FP+ "Problems" - I Just Don't Get It

[JanaDee]

I beg you...don't take the bait.

You're right. I am done.

Thanks for the reminder.

 

[mesaboy2]

I beg you...don't take the bait.

Good call. I'm out too.

 

[Laketravis]

...If people can't prebook the choice FPs (especially the onsiters more than 45 days out), Disney risks cancellations of trips as well as complaints...

I see that as a very real possibility. To Disney's credit (or ignorance?), they didn't narrow the FP+ reservation window for on-siters to 45 days (after the point they could not cancel their trip without penalty) but that does leave a 15 day window in which decisions could be made to cancel or postpone a trip based on the lack of FP+ availability.

It's certainly possible that a family looking at spending thousands of dollars on a trip - perhaps even planning their first visit - who then can't reserve major headline attractions at the 60 or 50 day mark aren't just going to put on their pollyanna hats and think "oh well, gee, let's just see what we get when we get there".

Rather, they could interpret that as a sign of high crowd levels, a looming negative impact on their expectations, or a dozen more reasons that may cause them to think their decision to go during their dates may not be a wise decision.

It seems reasonable to me to think that Disney could have received a substantial number of concerned inquiries, complaints, and possibly even attempts to cancel trips based on a lack of popular FP's that they decided to allocate more.

And thus only delay the inevitable.

 

[Laketravis]

Good call. I'm out too.

Hold the door, I'm right behind you.

 

[cakebaker]

...To Disney's credit (or ignorance?), they didn't narrow the FP+ reservation window for on-siters to 45 days (after the point they could not cancel their trip without penalty) ...

Just as an aside- that penalty only applies to packages. Room only reservations can cancel up up to 5 days before check-in with no penalty. It's been years since we did a package- outside of the evil free dining offers with a value resort, it's rarely a better deal.

Pardon the interruption....

 

[DisneyKidds]

You're right. I am done.

As if! Bet you a Dole Whip we hear from you again in this thread. Even if you don't post, you'll be looking. You know it!

Mesa....there may be other threads that have something to do with FP+, but nothing identical. You certainly aren't suggesting I should hijack someone else's kind, useful FP+ thread to serve my own wicked agenda?

Now that Jana is done distracting us, I will try and find time to respond to some of the useful and informative posts in this thread!

 

[Luvchefmic]

Hold the door, I'm right behind you.

hold it coming through

 

[wmson2000]

I am also going in mid December and had no problem getting rides and attraction I needed and for days and times that worked with my plans, in about 20 minutes on the system. So experience will vary greatly among users, both positive and negative. I do not think that any one experience is illustrative and reflective of thousands of users each day.

I'm going 2nd week of Dec and have trouble getting mine train on any of 5 days, crappy times on other attractions. And echoing other comments, the user friendliness of the site is awful - let it assign you bad times that overlap ADRs, etc - then make return trips to the site to attempt to find better time solutions. Awful.

We're long time annual visitors (at least once a year) with annual passes (this year anyway). For the first time, we're seriously considering reevaluating our travel choices (past an already booked Feb trip). I hope the Disney execs have someone taking the pulse of user forums like this one.

 

[minnie mum]

hold it coming through

Hey, wait for me! This mess has already gotten far more attention than it deserves.

 

[DisneyKidds]

Right, I should have said that OBJECTIVELY and ABSOLUTELY it is no better or worse. That's not to say that people won't have opinions! Such as yours, as you say FOR YOU it's not a great idea. Fair enough. But again, my point was, that WHENEVER there is any kind of change there are those for whom it works and those for whom it doesn't but for the vast majority - and I truly believe this - if they would just open their minds and be a little less upset about *change* it would all come out in the wash. And that is *my* opinion!

+1

I've been of the opinion (since I said it in a thread Jana probably found useful 18 months ago) that a lot of the backlash will die down as people adjust to the change, and yes....a few kinks are worked out. It's still going to take more time as this was a big change. Change is difficult and is often resisted, most by those for whom the system doesn't work as well as the old one.

For my family, it's kind of a wash. There are things we don't like and things we do. Yes, our vacations are different in some ways, but on the whole they are not better or worse. They are still great.

The one thing I've learned from this thread is that the playing field may not be level (I was naive to assume it was) and Disney (as evidenced by the recent release of 7dmt FPs for November) tinkers and changes. That helps me "get" why some people may have had legitimate issues getting FP+ at 60 days out, while others have had no problems getting FP+ for trips at other times. Sure, there are still dummy's out there who don't use the system properly, the same kind of people who probably can't turn on their home entertainment system (that would include my wife!), then blame the system, as well as trouble makers who misrepresent (is that word better than fabricate/lie) things.....but that's not the majority of people who report problems.

But in agreement with jodyb, you have to take the good with the bad, let it work itself through, and enjoy your WDW vacations even if they are slightly different from the legacy FP days.

 

[Zhaan]

i've been assured that if i just think positive thoughts, all that is the wonder of fp+ will open up before me.

lol

 

[epcotty]

It is bad for FL residents who can't plan everything to the exact day so far out and who don't stay in a hotel down there (lots of people like that, us included). It especially gets complicated if someone in your party doesn't buy tickets until that day, then you really can't put it on your ticket beforehand as that'd have you going at different times, possibly different attractions.

That being said, I've gone three times after it was introduced (once before it was available for offsite which went fine), and the other two times was with family who bought tickets on the day so didn't put fp on before and it still went ok with attractions not seeming to be booked out until later on in the day (this was during summer @ HS). Am I missing something or was I fortunate?

 

[wisblue]

First of all, I'm not talking about Disney's overall financial reports. I'm also not speaking about 7DMT.
I'm talking about theme park attendance. I believe there are a lot of people who read reviews prior to planning a vacation. If they read about the FP+ system being difficult to navigate, the long lines despite having FP reservations, and an overall not so hot vacation, it may turn people away.

I realize November and December are booked. I'm talking about next year's vacations.

This is a good example of how a very narrow comment can quickly spiral into something quite different. My first post on this toxic thread was to respond to one specific comment that stated the opinion that Disney was intentionally operating some popular rides at less than full capacity. Before long the exchange had shifted to the much broader issue of how FP+ may be affecting the overall financial health of the Walt Disney Company. I don't intend to chase that rabbit, at least not in this thread.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

it's a very difficult thing to go from a system where you decided while you were at the park, on the day, what attractions you wanted to do, to a new system that no theme park has ever tried before, where they are attempting to distribute crowds by having the guests themselves decide, ahead of time, on a few things to skip the line on and when.

It's even harder when they obviously don't release everything for booking at once and you don't have a way to know whether or not what you want an FP for will be available and when, it's just whether you are lucky enough to be searching when more are released. And the availability on some are limited. Of course it doesn't mean that you can't do those attractions anyway but for the popular ones FP+ is a timesaver. (Popular ones also run out of FPs faster of course. and I wish Disney would do a survey to find out how many guests are actually cancelling their entire already booked trips just because they can't get a fastpass for the mine train or Anna & Elsa. I don't think that's a high number personally. I think they stand a better chance of having guests try it, decide they don't like it, and then go elsewhere for their next vacation, but since they are targeting once in a lifetime "splurge" visitors anyway that may not be what Disney thinks of as a problem.)

Everybody's going to react differently but there are plenty who are going to think "this is too much work" and either give it up entirely or find a park that doesn't do this yet (someday I think more of them will have something like this going on, but for right now this is just not the way that most humans are used to dealing with theme parks. Technical issues aside - and there are a lot of those - it may be just a very big change to get accustomed to, and some will never get accustomed to it.)

And the technical issues, when they have them, are huge. Just last week I saw a friend get her account and FPs entirely screwed up because she purchased and added a magic band at the park. And those who attempted to help her messed it up further because they didn't ask her the right questions.

 

[tony67]

Just as an aside- that penalty only applies to packages. Room only reservations can cancel up up to 5 days before check-in with no penalty. It's been years since we did a package- outside of the evil free dining offers with a value resort, it's rarely a better deal.

Pardon the interruption....

True..unfortunately the second you add tickets to it (and magic express?) your done..and its a package with package cancellation rules....including a fee for upgrading your resort when it becomes available 44 days out..yeah they stopped waving that on upgrades it seems (anyone had luck with that?)

Anyway there are some decent things you get for making it a package IMO - free entry to Disney Quest for example

One of the best things Disney had done is magic express (see I can say something positive about Disney) - do you need to have a package for that or can it be room only?

 

[floralmouse]

Hold the door, I'm right behind you.

Wait for me!

 

[cakebaker]

True..unfortunately the second you add tickets to it (and magic express?) your done..and its a package with package cancellation rules....including a fee for upgrading your resort when it becomes available 44 days out..yeah they stopped waving that on upgrades it seems (anyone had luck with that?)

Anyway there are some decent things you get for making it a package IMO - free entry to Disney Quest for example

One of the best things Disney had done is magic express (see I can say something positive about Disney) - do you need to have a package for that or can it be room only?

Not sure I understand what you mean- but we make room only reservations, buy our tickets online separately and we don't have a package when we're done.

ME is not limited to packages.

 

[tony67]

We're long time annual visitors (at least once a year) with annual passes (this year anyway). For the first time, we're seriously considering reevaluating our travel choices (past an already booked Feb trip). I hope the Disney execs have someone taking the pulse of user forums like this one.

No No No these issues are all your imagination...these are not the droids your looking for....FP+ is the best thing since sliced bread.....really......

 

[MakiraMarlena]

True..unfortunately the second you add tickets to it (and magic express?) your done..and its a package with package cancellation rules

Nope, you can buy room and tickets separately, even if you buy them both from Disney - just book a room-only reservation. Magical express makes no difference. The dining plan, however, does since you can't have a dining plan on any reservation that is not a package (including ticketless room/dining packages) unless it's DVC which is a different system.

 

[mom2rtk]

Wait for me!

Me too!