Fastpass Plus ruined my vacation

[Malela9]

I just returned home from WDW and had the most stressful, miserable trip of my life. My family was not able to ride the rides we wanted unless we waited in long stand-by lines. Then, my husband was screaming for us to leave the hotel super early, while we were exhaused and not ready to get up from the night before. I feel like any spontaneity is gone from this vacation. NO one should come home from Disney screaming at your spouse about frustration from your trip.
I am frustrated that even as an annual pass holder, I cannot make the fastpass reservations that I want even 30 days in advance. I have to go back this summer because I have a Premier pass and need to use it to get my money's worth. I hear that they are bringing this to Disneyland and I am terrified. Most visitors to DL decide within a day to visit.
Help! Does anyone have any advice?

 

[ellie05]

I think the biggest problem with FP+ is that you can not plan like you use to plan. We encounter that our first trip, but our second trip was absolutely great. Vacations are actually a major stressor according to phycologist, so don't think it is just your husband or FP+. I suggest you forget your old planning strategist and start new read about it and adjust.

 

[jewels825]

I just returned home from WDW and had the most stressful, miserable trip of my life. My family was not able to ride the rides we wanted unless we waited in long stand-by lines. Then, my husband was screaming for us to leave the hotel super early, while we were exhaused and not ready to get up from the night before. I feel like any spontaneity is gone from this vacation. NO one should come home from Disney screaming at your spouse about frustration from your trip.
I am frustrated that even as an annual pass holder, I cannot make the fastpass reservations that I want even 30 days in advance. I have to go back this summer because I have a Premier pass and need to use it to get my money's worth. I hear that they are bringing this to Disneyland and I am terrified. Most visitors to DL decide within a day to visit.
Help! Does anyone have any advice?

No, but you have me nervous! We got to Disneyland every year and love the set up of the regular fast pass. This will be our first visit to WDW in 9 years (only been one time). I've been researching the Fast Pass Plus and trying to figure out how it all works. We are going Spring Break during high peak crowds so that scares me a bit. Also, we are staying off site so I just lost another 30 days of being able to get my Fast Passes. I haven't even bought my tickets yet since I still have 3 months but I'm terrified that I won't get it all done in time to get the rides we want or that the rides will be "sold out" of fast passes before we even get a chance to try. It sounds way too complicated to me!

 

[kapoof]

It sounds like such a complex and aggravating systems i hope Disney comes to its' senses and fixes it somehow.

 

[prudence64]

I would leave a screaming husband at home next time or tell him to go ahead and we will catch up with him and not worry about needing to get on specific rides.

 

[davkata]

I'm sorry your vacation was so stressful!! We booked at around the 30 day out point last year for our trip over President's week which is a very busy week at WDW. I was able to get all the FP+ we wanted and even move some around while there as well. We RD'd a park every day and then used our FP+ in another park later in the day after a mid-day resort/pool break. I don't know if it was our strategy that worked well or the fact that we didn't go into the trip with any expectations...either way, we were able to ride all headliners multiple times during our 5 day stay. We are going again this year and plan to use the same strategy and hope it works out again! I hope you can return and have a more magical experience.

 

[SeilerBird]

I have no clue why the OP is so upset with FP+. I use it every week and love it. It works great.

 

[jesse8931]

Sounds like you have some family issues not a Disney issue.
Last year I was not able to get any fast passes until I was in the park and it was fine I got my three rides and I was plenty happy with that.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

Your husband could have gone into the parks alone and left you guys to sleep. I do that all the time since my family won't get out of bed before 11am on vacation. I'm the only one up and raring to go.
I've always felt that Disney should allow the passholders to book their FP+ with everyone else.

Hopefully Disney won't be bringing FP+ to Disneyland for another year or two. I can imagine the Disneyland passholders will be livid when it happens.

Our first trip with the new system was frustrating too. I booked fp+ too close together in different areas of the park. So once I started making adjustments to how I booked, it made the next trip easier. I also didn't book them too early - when I'm solo my first booking is 10am. With the family it was 12 noon.
Sure I didn't always get a 4th FP but it works better for us. I feel like I found our balance. We just stood in a few more lines. Not my favorite thing to do but we managed. I still prefer the old paper fp system but since this is the new way, I had to either quit going or adjust how I tour.

Good Luck finding your balance!

 

[ElsasFan]

I just returned home from WDW and had the most stressful, miserable trip of my life. My family was not able to ride the rides we wanted unless we waited in long stand-by lines. Then, my husband was screaming for us to leave the hotel super early, while we were exhaused and not ready to get up from the night before. I feel like any spontaneity is gone from this vacation. NO one should come home from Disney screaming at your spouse about frustration from your trip.
I am frustrated that even as an annual pass holder, I cannot make the fastpass reservations that I want even 30 days in advance. I have to go back this summer because I have a Premier pass and need to use it to get my money's worth. I hear that they are bringing this to Disneyland and I am terrified. Most visitors to DL decide within a day to visit.
Help! Does anyone have any advice?

What fastpass reservations were you not able to get, even 30 days in advance?

 

[Malela9]

Sounds like you have some family issues not a Disney issue.
Last year I was not able to get any fast passes until I was in the park and it was fine I got my three rides and I was plenty happy with that.

Wow. That is mean. My dh wanted to get things done early. The rest of my family wanted to go at a different pace. If you lived 20 minutes from DL and never had to deal with this new system, you would be frustrated, too.

 

[ArwenMarie]

The key to having an enjoyable WDW vacation now is to be ok with doing a lot less in the parks everyday. And to have low expectations, not in a bad way, but just to accept what it is.

 

[Dis703]

I can see how it could be a learning curve if you aren't used to it. But we love the new system so far. We actually find it makes our trips more laid back the way we space them out.

Sorry you had a stressful trip.

 

[Itinkso]

Can you change your summer vacation to DL? With all the 60th Anniversary/Birthday celebrations getting put into place, DL should be wonderful this summer.

We went to a number of DL's 50th celebrations - was there for the Birthday Celebration on July 17th as well as the day they closed to the general public to prepare for the opening Gala. Those are some of my favorite DL memories and I've been visiting DL for 50+ years. I would think DL for its 60th will be better than another possibly frustrating trip to WDW.

 

[Allison]

Wow. That is mean. My dh wanted to get things done early. The rest of my family wanted to go at a different pace. If you lived 20 minutes from DL and never had to deal with this new system, you would be frustrated, too.

But wouldn't that fact contribute to the stress and problems you had? I know I have experienced that myself.

 

[TeamSy]

The news of bringing FP+ to Disneyland is a MAJOR bummer! We also had a pretty stressful trip to WDW last January because of the FP+. I feel like I couldn't get of my phone because I was always checking ride times, etc. In July, we went to CA and visited Disneyland and it was like a breath of fresh air with their old FP!!! We had SUCH a wonderful time!

 

[Angel Ariel]

I just returned home from WDW and had the most stressful, miserable trip of my life. My family was not able to ride the rides we wanted unless we waited in long stand-by lines. Then, my husband was screaming for us to leave the hotel super early, while we were exhaused and not ready to get up from the night before. I feel like any spontaneity is gone from this vacation. NO one should come home from Disney screaming at your spouse about frustration from your trip.
I am frustrated that even as an annual pass holder, I cannot make the fastpass reservations that I want even 30 days in advance. I have to go back this summer because I have a Premier pass and need to use it to get my money's worth. I hear that they are bringing this to Disneyland and I am terrified. Most visitors to DL decide within a day to visit.
Help! Does anyone have any advice?

I'm sorry you didn't have the trip you wanted. I can feel your frustration in your post

I would highly recommend reading mesaboy2's Fastpass+ Basic Info and Strategies thread for your summer trip. It is a fantastic resource of information and tips on how to best use FP+.

I would also think about maybe adjusting your strategy for your summer trip. Crowds will be high in the summer, so Rope Drop will be very effective. I'd suggest one of two things:

1. Rope Drop in teh mornings, but head back to your hotel sooner in the evening so everyone gets the rest they need.

2. Alternate Rope Drop mornings with late night evenings. If you do a late night, sleep in the next morning and then do Rope Drop the next day. I don't know what the ages in your family are, but if you can do late nights that kind of schedule might help even out the tiredness.

I do very much sympathize with how your feeling - I truly hope that your trip in the summer will be better.

 

[cattywampus]

Wow. That is mean. My dh wanted to get things done early. The rest of my family wanted to go at a different pace. If you lived 20 minutes from DL and never had to deal with this new system, you would be frustrated, too.

I live an hour DL, am a Premiere AP holder, and am a DL vet. We went to WDW for the first time in Nov. and we really liked FPP.

The only dislike I had was the tiering at HS and Epcot, which is a commentary on lack of attractions at those parks, which needs to be addressed, not so much FPP.

 

[Allison]

I can only share my experience but FP+ worked great for me and I didn't have any long waits in the standby lines. I did make it to rope drop every day and was quite pleased with how quickly I was able to move through my plans.

 

[Angel Ariel]

Can you change your summer vacation to DL? With all the 60th Anniversary/Birthday celebrations getting put into place, DL should be wonderful this summer.

We went to a number of DL's 50th celebrations - was there for the Birthday Celebration on July 17th as well as the day they closed to the general public to prepare for the opening Gala. Those are some of my favorite DL memories and I've been visiting DL for 50+ years. I would think DL for its 60th will be better than another possibly frustrating trip to WDW.

From one of her posts it sounds like the OP lives 20 mins from DLR, so they may not consider that a vacation if they're able to go frequently.