A day-tripper's gripe

[Monkida]

OP, I love the way you write. It was fun to read your post. I, for one, truly take advantage of my hundreds of hours of research (and obsession?) about WDW. I enjoy it. I get that not everyone does. I love to learn the rules of a system and leverage them to my advantage. My empathy does kick in for a brief moment or two when I see families waiting in long lines for the one and only time they'll be there, oblivious of the months of planning that I have spent making my family's vacation seem effortless. There is a balance. You get what you give. You're right, WDW is not for the casual vacationer anymore. And, the planner in me likes that.

 

[DisneyFive]

I don't think FP- was anything resembling an overall even field because it was heavily weighted to people who knew the system. It was clearly better for them -- no question -- but I think it was a big detriment to everyone else in the park. So if you were one of the people who knew how to best use FP-, you did great with it if you were willing to put in the early morning and the effort it required. But that was a relatively small percentage of the park's users.

How is this any different than the new FP+ system? If you don't take the time to research the current system (whether it's 2010 or today), you are going to lose out.

Personally, we researched before our first trip and knew about legacy FP before we arrived to WDW. The same can be said today. If guests research and choose to plan their FP+ reservations, they will make the most of their benefit. If not, well they are in the same boat as those with the old system that didn't research their stay.

Dan

 

[whiporee]

Because WDW makes a much larger effort to make sure people know about FP+, and they didn't do that with FP-. The reason they didn't was that you couldn't really guarantee anything about FP- -- sometimes you got lucky and there were quick FPs available all through the day, sometimes they'd be nine-hours later within the first two hours. And under FP-, the main attraction wasn't the ability to get them, it was the ability to use them fast and therefore get more -- six, seven, eight, 12 whatever. FPs are a zero-sum element; there are only so many allocated during a day. So if one family -- for whatever reason -- got a lot of FPs, that means other families did not get as many/any.

What FP+ does is make it possible and reasonable for all visitors to get FPs, and that wasn't the case with FP-. It's not a matter of sprinting to the kiosk or getting there at rope drop (though you often need to be awake/online at the right time). That's the difference.

 

[Nancyg56]

Thanks everyone for the (sometimes) sympathy and advice to get tech'ed up. It's not that I'm completely out of touch, but I do agree with the posters who pointed out that spontaneity is no longer really advisable.
We come at most once a year, for one day. Never more. Sometimes not even that. I will look into buying something in advance next time.

I don't know. My friend joined us for one day last December. It was a busy day in teh MK and we were kind of late getting there, and also had one person on an ECV which slowed transportaion down. My friend bought her ticket at the gate and then was able to get FP for what we had scheduled. The thing is that you need to understand that perhaps your strategy must change as a day tripper. One FP at a time rather than trying to find a block for the group. I am not a planner when compared to some of the folks on the DIS< but I make it my business to try to understand what has changed and what I need to do to compensate for the change. If you want to use a FP, with the previous version or the new one, the level of spontaneity changes, because you must plan to get from point A to point B by a specified time. WIth the new version you have to be prepared to make adjustments in how you book them, but you are not running like a fiend from Point A to Point B.

That's why I called it survival of the fittest-first come first served. It really could be a lot of running around-typically you would have a designated runner. And it really wasn't ideal for park hopping. The new system is way more friendly and fair for most everyone, especially those who want to sleep in.



Now that I'm ahem..."more mature" and far less fit....I find that I'm better served by being able to book from the comfort of my couch.

Oh dear, you said it! I know that for some, FP+ is a nightmare, but it is a Godsend for me. If I had to run to get my FP I would need a crane to get me out of there after the Grand Collapse! My DSIL used to be our runner, but I often travel without his fast feet, and so for me this FP+ is preferable. LOL!

 

[mom2rtk]

I don't think FP- was anything resembling an overall even field because it was heavily weighted to people who knew the system. It was clearly better for them -- no question -- but I think it was a big detriment to everyone else in the park. So if you were one of the people who knew how to best use FP-, you did great with it if you were willing to put in the early morning and the effort it required. But that was a relatively small percentage of the park's users.

That being said, the new system is heavily weighted toward resort guests. We can argue the merits of that, but it's clear that WDW made the decision to offer 60 days as a perk. And it really works agains the day trippers, like the OP said. Now that I've gone from being a resort guest to being a part-time Orlando resident, I can see that pretty clearly and it does suck to sort of take FP+ out of your planning for the most part. But I can't fault either WDW for offering or resort guests for expecting this kind of perk, because the rooms are pricey, and it only makes sense to offer resort guests as many advantages as they can.

And you think FP+ isn't even more heavily weighted toward guests who "know the system"? This new system puts the old one to shame in that regard.

 

[loves to dive]

Sounds like you just had the perfect day for everything to go wrong. We go often but don't do FP in advance, I'm just not a planner so rarely do we even know what park we want to go to until a bus shows up. My phone doesn't get the newest MDE ap. since I can't upgrade but I can get it with a browser. Slow as heck but it's doable. We usually just stand in a line and hop on MDE while in line and book our FPs or at least look at the wait times and decide what we want to ride. As far as Epcot we are lucky or unlucky, however you want to look at it, in that most of the tier one rides are out for us anyway. My son has nerve damage in his spine so he can't ride TT, we don't ride Mission Space (or any virtual enclosed ride because he has PTSD and can't be in enclosed spaces and I get sea sick) and neither of us like the new Soarin. Unless you are in just the perfect seat, the screen is bowed and it's just not that great for us. So we ride the kids rides and spend most of our time in WS any way. But, if we weren't restricted with his issues, we would just stand in line. Thankfully, we have been going since way before any FP system and standing in line was just what you did, so we do it and don't even think about it.

 

[Sparkly]

Not to rip open old wounds, but this is an oversimplification. Everyone is only on the same laying field if everyone's preferred touring style were the same. With the old system everyone could choose to have the same access to FP if they were willing to get up early. But for many people, this would ruin their vacation, so they really are not on the same playing field because they have to choose between FP and an enjoyable trip. Sleep is actually pretty important to a lot of people.

BTW, we preferred the old system, but I totally understand why some people hated it.

Like our family, no way were we going to get up at 7am every morning just to rush to the park for rope drop. That would have meant a family of extremely grouchy, sleep deprived people!!!!! Not worth it just for saving time on a few theme park rides.

 

[Boski]

Yeah, I am a leverager (is that a word?). I had the old system down, and I do things with the new system that would make most on these boards very upset. Let's just say that I have always had plenty of FP reservations.

So you have no guilt depriving someone like the OP who is doing a day trip of FPs that could have gone to them because you're using the system in a way that it was not designed for?

 

[Roxyfire]

And you think FP+ isn't even more heavily weighted toward guests who "know the system"? This new system puts the old one to shame in that regard.

I do agree with you in this regard. But wait as I put on my flame suit here, but it's not that huge of a disparity for the average person. There are multiple strategies to use FP+ but at the end of the day, it's giving people a choice of which rides they want to reserve, when they want to reserve it. There are some (like me!) who like the idea of min/maxing that choice to save the most time. But it works perfectly fine if you want to choose your favorite three experiences, with the caveat about tiering. As a recent newbie, it's annoying and confusing to deal with, admittedly. But not difficult to figure out after a minute of deciding. Anyway...

Ultimately, if you're talking Magic Kingdom or Animal Kingdom, it's pretty straightforward. Pick three you like, whenever you want them. You want to pick them for 9 am at the dot? OK, it might not be ideal but go for it. You want to pick them for afternoon, awesome, you might just be a little more limited in getting additional choices afterward. It's nice to have the choice, even if it's not the most "ideal" choices at all times.

 

[mom2rtk]

I do agree with you in this regard. But wait as I put on my flame suit here, but it's not that huge of a disparity for the average person. There are multiple strategies to use FP+ but at the end of the day, it's giving people a choice of which rides they want to reserve, when they want to reserve it. There are some (like me!) who like the idea of min/maxing that choice to save the most time. But it works perfectly fine if you want to choose your favorite three experiences, with the caveat about tiering. As a recent newbie, it's annoying and confusing to deal with, admittedly. But not difficult to figure out after a minute of deciding. Anyway...

Ultimately, if you're talking Magic Kingdom or Animal Kingdom, it's pretty straightforward. Pick three you like, whenever you want them. You want to pick them for 9 am at the dot? OK, it might not be ideal but go for it. You want to pick them for afternoon, awesome, you might just be a little more limited in getting additional choices afterward. It's nice to have the choice, even if it's not the most "ideal" choices at all times.

Tiering (and rerides) are far more than a caveat for me. And BTW, AK has introduced tiering as well now (on a more limited basis, but it still complicates riding the high demands on a one day visit).

I'd probably love the new system if it didn't have those 2 tiny things. Oh and advance booking.

 

[Roxyfire]

Tiering (and rerides) are far more than a caveat for me. And BTW, AK has introduced tiering as well now (on a more limited basis, but it still complicates riding the high demands on a one day visit).

I'd probably love the new system if it didn't have those 2 tiny things. Oh and advance booking.

Yeah I realize that AK has tiering, but it is pretty straightfoward since both rides are sure to be busy. But Epcot, geez what a bad pile of secondary choices. Spaceship Earth is always an auto pick but I can never really choose anything worthwhile as a third.

 

[maxiesmom]

So you have no guilt depriving someone like the OP who is doing a day trip of FPs that could have gone to them because you're using the system in a way that it was not designed for?

Unfortunately it seems more and more posts are from people like this, who do things obviously not ok, but as long as they can get away with doing them they will continue.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

So you have no guilt depriving someone like the OP who is doing a day trip of FPs that could have gone to them because you're using the system in a way that it was not designed for?

I just learned how to use each system to my advantage. Anyone can do what I do.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

Unfortunately it seems more and more posts are from people like this, who do things obviously not ok, but as long as they can get away with doing them they will continue.

Disney thinks that it is okay because they set up their systems and policies to allow it. That is enough for me. If others feel differently, well, I can't be worried about the mores of others. You get to decide your mores, and I get to decide mine.