FP+... who hates it

[Mad Hattered]

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

I'm gonna go out on a limb and bet LT doesn't post a TR.

 

[jade1]

I'm gonna go out on a limb and bet LT doesn't post a TR.

What? Sounds like he crushed it for what he was looking for,and had a ton of info for some style of travelers.

 

[Mad Hattered]

What? Sounds like he crushed it for what he was looking for,and had a ton of info for some style of travelers.

I know!

 

[xipetotec]

Besides me?

Just back from Disney and I think that they TOTALLY missed the boat with this program.
Why only 3?
Why so few FP+ kiosks in the parks? Really, I should wait 30 minutes on line only to be told that there aren't anymore fast passes left?
Why can't I FP+ at more than one park per day?
Why can't I access FP+ from my mobile device while in the parks?
Why are the non-fast pass lines so darn long when the park isn't that crowded?

We also did Universal and Express pass is better... hands down.

I really like it. my ONLY complaint is the super advance booking. I do find it takes away a lot of the spontaneity of the parks to now book attractions in advance. Yes, I can hit the parks with NO fastpass... but then there's a good chance I'll just be waiting in lines all day. I liked the morning rush to get fastpasses.

*that being said* the system worked very well for us, we also had no problem cancelling certain attractions and booking others ( assuming they weren't Soarin, TSMM or Seven Dwarves mine Coaster ) on the fly. Even in some cases minutes before if there was room. funny story about that actually. We were going on Haunted Mansion, and it had a 30 min wait. My son, it turns out, had not properly booked his time on the attraction. So standing in front of the gate, we went into MDE, found a spot for 5 minutes from then, booked him, then we all went in without waiting 30 min.

You totally can use your mobile device, that's what we did? I'm with ya on the more than one park.

 

[JennaDeeDooDah]

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.

You misunderstand. We didn't always do shorter days with FP+. We tried to do full days with FP+ just like we did with legacy and it didn't work. We didn't get as much done and were faced with standing in lines much longer than we like. We decided that if we are already going to get less done, we would rather just go take a midday break and enjoy the pool, resort exploring, Tri Circle D, etc. instead of sitting around the parks, waiting in lines that are 2 and 3 times longer than what we have stood in before, or just doing rides and attractions we don't care about. We are rope droppers by nature. We are up before 6:00 regularly here at home so it's not hard for us to be up at at the parks for rope drop without setting an alarm. And we do love the park and all we get done in the morning. It's the afternoons that kill us. It was just so frustrating that we couldn't ride the rides we wanted to without long lines. We tried doing FP+ for the afternoon, but the lines start picking up around lunch time so we were left with a few hours of long lines before our FP+ times were available. Spending less time in the parks leads to us being annoyed less.

 

[mom2rtk]

You misunderstand. We didn't always do shorter days with FP+. We tried to do full days with FP+ just like we did with legacy and it didn't work. We didn't get as much done and were faced with standing in lines much longer than we like. We decided that if we are already going to get less done, we would rather just go take a midday break and enjoy the pool, resort exploring, Tri Circle D, etc. instead of sitting around the parks, waiting in lines that are 2 and 3 times longer than what we have stood in before, or just doing rides and attractions we don't care about. We are rope droppers by nature. We are up before 6:00 regularly here at home so it's not hard for us to be up at at the parks for rope drop without setting an alarm. And we do love the park and all we get done in the morning. It's the afternoons that kill us. It was just so frustrating that we couldn't ride the rides we wanted to without long lines. We tried doing FP+ for the afternoon, but the lines start picking up around lunch time so we were left with a few hours of long lines before our FP+ times were available. Spending less time in the parks leads to us being annoyed less.

Your touring style sounds very much like ours..... which is why I'm quite sure we would dislike it equally as much.

We travel during cooler weather so we don't need to leave for the pool in the afternoon. It would frustrate me greatly to feel I needed to leave just because I wasn't able to get anything done in the parks anyway.

I actually have 2 future trips in mind for WDW. Both will be substantially shorter...... and will include the only park with enough FP+ capacity to have a shot at keeping us happy. We intend to turn the clock back and pretend there's only 1 park there now.

 

[houstonmama]

I wouldn't say I hate it but I prefer the old system. Now, MDE I hate! Hopefully one day it will work well.

 

[nilla]

I'm gonna go out on a limb and bet LT doesn't post a TR.

Speaking of Trip Reports...



My latest starts off with us being completely horrified and disgusted at the concept of FP+ and the initial reservation process, but ends happily

That is, if I ever finish it.

Plug!

 

[jtowntoflorida]

You misunderstand. We didn't always do shorter days with FP+. We tried to do full days with FP+ just like we did with legacy and it didn't work. We didn't get as much done and were faced with standing in lines much longer than we like. We decided that if we are already going to get less done, we would rather just go take a midday break and enjoy the pool, resort exploring, Tri Circle D, etc. instead of sitting around the parks, waiting in lines that are 2 and 3 times longer than what we have stood in before, or just doing rides and attractions we don't care about. We are rope droppers by nature. We are up before 6:00 regularly here at home so it's not hard for us to be up at at the parks for rope drop without setting an alarm. And we do love the park and all we get done in the morning. It's the afternoons that kill us. It was just so frustrating that we couldn't ride the rides we wanted to without long lines. We tried doing FP+ for the afternoon, but the lines start picking up around lunch time so we were left with a few hours of long lines before our FP+ times were available. Spending less time in the parks leads to us being annoyed less.

This was our experience as well. We did shorter days in the parks not because we wanted to, but because we felt like we had no other choice. If you don't want to wait in lines, what's the point in hanging around the parks, being constantly reminded of all the stuff you used to be able to do without a wait under the old system?

Example: on our last trip with legacy FP, we spent thirteen hours (without a break) at DHS. We did TSM 4 times that day, Star Tours 6 times, BatB, Fantasmic, the Muppets, JTA, the Disney Junior show, One Man's Dream, Characterpalooza, a bunch of other character M&Gs, and two TS meals. TOT and RNR were skipped by choice. No meltdowns from anyone...that probably goes down as one of our greatest, most fun Disney days. It was one of those days where the weather was beautiful and everything came together just right.

On our last trip, we ended up doing two half days at DHS. Now, we did ride Star Tours 11 times in those two days, but we only managed TSM once one day and twice the other day. We did a few of the shows, but ultimately the kids had no interest in sticking around in the afternoon and using shows for fillers like we did on that golden trip knowing there were no more FP+s for rides available for later in the evening.

 

[Mkrop]

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.

Well I will be the guest where this approach backfires...I am not a shopper by nature. But when I do it is usually at the end of our trip...maybe we will wander into a shop here and there but if I feel "forced" into a shop because I have nothing better to do, than I will definitely not be buying. I will be annoyed. The same with eating, I am not eating for the sake of eating or because we are bored and can't get on ride...that will make me cranky lol. The same will happen if I am forced to wait in long standby lines because I cant get the 4th FP for anything decent or rides that will have longer standby than before...all of this will make me annoyed...not want to spend or make me more hungry.

 

[jade1]

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!

Yea I'm confused I guess-you said there is "one day you are not planning to sleep in" meaning the other 8 days you are planning to sleep in correct?

But then all the rest (8) are short days, which is very uncommon?

 

[JennaDeeDooDah]

Yea I'm confused I guess-you said there is "one day you are not planning to sleep in" meaning the other 8 days you are planning to sleep in correct?

But then all the rest are short days, which is very uncommon?

No that's not correct. I said, "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." Meaning that the other 8 days we will either sleep in, take a midday break, leave the park early, or leave early after having a midday break, sleep in and then leave early, sleep in and have a midday break.

 

[Cormoran]

Well I will be the guest where this approach backfires...I am not a shopper by nature. But when I do it is usually at the end of our trip...maybe we will wander into a shop here and there but if I feel "forced" into a shop because I have nothing better to do, than I will definitely not be buying. I will be annoyed. The same with eating, I am not eating for the sake of eating or because we are bored and can't get on ride...that will make me cranky lol. The same will happen if I am forced to wait in long standby lines because I cant get the 4th FP for anything decent or rides that will have longer standby than before...all of this will make me annoyed...not want to spend or make me more hungry.

If Disney wanted guests to shop, why are all of their stores filled with the same T-shirts, plush , and Snow Globes? I would love to buy something, but I can never find anything to purchase.

 

[UncleMike101]

If Disney wanted guests to shop, why are all of their stores filled with the same T-shirts, plush , and Snow Globes? I would love to buy something, but I can never find anything to purchase.

It's like the saturation bombing that we did back in Nam.
The theory is if you cover an area in explosions, ( Or the same merchandise in this case) you're bound to score a hit on someone.
Besides they can't bring out the new stuff until the old stuff is gone.

 

[JennaDeeDooDah]

If Disney wanted guests to shop, why are all of their stores filled with the same T-shirts, plush , and Snow Globes? I would love to buy something, but I can never find anything to purchase.

I would love for them to change it up a bit. Having merchandise that is park specific would increase the chances of people buying that stuff, I would think. As is, I might see a shirt I like at Mouse Gear, but I won't get it thinking that I will pick it up later in the week at The Emporium, World of Disney, or Mickey's of Hollywood. Then, I will likely end up talking myself out of it or decide to spend that money on something else. If I see a Dole Whip shirt in Adventureland, though, and know that it is only for sale there, I'm much more likely to buy it then. Besides, park specific stuff would just be fun rather than the same old stuff at every store.

 

[Minnesota!]

Hate it.

I hate the massive amount of scheduling a VACATION now takes. Ick.

 

[Cormoran]

Hate it.

I hate the massive amount of scheduling a VACATION now takes. Ick.

Love your avatar!

 

[JimmyV]

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.

The patent application says as much, (once you wade through the techno-jargon). I remain amazed at the number of posts I see declaring that FP+ has no such effect when in fact it was designed to have that effect. If it is not having that effect, then it is failing. So in some perverse way, the FP+ supporters who claim that it does not act as a "governor" on your pace of play are actually saying that FP+ is failing.

 

[MainMom]

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.

This is basically my plan for our summer trip. I'm glad it seems to work for you.

 

[finedice]

it seems like its generally the people that used to abuse the FP- system that are not a fan of the new system in practice.

I'm not sure how it could be "abused". The same rules applied to all - same as now...

Oh you know, the people who got there at rope drop. Or the people who had the audacity to get more than one FP for certain rides. Or the people who knew how to tour the park in such a way that they never had to cross the park just to obtain a fast pass or never had to send a runner all over the park collecting them and still got 9 or so FPs.

Still don't see any "abuse" here.

I've loved the idea of floating EMHs for a while now, actually.

The cost of operations for WDW would skyrocket if you had emh every day in every park. Not going to happen - unfortunately.

i always followed the rule so i usually didn't get more than 3 fastpasses on any given day where as others would collect 10 and then use them later just because they "could".

There was never any rule saying you couldn't. In fact, everyone had to wait to get a second fastpass for the same amount of time. I don't get how "following the rule" makes you less able to get a 4th fastpass... or how anyone else was able to break it?
o

people that abused the system are now finding that they really cannot abuse it with FP+ and it angers them.

I still don't understand "abuse". Having knowledge of a system (or a tool) and then using that tool to obtain better results with experience is not "abuse". We all had the same rules, at the same time. Period.

i like FP+ because it helps to make sure everyone is following the rule not just the honest people.

It always did. There was never any possibility of "abuse". Honest and dishonest people all had to follow the same rules.

A major result was that the people who got to ride the main attractions with multiple fast passes were the ones who manipulated the system (or as a previous poster put it as an abuser).

I really still don't get it. What was the rule that said you couldn't get 2 fastpasses for the same ride? That was never a rule under the old system, and as far as I know, still isn't with the new system (if you can land a second ride on the same attraction with the 4th FP). Still... no abuse.

Do you really think Disney employs enough people to analyze the reams of information FP+ is providing?

Yes, yes I do. It's pretty easy to compile programs that flag tendencies of groups. I don't think they are at the point of tracking individuals and making sense of it, but they have the data for when computer tech gets there. They can certainly draw conclusions and analyze patterns based on things like "Data shows moderate resort guests that stay at least 6 nights tend to eat .78 sit down meals per night stayed", as opposed to "Deluxe resorts where similar guests eat 1.32 per night."

Of course, they always did compile stuff like this, but it likely took wayyyy more manpower to do it.