FP+ is AWESOME! (...if you have little kids)

[morethananyonex]

You know, the more I think about the way the system is designed, I am not so sure that it is. I think that it will for Swan/Dolphin. And maybe Hotel Plaza Blvd. Maybe even Bonnet Creek and Four Seasons. But I am not sure that we will see it for condos, time shares, Marriott World, etc. First, there is no way that they would give off-site people a jump over AP holders, so at best you will be looking at a 7 day window. But second, if 50% of guests come from off-site, (and I do not know where Swan/Dolphin and Hotel Plaza Blvd fit into that math), and FP+ times are already scarce, then once it is opened up to off-site guests, I would imagine that the headliners will "sell out" in advance of the park opening, and this will make it impossible for people to change their FP+ times once in the park, which is a huge feature that they are pushing. In other words, once FP+ becomes pre-bookable to everyone, TSM, Space Mountain, Seven Dwarves, Test Track, Soarin', etc. will sell out 7 days in advance of each coming day, and it will be as hard to get FP+ for those rides as it is to get a BoG ADR. People with the 60 day window will know that the hoards will be descending on the 7th day out, and will diligently mark their calendars to make their FP+ reservations before that time. And people with a 7 day window will set their alarm clocks the way they do for ADRs now. I am not sure that Disney wants that. It will just be one more thing for people to fight over and complain about. FP+ is supposed to encourage flexibility and sponteneity. (Insert your own sarcastic comment here.). But once the pre-booking option is open to 100% of the guests, flexibility and sponteneity go out the window. As a satisfied Swan/Dolphin customer, I hope I am wrong.

I guess time will tell what will happen, but leaving out offsite guests the way they are doing right now just doesn't seem to fit with the goals Disney has discussed.

I do agree with you that if offsite ever does have prebooking abilities we can all say goodbye to major day of changes (and it's debatable how much you can move things now anyways). I too am not sure Disney wants that, but I'm not sure they want the alternative either. I think giving offsite guests the leftovers has the potential to sour a lot of people to WDW. Especially those guests that roll into the parks around noon or later. They have stated that their goal is to lock people into their schedules in order to make Disney look more appealing than offsite attractions (new attractions could have done that too ) so that people don't decide on a whim to spend their money elsewhere once in Orlando. They've already figured out how to trap onsite guests, for lack of a better word, it's those offsite guests who are most likely to be tempted by other parks.

 

[ashleymrush]

I agree with a lot of what the OP posted. I've been thinking a lot of the same things as we plan our trip for June. I really think we'll be getting a lot more done then I'm used to and this is my first time traveling with my son. We plan to park hop every day - RD a park in the morning and ride all the must-dos, go back to the resort and nap/rest/swim, and then go to another park in the afternoon and use our FP+ at that point. On the old system I would have never been able to get 3 FP in from the hours of 4pm to park close, especially with a 5 year old. I'm really looking forward to trying all of this out and seeing how it goes and am very optimistic about it.

On a note about repeating rides, we will be there for 6 days so my son will get to repeat things on other days. I think our repeat rate would be the same regardless of the old system or new system.

The only thing I don't like is the idea to split up. We only plan to do this once and that's while DS and I ride Tomorrowland Speedway and my DH will go do Space Mountain. We are only doing this because you can only do two to a car anyways so he may as well enjoy an adult thrill while we drive our little car.

All in all, I really thank the OP for the post. I like seeing the opinions of others on the issue but really like that a positive experience was posted.

 

[Eoghann]

I guess I'm in some sort of minority. I don't see splitting up to get things done as a negative at all.

That's what we've always done. It allows everyone to do what they like rather than wasting their time on stuff they're not that interested in.

Personally I'm never going to want to do Space Mountain and neither does one of my kids. So my wife and one kid go and do that while I go do something else with the other kid. Everyone has a good time.

Just seems... obvious to me.

 

[brookewalker]

So did you use the rider switch to gain extra fast passes?
Ive read that you can use the rider switch instead of getting
a second fp for the second adult which allows extra fp for adults
with young kids.
Did you try this?

 

[morethananyonex]

I guess I'm in some sort of minority. I don't see splitting up to get things done as a negative at all. That's what we've always done. It allows everyone to do what they like rather than wasting their time on stuff they're not that interested in. Personally I'm never going to want to do Space Mountain and neither does one of my kids. So my wife and one kid go and do that while I go do something else with the other kid. Everyone has a good time. Just seems... obvious to me.

The problem is for my family in MK it's not that some people aren't interested, it's that many of us are interested in more than 3 attractions that have long waits but we don't all agree on which 3 are a top priority. We didn't have to with FP-. We were able to FP the mountains, PP, Buzz, and whatever else was necessary. We never had to split up to do that. Now we're in a situation where in order for a person to hold a FP for one of their favourites they have to give up the ability to ride someone else's favourite with them in the FP line, even if they do want to ride it too (just not more than their favourites).

 

[LoveMMC]

So did you use the rider switch to gain extra fast passes?
Ive read that you can use the rider switch instead of getting
a second fp for the second adult which allows extra fp for adults
with young kids.
Did you try this?

This is what I want to know too

 

[Eoghann]

The problem is for my family in MK it's not that some people aren't interested, it's that many of us are interested in more than 3 attractions that have long waits but we don't all agree on which 3 are a top priority. We didn't have to with FP-. We were able to FP the mountains, PP, Buzz, and whatever else was necessary. We never had to split up to do that. Now we're in a situation where in order for a person to hold a FP for one of their favourites they have to give up the ability to ride someone else's favourite with them in the FP line, even if they do want to ride it too (just not more than their favourites).

Again I guess this comes down to how different people want to do these things. I'm fine with splitting up and doing rides in various groupings.

Sometimes the kids go off with grandparents for a while. Sometimes they go with both of us, sometimes with one of us. Sometimes I go off to do my own thing. Sometimes my wife does.

Splitting up is our normal way of doing Disney.

I'm not saying good or bad to any particular method, merely observing that there are many ways to cook an egg. Since FP+ is a reality I'm more interested in looking at methods that work with it and how they could be adapted to suit me than anything else.

Sounds like I'm in pretty good shape based on most of the reports. Aren't I lucky?

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

Just got back from a trip. Me, my wife, my mom, my DD 4 and DS 2.

FP+ worked awesome. Why? Because my DD wanted to meet Belle, Cinderella, and Rapunzel and my DS wanted to ride Pooh and Peter Pan. Other than that they were as happy as can be doing whatever had short lines. So I scheduled the three princess meet and greets using my DD's FP+s and one of each of the adults. This allowed each adult to have 2 FP+ remaining. We used two of these for Pooh and Peter Pan for my son and that left 4 FP+s which we used for 2 trips on Space Mountain and 2 trips on Thunder Mountain.

Monday was our first day and the crowd level was med-high (MLK day). We had an ADR at Cinderella's Royal Table for 5:45. We spent the morning at Animal Kingdom and rode the safari and my wife and I did Everest. Then we did the petting zoo and boneyard. We left AK about 1:00.

At MK we had FP+s for Cinderella, Rapunzel, Belle at 2, 3, and 4 and we had FP+s for Pooh and Peter Pan as well as Space and Thunder.

We were able to do all of these rides between 2pm and 5pm. Now, can you explain to me how we would've been able to do all three princess meet and greets, ride Thunder and Space, Pooh and Peter Pan, all in a three hour span without FP+? If it was regular FP the return times would've been way out by 2pm when we arrived at MK.

On Thursday we had ADR at Garden Grill (EPCOT Land Pavillion). We went to AK in the morning and did the Safari, Boneyard, and Petting Zoo again. Then we went to HS and met Buzz and Woody and also Jake and Sofia. Then we went to Epcot. We got to Epcot at 4:00 and my mom and I rode Test Track then my wife and I rode Soarin. Then we had our dinner at 5:30. Again, can you imagine arriving at Epcot at 4PM and then trying to do both TT and Soarin between 4 and 5:30PM? It would never have happened without FP+

FP+ works great if you have little kids who only want to do a few main things and you plan on park hopping in the afternoon. Simply FP+ the must-dos at the afternoon park and then you are in much better position than you were with only FP-.

Thanks for daring to share a positive FP+ story!

This will sound awesome to some, and "not good enough" to others. Glad you had a great trip and shared your experience... I'm collecting all the anecdotal info I can heading into our first FP+ only trips. Thanks!!

 

[Angel Ariel]

So I scheduled the three princess meet and greets using my DD's FP+s and one of each of the adults. This allowed each adult to have 2 FP+ remaining. We used two of these for Pooh and Peter Pan for my son and that left 4 FP+s which we used for 2 trips on Space Mountain and 2 trips on Thunder Mountain.

I can see how this works well if you're willing to split the family up and do things separately. I'm not sure how to make something like your plan above work with just 1 child, when both mom and dad want to experience her attractions with her (as well as getting to do the mountains for ourselves).

The only thing I can figure right now is:
1. Making rope drop and doing the mtns with short standbys (if they remain short at rope drop)....but it's difficult to get to rope drop with her sleep schedule. Not impossible, but difficult. We usually got there about 30-45 mins after RD.

2. Hoping that midday standby lines are short enough for DH and I to ride mtns during her nap (she naps in the stroller very well) - this option will be most dependent on when we are able to go.

3. FP+ 1 mtn for each of us (thunder for DH, space for me, for ex), using RS so we both ride once, and then using the other 2 FP+ for DD's rides...likely PP/ETWB, but then leaving potentially long lines for Pooh or other attractions like Pirates/Jungle Cruise..

There are workable options there to be sure...but at the moment I'm not saying they are awesome. I leave room to change my mind on our next trip though.

 

[JimmyV]

I guess I'm in some sort of minority. I don't see splitting up to get things done as a negative at all.

That's what we've always done. It allows everyone to do what they like rather than wasting their time on stuff they're not that interested in.

Personally I'm never going to want to do Space Mountain and neither does one of my kids. So my wife and one kid go and do that while I go do something else with the other kid. Everyone has a good time.

Just seems... obvious to me.

It's only obvious if the math works. What if the kid who currently doesn't want to do SM suddenly changes their mind? That leaves just you as the odd man out. If everyone else in the family wants to get a FP+ for that ride, you either use one less FP+ that day, or you alone get a FP+ for some other ride, neither of which is an attractive option. For example, we are a family of three. My teen daughter loves Mission Space Orange. My wife won't go near it. I am indifferent. In a perfect world, I wouldn't do it. Been there. Done that. Wasn't my cup of tea. But I take my daughter on it so she doesn't have to go alone. With FP-, she and I would grab a FP and my wife would stay behind. No biggie, because that was just one fewer FP for her out of the 5 or 6 we would pull that day. But with a limit of 3, if I take my daughter on MS, my wife either loses the use of a FP+ that day, or uses her third FP+ for some attraction that my daughter and I do not have a FP for. I suppose we could end up with my daughter and I having an ice cream while mom uses her third FP+ for a solo ride on Nemo. But our vacation time doesn't usually involve one of us breaking from the pack. Nemo is bad enough as it is when you can share snarky comments with another rider. But doing it alone?

 

[morethananyonex]

Again I guess this comes down to how different people want to do these things. I'm fine with splitting up and doing rides in various groupings.

Sometimes the kids go off with grandparents for a while. Sometimes they go with both of us, sometimes with one of us. Sometimes I go off to do my own thing. Sometimes my wife does.

Splitting up is our normal way of doing Disney.

I'm not saying good or bad to any particular method, merely observing that there are many ways to cook an egg. Since FP+ is a reality I'm more interested in looking at methods that work with it and how they could be adapted to suit me than anything else.

Sounds like I'm in pretty good shape based on most of the reports. Aren't I lucky?

It does sound like it works well with how you tour. I was not knocking your method of splitting up, we have to do it sometimes to because of fears/heights/whatever, just responded to your initial comment that splitting up seems obvious to you. For some families it really is an issue that didn't exist in the past.

I can see how this works well if you're willing to split the family up and do things separately. I'm not sure how to make something like your plan above work with just 1 child, when both mom and dad want to experience her attractions with her (as well as getting to do the mountains for ourselves).

The only thing I can figure right now is:
1. Making rope drop and doing the mtns with short standbys (if they remain short at rope drop)....but it's difficult to get to rope drop with her sleep schedule. Not impossible, but difficult. We usually got there about 30-45 mins after RD.

2. Hoping that midday standby lines are short enough for DH and I to ride mtns during her nap (she naps in the stroller very well)

3. FP+ 1 mtn for each of us (thunder for DH, space for me, for ex), using RS so we both ride once, and then using the other 2 FP+ for DD's rides...likely PP/ETWB, but then leaving potentially long lines for Pooh or other attractions like Pirates/Jungle Cruise..

There are workable options there to be sure...but at the moment I'm not saying they are awesome. I leave room to change my mind on our next trip though.

I wouldn't do #1. We have a 2 year old and we're planning on keeping the height restricted rides to a minimum when he's awake and crowds are lowest so that we can do the stuff we want to take him on with minimal waits.

I think #3 sounds best. Schedule the FP+ during her nap times, 1 for each of you, and use RS to get the other person in. Since you're going to have PP and ETWB (and Space/thunder for you and your DH) taken care of, you should be fine even if you don't get there right at RD to hit the other rides before waits get bad. That's similar to what we're doing, except we have more adults than you do and a couple who don't want to ride the mountains, so they're using their FP+ for bonus FL rides with the 2 year old. We also have an easier time because Splash is closed.

The options are workable, but I agree, they're not awesome.

 

[JPKnapp]

Since all the adult really does is supervise the kid waiting in line, does the character meet/greets use only the kids FP+ or does the CM scan everyone in the group? I'd really hate to use up both me and my wife's 3 precious FP+ slots on "meeting" Cinderella when all we do is stand there.

 

[morethananyonex]

Since all the adult really does is supervise the kid waiting in line, does the character meet/greets use only the kids FP+ or does the CM scan everyone in the group? I'd really hate to use up both me and my wife's 3 precious FP+ slots on "meeting" Cinderella when all we do is stand there.

Everyone who enters the line needs a FP.

 

[mesaboy2]

Since all the adult really does is supervise the kid waiting in line, does the character meet/greets use only the kids FP+ or does the CM scan everyone in the group? I'd really hate to use up both me and my wife's 3 precious FP+ slots on "meeting" Cinderella when all we do is stand there.

Everyone who enters the line needs a FP.

This kind of info can be found via the green link in my signature.

 

[Angel Ariel]

I think #3 sounds best. Schedule the FP+ during her nap times, 1 for each of you, and use RS to get the other person in. Since you're going to have PP and ETWB (and Space/thunder for you and your DH) taken care of, you should be fine even if you don't get there right at RD to hit the other rides before waits get bad. That's similar to what we're doing, except we have more adults than you do and a couple who don't want to ride the mountains, so they're using their FP+ for bonus FL rides with the 2 year old. We also have an easier time because Splash is closed.

The options are workable, but I agree, they're not awesome.

I agree that #3 sounds best...hopefully we'll be able to go during a slower time period so that all the lines are a bit less and FP+ is less of an issue...

Though, if my parents/brother/SIL/nephews (4 & 7) join us, I am assuming we'll be going at a higher crowd level since my brother is a teacher. That will definitely complicate things, as the 4 & 7 y/o will definitely want to ride the bigger rides. It'll be interesting, that's for sure

 

[ArwenMarie]

You know, the more I think about the way the system is designed, I am not so sure that it is. I think that it will for Swan/Dolphin. And maybe Hotel Plaza Blvd. Maybe even Bonnet Creek and Four Seasons. But I am not sure that we will see it for condos, time shares, Marriott World, etc. First, there is no way that they would give off-site people a jump over AP holders, so at best you will be looking at a 7 day window. But second, if 50% of guests come from off-site, (and I do not know where Swan/Dolphin and Hotel Plaza Blvd fit into that math), and FP+ times are already scarce, then once it is opened up to off-site guests, I would imagine that the headliners will "sell out" in advance of the park opening, and this will make it impossible for people to change their FP+ times once in the park, which is a huge feature that they are pushing. In other words, once FP+ becomes pre-bookable to everyone, TSM, Space Mountain, Seven Dwarves, Test Track, Soarin', etc. will sell out 7 days in advance of each coming day, and it will be as hard to get FP+ for those rides as it is to get a BoG ADR. People with the 60 day window will know that the hoards will be descending on the 7th day out, and will diligently mark their calendars to make their FP+ reservations before that time. And people with a 7 day window will set their alarm clocks the way they do for ADRs now. I am not sure that Disney wants that. It will just be one more thing for people to fight over and complain about. FP+ is supposed to encourage flexibility and sponteneity. (Insert your own sarcastic comment here.). But once the pre-booking option is open to 100% of the guests, flexibility and sponteneity go out the window. As a satisfied Swan/Dolphin customer, I hope I am wrong.

I agree with this. I don't think we'll see prebooking for offsite either. For all of the reasons you mentioned but also because there is no financial reason for Disney to want to help support the massive offsite hotel industry in Orlando when 20% of their own rooms are empty on average.

 

[MrsSilvaStrat]

Thanks OP !! We are looking forward to a similar schedule

 

[DVCcurious]

OP here:

I used to pull 10+ FP- per day. Back in 2010 it was just my wife and I and we pulled FPs like there was no tomorrow. We went July 4th week and we rode Splash 18 times one day using FP- (our goal was to ride it as many times as possible just to see how many we could do). If it were just the two of us now then FP+ would be much worse for us than FP-. We'd ride Splash maybe 3 times at RD with minimal waits, FP+ it once and the ride standby with 80 minute waits all day. Maybe we'd get 8 rides in total (supposing our goal was to maximize Splash rides). But here's the thing: FP+ isn't there to benefit couples without kids

I really believe it exists to help families with little kids. Families with young kids are the winners, everyone else are the losers.

I went last July when it was Me, DW, DD3 and DS1. It was amazingly hard to get everybody up and out in time for RD. In fact we never once made RD and we stayed at Wilderness Lodge so it's not like we had a long trip to get to MK in the morning. By the time we rolled in around 10:00 I could get one FP for our group, but we couldn't have a second because we had to go back to our resort for lunch and naps around 12:00. We didn't get back to the park until 5:00. In order for us to have something to do with a short wait I had to leave the resort and go back to MK around 2:00 and try to FP something for the evening. By the time we got back at 5 all the FPs for "good" rides were gone and even stuff like Pooh or Little Mermaid were out to 8 or 9PM. By leaving the resort and going to MK I made sure we had one "good" ride (Peter Pan) with a short wait for us in the evening. But it took about an hour (we were at Wilderness Lodge) round trip and that's an hour I could've spent hanging out at the pool or something. So we had 1 FP opportunity in the morning and 1 good FP opportunity plus one mediocre (Pooh, LM) FP opportunity in the evening. This is for a family with small kids who arrives around 10, leaves around 12, and comes back around 5.

With FP+ We would've had 3 rides waiting for us in the afternoon and I wouldn't have had to leave the resort, either. It is a much better situation.

I think my family is the type Disney wants to cater to. That's their "money demo". We did 3 character meals in July and again last week. How many character meals does a family with teenagers do? How many stuffed animals or balloons does a family with teenagers buy? Couples, families with teenagers, they are just there to ride the rides over and over. Younger families are there to get in a few attractions but then they go to character dinners and they go in the stores and buy their kids a stuffed Dumbo. Heck, I even spent $12 on the Dumbo popcorn container because my kids wanted it so much and it's cute watching my 2 year old run around with it.

FP+ works great for families with little kids who can't make RD because it's really hard to get little kids up, fed, dressed, and ready to go by 8:00AM and who also need to go back in the afternoon for a nap.

If you aren't that demo then FP+ will probably be a negative for you. I know it would be for me.

And to address the "splitting the group up" issue. Have you SEEN a 2 year old boy in a M&G princess line? It's not a pretty sight. Those little guys can't sit still. So whether we "had" to split up the group or not there was no way I was standing in line for princess M&G with a 2 year old boy. That's just a disaster waiting to happen. Plus he has zero interest in princesses. My 4yo DD has no interest in Winnie the Pooh so she wouldn't ride that ride anyway, but my boy wanted Pooh every day. I wasn't bothered by FP+ splitting up the group as that's what we would've done anyway.

 

[Angel Ariel]

I think my family is the type Disney wants to cater to. That's their "money demo". We did 3 character meals in July and again last week. How many character meals does a family with teenagers do? How many stuffed animals or balloons does a family with teenagers buy? Couples, families with teenagers, they are just there to ride the rides over and over. Younger families are there to get in a few attractions but then they go to character dinners and buy their kids a stuffed Dumbo. Heck, I even spent $12 on the Dumbo popcorn container because my kids wanted it so much and it's cute watching my 2 year old run around with it.

FP+ works great for families with little kids who can't make RD because it's really hard to get little kids up, fed, dressed, and ready to go by 8:00AM and who also need to go back in the afternoon for a nap.

If you aren't that demo then FP+ will probably be a negative for you. I know it would be for me.

As I illustrated in a previous post - we also have an 18 month old. It's just us and her. We are there for her - but we are ALSO there for us. We do character meals, we do places like CA Grill or BOG for us, we buy souvenirs for us and her (and, TBH, ours tend to be more expensive than hers, since we go for the higher end statues and such).

We aren't there just for rides, but rides are still an important part of the experience for us. If it ends up becoming an experience where we only "get in a few attractions," then that is a significant detractor over the previous system. If it was just about experiencing attractions for DD, we wouldn't have bothered going twice in 2013, because she won't remember those trips.

I'm not saying or arguing for the old system to return, but I do think that Disney needs to up the number of FP+ available (in MK at least, if not everywhere, as MK has significantly more attractions), and allow park hopping with it. Those two things would have a huge impact on the workability of this system for those families that want to experience a range of attractions, and who want to do so *together* as a family.

 

[morethananyonex]

I completely disagree. I think FP+ benefits anybody who plans to make RD, can use FP+ during the afternoons and early evenings, and can accurately guess what and when they want to ride before they arrive. Not necessarily people with or without children.

For our family with small children, the only thing we have going for us is making RD. Small children are the reason we cannot take advantage of using FP during the busiest times of day, we have afternoon naps to schedule around. We also have ADRs around 5 pm, early because of our toddler. Most days we have no choice but to schedule our FP+ during the morning, as the is when the toddler will be awake and riding with us. That's wasting valuable RD time with lower crowds.

I think that it can be a great system for childless couples. They (hopefully ) don't have tantrums and unpredictable toddler like behaviour that can throw their carefully laid plans for a loop. They don't necessarily have to take full advantage of RD as they can stay up later and they also have an easier time waiting in long lines.

It's all about the touring style, not the family make up IMO.