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

[Angel Ariel]

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 tend to agree that MK will become the hop to park. Unfortunate for us, since it will likely mean more crowds at MK. We've always done MK as a hop to park when we were done at the other ones, generally because there was always FP availability and lower lines. I'll be interested to see if that holds true in November, but I have my doubts.

 

[mickeysgirl17]

How does everyone think this new system will effect extra magic hours?

I hardly ever do EMH due to the parks being more crowded, but I'm starting to think there will be an advantage. I'm assuming the lines to the headliners are going to be shorter during EMH especially morning EMH.

I never park hop either, but assuming you can't make fp reservations in advance for EMH, it seems the most advantage would be to schedule 3 advance fastpasses from home at the 2nd park you hop to and schedule them for afternoon after going to a morning EMH when the parks get busier. At the same time, I don't really want to buy park hoppers when I normally never would have. However, you'd be able to do the headliners first thing without a long wait and then park hop and use your 3 fp for headliners in the other park.

I'm also assuming the early breakfasts in the parks before opening are going to get busier.

And maybe Disney should consider putting the kiosk for each attraction by the attraction rather than having central kiosks. Long lines will form once people use their 3 reserved ones and not to mention, if what you want isn't available, you have to decide what to get instead which will hold up the line.

 

[jade1]

Agree AM EMH will be very popular for onsite commandos. Might help fill rooms a bit as well for WDW.

 

[clsteve]

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.

Yes, I'm sure the guests at Pop felt the exact same thing when they were the only resort guests MB-only for weeks while everyone got the chance to double dip.

As much as I'm sure Disney told them exactly how it would happen when they made their reservations and plunked down their deposits.

Very well advertised.... yes, indeed

 

[buggy2727]

Sorry, I can't keep up on reading this thread But if you have to get the 4th FP at a kiosk, does this mean you have to be AT the kiosk IN the park where you want the FP? So if I am at AK but want to get a 4th FP for MK, can I do it at a kiosk in AK?? Really don't want to go to the park only to find there are no FP's.

 

[Angel Ariel]

Sorry, I can't keep up on reading this thread But if you have to get the 4th FP at a kiosk, does this mean you have to be AT the kiosk IN the park where you want the FP? So if I am at AK but want to get a 4th FP for MK, can I do it at a kiosk in AK?? Really don't want to go to the park only to find there are no FP's.

Yes, you have to be at the kiosk in the park where you want a FP to book it.

 

[wendow]

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.

Yep, not really interested in *this* much planning of my vacation either. I thought planning ADR's was bad but I think this is much worse. We are looking at other destinations for 2015 as well. We went to DLR in 2006 and after having been to WDW a couple of times before that, I swore we'd never go back to DLR. Now I will probably eat those words. DLR is looking more and more appealing everyday

 

[noahdove]

This is very interesting...hmmmmm, wonder if it will really work..? It may work if you are in a park the whole day, but, again, I probably won't get the extra one cause they will all be gone.... we will see

 

[practicallyperfect77]

Yes, I'm sure the guests at Pop felt the exact same thing when they were the only resort guests MB-only for weeks while everyone got the chance to double dip.

As much as I'm sure Disney told them exactly how it would happen when they made their reservations and plunked down their deposits.

Very well advertised.... yes, indeed

I got caught in the Pop mess. Ticked me off actually but wasn't sure if they would add All Stars so just stayed at Pop. Frustrating it happened after the 45 day payment too. I know the only thing constant is change but different when you're plunking down thousands of dollars to have a massive change like that.

 

[Rebekkap]

Well I for one have just changed all my FP + bookings to first thing in the morning to maximise my chances of getting additional FP - with the old system, I used to grab a FP as soon as the park opened, even though everything (more or less) was still a walk on, and I'm guessing to maximise rides with minimum wait times, this will still be the way to go. With the added bonus that when leaving for an afternoon break, we can pick a time to come back that actually suits us.

 

[scoobydooby]

Well I for one have just changed all my FP + bookings to first thing in the morning to maximise my chances of getting additional FP - with the old system, I used to grab a FP as soon as the park opened, even though everything (more or less) was still a walk on, and I'm guessing to maximise rides with minimum wait times, this will still be the way to go. With the added bonus that when leaving for an afternoon break, we can pick a time to come back that actually suits us.

I've just changed all mine. I actually think it's worth wasting one in the 9.30 to 10.30am slot you don't need just to get to that fourth one quicker when it's value will have increased I terms of wait times.

 

[ilovemk76]

I got caught in the Pop mess. Ticked me off actually but wasn't sure if they would add All Stars so just stayed at Pop. Frustrating it happened after the 45 day payment too. I know the only thing constant is change but different when you're plunking down thousands of dollars to have a massive change like that.

That one was bad.

 

[morethananyonex]

That one was bad.

Was it ever. Really crappy to do to people who were days away from arriving and were left without the chance to choose whether they want to participate in Disney's test, like has been suggested people should do.

Negative changes seem to be brushed under the rug in this FP+ roll out. One day someone posted on here that hey, Epcot is tiered! No warning from Disney. Another day someone posted info from an internal memo that Pop was going magic band only. No warning from Disney, and flat out denial when people called and spoke to "front desk CMs" (but are we really surprised at that last part?).

Positive changes however, get multiple blog posts dedicated to them. Nice how open Disney has been throughout this "test". I think much of the angst surrounding this rollout is and always has been because so much is unknown.

 

[clsteve]

I got caught in the Pop mess. Ticked me off actually but wasn't sure if they would add All Stars so just stayed at Pop. Frustrating it happened after the 45 day payment too. I know the only thing constant is change but different when you're plunking down thousands of dollars to have a massive change like that.

That sucks.

It didn't have to happen that way and it's unfortunate some forget the pain others have gone through.

 

[lillykat]

Is the park hopping going into effect? Not sure this a helpful to us. We want some more pool time so most days I expect by the time we use 3 the only thing left will be nights and no help to us most days.

 

[khertz]

For our upcoming trip next weekend, we ultimately decided to change our FP+ selections because of this change. While I'm glad they are doing something about the max of 3 FP+ and the no park hopping, I'm stressed that it's happening right before our trip.

We had set it up for our DHS day with 2 in the morning and 1 when we came back from our break. The next day at MK we had 1 planned in the morning and 2 planned for after our break. We moved them all up, but we still don't have any before 11 am and we are hoping that rope drop will still give us some advantage. I'm hoping for MK we can use our 3 and possibly a 4th before we leave, and schedule a 5th (or 4th if we don't get one earlier) just before we leave for our break.

Does anyone know if my DH can stay in MK and book FP+ selections for all three of us using just one band while I take DS back to the room? Or do all 3 of us need to be there to book at the kiosk?

The kiosks thing is what I think is really bugging me! If it was available on the app, I would probably be less stressed about this whole thing.

 

[glamdring269]

I know I mentioned this earlier but something just occurred (again... Redbox) that reminded me of why I really don't want to interact with the kiosk experience to get an additional FP+.

Likely in the minority here but I really hate waiting in line for people to make a decision. Or to figure out how to use the debit card machine. Or to write a check. Or to fumble around in their purse/wallet to get their card for the debit card machine because they somehow forgot they were going to pay that way. Etc. Etc. Etc. Lack of efficiency is probably my #1 pet peeve.

Forget the kiosk idea. Just bring the old ticket machines back out and call it a day. I'd rather run through the park for a FP- than wait behind granny trying to figure out how to use that new fangled technological gizmo!

 

[mickeysgirl17]

Forget the kiosk idea. Just bring the old ticket machines back out and call it a day. I'd rather run through the park for a FP- than wait behind granny trying to figure out how to use that new fangled technological gizmo!

If only they would bring the old fp back....

 

[Angel Ariel]

Is the park hopping going into effect? Not sure this a helpful to us. We want some more pool time so most days I expect by the time we use 3 the only thing left will be nights and no help to us most days.

Yes, park hopping goes into effect the 28th

 

[NewmanFamily6]

Yay! We are going in July and this will be nice.