Epcot FP+ experience Thurs 3/28

[Lucky4me]

We got there well before rope drop at international gateway. Stopped at the kiosk there and were the first ones to use it. The choices were laughable. Test track was not available, only a few time slots for Soarin. Captain EO? Really?! Everyone around the machine was complaining to the CM, who I felt sorry for. She must hear it all day long.

I ended up with Soarin, Spaceship earth and Living with the land. We went right to Soarin standby 15 minute wait. When we came off the ride, it was an hour standby wait. Later in the day it was a THREE hour wait. Insanity. The kiosk lines were longer than some of the ride lines. What a mess. We went to Spaceship Earth to use FP, it only saved us about 15 minutes if that.

The single rider line at Test Track has changed into a 2nd standby line and I don't like it. I loved it when it was more or less hidden and only those in the know got in that line. The wait for that line was consistently over an hour after 10am. Standby a little more. We finally stood in the single rider line around 630pm for an hour. Have never done that before, but wanted to go on. I could not believe the people wanting to ride together in that line. What does the word SINGLE mean to them?

I miss the old fastpass system and believe something has to give on this new one. It's not working for the majority, at least at EPcot.
I heard people complaining all day.

We ended up doing about half the rides we normally do. But it was nice seeing all the flowers and topiaries for the flower and garden festival. That was the only thing that made the day enjoyable.

 

[MaryKatesMom]

As the crowds get bigger. I expect the situation to only get worse.

What the heck good is "on the fly changes" when you can only get FP+ on attractions that used to be walk on's.

Was the single rider line changed or were people trying to bully there way onto a car together?

They used to be pretty tough on that. I've stepped around guests arguing with the CM. Why let an empty seat go through?

 

[3Gsandme]

Spring break crowds were very high this year and EPCOT ended up being an 8 out of 10 that day per touring plans. That sort of crowd is what I'd expect on such a busy day. On an 8 park day, if it were legacy FP, I'd expect all the FP to be pulled very quickly, so this, IMO, isn't any different. Sorry it was so busy, OP.

 

[lugnut33]

Spring break crowds were very high this year and EPCOT ended up being an 8 out of 10 that day per touring plans. That sort of crowd is what I'd expect on such a busy day. On an 8 park day, if it were legacy FP, I'd expect all the FP to be pulled very quickly, so this, IMO, isn't any different. Sorry it was so busy, OP.

Well, other than the huge lines for the kiosks... and the fact that Imagination probably had a huge line.

Oh, and the fact that the OP couldn't get a Test Track FP even though there were there before park opening. That's a huge difference. If you got to the park before 10, no matter how busy, you could at least get a fast pass for Test Track. Yeah, it might be for later in the day, but it was available. Now they are not.

 

[MaryKatesMom]

Spring break crowds were very high this year and EPCOT ended up being an 8 out of 10 that day per touring plans. That sort of crowd is what I'd expect on such a busy day. On an 8 park day, if it were legacy FP, I'd expect all the FP to be pulled very quickly, so this, IMO, isn't any different. Sorry it was so busy, OP.

I'll disagree.

1) TT FP were UNAVAILABLE AT OPENING. Hugely different!

2) SB lines are getting longer, faster. Hugely different!

3) TT single rider line gone. Hugely different!

4) Line at a Kiosk. Hugely different

Busy, I can manage. No FP's? Longer SB lines? No single rider line? An additional kiosk line? That makes peak season UN-managable.

I said weeks ago RD was going to change drastically and the EPCOT could OPEN with a starting SB line wait time at opening.

 

[lugnut33]

OK, this is bizarre. I just checked Epcot for FP availability and both TT and Soarin' are available, but Mission Space isn't?

 

[andrews_dad]

I just don't get it.... why did they break a system that was working? I used to make 3 trips per year... one Xmas to New YEars with level 9/10 crowds. If you did rope drop, you could still get fastpasses and have a excellent morning even with a 10 crowd. Now you go to Epcot at drop on only a 8 day and can't get a FP all day for TT??? That is utterly insane and so sad. We will not be doing Xmas to Disney this year thanks to the new FP system. We are leaving next week for Disney, but have no summer trip nor a Xmas trip planned. They just lost 2 trips per year from my family. But I know someone will take our place.... blah blah. Enjoy it!

 

[lugnut33]

I just don't get it.... why did they break a system that was working? I used to make 3 trips per year... one Xmas to New YEars with level 9/10 crowds. If you did rope drop, you could still get fastpasses and have a excellent morning even with a 10 crowd. Now you go to Epcot at drop on only a 8 day and can't get a FP all day for TT??? That is utterly insane and so sad. We will not be doing Xmas to Disney this year thanks to the new FP system. We are leaving next week for Disney, but have no summer trip nor a Xmas trip planned. They just lost 2 trips per year from my family. But I know someone will take our place.... blah blah. Enjoy it!

You're going to have to trust me on this one, but I've been there twice (Thanksgiving and end of Feb.) since FP+ started and you can still have a good time. Don't let FP+ ruin your experience. I'm a FP+ hater and me and my family had a wonderful time. Remember, rope drop is still your friend and while kind of insane, you will be able to schedule 3 major attractions before you arrive.

 

[minmate]

We park hopped over to Epcot yesterday (April 2) which I believe was a crowd level 6 or 7 and were there from about 11-6. Had 3 FP+ (pre-booked on March 31 as we are offsite this trip).

Only one we really benefited from was Soarin as lines were all 20 minutes or less when we got to them. We had also booked M:S and SE. Would've changed them on the fly but app reported the system was down. :/

No need to have changed them anyway with such short waits on everything else.

At times M:S was a 40 minute wait and TT was 40-75 mins (maybe more at times). We were ready to wait 40 minutes thinking that was a deal but hopped into Single Rider which was posted at 15 minutes (may have taken 20... Not sure. It went quick). All four of my kids ended up together in sets of two (one behind the other) without any prompting from us. Just happened to work out that way.

Here is a list of what we did (group of 6) in 7 hours at Epcot:
Cola taste testing
Figment
Walked all of WS
Got a turkey leg, orange chicken, Mexican food & Frushi
Spaceship Earth
Sum of All Thrills
Soarin'
Nemo
Turtle Talk
Mission:Space
Test Track
Gran Fiesta
Maelstrom
Walked back through countries to IG for boat ride to DHS

That doesn't include the putzing around at fountains and flowers or the picture and potty pit stops, which were plenty. Never felt rushed. Occasionally felt crowded or slowed down in our walking by crowds but really, we did everything we wanted. We could've done repeats of stuff but were too tired and wanted to rest on the boat as we went back to DHS for Fantasmic!

To OP, I'm sorry you had a less than spectacular day. Sometimes it just works out that way. I hope your next experience goes better.

 

[mom2rtk]

You're going to have to trust me on this one, but I've been there twice (Thanksgiving and end of Feb.) since FP+ started and you can still have a good time. Don't let FP+ ruin your experience. I'm a FP+ hater and me and my family had a wonderful time. Remember, rope drop is still your friend and while kind of insane, you will be able to schedule 3 major attractions before you arrive.

At Epcot? I guess that depends on your definition of a "major" attraction.

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

Eep.. Single rider lines has changed! Since they have the evil tiering we got a fp for sorin and planned on using the single rider line at TT so we do not have to wait to long. Why does it seem like disney wants to make it impossible to ride both rides in one day without waiting a long time in one of them.

 

[lugnut33]

At Epcot? I guess that depends on your definition of a "major" attraction.

You don't consider Imagination a major attraction?

 

[lugnut33]

Eep.. Single rider lines has changed! Since they have the evil tiering we got a fp for sorin and planned on using the single rider line at TT so we do not have to wait to long. Why does it seem like disney wants to make it impossible to ride both rides in one day without waiting a long time in one of them.

Because Epcot lacks a sufficient amount of major attractions. FP+ has really exposed Disney's lack of investment in Epcot.

 

[jen2207]

We were there Monday 3/31 and rode single rider at TT twice. Both wit. 15min or less wait. Between 9:30-11am. So it's still there.

 

[kakiegirl]

I think maybe OP meant the single rider line is now almost as long a wait as Standby. We were there this past weekend and it was still there but the line did look pretty long.

 

[mom2rtk]

I think maybe OP meant the single rider line is now almost as long a wait as Standby. We were there this past weekend and it was still there but the line did look pretty long.

That doesn't surprise me in the least. SR is the number one way of coping with tiers at Epcot for families with kids old enough to do it.

 

[surferdave]

OK, this is bizarre. I just checked Epcot for FP availability and both TT and Soarin' are available, but Mission Space isn't?

Unless this has changed since I used it in October, it's a lot like the ADR system regarding availability. Be Our Guest might be booked solid for months, but if you look right after someone cancels you can get that spot. In October when FP+ and FP- were both up and running you could watch FP- availability times slip to later in the day and see that the availability on MDE for FP+ would do the same thing, but periodically spots earlier in the day would show up as other guests changed theirs.

I've noticed before that people currently in the parks might describe an attraction being out of FP+ for the day but someone here would dispute that, saying they just checked and there were some available, and I wondered if they just happened to look after someone canceled.

 

[DisneyWisher]

If staying on site make sure to do the emailed surveys. Quite a few questions addressed the new FP+ system and how it's only for 3 and only for 1 park. I read yesterday they are changing that. I wrote them to say how horrible that the FP+ kiosks were (I have a smart phone) but I commented to stand in a line in order to avoid a line is ridiculous!! When I was at MK 2 weeks ago on Tuesday the kiosks line were 75 deep. 2 in tomorrowland (between Laugh Floor and Buzz, the other by Stitch) I thought they were ride lines at first. I was shocked!

 

[lugnut33]

If staying on site make sure to do the emailed surveys. Quite a few questions addressed the new FP+ system and how it's only for 3 and only for 1 park. I read yesterday they are changing that. I wrote them to say how horrible that the FP+ kiosks were (I have a smart phone) but I commented to stand in a line in order to avoid a line is ridiculous!! When I was at MK 2 weeks ago on Tuesday the kiosks line were 75 deep. 2 in tomorrowland (between Laugh Floor and Buzz, the other by Stitch) I thought they were ride lines at first. I was shocked!

Yes, but Tom Staggs was happy that they didn't have to add in as many kiosks as they initially planned.