Fp minus

[WILDERNESS FAN 55]

It does seem somewhat surprising that the OP was prepared enough to know to bypass the first kiosk but not aware of the tiering.



Where did she tell anyone not to post, or indicate she doesn't want to read FP threads? I'm tired of posters being accused of being the DIS police overall, but especially when the accusers are inferring intent that just doesn't exist.

 

[SnowWhite607]

It does seem somewhat surprising that the OP was prepared enough to know to bypass the first kiosk but not aware of the tiering.



Where did she tell anyone not to post, or indicate she doesn't want to read FP threads? I'm tired of posters being accused of being the DIS police overall, but especially when the accusers are inferring intent that just doesn't exist.

This^

 

[anonymousegirl]

I haven't experienced FP+ yet (going in May) but I think that it is going to be FP- for me as well. A staunch Rope Dropper and Fast Pass manager, this limit of 3 passes and only in one park is going to change everything for me.

I am trying to stay positive and we'll just have to see how it will really effect my touring.

Luckily, I live nearer to Disneyland, and it will be many years before FP+ hits California.

 

[GoofyKidd]

Anyone know where these CM's are located?

The reason I was unaware of the tiering was because in January, I called WDW to confirm what was going on with FP. I was told that when we came for our trip that the legacy system would still be used at 2 parks-I can't remember which at this point. So I felt a little relieved that our experience at all of the parks wouldn't be hindered. A few days before we left I saw a post on DIS that said all of the legacy FP machines were gone. I called again & was told that was indeed correct. No mention of tiering. I did not even question it because the thought of something so insane never even entered my mind. Keep in mind, we were staying offsite, so booking FP on line was not an option. Had I been able to do that, I guess it would have been crystal clear that there was a tiering system in place. At my request, the CM I spoke with went one by one through each location of the FP kiosks. I jotted them down & brought the list with us to the parks so I knew where we were headed so we weren't wandering around aimlessly, wasting ride time. Unfortunately I threw away the list the last day in the parks. If you call or go on disneyparks.com & do a live chat they will tell you each location. My advice is to avoid the first kiosk you see because that's where most people go-such as the tip board in Epcot. If you head left or right there are more kiosks with less of a line. In MK we used one right thru the Adventureland entrance.

I'm so sad about all this because I now sound like an angry poster. Getting to Disney each year has always been a top priority but that's changed for me-something I never thought would happen. I told the kids we're taking a break from Disney. Maybe next winter will be a relaxing beach getaway.

 

[mousehockey37]

Just returned from a 7 day trip to WDW. Have to say, maybe I've been in the dark, but I consider myself pretty well educated on all things Disney. The new FP+ system is certainly misnamed. In my opinion, it should be FP-. We did not know that in Epcot & HS the fast passes are tiered. You cannot get a FP for Soarin & Test Track, for example. In HS, you cannot get a FP for TSM & RnR. It's bad enough that guests are limited to 3 FP per day. Early risers & hard workers are punished by this new system. We used to accumulate far more than 3 per day because we were wise & arrived early. And we certainly could get whatever FP we wanted-none of this business about not being able to get FP for more than one headliner attraction. Total BS. Yes, I understand the reasoning but it still makes no sense to me. More like Socialism if you ask me-evening everything out. We stayed offsite for the first time in 9 trips so I was unable to book FP online before our trip. So we had the joy of waiting in line to wait in line to book our FP upon arrival at each park. The lines are long. We were educated before going and skipped the first kiosk we saw & moved on to one with a lesser line. But while you're waiting & reserving, you're missing out on valuable am ride time, especially on crowded days.

This was well thought out by Disney. It's a business move. They have given those who stay onsite the benefit of being able to book their rides up to 6 months ahead. Is it punishment that if you stay offsite and have that "privilege" not offered? No. It's business.

Were you able, instead of using the kiosks, to use the phone app once your park visits started? If you were, you could've bolted for TSMM and been on your phone booking your other rides. If you're offsite though and held to just using kiosks, it looks like its happy hunting.

The tiering system is obviously a test. As is the 3 per day. There are numerous places out there that say the same thing, that eventually, Disney will take all of this "data" and re-evaluate things and adjust accordingly. So hopefully they'll come up with a list of different tiers, put the rides in accordingly and then adjust how many FP you have in a day.

As far as the offsite vs onsite usage of the FP+ booking of rides, I don't believe you'll see that change.

 

[JimmyV]

This was well thought out by Disney. It's a business move. They have given those who stay onsite the benefit of being able to book their rides up to 6 months ahead. Is it punishment that if you stay offsite and have that "privilege" not offered? No. It's business.

A misconception. Disney has never stated that this is an on site benefit. They characterize it as a benefit that comes with park admission. During this pahse of the testing, on site guests get to use the pre-booking option. Eventually, everyone will. So it is not a well though-out business move for the reasons you suggest. Perhaps for other reasons, but not these. (And it stands at 60 days, not 6 months).

Were you able, instead of using the kiosks, to use the phone app once your park visits started?

No. The app functionality is not open to off site guests yet.

The tiering system is obviously a test. As is the 3 per day. There are numerous places out there that say the same thing, that eventually, Disney will take all of this "data" and re-evaluate things and adjust accordingly. So hopefully they'll come up with a list of different tiers, put the rides in accordingly and then adjust how many FP you have in a day.

Once upon a time I was hopeful. But seeing how much of the ride capacity is now being doled out through FP+, I am not sure that they have left themselves any more room to unlock the tiers or give out more FPs. The rides can only accomodate so many people, and at 75% FP+ ride capacity for some rides, there is nowhere else to go.

As far as the offsite vs onsite usage of the FP+ booking of rides, I don't believe you'll see that change.

Disney has already said that AP holders will have pre-booking options, and the MDE is giving offsite people future dates when they can pre-book. Granted, these future dates keep rolling forward with each new calendar day. But there would be no reason for them to have created this functionality if they did not intend to activate it some day. The kiosk and i-Pad lines were untenable during the "7-9" crowd days over President's Weekend. Come Easter and the summer months, people will not tolerate that same mess. They have to and will allow pre-booking for offsite guests. Maybe not the same 60 days. Buy they cannot staff the parks with enough CMs and I-Pads to accomodate everyone. Lines over President's Day to use kiosks were an hour long. Will people at Easter tolerate 2 hour lines just to get FP+ scraps? Hardly. So you will see that change.

 

[redrosesix]

Just returned from a 7 day trip to WDW. Have to say, maybe I've been in the dark, but I consider myself pretty well educated on all things Disney. The new FP+ system is certainly misnamed. In my opinion, it should be FP-. We did not know that in Epcot & HS the fast passes are tiered. You cannot get a FP for Soarin & Test Track, for example. In HS, you cannot get a FP for TSM & RnR. It's bad enough that guests are limited to 3 FP per day. Early risers & hard workers are punished by this new system. We used to accumulate far more than 3 per day because we were wise & arrived early. And we certainly could get whatever FP we wanted-none of this business about not being able to get FP for more than one headliner attraction. Total BS. Yes, I understand the reasoning but it still makes no sense to me. More like Socialism if you ask me-evening everything out. We stayed offsite for the first time in 9 trips so I was unable to book FP online before our trip. So we had the joy of waiting in line to wait in line to book our FP upon arrival at each park. The lines are long. We were educated before going and skipped the first kiosk we saw & moved on to one with a lesser line. But while you're waiting & reserving, you're missing out on valuable am ride time, especially on crowded days.

I am not a fan of this new system & after going every year since 2006 I must say this last trip pushed me over the edge. I need a break from Disney. Gasp! Never thought I'd say that. We ran into the rudest CM in Pecos Bill's at lunchtime who had ropes around the dining room & you could not get in unless your entire party was there. So they were crowding up the ordering area by forcing families to stay together. My Dh went to the restroom & when my kids & I tried to get a table, with a tray full of food, he refused to let us in since my Dh was not with us. My food was getting cold, the kids were starving & I was getting upset. Another CM noticed what was going on & let us in. I asked the original rude guy if he was going to let my DH in since he would obviously have no food with him when he tried to enter the dining room. He had the nerve to say-if he doesn't have food he's not getting in. Like it's prison! I went straight to the manager & voiced my complaint.

But this trip was just one headache after another-from FP lunacy to rude CM's, terrible service at Be Our Guest, it's time for a break. Disney is losing one very loyal customer who has spend thousands upon thousands on our vacations there. Something has changed. I felt very controlled this trip, less in charge of ourselves. I don't know how else to explain it. I never thought the day would come that I'd have a bad trip report & claim I need a break, but today is the day.

Yup, the roping off is new and took some getting used to. But it does make sense since so many people were reserving tables well before they needed them that we were often left without a place to sit by the time we got our food. They weren't very nice to us either the first time we saw the ropes. And they're getting put up everywhere. But at least now they hand out menus for you to read in line so people should have their minds made up before they get to the register.

yes, something has changed -- CMs are snapping and when it gets to the point that resort CMs are making jokes about FP+, you know something is wrong.

I wouldn't really call it socialism -- then everybody would be getting something. It felt more like things were being taken away. I was tempted to say "moo" a few times in the food court lines and the queue before the FP+ queue.

 

[redrosesix]

The seating thing at CS locations has been effect during crowded times for quite a few years now (probably three, I'm guessing) so unless the CM actually said rude things to you, I think he was probably just trying to do his job. That is the policy they follow during crowded times, maybe you just never saw it in effect before.

As for FP+, feel free to commiserate on one of the 10 other thread saying the same. I haven't used it yet, so I'm trying to stay positive and adapt.

It wasn't crowded this week. We've never had those types of queues even during Pres Wknd the past 7 years. The ropes weren't even up the Saturday of Pres Wknd this year.

 

[redrosesix]

Our family completely agrees with you. The new system and name is a joke.
We are getting far less and we to are completely frustrated with it.
We are done, no more Disney, they won't get our business anymore.
They are not addressing the need for more attractions to meet increased demand, instead they are limiting what you get so everybody gets their ration.
Ridiculous. They will lose repeat customers and those numbers will continue to rise. The first timers will continue to come but veterans are too smart to be fooled into this nonsense.
They have lots of money for expanding the DVC projects but very little going toward park and ride expansion.
Lots of fine places in the world to visit without people dictating your every move.

Agreed. Cya in Niagara Falls -- we have yet to stay at Great Wolf Lodge but I hear it's awesome.

 

[sydprincess]

I was almost corralled by a CM at Pecos once a few years ago- until I realized I had free will to blast past him and find myself a table. Which I did. Problem solved.

 

[anniee882000]

This FP+ system reminds me of the OLD disney ticket system where you only got one or two E tickets, and a few more D tickets, and went home with unused A and B tickets cause they were for the crappy things you didn't want to go on.

Yes, I'm that old!

 

[*disgal*]

The reason I was unaware of the tiering was because in January, I called WDW to confirm what was going on with FP. I was told that when we came for our trip that the legacy system would still be used at 2 parks-I can't remember which at this point. So I felt a little relieved that our experience at all of the parks wouldn't be hindered. A few days before we left I saw a post on DIS that said all of the legacy FP machines were gone. I called again & was told that was indeed correct. No mention of tiering. I did not even question it because the thought of something so insane never even entered my mind. Keep in mind, we were staying offsite, so booking FP on line was not an option. Had I been able to do that, I guess it would have been crystal clear that there was a tiering system in place. At my request, the CM I spoke with went one by one through each location of the FP kiosks. I jotted them down & brought the list with us to the parks so I knew where we were headed so we weren't wandering around aimlessly, wasting ride time. Unfortunately I threw away the list the last day in the parks. If you call or go on disneyparks.com & do a live chat they will tell you each location. My advice is to avoid the first kiosk you see because that's where most people go-such as the tip board in Epcot. If you head left or right there are more kiosks with less of a line. In MK we used one right thru the Adventureland entrance.

I'm so sad about all this because I now sound like an angry poster. Getting to Disney each year has always been a top priority but that's changed for me-something I never thought would happen. I told the kids we're taking a break from Disney. Maybe next winter will be a relaxing beach getaway.

Thank you for that info. I know stuff is on here but sometimes it's so hard to find. But I see a "sticky" in the disboards's future, I think. lol

And you didn't sound like an angry poster to me. I totally get what you are saying. Personally, I LOVE Disney. I get mocked for it. haha I don't care. And I think on a lot of levels Disney is really smart. No other park gives me that special feeling. But, I will also never be accused of drinkin' the Kool-Aid either.

A misconception. Disney has never stated that this is an on site benefit. They characterize it as a benefit that comes with park admission. During this pahse of the testing, on site guests get to use the pre-booking option. Eventually, everyone will. So it is not a well though-out business move for the reasons you suggest. Perhaps for other reasons, but not these. (And it stands at 60 days, not 6 months).


No. The app functionality is not open to off site guests yet.

Once upon a time I was hopeful. But seeing how much of the ride capacity is now being doled out through FP+, I am not sure that they have left themselves any more room to unlock the tiers or give out more FPs. The rides can only accomodate so many people, and at 75% FP+ ride capacity for some rides, there is nowhere else to go.


Disney has already said that AP holders will have pre-booking options, and the MDE is giving offsite people future dates when they can pre-book. Granted, these future dates keep rolling forward with each new calendar day. But there would be no reason for them to have created this functionality if they did not intend to activate it some day. The kiosk and i-Pad lines were untenable during the "7-9" crowd days over President's Weekend. Come Easter and the summer months, people will not tolerate that same mess. They have to and will allow pre-booking for offsite guests. Maybe not the same 60 days. Buy they cannot staff the parks with enough CMs and I-Pads to accomodate everyone. Lines over President's Day to use kiosks were an hour long. Will people at Easter tolerate 2 hour lines just to get FP+ scraps? Hardly. So you will see that change.

Thank you for clarifying all this JimmyV.

This FP+ system reminds me of the OLD disney ticket system where you only got one or two E tickets, and a few more D tickets, and went home with unused A and B tickets cause they were for the crappy things you didn't want to go on.

Yes, I'm that old!

haha, ME TOO!!! 1978 baby! "But Dad, you HAVE to let me buy another pack of tickets! I don't have any more "E" tickets. I've just GOT to ride Space Mountain again!!" .... thanks for the memory. (although I would never want to go back to that system! lol)

 

[GoofyKidd]

This FP+ system reminds me of the OLD disney ticket system where you only got one or two E tickets, and a few more D tickets, and went home with unused A and B tickets cause they were for the crappy things you didn't want to go on.

Yes, I'm that old!

Funny!

 

[magicbob]

1978 baby! "But Dad, you HAVE to let me buy another pack of tickets! I don't have any more "E" tickets. I've just GOT to ride Space Mountain again!!"

Fast forward to 2015...

"But Dad, you HAVE to let me buy another FP+! I don't have any more tier one reservations. I've just GOT to ride Space Mountain again!!"

Progress... ain't it grand?

 

[dfb]

Fast forward to 2015...

"But Dad, you HAVE to let me buy another FP+! I don't have any more tier one reservations. I've just GOT to ride Space Mountain again!!"

Progress... ain't it grand?

I made similar post a few weeks ago! When I first heard of FP+ the first thing I thought of was 1972.

In 1972, I was amazed my dad would pay about $70 - $80 for us to go to WDW, there were 9 of us. I think ticket books were $6-$7 each. I beleive each had about 2/3 E tickets. You could buy extra books or tickets. Each ticket was about .30 - 1.00.

No coasters then. I think E tickets were for 20000 Leagues, HM, JC, Presidents maybe a couple others. Grand Prix was a B or C ride. I was 12 years old and I thought - too much time in lines and too much money ($80 ha ha) Although we loved Disney, me nor any of my brothers wanted to come back. Obviously it's different today but hope FP+ does not take me back to the lines of yesteryear!!

 

[mom2rtk]

Welcome to the new Disney Theme Park Experience -- Magic Their Way*.

*™ mom2rtk, 2013, All Rights Reserved

My family is in the other room wondering why I'm laughing so hard right now!

Once upon a time I was hopeful. But seeing how much of the ride capacity is now being doled out through FP+, I am not sure that they have left themselves any more room to unlock the tiers or give out more FPs. The rides can only accomodate so many people, and at 75% FP+ ride capacity for some rides, there is nowhere else to go.

Agreed. And I would have more hope if they hadn't started with tiers, then removed them, only to put them back. I really think they are here to stay.

This FP+ system reminds me of the OLD disney ticket system where you only got one or two E tickets, and a few more D tickets, and went home with unused A and B tickets cause they were for the crappy things you didn't want to go on.

Yes, I'm that old!

You left out one tiny detail..... the move to "all-access" pricing along the way. Disney wants it both ways.

 

[ciera321]

The title of my post is what I'm really the most frustrated about. Disney touts Fast Pass PLUS like we're getting more out of the new FP system now. Guests are getting LESS, FAR LESS. They've taken away, not enhanced, not added. So why on earth do they think they can fool us with a positive sounding name when they've actually diminished what we can do? That I cannot get a FP for 2of our favorite rides at the same park is ridiculous. If I was willing to get to the parks early enough to secure my old FP to ensure my family could ride everything we wanted without a significant wait, then yay for me. But now that ability is gone. I felt completely controlled this trip. In my experience Disney was always about yes, now it feels restricting, like it's coming from a place of no. As if we adults are little kids and we need more rules.

I vote rename it Fast Pass Minus!

I could not agree more! I have a trip planned for May and, no, I have not experienced FP+ yet. However, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand, after 22 trips, that the limitations of tiers, the limit of 3 FPs, being denied the ability to get 2 FPs for a favorite ride, and FPs for only one park, are going to significantly affect my experience and the way I've enjoyed DW for over 24 years....

 

[magicbob]

You left out one tiny detail..... the move to "all-access" pricing along the way. Disney wants it both ways.

It's a shame no one has ever brought up this tiny detail before.

 

[BigAlsGal]

Fast forward to 2015...

"But Dad, you HAVE to let me buy another FP+! I don't have any more tier one reservations. I've just GOT to ride Space Mountain again!!"

Progress... ain't it grand?

You still have the option to do stand-by. . You can ride it again! You just have to wait.

 

[bocaj1431]

Sorry you had a bad time OP. I can imagine it must be very frustrating having some of the FP+ "features" sprung on you in the parks when you didn't know about them in advance. I also said when we were there earlier this month that I felt bad for all the offsite guests that are forced to wait in the kiosk lines to make their FP+ times. We saw many very long lines for that. Likely that won't be the case in the future, but it does suck that you had to deal with it before it improves.



Then it would be your responsibility to not open threads about FP, not other people's responsibility not to post. There are plenty of other places for you to post as well.

So annoying seeing people trying to be the DIS police every time someone posts anything that isn't glowing about FP+.