FP+ is now completely worthless if you are staying offsite.

[PEC]

True story... just tonight I applied what I learned here about the little "tips and tricks" necessary to book FP+ and saved a bundle on airfare.

I had priced a trip yesterday. When I went to book it today, the cost showed up as significantly higher. So I changed my search to 2 passengers instead of 3. I then was shown a piece of information that wasn't previously there (i.e., two more seats left at this price). Had I booked 3 seats simultaneously, it was going to charge me the higher price for all three. But booking two seats only, gave me the lower price and then I only had to pay extra for one seat booked separately 5 minutes later.

So it's true... everything you need to know in life can be learned from Disney!

This is interesting. Never knew airlines were cheaper with 2 guest than when more are booking.

 

[mikedoyleblogger]

Big surprise. Really. OMG I didn't see this coming at all!!!!! Its my 30 day window, I sign in for my fast pass selections at midnight eastern time, but lo and behold everything good has "ended for the day".
This includes:
1. 7DMT
2. Meet and Greet with Anna and Elsa
3. Enchanted Tales with Belle
4. Main Street Electrical Parade
5. Festival of Fantasy Parade

So basically, unless you stay onsite, you will not get fast passes to anything really good, because the onsite peeps with their 60 day window get to pick and choose first. So now, after 9 years of multiple Disney trips a year, I am left with the left overs.

Later baby. This is our last Disney trip. It was fun. Now it just sucks, and its a waste of money. Maybe we will manage to receive some leftover scraps and my daughter will be able to meet Anna and Elsa at the Christmas party or something.

Just join us at Disneyland Resort. The world of *no* FP+!

 

[magicbob]

This is interesting. Never knew airlines were cheaper with 2 guest than when more are booking.

Maybe not universally (no pun intended) true. But airlines offer a certain number of seats at a discounted price (kind of like when you book a resort at WDW and only a certain number of rooms qualify for FD or other discounts). When those are gone, the airfare increases. You don't necessarily get a cheaper price when booking 2 instead of 3, but in this case I did because only 2 more seats were left at the discounted price. The third seat fell into the next price category. But (at least with this airline) if booking more seats than the number of discount seats left, the website priced all seats at the same rate (the higher one). By booking separately, I got the last two discounted seats and then paid the increased fare only for the third.

 

[GillianP1301]

Eh, I think it was just a little hyperbole- like this thread title "fp+ is completely useless if you stay off site".

There are more than a few posts that have really made fp+ seem much more difficult than it is and worried lots of people needlessly. You can see it from the just back reports- a great many of them express relief because they actually went, used it and had a great time.

So, yeah- ruining their lives probably isn't true in the literal sense.

Since I'm the one who made the "ruining lives" statement, I can confirm that it was in fact hyperbole.

My opinion is really as you've stated here. If I were new to Disney and coming to this board for information on planning my trip and read some of the FP+ threads on here, it would be unnecessarily worrisome. From my experience with FP+ to date (only two visits), it's really not as complicated as many posts on here make it out to be. It's definitely a big change though and change takes time to gain acceptance.

 

[crystalsmom1021]

Leaving today. Have been checking almost daily since my window opened and no enchanted tales, a&e or 7dmt ever opened up. We're just going to try to ride these at RD and Halloween party.

We just went last week to MNSSHP. Alot of the rides were walk on. We rode space mountain and BTMRR back to back. 7DMT and A&E lines NEVER seemed to drop. The entire time we were there it was at least 45min wait up to 2 hours for these attractions. We went to ETWB on a normal park day and only waited about 20 mins in standby. Rode the 7DMT 2xs and it was over in a flash. Not sure about all the hype. It was a much smother ride as it is a new coaster but I think BTMRR is more of a coaster than 7DMT. In short DO NOT WAIT 2 hours in line for that. good luck

 

[hopemax]

Don't think of it as taking perks away from off-site people, it's adding perks for onsite people.

WDW has about 25 resorts to fill. Most of which are more expensive to stay at than off-site. It's smart business to use all the tools at their disposal to fill those resorts. Park tickets are irrellavant, there is much more moeny to be made from the people who completely submerse themselves in the WDW experience. I personally don't think WDW does enough to seperate the onsite experience from the offsite.

It's just smart business!

Only up to a point.

Doing a simple calculation, adding up yearly attendance at the 4 WDW parks, divide by 365 days, there are about 137,000 visitors on any given day. Lets call it 150,000 to add in water parks, shopping, golf, people on pool day. Touring plans estimates there are 30,000 rooms on property. Assume 3 people per room, and on-property rooms max out at 90,000 people per night. That's all WDW can currently support.

So is WDW going to be okay, alienating those other 60,000 people? Just tell, them, "we don't want your kind here, up the road to Universal with you?" No way, no how. WDW is interested in preserving and growing both their on-site and off-site markets. If you can give someone onsite something of value, that does not make the off-site person's vacation worse, that's one thing. But if this FP+ thing turns off-site people off in droves, don't think WDW is going to be too happy about it, even if their occupancy rates improve.

 

[crystalsmom1021]

Just join us at Disneyland Resort. The world of *no* FP+!

seems I picked the wrong quote oops

We just got back from Disney. We stumbled upon the MSEP twice while we were there. My daughter walked right up and sat down on the curb both times to watch it. Granted this was the 11 pm parade but had no problem finding a spot

 

[saskdw]

But if they are freeing up extra slots for 25 resorts full of guests, those spots have to come from somewhere. If they offer more at 60 days, then there will be a lot less left for the offsite guests at 30 days. There really is no way around that.

IMO, thats the way it should be. That was the point of my post. I'm not sure they should offer FP+ to offsite guests at all.

 

[mesaboy2]

IMO, thats the way it should be. That was the point of my post. I'm not sure they should offer FP+ to offsite guests at all.

I could not disagree more.

 

[saskdw]

Only up to a point.

Doing a simple calculation, adding up yearly attendance at the 4 WDW parks, divide by 365 days, there are about 137,000 visitors on any given day. Lets call it 150,000 to add in water parks, shopping, golf, people on pool day. Touring plans estimates there are 30,000 rooms on property. Assume 3 people per room, and on-property rooms max out at 90,000 people per night. That's all WDW can currently support.

So is WDW going to be okay, alienating those other 60,000 people? Just tell, them, "we don't want your kind here, up the road to Universal with you?" No way, no how. WDW is interested in preserving and growing both their on-site and off-site markets. If you can give someone onsite something of value, that does not make the off-site person's vacation worse, that's one thing. But if this FP+ thing turns off-site people off in droves, don't think WDW is going to be too happy about it, even if their occupancy rates improve.

Up the road to Universal where all onsite guests have unlimited Express Pass and offsite guests do not?

 

[mom2rtk]

IMO, thats the way it should be. That was the point of my post. I'm not sure they should offer FP+ to offsite guests at all.

We stay onsite and I could not disagree more. Offsite guests pay just as much for tickets and should not be relegated to leftovers.

Disney offends this segment of their business at their own peril.

 

[crystalsmom1021]

We just went last week to MNSSHP. Alot of the rides were walk on. We rode space mountain and BTMRR back to back. 7DMT and A&E lines NEVER seemed to drop. The entire time we were there it was at least 45min wait up to 2 hours for these attractions. We went to ETWB on a normal park day and only waited about 20 mins in standby. Rode the 7DMT 2xs and it was over in a flash. Not sure about all the hype. It was a much smother ride as it is a new coaster but I think BTMRR is more of a coaster than 7DMT. In short DO NOT WAIT 2 hours in line for that. good luck

Just a heads up the fast pass kiosks in the parks are swamped. They have a cast member overseeing each one and the lines are long. Also on 2 occasions the kiosks were completely shut down for the night no one there. One at Epcot and one at MK

 

[Suvadoo]

Up the road to Universal where all onsite guests have unlimited Express Pass and offsite guests do not?

Wrong. Any Universal guest can purchase express pass. But please remember that EP is front of the line for ALL rides except the HP lands. It really can't be compared with 3-4 FP+'s per day

 

[Angel Ariel]

IMO, thats the way it should be. That was the point of my post. I'm not sure they should offer FP+ to offsite guests at all.

They already have made it available to offsite guests, and for free at that. I think it would be quite the PR nightmare to make it an onsite only perk at this point.

 

[hopemax]

Up the road to Universal where all onsite guests have unlimited Express Pass and offsite guests do not?

It's the difference between small and large numbers. What works at Universal can not work at WDW. And Universal knows this which is why they have not expanded the service to the newer hotels. 2400 rooms, 3 people per room = 7,200 people max. On a ride which can carry 2000 per hour, you could cycle through the entire resort population in 3.5 hours. That has significantly less of an effect than 90,000 people trying to cycle through something. In the case of TSMM, that would be 6 DAYS worth of capacity.

You can not give up your entire capacity to a portion of your audience, otherwise you won't be able to sell your product to anyone else.

 

[cakebaker]

Oh for the love of god... you don't have to literally say "everyone" to imply it (or at least imply a majority). You're implication is quite clear. "More than a few" taken literally could mean a handful of people, but we both know that's not what you meant. "More than a few" is a figure of speech that means "a large number" when taken in context. We can all hide behind the literal statements we make here and claim "I never said ALL" but isn't it more honest to own up to our veiled jabs if we believe that the vast majority of negative reports are just whiners and complainers?

And if things get better that would not be awful. It would be great. I just get tired of negative reports being dismissed as anecdotal, irrelevant, and nothing more than the product of negative people who are needlessly worrying others while every gushing review is proof positive that the new system is a vast improvement.


I'm very happy that many people are having great trips. But I don't dismiss those who don't as being negative people with bad attitudes who went in expecting to have a bad time and so it was a self-fulfilling prophecy. I have compassion for those people whose trips were impacted by MDE glitches, etc. rather than judgment.

Look, I can't help it if you want to take the phrase "more than a few" and make it mean more than what "more than a few" really means. We don't both know what I meant- unless you can read minds. I know what I meant, and I said exactly what I meant.

It's always better to be honest and if I thought the vast majority of negative reports were just whiners and complainers, that's exactly what I'd say. Since it isn't, I don't. You're the one who for some reason, unknown to me, wants to take what I say and turn it into what you want it to be. That's your problem buddy, not mine, and I'm sick of it.

Honestly, at this point, I don't give a flip what you're tired of. But I don't do what you're tired of so get off my case about it and gripe at the people who do it. Your problem is you don't like anything anyone has to say that's positive about fp+.

Thank goodness a vast majority of those who don't like it, understand that it works well for others and they don't begrudge them that. You do.

And just for the record, I don't care who agrees with you and who doesn't. This isn't a poll.

 

[cakebaker]

Since I'm the one who made the "ruining lives" statement, I can confirm that it was in fact hyperbole.

My opinion is really as you've stated here. If I were new to Disney and coming to this board for information on planning my trip and read some of the FP+ threads on here, it would be unnecessarily worrisome. From my experience with FP+ to date (only two visits), it's really not as complicated as many posts on here make it out to be. It's definitely a big change though and change takes time to gain acceptance.

I am soooo glad we got that cleared up. I'd hate to think that there are people out there whose lives are totally destroyed due to not being able to secure a fp+.

 

[emnems34]

This new FP+ system is horrible! There's just no other way to put it! It's so unfair to so many groups! For passholders especially! I'm starting to fear Disney's going down the wrong direction and may cause irreparable damage to their guestbase- I have heard a lot of passholders say they aren't renewing after this, and a lot of people who go annually saying this is it for them! Hope to see changes soon!

 

[IamGroot]

As a Disney shareholder, I can say that Disney can do no wrong.

 

[Planogirl]

Up the road to Universal where all onsite guests have unlimited Express Pass and offsite guests do not?

Anyone can buy express at Universal. When I'm offsite and go to WDW can I buy FP+? No, I can settle for 3 and whatever happens to be left.

I will add that I would never go to WDW if they don't offer any access to FP+ to offsite visitors. We sometimes do stay onsite but I wouldn't even do that because I don't like a system like that. Charge if you must but don't lock people out.