Disney finally Made Me Mad

[Surfinpiratee]

FP+ has hit a new low. Looks like nothing more than a strong arm tactic to get people to pay admission but not do certain rides.

So when there is a lull, do the characters just sit around and twiddle their thumbs instead of seeing standby people?

Exactly!!!!!! When we were there...there was a decent amount of people in Epcot..we walked up to meet them we were the ONLY ones. We were there for quite a while..and no one came in after us either...

 

[Ariel on Land]

this is SUPER crummy!!! I just can't comprehend why these are tier one FPs and FP only!?!?! THat's the part that makes absolutely no sense. I mean, TSM, RnR those have such a high demand, that (while I still seriously loathe the tiers) I understand why they are forcing people to choose. But to make people choose between TSM and Minnie Mouse?!?!?!?! That just makes me mad. There's no way that deserves to be a tier one FP. Of all the stupid FP moves, this is probably the first one that makes absolutely ZERO sense. What on earth prompted such a boneheaded call!??!?!

 

[leebee]

What you're forgetting is that the old system of FP- was exclusionary to MOST guests. If you weren't commando, you might stand in standby lines for 2 or 3 big rides and then their kids would likely already be getting tired and/or cranky....time to stop for lunch etc.

They couldn't do all the best attractions....but "some" guests could.

I think that if Disney had pushed and marketed legacy FP like they are FP+, far more guests would have known about it. Having never been to rope drop or used a touring plan, I can't call us "commando" but we used legacy FP extensively to enhance our park experiences. Legacy FP was relatively simple to use, compared to FP+. People didn't know about it because Disney didn't advertise it aggressively enough. If they had, users would never have been able to collect FPs past the return time to use "whenever;" it would have nullified the utility of legacy FP. FP+ is being shoved down our throats; massive TV advertising campaign, mail from Disney about pre-booking, how to do it, when to do it, what to do it for…

 

[MonorailCentral]

So not a fan of this, even though this could divert a few from the better Tier 1 options. The idea of making it a tiered FPP is a terrible idea.

 

[dreamscometrue101]

My biggest issue with this M&G being FP+ Only is the 1st time visitors that don't know the benefit of the DIS will miss out on this opportunity.

My last trip I remember watching a little boy about 4 years old jumping for joy because he just happened to turn the corner and see Winnie the Pooh. There was no line up so his grandparents took him to get his picture taken with Pooh. He was thrilled.

I couldn't imagine if they were 1st time visitors the kid gets so excited and the CM tells them, "I'm sorry but you can only meet Pooh if you have a FP+ booked."

I know Disney has their reasoning to do everything they do, and I actually enjoy doing a lot of planning for my trips, but not everyone is like that.

I hope they change their minds on this.

 

[Ariel on Land]

Still fuming a bit here.... but the way I see it, now, I STILL have to be at rope drop to book it across the park to TSM so I can save my tier one FP so DD can see Minnie. Absolutely insane..... Sure, I could use all my 3 FPs in the morning and then use my fouth, but when you have a little one who has to go back for a nap in the afternoon, I'm not guaranteed a time that will actually work for us, setting up the potential of not seeing Minnie. I seriously think I'm more mad about this than the whole FP+ thing to begin with!

 

[Sparkly]

..but it's just Pooh. You can meet him at MK as well. Same with Minnie? I don't see the whole fuss over people dressed as the characters. And I say this as someone who LOVES meeting them.

Love the hyperbole about magic being ruined for kids too. Typical.

 

[ktlm]

But in the past, this was never either/or. The Pooh M&G almost never had a line. At various times of the year and at different points of the day, I don't think I ever waited more than 5 minutes for that. Soarin' and TT are different animals entirely. FP+ only really adds nothing here. Adding FP+ as a Tier 2 would have been fine and dandy, even if it was unnecessary. But FP+ only (FP-POO, TM DrankTheKoolaid), and especially as a Tier 1, is ludicrous. Why can't the family with the 5-year-old do both, as they easily could have, pre FP+ or FP-POO?

Yep. Pooh was never at the absolute top of DD's ( 8 )
list. We always eat at CP, so we always see him, and he isn't one she wants to see over and over again on our trips like she does her favorites so we don't seek him out. BUT, we always wind up seeing him at EPCOT because there is never more than a couple of families in line for him when we are in the UK store. I can just see Disney's thought process. Hey there are too many people picking Soarin and Test Track for FP+, how do we fix that? Well there is never much of a line for Pooh, I know let's make him FP+ tier one only, then people have to pick him instead of Soarin or Test Track if their kids want to see him. He never has much of a line, so we probably won't get many complaints about it being FP+ only. That should help fix our problem. I see it as a total crowd manipulation technique. Take something that never had much of a line and didn't need a FP and force people to use a FP if they want to do it at all to attempt to move them away from other ride FPs.

 

[Zeebs]

YOU HAVE TO BE FREAKING KIDDING ME:

So what am exactly getting for my entry fee: oh sorry I get the chance to be in the themed park, schedule my trip to with in an inch of it's life.

How am I suppose to know what my child will love, if I schedule a bunch of fastpasses to see the characters and she hates them. I have to then faff around and try and get fastpasses for something else at times that probably don't suit.

Or she loves the characters and I haven't had the foresight 30/60 days in advance to schedule them onto my fastpass list. Also the chances are made after I have already booked mine as we go in 10 days

I realise they won't be that hard to get but the fact remains I should have a choice to wait in standby or not, and more importantly where will it end.

Kirsten

 

[mommasharn]

What is Tier 1?

 

[CyForDisney]

I'm sure someone has already said this in the 12+ pages of posts but I can see why Disney is making this FP+ only as well as other experiences. Not only do we all hate lines, but also Disney. Why? When people are in line, Disney is not making money on merchandise, food, etc. Disney is trying to figure out as much as possible how to eliminate lines so people buy more stuff. I believe there was an article in the Sentinel that said this.

As for it being tier 1 vs 2, I have no clue why that would make a difference unless they feel the demand is there for it to be a tier 1 ride.

 

[2Tiggies]

What is Tier 1?

Epcot and Hollywood Studios FP+ attraction have been grouped into Tier 1 (typically the most popular attractions) and Tier 2. For your initial 3 FP's guests have to choose one from Tier 1 and 2 from Tier 2.

If you go back a page or two Mesaboy2 has a link in his signature to his awesome FP+ bible which explains it beautifully and gives recommendations on what/how to choose your FP+

 

[CyForDisney]

What is Tier 1?

Tier 1 means you can only get one fastpass from that collection of rides or experiences per day. The most popular rides and experiences fall into this collection (IE Soarin, Test Track, and reportedly also Winnie and Tigger M&G). Tier 2 you can get 2 fastpasses for in this collection but they aren't as popular of rides (IE Spaceship Earth, Journey into Imagination, Captain EO).

 

[2Tiggies]

As for it being tier 1 vs 2, I have no clue why that would make a difference unless they feel the demand is there for it to be a tier 1 ride.

I think the demand is there for more Tier 1 rides in the parks with tiers. The trouble is, taking a Tier 2 (or perceived 3) attraction and calling it Tier 1, doesn't make it so.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

Our children never cared for the characters, and our only pictures of them with characters are at meals. But I know that this is important to many, so I am trying to figure out Disney's angle. Push more people to character meals? Those restaurants are already pretty full, right? I don't get it.

I assume the Tier 1 is based on current line length for the Pooh M&G, but I have no idea. But the thing that I really cannot wrap my mind around is the idea that there would be no SB line when FP+ is implemented. Is that because there is no way to handle 2 queues there? I can't even picture the M&G area in my mind.

 

[bcrook]

Oh...what's your blog?

The link is in my signature. It's not much of a blog. But This topic has provided some good info to update it now. Plus I need to update the mine train capacity info.

I wonder if the fp-only is a way to manage breaks better for characters. Disney will only offer slots grouped together, and then streamline the process - cutting out the dead time, saving money on characters standing around.

 

[labdogs42]

I'm a little late to the thread here, but wow, what a crappy decision on Disney's part! Character interactions are supposed to be fun and spontaneous and neat little things that you stumble on in the parks, not headliner FP attractions! That's such a downer. I really don't like it. I'm ok with having FP available for these things, but to make them exclusive is just wrong. I hope they change this.

 

[JeremyGNJ]

I think the demand is there for more Tier 1 rides in the parks with tiers. The trouble is, taking a Tier 2 (or perceived 3) attraction and calling it Tier 1, doesn't make it so.

Actually it does. Visitors have been given the choice.

As bcrook has said, there's only 800 slots a day to see Pooh. Disney has now stated "this is one of the more desirable attractions". What this probably means is that all 800 spots are almost always used. This is an attraction that runs at full capacity, and therefor it's Tier 1.

 

[maybs607]

I think this is plain stupid. We were in Epcot last week and didn't even know that Pooh was there. We already saw them at CP at MK but we could have seen them with no wait. The CM came through the exit and asked if anyone wanted to visit with them, and nobody did. This was around 4pm. Now they expect people to do Tier 1 FP on them?

 

[bcrook]

Actually it does. Visitors have been given the choice.

As bcrook has said, there's only 800 slots a day to see Pooh. Disney has now stated "this is one of the more desirable attractions". What this probably means is that all 800 spots are almost always used. This is an attraction that runs at full capacity, and therefor it's Tier 1.

Just for the record. 800 is based on observational data, not a published number. But whatever the number is... The logic works the same. It doesn't really matter if it is 600 or 1100.