Anyone in December getting FP+ and MB

[Wood Nymph]

Which app is recommended to check wait times while at WDW? We arrive Sat and have our MB's but admit I'm a little clueless on the FP+ system still - MDE wasn't working for me until recently and now I'm feeling a little overwhelmed. So if I make a FP+ selection for Sunday and end up wanting to adjust time depending on my 2yo, I can do so via the MDE app on my iphone?

I was able to change our fp+ times using the MDE app on my cellphone when we were there last week. I saw only two fp+ kiosks, although there must be more somewhere. It is easy to do it on the app.

The wait times on the MDE app were the same times that were listed on the rides.

 

[goofy4prez]

I was able to change our fp+ times using the MDE app on my cellphone when we were there last week. I saw only two fp+ kiosks, although there must be more somewhere. It is easy to do it on the app.

The wait times on the MDE app were the same times that were listed on the rides.

I agree, this was also my experience last week as well; the app was easy to use and had no problems. However, I might like to add your available choices may not always be too your liking. There were times no FP times were available, or it would give me options that were far less than headliner attractions. When I originally made my FP+ selections WDW had not yet tiered the system, but while there it was certainly tiered when making changes.

I love Disney, but my experience with the FP+ system is one I was very displeased with as a whole. I received my survey yesterday from WDW via email and I can tell you I left a very scathing opinion of this system in its current form. I highly doubt the higher ups really are concerned with what I had to say, but I sent it to them anyway.

 

[Bronte]

Has anyone been able to get fass pass plus for the fireworks at Epcot on Dec. 31 ... I have my parents coming in for that and they can't stand in one place for hours just to get a spot so I was hopeful that they would have special places for fass pass plus people like they do at Magic Kingdom for Wishes on certain nights ...

 

[sammatt]

I keep checking too, but nothing yet. It was suggested in another thread that they might not open this up for Christmas and New Years due to the crowds. Guess I'll keep checking and see what happens.

Which is really a bummer, because that's the whole point of having FP+!

 

[dsnydaddy]

Which is really a bummer, because that's the whole point of having FP+!

No I keep looking but haven't seen anything other than rides for that week. Bummer too. This trip we're not really in it for the rides, it's all about celebrating Christmas and New Years for us. So I really want to have experience the parades and fireworks more than anything else.

 

[faylynn24]

I just got back from my trip. I was so excited to use my bands and have to say they where a huge let down to me. They still have a lot of kinks to work out with them. I also had issues using my fp+ my fast passes did not register when bands where scanned but indeed did have them.

 

[Disneylover99]

I just got back from my trip. I was so excited to use my bands and have to say they where a huge let down to me. They still have a lot of kinks to work out with them. I also had issues using my fp+ my fast passes did not register when bands where scanned but indeed did have them.

The bands for all 4 of us never, ever, ever worked for FP+.... Not once.

 

[Ted in Halifax]

I'm living the fast pass plus problem now. Everyday I've had a problem of some sort, always someone from my party who is left out with a rejection at a ride (although they do let the person in) Not good for a planning addict like me. Not thrilled. In my books fast pass + is actually fast pass -

 

[Auntie Sherry]

I was there dec 6 to 13. Magic bands were ok. They worked with all my fast passes , dinning plan,tickets even used for Christmas party. They were touchy you had to scan just right. They were hard to use on door to our room. We stayed at AOA. the lock was in a place that made it hard to touch with wrist. We had a fast pass for 4 on splash mountain I tried to change 2 of them because it was too cold. It changed 3. I asked for help at the fp kiosk. They were unable to help seemed very confused. System showed my husband in there 5 times they could not fix this. Second time tried to change one it deleted all of them. After that we left them alone. Magic bands were convent to use when they worked. But I do not see what advantage it has over the old system if u are an early riser. The only benefit I see is for those that don't want to be at parks early and have fp for popular rides. I prefer the old system at this time. I am hoping they will get easier to use and have more benefits.

 

[pigletto]

Here now, and knock on wood, we haven't had any problems with the bands. I will agree, they are a little weird for the door locks. You have to hold your wrist at a weird angle. I find myself wearing the band on my left arm, even though I am right handed and it's awkward opening the door. Not a big deal though.
My sons MB didn't work for his snack credit yesterday, and my husbands didn't work for paying for his CS lunch. That was the machine at the location though, because his worked for lunch today. Other than that we haven't had issues with a fastpass or anything else. So far so good. I do prefer them to fishing my key card out of my bag whenever I need something.
Lines are long at guest services locations, and I am assuming that has to do with the bands. I don't see as many people wearing them as I thought I would. We're definitely in the minority. And of those we see with bands, many of them are grey which would indicate they only learned about them/got them when they arrived here. I would say at least half or more of the people we see in the parks don't have them at all.

 

[ruthma]

I just got back from Disney and had absolutely no problem with my magic band. It was awesome and worked right every time. Now I'm planning my April trip.

 

[Pooh2]

We went Thanksgiving week. The only time our Magic Bands gave us trouble was entering parks. It was so random, working fine in the morning but not the afternoon, just mine or just my husbands. The CM at the gate quickly waves someone over who does something to the band with her little ipad type thing. Definitely slows down the lines though.

 

[Ladewig]

We just returned after four days at AKL. Our Magic Bands worked perfectly. Room, charging, entry, FP+ all worked without any issues. We changed FP+ one day and worked for everyone in the party. I was most concerned about the old passes we added to our account for entry, but wasn't an issue.

My only feedback for them was that the buttons to enter your pin when charging were too small and close together for big fingers like mine. Had to be be very precise and slow when tapping the buttons to avoid mashing multiple numbers. Otherwise I loved it.

I'll admit the door pad can be a bit awkward, but once I realized you just need to tap the door pad and not hold it there, it was pretty easy.

 

[jimandami]

We were there for 12 days total and never had a problem using MB for park entry or FP+...not once. My mom did have one of her bands (we each had 2) that wouldn't unlock the hotel door but the front desk fixed it quickly.

 

[faylynn24]

I love the idea of the bands but just was disappointed how ours worked. Fp+ was a big negative and our linked credit card where not working either we tried to get it fixed and was told it was a tech prob and it couldn't be fixed at the time so another neg for us. We didnt have any prob getting in our room or pool. We stayed at aoa. We also had a issue with out tickets but it was due to being given wrong info. We had military salute tickets linked and a one day any park except magic kingdom with out hopper. We where told we would have to prioritize our tickets for when we wanted to use it to go to guest relations before we use it OR we could just use the actual ticket instead of our band! We thought well we will just do that no waiting in line. Boy was that cast member wrong! It doesn't matter at all if you use the ticket or not it will still take the ticket off that was next in line on your band if it was linked. Which I guess I don't really understand why it does that since each ticket has there own number to identify them. Oh well they did help us out and fixed the issue we had.

 

[HiHoWeGo]

We went Thanksgiving week. The only time our Magic Bands gave us trouble was entering parks. It was so random, working fine in the morning but not the afternoon, just mine or just my husbands. The CM at the gate quickly waves someone over who does something to the band with her little ipad type thing. Definitely slows down the lines though.

We returned last week and I can happily add our names to the list that had no problems with MBs. The only issue that cropped up was that my wife was once denied park entrance by the reader. I think the root cause was that she forgot the finger she had used on our first day! The iPad CM quickly cleared her print and let her enter. The next day she entered a park with no problem at all.

 

[RAD]

Upon arrival at BWV I was told that one member of our group would need to have their Magic Band reauthorized due to some issue. I then tried to make a purchase with mine and was declined, that was fixed by all the bands being reset, which also wiped out all the PIN's that had been set up via online checkin. But once all the intial problems were correct never had any other problems with them for the next four days. Even the MVMCP tickets that I had linked to the MB's worked in addition to the FP+'s that I had set up for the 4PM to 7PM windows before the party started.

 

[maxiesmom]

Just back from 4 nights at POR, and I was very happy with how the Magic Bands worked. I guess the key is that they were working, because I did overhear people in the parks complaining about theirs.

Plus one guy at Guest Services in Epcot letting them have an earful! Seems his resort (not sure which one) gave him cards in addition to the bands, but told him they were not allowed to use them. I actually walked over to him when the CM left for a bit and told him his cards would work to pull FPs. Unfortunately it was his last day, and as the CM at his resort told him not to use them he hadn't even tried to.

A bit more consistency would be a good thing.

 

[Franrose]

We just got back from a 13 day stay.

We were given key to the world cards as back ups and used these throughout the day for regular FP (which was often more convenient than FP+ because organised at the time).

The system was obviously still in test mode (whether that's the official line or not) so when problems occurred they tended to occur for an entire day, but Disney were great about sorting issues/honouring FP+ that wasn't working as they should. Some cast members were great in telling you that stand by was short and to switch your FP+ to something else and go standby. I can understand why some people (on shorter vacations) had no issues and others had lots - it's not dependent on a particular person's set up, but how well the system as a whole is operating on the days of your stay. Similar to occasional glitches we've all seen off and on in the lead up/planning stages.

FP+ means many less FP than you can get in a day under the old system which is a big bummer IMO. Hopefully that adjusts over time as things get worked out.

I purchased a Premier Annual Pass which cannot be linked to the magic band system so was never able to use my MB to enter parks - used my card instead. Was able to use MB the rest of the time and all my FP were still there and linked etc.

Wireless/Internet in the parks (and resorts) is often patchy and this would affect ability to pay with MB in places where the readers were not hardwired (eg table service restaurants). Some servers would try and hold them high (and it helped lol).

Like anything else, CM knowledge about the system varies. The worst are those who think they know the answer to your question but who have no idea, and give you wrong info. Sadly, that's nothing new!

Overall, bands are handy, but systems need to catch up and I think FP+ numbers ironed out yet. I think things will remain in testing for a while yet.

 

[APiratesLifeForMe2]

Here and now and magic bands having so many issues! We checked in and not a single band was showing as "active" in their system. Spent a good while trying to troubleshoot and they told us to come back later. Came back later and they had re-booked us to presumably reset the system but then bands still not working for 4 out of 5 of us. Left 4 bands behind and went to parks with temp park tickets, fast pass vouchers and only one working room key. Came back and told 4 bands would now work. Went to parks and the first band working was now completely "dead". Went to dinner and not a single band worked for dining plan. Since we've spent so much time at the front desk we gave it a rest for the night and will check back in the morning to fix the remaining problems. It seems when the system works, it's great technology but when it's "glitchy", it's an annoyance.