Fast Pass Plus wasn't THAT bad…. a lot of hype for how awful it was

[jewels825]

We are going on our first trip to WDW in 10 years. My kids are 13 and 11 now so it will be a whole difference experience from when they were toddlers. We've been to Disneyland on a regular basis since then but never back to the mothership.

I came onto the forums recently to read about what's new at WDW and heard about Fast Pass Plus. Thank God for these forums or honestly I probably would have had no idea that it was a completely different system so thank you all for your kind words and advice on what it is and how to do it!

We are staying at an offsite hotel so we were only able to book our fast passes 30 days out instead of the 60 days which worried me - a lot. However, we now have fast passes for all of our days for the times we want for the attractions we want. There was only one fast pass we couldn't get (the Snow White one) unless we did it at midnight which didn't sound appealing to me. We will try and rope drop that one or just suck it up and wait in line. I thought this whole advance reservations for fast passes would be a scary nightmare but it was so easy!

Now that I have my fast passes and I feel set for those rides, is it just going to be a complete zoo of long lines for anything else we want to ride? I feel bad for those heading to WDW who are unaware of Fast Pass Plus or how it works. It would be disappointing to get there and find out you missed the boat 30 or 60 days before when you should have reserved your rides. So thanks again to all of those who have contributed to the wealth of information on this website.

 

[Alesia]

We rarely waited more than 20 minutes for anything before fastpass+ came about. We rarely waited more than 20 minutes for anything after fastpass+ came about.

Attitude is a much bigger influence on how your trip turns out than anything else.

A lot of people here feel like Disney is their own personal club and they freak out over every single change. I've learned to take it all with a grain of salt

 

[lugnut33]

If you think wait times in standby lines hasn't changed over the last few years then you're not going to WDW. Now, is the reason for the change because of FP+? Yes, it's had some influence by making traditionally short lines much longer, but it has reduced the standby lines at the major headlines attractions (BTMRR is a prime example). I do believe the #1 driver in longer wait times is increased attendance.

 

[Eoywin]

I love Fastpass + - very easy to use.

Now, I never used regular Fastpass much. It wasn't that big of a deal to me, but for our last trip it was great to be able to make FP+ for character meetings.

 

[cakebaker]

We are going on our first trip to WDW in 10 years. My kids are 13 and 11 now so it will be a whole difference experience from when they were toddlers. We've been to Disneyland on a regular basis since then but never back to the mothership.

I came onto the forums recently to read about what's new at WDW and heard about Fast Pass Plus. Thank God for these forums or honestly I probably would have had no idea that it was a completely different system so thank you all for your kind words and advice on what it is and how to do it!

We are staying at an offsite hotel so we were only able to book our fast passes 30 days out instead of the 60 days which worried me - a lot. However, we now have fast passes for all of our days for the times we want for the attractions we want. There was only one fast pass we couldn't get (the Snow White one) unless we did it at midnight which didn't sound appealing to me. We will try and rope drop that one or just suck it up and wait in line. I thought this whole advance reservations for fast passes would be a scary nightmare but it was so easy!

Now that I have my fast passes and I feel set for those rides, is it just going to be a complete zoo of long lines for anything else we want to ride? I feel bad for those heading to WDW who are unaware of Fast Pass Plus or how it works. It would be disappointing to get there and find out you missed the boat 30 or 60 days before when you should have reserved your rides. So thanks again to all of those who have contributed to the wealth of information on this website.

I'm glad you managed to get through all your planning and found out it wasn't really all that bad!

As for when you get there...we went last August and mid October, and both times the parks were fairly crowded. We didn't find the lines to be so much longer that we even took note of it. For the MK, sdfp were fairly easy to come by and seem to be even easier now so that will alleviate some waiting. We didn't see long kiosk lines except in rare cases- once when POC was down and CM's were directing all the guests to re-schedule to the Jungle Cruise kiosk- not a great idea! Otherwise, not bad. You won't get a sdfp for SDMT or a few other things except by pure luck, but most from what I've seen by checking availability isn't bad at all.

For Epcot and HS- well there aren't a lot of rides there, so supply is short for sdfp. There, I'd make use of rope drop and slower times to avoid long lines. The AK is the easiest to do with no FP+ at all, so if you've got the big stuff covered, I think it will be fine.

 

[disnut8]

Animal Kingdom is the best one for getting your FastPass + and then doing regular lines for the other things because most of the other things are walk throughs or not heavily attended or quicker loading attractions.

For Epcot, do the FastPass + for Future World for what you want and then the other things are quicker loading or shows. Now everything around World Showcase is a show so really no FastPasses needed.

The Studios has two major attractions that need FastPasses and a lot of closed or closing.

Magic Kingdom would be the worst one.

 

[prudence64]

The lines were a tad longer our latest trip, but it was also clearly more crowded than when we last went. We didn't wait more than 25 minutes in any standby lines except once at TOT and once at TT, but those were both due to malfunctions.

 

[loves to dive]

I too have found FP+ easy and like it. Like the previous poster said, I really didn't take much advantage of the old fast passes when they had them. Now I book them but more often than not end of cancelling them because I get into what I want without them. Mind you, I'm an adult well beyond the age that it matters if I miss something and I go to DW often so I know I can just catch it next time around, I also just don't mind waiting in line. I'm on vacation, in no hurry and it's all good.

 

[bobbiwoz]

I'm glad you got what you wanted! Enjoy your trip!

 

[Lovetherodent]

I returned yesterday from my first FP+ trip, and honestly, I loved it. Under the old system, on the newer attractions (Soarin and TSMM are the ones I remember), you practically had to be at the park at RD to run and get a FP! Then you could go get in line for your first ride (TT or RNRC). With FP+, you book what you want when you want it. You can go straight to your first attraction for RD or maybe you can go late into the park.

Last Weds, I used my 3 FP+s at HS in the am. Took a break. Went to MK around 4. True, we had to get them one at a time, but we got and used 3 more before 7:30. Just go back to any kiosk instead of running all the way back to a ride. Much more efficient.

If you didn't get 7DMT, do rope drop. We were by no means at the head of the pack, but we went straight to the mine and were walking off it by 8:20. In fact, we did 7DMT, Peter Pan, HM, and were walking on to small world just before 9:00. Even when we didn't have a FP, we didn't wait more than 20 minutes for anything, and we were there for spring break clouds.

 

[SeilerBird]

I love fp+ too. I feel the majority of the people complaining about the system are ones who have never used the system.

 

[Disneylover99]

I love fp+ too. I feel the majority of the people complaining about the system are ones who have never used the system.

I think that may have been true when FP+ was first rolled out to all the parks. But now that it's been around for over a year, I think that most people on these boards who have issues with it, have experienced it.

 

[Laketravis]

We are here now, have been for over a week. I was going to post the results of our first week in the "More for Less" park strategy thread I started but discovered it's been closed because "somebody sent for housekeeping". Have no idea why, perhaps in anticipation of actual results being posted but I'm not going to waste my time on it.

Suffice it to say the lines are longer, the FP's are fewer, and I was able to incorporate two other parks with much lower wait times into our park strategy for what averaged to be less than a 12 minute daily commute down I-4.


.

 

[PeculiarMadmoiselle]

I think it depends what speed of disney you do. DH has severe asthma so we have to take our time. One of the reasons we love Disney is we can go and come based on how he is feeling. With the old fastpass We had to get there before others which felt like the running of the bulls at times. Choosing ahead of time let us know when we were at the park and we could take our time. I only waited about 5 to 10 min per fastpass to get on a ride except for soarin which was a 20 min wait but the standby was 140 min so 20 was not bad at all. With DH medical needs we need to take a break in the middle of the day or there are problems so once again planning ahead was great.

On the other hand if you are a balls to the wall type of disney person who stays from rope drop to closing I could see the problem. Before you could get ten or more fastpasses and now starting with 3 which is disappointing. To get more is a pain because you have to wait in line. What would be great is if you get more on your app Instead of the line.

Overall I had a very positive experience with fp+ but could see some improvements.

 

[Laketravis]

Balls to the wall open to close? I just got in the park at 8:30pm with an FP for SM but it's down and guess what other FP's are available? So much for coming and going as you feel.

At least we got a pic of SM with the lights on.

 

[Angel Ariel]

Now that I have my fast passes and I feel set for those rides, is it just going to be a complete zoo of long lines for anything else we want to ride?

Touring plans says the days following 5/28 (from your signature) are crowd levels 5-7. Our trip in November was mostly crowd level 6s. I'd say our average SB wait was 25 mins. There were a few SB waits where we waited longer than 30 mins, but not many. A lot of this, though, was due to touring plan choices. Lines did get longer during the middle of the day especially (unsurprisingly). In MK, Adventureland and Frontierland were empty at RD until around 10:45am or so. Plenty of time to do everything in those areas (including re-rides if wanted) with little wait. We hit the Tomorrowland Speedway with a 5 min wait, but it was during the FOF parade. We did find there to be longer lines than we were used to at rides like iasw, HM, and POTC that didn't previously have FP+ at all. Not long enough that we wouldn't wait for them, but longer than we were used to.

Our FP+s, for the most part, weren't used up until 3-4pm, and with November's short hours and parties there wasn't much in the way of 4th FP+ availability. That should not be as much of an issue for your trip, since hours are a bit longer and there aren't any parties to deal with. If you want to try for 4th FP+ and beyond, I would suggest scheduling your prebooked FP+ maybe from 10-11, 11-12, 12-1 - using the 1st FP+ at the end of the first window, close to 11, and using the 3rd FP+ soon after the 12pm window opens. If you don't really care about the 4th FP+, then disregard

I hope you have a wonderful trip!

 

[Suzanne74]

I think it is great if you plan in advance and stick with that plan. For people that like to decide a few days of which park to go to on the fly - depending on sleep, weather, how much they missed or saw on previous days, it really sucks.

Like if it is pouring, I don't want to go to AK for the day and prefer DHS but I can't switch and go the following day because that is when my TSM fast pass is.

 

[jewels825]

Thank you to everyone for the responses and comments back. We will be there April 2-5 and then boarding a cruise ship from Port Canaveral on Easter Sunday. We have 3 full days at the parks and 3 Fast Passes for those three days. The only park we don't have any Fast Passes for is Animal Kingdom. I'm not sure exactly how/when we will fit that part into our schedule but we'll find a way.

Alesia - we are going in with a positive attitude that it will all work out. I agree attitude is everything.

lugnut - it's crazy how many people visit WDW these days. They keep adding hotels but they need to add some more parks to help spread out the people!

Eoywin - if my kids were younger, I'd be using those Fast Passes for character meets too. On our previous visit, we threw in 3 different character meals so see them all. A spendy way to do meet and greets!

Cakebaker - it's a good thing that the one park we have no fast passes for is AK since that's the one park we are going to visit on the fly

Disnut8 - MK is the toughest one all around. That's going to be our first day and we plan to spend the entire day there without any park hopping. We are also arriving to Orlando at 6 AM that morning after a red eye. I do wonder how long we will last!

Prudence64 - that's good to know that the stand by lines weren't that bad!

lovestodive - we are on the every 10 year plan for WDW it seems so i know we are all going to be itching to do and see everything we can. However, we do have the realistic expectation that it won't be possible to do everything!

bobbiwoz - thanks - we are so excited!

lovetherodent - that's awesome news! i'm hoping we will be able to walk on to some of the rides at rope drop as we move through the park.

Seilerbird - i do feel for the ones who don't know/understand the system and get frustrated watching those around them utilize it.

Disneyllover99 - since i haven't technically used it yet - just made my reservations, i'll come back after my trip and let everyone know how it really went.

laketravis - i hope you are having a fantastic time in WDW!

peculiarmadmosele - If we had more days there, I'd be taking a bit slower and taking it all in but I have a feeling we are going be exhausted after our 3 days!

Angelariel - our fast passes are all scheduled for late morning/early afternoon so i'm not sure what position that puts us in for later fast passes.

suzanne74 - i really hope we don't hit rain!!! that's my biggest fear. i'm from the seattle area and my whole goal of vacation is to avoid that!

 

[bumbershoot]

Op, your title and post don't match. Your title makes it sound like you've actually used it. All you've done is make the arrangements. And one big one you wanted you didn't get.

The title might be all people are reading based on a few comments here.

I don't think attitude comes in at all. I'm incredibly negative about the changes, but on a non family, just buddies, trip, it was ok. And that's despite disliking it previously and dislike the idea in general and still wishing the old ways would come back.

And those are my mixed feelings after actually using it, not just making the arrangements. To speak before would be reviewing a hotel after making reservations but before stepping foot in the place.

Not to mention, to use the loaded word "hype", when you are actually talking about the feelings and experiences that actual people have, just isn't right. Hype is what Disney does. And Disney isn't writing posts, or at least not the negative ones.

 

[Disneylover99]

Op, your title and post don't match. Your title makes it sound like you've actually used it. All you've done is make the arrangements. And one big one you wanted you didn't get.

I do agree. I had to read the post and the title a few times to figure it out.