All of that FP+ Planning out the window

[jomass]

Um, OK.

OMG! Now that' some funny _____ right there!

 

[jomass]

overreaction in my opinion.
you don't know that the weather is gonna force you to change your plans.
also i can't believe you spent hours upon hours selecting FP+ times and getting things just right.
heck 2 weeks ago today i fell at DTD and cut my chin and neeed stitches and i didn't let it change or ruin my preset plans so i can't believe that POTENTIAL for storms is gonna change and ruin your plans.

LMAO! Wow you know an awful lot about me! It's uncanny! Where were you in 1987? I could have used your powers.

 

[Choozee]

"A crap shoot" lol that little phrase caught my eye and made me smile cuz I use that phrase often. It was handed down to me from my Dad. RIP

 

[itchin2go]

But the fact remains, that while we will go to MK in a monsoon and have a great time, there are those who don't- or people that could easily just switch their MK day to a day when there was not predicted to be a washout. In the old days, you could just get there at rope drop and grab the primary FP you needed for the day. Plus, because they are not booked in advance and everyone was limited to one at a time (or at least a wait before the next), there would likely be another good one available when your time came up to get the next. Now, especially with the hard to get FP+ like A&E, you are stuck. I agree, I hate the lack of flexibility!!! We have felt so tied down and limited on our 2 FP+ trips. We were never FP super users either.

I have also been contacted, no less than 9 times in the last 2 weeks by my newbie/haven't been in years friends who are planning summer WDW vacations, and who are totally overwhelmed by the whole FP+ thing and know I'm a "Disney person". So, in addition to spending hours on my own last 2 FP+ trips, now I have spent HOURS trying to get multiple separate friends FP+ set up for them and get things linked and together on MDE. I had one friend going in a month who didn't even know what the MDE app, or MDE even was- she had booked through a travel website- so she had gotten no E-mails from WDW on magicbands, FP+ etc. It has been so much fun explaining to another friend that she can't take her one son on RNRC and her younger son on TSM with FP+, because of tiers where she can't have a FP+ for both.... and to yet another friend that since her DD's top priority at EPCOT is Soarin and her son's top priority at EPCOT is Test Track that they can not FP+ both --- either the family has to split up, or they have to pick one. The son is 6, so they can't do single rider at TT, so it is standby for one of those rides, or split up -- of course then she is upset that while her kids have their top picks, they are still going to be irritated if they split about not being able to ride the other one or if they pick one and standby another about their sibling getting FP+ for their top priority and them not. She is one that has been before pre FP+, and has always been able to get FP for both and is extremely frustrated that now that she has 2 kids that want to ride both and that their priority ride is different, that she is limited and will have to disappoint one of the kids or stand in what will probably be an hour or more standby line. Another total newbie is totally irritated because they did not do dining reservations months ago because they wanted flexibility and figured they could just do CS if they had to, and now they have found out that they have to book ride FP+ 2 months in advance and tie themselves down to a time that early, or they might not get FP at all for the rides they want. I could go on and on about the complaints I have heard from multiple people in the last couple of weeks, and as much as I hate FP+- when I talk to them, I try to keep it positive so as not to stress them out more or get them discouraged. Let's just say that the posts on here opining that newbies will not have issues with FP+ and will love it, are not accurate in my opinion. I didn't realize quite how bad it would be for a newbie or someone that had not been in years, until I started getting a ton of calls, texts and E-mails asking for help.

We did FP on Soarin and rode Test Track at rope drop ... twice. Not a big deal - worked great. Wait wasn't bad at all.

 

[AtlantaDisneyDreamer]

It's also hard when you're the appointed trip planner for your group and someone in your party suggests a spontaneous change of plans.

I hated trying to explain how the ride reservation system operated. In my group's case, everyone decided to blow off the FP+ reservations and wing it. We missed out on the headliner attractions, but no one really cared.

I, a self-appointed trip planner, completely understand. It happens with dining reservations, also. At 11 am, I'll be like, "Ok, everyone, we have BOG lunch reservations at 12:45." And my husband will pipe up, "I'm hungry now. Let's just eat now. Where can we eat now?"

And I'm like:

DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH TIME AND STRESS WENT INTO GETTING THAT RESERVATION? HOW MANY TIMES I HAD TO CLICK FIND A TABLE!!!???

We can't eat now. There is nothing to eat now. We are waiting until 12:45 to eat.

Of course, similar things happened back with the old paper fastpasses, and even with regular old touring plans. Once I darted halfway across Epcot to get FP's for Soarin' while my family leisurely rested and ate a snack, and by the time of our FP reservation, everyone was tired and just wanted to go back to the resort. I also ran from Haunted Mansion all the way back to get FP's for Splash Mountain for everyone, but we didn't make it back to the park from our afternoon break in time to make the window.

Also love when we make rope drop at the park and my mom wants to head straight to The Hall of Presidents. I have to politely explain that we don't get to MK 45 minutes early so that we can be the first in line for Hall of Presidents. Silly Momma.

No one other than us trip planners knows what really goes on behind the scenes. Maybe that is the way Uncle Walt would have wanted it.