Any Reformed FP- Uber Users Who Have Embraced FP+ ?

[MrInfinity]

And thanks for acknowledging my effort to provide clear, distinct information - I was actually responding to Fuzzy who seems to have conveniently missed my post based on his lack of response.

I'm sorry did I miss something? If so it wasn't intentional. The posts are flying by so fast, and I am doing things other than just posting here. Are you referring to your spreadsheet image? I saw that, thought it was neat, and haven't had the time to look closely at it yet.

 

[MrInfinity]

Not quite. Sure, everyone absolutely CAN (of course barring unusual circumstances beyond our control, or physical or mental limitations, or a myriad of things that might not apply to the majority of guests), but they may not have a great time if they don't like what they have to do to accomplish it. But they could. The FP+ system doesn't necessarily prevent them. I can lead any horse to water, but it doesn't mean they will like the taste when they drink it!

Exactly. I'm not saying you're going to like the planning aspect. There is indeed some more than there used to be. But if you do it, it's definitely possible to get on a lot of rides with FP+.

 

[Laketravis]

I can lead any horse to water, but it doesn't mean they will like the taste when they drink it!

But guess what, for someone who doesn't like to get up early and stay late, the results under FP+ might be a little worse (primarily longer SB lines for mid level attractions), but they may not have been that great under FP- either.

Well, I think we've clearly established that I "embrace" rope drop and staying late in the parks so let's move past that because I'm still very interested in you leading me to the river that has those walk-on attractions in the evening after dinner evening during the busiest of times that are part of your successful strategy!

 

[supersnoop]

I totally agree with that, and think that is the greatest strength of being able to reserve in advance for just about any time of the day. So if arriving at Epcot on New Year's Eve and being able to enjoy Test Track, Mission Space, and Figment (or Nemo, or EO, or Living with the Land - pick one) with virtually no wait is success for you, more power to you!!

Just a small correction; Living with the Land is Tier One, so you couldn't do that in conjunction with Test Tract. We went to Epcot three times before my wife believed me; she thought I was joking about it being Tier One.

 

[wisblue]

Correct me if I'm wrong but I have yet to see an article with data on longer wait times. Most of the increases are around 5 minutes or less.

http://blog.touringplans.com/2014/02/19/fastpass-affecting-your-wait-in-line-disney-world/


Articles like the one above are calling it a wash. I realize that over the course of a day 5 minutes will add up to less rides but unless you've got your stop watch running would you even notice?

Here is a more recent one that was done in June:

http://blog.touringplans.com/2014/06/23/fastpass-lowering-waits-disney-world-popular-rides/

I am wondering if either Touring Plans or easywdw will be issuing something like this in the near future to provide more recent information.

 

[Laketravis]

Just a small correction; Living with the Land is Tier One, so you couldn't do that in conjunction with Test Tract. We went to Epcot three times before my wife believed me; she thought I was joking about it being Tier One.

LOL! You're right - I totally forgot that.

 

[HollieS]

I posted my two-week itinerary from last month in a recent post; while I don't still have a copy of one from our past one-week stays, this one provided the same level of enjoyment for us that previously only required one week. I'd say we adapted

I saw that. It was what prompted me to wonder if anyone had an older one. Not to win or start more interweb fights but to see a concrete example of how one family was able to adapt and keep their experience enjoyable. To possibly provide a template for another family.

 

[Laketravis]

Here is a more recent one that was done in June:

http://blog.touringplans.com/2014/06/23/fastpass-lowering-waits-disney-world-popular-rides/

I am wondering if either Touring Plans or easywdw will be issuing something like this in the near future to provide more recent information.

That's a great link, Wis. Thanks for posting it. A couple of things to keep in mind, not sure how relevant they could be:

- The data was compiled using wait times from February 1 – June 19, a period of time somewhat unlike the rest of the year, and then only from 10 AM – 5 PM each of those days.

- The comparison to FP- for MK is pre-Fantasy Land expansion.

I think there is a statistician here on the DIS who could probably chime in as to whether or not those factors are relevant. 'Cause stats are like a bikini - what they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital.

 

[wisblue]

That's a great link, Wis. Thanks for posting it. A couple of things to keep in mind, not sure how relevant they could be:

- The data was compiled using wait times from February 1 – June 19, a period of time somewhat unlike the rest of the year, and then only from 10 AM – 5 PM each of those days.

- The comparison to FP- for MK is pre-Fantasy Land expansion.

I think there is a statistician here on the DIS who could probably chime in as to whether or not those factors are relevant. 'Cause stats are like a bikini - what they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital.

Yes, there are questions and limitations but, as far as I know, this is the most through and most recent attempt to study this.

 

[jade1]

I totally agree with that, and think that is the greatest strength of being able to reserve in advance for just about any time of the day. So if arriving at Epcot on New Year's Eve and being able to enjoy Test Track, Mission Space, and Figment (or Nemo, or EO, or Living with the Land - pick one) with virtually no wait is success for you, more power to you!!

See that's been the thing with you, you constantly pick EPCOT out of the mix to try to diminish the argument. What about the other evenings XMAS NY week?

The quote was that there was no regard for ultra peak weeks and not arriving early-that means the whole week, and yes the whole week in that regard is now way better.

And yes even just TT and SE is far better than 180 minutes for TT and Soarin-A huge success.

In every instance below-all FP- would have been gone and everything would have been 1 to 3 hour waits.

US/IOA in the Am followed by FP+.

Did the MK NYE Preview Midnight fireworks on the 30th-soo good.

Had the big 3 FP+ scheduled before.

NY at EPCOT was so much fun, very packed but a breeze walking 5 min to/from BC.

Did TT FP+ after the fireworks to be safe.

NY Day we hit the Citrus Bowl (skipped fishing until DSIL comes along this spring) to watch a rare Gophers Bowl, MIZU pulled away at the end though, but a great time for sure, followed by FP+ that night at DHS. Indy was pretty fun after about 10 years skipping it.

Clearwater Beach last Monday followed by DHS FP+.

 

[Angel Ariel]

Now I leave the parks in surrender.

Why tho? I don't see why you're leaving the parks in surrender. You can get so much done. See my previous post. I rode all the headliners at HS multiple times, plus did a boatload of other stuff. At all 4 parks. How can we use the same system but you leave in surrender while others are able to get on tons?

This is an example of the same kind of thing I was referring to here:

No one, though, IMO has the right to extrapolate that because their experience was "x," then everyone else's experience should be "x" as well, no matter what side of the discussion they are on.

You don't have to defend how you feel.

But you keep going back to: I'm glad it works for you, but it doesn't for me.

It works the same for both of us. We can both use it exactly the same.

Yes, technically speaking the system functions the same way for everyone. And yes, everyone "can" use it the same way.

But they don't. People don't all tour the same way. Everyone has personal things that affect how they *can* tour AND how they *choose* to tour. There are things that can affect touring that are *not* choices, but things that *have* to be worked around.

I think most posters who post here are well aware that they can get advice on how to improve their touring if they ask, but that doesn't mean they're looking for advice on "how to improve" in every opinion they post.

And if you assert that because you didn't get on a lot, that one cannot get on a lot and that FP+ is the reason, then I will challenge it, because FP+ can get you on a lot, if you choose to do so instead of leaving in surrender.

But you are also asserting that because *you* got on a lot, that someone else (in this case Suvadoo) should also be able to get on a lot. Why is it OK to assert that because you did something, others will be able to also if they just tour differently?

It is not a board to just posit "I don't like it, and I don't care to improve it or get more out of it I just want to voice that I don't like it". Especially if you reiterate the same sentiment in several threads talking about how to get more out of FP+.

This thread was not about how to get more out of FP+. This thread was asking if any reformed FP- uber users had embraced FP+. Some responded that no they haven't - a completely valid answer in this topic.

You had a different experience with FP+ than Suvadoo and others. You like it, that's awesome. That doesn't change that *their* experience was not the same. People on the DIS, especially in these discussions, are well aware of what changes they could make to their touring to better accomplish things - strategies to do that have been gone over time and time again in these threads. They don't need to provide their whole touring plan here to justify why they had the experience they did, and they may not be interested in others input on their touring because they're aware of what strategies are out there and those strategies may not be applicable to them for any number of personal reasons that they aren't interested in having to explain.

In the end it *does* come down to - it works for some, and not for others. Just like legacy worked for some and not for others.

 

[MrInfinity]

Here's a copy of our itinerary we used last month. In terms of what we want to do, that would be to accomplish a fairly reasonable amount without unreasonable wait times. I'm anxiously awaiting your recommendations!

Ok can you quantify this? You'd like to do reasonable things w/o unreasonable wait times tells me very little about what you actually want to do, or were unable to do.

Where were you staying? I take it Contemporary cuz of all the Wave / Chef Mickeys dining?

Tell me about a particular day. Like Tue 11/25. You opened to the AK, then hit MK by noon. What did you do at AK? How come you'll only hit the AK in the mornings, but then always hop out? This is somewhat counter productive. Because so many people do this strategy, the AK really clears out by 3-4pm. We have typically had nearly clear parks there by this time. So I think you're missing the best times to be at the AK.

So... you got on what, KS and EE at the AK and then hop? Or what's the morning look like? What rides did you get on this day at the AK, and what rides did you want to get on but were unable to?

Then you go to the MK. Is there a break in between, or do you book it over to the MK? There isn't a lot of leeway here, as you have FP+'s starting at 1:30 at the MK. You hit the 3 roller coasters. Seems you take the same 3 FPs most days, mixing in HM. So you got to ride the three best rides during the busiest part of the day -- that's really awesome. What did you do in between them?

* If it were me, I would have tried to hit my BTMR 1:30-2:30 FP right at 1:30. Then you're done by 2, and on the way to the SDMT, you can stop and ride the HM via standby. You have a good hour to kill here, so whether you get on in 20 min or 50 min, either way you'll fit it in between 2 and 3, leaving you to hit your 2:30-3:30 FP for the SDMT. Then after the SDMT, I'd hit the SM FP right away again (at 3:30, done by 4) then you have an hour and a half to do something before you have to hit the boat to the WL. Since you're already in Tomorrowland and are leaving soon, I wouldn't stray too far and would probly do the Buzz Lightyear and People Mover ride, then head out to the boat. You can fit these two in with a 1.5 hour window, no problem. Probly have time to spare.

Anyways that's what I would have done. 3 FP+'s to the primo rides, ride those, plus HM, Buzz, and PeopleMover in a 4-hour window on a mega-busy day, midday. There is NO WAY you could have gotten anything close to those rides in via FP-.

You note Whispering Canyon at 6:30pm. Was this boat from the MK after your last FP to the WL, then have dinner, then boat back to the Contemporary and call it a night, or did you go back to the park?

If your plan was to arrive at the MK at 1:30pm, and leave by 5:30pm, then in that 4 hour very busy stretch, I would think you would get on your 3 FPs, a couple rides in between and after, and that's about it. But then again you hardly have any time here, and it's the worst time to be here.

How are you able to maintain such a schedule, of getting up at RD and staying till close when the park is open till midnight so many days? That is impressive.

What jumps out at me is you do very little time at each park, then hop, then spend similarly little time at the next park, then say there wasn't enough time to get everything done.

i.e. AK. You go for a few hours in the morning and leave.
MK. You go for a few hours, just enough time to ride 3 or 4 (maybe up to 6) things via Fast Pass, and then you have to leave to go on more transportation to another resort, and then more transportation back.

It looks like you spend a lot of time going from place to place, and not much time simply being at a place. It seems you hopped almost every day, with three major destination changes on many of the days.

But to summarize, despite what I think is a lot of travel time, you rode at least 5 headliners with minimal to no waits this day, right? You've got KS and EE at AK, then BTMRR, SDMT, SM at MK? I figure you would get in a 3rd and/or 4th at the AK and a 4th-6th ride at the MK too. That's 5 headliners and 5 secondary rides.

Sounds good to me... what was not working for you this day? You got to ride 10 rides, plus have dinner at a resort, and assuming you went home after the dinner, you even had some beach time back at the hotel. This doesn't seem like a bad day.

Think about how much time you spent in transit on this day. Getting to the AK is an hour (or more, if you want to be there for RD)... to MK is an hour, to WL is an hour, back to MK is an hour, and then back to CR is 20 min. That's 4 hours and 20 min entering and leaving parks and riding from place to place. You could have just stayed at the AK all day, rode the same ones in the morning, 3 more by FP+, then a bunch more by standby after 3-4pm when the park clears out, and then bussed to your dinner, then boat home. That cuts the travel time by about half, and ups your ride count by about double.

Also it should be noted that FP+ helped you majorly here. Under FP-, there would be no way to show up at the MK at 1:30pm on a holiday week, and then proceed to ride BTMRR, SDMT, and SM all via FP, getting return times within the hour for all of them midday, and be done in time to leave on a 5:30 boat to the WL. Given how you tour, FP+ seems to really help you.

(I picked the day at random just to try to analyze one in particular)

 

[Jennasis]

Ok can you quantify this? You'd like to do reasonable things w/o unreasonable wait times tells me very little about what you actually want to do, or were unable to do.

Where were you staying? I take it Contemporary cuz of all the Wave / Chef Mickeys dining?

Tell me about a particular day. Like Tue 11/25. You opened to the AK, then hit MK by noon. What did you do at AK? How come you'll only hit the AK in the mornings, but then always hop out? This is somewhat counter productive. Because so many people do this strategy, the AK really clears out by 3-4pm. We have typically had nearly clear parks there by this time. So I think you're missing the best times to be at the AK.

So... you got on what, KS and EE at the AK and then hop? Or what's the morning look like? What rides did you get on this day at the AK, and what rides did you want to get on but were unable to?

Then you go to the MK. Is there a break in between, or do you book it over to the MK? There isn't a lot of leeway here, as you have FP+'s starting at 1:30 at the MK. You hit the 3 roller coasters. Seems you take the same 3 FPs most days, mixing in HM. So you got to ride the three best rides during the busiest part of the day. What did you do in between them?

What FP did you pull next? What did you do after about 4:00pm? You have Parade at 9pm, so what did you do for the 5 hours between 5pm and 9pm? And you mentioned closing out the park, what did you do from 10pm till midnight?

You note Whispering Canyon at 6:30pm. Was this boat from the MK after your last FP to the WL, then have dinner, then boat back to the Contemporary and call it a night, or did you go back to the park?

If your plan was to arrive at the MK at 1:30pm, and leave by 5:30pm, then in that 4 hour very busy stretch, I would think you would get on your 3 FPs, a couple rides in between and after, and that's about it. But then again you hardly have any time here, and it's the worst time to be here.

How are you able to maintain such a schedule, of getting up at RD and staying till close when the park is open till midnight so many days? That is impressive.

What jumps out at me is you do very little time at each park, then hop, then spend similarly little time at the next park, then say there wasn't enough time to get everything done.

i.e. AK. You go for a few hours in the morning and leave.
MK. You go for a few hours, just enough time to ride 3 or 4 things via Fast Pass, and then you have to leave to go on more transportation to another resort, and then more transportation back.

It looks like you spend a lot of time going from place to place, and not much time simply being at a place. It seems you hopped almost every day, with three major destination changes on many of the days.

But to summarize, despite what I think is a lot of travel time, you rode at least 5 headliners with minimal to no waits this day, right? You've got KS and EE at AK, then BTMRR, SDMT, SM at MK? I figure you would get in a 3rd at the AK and a 4th ride at the MK too.

Sounds good to me... what was not working for you this day? You got to ride 5 headliners, 2 secondary rides, plus have dinner at a resort, and assuming you went home after the dinner, you even had some beach time back at the hotel. This doesn't seem like a bad day.

Also it should be noted that FP+ helped you majorly here. Under FP-, there would be no way to show up at the MK at 1:30pm on a holiday week, and then proceed to ride BTMRR, SDMT, and SM all via FP, getting return times within the hour for all of them midday, and be done in time to leave on a 5:30 boat to the WL. Given how you tour, FP+ seems to really help you.

(I picked the day at random just to try to analyze one in particular)

Put. The bone. DOWN.

 

[Angel Ariel]

My family does not consider 8:45am the crack of dawn. In fact, it seems bizarre to me that anyone does.

We also don't consider rope drop a punishment. It's awesome.

We do also enjoy what you can get done at RD, but it is a challenge for us to get there since our 2 y/o - if left to wake up on her own - wakes up between 8am-8:30am on a regular basis. She was 15 months old on our last trip with her and slept much the same way then.

At WDW we don't usually leave her to wake up on her own, especially if we have any desire to be at RD, but it can definitely be a challenge to make RD when you have a child who is generally asleep.

I acknowledge that DD is an outlier, especially for 2 y/o, in the sleep category though.

 

[MrInfinity]

Put. The bone. DOWN.

Sorry Jennasis, LT specifically asked me to reply about his itinerary... Aside from what I consider excessive time in transit, I thought he got a lot done for how much he was actually at the parks.

 

[wisblue]

I saw 100 minutes SB/50 minute single rider waits for Test Track, 60 minute wait times for Spaceship Earth the week after Thanksgiving, and they weren't overstated. And the park wasn't any more crowded than I've seen in the past. In fact, it actually seemed less crowded and I attributed that to everyone being in a line.

In another thread a month or so ago, I used the data on the Touring Plans site to look at posted wait times at Spaceship Earth for the period from Thanksgiving Day through the following Friday. Here is what I found, with a few highlights added:

"I also looked at the wait times for Spaceship Earth each day from Thanksgiving Day through Friday, December 5. The full graphs are on the Touring Plans site for anyone who wants to look at them, but here are the highlights. I focused on 3 things: (1) peak wait time, (2) how long the peak lasted, and (3) how long the wait time was 30 minutes or longer.

Thanksgiving Day- Peak of 50 minutes hit briefly at 11:45, 30 minutes plus from 10 AM- 1:30.

Friday 11/28- Peak of 45 minutes hit briefly at 12:35; 30 minutes plus from 10-4:15.

Saturday, 11/29- Wait time went from 30 minutes at 11 AM to 60 minutes at 11:45 and briefly peaked at 65 minutes from 12 to 12:15. It then dropped back to 30 minutes by 1 PM and stayed at 25-30 minutes until 4:30 before dropping below 30 minutes for the rest of the day. (By far the longest wait times of the period, especially from 11 AM-1 PM.)

Sunday 11/30- Peak of 30 minutes from 11:15-1:15 with a drop to 20 minutes from 12-12:30. Below 30 minutes for rest of day.

Monday 12/1- Peak of 30 minutes from 11:30-12:30.

Tuesday 12/2 (AM EMH)- peak of 45 minutes from 11:15-12:15. 30 minutes plus from 10:45-12:30.
Wednesday 12/3- Peak of 30 minutes from 10:30-11:15

Thursday 12/4- Peak of 25 minutes from 10:30-11:30

Friday 12/5- Peak of 35 minutes from 11:00-12:30. Below 30 rest of day.

Except for the first 3 days and Friday the 5th, the wait time was no more than 5-10 minutes from 3 PM to park closing. "

The only day in this period in which Touring Plans reported a posted wait time of 60 minutes or more at SE was on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, and that spike only lasted for 2 hours, from 11 AM until 1 PM. The posted wait time was 30 minutes or less the rest of the day.

For the week after Thanksgiving (Monday through Friday) the posted wait time only exceeded 30 minutes (peaking at 45 minutes) for a brief time (10:45-12:30) and was 30 minutes or less the rest of the week.

 

[DisneyKidds]

Sorry Jennasis, LT specifically asked me to reply about his itinerary... Aside from what I consider excessive time in transit, I thought he got a lot done for how much he was actually at the parks.

Not to mention, what we can tell he did get done doesn't jive with his '3 rides in a day and long rides for everything else' statement. We know he did more than 3 without lines (if he rope dropped and used his FP+), and I suspect he got even more done than that, but he will never admit it. That would require him to admit he misspoke or misled with that particular statement.

 

[Laketravis]

See that's been the thing with you, you constantly pick EPCOT out of the mix to try to diminish the argument. What about the other evenings XMAS NY week?

Jade, I mentioned Epcot because I specifically remembered you mentioning Epcot. Nothing sinister about it, I equally applaud your success in the other parks as well.

 

[estherhead]

Think about how much time you spent in transit on this day. Getting to the AK is an hour (or more, if you want to be there for RD)... to MK is an hour, to WL is an hour, back to MK is an hour, and then back to CR is 20 min. That's 4 hours and 20 min entering and leaving parks and riding from place to place. You could have just stayed at the AK all day, rode the same ones in the morning, 3 more by FP+, then a bunch more by standby after 3-4pm when the park clears out, and then bussed to your dinner, then boat home. That cuts the travel time by about half, and ups your ride count by about double.

Also it should be noted that FP+ helped you majorly here. Under FP-, there would be no way to show up at the MK at 1:30pm on a holiday week, and then proceed to ride BTMRR, SDMT, and SM all via FP, getting return times within the hour for all of them midday, and be done in time to leave on a 5:30 boat to the WL. Given how you tour, FP+ seems to really help you.

I'm also curious what you want to get done, LT? Three AK mornings? And you can't get it done? I simply can't imagine. Our AK strategy when we don't want to use FP+ there and when it is a 7-8 day crowd wise is thus:
8:30 arrival.
8:50 walk to EE. (no line at all) ride
9:10 walk to KS. (10-15 minute line) ride
9:55 walk to (10-15 minute line) Dinosaur. ride
10:30 walk to (10 minute line) Primeval Whirl. ride
Then we break into people who are going to see FOTLK or Nemo (we rarely do both the same trip though we did this year) and people who want to ride EE single rider and see ITTBAB.

At Spring Break in 2014 the longest line we stood in was ITTBAB which was 20 minutes. So it was pushing my limits of willingness to wait. But to be honest spring break this year was irritating to me in general and I vowed to not go back at that time.

We don't do Kali in November and December but there also isn't much of a line all day.

Doing these rides at these times there aren't long lines at all. We limit our willingness to stand in line to under 20 minutes and generally find that it's actually under that this early in the morning.

Then we leave at noon-2:00 depending on how many animal trails we've done, where we wanted to eat, etc.

If I had 3 mornings at AK I would also do everything else there plus EE and Dinosaur a couple more times. In my experience you can do EE three times between 8:50-9:30 with the line never taking longer than 10 minutes. And the single rider line is one of the fastest one on property.

With your above schedule, 3-4 hours at AK on 3 different mornings, you should have been able to do EE 9 times plus every single other attraction at AK even when it's busy.

When you went with FP- and were at WDW for just one week did you ride EE 9 times?

You say you are willing to wait in line a little with EP at Universal. So are you willing to wait in 10 minute lines at WDW?

And the above is what we actually experience, I'm not just taking the Disney posted wait times.

 

[Laketravis]

Sorry Jennasis, LT specifically asked me to reply about his itinerary... Aside from what I consider excessive time in transit, I thought he got a lot done for how much he was actually at the parks.

Again, it's not about what I did. It's about what you insist I could have done. So take those days and those times and those ADR's and those FP's and tell me how what your touring strategy would have been?