FP + What we know and what we want to know

[cindyfan]

If your daughter only gets to ride ToT twice one her next visit, will it ruin her trip?

For some it might!
The thrill and excitement will be deminished greatly.
We got to ride Expedition Everest 4 times by 2p the first week of July! only once did we use SB... (right at RD and the wait was 10 minutes).
This was my 8 yr old DGS favorite thing the entire trip!

 

[DAZY3BYZ]

Agree 100%. But they haven't stated that you will be able to do that, and that would be a very easy thing to announce. As I stated, (perhaps a bit loosely), unless there are changes, there will be a downgrade to certain people's experience. But as you rightly point out, that statement should really read: "Unless there are changes to what has actually been released to date..." There is no reason to conclude at this point that the "3 FP+ per day and only one major attraction" limitations are set in stone. But it sure would be nice (and easy) for WDW to correct this misapprehension if that is in fact the intended plan.

Agreed. That's all I was saying. From what has been released so far, it will be a downgrade for our families experience. I said I was trying to stay optimistic and I am but Disney hasn't released anything yet to explain to me how 3FP per day is at all an advantage to what was available before. It would be very easy for them to do so. Since they haven't, I am concerned that this is all we're going to get with FP+. Time will tell

 

[mom2rtk]

If your daughter only gets to ride ToT twice one her next visit, will it ruin her trip?

Ruin the trip? That's just silly. Of course it won't. But it will take what was an amaning experience and turn it into an ok experience.

And honestly, that would have never happened under the new system. Why? Because she swore up one side and down the other that there was no WAY we were going to get her on that ride. At all. So we never would have reserved it with one of our FP+ slots. But on the spur of the moment, she got brave and decided to go along. (I had gotten 3 Fps with our tickets since my husband and I were going, and it didn't help us at all to not get one with hers. And I was hoping she'd change her mind. With only 3 slots available I never would have "spent" one that way). The new system does not allow for changing one's ride preference, or tolerance on the spur of the moment the way the old system did. I really feel for parents with young kids who have no idea 6 months out if their kids will be brave enough to try a certain ride.

 

[doggydoc]

Wow...the hyperbole never stops does it....

You keep saying this... I do not think it means what you think it means.

 

[dadddio]

Because each person has the "free will" to do whatever they want to provided it is within the rules that Disney puts in place.

Disney isn't changing the rules because they think it is "unfair" that some guests are having to wait long in lines while others are not, they are changing the rules because they think it will be better for their bottom line.

I thought in one of the interviews I read that a Disney spokesmen said they didn't want to get into a ride building war and that they thought this would give them a competitive advantage over just adding more rides to the parks.

Did you see the interview where the EVP stated that their position is that by creating a better experience for more guests serves their bottom line? If they make a larger number of people happy with their line waiting experience, then those people spend more and return more often.

It's not just a bottom line decision. It is about satisfying a greater percentage of guests which will favorably effect the bottom line.

 

[JimmyV]

But they have to know you, me, and everyone else, are not going to be drawing "more cash out of (our) wallets and purses" while waiting in a standby line. So I can't imagine they are building a system that will keep everyone in standby lines all day.

EXACTLY. Some people will scurry off to SB lines. Others will leave to do other things, like shop or eat. Quite simply, the person who used to ride Soarin' at RD and grab a FP for later will now ride Soarin' at RD, use their FP+ for Test Track which they previously obtained, and then, at 2:00 pm, when the line at Soarin' is 100 minutes will have to choose to get in that line, or go do something else. Many folks, especially the seasoned veterans, will go do something else. Maybe stroll around WS and spend money in shops. Even the people who are lauding the system here are admitting that the days of them doing rides like Soarin', Test Track and TSM 4 or 5 times in a day will be over. I think that on this point, there is uniform agreement. The question is, what are you going to do in the time that you used to spend repeating rides? Are you going to wait in SB lines for attractions that interest you to a lesser degree or are you going to do something at WDW that causes you to spend money? There is no wrong answer to that. But WDW is counting on a certain, not insignficant percentage of people going to do other things instead of sitting through Impressions of France three times a day.

 

[mom2rtk]

For some it might!
The thrill and excitement will be deminished greatly.
We got to ride Expedition Everest 4 times by 2p the first week of July! only once did we use SB... (right at RD and the wait was 10 minutes).
This was my 8 yr old DGS favorite thing the entire trip!

Ask my daughter her favorite memory from our trip, and that night on ToT is probably it.

 

[Cinderumbrella]

Did you see the interview where the EVP stated that their position is that by creating a better experience for more guests serves their bottom line. If they make a larger number of people happy with their line waiting experience, then those people spend more and return more often.

It's not just a bottom line decision. It is about satisfying a greater percentage of guests which will favorably effect the bottom line.

Actually it is. It just looks better to do it by satisfying. Its always about bottom line and always will be.

 

[dadddio]

I think that your focus is misdirected. The issue here is not losing the ability to use 5 or 6 FPs a day on one single ride. The problem is losing the ability to use two FPs at Space Mountain; one at Spalsh Mountain; one at Thunder Mountain; one at Peter Pan and one for the Jungle Cruise. That is a very typical day for many seasoned guests. Now, it will be, one FP+ for Space Mountain and long SB waits for every other attraction. There is no way to spin that as a favorable outcome.

What happened to your other two in-advance FP+s? What if you are able to obtain additional FP+s at the park? What about riding some of those rides during times when their lines aren't super long?

 

[DAZY3BYZ]

If your daughter only gets to ride ToT twice one her next visit, will it ruin her trip?

Honestly! Each of us has things about Disney that make our trip special to us. Certainly, for my teenage boys riding certain thrill rides over and over is part of that. Can't we just respect other people's feelings? I don't think we should be deciding what is and what is not important for other people's Disney experience.

 

[DAZY3BYZ]

Ask my daughter her favorite memory from our trip, and that night on ToT is probably it.

I bet it is! Hopefully, this new system won't prevent moments like that in the future. My boys have had experiences like that one and I would agree that they were probably some of their best memories at Disney.

 

[dadddio]

But please help me with some real numbers. If, hypothetically, DHS will have 50K visitors in one summer day, and TSMM can only give 20K FPs away, that is still 30K that have to ride it standby.

The new system is still going to leave plenty of people out of the loop of getting FP for TSMM. Its just that now, they will more than likely "sell out" 59 days before arrival, instead of 2 hours after park opening.

That is only true if 20,000 people plan their trip to that park in advance, all want to get FP+s to that ride, and all FP+ slots are released 60 days prior.

 

[JimmyV]

What happened to your other two in-advance FP+s? Useless. Window dressing. So I get a reserved spot for a parade. Haven't watched an afternoon parade since the 80's. May be helpful to some, but that certainly isn't "Magic My Way" since they never consulted me on what "my way" of visiting WDW is. What if you are able to obtain additional FP+s at the park? That is the really, really big "if". And I agree that it would be a game changer. But for now, they have told us that it is "either or". Opt in to the FP+ system and you will be disabled from the FP1.0 system. What about riding some of those rides during times when their lines aren't super long?Already do that. So that is a constant.

Above

 

[dadddio]

Sorry, that's just nuts. As I said earlier, that's like asking me to pay for an "all you can eat" buffet then being mad at me for going back for seconds.

If that is their stance, then just be done with it. Go back to the ticket books and give everybody just one ticket per attraction.

Maybe they do feel this way, but they will never do that. Because they don't want to have to SELL that to people. But they can't have it both ways.

Heck you're making me want to ride more, not less.

Of course they can have it both ways. They can set up a system where you get one FP for the ride each day. Oh wait, that's what they are doing (presumably).

 

[estherhead]

Actually it is. It just looks better to do it by satisfying. Its always about bottom line and always will be.

See? We have this problem on here of the "Disney is about the bottom line" people and the "Disney is about customer service" people.

But these two things are the SAME thing. Word of mouth is EVERYTHING in business. And in the world of social media, it's even more important to make as many people as happy as possible. Disney has almost 5 stars on Tripadvisor with 6,450 reviews and counting.

Universal Orlando has 4 stars with 2,801.

Do they care about that? Yes. Yes, they do.

They want everyone who leaves to tell everyone they meet "You should go to Disney World for your next vaca!" And they want us all to have our smart phones with us taking pictures of videos of us laughing and posting them in real time of Twitter.

Does Disney want a bigger bottom line? You betcha. And they are gonna get a bigger bottom line by making more customers and keeping each of those customers happier? Yes. You are arguing opposite sides of the exact same point.

They just spent $1 billion to ensure that we will all take our phones into the park. They want both us and our Facebook accounts to stay in that park and say super nice things about them.

We all want more than 3 fastpasses. That's the bottom line of this whole "the sky is falling" fp+ panic. The rest of this is a bunch of people making assumptions about what Disney is going to do when we don't KNOW what they are going to do and then picking a side in a fight but really all saying the exact same thing.

The only people who truly have a bone to pick are those that like to leave their cell phones in the room. That is what Disney DOESN'T want happening.

 

[dadddio]

Unless you can point me to that in the fine print on my ticket, we're going to have to agree to disagree on that one.

They could fix that in a heartbeat. They just want to have their cake and eat it too.

They are 'fixing it'. You're just not happy that they are fixing it.

 

[jade1]

84 prearranged FP+'s actually had my DB interested in a WDW trip for the first time, for his family of 4 for a week. I told him it may happen and stay tuned. They also like to sleep in on vacation and have always hated the idea of WDW ride lines.

 

[UNCFanatik]

We don't need to wait. Unless there are changes, seasoned guests will go from obtaining 5 or 6 FP per day for major attractions to obtaining one. That is not a prediction so much as it is an explanation (according to WDW itself) of how the system is designed. You are free to fill in the blanks as to how you think this will benefit or impact the guests.

Here's a simple truth. Guests who spend their entire day riding rides do not spend as much money as guests who spend time in restaurants, shops and other marketable venues (such as BBB, golf courses, marinas, etc.) Here's another simple truth. WDW has invested $1,000,000,000.00 (that's nine zeros before the decimal point) in this system and will need to realize a return on investment. Again, you are free to fill in the blanks as to whether this new system is designed to put more fannies in the seats of attractions, or draw more cash out of the wallets and purses of the guests.

As you said in another post, nothing is set in stone about being able to choose just one major attraction with your FP+ choices. It is conjecture at this point. As are the reports of bonus or surprise FP+ being offered when the system rolls out. Again, point being you cant draw conclusions on incomplete information in a dynamic situation. So you do need to wait.

Simple fact, guests that return to WDW for their vacation spend more than guest that do not return. If Disney can net more money by getting guests to return through promoting the FP+ system, then it is a win. Mousemerf has done a good job explaining how improving guest satisfaction among the non-superusers who now may be giving negative feedback on their experiences.

And your assertion is flawed, because you have no idea on the money that people spend that may just be riding attractions most of the day. They may spend more money than those that spend less time riding attractions. They could be DVC members, staying in a Deluxe Disney resortw as opposed to offsite, dining in an upscale Epcot restaurant, spending more money on ticket options, etc.

 

[STLDisney_Freak]

I've tried to thumb through all of this giant thread but are they actually booking the fastpasses for all of this online yet or we still in speculation phase of it? I have been on the website and see no place where you can reserve any of it yet.

Second thing is my dvcmember log on is different than my wdw.com log on which, of course, is resulting in me having problems with putting on my affiliation on my profile at wdw.com, anyone come across this problem before?

 

[mom2rtk]

They are 'fixing it'. You're just not happy that they are fixing it.

I understand that. Mousemerf seems to portray Disney as being unhappy with the fact that people were riding attractions more than once in a day. I'm just saying that if they wanted it that way all along, they could have prevented it.

And while they are throwing up an impediment, they aren't actually preventing anyone from riding multiple times. If that's what they wanted, they could do that.

I just don't think the marketing folks want to sell a $90/day admission with that sort of limitation.