I feel sorry for all the people..........

[gonnago]

who have planned a first trip and staying offsite that have no idea about the FP+ and don't know about these boards and others that they can get helpful information from,as well as all the others that in the past never new about FP- and just stood in those long lines during the heat of the summer and peak seasons.

I can only hope that with the cyber world we live in nowadays people do their homework before embarking on vacation because I cannot even imagine how bad their standby times will be with the new system.And I fear for the negative atmosphere that others may have to encounter due to their lack of knowledge.

 

[AlaskaMOM]

Or maybe they are enjoying their excitement without the stress of over planning that FP+ tends to make people do.

Though I do agree that most will be in for a rude awakening, if they have not researched prior to, when they arrive at the first park and realize that they are timed (taking too much time in a day) out of most ride attractions.

 

[estherhead]

I feel sorry for them also, however I did before FP+ too. I just don't know how it's possible for a first time visitor to have all the info they need. On the flip side, though, they don't know what they are missing. And it's true on any vacation. No matter how much I read on a new destination I always make errors. But we have a different kind of fun. Discovering new to us gems.

 

[agavegirl1]

I feel sorry for them also, however I did before FP+ too. I just don't know how it's possible for a first time visitor to have all the info they need. On the flip side, though, they don't know what they are missing. And it's true on any vacation. No matter how much I read on a new destination I always make errors. But we have a different kind of fun. Discovering new to us gems.

This absolutely. I didn't find the DIS for my first "planned" trip back in 1999 but I did buy two different guidebooks and studied them for months. The Unofficial Guide helped me immensely and my family thanked over and over for the amount of activities we accomplished. Starting with when to go and continuing with a touring plan for each park...invaluable.

 

[kmc]

I don't feel sorry for them at all because most of the people I know that go, go in like that and don't have all the high expectations as most of us do on these boards. funny thing is they end up having a great time. I have lots of friends who I have tried shareing tips with and for the most part they ignore them. They don't use fast pass and really don't care. They go, do what they can and are completely satisfied with their trip. So I think they have an advantage in a weird way by not missing what they haven't had the knowledge of in the first place.

 

[Gillyrose779]

I think it can be summed up with

IGNORANCE IS BLISS!

If they don't know what they are missing they can't complain. I bet the people on these boards complain more b/c we know how it can and should be at times.

That being said I'd rather be in the know.

 

[kmc]

I think it can be summed up with

IGNORANCE IS BLISS!

If they don't know what they are missing they can't complain. I bet the people on these boards complain more b/c we know how it can and should be at times.

That being said I'd rather be in the know.

Agree with this 100%

 

[chrismb22]

I certainly would rather be "in the know" (I wouldn't be here if I didn't ) but plenty of people think we are the crazy ones. They would rather "wing it" and do whatever they want, whenever they want.

It's just not their style. I'm sorta glad -- imagine if EVERYONE thought the way we do. It's bad now, it would be even worse!

 

[MinnieEsq]

I think it's true, ignorance really can be bliss in this situation. In my last trip to Disney (2007), me and my best friend from college headed down and pretty much winged (wung?) it. We did all the things you're not "supposed" to do based on advice you find on boards like this: paid no heed to crowd calendars, opting to go for our March spring break, showed up at the parks mid-morning, selected which park to visit on a whim ("Recommended Park"? What's that? ), and - as far as I can recall - didn't use a single FP. We had a FABULOUS time! We toured at our leisure, rode what we wanted to ride, stopped and ate whenever we felt like it (no ADRs) and overall had a lot of fun. I think at one point I remember stopping at a table service spot in Japan and wanting to eat there and not being able to, but that's the only instance I can think of when the lack of planning really impacted our trip. Part of that may have been that my friend and are aren't thrill-seekers, so lots of the headliners weren't top priority for us. Still, we managed to get on and TT, BTMRR, Star Tours, and plenty of other rides.

Now, with all the awareness I have of touring plans, FP+ issues, crowds, etc., I have to admit I'm a little daunted! I think all the information here is absolutely very useful, I just hope the price of all the new knowledge isn't that I can't enjoy my upcoming trip with DH in as relaxed a way as before.

 

[Disneyhabs]

I feel sorry for them also, however I did before FP+ too. I just don't know how it's possible for a first time visitor to have all the info they need. On the flip side, though, they don't know what they are missing. And it's true on any vacation. No matter how much I read on a new destination I always make errors. But we have a different kind of fun. Discovering new to us gems.

My first big trip with my now ex wife and her family in 96 the only planning we did was how many park days and are we doing the Luau at Poly for dinner one night. The rest of the time we just flew by the seat of our pants and did what we wanted and went where we wanted. This was my first ever on site trip prior to that we stayed at my grandparents condo in West Palm and drove up to WDW during our March break trips. The upcoming trip in Sept for my DDs 18th B Day we have what parks we are doing each day based on EMH and that is all the planning we have truly done. We have 2 dinner ressies and one lunch ressie and no plans for FP at all.

 

[gonnago]

I dream of the day I can just do a "wing" it trip to Disney but unfortunately I fall into the category of the need to have a strategy in place kinda of person,not for every minute but for at least ADR's I could not imagine ever going without ANY plans but hope one day I am able to at least give it a try.

 

[KatieCharlotte]

I have always felt sorry when I heard people complaining after their trips about things that could have been prevented with more research and planning, but I feel sorriest for people right now who did some research -- read a guidebook and talked to a friend or two with Disney experience -- and made their plans based on out-of-date information. During this FP transition, even disboard experts haven't really known Disney's plans from month to month.

 

[brownhaired_girl]

My first trip was in 2000 with my Down Syndrome daughter. I knew nothing!!! Fortunately the trip happened to be in early December and crowds were light (by chance only). I knew nothing about fast pass, character meals, crowd calendars, or EMH. But I do have pictures of Baloo dancing in the street with my daughter. I have pictures of The Hunchback shaking her hand. I remember seeing Fantasmic for the first time and being in awe. There was no hurry on that trip because we had no agenda. It was the most magical Disney trip we ever had. Since that time we have gone 2-3 times a year and always have a wonderful time, but nothing is like that first trip. I don't think we need to feel sorry for the first timers because they don't know all the ropes. I almost envy the magic they will experience on their first trip watching Mickey's Philharmagic for the first time or smelling the oranges in Soarin for the first time. I think they are happy riding TSMM once and moving along and finding magic somewhere else. If they don't get to ride TSMM they will do something else and enjoy that.
I remember once watching a young man maybe in his mid 20's watching the opening of Magic Kingdom with his mother. The look on his face was incredible!!! I figured this was his first trip. He didn't need to know everything to find the magic.

 

[Luckybee]

I think it can be summed up with

IGNORANCE IS BLISS!

If they don't know what they are missing they can't complain. I bet the people on these boards complain more b/c we know how it can and should be at times.

That being said I'd rather be in the know.

From what I just heard from my cousin that isn't always the case.

Cousin, his dw, and dd just got back from March Break and their first visit staying offsite and the conversation went as follows :

Me : why didn't you call me, you know we've been there and maybe could have given you tips, how did you like it ?

Him : we didn't

Me : why?

Him : the lines were crazy for everything

Me : did u use the new fastpass

Him : the lines were crazier for that. We used it for 2 days out of 5 but it only works for 3 rides and we couldn't get the rides we wanted with it the other days

Me : well its a new system, their still working the bugs out, eventually you can book the rides in advance

Him : oh....all of them ?

Me : no still just 3 unless something changes

Him : well then all that will do is mean we don't have to wait to use the computer to book right ? I mean we'd still have the crazy lines for everything else right ?

Me : don't know till it all works out

Him : I think we're going back to the Caribbean next yr. I cant see wanting to do that again. We had fun but it just seemed to be far too much waiting around for everything.

He and her are both pretty laid back individuals. It's just my guess but they are both young professionals with lots of disposable income who would be well within the target market of Disney. We went on with our conversation and it struck me that the biggest gripe he seemed to be having was that if your going to have fp+ then it should be for a lot more rides. He likened it to a halfway measure that if your doing it for some it should be for all and make fp+ for all rides , and what I thought was interesting about that is that he seemed to be saying that D would for his tastes have been better without fp+ at all in that at least then the lines would be first come first serve as opposed to 2 lines for everything making all "regular" (standby ) lines longer.

In any event they have ended up as one time visitors who wont likely go back unless dd (who is now 10) begs them....she's pretty spoiled so that could happen....lol !

 

[WillAustin]

Him : the lines were crazy for everything

Me : did u use the new fastpass

Him : the lines were crazier for that. We used it for 2 days out of 5 but it only works for 3 rides and we couldn't get the rides we wanted with it the other days

This will be the main problem for a lot of people.

 

[CarlaLovesDisney]

Those will be the people who go to Disney once and decide they hate it. I saw it happen a lot before FP+ as well, though.

 

[bastos]

Sadly, I am done feeling sorry for people who don't want help - or refuse help. Been burned too many times trying to help. All done with that now. Some people are just too darned smart and dumb at the same time. I still remember talking with someone at a pool who had very little idea about any of the parks at all.

Frankly, I wouldn't spend that level of time on a vacation I had no idea about.

 

[Physics Guy]

I still love the exhilaration of going to any of the parks with the whole family, and NONE of us needing a map! Now THAT'S freedom!

So I guess I could say I feel sorry when I see a family hovering over a large map trying to figure out how to get from SM to POTC.

 

[AshleeH]

I don't feel sorry for them - I'm grateful for them. They are the ones who roll into the park mid-day as my family and I are leaving. I'm glad there are people like that or the lines would be crazy from rope-drop to close.

 

[Planogirl]

I know of a few that have gone in the past and came back saying that it was too crowded and expensive. I'd hate to imagine what they'd think if they went now.