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

[dayvewc]

I voted "thumbs down" - barely - but only because of the phrasing of the question.

"As-is" = with tiering, inability to park-hop, requirement to choose 3 or not repeating a ride, limited ability to choose times - these are all negative issues for me on FP+.

Since I went before the tiering took effect, I do not have direct experience with that part of it. The restriction with hopping normally does not affect me a lot, as I usually spend all day in 1 park anyway, but it is nice to have the option.

Being forced to choose 3 different rides was irritating, since in EP, HS, and AK there are not 3 rides I actually care enough to stand in line for, even FP lines.

Finally, having limited time frames to choose from and then having to change each selection after "choosing" an option I found to be a time-consuming waste. It would work much better for me to be given a list of available times for each ride and allow me to select from those one at a time.

So, for me, minor tweaks would quickly move me into a "thumbs up" category, as overall I liked it overall.

Also, I am limiting my opinion expressed here strictly and solely to FP+. I am not addressing MDX, the phone apps, WiFi in the parks, connectivity issues, etc. Just FP+ itself.

 

[bcrook]

The OP asked for a vote from only people who have used fast pass plus. It looks like over half of the people who voted have not even used them in the parks yet. I would have loved to see a poll just from people who actually used them, not just read about it on the Internet.

How do you know that? The people who commented have visited.

I wonder what the 80,000 people a day staying off site visiting wdw right now would say to this poll. They are there at the parks watching on site guests grabbing FP+ and FP- and blocked from the FP+ only rides.

They aren't happy with this system. They represent more than half of all Disney guests.

 

[SoonerSean]

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

We booked a few weeks back and didn't have tiering issues. And planning ahead wasn't an issue bc of how easy it was to switch. I literally changed rides moments before getting on the new one. We were in line one day for something and decided we didn't want to do the next FP+ pick so we changed and stepped into the FP+ line instead.

All in all I honestly loved it. But that is largely due to the fact that we still pulled 3-4 traditional FP each day. If we had not been able to do that my opinion would be different. Otherwise they worked fine and it was easy to change via the app.

My only complaints with it as-is would be that it has greatly affected lines for attractions that didnt previously have a FP. And it's confusing to people that can't pull a FP at the park to see a FP line and g around trying to find a kiosk. Also - some rides simply don't need a FP of any kind. So it's a bit of a waste to even offer it and I can imagine a lot of people pulling one bc they're a first time visitor and then they arrive and see how silly it was to waste a choice on say Philharmagic, Laugh Floor or even Dumbo. Saw several attractions where it was as easy to go standby as use a FP+ and others where they FP+ line meant standby was grossly too long bc they had less space to queue up.

 

[Pooksie]

Thumbs down.

3 FPs are not enough for our family, limiting it to one park and tiers just turn it into a sad joke.

I'm not sure how they think they'll convince most people that a reservation for one headliner ride in a day is a significant plus.

They don't have to convince anyone of anything if what I believe will happen actually happens.

If Disney starts selling additional FP+ reservations by tier to people, then the limit of 3 per day will be a soft limit that you can increase by purchasing a few more tier one FP+ reservations.

The 71 people here on DIS who voted dislike are a drop in the bucket compared to the percentage of the 12 million annual visitors to the parks that will pay for convenience. People will pay for convenience as evidenced all the time in retail. Universal Studios shows this in a relative way.

The all you can eat buffet that was FP- is being replaced by the a la carte system of FP+. Disney just hasn't yet started selling additional FP+ reservations, but they will imo and many many people will take the opportunity to gain the convenience of being able to cater the rides to their wants and schedules. Monetizing the FP+ system seems inevitable based on tiered rides and soft limits of 3 FP+ per day. It's the perfect setup for it. With over 1 billion spent on MyMagic plus, it makes perfect sense to try to recoup some of that expense by monetizing FP+.

 

[BillyBuckner]

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

With triple dipping our trip from Nov 16-24 was our least stressful ever. But if paper FP are gone it would be thumbs down

 

[BillyBuckner]

We go during non busy times. But I really liked the fact that when I could see that I was going to be late for my FP+ for Kali or Jungle Cruise that I could bump it back one hour without running across the park.

Or when I realized that I wasn't going to use afternoon FP+ for Peter Pan because I already rode it in morning, I was able to change it for a different ride while standing in the short line that I was already in

 

[Disney_Princess83]

One of the most obvious facts about the DIS is that people here do not embrace change in any way. It's sad that people on these boards are so negative. Especially those who whine excessively about things they haven't even tried.

Not everyone who dislikes FP+ is just whining or has an issue with change. We used it, didn't like it. Not because it was a change, we didn't like how it made us constantly watch a clock, how we had to race from one side of the park to the next because the only times we could get for Soarin' and Test Track conflicted. We hated the fact that it took away spontaneity. With the tiering system it makes it worse because we miss out on rides we want (or be willing to wait in a 90 min line) and make ride reservations we are never going to use.

Sorry, some people actually don't like FP+

 

[disneymath]

Thumbs Up with a qualifier ... We went in mid-October (columbus day) ... no tiering in effect. 3 FP+ per day worked out well for us, we did not even attempt to double dip. We don't park hop, so no issues with FP+ being one park per day. We don't usually repeat rides, so that restriction was/is also not a big deal. Overall the experience was positive, (though not perfect or fantastic) even when changes needed to be made. Wifi in DHS was slow, but I was able to change a FP+ on the fly. Slept in on Epcot day and tried to modify FP+s to later times ... nothing available (party of 8 ppl) ... plus a lot of rides down, so opted to try AK instead and was able to get FP+s for Kali, Safari, and FotLK even though it was already midday. Ended up being one of our best AK visits ever. Since we go every year or so, it's not the end of the world if we don't hit all the parks, or all the rides we like - so being flexible about what's available when changing FP+s day of is no big deal. That said, I am not happy to hear about the tiering, especially at Epcot. If we get 3FP+ options, we should be able to pick any 3 rides in the park that are part of FP+.

 

[lucyem]

We are using it now. Like I said it kills spontaneity and flexibility. And we can presently double dip etc. but we all know that's going. And I do not care if I have to pay for fps. My reasoning for hating FP+ I listed. These are not issues we have had but could easily see happening to the average guest.
And it all stems from not enough to ride in each park. Where FP+ can be changed on the go. And it kills hopping.

FYI I stood in guest services line for 45 minutes the other day. A good third of issues were magic band related. Dead bands etc.

 

[ilovefh]

I said thumbs up, but again, only if the paper tickets stay. Yesterday we had fastpasses for 6 different rides. It was nice knowing that we could get to MK around 1 and we would definitely not be waiting in the crazy Peter Pan line because we already had a fastpass.

I also like the current set up where they release some the day of. Friday morning I checked and ended up with fastpasses at DHS for 10, 11 and 12. One of which was Toy Story. It was nice knowing we didn't have to get there at park opening and make a mad dash back there.

I don't love the limit of 3 but I can see why it's needed. I think if they changed it to a limit of 3 and then you can sign up the morning of, from the park, for more. Maybe like the paper ones where you can only hold one additional ticket at a time.

 

[SoonerSean]

The best aspect for me was knowing when you needed to get to a park. On our DHS day we had a FP+ for TSM at 1:00. Due to bus issues we didn't arrive until almost 10 (took over an hour). By that time the paper FP system was gone. Same shortly after for Aerosmith. But we had FP+ for both. Had we been using the old system we'd have needed to be in the park at RD. So in that regard FP+ helps immensely.

I can understand people saying they want spontaneity. I agree. But we managed that fairly well by trying to spread out our FP+ choices. We road TSM at 1:00 and then had Aerosmith at 5 and ToT at 7. Plenty of time on between for other stuff. And it worked, to me, much better than the old system when you'd walk up and see a return time that didnt work for you bc of a dining res or something else.

The ability to quickly (for us anyway) change a selection also helped. We had splash mountain on a day when it was cold and windy. Changed it on the fly and road something else. Littlest child freaked and didn't want to ride SM - so quick change there. One day we did the Belle story attraction by making a change minutes before our FP+ window opened and we walked right in. So I'd say we had far far far more positives with how the system worked for us than negatives. In fact, outside of some longer standby lines caused by FP+, I don't have any complaints. Though I say that bc we were able to use the old system to double dip. When that goes away I'll have a different opinion.

 

[OurDogCisco]

The best aspect for me was knowing when you needed to get to a park. On our DHS day we had a FP+ for TSM at 1:00. Due to bus issues we didn't arrive until almost 10 (took over an hour). By that time the paper FP system was gone. Same shortly after for Aerosmith. But we had FP+ for both. Had we been using the old system we'd have needed to be in the park at RD. So in that regard FP+ helps immensely.

.

However, now for DHS the FP+ are tiered so, you only get a choice of riding either TSM or Aerosmith on FP+ not both. We arrived at TSM exactly at 9:15 am (to bus issues - the only bus issue we had all week) and paper fastpasses were at 5:30 to 6:30 pm and the standby wait time was 105 minutes. We opt to get a paper fastpass for Aerosmith instead. But I didn't like the tiered aspect of it. This park and Epcot were challenging for us because of the tiered system.

 

[OurDogCisco]

.

I also like the current set up where they release some the day of. Friday morning I checked and ended up with fastpasses at DHS for 10, 11 and 12. One of which was Toy Story. It was nice knowing we didn't have to get there at park opening and make a mad dash back there.
.

I tried this the day of DHS day and I couldn't get a better time. The only times available were 5:30 to 6:30 and 6:30 to 7:30. How many were in your party? I did this the minute I woke up as well. Because our FP+ time was during Fantasmic we did not ride TSM this trip.

 

[ajfd]

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.

 

[OurDogCisco]

I'm a thumbs down as it changed how we toured. This is our first trip back when they have monitored return times for fastpass so this made it more difficult to enjoy sitdown service and rides together. It was much more difficult to manage as I didn't have the best FP+ times. We love sitting down for meals and find that they don't even take longer than counter service meals. In fact we ate at Via Napoli and it took 50 minutes exactly from the time we checked in to the time we left the restaurant. Granted we always go during peak season and prefer our meals get served hot instead of trying to find a table while your food gets cold. I did discover that some of my fastpass times would overlap our meal times and found out that since I called for some of my dining reservations the fp+ system did not know I was dining at that time. So, it would try and schedule me for a ride at that time. We definitely got less done in Epcot and DHS. MK was fine as well as AK but we used the paper FP as well and once that goes away I would not be happy.

 

[Shanan]

Thumbs down for us also

 

[ilovefh]

I tried this the day of DHS day and I couldn't get a better time. The only times available were 5:30 to 6:30 and 6:30 to 7:30. How many were in your party? I did this the minute I woke up as well. Because our FP+ time was during Fantasmic we did not ride TSM this trip.

We did this Friday morning, around 8:30. There were 4 of us. I tried starting at 6:30 when we woke up and there was nothing available until 8:30.

 

[SoonerSean]

However, now for DHS the FP+ are tiered so, you only get a choice of riding either TSM or Aerosmith on FP+ not both. We arrived at TSM exactly at 9:15 am (to bus issues - the only bus issue we had all week) and paper fastpasses were at 5:30 to 6:30 pm and the standby wait time was 105 minutes. We opt to get a paper fastpass for Aerosmith instead. But I didn't like the tiered aspect of it. This park and Epcot were challenging for us because of the tiered system.

We didn't experience the tiering. I guess that started after I booked ours. That is a lousy change and I'd certainly vote thumbs down if we had experienced that. At DHS and EPCOT there are obviously not enough attractions to limit people to just two "main" rides. If you could only pull TSM and ToT and then had to use the 3rd to see the Ariel show or Indiana Jones I wouldn't be happy. Same at EPCOT. I noticed the line to ride the Norway deal was almost 40 minutes one night. Never waited more than 10 before. That's another negative of FP+ and probably tiering.

 

[Mickey's Best Girl]

Emphatic thumbs down.

-limit of 3
-tiering (full disclosure-wasn't affected by this)
-face in my phone all vacation-hated it
-planning/scheduling - this does not make for a VACATION IMO.
-can't choose same ride twice ie. 2x RNRC 1xTSMM

My biggest beef with FP+ is planning months in advance. I am a retail store manager, one of my biggest responsibilities is scheduling and planning. When I go on vacation its all about spontaneity.

We have already stopped eating table service due to our hate for planning. This might just be the straw....

Will wait and see but so far we are not fans.

 

[surferdave]

Quite a few of you are indicating that you voted thumbs up based on the way it was when you visited, not the way it is now with tiers, far more people using the new system such that FP+ unavailability is high, and the old system strained by the new system to the point of being useless. It sounds like if everyone answered the way it was written it would be skewed even more towards dissatisfaction.