Here now, the magics gone because of FP+

[JennyMP03]

OP, I sincerely hope things get better for you and that you find a way to enjoy your vacation.

But I also hope I have a "bad morning" just like yours on my trip! It sounds like plenty of fun over the course of a few hours to me.

 

[juliebug1997]

7 attractions, a table service meal and assorted wandering in 4.5 hours? Sounds pretty productive to me.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

I agree.

OP,
I understand about being frustrated with not being able to change your FPs on the day of, but we were there between Christmas and New Year's (and a little after) and we could even change our FP to another attraction! It's a new system though and they are trying to work out all the kinks and make it better for all involved. Still, you got a lot done this morning!

 

[MichiganDVC]

And some people claim to love FP+ when they still haven't been exposed to the excess crowds/standby lines and timing stress that it causes.

I went in a very VERY low crowd time (SEPTEMBER!) with only the test of FP+ and was still stressed about missing windows which I did several times with no ability to reschedule even with hardly any people using FP+ at that time. I can only imagine how it is now.

Seven rides, half of which should be 10-15min waits or less, in 3-4hrs does not sound very productive to me at all.

The hours between rope-drop and eleven used to be virtual walk-ons for everything, even during busier seasons, and this spring break has been quite spread out, so the crowds should be better, not worse.

There are no low-crowd times anymore. Those days are all-but-gone.

Regardless, even I know that Tomorrowland Speedway has always had really long standby lines. Gotta do it first thing, or you wait in a long line. Who's to say she didn't get in that line at 11:30am or something and waited 1/2 hour?

7 rides, using only one FP+, by noon is hardly an indictment of FP+.

 

[tiggerdad]

I think it's more than fp+. Two days ago the OP posted on Hanna's and how bad everything was and they were "done". Today it seems the fp+ is to blame.

Sounds like the negativity is coming from more than just the fp+ judging by the previous post.

 

[ArwenMarie]

We did MK this morning. Prepark ADR, rope drop at Fantasyland ( what a joke ), couldn't swap out our later FP+ for Splash mountain at 10:00am. They were all gone. My morning was spent checking my phone for FP+. I'm over it. My vacation shouldn't be so stressful. Every ride had much longer than usual times, because of FP+. We managed Pooh, TLS, Dumbo, IaSW, HM, A&E (11:15fP), POTC and out of the park at 12:30pm. To me that's awful. I'm done after this trip.

Did you use your other 2 FPs?

What happened at rope drop?

It doesn't sound like that bad of a morning to me but maybe I am missing something. Was it because you couldn't keep doing things because you ran out of FPs and the lines were long?

 

[Mr. Pig]

Here now at AK. Last night we decided we weren't doing Nemo. Changed FP with no problem. Got going a little late this morning and had a bit of a wait for a bus. On the bus I changed our Safari FP from 9:00 to 9:35 with no problem.

I know FP+ hurts power users. I used to be more of one myself. But I take what they give me.

I am not done.

 

[AndreaA]

There are no low-crowd times anymore. Those days are all-but-gone.

I disagree. September was very low crowds and we didn't technically NEED the FP+, which is why we had an enjoyable trip rather than ending up annoyed. Regardless, my point was that even with very few people using FP+, it was still hard/impossible to change times, stressful keeping track of times (and I had a laminated list! I just hated having to constantly check the time instead of experiencing the moment with my kids) and likely much longer standby times now that everyone is using FP+ in the early morning hours. I'm not sure why it's tough to believe that there are longer SB lines now thanks to FP+ taking up to 70% of the capacity and that that would frustrate people who are used to making the most of rope-drop.

 

[ArwenMarie]

I disagree. September was very low crowds and we didn't technically NEED the FP+, which is why we had an enjoyable trip rather than ending up annoyed. Regardless, my point was that even with very few people using FP+, it was still hard/impossible to change times, stressful keeping track of times (and I had a laminated list! I just hated having to constantly check the time instead of experiencing the moment with my kids) and likely much longer standby times now that everyone is using FP+ in the early morning hours. I'm not sure why it's tough to believe that there are longer SB lines now thanks to FP+ taking up to 70% of the capacity and that that would frustrate people who are used to making the most of rope-drop.

And wait til the 4th FP starts up...

 

[robinb]

OP,
I understand about being frustrated with not being able to change your FPs on the day of, but we were there between Christmas and New Year's (and a little after) and we could even change our FP to another attraction! It's a new system though and they are trying to work out all the kinks and make it better for all involved. Still, you got a lot done this morning!

You can't compare FP+ over Christmas and FP+ now. FP+ was only in the testing phase for onsite guests and offsite guests were still using traditional FPs. When AK changed to all FP+ it was much worse than the other parks.

 

[rn448698]

We were power users with the old fastpass system. We used Fastpass+ back in October at YC right when everyone at the hotel stopped getting room keys. We showed up with a bunch of our old "room-only" keys to get paper fastpasses in addition to the new fastpass+.

We rarely, if ever, used the paper fastpasses during that vacation. Now, I understand that wait times have gone up since then, but I'm not concerned for our trip in less than 2 weeks. I've been looking at wait times for the past week, and I'm cool with my decision to not use fastpass+ in the morning (unless we're going to WS in the evening) and then use fastpass+ in the evening. We spend the afternoon at the hotel pool.

It's honestly just a different way of touring the parks...

If the "magic" is gone because you only got to ride 6 rides and go to one of the most popular meet n greets on a Sunday at MK by 12:30pm, then I think there's something else going on. Plus, to be honest, you went on 3 long rides in the morning (PoTC, HM, and IASW) when you could have been hitting up some of the other rides that take up less time (Peter Pan, Magic Carpets, Barnstormer, Buzz, Philharmagic (if you time it right), Monster's Laugh Floor (if you time it right)).

ETA- Regarding the 4th fastpass, there are a TON of assumptions being made by everyone regarding the number of fastpasses available during the early morning hours and how that will impact rope drop. Has Disney ever actually said that the same number of fastpasses are available from 9-10, as say 1-2? Plus, I have a feeling that some people will try to get early morning fastpasses, only to then either get up late or see short standby lines, and then switch them (or try to) another ride at a later time. Who knows, though? We'll know more tomorrow...

 

[OnSpaceshipEarth]

Here now at AK. Last night we decided we weren't doing Nemo. Changed FP with no problem. Got going a little late this morning and had a bit of a wait for a bus. On the bus I changed our Safari FP from 9:00 to 9:35 with no problem.

I know FP+ hurts power users. I used to be more of one myself. But I take what they give me.

I am not done.

Mr. Pig...how are the crowds there at AK?

I'm so jealous...how I love that gorgeous park!

 

[mom2mickeyfan]

We've never managed more than 6 or 7 rides in an entire day. i'm not sure what the problem is?

At MK?? Wow. We rode over 20 rides during the second week of June last summer.

 

[photo_chick]

We did MK this morning. Prepark ADR, rope drop at Fantasyland ( what a joke ), couldn't swap out our later FP+ for Splash mountain at 10:00am. They were all gone. My morning was spent checking my phone for FP+. I'm over it. My vacation shouldn't be so stressful. Every ride had much longer than usual times, because of FP+. We managed Pooh, TLS, Dumbo, IaSW, HM, A&E (11:15fP), POTC and out of the park at 12:30pm. To me that's awful. I'm done after this trip.

I hope my July trip goes this horribly.

 

[Planogirl]

None of the rides that the OP listed should ever be difficult to ride. I also just noticed that the park appears to really be crowded today when I checked the wait times APP.

Can't someone come here and vent without so many giving that person a hard time? If the OP is serious then it was a bad day for her.

 

[GeorgiaHoo]

At MK?? Wow. We rode over 20 rides during the second week of June last summer.

Agreed. Definitely expect to do more than 6-7 rides in a day. That's a ridiculous return on a multi-thouand dollar vacation.

 

[Mr. Pig]

Mr. Pig...how are the crowds there at AK?

I'm so jealous...how I love that gorgeous park!

Crowds are a little more than I expected. It is the most recommended park for today. I saw many school groups yesterday and today. I think it is the end of the Easter week crowd so I'm thinking next week it will slow down a bit. Still manageable today. Just got off Dinosaur. The FP took about 5 min and Stand by showed 30 min.

 

[EMode]

None of the rides that the OP listed should ever be difficult to ride. I also just noticed that the park appears to really be crowded today when I checked the wait times APP.

Can't someone come here and vent without so many giving that person a hard time? If the OP is serious then it was a bad day for her.

Maybe 3 out of those 7 things were things they had no interest in but rode them anyway because waits were too long at the stuff they really wanted to do. Maybe in years past they rode 10 things by mid day. Geez people are allowed to have their own version of a bad day at WDW.

OP sorry you have a bad day. Next time try drinking the Kool Aid before you head out that seems to help others

 

[ArwenMarie]

None of the rides that the OP listed should ever be difficult to ride. I also just noticed that the park appears to really be crowded today when I checked the wait times APP.

Can't someone come here and vent without so many giving that person a hard time? If the OP is serious then it was a bad day for her.

More details would be good though, I hope the OP comes back.

 

[Mr. Pig]

Agreed. Definitely expect to do more than 6-7 rides in a day. That's a ridiculous return on a multi-thouand dollar vacation.

But OP said they left at 12:30. That's not exactly a whole day.

Hey, I'm not blasting the OP, I just wanted people to know this is not the end of the world for everyone. Fully YMMV.

 

[AliceandAriel]

We did MK this morning. Prepark ADR, rope drop at Fantasyland ( what a joke ), couldn't swap out our later FP+ for Splash mountain at 10:00am. They were all gone. My morning was spent checking my phone for FP+. I'm over it. My vacation shouldn't be so stressful. Every ride had much longer than usual times, because of FP+. We managed Pooh, TLS, Dumbo, IaSW, HM, A&E (11:15fP), POTC and out of the park at 12:30pm. To me that's awful. I'm done after this trip.

I'm sorry to hear the new layout of things isn't working for your method of touring.