Here now, and here is the problem

[ArwenMarie]

The benefit of spending two days driving each way -- we don't have that problem.

It makes me sad realizing we are exactly the type of guests Disney likely wants to discourage from ever coming back -- we have our own car, stay off-site or spend one night on site, spend a few long days at the parks and part of the week doing something else (Universal/LEGOLAND/ Gatorland/the beach/a non-Disney cruise/spending time with Florida relatives), never eat TS and cook most of our own dinners, use lots of fastpasses, and hate cheaply made souvenirs.

But, we used to tell everyone how much we loved our Disney trips and have inspired other families' first trips. Doesn't Disney see any value in that?

We've always stayed onsite. But we've spent less and less each trip on a per-day basis with each trip. Less souvenirs, learning which restaurants are worth it, which are not, which QS are just as good if not better, finding out about the discounts, less character meals, etc.

So from Disney's perspective, I can see why they would rather spend their efforts to get a first-timer to come, rather than work at keeping us happy. I still think they need their repeat customers though, so that is the fine line they will have to walk.

 

[clsteve]

I'm actually very curious to see what they do for the mass marketing for FP+. While I don't think it's in "testing" anymore from a resort customer's POV (especially once they take away the FP- ability, which seems to be coming soon for all resorts), it is clearly still in testing from a marketing POV.

It will be interesting to see if they start it after all the Resorts are on-line, or wait until off-site is incorporated in some way. We'll know it's getting ready to go full bore once they start wining and dining the major TA's and bringing them in by the boatload for training

 

[bcrook]

There have to be more reasons for FP+ because many of the FP+ lines that have been installed are just plain silly. Take POTC foe example, it was proven years ago that FP did not work well because it actually reduced guest throughput (same with Haunted Mansion). We rode I with FP on Wednesday night and literally walked on to our own private boat, however the line was packed and the boats sent completely full. That is just insanity to effectively eliminate half the rede's capacity. It doesn't make sense unless put into some larger operational scheme that I don't know about.

And really, why does Figment need a FP line? Makes no sense.

That is crazy. POTC is not a good ride for this. The queue doesn't lend itself to it very well.

 

[ArwenMarie]

It will be interesting to see if they start it after all the Resorts are on-line, or wait until off-site is incorporated in some way. We'll know it's getting ready to go full bore once they start wining and dining the major TA's and bringing them in by the boatload for training

That will be interesting to see.

We know they are desperate to be able to start reporting some increase in profit from the program, if that recent MiceAge article is to be believed. I think they might start the marketing of it regarding packages soon, even before offsite is fully brought on. This would also go along with targeting first-time onsite customers.

 

[Mkrop]

I love how it's ok for Disney to maximize its profits and get as much money from its guests as it can, but me as a consumer am not allowed to voice my opinion about what I see as a tangible loss in benefits.

I think WDW is going to shoot themselves in the foot with this...if they are going for the first time visitor. You are going to have all those in the know and even first timers who do research on the site at 60 days at 7am to book their rides tiered or not. And then comes along those who cant imagine that a vacation requires any planning at say 30 days despite the emails they received asking them to do so, and now they cant book any headliners or they are going to be the ones that are suggested a FP+ for Figment and Maelstrom.


ETA I also cant believe the phrases "for the greater good" and "rationing" are in discussion about a vaction location and some think it is a good thing...bangs head against brick wall

 

[ShannonMB]

Wow, this thread! I agree that a certain prolific poster to this thread shows great grammatical similarity to another opinionated DISer. But heck, what do I know?! I got deep into the thread because I wanted to make sure it didn't answer my question, and after 18 pages, I'm still wondering...

Can someone explain what they know about the tier system? I haven't been since FP+ came on the scene, and while I think I've got the basics, the tier thing is new to me. Sorry if there is another thread addressing this. It's hard to sift through all the FP+ talk on here lately!!

TIA!!

 

[ArwenMarie]

I think WDW is going to shoot themselves in the foot with this...if they are going for the first time visitor. You are going to have all those in the know and even first timers who do research on the site at 60 days at 7am to book their rides tiered or not. And then comes along those who cant imagine that a vacation requires any planning at say 30 days despite the emails they received asking them to do so, and now they cant book any headliners or they are going to be the ones that are suggested a FP+ for Figment and Maelstrom.

Could go either way. WDW has a major image problem regarding lines. I was just talking to someone recently who wanted to take her daughter to do the princess thing, who hadn't been there herself since she was a child, and the first thing she said was, "Oh the lines, I can't do the lines. I hate lines." Then I told her about FP+ and character meals and she seemed more open to going. Now how it plays out when they get there, that's another story, but WDW doesn't need to worry about that. They need to get them to book and pay. If they don't come back, eh.

 

[KatieCharlotte]

Could go either way. WDW has a major image problem regarding lines. I was just talking to someone recently who wanted to take her daughter to do the princess thing, who hadn't been there herself since she was a child, and the first thing she said was, "Oh the lines, I can't do the lines. I hate lines." Then I told her about FP+ and character meals and she seemed more open to going. Now how it plays out when they get there, that's another story, but WDW doesn't need to worry about that. They need to get them to book and pay. If they don't come back, eh.

I think a lot of us have taught people about FP and rope drop (and character meals, etc), which helped convince them to give Disney a try. People with negative experiences have the opposite effect. I remember listening to a woman tell a group of fellow moms about waiting two hours for Peter Pan with several little boys. I'm pretty sure none of them wanted to go to Disney after that. With everyone sharing their every experience online the effect is greater than ever.

I honestly have no idea what kind of effect FP+ will have on the newbie visitors, and the stories they tell after their trips. Fooling them into selecting the wrong FP+ is probably not the best plan. And who knows how many will want to make choices two months before their trips?

 

[FlipHipster]

I Loooooooooove the new ff+. I am able to book well in advance the rides that i want. I can also use the methods someone posted on line to enable park hopping and ride more than 3 rides using it.

I am also an AP holder so i can book ff+ w/o having to have a resort ressie. The trick is to book a resort ressie and cancel it once you received MB. Once you have a MB it's yours to keep and will continue to function for 2 years. You don't even need to make any more resort ressie after you got the mb. So I don't know why those who said the off-site, and local AP holder doesn't have a chance to get the band.
It's just maybe they are too lazy to make the effort to obtain a mb?

I love the ff+ so much that sometimes i would just book my 3 ff+ ahead of time even if i am not sure if i will be visiting wdw. This way if i do go i will have my 3.

You just pointed out one of the biggest issues with the new system as though its a perk.
With the current FP- system if you want a FP for TSMM you or someone in your group has to make a commitment to physically go to the park and get the FP. In that case you are only competing with everyone else who is in the park.

With the new system you are competing for that FP not only with everyone in the park but everyone in all the parks, DTD, in their hotels and now we know you are competing with all the AP holders anywhere in the world whether they actually plan to go to WDW or not.

It's not rocket science, FP gets more exclusive. It may be working fine for you now, but how will you feel if FP for all your favorite rides are now selling out 30 days in advance and 1/2 those are people who aren't even in the parks?

 

[aaarcher86]

Wow, this thread! I agree that a certain prolific poster to this thread shows great grammatical similarity to another opinionated DISer. But heck, what do I know?! I got deep into the thread because I wanted to make sure it didn't answer my question, and after 18 pages, I'm still wondering...

Can someone explain what they know about the tier system? I haven't been since FP+ came on the scene, and while I think I've got the basics, the tier thing is new to me. Sorry if there is another thread addressing this. It's hard to sift through all the FP+ talk on here lately!!

TIA!!

The easiest explanation - the rides are placed into tiers and you can only choose a certain amount from each tier.

The photo I saw was at Epcot - Soarin' and Test Track were in the same tier and you could only choose 1 FP+, so you couldn't get a FP for both rides.

 

[pigletto]

Wow, this thread! I agree that a certain prolific poster to this thread shows great grammatical similarity to another opinionated DISer. But heck, what do I know?! I got deep into the thread because I wanted to make sure it didn't answer my question, and after 18 pages, I'm still wondering...

Can someone explain what they know about the tier system? I haven't been since FP+ came on the scene, and while I think I've got the basics, the tier thing is new to me. Sorry if there is another thread addressing this. It's hard to sift through all the FP+ talk on here lately!!

TIA!!

http://thedisneyblog.com/2013/11/06/fastpass-and-the-tiered-fastpass-system/

This explains it well. Right now as far as I know there is only tiered fastpasses at Hollywood Studious and Epcot. That could change at any time though. I hope that helps a little.

 

[LuvFFPlus]

FINALLY someone who sees it. I'm just horrible and that's what they were getting at.

My translator is telling me that you are insulting me again. Of course if you are not it's the translator and not me.

 

[LuvFFPlus]

That is crazy. POTC is not a good ride for this. The queue doesn't lend itself to it very well.

Don't feel bad for him. He is complaining about not enough fp and yet he admitted he is using old , current resort card and ap to pull fp all these time.

 

[Brian Noble]

Here's what is most concerning, once the old system goes away you will get 3 choices (even if it's 4 choices in the end), rest of the time it's standby. I see where we used FP-all the time for the lesser attractions and even rode some of the major rides a couple of times in a day. That is going away.

Of course it is. That's been obvious from the beginning---FP+ is essentially a redistribution mechanism from those-in-the-know to those-less-in-the-know. Those who understood the system, and who realized the benefit of being in the park early in terms of getting more and better access to FP, had much better access to attractions without wait times than those who did not. FP+ places a limit on those-in-the-know: three total, no more than one at any single attraction, and in some parks a further limit on the most in-demand attractions/experiences via tiering. Those opportunities will go to someone else instead.

From Disney's perspective, this might turn out to be a great thing. Yes, they might lose a few hard-core FP maximizers who find their trips unacceptably altered. But, if they can make up for that with a larger number of happier guests---happier to return, happier to spend while they are there, happier to recommend WDW as a vacation destination to others---then on balance Disney comes out ahead. Or, it might turn out to be a disaster.

It's also fair to say that those of us who are FP maximizers are also the folks who find the best deals when we are there. Losing us in favor of folks who don't squeeze every last penny out of a trip might also be a good thing for Disney.

One thing we can't dispute: it's a different world. It's not going to work as well for some of us as it did before. Time will tell if Disney comes out ahead, but it's a big bet for sure. I lean in the Disney-knows-what-they-are-doing camp, and suspect this will work out better for the bottom line in the end, but we'll just have to see.

I haven't been to WDW since FP+ started testing; we went to Disneyland last winter, and Disneyland Paris over the summer instead. Our next WDW trip is this upcoming April. It will be an onsite trip. I'm expecting to have access only to FP+, and not legacy FP. To be honest, I'm looking forward to some aspects of this, even though we'll be riding the headliners less than we "used to." I am not going to miss trying to figure out when to go pull a fastpass for <insert-ride-here> and how to manage criss-crossing the park to do so, for example.

As an aside, I think that in some ways enforcing return times was an even bigger deal than limiting FP+ reservations. With enforced return times---something I've experienced now in Orlando, Anaheim, *and* Paris---I no longer return each night with a pocket full of unused fastpasses that I pulled "just in case." I'm also already doing the headliners less often, but I'm using that time for other "lesser" things, and finding that those things are surprisingly fun, too.

If FP+ goes the same way, we might all find that even though our trips are different, they are no less fun.

 

[wisblue]

Of course it is. That's been obvious from the beginning---FP+ is essentially a redistribution mechanism from those-in-the-know to those-less-in-the-know. Those who understood the system, and who realized the benefit of being in the park early in terms of getting more and better access to FP, had much better access to attractions without wait times than those who did not. FP+ places a limit on those-in-the-know: three total, no more than one at any single attraction, and in some parks a further limit on the most in-demand attractions/experiences via tiering. Those opportunities will go to someone else instead.

From Disney's perspective, this might turn out to be a great thing. Yes, they might lose a few hard-core FP maximizers who find their trips unacceptably altered. But, if they can make up for that with a larger number of happier guests---happier to return, happier to spend while they are there, happier to recommend WDW as a vacation destination to others---then on balance Disney comes out ahead. Or, it might turn out to be a disaster.

It's also fair to say that those of us who are FP maximizers are also the folks who find the best deals when we are there. Losing us in favor of folks who don't squeeze every last penny out of a trip might also be a good thing for Disney.

One thing we can't dispute: it's a different world. It's not going to work as well for some of us as it did before. Time will tell if Disney comes out ahead, but it's a big bet for sure. I lean in the Disney-knows-what-they-are-doing camp, and suspect this will work out better for the bottom line in the end, but we'll just have to see.

I haven't been to WDW since FP+ started testing; we went to Disneyland last winter, and Disneyland Paris over the summer instead. Our next WDW trip is this upcoming April. It will be an onsite trip. I'm expecting to have access only to FP+, and not legacy FP. To be honest, I'm looking forward to some aspects of this, even though we'll be riding the headliners less than we "used to." I am not going to miss trying to figure out when to go pull a fastpass for <insert-ride-here> and how to manage criss-crossing the park to do so, for example.

As an aside, I think that in some ways enforcing return times was an even bigger deal than limiting FP+ reservations. With enforced return times---something I've experienced now in Orlando, Anaheim, *and* Paris---I no longer return each night with a pocket full of unused fastpasses that I pulled "just in case." I'm also already doing the headliners less often, but I'm using that time for other "lesser" things, and finding that those things are surprisingly fun, too.

If FP+ goes the same way, we might all find that even though our trips are different, they are no less fun.

Although we have never been big FP users, and rarely did anything more than once in a day, you have summarized how I feel about the impact of FP+ and the pros and cons of how it will affect different people with different knowledge and touring preferences.

I would expect nothing less from someone from Ann Arbor.

I was wondering if your screen name is at all a reference to the former Packer player of that name.

 

[LuvFFPlus]

Here's what is most concerning, once the old system goes away you will get 3 choices (even if it's 4 choices in the end), rest of the time it's standby. I see where we used FP-all the time for the lesser attractions and even rode some of the major rides a couple of times in a day. That is going away.

They are taking away tangible benefits from the guests. They are transforming the vacation by lowering what you can expect to get.

I saw long lines to get into the FP line, and yes showing tickets us way faster than scanning the band. Those FP lines will only get worse. I observed a lot of CM just finally letting people through when the Mickey wouldn't turn green. You can literally feel the frustration in the air and it's effecting the CMs.

So the truth came out. YOU contributed to the fp shortage and long lines by triple dipping. You then blame it's the FP+ that caused the frustration in the air.
Hate to break it to you that you are part of the problem not the solution.

 

[going/again]

You're at Disney and wasting time on a message board?????

He replied to me earlier saying he was at home yesterday

 

[LuvFFPlus]

He replied to me earlier saying he was at home yesterday

I was at home on Friday and went to the parks on Saturday. I live close by. Any other questions?

 

[going/again]

I was at home on Friday and went to the parks on Saturday. I live close by. Any other questions?

It was not a question but an observation based on what you had written, you seem to have a lot of trouble understanding other peoples posts, imagine how we feel having to decipher yours.

 

[practicallyperfect77]

Here now at Epcot. FP return line for Soar in' took 5 mins non line just to scan band. Based on where I am in line compared to where I was yesterday it's at least a 20 min wait. Crazy stuff. I was however able to change my time (just me) from 3-4 to 2:05-3:05 on the monorail over from TTC at about 1:40. That was nice since I was a little ahead of schedule. Bands are working great for room and park access and charging, but I REALLY do NOT like the 3 in 1 park limit. And I'm also hoping the crowds I see today (forecasted at 4) are not the same for the rest of the week. MK was most recommended per easywdw and I felt it was more crowded this morning compared to Fri morning.