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

[Luvchefmic]

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

Too Big To Fail ? Hold your thought, anything can happen.

 

[IamGroot]

Too Big To Fail ? Hold your thought, anything can happen.

The day that Disney fails is the day that America is on fire, and we have bigger problems than our stock portfolio.

 

[Luvchefmic]

The day that Disney fails is the day that America is on fire, and we have bigger problems than our stock portfolio.

ok

BTW I like your new avatar !

 

[IamGroot]

ok

BTW I like your new avatar !

Thanks! I figured it was time to finally make a profile on here, haha.

 

[hea]

I live in mexico, and i have gone to wdw with my wife and 3 children twice, both more than a week long vacation, stayed in port orleans riverside both times, both times in july.

First time I book 40 days in advance, second time only 30 days
I work for an american manufacturing company which has plants in mexico
Very difficult to know more than 60 days in advance if i am going to be able to take vacations in a predermined dates, very difficult, thing happens at work or home so we do not know what is going to happen with so many anticipation, is not a wedding.

Also on the second time we had to adjust our park schedule at middle of vacation due to fatigue and decided to sleep longer.

We were at park open almost every day and have no problem going directly to main attractions, obtaining fp for later, and riding in normal que , no problem even in july.

I do not like the idea of removing spontaneity in a vacation, when to go to water park ? Depends if raining or not. Do you know 60 days in advance ? I doubt it.

 

[Planogirl]

I live in mexico, and i have gone to wdw with my wife and 3 children twice, both more than a week long vacation, stayed in port orleans riverside both times, both times in july.

First time I book 40 days in advance, second time only 30 days
I work for an american manufacturing company which has plants in mexico
Very difficult to know more than 60 days in advance if i am going to be able to take vacations in a predermined dates, very difficult, thing happens at work or home so we do not know what is going to happen with so many anticipation, is not a wedding.

Also on the second time we had to adjust our park schedule at middle of vacation due to fatigue and decided to sleep longer.

We were at park open almost every day and have no problem going directly to main attractions, obtaining fp for later, and riding in normal que , no problem even in july.

I do not like the idea of removing spontaneity in a vacation, when to go to water park ? Depends if raining or not. Do you know 60 days in advance ? I doubt it.

I feel much like you do. I realize that it is necessary to do some planning so that we can eat at a few favorite restaurants but planning every ride is a bit much. Yes, we can get there at rope drop but it does get tiring.

 

[BroganMc]

With me, I've gone through wild swings with my opinions on FP+. The first time I used it, there were no tiers and only onsite had access, and I liked it overall. I was able to easily change things on the fly, switch park days around even the day of, get FPs for TT and Soarin' on arrival day, etc. No more running of the bulls for TSMM. We did feel a touch over scheduled and I really wanted to be able to prebook at more than one park per day, but those were the main negatives. We still had paper to fall back on, so it was the best of both worlds.

Fast forward to the tiers. Ugh. I was very frustrated and unhappy and really disappointed with tiers and the limit of only three per day. Paper FPs were gone. Pretty much all the positives of FP+ disappeared for me.

Then, May rolled around, and the 4th FP was added. Woo hoo. We were back in business to some degree. Making FPs available to everyone had cut down on the ability to prebook "the good stuff" and it was much harder to move things around. We felt very tied to our prebooked FPs for the headliners. But we were able to get A&E, SDMT, TSMM, etc with little trouble. And we rocked the 4th FP, getting 12 FPs at MK in one day.

But somewhere prior to August and September trips, FP availability dried up. I've seen a few different theories as to why it happened, but it's thrown me firmly back into the anti-FP camp. Even as an onsiter, I had a hard time getting FPs, and I felt like there was zero same-day flexibility. We really wanted to change FPs because of weather issues, but we had no decent options. For our last-minute trip, I wasn't able to get FPs for TSMM at all. I didn't even try for SDMT. We were there in a slower time of year, with a group of two people, and we couldn't get FPs for a six-year old ride for any of three days more than two weeks in advance. In its current form, I just can't find much to like about FP. I still like it for arrival day,and I'm glad they added the 4th FP option. But with the tiers, limited availability of headliners, lack of flexibility, and inability to prebook in multiple parks, it's really hard for me to get back on the FP+ train.

Very interesting perspective.

I'm going with the theory that they stopped holding back as many FP+ slots week and day of like they were doing last New Year's.

I've had only two trips using FP+. Last NYE and again this Sep/Oct. My first trip I had no problem getting availability for everything during my stay. It was difficult booking things in advance because of the limited availability, but that magically opened up during my trip. The system worked great. I had maximum flexibility and could adjust for weather, tiredness, late transportation or changing moods as I went.

This past Sep/Oct availability just vanished. It started with those headliners that are notorious for the high demand. Then it spread to mid-tier attractions that never had issues before. And this was supposed to be a less busy time than NYE.

There's a tool someone made floating around on the net which polls the FP+ system every 30 minutes. It's showing about a dozen attractions that are booked up through December already. 7DMT is booked solid until December 22. Anna & Elsa are booked through December 23. What surprises and concerns me the most is the lack of availability for this week or next week. You'd expect things to open up around now if they were releasing a bunch of FP+ slots. Instead it is staying booked. TSMM is booked up for the next month and is staying that way. AP Holders can only get that attraction IF they book the moment their 30 day window opens. Offsite or day of guests don't have a prayer.

My experience frustrated me. That tool illustrates why I hate the system. If they aren't holding back FP+ slots for week and day of on all the attractions, then it is a useless system.

I think MagicBand and FP+ booking was a good idea. It's how it's being implemented that's wrong. Whoever thought opening booking windows to 60 and 30 days in advance is an idiot. Allowing onsite guests to book FP+ for the entire length of their trip at 60 days is a decision that should get someone fired. This is how the ADR system got messed up.

 

[Suvadoo]

There's a tool someone made floating around on the net which polls the FP+ system every 30 minutes. It's showing about a dozen attractions that are booked up through December already. 7DMT is booked solid until December 22. Anna & Elsa are booked through December 23. What surprises and concerns me the most is the lack of availability for this week or next week. You'd expect things to open up around now if they were releasing a bunch of FP+ slots. Instead it is staying booked. TSMM is booked up for the next month and is staying that way. AP Holders can only get that attraction IF they book the moment their 30 day window opens. Offsite or day of guests don't have a prayer.

I think MagicBand and FP+ booking was a good idea. It's how it's being implemented that's wrong. Whoever thought opening booking windows to 60 and 30 days in advance is an idiot. Allowing onsite guests to book FP+ for the entire length of their trip at 60 days is a decision that should get someone fired. This is how the ADR system got messed up.

Can you provide a link to the FP+ tool? I think a lot of us would be really interested in seeing this.

Thanks,

Andrea

 

[Lucky4me]

dd is staying on site right now and had zero fastpasses scheduled until the day they arrived.

Anything they truly wanted to go on but couldn't get FPs for, they either got up at rope drop, or got on 15 minutes before closing. Waiting only 15-30 minutes when the rest of the day waits were 90-120 minutes.

FP+ really is not the end of the world. At least not for them. ( I hate the whole new system, really can't stand it!)

I was worried for them not having any scheduled, but besides not being able to get timely buses and seats on said buses most of last week, they are having the time of their lives.

 

[PEC]

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.

Got it. Thanks. Still something good to know.

 

[crostorfer]

dd is staying on site right now and had zero fastpasses scheduled until the day they arrived.

Anything they truly wanted to go on but couldn't get FPs for, they either got up at rope drop, or got on 15 minutes before closing. Waiting only 15-30 minutes when the rest of the day waits were 90-120 minutes.

FP+ really is not the end of the world. At least not for them. ( I hate the whole new system, really can't stand it!)

I was worried for them not having any scheduled, but besides not being able to get timely buses and seats on said buses most of last week, they are having the time of their lives.

Let's separate on fact from this, and then we can discuss if it is a symptom of the larger problem. It is a non-holiday week, in the fall. Everyone can agree on this general knowledge as fact, yes? Good. Other than MNSSHP and Food and Wine, there are no other major events happening this week at WDW, other than perhaps a large convention or two.

WHY ARE THERE 90-120 MINUTE WAITS FOR MULTIPLE RIDES ON A NON-HOLIDAY WEEKDAY IN OCTOBER?!?!?! Waits should be 20-45 minutes for major attractions this time of year, not 90-120!!! Something is causing this, there is a reason, and isn't just attendance.

 

[PEC]

Let's separate on fact from this, and then we can discuss if it is a symptom of the larger problem. It is a non-holiday week, in the fall. Everyone can agree on this general knowledge as fact, yes? Good. Other than MNSSHP and Food and Wine, there are no other major events happening this week at WDW, other than perhaps a large convention or two.

WHY ARE THERE 90-120 MINUTE WAITS FOR MULTIPLE RIDES ON A NON-HOLIDAY WEEKDAY IN OCTOBER?!?!?! Waits should be 20-45 minutes for major attractions this time of year, not 90-120!!! Something is causing this, there is a reason, and isn't just attendance.

Mid October time period is becoming a time for a Fall break for schools. September was the Month (after Labor day) to find very short lines. The same happened last year. Early November (minus maybe Veterans Day Weekend) was back to the lower waits.

 

[cakebaker]

There's a tool someone made floating around on the net which polls the FP+ system every 30 minutes. It's showing about a dozen attractions that are booked up through December already. 7DMT is booked solid until December 22. Anna & Elsa are booked through December 23. What surprises and concerns me the most is the lack of availability for this week or next week. You'd expect things to open up around now if they were releasing a bunch of FP+ slots. Instead it is staying booked. TSMM is booked up for the next month and is staying that way. AP Holders can only get that attraction IF they book the moment their 30 day window opens. Offsite or day of guests don't have a prayer.

Actually just took a look at that chart, and while 7dmt is booked a lot, there is limited availability, so not solidly booked. TSMM has lots of availability starting the middle of November and all of December up to the 22nd. I see nothing that is completely booked thru the 22nd outside of the parade and A&E.

It only lists 12 "attractions" and quite a few of those are parades, fireworks and meet n greets- only the most popular rides are listed. I would guess all the other rides are fully available at this point.

 

[mom2rtk]

Can you provide a link to the FP+ tool? I think a lot of us would be really interested in seeing this.

Thanks,

Andrea

Yes, I'd love to see it too.

 

[CTDisneyfan816]

I think making people go to the park to pul FP actually increases availability. We never saw legacy FP run out before noon or even later.



.

I guess it depends how you did it previously and now. I only did it once so my sample size is limited but I found the newer system (from my experience) easier to get on the popular rides than in the past. Yes I had to choose but for me (someone who normally travels solo) utilizing the single rider line in addition, I had no problems at all.

 

[CTDisneyfan816]

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+.

I think not getting a FP+ should and is low down on life's list of biggest disappointments

 

[tim123]

1. Rope drop one day
2. Rope drop another day
3. Standby was a 10-15 minute wait most days in August
4. We used a FP for this, arrived early and there were still people standing in front of us. We won't do that again.
5. Go to Frontierland.

OP, I don't recommend stalking the boards daily. Chances are you might get some or all of these fp's eventually, but they may be at really obscure times. This can really play havoc with your ADR's or other plans that you have made.

We need more people like you!
As John Lennon said.."when I tell them there's no problems, only solutions, they shake their heads and look at me as if I've lost my mind."

 

[cakebaker]

We need more people like you!
As John Lennon said.."when I tell them there's no problems, only solutions, they shake their heads and look at me as if I've lost my mind."

 

[crostorfer]

Mid October time period is becoming a time for a Fall break for schools. September was the Month (after Labor day) to find very short lines. The same happened last year. Early November (minus maybe Veterans Day Weekend) was back to the lower waits.

And most fall breaks are the first and second weeks of October. That accounts for the horrendous wait times flanking Columbus Day, and the sold out MNSSHPs those two weeks. This week, the crowds should have died to a minimum before picking up next weekend for Halloween.

 

[Suvadoo]

I think not getting a FP+ should and is low down on life's list of biggest disappointments

I haven't seen anyone post that this was one of life's biggest disappointments. Have you?
But there are a lot of families (more than 1 person in their party) who are having a hard time getting their FP+ attractions. Let's say, for example, your family really were looking forward to a ride on Soarin' but there were no FP+times available. Wouldn't you be disappointed?