FP+ Details Are Out!

[Phil Dunphy]

Yeah, the problem is the same whether there's fancy rifd or not.

 

[Angel Ariel]

i would think of it this way...how many FP kiosks are there now? and you have to walk to the specific location of the attraction you want to FP. During busy times there are lines at FP kiosks for the top attractions. to me the current FP set up is already feeling dated.

The biggest line I've ever had for a FP is maybe 1 or 2 people, and we were there during spring break season this year. I don't think we waited to get a FP at all. Yes, we have to walk to the attraction, but we generally do something in the area while waiting. I've rarely gone out of my way to go get FPs, yet we've always managed to get what we need based on how we plan our day.

with FP+ you can use any kiosk...so if one has a line, look for another on the way to wherever in the park you are going.

If there are as many of them as there are current FP machines, sure...but there's no evidence that there will be. if there's only a handful of them, those could be some long lines I don't want to wait in...

personally, i look forward to this flexibility as it's always an issue who is going to be the FP runner in our group (either me or my DS12 - who no longer looks at FP running as a novelty)

We've never really done the FP runner thing. Never really needed to. I think the only time we did it on this last trip was sending my SIL and younger nephew to Soarin' to get FPs while the others (w/the older boy) went to ride TT, which the younger one couldn't ride.

 

[Angel Ariel]

I see no need for people to panic. At worst, the system is dumbed down to be nothing more than an RFID delivery system of hte same FP parameters we have grown to love....

I haven't read every post in this thread, but my general impression on the board is not one of panic. It's one of concerns, thoughts and skepticism...but not panic. Not being 100% in love with this concept isn't the same thing as panicking about its implementation.

 

[ABCD's Mom]

Time for this: Me too!
But maybe it will all work itself out and make perfect sense eventually.

ME TOO!!! I sure hope so!

Ugh

 

[AliceandAriel]

Do we have any idea when the MagicBands are going out? Is this something say, October visitors to WDW on property will receive?

 

[Phil Dunphy]

Do we have any idea when the MagicBands are going out? Is this something say, October visitors to WDW on property will receive?

No one knows.

 

[Zippa D Doodah]

The biggest problem i see in trying to figure out hte intricacies of the FP+ system is we don't have the hard number data on guests levels, FP's, crowd trends...Disney does. the FP system and the FP+ system are nothing more than mathematics. If Einstein was able to come up with the theory of relativity and man has been on the moon, then i think it's safe to say there are people outside of the DIS, who work at Disney who are smart enough to utilize the data that exists and calculate what is feasible.

Disney can't/won't properly retro-engineer a dang dancing yeti. Plus their website is specious. I think having doubts about FP+ is reasonable.

The thing that bothers me most about the "panic'ers" is that no one seems to be giving Disney the benefit of the doubt. No one is willing to believe that there's more going on than what you can see.

See above

 

[Zippa D Doodah]

Hey, if he's willing to assume the risk of significant downtime in the event there's an issue (and really almost any downtime is significant on a WDW vacation), then I'm not going to begrudge him any "massive double dip advantage" in the event there are no issues.

I mean there have to be some beta testers.

If he is willing to take the risk, good for him. Personally, I'd rather play it safe on my WDW vacation.

I won't be going so far as campaigning to be a beta tester, but I do kind of hope my family and I get tapped as testers in the last week of September. With relatively low crowds at that time of year we would be OK even if the whole stinking system went splody splody (say it like the Swedish chef ). If so I will pass along notes and thoughts on our experience

 

[d1gitman]

Disney can't/won't properly retro-engineer a dang dancing yeti. My understanding is there are structural implications. I suppose if they shut down EE for 6mo+ to do the work, then we would be hearing complaints about that as well. Plus their website is specious. While i agree it is frustrating to deal with all the various and random glitches with Disney's website and app's, I also think we don't always appreciate how complex it all is and the fact that it's live 24/7 probably makes it exponentialy more difficult to make changes and upgrades. How many of us deal with IT issues at our workplace? and that's ususally just a server with email or some specific application that is affected I think having doubts about FP+ is reasonable. I too have my concerns but then also put it in the perspective of if this were to completely fail, what are teh implications for Disney? There is so much on the line with this that i just don't see failure as an option. Will there be some glitches and hiccups and extensive tweaking, no doubt, but we also have had reports of how rough it was when FP was tested and rolled out...yet here we are trying to cling to that very system, in fear of change.

See above

.

 

[KatieCharlotte]

I haven't read every post in this thread, but my general impression on the board is not one of panic. It's one of concerns, thoughts and skepticism...but not panic. Not being 100% in love with this concept isn't the same thing as panicking about its implementation.

I'm not panicking or changing my plans to spend a few days at MK and Epcot next spring, but I'm very concerned about how FP+ will affect our experience and whether our experiences in the spring will discourage us from wanting to go again. We are rope-dropper, fastpass collectors who like to make quick changes in plans to adjust to weather, kid moods, and crowds.

I can't see how it will enhance our experience and have a lot of questions about how it will work. At Epcot, I will miss our tradition of dh heading for Soarin fastpasses at RD while the kids and I walk slowly to meet him at the Test Track standby line. We always get a second set of fastpasses for Soarin since dd and I are addicted to the ride. Will FP+ also mean we can't just walk on Maelstrom and Spaceship Earth if we time it right? And at MK, we use a lot more than three fastpasses in a day, even thought we split MK into two days. And that was when we could always count on a short line for Haunted Mansion, which the kids like to ride over and over. DH hates waiting around while the kids eat slowly or take a few minutes to play somewhere, so he runs ahead and grabs fastpasses for later as soon as we're eligible.

 

[rastuso]

ah, then your no better than me apparently. Last week of September is low risk to "beta test". watch out for the troll

You already had one message removed, but still calling me a troll?

Last week of September is Halloween season, and definitely not low risk. Again, anyone paying attention wants to beta test, if its presented as FP+ beta test on top of normal FP.

Jason

 

[Shaden]

The biggest problem i see in trying to figure out hte intricacies of the FP+ system is we don't have the hard number data on guests levels, FP's, crowd trends...Disney does. the FP system and the FP+ system are nothing more than mathematics. If Einstein was able to come up with the theory of relativity and man has been on the moon, then i think it's safe to say there are people outside of the DIS, who work at Disney who are smart enough to utilize the data that exists and calculate what is feasible.

I do agree with this, this for instance would make it much easier to do the math on ride capacity and availability of FPs vs Stand by.

But of course we aren't going to get that data.

I don't doubt that the people at Disney are going to be ABLE to use the data to figure this out, it doesn't mean that they actually WILL.

Remember that its not the job of people at Disney to ensure that we continue to enjoy the experience to the same level we have become accustomed to, it is their job to figure out how to get more money out of people. Part of that is of course making sure that people want to come back, and spend more money, etc, but there is a level of satisfaction, at a given level of cost, that will create a given level of return on expenditures and create a given level of future return revenues.

We don't have to know all that, but here are serious concerns with the FP+ system. More so that we don't have the full info about it, yet Disney wants us to book vacations during the time that FP+ will be active.

 

[mom2mickeyfan]

I've been going to Disney for decades.
I know what I can ride and when and why.

Nine attractions?
Nine?

Here's a typical MK day for us (and likely many others here.)
(In rough order)

Peter Pan x2
Winnie the Pooh
Space Mtn.
CoP
Buzz Lightyear x2
Haunted Mansion x2
Jungle Cruise
Splash Mtn. x2
BTM x2
WDW Railroad
Mickey's Philharmagic
TTA PeopleMover
MK Lighted Parade

-that's 18 attraction experiences.

(At the top of the day, add some of the new FL attractions and maybe
cut off a "repeat" ride or two.)

No, not Christmas Week or 4th of July or Easter/Spring Break,
but in Jan., early Feb., May, Late Nov., early Dec.

Anyone here NOT do something at least similar?

I know this post is a couple of days old and I haven't gotten to the end yet. (It may take awhile. I only started last night! )

Robo, I am right there with you! This is our list and it was done the 2nd full week of June! These are in no order. BTW...all this talk about 9.....we used 9 FP that day!

9 FPs!!

Splash x 3
BTM x 3
Jungle Cruise
Haunted Mansion
Mickey's Philharmagic
Small World
Peter Pan
Winnie the Pooh
Dumbo
Barnstorm x 3
Buzz
CoP
PeopleMover
Under the Sea

We also had a QS lunch, a TS dinner in the park and did a Goofy & Donald M&G.

 

[mom2mickeyfan]

My thoughts seem to be against the majority in this group but I'm happy to see how this rolls and then formalize opinions after that. We enjoy FP's but they don't command our touring. We travel in late August and rarely are the standby lines so long that we choose not to use them.
Our meals are planned out and I choose our parks well in advance too (just the way we roll) so I'm excited to give this a try. I like the fact that we don't have to hit the parks at rope drop each day to secure FP's for attractions we want to go to.
Excited to give it a try and then decide what I think about it. Bring it on!

This may have already been mentioned since I am many days behind on reading this thread but...how can you state that SB is no problem for your family and then state that you like not having to be a RD to get a FP to ride the things that you want?? If you aren't at RD to get those FP then like you said SB isn't a problem for your family to use at the time of year that you go. Those 2 statements don't go together. Also...if you are going at a time that SB lines aren't a problem, then there are only a couple of rides in all of WDW you would have to worry about FPs running out before well into the evening. Even the 2nd week of June only saw a handful of FPs run out before the evening.

 

[ttintagel]

I'm actually looking forward to this in a twisted sort of way. The idea of being able to book my FP+ for the park I plan to hop to in the evening will allow my nights to be that much more productive.

I'm a rope drop gal, so honestly FPs are never *essential* for me in my first park unless I'm there during a holiday week since we can knock out the headliners by 10:30 or so with minimal lines.

But the thought of being able to hop to DHS for the evening and do TOT, TSMM and ST with no wait...

I never thought of it that way - I thought that parkhopping would probably become a thing of the past with the one-park-per-day rule. But you bring up a really interesting point!

 

[rastuso]

I just realized another reason Disney is doing this. If FPs can sell out a lot faster. that's a WHOLE lot fewer CMs needed to man the FP stations.

Jason

 

[damo]

I just realized another reason Disney is doing this. If FPs can sell out a lot faster. that's a WHOLE lot fewer CMs needed to man the FP stations.

Jason

That's one of the major reasons for this. They can cut a lot of staff.

 

[Missyrose]

I just realized another reason Disney is doing this. If FPs can sell out a lot faster. that's a WHOLE lot fewer CMs needed to man the FP stations.

Jason

There won't be FP stations anymore under the new system. Just a few, select kiosks around the park.

 

[Cafeen]

I just realized another reason Disney is doing this. If FPs can sell out a lot faster. that's a WHOLE lot fewer CMs needed to man the FP stations.

Jason

I hadn't even thought of that angle.

Even if the FPs are available for longer, with scaled down location counts along with many (or most) FP pulls being done at home, before the trip, the staffing can be cut by at least half, potentially more depending on the kiosk location count (note, each location can have more than 1 kiosk, the number of groups of kiosks is what matters here.)

I'm sure, at the start, they'll be pretty heavily staffed, but as time goes on I can't see them keeping more than 1 CM at a time at a location.

(Note: This is FP+ kiosk location and not the existing FP machines. Since we're all pretty much assuming more centralized locations instead of machines at each FP(+) attraction.)

 

[Happy99]

a co-worker just returned from WDW and was part of the testing, they stayed at the Contemporary

He told me that it will be just FP+ for 3 attractions for one day in the park, no regular FP, once it is completely rolled out. This is the information he was able to get from the cm's he spoke with. He got friendly with one cm, happen to run into him almost every day during his stay, and the cm mentioned that if they weren't happy with this option to start complaining A LOT. Disney is waiting for feedback from guests and are taking surveys to see how many FP people are using. It seems that the average person visiting a Disney World theme park doesn't use more than 3 FP on a given day.

Now my take on their survey is that they probably ended up surveying many first timers or many people that don't know how to use the system efficiently. I cannot tell you how many first timers think FP costs extra and they did not use it during their stay

Anyhow wanted to give some feedback that I got from my co-worker. People lets start complaining LOUDLY.
I cannot find the email for guest communications, I am at work and it is on my home computer. Can someone post it?