FP + What we know and what we want to know

[polyfor4]

I looked through all of the pages as best as I could but didn't see my question- would military tickets be grandfathered in since it's a Disney promotion? It's going to be pretty upsetting to be staying Poly CL and not get to use FP+ because we don't have a package

 

[SharonS]

They fixed dining reservations, they fixed dining plan, and now they will fix Fastpass.
.

Well Sammie, I think it is a matter of opinion as to whether Disney FIXED dining reservations. I for one HATE the current system. It used to be that you could go to a park and manage to get a reservation at any restaurant. Sure, some booked quickly, but it was doable. Now, unless you are willing to make a priority seating at least a month out or more, you are not getting in. I tried in December about a week out for Mama Melrose, only to not be able to find a single dinner reservation.

It just amazes me how many people seem to blindly follow Disney and think that anything they do is wonderful. I am and have been a huge Disney fan since WDW opened. However, based upon many of the changes that have been occurring recently, my trips are becoming less and less magical. I used to never begrudge them the high park admission costs because the money went directly back into the upkeep of the parks. Take a look around now......broken rides, elements of attractions not working and never repaired (take a look at Splash Mountain), dirty restrooms. As for new attractions....sorry, but I am less than impressed with the New TT and the new Fantasyland. The architecture is great, however, Little Mermaid utilizes very dated technology.

I go 4 times a year, am an AP holder, and DVC. I don't plan my trips. The best I do is come up with a loose idea of what parks on what days. Once I get there, I usually meet up with CM friends, and my schedule goes out the window. With what I have heard about new FP+, I will now not be able to do much of anything if I can't book well in advance. In addition, I obviously won't be able to ride any of the attractions with my friends since they usually don't know schedules until a few days before.

I for one have been starting to spend more time at SW and US. Never thought I would say that. I hope Disney wakes up and realizes that they are going to lose guests who used to be very loyal.

 

[Majik9]

then i guess that makes it so.

That opinion actually tells me more about you than about the pp (the one wanting to give her son her fp slot).

+1

 

[Majik9]

Yup, they have iPads.

And will these iPads be able to tell the difference between myself and my 19 year old son? If so how? Are our pictures or my age going to be in a linked database?

 

[ford91exploder]

WDO still has too many managers who are from the Eisner days and reducing cost is all they think of. By limiting the average Disney visitor to 1 E-ticket ride/day they save on maintenance on the rides, CM salary and they think that the average visitor will spend more money in the shops and restaurants.

The whole 'interactive experience' thing is supposed to slow down the line and hopefully the people will not notice the ride does not load as fast as it used to.

BZZT - WRONG As Gordon Behune said when he took over US Airways from Frank Lorenzo he pointed out when you keep taking the cheese away from the pizza at what point does the pizza cease to be a pizza.

With this Disney is removing about 3/4 of the cheese and we are supposed to be happy about this. I'm really regretting my last DVC add on with these moves at the park.

We are kinda talking about apples and oranges here. The ticket books were limits on how many time you could experience a certain level of attraction. You needed an E ticket to simply get in line for Space Mountain (for instance). FP is a completely different beast. If FP+ truly limits you to one E-ticket (and all the testing seems to point in that direction), then you get that one "front of the line" access, but can still experience all the others.

I'm trying to keep an open mind here, but I truly don't see how FP+ is going to be anything but a negative for us. We are RDers, and through the course of the morning (to about 2pm) we pull and use FPs for all the headliners. If we are going to be limited to 1 FP+ for a headliner (i.e. E-ticket) attraction then we will have to spend a lot more time standing in line for the others. That is one negative on the enjoyment meter. Then that gets followed up by the second wammy. It appears that they are going to utilize the 1st hour of the day for FP+ as well, which will force / cause more people in to the parks at or near rope drop, thus lessening / limiting the amount of stuff we can get done in the first 2 hours after park opening, when the number of people in the parks is very low.

 

[estherhead]

Obviously this thread is called fp+ so I understand we are all interested in fp. But I still don't believe that this move has been made to fix the problem of super users. I feel that is small thinking. Disney is a big thinker place. It has Blue Sky ideas. The sky's the limit. They aren't sentimental. They move forward. Like Kodak didn't.

Kodak loved film. And they marketed to women. So when the world went digital they didn't adapt. They were sentimental. And they were unwilling to change their advertising to include men and kids, who now that pictures were digital, would be taking them. And they filed for bankruptcy in 2012.

Disney is changing. It's commercials aren't just about little kids. They are about childless couples and dads with teenagers. And they are going digital. Because they don't want to be Kodak.

Those e-ticket coupons stopped being distributed in 1982. Because Disney moves forward. And aren't you glad? Because then it really was paying to ride each and every ride. And no way around the line.

Blockbuster
Borders
Circuit City

Digital or die. So I do think Disney is going to use this new system to stop super users of fp. And we might be sad. Those who are determined to be sad and mad will be. I might be. I was worried about fp enforcement. It was a factor and did diminish slightly my riding. But really not by much. And I was there in the summer this year. However, I do not believe at all that this is the main purpose. To fix a tiny problem.

They aren't trying to fix a problem. They are trying to create a new experience.

Maybe fp+ will be a failure. But I doubt it. I think in 5 years every theme park will follow Disney in the RFID bracelet. I truly believe they are trend setting here. Goodness knows I hope Cedar Point follows. Their lines need help.

 

[dadddio]

Can anyone tell me why they pick to limit it to only 3.. Why not 4?

I imagine that their modeling showed that this would allow most everyone who would want a FP for a particular ride to be able to get one or allow a substantial number of people to get them while holding back some for same day.

 

[dadddio]

How do you see this working out? You haven't really explained (and you have criticized many other scenarios). I have decisions to make in the near future, provide a new line of thinking for me please. I can only see one.

Just because you don't agree with other people's thoughts on the matter doesn't mean that they weren't shared.
I offered up my idea of how this could make lines better in three or four posts.

 

[dadddio]

If the goal of Disney is to limit the e-ticket rides to one FP per person day, that means 1 e-ticket, one meet and greet, and one fireworks, and several "surprise and delights". Most people don't need more FP+ than that if the e-ticket rides are limited to 1.

A better question is why only 1 e-ticket ride. Even the ticket books of the 1970's had many more e-tickets than that. A standard package had 3 e-tickets, 2 D, 1 C, 1 B, 1 A. Check them out here!

The problem is, this thread's entire theory of how it will work is based on suppositions like 'They're only going to let me have a FP for one e-ticket ride'. Disney hasn't stated this, at all. It's all just wild speculation of a thread that's out of control and the word of someone who won't share where his 'knowledge' comes from but is known to have not worked for Disney in many years. Still, in the greatest Internet way, he declares things to be gospel with complete confidence, so is completely believed.

Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with your believing in that speculation, but what we have is people declaring that the speculation is 'truth' and then other people coming to this thread and the others, seeing these statements and taking them for policy and then freaking out. That's not good, at all.

 

[dadddio]

I looked through all of the pages as best as I could but didn't see my question- would military tickets be grandfathered in since it's a Disney promotion? It's going to be pretty upsetting to be staying Poly CL and not get to use FP+ because we don't have a package

I think that tickets are tickets. You should be able to enter them into your profile and use FP+.

 

[dadddio]

And will these iPads be able to tell the difference between myself and my 19 year old son? If so how? Are our pictures or my age going to be in a linked database?

He doesn't know, because he doesn't work there and hasn't since long before the iPad was put on the market. Presumably, they would not know the difference between two people of the same sex and approximate age standing next to each other.

 

[dadddio]

WDO still has too many managers who are from the Eisner days and reducing cost is all they think of. By limiting the average Disney visitor to 1 E-ticket ride/day they save on maintenance on the rides, CM salary and they think that the average visitor will spend more money in the shops and restaurants.

The whole 'interactive experience' thing is supposed to slow down the line and hopefully the people will not notice the ride does not load as fast as it used to.

BZZT - WRONG As Gordon Behune said when he took over US Airways from Frank Lorenzo he pointed out when you keep taking the cheese away from the pizza at what point does the pizza cease to be a pizza.

With this Disney is removing about 3/4 of the cheese and we are supposed to be happy about this. I'm really regretting my last DVC add on with these moves at the park.

Neither Frank Lorenzo nor Gordon Bethune ever worked for USAir. They headed Continental.

 

[MissStitch626]

I am mostly a lurker, but I have to add to this conversation.

To think that Disney has spent $1 billion dollars and it has taken them 14 years (since fp first started) to figure out how to stop people from "abusing and gaming the system" is ridiculous. If that's the case, that's the poorest business model ever. I can see the execs sitting around the table saying, "What are we going to do about these super users?? They come at the break of dawn, pull fast passes, and then hand them to their children to use later. It's out of control!" And their answer? "Let's spend a billion dollars and change every lock on every resort door. Let's change every turnstile. Let's change every check out counter at every store. That will show them. At least, those rule breakers will be stopped!"

This is about the future. This is about being ahead of the curve with technology. Disney just released the news of an upcoming gaming experience this summer called "Disney Infinity." I have 4 boys under the age of 16 and they have watched the trailers of this game this week several times. Guess what technology this game will use? RFID. And it's possible there will be a theme park compatibility aspect to it. Can you say, "return on investment?" This is gonna cost me a pretty penny, I can already tell.

Disney is following the trend and going "paperless" And they are trying to be ahead of the trend in the "theme park experience."

Do I love it? No. Because, I'm used to the way I have learned to "do Disney" in the past. (I also prefer to read actual books and do not own a kindle). Do I think that 3 fp+ a day and the possibility that that will only include 1 e-ticket ride is ridiculous and will downgrade my experience? yes. But I'm hoping that Disney will address those concerns. My personal feeling is they have designed this new, breaking edge, technology and used "averages" as their model. So if the execs have looked and said, "The average guest is happy if they experience 9 attractions a day. The average guest uses 3 fp a day. The average guest says that their experience would be enhanced if they had reserved seating for the parade" Then they designed their new system with those features. Am I an average guest? no. I am hoping that this will be tweaked as it rolls out, and will make it more friendly to my personal touring style. But time will tell.

This is the future. And we will have growing pains. And I will adapt. But to say this whole thing came about to "fix fp abuses" is ridiculous.

Great post.

This is exactly how I've come to view the changes (after changing my mind forty or fifty times)

 

[bcrook]

The problem is, this thread's entire theory of how it will work is based on suppositions like 'They're only going to let me have a FP for one e-ticket ride'. Disney hasn't stated this, at all. It's all just wild speculation of a thread that's out of control and the word of someone who won't share where his 'knowledge' comes from but is known to have not worked for Disney in many years. Still, in the greatest Internet way, he declares things to be gospel with complete confidence, so is completely believed.

Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with your believing in that speculation, but what we have is people declaring that the speculation is 'truth' and then other people coming to this thread and the others, seeing these statements and taking them for policy and then freaking out. That's not good, at all.

To be fair, the first page doesn't speculate anything about this issue. And the first page contains the best we know right now regarding all information. If there is anything on it that you think should be updated, let me know.

 

[bcrook]

I think that tickets are tickets. You should be able to enter them into your profile and use FP+.

That is speculation. We don't know that.

 

[dadddio]

To be fair, the first page doesn't speculate anything about this issue. And the first page contains the best we know right now regarding all information. If there is anything on kept that you think should be updated, let me know.

I already did let you know.

 

[dadddio]

That is speculation. We don't know that.

You might note the use of the words 'I think' and 'should'. Unlike some people in this thread, I don't pass off my opinion as fact.

 

[bcrook]

Just because you don't agree with other people's thoughts on the matter doesn't mean that they weren't shared.
I offered up my idea of how this could make lines better in three or four posts.

I read your thoughts and I appreciate your perspective. I specifically asked two other people to articulate their views. On the first page at the bottom, I have links to several people's posts. At the very beginning of this discussion MichiganDVC gave us a model of how Disney should work and why. I believe his model is the most aligned right now.

As for your model, I would have to cut and paste a lot together to capture your ideas. If you want to put it on one post, I will link to it. I would like that.

 

[reelmom]

To be fair, the first page doesn't speculate anything about this issue. And the first page contains the best we know right now regarding all information. If there is anything on kept that you think should be updated, let me know.

Thank you for keeping the first page updated.

 

[bcrook]

I already did let you know.

Well, I missed it then, there are a lot of posts. You can pm me with specifics if you want.

Thank you for keeping the first page updated.

You are welcome!