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

[pilferk]

Mr. Legacy FP was doomed no matter what.

Name the movie: "I passed, but I failed!" "Then I'm both happy and sad for you.

Real genius.

One of my favs and the best movie Val Kilmer ever made.

 

[Thumper_Man]

No one really knows what will happen in the future, but I would be surprised if pre-booking was restricted to onsite only. Sort of defeats the whole idea of FP+.

Even if all guests had pre-booking access, you still have to plan for those that are clueless/lazy/laid-back and don't WANT to schedule anything until they show up in the park.

I agree. Disney has said that their primary goal with all of this is to have people commit their days to Disney in advance. Why would they leave the off-siters out of that equation? That's a huge piece of the pie.

I've been following a lot of these threads, but have really restrained myself from posting. I've been waiting to see how this completely plays out. I'm kinda on the fence at the moment about this. DW and I often stay offsite when we go. We own a timeshare (Non DVC) and will often stay there to help keep our expenses down. We are willing to accept the fact that we can't have all the perks that onsite guests get. FP is/was the one perk that people like us have/had to be on a some what level playing field with the rest of the guests. If this truly turns out to be an onsite perk to where onsite guests can book their FP+ 60 days out and offsite guests can't; then I think we will no longer want to visit WDW.

I think the ability to pre-book will be a perk of on-site stays. JMO.

IF this is truly the case, then I doubt we'll ever want to visit WDW again. DW and I can't afford to stay onsite. This is the only perk offsite guest have/had that was fair and equal. Since we often go to US/IoA as well when we do go to Orlando, we may find ourselves spending more time there.

I truly hope that WDW keeps this one and only perk for offsite guests, as accessible as before and allows to book FP+ in advance.

 

[mom2rtk]

I think the ability to pre-book will be a perk of on-site stays. JMO.

My own personal belief is that on-site will get the +10 as their perk..... and that off-site can book in advance, but with no plus at all. But that's just a guess. That's all any of us can do with this piece of it at this point.

 

[wisblue]

I posted that video and I still think it's ridiculous to have a huge line like that stretching out into the walk areas. It's not the only ride I saw a FP line stretching out into walk areas. The line for BTMRR went almost to Splash Mountain. But I guess that's OK with you.

It's also a fact, FP+ IS SLOWER than traditional fast pass.

First, it doesnt happen all the time. It wasn't like that when one of my daughters visited last week and when I visited in November. If it becomes a regular issue, there are ways that Disney can deal with it.

Second, if I have to wait outside for 2 minutes to get past the scanner, I am OK with it. If I need a poncho for those 2 minutes, I'm going to need one anyway.

Third, who has established as a fact that FP+ is slower. The reports on that have been mixed at best and our family's firsthand experience has been that there is no difference. If you mean that it takes a few seconds longer per person to get past the scanner, who cares if it doesn't affect how long it takes to get on the ride.

 

[agavegirl1]

I suspect there will be some FP+ advantage for onsite guest regarding pre-booking, but what that will look like? No Clue.

I believe planning will be extremely important to take advantage of the perk, whatever it is.

I believe Disney isn't only doing this to reward Onsite, but as a practical matter. Disney knows the vacation days of onsite guests in advance and CAN lock them into "appointments". Disney has no clue when offsite guests will use their tickets and their advance reservations will be less reliable than those made by Disney Resort guests. The closer offsite guests are to their vacation days, the more reliable their reservations become.

 

[Laketravis]

First, it doesnt happen all the time. It wasn't like that when one of my daughters visited last week and when I visited in November. If it becomes a regular issue, there are ways that Disney can deal with it.

Second, if I have to wait outside for 2 minutes to get past the scanner, I am OK with it. If I need a poncho for those 2 minutes, I'm going to need one anyway.

Third, who has established as a fact that FP+ is slower. The reports on that have been mixed at best and our family's firsthand experience has been that there is no difference. If you mean that it takes a few seconds longer per person to get past the scanner, who cares if it doesn't affect how long it takes to get on the ride.

I think it is becoming a regular issue, because the way Disney is now dealing with it is to have CM's with poles that have a "FASTPASS+" sign at the top of them, and the CM stands behind people entering the growing line so people can actually tell where the current end of the line is. Because often it is very, very far away from the attraction as previously pointed out.

 

[rebbyparker]

Is that right? I thought that was only APs? That's interesting for sure. So since I have active MBs from our past trip, I could buy a ticket right now from wherever and link it and prebook at 60 days?

Seriously? This is an option? Hmmmm...

 

[doconeill]

Is that right? I thought that was only APs? That's interesting for sure. So since I have active MBs from our past trip, I could buy a ticket right now from wherever and link it and prebook at 60 days?

People with No Expiration tickets are able to continue booking FP+...not sure it works if you purchase another ticket, but from the sounds of it, once you are "in", you are in.

 

[ArwenMarie]

I thought the +10 was going to be the onsite perk as well. Even when they did the Swan and Dolphin test, I thought that was just a band-aid they were doing for now to keep the S/D happy until they got everyone up on the app.

But now, in light of the S/D test and now this...I'm starting to think that there are going to be three groups in terms of booking:

-Onsite w/valid ticket including APs will be 60 days plus ten
-APs without onsite stay 60 days
-Offsite non-AP ticket will book once you enter the park

(To add I hope this isn't the way it works out in the end. We were just starting to look into staying offsite, our upcoming February trip was going to be an offsite WDW trip until all this ruckus (then we switched it to Universal).)

 

[ArwenMarie]

People with No Expiration tickets are able to continue booking FP+...not sure it works if you purchase another ticket, but from the sounds of it, once you are "in", you are in.

Interesting. I wonder what would happen with a new, non-non-expiry ticket.

 

[doconeill]

How long it takes to "tap in" through the FP+ touch points will generally have very little effect overall in when you end up on the attraction. It's not like there would be a ton of other people going around you, unless it's only you with the problem and there is more than one touchpoint that can be used.

I HAVE seen lines outside some FP+ entrances - but it was typically because a bunch of people all got there at the same time (same thing as old FP - people wait around waiting until its time), and because this is still new, its take a little time for people to get used to tapping in. They vanished pretty quickly.

In my own experience, getting through the FP+ touchpoints was FASTER than regular FP, because I didn't need a CM to read the FP, and I know what I'm doing. But also, I was using my AP, not a MagicBand, which could just have been easier to use than trying to get your wrist in the right position.

 

[doconeill]

I thought the +10 was going to be the onsite perk as well. Even when they did the Swan and Dolphin test, I thought that was just a band-aid they were doing for now to keep the S/D happy until they got everyone up on the app.

But now, in light of the S/D test and now this...I'm starting to think that there are going to be three groups in terms of booking:

-Onsite w/valid ticket including APs will be 60 days plus ten
-APs without onsite stay 60 days
-Offsite non-AP ticket will book once you enter the park

(To add I hope this isn't the way it works out in the end. We were just starting to look into staying offsite, our upcoming February trip was going to be an offsite WDW trip until all this ruckus (then we switched it to Universal).)

I said earlier, I don't think this test is an indication that offsite guests won't get advance access - I don't think they could really do that until:

1) They get better at dealing with the profile issues, ticket issues, etc. that MDX has;

2) It is available at ALL the parks


Indications are that there is already a "+X" working in the system, with guests able to boot at 60 days from check-in _forward_ through the length of their stay, with a cap on the number of days on the ticket as well. The "+X" has been reported to be as much as 14 days, but seems to be variable with the length of stay.

 

[OKW Lover]

Just curious about how Disney would know what dates "+10" would be for off site guests. Would they have to go onto MDE and enter the dates they were going to be there?

 

[doconeill]

Just curious about how Disney would know what dates "+10" would be for off site guests. Would they have to go onto MDE and enter the dates they were going to be there?

I don't think offsite guests would get any +X - they get to book at 60 days.

Same thing as with ADRs, essentially.

 

[Mkrop]

I think it is becoming a regular issue, because the way Disney is now dealing with it is to have CM's with poles that have a "FASTPASS+" sign at the top of them, and the CM stands behind people entering the growing line so people can actually tell where the current end of the line is. Because often it is very, very far away from the attraction as previously pointed out.

At AK at the safari, they built a quick que with the ropes and wooden sticks. They had us all wound around the area, and there is not much area around there to do that.

 

[Angel Ariel]

What makes you think this will not eventually be rolled out to DLR

If they're planning on rolling it out to DLR then that virtually guarantees that offsite/APs without a resort stay will have the ability to prebook*. Disney doesn't have the resort capacity there that they do at WDW and are heavily reliant on the hotels on harbor blvd and the surrounding area.

Plus, DLR is much more of a locals park. They'd alienate their local AP holders if they were not able to prebook (without having to have a resort stay).

*Obviously having the ability doesn't mean that WDW would necessarily choose to enact that ability. But it would pretty much guarantee that the infrastructure has the *ability* for offsite guests to prebook.

 

[doconeill]

Even at WDW, if the estimates are right, 50% of guests are off-site. I don't think they are going to alienate half to squeeze an extra 10% of revenue from the other 50%...

 

[Angel Ariel]

Even at WDW, if the estimates are right, 50% of guests are off-site. I don't think they are going to alienate half to squeeze an extra 10% of revenue from the other 50%...

Oh, I completely agree with you. I've been saying from the beginning of all of this that I think the onsite perk will be +10, like ADRs. The prebooking is what puts the + in FP+, and the prebooking/planning is what Disney has focused on in the little marketing they've done for FP+ to this point. IMO, they're not going to do that, and then turn around and shut out half of their guests.

 

[OKW Lover]

deleted. nevermind.

 

[mom2rtk]

Even at WDW, if the estimates are right, 50% of guests are off-site. I don't think they are going to alienate half to squeeze an extra 10% of revenue from the other 50%...

I really don't think so either.