All FP machines to be removed from Animal Kingdom by next week and....

[jade1]

LOL! Now you're down to $2 - is it like those metered toll roads that have flexible pricing based on demand? In the middle of rush hour, the toll is $10 but when you are the only car on the road it's only 50 cents?

With the software infrastructure already there the possibilities are only limited by the imagination.

Except for one thing, of course. Nothing increases capacity except more capacity.

Actually your learning, off peak would be less because SB line waits would be down. Peak weeks/days, would be more.

And when paid off-it's all free.

 

[Laketravis]

Actually your learning, off peak would be less because SB line waits would be down. Peak weeks/days, would be more.

And when paid off-it's all free.

Learning all the time - and one lesson learned long ago is that once it's monetized, it's never free again.

 

[msdaisy]

We will be there from 12/29-1/3. We normally stay onsite, but are doing Bonnet Creek this time. I ordered our tix from Undercover Tourist. Will I have to have anything done to these tix to be able to get the FP+ at AK?

 

[kittyab]

Am I correct.... if you are not staying at a Disney resort you dont get a magic band so therefore you cant do fast pass?

 

[jade1]

Learning all the time - and one lesson learned long ago is that once it's monetized, it's never free again.

To be honest, I have no problem if they charge for Soarin II forever-but the attraction would be built for free.

The exercise is to give WDW no excuse to not increase headliner capacity.

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

We will be there from 12/29-1/3. We normally stay onsite, but are doing Bonnet Creek this time. I ordered our tix from Undercover Tourist. Will I have to have anything done to these tix to be able to get the FP+ at AK?

By 12/29, I would bet you will need to link your tickets to your MDE account for all four parks.

 

[lugnut33]

When did I say that?

I have expected for a long time that paper FP was going to be eliminated because it makes absolutely no sense to run the two systems in parallel once the transition is completed. I will admit that I didn't expect it to happen at a park before the holidays. Who did?

If I said something about FP kiosks, I may have been talking about the kiosks that they are using to allow people to make and change FP+ reservations in the park, not paper FP dispensing machines. That would have been in response to concerns about people who aren't carrying around a smart phone not being able to change FP+.

Or, have I missed something? Are they getting rid of FP+ kiosks?

I meant FP machines, not kiosks, sorry to confuse.

Well, you had to say it because there was never any official Disney statement saying they were going to get rid of the machines, therefore you would have just been guessing.

And that guess was a very good one based on what you knew about Disney. See, you can predict future Disney movements without waiting for an official statement.

 

[Vidia2]

I just read this whole thread in one sitting and the one thing that kept going through my mind is how many people have been on a Disney cruise and still believe that this is Disney trying to improve every guests experience. Or that Disney would ever not give advance booking for FP+ to offsite guests because they would lose so much business. LOL

I became very aware of Disney-as-a-business once I started going on cruises. It's a class/loyalty system. I think Disney has realized how gullible we are and how willing we are to accept a dumbed down experience from the cruise line company model.

I don't think cruisers have any illusions that DCL gives them anything because they care. But still we keep signing up.

If you check out the cruise boards you'll be able to find people who've literally had sewage leaks in their staterooms who've booked another cruise before getting off the ship, happily.

 

[squirrel4569]

Silly question but I've never been so I don't know. Do they have FP of any kind at the water parks? Are the bands being used for entry there already?

 

[FLchick415]

Silly question but I've never been so I don't know. Do they have FP of any kind at the water parks? Are the bands being used for entry there already?

Bands are used for entry into the water park, but there are no FPs.

 

[going/again]

Don't mind me.

I'll just be here for awhile.

Call if anything happens.

Got any beer?

 

[wordwitt]

So nobody can make practical guesses based on past history and statistics?

Hmmm, good thing nobody but Disney is allowed to forecast.

Garbage in, garbage out. It's the quality of the data underlying your assumptions that is the problem. You don't know if it's accurate; therefore, you don't know if you can make "practical guesses." What you and everyone else is doing is making assumptions for the most part.


For instance, we already *know* that on-site guests can book 3 FP+ selections 60 days in advance, and that at Epcot and DHS the selections are tiered. But no one ever said that guests would be limited to those 3 FP selections; rather, they were told they could *pre-book* 3 selections. Likewise, no one here knows whether the day-of FP+ selections will be tiered. I read at least one report of an on-site guest who was able to make same day FP+ selections for headliners.

Do I think that FP super-users will be impacted? Yes, probably. But as I've said, the option still exists for them to go to RD or EMH if they're staying on-site. My daughter and her friend rode EE 10 times straight at RD over the summer. You might have to make adjustments.

Honestly, I don't know if I'm as much as a FP+ proponent as I am a proponent of having all the facts before making a determination. I think I see where Disney is going with FP+, and I think I like it, but I will admit that if it does not go the way I'm thinking it will, I may not. Regardless, as many others have said, the band-aid needed to be pulled off.

 

[KatieCharlotte]

Are they regular FP legacy users?

Yes. One has said the only thing she wished she'd known before her first trip was that sometimes you don't have to wait a full two hours before pulling your next FP. They were at the parks from RD until late, so I'm pretty sure they pulled more than three/day. It made their day much better and made them want to go back for a bigger trip. These are not Disney-obsessed people, just average moms. I expect that some people will think FP+ is awesome and some people, whether they've been to Disney or not, will think it is one big .

 

[wisblue]

I meant FP machines, not kiosks, sorry to confuse.

Well, you had to say it because there was never any official Disney statement saying they were going to get rid of the machines, therefore you would have just been guessing.

And that guess was a very good one based on what you knew about Disney. See, you can predict future Disney movements without waiting for an official statement.

So, before you said that I said that they WOULDN'T get rid of FP kiosks (though you meant machines) and now you are saying that I said they WOULD?

Of course, you can have expectations based on the current state of things, and expecting FP machines to go away was a pretty easy one to see.

Your prediction that Disney is going to distribute all FPs in advance on a first come, first served basis is duly noted. I'm not as sure about that one as you are.

 

[msdaisy]

By 12/29, I would bet you will need to link your tickets to your MDE account for all four parks.

So, I am expecting my tickets any day now. I will just log into Disney account and enter tix numbers and will be good to go? Soooo wish they would let us schedule all of this ahead if time.

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

So, I am expecting my tickets any day now. I will just log into Disney account and enter tix numbers and will be good to go? Soooo wish they would let us schedule all of this ahead if time.

I don't think you'll be able to book FP+ with your tickets unless you are staying on site, until the day you get there.

 

[dwheaton]

I hate the idea of FP+ and the entire system from everything I've heard. Once I get past that, however, part of me just wants them to institute it and face the music. Instead of having this strange hybrid time with both FP- and FP+ for some, let them part the cards on the table and show how the system will really function.

I sympathize with anyone who's staying off-site and will visit DAK and run into possible chaos. However, the only way they'll adjust to make the system actually work in some form is to see how it functions on a busy day.

It does seem like insanity to start it on Christmas week, but I guess they really believe that making off-site guests go to a bunch of kiosks is the right choice. I won't be going at a time this busy, but I really think going past the kiosks and right to the attractions may be the best choice, especially in a park like DAK.

 

[famy27]

So, I just can't wrap my head around this same-day FP+ kiosk business (or even using an app) for AK. The number of CMs that will be needed to work with every guest is staggering. I can see the test with limited number of guests at EPCOT, because that should allow them to see how long it will take to get a new guest "up and running" in the real world.

But to unleash this at AK and remove/cover the FP machines on a day with morning EMH and high crowd levels? Holy Insanity, Batman!

Trying to compare the amount of time it takes to get FP-s for a group of four with setting them up for FP+s, I can't even comprehend the difference. Whenever choice is added to the equation, the time to process goes up. Adding in data entry AND choice? Nightmare and a half.

We have season passes to a local theme park. Their system is pretty bad, and on your first visit each year, you have to get your new passes at the "pass processing center." There are two lines, one for those that have pre-entered their name, address, etc, and another for people who are starting from scratch. The line at park opening early in the season will stretch longer than any line I've seen at WDW. I know people who've waited 2-3 hours to activate their season passes. And none of them are trying to plan out when in the season they might want to come back, if someone in their group is only going to do certain things, what time they might have dining reservations, etc. My head is pounding trying to think about this.

Even if they try to give people instructions to use the app, the lines at GR are going to be atrocious. I'm sure many new guests will have tons of questions, if they can even get the app to work.

If this is going to be as bad as I envision for these new guests, I can only imagine that riding SB would be a better option than spending all that time at a kiosk trying to schedule FP+s.

Happy Holidays from WDW...or not.

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

Is it possible that off-site guests will be able to use their smartphones, drastically reducing the number of people at kiosks?

 

[Laketravis]

Is it possible that off-site guests will be able to use their smartphones, drastically reducing the number of people at kiosks?

And thereby drastically increasing the load on the already insufficient park wi-fi infrastructure? Maybe!