So with the stated desire that guests spend more money, and an initial limit of 3 FPs per guests leading to a surplus of FPs daily (as evidenced by the fact that with an increase in usage approaching 90%, they can still dole out additional FPs), did the CM on the phone have any idea what Disney initially planned to do with these leftover FPs that expired at the end of the day - before all of the complaints?
I am certain that back in March, the CM was forced to play her cards close to her vest, but here is what I gleaned:
They didn't really expect "surplus FPs". As you noted earlier, the current iteration essentially allows for an unlimited supply of "C" attractions. On most days when FPs matter, the "E" attraction FPs will be gone well before people can pull a 5th or 6th or 10th. No surplus. What they didn't anticipate was that people would care all that much about having an unlimited supply of FPs for "lesser" attractions. After the feedback started to come back hot and heavy, they promised to look at a way to make more FPs available, but I was cautioned that in the end, the major attractions were still going to be limited in much the way the original roll-out offered them. Tiered with no repeats. They simply underestimated people's emotional attachment to FPs for non-major attractions that would allow people to skip 20 minute SB lines.
They didn't anticipate longer lines at other attractions, (such at POTC and HM) and in fact denied that the lines were actually any longer. Their assumption here was that as soon as people became more familiar with FP+, touring patterns would change and things would be back to normal quickly. They are probably right about this, and I didn't challenge this assumption at all.
FP+ was designed to provide more "leisure" time to guests. Of course, their definition of "leisure" is actually "spending" to you and me. No argument there. But the current iteration of FP+ that we are discussing in this thread brings about the return of the commando. They aren't really in favor of that, did not design the system to work this way, but had to do some studying to see if the negative reaction to the original roll-out was serious enough to bend the mission statement. Let's face it. The OP to this thread is not behaving in the park the way the patent application suggests would net profit to WDW. Here is where the CM became coy for obvious reasons. I could tell (and it should be obvious) that using FP+ in a commando manner is not what Disney wanted and not what they designed. But give them credit for listening and reacting.
As for wisblue's comment about the credibility of the design of the system and the use of kiosks, here is where it got really interesting. Much of our discussion revolved around how the kiosks were a disaster and that the lines for same (and FP+ return lines) were ruining the optics of the park. Beautifuly designed theme parks were starting to look like "sleep-out" lines for Grateful Dead tickets or for a Springsteen show. She was quick to offer up that changes were coming for offsite guests in the way of pre-booking. I asked her if that, coupled with app usage, became the norm, wouldn't that make the kiosks obsolete withing months of their roll-out? She conceded that changes that were likely to come could very well result in the kiosks having far less utility. "In the future, you may never have to wait in a kiosk line again. We shall see." Of course, now the kiosks are needed for FP+ 4-10. No idea if this will continue to be the case. This change was far enough down the road that we did not discuss it. But if additional FPs become bookable by app, then the kiosks will have very little value. The moral of this story is that the development and implementaton of the kiosks are tangible proof that the system took a wide turn away from how it was originally supposed to work. Unless you want to hold fast to your belief that Disney invested all that time, money and energy developing and installing kiosks all the while knowing that they would become useless in 4 months. I seriously doubt that. The system was designed so that kiosks would be an important element of the functionality. We are one step away (app usage for extra FPs) from the kiosks being obsolete. This in and of itself shows just how far from center the current system is. I'm not complaining. But for those that think that the current system was "in the cards" all along, well, I'd like some of what you are drinking.
I'd heard a rumor of 4 FP and hopping capability, but not specifically a rolling fourth until the surveys, so I'm not convinced that was always the plan. And it may not be the final version, given recent rumors of a rolling three, which I'm guessing had the most survey votes.
