Disney has lost another family - do they care?

[mesaboy2]

1. Yes, you are wrong. My original argument was that the change to FP+ doesn't "lock you in" to anything anymore than the old FP system did. They are both marketing tools. I'm not defending FP+ (unless you can site specific examples) as much as I'm saying that this is the system in place now and I'm going to adapt and make the best of it just as I did with the old system. Maybe it'll work better. Maybe it won't. But we'll figure it out. My desire to go on a Disney vacation has never hinged on how many FPs I can get or for which attractions I can get them. If someone's does, then I get how it will be more difficult. But the best option here is to adapt. I believe my vacation in March will be just as magical as the ones before. Even (gasp) the ones before FP existed. I can only speak for me and I wouldn't try to defend a system that I have not yet used other than to book my FP+.

2. It is clearly not obvious to everyone. And I like Chekov from Star Trek, so I'll take the comparison in stride. I thought maybe you were comparing me to Anton Chekov.

1. Fair enough, I stand corrected.

2. I think there's an extra 'h' in the other dude's name.

 

[Angel Ariel]

Help each other to figure out new ways to optimize, not gripe about how you're never going to go again when we all know you will.

Very few who have voiced concerns in this thread have said they are never going back. The op said that, yes, but not.many others who have responded.

 

[wdwfreak]

Not at all. Tickets cost the same no matter where you are staying. Not so for the price of a room.

The ability to do rope drop comes with purchase of a ticket.

The ability to stay onsite comes with paying the price of staying in an onsite room.

So if you stay offsite then FP+ is bad? Because you can't book 2 months out? Is it not fair then that onsiters get to experience EMH and offsiters don't? By your logic, yes.

I will concede your point that the new system may not be as fair to those not staying on property.

 

[wdwfreak]

1. Fair enough, I stand corrected.

2. I think there's an extra 'h' in the other dude's name.

2. You are right. I, too, stand corrected.

 

[Angel Ariel]

Do you think the system will be perfect and fair to everyone? I certainly don't, but what is? The old system wasn't perfect, either, as much the rose colored glasses set would like to have us believe. I liked the old system, too. But it's gone. So I'll adapt.

Here are your options as I see it:
Adapt.
Complain to Disney in the hope they will revert to the old system.
Don't go.

Option 4:
Voice concerns about the system as it is now to Disney in the hopes that they will get a large amount of similar feedback and adjust the system limitations while the system is still in testing.

 

[wdwfreak]

Option 4:
Voice concerns about the system as it is now to Disney in the hopes that they will get a large amount of similar feedback and adjust the system limitations while the system is still in testing.

Fair enough...

 

[MrInfinity]

The ability to do rope drop comes with purchase of a ticket.

Sort of. Obviously you understand EMH mornings and so you know what you're saying here is only partially true. Disney decides which days they want to let their resort guests in ahead of day-passers. Day passers have no say in this except to not go and pick a different day.

The ability to stay onsite comes with paying the price of staying in an onsite room.

If Disney wants to add perks to drive up the per-night cost of a room then by all means they should do that. Universal does. You stay onsite there you get the front-of-the-line pass. You're a day-passer there? You get nothing. Unless you want to pay an absurd amount extra, then you can add front-of-the-line access.

Once FP+ is fully rolled out, Disney will test it thru and thru. They will experiment w the tradeoffs of giving Offsite & Value 3, Moderate 4, and Deluxe 5 FP+ slots. Just watch. 2 years. They will leverage this to further maximize profit.

 

[HookdonWDW]

If work put out a box of chocolates and said "Employees are entitled to take 1 Chocolate every 2 hours" and sure, some employees showed up every 2 hours, and grabbed a chocolate, while others, who don't like chocolate, or are on diets, or who just didn't feel like taking a chocolate, didn't. Are the employees who took a chocolate every 2 hours until they were gone "wrong" ... not in the slightest.

Seriously, your "examples", your logic, your entire attempt at solidifying your point of view are so poorly done. It's easy to deconstruct them and show how little reason they demonstrate.

Are they wrong? No. But, let's look at this in a different way.

As the Employer, you had a reason for offering the chocolates to your employees. Employer's seldom operate without a motive in mind. After implementing the "Free Chocolate Every Two Hours" you notice that:

- Some employee's don't eat chocolate, and complain that your not offering fresh fruit instead, negatively affecting morale.
- Some people are standing around the chocolate box, waiting for their two hours to expire so they can get their next chocolate, affecting productivity.
- Some people could care less and thus, the chocolate doesn't work as the overall motivator you were looking for.
- Some people happily take their chocolates, appreciate the gesture, and their productivity and happiness levels increase.
- You realize that now that you offer free chocolates, people are not purchasing snacks from the vending machine, and you are losing potential revenue.

When you look at this as an Employer, you may decide that even though two of the four groups are enjoying the chocolates, you are not getting the benefits to your company that you were looking for. So, you modify the program to better suit the bottom line of the corporation. Some people will like the new changes. Some will hate them. Some will wonder why you took away their benefits and look for new jobs elsewhere, some will feel that they played by the rules and are being penalized. But the bottom line is that as the Employer, your responsibility is the OVERALL welfare and bottom line of the company.

Welcome to MM and FP+. If the actual goals of the company are met, Disney wins.

 

[Angel Ariel]

By that logic, every patron has the opportunity to stay on property, as well. And book FP reservations for a time they want, even if off property.

Disney doesn't have the hotel capacity to house all of the guests they have on any given day. So, no, every patron would not have the same opportunity to stay on property

 

[Schmeck]

We will take advantage of FP+ and stay onsite on our next trip, and do Universal.

FP+ actually helps us do Universal. For us, it's just for Harry Potter, so we don't spend a whole day there. This next trip we will get a WDW ticket for length of stay, and also spend 3/4 of a day at Universal. One morning we'll have FP+ for one park, do the 3 rides, leave, and go spend the rest of the day at Universal. We may even do 2 days this way, in case we can't get Diagon Alley/Hogsmeade done right in one day.

For other days we'll continue to park hop, having our FP+ scheduled for the afternoon park. We may do some morning FP+ too, as we love World Showcase at night, and tend to hang there one or two nights to shop and dine.

We tend to go for 6-7 days, which gives us plenty of FP+. We do rope drop and EMH, so there's plenty of time for attractions. Hubby would rather have me spend time in a queue than in a gift shop anyways, LOL!

 

[SashaFarce]

By all means, don't go back. If you're spending money on a private company and don't like the way they do business, don't return. I personally don't understand why anyone would go on vacation and not plan it out, but that's just me. As a disabled adult, I enjoy many things about FP+ since I am not capable of being a rope dropper and often had to miss out on things like TSMM. Therefore, I'll continue to spend my dollars at Disney.

 

[Mousemommy1]

Are they wrong? No. But, let's look at this in a different way.

As the Employer, you had a reason for offering the chocolates to your employees. Employer's seldom operate without a motive in mind. After implementing the "Free Chocolate Every Two Hours" you notice that:

- Some employee's don't eat chocolate, and complain that your not offering fresh fruit instead, negatively affecting morale.
- Some people are standing around the chocolate box, waiting for their two hours to expire so they can get their next chocolate, affecting productivity.
- Some people could care less and thus, the chocolate doesn't work as the overall motivator you were looking for.
- Some people happily take their chocolates, appreciate the gesture, and their productivity and happiness levels increase.
- You realize that now that you offer free chocolates, people are not purchasing snacks from the vending machine, and you are losing potential revenue.

When you look at this as an Employer, you may decide that even though two of the four groups are enjoying the chocolates, you are not getting the benefits to your company that you were looking for. So, you modify the program to better suit the bottom line of the corporation. Some people will like the new changes. Some will hate them. Some will wonder why you took away their benefits and look for new jobs elsewhere, some will feel that they played by the rules and are being penalized. But the bottom line is that as the Employer, your responsibility is the OVERALL welfare and bottom line of the company.

Welcome to MM and FP+. If the actual goals of the company are met, Disney wins.

Great post!

 

[OldSpiceGuy]

I'm looking forward to trying FP+. I travel with a big family with lots of small kids. It never worked well to run from fp station to station to gather fp's and then return. Too chaotic. i'm nervous about having to decide where we are going to be a few weeks (or more) in advance. I think it will be our best guess and go from there.

I have small kids too. I tried the rope drop thingie once with toddlers. Never again. As long as standby lines aren't ridiculous FP+ will work better for my family.

 

[OldSpiceGuy]

Again, I was responding to a hypothetical. I love FP+ and feel disney had their guests in mind when making these changes. But if everyone hated FP+ to the extent of significantly reduced crowds (per the hypothetical) then FP+ Would be Disney's new coke. As it is it's nowhere ne'er new coke status.

Sorry for the confusion.

No need to apologize. There are lots of folks that feel FP+ is similar to new coke. I don't agree with that. I replied only to you but I feel pretty much the same about all the posts that are predicting that Disney will be hurt by FP+. Its wishful thinking. I haven tried FP+ yet, but I will next week!

 

[Traub70]

I will be visiting WDW the week of July 4th. I'm looking forward to trying out the new FP+ system. The last time my family and I went to WDW was about 4years ago. At that time the only planning I did was book my room, flight and purchase my theme park tickets. So, when we arrived at the parks we had no clue what FP was. So, we only utilized the old system once through our entire trip. After I got home from that trip, I decided that the next time we went to WDW I would make sure I knew all the in's and out's so we would be able to do and see more while in the parks. So, now for this trip I'm spending more time online researching and checking out different forums. I've gotten a lot of valuable information. Now I can understand people being upset about not getting as many FP+s as they got on the old system, being upset that they can't get more than one per ride or being upset with the tiering. It is understandable and I sympathize with you. But I do think Disney cares. It's just that they can't please everyone. So, majority rules. Because that is what is going to make them the most money. Second, most everyone is blaming FP+ for longer standby lines and that isn't the only change made at WDW. The change of the GAC cards over to DAS cards is IMO contributing greatly to longer standby lines. I think Disney made a little too many changes, all at around the same time, that it is going to take a little time for things to even out. People just have to have patience. I do think that FP+ will see some changes because Disney wants as many people as possible to be happy. Happy customers = more money. So relax and just learn to go with the flow.

 

[BigAlsGal]

I don't give a flying flip about FP+. I'm still going and will love every blissful minute of it.

 

[Mousemommy1]

I don't give a flying flip about FP+. I'm still going and will love every blissful minute of it.

Another great post! And echos our sentiments exactly!

 

[Spork24]

No need to apologize. There are lots of folks that feel FP+ is similar to new coke. I don't agree with that. I replied only to you but I feel pretty much the same about all the posts that are predicting that Disney will be hurt by FP+. Its wishful thinking. I haven tried FP+ yet, but I will next week!

. I hope you have a great trip!!!

 

[Mkrop]

Exactly. To get the most out of the FP- system you really had to be proactive and tour in a not-very-family-vacation way. It involved a lot of running, a lot of splitting off from your family, and a lot of criss-crossing the park. That may be enjoyable to ppl who have come to know just how to work the system... but to most guests -- in fact most highly profitable guests -- that is not how they vacation.

Now there is so little criss-crossing. You can line your rides up in a perfect circle... circle the park once, then go spend money on other stuff.

We NEVER used a runner, separated as a family, unless it was for one to ride a thrill ride and the other child wasnt tall enough or was too scared, and we never crisscrossed the park and yet we were able to pull more than 3 FPs and sometimes gasp get it for a ride we wanted to ride again! In fact the only time we used a runner was when we had FP+ and FP-. We knew we might not be able to reride rides via the FP+ system so for the first time we had DS16 run ahead (actually power walk) with our KTTW cards to Soarin. He was power walking with a older gentleman who was headed to Soarin with KTTW cards and his wife to TT with their APs. DS16 was like darn we should have done that since we had AAA tickets. We did regret it later when DS11 got over his fear of TT and wanted to ride again but all the FPs were gone, he wouldnt do single rider, not that brave yet, and the standby was way too long.

That was the case with the old FP system with that particular ride. They were all gone about an hour into the day.

Yes but the other poster claimed that this brand new wonderful system would allow me to change my FP+s no problem, either it does or it doesnt. My experience was it does not

 

[Spork24]

Disney doesn't have the hotel capacity to house all of the guests they have on any given day. So, no, every patron would not have the same opportunity to stay on property

I disagree. Disney very rarely if ever has a hard sellout on all rooms. If more people start staying on property, disney will build more rooms.