FP + What we know and what we want to know

[js]

I completely agree with you. In fact, my DS16 no longer has any interest in Disney. My 11 year is on the verge of "aging out" of disney.

Our next vacation, for the first time ever, we are contemplating exclusively doing Universal.

Add me to the list too.
I have a dd-19 and ds-15. My dd "doesn't care" if she doesn't go with us any longer so now I go while she is in college.

My ds-15 really does not have an interest either and there is only so much my dh will do every trip so for the first time, at the end of August, my mother and I will go without my dh and my teens to Disney and they just don't care or even see the point why I want to go again. I'm wondering if this happens to a lot of mid/older teens and their families.

My dd made it at point the last time she went with us to please spend some time in IOA and we did. I'm thinking the next time she may really want to come to Disney is when she is 21 and we can stay at SSR (our home resort) to walk to DDT or BW to experience some of the clubs/restaurants.

When we talk about planning family vacations now with my mid/older teens, Disney does not come into the mix. Cruises we do often and also beach vacations. Disney isn't even a thought to them.


My ds is going in March (so are we) with his HS baseball team and I am the group leader. I do think if this FP+ was ready to go before I left, it would benefit me since I can prebook all their FPs since there is no way a group of HS teen boys are getting up for RD after being up late at night or a late game the night before. If not, I can only suggest.

When I go in August/September with my mother, we are staying at BLT and I'm sure after reading up on everything and hearing from actual users we will have a much better handle on it all and I've been rethinking my RD mornings if I can get FP+ for some attractions. But, if I do RD, AND get my FP+, I could ride my favorites sometimes twice I guess...hmmmm decisions, decisions...

Anyway, I was chiming in about the teens and above has been my experience.

 

[doconeill]

I suspect they will see no options like those who buy the youth education tickets. We did about a third less rides this trip and we will cut days next trip because of it.

Why did you do less rides? Not much has changed yet, except FP return enforcement. b (I'm just curious)

Disney is advertising that FP+ is a feature of park admission. So it would seem that they will be accommodating in some way for all classes of tickets. However, if there is a class of tickets that cannot be obtained in advance in any way, then those guests may be shut out.

As for YES tickets, they will need to provide the tickets codes in advance for those guests to be able to take advantage of it. Just like they'll need to give them for AP purchasers who don't get the tickets sent to them in the mail.

 

[bjakmom]

It has been announced at DLR, then delayed, time and again.

It would have been easy to change both parks' policies at the same time.
Doing so would have been evidence of a "need to fix an overall FP problem."

Spent a day at DLR in Sept and agree totally - why those crazy CMs in Cali are still saying ridiculous things to us FP abusing guests like "you can come back and use this FP at any time today"!!!

There are 2 things about FP+ that seems fairly 'known' that I most dislike - booking FPs in advance: we just returned from Marathon weekend and changed our planned park days for 2 out of the 4 days we went into parks. We still had fabulous days using FP at the park we chose that worked better for us - having to be chained to a park on a particular day in order to use any FPs would be a HUGE negative for us.
The second thing would be all the roped off areas for parade and fireworks viewing. Yuck - if I choose to not FP+ for a parade or fireworks, or if I switch parks from my original park, or if the FP+ is not available by the time I get online, can I never sit in my fav spots again? Will this further increase the pre-parade anxiety of pushy people trying to jostle for a decent spot?

Now if disney were offering this new FP+ at, say 6 AM on the day - or once you passed the gate, I'd be all over it (providing I'm not limited to 1 E ticket ride per day in only one park - even then I could live with it more than having to plan months in advance).

Whatever, my next trip is very short and dedicated to SWW at DHS so we shall see if DGrD and I get to ride Star Tours multiple times, which is the hi light of her trip, without standing in long lines and missing the other shows. That will be a big deciding trip for us going forward. End of summer birthday trip I have already decided to split between WDW and USF just in case. Then we will reevaluate how this new system works for us.

Does anyone else remember when they 'told' us that their polling indicated that guests wanted more character interaction so they discontinued all the extra hours and sent characters to the resort lobbies in the mornings?? That change sure didn't last long! DUH!! lol At least they did listen to the uproar it caused and brought back extra hours - I'm trying to have faith that they will pay close attention with FP+ feedback.
Good luck to all the early experimentors - and thanks for keeping us updated!!

 

[Granny square]

The crowds were low, but the lines longer and slower. Just guessing about it being related to fp distribution changes. We have never had to wait in the fp lines before either. It was really strange in all honesty.

 

[mom2rtk]

Yeah, but which is better for Disney, 7 days at WDW and 2 or 3 days at US, or 4 days at WDW and 4 or 5 days at US? The former has been us, the latter could become us.

I went over my idea last night with my husband for park hopping between Disney and Universal, while staying at Universal for FOTL access. He loved the idea. The only kink of course is that we're planning on DLR this year!

If you're a family used to spending most of your time at Disney, but step off-property to Universal for a couple days, it's really not that much more to just have a longer Universal ticket and go for more half days. You wouldn't need the hopper option then at Disney OR Universal. Single park per day access would do the trick.

Schedule all your FP+s early or late in the day, then head to Universal the other half of the day. Wanna do space twice? Schedule it 2 days in a row. Wanna use one FP+ for MSEP? Do Universal early that day and Disney late.

Once you have a car, it also opens up a whole new world of cheaper food options.

 

[jbraught]

I have 2 2-day base tickets from last October, when DH and I took an anniversary trip using APs, but go the minimum tix for free dining.

In June, we're taking the family, and staying off-site (just can't afford Disney's plans for a family of 5! lol)

The kids will have 10-day tickets from UCT, but DH and I were going to add days to these unused tickets.

My question is, if FP+ is fully running by then, with no FP- available, will I be able to schedule FP+ for our whole vacation for all 5 of us, or just 2 days worth for DH and I, and all 10 days for the kids?



I really appreciate your first post, it's great to see everything together!

 

[livingthedream]

I thought they are getting ready to change that soon though...

...and if it is likewise in advance of FP+ coming to DL, and I think it is, it would lend more credence to the idea that FP enforcement was less to do with abuse as it was to get people prepped for FP+.

This! I have always believed the enforcement times on FP were suddenly being implemented because it was a piece of the puzzle required to make FP+ work.

 

[Granny square]

I went over my idea last night with my husband for park hopping between Disney and Universal, while staying at Universal for FOTL access. He loved the idea. The only kink of course is that we're planning on DLR this year!

If you're a family used to spending most of your time at Disney, but step off-property to Universal for a couple days, it's really not that much more to just have a longer Universal ticket and go for more half days. You wouldn't need the hopper option then at Disney OR Universal. Single park per day access would do the trick.

Schedule all your FP+s early or late in the day, then head to Universal the other half of the day. Wanna do space twice? Schedule it 2 days in a row. Wanna use one FP+ for MSEP? Do Universal early that day and Disney late.

Once you have a car, it also opens up a whole new world of cheaper food options.

Interesting! We loved our universal day this trip, and for the cost of the 1 day park hooper we could have had 3 base days.

 

[js]

And this is EXACTLY what Disney is banking on when I said they don't care about alienating the teenagers (MY words, not Disney). They know that they are going to have to come to their park because their parents and/or younger siblings want to, for reasons other than thrill rides.
Again, I don't agree with limiting headliners to 1 per day (if that is what will happen). But putting on my evil Disney Executive Hat, I can see that this could be the train of thought that went into it, in regards to that demographic.

OR, if you just have older teens like I do, Disney isn't even thrown into the mix for a family vacation any longer. So, I'll go with my dh or my mother but I'm certainly not spending money in the parks, although I do spend money on nice dinners, but we did that even when we had the kids. Beaches and cruises are much more desirable to my teens.

 

[Robo]

As for YES tickets, they will need to provide the tickets codes in advance for those guests to be able to take advantage of it. Just like they'll need to give them for AP purchasers who don't get the tickets sent to them in the mail.

Again...
Based what we ALREADY KNOW about how things work and have worked within the past few years...

Adding these additional layers of guest service before-the-fact for so many guests (many of whom did not used to need "ticket numbers" etc. in advance,)
how well should we expect Disney (consistently and accurately) to keep up with providing (and following through on) all of this info?

 

[bcrook]

ITA! The question is, do the geniuses who thought up this plan realize that, or is this another group in the minority that they don't care about alienating.

Frankly, since they have said they don't want to start a ride war with US (link somewhere in this monster thread), they probably don't care. Thrill junkies and thrill junkies alone should go to a thrill ride park.

They are banking on the fact that there is so much more offered at Disney in addition to a thrill ride, that they will keep coming anyway, at least for part of an Orlando stay. 4 days at WDW and 3 days at US is still better for Disney then no days at WDW. For that segment of folks, perhaps that is a good enough % for the Disney Brass.

From the New York Times:

Mr. Staggs said Disneys board decided to move ahead with the technology upgrades in February 2011 only after identifying multiple ways in which the initiative could expand profits. If Disney can drive more value from existing infrastructure by layering on technology, that is extremely powerful, said Mr. Brown of Lo-Q. They cant just compete by building new rides; its already a theme-park arms race out there.

 

[doconeill]

Again...
Based what we ALREADY KNOW about how things work and have worked within the past few years...

Adding these additional layers of guest service before-the-fact for so many guests (many of whom did not used to need "ticket numbers" etc. in advance,)
how well should we expect Disney (consistently and accurately) to keep up with providing (and following through on) all of this info?

By using TECHNOLOGY! Oh, wait...

 

[mbrittb00]

Again, as long as they had enough people in the test go didn't use FP, they don't need to run a test specifically forbidding it.

Also, you are making the same math mistake as the other person in assuming that every guest wants a FP to these big rides. It should also be noted that the argument that there isn't enough FPs to go around works the other way, also. If there weren't enough to go around then they definitely would want to implement a plan to spread then out so the greater number of people are satisfied

But the point is they havn't run a test with people not using FP- (forced or voluntarily) at all.

Good point about some kids not being able to ride the headliners. I've got to come up with some percentage of guests that can't (or won't) ride the headliners. It will obviously be different for different rides (for example the last time we went my 4 year old (and she is on the less than 10% chart for height) was able to ride Soarin, however it was my younger son's (9) first time to be able to ride RnR.

However I still submit that the vast majoriy of people to visit WDW want to ride at least one of the "headlineres" at each park (PP, Pooh, SpaM, SplM, Soarin, Kilamanjaro Safari's, and TSMM are all fairly tame but would garner the headliner classification).

 

[mom2rtk]

The second thing would be all the roped off areas for parade and fireworks viewing. Yuck - if I choose to not FP+ for a parade or fireworks, or if I switch parks from my original park, or if the FP+ is not available by the time I get online, can I never sit in my fav spots again? Will this further increase the pre-parade anxiety of pushy people trying to jostle for a decent spot?

This is a non-issue for Wishes, as I believe the viewing section was in the Rose Garden. But I too disliked having less prime real estate available for MSEP viewing. Our friends wanted to sit on the curb right up by the castle. We were setting up a spot early after being on our feet all day, and I had to break it to her that all those posts and ropes would be going up shortly and they would be shooing us away.

 

[Cinderumbrella]

OR, if you just have older teens like I do, Disney isn't even thrown into the mix for a family vacation any longer. So, I'll go with my dh or my mother but I'm certainly not spending money in the parks, although I do spend money on nice dinners, but we did that even when we had the kids. Beaches and cruises are much more desirable to my teens.

And this will happen to many families, I suspect, just in the natural course of aging.

The key is, will FP+ and its presumed limitations force this "growing out of Disney" earlier for teenagers since the days of multiple FP's for the mountains is over?

And if it does, will it even matter as more and more "young families" come in to take their place?

Time will tell.

 

[Robo]

By using TECHNOLOGY! Oh, wait...

JIMMY: Hey check it out dad. Grandma's up to 975 points.
FATHER: Wow! 975.
OVEN: Temperature increased to 975. (Oven smoke erupts.)
Overload-- overload...

 

[GreenCntryGirl]

Is Disney turning their backs on teenagers? And does that demographic matter? Have they just given that market share to Universal? My teens and all the teens I travel with love to move fast through parks and ride as any thrill rides as possible. FP made this happen for the teens. This one park three ride limit will impact them MUCH more than me.

The middle school students I teach at talk about how much fun US/IoA are and can't wait for those new attractions. New fantasyland is not appealing. Avatarland best case scenario 2017. What is the draw for that age? I am not thinking talking seagulls and customized meet and greets are going to cut it.

Well, that would kind of fit in with the recent points Mousermerf made regarding their marketing strategy to always include a cute kid in a princess costume.

When I told my boys about this, I got two different reactions. My oldest (26) who is Boo's dad seemed really nonchalant and OK with it. He's a tech geek and is kind of fascinated by the possibilities. My youngest (21) said, "WHAT?? What are they thinking? How is that going to work?"

After I shared the Infinity possible (probable in my mind) tie-in though, the youngest was a bit more receptive. Both boys are gamers.

And neither one suggested a switch to US/IOA and they are ride freaks. The Star Wars aspect has their total focus.

 

[SaraJayne]

As I said twice yesterday, this definition of abuse is still ridiculous. Despite what some say--I don't care who they are or what they purport to know.

This whole discussion is tiresome. I wish Disney would just do it already and get it over with. Then I'll game the system to my family's maximum benefit however I please, and within the "rules".

 

[Cinderumbrella]

GreenCountryGirl, ITA!

My soon to be 10 year old DS LOVES SoMK. He will flip over this Disney Infinity idea (although he was VERY lukewarm on the Wilderness Explorer thing in AK ). Believe me, he could care less about ANYTHING happening with FLE. Other than Peter Pan & Philharmagic we don't even go back there anymore (and admitedly, both of those are simply to "humor" Mom these days )

And what keeps bringing us back to WDW in June?? Star Wars Weekends!!

(Also coupled with the knowledge that we still could ride our favorites without long lines by utilizing FP.... something that was a huge unknown/fear the first year we tried a summer trip 5 years ago. This year really will be a litmus test for future June trips. If we feel that we are doing significantly less than previous years *significantly being the operative word* then I doubt we would do an extended June trip again.)

 

[mommy2mrb]

slowly getting through the thread...we don't go to WDW until thanksgiving so hope most of the bugs will have been worked out by then!

we will have the Premier AP since we have trips to DLR also this next year...
question on the app for the phones...I don't have a smart phone but DD has an I-Touch will it be available on that???