At the park now, FP+ lines are snaking through the park

[Planogirl]

Very true, and you would expect that, the longer the line outside the first Mickey, they more quickly they're waving people through the 2nd. That opens up another whole level of exploitation similar to the KtP find, previously. The 2nd Mickey is there for a reason.

So the thing to do is meet up with a few hundred people and all try to ride something at the same time.

Seriously, I do hope that Disney somehow gets a handle on these lines. Cluttering up walkways seems to run contrary to Disney's normal style.

 

[agavegirl1]

Seriously, I do hope that Disney somehow gets a handle on these lines. Cluttering up walkways seems to run contrary to Disney's normal style.

Not only contrary to Disney's normal style, but contrary to one of the primary purposes of MM+, guest management and dispersal.

 

[johde]

I figured out the problem long ago with this FP+ fiasco,Disney is about 10-15 years too early in introducing this system throughout the parks.Currently the parks are too crowded,there's not enough major E-Ticket rides at the parks and in my opinion they needed a 5th park to spread the crowds even further before introducing FP+,on top of that DISNEY and the GENERAL population are not tech ready for this system,their MDE website is not very good and the App doesn't work on a bunch of phones.I'm not against the MyMagic+ program but this should be getting introduced in 2025.With the amount of people that go to Disney what they should be focused in is expanding the parks,building new rides and a fifth park.AK needs like 5 major rides,DHS is too small,there's been rumors of the park expanding south towards Osceola parkway hopefully adding a Potter like Star Wars land,not a mini land but a huge area with multiple rides as this is another park that needs like 5 rides.Epcot needs a major overhaul in Future World along with 2-3 new countries and the fifth gate needs to be built in that rumored World Dr/Buena Vista drive corner where a small expansion to the Epcot monorail would reach DHS and the fifth gate.Obviously all this sounds ambitious and possibly unrealistic even in 15 years,but the problem is Disney should have been working on these projects a good while now,9/11 and the economy probably delayed them but this is what needed to happen before spending billions on a system that even if they get to a decent level of functionality is still not what people want in the long run.Disney's been wasting too much time sticking Johnny Depp inside Pirates and putting some moving bookshelves in the HM queue they need to seriously start improving their parks not sticking band aids on them and advertising how pretty the band aids are.

I think you're being a bit unrealistic about your timeline. I will agree with most everyone here that the FP+ roll-out has been a disaster. But it's not 10-15 years too early. It's probably more like a year or to too early for final implementation. It just happened too quickly in some areas and not quickly enough in others. I would have run parallel systems longer but with only 1 FP+. After the first couple of test I would have quickly introduced FP+ (probably without MB) to all resorts but for just 1 FP+. That would have solved the problem over Christmas where both offsite and onsite guests felt like second class citizens. Everyone would have been using FP-, onsite guest got 1 bonus FP for being in the FP+ test. Right after New Years, introduce 1 FP+ same day to offsite guests. By now, everyone could prebook 1 FP+ in advance. Then a year from now, start removing FP- after the app had been "perfected", CM had been trained, and semi regular guests accustomed to the new system. 1 prebooked FP+ in a "test" system is not going to ruin a vacation.

To your second point, I think Disney felt they needed to do FP+ before major additions to the parks. DHS is pulling in nearly 10 million visitors without Star Wars land. If Disney had the same success with Star Wars land that Universal had with Harry Potter, which saw a 3million visitor increase in attendance from 2009 to 2012, than DHS would be looking at potentially 13 million visitors. Even an expansion the size of Sunset Blvd with ToT and RnR would not completely offset 3 million extra people the lines for everything else would get longer. So they may have decided the better course of action was to introduce FP+ now, and get it established in preparation for the hopeful increases in crowds caused by Avatarland, and Star Wars Land, And what ever they decide to do in EPCOT.

 

[morethananyonex]

So the thing to do is meet up with a few hundred people and all try to ride something at the same time.

Seriously, I do hope that Disney somehow gets a handle on these lines. Cluttering up walkways seems to run contrary to Disney's normal style.

Not only contrary to Disney's normal style, but contrary to one of the primary purposes of MM+, guest management and dispersal.

I just refuse to believe they didn't see it coming.

If fans on a Disney forum that have no inside information can see "gee, scanning bands takes longer and is more complicated than showing paper FP" why couldn't Disney? If we could say "hey, using technology instead of paper opens Disney up to issue x, y and z at the FP entrances" why couldn't Disney? The reasons for the huge back ups seem pretty obvious. They should have had a solution before the problems began.

 

[Planogirl]

I just refuse to believe they didn't see it coming.

If fans on a Disney forum that have no inside information can see "gee, scanning bands takes longer and is more complicated than showing paper FP" why couldn't Disney? If we could say "hey, using technology instead of paper opens Disney up to issue x, y and z at the FP entrances" why couldn't Disney? The reasons for the huge back ups seem pretty obvious. They should have had a solution before the problems began.

It's a TEST. There's always that excuse.

I just saw the new TV ad and Disney even mentions coming to WDW during the TEST. Will the general traveler really be that excited by that?

 

[clsteve]

So the thing to do is meet up with a few hundred people and all try to ride something at the same time.

Seriously, I do hope that Disney somehow gets a handle on these lines. Cluttering up walkways seems to run contrary to Disney's normal style.

Shhhh, don't let the BTG's know that!

 

[ChrisFL]

It's a TEST. There's always that excuse.

I just saw the new TV ad and Disney even mentions coming to WDW during the TEST. Will the general traveler really be that excited by that?

Wait, kids love Tests, right?

 

[clsteve]

I just refuse to believe they didn't see it coming.

If fans on a Disney forum that have no inside information can see "gee, scanning bands takes longer and is more complicated than showing paper FP" why couldn't Disney? If we could say "hey, using technology instead of paper opens Disney up to issue x, y and z at the FP entrances" why couldn't Disney? The reasons for the huge back ups seem pretty obvious. They should have had a solution before the problems began.

Most likely because they did they're beta testing with CM's, CM families, and selected guests- all people with a solid understanding of WDW, no language issues, etc. We saw that back in Dec. '12, when we were there.

Add in how far behind they were on the timeline and how much over budget they were--- it's SO easy to talk yourself into test results you've unconsciously (or consciously) skewed when under those pressures. Disney's not the first on to do it- still not an excuse.

 

[surferdave]

I just refuse to believe they didn't see it coming.

If fans on a Disney forum that have no inside information can see "gee, scanning bands takes longer and is more complicated than showing paper FP" why couldn't Disney? If we could say "hey, using technology instead of paper opens Disney up to issue x, y and z at the FP entrances" why couldn't Disney? The reasons for the huge back ups seem pretty obvious. They should have had a solution before the problems began.

They got that feedback from plenty of us. Anybody paying attention in a FP line in October when both systems were still processing through together would've realized ohmigod, a group of four using FP- is getting through in the blink of an eye but four using FP+ take around a minute if nothing goes wrong, how is this going to add up when it's all FP+?

But apparently the feedback Disney was getting from a lot of "testers" was we love FP+!!! Between it and FP- we got to ride TSMM three times yesterday morning!

 

[practicallyperfect77]

It's a TEST. There's always that excuse.

I just saw the new TV ad and Disney even mentions coming to WDW during the TEST. Will the general traveler really be that excited by that?

I have received a few emails and received a flyer in the mail yesterday. I was so hoping it was going to be a pin code. It wasn't .....just a bunch of advertising the new great awesome system. I tried in Dec...was FP+ only since I got caught up in the Pop mess. I did have a good trip (due to being able to see Christmas decorations) but not super excited about planning my next one. I would be excited if I got a good deal though!

 

[clsteve]

They got that feedback from plenty of us. Anybody paying attention in a FP line in October when both systems were still processing through together would've realized ohmigod, a group of four using FP- is getting through in the blink of an eye but four using FP+ take around a minute if nothing goes wrong, how is this going to add up when it's all FP+?

But apparently the feedback Disney was getting from a lot of "testers" was we love FP+!!! Between it and FP- we got to ride TSMM three times yesterday morning!

Yep, the cow was out of the barn at that point--- and they were just barely holding onto the tip of the tail...

 

[ciera321]

I just refuse to believe they didn't see it coming.

If fans on a Disney forum that have no inside information can see "gee, scanning bands takes longer and is more complicated than showing paper FP" why couldn't Disney? If we could say "hey, using technology instead of paper opens Disney up to issue x, y and z at the FP entrances" why couldn't Disney? The reasons for the huge back ups seem pretty obvious. They should have had a solution before the problems began.

I agree! I believe they rushed to get this program out, not thinking of everything that could go wrong. When I got a call back after writing a letter on FP+, the CM told me that the park hopping issue was something that the implementers hadn't thought about until people started complaining about it. That seems hard to believe, and goes to show that they were in too much of a hurry, at least in my opinion....

 

[practicallyperfect77]

I agree! I believe they rushed to get this program out, not thinking of everything that could go wrong. When I got a call back after writing a letter on FP+, the CM told me that the park hopping issue was something that the implementers hadn't thought about until people started complaining about it. That seems hard to believe, and goes to show that they were in too much of a hurry, at least in my opinion....

Wow.....seems hard to believe but maybe the implementers never go to the parks?

 

[clsteve]

I agree! I believe they rushed to get this program out, not thinking of everything that could go wrong. When I got a call back after writing a letter on FP+, the CM told me that the park hopping issue was something that the implementers hadn't thought about until people started complaining about it. That seems hard to believe, and goes to show that they were in too much of a hurry, at least in my opinion....

Let's face it--- Disney has never been known as an Innovator, when it comes to Information Technology. To be honest, they've kinda been on the other end of the scale.

Top of the line, however, when it comes to Marketing. Turning FP's into a commodity for yield and capacity management; and turning MB's into a vehicle for higher customer spend and for data collection for their Marketing, has always been the end goal in this.

Unfortunately for us, that isn't our priority. And, they underestimated the dirty grunt part of the infrastructure.

Everything looks better on a whiteboard......

 

[glamdring269]

I just refuse to believe they didn't see it coming.

If fans on a Disney forum that have no inside information can see "gee, scanning bands takes longer and is more complicated than showing paper FP" why couldn't Disney?

It's even worse than that. Scanning may take more time in general but they took it to the extreme. Let's make sure the customer must align the mickey head to the mickey head for extra Disney magic! That may be neat for someone one time but after that the novelty is basically gone... if it was ever there to begin with.

 

[clsteve]

It's even worse than that. Scanning may take more time in general but they took it to the extreme. Let's make sure the customer must align the mickey head to the mickey head for extra Disney magic! That may be neat for someone one time but after that the novelty is basically gone... if it was ever there to begin with.

Yep, it'd be great if you only had to tap it, but they've too much going on on the back-end (which takes time). So, way too many variables in the whole process.

 

[magicbob]

It's even worse than that. Scanning may take more time in general but they took it to the extreme. Let's make sure the customer must align the mickey head to the mickey head for extra Disney magic! That may be neat for someone one time but after that the novelty is basically gone... if it was ever there to begin with.

Tap Mickey! This new, interactive game (which replaces "Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom") will amuse and delight guests as they wait in the FP+ queue.

 

[Marthasor]

Thank-you for the positive report.
I do not like FP+ on so many levels right now, but I am hopeful that I'll be able to figure out how to make it work for us. It is so much more work that FP- where we just grabbed a piece of paper if we got to a ride with a long line; FP+ you actually have to think about and strategize. But, hopefully I can make it work.

It really wasn't much work at all. For example, at EP yesterday, we had a FP+ for Mission Space, got there and saw the standby line was 5 minutes. They actually didn't even have the FP+ system on there because the line was so short, so I immediately went on my phone, switched the FP+ to Nemo and rode Mission Space standby. It was super easy and that meant we had zero wait for Nemo as well. It was great! So, my suggestion, if you choose a FP+ and find you don't need it when you get to the ride, switch it out for something else before that FP+ window closes! Took me about 15 seconds to switch them out and never wasted an FP+

 

[Laketravis]

I could write a white paper on the reasons, but I'll just ask the question:

Anyone ever notice how the Self-Serv registers at Walmart and grocery stores take longer?

The average transaction time is much longer, the error rate much higher, and the potential for fraud expanded.

Technology is sometimes the solution looking for a problem, and it is most often applied to the least applicable scenario simply because of strong-armed projections that it will reduce costs, increase profits, or some combination of both.

Now compare to FP+

 

[summerskye]

It's a TEST. There's always that excuse.

Exactly.

This is a test.
In the event of a real emergency,
form a long winding line making sure to block all the pathways. This way it's fair to everybody, even the ones who sleep in...