Finally figured out my disappointment with FP+

[mom2rtk]

I've seen even more people claim that they couldn't ride TSMM in the past. That simply isn't true. They could have rode as often as they wanted as long as they went standby.

I've seen multiple people claim they can now walk into a park in the mid afternoon and ride major rides, but they couldn't in the past. That simply isn't true. They could have entered a park whenever they wanted and rode as often as they wanted as long as they went standby.

It was never a solution for those people, and those are two of the biggest pluses of FP+ according to many, so why should long standby waits be a good solution now?

Isn't it funny how that's supposed to be the answer now?

 

[Mkrop]

I've seen even more people claim that they couldn't ride TSMM in the past. That simply isn't true. They could have rode as often as they wanted as long as they went standby.

I've seen multiple people claim they can now walk into a park in the mid afternoon and ride major rides, but they couldn't in the past. That simply isn't true. They could have entered a park whenever they wanted and rode as often as they wanted as long as they went standby.

It was never a solution for those people, and those are two of the biggest pluses of FP+ according to many, so why should long standby waits be a good solution now?

It is amazing Standby should be good enough for all of us now but back when FP- was in use and people strolled into the park at 1pm and there was no FPs for TSMM and standby was at 120 minutes, standby wasnt good enough for them. Why shouldnt they have been happy to just soak up the atmosphere or go on other rides like we are being told to do now.

 

[whiporee]

I think it's all about gaming the system. The original FPs were never intended to be stockpiled, or to be collected, or to be used after their window. But people did because they could, and in doing so limited opportunities for other people. On high crowd days, it did make it impossible to get a FP for anyone who wasn't there early. You can call it rewarding effort or whatever you want, but the system wasn't designed so people would rush to the high traffic rides and get their paper passes to use when they pleased -- it was designed so you didn't have to spend the whole day waiting in line. I'm not criticizing those who used the system wisely, but if all the Fps for Soarin' are gone by 10 AM, that system doesn't work all that well for most park goers.

Likewise, FP+ has issues, too. I don't begrudge the person who buys multiple tickets to get more rides, because they are paying for that opportunity (and its one less person in the park). I wouldn't mind seeing Disney take the Universal model. When i was there in November, we had the chance to do both -- use the bands for our reservations, and then collect the paper ones. I think that was a good system, too. A benefit for the $1000 a night we dropped on two rooms at the Poly.

But what i like about the FP+ is that I know that no matter when I go to the park, I can make sure my kids get at least their three favorite rides every day. would I prefer five? Sure. But I know that at a minimum, I can get three that I can plan around. And that's better than getting to the park at 10 (or, heaven forbid, 11) and finding no FPs available until 7pm, if at all.

 

[ArwenMarie]

I really hope they close these loopholes soon. If they are going to impose this system, then make it fair. This seems to be a version of the loophole ScrapYap wrote about iirc. Its just so sloppy. They closed the one KtP found, so I suspect they will close this one too. The bands/cards shouldn't work for FP unless you use it to enter the park. I dont blame any individuals who do it, I blame Disney.

 

[mom2rtk]

I really hope they close these loopholes soon. If they are going to impose this system, then make it fair. This seems to be a version of the loophole ScrapYap wrote about iirc. Its just so sloppy. They closed the one KtP found, so I suspect they will close this one too. The bands/cards shouldn't work for FP unless you use it to enter the park. I dont blame any individuals who do it, I blame Disney.

I don't blame anyone who uses it either. I just take issue when them calling others "foolish" for not doing it.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

I don't blame anyone who uses it either. I just take issue when them calling others "foolish" for not doing it.

You are right - that was wrong of me and I apologize.

 

[mom2rtk]

You are right - that was wrong of me and I apologize.

I appreciate that. Thanks.

 

[suzanna1066@comcast.]

using FP+.

That's what many people don't like.

But, in all fairness, wasn't that a design flaw of the legacy system? I don't think Disney intended fast passes to be used the way "savvy" guests used them.

I'm not criticizing those who did, I am certainly guilty of taking advantage when Disney did not enforce return times. However, I completely understand why Disney has designed the new FP system and closed the loophole that allowed a relatively small group of guests to benefit at the expense of less knowledgeable visitors.

It seems that some FP vets think of FP as more of an entitlement---and the long standby line as not a viable option. In the end, it's a value proposition---how worth it is it to stand in the line?

This past week we experienced everything we wanted (some multiple times) with less than a 20 min wait through FP+ and smart touring. It can be done.

 

[mom2rtk]

But, in all fairness, wasn't that a design flaw of the legacy system? I don't think Disney intended fast passes to be used the way "savvy" guests used them.

You're leaping to some very questionable assumptions there.

If Disney wanted to limit people to one pass at each attraction per day, they could have programmed the legacy FP machines to only dispense one per ticket per day at any time.

 

[rapunzels]

Likewise, FP+ has issues, too. I don't begrudge the person who buys multiple tickets to get more rides, because they are paying for that opportunity (and its one less person in the park).

But that isn't the case though, unless I am misunderstanding what you are saying.... since the park ticket was not scanned at the gate, but is still being used for fp's, there are still the same amount of people in the park, with however many sets of 3Fp+'s being used for imaginary people not actually there, so that in turn does make it less Fp's for people that are in the park with scanned tickets. Capacity is not effected because some opportunist bought extra tickets, but that does change how many Fp's are left to go around.

 

[suzanna1066@comcast.]

You're leaping to some very questionable assumptions there.

If Disney wanted to limit people to one pass at each attraction per day, they could have programmed the legacy FP machines to only dispense one per ticket per day at any time.

That's also a questionable assumption. It may not have been possible or it could have been cost/time prohibitive to do so.

I am also assuming that Disney didn't invest a billion dollars into this all-encompassing system simply in order to shut this down. But they had the opportunity and changed it.

The opinions I heard on magic bands and FP+ were overwhelmingly positive over a very busy spring break week.

 

[mom2mickeyfan]

but if all the Fps for Soarin' are gone by 10 AM, that system doesn't work all that well for most park goers.

If fps for a ride runs out at 10 a.m., all of those fps were not bring grabbed a small set of guest. It was not possible with the 2 hour wait. There would have been very few that would have been able to pull 2 fps. FP+ did not fix that problem. It just move the rd to a different time.

 

[Disneylover99]

But, in all fairness, wasn't that a design flaw of the legacy system? I don't think Disney intended fast passes to be used the way "savvy" guests used them.

I don't know. Maybe.

But not being able to book the same ride twice for FP+ now is still a big complaint and a downgrade from the original system.

I hope that once the rolling fourth FP is implemented, people can book a ride they have already used a FP for.

 

[jiminyfan]

what you want to do in a day, so you have to come back again or stay longer. I think the entire system was developed for the first timers and/or once in a lifetime or once every few years individual or family.

I know since we are AP holders and regulars we look at our vacations at WDW a whole lot different than my friends and family that only plan on going once in their lifetime. They want to commando the parks hitting every major attraction once, checking it off the list and moving on. And the new FP+ enables them to do just that. in a 7-8 day period they can book 21/24 FPs - counting all four parks there are 25 (give or take) major D or E ticket attractions. So, in a week's time you can get a single FP for each of these, do the minor ones and some of the majors that usually do not require a FP and go home very happy and think FP+ is the greatest thing since "free dining" (But, I am not going to go there).

For those of us who like to "wing it" take the first bus to arrive at the park and ride what we choose and want to ride our favorites over and over it is a big negative. Yes, we will be able to ride our favs over and over, but probably not as much in the past. We will have to plan ahead to get what we want each day. I really dislike the tier, but then again this system is making stand-by lines where they didn't exist in the past. So now you will need a FP to get on Spaceship Earth at 6:00pm where before it was a walk on. Disney gets better crowd control as they can add and subtract FPs as they feel is necessary to move the crowds where they want them to go. I read where thy are hoping that with the installment of the entire $1Billion MyDisney Experience system every guest will spend an additional 10% at the resort. With those calculations they will be in the red in no time at all.

My fear is they did not take into consideration that the "regulars" may get fed up and quit coming back. My family already has decided that this will be our last set of APs for a few years and we will wait until Avatarland opens to return. And even this Summer we cut our WDW time down 4 nights/5 Days and decided to go and stay on property at Universal.

They can continue to tweak it as necessary and if they see the park $$$ start to decrease I am sure they will. BUT, right now Park profits are soaring and they will continue to make business decisions over guest pleasures and experiences. Face it they put out $15 million in an attraction, they may get an initial small bump in attendance, but if they can pull in an extra 10% off each guest every stay and they are making even more money.

They know Disneyoids/freaks are very dedicated and will usually keep coming back no matter how much they complain, whine and grump. I seen a lot of these on this site and others, but honestly have many times did you see someone actually saying they are cancelling their vacation plans? Not too many.

Just the way I see it. As a Disney stock holder, I am excited to see record profits as a frequent guest I absolutely hate the new system.

 

[mickeysgirl17]

I loved the old system. Used at least 6 FPs a day. We didn't crisscross the park.
We would do as much as we could in one section and then use our FP. You just had to know how to use them. Also, it sounds like now you'll be wasting a lot of park time standing in long lines. We never had to wait in lines with legacy FP. It was great. I waited in lines before the days of FP- and it wasn't fun.

EXACTLY!!!

what you want to do in a day, so you have to come back again or stay longer.

My fear is they did not take into consideration that the "regulars" may get fed up and quit coming back.

Yes, i'm thinking people will now need to reserve longer stays if they want to do everything. The new system is going to allow you to only do so much in a day. Standby's are longer and rides that never had waits will now have waits. Therefore, if you can afford it, a few more days in Disney means you will get to do more things. It also translates into spending more money on food, accomodations, souvenirs, etc = more money to Disney. I can only afford what I can afford at the moment which decides how many days I stay at disney. I will not be adding more days to my trip (whenever I do go back) just because I won't be able to do that much in a day anymore like we used to be able to do. I hope Disney realizes that many people just can't do it.

I go to Disney approximately 1, maybe 2 times a year. I don't know if I would be considered a "regular". Sometimes I stay for several days. However, just from reading about fp+ I am truly fed up. I have not booked a trip for this year yet, but I had begun to plan one. I am now very strongly considering to not go until things change regarding fastpasses. Planning what attractions i'm going to do 60 days out is absolute insanity to me for one thing, but to have to stand in longer lines and go thru madness to try to figure out the best way to use the system and learn tricks just to get your money's worth is not worth the stress. I don't enjoy the thought of standing in a long standby line for something that used to not have a line several times a day with a 4 year old. Its just not worth it anymore.