Disney AFTER FP+ and MB (and please be honest)

[kmb584]

• Do you feel all the complaints about longer lines now are valid? Yes, I do. We've always been able to walk onto Pirates and IASW (to name a few) this time of the year but both had consistent 25+ minute waits.
  
• Do you feel that the FP+ implementation has made it harder for you to do the attractions you like? Yes and no. No because I'm able to book at least some of them at times that I know will work for us before I ever leave home. Yes because I'm not able to simply grab another FP if I want. I now need to use or let expire the initial 3 then find a kiosk which is often packed to the gills.
  
• Do you feel like you are limited on how many times you can ride and see certain attractions? Where headliners are concerned, yes. As for everything else, no.
  
• Do you feel like you do not get to do as much as you did in the past because of FP+? No. I actually don't mind FP+. It's taken me two trips to get used to it but it's worked well for us. With a bit of planning we were consistently able to get 7-8 FP+ per day at MK and 5 at DHS.

 

[Sparkly]

Disclaimer: We went in February in President's Day week and were there when it was still only 3 FPs a day. We also rarely used the old system.

Do you feel all the complaints about longer lines now are valid? Yes and no. as another poster mentioned, the longer lines may have as much to do with higher attendance as much as FP+. Not commenting on Pirates/IASW because we found those line lengths to be perfectly acceptable, but then we went in February which isn't as crowded. And I do remember waits at these being 20 mins or so before FP+.

Do you feel that the FP+ implementation has made it harder for you to do the attractions you like? Nah. Still managed everything we wanted pretty much.

Do you feel like you are limited on how many times you can ride and see certain attractions? Nope. We rarely rerode stuff more then once at a time TBH. If we went back to a park the second time, that's when we did favourites again.

Do you feel like you do not get to do as much as you did in the past because of FP+? Certainly not! We do not go in with high expectations of riding the headliners tons of times. And we love the shows and characters (or at least I do for the latter) as much as just running around riding stuff. Disney's about the experience for me- the magical feeling you get in the parks and the joy of being a big kid again. If it was just about the rides for me I would visit a local theme park.

 

[Cals dad]

I have been going to Disney World for over 30 years that I can remember(more if you count all the times before I can remember), so I have very vivid memories of standing in long lines, no Fastpass at all. So, for someone like me who was used to those things, I was in the camp of not utilizing Fastpass much at all until the last couple of years. We'd only pull a Fastpass if we got to a ride, and the line was excessive. We never used more than 2-3 passes a day. Now, with Fastpass+, we can plan on setting up a few Fastpass+ before getting there, and still ride everything else we want just as we always did. Heck, we have a trip planned for next month where we get to Downtown Disney at around lunch, head to a waterpark later in the afternoon, and finish up the evening at the Magic Kingdom, with 3 passes for headliners already lined up.

 

[jtowntoflorida]

We had 3 pre-FP+/MB trips, and one this past October where FP+ was still in testing.

[*]Do you feel all the complaints about longer lines now are valid?
No real data on this, as the legacy FP+ system was still operational while we were there. The "minor" rides didn't seem to have longer lines, but we also pushed our trip back a week to avoid the bigger early October crowds, and we noticed a difference in crowds between our prior trips and the last ones, crowd-wise (as in the crowds were smaller later in October). Attendance is up (marginally) at Disney, but I think that people just have unrealistic expectations of crowds in general. It seems that people think that as long as they avoid summer and holidays, they'll be fine, but I think they also underestimate how crowded the parks are even during "low crowd" times.

[*]Do you feel that the FP+ implementation has made it harder for you to do the attractions you like?
I don't think it has made it harder to do the attractions we like, but I do think it's made it harder to do the attractions we like the number of times we'd like to do them.

[*]Do you feel like you are limited on how many times you can ride and see certain attractions?
Definitely. See above. Prior to our last trip, we were able to ride Soarin' multiple times. That seems to no longer be a possibility because all the slots are taken ahead of time and SB just isn't a viable option.

[*]Do you feel like you do not get to do as much as you did in the past because of FP+?
Definitely not, but I also feel like we've had to come up with different filler activities, whereas in the past, it was rides.

 

[catra121]

I have not been since the most recent changes (getting more than 3 FP+ and being able to reride with those additional FP+s)...but I have been and used FP+ and am planning another trip in September too. Here's my answer to your questions:

Do you feel all the complaints about longer lines now are valid?

I think that lines are longer...but I don't attribute it solely to FP+ and I don't feel like I am waiting any longer over all. I think the parks are busier and more crowded...that leads to longer lines. I do think there has been a redistribution of the waiting...so lines for POTC may be longer but the flip side is that other attraction lines are shortened and I personally feel that overall it evens out. I also think there are other things that contribute to the longer lines...POTC in particular seemed to break down a lot more often on my last 2 trips which is going to lead to longer lines/waits.

One thing I did notice was that the FP+ lines felt like they moved FASTER than the old FP lines. I'm not exactly sure why that it...maybe just a better distribution of the FPs? The old system you gave out for each time as many as the ride could "handle" until they ran out (unless the time had already passed without distributing them all)...but with the new system people pick the times that work for them and maybe all the slots for FP+ for that time DON'T get given out...which makes the FP+ line go faster than it did in the past?? Or maybe it's because they are letting in ALL the FP+ people go through first?? I really don't know what the cause is...but I do know that at least to me it seems like the FP+ lines move a lot faster which makes them even more valuable than the old FP.

Do you feel that the FP+ implementation has made it harder for you to do the attractions you like?

Not remotely in my case. I'm able to do ALL the attractions I like AND a lot of other ones too. It actually makes it easier for me to plan my day to make sure I am able to fit in all the shows that I want to see too.

Do you feel like you are limited on how many times you can ride and see certain attractions?

I don't...but I never felt the need to re-ride something 3+ times a day. Sometimes I might take a second spin on something and on a VERY rare occasion I might ride a third time...but for the most part I am happy with a single ride on something each day. When I go to a particular park more than once...I will usually ride my favorites each time I hit the park. I still feel like there are opportunities though for the ones I like to ride twice...like TSM or Soarin' (rope drop and then a FP+)...but even with those I am happy with only a single ride and FP+ guarantees that I will get at least one ride on those without a long wait.

Do you feel like you do not get to do as much as you did in the past because of FP+?

I actually felt like I got more done and I got it done at a more relaxed pace. I probably won't take advantage of the extra FP+s you can get in the parks when we go in September. I am much happier I think planning my FP+ for the busiest times of the day and just taking a relaxed approach to the parks. I know for some people it is about getting in as many rides as they possibly can and "maximizing the value"...and that's fine for them. For me...I want to ride a lot of rides, see the shows, sit and relax at a table tucked away at the side of Main Street with an ice cream sundae, catch the parades, watch some fireworks, talk with my boyfriend or family (whoever I am travelling with), eat some really great meals, do some shopping, and whatever else I can manage to fit into my days. FP+ really works out perfect for someone like me because I can plan, I can take it easy, and I can get a lot done...all at the same time.

 

[gailinroch]

We were at WDW from May 4th thru May 12th. It was our 29th time at Disney. We are a couple, 60ish with no kids. We were never commando Disney people but now more than ever, we take things slowly. FP+ allowed us to do way more than our last trip in 2012. We hate lines and will bypass even a favorite ride if it means waiting more than 10 minutes, the spirit is willing to make rd but we never actually do it and we are too tired to take advantage of late night crowds. (sucks to get old) Also, we've never been rollercoaster people, so that helps with our FP+ selections.

Do you feel all the complaints about longer lines now are valid? - well, I agree that the lesser rides like IASW and LWTL have longer lines but it's really easy, in our case to get FP's for them. For example, LWTL actually had a 20 min wait, so on our way to Soaring, we changed up our FP's to get on LWTL an hour from then. After Soaring and a quick drink we hopped on LWTL and then our FP for SE. The FP return lines were great except for the Safari. The line looked ridiculous and we asked the cm, are you kidding me? He said it was only 10 minutes (standby was 90 min) and it turned out to be 15 minutes. Not sure what the problem was but they were letting people through without touching Mickey to Mickey in order to get things moving.
Do you feel that the FP+ implementation has made it harder for you to do the attractions you like? -Made it much easier. For example, in 2012, for whatever reason, POTC and JC always had a long line and we never made it on them for that trip. So, this time we scheduled Fps for them. It was so easy to manipulate the FPs on my phone. JC had no line, so we didn't use our FP. I was constantly moving up the times and even rides on the APP. It wasn't burdensome - was kind of fun and we were on 4th, etc FP's fairly early. FP kiosks were all over the place wit gaggles of CM's and their IPads around to help. My only complaint is that there is only the International Gateway kiosk in WS. When we were roaming around the countries I would have like to make additional FP+s for FW attractions but not willing to walk all the way back to do it when I still wanted to spend more time in WS.
Do you feel like you are limited on how many times you can ride and see certain attractions? Not at all. We had FP's for our 2nd or 3rd Maelstrom on the trip but when we got there the ride was down. I thought it was very cool to get the email giving us a FP for any ride at any time to make up for it.
Do you feel like you do not get to do as much as you did in the past because of FP+? Not at all. Another example - the last few trips we either would have had to wait in line for a half hour for HS Little Mermaid or we just missed it so I made a FP for it and it was so nice to only have to get there 5 minutes before the show, see it and then go to our BD res for lunch.

I realize that for family's and those with more aggressive touring styles, there would probably be different conclusions, but for those who like to take it slow and don't mind playing with and manipulating the FP's on the APP, FP+ is pretty awesome. .

 

[shyjade]

• Do you feel all the complaints about longer lines now are valid?
• Do you feel that the FP+ implementation has made it harder for you to do the attractions you like?
• Do you feel like you are limited on how many times you can ride and see certain attractions?
• Do you feel like you do not get to do as much as you did in the past because of FP+?

1. Yes, to a degree
2. Yes
3. Yes, but only because we were accustomed to utilizing RD and the legacy FP system so that we could ride big ticket items with minimal waits. For example, with only being able to get 1 FP+ for Soarin' in a day (and then being limited to FP+ for rides we never needed a FP for before), we are greatly limited. YES, I understand that we choose not to ride because we don't want to stand in longer lines, and that we could still ride more if we wanted to stand in line. But we don't. If I wanted long lines, I would go to Six Flags which is 90 miles from my house. So yes, comparing pre FP+ to FP+, we do get less done.
4. Absolutely. We have a handful of favorite big ticket rides (Soarin, Test Track, PP, etc.) but also love a lot of the less popular rides which used to be walk on during our pre FP+ trips (like Living with the Land). That has changed, too.

We have already decided to take this one last trip to Disney in October and then take an extended break. Disney no longer has the same bang for our buck now that we find ourselves standing in longer lines. Higher crowd levels, fewer deals and longer lines. While Disney is doing something "right" for them, and while they continue to draw huge crowds, it's just lost a lot of the magic for us. Fortunately, these changes are nudging us to finally try out the "dark side", so we're finally expanding our horizons. Next time, we plan to skip the Orlando area completely. I'm in no way bashing the new system and not a hater, but the changes have just taken away the magic for us.

 

[Oswin]

Do you feel all the complaints about longer lines now are valid?

In some cases, yes. The headliners that previously had FP are not as effected as attractions like POTC and HM that did not previously offer FP. Standby lines usually did not exist on these attractions in any of our previous visits, but did in our March spring break trip. Most of the time, these rides were about a 30-40 minute wait, except for the last couple of hours of the park being open. Even attractions like Living With the Land at Epcot had a 40 minute wait, and we're used to that line being deserted at all hours of the day.

Do you feel that the FP+ implementation has made it harder for you to do the attractions you like?

No. It actually helped us guarantee that we rode things, IF we had used our FP+ more. We scheduled rides and times for every day of our trip, but probably only used about 5 of our FP+ during a 7 day trip. We didn't strongly use the old system, and we don't intend on scheduling our entire day around this new one either. I think the 5 FP+ we used over this last trip in March were for Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, Space Mountain, Soarin, and Toy Story Midway Mania at HS.

Do you feel like you are limited on how many times you can ride and see certain attractions?

No. On one of our MK days, we used our FP+ for Splash Mountain in the late morning, and had so much fun we decided to wait in the standby line for way over 90 minutes to get to ride again. We returned to Splash at night, and the line had gone down so much we rode standby another 3 times. We rode all of our favorites (which is a list of about 15 rides) between 5-10 times each this trip and the parks were slammed for spring break.

Do you feel like you do not get to do as much as you did in the past because of FP+?

No. I actually feel as if we accomplish exactly the same as we did with the legacy FP system. That being said, my family does not strongly take advantage of either FP system. We used a few legacy FP in our 10+ years of trips, and we did schedule FP+ times for our March trip, but like I said, we only actually used a small percentage of the times. We just scheduled our 3 for each day, and if we used them it was fun and if not we didn't care. We don't mind waiting standby for rides (yes, even if the wait is over 90 minutes), we don't do rope drop, and the only thing we really insist on scheduling each day are our table service meals.

We actually had so much fun on our March trip that we decided to book a summer trip for June while we were there.

 

[girli565]

My answers are in red. We've been 3 times since FP+ and MB's have been implemented. Our upcoming trip will be our first since FP+ allows a 4th FP.

• Do you feel all the complaints about longer lines now are valid?
  I can understand where the complaints are coming from but I feel that this has kind of created equity among people. If you plan correctly you too can enjoy your vacation. I find the most complaints I've heard come from people I know who aren't planners. They like to fly by the seat of their pants and at almost $100 for a day at disney it sucks to be waiting in 2+ hour lines all day and experience 2-3 attractions. But I try to warn them. PLAN EVERYTHING!
• Do you feel that the FP+ implementation has made it harder for you to do the attractions you like?
  I haven't really experienced not being able to get a FP for an attraction I want but I have encountered a true dislike of the tiered system at HS. Sucks.
• Do you feel like you are limited on how many times you can ride and see certain attractions?
  I never really liked to ride the same attraction twice so this really isn't a problem for me.
• Do you feel like you do not get to do as much as you did in the past because of FP+?
  Yes, but because we go so often this really doesn't bother me.I don't mind doing the 3 rides we got FP for and then leisurely touring the rest and hitting a ride when the line isn't too long a wait. With the inclusion of a 4th FP we are hoping to be able to park hop more. That was my biggest issue with the FP+ system when it was first introduced. I wanted to Park hop with FP+ but couldn't. We haven't been to WDW since that's been introduced so we'll be experiencing that in June.

 

[Maleficent Dragon]

Thank you, everybody!!

 

[JennyDrake]

For Disney vets who have been going long before FP+ and MBs were ever discussed, has the new system changed things drastically (or even a lot) for you? Has it changed the way you feel about WDW vacationing?

And PLEASE, if you HAVE NOT ACTUALLY BEEN since the changes, do not weigh in. This is NOT an "I hate the new system" debate thread. There are many of those you can post on.

I really want to hear from those who have visited Disney many times before the change and those who have been in the last few months since the change.

I have been 20+ times before FP+ since 2005; I have been w/ FP+ in December 2013, Feb 2014, May 2014.

• Do you feel all the complaints about longer lines now are valid?
  
  YES. without a doubt. Especially MK.
  
• Do you feel that the FP+ implementation has made it harder for you to do the attractions you like?
  
  The headliners are much easier to access, but "regular" rides such as HM, POTC, IASSW are now 30-45 min waits.
  
• Do you feel like you are limited on how many times you can ride and see certain attractions?
  
  Yes.
  
• Do you feel like you do not get to do as much as you did in the past because of FP+?
  
  Yes, but as I go 3x/year, I feel less pressure than most to "accomplish."

I appreciate any honest feedback based from experience.

 

[OtherScott]

Thank you, everybody!!

"Illuminating" responses.

Great thread, MD

 

[2girlsmom]

I went 10+ times with old FP, and have now been 4 times since FP+ implementation, am a AP holder and semi local, so some onsite, some offsite.

I do feel that the lines for the secondary rides are, in many cases, longer than in the same time frame in previous years, including before the economy tailspin, which I do attribute to them adding FP+ lines to rides that never had enough wait to need a FP in the first place, ie Small World, Pirates, Spaceship Earth. I don't believe that the standby times have been significantly affected on the tier 1 rides, they were not great before and they are still not great. FP+ lines, however, are longer than they used to be, but that is largely due to the longer time to get each person through the mickey turnstyles with their bands/cards vs showing a group's passes all at once to the attendant.

I feel that we accomplish less than we did previously, especially as we generally used 5-6 FP per day, and ALL for primary rides, none for secondary rides as they didn't need them. For example, in HS, prior to FP+, we would get FP for TSMM, RnR, and ToT, then usually a second each for TSMM and RnR. Or Epcot, we only FP'd Soarin and Test Track, but generally got at least 2 of each per day. That said, I would like the prebook capability somewhat if it was even so that I could get a FP+ for A&E, for example, which currently I can't get due to they are all gone more than 30 days in advance.

 

[geckodani]

I've used FP+ twice now. Once during the very early testing in December of 2013, and again in February of 2014.

Do you feel all the complaints about longer lines now are valid?
To some extent, yes. Pirates frequently had a gigantic line, and many other rides that used to have shorter waits did seem to have longer wait times. What was more frustrating was to go to use a FP+ line and have THAT line be gigantic. Jungle Cruise was running a 45 minute wait for FP+. Ridiculous.

Do you feel that the FP+ implementation has made it harder for you to do the attractions you like?
On the contrary, I rode several things that I would have skipped otherwise. Arrived late to HS and was able to do Toy Story and ToT with FP+, hopped over to Epcot in the afternoon and rode Soarin etc.

Do you feel like you are limited on how many times you can ride and see certain attractions?
No, but I'm not one to ride the headliners a million times a day. I did ToT 3 times over 2 visits this past trip, Soarin twice, TSMM twice, EE twice etc. Get there early, ride it once and then again later with a FP+.

Do you feel like you do not get to do as much as you did in the past because of FP+?
I personally felt like I was able to do more. And most importantly, I didn't have to run all over the parks to get FP!

 

[LimeCordial]

I'm on Team FP+. I'm a planner though. My husband thought it was excessive but when we actually saw and did all that we wanted (and some surprises), he really appreciated the effort and by-passing lines.

My only wish is I would prefer 5 fastpasses right out of the gate. That would be my ideal number.

My only complaint is sometimes the website is finicky. I'm having trouble with ADRs online right now. I hope there's no issue when it comes time for me to book FPs. I had a glitch last year as well. It was a big inconvenience.

 

[DebbieB]

I was at MK today, got 5 fastpasses before 1:00. The kiosk lines were not long, no more than a couple minutes, some walkup. One interesting one is Jungle Cruise had a 45 minute standby and I was able to get an almost instant fastpass (my 5th for the day). Once you pass your 3rd, you can go to the kiosk to get additional. My 4th was an almost instant for Little Mermaid. Others were longer - around noon PP was around 4:00 return. I was also able to swap out my preselected PoC with a 5 minute standby for Buzz, which was about 30 min. I did that a kiosk, I couldn't figure out how to do it on the phone. I realized what I was doing wrong later, I was clicking my name and seeing a list of my fastpasses rather than clicking next.

I was also playing around with it, you can change an extra fastpass on your phone.

 

[brielise]

I went in March and had a MB but was going with my CM aunt and cousin. Basically going with them negated any of the 'positive' aspects of the MB because my cousin didn't have a MB and we couldn't book any FP+ in advance. We waited at a kiosk for about half an hour before just giving up, and ultimately only riding HM right after Wishes. At this point, Buzz had a 60 min wait which I had never seen before (prompting me to 'waste' a FP+ on it for our upcoming trip because it is DH favorite ride). I also hated the MB because it was uncomfortable on my wrist and I ended up just leaving it in our room for the rest of the trip (I had a CM guest pass).

After this trip I was cursing the new MB/FP+ system for all of our problems. But looking back the crowds were much worse than what I have ever seen on any of our prior trips - and I had been twice before the same week in previous years. We couldn't even find a somewhat decent spot for Wishes and I have never, ever had a problem with getting a good spot at even the last minute. And that has nothing to do with FP+. Also, because they were CMs the parks weren't a priority for them and we ended up spending several hours at Property Control (although I did score some great merchandise!!). So we got in much later than I ever like to.

Now that I'm booking our upcoming trip, it does have pros and cons.

Pros: Being able to book high priority FP in advance... we have 7DMT FP which we never would have gotten with the old system (we rarely make RD and never run).
Not having to worry about running or holding onto paper FP.
Being able to schedule the time you want, not just the time it has available.

Cons: Having to plan so far in advance. ADRs were stressful enough and now I had to worry about FP!!
The kiosks seem to have much longer lines because everyone heads to one area vs many separate FP kiosks for each ride.
The MB is uncomfortable and I'm not super thrilled about wearing it all day. DH is even less thrilled.

That's all I have so far since we weren't able to officially take advantage of it in March!

 

[DebbieB]

Update - ended up with 7 fastpasses today. 5 at MK, 2 at AK. As a disclaimer, it was a pretty low crowd day. The longest I waited at a kiosk was a couple minutes. Love it!

 

[fairy8i8]

Do you feel all the complaints about longer lines now are valid?

For some of the previously unpopular rides like Small World or Journey to Immagination, yes. Others it's about the same.

Do you feel that the FP+ implementation has made it harder for you to do the attractions you like?

Not harder, but less often and sometimes longer lines, especially at rope drop

Do you feel like you are limited on how many times you can ride and see certain attractions?

Definitely. It's harder to grab a morning FP and ride and then come back and do it again for the more popular rides. Epcot and DHS really suffer from the new system for this.

Do you feel like you do not get to do as much as you did in the past because of FP+?

No. It's just different. Repeats of the most popular rides are fewer, but with the new 4th FP+, we could get a FP for a ride 5 minutes away, ride it, and get another FP+, at least in MK. Didn't work so well in DHS. Epcot was a rainy mess the day we went, to TT was down most of the day, which causes its own problems.

 

[Day-Day]

We visited May 10-16 when many of the "secondary" rides were walk-ons or less than 10 minute waits including ToT, Pooh, Pirates, Haunted Mansion, Star Tours, Dinosaur, Safari, RnR (after riding TSM early morning) etc.. My overall opinion of FP+ is positive but don't know what it is like during crowded time periods and still want a few more changes.

The change that allows additional FPs took place just a couple of weeks before our visit and I was not able to book tier 1 attractions early enough in the morning to try out some of the methods that may work for getting multiple rides on TSM, Soarin, etc. We used to tour like JimmyV mentioned for his Group #1 example and get multiple rides on TT and Soarin and Expedition Everest. Maybe the system is more fair now since I can't hog as many FPs as I used to.

Do you feel all the complaints about longer lines now are valid? Maybe on a couple of occasions but hard to say. Pirates had a 15 minute wait once but the line moved continuously; not like FPs were stopping it from moving but they were using up a lot of seats. Spaceship Earth also had a 15 to 20 minute wait which is a little long but that ride wait time seems to vary a lot over the course of a day.

Do you feel that the FP+ implementation has made it harder for you to do the attractions you like? Easier for our arrival day or a couple of days when we did not do rope drop. Harder since we couldn't book early FPs for tier 1 rides which happened because our initial FPs were booked before the new change to additional FPs.


Do you feel like you are limited on how many times you can ride and see certain attractions? Yes, but I was a ride hog.


Do you feel like you do not get to do as much as you did in the past because of FP+? Hard to say. Visited during lower crowd period with short standby waits. We park hopped every day. We rode TSM twice just before park closing and arrived early for rope drop several days. Really enjoyed having FPs booked for afternoons and arrival day (didn't need most of them though).

Probably needs a few more changes. As the system approaches something like the old FP- (kinda that way now for MK) then park hopping loses its glammer again unless additional FPs can be booked before arriving at the 2nd park.

We used the FP+ and FP- with extra room key and AP in September which I really liked...