Do you like the Fastpass+ system?

[huskies90]

How is it better? Under the old system, I use to get 10+ FP per day. Under the new system, I get 3 that have to be pre-planned months in advance.

Like I said in my post. Information on this board is great but often over complicated. Example: "I need to plan my fastpasses months in advance". Yes you can plan months in advance but it is not 100% necessary. And only 3 per day? With the new system, it is as easy as the old system to get 10+ FP per day. Actually it is even easier than the old system because I no longer have to be at the machine at the attraction to get the FP. Heck, now I do not even need to be in the park to get additional fp's. I can be at my resort or at a different park pick a FP, hop over and walk right on an attraction.

 

[mom2rtk]

Like I said in my post. Information on this board is great but often over complicated. Example: "I need to plan my fastpasses months in advance". Yes you can plan months in advance but it is not 100% necessary. And only 3 per day? With the new system, it is as easy as the old system to get 10+ FP per day. Actually it is even easier than the old system because I no longer have to be at the machine at the attraction to get the FP. Heck, now I do not even need to be in the park to get additional fp's. I can be at my resort or at a different park pick a FP, hop over and walk right on an attraction.

But you do need to plan 30-60 days out of you want whatever the hard to get FP of the day is.

And are you getting 10 headliner fastpasses a day? With legacy, they were all headliners, because that's all that offered fastpass. A lot of what you can get same day with FP+ are things you never even needed a FP+ for before.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

But you do need to plan 30-60 days out of you want whatever the hard to get FP of the day is.

And are you getting 10 headliner fastpasses a day? With legacy, they were all headliners, because that's all that offered fastpass. A lot of what you can get same day with FP+ are things you never even needed a FP+ for before.

All of this is true, but if you were not in the parks by 10 am, those headliner FPs were gone and you got zero FPs. The new system is better for some (folks who like to sleep in or take a more relaxed approach to each day) and worse for others (folks who like to rope drop and knew how to best leverage the old system).

I stopped complaining a learned to leverage this new system to my advantage. There are ways to do that - you just have to be innovative, just like with the old system.

 

[huskies90]

But you do need to plan 30-60 days out of you want whatever the hard to get FP of the day is.

You can plan 30-60 days out but, no, you do not NEED to do this.

And are you getting 10 headliner fastpasses a day? With legacy, they were all headliners, because that's all that offered fastpass. A lot of what you can get same day with FP+ are things you never even needed a FP+ for before.

Well, the poster said 10+ of the original FP's. As a former FP "runner" I can say that 10+ on any day was difficult even with the old system simply because I would get exhausted running from FP machine to FP machine. What I was trying to say was that whatever number you can get in a day, it is easier to do it with the new system. Back in the old days, FP would run out. And once they were gone, that is it. I can remember days when Toy Story or Soarin' would be gone before 11AM.

 

[huskies90]

I learned to leverage this new system to my advantage. There are ways to do that - you just have to be innovative, just like with the old system.

Thank you. 100% true. If you all just think about how the system works you will figure out how much easier it is to get what you want when you want it.

 

[edk35]

Like I said in my post. Information on this board is great but often over complicated. Example: "I need to plan my fastpasses months in advance". Yes you can plan months in advance but it is not 100% necessary. And only 3 per day? With the new system, it is as easy as the old system to get 10+ FP per day. Actually it is even easier than the old system because I no longer have to be at the machine at the attraction to get the FP. Heck, now I do not even need to be in the park to get additional fp's. I can be at my resort or at a different park pick a FP, hop over and walk right on an attraction.

Can you actually get a fast pass for another park the same day you use your allotted three? I thought the 4th, 5th and so on had to be in the same park?

 

[BuckeyeBama]

You can plan 30-60 days out but, no, you do not NEED to do this.


Well, the poster said 10+ of the original FP's. As a former FP "runner" I can say that 10+ on any day was difficult even with the old system simply because I would get exhausted running from FP machine to FP machine. What I was trying to say was that whatever number you can get in a day, it is easier to do it with the new system. Back in the old days, FP would run out. And once they were gone, that is it. I can remember days when Toy Story or Soarin' would be gone before 11AM.

I can remember days when Toy Story FP were gone before 9:30.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

Can you actually get a fast pass for another park the same day you use your allotted three? I thought the 4th, 5th and so on had to be in the same park?

Yes - You need to read the addendum FP page.

 

[mom2rtk]

All of this is true, but if you were not in the parks by 10 am, those headliner FPs were gone and you got zero FPs. The new system is better for some (folks who like to sleep in or take a more relaxed approach to each day) and worse for others (folks who like to rope drop and knew how to best leverage the old system).

I stopped complaining a learned to leverage this new system to my advantage. There are ways to do that - you just have to be innovative, just like with the old system.

If you miss out on the top tier FPs now, you need to get there at rope drop to avoid a huge line.

And I have no doubt that the people "leveraging" the new system are the ones happiest with it. The ways to "leverage" this new system put the old system to shame. Remember how crazy people used to get about some people knowing they could return after the FP window?

You can plan 30-60 days out but, no, you do not NEED to do this.


Well, the poster said 10+ of the original FP's. As a former FP "runner" I can say that 10+ on any day was difficult even with the old system simply because I would get exhausted running from FP machine to FP machine. What I was trying to say was that whatever number you can get in a day, it is easier to do it with the new system. Back in the old days, FP would run out. And once they were gone, that is it. I can remember days when Toy Story or Soarin' would be gone before 11AM.

I was the FP runner in our group and never criss crossed the park like that.

 

[randumb0]

As a local I hate the new system. There is no reason for me to plan a trip 5 days out, let alone 30. With the old system I was able to get multiple fast passes for the same ride. I was able to give fast passes to others that I knew that I wouldn't be using and sometimes they were given to me. With the new system you can't give your passes to a specific person that you see that's waiting in standby. The fast pass was good for the entire day so I could grab an 11 am Space Mountain and use it at 5 pm later that day.

 

[AngiTN]

As a local I hate the new system. There is no reason for me to plan a trip 5 days out, let alone 30. With the old system I was able to get multiple fast passes for the same ride. I was able to give fast passes to others that I knew that I wouldn't be using and sometimes they were given to me. With the new system you can't give your passes to a specific person that you see that's waiting in standby. The fast pass was good for the entire day so I could grab an 11 am Space Mountain and use it at 5 pm later that day.

They closed that loophole years before FP+ came out. It's no more fair to compare using a paper FP after the window expired than it is to include comparing FP+ if you use extra MB to get extra FP, both are loopholes. Compare using published rules.

I do agree that it was nice to be able to gift people FP before. It's a shame to loose that.

I know while we do like FP+ I can admit it's not without it's faults. Just that if I compare the faults of FP+ with the faults of paper FP, FP+ wins with fewer faults.

And it doesn't take the uber planning that so many think it does. Every trip we will change our plans and pick new FP for a new park sitting at the bus stop that morning. People may assume you can't do that but I assure you it is possible. It's also possible to get same day FP (4th and more) for headliners. They are there because people drop and change plans. At least that can be better than paper FP because if they were gone, they were gone. It wasn't possible for them to get more later in they day. With FP+ that does happen

 

[ArwenMarie]

All of this is true, but if you were not in the parks by 10 am, those headliner FPs were gone and you got zero FPs. The new system is better for some (folks who like to sleep in or take a more relaxed approach to each day) and worse for others (folks who like to rope drop and knew how to best leverage the old system).

I stopped complaining a learned to leverage this new system to my advantage. There are ways to do that - you just have to be innovative, just like with the old system.

When you say you have to be "innovative" what do you mean? It seems like a pretty straight forward system to me.

 

[mom2rtk]

They closed that loophole years before FP+ came out. It's no more fair to compare using a paper FP after the window expired than it is to include comparing FP+ if you use extra MB to get extra FP, both are loopholes. Compare using published rules.

I don't recall exactly when that was, but I believe they stopped taking late FPs in preparation for rolling out FP+. I know we used late FPs on our 2011 trip, but couldn't on our 2012 trip. And they were already testing FP+ that year as well.

I agree though. I wish people would make comparisons using published rules. Lots of people say they think FP+ is great, but then you see them post in another thread that they use all sorts of tricks like using other family member bands and such. There was even one thread that proclaimed that FP+ was great because they did 23 rides in one day. Turns out they had been collecting rider swap passes all week. Totally fair, but very misleading to someone thinking they can do the same with FP+.

Don't get me wrong. I'll use any loophole or hack if it adds to my enjoyment in the parks. I just wish when comparing and passing judgment on the system that people would be honest about the inside tricks they avail themselves of.

 

[AngiTN]

When you say you have to be "innovative" what do you mean? It seems like a pretty straight forward system to me.

One thing is to keep refreshing the page to see the available times. One huge drawback is for whatever reason, MDE doesn't always provide every available slot each time you look for available FP. You can think a time isn't there but it is there, it just doesn't appear on the list.

Then there's the already mentioned checking to see if you can move FP up as you use your FP. Say you have a FP for 10:00 and another for 11:00. Well, when you use the FP at 10:00, check right then to see if you can move the FP at 11:00 up to an earlier time, instead of having to wait till 11:00 to use it

Another is to book only 1 or 2 FP if that is all you want. You don't have to book 3. This is especially a good idea if you plan to hop, it lets you book a FP for another park sooner

 

[Klayfish]

I know while we do like FP+ I can admit it's not without it's faults. Just that if I compare the faults of FP+ with the faults of paper FP, FP+ wins with fewer faults.

And it doesn't take the uber planning that so many think it does. Every trip we will change our plans and pick new FP for a new park sitting at the bus stop that morning. People may assume you can't do that but I assure you it is possible. It's also possible to get same day FP (4th and more) for headliners. They are there because people drop and change plans. At least that can be better than paper FP because if they were gone, they were gone. It wasn't possible for them to get more later in they day. With FP+ that does happen

Completely agree. It's very possible to get some headliner same day FP+. Some are harder than others, certainly, but it can be done. As I've said before, we change our FP+ fairly often, so we're in that group that may drop a FP+ same day so we can pick up another. With the old system, that wasn't possible.

As for the loopholes, I've heard of getting extra FP+ with extra MBs, but heard it's a royal pain??? We've each got 2 or 3 MBs, but if it's a pain, forget it.

 

[AngiTN]

Completely agree. It's very possible to get some headliner same day FP+. Some are harder than others, certainly, but it can be done. As I've said before, we change our FP+ fairly often, so we're in that group that may drop a FP+ same day so we can pick up another. With the old system, that wasn't possible.

As for the loopholes, I've heard of getting extra FP+ with extra MBs, but heard it's a royal pain??? We've each got 2 or 3 MBs, but if it's a pain, forget it.

It is a pain, you have to have them attached to other MDE accounts, or something. Honestly, not worth the efforts to me. We get all we want with our 1 set.

 

[Boski]

https://www.disboards.com/threads/e...set-fp-long-faq.3520747/page-62#post-57331032

Everything you could ever want to know about Same Day Fast Passes. This is perhaps a touch controversial, kind of like using the old paper FP's past their "window." If you are willing to use the method though, it can be a significant advantage.

I'd say its more controversial than that.

 

[4HOLIDAYS]

Since we have gone many times, I don't need to see and do everything in 1 trip so I think it is OK for us. We also noe do more evenings so at least we can get a few tier 1 in. If I only went every couple years or with younger kids I would hate it. I would be doing the buy extra MB's and sep accts to get the extra Fp then, pain or not.

 

[hiroMYhero]

The record for using FPs within 1 park day, without using any type of alternative method, is 21 FPs.

A group of 2 guests in MK on a day when it had rained heavily in late afternoon achieved this record that was shared when FP was its own subforum.

By booking their next FP as soon as they entered the FP line and choosing rides in close proximity, they scored 21 FPs that day.

 

[RetroCOTfan]

When you say you have to be "innovative" what do you mean? It seems like a pretty straight forward system to me.

Another tactic, if you have a larger group, is to split them up while searching. For example, if you have a group of 5 (which I had on our last trip) and you can't find FP availability, try searching for 3. A lot of times the smaller group will appear, and you can book that. Then you can find and book a FP for the remaining 2 people that is at a similar, overlapping time.

I used that strategy a couple of times when I couldn't get 5 together. Hypothetically, I'd book 3 FP for 3:00 and the other 2 for 3:10, then we all go at 3:10.