Here now, what's shocked me about FP+

[richmo]

...#3 THE LINE TO FP KIOSKS!!! OMG!!! (the kiosks being where you get your additional FPs)...

Hopefully this is one that will get better in the future. I would think at some point people could use their smartphones to pick up FP #4 and beyond, but that hasn't happened yet. Also, some kiosk locations seem to be much busier than others. For example, the Tomorrowland kiosks by Stitch are often mobbed, but those at the Frontierland/Adventureland connector generally have a shorter wait.

 

[kwdw]

We saw ALOT of line jumpers at Safari the one day - and yep - because they weren't using the second scanner - it didn't matter. That really made me mad, actually. Saw an entire group of 11-15 do it, and then 3 other small groups (2-5 each). That's a truck full. FP wait was already a bit long - after walking through the queue - it was still probably another 10-15 minutes to board. Annoying!

 

[GillianP1301]

#3 was true for me too. It wasn't even so much that the lines were long, it was how clueless people were when they got to the kiosk. The CM manning the kiosk always seemed so relieved and would comment that I actually knew what I was doing. It's very intuitive and should really only take 30 seconds or so to select a FP and move on, yet people are there for several minutes with super confused looks on their faces. I am hoping that over time this may improve or even better, that they add the ability to add 4th + FP for your phone.

#4 I did a lot more shuffling around in lines than I expected as well. I loved moving times up. As soon as I would scan through my first FP, I would then get online and move my 2nd one up to happen immediately so I had very little gap in between. This was especially good in MK because it got me to my 4th + FP much sooner, and even with the kiosk lineups, I was 7 or 8 fastpasses a day.

 

[loves to dive]

I've changed my FP while in line just about every time I've had them. I've even ended up doing it and not having to use any of them, even after shuffling them around time and again. It's a matter of timing and how long you are willing to wait in line. We have been going for so long that line waiting is sort of the expected thing to do for us so some times we don't even bother to book a FP except for maybe TSM and Soaring.

 

[Planogirl]

As someone who tries not to carry a phone, I wish that Disney would allow people to use the App to get additional FP+. My logic is that hopefully the kiosk lines would decrease.

Actually, I'm surprised that the kiosk lines aren't longer. It makes me wonder how many people just don't understand them.

 

[jade1]

During Easter the kiosk lines were only long sporadically. And even when it looked long, it didn't take long. We stood in the one in fantasyland ... The ropes switched back three times and two switchbacks were full, but it only took five minutes and saved us a lot of time in line for the attraction....

Yep same, at noon in MK last week the FP+ line looked/was very big, but one party alone had 15 guests in it. This was in Tomorrow Land, they also had additional ipads. I would estimate maybe 15 kiosks/ipads. Anyway we were at a kiosk in under 5 minutes. We grabbed 3 good FP+'s for that evening-I think BTMRR/Space and Pan.

 

[asbyrneva]

Were here now and the most interesting thing about FP+ is

#1 - How many times people line jump into FP line and are kicked out at the next scan point...

#2 - CMs know what your FPs are, DH (who is clueless as to what our FPs are) tried to FP and a CM was like "nope you don't have this one but you do have... at this time"

#3 THE LINE TO FP KIOSKS!!! OMG!!! (the kiosks being where you get your additional FPs)...

#4 how many times I've skipped my FPs because lines were good and switched them on my phone while walking (even inside the window)...

How about #5 how many people dont know about #4. I cant tell you how many people I saw in November use a fast pass for a posted 10 or 15 minute wait! Shhh dont tell them otherwise all of us on this board wont be able to maximize our options

 

[ArwenMarie]

We saw ALOT of line jumpers at Safari the one day - and yep - because they weren't using the second scanner - it didn't matter. That really made me mad, actually. Saw an entire group of 11-15 do it, and then 3 other small groups (2-5 each). That's a truck full. FP wait was already a bit long - after walking through the queue - it was still probably another 10-15 minutes to board. Annoying!

That's been going on for a really long time now. It's too bad they don't try to monitor that better.

 

[AngiTN]

MK seems to be the only park that suffers with long lines in the FP Kiosk locations. Granted, it has the most to FP. But it also has even few Kiosk locations. They took away 1 of them, unless it's really busy. If they don't have extra's CMs with iPads it can take upwards of 20 min. Ridiculous when you stand there to find out the only rides left are those with a less than 20 min wait. Yes, that happened to me, twice. MK needs more Kiosk locations, not fewer. We didn't find long lines at any other park.

 

[LetsTalkWDW]

MK seems to be the only park that suffers with long lines in the FP Kiosk locations. Granted, it has the most to FP. But it also has even few Kiosk locations. They took away 1 of them, unless it's really busy. If they don't have extra's CMs with iPads it can take upwards of 20 min. Ridiculous when you stand there to find out the only rides left are those with a less than 20 min wait. Yes, that happened to me, twice. MK needs more Kiosk locations, not fewer. We didn't find long lines at any other park.

What if they took the old paper FP machines and used them to give you a FP for the FP+ kiosk. They could call it FPK.

 

[AngiTN]

What if they took the old paper FP machines and used them to give you a FP for the FP+ kiosk. They could call it FPK.

Good one!

 

[minnie mum]

Just my 2¢:

Were here now and the most interesting thing about FP+ is

#1 - How many times people line jump into FP line and are kicked out at the next scan point...
You can't fix stupid. OR they have the same moral compass as Jack Sparrow.
#2 - CMs know what your FPs are, DH (who is clueless as to what our FPs are) tried to FP and a CM was like "nope you don't have this one but you do have... at this time"
Big Brother is watching. Disney sees all, knows all.

#3 THE LINE TO FP KIOSKS!!! OMG!!! (the kiosks being where you get your additional FPs)...
Uh, huh. BTDT. Would it really kill them to put a few more kiosks in MK???
#4 how many times I've skipped my FPs because lines were good and switched them on my phone while walking (even inside the window).
At least you were able to find other times or attractions that you had any interest in using. My luck didn't stretch that far.
..

 

[DisneyFive]

With the paper system, I was almost always behind either the person who didn't know how to use FP, the one who jammed the machine, or the school group chaperone getting FPs for the entire marching band

Not to mention, even with people who knew what they were doing, rides like TSMM and Soarin had long FP- lines first thing in the morning. (would still rather go back to FP- though)

Dan

 

[DisneyFive]

Yeah, 10's of thousands of guests at MK on any given day, and they have like what, 4 kiosks? Ridiculous.

Dan

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Yeah, 10's of thousands of guests at MK on any given day, and they have like what, 4 kiosks? Ridiculous.

Dan

Fair point. But it is more than 4 kiosks. It is 4 lines and maybe about 16-20 kiosks that not all 10,000 are trying to access at once.

 

[DisneyFive]

Fair point. But it is more than 4 kiosks. It is 4 lines and maybe about 16-20 kiosks that not all 10,000 are trying to access at once.

Ah, thanks for that. Didn't realize there were a stack of kiosks at each location. Haven't been back yet since they started allowing the 4th+ FP+... good to know.

Dan

 

[jade1]

Yeah, 10's of thousands of guests at MK on any given day, and they have like what, 4 kiosks? Ridiculous.

Dan

Like I said-there were at least 15 in one spot last week.

 

[Ava]

#4 I did a lot more shuffling around in lines than I expected as well. I loved moving times up. As soon as I would scan through my first FP, I would then get online and move my 2nd one up to happen immediately so I had very little gap in between. This was especially good in MK because it got me to my 4th + FP much sooner, and even with the kiosk lineups, I was 7 or 8 fastpasses a day.

Can you move your next FP+ up after you pass the first scan, or do you have to wait until you pass the second scan point?

 

[LetsTalkWDW]

Not to mention, even with people who knew what they were doing, rides like TSMM and Soarin had long FP- lines first thing in the morning. (would still rather go back to FP- though)

Dan

All kidding aside (well maybe not all)

I think that for either system (FP- or FP+) you need the knowledge to know how the system works and how you can work the system.

For FP-, I admit I never really mastered this system in the sense that I did not plan too far in advance which ride would be my first FP and how to go from there. But I can say that this system was a lot of work for us. My wife has very bad feet and we usually end up renting a wheel chair for her. So we would have to choose a "runner" (usually me) to go get the paper FP's for a ride and then run back try to work out a plan (attractions and lunch etc.) where would be in the correct area for that ride. The do it again and again if possible.

For FP+, I appears I can do all the "leg" work online. The stress or work is more mental than physical, something our group is much more suited to deal with. I haven't actually been to the park with the FP+ system yet but I have all my FP+'s selected and a touring plan in place. I am hoping for the best. But I can safely say without researching and reading the posts on this board and other places that FP+ would be a very limited benefit.

Right now I am saying FP+ is better (for us), but we will see!

 

[DisneyFive]

All kidding aside (well maybe not all)

I think that for either system (FP- or FP+) you need the knowledge to know how the system works and how you can work the system.

For FP-, I admit I never really mastered this system in the sense that I did not plan too far in advance which ride would be my first FP and how to go from there. But I can say that this system was a lot of work for us. My wife has very bad feet and we usually end up renting a wheel chair for her. So we would have to choose a "runner" (usually me) to go get the paper FP's for a ride and then run back try to work out a plan (attractions and lunch etc.) where would be in the correct area for that ride. The do it again and again if possible.

For FP+, I appears I can do all the "leg" work online. The stress or work is more mental than physical, something our group is much more suited to deal with. I haven't actually been to the park with the FP+ system yet but I have all my FP+'s selected and a touring plan in place. I am hoping for the best. But I can safely say without researching and reading the posts on this board and other places that FP+ would be a very limited benefit.

Right now I am saying FP+ is better (for us), but we will see!

Yeah, I see where this system could be a big benefit to you and your wife. Hope it works out great for you.

I don't start another big debate. There are things I LOVE about each system. Having used both, I still prefer the old, but love the ability to have FP's booked on arrival day, and to schedule the time of FP's throughout the week so we can sleep in if needed. Don't like so much scheduling though. What I miss are being able to FP the same attraction more than once on a given day, and FP both Soarin and Test track on the same day, (same for TSMM, and RnRC)

Dan