Finally figured out my disappointment with FP+

[tater1206]

We are going in June this year for the third year in a row. This year is our first year using FP+. I was talking to my husband last night about our FP plans. His comment was "this trip is sounding like we are on a schedule." While we do plan for things at Disney, now it feels like my whole day is planned 2-3 months out instead of the day of or even the week of. The last 2 years, we had a plan but we did change our plans up while were there. Not sure how I feel about this new system.

 

[wisblue]

One of the things I like about scheduling FP+ reservations in the late afternoon or evening is that it minimizes the amount of scheduling you are really doing.

If the general plan for each day of the trip is to visit a park at opening, do as many things as possible before it gets too crowded, go back to the resort for an afternoon break, and then go to a park in the evening, there are no commitments until later in the day. And, if we decide we want to do something different in the evening, like go to a different park, we can at least try to change our FP+ reservations to that park. The worst thing that happens is that we don't use our FPs that day, and that isn't going to ruin my day. I see those FPs as my tools, not my masters.

With this general plan, we can decide the night before what park we want to go to the next morning without having to concern ourselves with FP reservations.

This lack of desire to do too much scheduling is why we usually don't make more than 1 or 2 ADR's per trip, if that. IMHO, an ADR involves MUCH more of a commitment to a schedule than FP+, especially now that they charge for no shows. I may not know what I want to eat, and at what time, even a week in advance. But, I can be pretty sure that I will enjoy looking forward to riding 3 major rides in the evening without worrying about standby lines and/or uncertain FP return times.

 

[klk77]

Confused by this new FP system and will be visiting at end of August.

Are there still going to be the "old style" FP in addition to the FP+? If so, how does that work (get at specific time, only certain attractions, etc.)?

 

[myadventurebook]

Every time I go to disney, I've never had any issues with not getting a chance to do what i want. I've been able to do the same attraction multiple times with time left over to do everything else. So its my opinion that they did not change the system so that everyone could get a chance to ride everything at least once. This might be helpful in the very busiest of times, but on any other regular day, its not necessary. As far as standing in line, its worse than ever because standby's are longer, fp return lines are longer and now you have to stand in kiosks to get your extra fastpasses which means more time in lines and less time to actually do things. Its very disappointing that we are paying more and more for Disney tickets and vacations and getting less per day.

This, so much this. I wrote out in another post the amount of rides in MK that BF and I were able to do on our last trip in one day. It was about 25, with around 12-13 being FPs. There were a lot of multiples in there too (four times on BTMRR for instance). Of course, everyone ignored the post because, hey, I must have been lying right? There's no way anyone could have pulled that many FPs or rode that many rides... Also, we never cheated and stashed our FPs till after dusk like I've heard some people used to do. We used them at the time we were supposed to.

I'm extremely apprehensive about our next trip because of the reports I'm hearing about SB lines in MK. A 30 minute wait for Philharmagic... really? Our last few trips we were given so many free FPs for that one that I still have a few extras laying around in my purse.

People saying that they feel "rushed" doing that many rides... I honestly don't understand that mentality. Why are you in the park? For one, I never felt rushed. We took plenty of breaks throughout the day- lunch and dinner, meeting characters, parades, etc. My BF is also a former smoker and needed to take breaks for that. We never "rushed" it. However, if I'm paying $100 for 10-12 hours of entertainment, I'm sure as heck going to utilize that time. Why would I not want to use the time in the park as best I could?

If they stop doing tiers in Epcot and HS, I'll probably be okay and just try to go during a low crowd time. We are blessed in both being self-employed so that we are sometimes able to go when we want (BF also has a PT job so it depends).

We used FP+ on our last trip and I really enjoyed it in HS and Epcot. It's really only MK that worries me. I feel bad for the people that have scheduled vacays this year. I feel like Disney is using them like lab rats. I think we should all just take a "wait-and-see attitude," about it as my mother would say.

 

[poeticdiabetic]

First of all, I actually saw a DECREASE in standby lines for the headliners when we were there last week than in 2012. That's the ENTIRE purpose of the FP+!

See in 2012, you could literally walk on some rides while the lines of the headliners snaked. Take Splash Mountain, for instance. We didn't ride it because the lines were two hours long when I wanted to ride it. It was insane and I didn't have FPs because I would miss rope drop. This year, the maximum was around 90 minutes for Splash Mountain. However, there was a 20 minutes standby for Small World and other rides that I would normally be able to walk on.

So this is what you would see- crowds are more spread out and equal. It does discourage you from riding the same rides over and over, but it encourages you to ride rides that you normally wouldn't. (For instance, I rode that Aladdin ride and it was actually fine.)

 

[BuckeyeBama]

Maybe it is a bit like those with negative experiences being told that it was only negative because of their attitude.

I like pecan pie.

 

[tjmj9801]

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!

Good point! This was us last week. Just not worth being in the park once FP are gone and waits are insane.

 

[wisblue]

I wrote out in another post the amount of rides in MK that BF and I were able to do on our last trip in one day. It was about 25, with around 12-13 being FPs. There were a lot of multiples in there too (four times on BTMRR for instance). Of course, everyone ignored the post because, hey, I must have been lying right? There's no way anyone could have pulled that many FPs or rode that many rides... Also, we never cheated and stashed our FPs till after dusk like I've heard some people used to do. We used them at the time we were supposed to.

So much depends on the time of year and overall crowds. At a relatively uncrowded time of year it is not hard at all to see how you could have done 25 or more rides in a day and gotten a lot of FPs. On a crowd 10 day over the holidays I would like to see a step by step on how you would have gotten 12-13 FPs unless a lot of them were the disconnected ones.

 

[Lehuaann]

I haven''t used FP+...but the way it's being described by some on these boards reminds me of what the DDP/ADRs did to restaurants?

 

[catra121]

I am curious to see...based on many comments on this thread and on the many I have read before...if evenings in the park will become like the old rope drop...with shorter lines when everyone leaves after doing their FP+ rides in the late morning/afternoon? Between that and those already staking out spots for parades/night time shows...will evenings become the new prime time for those wanting to ride stand by? Not sure I believe that...especially once there is the ability to get more FP+s after you use your original 3...but just listening to people's reactions in general makes me wonder.

I think once everything gets finalized and once the dust settles and people start following patterns that can be tracked and predicted...it will be easier to plan and figure out ways to tour more efficiently with the new system. It's just that right now it's all new, there's no history to help predict what things will be like, and it's all still changing.

I do think that repeat rides are definitely possible for headliners...but I don't think it will ever be like it was before. You can probably ride 2-3 times with minimal waits on a favorite...but it will be at the expense of riding something else (or riding that other thing with a short wait or riding it multiple times).

I think the key of FP+ will be crowd control in the future. Right now people like to point out that POTC isn't working well with FP+ because the FP+ side of the queue doesn't always go out at capacity...meaning fewer people are being loaded onto the ride. I seem to remember in the very beginning the talks about them sending out "bonus" FP+ to guests as a form of traffic control in the parks. Perhaps a part of this testing right now and part of the data they are collecting is for things like this. Maybe they will be able to send out those bonus FP+ slots that aren't being used to guests in that area...or to guests who are in a more crowded area of the park...or something along those lines. That way the ride will stay at capacity instead of boats going out only partially full...and there will be loads of happy guests who think it's cool that they just magically got this FP+ for POTC. I don't know if that's a real thing or just speculation that was being thrown around last year...but I can see the possibilities.

I don't know...just thinking out loud really. I make no attempts to hide that I really like FP+...but I also understand that it has fundamentally changed the way people will be able to tour the parks and that it does NOT work well for everyone and that many people are unhappy with it. I really hope that the final product ends up being something that everyone can enjoy (even if it's not the same way that they enjoyed the days of legacy FP).

 

[poeticdiabetic]

I am curious to see...based on many comments on this thread and on the many I have read before...if evenings in the park will become like the old rope drop...with shorter lines when everyone leaves after doing their FP+ rides in the late morning/afternoon? Between that and those already staking out spots for parades/night time shows...will evenings become the new prime time for those wanting to ride stand by? Not sure I believe that...especially once there is the ability to get more FP+s after you use your original 3...but just listening to people's reactions in general makes me wonder.

I think once everything gets finalized and once the dust settles and people start following patterns that can be tracked and predicted...it will be easier to plan and figure out ways to tour more efficiently with the new system. It's just that right now it's all new, there's no history to help predict what things will be like, and it's all still changing.

I do think that repeat rides are definitely possible for headliners...but I don't think it will ever be like it was before. You can probably ride 2-3 times with minimal waits on a favorite...but it will be at the expense of riding something else (or riding that other thing with a short wait or riding it multiple times).

I think the key of FP+ will be crowd control in the future. Right now people like to point out that POTC isn't working well with FP+ because the FP+ side of the queue doesn't always go out at capacity...meaning fewer people are being loaded onto the ride. I seem to remember in the very beginning the talks about them sending out "bonus" FP+ to guests as a form of traffic control in the parks. Perhaps a part of this testing right now and part of the data they are collecting is for things like this. Maybe they will be able to send out those bonus FP+ slots that aren't being used to guests in that area...or to guests who are in a more crowded area of the park...or something along those lines. That way the ride will stay at capacity instead of boats going out only partially full...and there will be loads of happy guests who think it's cool that they just magically got this FP+ for POTC. I don't know if that's a real thing or just speculation that was being thrown around last year...but I can see the possibilities.

I don't know...just thinking out loud really. I make no attempts to hide that I really like FP+...but I also understand that it has fundamentally changed the way people will be able to tour the parks and that it does NOT work well for everyone and that many people are unhappy with it. I really hope that the final product ends up being something that everyone can enjoy (even if it's not the same way that they enjoyed the days of legacy FP).

THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED!!!:good vibes


Last week, you go to a park and you can ride rides early. Around peak time -11-4PM, you can't get on the headliners without a FP. Around 5PM or so, people started to leave and you had good standby lines again.

What I've noticed is that to many, you go to the parks and ride 3-5 rides over and over again. Then you walk around, eat, take in the park and go home. To those people, FP+ must suck! But if you ride the headliners at rope drop, tour the park, eat, take pictures, take a show, ride the headliners on your FP, eat again and ride the rides again in the evening- FP+ is fantastic!

 

[magicbob]

I am curious to see...based on many comments on this thread and on the many I have read before...if evenings in the park will become like the old rope drop...with shorter lines when everyone leaves after doing their FP+ rides in the late morning/afternoon? Between that and those already staking out spots for parades/night time shows...will evenings become the new prime time for those wanting to ride stand by? Not sure I believe that...especially once there is the ability to get more FP+s after you use your original 3...but just listening to people's reactions in general makes me wonder.

That's not fair. I'm on vacation and want to go to bed early. I have to stay up late all year long at work. On vacation, I want to turn in early. Why should others who stay up later get rewarded by being able to ride more? And lots of people have young children who fall asleep early. It's not fair that the park stays open past our bedtimes. And it's even worse if they start offering additional FPs after you use your three. I want to sleep, so I can't take advantage of those later FPs! The nightowls will have an unfair advantage and get more FPs than those of us who want to get in bed at a decent hour!

 

[mom2mickeyfan]

All the talk about not being able to get 9 or 10 FPs during busy times. I've said it here many times. In June last year, we pulled 9 FPs and none of those were for the unconnected rides. You can see on post #5 for these thread in June 2013 that I said the same thing. We rode over 20 rides that day and the crowd level was at least an 8 but felt more like a 9. It could be done. I do not think I can repeat that day of 20+ rides. On that 8 or 9 crowd days, we pulled FPs for Splash and BTMR until very late afternoon/early evening. They did not run out if you weren't there at RD. The week we were there, we only saw TSM run out of FPs by 11:00 or 12:00.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3140894

 

[BuckeyeBama]

All the talk about not being able to get 9 or 10 FPs during busy times. I've said it here many times. In June last year, we pulled 9 FPs and none of those were for the unconnected rides. You can see on post #5 for these thread in June 2013 that I said the same thing. We rode over 20 rides that day and the crowd level was at least an 8 but felt more like a 9. It could be done. I do not think I can repeat that day of 20+ rides. On that 8 or 9 crowd days, we pulled FPs for Splash and BTMR until very late afternoon/early evening. They did not run out if you weren't there at RD. The week we were there, we only saw TSM run out of FPs by 11:00 or 12:00.

I have 6 FP+ each day of my trip coming up later this month. I could easily make that 12, but 6 is enough for me.

There are ways for the savvy traveler to leverage this system, too.

ETA - on one day, I have my FP+ split between DHS and AK, 3 in each.

 

[mom2rtk]

That's not fair. I'm on vacation and want to go to bed early. I have to stay up late all year long at work. On vacation, I want to turn in early. Why should others who stay up later get rewarded by being able to ride more? And lots of people have young children who fall asleep early. It's not fair that the park stays open past our bedtimes. And it's even worse if they start offering additional FPs after you use your three. I want to sleep, so I can't take advantage of those later FPs! The nightowls will have an unfair advantage and get more FPs than those of us who want to get in bed at a decent hour!

I've been saying for some time that they need to reschedule the night shows (Wishes, Illuminations, Fantasmic) for earlier in the day. Since I'm up early I can't stay up late for them. And it just isn't fair.

 

[mom2mickeyfan]

I have 6 FP+ each day of my trip coming up later this month. I could easily make that 12, but 6 is enough for me.

There are ways for the savvy traveler to leverage this system, too.

Yes, if you have enough money to have more than one ticket per person, you can have 6 FP+s. You want to make is seem like you know some special trick to getting more FP+s. As it has been pointed out before, you like to point out to those that aren't happy with 3, are being negative but apparently only 3 in a day isn't good enough for you either. Telling a family to just pony up another $1000 for tickets (depending on family size) is a bit unreasonable.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

Yes, if you have enough money to have more than one ticket per person, you can have 6 FP+s. You want to make is seem like you know some special trick to getting more FP+s. As it has been pointed out before, you like to point out to those that aren't happy with 3, are being negative but apparently only 3 in a day isn't good enough for you either. Telling a family to just pony up another $1000 for tickets (depending on family size) is a bit unreasonable.

I have made it very clear how I am doing this. I don't really care if you can't or won't do it, just like you don't care if I couldn't or wouldn't pull 10 FP- in a day. But, just like your system with FP-, my system with FP+ is open to anyone. All you have to do is buy one set of tickets a year in advance.

Folks who are upset about FP+ are upset because they feel trapped by FP+. They feel like they can't do the parks the way that they want to, and they want to ride. They are not trapped. Anyone can do what I am doing. If riding more rides is your #1 priority and you can't afford a second set of tickets this year, buy one set this year and wait until next year for your normal WDW vacation. Use the tickets from both years for your extra FP+.

It is just a question of priorities.

 

[jeffbear]

It's always a question of priorities.

I'm old enough to clearly recall the days before there were any kinds of fast passes, and the crowds were still daunting during the normal busy seasons ... and somehow enough people were still enchanted with WDW that they kept coming back in droves. Same as they do now and same as they likely will continue to do once this FP+ stuff settles into whatever it eventually will become.

The one thing I see absolutely no value in is banging on about a system that is clearly still in the rollout phase and will almost certainly continue to be changed to optimize the experience over time. So, I'll do what makes sense on my upcoming trip ... make my 3 FP+ ressies per day, hit the park at rope drop, enjoy what I can before the heat of the day, roll back to the resort for some rest and then come back for dinner to enjoy whatever is available. I've got a sneaking suspicion that I'll enjoy myself roughly the same as I did on my last trip a couple of years ago. I might even branch out and enjoy some rides and attractions I might have otherwise overlooked. Who knows? My actual Disney experiences have nearly always been different than the ones before anyway.

Just a hunch.

 

[magicbob]

I have made it very clear how I am doing this. I don't really care if you can't or won't do it, just like you don't care if I couldn't or wouldn't pull 10 FP- in a day. But, just like your system with FP-, my system with FP+ is open to anyone. All you have to do is buy one set of tickets a year in advance.

Folks who are upset about FP+ are upset because they feel trapped by FP+. They feel like they can't do the parks the way that they want to, and they want to ride. They are not trapped. Anyone can do what I am doing. If riding more rides is your #1 priority and you can't afford a second set of tickets this year, buy one set this year and wait until next year for your normal WDW vacation. Use the tickets from both years for your extra FP+.

It is just a question of priorities.

Apples and oranges. While your "solution" is technically available to everyone, it incurs a significant additional monetary cost. That can hardly be compared to legacy FP which was free.

 

[mom2rtk]

I have 6 FP+ each day of my trip coming up later this month. I could easily make that 12, but 6 is enough for me.

There are ways for the savvy traveler to leverage this system, too.

ETA - on one day, I have my FP+ split between DHS and AK, 3 in each.

I thought Disney wasn't about the rides? Wasn't that just earlier today you were saying that?

If it's not about the rides, why go to all that trouble and expense to double your allocation of FP's?