Disney finally Made Me Mad

I think that is a great point. People who have never been before have no prior experience to compare the current situation to. *That* is what Disney is counting on.

I think they are also counting on people like those who are frequent visitors but have never had any issues with the FP+ system

I think they are also counting on the people that no matter how much they say they will never go back, keep going back year after year.

I thinking they are counting on all sorts of guests who are not a monolithic group that define their WDW vacations by a variety of criteria.
 
I think that is a great point. People who have never been before have no prior experience to compare the current situation to. *That* is what Disney is counting on.
Yes but I think they will ultimately cross the line if they continue on this path of continuing to cut corners. That is what a generic amusement park does- Disney has a reputation for being "magical". There are only so many layers that can be stripped away before it stops being magical and starts being generic. Then why should anyone pay the premium prices for something they can get at a place right down the street?

I still don't think these M&Gs going FP+ only is the sign of a new trend. I still think it is because of talking characters being introduced. So I remain in the "wait and see" camp. Hopefully that is all this is about...
 
I posted Disney's own FAQ upthread. It says that standby lines are available for every attraction that isn't down for refurbishment. I am sure that was put in place to calm the fears of appointment riding. But it appears that those fears might not be unfounded.

Those FAQ's have been the same since FP+ came out.
 
Yes but I think they will ultimately cross the line if they continue on this path of continuing to cut corners. That is what a generic amusement park does- Disney has a reputation for being "magical". There are only so many layers that can be stripped away before it stops being magical and starts being generic. Then why should anyone pay the premium prices for something they can get at a place right down the street?

For many people, my family included, they've already crossed the line of one too many lines crossed.
 

Those FAQ's have been the same since FP+ came out.

I know. But with the first hint of FP+ many months ago, I saw/heard people wondering if this would lead to appointment riding. And Disney said, "No, no. Standby is always available." In fact, I received a response from Disney telling me SB was always available when I sent an e-mail complaint about FP+. But now, I wonder what the response will be?
 
I know. But with the first hint of FP+ many months ago, I saw/heard people wondering if this would lead to appointment riding. And Disney said, "No, no. Standby is always available." In fact, I received a response from Disney telling me SB was always available when I sent an e-mail complaint about FP+. But now, I wonder what the response will be?

Ok, sorry, I misunderstood what you were saying. :)
 
I know. But with the first hint of FP+ many months ago, I saw/heard people wondering if this would lead to appointment riding. And Disney said, "No, no. Standby is always available." In fact, I received a response from Disney telling me SB was always available when I sent an e-mail complaint about FP+. But now, I wonder what the response will be?

I guess the only right response would be they lied.
 
I was just now on MDE website and the meet and greet is greyed out for fast past for tigger and pooh in England but it says standby available. This is for May 22.
 
I was just now on MDE website and the meet and greet is greyed out for fast past for tigger and pooh in England but it says standby available. This is for May 22.

I wonder if they just haven't adjusted the default message it gives when something is sold out of FP.
 
But see, that's what I said -- they will cut costs until they see a negative effect on revenue. If customers are unhappy enough to stop going (and in enough numbers to have an effect on revenue), then you will see changes. If people are lining up just like always, then it makes no difference to Disney whether some people are unhappy. If you are unhappy but still spending money, then in their eyes, you aren't that unhappy.

To give an example: There's a restaurant near me that used to have fantastic food and service. It was frequently featured on tv shows and was always crowded. Slowly, the service got worse (high turnover of staff), the food became inconsistent and increasingly more expensive (far more expensive than comparable restaurants) and the portions got smaller.

We used to go nearly weekly, but then we stopped going entirely and haven't gone in years. Visited them last week and all the same issues were present --maybe more so.

Guess what? It's still totally packed. None of the families I know go there any longer (we all have the same issues). But yet it's full of tourists and snowbirds -- i.e., people who have no experience with the former quality or people who are visiting based on what they've heard on t.v.

I think that's probably a good analogy. YMMV.

I think this is exactly it.

Additionally while some people might be mad that they cannot see Pooh anymore....some customers will feel like they are finally part of the "in crowd" that gets into "exclusive" attractions.
 
I know. But with the first hint of FP+ many months ago, I saw/heard people wondering if this would lead to appointment riding. And Disney said, "No, no. Standby is always available." In fact, I received a response from Disney telling me SB was always available when I sent an e-mail complaint about FP+. But now, I wonder what the response will be?

If that happened, and standby went away on everything that was FP+, my bet would be that they would say that you have a rolling 4th FP that you can keep getting throughout the day after you use the 3.
 
So how is this going to play out on the slow days? I'm going during that super slow week in September where almost nobody visits the parks. Are they really going to have these employees just sit there twiddling thumbs while people use up fastpasses to try to get to the point they can schedule a meet? During peak times I can see this being somewhat reasonably useful, but when it's not busy at all (you know, those days where multiple rides say "NO WAIT"), this is just going to drive everyone pointlessly nuts.

Good point. We are going at the same time, and FP only is infuriating.
 
I actually think a fair number of people were starting to come around to the "cautiously optimistic" front once Disney added the 4th and subsequent FPs......... until this curve ball. And once again, it's not about Pooh.

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This exactly!
 
So, yesterday I was playing around in MDE and saw that the Pooh M&G said FP+ Only. Today, it just shows the M&G F+P without the "only". I wonder what the deal is?
 
So, yesterday I was playing around in MDE and saw that the Pooh M&G said FP+ Only. Today, it just shows the M&G. I wonder what the deal is?

The WDW website page I linked to (way back on page 1 of this thread) is no longer showing it as FP+ either.
 
Exactly this. Also, it helps split their demographics. Kids with toddlers who LOVE pooh, will definitely use their fastpass for this....freeing up FP's on Soarin and TT.

Also, having a specific number of guests per hour will allow for a different level of interaction.

Sorry everyone, i am jsut reading this, and i agree with this to a certain point. Think about it. Disney has really messed up. FP+ is a failure, but what can they do about it? They would have to build more rides because there are too many fp's being handed out (and not enough rides). So, for the little ones who love pooh, the families will use the fp on pooh, freeing up tt and soarin.

I dont know what the answer is...but i do not like fp+.....
 
It looks like we need an investigator to wander over to the Pooh M&G on the 11th and see what's going on.
 
:thumbsup2

My biggest concern with this isn't that I'll miss meeting Pooh. I've said for years he's the most over-exposed character in Disney. My concern is for WTH will their next step in this mess be?

How do you figure Pooh is the most over-exposed? I'd say Cinderella way before Pooh...
 
I haven't read each and every post on this thread so excuse me if this was already brought up, but has anyone considered the change has nothing to do with make FP+ more exclusive or freeing up headliner rides but instead has to do with the character M&Gs themselves.

People on the disboards are more considerate of Disney and it's ways, but how many times do you see people and kids "abusing" the characters...pulling tails, pinching noses, etc. Maybe this is being done more for protection and control over safety of characters then anything. Look how crazy everyone is going over Frozen characters.
Maybe Pooh in UK is singled out because they want to start it with a less popular M&G area...imagine if they did FP+ only to Elsa and Anna right now?!?! It could just be an experiment to see how it goes...and better to start with a less popular M&G and with characters that have more exposure in other parks.

Maybe FP+ only M&Gs will be longer in that you will have more time to spend with the characters as opposed to a quick hello, smile for photo pass and goodbye. Also if they plan to have more of the characters talk like Mickey, people may want more time with them. Maybe if M&G's are FP+ only there will be more of them available with more variety of characters? Let's face it, for some people meeting a favorite character is right up there with a headliner ride/attraction. Who knows??

And as far a slow times are concerned...I'm sure Disney can easily control how many FP+ return times there are in a day. Maybe during traditionally slower times they will lessen the amount of FP+ return times for certain characters so instead of let's say 10 FP times in a day there are 5.

Sure all the possibilities and assumptions discussed in this thread can be true...but sometimes we tend to have knee jerk reactions to changes seeing the negative effects on us first...we can guess, but truly we don't have any idea of the reasons behind these changes or where they want them to eventually lead.

I understand your annoyances with losing a favorite aspect of Disney, but we've all had favorite rides or restaurants close or favorites characters become scarce all before FP+ and I'm sure it will continue as the business of Disney seeks to remain successful and profitable.
 


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