How I Hate FastPass+

[alvernon90]

Needless to say we will not be coming back to the parks until it is fixed.

Wow, based on the number of times you have gone over the last 20 years, that sounds like a major lifestyle change. Let's face it, WDW is never going to get rid of this system, so chances are you have sworn off WDW forever. That probably also means we won't be seeing much of you around here any more, either.

Best of luck to you in your future endeavors, including trying to find another place on the planet to spend your free time.

 

[alvernon90]

I can also see where some would complain about long lines for the last 5 years while we all were being quiet about it (squeaky wheel gets the grease). Time for us to complain as suggested.

You're pretty new here and perhaps haven't had much of a chance to browse the archives, so you can't be expected to know this:

People on these boards, from time to time, do complain about long lines and crowds. This is not the place where people have spent the last five years staying quiet about the lines at WDW.

 

[Alfalfa]

I think Disney wants to make things more "fair" to all guests and they are always trying to be innovative. They disliked the few of us taking advantage of "their" system. The ironic thing is they want to be more "fair" to all the guests, right? Yet, they treat anyone staying offsite like second class citizens...

I don't think it had anything at all to do with Disney wanting to make things more "fair" to all guests. Rather, I think it had everything to do with Disney having parks with some attractions that are extremely popular and therefore suffer from not being able to meet demand while other attractions sat under-utilized with excess capacity because of lesser popularity. It's the reason you MUST pick 3 and the reason there MUST be tiering in half the parks.

 

[ktlm]

OP- that is exactly how we felt. We have done 2 trips with it and absolutely hate it. We were not FP uber users either. In all our trips, we have NEVER waited 30 minutes for Figment or Small World - particularly on days the park was not that crowded- until FP+. We haven't waited 30 minutes for POTC or HM in years until FP+. Most of the things we used to be able to walk on at the times we go, now have lines, sometimes long ones. The parks aren't any more crowded- FP+ is just gumming everything up. We feel so constrained and limited by FP+. Used to we could walk up to a ride and see if we needed a FP before pulling one. Now, we can't-- it is all stressful guess work. Walking up to SM with a FP+ and seeing at that particular time the line is only 20 minutes sends me into a tailspin freaking out that I have wasted a FP+. Trying to change our FP+ in the parks if we had one we did not need or wanted a time moved up has always been a disaster for us- it never goes well. The only place there was any ability to get a 4th with much value at all was MK. Both trips at DHS there were NO 4ths available for anything. I will admit at EPCOT we grabbed a 4th for Figment because of the 30 minute line! Before FP+, we never would have needed that one. Also- contrary to what WDW is trying to do-- I felt like it really cut into my shopping time. It seems like we were always rushing from place to place or standing in line. I didn't have time to leisurely stroll through the shops and buy things like I used to.

We are so glad the tiers did not take place until DD was old enough for the single rider line- picking between Soarin and Test Track is not fun. I can't imagine the stress in that if DD was under 7. In EPCOT, we used to get a FP each for Soarin and Test Track, and maybe on occasion a 2nd one for Soarin if the times worked out and that was it. Now we get 3- but they are tiered and for things we used to be able to simply walk on before FP+. DHS is even worse. I did not get to ride RNRC- one of my favorites- at all our last trip due to FP+. DD won't ride it and she loves TSM (as do the rest of us)- so we have to pick that. The RNRC single rider line was consistently at least 30 minutes the day we were there with standby 45 minutes to an hour- we can't invest an hour of our time and take that away from DD by DH and I taking turns. We both really like it- each would let the other be the one to take the 30 minutes to ride it- but neither of us feels right going and leaving the other one without riding it on the trip, so neither of us do. We HATE FP+.

 

[g8torphan]

That's quite an ambiguous claim. How high do expectations have to be before they are inflated? And how could it be false for someone to blame something that they in their own mind and experience attribute to the lower than anticipated results?

No more ambiguous than claiming FP+ ruined their vacation.
As a person who frequents the DIS and has gone to WDW many many times the OP had to know it was one of worst weeks to go.
I can blame the sunset for my wife getting sick, doesnt make it true, even if its my experience.

Lets review the OP and see how much of the blame actually falls on FP+

We have spent 7 days in the parks. I hate FastPass plus. I really do not know how they can fix it.

• We rode less rides,
• waited in longer lines and
• had no ability to change the park we were scheduled for that day.
• They have taken any spontaneity out of the equation.
• It is virtually impossible to reschedule a FastPass.

Needless to say we will not be coming back to the parks until it is fixed.

Lets address each point:

Less rides: Most ikely due to extremely high crowd levels. One if the 10 busiest weeks of the year. Would still have been very busy withbold FP+ also.

waited in longer lines - see above.

had no ability to change the park we were scheduled for that day. - not true at all. Many people still park hop and make decisions on which park to goto well after the 30/60 mark

They have taken any spontaneity out of the equation. - using FP+ allowed for 3 preplanned events per day
Most parks are openat least 10 hours (likely more) leaving you 7 hours minimum to be as spontanious as you saw fit.

It is virtually impossible to reschedule a FastPass. So, no different than old FP. Also, if that is true it supports the idea that the park was extremly busy.

Doesnt sound like FP+ is to blame to me. Nearly all issues can be attributed to very high crowds and the OP choices.

 

[Chitownpeeps91]

Ktlm dito! Dito! If Disney would stop building hotels and put more money into attractions everyone would be happy. That is not going to happen so for now we will go to Disneyland.

Never waited for HM or Figment before this trip. Have made three Springbreak trips in recent history.

 

[Alfalfa]

Those are essentially straw man arguments that I'll avoid a debate over. I'm more interested in your concept of "inflated expectations" and what you think reasonable expectations should be?

No more ambiguous than claiming FP+ ruined their vacation.
As a person who frequents the DIS and has gone to WDW many many times the OP had to know it was one of worst weeks to go.
I can blame the sunset for my wife getting sick, doesnt make it true, even if its my experience.

Lets review the OP and see how much of the blame actually falls on FP+



Lets address each point:

Less rides: Most ikely due to extremely high crowd levels. One if the 10 busiest weeks of the year. Would still have been very busy withbold FP+ also.

waited in longer lines - see above.

had no ability to change the park we were scheduled for that day. - not true at all. Many people still park hop and make decisions on which park to goto well after the 30/60 mark

They have taken any spontaneity out of the equation. - using FP+ allowed for 3 preplanned events per day
Most parks are openat least 10 hours (likely more) leaving you 7 hours minimum to be as spontanious as you saw fit.

It is virtually impossible to reschedule a FastPass. So, no different than old FP. Also, if that is true it supports the idea that the park was extremly busy.

Doesnt sound like FP+ is to blame to me. Nearly all issues can be attributed to very high crowds and the OP choices.

 

[Jennytoon]

My thought is the 60 and 30 days is too much. What if they do it the night before/morning of? They could allow onsite guests to do it a day or two before as a perk.

I will tell you what would happen ... if you browse the boards you will find lots of posts like:

--"Just opened up bookings for summer of 2016, impossible to get anywhere on Cruise section of the website"
--"Argh I am so frustrated you would think they would know that when you open up Lunch ADR for BOG for the first time the website would be able to handle it"
--"Booking for the new Poly studios has just opened up, so as expected the website is all over the place and crashing today ... "

I've paraphrased liberally, but I think you get the point. Disney's IT infrastructure doesn't have the juice to handle the volume demands of an entire park's worth of guests trying to book one day's worth of experiences within a 24 hour period. And before people jump on with the criticism of IT, I am pretty sure there is not currently any system with the constraints that Disney has that would have the ability to handle this kind of focused volume.

 

[WillAustin]

Those are essentially straw man arguments that I'll avoid a debate over. I'm more interested in your concept of "inflated expectations" and what you think reasonable expectations should be?

My personal expectations were based on past trips (9 of them) mostly during very busy weeks. After FP+ was fully rolled out, we ride less rides in the same amount of time in the parks. We've adjusted to a new plan, but it doesn't cover the fact that we do less than before.

 

[finedice]

I really like magic bands and all you can do with them. But I do understand the OP's frustration with FP+. It worked out ok for our family last summer but overall I'm just not a big fan of choosing individual rides months in advance. It would be nice if some time in the future they increase the daily number of fp's you receive and let you have fp's for more than 1 park per day. I had no trouble switching fp's except for maybe the big headliner attractions like 7DMT.

This system is really the same as the old system in most ways. The difference is that in the old system, there were those that could study and use their knowledge to their advantage using resources like this board. I did it... many of us did it. Now, there is way more awareness and tutorial offered, and more people are using it. There are more rides covered by it, so naturally, if you have a fp line, you get a longer standby.

In the end, it's really the same system, but now they give you earlier access to a larger choice of rides - and ram the instructions down your throat. The beauty is that you can edit the times after making the reservation, or change them altogether based on availability. FP- never offered that.

You always had to wait to get your FP- until your window opened, or 2 hrs passed anyway. In essence, it's really the same thing. I know I could ride every open attraction in MK on a given day with 3 FPs + extras after used (even if I hop). I have changed my plans several times since 60 days out, and gotten everything I needed at close to perfect times, and I won't have to speed walk to snatch FPs to do it now! I have changed ADRs, and gotten perfect time slots. Of course, we don't do character dining - so maybe that makes our life easier, but I still have my BOG breakfast ressie for the 17th, which will make it superb for riding 7DMT with a very small (if any) wait without a FP or running! (6 days away from the good ol' MK!) w00t!

We "in the know" that still plan carefully, should be able to get every fastpass we must have in order to experience any park in a day - often with multiple repeat rides, when combining other strategies that are time tested. Although this will be my first FP+ trip, I guess my overall opinion is that I feel confident I will be will be able to execute our plans (which include a day where we plan to try to ride every headliner at WDW + much more - including an Ohana dinner, a dip at the resort, a shower, and a craft brew in between - our version of a 4 park challenge). I'll let you all know how it turns out next Sunday... I'm pretty sure I can do it, but I don't think I could have with FP-.

 

[Planogirl]

It almost appears that some believe that the parks only got busy after FP+ was introduced. I don't doubt that the crowds keep increasing but I would bet that it's a sliding scale and not a sudden jump.

I didn't care for FP+ either. I can see that it has some advantages but to me the disadvantages outweigh those. We might just check out more places on the planet because goodness knows there are plenty of places to go to and that includes other Disney parks.

 

[g8torphan]

Those are essentially straw man arguments that I'll avoid a debate over. I'm more interested in your concept of "inflated expectations" and what you think reasonable expectations should be?

Not straw man at all.
I offered alternate and more plausible explainations for the things the OP blamed on FP+.

Going Easter week and expecting to accomplish as much as non peak time visits, and not anticipating "longer lines" is having unreasonable expectations.


And, to attribute lack of spontinaity and inability to change parks on FP+ is factually incorrect.

 

[Jennasis]

I don't doubt that the parks crowded. Maybe more than ever. So why isn't Disney falling over itself to build more capacity into the parks (more rides and attractions) to absorb those crowds? The glacial pace at which they do anything is more maddening than trying to decide if i want to ride Space mountain or Big Thunder at 10:45am 60 days before I arrive.

 

[finedice]

The glacial pace at which they do anything is more maddening than trying to decide if i want to ride Space mountain or Big Thunder at 10:45am 60 days before I arrive.

Yes, but inevitably, the experience of Disney attractions is worth the wait - they just do it better!

 

[ryanhuey]

You're pretty new here and perhaps haven't had much of a chance to browse the archives, so you can't be expected to know this: People on these boards, from time to time, do complain about long lines and crowds. This is not the place where people have spent the last five years staying quiet about the lines at WDW.

Umm, I wasn't talking about DIS. I guess some people probably feel better coming on DIS to vent and that's probably a good thing. I hope most understood I meant complain to Disney. Maybe a nicer way to say it is give them "feedback". This was suggested by a few others and I agree, Disney needs the feedback to make things better. Therefore, hopefully those who DO complain on DIS also give the feedback to Disney as well.

I don't think it had anything at all to do with Disney wanting to make things more "fair" to all guests. Rather, I think it had everything to do with Disney having parks with some attractions that are extremely popular and therefore suffer from not being able to meet demand while other attractions sat under-utilized with excess capacity because of lesser popularity. It's the reason you MUST pick 3 and the reason there MUST be tiering in half the parks.

That makes sense Disney wants to get more people to under-utilized attractions. Why don't they just make a Tier 3 then and put all those there and give people 1 or 2 FP choices for Tier 3? As far as the popular rides, as a consumer my expectation with the high prices they charge is that they need to fix the issue with these attractions not being able to meet demand. I think that is reasonable. And remember they are blasting commercials with the 7DMT on TV and people on here are saying you can't get a FP inside 30 day window on peak days. Plus people say they are parking people on the grass which tells me they are allowing more people in the park than originally anticipated. Why not limit the amount of people inside a park? I think we all know the answer to that. I realize I am in the minority in Disney's eyes on what is important to me and even though I may not like it, I understand and believe Disney is always working to make things better.

Disney's IT infrastructure doesn't have the juice to handle the volume demands of an entire park's worth of guests trying to book one day's worth of experiences within a 24 hour period. And before people jump on with the criticism of IT, I am pretty sure there is not currently any system with the constraints that Disney has that would have the ability to handle this kind of focused volume.

Good point. Just trying to brainstorm options. Maybe they could sprinkle some pixy dust on the servers . I think the website is like WDW, there's just nothing else like it. I like it a lot and I hope they fix the little bugs like kicking me out of a reservation during the middle of making the reservation (multiple times). Its an awesome concept and significantly more user-friendly than any other software I've ever seen.

 

[WillAustin]

Going Easter week and expecting to accomplish as much as non peak time visits, and not anticipating "longer lines" is having unreasonable expectations.

But going during a holiday week and expecting to accomplish as much as a previous trip during the same holiday is a reasonable expectation that wouldn't be met anymore. This is based on our actual experience.

 

[ArwenMarie]

It is a vicious circle. The headliners always had long waits. But by sticking FP on so many things that never had it before, it is putting people into a frenzy looking for the 4th FP and on. This probably makes Disney move more and more spots to FP, which drives the waits up more, which then increases the frenzy (crazy kiosk lines). I still believe eventually it will be an all-reservation system but it will be because people will prefer it that way versus what is there now. The current situation is neither here nor there.

 

[Jennasis]

Yes, but inevitably, the experience of Disney attractions is worth the wait - they just do it better!

Not lately. While I've enjoyed NFL (it's nice), Universal has been doing it better and faster. I still have hope that Disney will step up their game.

 

[Alfalfa]

It is a vicious circle. The headliners always had long waits. But by sticking FP on so many things that never had it before, it is putting people into a frenzy looking for the 4th FP and on. This probably makes Disney move more and more spots to FP, which drives the waits up more, which then increases the frenzy (crazy kiosk lines). I still believe eventually it will be an all-reservation system but it will be because people will prefer it that way versus what is there now. The current situation is neither here nor there.

It's always been a game of unbridled "Pick A, B, or C" and everyone would pick A. Darn it, now we've got all these B's and C's with no lines. Build more A's? Naw, let's figure out a way to persuade people to pick B and C along with A.

 

[smitch425]

But going during a holiday week and expecting to accomplish as much as a previous trip during the same holiday is a reasonable expectation that wouldn't be met anymore. This is based on our actual experience.

The issue with that is that the parks continue to see increased crowds from year to year. We expect more people each October, and every year it is more crowded. We were able to accomplish more in less time last year with FP+, even with the increase in crowds. As with anything, you will always have those who hate it, those who love it, and those who fall in the middle. It's here to stay, so regardless of how anyone views it, we either have to make it work as best as we can or choose not to go/use the system.