FP+... who hates it

[ELSA711]

We loved it, our trip in 2014 was awesome and decided to go twice this year because of it.
We had no problem getting additional FP either with the exception of Epcot and we split up the family for 5th FP
2 went to Soarin and 3 to TT

 

[JennaDeeDooDah]

It makes sense that FP+ would work well at MK when it's crowded. We rode our three there and then got two more later, one for Haunted Mansion and one for Buzz. The FP+ kiosk lines were fairly long and I commented that it was interesting to wait in line to avoid waiting in line. I hope that they let people add more by phone eventually.

It was a disaster at Epcot though. We decided to park hop to Epcot and it was all booked up. However we got lucky because once we got our mess straightened out, FP+ for Soarin' suddenly popped up. I don't know how or why but we learned not to count on anything like that happening most of the time.

I agree with this. It seems that FP+ works just fine for Magic Kingdom when it is crowded. When it isn't crowded, it is less necessary at Magic Kingdom. The reasons for this seem clear. There are many rides. When it is crowded, you can still get a fourth FP+ at a more popular ride (probably not mine train or A&E but something popular) because there are so many different rides that people are choosing for their 4th FP+. When it isn't crowded, the lines aren't as long because the people who are in the park are spread across so many rides. Some rides will still have long lines such as Space Mountain, A&E, Mine Train, and Splash Mountain when it is cold. At Epcot, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom, FP+ is more successful when things aren't crowded. When the parks are crowded, the fact that there are fewer attractions is painfully obvious. You aren't getting a fourth FP+. At least, you aren't getting one for one of the popular rides such as Soarin', Test Track, or TSMM. And, with the increased crowds, you also end up finding waits for rides that never used to have them such as Imagination and Great Movie Ride. When the parks are less crowded, you are more likely to be able to pick up a fourth FP+ for a popular ride. So, whether you go at a slow or busy time, you are likely to find that FP+ works okay and that there are times it doesn't work so well.

Either way, I maintain that FP+ helps the people who didn't use rope drop significantly more than it helps those who did take advantage of rope drop. I'm in the latter group so FP+ is not nearly as good for me or my family as original FP and that's a real bummer.

 

[jade1]

I agree with this. It seems that FP+ works just fine for Magic Kingdom when it is crowded. When it isn't crowded, it is less necessary at Magic Kingdom. The reasons for this seem clear. There are many rides. When it is crowded, you can still get a fourth FP+ at a more popular ride (probably not mine train or A&E but something popular) because there are so many different rides that people are choosing for their 4th FP+. When it isn't crowded, the lines aren't as long because the people who are in the park are spread across so many rides. Some rides will still have long lines such as Space Mountain, A&E, Mine Train, and Splash Mountain when it is cold. At Epcot, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom, FP+ is more successful when things aren't crowded. When the parks are crowded, the fact that there are fewer attractions is painfully obvious. You aren't getting a fourth FP+. At least, you aren't getting one for one of the popular rides such as Soarin', Test Track, or TSMM. And, with the increased crowds, you also end up finding waits for rides that never used to have them such as Imagination and Great Movie Ride. When the parks are less crowded, you are more likely to be able to pick up a fourth FP+ for a popular ride. So, whether you go at a slow or busy time, you are likely to find that FP+ works okay and that there are times it doesn't work so well.

Either way, I maintain that FP+ helps the people who didn't use rope drop significantly more than it helps those who did take advantage of rope drop. I'm in the latter group so FP+ is not nearly as good for me or my family as original FP and that's a real bummer.

AK is pretty open as well IMO-many folks are filing out late afternoon which opens things up.

 

[jade1]

Either way, I maintain that FP+ helps the people who didn't use rope drop significantly more than it helps those who did take advantage of rope drop. I'm in the latter group so FP+ is not nearly as good for me or my family as original FP and that's a real bummer.

And think of the numbers in that statement. Out of 30,000 to 50,000-how many were there at RD? My guess is 5%.

By the way-if you are going the end of April, are you planning FP+ for AM or afternoon or PM?

Just curious as you appear to be a veteran and have some savvy ideas.

 

[goodgodmrsmolly]

I dislike it. Both standby AND FP line have gotten longer. No question about that. Rides that were once walk on's at some point during the day, like POTC or HM, are no longer that way almost ever. As a local, most times I go now, it is 3 rides and that is it, very few "hey, the line is short lets go" times, and that is frustrating. Going to SM during the fireworks does nothing anymore. Even for people who didn't use FP before and waited in SB, the whole experience is worse and demands they use the system or else they will be worse off than before, so the argument that it just hurts those that "abused" the old FP system is just absurd.

They have had enough time to work out some kinks and they have not, meaning to me, they never will be. I have waited 10 minutes to get into the BTMR FP line, not in line to ride the ride mind you, I mean 10 minutes of sitting in the pre queue because people don't use both sides of the scanners, and those that have trouble just stand there while the CM figures out what is going on while nobody gets in. It is not getting any better from what I have noticed, and I have seen no changes other than ropes being put up to corral people into line.... to get into line.

Getting a 4th or more FP is almost impossible. I mean, yeah, living with the land is available, but waiting in the kiosk line is longer than just going and waiting for the ride. And then if I want the parade or fireworks or whatever later in the day, well tough luck on a 4th because you can't. Not only that, the whole reservation system is screwed up. Why can't I put in the time I am getting to the park or be able to hop? I get 4 options and have to pick one, then adjust them all accordingly. It takes forever and most times, as a non resort guest at least, most of my favorites are just not there.Some rides I have already decided I just will never ride again. As a AP holder, that plays into if I should renew or not. Peter Pan, TSMM, SDMT are just 3 I have not been on in 6 months or more... and I go 3-5 times a month to a Park.

Many of the supposed "guest improvements" have not shown up and probably never will. They were going to text you stuff and send you offers... haven't seen it and I doubt they will. I mean what will they tell you? "Pirates is 45 minutes, come on over since you are here!" As an AP holder, most of the other things are not needed, wanted, or available. I don't use the band for purchases, key or parking, so it is more cumbersome than need be. Then I got one MB as it rolled out, but if I want/need another one, well go buy it I am told. So there goes a chunk or my "savings" from renewing my AP. But you go to Fort Wilderness for a Scout Camp out and never go to the park, and every person gets a MB even though not one purchased a park ticket!!

Look, there are some nice things about it, but I think the positives are so much less than the negatives, it really makes me love going to Disney less. And all people say on this site is basically "attendance is high, so what does Disney care"... but they should, that is why people love the place, yeah this year it may not matter, but that will catch up sooner or later.

 

[Mad Hattered]

Absolutely hate it! And that's about all I have to say about that.

 

[nilla]

My mil just asked me last night why we have to do all this and IMO it's simple, Disney is forcing you to not fit as much into a day and in turn you need to spend more time. I figured what we got accomplished in 6 days now takes us 10.

We fit exactly as much into the day as we did before. In fact, possibly more, since I no longer had to make that first-thing-in-the-morning run over to the Land to get Soarin' FPs or the mid-day run from Frontierland to Tomorrowland to get Space Mountain FPs.

It does require an adjustment to touring strategies, but nothing THAT major, IMO. We didn't notice any difference, really, in either SB or FP lines as a result of this. The biggest adjustment I found was we can't ride Soarin' twice in a day, but we stopped wanting to do that once we realized that attraction takes over an hour from entrance to exit even with FPs.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

SO arriving at a park late and just getting in a reasonable standby line was "abuse" of the old Fast Pass system??? Because I HATE this new system and that's what I did before. And since only people who "abused" the system hate it, I guess just wanting to ride things is "abuse" LOL!

This system has so turned me off for Disney that I will not be renewing my Annual Pass and will be spending my funds elsewhere.

Last weekend I decided Sunday morning I wanted to go to Epcot instead of AK. Cancelled my AK fast passes, but the system would not allow me to book Epcot FP. Got to the parks. Line 30 people deep to get Fast Passes. After a walk around the World Showcase I left and went to the pool. Way to go Disney! I am sure that made you lots more money. After all instead of buying my food and drink at your park I ate and drank the cheaper stuff I bought at Publix!

But I know the "Disney can do no wrong, so you must be the bad guy" will attack anyone who dares post that they don't like something Disney does. After all, if you don't agree with Disney then you must be the culprit right? LOL!

 

[Bullseye]

Posting about disliking FP+ will continue to happen for the duration of its existence, however long that will be. It's that unappealing to a lot of people. Besides, plenty of people I would guess haven't read the continual back-and-forth here on the Dis and the intense dislike of FP+ is new to them- since they just used it on a trip (see OP).

And this unfortunately is why we will never see another good ole line jumping thread again!

What a great, original idea for a thread!

Nice!


We like FP+....never really grabbed more than three a day under the old system anyway! I like being able to schedule them and know when they are scheduled instead of having to obtain them at the park and have it be a crap shoot. How is that spontaneous?! Plus as much as we love Disney rides I don't feel the need to ride them several times a day. If I do want to ride more than once I just hit those rides at park opening or during evening emh. I know what park I'm going to be at on a certain day so how much extra planning is it to go on at the 60 day mark and spend an hour reserving the rides I want .

 

[JennaDeeDooDah]

And think of the numbers in that statement. Out of 30,000 to 50,000-how many were there at RD? My guess is 5%.

By the way-if you are going the end of April, are you planning FP+ for AM or afternoon or PM?

Just curious as you appear to be a veteran and have some savvy ideas.

I've done WDW three times with FP+. I'm really not an expert at all. What I have discovered works best for us is late morning FP+ reservations for one or two ride and then an early afternoon FP+ (or two if we only used one in the morning) after we have had lunch. Then, we take a midday break and come back in the evening. If we plan to park hop, we use our FP+ reservations for the afternoon park, unless we are doing Hollywood Studios in the morning and planning for World Showcase at Epcot in the afternoon. In that situation, FP+ doesn't make sense for our afternoon park so we reserve rides at Hollywood Studios. We do have some days planned where we are going to sleep in and head to Epcot late afternoon. On that day, we have a FP+ booked for early morning that will be a throw away, another one for 10:30 that might also be a throw away, and then one for Soarin' at 1:30 that we will use. We have Akershus reservations at 11:30 that day so we will likely head to Akershus, then Soarin', and are hoping that we might be able to get Test Track that afternoon as our 4th. We have found that Test Track and Soarin' are the only rides that really need a FP+ at Epcot for our family. Since we can't reserve both, we decided to pick the one we like the most and are hoping to get Test Track as soon as we get off of Soarin'. Again, though, I really haven't figured out the best way to work the system. At least, I'm hoping I'm not doing it the best way. On our upcoming trip, we will be there for 9 days. There is one day that we are not planning to sleep in, take a midday break, leave the park early, or some combination of the three. All the rest are short days which is very uncommon for us. I just haven't figured out how to do everything we used to do in the parks when we had legacy FP. Good luck to you!

 

[UncleMike101]

FP+ is one of many crowd control techniques that WDW uses to maximize income.
I have had two close friends in Management positions at WDW.
They both told me that Disney's goal is for guests to spend less time doing rides and more time eating and buying merchandise.
Food and merchandise produce exorbitant income, whereas rides are a drain on the bottom line because they require substantial space, personnel, and maintenance to operate.
I'm a dyed in the wool Capitalist, but it's a shame that some large corporations use "Robber Baron" tactics on their customers.

 

[capegirl]

I just haven't figured out how to do everything we used to do in the parks when we had legacy FP. Good luck to you!

YES! I cannot imagine that we will ever have the opportunity to accomplish what we used to prior to FP+. We are early risers, so we plan on doing RD, and we booked FP+ for late afternoon or evenings. After hearing about the long kiosk lines, we decided to skip them to avoid vacation frustration.

 

[jtowntoflorida]

OH, the other thing I want to mention for those who say they won't wait in a long kiosk line...we actually had our resort concierge make our 4th FP+ for us a couple of days when we went back to the resort for a break. I just told her to pick Philharmagic for us, and then fiddled with it on MDE once we were in our room until I got an attraction and time I actually wanted. It took maybe 30 seconds for her to make it for me (and then 30 minutes of me playing on my phone to get what I wanted). So just keep that in mind if you're going back for a break and see long kiosks lines before you leave the park. This was a regular resort concierge at the WL...we weren't staying club level or anything like that. From prior posts, it seems a lot of people don't know the concierge can make your 4th FP+s for you.

 

[ELSA711]

OH, the other thing I want to mention for those who say they won't wait in a long kiosk line...we actually had our resort concierge make our 4th FP+ for us a couple of days when we went back to the resort for a break. I just told her to pick Philharmagic for us, and then fiddled with it on MDE once we were in our room until I got an attraction and time I actually wanted. It took maybe 30 seconds for her to make it for me (and then 30 minutes of me playing on my phone to get what I wanted). So just keep that in mind if you're going back for a break and see long kiosks lines before you leave the park. This was a regular resort concierge at the WL...we weren't staying club level or anything like that. From prior posts, it seems a lot of people don't know the concierge can make your 4th FP+s for you.

**yes we did that too** although we really had no trouble with FP+ or getting additional ones at kiosks. we must have gone at a dead time because our first day in MK we had 6 FP all before 7pm
I frequently just picked whatever was on the screen at kiosk and walked away and changed it on app

 

[JimmyV]

From prior posts, it seems a lot of people don't know the concierge can make your 4th FP+s for you.

I wonder how long concierges will be able to continue to do this once people do learn that this is an option. If and when this becomes "common knowledge", I would think that the concierges would be swamped and would get nothing else done all day.

And can people who booked "throwaway rooms" phone "their" concierge and request that service?

 

[capegirl]

OH, the other thing I want to mention for those who say they won't wait in a long kiosk line...we actually had our resort concierge make our 4th FP+ for us a couple of days when we went back to the resort for a break. I just told her to pick Philharmagic for us, and then fiddled with it on MDE once we were in our room until I got an attraction and time I actually wanted. It took maybe 30 seconds for her to make it for me (and then 30 minutes of me playing on my phone to get what I wanted). So just keep that in mind if you're going back for a break and see long kiosks lines before you leave the park. This was a regular resort concierge at the WL...we weren't staying club level or anything like that. From prior posts, it seems a lot of people don't know the concierge can make your 4th FP+s for you.

Great tip for those staying on property! We are staying at SOG...so this won't work for us.

 

[Angel Ariel]

Out of curiosity, those of you who are on the dislike/hate end of the scale, did any of you filed a complaint at Disney? As it impacted your enjoyment of the World, I wonder if there are people who sent their feedback to Disney. (besides giving it here in some obscure corner of the internet ;-) ) and if so, I'd love to hear what Disney's reply was.
Or do you feel it's no use?

(I have not experienced FP+ myself yet, still can go either way)

I was appproached for a survey in the park, and received it via email after we got home. It had questions about fp+, and fairly large comment boxes, and I gave them all of the feedback we could from our trip..not just on fp+, but everything.

 

[Seeker615]

My parents were not big fans of the new system. They felt like they were cris- crossing the park many times over to make their ride times. They didn't like the extra planning involved either.

I am very worried about my nephew going over Easter break. They are last minute kind of people and I don't think they even bought their tickets yet. They have no plans whatsoever adn I am worried this is going to be a nightmare for them!

 

[jade1]

All the rest are short days which is very uncommon for us. I just haven't figured out how to do everything we used to do in the parks when we had legacy FP. Good luck to you!

Well certainly visiting short days (being not your norm) you will not get as much done compared to long day visits, so keep that in mind as you tour with this style change.

That said-I think your plan sounds pretty good.

Our observation the first week of March was that a lot could be done at EPCOT at RD-both Soarin and TT by 9:35, and both were available for FP+ yet at that time. But I would possibly consider that strategy on days you have FP+ for DHS or MK later.

Same with AK-knocked the whole thing out without FP+ by 1PM, even though everything was available there as well. Then hit DHS or MK that night-maybe even Soarin or TT FP+ if you have an evening planned there.

 

[jade1]

FP+ is one of many crowd control techniques that WDW uses to maximize income.
I have had two close friends in Management positions at WDW.
They both told me that Disney's goal is for guests to spend less time doing rides and more time eating and buying merchandise.
Food and merchandise produce exorbitant income, whereas rides are a drain on the bottom line because they require substantial space, personnel, and maintenance to operate.
I'm a dyed in the wool Capitalist, but it's a shame that some large corporations use "Robber Baron" tactics on their customers.

But now the guest has the choice. LT will have a trip report showing just that I believe.