Fast Pass + is terrible.

[smitch425]

Ethan, when were you there that they sent you the email about technical difficulties? We were at AK on 2/20 and Expedition Everest broke down during our FP+ time. We received no email, and since it wasn't fixed until after our time slot ended, we lost that FP. We couldn't add it back on MDE or at the kiosk. The Kiosk CMs said that they couldn't help.

Not sure about Ethan, but we received emails twice when we were there in October. They are pretty common. Any possibility that they went to your spam folder or a different email account?

 

[2Tiggies]

Not sure about Ethan, but we received emails twice when we were there in October. They are pretty common. Any possibility that they went to your spam folder or a different email account?

Spam folder would be a nuisance. Most phones dont show the spam folder. Might be worth getting the exact email address these emails come from and adding it to your address book in advance.

 

[smitch425]

Spam folder would be a nuisance. Most phones dont show the spam folder. Might be worth getting the exact email address these emails come from and adding it to your address book in advance.

The email came from Disney Destinations, and the address was
DisneyNotifications@experience.disneydestinations.com

 

[2Tiggies]

The email came from Disney Destinations.

That's very helpful. Thank you I should have them in my address book but probably not in the email account that I have MDE linked to so I'll get that added. Thanks

 

[smitch425]

That's very helpful. Thank you I should have them in my address book but probably not in the email account that I have MDE linked to so I'll get that added. Thanks

You're welcome. I added the actual address after you quoted me, so check up above for that.

 

[MrInfinity]

But as far as the bolded above, correct me if I'm wrong, but EMH are the only thing I can think of as far as the PARKS go that Disney has given the onsite guest preferential treatment. Ok, temporarily fp+, but people think that one will be short lived. So say fp+ DOES get offered to offsite guests, just for arguements sake, what am I missing besides EMH? I'm not talking resort perks or even buses since if you are already in the park you don't need a bus.

Aha.. yep.. I agree FP+ does not (or at least will not eventually) favor the resort guest... Rather, Disney would rather see a few ppl *not* getting on the headliners many times for cheap like they used to... when those same ridings on that headliner can be used to bait other customers to take a trip to Disney World and stay onsite and get to ride three things once with little effort.

 

[2Tiggies]

You're welcome. I added the actual address after you quoted me, so check up above for that.

Got it. Thanks again

 

[MrInfinity]

I'll add, disgal, that I do think FP+ does benefit the Resort-stayer subtly and indirectly over the off-siter.

If I can be so crude as to generalize (Aaah! The scourge of the internet!)

Resort-stayers tend to favor the immersion experience. They want to do more things that are not related to riding the rides. They are generally content to get on fewer rides. If they get on a few, quickly, and get on the ones they wanted, they consider the day a pretty good success.

Off-siters tend to be value seekers. Obviously they're choosing lower cost off-site hotels for a reason. They want to spend less to get the rides they want. They are not as into the immersion experience, evidenced by the choice to stay off site. So they're looking for more no-frills just get me on the rides type of vacation.

Both are fine vacation types... there are plenty of both types as evidenced by 30'ish WDW resorts and just as many off-brand resorts nearby.

FP+ gives both "groups" 3 rides per day.

Resort-stayers think this is okay. They're there onsite. They had an easier time getting to rope drop. They have a shorter trip home. They can leave midday easier. They're there to tour anyways, so even during busy times, going on the Haunted Mansion via standby is still pretty cool cuz they actually like to see the stuff in the line. They get on 3 rides quick which helps them accomplish their day, and they go on other stuff standby, really, pretty happily. Yeah they may wait for Soarin *or* Test Track... but, while waiting for Soarin, they watch their kids play w the screen thingys or while waiting for Test Track they customize cars. It's all good. Happy to get FP+

Off-siters think this is bad. It takes them longer to get to/from the hotel, they have less time there, and they can't readily make use of the midday busy time cuz they're stuck at a park, with a 2+ hour round trip to go back to the hotel. They've been on the HM a million times and couldn't care less about the graveyard attractions or the animatronics in some other queue. They just want to get on the rides. Off-siters and AP holders have also gone a lot more so these cursory activities interest them much less. "yeah we saw the graveyard 20 trips ago". So them getting only 3 FP+ is kind of annoying cuz they'd rather get more and ride all day.

Now between the two, each group got 3 FP+, but it sure seems to benefit the Resort-Stayer / Casual Tourer so much more. Resort stayers are paying Disney $250-$700/nt. Off-siters are paying Disney $100/nt. So obviously Disney is pushing out this new system well knowing that altho it gives each 3 FP+, it's going to attract more Resort-Stayers because it suits that style of touring more.

Thus, I think FP+ indirectly benefits Resort-Stayers moreso than off-siters even tho they get the same number of passes.



******************************************************
(Pls don't anyone take offense for the generalization. It's just an approximation... like saying "men are on average taller than women" does not mean "all men are taller than all women". Keep this in mind. I don't mean to suggest there is no crossover between the two groups)

 

[Planogirl]

I'll add, disgal, that I do think FP+ does benefit the Resort-stayer subtly and indirectly over the off-siter.

If I can be so crude as to generalize (Aaah! The scourge of the internet!)

Resort-stayers tend to favor the immersion experience. They want to do more things that are not related to riding the rides. They are generally content to get on fewer rides. If they get on a few, quickly, and get on the ones they wanted, they consider the day a pretty good success.

Off-siters tend to be value seekers. Obviously they're choosing lower cost off-site hotels for a reason. They want to spend less to get the rides they want. They are not as into the immersion experience, evidenced by the choice to stay off site. So they're looking for more no-frills just get me on the rides type of vacation.

Both are fine vacation types... there are plenty of both types as evidenced by 30'ish WDW resorts and just as many off-brand resorts nearby.

FP+ gives both "groups" 3 rides per day.

Resort-stayers think this is okay. They're there onsite. They had an easier time getting to rope drop. They have a shorter trip home. They can leave midday easier. They're there to tour anyways, so even during busy times, going on the Haunted Mansion via standby is still pretty cool cuz they actually like to see the stuff in the line. They get on 3 rides quick which helps them accomplish their day, and they go on other stuff standby, really, pretty happily. Yeah they may wait for Soarin *or* Test Track... but, while waiting for Soarin, they watch their kids play w the screen thingys or while waiting for Test Track they customize cars. It's all good. Happy to get FP+

Off-siters think this is bad. It takes them longer to get to/from the hotel, they have less time there, and they can't readily make use of the midday busy time cuz they're stuck at a park, with a 2+ hour round trip to go back to the hotel. They've been on the HM a million times and couldn't care less about the graveyard attractions or the animatronics in some other queue. They just want to get on the rides. Off-siters and AP holders have also gone a lot more so these cursory activities interest them much less. "yeah we saw the graveyard 20 trips ago". So them getting only 3 FP+ is kind of annoying cuz they'd rather get more and ride all day.

Now between the two, each group got 3 FP+, but it sure seems to benefit the Resort-Stayer / Casual Tourer so much more. Resort stayers are paying Disney $250-$700/nt. Off-siters are paying Disney $100/nt. So obviously Disney is pushing out this new system well knowing that altho it gives each 3 FP+, it's going to attract more Resort-Stayers because it suits that style of touring more.

Thus, I think FP+ indirectly benefits Resort-Stayers moreso than off-siters even tho they get the same number of passes.



******************************************************
(Pls don't anyone take offense for the generalization. It's just an approximation... like saying "men are on average taller than women" does not mean "all men are taller than all women". Keep this in mind. I don't mean to suggest there is no crossover between the two groups)

We're just the opposite.

When we stay onsite we tend to want to ride the rides! That is the most important part of touring to us and we are close so we always tried to ride more often.

If we stay offsite, we are more likely to want to do other things offsite so we sometimes hurry through the parks more and get less done. We have often visited a Disney park and that other place in the same day.

I realize that you were generalizing but I did want to offer another perspective.

 

[I M Fearless]

I'll add, disgal, that I do think FP+ does benefit the Resort-stayer subtly and indirectly over the off-siter.

If I can be so crude as to generalize (Aaah! The scourge of the internet!)

Resort-stayers tend to favor the immersion experience. They want to do more things that are not related to riding the rides. They are generally content to get on fewer rides. If they get on a few, quickly, and get on the ones they wanted, they consider the day a pretty good success.

Off-siters tend to be value seekers. Obviously they're choosing lower cost off-site hotels for a reason. They want to spend less to get the rides they want. They are not as into the immersion experience, evidenced by the choice to stay off site. So they're looking for more no-frills just get me on the rides type of vacation.

Both are fine vacation types... there are plenty of both types as evidenced by 30'ish WDW resorts and just as many off-brand resorts nearby.

FP+ gives both "groups" 3 rides per day.

Resort-stayers think this is okay. They're there onsite. They had an easier time getting to rope drop. They have a shorter trip home. They can leave midday easier. They're there to tour anyways, so even during busy times, going on the Haunted Mansion via standby is still pretty cool cuz they actually like to see the stuff in the line. They get on 3 rides quick which helps them accomplish their day, and they go on other stuff standby, really, pretty happily. Yeah they may wait for Soarin *or* Test Track... but, while waiting for Soarin, they watch their kids play w the screen thingys or while waiting for Test Track they customize cars. It's all good. Happy to get FP+

Off-siters think this is bad. It takes them longer to get to/from the hotel, they have less time there, and they can't readily make use of the midday busy time cuz they're stuck at a park, with a 2+ hour round trip to go back to the hotel. They've been on the HM a million times and couldn't care less about the graveyard attractions or the animatronics in some other queue. They just want to get on the rides. Off-siters and AP holders have also gone a lot more so these cursory activities interest them much less. "yeah we saw the graveyard 20 trips ago". So them getting only 3 FP+ is kind of annoying cuz they'd rather get more and ride all day.

Now between the two, each group got 3 FP+, but it sure seems to benefit the Resort-Stayer / Casual Tourer so much more. Resort stayers are paying Disney $250-$700/nt. Off-siters are paying Disney $100/nt. So obviously Disney is pushing out this new system well knowing that altho it gives each 3 FP+, it's going to attract more Resort-Stayers because it suits that style of touring more.

Thus, I think FP+ indirectly benefits Resort-Stayers moreso than off-siters even tho they get the same number of passes.

I think what you have said is fundamentally correct, in so much as FP+ appeals and meets the needs more to people who have a more leisurely touring style.

I don't think where someone stays necessarily affects the style of touring. I agree that staying onsite lends itself to mid-day breaks and rope drop. We stay off site but very much come to Disney for the quality of the attractions and attention to detail as opposed to getting on as many rides as possible.

That being said, I don't think it matters as I think Disney are achieving their goal either way: as FP+ is going to appeal more to people who are content riding fewer rides. As stated this is good from a business point of view. They want the guests who are happy to ride less and spend more. If they choose to stay on site, even better, but even if they are offsite it pays to attract the guests with that type of touring style.

 

[2Tiggies]

We're just the opposite.

When we stay onsite we tend to want to ride the rides! That is the most important part of touring to us and we are close so we always tried to ride more often.

If we stay offsite, we are more likely to want to do other things offsite so we sometimes hurry through the parks more and get less done. We have often visited a Disney park and that other place in the same day.

I realize that you were generalizing but I did want to offer another perspective.

This. We party onsite like you do. We want easy access to the park gates as quickly as possible so that we can spend most of our time in the parks enjoying the attractions. Let's just way we don't stay onsite for the room size.

 

[magicbob]

But what is interesting in those reports about guests only using 2 FP or 2.5 in MK... That is all Disney had to offer! On an average day at MK, 50,000 - 60,000 people were in the park but there was only 120,000 total FP available before Disney expanded the offerings to rides that didn't need them.
So the reason people only used 2 a day, is because that is all there was.

This is profound! We've discussed at length the use of an average based on all park-goers and not an analysis of actual FP usage but, somehow, I've managed to gloss over this part of the equation.

Even if only 50% of guests bothered to use FP, the average would remain constant when calculated based on all park-goers. So it doesn't matter if 75% of FPs were used by 25% of guests each pulling 4-6 FPs (whether due to them arriving early and "denying" others or because lots of people just didn't bother to use FP), the average would still work out to be the same... 2.

No matter how they're distributed, 120K available FPs divided by 60K people in the park = 2.

Actual usage data cannot alter that. The supply only ever allowed for an average of two per guest. So it wasn't a matter of "guests only bother to use x number of FPs." It was always a matter of "this is all there are."

They've now expanded the offerings and apparently increased the ratio of FP to SB, so that's generated enough supply to offer 3 to everyone. And they've made that a hard limit in order to be able to "guarantee" everyone at least that many (even if some of those 3 are "throw-away" FPs).

 

[KatieCharlotte]

Thus, I think FP+ indirectly benefits Resort-Stayers moreso than off-siters even tho they get the same number of passes.

I agree with your generalizations. (Except for travel time, especially to non-MK parks. Our condo was a ten-minute drive, and we did leave and come back.) Offsiters are more often people who want to get the most bang for our buck. If I paid thousands for my family's tickets, I'm spending 14 hour days at the parks and riding Soarin at least twice.

I would add that offsiters are also more likely to purchase fewer ticket days for various reasons: they're going to other theme parks, they're in Florida to see extended family, or they're on a very tight budget and can only afford one or two days. The FP+ limits are much less of an issue for someone who has 7+ days at the parks.

 

[Cyrano]

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