Tiered FP+ :-(

[robpa]

How about they give out 1 fp+, and leave the legacy FP. That way most everyone would have a shot at their favorite headliner. The late risers are usually the ones who say they never really used legacy FP. They are thrilled they can ride their favorite ride now and then leisurely stroll around the parks and grab a fp if they want. The rope droppers will still be able to collect their fastpasses for most of the rides they want. Everyone wins.

Edit for seeing KTLM's post. I must have been typing this as you were typing yours. Great minds think alike

 

[mom2rtk]

How about they give out 1 fp+, and leave the legacy FP. That way most everyone would have a shot at their favorite headliner. The late risers are usually the ones who say they never really used legacy FP. They are thrilled they can ride their favorite ride now and then leisurely stroll around the parks and grab a fp if they want. The rope droppers will still be able to collect their fastpasses for most of the rides they want. Everyone wins.

Edit for seeing KTLM's post. I must have been typing this as you were typing yours. Great minds think alike

Except I think they'd have to exclude TSMM and the 7DMT.

 

[VP037388]

It seems like FP+ is to the Fastpass system as DDP is to the dining experience. It's suppose to be a "perk" for onsiters but at the end of the day, it hurts everyone, except Disney who is making money off the whole change.
FWIW, I like the DDP too. Dining is not want it used to be though. I would give up the plan to return to the "old" way.
I think Disney had to make a change. They are building DVC units like the business depends on it, they had to think of a way to entice people to stay there/buy into them. Sadly, FP is what suffers. We stayed onsite (WL) last year and it was a $7000 trip (1 week, party of 5, extra party tix). Next year, offsite. We aren't spending more than $3000 and that's padded. Big difference for almost the same vacay. FP+ isn't enough to make me spend twice as much.

 

[TDC Nala]

No, it was equal opportunity for everyone. You have the opportunity to be at park opening. It's up to you to decide whether to exercise that opportunity.

Not any more.

It's suppose to be a "perk" for onsiters

Disney's said that eventually it will apply to everyone. Not just onsite guests.

 

[JanaDee]

I would LOVE to know if they didn't think it through or if they knew exactly how the system would have to be and just decided that the end result was better for Disney financially.

Bingo.

 

[Brocktoon]

At a minimum, it seems like there would be plenty of capacity for at least two headliners per day, if not three (which would elimiate the need for tiering).

The issue with the current FP+ system is the ability to pre-book days in advance. In the legacy system, you still had to physically get yourself into the park early to grab a decent FP for the headliners. I personally saw this issue during my late Oct trip. Crowds were not bad at all, and actually lower than previous years at the same time. In years past I would hit rope drop at Epcot, grab a FP for Soarin' and also ride stand-by. It would take hours for all the FP for Soarin' to be distrubuted. This year I had FP+ booked for Soarin' a month or more out. I still hit rope drop and rode Soarin' stand-by, but by 9:45 AM, almost all FP distrubution was gone! And this was with lower crowds! Why? Because a ton of people had already booked FP+ for Soarin' well before the actual day of the visit. Test Track was just as bad, and Toy Story was even worse.

Theoretically FP+ could get to the point where booking a ride may become like getting an impossible ADR. Hitting rope drop may not even matter much now if there is the potential for a lot of 9AM FP+ to be pre-booked. I'm still waiting for stories of guests hitting rope drop and seeing 60 minute + stand-by waits from the get-go. The Stand-by line may not look long, but they'll running FP+ pre-booked for rope drop.

Tiering seems to be the only way to balance the pre-booking of popular rides ... which was never an option for legacy FP.

 

[Mkrop]

Because there isn't enough Fastpasses to make sure that MB users can get 1 at each ride, and still have enough capacity for off-site and local guests.

If off-site and local guests can not visit any of the popular attractions during their visit other than long waits in standby, they will stop visiting. And while resort stays are a good source of money for Disney, between ticket sales, parking, food and merchandise spending from off-site and local guests is not insignificant (they are paying mega bucks too). Disney can not afford to alienate those customers without affecting their bottom line.

What would your suggestion be for how to give resort guests the additional FP you want, without torpedoing attendance from off-site/local guests?

Put the system back the way it was and had worked for over a decade.

Everyone had an equal opportunity to get a FP for their priority attraction(s.)

Give everyone onsite 1 pre book. Then allow all people to use the app or kiosks to choose any FP for that day once they enter the park. Everyone is on equal footing and there is no more running around the park to get FPs

 

[awilliams4]

That IS equal opportunity.

If a guest didn't want to do so, that was a personal choice.

Using your logic, it is still equal opportunity. If you decide not to stay onsite or not to reserve your FP+ in advance, that is your personal choice.

 

[KatieCharlotte]

Except I think they'd have to exclude TSMM and the 7DMT.

It all comes back to those annoying capacity versus demand issues, doesn't it?

I think it would work fine at MK if 7DMT was excluded for a few years. At Epcot, I'm guessing there wouldn't be much (if any) same day availability for Soarin' and probably Test Track, depending on crowd levels, but that would be no worse than tiers.

 

[mom2rtk]

Not any more.

I understand that. My comment was in response to your post, which was in the past tense.... referring to the way it used to be. It absolutely was equal opportunity.

For some, as long as you showed up at the park opening.

 

[rebbyparker]

I'd say MOST of us feel the same way.

LOL! I originally had "most" but changed it to some because I didn't want to come across as "negative".

 

[JRawkSteady]

It seems like FP+ is to the Fastpass system as DDP is to the dining experience. It's suppose to be a "perk" for onsiters but at the end of the day, it hurts everyone, except Disney who is making money off the whole change.
FWIW, I like the DDP too. Dining is not want it used to be though. I would give up the plan to return to the "old" way.
I think Disney had to make a change. They are building DVC units like the business depends on it, they had to think of a way to entice people to stay there/buy into them. Sadly, FP is what suffers. We stayed onsite (WL) last year and it was a $7000 trip (1 week, party of 5, extra party tix). Next year, offsite. We aren't spending more than $3000 and that's padded. Big difference for almost the same vacay. FP+ isn't enough to make me spend twice as much.

Gotta raise a glass to this one. This is my favorite comparison!

 

[mom2rtk]

It all comes back to those annoying capacity versus demand issues, doesn't it?

I think it would work fine at MK if 7DMT was excluded for a few years. At Epcot, I'm guessing there wouldn't be much (if any) same day availability for Soarin' and probably Test Track, depending on crowd levels, but that would be no worse than tiers.

The Guest Recovery FPs they have at DHS already exclude TSMM. Which I found comical on one trip when we had a ticket mess. We were first at the gates that morning, only to find out our tickets didn't work. We were there of course to get on TSMM right away, but got sidelined at Guest Relations. But never fear, they offered us FPs.......... good for anything but the ride we were there to beat the crowds to.

 

[mdutch39]

It wasn't broke, Disney, so why fix it?!!!

Broken. It was not broken.

 

[going/again]

Put the system back the way it was and had worked for over a decade.

Everyone had an equal opportunity to get a FP for their priority attraction(s.)

They wont do that it would be admitting they spent all that money on something that's useless, poor show by Disney shows how out of touch they really are.

 

[MNRMommy]

. Or give everyone 1 FP+ a day on their Magic Bands as a perk, and leave the system back in place the way it was for everything else!

My thoughts exactly. I'm fine with limits and tiers if I would be able to pull also. I mean if I get to a park and there is still fp availability I am on a level playing field with off site to race my butt over n pull one.

Give on site the perk of say one unrestricted Fp n the rest you pull day of. Then Disney gets their intended perk for staying on site without completely destroying the system. It would still impact sure.

As far as the PTB beloved magic bands, ok fine. Make them available to everyone. Let's say if you stay off site you get one upon entering the park. Have a scanner line for pulling day of utilizing the bands. The only dif is offsite wouldn't get one pre entrance. That way they get to track everyone which is there bottom line goal.

 

[Tigger's ally]

I'm sitting here wondering if eventually they will only use the tiers during certain times of the year, but are making sure that the tiers actually do their job now. . Count me in the group though that used to row upstream with the rope drop maniacs that actually likes the idea of being able to save fastpasses for the evening, enjoy the parks late at night and not have to row upstream again the next morning. After all, my age and the ditch contribute to later mornings it seems.

 

[Robo]

I'm sitting here wondering if eventually they will only use the tiers during certain times of the year, but are making sure that the tiers actually do their job now. .

If you think FP+ is confusing to the masses now...
just wait and see what happens if "tiering" switches "on-again and off-again" for specific weeks or months.

 

[mom2rtk]

If you think FP+ is confusing to the masses now...
just wait until it "switches on-again and off-again" for specific weeks or months.

My thought exactly.


They would do better to just offer a "bonus" FP every now and then when bookings are down.

 

[Tigger's ally]

My thought exactly.


They would do better to just offer a "bonus" FP every now and then when bookings are down.

Yeah, but I was talking about christmas week, presidents week and fourth of July when park is at its max.

I think the bonus thing , say 5 fp+'s in January, early May and September is probably not out of the realm of thinking either. However, they would probably be easy to forecast. But figuring out how the system works when tiering is probably a must do for testing to see its affects firsthand.

My job is 100% data mining, and I think even I would be amazed at the amount of data points FP+ is churning out right now. Age demographics, Class demographics, Geographic demo's, etc.....