Finally figured out my disappointment with FP+

[mom2AidanAndEli]

Yes, okay, it took a while. I've been following many of the posts---not all. I've heard all the series of complaints about FP+ and even now the changes that are coming and hopefully getting better. I've been thinking it through for our trip in August and trying to keep an open mind.

But I've decided my biggest issue is not being able to use my FP+s for the same ride multiple times. My kids LOVE Splash Mountain. I mean ride it over and over. We'd go for rope drop and grab a FP right away. Then jump on stand by. Probably ride a couple times in a row stand by. Then FP would be up, we'd grab another and use our current one. Go off and do a few other rides. Come back at FP time and probably even grab another one!

Same with Kali River. We'd even manage 2-3 for Toy Story. Rope drop, grab a FP, ride stand by, use FP, grab another FP before they run out! Tower of Terror, another couple there (we'd have a window after TSM to get this).

Now I'm limited to one FP per these rides per day. And I keep hearing horror stories about stand by. And I'm afraid it will only get worse when people start making earlier FPs so they can get more later on.

Are the days of riding our favorite rides multiple times gone????

 

[Nebraska_Disney]

I hope not. Our family liked using the same strategy in the past. We could do 3-4 rides on a "headliner" before lunch and then tour, using other FP's, to ride other attractions or even hop to another park. One day at DHS, we rode Rock N Roll Rollercoaster 6 times before 2pm and only 2 were standby, the rest with fastpasses. I am going to miss doing this unless it changes before we go next.

 

[rapunzels]

I hope not too! But I have convinced myself Disney only wants me to ride each ride once per day. I think they are trying to control multiple trip riders from ride "hogging", to space out ride availability for all guests. So guests like us, who grab a fp, do standby, get a fp, do standby, ect all for the same ride, will stop. Freeing up the ride for others.
I figure they think how many times will I wait in standby for the same ride? I betcha they are banking on not many. I say BOO to that strategy... I say First come, first serve, including the old fastpass system. If you want a fp, especially headliners, get yourself in the park in time to get one. In my mind, they are trying to please all of the whiners that come in to the park at 4-5 pm, who whine they can't get a fp and complain all of the ride lines are too long.

 

[mom2rtk]

No, but continuing to ride certain rides over and over will depend on you lucking into a low crowd day.

And like you, the "no repeats" piece of this ranks as one of my greatest disappointments in the system. Even though I have no desire to do TSMM more than once.

 

[mom2mickeyfan]

Are the days of riding our favorite rides multiple times gone????

I believe so. It is a huge disappoint for our family too. I am going into our June trip with the thinking that 2 rides on the most favorite is all we can expect. Even then, I believe you will only be able to manage 2 on only 1 ride. Last year, in June, we were able to ride Splash 3 times and BTMR 3 times one day. Our Epcot day included 3 rides on TT, one for Soarin' and one for Malstorm all with FP except for the first TT at RD. All top tier rides. I do not except to repeat anything close to those days this year.

 

[Planogirl]

We have certain rides that we like to ride more than once and they weren't that difficult to ride in the old days. We like Pirates, the Haunted Mansion and Buzz for example. I particularly always hope to ride Star Tours several times. I'd be glad to give up FP+ for TSMM for an extra ride on Star Tours but of course that's not an option.

 

[mom2AidanAndEli]

My kids still talk about the day we rode Kali River 9 times in one day! It was a highlight for them...guess that won't be happening again.

But, you know, being able to do that kept us in the park all day. Now, once I know we're pretty much done with the rides we can do with a reasonable wait, we're going to be out of there. Back to the pool to just hang out...AND NOT SPEND MONEY! We used to grab a snack or poke in a gift shop while waiting for our next FP. Not anymore.

Oh, well, thanks for letting me know I'm not the only one feeling this way!

 

[mom2AidanAndEli]

We have certain rides that we like to ride more than once and they weren't that difficult to ride in the old days. We like Pirates, the Haunted Mansion and Buzz for example. I particularly always hope to ride Star Tours several times. I'd be glad to give up FP+ for TSMM for an extra ride on Star Tours but of course that's not an option.

And, yes, this is along the same lines. We never needed FP for Haunted Mansion or Buzz or even Pirates and Jungle Cruise. (Granted we go at a lower crowd time.) We could go on each of those a couple times easily if we wanted. But even going at the same time this year, I feel like we won't be able to do multiples on those rides either--at least not without standing in very long lines.

 

[cmwade77]

Once they make the changes, I don't think that you will find this to be an issue. Ok, so your first three FPs can't be for the same ride, but after using the initial 3, I would imagine that you will be able to use the rest for the same ride, if you so choose.

 

[Bluegrrl]

That. Totally that. I miss getting onto POTC and HM multiple times. Plus, DS LOVES Dumbo and Tricertops spin - he will ride those over and over if he could. So what can I tell him now? "Sorry, Disney won't let us ride it 2/3 times?" One and Done - that seems to be it.

Plus - and this gets me: Since I'm blacked out on my seasonal pass dates, I can't make a FP+ and my husband is on a military ticket which gets validated at parks. The only one who can make a FP res is my mom who has tickets. I will be upping to an AP when we get to parks. Sooooo...

How can we (dh and I) make FP+ to the same times as my mom's time? We can't, right? So this app, which is supposed to "bring people together on vacation" is actually splitting them apart - since we don't know if her times will be available to get, or will they all be "sold out". During the old days it was more together. We all got FP- at the same time with the kiosk. No worries. Am I missing something?

Oh, and it forces you into rides that some families can't or don't want to ride. I get sick on Everest, my mom hates coasters and my son can't ride it. We don't want a FP+ for everest, we'd like an extra one for the Safari. Can we get that? No. We MUST get one for Everest, or Dinosaur or any of the coasters while we would be happy with just 3 Safari rides.

 

[anonymousegirl]

This is exactly my disappointment. I have been so many times that I can skip many of the rides and just do my favorites. But I love doing multiple rides on TSMM, Spaceship Earth, Muppets, Star Tours, etc.

I am happy that I can do single rider line at EE, and RnRC. I don't bother with TT any more as I am completely spoiled by California's Adventure's Radiator Springs Racers.

I am try out the new system next month on a short visit and again in October. I will reserve my judgment until after those visits. But I am afraid, very afraid that my happy days at Disney are over.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

With a good strategy, I rode TSMM 3 times in the morning with my longest wait 30 minutes - only one of the three (obviously) was through FP+. Before FP+ we generally rode TSMM 4 times in a given day, so we lost one ride.

You have to prioritize, and if riding the same ride over and over again is at the top of your list, I advise a trip during value season.

 

[ArwenMarie]

Yep, that's a bummer. Especially when you have a kid who finally conquers a ride for the first time.

When we were at Universal onsite in February, there was one ride one of my kids had a hard time getting on, but they really really wanted to do it. Then they finally worked up the courage and loved it.

And then they wanted to ride it again of course. And it was so nice to just be able to say "Yes let's go do it again!" without waiting an hour.

 

[ZoZo]

Here's my experience from February, when we could only get 3 FP+ per day, all in the same park.

I am what I would term a "ride repeater", and under the old FP system, would ride my favorites (Soarin, BTMRR, TSM) multiple times in a day. With the new FP+ system, I knew this wouldn't be possible. But I was definitely able to ride my favorites multiple times on my trip using a few new strategies.

I arrived at rope drop, and rode my favorites first thing in the morning (often more than once). Also, by park-hopping, I was able to "save" my FP+s for the rides I really wanted to ride. Soarin' is my favorite, so I saved my FP+ on my Animal Kingdom day to use later in the afternoon, at Epcot. I did that on a couple of different days (went to Epcot in the afternoon), so was able to ride Soarin' several times over our trip. My friend also had a FP+ for Soarin', but decided she didn't want to ride, so I borrowed her magic band and rode again. And we hit a couple of EMHs to take advantage of lower crowds, and shorter lines.

I still much prefer the old legacy FP system, but wanted to try to make the best of the new system. When I really thought about it, I realized that, while it was disappointing not to be able to do things the old way, the new way wasn't as bad as I had feared. I do have to say, though, that I went during a fairly quiet week in February (where the crowd level was rated a "4"), so I'm not sure how I would have felt if I'd had to go during a really busy time of year.

 

[johde]

I don't think the days of multiple rides are over. But, I think Disney feels has gotten busy enough that they have decided they can't afford to let people skip the lines on the most popular rides. So if you want to ride multiple times with minimal waits t going to take a lot more planning. For example, it wasn't posted that low, but on March 31st, Soarin' touring plan showed 10 minute waits during evening EMH, Same with Test Track (post wait times were about 30 minutes). On March 14th during Morning EMH there was a 15 minute wait for TSMM for the first 45 minutes according to Touring Plans.

 

[ghornett]

DGF and I made it out to DAK with 2 hours before close and managed to walk on to Everest 5 times and Dinosaur twice! In addition to other things. Riding multiple times isn't dead, just go around closing time and have at it.

 

[minmate]

Here are my three cents...

1) Until you go and try to do multiple rides and see for yourself it indeed will work for you or not, you can't be certain this opportunity has been taken away from you.

2) We were at DHS/Epcot on Wednesday, April 2. Crowd level was a 6 or 7. We rode TOT 4x and RNR 5x and didn't schedule a single FP for DHS the whole day. (We hopped to Epcot AND back, used our FP for Soarin', the others were neglible. Did a ton of other rides and stuff throughout the day). Don't say it's impossible until you've tried it and seen the results for yourself.

3) Email WDW and let them know why you don't like the new FP+ system and provide suggestions on how you think it could be improved. I learned a long time ago, to come armed with suggestions for solutions when I'm about to offer my complaints.

I did not think I'd like FP+, mostly from the comments I'd read on here. I was so stressed ahead of time. Then I just came to terms with it and trusted that I would control what I can (devising our plan and my attitude) and just let the day unfold, taking it in stride. It turned out just fine... wonderful, in fact!

Best wishes for a magical trip, those of you planning one!

 

[pktbMouse]

I do agree with the people saying try it and see for yourself but with all due respect...they have gone when it was a much quieter time than the OP plans to go in August when the parks will poss be running close to a 10...totally different scenario. Not trying to pick an argument or anything...just seeing the obvious here...parks at level 6 are def going to let you ride it 4 or 5 times....parks at level 10! not so much.. I hope they change things soon too we were also ones that loved to ride headliners back to back then do the lesser rides later in the day. Good luck OP on your vacation, hope it works out ok for you.

 

[ariane37]

Don't think the ability to ride the same ride multiple times is gone, just not as easy. And I think it definitely, as FP+ stands right now, will depend on strategy & time of year.
We were there Feb. 8-18th, the 17th being President's Day. Most days if we were there at RD or after 10 p.m., we could get on our favorites multiple times or again after having used a FP earlier in the day. Some were harder than others, like RnRC & BTMRR ( Splash was closed for refurb and I think this made BT busier) but I was pleasantly surprised at the # of times in a day we got to ride TOT, TT, HM, EE, even TSMM. And we did manage RnRC 3x one day and same for BTMRR, but on past trips we'd do them both 5-7x in a day It was still a bit of a let-down but not as bad as I had feared!

 

[kittyab]

I think the new system is set up so everyone will get a chance to ride a ride at least once and not stand in line forever.