HydroGuy
A Pirate's Life For Me
- Joined
- Jun 5, 2005
- Messages
- 18,415
I wanted to share some of our experiences this week with the hope it can help others. I have read many of the FP+ threads on this forum and am aware I am touching on a controversial subject.
First some background and qualifiers...
- This was my first trip using FP+. I was a die hard legacy FP collector and still am when I visit DLR.
- I am in no way a WDW expert but know my way around pretty well. This was my 6th trip in the last 10 years. I am aware there are many true WDW experts on this forum with 20-60 trips in their resume. I do not wish to compare myself to people with that much experience.
- I know a lot more about DLR than WDW and some call me a DLR expert but I do not call myself that
- This past week crowds were pretty light at WDW - ranked as 4-5 level days by TP and EasyWDW folks FWIW. I am aware that some of my observations may or may not apply on busier 9-10 level days so I am in no way trying to make any general statements about all WDW visits.
- I am sympathetic to the so-called "anti-FP+" group here on DIS. I hope (really, REALLY hope) that when I say things favorable about FP+ that that group can see I am trying to provide some sincerely helpful perspective and not touting any "party lines" of the so-called "pro-FP+" group.
- I was touring with my wife and four of our kids - all young adult boys. We had seven days at WDW with a rest day on day 4. So we had 6 park days.
- I am aware not everyone tours the same way we do so I do not want to say our experiences apply to all different touring styles. I am a bit of a reformed commando who likes to have a game plan so we do not wander aimlessly wasting time but does not want to force everyone to follow a script all day every day.
- We stayed at the Swan and this allowed us to make FP+ reservations 60 days in advance, which I did.
- I am aware that others not staying at hotels with the 60 day FP+ privilege had 30 day FP+ privilege and some (or maybe all) of the best options would be gone by then.
OK, now for some observations...
- It seems absurd to me that anyone has a system where you reserve your rides 60 days in advance. But it is the system WDW has implemented and it seemed better to accept it than fight it. So that is what I did.
- We used Magic Bands and had zero glitches with FP+ and MB. I am aware that when WDW first rolled this out there were many glitches and if that happened to me I would be incredibly frustrated with Disney. Others who have had this happen have a right to be angry. It did not happen to us at all and so for my personal experience I was happy with how the system worked.
- I have read about the MB issues where it takes like 15-30 seconds for a FP+ thru the MB to be accepted - which would bog down lines. We never experienced that for FP+ or the park entrance turnstiles or anywhere we used MBs. In general it took 2-5 seconds for each MB swipe. The FP Return line flowed very smoothly all week.
- All things considered the FP+ system had plus and minus aspects with some surprising plus aspects. Overall I did not feel it significantly impacted our trip. It just felt like a normal Disney trip to us.
- There has been a ton of debate around here about how FP+ kills spontaneity. Part of me wishes the pro-FP+ group would just admit that there is truth in this. However, this week due to some expected and unexpected circumstances I felt like FP+ helped me to relax and be more spontaneous. I hope the anti-FP+ crowd (to which I am sympathetic) will hear me out. First, in that we have young adults in our groups they like to do what most others of their age do - namely, to sleep. And to change their mind at the last minute. In the legacy FP days it was always a complication when the kids wanted to sleep in some morning as it messed up FP collecting. However, both the kids and I felt more relaxed about it because we already had FPs booked and they felt like they could sleep when they wanted to with less of a penalty. And that worked great. Secondly, my lovely wife had a freak experience at DHS near the end of our third day. She felt a sting on her arm and it turns out she got bit by a spider. To make a long story short it became extremely painful and ugly looking and we had to get a doc to come to our hotel room on the fifth morning. We got antibiotics from him which was great, but he also prescribed a pain killer which required a run to Walgreens. Bottom line is a day I figured we would hit MK at RD (after our day of rest the day before) ended up with us not arriving until almost 5PM. But guess what? I already had a night time FP booked for SDMT and two afternoon FPs for Splash and BTMRR. Through the MDE app on my iPhone I was able to move BTMRR into the evening at 5-6PM. The doc recommended avoiding public water places like swim pools and such (because the bite had opened up and was exposed) and we decided Splash was a bad idea. So I modified the Splash FP to a Space Mtn FP and we got to ride that as well. I did all of this while sitting at Walgreens waiting for the prescription to be filled (and while our taxi waited outside). On this day in particular I was loving FP+ greatly. Other hiccups to our group happened this week and it was really convenient to be able to move FP+ around using the MDE app.
- I never had a problem with the MDE app freezing or crashing. I have read many accounts of others with this problem which would have really frustrated me. But it did not happen. The MDE app worked smoothly and quickly all week.
- Real time FP+ availability was much better than I expected. I am aware this is partly related to the 4-5 level crowds this week. But, given that, it worked for us. For example, near midnight on our rest day (day #4) the kids decided they wanted to go to Epcot on day 5 (even though I already had FPs and ADRs booked for MK). And they wanted to go to DHS for Star Wars Weekend on Day #7 even though I had FPs and ADRs for Epcot. At midnight of Day #4 I was able to get mid-day FPs for Test Track, RNR and ToT.
- The only time we tried for a 4th FP by kiosk (I checked the MDE app as some have said it works sometimes to book a 4th FP from there - and the app did not allow it). The kiosk FP was at MK mid-day for a JC ride in the evening at 9PM. Turns out JC was a walk-on so it was not even needed.
- On a different day at Epcot I realized on the way to Epcot we were going to miss a FP window. It was actually about 3 minutes after the FP window officially closed when I realized it but MDE allowed me to change the FP to a later window in the day.
- Yesterday at Epcot we had lunch at Biergarten and we sat across from a father and a son on a day trip from Tallahassee with a school group. They wanted to ride TT but did not have a FP for it. And I had TT FPs which I suspected we were not going to use. I wanted to give them my FPs and in the old days I could have with paper FPs. But I could not with FP+. So that kind of sucked and IMO is a bad after effect of FP+.
- Regarding the so-called walk on rides which now have FP+ and the lines have reportedly grown to something substantial - I did not see that. Granted it was early to mid-May with 4-5 level crowds. But the walk-on's were still walk-ons pretty much. About the worst was TTA which had maybe a one minute wait.
- I was open to FP+ working for us but was guessing it was going to be a bigger negative. It just wasn't. In some ways it was but in others it was a godsend. Also with the unusually high temperatures this week topping out at 94-95 F most days it was AWESOME to not have to run around picking up legacy FPs. I was the ultimate FP collector with legacy FP and it was nice not to have make that run across the park I did at least once a day to get a coveted FP.
I genuinely hope my experience helps others in some way.
First some background and qualifiers...
- This was my first trip using FP+. I was a die hard legacy FP collector and still am when I visit DLR.
- I am in no way a WDW expert but know my way around pretty well. This was my 6th trip in the last 10 years. I am aware there are many true WDW experts on this forum with 20-60 trips in their resume. I do not wish to compare myself to people with that much experience.
- I know a lot more about DLR than WDW and some call me a DLR expert but I do not call myself that
- This past week crowds were pretty light at WDW - ranked as 4-5 level days by TP and EasyWDW folks FWIW. I am aware that some of my observations may or may not apply on busier 9-10 level days so I am in no way trying to make any general statements about all WDW visits.
- I am sympathetic to the so-called "anti-FP+" group here on DIS. I hope (really, REALLY hope) that when I say things favorable about FP+ that that group can see I am trying to provide some sincerely helpful perspective and not touting any "party lines" of the so-called "pro-FP+" group.
- I was touring with my wife and four of our kids - all young adult boys. We had seven days at WDW with a rest day on day 4. So we had 6 park days.
- I am aware not everyone tours the same way we do so I do not want to say our experiences apply to all different touring styles. I am a bit of a reformed commando who likes to have a game plan so we do not wander aimlessly wasting time but does not want to force everyone to follow a script all day every day.
- We stayed at the Swan and this allowed us to make FP+ reservations 60 days in advance, which I did.
- I am aware that others not staying at hotels with the 60 day FP+ privilege had 30 day FP+ privilege and some (or maybe all) of the best options would be gone by then.
OK, now for some observations...
- It seems absurd to me that anyone has a system where you reserve your rides 60 days in advance. But it is the system WDW has implemented and it seemed better to accept it than fight it. So that is what I did.
- We used Magic Bands and had zero glitches with FP+ and MB. I am aware that when WDW first rolled this out there were many glitches and if that happened to me I would be incredibly frustrated with Disney. Others who have had this happen have a right to be angry. It did not happen to us at all and so for my personal experience I was happy with how the system worked.
- I have read about the MB issues where it takes like 15-30 seconds for a FP+ thru the MB to be accepted - which would bog down lines. We never experienced that for FP+ or the park entrance turnstiles or anywhere we used MBs. In general it took 2-5 seconds for each MB swipe. The FP Return line flowed very smoothly all week.
- All things considered the FP+ system had plus and minus aspects with some surprising plus aspects. Overall I did not feel it significantly impacted our trip. It just felt like a normal Disney trip to us.
- There has been a ton of debate around here about how FP+ kills spontaneity. Part of me wishes the pro-FP+ group would just admit that there is truth in this. However, this week due to some expected and unexpected circumstances I felt like FP+ helped me to relax and be more spontaneous. I hope the anti-FP+ crowd (to which I am sympathetic) will hear me out. First, in that we have young adults in our groups they like to do what most others of their age do - namely, to sleep. And to change their mind at the last minute. In the legacy FP days it was always a complication when the kids wanted to sleep in some morning as it messed up FP collecting. However, both the kids and I felt more relaxed about it because we already had FPs booked and they felt like they could sleep when they wanted to with less of a penalty. And that worked great. Secondly, my lovely wife had a freak experience at DHS near the end of our third day. She felt a sting on her arm and it turns out she got bit by a spider. To make a long story short it became extremely painful and ugly looking and we had to get a doc to come to our hotel room on the fifth morning. We got antibiotics from him which was great, but he also prescribed a pain killer which required a run to Walgreens. Bottom line is a day I figured we would hit MK at RD (after our day of rest the day before) ended up with us not arriving until almost 5PM. But guess what? I already had a night time FP booked for SDMT and two afternoon FPs for Splash and BTMRR. Through the MDE app on my iPhone I was able to move BTMRR into the evening at 5-6PM. The doc recommended avoiding public water places like swim pools and such (because the bite had opened up and was exposed) and we decided Splash was a bad idea. So I modified the Splash FP to a Space Mtn FP and we got to ride that as well. I did all of this while sitting at Walgreens waiting for the prescription to be filled (and while our taxi waited outside). On this day in particular I was loving FP+ greatly. Other hiccups to our group happened this week and it was really convenient to be able to move FP+ around using the MDE app.
- I never had a problem with the MDE app freezing or crashing. I have read many accounts of others with this problem which would have really frustrated me. But it did not happen. The MDE app worked smoothly and quickly all week.
- Real time FP+ availability was much better than I expected. I am aware this is partly related to the 4-5 level crowds this week. But, given that, it worked for us. For example, near midnight on our rest day (day #4) the kids decided they wanted to go to Epcot on day 5 (even though I already had FPs and ADRs booked for MK). And they wanted to go to DHS for Star Wars Weekend on Day #7 even though I had FPs and ADRs for Epcot. At midnight of Day #4 I was able to get mid-day FPs for Test Track, RNR and ToT.
- The only time we tried for a 4th FP by kiosk (I checked the MDE app as some have said it works sometimes to book a 4th FP from there - and the app did not allow it). The kiosk FP was at MK mid-day for a JC ride in the evening at 9PM. Turns out JC was a walk-on so it was not even needed.
- On a different day at Epcot I realized on the way to Epcot we were going to miss a FP window. It was actually about 3 minutes after the FP window officially closed when I realized it but MDE allowed me to change the FP to a later window in the day.
- Yesterday at Epcot we had lunch at Biergarten and we sat across from a father and a son on a day trip from Tallahassee with a school group. They wanted to ride TT but did not have a FP for it. And I had TT FPs which I suspected we were not going to use. I wanted to give them my FPs and in the old days I could have with paper FPs. But I could not with FP+. So that kind of sucked and IMO is a bad after effect of FP+.
- Regarding the so-called walk on rides which now have FP+ and the lines have reportedly grown to something substantial - I did not see that. Granted it was early to mid-May with 4-5 level crowds. But the walk-on's were still walk-ons pretty much. About the worst was TTA which had maybe a one minute wait.
- I was open to FP+ working for us but was guessing it was going to be a bigger negative. It just wasn't. In some ways it was but in others it was a godsend. Also with the unusually high temperatures this week topping out at 94-95 F most days it was AWESOME to not have to run around picking up legacy FPs. I was the ultimate FP collector with legacy FP and it was nice not to have make that run across the park I did at least once a day to get a coveted FP.
I genuinely hope my experience helps others in some way.
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Maybe we need a thread about touring plans derailed by bug bites!! If FP+ had been around back then, we could have rearranged it.
But excited for the events. It's nice to experience something new (to us) at the parks.
