FP+ is Live! Magic Bands in the park!

[damo]

Rileygirl, I've heard rumours about UO adding a third gate, so although it probably isn't in their 5 year plan, it might be close. They've been snatching up parcels of land and nobody has really been paying attention.

However, I'm not sure why you think any place needs to be a 7 day destination. I never go to WDW or DL for 7 days. To me, that is way too long. I'd much rather split my vacation and stay at two different places.





Oh and Blackstone doesn't own any part of UO anymore. Comcast bought them out in 2011.

Comcast owns UO, USH and Wet 'n Wild.

 

[Rileygirl]

deleted

 

[Rileygirl]

Rileygirl, I've heard rumours about UO adding a third gate, so although it probably isn't in their 5 year plan, it might be close. They've been snatching up parcels of land and nobody has really been paying attention.

However, I'm not sure why you think any place needs to be a 7 day destination. I never go to WDW or DL for 7 days. To me, that is way too long. I'd much rather split my vacation and stay at two different places.





Oh and Blackstone doesn't own any part of UO anymore. Comcast bought them out in 2011.

Comcast owns UO, USH and Wet 'n Wild.

Well, darn, no wonder there is no teamwork involved. and I guess that wont happen. Problem is going to be, its going to take time and money to build another theme park. They can put wet and wild on their ticket I guess.

But it shoots my suggestion right out the window.

Back to the drawing board.

 

[damo]

Well, darn, no wonder there is no teamwork involved. and I guess that wont happen. Problem is going to be, its going to take time and money to build another theme park. They can put wet and wild on their ticket I guess.

But it shoots my suggestion right out the window.

Back to the drawing board.

A waterpark is rumoured to be eventually going in between Royal Pacific and Cabana Bay Resorts.

 

[Rosanne]

If you all could help me with one little thing...

Work has been crazy busy these past few weeks and I've barely been able to read a few posts here and there. Many pages back it seemed people were referencing a fairly specific time FP+ could go live and it seemed like it was in summer.

I went back several pages to find a source but couldn't find it in the time I had available. I tried again today but came up short.

Has there been a time announced for FP+ or was I just seeing general theories? I am going in early to mid August and hoping it is not up yet then. (The pre-arranging and limitation on number of rides).

Thanks! I was such a good follower of info until I got swamped at work.

 

[ArwenMarie]

That is why I think its critical for Universal to make them a 7 day ticket. Because Disney will ALWAYS try and force inhibitors to have their guests Not stray , even if its only to pop off site for a day.

I'm not sure they have dreams of becoming a 7 day destination, that is pretty hard to do. I think Universal's goal is to cut into the current market that Disney holds, and take away a few of the days. In other words, take the average family's vacation week to ten days, and take away maybe two or three days of it. Split stays between Disney and Universal, not Universal for one day. Then maybe you go to WDW and only see your two favorite parks instead of trying to see four. Something like that. And of course, add new visitors who are interested in their offerings only.

 

[mesaboy2]

If you all could help me with one little thing...

Work has been crazy busy these past few weeks and I've barely been able to read a few posts here and there. Many pages back it seemed people were referencing a fairly specific time FP+ could go live and it seemed like it was in summer.

I went back several pages to find a source but couldn't find it in the time I had available. I tried again today but came up short.

Has there been a time announced for FP+ or was I just seeing general theories? I am going in early to mid August and hoping it is not up yet then. (The pre-arranging and limitation on number of rides).

Thanks! I was such a good follower of info until I got swamped at work.

No, you are reading theories only.

 

[g-dad66]

If you all could help me with one little thing...

Work has been crazy busy these past few weeks and I've barely been able to read a few posts here and there. Many pages back it seemed people were referencing a fairly specific time FP+ could go live and it seemed like it was in summer.

I went back several pages to find a source but couldn't find it in the time I had available. I tried again today but came up short.

Has there been a time announced for FP+ or was I just seeing general theories? I am going in early to mid August and hoping it is not up yet then. (The pre-arranging and limitation on number of rides).

Thanks! I was such a good follower of info until I got swamped at work.

No time has been announced.

Many of us think it won't be in operation by the time of your trip, although there could be some more testing of it by then.

 

[Rosanne]

Thanks, mesaboy2 and g-dad66. I can breathe easier .

 

[maiapapaya]

See, this is what Disney is forgetting with this system imo. The international guest. I have no idea of the figures overall but when we went, there were always at least few international families in our hotel (and villas seem particularly popular) and we saw plenty of them in all of the parks and at other destinations. That's without even mentioning international tour groups.

Disney is going the wrong way about this in order to attract those guests. They went with a stick wrapped in shiny paper ('allowing' you to prebook rides to get fastpasses, with a lot of limits) instead of a carrot (significant new attractions and expansions.)

Yes there might be some new things coming down the road, but if people went back next year and they had rolled out fastpass+, and they didn't, couldn't or wouldn't book rides in advance, forcing you to go standby and thus not ride some attractions more than once because of insane lines, do you think people will care that oh they just announced a new ride for 2016?

Disney has created a rod for it's own back. They created the demand for FP's, now they are limiting them per person. Not a good recipe.

I don't know numbers either, but I know Canadians also fall under international guests, and I would think we're a fairly substantial number.

I share some of your concerns about how this all affects us. At this point we can't even access the new website. I hoped it was just for initial roll out, to control traffic somewhat while they iron out the bugs. But the site has been live for a while now and we are still getting the old website. My Disney Experience, via web, is non-existent for us.

At this point I think the only thing that American guests vs. international visitors can do as a result of this is that we can't do online check-in at 60 days. Not a big deal, yet, but it concerns me about when all the other stuff starts to come online.

I do have the phone app, but obviously can't test it at this point wrt if it will work ok for us (we can't book for our brief 2014 visit yet, so I can't even test for linking, etc at this point).

I agree with katdralion too, that the in-park iphone use for us is an issue. Unless WDW jacks up their wifi, international visitors are pretty much shut out because our data roaming charges just don't make it feasible. I wonder if TPTB even thought of that when they decided we supposedly all want to be "using our iphones while immersed in the Disney experience"?

I actually wish these treads were being used by WDW as focus groups because then maybe they would realize they are potentially shutting out their international visitors form this new FP+ system.

 

[Bob NC]

If Disney does only offer the prebooking to resort guests only, they do risk really torquing the off site guest.

Well, I think we should all make a pact right now to not tell them.

 

[Rileygirl]

deleted

 

[ArwenMarie]

I'm enjoying your posts Rileygirl.

I see your point about the ticket prices and you are so right that most people think about things within the context of their own situation. I still think that a Universal/Disney split stay is what Universal is going for. I can't see it ever being a week-long destination.

But of course, I am thinking about this in the context of my family...my kids are getting to the age soon that Universal will start being appealing. The additional ticket cost wouldn't be a deal breaker for us, especially within the cost of an entire vacation anyway, including flights. Lots of people already do split stays at Disney, it's not that big of a deal, you lose a half a day at most and some cab fare.

Interesting stuff!

 

[ArwenMarie]

Just saw the other post regarding the testing...

IMO I still think the new FP+ system just going to drop one day. POOF it's there. I can't see how it can be gradual. But it might still be a very long ways off.

 

[CindyCan]

I have finally waded through every post! Just some random thoughts:

My kids have been to Universal 3 times and WDW 10 times. And all they want to do is go back to WDW.

My 2 DDs are now 19 and 18 and started a Harry Potter club in high school to enormous success for the last 3 years. Our last Universal trip was specifically to see HP. Yes, it was beautiful, but they were disappointed that one of the rides was just a re-work of an existing ride. And am I the only person that found FB too fast to make sense of what I was seeing? I didn't enjoy it all that much.

We stayed on site for FOTL and early HP access. First day: UO for about 5 hours. Done. Second day: up really early for HP, done the entire park by 3:00. The girls didn't even want to go back to HP before we left. $1,000 for 5 people for two days.

But WDW? We did 3 trips in one year, a total of 38 or so days on property, as a last "family" spectacular before the oldest went off to university.

And guess what? They have bullied me in to another trip this year. All three of them, including my 16 yo DS. A two week trip. One week is not enough.

I think Rileygirl has a lot of great thoughts on FP+. I agree with a lot of what she says.but I'm a Canadian mother and bean counter, so there you go. And I really like the overnight shock and awe theory...I think this would be beautiful if Disney pulled it off.

With the enforcement of return FP times our touring style changed. We just didn't get as many FPs as before, even during busy July. We just went for rope drop and then rested mid-day and then hit EMH till late. I am with the rope drop group that would try to FP a headliner for evening with prebooking. We park hop so we would leave the morning park up in the air and know which park and headliner we were doing each night. My point is that we already changed our touring style for FP and we'll do it again if needed.

I think that the idea that people want to be engaged with their mobile devices is aimed at the future. My 19 yo does not go anywhere without her phone, and whips it out at any given moment. This won't change as she gets older...tech is just going to be a huge part of her every waking moment.

I watched the interview on the magic bands and my thought is that you can't take a sentence he said and infer something from that one sentence. He is in a tough spot....doing an interview on something that is still under major wraps. He had to watch every word he said and still try to create a positive pr result. And the interviewers didn't help.....how about asking one question instead of three unrelated ones all at the same time? And is he hiding things because he is afraid you won't like it? No, he is hiding things because this is a very competitive business. Trust me, he wants you to like it.

Just because Disney has not announced things, doesn't mean they are not in the works. I can't imagine Disney not adding Star Wars land to DHS. And I think Avatarland at night could be just stunning. But development takes time and front loading on announcements is probably not a good plan. Maybe this falls into under-promise, over-deliver. What if they hold off announcing Star Wars land until after the new HP land opens, but Star Wars land at that point is only a year away? People may rush to UO to see HP but know that they are coming back the next year for SW. Or maybe they delay their Universal trip to wait for SW and do both. I would.

I'm with the wait and see group. But I know it won't prevent us from returning. No other park or destination has what Disney has. And apparently I am a sucker when my teenagers beg to go to WDW. Life could be worse.

 

[WILDERNESS FAN 55]

And hopefully that won't change over time. Such changes seem to take a very long time when they happen.

Personally I want both resorts to do enormously well. I'm selfish - I want both of them and I refuse to get into the comparisons. In other words I'll defend them both when it's fair.

Fair enough ! It will keep Disney on thier toes if there is some sort of competition in the area. I still don't think we are talking apples to apples when the 2 are compared however.

 

[jade1]

Finally, and here is the kicker, I looked on the Universal Website, and by golly, there is NOT EVEN an option for a 7 day ticket IF I WANTED TO CHOOSE THEM.!

Did you also notice for $30 more than the 4 day pass you can get an Annual Pass?

 

[preemiemama]

Ticket price increase was announced- it is on Disney Parks Blog. No pricing for under 3 and the only "tier" is a $5 difference for a 1-day ticket to MK over the other 3 parks. So the theory of crowd control could be applied a bit there, but it is a stretch!

Also, looking at CF' s post on the Magic Band testing starting this month, it looks like they are proceeding with everything over the summer for a slow rollout vs. "shock and awe".

 

[Rileygirl]

Looks like I have been shot with my own smoking gun.

A quick look: no incentive to prepurchase tickets
front loading still applies
Ne still there
Ap's still there

Wrong on every count!

 

[damo]

Did you also notice for $30 more than the 4 day pass you can get an Annual Pass?

Universal Studios Preferred Annual Pass (no black out days, which often gives discounts on hotels, gives 10% off food and merch), is $289 and renewal is $189

WDW Annual Pass (no black out days, and often gives discounts on hotels and merch) is $609 and renewal is $563.