I'm a longtime lurker, but I wanted to come out of hiding to share my recent experience at MK. My husband and I are annual
http://www.wdwinfo.com/images/smilies/tvhappy.gifpassholders and generally frequent the park once a week (typically on Saturday) and sometimes twice a week. We have gone on the 4th of July, Christmas Eve and New Years Eve, so we are well familiar with crowds and wait times of pretty much every attraction. As passholders, we have been aware of the changes coming with fast pass +, and have been waiting anxiously to give it a whirl (though honestly we've been able to do the things in the parks we like to do using the legacy system just fine.) We have a 2 year old daughter and don't use baby swap so we never go for the big rides lately, but pretty much the princess experiences and smaller kid friendly rides.
We arrived at the park yesterday (Saturday) at around 9am. The park opened at 8, and we knew the fast pass+ system was officially a go in MK. We had seen the kiosks for some time in town square and around the park, so upon park entrance we went immediately to town square to get our 3 fast pass+ secured. I went up the the kiosks in front where there were approx 7 CM with no wait at all, but then was asked what resort we were staying at and when I replied I was a pass holder, I was told we needed to go to the back of the town square theater (back where the princesses used to meet) and where there were easily 50 people in line. I immediately felt like a second class citizen. I mean, already resort guest have been able to go online and book their fast passes, and now they have no wait at certain kiosks but the other AP holders and one day guest have to wait in monumental lines to secure theirs? My husband waited in the line while I took our two year old to see the characters near the flagpole. While waiting in line he texted to tell me our number one choice for a fast pass+ (Enchanted Tales with Belle) had a return time of 5:40-6:40 and this was a little after 9AM! The castmember said there was nothing earlier available. (This was extremely frustrating since on the legacy system a FP for Belle was never available and our very first time we could get one for Belle with the new system was 8 hours then!) Since we live locally and have a small child, our park visits usually are only for a few hours before our child's naptime, so we had intended to leave after lunch. So we were unable to get a FP for Belle.)
Our 3 choices ended up being Buzz (for 10:30), The Rapunzel side of Fairytale Hall at 12, and the Little Mermaid Ride for 3:40!
On a 'normal' Saturday (and even on abnormal days such as the 4th of July and Christmas eve) we have EASILY been able to see both sides of Fairytale Hall, Ariel in her Grotto, Belle, and ride Mermaid or Pooh, Small World, and Buzz, by making the most of the morning and implenting Fast Passes the moment we were able to obtain ones (not to mention talking Mickey who was not connected to the system.)
This Saturday, with our three less than optimal choices and times given, we set out to do the usual 'walk-on' rides our toddler likes, only to find we had to wait 4 rotations to get onto the carrousel, and had to wait 25 minutes for It's a Small World.
We were also quite let down that the
MDE app failed in providing us accurate character times. Buzz Lightyear was supposed to be meeting at 10am, and he wasn't there at 10 and still wasn't at 10:30. No CM around to ask why. Also we headed to Tiana's garden to line up about 10 minutes before the App said she was due to arrive, only to arrive and see her waving and leaving as the meet and greet was over.
I will add a last bit that just added to our day, and I find a bit interesting on top of everything else that is going on with all the changes. We had an ADR for Liberty Tree for lunch at 12:40. We arrived a few mins early, checked in and waited to be called. And waited. And waited. (With a hungry and tired toddler). Well after 45 mins of waiting, I finally asked how much longer it would be, and after a few CM checked computers and talked to eachother, it was determined that the CM that checked us in actually didn't check us in. So yeah, we had to wait another 10 minutes to be seated. On top of that and all the INSANE lines allover the park at kiosks and even in FP return lines, I was frustrated beyond believe. The CM sought to right her wrong by providing me with a paper 'no strings attached' Fast pass which stated it was good for any attraction (I can upload a picture of it.) The only restriction is for height restrictions apply for certain attractions.
After our daughter's nap (which was much needed after a much delayed lunch and all) we decided to take our paper fast pass to Enchanted Tales with Belle. We were told by two CM that 'even though it doesn't say it, you can't use that here.' Well after telling our 2 year old she was gonna see Belle (and she knows the look of the outside of the cottage, she burst into tears when we were turned away, and we weren't about to wait 70 minutes in the line. Well, I headed to Town Hall because I was frustrated. I explained to the Castmember at Town Hall that we were told we could use the paper FB for ANY attraction we wanted and the CM's wouldn't let us in the fast pass queue for Enchanted Tales with Belle. The CM went inside to talk to others only to come back and tell us that was correct. We couldn't. He explained that Enchanted Tales is a 'character interaction' and not an attraction. I showed them on their very own MDE App how Enchanted Tales with Belle is listed under ATTRACTIONS, unlike other 'character interactions' such as Fairytale Hall and Tinkerbell's Nook which are located on the app under "Characters." He simply said he was sorry and said he would let a manager know that we think the classification of Belle on the app needs to be changed. He also informed us that the paper FP we were given needed to be used that day (so we couldn't leave then and come back and use the FP another time. ) Frustrated and beyond, we decided to go use our paper FP on Haunted Mansion which my husband loves and which had a very uncharacteristically ,long 45 minute wait earlier in the day. We got into the FP+ queue with our pass and STILL HAD TO WAIT 25 minutes. With a FP!!
Needless to say, our first experience with FP+ has been a monumentally bad one. I have a very sour taste in my mouth for the whole thing, and I'm honestly sickened that our days of being able to go to MK for 4-5 hours and have fun with our toddler may be a thing of the past. The standby lines are now unbelievable, even for small rides, and the FP+ return times are hardly accomodating. And I cannot imagine what it will be like during Spring Break and Summer.
