Back from first FP+ trip - June 15 - 23

[michygoomy]

Just returned from a trip 6/15 - 6/23 at POR (after a day/2 nights at Legoland). This was our first FP+ trip - usually travel this time year.

* Magic bands were awesome. So convenient. It was nice to not have to worry about carrying a card to the pool, or to run and get ice. The youngest in our party could even go outside the room to spray sunscreen and get back in without knocking. Super-super easy to get through the turnstiles, through FP, buy food, buy anything (maybe too easy!).

* FP+ pros: it was easy enough to get what we wanted in advance (even Elsa & Anna and Mine Train). It was nice to have some later in the day FP for popular rides instead of always having count on those for rope drop. It was also nice to retire the FP runs. It was nice to change times on the fly if I felt like adjusting our schedule. We got on all the FP+ rides pretty fast. I also managed to score Soarin' & Test Track on the same day due to a glitch, twice. We were able to ride multiptle times on some of our favorites (though we got on Soarin' 2x, Everest 2x, Space 2x, Test Track 3x) thought not as fequently as we did on legacy FP. Cons: we found the 4th FP+ useless and never once used it, and only tried a couple of times to find nothing good available. Sometimes there were lines at the kiosks - I refused to stand in line for them. They really need to allow you to do that on the app. Lots of times we were choosing FP+ for things that there was no need to FP - Captian EO, Figmant - but just choose something to have the slot. Also, sometimes it was confusing using it - it would look like I had Soarin' for an early time, then when I finalized it, it would actually be for late at night.

* I didn't find the lines any worse due to FP+ and we didn't have any problems using our typical touring strategies - go early, get the popular stuff done, then do the high capacity/less demand stuff once the parks get crowded. I don't think there was anything we didn't get to do or had to wait a long time for.

* Caught the very last day of SWW and it was awesome. The fireworks were great but it was too bad that if you were close enough to see the stage show the stage blocked the fireworks. Loved the parade as always and the JAT event.

* Enjoyed the new 3pm parade which I typically skip. Got a nice view from the train station 2nd floor platform, though we got their pretty early for a spot. Note that the spots on the ground facing the train station along that circle in the middle didn't fill up until the last couple of minutes so that would be a good place for parade latecomers to try (then it's a great spot to get out of the parks for a break).

* Did the dining plan this time but don't think I will again. Tipping was a PITA. Didn't like having to keep track of credits and a strict schedule. And it's way too much food! Two desserts + one snack in one day is way too excessive even for vacation.

* Always appreciate a great cast member experience - my DD9 lost her tooth so I decided to leave something special under her pillow. I went to the POR gift shop looking for something related to fairies and found a cute bracelet. As I was checking out the cast member was very friendly and I mentioned what I was doing. She asked if I wanted a card for it and hunted down a Mickey-embossed card. She made some suggestions for what to say in the card and even wrote it out for me so the handwriting wouldn't match mine. It was very sweet and my DD9 was very excited about her special surprise from the tooth fairy's friends at Disney.

* MK is just crowded all the time. Period. The Fantasyland expansion has contributed to this, I imagine. We just expect it now and do early mornings and late evenings to accomplish what we need to. We always get out of dodge at midday - it's a hot mess then. The other parks really aren't that bad.

* People are all generally very nice and pleasant. I always saw people being polite, offering seats on buses, apologizing for bumping into each other, just being pleasant and friendly. We had maybe one or two cranky guests around us. I really think a huge majority of Disney guests are pleasant and positive.

* Having said that, why does everyone hold their phones/iPads up to record the fireworks? I wanted to just yell "It's all on youtube!!". Seriously, we never watch videos we did take and it's just a pain for us short people to have to look through a sea of raised hands. Ugh.

 

[paulad]

Thanks for a great report! We are leaving tomorrow and are very excited, as you can imagine! Nice to know the Magic Bands are working well. I am curious to see how we do with getting our 4th FP+ each day -- guess I'll have to do a trip report when we get back!

 

[ArwenMarie]

I agree about MK. We've been there during what was supposed to be lower crowds over the past few years and it is pretty much always crowded. Or maybe I should say "feels crowded" compared to the other parks. The narrow paths and bottlenecks up by Peter Pan and over by Splash and BTMRR contribute to that feeling.

 

[puffkin]

We were there the same time and had very similar experiences. We LOVED the magic bands.

I do disagree about the extra FP+ though. We found it to be completely unneccessary in all the parks except MK. We were able to ride the big rides multiple times at RD or late in the day and then with our 3 FP+ selections during the busier times. Most other stuff had very short lines or no lines at all. We actually rode more in the other 3 parks than ever before. I loved the FP+ extras though in MK. The kiosks were much more plentiful here and even with a line they moved super fast. We were able to get many FP for almost immediate use. The <5 minutes it took me to book them was worth saving 30minutes in a SB line. Many times I would book one, we would do a bathroom break or ice cream break and then be right on the next ride. We got sooooooo much done at MK. In the past we would have to do multiple mornings there to get everything done. It will be even better if it gets added to the app, but even with the kiosks it wasn't bad at all in the MK and most things were available every time I was at a kiosk except A&E or the Mine Train (to be expected).

 

[tsme]

Glad you had a good trip. We'll be there in September. It'll our first experience with FP+.
Our DD also loss a tooth at DW, but in Tony's restaurant in MK. I got zero response or help from our waiter when I told him. (Just wanted more napkins to make it to br without a mess) He looked at me like I had sprouted a new head, lol. Later that night I left my DH & DD at SPlash mountain & sprinted across the park to one of the shops where I bought the prettiest ceramic container with tinkerbell on it. When she put her tooth out "tinkerbell" (subbing for the tooth fairy) left that with a dollar in it. She was excited.