Don't cancel your vacations yet!!!

[athumann]

Here now! I LOVE fast pass!!!! We've changed on the go, everything has worked perfectly! Magic bands work great! No complaints from me! Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

I'm so glad I'm not the only one who loved it!! Enjoy your trip!

 

[disneyAndi14]

Have used magic bands and fast pass+ in October 13, thought it was fine. We enjoyed it so much we are heading back 4/5/14, I refuse also to let the crowds and glitches ruin my trip. I found having your smart phone is very helpful of changes as well, also we are RD people and EMH people so we really do get to do many things over and over even if crowd levels are higher. I have been to Disney in Nov., Oct., July, Feb., and April and really all times were busy, Nov. was the best for us low crowds, we went in early Nov. Just Enjoy and make the most of it for sure.

 

[CanadianPaco]

We just returned from a truly magical trip!! We were booked with free dining at POR! When we arrived, we were offered an upgrade to Wilderness Lodge which we jumped at! Pixie Dust! The CM at POR said it was for our 20th anniversary!!! Magical luck! That little balloon popped when we checked in at WL and the CM said we were the thrid reservation upgraded to WL because POR was over booked. Pop! But we decided to stick with the pixie dust and enjoy the one and only upgrade we were ever offered! And it was fabulous!!!

We loved the convenience of the magic bands. No more fussing with cards and paper fast passes. Gone was having to check if we had all the cards and pulling them in and out of the knapsack. We never had a problem with the bands: charging/shopping, dining creditsm doors, FP's... not a problem. I booked FP's from that now infamous glitch when the tiers disappeared - worked like a charm at both Epcot and HS!

FP+ worked great in our touring. We are rope droppers so I planned my passes accordingly. Rode BTRR 4x in the first 45 min of MK opening then used out FP+ that night to ride it again! Rode Soarin' x2 (standby and then FP+) and TT x2 within the first hour of Epcot then 2x with single rider and twice again that evening with one FP+ and again with single rider!

It was a wonderful trip with a real mix of weather. But that didn't matter! Our first day there was cool and rainy. But it was snowing at home and we were just happy to be in WDW! A great trip!!!

 

[Dis703]

I'm definitely in the glass half full camp. My only experience with it was during testing in November and it worked well for us. We are booking our FP now for the first week of May and its great we know for sure we will have them for rides like Soarin and TSM. Rides we have missed in the past. Its also nice that since we can pick the times in advance we can try and work our plans so that we do certain sections of the park all at once and we won't have to stop and run to the other side just to make a FP for one ride.

And with rider switch passes and a little exchange of our MB we are going to end up with more than 3 FP anyhow.

 

[ats360]

I love this thread. We haven't used FP+/MDE yet but will during our July 2014 trip... I can't wait until I can book out FP+ in May. I so look forward to knowing we definitely will ride the Mine Train, TSM even before we get on property. I'm not one to hurry through life... but I can't wait for July!

 

[Mk0323]

I was a FT CM for 2 years and seasonal CM for 10 (moved and changed my status when our daughter was born).
Our daughter is turning 12 soon and because of me being a CM has been to Disney more than one child should be allowed
And she knows now how lucky she is.
Now that I'm just "regular folk" and have to pay for tickets etc. we thought our trips would be few and far I between. But Disney is in our blood.
Last night we stopped for lunch before running errands and as we sat and ate...my daughter says....."ok....what are your top 3.... favorite resort, ride, and thing to eat....go!"
Little does she know, we are surprising her with a trip in 3 weeks for spring break.
We have NEVER done this....she is always a part of the planning. It's been hard to bite my tongue
But she has been talking a lot lately how she loves POP century and misses staying there (we are DVC members....but stayed at pop on cheap trips when we didn't have points to use).
And that's where we are staying.....she is going to be so exited!!
We relish in our Disney memories and can't wait to build more....FP or no FP

 

[tabby1881]

I was a FT CM for 2 years and seasonal CM for 10 (moved and changed my status when our daughter was born).
Our daughter is turning 12 soon and because of me being a CM has been to Disney more than one child should be allowed
And she knows now how lucky she is.
Now that I'm just "regular folk" and have to pay for tickets etc. we thought our trips would be few and far I between. But Disney is in our blood.
Last night we stopped for lunch before running errands and as we sat and ate...my daughter says....."ok....what are your top 3.... favorite resort, ride, and thing to eat....go!"
Little does she know, we are surprising her with a trip in 3 weeks for spring break.
We have NEVER done this....she is always a part of the planning. It's been hard to bite my tongue
But she has been talking a lot lately how she loves POP century and misses staying there (we are DVC members....but stayed at pop on cheap trips when we didn't have points to use).
And that's where we are staying.....she is going to be so exited!!
We relish in our Disney memories and can't wait to build more....FP or no FP

That sounds great Have a wonderful time

 

[scotas]

I couldn't find this thread when I came back from my trip. So its a little late but here we go... My trip was awesome!! Prior to the trip there were of course FP+ negative posts, but also a lot of negative posts about CBR (where we were staying) and Mama Melrose, which I had booked for our first day. I was a little worried but decided to see for myself.

Online check in worked well for me, I had all of my requests honored, and my room was ready when I checked in just before 10 am! As we checked in, the CM noticed we have several bands under each of our names, and not all were listed as active. She verified the ones with us, then printed us a copy of our package details and all magic band numbers in case we ran into any issues later in the trip. We did not need it, everything was fine. I really appreciated her for thought .

Our room was a king, corner room , in Jamaica. It was spotless and I saw no indication of it being in "dire need" of the upcoming refurb. We had cheerleaders at our resort, but they mostly practiced in the parking lots. Mousekeeping was excellent and Guest services helpful.

Mama Melrose was really good. I think a lot of people go there expecting "authentic Italian" but it is more of what I would expect to find in the North End in Boston. It's Italian American... similar but different. Food was great and we had the fantasmic package. I panic in crowds and was finally able to experience Fantasmic. Awesome!!!

The best part of the trip for us was the FP+. We had 7 park days. One day in Animal Kingdom, two in each of the other parks. Our general plan was use FP+ one day for rides, the other for fireworks/shows. It was a good plan, though I missed illuminations because I was exhausted. Using it for Wishes and the Electrical Parade were perfect, I was far enough away from the majority of the crowd that my anxiety was minimal.

I did not feel as though I missed anything (other than illuminations which I had a FP+ for, and could have seen). And I felt as if I did less racing around. I even managed to do the behind the Seeds tour finally in EPCOT.

 

[dansyr2514]

So glad you had a great trip !!

 

[wendybeth75]

Love this thread! Disney is my happy place!!!! While I don't like EVERYTHING about the new FP+ (mainly tiering) it certainly is not going to stop me from having a great time with my family. For the most part we really like using the system and find the magic bands quite handy.

 

[laura3773]

Count me in the "glass half full" camp here - and thanks for starting and keeping this positive thread going!

We are heading down in 12 days and I have been reading the negative news pouring in about FP lines, FP confusion and overall grumpiness. I have so much to be thankful for that I refuse to let all the negativity impact my excitement. We are a family of 4 but have not been able to visit the Mouse with our entire crew since March 2011 due to DH job loss (after 26 years!) and his new position (with no PTO for first year). My eldest is now nearly 17 and will probably not be going with us much longer - so I plan to focus on being with family at a place with such wonderful memories. So here's to keeping it light and looking to make more WDW memories while we can.

Hey - you never know. I am 28 and still go to WDW with my parents. DH limits me to once every couple of years, but they go annually for F&W. I went with them every trip until I got married; DH & I have gone with them in 09 and 2011 and we are probably going in Oct this year with our daughter for her first visit. Sometimes my 26 year old sister and her husband come too; the trip in 2011 my college roommate and her husband joined us.

 

[THEJOEL]

We are 3 weeks out.
Looking at the system it seems it will fit our touring style very well. We like hitting RD and touring hard until lunch. We have a checklist of what we want to do/accomplish for that day.After lunch we take a break and go back to the resort for nap time. Then we go back to the park for a very leisurely evening. We didn't book very many evening FP+ because we didn't want to get on to hardcore of an evening schedule. For us it's about being there as much as riding rides.This year we are actually showing up on Sunday afternoon and doing evening EMH at MK and we already have FP for that evening booked. To me that is awesome.
My theory is this. I think the new Fastpass system will make rope drop even more appealing than ever before. I think more people will book FP+ after 11 so they will sleep in later and won't get to the parks until time for their first FP. Imagine opening to noon being even less crowded than before.
I am looking at all of the positives I can.
To me this is going to be THE BEST TRIP EVER!!

 

[Davey Jones II]

With Legacy FP, the glass was a lot more than half full.

 

[rastuso]

We are 3 weeks out. Looking at the system it seems it will fit our touring style very well. We like hitting RD and touring hard until lunch. We have a checklist of what we want to do/accomplish for that day.After lunch we take a break and go back to the resort for nap time. Then we go back to the park for a very leisurely evening. We didn't book very many evening FP+ because we didn't want to get on to hardcore of an evening schedule. For us it's about being there as much as riding rides.This year we are actually showing up on Sunday afternoon and doing evening EMH at MK and we already have FP for that evening booked. To me that is awesome. My theory is this. I think the new Fastpass system will make rope drop even more appealing than ever before. I think more people will book FP+ after 11 so they will sleep in later and won't get to the parks until time for their first FP. Imagine opening to noon being even less crowded than before. I am looking at all of the positives I can. To me this is going to be THE BEST TRIP EVER!!

You are certainly right. Just think, you know you are getting 3 rides a day! And nobody would ever be there for rope drop during Spring Break!

-Jason

 

[JanaDee]

We are 3 weeks out.
Looking at the system it seems it will fit our touring style very well. We like hitting RD and touring hard until lunch. We have a checklist of what we want to do/accomplish for that day.After lunch we take a break and go back to the resort for nap time. Then we go back to the park for a very leisurely evening. We didn't book very many evening FP+ because we didn't want to get on to hardcore of an evening schedule. For us it's about being there as much as riding rides.This year we are actually showing up on Sunday afternoon and doing evening EMH at MK and we already have FP for that evening booked. To me that is awesome.
My theory is this. I think the new Fastpass system will make rope drop even more appealing than ever before. I think more people will book FP+ after 11 so they will sleep in later and won't get to the parks until time for their first FP. Imagine opening to noon being even less crowded than before.
I am looking at all of the positives I can.
To me this is going to be THE BEST TRIP EVER!!

You are correct, Rope Drop is more appealing than it has ever been. So expect rope drop to be much more crowded with people than ever before, especially in the middle of Spring Break crowds.

 

[Son of Gadsden]

We had a great trip, Disneywise, in December. It was one of our least favorite trip overall thus far, however, it was no fault of Disney! Visa was the culprit, so can't blame that on Disney.

We were excited to try the MyMagic+ system, and it didn't let us down! We got three sets of magicbands, so we had every color. Didn't have a single issue with the bands. Made a lot of purchases, entered the room first try every time with all 6 bands, no trouble entering parks, and most FP+s worked. I think only once did the FP+ system glitch, but the CMs were ready and after we told them we did have it booked, they quickly overrode and let us go through.

We had a split stay at 3 resorts, which I expected a glitch with. We got no glitch, every check out-check in was smooth as could be. Checking out of one resort and into another within an hour was not an issue!

We even tried to the FP+ glitch a few times where you get infinite FP+s. That worked great.

Didn't really care for the FP+ system, because it doesn't fit in with our vacationing style. However, it fits better than the FP- system did. We just don't like fastpasses overall, and choose to avoid them if we can.

Maintence seemed to be much improved since our last trip. Our trip in April was riddled with ride closures and B modes. Our December trip was free from all that. There was one Space Mountain closure in which we had a FP+ for. The CM told us our FP+ was good for any ride we wanted at any time. We chose BTMR. Our FP+ didn't work for it however. We told the CM what we were told at Space Mountain and it was overriden immediately.

The CMs at resorts did not seem adequately trained for the new program, but the park CMs seemed very ready to deal with issues.

We were excited to try the program, and we were not let down. I was ready for glitches judging by all the negativity here, but experienced very few. We're excited to get our bands activated and going again in April.

 

[Grimlock34a]

wow finally a POSITIVE thread for once. good job all and happy to see the Debbie downers haven't hijacked everything. constructive criticism is welcomed but my goodness.

As the family FP runner, I am very happy I won't have to keep my eye on the watch every two hours. This will allow me to actually spend MORE time with the family and less stress as I gotta go collect the fastpasses or forcing the family to hurry it up to get to the next return window.

Can't wait for our trip!

 

[5Hfan]

wow finally a POSITIVE thread for once. good job all and happy to see the Debbie downers haven't hijacked everything. constructive criticism is welcomed but my goodness.

because name calling and complaining about those with complaints is so positive

 

[dixiegirl]

So happy to see that this thread is still thriving! I don't frequent this particular board as often as I used to

It's great to read some good just back posts and people just sharing in general the Disney magic.

Let's keep it going guys!

 

[rastuso]

because name calling and complaining about those with complaints is so positive

And the threads about the horrors of cUrrent FP+ are never visited by someone saying "I visited last November, and it was amazing".

-Jason