FP+ Frustration

[BarbieGal457]

I never said anywhere that people don't feel the same way about FP. If it is that important to them, they shouldn't mind not changing plans. If it really is that important and they can't ever get a FP, they can always wait standby. That is not always possible with ADRs, that is why I feel they are more binding. You also will get charged if you don't cancel in time - FP+ doesn't do that.

With old FP you ran the same risk of not getting FP for that, you just didn't know until that day. What did you do then? You waited standby. You still might get FP that day, but instead people choose to worry about it for 60 days for what ultimately may be no reason.

Maybe that is why I don't understand the frustration. I have horrible anxiety and even I can't see the reason to worry about something like this that really may all work out in the end, and that you can still experience without a FP. If I can't find any openings for Cali Grill, guess what, I don't get to do that this trip. I can still wait standby for a ride. If you don't want to take 5 minutes to check your phone while there, but still complain about not being able to get one, that's on you. It may have opened up but you never felt the need to look.

Either way, that is all I have to say on this matter as I really don't like getting involved in insane FP+ conversations. Some of us do like it. Have a great day!

 

[Missyrose]

With old FP you ran the same risk of not getting FP for that, you just didn't know until that day. You still might get FP that day, but instead people choose to worry about it for 60 for what ultimately be no reason.

Actually, with the legacy system, if you got to the park when it opened, you knew you could pull a FP for the attraction you wanted.

Now, you've got a FP+ system where someone signs on at midnight at 60 days out from their four-day trip (which is the equivalent to park opening for legacy FP) and are shut out of certain FP+ reservations altogether. And there's been little to no evidence that FP+ reservations are added the day before or the day of.

 

[summerskye]

Feels like I've been trying for years, Wis.

I don't know that it equates to it, but at times it can certainly feel like it.

My most current example is the extended hours next week. While that's a great thing in some respects, I had previously obtained three ADR's for Crystal Palace well before rope drop. You remember rope drop, right? It's one of the elements still left to a successful touring plan.

Those ADR's were part of the rope drop strategy, which was part of the FP+ strategy, which was part of the hopping strategy, which was part of the touring strategy.

When WDW extended park hours so that the park would open while I was stuffing my face with Mickey waffles, my plan for rope drop that day went out the window. So I cancelled those ADR's in order to preserve the rope drop strategy as well as the integrity of those 3 FP's for later in the day at a different park.

But now, I have to use those ADR's somewhere - and deciding where/when not only involves current availability (which is a tale of it's own) but also what FP's are already scheduled and hope that any ADR's we might be able to get at such late notice do not overlap the FP+ reservations already made, because having to change those FP+ reservations now runs the risk of losing some of the most sought after ones.

So you see, it can sometimes seem like those puny, miniscule, insignificant just three FP's for events that last at most three or four minutes can have a huge impact on one's day and make it seem like the entire schedule revolves around them and "equates to scheduling every minute of the day".

 

[SCDisneyfanatic]

I was very skeptical about the FP+ process and how it would change the way I saw or did WDW vacations. We are visiting 13-20 December, our first trip with FP+, and we are staying at Shades of Green, which only gave me a 30 day window from each day to make FP+ ressies. Yes, that meant getting up every night at midnight to make selections (not required...but felt it gave me the best options). I still have 1 night to go (tonight) for EPCOT FP+ on 19 Dec. Here's what I have experienced:

1) I was able to get FP+ for a party of 10 at 30 days out each day without any problems. Granted, we weren't interested in things like A&E and I didn't even try for 7DMT. Other than that, DHS and EPCOT are tiered so I could only get 1 top ride at each and got them.

2) Here are the FP+ I secured at 30 days (again, for a party of 10)...AK: Dinosur, KS, EE...DHS: RnRC, ToT, Muppet 3D...MK: Space Mt, Splash Mt, BTRR...tonight I hope to get Soarin', Spaceship Earth, and since it really won't matter, I'll grab Journey into Imagination. We can do TT at RD.

3) Having set FPs (not having to run around the park all day to secure one after the other) has allowed me to design a plan to see and do all the events we want and, at least on paper, it seems rather smooth and not rushed.

4) We plan on hitting 7DMT during the late hours on a MVMCP night. We have no young ones (youngest is 26), so meet and greets aren't a factor.

Yes, I realize everyone has a different way of doing business, but it seems so far that FP+ is going to be an advantage in the long run for us. I'll let you know how it works out upon my return on 21 Dec. Of course, we are a laid back bunch anyway...it's vacation, we'll do what we can without rushing around, if we have to go back again for things we missed, then lucky us!

 

[summerskye]

It's almost as frustrating as...

 

[ArwenMarie]

Once our AP's run out we're done. For Thanksgiving we are going to NYC, Easter is New Orleans and Summer is London. All of the hotels we are staying at are both nicer and cheaper than WDW.

Or you can see the Thanksgiving parade at Universal after it travels down there from NYC after the holiday. Warm weather plus the parade!

 

[Luckybee]

Perhaps the anti FP+ crowd would prefer the ultimate fair system: no FP at all. Everyone waits in line. Can't argue that there's anything unfair about that.

I understand the frustration, but honestly, it's a theme park. If you really expect to be able to ride all the most popular rides in the world's most popular theme park multiple times without waiting in line, that simply is not a realistic expectation. Even if you've been able to do that at times in the past (and I did on my first trip to WDW last year), but you can't expect that to always be the case. It's just not possible.

(Note: reading over this post, I realize that it sounds a bit snarky, but is not intended that way, so please don't take offense!)

But there's the rub. Until fp+ came out there were many rides for the taking with little or no lines at many times of the year (perhaps not the super busy times). We would only ride a couple of the majors if the lines were too long, or if we couldn't get fp's for them(although most of the time we were able to get fp- arriving late morn. for at least one of the majors at either Epcot or MK. But there was still plenty to do if one didn't wish to spend hours in line or hours and hours at the parks. Now that has become impossible and for us it was impossible to get the same amount done in the same amount of time....never mind the same amount....how about not even close Im sure for some that's great but for us it didn't work well at all.

 

[Luckybee]

I don't get the thought process of "WOW, you're only getting to ride 3 rides." Ummm, no, those are the rides we had FP+ for, but we were able to ride more than those with minimal to moderate wait.

In late October we were able to ride the following with a 25 minute wait or less
Soarin(got to Epcot 30 min after RD)
RNR(not at RD)
ITTBAB
Jungle Cruise
Buzz
HM
POTC
BTMRR
GMR
Muppets
Small World
Philharmagic
Living with the Land
JIYI

There were others we could have ridden with short/medium waits, but we didn't. Those were
Tomorrowland Speedway
Stitch
Country Bears
Tiki Room
Magic Carpets
Kali
Ellen's Universe of Energy
Star Tours

We found the new system very workable. We went earlier, but not a RD in order to do Soarin and we rode in 15 min. Otherwise, we got to the parks around 10:30. I was able to switch from MK to HS during my trip with a one day notice and the only thing I couldn't get was TSMM. Not a big deal because we had already ridden it earlier. Obviously, SDMT and A&E are going to be tough to work around, but they would be rides we had to schedule around in the old system.

It might take a little getting used to the new system, but it does have positives. If a person decides that it just ruins Disney for them, it's a good thing there are many other vacation choices. No reason to be stressed over vacation.

The crazy thing about what you posted is that many of the rides and attractions on your list could have , prior to fp+ been had with virtually no line at all or at worst a 5 minute one. Now...bleh !

 

[SuperTink]

Has anyone heard reports (or know first-hand) about how FP+ is affecting early EMH and rope drop? Are more people skipping these because they have their choices secured, or are more people attending these to get more than 3 choice rides a day?

 

[wdwcoltsfan]

Many of them had little to no wait, I just lumped them all together. The ones that had some wait are Soarin, RNR, JC and Buzz. That said, they were still less than 25 min.

I also mentioned that we went in late Oct. because I didn't want to give the impression we were there at a holiday time. Of course, it's going to be easier to ride some rides, but anyone going at a known busy time knows that all lines will be longer and that planning needs to be done to secure FP for the popular rides. This was also the case with legacy FP. There are similarities and differences in strategy. I guess we all will have to decide if the differences still make WDW a preferred vacation destination.

 

[DISNEYD14]

Has anyone heard reports (or know first-hand) about how FP+ is affecting early EMH and rope drop? Are more people skipping these because they have their choices secured, or are more people attending these to get more than 3 choice rides a day?

** We are not the RD people ** which is why we loved FP+
While we felt obligated to do it on every other trip we did not this past October. I felt free to wake up and be happy with my '3'

With that said. We entered MK at about 9:30am-10:30 every day we had a MK day scheduled and did our 3 FP+ all before 1pm and still obtain 4/5 FP with riding other rides in between. Our first MK day we did everything we wanted excluding Space Mountain but the kids didn't want too.

 

[agavegirl1]

Has anyone heard reports (or know first-hand) about how FP+ is affecting early EMH and rope drop? Are more people skipping these because they have their choices secured, or are more people attending these to get more than 3 choice rides a day?

I did not notice in appreciable difference in the number of guest using EMH. What I did notice is that the advantage of EMH was somewhat diminished due to FP+ reservations starting shortly after regular park open. I used EMH for DHS and Epcot due to tiering at those parks. Where previously it was easy to complete 4 major attractions before lines became long, we were now able to do 3. Not a huge difference, but standby lines jumped quite quickly after regular park open. I can not and will not stand in lines over 25 minutes due to arthritis in my ankle so I chose to skip attractions rather than ride or to ride only attractions in the first hour plus those I had a FP+ for. I accomplished much less in terms of attractions and entertainment than I had in previous trips.

 

[mom2rtk]

Are more people skipping these because they have their choices secured, or are more people attending these to get more than 3 choice rides a day?

Probably yes.

 

[Luckybee]

Many of them had little to no wait, I just lumped them all together. The ones that had some wait are Soarin, RNR, JC and Buzz. That said, they were still less than 25 min.

I also mentioned that we went in late Oct. because I didn't want to give the impression we were there at a holiday time. Of course, it's going to be easier to ride some rides, but anyone going at a known busy time knows that all lines will be longer and that planning needs to be done to secure FP for the popular rides. This was also the case with legacy FP. There are similarities and differences in strategy. I guess we all will have to decide if the differences still make WDW a preferred vacation destination.

All I can tell you about is our own experiences . Comparing previous trips where we were able to walk on or only have a very short wait in the past(less than 5 mn) for a fair number of attractions we found virtually none that we could that that for this trip and that was at the end of Sep beginning of Oct. which is traditionally slow time and none of our days were greater than a 5 acc'd to TP. (granted we didn't check every attraction...we were too frustrated by then).

 

[DISNEYD14]

All I can tell you about is our own experiences . Comparing previous trips where we were able to walk on or only have a very short wait in the past(less than 5 mn) for a fair number of attractions we found virtually none that we could that that for this trip and that was at the end of Sep beginning of Oct. which is traditionally slow time and none of our days were greater than a 5 acc'd to TP. (granted we didn't check every attraction...we were too frustrated by then).

** I went the last week of October and much like other poster - no or less then 10 minute wait for us ** on everything except Soarin.
We used our FP+ for TT Soarin was 30 minute wait but we took it and it really ended up fine since we just came from dinner at GG so our food could digest

 

[summerskye]

Probably yes.

Playing it safe with that answer...

 

[MaryKatesMom]

1. yup
2. yup
3. yup
4. yup
5. yup
6. yup

I didn't say they couldn't be upset, annoyed or otherwise unhappy. I just said they could always use standby.

If it is busy no. We had the hurry up and wait with our FP+ almost every day. The SB lines are too long now to fit in between FP+.

However, there is a discussion on another thread regarding increased attendance making a 2014 level 1 different than a 2008-2012 level 1.

 

[wisblue]

Has anyone heard reports (or know first-hand) about how FP+ is affecting early EMH and rope drop? Are more people skipping these because they have their choices secured, or are more people attending these to get more than 3 choice rides a day?

I have some first hand experience from both August and early November. It's hard for me to compare those times with similar times in prior years because most of our trips over the years have been at busier times of the year than the level 8 crowds of August and level 6 crowds in November.

But, in brief, we had this experience:

At MK- did 7DMT, Pooh, Space Mountain, Buzz, Under the Sea, BTMRR, Splash, POtC, Jungle Cruise, IASW, Peoplemover, and HM using only 3 FPs obtained in park that morning.

At DHS- did TSMM, TOT, and RNRC before park opening at 9 AM.

At DAK- did Safari, EE, and Dinosaur before park opening at 9 AM.

At Epcot- no EMH, but had no problem doing Soarin, TT (single rider), and Mission Space in first hour with no FPs.

Bottom line, I haven't noticed FP+ having any impact on our ability to do all of the major attractions in a park that we want to do without having long waits.

It was the same last Christmas, but that was before FP+ was fully in place! but my daughters reported the same thing when they visited over Easter.

Between AM EMH and FP+, especially if you can make reservations in advance, it should be very easy to do the major attractions in all four parks at least once.

 

[wisblue]

Feels like I've been trying for years, Wis.

I don't know that it equates to it, but at times it can certainly feel like it.

My most current example is the extended hours next week. While that's a great thing in some respects, I had previously obtained three ADR's for Crystal Palace well before rope drop. You remember rope drop, right? It's one of the elements still left to a successful touring plan.

Those ADR's were part of the rope drop strategy, which was part of the FP+ strategy, which was part of the hopping strategy, which was part of the touring strategy.

When WDW extended park hours so that the park would open while I was stuffing my face with Mickey waffles, my plan for rope drop that day went out the window. So I cancelled those ADR's in order to preserve the rope drop strategy as well as the integrity of those 3 FP's for later in the day at a different park.

But now, I have to use those ADR's somewhere - and deciding where/when not only involves current availability (which is a tale of it's own) but also what FP's are already scheduled and hope that any ADR's we might be able to get at such late notice do not overlap the FP+ reservations already made, because having to change those FP+ reservations now runs the risk of losing some of the most sought after ones.

So you see, it can sometimes seem like those puny, miniscule, insignificant just three FP's for events that last at most three or four minutes can have a huge impact on one's day and make it seem like the entire schedule revolves around them and "equates to scheduling every minute of the day".

Seems that you have proven the point I made earlier in the thread. ADR's are a MUCH bigger factor when it comes to people feeling overscheduled than FP+. Without those ADRs, extended hours would be an unequivocal positive. Too much planning, too much time spent in restaurants, and too much food is why we rarely make more than one ADR in a trip. We are perfectly content to have cereal and juice in the room before leaving for a park instead of stuffing our faces at breakfast buffets multiple times on a trip. We all make different choices.

Experienced Disney visitors know that park hours are often extended as dates approach, especially around holidays, so any experienced guest making ADRs in the morning as part of a rope drop riding strategy, IMHO does so at his or her peril.

 

[Laketravis]

We all make different choices....

And evidently only yours are the correct ones. We get it, Wis.

Some people choose not to stay in their room and eat Fruit Loops for breakfast when at WDW, or carry a granola bar in their pocket for lunch so they don't have to deal with the hassle of sitting down at a table with a menu somewhere.

You can say it's the fault of ADR's. Others can say it's the fault of FP's. The way I look at it, ADR's make much more sense when you are making reservations for an event that lasts an hour or more. Advance reservations for something that is over in a couple of minutes doesn't make much sense in certain contexts.