Can we talk about how bad FastPass+ is?

[johde]

To me, FP+ is not a good thing or a bad thing. It's a different thing. And with anything different there are going to be winners and losers. For me, looking back, there are trip where I think FP+ would have been a great benefit. There are other trips where I think not so much. But, with any new system, it's going to take time for people to figure out how it works best for them. If you're the type that wants to try to get a lot of FP+'s in the park, planning your first 3 back to back fairly early in the day might be best. On the other hand, if you want to take the parks slowly and enjoy one area at a time, Planning 1 FP+ for the morning, 1 for mid afternoon and 1 for the evening might be better.

 

[Peachkins]

I was more "meh" about it until this past weekend when we realized that we would have the budget for a MNSHHP.

1 - the only party days we could attend are our arrival day, where we have FP+ booked for 7dmt and 3 A&E, making us have to be there at 12 and stay through the party with busy days beyond...AFTER having to get up early to finish driving in. Not to mention needing to unload the vehicle at some point.

2 - the day we are doing Universal...both parks in one day (we are going to be TIRED)

3 - the day we have 1900 Park Fare reserved at 7:20 (my 8 year old has had ONE request for years now - to meet Prince Charming).

In "old days" we would have said, okay, we leave a day earlier and arrive on Saturday. Do our "plan" for arrival day on Saturday and then go to the party on Sunday.

Our "old days plan" would NEVER have had us with fastpasses for a major portion of our trip (Elsa and Anna thanks to the 6.5 year old). Glad to have those, but I feel locked in and I can't change our plans at all! Thus, no extra night at Disney. No party.

We are still trying to make it work out, but it's much more stress now (and we are still trying to secure that 4th A&E fastpass for Dh to go with us to see the girls).

Just an FYI, but A&E are meeting during MNSSHP. If the FP+ reservation for them is what is throwing off your plans, you could just try to meet them during the party. The waits have been pretty short from what I've seen.

 

[DopeyDame]

Just got back from a trip a few days ago. I have a 2 and 5 year old, so that certainly impacts the dynamics of the trip. I was up at 60 days and got all the FP+s I wanted at times that I thought would be great. (yes to 7DMT, no we didn't want or get A&E).

Overall, FP+ was great. We literally didn't wait in any lines longer than 10 minutes for any ride - headliners and B attractions. With two little kids, that's pretty valuable!
But at some point in the trip I realized I hadn't entered my Disney "happy-zone, relaxed, feeling magical" phase. And then I realized it was because I was CONSTANTLY checking my watch and moving us along. When I told my 2 year old we didn't have time to stop and watch the ducks because otherwise we'd miss our fastpass window, I get genuinely sad. At that moment, my choices were to blow off our fast pass, hurry her along, or ignore her while I changed a fastpass. I chose to hurry her along, figuring that we have ducks at home too. It wasn't a big deal, she was said for about 3 seconds and moved on with life. But it was really the epitome of the problem.
I'm always a Disney planner. We always have a plan when we enter the park. But there's a huge difference between a plan and a schedule.

So while there are parts of FP+ we love, it took away some of the magic. And that's sad.

 

[JMSMommy]

Just an FYI, but A&E are meeting during MNSSHP. If the FP+ reservation for them is what is throwing off your plans, you could just try to meet them during the party. The waits have been pretty short from what I've seen.

I will let my husband know! That's probably the biggest reason. The 2nd reason is trying to get 7dmt, but we could wait in line for it and we do have fastpasses for that later in the week as well.

 

[PEC]

I will let my husband know! That's probably the biggest reason. The 2nd reason is trying to get 7dmt, but we could wait in line for it and we do have fastpasses for that later in the week as well.

You may want to check wait times on the App during MNSHP events. The wait times do go down significantly for both 7DMT and A&E but they may not be at levels you want to wait. Seems like 30-40 minutes are common. Maybe less sometimes. If you polled everybody, you could probably see acceptable waits anywhere between 10-60 minutes. More of an individual/family tolerance. You know your own family more than anybody on this board.

 

[jon18uk]

I was more "meh" about it until this past weekend when we realized that we would have the budget for a MNSHHP.

1 - the only party days we could attend are our arrival day, where we have FP+ booked for 7dmt and 3 A&E, making us have to be there at 12 and stay through the party with busy days beyond...AFTER having to get up early to finish driving in. Not to mention needing to unload the vehicle at some point.

Our "old days plan" would NEVER have had us with fastpasses for a major portion of our trip (Elsa and Anna thanks to the 6.5 year old). Glad to have those, but I feel locked in and I can't change our plans at all! Thus, no extra night at Disney. No party.
.

Exactly as you say in the last paragraph, with paper FastPass you probably wouldn't have got Anna & Elsa anyway as they would all have been distributed by the time you arrive at the park. Or there would only be standby and you would have to just wait for the hour+.

 

[Joekuyk]

Just got back from a trip a few days ago. I have a 2 and 5 year old, so that certainly impacts the dynamics of the trip. I was up at 60 days and got all the FP+s I wanted at times that I thought would be great. (yes to 7DMT, no we didn't want or get A&E).

Overall, FP+ was great. We literally didn't wait in any lines longer than 10 minutes for any ride - headliners and B attractions. With two little kids, that's pretty valuable!
But at some point in the trip I realized I hadn't entered my Disney "happy-zone, relaxed, feeling magical" phase. And then I realized it was because I was CONSTANTLY checking my watch and moving us along. When I told my 2 year old we didn't have time to stop and watch the ducks because otherwise we'd miss our fastpass window, I get genuinely sad. At that moment, my choices were to blow off our fast pass, hurry her along, or ignore her while I changed a fastpass. I chose to hurry her along, figuring that we have ducks at home too. It wasn't a big deal, she was said for about 3 seconds and moved on with life. But it was really the epitome of the problem.
I'm always a Disney planner. We always have a plan when we enter the park. But there's a huge difference between a plan and a schedule.

So while there are parts of FP+ we love, it took away some of the magic. And that's sad.

I like the idea of having some things planned out, but am worried about being on a schedule on vacation. Thanks for your thoughts!

 

[ajfd]

But at some point in the trip I realized I hadn't entered my Disney "happy-zone, relaxed, feeling magical" phase. And then I realized it was because I was CONSTANTLY checking my watch and moving us along. When I told my 2 year old we didn't have time to stop and watch the ducks because otherwise we'd miss our fastpass window, I get genuinely sad. At that moment, my choices were to blow off our fast pass, hurry her along, or ignore her while I changed a fastpass. I chose to hurry her along, figuring that we have ducks at home too. It wasn't a big deal, she was said for about 3 seconds and moved on with life. But it was really the epitome of the problem.

I see what you are saying but I don't understand what makes this any different than paper FP-. With paper FPs you'd still be checking your watch and you'd still have to decide if you wanted to blow off your FP. The only difference is that now you have the additional option to see about changing the window time or experience.

 

[Davey Jones II]

If you want to commiserate with posters who agree with you, I could give you a list of a dozen or so who have a total of about 300,000 posts and many of their posts over the last year and a half have said exactly what you have said over and over and over again.

As you have noted, most posters have moved on and decided to focus on how to use the system, but there are several who apparently are going to need a few more years to get there.

Don't forget the ones who feel disappointed and/or betrayed enough to move away from their former loyalty to Disney. Universal and other destinations beckon...

 

[nkereina]

That is absolutely false.

Not only are they not available (not even at slow times like right now), but that requires a minimum of 3 hours. And at two parks (Epcot and Hollywood) that is utterly forbidden since you can only book *one* of their popular "Tier 1" attractions.

And if you want to ride the same ride twice, you need at least 4 hours to do that (assuming it is available, which it won't be) since you have to burn through 2 FPs you don't even want, just to be allowed by this control freak system to FP the same ride a second time.



The only people this system is at all good for are type A people who want to plan every second of their vacation in advance to the detriment of everyone else.

This system feels like an insanely regimented job where everything has to be planned in extreme detail months in advance and slavishly followed according to preferences that are not your own.

It is a total disaster and a failure of anything resembling a "vacation."

What I said is absolutely true. I've used FP+ dozens of times. Even in the middle of the summer the mountains (Space, Splash, Thunder) had availability within a few days of the date you were booking. Booking a few weeks out you had your pick of times.

As for needing 3 hours to do 3 rides, you couldn't be more wrong. Make the following FP+ selections:
1:00 to 2:00 Splash Mountain
2:00 to 3:00 Big Thunder Mountain
3:00 to 4:00 Space Mountain

Ride Splash right at 2:00 pm (could actually ride up to 2:15 with the grace period).
Walk over to Big Thunder and ride that around 2:20.
Take the train to Fantasyland or walk if you like a nice hike
Depending on train timing or your walking speed maybe even squeeze in a Peoplemover ride.
Get on Space Mountain at 3:00 (can actually get on at 2:55 with grace period).

1 hour total....ride all 3 mountains using FP+ plus possibly 1 or 2 other rides (railroad and/or Peoplemover).

Technically, you could ride Splash at 1pm, edit your FP+ for Big Thunder to 1:20pm (or whatever time it is when you exit Big Thunder), ride that, then edit your Space Mountain for 1:40pm or whatever time it is when you're leaving Big Thunder. This is how a lot of people have managed to use up all 3 FP+'s first thing in the morning, in order to get the 4th, 5th, etc later in the day. Of course, this assumes times and FPs are available which seems to be the biggest issue.

 

[DopeyDame]

I see what you are saying but I don't understand what makes this any different than paper FP-. With paper FPs you'd still be checking your watch and you'd still have to decide if you wanted to blow off your FP. The only difference is that now you have the additional option to see about changing the window time or experience.

With a paper fastpass, I had one time to worry about, and it was a time I had chosen that day (if a time wasn't good for us, we just didn't pull a fastpass to that specific ride.) Now, I had three times to worry about, that had been chosen 60 days earlier, and that spread throughout the day. Maybe we just did it wrong. Maybe now with more experience it won't be a problem as much next trip. But I was constantly on guard about when we had to leave some place to make sure we got to the next place on this trip. That didn't typically happen on the previous trips.

Like I said, I'm not 100% against FP+. There were some great things about it, and we hardly waited in any lines. But it definitely kept a general cloud of stress over my head the whole time that I haven't had in the past.

 

[CTDisneyfan816]

I much prefer the old way, at least then I could get one for any ride the day I'm there. Now if I"m not on by 1 am on the first day forget it.

 

[W.E.D.]

Sorry you hate the system . I wish everyone who hated the system so much stopped going to the parks. Attendance is way up at the parks and I'd like a little more elbow room again..

So everyone is sick of the FP+ bashing?
Well, I'm sick of the go someplace else comments. No. We wont. We love it there just as much as you. We hate what the bean-counters are doing to WDW, and we intend to voice our opinions as well.

 

[Don Disney]

I see what you are saying but I don't understand what makes this any different than paper FP-. With paper FPs you'd still be checking your watch and you'd still have to decide if you wanted to blow off your FP. The only difference is that now you have the additional option to see about changing the window time or experience.

Keeping up with 1 paper FP was about all we ever had to keep up with at any particular time...never hoarded them...BUT,the stand-by lines were not as long as I am hearing that they are now,which changes everything.We rode stand-by most of the time,with reasonable waits.Now people are saying they watch say 25 FP+ holders enter,while maybe 5 or 10 SB folks enter,Can anyone substantiate that...thats just what I've heard.Either way,I'm not a fan.

 

[BigAlsGal]

With a paper fastpass, I had one time to worry about, and it was a time I had chosen that day (if a time wasn't good for us, we just didn't pull a fastpass to that specific ride.) Now, I had three times to worry about, that had been chosen 60 days earlier, and that spread throughout the day. Maybe we just did it wrong. Maybe now with more experience it won't be a problem as much next trip. But I was constantly on guard about when we had to leave some place to make sure we got to the next place on this trip. That didn't typically happen on the previous trips.

Like I said, I'm not 100% against FP+. There were some great things about it, and we hardly waited in any lines. But it definitely kept a general cloud of stress over my head the whole time that I haven't had in the past.

Guess it's all perspective. It seems now looking back at FP- I had to watch the time MORE to maximize my park time. Say our first ride time is 1:00 but when is our next FP- available? Noon? Ok run get one. Now I have 2 times in my hand. What's the next available time to get one? I remember ALWAYS bugging DH asking what time our next FP was available so I could run over wherever to get it. I remember the stack of FP- in his pocket. It was more of a juggling act now that I look at it. Gotta keep on that next available time or you miss out!

Now there's no juggling. It's as if I walked in, pulled my FP+ tickets for the time I want them, then let it ride.

 

[hopemax]

Couple of observations:

1. In park FP+ reservations will become more difficult as FP+ teams are being disbanded within the parks. You will see less and less CM staffing the FP+ kiosks and the roving FP+ CM are being eliminated. I have a family member who was part of a FP+ team that was eliminated at MK.

Noticed this. We were at Studios on Sunday, party of 6. 3 people had the "right" tickets so could book FP+ in advance, 3 of us have the "wrong" tickets and can't book until we are in the park.

Went to the Hat, as directed (because the "wrong" tickets can't use the terminals in Sid's). There were NO FP CM's there. I'm waiting, and several other groups with the "wrong" tickets show up, and eventually TWO CM's with pads show up, but even though I was there first, I wasn't helped first because they each took the first group THEY saw, not figure out who was there first.

After some finagling, managed to get our 3 overlapped with the other 3, but for RnRC there was only a 15 min overlap window. Needless to say, we are all over this new "fabulous" system. Mentioned to the CM, how frustrating this all was for our group to be able to stick together, and how it was negatively impacting the vacation of the people who had the "right" tickets and were staying on-site (which Disney SHOULD want to keep happy) and she indicated that she hears it all the time. And this is after the 5 phone calls to IT for one of the people with the "right" ticket to actually have the "right" ticket (the 2-park Premium pass should be the "right" ticket, right? It costs enough.) because her MDE account was messed up.

I remember post 9/11 when WDW eliminated Early Entry as a cost-cutting move, and how it created so much more difficulty for them in the booking numbers. It took so much more money to encourage people to return...expanded discounts, more EMH than there ever were with EE, Magical Express, etc. It was a huge mistake for WDW to eliminate EE, and they spent years paying for it.

Everyone, I personally know that has experienced this new system is cutting back their WDW visits. Listening, to all the confused, and frustrated guests while waiting in various lines, very few people are happy. It is a sliver of people, familiar enough with WDW to know what they like and don't like, willing to research the heck out of all the options, and with no "risk factors" (like touring with people staying off-site, large parties, people with "wrong" tickets) who seem to be more likely, to be fans. I don't care how much money Disney has thrown at this, and how committed certain people within Disney are to it, I am convinced that they will have no choice but to walk many parts of this back. There will be strong resistance, but despite all the positive surveys, the financials will force them to. The top line attendance/revenue can be massaged to look okay, but dig any deeper into operating income, opex and other numbers will begin to tell an ugly story.

It's going to take a few years though, as everyone cycles through this new system. WDW will cut labor and IT, which will only make it harder for issues to get solved, and more likely that a guest will experience some level of frustration at some point. Desperate managers will cut what they can and raise prices because they HAVE to meet projections. This is why I think we've seen an explosion of "premium experiences." It's not about guest demand, it's about a manager trying to eek out any little bit of better numbers over their counterparts by upselling.

 

[W.E.D.]

BINGO Hopemax!

The only factor we play in the equation any longer is the size of our pocketbooks. Our satisfaction and enjoyment used to work in there somewhere. Now it's all about the bottom line.

 

[itchin2go]

What if I just want to go to AK and do the Safari three times? Why does Big Brother Disney need to command me to do 2 other attractions first before I can FP a second safari?[/COLOR][/B]

(1) You can ride anything as many times in a row as you want to. Have people forgotten about standby? Before there was any fastpass, this was how we did things. FP is an addition to the park experience, not a necessity.

(2) You don't have to ride 2 other rides first before you can book another FP. Just cancel the other 2 FPs and you're good to go.

To those who say, "Ugh. Everything is too PLANNED," I say this: Just because you book them, doesn't mean you have to keep them. Book them because they're a bonus. If they work with your touring, then keep them. If not skip them.

Secondly, if you're running to get to your next FP, it's because you planned poorly. If you plan 3 things at 3 vastly different locations in the park, all within a short period of time, well, whose fault is that?

I am not a particular fan of the new system. The old one wasn't broke, and I was used to it. The interface is clunky (and that's being kind). It is clear Disney didn't have much of a plan when they implemented this, and the roll out was really clumsy. They're a world class company, and a pioneer, and they can and SHOULD do better.

But so many of these arguments I'm reading are just nonsense.

 

[revdon64]

Talk about how bad FP+ is? Isn't that about all we do around here anymore? Realistically whether you love it or hate it you should probably adjust to it because it's not likely going away anytime soon.

 

[Disney Sheri]

I agree with OP. It is a flawed system and some attractions just don't need FP. I mean MuppetVision 3D?! Monsters Inc. laugh Floor?! Come on. I also miss the joy you bring others when you give away fast passes you aren't using. That was always a fun thing to do especially for the big ticket rides.


I agree with the joy of spreading a little pixie dust and giving your fast passes away. Last time we were there for my daughter's 16th birthday...on our "non-park day" she decided she just wanted to ride Rock N Rollercoaster. We went and there was a 90 minute wait. We decided not to wait and turned around to walk away. This nice lady came up to us and gave us 2 fast passes for Rock N Rollercoaster. That was the best ride-we were laughing the whole time!!