hours just for the crowds to start to thin out. With a 3 hour EMH that last hour was golden. Now that it's down to 2, it's much harder to justify hanging around for slightly reduced crowds. We stayed through the 2 hour EMH one night in June and were really disappointed in the crowds still around when the park closed at 1 AM.



But Disney didn't add tiering to punish anyone. They added tiering because they NEEDED to. Once you let the fastpass genie out of the bottle (by making it far easier to access than ever before) you need the capacity to back it up. And for some attractions, Disney just doesn't have it. And they have been clear about not wanting to add that capacity.

I do believe that you are correct about them having to tier them. I can imagine that at DHS, just about everyone was grabbing FP+ for TSMM, TOT, and RNRC. Next in demand was no doubt Star Tours. I'm betting that they had to tier it so that people would only be able to get one or two of these and force them (if they chose to get a third pass) to choose Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Muppets, etc. At Epcot, I'd bet my eye teeth that it was the same way with Soarin', Test Track, and Mission Space. I'm looking for Animal Kingdom to be the next to tier because EE and Safari are drawing so many of the people. Magic Kingdom, I believe, has enough of the big time rides that it will be the last that has to tier.

 

[Networth]

I personally think they are adding tiering so they can charge you to "remove" it from your vacation. As you mentioned they care little about ride capacity or they would be building far more attractions. It's a very smart business move and people will pay and they know it. As a shareholder hurray. As a guest boo.

I have said it a million times, I will pay the "Disney Taxes" but I would like to see much more of that money reinvested and I don't mean another meet & greet or unneeded hotel. Build some real attractions. I miss the Disney Decade. Yes prices shot up but look what we got. Now it's prices rise and we see nothing but a new place to eat and one E ticket ride in the one park they really didn't need to build anything in.

Maybe the guy planning to replace Igar will be more like Walt or Eisner.

 

[Mad-Jasper]

The new FP+ system has it's merits, but it limits those like me with whom the legacy system worked well. It benefits those that who probably didn't use the legacy system to its fullest. That's how it goes. However, I think it's important to note that Disney doesn't "give " me anything. We pay a premium for the 4-6 trips we take to Disney each year. So when Disney changes it's services and its perceived effect is to limit the services that had been previously provided, those paying said premium have the right to complain.

 

[Mkrop]

I agree 100%. I actually hadn't gone on TSM or Soarin' in years because the lines were always 120+ minutes and the FPs were gone early in the day.

I guess I'm just not understanding the logic that one can't do anything in the parks without a FP. Many of the comments state this, but I'm not following it. Maybe I need coffee.

I can do things in the parks without FP....but are they things I WANT to do in the parks???,like riding Soarin several times without waiting a long time in line. If I pay my admission and that is what I wanted to do with my time, I should be able to.

LIMITING!

I can do things in the parks without FP...but I will be doing less than before, bc now WDW is making me wait in longer standby lines for my favorite rides.

LIMITING!

On Dec 6, we tried to change our FP+ for TSMM to a later time, when AKL turned the power off and we overslept We could not change it on the fly. We hustled to make it there, FPs were gone by 9:25am.

So I dont see the ability to change it on the fly like many others could do...certainly not what WDW tried to sell me during the parade on TV the other day