I just don't like the amount of structuring the new FP+ requires

[McCrae]

Not to mention the fact that it is another element of your trip that must be pre-planned, forcing you into a "schedule". Yes, I know that sometimes, changes can be made "on-the-fly" with FP+, thus giving you a little flexibility, but when I go on vacation, I want to get AWAY from a fixed schedule. The old fast-pass system allowed more spontaneity and didn't force elements of pre-planning down your throat. What if a given day is scheduled to be an all-day downpour? With the old system, you weren't tied to anything, and thus, we might choose to relax at the resort or visit DTD instead of trudging through the parks. Now, I have to spend valuable vacation time on my "Smartphone" juggling my fast-pass schedule. While the old system may have had some limitations, I think it was well-loved by 98% of guests. The new system works well for advanced planners, but is a pain in the you-know where for people like myself.

Also, FP+ forces you to pre-purchase park tickets ~60 days in advance (or thereabouts). This isn't the end of the world, but it has presented a problem for me with my upcoming October trip. I want to purchase AP's using my DVC discount for myself and fiancé (she will be my wife at the time of our trip). Since we are not married or living together at the moment, I won't be able to take advantage of the DVC discount for her ticket if I pre-purchase.

Under the old FP system things were far from perfect.... Unless you got to the park early you couldn't always get FP's for the most popular rides.

The new system is a perk for people staying at Disney.... It's not compulsory and if you don't want to take that option up you can. Nothing to stop you joining other park guests on the day you go to the parks selecting FP's then.

 

[edk35]

We've been going to WDW for almost 40 years and have made more than that many trips. We've had one trip w/ FP+ in March, and everything worked just fine. I'm currently planning (have planned) two trips, one at the end of September and one at the first of December. It's just not as much fun anymore. I'm tired of "itineraries!" Dining reservations are not an issue for me, because, if we decide to cancel something we had planned, there's almost always some alternative later. But this maneuvering around fast passes has taken all of the fun spontaneity out of our trips. I realize I don't have to make fast pass reservations and Sept. probably won't be an issue if I hadn't (except for SDMT), but I probably need them for the first week in December. OK, rant over. It's just not as fun for us anymore.

We just got back a week ago. Here is my thread about our FP+ experience and how the trip went.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3319101

 

[edk35]

We are just back (yesterday) and have to say...while hate is a strong word, I really really really dislike FP+/MDE.

Here is why:

the app doesn't work. Not regularly, anyway. There were times that my husband, myself, and my daughter would be on the MDE app at the same time and get different wait times. Sometimes we'd get no wait times at all. The only fix was to delete the app and reinstall it. Can I tell you how much time we spent pulled over to the side of a walkway to do all of this?! It's bad enough that at home we're all attached to our phones, I really disliked this dependence at Disney World.

FP+ completely destroys any leisure time. For example, we had a fabulous lunch at Via Napoli on a very hot day, and wanted to take the boat back to Future World. My poor DH was flipping out because if we took the boat we may miss our FP for Spaceship Earth. WHAT?! You never used to even need a FP for Spaceship Earth, and now we can't even enjoy a boat ride because we may miss it?! Lines are SO much longer now for rides that never needed a FP before.

I could go on, but those are really the biggest issues in my book. I would love to think that Disney will rethink this whole FP+ stuff, but they've spent so much money on it, I doubt it.

We still had an amazing trip, but did far less attractions than we are used to.

MY thoughts entirely. MY thread..we got back a week ago.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3319101

 

[SusieBea]

We just got back a week ago. Here is my thread about our FP+ experience and how the trip went.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3319101

I agree with you. It's not the Magic Bands with which I have an issue; it's FP+. In addition to adhering to the "schedule," it has, as you said, created lines where they formerly were rare.

 

[edk35]

I agree with you. It's not the Magic Bands with which I have an issue; it's FP+. In addition to adhering to the "schedule," it has, as you said, created lines where they formerly were rare.

Yep......


Our best park days were at EC... we went 4 times and we actually enjoy evenings there because we like the World Showcase but MK was a different beast.

 

[DougEMG]

I just spent 5 days in a row using FP+ at MK. Originally I had all the FP+ booked between 11 and 2 in order to get more FP later on. That did work, but I found that it was just way too hot being in the parks in the afternoon. So for a couple of days I switched my FP to be evening only, from 7 pm onwards. That I liked a lot better. Now of course I don't do as many rides and I certainly don't spend as much time in the parks.got me thinking though that if I'm only sending around 4 hours in a park doing 3-5 rides only, how much would I be willing to pay for that. Without an annual pass and at least 20 plus days on it, I'm not sure the value is there.

What I hate about FP+ is that it makes it hard to repeat and having to use the kiosk for the 4th FP sucks. MDE is the slowest app I've ever come across.

WiFi in the park and at BLT was great. Way better than last night year

 

[bashuck]

But enjoyed it enough to be in the process of buying at VWL. I have no experience under the original FP system but for an annual trip where I want to ensure my 4 year old daughter gets to do all of the best stuff why would I not want to undertake the burden of 'planning' it. I can see a Floridian on an annual pass just wanting to wing it each of the 30 days they visit but when you go once or twice a year I'll happily plan every detail. With deluxe dining that was even more the case as we had table service almost every meal with character dining and rarely felt rush. There is a 'plan' and a 'good plan'. If i'm going once per year I love the opportunity to plan it out. The idea of just 'showing up' and hoping for the best sounds terrible. For our next trip hitting the parks right when they open and then relaxing at the resort from 11-4 and then knowing we will have 3 FP+ available sounds great to us.

 

[edk35]

But enjoyed it enough to be in the process of buying at VWL. I have no experience under the original FP system but for an annual trip where I want to ensure my 4 year old daughter gets to do all of the best stuff why would I not want to undertake the burden of 'planning' it. I can see a Floridian on an annual pass just wanting to wing it each of the 30 days they visit but when you go once or twice a year I'll happily plan every detail. With deluxe dining that was even more the case as we had table service almost every meal with character dining and rarely felt rush. There is a 'plan' and a 'good plan'. If i'm going once per year I love the opportunity to plan it out. The idea of just 'showing up' and hoping for the best sounds terrible. For our next trip hitting the parks right when they open and then relaxing at the resort from 11-4 and then knowing we will have 3 FP+ available sounds great to us.

You missed some good years when DISNEY was NOT ALL ABOUT PLANNING every single aspect of your trip. I just got back a week ago.... our 26th trip. We are DVC members since 2007 and all I ever worried about before FP+ was WHICH PARK to be in each day based on a website I used for years until it went out of business this past year... TOUR GUIDE MIKE. He was SPOT on with where we should go each day to avoid crowds and get the most out of our trip. I used him for years and years and other than a few ADR's that was all that we had to do. THOSE WERE the best trips ever. Those days are LONGGGGG GONE.

We used to go 2-3 times a year.... couldn't get enough but after our recent 9 day trip..... we don't have the desire to go that much any more. Love the DVC resorts and that is a good thing because GONE are the days of enjoying attractions over and over again. Even going at rope drop each day.... will not produce the same results as rope drop did before FP+

 

[Andrew015]

You missed some good years when DISNEY was NOT ALL ABOUT PLANNING every single aspect of your trip. I just got back a week ago.... our 26th trip. We are DVC members since 2007 and all I ever worried about before FP+ was WHICH PARK to be in each day based on a website I used for years until it went out of business this past year... TOUR GUIDE MIKE. He was SPOT on with where we should go each day to avoid crowds and get the most out of our trip. I used him for years and years and other than a few ADR's that was all that we had to do. THOSE WERE the best trips ever. Those days are LONGGGGG GONE.

We used to go 2-3 times a year.... couldn't get enough but after our recent 9 day trip..... we don't have the desire to go that much any more. Love the DVC resorts and that is a good thing because GONE are the days of enjoying attractions over and over again. Even going at rope drop each day.... will not produce the same results as rope drop did before FP+

You summed up what I fear to be my personal take on FP+ to a tee. I am yet to experience the results of FP+, so I will reserve full judgment until I actually do, but I can't see how it will be anything but a major step back from what we previously had. I spent nearly two hours making my selections for our upcoming fall trip, and it was an exhausting process. As you mentioned, previous trip planning only required figuring out which park to be at for a given day, and that wasn't even a necessity (some days, if we didn't have ADR's, we would simply "wing it"). Now, I am forced to not only pick what park to be at, but also, what rides I will be on at specified times. Yes, I know that FP+ is "optional", but waiting in hour+ long stand-by lines is the alternative, and that is not an acceptable option. As it stands right now, park hopping is a pain and allows you no fast passes for your second park. I understand something is "in the works" to remedy that, but unfortunately, that is no help to me as of right now.

I go on vacation to get away from regimented schedules, advanced planning and looming deadlines. This is not my idea of a Disney "vacation" as I once knew it...

 

[tjkraz]

now....if you haven't pre-planned anally in advance your not getting a FP for a popular ride....

That's just not true.

Right now...TODAY...at 11:20am...there are still FPs available for:

Space Mountain
Splash Mountain
BTMR
Soarin
Test Track
Rock N Rollercoaster
Tower of Terror
Star Tours
Everest

Pretty much EVERY attraction at Walt Disney World except Toy Story Mania and 7DMT. Same day availability.

just seems unfair. example...in the old way...if I am at rope drop and walk to the Snow white coaster to get a FP ...its first come first serve. so if I happen to choose to do that I can. then I get to ride. now...
if I didn't book 60 days out at the minute...I am left out. no FP for me

Well, I'm not sure if the 60 day thing is entirely accurate. I don't have a hotel reservation so I can only see 30 days out. My understanding is that it's that 30 day mark when 7DMT gets nearly impossible.

Nevertheless, that's one attraction out of dozens in all of Walt Disney World. Getting on-line in advance to book that one attraction doesn't seem like a terrible hardship. In my opinion, it's MUCH better than being forced to arrive at rope drop and criss-crossing the park to collect and later redeem paper FastPass tickets.

The biggest issue I have with these anti-FP+ discussions is that people seem to have this slanted opinion of what they "NEED" to do under the new system. The idea that every movement of your trip must be planned-out in advance is unequivocally false.

If I were headed to the Magic Kingdom right now, here's what I could pre-book from my laptop or smartphone for TODAY for a group of 4:

Buzz: 11:50am - 12:50pm
Space Mountain: 1:35pm - 2:35pm
BTMR: 3pm - 4pm

All very reasonable times obtained well into the park's operating day. No running around grabbing FP tickets. I selected the exact return times rather than simply taking what the machine was handing out at any given moment.

When people finally start to get over this misguided perception that they "need" to book FPs for every day of their trip weeks in advance, perhaps they will finally see the benefits this system brings to the table.

 

[edk35]

That's just not true.

Right now...TODAY...at 11:20am...there are still FPs available for:

Space Mountain
Splash Mountain
BTMR
Soarin
Test Track
Rock N Rollercoaster
Tower of Terror
Star Tours
Everest

Pretty much EVERY attraction at Walt Disney World except Toy Story Mania and 7DMT. Same day availability.





Well, I'm not sure if the 60 day thing is entirely accurate. I don't have a hotel reservation so I can only see 30 days out. My understanding is that it's that 30 day mark when 7DMT gets nearly impossible.

Nevertheless, that's one attraction out of dozens in all of Walt Disney World. Getting on-line in advance to book that one attraction doesn't seem like a terrible hardship. In my opinion, it's MUCH better than being forced to arrive at rope drop and criss-crossing the park to collect and later redeem paper FastPass tickets.

The biggest issue I have with these anti-FP+ discussions is that people seem to have this slanted opinion of what they "NEED" to do under the new system. The idea that every movement of your trip must be planned-out in advance is unequivocally false.

If I were headed to the Magic Kingdom right now, here's what I could pre-book from my laptop or smartphone for TODAY for a group of 4:

Buzz: 11:50am - 12:50pm
Space Mountain: 1:35pm - 2:35pm
BTMR: 3pm - 4pm

All very reasonable times obtained well into the park's operating day. No running around grabbing FP tickets. I selected the exact return times rather than simply taking what the machine was handing out at any given moment.

When people finally start to get over this misguided perception that they "need" to book FPs for every day of their trip weeks in advance, perhaps they will finally see the benefits this system brings to the table.

I liked being able to book the fast passes for headliners (still prefer the old way though) but having said that....DEPENDING on when in the year you are there.... will determine how long the lines will be...SOME QUITE long...... for rides that used to NEVER have long lines because THEY DIDN'T HAVE FAST PASSES.

No matter how you CUT IT....this new way does not lend itself to ride things multiple times as in years past.

 

[eliza61]

That's just not true.



Pretty much EVERY attraction at Walt Disney World except Toy Story Mania and 7DMT. Same day availability.

Well, I'm not sure if the 60 day thing is entirely accurate. I don't have a hotel reservation so I can only see 30 days out. My understanding is that it's that 30 day mark when 7DMT gets nearly impossible.

Nevertheless, that's one attraction out of dozens in all of Walt Disney World. Getting on-line in advance to book that one attraction doesn't seem like a terrible hardship. In my opinion, it's MUCH better than being forced to arrive at rope drop and criss-crossing the park to collect and later redeem paper FastPass tickets.

The biggest issue I have with these anti-FP+ discussions is that people seem to have this slanted opinion of what they "NEED" to do under the new system. The idea that every movement of your trip must be planned-out in advance is unequivocally false.



All very reasonable times obtained well into the park's operating day. No running around grabbing FP tickets. I selected the exact return times rather than simply taking what the machine was handing out at any given moment.

When people finally start to get over this misguided perception that they "need" to book FPs for every day of their trip weeks in advance, perhaps they will finally see the benefits this system brings to the table.

Totally disagree

First I don't carry a lap top too the world do last minute changes are a pain

Not sure what is "misguided" about it? It's not like I'm having some false experience planted in my brain. We went to the world last week in May and it was horrible! !
First day was Epcot. One of my nieces got sick in the morning so we wanted to change our fp plus's . First we had too stand in line at one of the kiosks as luck would have it, we were behind a women who did not speak English so she struggled even trying to explain what she wanted to do to the cm (how is this better than pulling a paper ticket, even without English one can do that). Oh goody 25 minutes to make a change ' then when we got up to the kiosks, No fp available for Soarin or test track. Space ship earth now had a 30 minute stand by wait. In 17 years of visiting the world never have we waited 30 minutes for ss earth.

Don't even get me started with the fiasco when my cousins husband joined us mid trip and we wanted to change our fp to accommodate one extra person. Pain in the $#@. Of course we could have tried to do it on line the night before but for my family one of the perks of going to the world was we could disconnect without any negative ramifications. fast pass plus almost forces you to plug in every night or walk around with your smart phone turned on

More than any thing else this new fp is a major reason we are contemplating selling our dvc. I dread trying to plan our August family reunion for 14 people because unless we tour with either a laptop strapped to some ones back or keep my smart phone in my hand we will be regimented to a set schedule.

So very distinct changes that I observe for my family.

#1. Now at least one member is literally forced to keep a smart phone turned on and loaded with mydisneyplus page loaded.

#2 No changing our minds. our flexibility boiled down to either doing the ride during the initial fp time or forgetting about it all together.

#3. Older kids and young adults totally totally lost the ability to simply "ditch" the parents to go off on their own and enjoy rides over and over. It was such an annoyance to make changes that they simply figured it was easier to just stay put.

Now my family was never one to run around the park collecting fast passes in the first place and rarely do we do rope drop. One of the joys of us having a dvc is that if we don't do a particular ride on one trip we'll be back soon enough so no biggie. If we don't do TSM every trip is wasn't a big problem.


We'll probably sell our big contract and pick up a little 50 point resale.

I hate the fp and I hate the magic band.

 

[twinklebug]

Tim, keep in mind you are there at a time that is fairly easy to find walk ons also. (I love late August for this reason)

I'm sticking with Eliza on this one. Pretty much everything she said is right on par with what we experienced over our trip this summer. FP+ has changed the wait experience quite dramatically. Sometimes for the better, often times for the worse. Planning where our feet will be at a given moment in time months out was anything but fun. This would work so much better if Disney would change the FP time selections to 1 day before one's trip. There will still be some problems with things popping up, but there will be fewer issues with people reserving times they don't use and predicting where one wants to be 3 months out, when we're still not even sure what we're making for dinner the next day.

My son is 17, and has the habit of running around on his own. The FP scheduling software seemed to intimidate him months out, so I made reservations for him, trying my best to give him the freedom he's loved as of late in WDW. On our trip I found that for the first couple of days he was miserably glued to his sister and I as we toured about. While I loved having him with us, I know the feeling was not mutual. He decided to hit single rider lines which still operate pretty much the same as they did. Eventually he learned how to schedule FP+, but grabbing those roller coaster times was hard at the time of year we went and looking for them 24 hours in advance.

Eliza, sorry to hear you're upset with the system to the point of reducing your contract. It's a very personal feeling, so I won't try to talk you out of it. I will say though that DVC to me is about the resorts themselves, not the parks. The change to the FP distribution is disturbing, but we shall adapt. However, if the parks were to close up shop I would sell as I love the feeling that the magic is a boat ride away

 

[Andrew015]

Right now...TODAY...at 11:20am...there are still FPs available for:

Space Mountain
Splash Mountain
BTMR
Soarin
Test Track
Rock N Rollercoaster
Tower of Terror
Star Tours
Everest

Pretty much EVERY attraction at Walt Disney World except Toy Story Mania and 7DMT. Same day availability.

While it's great that most of the headline attractions have same-day FP+ availability in the late morning, what are the chances of me getting to take advantage of this by the time I use my first three FP+'s (of which, only one can be a headliner)? I suspect the chances of getting to ride "everything" that we want within a given park day are slim, unless of course we want to wait in a major stand-by line.

With the old system, it was not uncommon for us to bounce from Soarin' to TT, over to Maelstrom and back over to Soarin', all with FP's in the same day. We had countless MK days in which we would ride SM or BTMR via FP several times each in one day. Now, in order for me to ride 2 headliners via FP+ in one day, I first need to use my first 3 FP+'s, two of which are for rides that probably don't even require FP's in the first place before I can think about booking another headliner. Do I seriously need a FP+ for Imagination, Turtle Talk or Small World??? I have never waited more than 20 minutes (stand-by) for any of these attractions.

I personally believe that Disney is trying to discourage people from riding the "headliners" over and over as we could in the past, and rather, is trying to disperse the crowds over to other less-popular attractions. In order to ride "all" of the headliners and take in everything that a family wants to see, this is now going to require more days in the park, which equates to more revenue for Disney.

 

[edk35]

While it's great that most of the headline attractions have same-day FP+ availability in the late morning, what are the chances of me getting to take advantage of this by the time I use my first three FP+'s (of which, only one can be a headliner)? I suspect the chances of getting to ride "everything" that we want within a given park day are slim, unless of course we want to wait in a major stand-by line.

With the old system, it was not uncommon for us to bounce from Soarin' to TT, over to Maelstrom and back over to Soarin', all with FP's in the same day. We had countless MK days in which we would ride SM or BTMR via FP several times each in one day. Now, in order for me to ride 2 headliners via FP+ in one day, I first need to use my first 3 FP+'s, two of which are for rides that probably don't even require FP's in the first place before I can think about booking another headliner. Do I seriously need a FP+ for Imagination, Turtle Talk or Small World??? I have never waited more than 20 minutes (stand-by) for any of these attractions.

I personally believe that Disney is trying to discourage people from riding the "headliners" over and over as we could in the past, and rather, is trying to disperse the crowds over to other less-popular attractions. In order to ride "all" of the headliners and take in everything that a family wants to see, this is now going to require more days in the park, which equates to more revenue for Disney.

Totally agree.

 

[Mousewerks]

I personally believe that Disney is trying to discourage people from riding the "headliners" over and over as we could in the past, and rather, is trying to disperse the crowds over to other less-popular attractions. In order to ride "all" of the headliners and take in everything that a family wants to see, this is now going to require more days in the park, which equates to more revenue for Disney.

If you were in charge of dispersing the growing crowds throughout the parks, what would you do?

My personal experience is that we got to ride everything we wanted to and still have downtime at the resort when we were there in March. This was before the extra FP+ were made available. I also managed to plan for 8 people without much of a problem (technical issues on Disney's side notwithstanding). One hangup that folks had was needing to have the exact same time for a ride but you don't have to do that. Just getting ride times within the hour works for the group to ride together.

I think the major problem that folks are having is just that Walt Disney World is getting more and more popular. Disney's advertising is working. With that many more people in the parks, a modicum of planning is necessary. Overall, I think the FP+ system is a way to allow more of the people to ride at least one headliner on their trip to a park. To the extent that it pulls a ride away from those that rode it multiple times in the past, I don't think they care about that.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

If you were in charge of dispersing the growing crowds throughout the parks, what would you do?

I'd probably do the same thing. But I just happen to think that forced dispersing also creates a bit of ill will and is a negative way to achieve a goal. Instead they might have gone the route of adding appealing attractions that did the dispersing.

That's just not true.

Right now...TODAY...at 11:20am...there are still FPs available for:

Space Mountain
Splash Mountain
BTMR
Soarin
Test Track
Rock N Rollercoaster
Tower of Terror
Star Tours
Everest

Pretty much EVERY attraction at Walt Disney World except Toy Story Mania and 7DMT. Same day availability.





Well, I'm not sure if the 60 day thing is entirely accurate. I don't have a hotel reservation so I can only see 30 days out. My understanding is that it's that 30 day mark when 7DMT gets nearly impossible.

Nevertheless, that's one attraction out of dozens in all of Walt Disney World. Getting on-line in advance to book that one attraction doesn't seem like a terrible hardship. In my opinion, it's MUCH better than being forced to arrive at rope drop and criss-crossing the park to collect and later redeem paper FastPass tickets.

The biggest issue I have with these anti-FP+ discussions is that people seem to have this slanted opinion of what they "NEED" to do under the new system. The idea that every movement of your trip must be planned-out in advance is unequivocally false.

If I were headed to the Magic Kingdom right now, here's what I could pre-book from my laptop or smartphone for TODAY for a group of 4:

Buzz: 11:50am - 12:50pm
Space Mountain: 1:35pm - 2:35pm
BTMR: 3pm - 4pm

All very reasonable times obtained well into the park's operating day. No running around grabbing FP tickets. I selected the exact return times rather than simply taking what the machine was handing out at any given moment.

When people finally start to get over this misguided perception that they "need" to book FPs for every day of their trip weeks in advance, perhaps they will finally see the benefits this system brings to the table.

Taking a late August day and implying that it is applicable for all times of the year is a touch misleading. The majority of attractions used to be close to walk on a this time and in early/mid Sept so it follows that virtually everything should still be available now. ??? In May there wasn't availability like that for Epcot nor DHS. MK is the only park IMO that this system is somewhat workable because it's the only park that has enough headliners. AK is not too bad - perhaps only because it lags behind in park attendance compared to Epcot. For Epcot and DHS this system has really exposed how few headliners they have.

I do agree that so far there isn't a need to worry about booking 60 days ahead - except for a couple of attractions. And if you want to book those then you need to do it and that also means you have to at least set up your other FP's for that day and be planning out what parks you want to go to on what particular day. We never used to do that so it's creating a level of planning for this family that is not appealing if we want to see those 7 Dwarves. In addition attractions that we do like to do a couple of times - and because we liked them we'd work around FP availability so we could minimize our time in lines are not difficult to do more than once with FP's. We're being "forced" to other attractions if we still wish to minimize waiting in line but still want to be in the parks taking in attractions. I do recognize that we also can just not go if it doesn't work for us any longer but that's a disappointing thought when we used to enjoy it so much.

 

[tjkraz]

While it's great that most of the headline attractions have same-day FP+ availability in the late morning, what are the chances of me getting to take advantage of this by the time I use my first three FP+'s (of which, only one can be a headliner)? I suspect the chances of getting to ride "everything" that we want within a given park day are slim, unless of course we want to wait in a major stand-by line.

At of 3:30pm, there are still FP+ available for most attractions: Buzz, Space, BTMR, RnR, ToT, Star Tours, Everest, Dinosaur, Kilimanjaro, etc.

I have used FP+ twice--for trips in December and March/April. And I've frequently monitored daily distribution on the MDE website. My personal observation is that FP+ availability appears to mirror FastPass availability under the old system. If FP+ attraction / ride times are being exhausted early, the same would have been true if they were still issuing paper tickets. For today, all of the ride slots are now gone for TSM, Splash, Peter Pan and a few others. Same would be true of paper tickets.

As for riding "everything", TouringPlans has repeatedly concluded that FP+ has had minimal impact on whole-day wait times and that guests could complete their "ride everything in the park" touring plans in slightly LESS time with FP+ than the legacy system.

With the old system, it was not uncommon for us to bounce from Soarin' to TT, over to Maelstrom and back over to Soarin', all with FP's in the same day.

And how many extra miles did you walk with all of that bouncing?

Walk to Soarin (all the way at the back of Land pavilion)
Get Soarin FastPass.
Leave pavilion and attempt to fill next 30-60-90-120 minutes until return time arrives.
Return and ride Soarin.
Walk to Test Track.
Get TT FastPass.

...wash, rinse, repeat...

With FP+, we found ourselves walking right on our preferred attractions with zero wait time. No criss-crossing. No more of those "gee, we have 60 minutes to kill...now what?" discussions.

We like to arrive in the parks mid-morning...usually between 10-11am. So we typically schedule our first FP for 10-11am and second for 11-12pm. With an arrival around 10:30-10:45, we can ride both FP+ attractions back-to-back with zero standby wait.

Under the old system if I'd planned to get a FP for Space at 10:30am, what would my return time be? You don't know. I don't know. The only certainty is that I wouldn't be walking-on at 10:30am.

Will you spend more time in Standby lines? Possibly. But you're eliminating most of that wasteful trudging across the theme parks and all of the uncertainty associated with ride times assigned by the FP ticket vending machine.

We had countless MK days in which we would ride SM or BTMR via FP several times each in one day. Now, in order for me to ride 2 headliners via FP+ in one day, I first need to use my first 3 FP+'s, two of which are for rides that probably don't even require FP's in the first place before I can think about booking another headliner.

That's certainly a drawback of the new system. No arguments here.

Do I seriously need a FP+ for Imagination, Turtle Talk or Small World??? I have never waited more than 20 minutes (stand-by) for any of these attractions.

No, you don't.

I personally believe that Disney is trying to discourage people from riding the "headliners" over and over as we could in the past, and rather, is trying to disperse the crowds over to other less-popular attractions.

I would wholeheartedly agree with that. Reality is each attraction only has a finite daily capacity. Not every person entering the gates of Epcot can ride both Soarin and Test Track even once in a single day....much less multiple times.

So yes, I do believe FP+ was designed to distribute those ride slots more fairly. Even if it upsets the die hards.

In order to ride "all" of the headliners and take in everything that a family wants to see, this is now going to require more days in the park, which equates to more revenue for Disney.

Like I said, I don't believe Touring Plans agrees with this. Even in 2 parks where tiering exists, you can hit every attraction by arriving at park opening and using Standby for the likes of Test Track and Rock N Rollercoaster.

No question this will change how many people tour the parks. Repeat rides are unquestionably more difficult.

But my comments were directed toward short-term and even same-day availability of FP+. Will you always be able to change ride times or attractions mid-afternoon for the same day? Of course not. But even the old FP system regularly hit capacity limits within a few hours of park opening.

 

[tjkraz]

We went to the world last week in May and it was horrible! !
First day was Epcot. One of my nieces got sick in the morning so we wanted to change our fp plus's . First we had too stand in line at one of the kiosks as luck would have it, we were behind a women who did not speak English so she struggled even trying to explain what she wanted to do to the cm (how is this better than pulling a paper ticket, even without English one can do that). Oh goody 25 minutes to make a change ' then when we got up to the kiosks, No fp available for Soarin or test track. Space ship earth now had a 30 minute stand by wait. In 17 years of visiting the world never have we waited 30 minutes for ss earth.

Not trying to sound insensitive but here are my comments:

1) Not sure what time you tried to change but if FP+ were all gone for the day, it stands to reason paper tickets would have also been gone. FP+ hasn't changed the daily capacity of any attractions....it has simply altered how reservations are distributed. And in the case of Soarin and TT, guests are limited to just one per day which should HELP availability. But when they're gone, they're gone.

2) I've most certainly seen Spaceship Earth over 30 min before FP+. Long waits were the norm by mid-morning with guests often hitting SE after they first entered the park. (Fortunately it's a fast moving line and posted standby times are almost always exaggerated.)

But realistically, moderately increased Standby lines are the trade-off for FP+. You're eliminating the time it would have previously taken to go out of your way to walk into the Land pavilion...get a Soarin paper FP...then go do other things and later RETURN to The Land when it was actually time to ride Soarin.

3) Not sure I would let one experience with a non-English-speaking guest taint my overall impression.

Don't even get me started with the fiasco when my cousins husband joined us mid trip and we wanted to change our fp to accommodate one extra person. Pain in the $#@. Of course we could have tried to do it on line the night before but for my family one of the perks of going to the world was we could disconnect without any negative ramifications. fast pass plus almost forces you to plug in every night or walk around with your smart phone turned on

The MyDisneyExperience website and mobile app both have a copy function for FastPasses. Tap the guest name who already has reservations...tap the guest to whom you wish to copy...tap confirm. Done.

I'm just not sure where the disconnect lies between your experience and my own. In my case, I planned all of our FPs before departing and only used the app on the rare occasion when I needed to make a change.

Even if you don't want to pre-plan, you're just choosing ride times for one park at a time. Three attractions. Do it the night before...while eating breakfast...while riding the bus...whatever fits best.

I've been to the parks often enough to know what our family enjoys, the manner in which we usually tour, estimated arrival times and so on. If I were planning day-by-day, it would take me less than 5 minutes per day to make our FP+ elections.

YMMV

 

[tjkraz]

I do agree that so far there isn't a need to worry about booking 60 days ahead - except for a couple of attractions. And if you want to book those then you need to do it and that also means you have to at least set up your other FP's for that day and be planning out what parks you want to go to on what particular day. We never used to do that so it's creating a level of planning for this family that is not appealing if we want to see those 7 Dwarves.

And on that point, I'd argue that there are just as many people who did not appreciate the need to arrive at rope drop...jog to the back of the park...wait in a 20 minute FP line...and then face a complete uncertain return time. With the legacy system, that was the norm for Toy Story Mania and it would undoubtedly be true for 7DMT today.

Not to mention the 4 hour standby times for Anna & Elsa.

That's a personal preference issue...which is the lesser of two evils: the rope drop FP march or reserving 60 days in advance? Neither is perfect and while you could probably guess which side I come down on, I can understand why some prefer the other method.

Still, what I'm trying to address is the perception that 60 day advance planning is necessary. Just not true. It's probably worthwhile to plan around TSM, 7DMT and Anna & Elsa. But that's 2 parks--2 days--worth of activities. For other parks & rides...wait until the night before to schedule.