We are at the BLT now and have been here for 3 days. This was our first trip with FP+ and magic bands. We are seasoned disney visitors and always took full advantage of rope drop and maximizing usage of the old fastpasses. There are obviously many opinions on these subjects, so I thought I would give my honest first impressions.
Magic Bands: I really like them. We have had virtually no problems or glitches with them. I was always the family member that had to carry around our KTTW cards and paper fastpasses, so I love the convenience of the MB's. It is just so easy to use for room entry, fastpass+, dining, charging purchases to your room etc.. I have to say that I was concerned, but I think this is a major upgrade.
Fastpass+: In the past, we would always rope drop and have multiple fastpasses at one time. We felt like we had perfected the system and were able to ride our favorite E-ride attractions multiple times in a day. Therefore we were extremely nervous of the change. After three days, I have to say that for our family, fastpass+ is not positive. We have found that at Epcot and Hollywood Studios, unless you are willing to wait in a 60 minute SB line, you can only ride TSMM/RNRC each once per day and the same goes for TT/Soarin at Epcot. Yesterday, we did TT at rope drop and had a FP at Soarin for 11:15. Went we got off Soarin at 11:30, the fastpasses for both rides were already gone for the day. Under the old system, we would have been able to ride each at least twice in a day. For these two parks, I hate Fastpass+. For the crowd that wants to arrive to the park at 11:30 and make sure they get on one headliner, it is great. This is just not my family.
Fastpass+ Kiosk: these are terrible!! Very hard to navigate. Terrible that it does not give you immediately the time available for an attraction until after you choose that attraction. Also, there are not enough of them. We waited 5+ minutes in line each time.
MDE: very convenient, but found it to still be very glitchy and slow at times. They need to upgrade to allow you to make your 4th fastpass on the app.
I will report back more updates later in the week.
Magic Bands: I really like them. We have had virtually no problems or glitches with them. I was always the family member that had to carry around our KTTW cards and paper fastpasses, so I love the convenience of the MB's. It is just so easy to use for room entry, fastpass+, dining, charging purchases to your room etc.. I have to say that I was concerned, but I think this is a major upgrade.
Fastpass+: In the past, we would always rope drop and have multiple fastpasses at one time. We felt like we had perfected the system and were able to ride our favorite E-ride attractions multiple times in a day. Therefore we were extremely nervous of the change. After three days, I have to say that for our family, fastpass+ is not positive. We have found that at Epcot and Hollywood Studios, unless you are willing to wait in a 60 minute SB line, you can only ride TSMM/RNRC each once per day and the same goes for TT/Soarin at Epcot. Yesterday, we did TT at rope drop and had a FP at Soarin for 11:15. Went we got off Soarin at 11:30, the fastpasses for both rides were already gone for the day. Under the old system, we would have been able to ride each at least twice in a day. For these two parks, I hate Fastpass+. For the crowd that wants to arrive to the park at 11:30 and make sure they get on one headliner, it is great. This is just not my family.
Fastpass+ Kiosk: these are terrible!! Very hard to navigate. Terrible that it does not give you immediately the time available for an attraction until after you choose that attraction. Also, there are not enough of them. We waited 5+ minutes in line each time.
MDE: very convenient, but found it to still be very glitchy and slow at times. They need to upgrade to allow you to make your 4th fastpass on the app.
I will report back more updates later in the week.
