Does anyone else miss the spontaneity

[Stefecatzz]

Maybe I'm not too bothered by the new system b/c I'm a passholder & go more than once per year. I also do like to plan & usually knew which parks I'd be in based on hours. I like not having to speed walk across the park to get a FP for a ride & I like not worrying about waking up super early & rushing to a park in the morning. If I don't make the FP time I scheduled for whatever reason then I just reschedule it for another time or attraction. I never worry about sticking to the schedule. If it works, it works. I think if the system would've been hard to make last minute changes then the point would be valid b/c you'd really have to adhere to your original schedule then. But I'm still as spontaneous as I always was in the parks.

 

[dbramer]

You don't even really have to show up at the park. Disney would be happy to just take your money. Just think of how much you could save on air fare.

With Disney booking a reported 70-90% of all ride slots through FP+, standby just isn't the option it used to be.

Where has it been officially reported? I'd like to read the report or article. Thanks.

 

[alicat8]

I can't think of one person that I know that would just up and go to disney and make their plans the day of. That is spontaneous. Spontaneous is getting up and flipping a coin to decide which park to visit. Spontaneous is walking through the park and saying "Wow, I want to ride X ride now, let's go."

The "lack" of spontaneity has been a rallying cry for those opposed to FP+ since it started, most without ever having experienced it. "It takes away our spontaneity." Well, didn't they plan which FP- they were going to run to first and in which order they were going to get them months in advance?

Just not sure where this idea came from....Disney and spontaneity are diametrically opposed ideologies.

I always did that. Decided which park in the morning, decide which FP to get as we went after we showed up. Never any running, got tons of FP, one at a time. No adrs though. I never even knew crowd calendars or "touring plans" were a thing!! We always got TONS done and always have to go at the busiest times of the year-summer, Christmas, spring break.

 

[donaldbuzz&minnie]

I do miss the spontaneity. It gives me a headache to think about figuring out which park I want to be in at which time 180 days ahead of a trip. I loved the old fast pass system - it worked well for us.

As you can probably guess, I hate the new system. I recently tried to get Fast Passes for just Big Thunder, and clicked "yes" when it asked if I was sure I only wanted one. Then it gave me Fast Pass options for Big Thunder and 2 rides I didn't want, obviously working the times around all the rides So I couldn't just get a good time I wanted for one ride - I had to take an option I didn't want. I just quit and figured we'd show up at a park and see what I could do at a kiosk.

It now costs, what, about $150 for a one day pass. For that I might get on 3-4rides all day, and stand in long lines for anything else, and for that I have to figure out what I want to do 180 days prior to my visit? Too much like work. Going into the parks just doesn't sound like that much fun anymore.

 

[Mimarian]

Isn't that what we have always done when we have gone to disney? With the touring plans, FP- runs and crowd calendars, a Disney vacation is never "spontaneous." Not sure where this idea came from. Every one of us looked at crowd calendars and crowd levels prior to going. We look at historically low attendance dates to book our vacations and knew which park we were going to hit on which dates. ADR's have been 180 + 10 for as long as I can remember, so we planned our meal ressies six months prior, so we also sort of planned which park we were going to be in.

I can't think of one person that I know that would just up and go to disney and make their plans the day of. That is spontaneous. Spontaneous is getting up and flipping a coin to decide which park to visit. Spontaneous is walking through the park and saying "Wow, I want to ride X ride now, let's go."


The "lack" of spontaneity has been a rallying cry for those opposed to FP+ since it started, most without ever having experienced it. "It takes away our spontaneity." Well, didn't they plan which FP- they were going to run to first and in which order they were going to get them months in advance?

Just not sure where this idea came from....Disney and spontaneity are diametrically opposed ideologies.

We never looked at crowd level calendars. We are not that much of a Disney geek family I guess. No insult intended. That's right, we would wake up and decide what we wanted to do that day. When we got to the park we would do whatever we wanted when we wanted to do it. Yes we were tied to the FP- system but I wasn't tied to it months in advance. Our plan was not gospel either, it was more of a rough outline that basically said what we wanted to do when we went to a particular place. For those of you that love to plan months in advance and book your meals that far out, I am glad this works for you. I however plan enough at work and deal with deadlines and schedules that when I go on a vacation I do not want to do that stuff. I enjoy unplugging myself but with the new system I can't really do that.

 

[Mimarian]

I always did that. Decided which park in the morning, decide which FP to get as we went after we showed up. Never any running, got tons of FP, one at a time. No adrs though. I never even knew crowd calendars or "touring plans" were a thing!! We always got TONS done and always have to go at the busiest times of the year-summer, Christmas, spring break.

Yep

 

[eliza61]

Isn't that what we have always done when we have gone to disney? With the touring plans, FP- runs and crowd calendars, a Disney vacation is never "spontaneous." Not sure where this idea came from. Every one of us looked at crowd calendars and crowd levels prior to going. We look at historically low attendance dates to book our vacations and knew which park we were going to hit on which dates. ADR's have been 180 + 10 for as long as I can remember, so we planned our meal ressies six months prior, so we also sort of planned which park we were going to be in. I can't think of one person that I know that would just up and go to disney and make their plans the day of. That is spontaneous. Spontaneous is getting up and flipping a coin to decide which park to visit. Spontaneous is walking through the park and saying "Wow, I want to ride X ride now, let's go." The "lack" of spontaneity has been a rallying cry for those opposed to FP+ since it started, most without ever having experienced it. "It takes away our spontaneity." Well, didn't they plan which FP- they were going to run to first and in which order they were going to get them months in advance? Just not sure where this idea came from....Disney and spontaneity are diametrically opposed ideologies.

I did. My family and I would wake up and decide the morning of which park to go to. The only rule we had was we didn't go to the same park two days in a row.

Sorry but there are those of us that hate making adrs six months in advance. In fact until I came to the dis, I never knew the were people who made spreadsheets to take a vacation.

I just returned from a week vacation and I hate the fact that I'm now tied to my cell phone (which I use yo turn off on vacation) and I hate that Disney now tracks every thing I do via magic bands.

So yes I know quite a number of people who use to travel to Disney and the only thing they check was the weather.

 

[Rosanne]

We were always a family who decided which park to go to the night before. We pretty much had an idea of how many days we'd probably hit each park. The only thing we are sure of is that we'll start our vacation with either Epcot or MK and we'll end our vacation with either Epcot or MK. At the end of the day at one park we'd have a feel for what we felt like doing the next day.

To us it was sort of like dinners at home. I don't plan what we're having each day. I have the stuff to make a bunch of different things and then after school/work we take a survey on what we're in the mood for and that's what I make.

If I could force the weather to match my plan for FP+ that would help A LOT!!!!

 

[Planogirl]

I can't think of one person that I know that would just up and go to disney and make their plans the day of. That is spontaneous. Spontaneous is getting up and flipping a coin to decide which park to visit. Spontaneous is walking through the park and saying "Wow, I want to ride X ride now, let's go."

The "lack" of spontaneity has been a rallying cry for those opposed to FP+ since it started, most without ever having experienced it. "It takes away our spontaneity." Well, didn't they plan which FP- they were going to run to first and in which order they were going to get them months in advance?

Just not sure where this idea came from....Disney and spontaneity are diametrically opposed ideologies.

We normally made our plans on the fly for at least part of the trip. There were certainly planned days usually at the beginning of the trip but it was always fun to decide that morning where to go and just ride whatever sounded like fun.

 

[supergoofy]

Try being a newb its flat overwhelming.

I want to do the restaurants as that is part of vacation.

Now I have to plan what park, ADR's and FP+ and the key to all this is time. I don't know how long an ADR will last or how long to expect it to take from point A to B.

 

[TLSnell1981]

I'm an old hand at planning Disney vacations. No problem booking AlL dining 180 days out. ..easy peasy. FP was quite a bit more difficult. It's hard to use a system, that's crashes often..and that's not counting other problems with this "enhancement" :

 

[pampam]

The only plan we make is MK the first day, and Hoop de Doo for whenever. That's it. If it is a rainy day, we can go to Florida Mall. If it is a pleasant day, we can go to a park. If we decide to sleep in, we do. If we feel like swimming all day we can, or if we get to a park and it is too crowded or we just want to go somewhere else, we do. We make no plans at all. To me, that is what spontenaity is. It is the apility to make on the spur of the moment decisions that make us happy.

 

[ABZDisneyFan]

Will be there in November, first trip since 2012 & intrigued as to how FP+ will change how we visit each park.
We are there for two weeks as were coming from the UK, we have a very rough idea of what we'll be doing on each day so will book FP's accordingly.
Friends were over in January & they were able to book FP's each morning over breakfast when they'd decided which park they were visiting.
Not planning on leaving it that late for each day but I'm sure we will on a couple of days.

 

[Stefecatzz]

Try being a newb its flat overwhelming.

I want to do the restaurants as that is part of vacation.

Now I have to plan what park, ADR's and FP+ and the key to all this is time. I don't know how long an ADR will last or how long to expect it to take from point A to B.

Here's a link to a really informative & helpful thread on transportation on WDW property. I have learned a lot from this thread & they are really good w/answering your questions in detail. http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=51517038#post51517038

Honestly, I am not sure where people are getting the idea that they absolutely Must book FP+s in advance on MDE. They don't. If you can make changes on the day of w/your app or at a kiosk, that means that you have just as great of a chance booking your FP+s on the day of, just as you would w/paper FPs. Since I don't have a Smartphone, I rely on the CMs at the kiosks who've always been great w/my requests for changes. And I have never waited longer than a couple of minutes for them. So there's not even a whole lot of thought needed for this in the parks.

The big difference that I see is the fact that you don't have to run around the park to get the FPs.

 

[kaybird]

We were still able to be spontaneous! As the pp has said, just because you CAN plan every minute, doesn't mean you HAVE to. Use the FP+ to get what you absolutely want, and use the rest to let what you want happen. Just got back from 3rd FP+ trip, better every time, loved the rolling 4th, only used them twice!

 

[PiratesMansion]

I think the planning piece and the necessity of it is a bit overstated. As someone who's heading to WDW for the first time since 1998 in less than 20 days (but who has visited TDR, HKDL, and DLR in the past five), I'm not seeing it. Is the planning intimidating? A bit. But everything on this board made me think I had to have everything figured out 180 days in advance or I wouldn't get what I wanted and for me it just hasn't been the case.

So far it seems like the hype was a lot of hyperbole. I made my restaurant reservations (some of which are for 7 people) at less than 180 days out and got what I wanted, easily. My grandfather got excited about the German band at Biergarten and wanted to eat there. I wasn't expecting results less than 30 days out but to my surprise I was able to find availability for lunch and dinner both days we were at Epcot. I also booked alternative dining reservations at Boma and Jiko a few days ago with no issues.

FastPass+ rides and times have been switched around a few times already and there's been plenty of availability, except A&E and SDMT. I haven't been experiencing any crashing or losing of reservations.

So from what I gather, as long as you don't want to eat at Cindy's or BOG dinner, are not dead set on eating at a specific time, and can survive your trip without meeting A&E, you'll be ok.

 

[DrTomorrow]

Greetings!

While my DW and I are planners - and remember when there were so few resorts at WDW that you had to book 15 months in advance - the latest FP+ concept was just one step too many.

I understand the need for - and enjoyment of - planning a WDW trip. I have no problems with picking the right time of year, the right resort, what kind of tickets, even some ADRs (but without a car they make me nervous). And, to be honest, we usually know where we are going every morning and evening of our trip (afternoon breakers, we are), based on park hours and EM hours. However, when we sat down to plan our FPs, it seemed sort of ridiculous; I simply cannot sit at my desk the first week of April and determine if I want to ride Space Mountain at 9:40am, 11:15 am or 12:45pm on June 4th.

Be well!

PS Leaving for WDW in 6 days; w00t!

 

[mom2rtk]

So from what I gather, as long as you don't want to eat at Cindy's or BOG dinner, are not dead set on eating at a specific time, and can survive your trip without meeting A&E, you'll be ok.

But to a lot of people those ARE important pieces of their trips, part of the reason they are willing to pay what it costs to get to Disney. And you can now add SDMT to that list.

We're still trying to finalize our summer vacation we're taking in just over a week. We actually toyed with driving to FL to hit the beach. I actually said I would not want to stop at Disney, in spite of the possibility of being very close, merely because we had not pre-planned and I knew we wouldn't be able to do the things I would want to do.

 

[hsmamato2]

YES. but it doesn't seem to matter....

 

[BuckeyeBama]

We require a relaxed vacation, and being able to go with the flow is an absolute requirement for us. We book FP+ day before or morning of each day and have seemingly unlimited options. FP+ has not impacted our ability to do Disney the way that we want to do Disney.

Don't get me started on ADR, though. Killed our ability to enjoy many WDW table service restaurants because we refuse to plan that far ahead and ruin our preferred touring style for a meal.