Another FP+ experience

[nowinflorida]

I'm a lurker but not a poster but as someone who has been going to Disney multiple times a year since it opened (first trip in a Nov '71) thought I'd share. We always do RD, almost never stay past early afternoon, like to ride the "thrill" rides multiple times and generally decide at the last minute to go since we are now local (moved back to fl 2 years ago). I have skipped Disney since last summer and didn't renew our AP's because I was very unhappy with the very thought of fp+. Last week, I gave in. We went 3x over spring break. While I don't love fp+, it generally worked ok. It remains to be seen how it will work when everyone can book ahead.

Mon 3/24: MK. We had been out of town for the weekend so after flying in, went to MK for the evening. Took a while to get in because monorail was down but finally did about 7:30 pm. Went to a kiosk to try it out. Was able to get fp+ for HM, buzz and BTM. (Too chilly for Splash and couldn't get SM). Those ended up being good choices because they had long "posted" waits when we rode (more on this later)....we filled in with stuff with no waits (plus eating at Columbia house and a stop for dole whip...those were the longest lines we waited in!). We also rode people mover, pooh, little mermaid, tea cups, jungle cruise and POC...literally walk ons or less than 5 min. Left MK at 11. I was pleased with fp+.

On Tues, I decided to try out MDE at home, linked AP's and booked fp+ for EPCOT on Wed and DHS on Friday. No problems. Ordered MB's which just shipped this weekend.

Wed 3/26: EPCOT. I had gotten fp+ for soarin!, SE and MS but not at times I wanted. While in the crazy mass of humanity waiting to get in (it was a free for all with no discernible lines), I changed the times on MDE. We rode TT single rider, then to soarin at 9:15 (posted wait was 60 min), rode The land boat ride and imagination, then SE fp (don't remember wait but line was huge). Began to notice the enormous lines for the kiosks. Crazy long! Then Nemo. Said 30. We were on and off in 20. Then MS fp. Fed DS at electric umbrella (another huge line). Then to Mexico (I ate...yep, another long line). Mexico ride. Then to Maelstrom which said 45 min but we were on and off in 20. Oh my the A&E line! I'd heard about it but just wow! Walked the rest of the countries, visited the butterflies and we were done...out by 2pm. Really pleased with fp+

Friday 2/28: DHS. Our day was good but this is where we ran into our biggest issue with fp+....problems when you end up meeting up with friends who aren't linked. We had fp+ booked but they had to use the kiosk and did so before we met up. I'm sure there is a way around this (linking, copying) but you have to plan ahead which isn't always possible. They were able to book at kiosk (TSM, TT, ST) but not at the same times we had. I tried to change ours on MDE, no luck. We just split up occasionally and didn't end up using our fp+..not a big deal for me since I've been on everything countless times. Note that we still rode RR and TT each 3x and ST 2x. We skipped TSM because we were doing something else at the time of our fp. (Also did GMR, back lot tour and saw CMA show). Posted times for RR and TT were long 70/80 min but we never waited more than 20 -30 min (in line to off ride). Some lines were just odd....the TT line was huge but moved super fast until we got into the building where it just stopped due to a steady line of fp+ and at one point we were waiting and watching the posted times just change...30..70...120...50. In my experience, disney has always been right on with wait times but this past week just wasn't (at least they were off in a good way!).

Never saw a backup at the fp readers but the kiosk lines were out of control. Not sure what was happening at counter service but it was sooooo slow. It really wasn't that the lines were long....just slow. MDE worked fine in the parks and even inside buildings. Also, My mom went last week and her MB didn't work. She had her ap so it wasn't a big deal but I saw lots of people with blue mickeys at the gates so it's always good to have a backup.

 

[2Tiggies]

Thank you for your report. It sounds like you had a pretty good experience with the system which throws a little optimism in the mix and is always welcome

I agree that trying to co-ordinate onsite and offsite has been a problem until now. Hopefully the 30 day window will solve the worst of those issues.

If you hadn't had so many opportunities to visit in the past, do you think you would have been a little more anxious about using your FP at HS? Or were you happy that you got to ride some of the big headliners multiple times and still spend time with your friends?

 

[Cheetie]

This is good to hear. I'm planning our first trip with FP+ and finally joined the dis because I have so many questions. It's nice to read about a good experience.

 

[CarlaLovesDisney]

Glad you had fun!

 

[nowinflorida]

Note that I was able to make fp+ selections for TSM, GMR and ST at DHS....a few days before and then change the times day of. (I knew we'd get on RR/TT at RD). This may become more difficult....we shall see. We just didn't end up using TSM and GMR because they were at different times than our friends and we did ride GMR Stand by. They used theirs for TSM, TT, and ST and were on and off in 10 min tops. The fp lines were moving fast! We could have walked over and rode TSM when they were riding TT but my son didn't want to....we waited for them and then ride again when they got off...twice. DS and I easily got on RR and TT at RD without any wait and then met them to ride RR again at around 9:20 (posted time was 80 min but it only took 20. this all indicates to me that lots of people are booking fp but not using them). So, other than the issue with meeting up with people, it would have worked great. Not sure how the booking ahead will help this....we decided to meet up a few days before and these were friends of my DS so linking probably wasn't an option....coordinating groups is just hard at Disney. It wasn't easy before but this makes it worse. We are commando people....you will often find us in the first car of the first ride on SM or EE but I also know how to go with the flow when touring with people not in my family. It felt very crowded walking around last week in all 3 parks. I was one of the "sky is falling" people and my point of posting was that it's not. I still like the old system better but I can work with this one. I can see its benefits and drawbacks. For example, we rarely go over at night but if I can log on MDE and book a few fp's, maybe we'd head over for a few hours after school. I think for most people going on their once a year vacation, who book ADR's, do lots of planning, etc. this actually could work really well. If it gets to where you can't book any headliners if you aren't 30-60 days out that is going to be a problem but on a busy spring break week last week it was not an issue.

 

[johnvree]

Seems like one simple solution that might help is add more kiosks.

 

[Mom2Stitch]

Thank you for posting your experience, it is nice to have good reports about it.

It very much sounds like they can't get a handle on the wait times, but as you said the error is at least in the favorable direction.

Now I would like to hear from people who are there in the next couple of weeks to see how it changes from the off-siters being able to book in advance.

 

[Ismo]

Thanks for sharing!