Here and Dissapointed

[OnSpaceshipEarth]

I'm here now. I was in MK on Sunday and it was incredibly crowded. It was the first day of our trip and I was concerned the crowds were going to stay that way. We went to Epcot on Monday and lines were longish, but not outrageously so. Tuesday we were in HS every line was short. RnR had a 15 min wait at 1:30 pm. That was a great day! Today we headed back to brave magic kingdom but did rope drop and that worked like a charm. Between 9 and 3 we saw tinker bell, rode potc, Peter Pan, iasw, pooh, etwb, votm, barnstormer, dumbo, buzz, carousel, and had lunch at bog. We have 4th fast passes for laugh floor and will do that, tta, and wishes tonight. The crowds seem smaller than they were on Sunday thank goodness! I think that fastpass + should take some blame for the lines, but the majority of the lines last week were probably due to the insane crowds.

Yup...looks like the same story again and again. Magic Kingdom is super-popular and crowded. The other three parks? Not so much.

C'mon Disney...think it's time to make the other three parks somewhere that people want to go to?

 

[bshawcrew]

Another one that does not get it. I am especially confused by all the POTC and HM are normally walk on comments I constantly see. We have often seen waits of 30+ minutes for these rides and stood in those lines so I know those were the real wait times. I sometimes wonder if a bit of nostalgia is playing a role with people's memories.

.


I get it just fine. We are not new to Disney. We are not traveling at a different time of the year. We are not comparing 2pm to 10pm. We have traveled with toddlers before. Apples to apples and it is different. Way different.

 

[PaulaVonSchweetz]

After a few trips with FP+ I now know that RD paired with the right FP choices prior to 1:00 is key!! It's amazing how much we did on our trip last week including Anna & Elsa, 3 rounds on Space mountain, and an entire morning in Fantasyland with multiple go rounds on those rides.

If you are expecting a certain experience then you may need to become RD people. You may actually find it easy and pleasurable.

I hope the rest of your trip is better!!

 

[jtdaly]

We were at Disney World during the last week of April and I felt there were pros and cons to the new method. I agree that I felt as though as plans changed I was the tour guide for our family all week on my phone trying to change fast passes and rearrange things. I will also warn you that unlike the old fast passes, there is no forgiveness for any reason! My husband suffers from heart failure and two times were were 20 minutes late for our arrival time and not allowed through the Fast Pass line. If you are 15 late you are out of luck. It was not effective for those of us who have limitations within our family's health. At the same time, it helped us change some dinner reservations several times so that was nice too. I still like the old way overall.

 

[flicx]

We've been going to Disney for 10+ years (and I know there are those on this board that have been going much longer), and until our most recent trip in February 2014, we have never seen the que lined up OUTSIDE of It's a Small World, or lines winding around the outside of POTC. I have always been able to walk right into the building for POTC, and maybe we had to wait 15-20 minutes inside, but the lines are building outside.

Having seen FP+ in person, I won't believe anyone that says that it isn't largely effecting the standby lines of attractions that were always short waits.

Been going for 30 years and a lot of the lines and waits I have heard and seen pictures of I have never seen before! I am sure fast pass plus has something to do with it!

 

[practicallyperfect77]

We were at Disney World during the last week of April and I felt there were pros and cons to the new method. I agree that I felt as though as plans changed I was the tour guide for our family all week on my phone trying to change fast passes and rearrange things. I will also warn you that unlike the old fast passes, there is no forgiveness for any reason! My husband suffers from heart failure and two times were were 20 minutes late for our arrival time and not allowed through the Fast Pass line. If you are 15 late you are out of luck. It was not effective for those of us who have limitations within our family's health. At the same time, it helped us change some dinner reservations several times so that was nice too. I still like the old way overall.

That stinks you weren't able to use you FP later. I was told 5 min before and 15 min after were allowed tho. Wonder if it just depends on the CM.

 

[dwheaton]

We've only gone at slow times for a while, so I would be a surprise for me to IASW, HM, and POTC with any waits. What I've been reading is that this is one element of the strategy for Disney. They're willing to accept these waits because they're balancing out the waits across the rides.

Essentially, you may have SM that would normally be 90 minutes but is now 50, while Pirates goes from 10 to 30. Something like that. It's not a direct correlation, but I think that's part of the plan, particularly at parks that only have a few headliners.

 

[DVCkidsMOM]

We've only gone at slow times for a while, so I would be a surprise for me to IASW, HM, and POTC with any waits. What I've been reading is that this is one element of the strategy for Disney. They're willing to accept these waits because they're balancing out the waits across the rides.

Essentially, you may have SM that would normally be 90 minutes but is now 50, while Pirates goes from 10 to 30. Something like that. It's not a direct correlation, but I think that's part of the plan, particularly at parks that only have a few headliners.

I agree and I understand how it makes business sense: get more tourists into the parks. But it takes away much of what made WDW a travel value over and over and over again for us. It seems that the goal is more total customers to the detriment of loyal repeat customers - it does make business sense when your customer base consists of most of planet earth. I just fear it will very much lower the value I will perceive. Time will tell for my family. I really hope there are unforeseen advantages that I can appreciate on our upcoming trip and all this angst about longer lines will be for naught.

 

[maryj11]

After a few trips with FP+ I now know that RD paired with the right FP choices prior to 1:00 is key!! It's amazing how much we did on our trip last week including Anna & Elsa, 3 rounds on Space mountain, and an entire morning in Fantasyland with multiple go rounds on those rides.

If you are expecting a certain experience then you may need to become RD people. You may actually find it easy and pleasurable.

I hope the rest of your trip is better!!

Ok so make FP's before 1:00 ? Did you get more fastpasses after that ? I wonder if this will work at a crowd level of 8 ?

 

[sanapunk]

My last few trips do not seem much different to me from all my previous years. I was there last week and it was same as always. Rides that you wait in long lines in the afternoon for are WALK ONS by the time the sun goes down. Best strategy is still the good old, hit rope drop, go back to the hotel for pool/nap/lunch, and back to the park at night. Especially EMH. We did EMH at MK the night the Princess Half was ran and walked onto space mountain 3 times in a row.