FP+ AS-IS: Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down?

[DisneyFive]

I voted thumbs down, specifically due to the tiered FP+. When we used FP+ in Sept, there was no tiered system, and it was o.k. (I still prefer the old paper FP system though).

There are big plusses and big minuses to the FP+.

So to sum it up for us:

The plus: Scheduling FP in the late morning and afternoon which lets you actually sleep in on your vacation if you would like, and the comfort of knowing you have your favorite attractions all set for the day.

The Minus: Limited ability to modify headliner FP+ the day of. Limit of 3. Having to plan even MORE than you used to on your Disney Vacation, which locks you into certain parks even more than before once your schedule is setup. Now you have to worry about ADR's as well as FP+. Being tied to a smartphone on vacation, and not being able to just go with the flow as much as before.

The tiered FP+ system is the deal breaker for us though. It's horrendous.

Dan

 

[Princess Katherine]

Thumbs up all the way. I tested last August and things were great. I like being able to whip my family into doing whatever I want using the old we have Fastpasses excuse. I'm not joking, I'm a major planner and I find it fun. I like the tiered attractions. I'm not sure why. I think it will cut down on crowds if you make people choose. I also don't like Soarin' or TSM. Works out for me. I think in a few years all these no sayers will be singing a different tune.

Katie

 

[g-dad66]

Thumbs up with a qualifier - they keep the existing paper FP or give more than three choices wo tiering.

Thumbs up "as is" with a qualifier.

Currently you can still pull FP- in addition to FP+, and if you have room only key cards you can triple dip

I said thumbs up, but again, only if the paper tickets stay. .

If you mean with the ability to double-dip FP- and use the MDE trick to pull more than 3 FP+ over multiple parks, then thumbs up. Otherwise, thumbs down.

Based upon another thread (where some non-Pop Century guests are reporting today that their current KTW cards aren't working in the FP-machines), it sounds like this poll will soon be obsolete, and we'll need a new Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down poll for "As-Is including no access to FP-."

 

[Sammie]

I am all for it, I also think ever greater enhancements will be coming.

 

[Sammie]

Based upon another thread (where some non-Pop Century guests are reporting today that their current KTW cards aren't working in the FP-machines), it sounds like this poll will soon be obsolete, and we'll need a new Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down poll for "As-Is including no access to FP-."

If you read that entire thread you will see that others have been able to use current KTTW cards and AP cards, just no OLD ones.

But seriously who did that, who brought back old cards and tried to work a system.

Obviously enough to make them have to change it.

 

[SoonerSean]

If the old FP system goes away to prevent double dipping I'd still vote thumbs up PROVIDED you could pull more (5 per day) with no tiering. We spend an entire day in the parks from opening or close to it to close. 3 FP for an entire day is not enough. Even 5 sounds light for a 10-12 hour day.

 

[blumski]

Thumbs down, we were there at the end of October. We normally do not stay on site and this time for the second time in 10 visits did free dining. I have to admit that both times we did free dining we did not nearly have as much fun as when we stayed off site the other 8 times. Between free dining and having to have advance dining reservations to use table service credits and then having to lock yourself in to ride/attraction times, we felt like we were running all over the place. If we tried to change on the fly, we could not get our attraction/ride for a different time in most cases. We felt stuck and locked in to a schedule.

If you were to ask me today, I would say next time we will be staying off site, not doing free dining and not going to worry about fast passes either! Unless Disney can make it more flexible, make the wireless and app work faster, then I'm not really interested in free dining or fast passes.

 

[Allis0nW0nderland]

Could someone PLEASE tell me what "tiering" means?

 

[g-dad66]

Could someone PLEASE tell me what "tiering" means?

Currently, when you reserve FP+ for Hollywood Studios, there are two tiers of atttractions. Tier 1 includes Toy Story Mania, Rock n Roller Coaster, Beauty and the Beast, and Fantasmic. Tier 2 includes everything else.

You can only FP+ ONE of the four Tier 1 attractions, and you can FP+ two of the Tier 2 attractions.

Same situation at Epcot, where Tier 1 includes Soarin, Test Track, Maelstrom, Illuminations, and Epcot Character Spot. You can FP+ only ONE of these, and you can FP+ two from Tier 2 (everything else).

See mesaboy's FP+ priority thread for further details:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3143281

 

[bruhl1j]

We went over Thanksgiving week. FP+ are flexible and saved the day a few times. I had been a couple times and was not able to ride TSM. The lines were to long for a wait for my personal limit. When you could get a FP-, it was many hours in the future. I am not going to be the first one in the park to get in line for ride or get a FP- and return 6-8 hrs later.

We made two trips to DHS and got to FP+ TSM both times. Even with the FP+ the wait was about 20 minutes. Since the ride is so popular, I doubt I would have made TSM without a FP+.

Also, when the PoC went down, we pulled out the smart phones and changed the FP+ to SM for our two DS. I have heard you could use FP ticket on other rides when the ride is down but not sure about this. FP+ made it quick and easy to change rides and stay within our itinerary.

I believe after testing is complete, the choices for FP+ will be better, updated for park hopping, and more. FP+ saved us time, walking, and worked without any issues.

 

[johde]

I haven't experienced it yet. But based on what I've read and seen so far, it really depends on when I'm traveling.

Crowd levels 1-3, ie Sept. January, Don't care, probably don't need FP anything anyways.

Crowd levels 8-10+ ie Christmas, Easter, New Years. I'm going to say FP+ all the way. Being able to book 3 FP+ in advance is better than I was able to do last year right after New Years this year. I tended to close the parks at midnight- 2 A.M. most days so getting up for rope drop to get FP's before they ran out was tough.

Crowd levels 4-7. Probably FP-. It's busy enough the FP line is valuable but traditionally there's been enough availability for FP to get more than 3 good ones in a day.

On the whole, I'm not as negative about FP+ as a lot of people seem to be around here. Most of the time I think I could make either system work.

 

[practicallyperfect77]

I just returned home today after a 7 day visit. I stayed at Pop and had.no other media to pull FP_ so I only had FP+. I did make ressies before tiering was put in place so I guess I lucked out there. I voted thumbs down b/c of the limit of 3 and the I ability to use in more than one park. There were a couple days I didn't use all mine b/c I hopped to Epcot in the afternoon and wanted Soarin' and TT but didn't need the 3rd one. I def coulda used that one in the morning at MK tho. MBs worked fine for room, getting into park and charging (although did take me a few tries to figure out how to get things lined up). I was able to change some of the times as well and yesterday (my last day) I rocked out all 4 parks and used FP+ at HS in the evening. I realize this wouldn't be possible with FP_, but in general I feel there are more disadvantages than advantages with FP+.

 

[Wood Nymph]

We just got back today from a six day stay. I liked everything about the MB's. They were really easy to use for park entry, rides, purchasing things and getting into the resort room, etc. I liked having the ability to schedule fp+'s. It was a lot better to know that I had a guaranteed fp for a ride. But the limit of three fp+ a day at only one park was ridiculous. We like to park hop and there was only one fp+ I needed at HS, one fp+ I wanted at AK, and a whole bunch I would have liked to have at MK. And the kicker is that they aren't limiting everyone to three fp's a day. They are only limiting resort guests. That is what is so hard to understand.

But I must admit I loved the ability to schedule the fp+'s while at the park. It was really nice to walk up to a ride, schedule a fp+, and then walk on the ride a few minutes later, ahead of the long standby line. This could work great if there was more flexibility in the number of fp+ you can use per day.

 

[Wood Nymph]

Also, when the PoC went down, we pulled out the smart phones and changed the FP+ to SM for our two DS. I have heard you could use FP ticket on other rides when the ride is down but not sure about this. FP+ made it quick and easy to change rides and stay within our itinerary.

Yes, you can use the fp ticket on other rides when your ride is down. We had a fp+ for BMRR on Monday night. The ride was down so the CM said we could use it for another ride. We walked over to HM and went through the fp+ line. When we got to the last Mickey Head the light didn't turn green. We could see the screen that the CM uses and it showed our names and times for BMRR. We told her that BMRR was down and they let us on HM.

 

[g-dad66]

As of December 17, 2013, the numbers in this poll are :

Thumbs Up -- 27 (15.61%)
Thumbs Down -- 123 (71.10%)
Not Experienced FP+ Yet -- 19 (10.98%)
Other - 4 (2.31%)

Now that most Value Resort guests aren't able to use FP- (paper Fast Passes), I'm curious to see more feedback on this poll.

Thanks to all those who have responded so far.

 

[g-dad66]

Bump. Looking for more folks to vote in the poll.

 

[Laketravis]

Wow. Currently running 4 to 1 thumbs down.

We participated in one of the very early tests in 2012 and gave it high marks.

Unfortunately, during our recent visit 11/13-12/13, we saw and experienced way too many issues with the version Disney decided they would roll out.

Tiering is definitely an issue. One park is definitely an issue. The limit of 3 per day is an issue for a lot of people.

Thumbs down.

 

[g-dad66]

Thumbs UP at 15.94% as of today.

Curious to see if this changes very much now that paper FP has gone bye-bye.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

I voted Other, because it depends on how I am vacationing on a particular trip. For most of my trips, I would vote thumbs down. For a few, thumbs up. For my only trip with FP+ (last week), it gets a thumbs up, but I know that I will not always want to sleep in when in WDW.

 

[J and R's mom]

Thumbs down for me.

We were there mid-Dec 2013. I lucked out in making EPCOT FP+ reservations prior to the tiering in Nov 2013, but needed to make some adjustments while on-site and the tiering was a real PAIN. It stinks that they will be tiering the other parks as well. They need to re-think that.

Also, we always have either APs or park-hoppers and visit more than one park daily. Even if they only leave us with a measly three FP+ options, we should be allowed to disperse them across parks as we see fit for our plans that day. They make us input our tickets into MDE in order to make FP+ choices, so surely they can tell who has APs and park-hoppers and allow those folks to plan FP+ across the parks each day.