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

[wisblue]

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?

That would be my guess.

Just like guests would be fighting it out if there were paper FPs for it.

Except that now, some guests may be able to make their FP+ reservations in advance (unless at first they don't offer FP at all) and not have to be at the park at opening to join the stampede to the ride to either ride or get a FP before they run out.

 

[crostorfer]

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).

And stay at the very deluxe Royal Pacific for less than the cost of an extremely moderate Port Orleans to boot.

 

[2girlsmom]

Universal just filed for a patent for a queue reservation system. It isn't a clone of MM+ and FP+, but there are similar aspects. I think this is what the amusement industry sees as the future of queue management and we need to a)be prepared, and b) give them useful feedback on how to make it as good as possible.

Actually, I'm told that Universal was required by 2015 to have an RFID "chip" reservation system by the government. Apparently something with similiar aspects to MB technology will supposedly be required by all theme parks.

 

[DisneyJana]

What is the purpose of this new fast pass system? they certainly have more visitors to the park that stay off site- I would imagine this would be discouraging to them

It certainly discourages park hopping. We used the system last week and found ourselves back in the hotel early every night - due to lines

We go twice a year and would normally hop every day and get multiple fast passes and stay out spending money late into the night

Don't know what the point is

 

[Laketravis]

What is the purpose of this new fast pass system?

Don't know what the point is

Yield Management.

 

[Maddysdaddy]

Having trouble envisioning how advance FP+ reservations would ever be rolled out to off-site guests.

Advance FP+'s make sense when someone is locked into a room on-site, as you have reasonable assurance that the individual will be attending at the park on the day their FP+'s are booked. Without having that link, what would prevent 'anyone' from saying "I think we might go to WDW some time in July, so I'll just reserve FP+'s for every day that month, so that we have something booked if and when we decide to set foot in the parks".

The only way I can see off-site guests having access is if Disney goes down the road of allowing off-site guests to book FP+'s only if they purchase and register their park tickets in advance; and then it would only work if the policy was "You've bought a 5 day ticket, so you can pre-book 5 days worth of FP+'s. However, unless you cancel the entire day 'X' days in advance, you cannot rebook them for another day".

Please feel free to tell me I'm an idiot if there is a simpler solution that I'm missing here.

 

[AmyB2006]

Universal just filed for a patent for a queue reservation system. It isn't a clone of MM+ and FP+, but there are similar aspects. I think this is what the amusement industry sees as the future of queue management and we need to a)be prepared, and b) give them useful feedback on how to make it as good as possible.

Interesting. I thought the system they had people loved too?

 

[dayvewc]

Having trouble envisioning how advance FP+ reservations would ever be rolled out to off-site guests.

Advance FP+'s make sense when someone is locked into a room on-site, as you have reasonable assurance that the individual will be attending at the park on the day their FP+'s are booked. Without having that link, what would prevent 'anyone' from saying "I think we might go to WDW some time in July, so I'll just reserve FP+'s for every day that month, so that we have something booked if and when we decide to set foot in the parks".

The only way I can see off-site guests having access is if Disney goes down the road of allowing off-site guests to book FP+'s only if they purchase and register their park tickets in advance; and then it would only work if the policy was "You've bought a 5 day ticket, so you can pre-book 5 days worth of FP+'s. However, unless you cancel the entire day 'X' days in advance, you cannot rebook them for another day".

Please feel free to tell me I'm an idiot if there is a simpler solution that I'm missing here.

That's pretty much been the idea the whole time, in my understanding. You can't book unless you have a ticket attached to your MDE. If you are staying onsite, then the package automatically links your ticket for you, but if you buy a separate ticket to stay off-site, you can link it on your own. Then, you are limited to the number of days that you can reserve FP+ that equal the number of days on your ticket (or left on your ticket).

And you can't decide tomorrow that you want to reserve 10 days in July because, July is MORE than 60 days away. The best you can do is book each day for a week at the 60 day mark. Disney won't care (much) that you are staying off-site if they know 2 months in advance which days you plan to be in the park. Makes scheduling much more efficient.

 

[jj1403]

And stay at the very deluxe Royal Pacific for less than the cost of an extremely moderate Port Orleans to boot.

True, but my three year old isn't really into Universal. It's more of an older kid park and doesn't work well for our family. So for me, paying $1300 for two days doesn't make sense, since we are spending the bulk of our time at Disney. I will however, still be going to Universal, but not opting into paying for the privilege of line jumping. If it was cheaper, absolutely.

 

[KatieCharlotte]

Having trouble envisioning how advance FP+ reservations would ever be rolled out to off-site guests.

Advance FP+'s make sense when someone is locked into a room on-site, as you have reasonable assurance that the individual will be attending at the park on the day their FP+'s are booked. Without having that link, what would prevent 'anyone' from saying "I think we might go to WDW some time in July, so I'll just reserve FP+'s for every day that month, so that we have something booked if and when we decide to set foot in the parks".

The only way I can see off-site guests having access is if Disney goes down the road of allowing off-site guests to book FP+'s only if they purchase and register their park tickets in advance; and then it would only work if the policy was "You've bought a 5 day ticket, so you can pre-book 5 days worth of FP+'s. However, unless you cancel the entire day 'X' days in advance, you cannot rebook them for another day".

Please feel free to tell me I'm an idiot if there is a simpler solution that I'm missing here.

They could just require offsiters to purchase and link their tickets to an account, and then select fastpasses for the same number of days as their tickets, within any two week range in the next 60 days. It seems like that would be easy, and I don't think there's a need to prohibit rebooking.

Some people might make last-minute changes regarding which week they go, but that's going to be pretty rare for anyone but locals. Disney room reservations could also be changed at the last minute, much more easily than a vacation rental. People might change which days they go to the parks, but onsite guests with long stays might do the same. People who make last-minute changes to their dates will have fewer fastpass options open, and people are still going to want to hold onto their valuable fastpass reservations.

The challenge is offsite AP holders.

 

[babynala]

Currently scheduled to arrive at All Star Movies this Sunday. We will be at MK on the 13th and 15th so I will be very curious to see how having no paper FPs will work out for us and other guests.

We were in Disney last January and had a GREAT time using the old FP system. Our trip this October (using FP+ and paper FPs) was not so magical. We did have a few problems with our MBs but we were not loving the FP+ system. Our experience may have been skewed due to the fact that guests were able to "double-dip" but the FP machines ran out VERY quickly and the FP+ reservations were impossible to reschedule for headliners - TT, Soarin, SM and of course TSMM.

I am sure my niece and nephew will enjoy their first trip to WDW so I will try not to stress and hope they don't mind waiting in lots of stand-by lines. At least I won't have to make dinner for a few days.

 

[ucfknight]

If they want to push people to the lesser attractions with this, maybe they should create tiers at MK. Allow the 3 current selections from the top tier, but then allow 3 additional selections for the bottom tier rides.

 

[Angel Ariel]

Seriously, three fastpasses at MK??? My days of fastpassing my kids' favorite rides and MY mountains are gone for good???

This is what sucks the most for us as well. If it's just DH, DD and I it will cause us to spend more time apart than we ever have on trips (if DH and I want to ride mountains as well) since DD can't ride the big rides...not the point of a "family vacation," imo. Frustrating.

 

[momof2n2]

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.

Haven't read further yet, but I agree with this. I have May touring plan penciled in and ADRs (including BOG). But I can cancel it all in a moment and head to SW/BG/LL/Uni if things look murky late April. I have no commitment to WDW. If they want us to come and spend all that money...

 

[ArwenMarie]

Regarding offsite, I think it will end up being same-day once you enter the park. The reason I think this is because that is what Disney is doing now.

If they wanted to allow prebooking, they wouldn't be doing all of this "testing" like they did at AK and now MK and soon to be the other parks. They would just test prebooking.

I think the big question is what is going to happen with APs who aren't staying onsite. There has been no testing with that group.

 

[ucfknight]

I think the big question is what is going to happen with APs who aren't staying onsite. There has been no testing with that group.

There has been plenty of testing with APs who did stay onsite, but continue to use their MagicBands and make FastPass+ selections (up to 7 days in a rolling 60 day period for most) after their onsite stay has completed.

 

[KatieCharlotte]

Regarding offsite, I think it will end up being same-day once you enter the park. The reason I think this is because that is what Disney is doing now.

If they wanted to allow prebooking, they wouldn't be doing all of this "testing" like they did at AK and now MK and soon to be the other parks. They would just test prebooking.

I think the big question is what is going to happen with APs who aren't staying onsite. There has been no testing with that group.

I do think this is how it's going to be, even though I don't like it and don't think it has to be this way. I am really curious what will happen to AP holders.

 

[wisblue]

Regarding offsite, I think it will end up being same-day once you enter the park. The reason I think this is because that is what Disney is doing now.

If they wanted to allow prebooking, they wouldn't be doing all of this "testing" like they did at AK and now MK and soon to be the other parks. They would just test prebooking.

I think the big question is what is going to happen with APs who aren't staying onsite. There has been no testing with that group.

Again, I think this should be looked at as a step in a process. First, they have to get rid of paper FP completely, then they can work on prebooking for offsite guests (and AP holders without room reservations, for that matter). Maybe for offsite guests they can start by working with guests with reservations at some of the hotels with which Disney has working relationships.

As a PP said, for an offsite guest to prebook he would have to link some sort of ticket to his MDE account, just like onsite guests do now. That guest could make reservations for as many days as the number of remaining days on the ticket.

 

[TLSnell1981]

I saw the ending. You won't like it. Mickey wins.

I don't see it as a win for Mickey. It's another big ugly for Disney. I agree, the ending was quite predictable. Although, some chose not to believe it.

 

[kmarie99]

I don't see it as a win for Mickey. It's another big ugly for Disney. I agree, the ending was quite predictable. Although, some chose not to believe it.

When you say 'another' big ugly for Disney, what where the other ones? Not trying to be snide, just not sure what you are referring to.