Do you like the Fastpass+ system?

[dclpluto]

I like the old fast pass a lot better. I use to be able to get a lot more fast passes during the day.

 

[AngiTN]

No, I like FP+ better. Nothing is better than knowing what time we need to be at the park for a ride. Running around the park to pull random FP for a time you have no idea about is not better. What if you can't make that time? Don't like it? Plan to be elsewhere then? Want to ride early and can't without standing in line, or late. For us, there is not one thing better about paper FP over FP+

People are really planning more than is required. It's not that difficult and doesn't take as much effort as the avg Dis'er chooses to put in. We often change our plans on the fly, even changing parks we plan to hit, and find it way easier to move FP around. People assume it can't be done but rarely try it. I think if they did they'd find you can move FP to another park pretty easily. The key is being flexible. Will the times be perfect? No. But where they with Paper FP? I doubt it

 

[capegirl]

Mixed feelings.
FP+ serves a purpose, but I'm not a big fan. What I dislike the most is being locked into a particular park, and suffering the consequences should we decide to change things up. FP+ was created to discourage spontaneity. We still love Disney, so we have to deal with it, but I absolutely deplore making those FP+ reservations so far in advance.
As others pointed out, if we were in the camp who walked into the parks at noon, FP+ would be a necessity, but we are RDroppers. That said, I use FP+ sparingly to allow us the flexibility to switch parks if we are so inclined. The exception this summer of course, will be AK; if we can get a FP for one of the new Pandora attractions we will be locked into AK on that particular day, but we can live with that.

 

[I loveStitchnippyjon]

On our recent trip we took our time in the morning, had our three consecutive FP's starting around 10:30 and in the afternoon were able to pick up 3 0r 4 more. Just kept checking cell phone and they popped up!

 

[vikkil70]

Our trip in August will be the first time we have gone with the FP+ system. It has definitely seemed like I have to do more planning than before but we have always had our park days scheduled well ahead of time so that part does not change for us. We are a RD family so I am hoping that will help with the Tiered parks, FP for Test Track while we RD Soarin etc, same with the two new rides in AK. I make our FPs in June so I still have some time to plan and research. I have learned many tips and ideas from these boards.
While we did use the old system to our advantage, the one thing that will be better this time around is that my DH, who is our usual FP runner, will not be going this trip. If we were still under the old system that job of FP runner would fall to me, lol.
Interested to compare the two systems after our trip this summer.

 

[minniegirl19]

I used to hate fast pass +. Now I LOVE it. At Magic Kingdom I basically know how to use it where I get a fast pass for almost every ride in one day. Being able to book the next one on my phone and play around with the times until I get what I want works wonders. I had a group of 6 people that bought their tickets this past Sunday morning and I booked their fast passes throughout the day in Cleveland. They didn't wait for any ride while they were there because everything was fastpassed. They got there at 10am.

What they did with fast pass +:

Space mountain
Buzz
Under the sea
Enchanted tales
Small world
Pooh
Haunted mansion
Jungle cruise
Pirates
Splash mountain
Big thunder

Didn't use it for but waited less then 15 minutes:

Teacups
Dumbo
Carousel
Phillarmagic
Laugh floor

They hopped in mine train line with 5 minutes before close and waited 35 minutes.

Also saw the fireworks and parade.

If you really work the system you can get on a TON without waiting. This is what my family does and it works even at the busiest of times (New Years for example). The only headliner my friends didn't get on was Peter Pan.

At the other parks I've been able to get toy story for 1pm after using the first 3 and soarin after using my 3 at Epcot so you still have the opportunity to get on a lot with this. Just don't book late fastpasses.


If you need advice message me

 

[mdelano4]

Only experienced FP+ once and I am hopeful it will work out better this time. We found that once we used our 3 FPs, there were none left for any decent rides and the standby lines were ridiculously long. We found ourselves going on much fewer rides than we had on previous trips. This trip I am hoping the standby lines are shorter to allow us more rides, but somehow I doubt it.

 

[ArwenMarie]

That's one thing I don't agree with. We don't rope drop and still get to ride what we want...with the help of FP+.

But how do you do two high-demand rides in a tiered park (without a long wait!)?

Example Pandora...now that it's tiered, I assume one would have to show up at RD to ride the other one

 

[Klayfish]

But how do you do two high-demand rides in a tiered park (without a long wait!)?

Example Pandora...now that it's tiered, I assume one would have to show up at RD to ride the other one

A few different ways we can do it.

First, I should probably clarify about "rope drop". The common definition on this board for that term is to show up 45-60 minutes before the gates open. We just don't have any interest in standing around outside the gates. However, if Epcot is open at 9am, we may show up between 9:00am and 9:15am. So we don't have to stand around outside, be part of the initial crush/rush of getting in, etc... We still have little trouble getting on a top tier ride. In this case, we'd have a FP+ for TT at 10:00am and head right to Soarin' when we arrive at 9:xx. The standby line is still less than 15-20 minutes.

Another possibility is park closing. We don't do MK often, its' too late for us, but the other parks we will stay sometimes until closing. The last hour, most rides (even tier 1) will get a shorter line, nearly a walk on in most cases.

Or...and this is the least likely...we sometimes can grab them for a 4th FP+. We've gotten TT, Soarin', TSMM, RnR, etc... as a 4th.

Don't know how we'll tackle Pandora yet, that will be new to us. But I imagine we'll do something similar to option 1 above. FP+ one and show up within a few minutes of park open for the other and do standby.

The only rides we've found these to be a challenge for are 7DMT and FEA. 7DMT for the most part we've just had to keep digging to get a FP+ for, and we can usually get one or two per trip. FEA we only rode once...last time we were at WDW was the week it opened and the week after. FP+ was impossible to get, as we stay off site. I guess we lucked into a short wait time...we saw that the Lines app told us the true standby time was under an hour, so we went for it. It was somewhere around 10:00am. We waited less than 30 minutes.

 

[JohnnyB2]

We are fans of the old FP, just due to the fact that (as mentioned by others) we used to enjoy deciding which park to go to that day, while enjoying breakfast. BUT we also were able to go during the slow times at Disney which I think we all would agree are far and few between. So for now, I would also agree that FP+ at least gives us the 3 rides per day. We stay onsite and spend more time at the pool or miniture golf or?? than we used to, and are still happy to be there!!

 

[Jfine]

I don't know if I really like it or dislike it. It has changed how we do the parks/rides. And it seems like we do a lot less. We used to get to parks early and if we had a great paper fp for later in the day we'd stay. I like now that I can at least book 3 rides with longer waits and not worry about getting a fp. And I like picking the times. As someone else mentioned it has increased the wait for rides that used to be walk ons. Mentally some of those rides are walk ons to me so it still shocks me to see a wait of 20-30 minutes. We ride a lot less rides now. Maybe the parks are more crowded, maybe fp+ but we spend a lot more time at the resort pools than we ever did.

 

[HopperFan]

Do you like the Fastpass+ system?

Yes, very much. I like booking in advance, knowing where I'm starting from and what I'm guaranteed to ride bar technical issues. We prefer to close parks down which means we are not morning people. This system works great for late arrivals. We adjust them all day long and manage to secure quite a few. One night at holiday season actually rolled around 12+ in just a few hours one night. Once you use the three it's easy to keep rolling #4.

 

[mickeyfanachey1999]

Plus, I don't get a full hour of concentration at work because of planning for DW!!! 0_0

This is actually a PLUS of the new system

 

[mesaboy2]

Yeah that's 73 pages long. There is overwhelming and disheartening. Can anyone explain in a few sentences fast pass plus? Our last trip was the first time with the paper passed so I get the basics. But what is the plus?

Well, it does say pretty early on in Post #1 you don't need to read the whole thing--just the first posts. And no, no one can explain it in a few sentences.

 

[My3Princez]

I don't think I like it as much as the old Fastpass system, but I like it better than having no fastpass system or having to pay extra for one.
It may feel like you'll only get 3-5 rides done, but in reality that's not how it works (unless maybe you are there during the busiest days of the year). It can work like this:

• 1st FP 9:30am - 10:30am
• 2nd FP 10:30-11:30
• 3rd FP 11:30-12:30

What you do:

• Ride one or two non-FP rides when the park opens
• Show up for 1st FP at 10:30-10:45
• Go straight from there to 2nd FP
• get to 3rd FP at 11:25
• after you go through the 1st touchpoint on your 3rd FP, pull out your phone and book a 4th FP

You still have all afternoon and evening for standby rides or additional FP rides.

 

[AngiTN]

I don't think I like it as much as the old Fastpass system, but I like it better than having no fastpass system or having to pay extra for one.
It may feel like you'll only get 3-5 rides done, but in reality that's not how it works (unless maybe you are there during the busiest days of the year). It can work like this:

• 1st FP 9:30am - 10:30am
• 2nd FP 10:30-11:30
• 3rd FP 11:30-12:30

What you do:

• Ride one or two non-FP rides when the park opens
• Show up for 1st FP at 10:30-10:45
• Go straight from there to 2nd FP
• *
• get to 3rd FP at 11:25
• after you go through the 1st touchpoint on your 3rd FP, pull out your phone and book a 4th FP

You still have all afternoon and evening for standby rides or additional FP rides.

Add in this step to the above

• Ride one or two non-FP rides when the park opens
• Show up for 1st FP at 10:30-10:45
• Go straight from there to 2nd FP
• *check as soon as you scan in the 2nd FP to see if you can move 3rd FP up
• get to 3rd FP at 11:25

 

[scrappinginontario]

We have visited WDW many times with the old FP system and now with the new and we much prefer the new system.

 

[Lynzer4]

I actually like it... You don't have the run around the parks to get passes plus you already have 3 before you get to the park so you can arrive late in the day and still hit a few headliners. Its easy to change them and get additional ones.

I think I get just as much done if not more... I was just there and here is what I did one evening...

3 FP+ had:

5-6: Big Thunder MT
6-7: 7 Dwarf Mine Train
7-8: BOG ADR
8-9: Space Mountain

Then after we used those we were able to get additional - Small World, Buzz, Haunted, & Pirates.

The park was open until 1am but we left about 11:30pm.

The next day we didn't have any FP+ as we were there for a conference and didn't get our ticket until lunch. We were at Epcot for lunch so I got on and got our first 3... here is what my day looked like. That way you can see we didn't do any plans ahead of time.

3 Passes:
Living the Land - 12:20
Nemo (got it for 1:20 but moved it to 12:40)
Soarin - got it originally for 4pm but was able to move it to 1:30

We then walked around World Showcase. Left via International Gateway to Beach Club where we got the bus to Animal Kingdom

Got a FP+ for EE at 3pm. Rode EE and walked around AK. Headed to HS after AK.

Got a Toy Story FP+ for 4:45. Headed to HS and went and rode Toy Story.
FP+ for Star Tours at 6pm.
Ate Dinner
Got FP for Great Move at 7:30pm
Got a spot for Fireworks

The parks were super busy and all rides had at least a 35 minute wait (headlines 1.5 to 2 hours)

 

[Jennasis]

I don't know who was "running" around the parks for FP under the old system but we never "ran" anywhere, or criss-crossed the parks or had a runner etc. We grabbed a pass for things as we WALKED past them and used them while we were in the area. If the return time didn't work with our schedule we didn't grab the pass.

Under the new system, no matter HOW I try to arrange the passes, we are always walking from one end of the park to the other to make our FP+ reservations.

Luckily, we have adjusted our touring style since we go more often now as DVC members, so we don't mind the new way of having to wander around finding something to do while heading to or waiting for our next pass. Thanks to new longer lines for things that didn't used to have lines, we sure as heck aren't jumping on things to ride while waiting like we used to.

And we sure as heck ain't spending money shopping. We spend a lot of time people watching.

 

[srwarden1928]

I don't think I like FP+ as much as old FP for one reason: it seems to have increased the lines at many attractions. In fact, honestly, under the old system, I tended to get only a few fastpasses because they honestly weren't necessary. Several of the FP attractions would have short enough standby lines (or single rider lines) that rather than getting the planned FP, we would just get in line. This included a trip at Easter and a trip in late June. It does feel like planning is more difficult with FP+, and the longer lines I have read about at attractions that used to have short lines seem to take away more than the FP+ gives us.