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

[rebbyparker]

I think people may have been less upset in general if there was more transparency with the process, as well as a peek into the vision for the final concept. In other words something like, "We're testing, and that can mean there will be glitches, and if there are, we want to make them right. We don't know exactly what the final FP+ will look like-- again, testing-- but our hope is to give on-site guests the ability to pre-book at 60 days and then give all guests the ability to do same day FP+ bookings. And this is how you'll do that . . " and then with the FAQ, perhaps addressing some of the actual concerns that people are having. But there's no central voice for FP+ except Disney's marketing department,and I don't think that works well because then people just feel manipulated.

This was initially my biggest disappointment with Disney, before I got drawn into all the other threads. I get where they're going with the MB's and am actually excited about them. But with no word from Disney on what was happening from day to day or week to week with FP-/FP+, that's just not what I expected from the Disney I know. And to just dump these different restrictions on visitors 3 days before they arrive for vacations or worse, while they're down there just seems wrong to me. It just surprises me that a company who's been the standard for excellent customer service for so long could botch something this badly in terms of public relations.

 

[wisblue]

I think people may have been less upset in general if there was more transparency with the process, as well as a peek into the vision for the final concept. In other words something like, "We're testing, and that can mean there will be glitches, and if there are, we want to make them right. We don't know exactly what the final FP+ will look like-- again, testing-- but our hope is to give on-site guests the ability to pre-book at 60 days and then give all guests the ability to do same day FP+ bookings. And this is how you'll do that . . " and then with the FAQ, perhaps addressing some of the actual concerns that people are having. But there's no central voice for FP+ except Disney's marketing department,and I don't think that works well because then people just feel manipulated.

The tiny sliver of guests who post on boards like this may have been less upset, but I doubt it.

Most of the rest of the guests are oblivious to what's going on, or just roll with things, just as they would if they arrived at the park and found that one of the attractions that they intended to ride was down for the day.

As far as I'm concerned, there is plenty of information about MM+ and FP+ on the Disney site and on the unassociated websites for people who are looking for it. There is also a lot of targeted information going to onsite guests.

 

[rebbyparker]

It does. We are on-site, though, and since I'm running the Dopey Challenge I don't plan to spend any more time in the parks than to use my FP+ rides and get out.

No, no. no. no! You're supposed to be shopping when you're not running and riding!

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

No, no. no. no! You're supposed to be shopping when you're not running and riding!

I will do plenty of shopping at the runners' Expo.

 

[lugnut33]

I will do plenty of shopping at the runners' Expo.

Iger thanks you

 

[wisblue]

I know you posed that question to someone else, but the first thought I had when I read it was they could have done a much better job securing the buy-in of their own employees.

Our personal experience was that many CM's were not thrilled at all with FP+. I was even surprised on occasion to hear some of them use words like "crap" when discussing it. One even used the word "Sh!t" (I waited for what I thought would be an embarrassed apology but one never came).

Anecdotal, but it seemed like the ones with the negative opinions were "more mature" and had been at WDW longer. The ones with positive opinions were operationally closer to IT and younger.

Emotions about FP+ run deep no matter who you are, and I don't think Disney prepared their staff as well as they could have.

That anecdotal evidence about more mature CMs could be used to support the general proposition that older people are generally more resistant to change.

From my experience working with big companies, if you waited to get buy in from more mature employees before making a change, you'd have a hard time changing anything. You'll hear a lot of "we've always done it this way" and "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".

If the company I worked for in 1995 waited for buy in, we never would have gotten voice mail and e-mail or PC's on our desks.

 

[doconeill]

Totally off-topic, but whoever (I forget who it was because I deleted the message and then put them on my ignore list) private messaged me to call me a clueless twit, I think that's uncalled for. I don't work for Disney, but I see no problem in playing devil's advocate about FP+.

Did you report it? Whether it be in a thread or a private message, it is still against the rules.

Just to clarify not everyone is getting that promotional material. I've done three Magic Bands trips since the testing started earlier this year, each time booking three separate room reservations (due to other couples/families traveling with us.) None of us have ever gotten a flash drive or fridge magnet. Only time will tell if people change their habits or not.

The flash drives are a more recent thing. I think as they were stretching the magicband lead time out, they wanted to send something sooner so people were less "caught off guard"...although I think it is just part of damage control.

 

[Laketravis]

From my experience working with big companies, if you waited to get buy in from more mature employees before making a change, you'd have a hard time changing anything. You'll hear a lot of "we've always done it this way" and "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".

That also seems to be the opinion of some Disney quests as well - and typically it is the "more mature" members of a vacation party who are paying for that vacation.

I just posted a thread with info on Disney's patent for FP+. Check it out if you are interested.

 

[KatieCharlotte]

Just to clarify not everyone is getting that promotional material. I've done three Magic Bands trips since the testing started earlier this year, each time booking three separate room reservations (due to other couples/families traveling with us.) None of us have ever gotten a flash drive or fridge magnet. Only time will tell if people change their habits or not.

Tour groups also generally practice the worst park touring strategies. They show up late and go to the headliners at the busiest times of day. I would be surprised if they make best use of FP+, maybe they will though, who knows

I'm just excited the system is finally moving towards its final product. It's an exciting time to be visiting WDW in our opinion.

I assumed, maybe wrongly, that promotional efforts were kicking into gear and everyone was now receiving materials for spring trips. Has anyone booked a trip for March/April and not received at least the booklet and magnet?

I'm sure many tour groups don't use great touring strategies, but the Brazilian groups scare me because I saw them practicing excellent touring -- they all arrived before rope drop and ended up at the front of the pack, they headed straight to the rides teens like and wiped out most the fastpasses for the day by noon, and they managed to shut a lot of families out of the first showing of Fantasmic. [One positive about FP+ -- Disney will be able to better anticipate crowds for particular parks and add second shows ahead of time.]

 

[baileybrad]

Just out of curiosity, what does this latest development do that would cause you to change your plans for a day of your trip?

What did you intend to do that you can't do now?

We were going to the AK on this day. We would have had access to FP-. We were then going to go to Epcot in the evening for the lights and a meal.

Now we will not burn that day. We will relax at the the resort (staying on DVC points) and head over to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch.

If we were not using expiring points we would have cancelled the trip weeks ago.

Spouse asked the 3 boys last night (that would be Bailey, Bradley, and Casey) if they had a choice knowing what has happened to the FP system prior to our trip if they would rather have gone to Disney or Universal......all 3 said Universal. We were there over this past President's Day so we planned the Disney trip ahead of time before the changes to the FP system. The kids masters at working the old FP system and understood it kept them out of long lines.

You have your opinions of all things Disney. Our family has our opinions. They are very different. Based on how Disney has evolved since we began staying at their resorts, in earnest, covering over 35 trips of multiple stays......very few of their changes have made our stays better.

That is why our stays have become more infrequent. Everybody has to make their own plans based on what is best for their family. It would be nice to have the cards on the table but I am sure that I am just over reacting and Disney is being completely open and honest in how this latest evolution is unfolding.

 

[btk2333]

I will do plenty of shopping at the runners' Expo.

Oh god the runners' expos are where my bank account goes to die...

 

[morethananyonex]

I assumed, maybe wrongly, that promotional efforts were kicking into gear and everyone was now receiving materials for spring trips. Has anyone booked a trip for March/April and not received at least the booklet and magnet?

I'm sure many tour groups don't use great touring strategies, but the Brazilian groups scare me because I saw them practicing excellent touring -- they all arrived before rope drop and ended up at the front of the pack, they headed straight to the rides teens like and wiped out most the fastpasses for the day by noon, and they managed to shut a lot of families out of the first showing of Fantasmic. [One positive about FP+ -- Disney will be able to better anticipate crowds for particular parks and add second shows ahead of time.]

As a Canadian, we get none of the Magicband mail outs, or even the bands themselves until we check in. I would assume it's the same for other international guests too, so not everyone is getting the info.

 

[chmurf]

As a Canadian, we get none of the Magicband mail outs, or even the bands themselves until we check in. I would assume it's the same for other international guests too, so not everyone is getting the info.

right.
From the European perspective here, we don't get MBs, we don't get information, magnets, or whatever.
And we have 14 or 21 days tickets which don't even show up correctly on MDE and we can't even book FP+ for our length of stay because the system will not recognise the tickets correctly.

We're not receiving anything, no MB, no info.
if I didn't come to the DIS, I wouldn't know about MBs, MM+ or FP+ and that probably would be a quite a disappointment to learn about that from a CM at check in after 9 hours+ on a plane

I'm thankful I'm a DISer ...

 

[JanaDee]

Totally off-topic, but whoever (I forget who it was because I deleted the message and then put them on my ignore list) private messaged me to call me a clueless twit, I think that's uncalled for. I don't work for Disney, but I see no problem in playing devil's advocate about FP+.

That is uncalled for and rude. You should still have the message in your deleted folder. Forward it to a mod (red triangle in upper right corner of message, I think).

 

[sandym718]

It appears that everyone who books a Disney package or room in advance is receiving FP+ promotional material in very nice packaging w/ the infamous Mickey zip drive. Ours included a fridge magnet with the sole purpose of reminding us what date we can start booking FP+. I wouldn't hazard a guess at how many will book right at 60 days, but the human tendency to procrastinate has been overcome before -- Yellowstone hotels booking up one year ahead, to cite a non-ADR example.

Groups also make me nervous. I've been at DHS when several very large groups of RD-arriving Brazilian teens took nearly every FP for ToT and RnR before noon in the slow season. Their groups will be booking FP+ at sixty days out.

Just to clarify not everyone is getting that promotional material. I've done three Magic Bands trips since the testing started earlier this year, each time booking three separate room reservations (due to other couples/families traveling with us.) None of us have ever gotten a flash drive or fridge magnet. Only time will tell if people change their habits or not.

Tour groups also generally practice the worst park touring strategies. They show up late and go to the headliners at the busiest times of day. I would be surprised if they make best use of FP+, maybe they will though, who knows

I'm just excited the system is finally moving towards its final product. It's an exciting time to be visiting WDW in our opinion.

I assumed, maybe wrongly, that promotional efforts were kicking into gear and everyone was now receiving materials for spring trips. Has anyone booked a trip for March/April and not received at least the booklet and magnet?

We are in the U.S., arriving February 28th, staying in a 2 BR at BLT, booked directly through Disney as a package including tickets and DDP - and no booklet, magnet or flash drive here. I started hearing about all the March-goers getting them and I'm surprised we haven't gotten one. I don't really need it, but still, it's weird. We must not be high priority, lol. I wonder how they decide who to send them to?

BTW, for those with a magnet - is the FP+ day 60 days prior to check in? Can't find that info officially from Disney anywhere. I'm calculating our date to be December 30.

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

That is uncalled for and rude. You should still have the message in your deleted folder. Forward it to a mod (red triangle in upper right corner of message, I think).

Where is my deleted folder?

 

[Robo]

From WDWMagic-

HERE.

Part of Creature Comforts at Disney's Animal Kingdom will open as a MyMagic+ service center on December 17 2013.
Staffed by Guest Relations, service centers are located in all parks and provide guests with assistance and support in using MyMagic+ and all related services. The store, located on Discovery Island just before the entrance to Africa, will continue to sell merchandise along with operating as the service center.

December 18 2013 will see Disney's Animal Kingdom begin a full roll-out of FastPass+ for all guests.

And, once again, the term "begin" used in that last sentence indicates that the test will not
be a one-day experience.

 

[Laketravis]

We are in the U.S., arriving February 28th, staying in a 2 BR at BLT, booked directly through Disney as a package including tickets and DDP - and no booklet, magnet or flash drive here. I started hearing about all the March-goers getting them and I'm surprised we haven't gotten one. I don't really need it, but still, it's weird. We must not be high priority, lol. I wonder how they decide who to send them to?

BTW, for those with a magnet - is the FP+ day 60 days prior to check in? Can't find that info officially from Disney anywhere. I'm calculating our date to be December 30.

I wonder if BLT being a DVC Resort has anything to do with it?

 

[Mad Hattered]

Where is my deleted folder?

Yeah, I can't find that folder either.

 

[Robo]

Just to make sure this info has not been missed:

From WDWMagic-

HERE.

Part of Creature Comforts at Disney's Animal Kingdom will open as a MyMagic+ service center on December 17 2013.
Staffed by Guest Relations, service centers are located in all parks and provide guests with assistance and support in using MyMagic+ and all related services. The store, located on Discovery Island just before the entrance to Africa, will continue to sell merchandise along with operating as the service center.

December 18 2013 will see Disney's Animal Kingdom begin a full roll-out of FastPass+ for all guests.

And, once again, the term "begin" used in that last sentence indicates that the test will not
be a one-day experience.

I also wonder how much "merchandise" will be able to be sold in that store on Dec. 18th?