FP+ making me really nervous

[Zeebs]

We go out in May for our 3rd trip. We are staying off site and I know I should stop reading about it but it like looking at a train wreck you can't stop looking.

We have always made full use of the fastpass, in conjunction with the rider swap and (rightly or wrongly) using the fastpass to collect in the morning and use in the afternoon. We then would leave and we don't return to do the nights as we find with the kids it just makes us all cranky.

People are saying they are just cancelling their trips until it gets sorted out but you all know it is very difficult without losing a fair amount of money to do that from here.

I hate long lines, but while I am on holiday I also hate to disappoint my kids by not letting them ride what they really want to ride. If the lines are horrific and we can't get access to the fastpasses for some of them because of lack of availability or the availability is for the evenings, I am thinking we are in for a bit of a disappointing trip all round.

That said I know there is nothing we can about it, so I am not sure even why I am posting this but I felt like a bit of a moan. I am sure we will have a lovely time.

On the plus side I did manage to get a ADR for BOG so it better be bloody good is all I can say

Kirsten

 

[Portugal1000]

This will be our 11th trip and first time not doing Disney. Partly because of FP+ but I would say mainly because we have been so many times and once again only one new ride this year. I'd love to go on 7 dwarfs mine train as its taken longer to build than an Olympic stadium so surely it will be fantastic!!! But we'd have to spend nearly £1000 on tickets and with the uncertainty of what FP will be like during August I decided against it. Actually really glad our hand was forced as it will be a much less busy trip and lots of time to relax including a week at the beach. We will go to all the other parks including Disney water parks but just not main 4 parks.
I am sure FP will be fine for you as by May there will be loads of tips and lots of reports from people.

 

[pickers1982]

Are you out in school hols? We just got back on Saturday and despite being hugely nervous of fastpass plus found it very good. The caveat being it wasn't a particularly busy time of year and we were staying on site so would do the parks a few hours a day and do a lot of time by the pool so didn't need to squeeze much into our days. We did some picks on the day rather than in advance and had good choices still

We did have one tech issue when we changed a fast pass but let us on anyway. It will be interesting to see how things go with Midway Mania as it's so popular and could be booked up early.

All in all from what I saw and experienced fastpass plus is a good development and as I mentioned I was apprehensive

 

[grantforrest]

I don't know if anyone has noticed but even looking on the MDE app it appears that the wait times for rides is getting longer and longer....February is not the busiest month but I've now got a sense of dread for when we go in a few months. Think this may be our last time at disney for a while.

 

[pickers1982]

I don't know if anyone has noticed but even looking on the MDE app it appears that the wait times for rides is getting longer and longer....February is not the busiest month but I've now got a sense of dread for when we go in a few months. Think this may be our last time at disney for a while.

Lines did feel longer than normal to us but I'm not sure if that is more of a function of the us economy doing better and more people being there.

Think magic kingdom with so many rides is where it will be felt most.

 

[tinks_1989]

I would just wait till you get there.

There were FP+ kiosks EVERY WHERE with a lot of CMs at each stand there to help you make your choices.

I loved FP+ but we were on site.

 

[tinks_1989]

Lines did feel longer than normal to us but I'm not sure if that is more of a function of the us economy doing better and more people being there. Think magic kingdom with so many rides is where it will be felt most.

That's funny we thought all the lines were vey easy to manage. We don't do the headliners like TOT, RNR, BTM, SM etc

I found the parks busier but didn't think it effected the lines.

 

[tinkerpea]

We're doing June-July for the 1st ever time as we had to change our may trip due to deployment,

I'm DREADING it! Not only is it going to really hot humid and rainy but its going to be manic

We are also doing universal for a wk staying onsite but with the timing of Diagon alley that's also going to be crazy busy!

We are actually not going to go again for 2years after the trip which breaks my heart, but costs are going way up and perks are going way down..
I'm hoping disney sorts its self out, so we can return but they just down seem to be worried about how any of this effects its loyal customers.

 

[2Tiggies]

I don't know if anyone has noticed but even looking on the MDE app it appears that the wait times for rides is getting longer and longer....February is not the busiest month but I've now got a sense of dread for when we go in a few months. Think this may be our last time at disney for a while.

Did you see the lines for FP+ posted on Twitter yesterday? I mean I know it was a holiday weekend and all, but this is occurring way too frequently. Someone on another thread very aptly pointed out that although SB lines have been discussed at length for years, discussions on how long the FP+ wait times are has not been a topic until the introduction of FP+

I'm sorry, this is not testing. They can call it testing but we don't have an alternative. It may be considered testing by Disney, but for us, this is the real deal; this is it; it's all we have and we have to use it to make or break our park/attraction plans.

 

[Elise79]

Now FP+ is in place for all guests I don't see that it is any different to using the old FP system If you weren't there early FP ran out for the headliners anyway. The anytime use window has been closed for a good while now anyway so if you had adapted to that then FP+ isn't that big of a change.

We used FP+ in December. I did not book everything 60 days out. Most days I booked on the day and changed them whilst in the parks. Yes I was on site which meant I could use my phone but overall I really enjoyed it.

 

[pickers1982]

That's funny we thought all the lines were vey easy to manage. We don't do the headliners like TOT, RNR, BTM, SM etc I found the parks busier but didn't think it effected the lines.

Yes still fairly easy to manage just slightly longer than we are used to. An extra 10 mins here or there on a line. Everyone s experience is different this was just ours!!

Honestly try not to get too worked up you only ever hear or see photos or horror stories. A ride going tech for example is a great opprtunity for a long line.

 

[flortlebap]

Now FP+ is in place for all guests I don't see that it is any different to using the old FP system If you weren't there early FP ran out for the headliners anyway. The anytime use window has been closed for a good while now anyway so if you had adapted to that then FP+ isn't that big of a change.

We used FP+ in December. I did not book everything 60 days out. Most days I booked on the day and changed them whilst in the parks. Yes I was on site which meant I could use my phone but overall I really enjoyed it.

On our last trip we managed to get 9 FPs in one day at MK. That's one of the major downers for us - being limited to three.

Don't even get me started on tiering. I have always FPd the big three at Epcot - but now I only get to pick one?!

For us it does represent a major change. We are going during off season this year though so I'm not too worried. But I'm almost certain we won't be going next August as originally planned - I've never really had to wait in line so being forced to wait 2 hours for a ride just isn't my idea of fun!

It sucks. And I was actually really enthusiastic about the FP+ Revamp when I first heard about it!

 

[wilma-bride]

I have studiously avoided the FP+ threads on the Theme Parks board, mainly because the negativity there was dragging me down a bit.

Personally, I can't actually recall a time when we have been able to get or use more than 3 or 4 FPs a day. I am not saying that people who say they have used 9 or 10 FPs a day are lying but, all I can say is they must have been extremely lucky with timing. Generally, the first FP of the day had a return time at least 30 minutes away and, unless lines were very short (in which case FP would not be needed) the return time for each FP would normally be over an hour away. Since you had to wait at least an hour (or until your FP return time) before you could get another, you would be lucky to get (or use) more than 5 or 6 FPs at most

Theefore, the practice of only 3 FP+ a day doesn't bother me at all. We are staying on site this trip so have had the opportunity to pre-book our FP+ and I was also lucky enough to get to change mine during the glitch last week so have managed to get headliners for Epcot and DHS. However, if that hadn't been the case, not being able to FP+ the rides of our choosing would have bothered me. So, in that respect, the tiering is an issue and I completley agree with those people who say 'let us choose which rides we want to use our FP+ on'.

However, I do agree with Tracey, in that, with Legacy FP, unless you got to the park fairly early in the day the FPs would be mostly gone for the day (particularly for the headliners) so off-site visitors will be in no worse a position than they were before, whereas those staying onsite have the advantage of being able to pre-book (which, I believe, was Disney's intention in the first place). So, if you get to the parks early, you could do one headliner standby, then get FP+ for another headliner plus two other rides.

The one thing I haven't seen amongst all of the negativity on the theme parks board is any reports from off-site visitors that they weren't able to get any FP+ for the rides they wanted on a particular day.

In summary, I am absolutely determined NOT to feel negative about our upcoming trip and I will judge for myself how FP+ works for me and my family. Let's face it, everyobdy is different and what works for one person('s touring style) may not work for another. Doesn't mean anybody is right or wrong but just have different priorities and standards. But, personally, I already feel very positive about some of the aspects, such as the ability to book FP+ for Toy Story Mania in the middle of the day so we can ride it when we hop to DHS from Animal Kingdom, before moving on to Epcot (during our 4 parks in a day tour). Prior to FP+ this would not have been possible as all the FP+ would have been gone by the time we arrived at the park mid morning. And the fact that I have been able to book FP+ for the night of our arrival so we can ride Soarin' on our first night, before getting some dinner and watching Illuminations. Again, this would not have been possible prior to FP+.

I really hope those who have yet to experience it are able to put aside their worries and not allow the negativity and bickering to prejudice them before deciding for themselves whether FP+ is a good or bad thing for them and their family.

 

[pickers1982]

As a relaxed travel who hated rushing round to get fastpasses this is great. That said i do two week trips staying on site so never a rush

It would annoy me if im offsite and have limited time in parks.

That said its a real pleasure for midway mania not having to break your neck to get a fast pass early and can rock up for the evening.

I couldnt seem to book fastpasses in the same hour which was annoying. Also tuering of rides can be annoying. Like isay it worked for me but can see why it wouldnt for people.

 

[chmurf]

I used FP+ and enjoyed it. (onsite)
It was even more convinient at some point that regular FPs

What has me smiling is that there are a lot of people who say FP+ sucks, FP+ ruined their vacactions, or they will cancel their vacations bevause of FP+
but when you look at it, they often are months away from their first trip with FP+

on the other hand, some have experienced it firsthand, and many of them are satisfied with the experience, but there is so much negativity (and even hatred) from those who haven't used the system yet, that those who did like it, do not dare say that they liked it.

So I would suggest to sit back, relax, give the system a chance.

 

[pickers1982]

I used FP+ and enjoyed it. (onsite) It was even more convinient at some point that regular FPs What has me smiling is that there are a lot of people who say FP+ sucks, FP+ ruined their vacactions, or they will cancel their vacations bevause of FP+ but when you look at it, they often are months away from their first trip with FP+ on the other hand, some have experienced it firsthand, and many of them are satisfied with the experience, but there is so much negativity (and even hatred) from those who haven't used the system yet, that those who did like it, do not dare say that they liked it. So I would suggest to sit back, relax, give the system a chance.

Well said

 

[Elise79]

On our last trip we managed to get 9 FPs in one day at MK. That's one of the major downers for us - being limited to three.

I don't think I have ever used 9 FPs in one day! I can't imagine what I would have even got 9 FPs for lol.

We have been at busy and quiet times but make use of rope drop and have never needed or been able to get more than 4 or maybe 5.

I was nervous before our first time using - it's not the same but it didn't affect our enjoyment at all. It's nice being able to select the times and you can move in a logical order rather than back tracking all the time

 

[flortlebap]

I don't think I have ever used 9 FPs in one day! I can't imagine what I would have even got 9 FPs for lol.

We have been at busy and quiet times but make use of rope drop and have never needed or been able to get more than 4 or maybe 5.

I was nervous before our first time using - it's not the same but it didn't affect our enjoyment at all. It's nice being able to select the times and you can move in a logical order rather than back tracking all the time

We were in MK from 8am until about 9pm! We racked up the headliners first thing and then used the lesser attractions for afternoon and evening. We were there around 13 hours so it's an average of one every 90 minutes. We did get 2 "bonus" FPs for ride closures though so I suppose in reality we only actually got 7 FPs.

Anyway to us it's still a pretty big leap from 7 to only 3 - with park hopping now being pretty pointless!

 

[wilma-bride]

park hopping now being pretty pointless!

See, this is where we disagree. One of the bonus (selling) points of FP+ to me is the fact that I can do rope drop at one park and get some of my favourite rides under my belt, then hop to another park and use my FP+ reservations there, thus knowing that I will be able to do at least 3 rides in the second park. Previously, the only park we would hop to was Epcot (for Illuminations), knowing we would have little (or no) chance of getting any rides done as most of the FPs would be gone by the time we arrived.

 

[tinks_1989]

Park hopping still worked well for us. We would go to a recommended park in the morning go back to a non recommended park in the evening and use FP+ there.