Here it is - Announcement re More FP+ Beginning 4/28

[morethananyonex]

If someone complained about only getting 3 Fastpasses and not being able to park hop, then those complaints did not produce any changes as those changes were coming regardless.

You honestly think Disney can make everyone happy. That is totally unrealistic.

They said from the very beginning, it was a Test. They also said it would evolve. Some of you were just not willing to wait and see what the changes would be.

Some still won't like it and that is their right and they have to decide to accept it as is or move on somewhere else.

No, I don't think Disney can make everyone happy. I do think that it's crazy to think that those of us who do love Disney but are not happy with the changes should throw up our hands and say "oh well, we had a good run".

I am fairly confident that by the time we visit Disney next, likely in 2 or 3 years, all this drama will be a memory and the system will be working well, or at the very least, there will be strategies on how to best use it (without an asterisk following them, warning that things change regularly). On our last trip in February, not so much. Why do I care what the changes were going to be afterwards? That didn't make the FP+ portion of my vacation any better. It had no impact on it whatsoever.

I think some people take for granted how often they are able to go to Disney, and forget that for some people they have one trip to make it all happen for a few years, or even a lifetime. So yeah, even if changes were coming, people certainly had a right to be upset they weren't there yet at the time of their vacation, calling it a test doesn't change the effects of that test on the individual.

And again, I have yet to see someone who had a negative experience with FP+ come out of it saying "oh well, it was just a test!", unless of course that person was a very frequent visitor of WDW and could go back next weekend.

 

[DisneyFive]

Possible solutions to what seem to be the biggest issues so far in this post...

-Change tier system to a time range before you can schedule the 2nd ride (3 hours between rides? ).

Just my two cents...

You know, this is a very interesting idea, and I wonder if something similar is already being implemented with this latest change.

Let's say you're at Epcot, and decide to choose Soarin for your FP+ (assuming the current tiered system). I'm wondering if, after you've used your 3 fp+'s, Test Track will now be an option if availability has opened for some reason. (other guests cancelling/changing TT FP+, etc...)

This would be great, and remove SOME of the horrible restrictions of tiering.

Dan

 

[morethananyonex]

You know, this is a very interesting idea, and I wonder if something similar is already being implemented with this latest change.

Let's say you're at Epcot, and decide to choose Soarin for your FP+ (assuming the current tiered system). I'm wondering if, after you've used your 3 fp+'s, Test Track will now be an option if availability has opened for some reason. (other guests cancelling/changing TT FP+, etc...)

This would be great, and remove SOME of the horrible restrictions of tiering.

Dan

Yes, it will be. They have said tiering does not apply to the 4th FP.

Whether anything is available or not is a whole other issue.

 

[DisneyFive]

Yes, it will be. They have said tiering does not apply to the 4th FP.

Whether anything is available or not is a whole other issue.

Thank you!

That's good news. Better than nothing. I know this isn't the case for all, but we've visited during slow periods (late Sept), so we may have a chance at getting past some of the tiers. Unfortunately, you never know, so the only way to do both Soarin and TT with shorter waits is still to be at rope drop. Ride one standy right away, and FP+ the other.

Dan

 

[clsteve]

While the unknown can be scary, I think what Disney saw years out was more scary. This is a bold move - one that signals to me it was of necessity.

I don't know what Disney knows...I don't know what I don't know. But their business is tapping into emotion to trigger behavioral responses. They've demonstrated an ability to succeed across a broad array of mediums, generally, and given very little alternatives, I'd bet them in the long run.

For a long time, I've been trying to think of just one successful example of such a broad social experiment: almost 24/7 management (and tracking) of guest behavior across dozens of languages and every age group. From ADR's, to a series of complex FP business rules that directly influence/manage your time in and out of the Parks by what type of guest you are, and then RFID tracking all of it across the whole 42,000 acre footprint....

Well, no matter where it all ends up, they surely didn't lack in confidence and they were equally confident that they had an undeniable stranglehold on their customer base

 

[famy27]

Another 3:30 update.

At HS, was able to see availability for TSMM and RNRC for two. Nothing for ToT. Other Tier 2 rides are available.

At EP, only Maelstrom and Character Spot were available in Tier 1. Tier 2 was wide open.

At MK, everything has some availability, other than ETWB, MSEP, A&E, and Wishes.

At AK, KS and Kali are gone. everyone else has at least some availability.


I am feeling very confident that my new strategy is going to be big rides at EP and HS in the morning, followed by hopping to MK. I don't think the extra rides at EP or HS will do too much good, but you might luck into something, But MK has so much more capacity, that you do have a good chance of getting headliners there well into the afternoon.

I'm really hoping you can cancel your Tier 2s in EP and then hop to another park to grab FPs that are actually needed.

I am rethinking my prebooked rides. Before, I had only 24 FPs for my entire trip, but now I don't know how many I'll realistically have. I'm hoping for 4-5 per day, for ones that are actually useful/necessary. Poor Buzz was out of play, but now I think he's back on deck.

 

[mickeysgirl17]

I get your point.

However, we don't know for sure that tiering is here to stay and that will always be integral to FP+. Really, not being a jerk, but do you have official info that says tiering is here to stay? I haven't seen any.

Sure, the way things are now, at this moment, it IS integral to FP+, but as we're seeing in this very announcement FP+ is still changing. Tiering isn't a given, unless I missed something?

Dan

We have no reason to believe its leaving either. Disney either did this because they do not have enough fastpasses for everyone that wants one at the headliners or because they want you to go back to the park twice during your visit and stay longer so that you can do all your headliners, just not in one day. This equals to more spending.

I am seeing lots of availability at 12:30 pm for everything that was once out even Toy Story Mania... It looks like checking on extra fast passes today at 12:30 would have been great but who knows what the future holds.

Its great but the problem is that just because one family can see availability for a certain attraction doesn't mean another will. There are a lot of issues to consider. Disney holds up to 40% of their fastpasses. This means that someone may not have been able to get a fp months in advance but might be able to day of if there are any left by the time they get there. This is considered to be a problem for many. Why would this be a benefit to me to stay on site?

I do hope they plan on eventually allowing the extra selections to be done through the app. The kiosk lines are already long without over half the people already making plans before entering. Now everyone is to get in these lines to make an additional selection, and they have to do it over and over every time they can/want to get another one? So, in order to not stand in a line at a ride, I have to stand in line to get a fastpass? How does this make any sense?

It doesn't make any sense.
Stand in a long kiosk line over and over now to save time in a line later???

Do they have FP+ windows during extra magic hours?

Can anyone clear this up? They did offer fp during EMH before. I wonder if you can only get a fp at a kiosk during EMH. Has anyone been able to book fp+ from home during an EMH time?

No, I'm not missing it. I fully understand the math and logic. What I'm saying is that I'm upset that FP+ has caused this decision to tier these attractions. My point is, FP+ has taken away the ability to FP my two favorite attractions on the same day at both EP and HS. (things I used to do before with paper FP) If they didn't have tiering, I don't think I'd have any complaints about FP+.

Technically, tiering isn’t necessary for FP+ to function. It’s a choice that Disney made. Clearly they felt that there would be less guest frustration, and more revenue/benefits with tiering than without.

OP, sorry for the off-topic discussion re. tiering...

Dan

Its all about revenue. Although I don't think every family would extend their vacation an extra few days just to be able to get fp for headliners rather than wait in long standby lines due to tiering, there might be a few that may have the money and time to do so. If this isn't Disney's plan, then the only other thing I can think of is that they don't have enough fp and the return lines would be too long therefore eliminating the need for the fp anyway.

 

[mom2rtk]

I am feeling very confident that my new strategy is going to be big rides at EP and HS in the morning, followed by hopping to MK. I don't think the extra rides at EP or HS will do too much good, but you might luck into something, But MK has so much more capacity, that you do have a good chance of getting headliners there well into the afternoon.

I was thinking about this earlier today. I really do think MK will become the park to hop TO. Which I think is great because we don't hop, and tend to do more than half of our days at MK, and hardly ever miss rope drop. Then I started thinking about the Mine Train opening, and the A/E rope drop rush..... and I was back to just not being sure.

But I do think that once things on A/E and the Mine Train die down, MK will be a great rope drop park.

 

[wendow]

I was thinking about this earlier today. I really do think MK will become the park to hop TO. Which I think is great because we don't hop, and tend to do more than half of our days at MK, and hardly ever miss rope drop. Then I started thinking about the Mine Train opening, and the A/E rope drop rush..... and I was back to just not being sure.

But I do think that once things on A/E and the Mine Train die down, MK will be a great rope drop park.

I was thinking the same. That since MK seems to have more FP+ availability later in the day, it will be the park to hop to. I hadn't thought through the fact that it will make RD better there. I hope you are right. We are also RD'ers and spent over half our days at MK so that would be a good deal for us. Good thinking

 

[ampc3]

Another 3:30 update.

At HS, was able to see availability for TSMM and RNRC for two. Nothing for ToT. Other Tier 2 rides are available.

At EP, only Maelstrom and Character Spot were available in Tier 1. Tier 2 was wide open.

At MK, everything has some availability, other than ETWB, MSEP, A&E, and Wishes.

At AK, KS and Kali are gone. everyone else has at least some availability.


I am feeling very confident that my new strategy is going to be big rides at EP and HS in the morning, followed by hopping to MK. I don't think the extra rides at EP or HS will do too much good, but you might luck into something, But MK has so much more capacity, that you do have a good chance of getting headliners there well into the afternoon.

I'm really hoping you can cancel your Tier 2s in EP and then hop to another park to grab FPs that are actually needed.

I am rethinking my prebooked rides. Before, I had only 24 FPs for my entire trip, but now I don't know how many I'll realistically have. I'm hoping for 4-5 per day, for ones that are actually useful/necessary. Poor Buzz was out of play, but now I think he's back on deck.

keep in mind that availablity will vary based on size of party. I just checked at 3:50 for my would be party of 7 and everything you mentioned is gone plus splash and BTMR.. Not sure if it would work or not to book a few and try and copy, but that process is to time consuming.

 

[famy27]

keep in mind that availablity will vary based on size of party. I just checked at 3:50 for my would be party of 7 and everything you mentioned is gone plus splash and BTMR.. Not sure if it would work or not to book a few and try and copy, but that process is to time consuming.

Very true. I only have two active APs, so that's all I can check. For TSMM and EE, I only had one time choice available, so I am guessing those were recent cancellations. For some of the other rides (like Dinosaur). there were several slots to choose from. It would be nice if it told you "only 6 seats remaining" like airfare purchases. But I know they'd never pull back the curtain to that degree.

 

[clsteve]

Wouldn't it be great if all of this had its roots in a high-level executive discussion in which the topic was "Gee, how can we enhance the magic, spread the pixie dust, increase the happiness and satisfaction levels of every single one of our park guests in the fairest and most equitable manner possible?"

Because if that was the original intent, then many of the posts I read would make total sense.

But that was not the original intent. The objective was how to accommodate more guests, get those guests to spend more, and to do so by leveraging existing capacity in the parks without substantially increasing that capacity thru the use of yield management techniques to maximize unused capacity of less-than popular attractions by forcing them into the choice pool and literally manufacturing demand for attractions that previously had none.

That's where we are today. And as clsteve posted above, quite the social experiment.

Yes, it most definitely would

 

[asmit4]

It was 3 FP+ at ONE park per day.....am I now going to be allowed to PREBOOK 2 FPs at MK and 1 FP at AK? (in 1 day?)

 

[morethananyonex]

It was 3 FP+ at ONE park per day.....am I now going to be allowed to PREBOOK 2 FPs at MK and 1 FP at AK? (in 1 day?)

Doesn't sound like it, that would have been nice though.

If you're going to MK first you would need to use 3 there and book whatever is left at AK once you arrive.

 

[Angel Ariel]

I am aware there are other places people complained but it was still a very small percentage compared to number of guests that visit.

Of the number that visit, sure...millions of people visit every year. A small percentage of the number of people who were surveyed? There's no way for us to know that.

Considering that even many of those who have been pro-FP+ from the beginning have always voiced issues w/the limit of 3 and the one park/day limit, I don't think it's a stretch to say that Disney's survey results would reflect those opinions.

 

[asmit4]

this STINKS. the ONLY thing I want at AK is the safari....that's IT. So now I have to figure out how to make a plan that makes sense for our 'AK' day which is really nothing more than 1 hour for the safari and the rest of the day at another park. UGH.

 

[GeorgiaHoo]

I was thinking the same. That since MK seems to have more FP+ availability later in the day, it will be the park to hop to. I hadn't thought through the fact that it will make RD better there. I hope you are right. We are also RD'ers and spent over half our days at MK so that would be a good deal for us. Good thinking

We will be hopping to MK in the evening twice next week (a five night trip). I'm still keeping my evening fastpasses for MK and going to hit the other parks at RD. I'm hoping that we won't need fastpasses if we get to a park at RD and if we do then maybe we'll change on the fly. Lot's of uncertainty which drives me crazy. At least with the old system I knew that generally there would be fastpasses available for the rides we like AND I didn't have to reserve a ride 30 days in advance. Although we love Disney the idea of planning where I'm going to be at a park at 4:15PM and doing so 30-60 days in advance is really unappealing. We almost definitely will hit the Bahamas in 2015 instead of Disney.

 

[morethananyonex]

this STINKS. the ONLY thing I want at AK is the safari....that's IT. So now I have to figure out how to make a plan that makes sense for our 'AK' day which is really nothing more than 1 hour for the safari and the rest of the day at another park. UGH.

Easy.

Go to AK at rope drop, ride the safari, leave. No FP needed. Save them for another park.

 

[Angel Ariel]

I don't think they screwed over anyone. No one had to participate in the Tests. It was all well advertised. And in case anyone forgets going to Disney is something everyone makes a choice to do. If what they offer does not feel worth it for the cost, then they can choose not do go.

I'm sorry, but regardless of whether this was in the plans from the beginning or not the one thing this entire rollout *wasn't* was well advertised.

It's well advertised NOW, absolutely. I have seen that "Be Our Guest" for the test commercial quite a lot since end of January/February - right around when the Mauro's Food Network Special (the first new Disney special of the year) came out. Prior to that? The only reason I knew about FP+ testing was because I'm a fan of the FP+ page, and I'm a member here. That's not what I'd call "well advertised".

I talked to many people on other boards, helped them plan trips, and they were thankful for the assistance I gave them because they had NO idea what was going on. People on other boards now *know* of the new system/testing, from things like the commercials and specials on TV, and are asking for advice in how to navigate it. That is having something well-advertised. That was not the case when the roll out began in August.

 

[Angel Ariel]

I have no idea why it is so hard for some of you to believe that some of us know people that actually do know.

I do tend to believe sites that have a proven track record. An anonymous person on the DISBoards with no such proven track record is not the same as a a trusted, proven website.

ETA: wow I wasn't reading when I wrote that initially, lol