Curious how FP+ has changed your touring style, if at all?

[wisblue]

OK, it looks like we have been disagreeing about 2 entirely different things and it explains a lot. You're saying you couldn't get the specific times you wanted or they were out after 4. And of course some major rides would have been out by 4.

That's different from saying they ran out too fast.

We are park open to park close people, so never cared what the return times were.

I'm going to put a different perspective on this.

A lot of the discussion, and one of the biggest complaints about FP+, is that you can't get FPs for BOTH Soarin and Test Track. Our experience, which usually came at busy times of the year, was that return times for both Soarin and TT quickly ran to 2 hours out and later. So, if you didn't get your FP for one in the first hour, your return time would not be until after noon, and by the time you could get another FP, they would be all gone for the other one, or the return time would be just before park closing. So, as a practical matter, if you wanted FPs for both at those busy times, you had to be there at park opening and/or plan to be in the park all day or plan to return to the park later in the day to use your FP.

Just this one example, which could be applied and extended to other parks and attractions, highlights how the impact of FP+ on how someone tours depends so heavily on things like time of year and crowds, and someone's approach to the parks, including factors like whether you like to arrive at rope drop, whether you plan to spend all day in one park with no breaks and no park hopping, and whether you like to do certain attractions multiple times in a day or are satisfied doing favorite attractions once a day or once a trip.

There has never been a question that FP+ puts a crimp in the style of people who like to spend all day in one park and used paper FPs to its maximum potential to do attractions, maybe including repeats. But, I also don't think that there is any question that FP+ works better for people who have always followed the rope drop, break, second park approach to a day at WDW. And to me that advantage is especially apparent when the parks are most crowded. When you factor in all combinations and permutations of crowd sizes and touring preferences, it shouldn't be surprising that there are widely varying opinions and experiences on this subject. Some guests feel like they have to lower expectations for a WDW trip, while others feel like their experiences have been improved.

In this case, I consider myself lucky that we are in the group that benefit from the new system. Things don't always work out that way.

 

[cakebaker]

In this case, I consider myself lucky that we are in the group that benefit from the new system. Things don't always work out that way.

As do I. You make some excellent points in your post that had not been addressed.

 

[Planogirl]

I'm going to put a different perspective on this.

A lot of the discussion, and one of the biggest complaints about FP+, is that you can't get FPs for BOTH Soarin and Test Track. Our experience, which usually came at busy times of the year, was that return times for both Soarin and TT quickly ran to 2 hours out and later. So, if you didn't get your FP for one in the first hour, your return time would not be until after noon, and by the time you could get another FP, they would be all gone for the other one, or the return time would be just before park closing. So, as a practical matter, if you wanted FPs for both at those busy times, you had to be there at park opening and/or plan to be in the park all day or plan to return to the park later in the day to use your FP.

Just this one example, which could be applied and extended to other parks and attractions, highlights how the impact of FP+ on how someone tours depends so heavily on things like time of year and crowds, and someone's approach to the parks, including factors like whether you like to arrive at rope drop, whether you plan to spend all day in one park with no breaks and no park hopping, and whether you like to do certain attractions multiple times in a day or are satisfied doing favorite attractions once a day or once a trip.

There has never been a question that FP+ puts a crimp in the style of people who like to spend all day in one park and used paper FPs to its maximum potential to do attractions, maybe including repeats. But, I also don't think that there is any question that FP+ works better for people who have always followed the rope drop, break, second park approach to a day at WDW. And to me that advantage is especially apparent when the parks are most crowded. When you factor in all combinations and permutations of crowd sizes and touring preferences, it shouldn't be surprising that there are widely varying opinions and experiences on this subject. Some guests feel like they have to lower expectations for a WDW trip, while others feel like their experiences have been improved.

In this case, I consider myself lucky that we are in the group that benefit from the new system. Things don't always work out that way.

I agree that a lot depends on touring style.

In the case of Epcot, we always arrived at opening or as close as I could force myself to be there and we would get fastpasses for Soarin' and walk over and ride Test Track. Soarin's return time would usually be between 10 and 11 so we would ride it as soon as the window opened and then we would head over to World Showcase to eat an early lunch. After that we would leisurely stroll to the exit leaving for several hours until the cooler evening hours. We rarely bothered with park hopping but that would work just as well.

I never felt the need to ride the two headliners more than once and I guess that that makes a difference. We could easily ride both in the morning and then concentrate on the other attractions in between and after those two.

I still see that we need to arrive early. We can only get FP+ for one so we have to be early to ride the other. I don't see any improvement when it comes to our expectations.

 

[jtowntoflorida]

Cakebaker and wisblue...your posts make sense to me for your touring style, but with all due respect to kaybird, her arguments just don't hold water. She said she'd never been able to ride TSM or Soarin' at all on past trips, and now with FP+ she can ride multiple times. I have to wonder what she was doing if she was really in the park at RD or during EMH and never got a ride on TSM or Soarin' because the FP+s were always gone and the lines were too long. Her explanation just doesn't make sense like both of yours does. It seems like to me she's finally realized the value of RD?

More than 3 trips before FP+, we had been unable to ride TSMM and Soarin' because of the lines and that FP- were always gone. Now we know we will get multiple rides on those, and 7DMT! This gives us lots of time to ride, eat shop, and wander about. Not having to wait to see when the FP- return time might be makes it much easier for us to get in our Lazy River time.

If we do those rides first, then the fast pass+; that works. We can still ride TSMM or Soarin' at park opening. We usually do EMH, ride the biggies, then Hop for the biggies in another park. Before FP+, there were MANY times they were sold out before we could get one, so knowing we will get to ride our favorites is way better. We do not always ride all the headliners at each park everyday, but are usually able to get the headliners in for 2 parks now.

 

[Planogirl]

Cakebaker and wisblue...your posts make sense to me for your touring style, but with all due respect to kaybird, her arguments just don't hold water. She said she'd never been able to ride TSM or Soarin' at all on past trips, and now with FP+ she can ride multiple times. I have to wonder what she was doing if she was really in the park at RD or during EMH and never got a ride on TSM or Soarin' because the FP+s were always gone and the lines were too long. Her explanation just doesn't make sense like both of yours does. It seems like to me she's finally realized the value of RD?

I agree that there is no way to ride Soarin' or TSM multiple times now or ever. Someone claims that they can? I'd like to know how.

 

[cakebaker]

I agree that there is no way to ride Soarin' or TSM multiple times now or ever. Someone claims that they can? I'd like to know how.

Multiple times in one day or back to back ? I could do it twice- once at park
opening and once with a FP+.

I wouldn't because riding more than once a day isn't important to us on those rides- but we rode both 4-5 times over the course of our trip. Those were a FP+ selection anytime we went to the park.



We rode SDMT at least 8 times, some days we rode it at least twice the same day.

Park hopping is a must for us to ride multiple times- but I've always agreed that riding the very most popular rides at WDW multiple times a day without using the standby line is virtually impossible now.

But by taking that ability away, Disney gives many people the opportunity to ride them at least once easily.

We think it's a good change - those on the " losing" end often don't. The disagreement I have is when not liking these changes is translated into FP+ being a total failure for everyone or even most. It doesn't.

 

[wisblue]

I agree that a lot depends on touring style.

In the case of Epcot, we always arrived at opening or as close as I could force myself to be there and we would get fastpasses for Soarin' and walk over and ride Test Track. Soarin's return time would usually be between 10 and 11 so we would ride it as soon as the window opened and then we would head over to World Showcase to eat an early lunch. After that we would leisurely stroll to the exit leaving for several hours until the cooler evening hours. We rarely bothered with park hopping but that would work just as well.

I never felt the need to ride the two headliners more than once and I guess that that makes a difference. We could easily ride both in the morning and then concentrate on the other attractions in between and after those two.

I still see that we need to arrive early. We can only get FP+ for one so we have to be early to ride the other. I don't see any improvement when it comes to our expectations.

The improvement for us comes from what I described in my first post in this thread.

We were always rope droppers and would maybe get one FP in the morning for something before leaving the park for our break. At Epcot, we would usually do attractions in FW for about 2 hours (3 for AM EMH) and then head to WS for lunch and a slow walk around the lagoon before leaving the park around 2 PM. When we hopped to a different park later it would usually be for dinner and night entertainment and maybe one or two "anytime" attractions. FPs were generally not available at the second park and, if they were, they were for later than we intended to stay.

With FP+ the mornings are the same, except that we don't use FPs at all. At Epcot we have been able to do Soarin, TT (single rider), and MS, plus a few other attractions, before heading to WS. If we have been able to do less in those first 2-3 hours than we used to, it hasn't been noticeable. The improvement comes in the evening when we have our 3 FPs in hand for the second park. Even if we do a little less at Epcot in the morning, that is more than offset by the evening FPs. Since we would usually have an evening at Epcot during our trip, we can use FPs there for a second ride on Soarin or TT and/or to do something we didn't do in the morning.

 

[Planogirl]

The improvement for us comes from what I described in my first post in this thread.

We were always rope droppers and would maybe get one FP in the morning for something before leaving the park for our break. At Epcot, we would usually do attractions in FW for about 2 hours (3 for AM EMH) and then head to WS for lunch and a slow walk around the lagoon before leaving the park around 2 PM. When we hopped to a different park later it would usually be for dinner and night entertainment and maybe one or two "anytime" attractions. FPs were generally not available at the second park and, if they were, they were for later than we intended to stay.

With FP+ the mornings are the same, except that we don't use FPs at all. At Epcot we have been able to do Soarin, TT (single rider), and MS, plus a few other attractions, before heading to WS. If we have been able to do less in those first 2-3 hours than we used to, it hasn't been noticeable. The improvement comes in the evening when we have our 3 FPs in hand for the second park. Even if we do a little less at Epcot in the morning, that is more than offset by the evening FPs. Since we would usually have an evening at Epcot during our trip, we can use FPs there for a second ride on Soarin or TT and/or to do something we didn't do in the morning.

Again it's just a matter of expectations and touring style. We don't particularly want to ride headliners in the evenings but will ride the "lesser" rides and enjoy the fireworks and parades. I could see that if I wanted to ride major rides at night that having prescheduled FP's could be useful.

 

[itchin2go]

Again it's just a matter of expectations and touring style. We don't particularly want to ride headliners in the evenings but will ride the "lesser" rides and enjoy the fireworks and parades. I could see that if I wanted to ride major rides at night that having prescheduled FP's could be useful.

To me, the takeaway (from the above discussion) is that it solved some problems and created others.

For us, we didn't really have any problems that needed solving. So the problems that have been created (mostly by tiering for us) are still troublesome. Not unworkable, but not ideal.

 

[kaybird]

Cakebaker and wisblue...your posts make sense to me for your touring style, but with all due respect to kaybird, her arguments just don't hold water. She said she'd never been able to ride TSM or Soarin' at all on past trips, and now with FP+ she can ride multiple times. I have to wonder what she was doing if she was really in the park at RD or during EMH and never got a ride on TSM or Soarin' because the FP+s were always gone and the lines were too long. Her explanation just doesn't make sense like both of yours does. It seems like to me she's finally realized the value of RD?

I didn't say never, I said in the 3 trips previous to FP+. The original question was how has FP+ changed your touring style. I answered honestly and told our experiences. Many people who are anti FP+ claim 12 or more FP- per day. I am not disputing that they did that, just that that was not our experience. We loved FP-, and used it often. We did not pull FP- when the ride was a walk on. Now we continue to do walk ons, and use FP+ to insure rides that we don't want to miss. Our style of park hopping now has changed, we hop more, and have more time for water parks. We enjoy WDW, and hope to continue to be part of the discussions. This is only our experience, I am sorry if it doesn't make sense to you.

 

[Planogirl]

I didn't say never, I said in the 3 trips previous to FP+. The original question was how has FP+ changed your touring style. I answered honestly and told our experiences. Many people who are anti FP+ claim 12 or more FP- per day. I am not disputing that they did that, just that that was not our experience. We loved FP-, and used it often. We did not pull FP- when the ride was a walk on. Now we continue to do walk ons, and use FP+ to insure rides that we don't want to miss. Our style of park hopping now has changed, we hop more, and have more time for water parks. We enjoy WDW, and hope to continue to be part of the discussions. This is only our experience, I am sorry if it doesn't make sense to you.

Can you now ride Soarin' and TT multiple times though? Please share how!

 

[itchin2go]

Can you now ride Soarin' and TT multiple times though? Please share how!

Yeah - honestly, that's our biggest lingering problem. We've kind of got MK figured out (for us), and we're not big on DHS and AK (although I gather AK is entirely manageable even without FP).

Even extra MagicBands doesn't seem to solve the Soarin/Test Track problem, because I gather they're not often available as same day FPs.

 

[kaybird]

Can you now ride Soarin' and TT multiple times though? Please share how!

We have always used TT single rider. No need for the illusive FP. Hit Soarin' at opening, if it is my EPCOT FP+ day, will use another FP+ for Soarin'. Our trips are usually 7- 8 Days, we park hop pretty much every day. If there is a long line, we wait for another time or day. Have also had a lot of luck with Soarin' right before park close. I use the app a lot, but won't go out of my way traversing the parks. FP+ has been a great tool for us in park hopping.

 

[WillAustin]

Can you now ride Soarin' and TT multiple times though? Please share how!

Personally, I'd add to that question a qualifier of also not needing to wait in any 30+ minute lines to get those rides. A 45 minute wait (or more) for a second Soarin' ride isn't worth it for us.

 

[itchin2go]

We have always used TT single rider. No need for the illusive FP. Hit Soarin' at opening, if it is my EPCOT FP+ day, will use another FP+ for Soarin'.

Unless I am missing something, this was all possible with FP- as well.

 

[kaybird]

Unless I am missing something, this was all possible with FP- as well.

Possible, yes. But using our park hopping style now, no way to ride soarin', TT, and mission space, then still get a FP- for TSMM. Again, I thought I was answering how it changed our style.

 

[kaybird]

OK all, I'm out. Loved FP-, love FP+. Love all of you. Your experiences may vary. Just like they did before.

 

[3DisneyFanz]

As I'm reading through this it appears the end goal of the MDE experience is working. Iger said it was about locking people's time into Disney but it was implied that this would be because the experience is improved. What I'm seeing even in the people who like it is that the process is so inefficient and thrown so many other things out of whack that the lock in is because it now takes you two days to do something you could do in one day before.

This is like the anti Carosel of Progress. We can get from Test Track to Soarin' in only two days!

 

[3DisneyFanz]

For us it wasn't a question of whether they ran out by noon, we never enter a park between 10 and 4. We're either already there or aren't going to be there till at least after 4.

So our need was for availability after 4.
Our experience with 8 or so trips under paper FP was that TOT, RRC, Soarin, TT, Space and TSMM would consistently be out by that time. It was at the very least that we could not plan on availability.

Now we know, barring things beyond anyone's control, that we can do these in the evening.

I wouldn't be so sure ToT was "out". This was one of many attractions that they would often not even open for FP- on many days because the line just never got that bad. It had many times that it was simply a walk on attraction back in the old days.

 

[Davey Jones II]

I agree that there is no way to ride Soarin' or TSM multiple times now or ever. Someone claims that they can? I'd like to know how.

With legacy FP, I got to DHS at rope drop, went straight to the TSMM standby line, then grabbed a fast pass when I got out of the ride. As soon as my fast pass window opened, I grabbed another FP. So that was three times in one day.

On our last trip, we rode multiple times during the trip, but not the same day. Every day that we returned to DHS, we had our FP+ reserved for TSMM. But someone could show up at rope drop, ride TSMM right away, and have a FP+ reservation for later.

I agree that legacy FP was better if you wanted to ride headliners over and over. At least they're finally building a second TSMM!