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

[morethananyonex]

Park opening will be effected IMO the question is just by how much. The stand by lines have to move slower to account for the 9-10 AM FP+. It might be noticeable, it might be a couple minutes but logically they have to be slowed down by some amount of time. It's what FP does. On that note, has anyone seen how previously none FP rides have been effected by having FP+? Are their lines generally longer now?

It all depends how many people book those windows, actually make it to those windows (especially near 9), and also how many of those people are typical rope drop families anyways.

By the way, can you book FP+ during morning EMH? Never tried it.

 

[wisblue]

Park opening will be effected IMO the question is just by how much. The stand by lines have to move slower to account for the 9-10 AM FP+. It might be noticeable, it might be a couple minutes but logically they have to be slowed down by some amount of time. It's what FP does. On that note, has anyone seen how previously none FP rides have been effected by having FP+? Are their lines generally longer now?

It all depends how many people book those windows, actually make it to those windows (especially near 9), and also how many of those people are typical rope drop families anyways.

By the way, can you book FP+ during morning EMH? Never tried it.

FP return times (both FP+ and paper) starting right at park opening have been around for at least a couple of months now. On our Christmas week visit I did not notice any difference in standby lines building up compared to past holiday trips. That includes rides like POC, HM, and IASW that did not have FPs before. Our observation in the mornings was that there were very few people in the FP lines for those attractions. Maybe that will change as more people people start using FP+. But, while those early times may eventually be all that is available for the most popular attractions, that seems unlikely for the less popular ones.

Also, when I booked our FP+ reservations they weren't offered during AM EMH.

Standby lines don't necessarily have to be longer at opening if the people using FPs in theology first hour are offset by people who don't bother coming early because they have FP+ reservations for later. A lot of people would rush to a ride like TSMM first thing so that they could grab a FP and then jump in the standby line to get two rides out of one trip to the attraction. With a FP+ reservation already in hand they may go somewhere else or decide to not to arrive at RD at all. Who knows?

 

[ARAITHEL]

A PP suggested they received a fridge magnet with the dates they should book their ADRs, FP+ etc.

I think reminder information with "when you should do this" are great for families that have not visited before. I took a "newbie" family in Sept '12. When they see me, they still thank me for helping them through the maze that is disney. We happened to be at MK the day that they rolled out the FP+ test. It went well and worked great for them. If I hadn't been with them, however, it would have been a nightmare for them. They had NO CLUE how WDW works and would have been fishes out of water.

Not everyone spends their free time on the Dis. The informational materials sent to resort guests are for the people that go to disney once. Not everyone that goes to the parks for a MYW vacation knows that they need to book ADRs at 180 or the FP+ at 60. Sheesh. They are informational and are obviously needed to cut down on the confusion when guests arrive. Besides who doesn't like getting more mickey mail from Disney?

"CliffsNotes" for disney never hurt anyone. I'm looking forward to mine for September!

I am NOT scared about having only 3 FP+ selections for the day. LOL! I (up until 2012) only thought you were allotted 2 a day anyway. This was, apparently, an urban legend. Now I'm grateful for the 3!

 

[Laketravis]

One of the advantages of FP+ is the ability to reserve one for preferred times later in the day.

Like a TSM for 3pm.

There are a lot of reasons why that is a popular advantage ranging from guests who are not morning people to guests who want to RD at one park and hop to another later in the day.

But there is a limit to the number of FP's available for TSM from 3-4 just as there is a limit on the number of FP's available from 4-5, and so on and so on...

What I'm suggesting is that as more and more people have access to the ability to pre-book FP's, those optimum times during the middle of the day will quickly run out and what will be left will be on opposite ends of the bell curve.

That is what I meant by flattening demand.

It's just like when I want to make an ADR for Chef Mickeys and the only thing available is 4:30pm and 9:15pm. Now, I'd prefer to eat dinner at 7pm so I have to make a decision here, and my decision is related to just how badly I want to eat at Chef Mickeys that night. So I go ahead and adjust my schedule for the much earlier or much later time?

As more and more guests are prodded by Disney to hit the internet and make those reservations, more and more will. And as more and more do and there are less and less FP's available in the middle of the day, maybe more and more will also Google "Rope Drop" and get the 55,200,000 results that I just did.

Maybe not everyone will show up 30 minutes before the park opens, but I think the first hour or two of short lines after park opening will slowly disappear over time as the only choices presented to many people for a TSM FP are much earlier in the day.

 

[DebbieB]

A PP suggested they received a fridge magnet with the dates they should book their ADRs, FP+ etc.

I received a refrigerator magnet for my October trip 2 or 3 weeks ago.

 

[JaimeA]

I received a refrigerator magnet for my October trip 2 or 3 weeks ago.

I received one for my August trip right before Christmas.

 

[ImAllEars]

ROFL - you always make me laugh..

 

[Laketravis]

If Disney meets one of their stated goals, that's a lot more people competing for FP's during the day - almost twice as many (90% versus 50%) reserving 50% more (2 FP's versus 3 FP+) - they won't all be able to get them in the afternoon or early evening:

"One goal of the $1 billion MyMagic+ technology project, which remains in testing, is to get as many as 90 percent of Disney World visitors reserving some of their rides in advance. Only a bit more than 50 percent of the resort's visitors use Disney World's current Fastpass system, and those that do typically obtain Fastpasses for only two rides per day"

Source: Orlando Sentinel

 

[dayvewc]

If Disney meets one of their stated goals, that's a lot more people competing for FP's during the day - almost twice as many (90% versus 50%) reserving 50% more (2 FP's versus 3 FP+) - they won't all be able to get them in the afternoon or early evening:

"One goal of the $1 billion MyMagic+ technology project, which remains in testing, is to get as many as 90 percent of Disney World visitors reserving some of their rides in advance. Only a bit more than 50 percent of the resort's visitors use Disney World's current Fastpass system, and those that do typically obtain Fastpasses for only two rides per day"

Source: Orlando Sentinel

I wonder if that is why Disney added FP+ to rides that didn't have it before, and created FP+ for parades, fireworks, etc.?

 

[Missyrose]

I wonder if that is why Disney added FP+ to rides that didn't have it before, and created FP+ for parades, fireworks, etc.?

Capacity, capacity, capacity.

 

[hopemax]

But, I think that the strategy of arriving early, which has been touted long before there were any FPs at all, will still be the most successful, even if it is less successful than it used to be.

My prediction: what you are waiting to ride at "rope drop" will change. But, especially at the MK rope drop will be as important as ever. Rope drop will no longer be so that you can get on the headliners with no wait, since FP+ return times start at park opening, not 45 min later with legacy FP. But it will be so you can "bank time" on the next tier of attractions, so then you can afford to wait an hour for a headliner at some point. The goal will be to ride things like Buzz, Jungle Cruise, HM, and Pirates early enough so their waits are minimal (predicting that people aren't using their FP+ reservations for these types of rides, especially during the first 2 hours of the day, so standby will still move quickly), instead of waiting to ride these later when there may be a 20 or 30 min wait. You may not be able to eliminate the really long waits, if you don't have a FP+, but if you can eliminate the next batch it will be at least something.

 

[annacali]

My prediction: what you are waiting to ride at "rope drop" will change. But, especially at the MK rope drop will be as important as ever. Rope drop will no longer be so that you can get on the headliners with no wait, since FP+ return times start at park opening, not 45 min later with legacy FP. But it will be so you can "bank time" on the next tier of attractions, so then you can afford to wait an hour for a headliner at some point. The goal will be to ride things like Buzz, Jungle Cruise, HM, and Pirates early enough so their waits are minimal (predicting that people aren't using their FP+ reservations for these types of rides, especially during the first 2 hours of the day, so standby will still move quickly), instead of waiting to ride these later when there may be a 20 or 30 min wait. You may not be able to eliminate the really long waits, if you don't have a FP+, but if you can eliminate the next batch it will be at least something.

But I really don't want to have to settle for being able to afford to wait an hour for a headliner at some point--- and the times when we go it would be more like 2+ hours. I really don't think it is ok to say well, I'll get one headliner with FP+ and I can maybe ride some of the lower tier rides first thing, but I just accept long standby lines for everything else. And that is if, as an offsite guest, I can even get a FP+ for anything at a reasonable time on the day of my visit. We "used" to be able to ride the vast majority of what we wanted, often our favorite rides multiple times and never wait more than 30 minutes with planning and use of FP. I personally don't feel it is worth my vacation dollars to settle for a much less satisfying experience in the parks.

 

[Shaden]

But I really don't want to have to settle for being able to afford to wait an hour for a headliner at some point--- and the times when we go it would be more like 2+ hours. I really don't think it is ok to say well, I'll get one headliner with FP+ and I can maybe ride some of the lower tier rides first thing, but I just accept long standby lines for everything else. And that is if, as an offsite guest, I can even get a FP+ for anything at a reasonable time on the day of my visit. We "used" to be able to ride the vast majority of what we wanted, often our favorite rides multiple times and never wait more than 30 minutes with planning and use of FP. I personally don't feel it is worth my vacation dollars to settle for a much less satisfying experience in the parks.

 

[Planogirl]

I believe that the new system could make rope drop even more crowded and I think that a lot of that will be due to the tiering and the 3 FP+ limit. If they truly increases FP users from 50% to 90% then that will potentially be a lot more people in all of the FP return lines and waits for the middle tier rides could become worse. Besides there are all of those top tier rides that people won't be able to get FP+ for not to mention re-rides.

It should be interesting to see how it all plays out.

 

[Anal Annie]

We go down next weekend over MLK for a long weekend and I was really hoping we could still "double dip" 1 last time with our APs since it's only a 3 day trip. No time to spend waiting in 2 hour lines. Crowd levels will be high as it's a holiday weekend. I made our FP+ selections as soon as I was eligible but made them all for what I anticipated would be our "afternoon parks" as I figured those would be the worst waits. I opted to skip making any FP+ at Epcot since it was tiered. Figured we could get there at RD and head for Soarin' then do single rider on TT. MS is optional. Guess with the 3 /day at only 1 park limit this will pretty much put an end to visitng Epcot for us as DS isn't interested in WS. DH and I enjoy spending some time in WS but if there are no rides available with less than 2 hours of waiting we won't stick around for lunch even. Very sad to see this day come. Sad that Disney doesn't recognize not only those who stay onsite but those who have gone so far as to invest in their timeshare and who opt to purchase APs. Feel like a captive now.

 

[lovethattink]

That is not what I said. I even specifically said I am not envious of people who have DAS cards and the challenges they face in their lives that make them able to receive them.

What I did say was someone touring with the DAS has the ability to tour differently than someone without it, making FP+ a whole different ball game. All I said was it's not surprising someone like that would be in the minority.

We went back to AK yesterday for our 3rd go as an offsite guest. We did not use ds's DAS at all. I'm still sold on this new system working for us at AK. I may feel differently about MK, can't say now since we can't try it yet.

We arrived at 10am. The park was already much fuller than expected. Because of the run, roads were blocked and for many drivers on the road looking for a park, this was the only one we could drive into from the direction we were coming. In fact, park hours were extended because of the crowd.

There was NOBODY at the FP+ kiosk at the Oasis. There were 3 of us. Our FP were:

10:25-11:25 for Kilimanjaro Safari
12:15 - 1:15 for Dinosaur
1:15 - 2:15 for one of our party to ride EE
1:15 - 2:15 for the other two to Meet Mickey at the Outpost.

We rode Kilimanjaro, stopped at First Aid, headed to Dinoland where we caught the 11:30am character dance party, rode Triceratop Spin, got in a 10 minute standby line for Dinosaur and rode it, then went in the FP+ line to ride Dinosaur, headed to the 1:15 ADRs, ate lunch, Maharajah Jungle Trek, then ended our day with the Pangani Forest Trail.

Either this week or next we will try out MK to see how that goes.

 

[NickyKnack]

It seems to me that the non planners are the ones that are (for the most part) going to end up with the really early FP times. I could be totally wrong, but it also seems to me like those will be the same people who roll over when their alarm goes off and decides that it's not worth it and blow off their FP time in favor of a little more shut eye. Esp since the non planners probably wont have a clue how important those FPs really are, or how hard it might just be to switch them up later that day.

I still think that RD will remain a large advantage.

QUOTE=Laketravis;50452130]I think one of the biggest advantages for Disney with FP+ is the ability to better manage demand over a time spectrum. Simple management of the times presented when users are scheduling FP+ allows Disney to flatten that demand curve throughout the day. As they push demand out to the earlier and later hours they get closer to RD and park close. The park may still be the most crowded from 11am to 5pm, but more and more guests will be pre-assigned FP times 5 minutes after RD or 20 minutes before park close.

That's why I think there will be more utilization of attractions during those periods in the past when they were under-utilized. Like RD.[/QUOTE]

 

[NickyKnack]

And they've been doing the same for ADRs for years... yet you still see tons of angry folks with the Dining Plan standing at a podium yelling because they can't get in anywhere because they didn't make ADRs.

Except the reservation CMs are hard selling the FP+. When I called to make my reservation, December 31st, I was given a lengthy MB explanation, given explicit instructions on how to log into MDE and instructed to make an account immediately, and told 5 times to make ride reservations as soon as possible.

 

[Angel Ariel]

And they've been doing the same for ADRs for years... yet you still see tons of angry folks with the Dining Plan standing at a podium yelling because they can't get in anywhere because they didn't make ADRs.

And you also have restaurants that fill to capacity within minutes or hours that booking day being.opened to the public..think CRT, bog, etc..

 

[xie]

Guess with the 3 /day at only 1 park limit this will pretty much put an end to visitng Epcot for us as DS isn't interested in WS. DH and I enjoy spending some time in WS but if there are no rides available with less than 2 hours of waiting we won't stick around for lunch even. Very sad to see this day come. Sad that Disney doesn't recognize not only those who stay onsite but those who have gone so far as to invest in their timeshare and who opt to purchase APs. Feel like a captive now.

A bit OT but you know what we did to keep our teenage son interested in WS? We call it "Eat The World". He's a bottomless pit, growing like a weed, and is ALWAYS hungry. So we start with a little tray of nachos in Mexico, and work our way around. He obviously doesn't buy something in every country - often it's nachos, maybe a pretzel in Germany, then a bowl of Udon in Japan, and perhaps a dessert in Paris... but it keeps him interested, and we get to do the grown up stuff in WS.