has a FP+ strategy been determined yet?

[akayf]

I'm trying to figure out FP+ times. Not sure if we're going to be part of the test because I didn't get an email but we are staying at the CR during the Aug testing period so MDE is letting me customize bands and select FP+ times.

We have hoppers. Our park plans are Day 1-MK all day. Day 2 Epcot all day Day 3-MK all day Day 4-HS in AM and then MK after our afternoon break Day 5 AK in the AM and Epcot after our break. Day 6-we will be hopping in between MK and Epcot...not sure which one we're hitting first. Also, if we see our planned park is not working out, we will just hop to another park.

So on our planned MK days, is it best to pick early FP times? Or use rope drop arrival to hit stuff when lines are shorter and then schedule FP+ for later? For hopping days, schedule FP+ for 1st park or 2nd park? Has anyone figured this out yet?

I've been staring at fastpass times and trying to work them into our daily plan of attack for each park and it's giving me a headache!

 

[Robo]

has a FP+ strategy been determined yet?

Not one that actually "looks good."

I'll tell you that there are many plans that attempt to GET AROUND THE LIMITATIONS.

How's that for an "exciting new program?"

 

[akayf]

It's driving me nuts! A couple days ago, the only thing I needed to finish planning was coordinating shirts for my 2 sons so they look cute in pictures(and a side vent...why is it so hard to find Disney shirts that are NOT Phineas and Ferb/Perry in size 5/6....hardly any Mickey shirts in that size except for the Disney Store). everything else was DONE!

Now my head is spinning with trying to figure out all this FP stuff. Hoping that there will be some answers soon.

 

[Vertical]

I'm trying to figure out FP+ times. Not sure if we're going to be part of the test because I didn't get an email but we are staying at the CR during the Aug testing period so MDE is letting me customize bands and select FP+ times.

We have hoppers. Our park plans are Day 1-MK all day. Day 2 Epcot all day Day 3-MK all day Day 4-HS in AM and then MK after our afternoon break Day 5 AK in the AM and Epcot after our break. Day 6-we will be hopping in between MK and Epcot...not sure which one we're hitting first. Also, if we see our planned park is not working out, we will just hop to another park.

So on our planned MK days, is it best to pick early FP times? Or use rope drop arrival to hit stuff when lines are shorter and then schedule FP+ for later? For hopping days, schedule FP+ for 1st park or 2nd park? Has anyone figured this out yet?

I've been staring at fastpass times and trying to work them into our daily plan of attack for each park and it's giving me a headache!

It really depends on how you want to do it.

I personally plan to take advantage of rope drop, so I'm not scheduling any FP+ during the morning. If you're planning on hopping, it makes more sense to slate the FP+ for the park you're hopping to.

At least, that's what makes sense to me.

 

[Robo]

It really depends on how you want to do it.

I personally plan to take advantage of rope drop, so I'm not scheduling any FP+ during the morning. If you're planning on hopping, it makes more sense to slate the FP+ for the park you're hopping to.

At least, that's what makes sense to me.

I think that makes sense and is "a" strategy.

But, the problem comes in when:

Day 6-we will be hopping in between MK and Epcot...not sure which one we're hitting first. Also, if we see our planned park is not working out, we will just hop to another park.

Pre-scheduling FP+ REQUIRES guests to know at exactly which parks they will be, and at what times, on individual days... up to 60 days in advance.

ADR's are a similar situation,

BUT-

What if you make your ADR's 180 days in advance for X park and Y time.
And then, 120 days after that (60-day mark,) it's time to schedule FP+,
and the times and attractions for which you'd hoped are not available for you to book?

The system is simply not convenient or easy to manage for many (most) guests.

I've got to think that the "big idea" planners simply did NOT know what kind of difficulty they were creating.

 

[Vertical]

I think that makes sense and is "a" strategy.

But, the problem comes in when:

Pre-scheduling FP+ REQUIRES guests to know at exactly which parks they will be, and at what times, on individual days... up to 60 days in advance.

ADR's are a similar situation,

BUT-

What if you make your ADR's 180 days in advance for X park and Y time.
And then, 120 days after that (60-day mark,) it's time to schedule FP+,
and the times and attractions for which you'd hoped are not available for booking?

Ah, the joys of planning!

Has that 60 day thing been officially announced?

I agree that it's a complicated task to try to really predict where you will be on any given day but it really hasn't been too much of a hassle for me so far. But I'm not a hopper and I already had somewhat settled on a schedule for parks per day.

I can see that there is the potential for problems, and complications though.

 

[WillAustin]

So far, the only days I think it would work relatively well for us will be on a planned "rest day" where we don't do a full day in a park. I've booked the FP+ slots and grouped them together. That way we have a leisurely morning at the resort, go to the park to ride the booked rides either in the afternoon or evening, then leave.

Since we have APs and relatively long stay, it's not a big deal to spend less time in the park on certain days. When we are doing the full days in the park, I don't think FP+ is going to help us vs. what we were able to do before. I might be doing the exact opposite of what they want people to be doing with the new system.

 

[Robo]

So far, the only days I think it would work relatively well for us will be on a planned "rest day" where we don't do a full day in a park. I've booked the FP+ slots and grouped them together. That way we have a leisurely morning at the resort, go to the park to ride the booked rides either in the afternoon or evening, then leave.

Since we have APs and relatively long stay, it's not a big deal to spend less time in the park on certain days. When we are doing the full days in the park, I don't think FP+ is going to help us vs. what we were able to do before.


I might be doing the exact opposite of what they want people to be doing with the new system.

Count on it.
They've painted themselves into a corner by constructing a system so
creepy, prickly and difficult that guests (who have been paying attention
all along) are already trying to find ways around it.

In fact, what current "testers" WANT is to get to use the FP+
-AND- the regular FP system TOO!
(That will only work if there are just a few FP+ users in the mix.)

This whole complex mess cannot be what they planned.

Disney.
Just STOP this thing.

Issue the MagicBands and keep the day-of FP system
(use the blessed Mickey Head scanners and spit out paper tickets from a printer.)
We know that actually WORKS.
And drops the need for WiFi in the parks and for guests to constantly
access their WiFi devices.
(The reliance on a cellphone/pad/laptop to negotiate the parks
is going to create some seriously bad situations!)

 

[GingerJay]

I agree. More than anything else, it seems like the ability/requirement to schedule 60 days in advance is the problem. Just let us pick them that day, Disney!!!!

 

[Mickey's Best Girl]

Count on it.
They've painted themselves into a corner by constructing a system so
creepy, prickly and difficult that guests (who have been paying attention
all along) are already trying to find ways around it.

This cannot be what they planned.

Disney.
Just STOP this thing.

Issue the MagicBands and keep the day-of FP system
(use the blessed Mickey Head scanners and spit out paper tickets from a printer.)
We know that actually WORKS.

I have read, but haven't commented in ANY of the FP+ threads but I now have to say .....

AGREE 100 MILLION% with this post, especially the bolded, red (by me)statement!!!!!!

 

[arrdee11462]

This whole complex mess cannot be what they planned.

Disney.
Just STOP this thing.

Issue the MagicBands and keep the day-of FP system
(use the blessed Mickey Head scanners and spit out paper tickets from a printer.)
We know that actually WORKS.
And drops the need for WiFi in the parks and for guests to constantly
access their WiFi devices.
(The reliance on a cellphone/pad/laptop to negotiate the parks
is going to create some seriously bad situations!)[/QUOTE]

I totally agree, we have gone every year since Jess was little, I don't see us going next year, off to try Universal! Just too many headaches and planning to do!

 

[Disneylover99]

It will be impossible to determine a fastpass+ strategy for the August testing until someone is actually there testing and reports back, because some people have been told......

- they will have zero access to traditional fastpass
- they will have full access to traditional fastpass
- they will have full access to traditional fastpass once they have used all their fastpass+ for the day
- they can choose some days with just traditional fastpass or some days with just fastpass+
-if they cancel their fastpass+ for the day, they can use traditional fastpass

 

[mom2rtk]

It really depends on how you want to do it.

I personally plan to take advantage of rope drop, so I'm not scheduling any FP+ during the morning. If you're planning on hopping, it makes more sense to slate the FP+ for the park you're hopping to.

At least, that's what makes sense to me.

But if you find out you can schedule more FP slots same day, but only AFTER you have used your reserved slots...... would you still do that?

I don't have a clue if I would change my approach. It would require some real world feedback over time to see if anything decent was actually available same-day in the parks.

There are just too many pieces of this that won't be known until it is in widespread use under real world conditions. Even if they released all of the final rules now (which they won't) we still won't know until we actually start to see how if functions under real world use. Since they don't seem to want to even test real world circumstances under even limited use, I'm guessing they won't be willing to do a real world test under wide use. We have no choice but to just wait and see. Until then, no way to know what the best strategy will be.

 

[mom2rtk]

I've booked the FP+ slots and grouped them together. That way we have a leisurely morning at the resort, go to the park to ride the booked rides either in the afternoon or evening, then leave.

Wait..... you mean you're not going to hang around the park and shop?

Crud........... need more fixes.

 

[seashoreCM]

I think it is too early for guests to conjure up Fastpass Plus strategies because the system is not finalized yet.

Count on it.
They've painted themselves into a corner by constructing a system so
creepy, prickly and difficult that guests (who have been paying attention
all along) are already trying to find ways around it.

In fact, what current "testers" WANT is to get to use the FP+
-AND- the regular FP system TOO!
(That will only work if there are just a few FP+ users in the mix.)

This whole complex mess cannot be what they planned.

Disney.
Just STOP this thing.

Issue the MagicBands and keep the day-of FP system
(use the blessed Mickey Head scanners and spit out paper tickets from a printer.)
We know that actually WORKS.
And drops the need for WiFi in the parks and for guests to constantly
access their WiFi devices.
(The reliance on a cellphone/pad/laptop to negotiate the parks
is going to create some seriously bad situations!)

Psst! Guests (at least those of us here on The DIS) are interested in quantity as opposed to quality. Most will gladly upgrade their iPhones etc, if that were a sure-fire way of meeting this interest. However I believe that having a room reservation should not be a prerequisite.

I think that the complex mess is exactly what was planned. Eliminating paper waste and the need to dispose of same was one of the goals. Now, the final control of paper waste is up the the guest, who could, in lieu of constantly turning on the iPhone, turn it on once and copy down all the relevent times onto the back of an envelope.

 

[Robo]

Eliminating paper waste and the need to dispose of same was one of the goals. Now, the final control of paper waste is up the the guest, who could, in lieu of constantly turning on the iPhone, turn it on once and copy down all the relevent times onto the back of an envelope.

"Green" piffle.

If the fragile planet will spiral into oblivion because Disney issues paper FP's, it's too far gone to worry about.

 

[glammadiva]

It really depends on how you want to do it.

I personally plan to take advantage of rope drop, so I'm not scheduling any FP+ during the morning. If you're planning on hopping, it makes more sense to slate the FP+ for the park you're hopping to.

At least, that's what makes sense to me.

Me too!

 

[Rileygirl]

The state of the art technology reduces us to copying out out times from our phone on the back on an envelope? Ironic and funny!

The goal of this system is to go green? Haha. Just like all the hotels 'went' green by asking you not to replace towels everyday. Sure, its more green, (significantly so, I am sure) but the hotels only jumped on board because of the massive amounts of money they were going to save. If it cost the hotels money to go green, or even if they would just break even, do you think they would be doing it? Doubt it. It makes them BIG money! The storyline is 'green' to sell it to the consumer. If Disney can squeeze 'green' out of this system (and honestly, its pretty slim) to sell it, you bet they will do just that. And the first people they are going to sell it to is the CM's - who can, if they buy it, sell it to the consumer.

If Disney can sell this system based on being green- my admiration and respect for those markteters and bean counters has increased by tenfold - surely the most talented team on the planet. They are light years ahead of anyone else. The down side of this though, is that the ideas may be lightyears ahead of Disneys IT department. Maybe any IT department.

 

[ScarletFire]

I think it is too early for guests to conjure up Fastpass Plus strategies because the system is not finalized yet.

Psst! Guests (at least those of us here on The DIS) are interested in quantity as opposed to quality. Most will gladly upgrade their iPhones etc, if that were a sure-fire way of meeting this interest. However I believe that having a room reservation should not be a prerequisite.

My understanding is that one must have a room reservation and park tickets linked to MDE to use FP+. We usually buy our park tickets the week before our vacation and pick them up at will call.

 

[disneynanacat]

Do we know yet what type of time slots the choices are? I've heard morning, afternoon, and evening. What are the specific times?