Anyone already post that paper FP will be gone at MK as of 1/14?

[magicbob]

I'm still not a fan of FP+, but I think that I've reached the Acceptance phase. I've spent a lot of time complaining on the DIS and other venues about it, but it's not going away. Like others have said, we'll find a way to adjust and still have a great time. It's going to make some parts of touring easier while others are more difficult. If nothing else, it really makes me decide what are my top must-see attractions at MK.

The tricky part is visiting with kids who aren't going to do Space Mountain. Since the obvious move is to pick Space, Splash, and Big Thunder for FP+, that means long waits for Peter Pan and others. This is very tricky...

That move won't be so obvious once they tier MK and you can only choose ONE of those things.

 

[wisblue]

Tiers will come to MK. There is no way that they won't, once they open up the new mine coaster.

Here are the tiers I suspect are coming...

Tier One: Everything popular in the park including the Mine Coaster

Tier Two: Everything else

If they put the mine train and everything that's popular in Tier 1, and only give everyone one pick from that tier, that would be very close to eliminating FP's altogether, because most of those popular attractions (except for the mine train) wouldn't come close to selling out all of their FP+ allotment.

 

[dwheaton]

That move won't be so obvious once they tier MK and you can only choose ONE of those things.

I'm currently speaking under the assumption of no tiering, but you're right that it changes things dramatically. I think tiering would be the only way to drive people to pick up Fastpasses for attractions beyond the top six or seven. The benefit would be a better chance to gain access for day and off-site guests, so I'm not entirely against it, though.

 

[squirrel4569]

I agree that prebooking appears to be out for offsite guests but I do think that they might offer the app in some way. I think that it would be easier for Disney to get everyone on the app if they could.

The more I think about it the more this makes sense. Originally I was thinking it would be 60 days for off site and 60+10 for on site, but it makes more sense for off site to not have advance booking access. This can then be another "perk" that, while not monetized directly, is monetized indirectly by encouraging people to stay on property, filling rooms without the discounts that we've seen in the past (Free dining, for example.) I also wouldn't be surprised if they made a similar change to the ADRs, although since they are guaranteeing them with a CC they may not need to. The reason behind allowing on site to pre-book seems to be that they know when you are coming and therefore know the capacity they have for that day. What's to stop an off site guest from booking a FP+ and then not using it on the day/time they say they will? If booking on-site and you cancel at least Disney is aware of it and can replenish those slots. Unless there was a penalty for cancellations like there is with ADRs then they can't control who books what when.

My next trip is tentative for 2015 (trying to talk the wife into going this year too) with a large group, staying off site in a condo. Might have to rethink that depending on how this all plays out. We'll still likely go, but probably would book on site to take advantage of the pre-booking if it stays this way.

Curious also, how they will handle things like Star Wars Weekends. Will they offer FP+ options for those M&Gs and events? (Not sure if they do now or not with FP-) What about the disconnected FP? What happens to those?

 

[dwheaton]

If they put the mine train and everything that's popular in Tier 1, and only give everyone one pick from that tier, that would be very close to eliminating FP's altogether, because most of those popular attractions (except for the mine train) wouldn't come close to selling out all of their FP+ allotment.

Exactly. I think they have to split up the tiers. I'd see something more like this as a possibility:

Tier 1:
Mine Train
Space Mountain
Peter Pan
Dumbo
Pirates

Tier 2:
Splash Mountain
Big Thunder
Haunted Mansion
It's a Small World
Buzz Lightyear

They have to split it up somehow and did a similar thing by putting Tower of Terror in Tier 2 at DHS.

 

[Laketravis]

DS and EP are tiered because there simply isn't enough headliner capacity to meet demand. I don't see that changing unless more attractions are added.

AK is not tiered because even though it doesn't have a wealth of headliners, it does have the lowest demand.

MK has both high demand and the most number of popular attractions. Tiering is probably not necessary.

Some people have maintained all along that this a test, you can't draw any conclusions about the final product, etc. but based on what we've seen so far, what you see is what you get and I don't anticipate any significant changes once it's been completely rolled out.

 

[wisblue]

I agree that prebooking appears to be out for offsite guests but I do think that they might offer the app in some way. I think that it would be easier for Disney to get everyone on the app if they could.

I think it's still way too early to declare that prebooking for offsite guests is out for good.

To me, it makes sense for Disney to allow offsite guests to prebook because that would require those guests to purchase park tickets in advance as a condition to booking FP+ reservations. If Disney's goal is to get people committed to their Disney days, it would be foolish to limit offsite guests to only same day reservations. They just might not be able to book them as early as onsite guests, or maybe they won't get as many FPs.

I think we should look at this month's developments as just another
step toward an end product that is still unknown.

 

[sunkissed4]

I was hoping MK would be the last park to go strictly to FP+. We don't even ride the headliners every time we go and always make rope drop and I still don't know how I can make it work with only 3 FP.

I guess it's time for acceptance, but when tiers come in I'll probably go insane.

 

[ArwenMarie]

And take it from me, don't imply that Tier 1 is more of a headliner category than Tier 2 either or Judge Judy may come after you in a pathetic attempt to argue that tiers aren't as bad as they look.

Disney will never call them tiers. Tiers implies that some rides are better than others and we all know that Captain EO is just as good as Test Track.

Magical Groupings! ™

 

[wisblue]

Exactly. I think they have to split up the tiers. I'd see something more like this as a possibility:

Tier 1:
Mine Train
Space Mountain
Peter Pan
Dumbo
Pirates

Tier 2:
Splash Mountain
Big Thunder
Haunted Mansion
It's a Small World
Buzz Lightyear

They have to split it up somehow and did a similar thing by putting Tower of Terror in Tier 2 at DHS.

Even tiers like that would spread out the choices so much that there would be a lot of excess FP inventory for several of those attractions, and the other things like the character greetings and parades.

It really is important to remember that the MK is a totally different animal than the other parks because the total FP capacity is a few times larger than the other parks because of the number and variety of attractions. A lot of people's "must dos" are not even on the agenda for a lot of others because of the makeup of their families or travelling groups.

 

[krayzie]

Argh, they are rolling out the test a day or two before our first trip to Disney. I hope they have a lot of kiosks.

 

[magicbob]

I'm currently speaking under the assumption of no tiering, but you're right that it changes things dramatically. I think tiering would be the only way to drive people to pick up Fastpasses for attractions beyond the top six or seven. The benefit would be a better chance to gain access for day and off-site guests, so I'm not entirely against it, though.

DS and EP are tiered because there simply isn't enough headliner capacity to meet demand. I don't see that changing unless more attractions are added.

AK is not tiered because even though it doesn't have a wealth of headliners, it does have the lowest demand.

MK has both high demand and the most number of popular attractions. Tiering is probably not necessary.

Some people have maintained all along that this a test, you can't draw any conclusions about the final product, etc. but based on what we've seen so far, what you see is what you get and I don't anticipate any significant changes once it's been completely rolled out.

Tiering may not be necessary at MK since they do have more attractions, therefore more capacity. But don't forget that one of the stated goals is to "drive people to attractions beyond the top six or seven."

 

[Dannek]

Completely agree. It is not even close to enough. I think you should be able to make to 6. 2 of each tier

If Disney starts offering additional FP+ reservations for a fee, then you will be able to do exactly that...

Seems to me that the limit of 3 and the tiered rides set the perfect stage for Disney to start offering additional FP+ for sale.

After all, they are all about making money as well as making dreams come true, and this would address both of those issues.

 

[jj1403]

If Disney starts offering additional FP+ reservations for a fee, then you will be able to do exactly that...

Seems to me that the limit of 3 and the tiered rides set the perfect stage for Disney to start offering additional FP+ for sale.

After all, they are all about making money as well as making dreams come true, and this would address both of those issues.

Ugh that would suck. I was checking at Universal today to see how much the Express Pass would cost our family of five and it's ridonkulous! For 5x2 day tickets the cost is already crazy pants at almost $800. But to buy the "express pass" it would cost me an additional $570 bucks!! So +$1300 for 5x 2 day tickets... So....that's not going to happen.

 

[Masonmj84]

DS and EP are tiered because there simply isn't enough headliner capacity to meet demand. I don't see that changing unless more attractions are added.

AK is not tiered because even though it doesn't have a wealth of headliners, it does have the lowest demand.

MK has both high demand and the most number of popular attractions. Tiering is probably not necessary.

Some people have maintained all along that this a test, you can't draw any conclusions about the final product, etc. but based on what we've seen so far, what you see is what you get and I don't anticipate any significant changes once it's been completely rolled out.

This ^^^.

They're apparently eliminating FP- only a park-by-park montly basis (AK in Dec, MK in Jan, one of EP/HS in Feb., and the other of EP/HS in Mar.).

I believe that when they eliminate FP- in EP and HS, that the tiering will remain in those parks but MK and AK will not be tiered. Even when Mine Train finally opens, there will be at least 6 MK attractions that will be very popular for FP (Space, Splash, BTMRR, PPF, ETWB, and SDMT) and guests will persumably only be able to to choose FP+ for, at most, 3 of the 6. So the greater number of attractions provides an implicit tiering effect that is lacking in EP or HS.

 

[crostorfer]

Ugh that would suck. I was checking at Universal today to see how much the Express Pass would cost our family of five and it's ridonkulous! For 5x2 day tickets the cost is already crazy pants at almost $800. But to buy the "express pass" it would cost me an additional $570 bucks!! So +$1300 for 5x 2 day tickets... So....that's not going to happen.

And how much do 2 day with park hopper tickets to Disney cost, for your family of 5, with a limit of 3 FP's per day in one park alone, versus that $1300 total with the ability to go front of the line and nearly every Universal/Islands of Adventure headliner minus FJ and Transformers?

 

[crostorfer]

And how much do 2 day with park hopper tickets to Disney cost, for your family of 5, with a limit of 3 FP's per day in one park alone, versus that $1300 total with the ability to go front of the line and nearly every Universal/Islands of Adventure headliner minus FJ and Transformers?

I'll give you the answer: for 5 people over 10 it's $1294.

 

[KatieCharlotte]

I believe that when they eliminate FP- in EP and HS, that the tiering will remain in those parks but MK and AK will not be tiered. Even when Mine Train finally opens, there will be at least 6 MK attractions that will be very popular for FP (Space, Splash, BTMRR, PPF, ETWB, and SDMT) and guests will persumably only be able to to choose FP+ for, at most, 3 of the 6. So the greater number of attractions provides an implicit tiering effect that is lacking in EP or HS.

I think, in the long run, you're right about tiering not being necessary at MK. But, if I was Disney, I would be very nervous about heavily promoting the Mine Ride and then offering it as a FP+ option without tiering when it is brand-new and everyone, both families and thrill-ride fans, want to check it out. Maybe they'll follow Universal Studios' example and hold off on offering FP+ for the Mine Ride, but that will make it difficult to promote FP+ and the Mine Ride at the same time. Maybe instead they'll just let guests fight it out for those coveted Mine Ride FP+ slots?

 

[dayvewc]

This ^^^.

They're apparently eliminating FP- only a park-by-park montly basis (AK in Dec, MK in Jan, one of EP/HS in Feb., and the other of EP/HS in Mar.).

I believe that when they eliminate FP- in EP and HS, that the tiering will remain in those parks but MK and AK will not be tiered. Even when Mine Train finally opens, there will be at least 6 MK attractions that will be very popular for FP (Space, Splash, BTMRR, PPF, ETWB, and SDMT) and guests will persumably only be able to to choose FP+ for, at most, 3 of the 6. So the greater number of attractions provides an implicit tiering effect that is lacking in EP or HS.

I think this is true (the number of attractive attractions leads to a more even distribution), excepting that EVERYONE and their mother will be trying to FP+ the 7DMT when it first opens. I expect that ride to be booked solid for a while, from the novelty of something new if nothing else.

 

[Lizard Valley]

Ugh that would suck. I was checking at Universal today to see how much the Express Pass would cost our family of five and it's ridonkulous! For 5x2 day tickets the cost is already crazy pants at almost $800. But to buy the "express pass" it would cost me an additional $570 bucks!! So +$1300 for 5x 2 day tickets... So....that's not going to happen.

Or you can stay one night in one of the 3 Universal hotels, and get unlimited express passes for everyone in your family, for both days. It would likely work out to be cheaper. Disney would cost the same, but you now get less from it (only 3 FP per day).