FP+ was a mixed bag for us- Late May 2014

[BridgetBordeaux]

Just got back from 4 different a.m. emh days at the parks. For us, FP+ was a mixed bag. It is a little hard to predict the following things: the stamina of the group, the heat of the day, the chance of rain showers, the lines of attractions later in the morning.

We tried to tour in a smart manner and made good use of the first 2 hours each day, but it did seem like some of the medium tier attractions developed longer than average lines than in the past. Then we seemed to be in a holding pattern until our FP+ windows opened up. We were able to get a couple of "4th" ones after the first 3 were used.

DD and DH felt a little short changed as we are a rope drop commando family during our summer visits....................always trying to avoid the heat and the p.m. thunderstorms! In order to do what we used to do, it would of required us to extend our day in the park through the heat and the storms.

I know legacy FP will never come back, but the new system seems to throttle what we can do each day and required a lot of planning in advance as well as planning to get a decent 4th FP later in the day.

DD and DH said they can skip a year or so before a future visit occurs. No real need to return in the next 12 months.

 

[MaryKatesMom]

That is similar to how our Easter Trip went. We know it is crowded. We've done level 9 crowds many times but we ended up doing less than usual.

We ended up cancelling our TS lunches after the first couple of days since it felt too scheduled and we ended up with a lot of waiting around particularly at DHS. Not much for us to do between FP+ times. The kids went on TT multiple times while I shopped but they don't enjoy shopping.

One thing I noticed, we had a room overlooking the BC pool. We've stayed here many times when over the holiday. Every day the pool was not packed like it usually was. Are people scheduling FP+ every day and the flexibility of throwing in a random pool day over? I know I'm having trouble scheduling FP+'s and waterpark days. How the heck do I know FL weather 60 days in advance over the summer?

Every day for a month I checked FP+ availability for the Parade. I was so excited when I got it. I check the weather constantly throughout the day as to not be caught in a storm. Most of the day of the day before my FP+ for the parade the weather was clear. Around dinner it changed to thunderstorms when we got up still thunderstorms and it looked cloudy. We go to the park and decide we rather not use a FP+ on the parade since it didn't look like it would happen. Spent about 15 minutes on the MDE app to change it to something decent indoors. Of course at 2PM the sky clears and the parade goes on. I did watch it, it was beautiful, but I wasn't in a prime spot for sure. We were next to a walkway and quite a few people tried to sit down/and or move us over.

 

[OB1]

Wife & I are just back from a Memorial weekend, last minute booked trip. While I thought we would not like the FP+, we both came away very positive about it. Here is how it worked for us

Decided on May 19th that we actually did want to make a trip, and we would leave the evening of May 21. First day in the park May 22. We were able to book the following FP times we wanted with only 3 days in advance to work.

• THURS 5/22 - DHS - RnR, Tower, and StarTours - then 4th pass for Spaceship Earth. Rode Soaring with a special FP from people we met.
• FRI 5/23 - DHS again, star wars weekend - Great Movie Ride, Toy Story, Star Tours. We never used a 4th
• SAT 5/24 - EPCOT Walk on TestTrack. Most other attractions were walk on. Hop to MK - FP to Space Mtn, Splash Mtn, Haunted Mansion. 13 min wait for Pirates. Lucked out with Mine Train testing and waiting 15 min.
• SUN 5/25 - AK - walk on Everest, FP Safari, Mickey Meet & Greet, Kali River.

On a fairly busy holiday weekend, we did everything we wanted, but we are not commando, but we do continue to move. Twice we swapped on the fly and it worked just fine. We were really surprised how much we liked it, and the fact that we did not have to run to a FP machine at a certain time, then go back when the window opened.

 

[BusterCat]

We too felt that our ability to do rides efficiently was scaled back. The biggest negatives being increased lines at secondary filler rides and a somewhat smaller rope drop window.

On the positive side, we enjoyed being able to book rides for the evenings as well as arrival days.


I'm curious what the impact of afternoon showers will be on fast plus +.

 

[sonofanarchy]

We too felt that our ability to do rides efficiently was scaled back. The biggest negatives being increased lines at secondary filler rides and a somewhat smaller rope drop window.

On the positive side, we enjoyed being able to book rides for the evenings as well as arrival days.

I'm curious what the impact of afternoon showers will be on fast plus +.

My guess is anything unscheduled will pretty much screw the day up. If you have FP for Thunder Mountain and it closes due to rain, I can only assume the FP will be honored later just like in the past. Problem is, so will every one else's.

 

[BridgetBordeaux]

I did fail to mention the positive impact of scheduling 3 things on the afternoon of arrival. That part of FP+ was nice.

 

[MaryKatesMom]

We too felt that our ability to do rides efficiently was scaled back. The biggest negatives being increased lines at secondary filler rides and a somewhat smaller rope drop window.

On the positive side, we enjoyed being able to book rides for the evenings as well as arrival days.


I'm curious what the impact of afternoon showers will be on fast plus +.

I was looking at Orlando weather at the moment your post popped up. Thunderstorms every afternoon.

TT closed during a Thunderstorm and I don't remember what happened after it did to be honest. There was zero availability for it all day. We knew it was coming and tried to change times in the morning. I wonder what happened? We had dinner reservations and it was raining so we left.

I did fail to mention the positive impact of scheduling 3 things on the afternoon of arrival. That part of FP+ was nice.

I do love that part!

 

[magicbob]

What we see as a negative (longer lines at historically short wait/walk-on rides), is one of the GOALS of FP+ from Disney's perspective (i.e., distributing crowds more evenly throughout the park). The social engineering aspect of FP+ to drive more people away from the headliners and to "underutilized" attractions may mitigate the super-long waits at some headliners (60 minutes vs. 120), but at the expense of longer lines at other attractions (30-40 minutes vs. 10-20). For those of us who used a good touring plan and never had to wait in those 120 minute lines, we're only going to see the downside. But for others, the tradeoff to wait 15 minutes or so longer on each of the other rides will likely seem like a vast improvement since their wait for the headliner is reduced by a significant amount.

It certainly appears that these longer lines at historically short wait rides is the new normal. Even during slow periods, most trip reports are indicating that this is the case.

It's definitely a "whole new world" with the advent of FP+. All of us old dogs are scrambling to learn new tricks. But it's still early to say for sure what the best strategies are to make the most of the new system. A lot of good possibilities have been offered on these boards, but it's still to be seen which strategy will emerge as the most effective one.

 

[lauradis]

I love fp+ for the simple fact of no more rope drop been there done that.

Will do rope drop again, but its nice to wake up when we feel like it.

Maybe its because we spend 7-10 days there and lazy on the ride rides dept now.

What would we all do if disney got rid of all fp+ too and we had to wait in lines, like most of the amusement parks in the world

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

It was a mixed bag for us too over memorial weekend and the week afterwards.

The teens loved having FP+ so they could sleep in but that meant we were touring during the heat of the day which I hated.

We also spent more time in lines at attractions that didn't have much of a line in the past.

I found that we also spent more time just sitting around waiting for a FP+ time instead of going to another attraction because of those longer lines. I didn't enjoy that at all. And it meant we did much, much less overall than we used to which also annoyed me.

My husband and teens loved the new FP+ - me not so much.
But I also prefer to get up early, tour in the morning and take an afternoon break and go back to the parks later which was not what we did this trip so I really think that affected how I felt about FP+.

I will see if I like it more when I tour my normal way when I go on my solo trip in September.

 

[Elandon]

Can someone comment more on the shorter RD phenomenon?