Fastpass + What we know conversation DIS unplugged

[ougrad86]

I was reading a trip report the other day, and there is a frequent poster on many of the same ones I read who is a castmember. She said the current timetable was for itbto go live Feb-Mar. Since Feb is almost over...but I was a little behind, so things might haved changed, but tht is the latest I heard.

We won't be able to make it to WDW until spring 2014, so hoping I'll be able to get up to speed bt that time.

 

[skier_pete]

I hate to say this...but 15 minutes into the podcast and reading the threads, it seems like there is still a lot of speculation.

My biggest concern for all of this: When I go to the parks now, I currently typically get 6-8 Fastpasses per day. Now admittedly some of the morning ones probably don't save me much (if any) time, but Disney is now expecting me to drop down to 3 FP+ a day and calling that an "improvement"? Not sure it is.

I also want to chime in about all the people complaining about how you can't use it for hopping. While it doesn't work well for spontaneous hopping, I can see where the FP+ give a HUGE advantage for PLANNED hopping.

Example: I decide to spend the morning @ MK and the afternoon @ Epcot. I plan my FP+ so that I have an afternoon FP+ for Soarin', M:S and then a seat for Illuminations.

OR: I spend the morning at AK, and evening @ DHS. I have my FP+ for TSMM, and a reserved seat for Indiana Jones and Fantasmic.

SO, funnily enough I feel MORE likely to want to hop with FP+.

 

[doconeill]

I hate to say this...but 15 minutes into the podcast and reading the threads, it seems like there is still a lot of speculation.

My biggest concern for all of this: When I go to the parks now, I currently typically get 6-8 Fastpasses per day. Now admittedly some of the morning ones probably don't save me much (if any) time, but Disney is now expecting me to drop down to 3 FP+ a day and calling that an "improvement"? Not sure it is.

I also want to chime in about all the people complaining about how you can't use it for hopping. While it doesn't work well for spontaneous hopping, I can see where the FP+ give a HUGE advantage for PLANNED hopping.

Example: I decide to spend the morning @ MK and the afternoon @ Epcot. I plan my FP+ so that I have an afternoon FP+ for Soarin', M:S and then a seat for Illuminations.

OR: I spend the morning at AK, and evening @ DHS. I have my FP+ for TSMM, and a reserved seat for Indiana Jones and Fantasmic.

SO, funnily enough I feel MORE likely to want to hop with FP+.

Yes, there is a HUGE amount of speculation still, because Disney still hasn't tested real-world use of FP+, or provided anything other info other than you can book three in advance.

And you are right, it does work GREAT for planned park hopping - in the later park - and assuming you can get late FP+ for that park. We don't know yet how hard it will be to get them, and I have a feeling people will want later FP+ more so than early FP+, making them harder to get... *

But you can't also get FP+ (in advance) in the early park, which is where it seems limiting. I'm also not sure if that would drive me to hop more or less.

* I have a feeling this will be a self-fulfilling prophecy. Because people will say you'll need to book your FP+ 60 days in advance in order to get what you want, you WILL need to book them 60 days in advance - because everyone else will...

 

[skier_pete]

But you can't also get FP+ (in advance) in the early park, which is where it seems limiting. I'm also not sure if that would drive me to hop more or less.

* I have a feeling this will be a self-fulfilling prophecy. Because people will say you'll need to book your FP+ 60 days in advance in order to get what you want, you WILL need to book them 60 days in advance - because everyone else will...

Since we go at slow times of the year, I would rarely if ever want to get FP+ for the mornings anyways.

As far as the booking 60 days in advance, I think it will take a while before that really happens, if ever. A restaurant like CRT might have 300 seatings for a party of 6 the entire day, whereas Space Mountain will probably have 5,000 FPs available to pre-book, as will other rides. I think if anything has an issue with booking up fast, it will be reserved seating for things like Illuminations and Wishes. But early on, when there is only going to be a few thousand people each day using this service (because not everyone will be using it) I don't think even that will be an issue.

Until the ACTUALLY announce what it is, I can't devote much time to worrying about it. (Just enough to write this post.)

 

[doconeill]

Since we go at slow times of the year, I would rarely if ever want to get FP+ for the mornings anyways.

As far as the booking 60 days in advance, I think it will take a while before that really happens, if ever. A restaurant like CRT might have 300 seatings for a party of 6 the entire day, whereas Space Mountain will probably have 5,000 FPs available to pre-book, as will other rides. I think if anything has an issue with booking up fast, it will be reserved seating for things like Illuminations and Wishes. But early on, when there is only going to be a few thousand people each day using this service (because not everyone will be using it) I don't think even that will be an issue.

It depends on how many slots they allocate to FP+ vs. FP vs. the percentage of those eligible (and using) FP+ as they roll it out. But I agree, what we'll see during rollout could vary WILDLY from how it will work in full production.

 

[bigAWL]

Be Our Guest Restaurant to begin another round of testing FASTPASS+

I read on another site later that the "selected resorts" where this would be tested include: Wilderness Lodge, Contemporary, and Grand Floridian. Dates are supposedly Feb 25-28, so has anyone heard about this going on now?

AllEars.net: FastPass+ Test for Lunch at Be Our Guest

FastPass+ Test for Lunch at Be Our Guest
February 23, 2013

MyMagic+ continues to be tested in a variety of ways at Walt Disney World. The latest test is for FastPass+ Dining! Randomly selected guests at the Wilderness Lodge, Contemporary, and Grand Floridian will receive a FastPass+ card with a specified arrival time for lunch (counter service) at the Be Our Guest restaurant in the new Fantasyland. Upon arriving at Be Our Guest during the specified arrival window, the guest will receive expedited service for lunch. FastPass+ dates for this trial are February 25-28th. As with all things Disney, subject to change without notice and theme park admission is required.