FP+ Skeptic - My Recent Experience

[BuckeyeBama]

I have posted a few times in recent months about my concerns surrounding FP+ and its implementation. I have just returned from WDW - 7 days, 8 nights. My wife and I are both very spontaneous people, and we had very real concerns about our ability to book FP+ the morning of, or night before, each park day. I think that those who read those posts deserve to hear how my trip went:

First - We booked no FP+ reservations before our trip. We had no idea how many days, or what days, we would be in the parks - much less which specific park we would choose to visit on any particular date.

When we arrived we booked FP+ reservations for the following day, but it was very cold and we decided not to go to the parks. Late that night we went to the concierge desk as we were having problems booking FP+ reservations for the next day on-line. The CM was very helpful and booked our 3 rides of choice at the times of our choice in MK for the following afternoon.

During the following 7 days, we visited the parks on 5 total days. We didn't book FP+ reservations until the morning of each day before we left our room for the parks. We were always able to get the rides of our choice at the times of our choice. This let us sleep in and allowed us to have a very spontaneous trip.

I am still annoyed that we cannot book more than 3 FP+/day, that the rides are tiered, and that we cannot book "hopping" FP+ reservations - but this worked out well enough for my wife and I. It will not effect our decision to book future trips. Over all, we had a very pleasant trip.

 

[mesaboy2]

I have posted a few times in recent months about my concerns surrounding FP+ and its implementation. I have just returned from WDW - 7 days, 8 nights. My wife and I are both very spontaneous people, and we had very real concerns about our ability to book FP+ the morning of, or night before, each park day. I think that those who read those posts deserve to hear how my trip went:

First - We booked no FP+ reservations before our trip. We had no idea how many days, or what days, we would be in the parks - much less which specific park we would choose to visit on any particular date.

When we arrived we booked FP+ reservations for the following day, but it was very cold and we decided not to go to the parks. Late that night we went to the concierge desk as we were having problems booking FP+ reservations for the next day on-line. The CM was very helpful and booked our 3 rides of choice at the times of our choice in MK for the following afternoon.

During the following 7 days, we visited the parks on 5 total days. We didn't book FP+ reservations until the morning of each day before we left our room for the parks. We were always able to get the rides of our choice at the times of our choice. This let us sleep in and allowed us to have a very spontaneous trip.

I am still annoyed that we cannot book more than 3 FP+/day, that the rides are tiered, and that we cannot book "hopping" FP+ reservations - but this worked out well enough for my wife and I. It will not effect our decision to book future trips. Over all, we had a very pleasant trip.

Thanks for following up and reporting your experience!

 

[AquaDame]

I am glad to hear it! The system at present is still only half deployed though. The real question is what it is all like after the 23rd of this month.

 

[Spriesty]

Very happy to hear this, since we're not the biggest planners either. Hopefully it will continue to be this way, although I'm a little skeptical.

It's "Value" season now, so theoretically, it's not overly crowded. And the FP+ is so new, a lot of people may not even know about it, or are learning about it at the last minute. People staying off-site may not have any idea what happened to FP- or even realize what FP+ is or how it works.

I'm crossing my fingers that it works that well during heavier times, 6 months from now when more people are aware of it.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

Very happy to hear this, since we're not the biggest planners either. Hopefully it will continue to be this way, although I'm a little skeptical.

It's "Value" season now, so theoretically, it's not overly crowded. And the FP+ is so new, a lot of people may not even know about it, or are learning about it at the last minute. People staying off-site may not have any idea what happened to FP- or even realize what FP+ is or how it works.

I'm crossing my fingers that it works that well during heavier times, 6 months from now when more people are aware of it.

Agreed - no idea how it will work during peak seasons.

 

[Jennasis]

The reports we're getting now are encouraging, as they are from low crowd times and we will be going at a low crowd time later this year. Like many others, NOT happy about the limit of 3 or the tiering, or the inability to use FP in more than one park (we won't be wasting money on hoppers this trip), but if I there are actual real choices left day-of to change our FP to then that will ease some of my frustration.

I'll book 60 days out just to have SOMETHING...but how on God's green Earth am I supposed to know 60 days out what day and time I want to ride a ride?? The ability to change day-of to DECENT times will be crucial in my acceptance of this new system.

 

[pooch]

but, as long as I know what park I'm gonna be in on a given day, and I do because of best park recommendations/adr's, picking times 60 days out diesn't seem like that much of a big deal to me. For example, on our MK day, I knew we had lunch FP at BOG for 12:30 so I scheduled SM for a couple hrs later (to digest!!!) and Buzz for right after SM. So we ate lunch did a few things in Fantasyland and headed to Tomorrowland. Then we had ADR's for LTT so I scheduled HM for just before dinner & we headed over there in time to do a couple of things plus HM before dinner and were timed right for watching MSEP from Liberty Square.

Not particularly spontaneous I guess. But I was able to switch up our Epcot FP+s morning of, since the family was too tired to get up early. Actually, my favorite thing about FP+ is being able to get them for headliners without getting up at the buttcrack of dawn!!!

 

[Laketravis]

I am still annoyed that we cannot book more than 3 FP+/day, that the rides are tiered, and that we cannot book "hopping" FP+ reservations

I think if they address those three elements FP+ would be received much more positively.

 

[kenny]

We went from thanksgiving until the following Sunday. While thanksgiving is crowded the Monday after empties out. Not sure if it is vale season or not


That being said. We booked our FP's 60 days out but made changes during that week. For non headliners it was fine

However were we unable to change times for test track or soarin during that week wet here it was a few days out r day of

Not everyone was on FP+ and parks were not too crowded. Have a hard time seeing this working well during peak seasons

 

[dobtia]

I am looking at a June trip for myself and my son. We have been in June several times and have always had great times with FP and RD. We never really miss out on anything and with just a little planning we normally get multiple rides on many of the big rides. Splah, BTMR, Buzz...we could always get several rides a day with small waits. This is on top of most of the others.

I don't have a major objection to the idea of FP+. It just requires a small bit of planning ahead for us.

The idea of 3 a day in June is really a major concern for us. We also don't really love the idea of only being able to use one per ride. For example at DHS we don't really do Rocking Roller or Tower of Terror. We would use our FP for Toy Story and Star Tours.

I just have this feeling that the peak season will not get the same reports as the off-season. My ex-wife is there right now and is amazed by how short the lines are compared to what we used to do.

Of course we all know that gut feeling will come true. Pay extra to get extra in the peak......just my thoughts.

 

[kaybird]

Agreed - no idea how it will work during peak seasons.

We had very much the same experience as the OP, a spontaneous trip, booked FP+ on the day or day before, and we were there during peak time, New years eve through Jan 6. The parks were PACKED, and we were able to ride every ride in every park, and did many of them multiple times.

 

[jade1]

The reports we're getting now are encouraging, as they are from low crowd times and we will be going at a low crowd time later this year. Like many others, NOT happy about the limit of 3 or the tiering, or the inability to use FP in more than one park (we won't be wasting money on hoppers this trip), but if I there are actual real choices left day-of to change our FP to then that will ease some of my frustration.

I'll book 60 days out just to have SOMETHING...but how on God's green Earth am I supposed to know 60 days out what day and time I want to ride a ride?? The ability to change day-of to DECENT times will be crucial in my acceptance of this new system.

Heck yea, may as well have something just in case.

If we have FP+ for the mountains at MK for wed afternoon 60 days out-pretty likely will go to MK that wed and ride the mountains.

I just can't see any of us saying-"crap who picked those?". More like a dream come true IMO.

 

[Laketravis]

i just can't see any of us saying-"crap who picked those?"

lol!!

 

[delmar411]

Agreed - no idea how it will work during peak seasons.

It worked just fine during the busiest week of the year. I was able to get same day FP+ selections for anything other than TSM. But I still can't get same day TSM FP+even now when the parks are dead so it wasn't surprising.

We don't use FP- anymore. It's just not worth the effort and we haven't been using it for quite a while now. I think we used one set of FP- for something a few weeks back but I forget what it was for. The time was just perfectly lined up for when we were there.

*I* haven't had any issues with FP+ other than the 3 limit and lack of park hopping. YMMV

 

[DVCcurious]

It worked just fine during the busiest week of the year. I was able to get same day FP+ selections for anything other than TSM.

Let's clarify what "it" is. "It" in your sentence refers to on-site guests using fastpass + but no offsite guests.

Do you have any idea what the make up is of on site vs off site during the busy times of the year? There are a TON, literally a TON, 2000 pounds, of people who are offsite at Christmas, Easter, and Independence Day. During your experience not one of those offsite guests got FP+. What do you think it will be like when everybody, offsite and onsite, have FP+?

I don't think you'll be able to get same-day Space Mountain for 7PM.

 

[AliceandAriel]

I have posted a few times in recent months about my concerns surrounding FP+ and its implementation. I have just returned from WDW - 7 days, 8 nights. My wife and I are both very spontaneous people, and we had very real concerns about our ability to book FP+ the morning of, or night before, each park day. I think that those who read those posts deserve to hear how my trip went:

First - We booked no FP+ reservations before our trip. We had no idea how many days, or what days, we would be in the parks - much less which specific park we would choose to visit on any particular date.

When we arrived we booked FP+ reservations for the following day, but it was very cold and we decided not to go to the parks. Late that night we went to the concierge desk as we were having problems booking FP+ reservations for the next day on-line. The CM was very helpful and booked our 3 rides of choice at the times of our choice in MK for the following afternoon.

During the following 7 days, we visited the parks on 5 total days. We didn't book FP+ reservations until the morning of each day before we left our room for the parks. We were always able to get the rides of our choice at the times of our choice. This let us sleep in and allowed us to have a very spontaneous trip.

I am still annoyed that we cannot book more than 3 FP+/day, that the rides are tiered, and that we cannot book "hopping" FP+ reservations - but this worked out well enough for my wife and I. It will not effect our decision to book future trips. Over all, we had a very pleasant trip.

This was how my party (me and my SO) took it when it was in the beginning 'testing' phases last October. We bought our tickets from Orbitz, so they were vouchers and we couldn't plan an FP+ until the day we got there. And each day, we essentially just planned on the fly.

Yes, it burns me you can't have more than 3 FP+, and yes, I do not like that you can't "hop" with them, but I'd like to believe, at the least, hopping will be possible in the near future.

A lot of people are freaking out over this FP+ stuff, and whining, and it just makes me shake my head. You might as well learn to love what you can from the system, and use it the best way your party can.

 

[delmar411]

Let's clarify what "it" is. "It" in your sentence refers to on-site guests using fastpass + but no offsite guests.

Do you have any idea what the make up is of on site vs off site during the busy times of the year? There are a TON, literally a TON, 2000 pounds, of people who are offsite at Christmas, Easter, and Independence Day. During your experience not one of those offsite guests got FP+. What do you think it will be like when everybody, offsite and onsite, have FP+?

I don't think you'll be able to get same-day Space Mountain for 7PM.

Considering those people were pulling standard FP, it will be exactly the same experience IMO. The current FP- allotment will now be transferred over to FP+. Offsite guests only being able to book same day will still have whatever is leftover after the onside/AP holders have made their picks.

I just don't see that anything will majorly change in terms of availability for times once the 2 remaining parks are rolled in.

 

[larryz]

I think if they address those three elements FP+ would be received much more positively.

But because those three elements are geared to manage increasing guest flow through limited ride capacity, removing any of them will likely break the whole system.

 

[mom2rtk]

But because those three elements are geared to manage increasing guest flow through limited ride capacity, removing any of them will likely break the whole system.

Well, there's that.

 

[Laketravis]

But because those three elements are geared to manage increasing guest flow through limited ride capacity, removing any of them will likely break the whole system.

Yeah, well... if you want to get all analytical about it with math and stuff...

I'm a bit curious about the correlation between the last time a major attraction was opened in either of the two tiered parks and the overall percentage increase in attendance since that last major attraction was added.