FP + What we know and what we want to know

[Lorilais_mommie]

According to http://www.easywdw.com/, Disney has rolled out schedule changes for March, April, and May -- far earlier than their usual practice -- and Josh makes a good argument that this is a strong indication that FP+ will indeed be rolling out quite soon.

We have a trip scheduled for March, and I feel quite sure that we will opt out of FP+ if it is offered by then but not yet required (because, as "FP super-users" I think we can do a lot better by using the old system), but I am keeping an eye on all this and will let you all know if the FP+ option becomes available to us in the next 60 days.

The only problem with opt. Out is that if the FP+ are pulled from the FP - amounts.. There may only be a small number of FP- by the time you get to the park..

It's like a catch 22..

Risk not enough FP- being there or do FP+ and live with it?

What do you chose?

 

[Disney_Princess83]

The only problem with opt. Out is that if the FP+ are pulled from the FP - amounts.. There may only be a small number of FP- by the time you get to the park..

It's like a catch 22..

Risk not enough FP- being there or do FP+ and live with it?

What do you chose?

I'd probably still opt out because I just know we would be booking FP+ and probably never get there for our allocated times. It would be alright if you could just tell them what day you'd be in the park and then could use them at anytime for FP access. I know that this would be impossible to be to be so locked down would be a nightmare for us.

 

[g-dad66]

Not that logic has been a hallmark of this process to date but wouldn't it dictate that a full announcement and roll out should come at least 60 days before implementation? That is the proposed window for prescheduling FP+'s isn't it?

Yes, that sounds right to me.

Since the schedule changes have now been made through May, I suppose it's possible that the full rollout won't occur until March (60 days before May). But it sounds to me like it may come sooner than that.

 

[g-dad66]

The only problem with opt. Out is that if the FP+ are pulled from the FP - amounts.. There may only be a small number of FP- by the time you get to the park..

It's like a catch 22..

Risk not enough FP- being there or do FP+ and live with it?

What do you chose?

Good point (once again! )

I guess I won't worry about that until such a time (IF such a time arrives) when we have to make a choice to opt in to FP+ or not. In the meantime, by monitoring the conversation, I hope to improve my chances of making the smartest decision.

 

[bcrook]

YES! of course! And to add to the convenience - we did notice that you had spent almost a full hour in line to introduce your little angel to Ariel, and that immediately afterward, you bought a Little Mermaid snow globe for her bedroom - which is in fact, why we originally offered you the FP for her new ride (which conveniently exits into a gift shop just chock full of merchandise just perfect for you!).

That scenario is worth bookmarking on the first page!

 

[Lorilais_mommie]

Good point (once again! )

I guess I won't worry about that until such a time (IF such a time arrives) when we have to make a choice to opt in to FP+ or not. In the meantime, by monitoring the conversation, I hope to improve my chances of making the smartest decision.

I'd love to hear more on what people would chose, since it sounds like I'm going to have to make the choice in march.. ( our trip is in may)

Right now I'm leaning to FP- since FP+ is new.. A lot of people most likely not opt into it.. Once they here they can not use FP-... So it should not have such a pull from FP- just yet..

Does this sound good, or am I complete lost?

 

[bcrook]

I'd love to hear more on what people would chose, since it sounds like I'm going to have to make the choice in march.. ( our trip is in may)

Right now I'm leaning to FP- since FP+ is new.. A lot of people most likely not opt into it.. Once they here they can not use FP-... So it should not have such a pull from FP- just yet..

Does this sound good, or am I complete lost?

Seems to early now to decide. I can't find what type of tickets you will have. My question would be, if you purchase them directly from Disney and stay on site will you have a choice? Will you have to go with the magicband-FP+? But if you are buying tickets from an outside distributor, you know you will be able to choose - if you can resist the designer bracelets!

 

[Lorilais_mommie]

Seems to early now to decide. I can't find what type of tickets you will have. My question would be, if you purchase them directly from Disney and stay on site will you have a choice? Will you have to go with the magicband-FP+? But if you are buying tickets from an outside distributor, you know you will be able to choose - if you can resist the designer bracelets!

I would hope they would give a choice.. But I guess I will soon find out

Has there be any news about having to give back the wrist bands?
Is this going to be something that if you lose, there will be a fee..
Or will it not matter and you take it home..

Another food for thought.. What happens if you have FP+ then upgrade you tickets to APs?

Will you be getting a wristband now? Card?
And will have to take FP+?
And does you FP+ picks go onto the AP? Or do you have to make new ones now..

 

[Disney_Princess83]

I would hope they would give a choice.. But I guess I will soon find out

Has there be any news about having to give back the wrist bands?
Is this going to be something that if you lose, there will be a fee..
Or will it not matter and you take it home..

I dont think you'll have to return it, simply because they said in their statement there would be "limited edition bands" and charms ect.

 

[meowmarie]

Ok so let me get this straight. Instead of people getting "too many" fast passes for rides they want, or perhaps getting them and handing them out, they'd rather give people random fast passes to rides they may or may not want? I love technology but I really hate when it tries to "think" for me. My car's climate control always thinks it knows the temperature I want, it's usually wrong. I know what rides I want, don't try to guess for me, err I mean surprise me. I like a lot of things they are going for, but the limits and pre-planning really seem like they'll be taking the fun and spontaneity away. A much better solution, since there are going to be mobile kiosks now anyways, would be for you to be able to tap your band on the screen and see all the rides with their current fastpass return times, select one, and move on. As opposed to running around the park to all the individual machines, you'd have access to them all in a central machine, but keep all the current time limitations, etc. Heck even be able to choose it on your mobile device, but without all these arbitrary limits. Let's say you walk up to any random kiosk after you get off some ride you had gotten a FP for like 2 hours before. You'd find the nearest bank of kiosks, find the fast pass menu and see something like....

The time is now 11am, you have 1 fast pass available.
Select one:
Space mountain: Current return time 2pm-3pm
BTMR: Current return 1pm-2pm
Dumbo: Current return 3pm-4pm
Pirates: Current return 2pm-3pm
etc, etc etc and you'd select one, it would be saved on your band instead of printed out and you would proceed as you do now. WHY make us choose ride times months before our trip? Let us do stuff on the fly without making us run around the park, that would be great.

BUT that is neither here or nor there. FP+ is here and we're going to have to hang on and let it roll out. I can't imagine this system with a 3 fastpass/1 e-ticket limit is going to last without some changes. Disney may think they the average "turbo fastpass" patron doesn't spend enough money because they are too busy riding, but I think they would find they are wrong. These people can be their AP patrons that spend more money annually on entrance fees and resorts because they know, enjoy, and make the most out of the system. They get more out of the trips and they come more often, even if they aren't being nickle and dimed between rides that doesn't mean the rest of their spending doesn't have an impact. I don't really think it's smart of them alienate them to please a lot of people who aren't going to log in and book FP's before their trip anyways.

 

[bcrook]

Ok so let me get this straight. Instead of people getting "too many" fast passes for rides they want, or perhaps getting them and handing them out, they'd rather give people random fast passes to rides they may or may not want? I love technology but I really hate when it tries to "think" for me. My car's climate control always thinks it knows the temperature I want, it's usually wrong. I know what rides I want, don't try to guess for me, err I mean surprise me. I like a lot of things they are going for, but the limits and pre-planning really seem like they'll be taking the fun and spontaneity away. A much better solution, since there are going to be mobile kiosks now anyways, would be for you to be able to tap your band on the screen and see all the rides with their current fastpass return times, select one, and move on. As opposed to running around the park to all the individual machines, you'd have access to them all in a central machine, but keep all the current time limitations, etc. Heck even be able to choose it on your mobile device, but without all these arbitrary limits. Let's say you walk up to any random kiosk after you get off some ride you had gotten a FP for like 2 hours before. You'd find the nearest bank of kiosks, find the fast pass menu and see something like....

The time is now 11am, you have 1 fast pass available.
Select one:
Space mountain: Current return time 2pm-3pm
BTMR: Current return 1pm-2pm
Dumbo: Current return 3pm-4pm
Pirates: Current return 2pm-3pm
etc, etc etc and you'd select one, it would be saved on your band instead of printed out and you would proceed as you do now. WHY make us choose ride times months before our trip? Let us do stuff on the fly without making us run around the park, that would be great.

BUT that is neither here or nor there. FP+ is here and we're going to have to hang on and let it roll out. I can't imagine this system with a 3 fastpass/1 e-ticket limit is going to last without some changes. Disney may think they the average "turbo fastpass" patron doesn't spend enough money because they are too busy riding, but I think they would find they are wrong. These people can be their AP patrons that spend more money annually on entrance fees and resorts because they know, enjoy, and make the most out of the system. They get more out of the trips and they come more often, even if they aren't being nickle and dimed between rides that doesn't mean the rest of their spending doesn't have an impact. I don't really think it's smart of them alienate them to please a lot of people who aren't going to log in and book FP's before their trip anyways.

Your ideal plan sounds great! That is what I was hoping for last summer as I was walking all over the parks to get fastpasses (and I didn't even lose any weight in the process! ). My group kept talking about how much better everything is going to be when we can go to kiosk or grab a FP with our phones. And your plan would work for almost everything except toy story midway mania, soarin, the maybe the Jedi academy? Because those rides will end up booking heavily on line before trips which will cause a feeding frenzy on line.

And it seems that the magicband marketing plan could still work within that system. But we know enough right now, that your plan is not THE plan.

 

[mousermerf]

The whole "opt out" Disney mentions means to not use the system at all, not to keep using regular old FP.

The time frame in which both will be offered as they transition will be short so all this talk of "well i've have to decide between FP and FP-" is just nonsense for the vast majority of park guests. It wont be an option unless you visit during a very short period of time. Some of these limited time magic promos will go on longer.

 

[mom2rtk]

There is still plenty to do......just give up the e-ticket rides...

Sounds awesome. Where do I sign up?

And everyone seems to think this requires 60 days advance notice because this is the typical advance window. COULD happen that way. But I don't think Disney feels confined by that on an initial rollout at all. It will just be what it is.

Did they feel obligated to open Be Our Guest ADRs 180 days in advance just because that is the normal booking window? Heck no. It would have been nice if they had tiered that one, opening one month at a time for a few days. You know...... just to prevent their phone lines from crashing. But nope. Not only did they just open it to everyone one day, they made sure to publicize it to feed the whole "feeding frenzy" thing.

 

[bcrook]

The whole "opt out" Disney mentions means to not use the system at all, not to keep using regular old FP.

The time frame in which both will be offered as they transition will be short so all this talk of "well i've have to decide between FP and FP-" is just nonsense for the vast majority of park guests. It wont be an option unless you visit during a very short period of time. Some of these limited time magic promos will go on longer.

The email from Disney to magicfor2 on the first page implies this by what she says, what she doesn't say, and her tone. Cheryl Bell refers to opting in to the magic plus+ program or opting out and not having the benefits.

 

[Disney_Princess83]

The whole "opt out" Disney mentions means to not use the system at all, not to keep using regular old FP.

The time frame in which both will be offered as they transition will be short so all this talk of "well i've have to decide between FP and FP-" is just nonsense for the vast majority of park guests. It wont be an option unless you visit during a very short period of time. Some of these limited time magic promos will go on longer.

We would rather not use FP at all, it sounds like a nightmare system although almost everything is pure speculation at this stage. When Disney finally release how it will work, then we will make up our minds.

 

[Planogirl]

I'm hoping that there is a way to schedule your fastpasses early on some days so you can go into the park and ride those things and then have plenty of time to leave and do other things in the area. I'm not sure if that was the intention of this new system but it's a way to use it that I'm mulling over.

 

[mom2rtk]

I'm hoping that there is a way to schedule your fastpasses early on some days so you can go into the park and ride those things and then have plenty of time to leave and do other things in the area. I'm not sure if that was the intention of this new system but it's a way to use it that I'm mulling over.

I don't think you'll have any trouble at all doing this. In fact, I think the early time slots will be in the least demand.

 

[Robo]

I'm hoping that there is a way to schedule your fastpasses early on some days so you can go into the park and ride those things and then have plenty of time to leave and do other things in the area. I'm not sure if that was the intention of this new system but it's a way to use it that I'm mulling over.

Sounds like you'd have to get up early to do that.

 

[SaraJayne]

According to http://www.easywdw.com/, Disney has rolled out schedule changes for March, April, and May -- far earlier than their usual practice -- and Josh makes a good argument that this is a strong indication that FP+ will indeed be rolling out quite soon.

We have a trip scheduled for March, and I feel quite sure that we will opt out of FP+ if it is offered by then but not yet required (because, as "FP super-users" I think we can do a lot better by using the old system), but I am keeping an eye on all this and will let you all know if the FP+ option becomes available to us in the next 60 days.

We are going in April and will also opt out of FP+, if it has gone live by then.

I'm also staying away from the app and have done nothing on the "new" website other than make sure my hotel reservations are there (which still come and go).

 

[SaraJayne]

That only applies to e-ticket rides most likely. Because I think V.P. Nick Franklin was pretty clear there would be other "surprise and delight" FP offers sent to you throughout the day. It is conceivable that if patrons punt the e-ticket rides, they could have remarkably cool vacation.

Think about it. You plan a FP+ for 7:00 pm for Splash Mountain. The rest of the day you pick up a FP+ for Peter Pan and Jungle Cruise. Then you get a bonus one conveniently in a lull in your schedule for Buzz Ranger Spin when you are over there enjoying the Carrousel of Progress and the People Mover. At another time, you are waiting in line for Haunted Mansion, you are sent a FP offer for Little Mermaid.

If you give up Space Mountain in the scenario, skip Big Thunder, and settle for one ride on Splash. You have already had a pretty good day (and 5 FP). Then fill in the gaps with a Train Ride, A Riverboat Ride, and don't forget to catch that Laugh Floor Inc show. Have coffee at Starbucks, eat lunch at Be Our Guest, and sneak upstairs for dinner at the Columbia Harbor House.

If you still have the energy and the time, stop in to see Abe, climb through the Treehouse. AND finally right before close go ride Pirates of the Caribbean a few times.

Schedule another day, and you can use that FP for Big Thunder Mountain this time, watch a parade, explore Tom Sawyer's Island and cruise the Its A Small World and experience their new interactive boat ride. Book a time to hear Belle's Enchanted Tales and sit back and wait for those Bonus Fastpass offers to come back.

There is still plenty to do......just give up the e-ticket rides...

Yeah, that won't happen. If we're paying the exorbitant prices Disney charges, that means equal access to *all* the rides.

If not, our money will go elsewhere.