fastpass+ practical mixed feelings

[xipetotec]

Okay so up until now I've tried not to jump on the hate bandwagon. I wasn't crazy about the idea of over planning and booking attractions kind of annoyed me, but I loved everything else about magicbands that i'd seen.

Now that I've made my first fastpass+ bookings, it's a neat idea in theory. .. But the fact that I have to book all three on the spot is a huge pain. More so because we travel in a big group (18 this year) and while we want to do SOME attractions together, we don't want to do ALL of them together. Now try and coordinate a single attraction out of three where we can all rode together while booking different attractions for the other groups this way... Nothing short of nightmarish.

For example, my mother does not do thrill rides. But she wants to do kilimanjaro with us. Others in the group want to fastpass Everest. .. so we have to spin the wheel and hope we can line this up OR she books the thrill ride and wastes get fp+ entries on rides she will not do. .. doesn't seem right .

 

[magicbob]

Welcome to the Dark Side.

We have cookies!

 

[Missyrose]

Welcome to the Dark Side.

We have cookies!

And drinks, really tasty drinks.

 

[Laketravis]

And beer!

 

[ps17]

I'll say this - we have been to WDW with a large group prior to FP+ and that can be a mess as well.... For example - let's all meet at Studios as early in the morning as the group will allow... The haggling over meet time begins. OK, someone has decided 9:00AM. Come 9:00AM, five or 6 people are missing because they missed their transportation.... Post teenage A and B can't get there because they were up late, or Grandpa was late because he was just slow..... So part of the group pulls fastpass for TSMM with a return time of 11:00..... Then that part decides to not wait and ride R&R. By the time they are done, the other part of the group arrives but can't get TSMM tickets.... So some of the adults in original group give up the TSMM tickets... But then uncle A takes the fastpass and gives it to girlfriend of post teenage A (leaving out kids of original parents that gave up fastpass).

Meanwhile, some of the cousins want to ride together so they go on R&Roller single rider line, by then, the group becomes a fragmented amoeba being stretched in all kinds of directions. Family A at noon has decided that they have seen everything they want and go back to hotel for mid-afternoon break. Grandma and Grandpa have seen the movie ride twice, Indiana Jones, Beauty and beast and call it quits as well. We get through it, but it is chaos (all this during busiest time of year).

I understand that this is probably impossible to plan by one person in advance, but just wanted to point out that with large groups, you can have issues under the old system as well...

 

[Rosanne]

Welcome to the Dark Side.

We have cookies!

But, seriously, OP I totally get the concern. I have a large extended family and sometimes we overlap times/dates, etc. To try to coordinate that would be a nightmare. It makes us less likely to choose Disney for large group things. I just don't know how they can make that uncomplicated.

The only way that wouldn't be so bad is

1. At rope drop (which often not everyone can make.
2. During off-peak times (which, in a family of teachers is pretty much impossible.

I hope it ends up working out.

 

[Laketravis]

And did I mention...... beer?



Seriously, though - it's not a "hate" bandwagon, none of us "hate" WDW but there is a mutual level of concern about the impact of some things.

Like what you pointed out.

I didn't have to plan for 18, just three, but maybe you can follow my strategy. And that was, I AM THE ONE MAKING THE FP RESERVATIONS!

If you don't like my choices or times, tough cookies - you can go stand in the SB line.

Have to say, it worked out pretty well for me.

 

[ArwenMarie]

That sounds like a computer nightmare

 

[lugnut33]

If you just lower your expectations a little you'll be happy.

 

[magicbob]

Stay calm

&

GET OVER IT!

​

 

[AmyB2006]

I agree it's a p.i.t.a. But it can be done. I had a few scheduled for different things at the same times. Just make it for one and then copy it to the others.

Welcome to the new world. :/

 

[mom2rtk]

Welcome to the Dark Side.

We have cookies!

What the HECK????? There are COOKIES?????

You guys have been holding out on me.

 

[Laketravis]

What the HECK????? There are COOKIES?????

You guys have been holding out on me.

And beer!

 

[LittleMissDisney]

Laketravis- I'm on good antibiotics- you can have my beer!

 

[linskypens]

I have to say as someone who remembers seeing the first test signs for legacy fastpasses many moons ago, and thinking " why the hell would I need that"
who then went to "OMG!!! RUN kid we have to be first at the fastpass machine", to collecting them all morning and using them after break, that this is just the next wave of it.
We will all learn our way around it, figure out the best way to use it, and still have a great time.
Our plan now is still rope drop, hit the headliners early, and FP+ for whatever park we are going to be in after our break in the afternoon. Frankly I think it will be a relief to show up at Epcot at 4 in the afternoon knowing I have a fastpass for Soarin at 5, instead of getting there and know that im completely screwed.
Half the fun for us is the planning, what park what day, where in the morning, where in the afternoon, and we are looking forward actually to the challenge of making teh most of this latest phase of fastpasses.
I just cant get that worked up about it. It's happening no matter how much you moan about it, so get over it, and try to figure out the best way to make it work for you.
I agree that a huge group is chaos with or with out this. At least this way you can try to change stuff on the fly.

 

[xipetotec]

I'll say this - we have been to WDW with a large group prior to FP+ and that can be a mess as well.... For example - let's all meet at Studios as early in the morning as the group will allow... The haggling over meet time begins. OK, someone has decided 9:00AM. Come 9:00AM, five or 6 people are missing because they missed their transportation.... Post teenage A and B can't get there because they were up late, or Grandpa was late because he was just slow..... So part of the group pulls fastpass for TSMM with a return time of 11:00..... Then that part decides to not wait and ride R&R. By the time they are done, the other part of the group arrives but can't get TSMM tickets.... So some of the adults in original group give up the TSMM tickets... But then uncle A takes the fastpass and gives it to girlfriend of post teenage A (leaving out kids of original parents that gave up fastpass).

Meanwhile, some of the cousins want to ride together so they go on R&Roller single rider line, by then, the group becomes a fragmented amoeba being stretched in all kinds of directions. Family A at noon has decided that they have seen everything they want and go back to hotel for mid-afternoon break. Grandma and Grandpa have seen the movie ride twice, Indiana Jones, Beauty and beast and call it quits as well. We get through it, but it is chaos (all this during busiest time of year).

I understand that this is probably impossible to plan by one person in advance, but just wanted to point out that with large groups, you can have issues under the old system as well...

THing is, we have experience here and up until now, we DON'T travel ALL together all the time. we learned not to do that after our first trip all together. That's where this poses a problem. We agree to get together for 1 or 2 attractions all together. On the old system, it didn't matter what time we all MANAGED to get to the park, once we were all there, we'd just grab a fastpass and go whenever that said. Now we have to book all three of our FPs together, or take a risk and try to get a single ride coordinated in the hopes that we can work that out.

All I'm saying is I wish I could cancel/book one at a time instead of being forced to do three in one shot. I know their software is trying to balance out FPs, and I'm okay with that. If I have a "tier 1" booked or something, it shouldn't allow me to book another... but having to book all three for my entire party... inconvenient.


To all other's, I'm NOT saying it's going to ruin my vacation. I think the boards is somewhere we can all vent our frustrations, it doesn't automatically mean I'm yelling "O M G, i'm never going to WDW again!!" ... just that I wish some things were different.

 

[summerskye]

And beer!

I like beer...

I'll trade my cookies for beer.

 

[dwheaton]

Honestly, I wouldn't try to get all the FP+ lined up to make it perfect or even close to it. It's just going to create more headaches. I'd just do the best you can and know that some aren't going to work. It may lead to some more waiting in Standby lines, but I think that can't be avoided given the new system.

 

[AlexandAndysMom]

I'm not going with a big group, but I am going with three very different children. One who likes thrill rides, one who would be happy on its a small world all day and a Mickey loving toddler. I found a list of all the FP+ attractions and went through marking who would ride what. When I knew my days, I made reservations for the ones we all wanted to do together (so the Safari at AK, Peter Pan at MK, Soarin at EP, etc). If there were two at 1 park, great. If there weren't, I made my selections and then went back in and changed the others. At least I knew that the ones we wanted to gether, we had. It was kind of fun to sit and move stuff around. I know at one point, I have a FP+ for something, my DH and middle DS have FP+ for something else, and my oldest DS has his own for Space Mtn (he's the ONLY one who rides it! LOL).

My oldest demands RnR, my middle panics at the thought of it, and the youngest is nowhere near the hight limit (but would probably love it). It creates its own issues, but we all have the 'family' rides and everything else is what it is.

 

[Shaden]

THing is, we have experience here and up until now, we DON'T travel ALL together all the time. we learned not to do that after our first trip all together. That's where this poses a problem. We agree to get together for 1 or 2 attractions all together. On the old system, it didn't matter what time we all MANAGED to get to the park, once we were all there, we'd just grab a fastpass and go whenever that said. Now we have to book all three of our FPs together, or take a risk and try to get a single ride coordinated in the hopes that we can work that out.

All I'm saying is I wish I could cancel/book one at a time instead of being forced to do three in one shot. I know their software is trying to balance out FPs, and I'm okay with that. If I have a "tier 1" booked or something, it shouldn't allow me to book another... but having to book all three for my entire party... inconvenient.


To all other's, I'm NOT saying it's going to ruin my vacation. I think the boards is somewhere we can all vent our frustrations, it doesn't automatically mean I'm yelling "O M G, i'm never going to WDW again!!" ... just that I wish some things were different.

This is exactly how we have travelled in the past. We generally decide what parks we are going to do the next day the day before ... although we do "plan" the plan isn't binding in anyway. We planned MK, EP, HS, AK, then Decided to do MK, HS, AK, EP ...

We generally all SAY we are going to do RD in the morning, but someone (often us) decides an extra hour or two of sleep sounds better ... and we meet up later ...

We tour the park together as a group for a while, pull some FP-s together if they are available for something we all want to do, and then, as soon as some people want to do attraction a) and another group wants to do b), we split up, make arrangements to meet at X for food at 6pm ... or back at the resort, or whatever ...

We are heading with a group of 12 this year, and this looks to be impossible, at least in a way that is relaxed, flexible, and doesn't feel like we are showing up to appointments ...

What do we do when, the morning of, people change their minds about what park !??! Do we have a group meeting and change everyone's FPs ??? What happens when in the park, while split up, 2 people out of 12 want to change their FP plans, but then when we are back as a group they have burned their 3rd FP and now we can't all FP ride c) ??? Where as before, they could have pulled an FP, rode it, then pulled another with us later !?

This is made even more complicated with people staying at different resorts, so physically meeting in person to "discuss" FP options and changes is more complicated.

We have an Age range of 10yrs old to 67yrs old .... With a wide spectrum of ride interest and tolerance ... FP+ is just crap for this. Have to make selections in 54 days .... yay ???