Here Now & Just Back - A Place To Share Your Recent Experiences

[PanchoX1]

I'm looking forward to more things opening up and seeing how that affects wait times before wanting a FP option. for now, let it stay away.

 

[Sarahslay]

Not to turn this into another FP+ debate but people who literally analyze wait times for a living (Len Testa, Josh from easywdw, etc) have shown over and over again that FP+ has a detrimental impact on standby waits. Like with math and everything. But even common sense bore that out, of course standby waits are going to be atrocious when every few minutes the standby line is halted to let a million people in the FP+ line through. FP+ worked only for people with FPs, and everyone else suffered--70 minutes is peanuts compared to what SDMT and FOP standby waits were looking like pre-closures, routinely hitting triple digits. Not to mention people staying offsite and local APs basically couldn't ride them unless they knew the advanced refresh tricks and got lucky with the drop times. I was queen of refresh and never waited more than 20 minutes for anything but that system was deeply flawed and totally unsustainable. Not to mention exhausting with the having to criss cross the parks back and forth, and feeling like I had my face stuck in my phone all day wasn't fun.

And not for nothing but I was in the parks for 7 days last week and I never waited more than 30 for an attraction. 30 only happened twice, most of my waits were in the 15-20 range, and I was not stood still the whole time in the hot sun. If you are waiting 70 minutes for anything in this current era of touring you either have horrendous luck with breakdowns or your touring strategy is flawed. Only FoTLK really requires that kind of time investment and that's due to the limited seating capacity and showtimes. Which will definitely improve with time.

Having actually experienced the parks without it now as an adult, I hope FP never comes back, but I know it will and when it does the same folk clamoring for its return right now will be hollering because it's going to be monetized like every other skip the line program at other theme parks. Then it will be all about how greedy Disney is. Tbh, everything will improve with time. They are bringing back the CP which will help with a lot of the staffing woes, and more and more reopenings are being announced. It will be fine. In the meantime this is a transitional period and folks who choose to go should bring their patient pants. But it is entirely possible to not wait in atrocious lines right now, I did it and so have many others. You just have to be smart and flexible about it.

We were in the parks all last week as well and I think the longeset wait we had all week was a 40 minute wait for the safari, it couldn't be helped that day, and was the shortest we saw so we hopped in it. It kept moving, we were fine, and if that's the longest we waited all week I'm fine with it. All it takes is some planning, I saw those long lines and chose to ride those rides at other times when the lines were MUCH shorter. If someone chooses to get in a 120 minutes line for SDD or FOP that's on them, but I got in line for them with a 30 minute (usually much less) wait either at pre-RD or closer to park close with little rush or stress. The only time we were stuck out in the sun all week was when my 10 year old wanted to try some blue milk and we literally couldn't find a shadey spot due to crowds, that was the worst of it. There are moments I miss FP, but then I have trips like this where it's so smooth and we do absolutely everything we want in every park easily, with little wait, and I hope I don't have to see it come back for a good long while.

 

[robinb]

I'm kind of indifferent on if I like not having FPs or not, but we never rode anything without one. We would just go right from one FP to the next, and were able to ride everything. Maybe the first ride or two in the morning would be stand by, but then FP after FP the rest of the day. So we never waited in those stand by lines.

From your other posts claiming that you regularly got 8-10 average FPs per day, I can see where you might feel that way. I'll just say that you are a FP+ super user and not representative of the vast majority of WDW guests. I am fully aware of how to get that many FPs in a day but frankly, I would rather just wait an extra 10 minutes in a moving stand-by line with no FP than to try to grab a next FP+ after taping in. I do understand the thrill of the challenge, though .

Have you ever done the Parkology challenge? You would be very good at it!

 

[maciemouse]

We arrive for our 1st stay at WL next Tuesday. You said the transportation was good? No issues with the buses like other resorts are having? How full did the lodge seem?

It was full from 2-4 by the pool. One day the pool reached capacity and you had to reserve a spot. But that was only for like a 30 minute time frame. Mobile ordering helps so much with crowds. You can also mobile order at Guyser point as well as put yourself in for a reservation for a table and they let you know when it is ready. We noticed a much better breeze at the main pool so that is the one we went too. Our transportation was good. We never waited more than 5 minutes. I will say that on our way back to the resort from MK we took the bus. We could see the line was full for the boat. Our bus was already at the stop when we got there and was not full. It was so peaceful at WL. You will love it. I do want to note that we did not do rope drop. One day we did not go to the park until 4pm. The next day we went at 1pm and park hopped. So we did use transportation at off times during the day.

 

[Princess Katelet]

I was very good at using legacy FP and then begrudgingly learned the FP+ system. It was easy to get very good at that, too. I, personally LOVE the 'refresh' challenge and abhor any line. Of course the standby line was awful, but they weren't so bad with legacy FP because only the headliner rides had FP. The other rides were just never busy enough to warrant them so you could FP your headliners and avoid the lines, and do stand by (again, the ONLY option then) for the less busy rides, and you'd make out VERY well. Once FP+ came around they pretty much gave EVERY attraction a FP, thus creating those horrible stand by lines for rides that never used to have them. But even with FP+, once they finally allowed more than three per day, you could just refresh, refresh, refresh...and I was doing it for seven people sometimes and never had an issue. Was my head in my phone? Yep. Did my family appreciate it? Yep.

I just got back from seven days in the parks. I greatly missed FP and truly cannot agree that it's better without it. Some of you may prefer it that way, but I simply don't. My seven day trip was spent in a lot of lines that were at LEAST 30 minutes, and some were 60. That's not how I'm used to it and yes, we got there early and went back at night. It made little difference. For those who think you spend time criss crossing the parks with FP, how is that any different from having to criss cross because the attraction you want has a 45 minute wait, so now you need plan B? Or C? Or D?

 

[scrappinginontario]

Please take this thread back to sharing recent experiences and move on from the 'Should FP come back or not discussion.' If someone wishes to start a thread on that topic please do so in the 'Theme Parks Community' sub-forum.

Thanks

 

[GeorgiaHoo]

Please take this thread back to sharing recent experiences and move on from the 'Should FP come back or not discussion.' If someone wishes to start a thread on that topic please do so in the 'Theme Parks Community' sub-forum.

Thanks

Ha, I was getting ready to post about FP. Then I was scolded.

 

[boop0524]

Our trip is winding down and it’s been wonderful! Lines were fine, some waits were longer than others so we skipped around and managed to get in most of what we wanted in with reasonable waits. Didn’t get to a few rides we hoped for but such is life. The heat is here, so breaks are essential as are UV umbrellas, fans and anything else to cool you down. We rope dropped twice but actually preferred our MK late start date. HS held us at the turnstiles until 30 mins or so before open time anyway (don’t remember exact time, sorry) and AK was just a hot mess at RD. So my two cents is just do what works for you—rope drop or come later. Pick your poison. Busses at SSR were pretty unreliable, we drove most of the time. But the Paddock pool has never been too crowded and the Paddock Grill is a nice hidden gem. Can’t wait to start planning our next trip!

 

[scrappinginontario]

Ha, I was getting ready to post about FP. Then I was scolded.

Not scolded, just gently guided back on topic.

Please feel free to start the FP+ discussion on the Theme Park Communities board! If you do, feel free to post here that you've done that and add a link.

 

[RaisinToast]

Hey folks, currently at the airport waiting to fly home. I just wanted to share my experiences being here for the past week.


We arrived at MCO on Thursday 6/3 at 11:35 AM. After pit stops, taking the train and walking to ME, I would estimate we got there about noon. Honestly, this was the quickest DME experience I've ever had. Maybe the time and day of the week plus some luck helped, but we waited about 10 minutes to check in, and were on a bus 5 minutes after that. By quarter after 1 we were at CSR. Did some exploring until the room was ready just before 3. Once we got situated, we headed to Disney Springs for a tasty dinner at Wine Bar George!


On Friday 6/4 we rope dropped Epcot. A super weird thing happened as we headed out to the bus stop. A little after 9, we passed the Tower bus stop, intending to grab something at El Centro before waiting for the first bus of the day to Epcot. But my husband looked over at the Tower stop and said, "Hey isn't that an Epcot bus?" It was! We had a bus all to ourselves and got dropped off at Epcot at like 9:30. I'm pretty sure Disney Transportation made a mistake, but we didn't mind taking advantage of it lol.


We were held by the monorail station until 10, then held at the tapstiles until 10:15. After being let go we speedwalked to TT first, walked onto that and then waited maybe 10 minutes for Mission Space. (Nobody in line for Green at that time, just a few for Orange.) We then walked onto Figment before grabbing lunch at Sunshine Seasons.


After lunch we did Spaceship Earth with a 30 minute posted wait, but we actually only waited 15 minutes. Soarin's wait was showing at almost an hour at 12:30, so we went off to World Showcase starting on the Canada side.


Things went pretty well for the first couple hours, as we briefly watched the Jammitors in Canada, got ice cream in France, and bought some stuff at Mitsukoshi. The Joy of Tea in China was out of the Tipsy Ducks, boo! Annnnd then the rain started. We tried to get cover in the Mexico pyramid, but a bunch of other people had the same idea and we ended up waiting like half an hour to get on Gran Fiesta tour lol. The rain seemed like it was letting up, so we got in line for Frozen even though it was posted at 40 minutes. The thunderstorm started about 10 minutes into our wait. So, that was an adventure! Frozen's wait was accurate, and we got soaked, but still loved the ride. And we got the front of the boat, so no plexiglass.


We rounded out the evening with dinner at Biergarten and hitting Soarin on our way back through Future World. Around 7:15 the posted wait had dropped to 25 minutes, and we actually waited less than 20. We left the park about 8. A CSR bus was full and pulling away just as we got to the stop, but another came along in 10 minutes.

 

[brockash]

FP+ only shorted your wait for a few rides and then rest had stand-by lines that were even longer because of FP+. I literally walked onto many rides last month that I would have had to wait for when FP+ was implemented because people missed out getting FP+ for the E-Ticket rides and ended up setting up FPs for 2nd and even 3rd tier rides.

This really depended on how strategic you were with your timing and fastpasses. We've been going multiple times a year for years and years...since before fastpass plus and I can't think of 1 time we waited more than 20 mins for something and I'd say our average was 10. We took care of a few headliners at rope drop, made our 3 fastpasses for late morning/early afternoon - all headliners and then fastpassed the crap out of the rest of the day with most times getting a fastpass for something for less than 10 mins from when we wanted tl ride.

Our post covid trips have been by far tge absolute longest lines we've waited in since we first used any kind of fastpass. We are just not used to/nor do we prefer to wait 30-60 mins for every single headliner...heck we were waiting 20 mins for carousel if progress...never in a million yrs would I have ever thought we'd wait in those kinds of lines...yes they keep moving, but the fact is for ppl. who really worked the fastpass system; the wait times are much higher now.

 

[TikiTikiFan]

What time would you folks recommend lining up at your resort bus to get to Blizzard Beach right when they open? We're staying at Pop Century.

 

[preemiemama]

Not scolded, just gently guided back on topic.

Please feel free to start the FP+ discussion on the Theme Park Communities board! If you do, feel free to post here that you've done that and add a link.

There's already a thread for it here.

 

[yaywatermelons]

I am just returning today from a quick trip staying at the new refurbished rooms at Wilderness Lodge. Here are my observations from our fantastic stay. Note: This is more 4th visit since covid started and my most relaxed.

*I love the new decor in WL rooms. It is simply done and very crisp and clean. They have done away with the iron and it has been replaced by hand held steamers. I love this!!!!
*Really enjoyed our meal at Guyser Point. The hamburger was the best I have ever had on property.
*Transportation was great during our stay. We used boats and buses.
*Never waited more than 50 minutes for anything. And we only did that twice. Once for Seven dwarfs and the other for FOP. Everything else was 20 minutes or less. Crowds were there but lines moved quickly for sure.
*We went to MK on Sunday 4pm-close. Got everything we wanted done and did some things twice.
*Monday we did 3 parks. Went to AK from 1-5. Did everything there but Rafiki's planet. We even got to see the baby zebra and baby flamingo. Both were precious. Hopped to HS. There we did Tower of Terror, Star Tours, , Slinky Dog, and Mickey's run away train. We took the skyliner to Epcot and ate in Mexico. We did Soarin and called it a night.
*Pool day and shopping yesterday.
*Mask wearing was much more relaxed. My past visits felt like there was so much policing on masks that it stressed everyone out. It was not like that at all this time. It was so nice not to have mask outside. Guest had them on to get on the bus and boat but some quickly moved to the chin. Guest did have them on to enter the ride que, but the same....moved them to the chin while in line. No one was checking to see if they were on or off while waiting in any of the lines that I was in. Same with transportation. Also, I noticed they did not have the AC pumping in ride ques yet so that probably encourages people to pull the mask down because it is so hot. They would remind you while getting on the ride to keep your mask up. There are markers still on the ground but no one follows them at ALL! No one was on top of me but markers were not used in any attraction. It was nice to see smiles. Everyone was very happy to be there.
*Happy to answer any questions. It was a great trip!!!!

How are they loading Jungle Cruise boats these days? I've been watching the wait times in the app and that is one that always seems so long - is it only 2-3 parties per boat?

Thanks!

 

[tigertides]

This really depended on how strategic you were with your timing and fastpasses. We've been going multiple times a year for years and years...since before fastpass plus and I can't think of 1 time we waited more than 20 mins for something and I'd say our average was 10. We took care of a few headliners at rope drop, made our 3 fastpasses for late morning/early afternoon - all headliners and then fastpassed the crap out of the rest of the day with most times getting a fastpass for something for less than 10 mins from when we wanted tl ride.

Our post covid trips have been by far tge absolute longest lines we've waited in since we first used any kind of fastpass. We are just not used to/nor do we prefer to wait 30-60 mins for every single headliner...heck we were waiting 20 mins for carousel if progress...never in a million yrs would I have ever thought we'd wait in those kinds of lines...yes they keep moving, but the fact is for ppl. who really worked the fastpass system; the wait times are much higher now.

let me guess... you are an AP holder???

Your experience and knowledge of fast pass only became proficient due to your multiple trips there. The majority of visitors to the parks, who never post on this blog, do Not have the time or the resources ($$$) to visit as often as you did. Most of us only visit every 2 to 3 years.

As you know, we are the high premium guests for Disney. Our actual experiences were suffering due to not knowing every link and intricacy to manipulating fast pass.

Disney figured this out. It makes no sense to spend $5000 and only ride 7-8
Rides for the day.

Only because of the unofficial guide was able to master fast pass. But when I do have an 800 page book as a reference to most people who are going there, they think it is crazy to spend that amount of time and energy for a vacation. They are probably correct correct

 

[Geomom]

How are they loading Jungle Cruise boats these days? I've been watching the wait times in the app and that is one that always seems so long - is it only 2-3 parties per boat?

Thanks!

When we went in April, they had partitions in multiple places to separate parties and they just didn't seat anyone in the center. So depending upon the size of the party, they could seat 4-5 parties of 2-4...

 

[nemolover22]

Our trip is winding down and it’s been wonderful! Lines were fine, some waits were longer than others so we skipped around and managed to get in most of what we wanted in with reasonable waits. Didn’t get to a few rides we hoped for but such is life. The heat is here, so breaks are essential as are UV umbrellas, fans and anything else to cool you down. We rope dropped twice but actually preferred our MK late start date. HS held us at the turnstiles until 30 mins or so before open time anyway (don’t remember exact time, sorry) and AK was just a hot mess at RD. So my two cents is just do what works for you—rope drop or come later. Pick your poison. Busses at SSR were pretty unreliable, we drove most of the time. But the Paddock pool has never been too crowded and the Paddock Grill is a nice hidden gem. Can’t wait to start planning our next trip!

We are going next week and staying at SSR for a few days. How bad were the buses? We will not have a car so will need to rely on Disney transportation. We will be in the Congress Park section

 

[Obi-J Kenobi]

How are they loading Jungle Cruise boats these days? I've been watching the wait times in the app and that is one that always seems so long - is it only 2-3 parties per boat?

Thanks!

We had 6 parties on one boat, but... 3 of the 6 parties were 2 people or less.

 

[brockash]

let me guess... you are an AP holder???

Your experience and knowledge of fast pass only became proficient due to your multiple trips there. The majority of visitors to the parks, who never post on this blog, do Not have the time or the resources ($$$) to visit as often as you did. Most of us only visit every 2 to 3 years.

As you know, we are the high premium guests for Disney. Our actual experiences were suffering due to not knowing every link and intricacy to manipulating fast pass.

Disney figured this out. It makes no sense to spend $5000 and only ride 7-8
Rides for the day.

Only because of the unofficial guide was able to master fast pass. But when I do have an 800 page book as a reference to most people who are going there, they think it is crazy to spend that amount of time and energy for a vacation. They are probably correct correct

No, I have considered it, but no me nor none of the 10 ppl. in our usual party are AP holders...I've actually never been with someone who's an AP. We were just ppl. that found great value and prioritized using fastpasses, in whichever form, to the best of our ability.

Going to leave it at that as I don't want to derail the thread, but just trying to point out that for many on here waiting 30 plus mins for every ride, though be it a constantly moving line, is definitely a worse experience than we're used to.

 

[MuddyWaters]

We just got back from a 6 day trip and had a wonderful time. Lots of early mornings to get to parks 45 minutes before opening, but were able to knock the big rides out first and hang at the pool in the afternoons. I think the longest ride we waiting for was Frozen Ever After and that was in the middle of the day on our first day. 10 minute wait for FOP after driving to Animal Kingdoms and arriving at 7. Got group 51 for ROTR at the 7 Am try. Definitely have post vacation blues now!