2 changes can take FP+ from ZERO to HERO!

[JimmyV]

I'm very curious what percentage of people are booking at 60+ days. Of course, as more people hear that they should book early, that number will keep growing. Obviously, the word got out far beyond the disboards that it was necessary to arrive early at DHS and head straight to TSMM, so I assume we'll see the same thing at 60 days, only people will book all their FP+ while they're securing their TSMM and Mine Train.

We will learn the answer to that question very soon after the Mine Train opens and becomes "bookable". Every person here who has the opportunity will book 60 days out. With the unlimited ability to make changes right up to the last moment, there is absolutely no downside to booking at the 60 day mark and a possible downside for not doing so. The "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" attitude will prevail. If, as the "Math"" thread suggests, there are only 9,000-12,000 FP+ available on any given day for certain headliners, and the parks see crowds of 40,000-70,000 on crowded days, then only 20%-30% of guests are going to get FPs for the major rides on busy days. And if you consider that 11:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. are being looked upon as the "prime times" to lock in your FPs, even that 20%-30% are going to be fighting for those prime slots, lest they get a 9:00 a.m. return time that they don't really want.

Once upon a time it was unthinkable that people would set their alarms 180 days out to make ADRs. And then they did. And it was unthinkable that people would start lining up at 7:15-7:45 for an 8:00 opening at DHS. And then thousands did. If TSM FP- could be wiped out by 10:30 on a given day by people who are actually in the parks, imagine how fast the FP+s will be wiped out for the mine train (or TSM) by people who can snag them remotely. And consider that according to Disney, FP- was being used by fewer than half of the park guests and now it is being used by 90%. So the number of people "lining up" in front of their computer screens at the 60 day mark will be even greater than the number of people who queued up for TSM FPs at the actual machines. It may take a while for all of this to come to fruition, but it will.

 

[JimmyV]

Zero to hero..

1) No tiers

2) Allow repeats

3) Increase FP allowance

4) Additional FP for hopping

Just my 2 cents..

The math doesn't support the first three.

Each ride can only accommodate a certain number of riders a day. And FP+ will be allocated to a percentage of said riders that is less than 100%. Use that basis to calculate the number of FPs that can be distributed for any one ride.
Do that calculation for all rides at a given park (for example, Epcot) that people actually want or need a FP+ for. (In other words, no counting EO or Journey Into Imagination).
Add up those totals and that is the grand total of FP+ that can be used on a given day.
Divide that number by the number of guests in the park and there is your daily limit. Giving people extra FP+s would be giving them something that they cannot redeem. Here is a link to the data.
http://crooksinwdw.wordpress.com/2013/12/14/theoreticaloperational-hourly-ride-capacity-at-wdw/

Test Track, Soarin', Mission Space, Spaceship Earth and Maelstrom can handle roughly 60,000 FPs a day. If 40,000 people visit Epcot and each is given 3 FP+s, that is 120,000 FP+ already distributed. That is more than enough to max out the 5 rides that people will want to use them on. You can give people 5 FP+ per day for a total of 200,000 FP+s, but guests won't be able to ride the 5 most crowded rides any more often. Once those 60,000 FPs are distributed for the 5 most crowded attractions, you will have people wandering around with a total of 140,000 FP+ that cannot be used. (Or would be used for Captain EO). Sure, someone who books early would be able to use 5 of those 60,000 slots (if they eliminated tiering). And all 60,000 slots could theoretically be used up by the first 12,000 people to book. But what do the other 28,000 people do? And if they kept tiering in place and you got 5 FP+, you could use one on Soarin', one on MS, one on SE, and then what? You would have 2 leftover FP+ to use on rides that don't need them. People are already having difficulty using all of their Epcot FP+s. In actuality, your proposed Zero to Hero approach would do nothing more than reinstate FP- where the early bookers get substituted in for the early park arrivers. Same result, just a different point in time when the good FPs get burned through.

The previous FP system wasn't broken.

No, but it was apparently only being used by fewer than half the people. Once 90% of the people start to use it, the dynamics change and the old system would have been overburdened making it all the more important to be an early arriver to grab the best FPs.

I can't ride roller coasters or TOT, so actually, I have one usable FP per day. The others are throwaways.

This being the case, how would getting more FPs help?

 

[kaytieeldr]

The previous FP system wasn't broken. Disney just decided to herd the guest to suit their needs. aka encourage them to spend more $$$.

I can't ride roller coasters or TOT, so actually, I have one usable FP per day. The others are throwaways. Equitable? Meh, not so much. This has absolutely nothing to do with being "fair". It's about $$$, pure and simple.

But why? Why get FastPasses for attractions you can't ride? Why not get them for things you can ride, instead of throwing away twoout of three?

 

[MrInfinity]

Like most of us here my family goes to Disney A LOT! My wife is former cast member we are AP holders etc... We have a neutral opinion on the current FP+ system.

We do however have TWO suggestions that could make a huge positive impact on the current FP+ system.

1. Get rid of the tier system and use a 3 hour stagger time minimum for rides that are currently being tiered. So if you want to ride Soarin at 10am then the next FP+ for a major ride would be at 1 pm at the earliest. If you wanted a third major ride it would be at 4pm at the earliest. This would allow you to have all major rides as your FP+ and still keep you in the parks all day long.

2. When you use a FP+ you can re-book another FP+ with the rules of number 1 above applying. So if you are in the Magic Kingdom and use one FP+ for Peter Pan at 10 am you could add another FP+ to your day after 1 pm. So basically when you use a FP+ you can replace it with another +3 hours later. Depending on when your first FP+ time is and park closing you could get 5-6 FP+ in a day.


This would be the best of both systems. You get to plan ahead of time your FP+ times and know for certain your will get TSM at 10am! You will also get the ability to get FP's after they are used the day of your park visit (the way FP- worked).

Just thoughts on how to make the system better!

Nah. Wouldn't work. Simply each person booking Soarin 3 times would kill the system. There just aren't that many ridings of the ride to go around. Basic math. In fact that was one thing the new FP fixes of the old FP, that some ppl were doing what you're describing, i.e. going on the headliner multiple times via FP.

Nor would pooling work. Then you could book the same ride 21 times not just 3 times.

Wonderful concepts if supply was unlimited, but it's not. It's very, very limited, thus you have this system which ensures we can each get on it once... and if you want more, you can wait in line w everyone else who wants more.

Really, once you ride Soarin once at Rope Drop and again by FP+, the only ppl you're still "competing with" for further rides is other ppl who also want to ride it 3 or more times.

I'll ride it once in a day (either via RD or FP) and not be in line any more, so ppl like me who are content w just one riding aren't even a factor in the line length.

 

[shell8558]

Ok - I tried to "add" a new fastpass once I got to Epcot tonight. It didn't work - when they scanned my magicband - all of our fastpasses from this morning showed up . So apparently the glitch has been fixed .

 

[DisneyAllyC]

I think if they still offer park hoppers they should allow park hopper people to be able to pick FP for both parks they visit that day. Like two for one park and two for another. Today I went to Epcot and Animal Kingdom. I would have gotten Test Track and Soarin and Everest and Kali River Rapids

 

[mom2rtk]

I think if they still offer park hoppers they should allow park hopper people to be able to pick FP for both parks they visit that day. Like two for one park and two for another. Today I went to Epcot and Animal Kingdom. I would have gotten Test Track and Soarin and Everest and Kali River Rapids

So you like FP+ except that:

1) You want them to add park hopping

2) 3 isn't enough and

3) you don't want it tiered.

Sounds like you like it a lot. You know. Except for what you don't like.

 

[TLSnell1981]

This being the case, how would getting more FPs help?

Repeats and extra FP for hopping would benefit me personally. Extra FP in each park would accommodate DH and the kids. Tiers are just plain silly. IMO

BTW, about the math...a $1,000,000,000+ could've built additional attractions or updated a few old, tired ones. Although, I'm unimpressed with the FLE and the upcoming Avatarland. So, maybe..Disney's just lost their groove?

 

[JimmyV]

Repeats and extra FP for hopping would benefit me personally. Extra FP in each park would accommodate DH and the kids. Tiers are just plain silly. IMO

BTW, about the math...a $1,000,000,000+ could've built additional attractions or updated a few old, tired ones. Although, I'm unimpressed with the FLE and the upcoming Avatarland. So, maybe..Disney's just lost their groove?

Fuzzylogic's very logical post above explains why repeats can't be allowed. It would transform FP+ back into FP-. Early bookers would become the new super-users and scoop up a disproportionate number of rides on the best attractions and we'd be right back where we started. And yes, I think everyone here would agree that adding a half dozen more major attractions would have been better than spending all this money trying to allocate peoples' time on the already existing ones. No matter which side of the debate one is on, that point seems universal.

 

[TLSnell1981]

Fuzzylogic's very logical post above explains why repeats can't be allowed. It would transform FP+ back into FP-. Early bookers would become the new super-users and scoop up a disproportionate number of rides on the best attractions and we'd be right back where we started. And yes, I think everyone here would agree that adding a half dozen more major attractions would have been better than spending all this money trying to allocate peoples' time on the already existing ones. No matter which side of the debate one is on, that point seems universal.

Exactly! Although, I believe, the original FP was the +.

 

[DisneyAllyC]

So you like FP+ except that:

1) You want them to add park hopping

2) 3 isn't enough and

3) you don't want it tiered.

Sounds like you like it a lot. You know. Except for what you don't like.

I think this would make it even better than it already is

 

[mesaboy2]

I think this would make it even better than it already is

Will you be calling us stupid tonight?