FP + What we know and what we want to know

[krb2g]

As people are awaiting the website and app to mature and add features, especially the one about linking tickets, I wonder what the implications are. Remember this bullet on the Terms and Conditions:



I think this means that if you want "opt out" of the FP+ system and you want to be able to use the old FP system (while it's still around), or if you are waiting to see how this all shakes out, that you should not link your tickets in any way to you MDE account. Doing so would turn them into "Virtual Tickets" for use with an RF device like the MagicBand, and it would void your paper or plastic card tickets for the purposes of obtaining paper FPs as we know them today.

Is this everyone else's interpretation, as well? I will certainly be waiting a bit longer before making any commitment of that sort.

Yes. My reading of the T&C is that once you enter that ticket number in the MyDisneyExperience app you've "opted-in" to the nextgen system for that ticket and you have to use the FP+/MDE system if you want to take advantage of the fastpass system at all. The other relevant piece of data to this decision is that you can't make FP+ selections until 60 days before--so there's no advantage to linking your tickets until 61 days or so before your trip (on the other hand, you don't want to spend valuable TSMM selection time trying to get your tickets to connect to the app!). We are planning a late December trip, so we're planning on waiting to see what's up before linking our tickets!

So a bit off topic, but related to managing your group's "stuff". I am, planning to take care of everyone's fast passes. But a hitch in my giddy up dawned on me. I read, on the WDW website (I think) that I could add up to five tickets for friends. Im in a group of 12 plus an infant. Will at least one other person need to set up an account and add tickets for me to get fast passes? Will we both have to get fast passes for each of those in our group whose tickets we added?

I guess this is another question for the front page, unless it's already there "can I schedule fast passes for everyone in mt group or just those whose virtual tickets I entered?"

BTW, as of Sunday I could see where to add virtual tickets, now I've either forgotten where that was or the last update took it down for now.... Anyone?

I think there would have to be another person (actually maybe two, if each account can add up to five tickets) setting up an account and entering tickets. But I have seen different (and plausible) readings of the T&C on this thread, so you may have to wait and see how it works out. I think once you are "friends" with the other people/accounts on the app, you can order FP+s for your entire group all at once.

Believe me, i get the fear of the unknown (and we are WDW veterans).

My hope is that rope drop/park opening will ultimately result in shorter standby lines for more than the first 60 minutes. Here's why:

A certain % of folks currently go to the park at rope drop simply to get those coveted FP's for Soain and TSMM (and help me fill in the blank for any other ride that tends to currently see FPs disappear in the first few hours after opening). If these same folks have pre-arranged to ride those rides through FP+ at say noon or 2 o'clock, will they still come at rope drop?

Then there are the folks who don't necessarily understand the ebb flow of a Disney Park in the AM. Some of them will reserve a FP+ for the rides first thing, rather than making them for later in the day and using standby in the AM.

Lastly, there are the folks who wouldn't get up for rope drop no matter what incentive you give them or what they "miss" out on. It's their vacation too so if sleeping in a priority (or a necessity or an accidental occurance) then that's even less people in the park at 9am.


In reality, will this be the end result?? Who knows. But I am trying VERY hard to be optimistic about potential side effects of the new system since, clearly, it is coming, no matter how much we speculate/complain/panic about it.

Yes. At the end of the day, you'll still be on a Disney vacation! We're RD people, so even if FP+ isn't a benefit to us in terms of number of FPs (and actually, I went back and counted yesterday, and even though I would have sworn that we used a ton of FPs each day, in the past two trips to WDW, we have never pulled more than 3FPs per day--we have used more than three on days when we got "surprise" FPs--although I'm not sure we could still pull the same three on the new system (if headliners are limited) and we may very well want to FP fireworks viewing too now...) we can still probably enjoy the headliners at RD and move to less-popular attractions as the park fills up.

I think your analysis of why RD may be even more valuable is spot-on.

I saw a blog that said the Boardwalk also, in February, but I don't remember where the link was.

It was Jim Hill who suggested that the Boardwalk would start the roll-out--because it is the smallest deluxe (or maybe the smallest hotel).

 

[BeccaG]

A few questions please:

My dh and I are staying in one room, so he is showing on my ressie. Do I want to invite him to be with me (sorry, I'm not exactly sure of the wording) or just leave as is.

What about the people that I want to control that have another ressie number. Is there where the "link a reservation" comes in?
If this is the case, and I link another ressie to mine, is it correct that I am fully in charge of that ressie? If not, how can I be in charge of that ressie.
I want to be in charge of the FP+ and the dining ressies.

I was able to enter the reservations , both DVC and some at Art of Animation, as long as they had not set up an account. The person who had an account and paid for their reservation under that account, I could not link. I could see it, but it said I could not after it after they "showed" me the reservation.

 

[bigAWL]

Right, but they still need someone to get the band, link it to the MDE account and then mail it. That costs $$ in hourly wages too. No reason it can't be done at check in by the CM who is already serving the guest.

Again, I could be WAY off of this, but I still think custom bands will come early and the "included" bands will be issued at check in.

If they want to start linking in the DME transportation from the airport, mailing makes a lot of sense.

Tap your wristbands to check-in at a DME kiosk and get your bus assignment. Have the driver scan you again as you board the bus, and you're on your way.

 

[BeccaG]

.

 

[maggs1035]

Please forgive me if I am asking a question that has been beat to death.....

This is what I have for a package right now

1 night at AoA, I was able to make it a "package" by adding 5 day MYW tickets to the reservation and I put down my $200 deposit. Our trip is May 8 - 16 So because I have a resort reservation with tickets will I get a magic band and be able to reserve my FP's for all 5 days in the parks?

I will be staying in a rented house for the other days of our trip, I don't know if that matters?

I have tried to read through all this stuff but it seems a bit confusing

 

[js]

I was able to enter the reservations , both DVC and some at Art of Animation, as long as they had not set up an account. The person who had an account and paid for their reservation under that account, I could not link. I could see it, but it said I could not after it after they "showed" me the reservation.

aaahhhh, thank you very much. So if I want to be in control of another person's reservations, they cannot register. Is that correct?

I told my inlaws to register but will now tell them not to and just give me their confirmation number.

Please just confirm. Thank you all very much!

 

[BeccaG]

aaahhhh, thank you very much. So if I want to be in control of another person's reservations, they cannot register. Is that correct?

I told my inlaws to register but will now tell them not to and just give me their confirmation number.

Please just confirm. Thank you all very much!

I don't think it's if they register I had a problem if they had registered _and_ made the reservation under that profile

 

[dadddio]

Wow... both excited and nervous about the whole FP+. I like the concept of reserving time for parades and meet and greats. Reservations for some rides is also a great idea but, I don't want FP- to go buh bye.

At this point, we don't really know that FP will go by. We know that it will change, but we don't know that we will not be able to get same day FPs.

 

[Sydnerella]

Any updates on when we will know such things? Rumors even?

 

[Circus181920]

My biggest fear with FP+ is that all of the normal FP will run out quicker than they do now. I really try to do as much as I can on our trips and have a blast riding the rides multiple times.

I am really worried that now I wont get to ride some of the etickets more than once. If I use FP+, then I am forced to use standby the rest of the day. But if I dont use FP+, how will I know how many regular FP's are allotted to the etickets that day!

I was also thinking too: do most people use more than 3 standard FP's a day? I know we do! So you think NextGen would be a downgrade for more people.

Here's hoping wdw knows what there doing! Guess I just need to have some faith, trust, and pixie dust.

 

[Robo]

Any updates on when we will know such things? Rumors even?

Well, there's a current thread with over 950 posts discussing it.

 

[doggydoc]

Well, there's a current thread with over 950 posts discussing it.

Do you have a link?

 

[DVC4US]

Do you have a link?

I think he meant this thread.

 

[bcrook]

I guess this is another question for the front page, unless it's already there "can I schedule fast passes for everyone in mt group or just those whose virtual tickets I entered?"

I know you made substantial headway on this topic, but I added it to the front page!

It would work the same way. Isn't the purpose of fast pass in general to make the wait less than stand by? So there could be a 10-15 wait in fast pass, it's better than 70 minutes. I think that the purpose of this is to phase out regular fast pass, so what we will see is a split in the number of fast passes between the regular system and the fp+ system. Over time that ratio will change from say 50-50 to 75-25 and so on in favor of fp+ system. That's what I think is going to happen, again I am just speculating

I honestly can't see any FP being held in reserve for the day of. It just doesn't make sense. The signature piece of this whole whacky puzzle is the FP+ and reserving those in advance. I think people are going to be extremely disappointed if they commit to the FP+ and then only find Star Tours and the Great Movie Ride available for rides at DHS with a disclaimer that reads - "if you get to the park early enough there will be RnRC and TSMM available".

They can't stagger the release of the FP+ at 60, 30, 15, 10, 5 days because that would cause feeding frenzies on the morning of each release. They have to all be available for those advance requests.

I do agree there will be quite a bit of regular FP available during initial roll out before everyone gets online and on the FEED of the magicband.

Yup, I think I said that wrong.

I guess I was just hoping to have more options for FP to try to mitigate long standby lines on the major attractions. And if the rumors are true that they are going to tier the FP+, then that means several of the rides that would have been eligible for FP, would mean standby with the new FP+, since I would probably only be able to pick 1 of the major attractions for FP+ that day. Wow...who would have thought a trip to WDW could become so complicated!

Lynne

I have a story to tell on the next post. I thought it was amusing today.

Don't get too stressed yet. They stated that each guest can schedule three FP+s in advance. They also stated that a person could choose three quick picks (my term, not theirs) to get them started. They have not specifically stated whether same-day FP+s will be available, or not.

That being said, we do know many things. We know (or believe) that many people won't have a clue about FP+ until they arrive. These people won't be scheduling advance FP+s.

I can't wait to see what a Disney chosen fastpick of 3 FP+ looks like. I bet it includes one headliner, one minor ride, and parade or fireworks spot.

They are expanding the number of rides/attractions that will be offering FP+. This means that families like mine are going to be using up our advance FP+s on character interactions, parades, fireworks, etc.

If a large portion of the population chooses Parades, Fireworks, Character Interactions, etc... there could be a surplus of FP+... and what would they do with them? That is a great question.

Since we can only advance schedule FP+s in one park per day and won't be able to get multiple advance FP+s for the same ride each day, more people will be able to schedule advance FP+s for their favorite ride.

(It's also believed by some that the new system is going to allow for an increase in the number of FPs available per attraction.)

That would make Standby and FP+ much longer for that ride.

 

[bcrook]

I had a conversation with a colleague and Disney fan today. I listened as he worked through this whole system.

He said it would be cool to enter the park with 3 FP ready to go in his back pocket (or on his phone). Next he thought it would neat to get a bonus FP+ and take advantage of those offers he liked. But, he didn't really like being moved around like a pawn. Then he thought about driving into the park on his way to MK, and he gets a text that says. "Low crowds and short lines today at Epcot, here are 5 FP+ at your disposal if you change your plans." My friend considered this offer, and first said - I would take that offer. But a little later he said, I think Disney better watch out on how far they push this.

We both agreed there was a difference between being catered to and being manipulated.

My next question is... How much are those designer magicbands by Swarovski going to cost?

 

[mom2rtk]

I had a conversation with a colleague and Disney fan today. I listened as he worked through this whole system.

He said it would be cool to enter the park with 3 FP ready to go in his back pocket (or on his phone). Next he thought it would neat to get a bonus FP+ and take advantage of those offers he liked. But, he didn't really like being moved around like a pawn. Then he thought about driving into the park on his way to MK, and he gets a text that says. "Low crowds and short lines today at Epcot, here are 5 FP+ at your disposal if you change your plans." My friend considered this offer, and first said - I would take that offer. But a little later he said, I think Disney better watch out on how far they push this.

We both agreed there was a difference between being catered to and being manipulated.

My next question is... How much are those designer magicbands by Swarovski going to cost?

So will that text also offer to waive your $10 PP fee for missing an in-park ADR that day?

And I totally agree. I don't like to feel manipulated. And I think this could get dangerously close.

Besides. Who needs 5 FPs at Epcot if you can't duplicate rides. I would really only need 2. Especially if crowds were so low at the park that they were trying to lure people in.

 

[MAGICFOR2]

I had a conversation with a colleague and Disney fan today. I listened as he worked through this whole system.

He said it would be cool to enter the park with 3 FP ready to go in his back pocket (or on his phone). Next he thought it would neat to get a bonus FP+ and take advantage of those offers he liked. But, he didn't really like being moved around like a pawn. Then he thought about driving into the park on his way to MK, and he gets a text that says. "Low crowds and short lines today at Epcot, here are 5 FP+ at your disposal if you change your plans." My friend considered this offer, and first said - I would take that offer. But a little later he said, I think Disney better watch out on how far they push this.

We both agreed there was a difference between being catered to and being manipulated.

My next question is... How much are those designer magicbands by Swarovski going to cost?

A lot.

and thank you for gathering all the info on the first page! I just can't catch up here if I miss a day, and most of our questions are getting to be the same ones, discussed 12,863,467 ways.

 

[bcrook]

So will that text also offer to waive your $10 PP fee for missing an in-park ADR that day?

And I totally agree. I don't like to feel manipulated. And I think this could get dangerously close.

Besides. Who needs 5 FPs at Epcot if you can't duplicate rides. I would really only need 2. Especially if crowds were so low at the park that they were trying to lure people in.

No kidding! And think about the fastpicks! Could be all unnecessary. And the bonus FP+. It is all smoke and mirrors. I am a little more crabby tonight about all this.

A lot.

and thank you for gathering all the info on the first page! I just can't catch up here if I miss a day, and most of our questions are getting to be the same ones, discussed 12,863,467 ways.

Thanks! You are welcome.

If anybody notices that I have missed any pertinent information on the first page let me know. It IS difficult to keep up with the 12,863,467 questions.

 

[Lorilais_mommie]

So I family found the screen with the ticket and FP+ .. But the strange thing is, it's under my kids and DH, but I can not find a place for add ticket under me?!?

It says I'm a pass holder in my profile, but no FP+ sections?

 

[nightshaderose]

I'm pretty sure that at least some of the MagicBands will be distributed in advance of guest arrival. Evidence? This is the first paragraph of terms/conditions of online check-in on My Magic + as of yesterday.

I understand the Online Check-In Service is a convenience to Guests at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida and the check-in process will become complete in Florida upon showing my photo identification, and receipt of a Key to the World card or by entering my room utilizing my authorized MagicBand.

Looks like there may be an option to skip the check-in desk completely. The terms for online Check-in via the DVC website did NOT include the line about MagicBands as of this morning.

I'm also cross-posting to the Resorts board as it's of interest over there, too.