How much better is fastpass+ than fastpass?

[mayshamp]

When I first heard that the paper fastpasses are gone I was in a panic. I used fastpass+ last year as a test subject, but I didn't mind them back then because I was getting 3 fastpass+ in addition to the paper passes, so I thought it was the best life could get. I had no idea (and Disney never mentioned this) that the new fastpass+ was to replace the old stuff.

By now I realize that this argument is old, but I just heard it and so it's new to me. I understand that for a while there one can only 3 passes, and only last month that people are allowed more passes, so that's pretty new. That certainly gives it an advantage, so how does it rate overall compared to the old?

Benefits of the paper system:
1. Speed and flexibility.
a. The machines spit out the paper tickets instantly, instead of each person trying to go through a computer booking system, making selections, changing times, can't make up their minds...
b. The machines are located near the rides. One can go there, grab a fastpass, go on nearby rides or visit stores till fastpass is ready, use it, go to the next machine. Easy to wing it.
c. The fastpass tickets are easy for the worker to glance at and move people through a group at a time, rather than individually scanned.

2. Certainty. One has paper tickets as proof. The fastpass does not "disappear" inside the computer system, leaving one helpless due to computer glitch.

Benefits of the computerized fastpass+:

Speed
a. 3 fastpass+ are booked long before; no running in the park in the morning. (But still must run to kiosks in the afternoon to get the 4th and more fastpass+).
b. fastpass time and attraction can be altered by iPhone/iPad. This means one can re-book any unused fastpasses, saving time from going around the park.

Major disadvantage of fastpass+:
More than 3 fastpass+ must be booked on local computer kiosks, which may have lines due to insufficient kiosks. This disadvantage will disappear if Disney allows the extra fastpasses to be booked on iPhones instead. Then most people will use their iPhones and only a few need the kiosks, and nobody will need to wait.

If you have gone to WDW after April 2014 AND before Jan 2014 and use fastpasses, what is your feeling about the new compared to the old? It seems to me that one needs 2 things to get ahead:

1. Figure out which kiosk location have the least people and run there every time the previous fastpass+ is spent.
2. Own an iPhone/iPad.

Now me, I don't have iPhones, so I went out yesterday and bought a new iPad mini (weighs 0.68 pounds), all for managing fastpass+. If you don't use iPhones, then the iPad mini is about the best and cheapest option because, at least for now, the My Disney Experience App does not run on the Kindle Fire.

Here is my theory:

The old fastpasses are very easy to get. Anybody can walk up to the right machines and grab one. The new ones are more painful because one has to wait at the kiosks for the slowpokes to punch the right buttons. This means many people will not bother with getting fastpasses. This means there should be more fastpasses available after the first 3 are used. So if a person remembers to use the less visited kiosks (if there is one), he will have more fastpasses choices available. Once he grabs one, he can change it on his iPad to later or earlier to fit his schedule. Also, since people are allowed to change their fastpasses on iPhone, this means fastpass opportunities can open any time if one keeps checking.

At first I was worried that if everybody is given 3 fastpasses all fastpasses will be gone. But now that people are allowed to book more, most will book their fastpasses for the morning, leaving the afternoon open. (People who book night fastpasses are of course locked out for the day, so they won't be getting more.) So all the fastpasses are still up for grabs just like the good old days!

Do you disagree with my theory based on your recent visit? If so, please list reasons. It will help me prep my coming trip. Thanks!

 

[DebbieB]

When I first heard that the paper fastpasses are gone I was in a panic. I used fastpass+ last year as a test subject, but I didn't mind them back then because I was getting 3 fastpass+ in addition to the paper passes, so I thought it was the best life could get. I had no idea (and Disney never mentioned this) that the new fastpass+ was to replace the old stuff.

By now I realize that this argument is old, but I just heard it and so it's new to me. I understand that for a while there one can only 3 passes, and only last month that people are allowed more passes, so that's pretty new. That certainly gives it an advantage, so how does it rate overall compared to the old?

Benefits of the paper system:
1. Speed and flexibility.
a. The machines spit out the paper tickets instantly, instead of each person trying to go through a computer booking system, making selections, changing times, can't make up their minds...
b. The machines are located near the rides. One can go there, grab a fastpass, go on nearby rides or visit stores till fastpass is ready, use it, go to the next machine. Easy to wing it.
c. The fastpass tickets are easy for the worker to glance at and move people through a group at a time, rather than individually scanned.

2. Certainty. One has paper tickets as proof. The fastpass does not "disappear" inside the computer system, leaving one helpless due to computer glitch.

Benefits of the computerized fastpass+:

Speed
a. 3 fastpass+ are booked long before; no running in the park in the morning. (But still must run to kiosks in the afternoon to get the 4th and more fastpass+).
b. fastpass time and attraction can be altered by iPhone/iPad. This means one can re-book any unused fastpasses, saving time from going around the park.

Major disadvantage of fastpass+:
More than 3 fastpass+ must be booked on local computer kiosks, which may have lines due to insufficient kiosks. This disadvantage will disappear if Disney allows the extra fastpasses to be booked on iPhones instead. Then most people will use their iPhones and only a few need the kiosks, and nobody will need to wait.

If you have gone to WDW after April 2014 AND before Jan 2014 and use fastpasses, what is your feeling about the new compared to the old? It seems to me that one needs 2 things to get ahead:

1. Figure out which kiosk location have the least people and run there every time the previous fastpass+ is spent.
2. Own an iPhone/iPad.

Now me, I don't have iPhones, so I went out yesterday and bought a new iPad mini (weighs 0.68 pounds), all for managing fastpass+. If you don't use iPhones, then the iPad mini is about the best and cheapest option because, at least for now, the My Disney Experience App does not run on the Kindle Fire.

Here is my theory:

The old fastpasses are very easy to get. Anybody can walk up to the right machines and grab one. The new ones are more painful because one has to wait at the kiosks for the slowpokes to punch the right buttons. This means many people will not bother with getting fastpasses. This means there should be more fastpasses available after the first 3 are used. So if a person remembers to use the less visited kiosks (if there is one), he will have more fastpasses choices available. Once he grabs one, he can change it on his iPad to later or earlier to fit his schedule. Also, since people are allowed to change their fastpasses on iPhone, this means fastpass opportunities can open any time if one keeps checking.

At first I was worried that if everybody is given 3 fastpasses all fastpasses will be gone. But now that people are allowed to book more, most will book their fastpasses for the morning, leaving the afternoon open. (People who book night fastpasses are of course locked out for the day, so they won't be getting more.) So all the fastpasses are still up for grabs just like the good old days!

Do you disagree with my theory based on your recent visit? If so, please list reasons. It will help me prep my coming trip. Thanks!

I was there 2 weeks ago for my 2nd trip using FP+. Love it! I love that you can pick 3 rides for any time of the day before you go. For example, I arrived on Sunday afternoon, I was able to get a Soarin fastpass for that evening. I can get to DHS when I want to and have TSM and ToT already reserved for times that work for me. I did RnR single rider.

I was able to get 7 fastpasses on Monday, May 18. 5 for MK (3 original plus 2 kiosk) and then 2 for AK later in the day from the kiosk including the safari and dinosaur. I was able to switch times on the fly. I had PoC reserved for the morning, the standby was only 5 min so I switched it to Buzz and rode PoC standby. Lines were short for the kiosks. My friends arrived Tuesday, we were able to switch rides around for all of us after we arrived at a park and changed our minds on what we wanted to do.

 

[xApril]

Honestly, I hated it at first.

But now, since we are locals and make our plans to go to the parks just days before, having FP+ is very helpful. We're able to ensure we're going to be able to ride something that day, and that's always nice.

Although I don't like how they're doing SWW show FP+ (they let in standby and FP+ at the same time and since you have to scan, the standby grabs the better seats first), I enjoy having a guaranteed admission to the show and two other attractions to ride when we're hot and need a quick nap.

So, I do like the system better than the old one. It can be a pain at times, but the old one was also. You had to ride the ride in between the times (once they cracked down on it) and you couldn't change the times. You also had to wait 2 hours to get another, whereas if I'm fast with FP+, I could get quite a few rides in within an hour time period with FP+.

 

[TJA]

For our family, the new FP+ system is the best thing Disney could've done. I hated the old FP paper system because we never got the time slots we hoped for. Now I can pre-book our FP time slots online right from home and get the perfect time slots for our family. We are not rope-droppers, so in the past it was very stressful trying to secure paper FP's for our must-do rides such as Toy Story and Soarin'. Getting to the parks around 10:30/11:00 usually meant paper FP's would be sold out for the day.

I also enjoyed being able to easily change our plans, even at the last minute. Before bed each night, I'd go over our plans for the next day and if we wanted to switch rides or even parks, it was so simple to do it. We even changed our mind right at the parks a few times and I was easily able to edit our plans on my phone.

New FP+ system:
No disadvantages for our family.
Lots of advantages