Is anyone getting as turned off as I am?

[Josh Hendy]

This is funny. I thought Disney's intent was to have people in shopping or eating while they waited for their FP. It's so aggravating, I truly want to shop at Disney but every store has carries the same stuff.

Maybe Disney should've built more attractions and worked on their merchandise before implementing FP+.

This may be the problem - a bunch of beancounters with their heads buried in spreadsheets in the finance department and a bunch of computer geeks with their heads buried in computer flowcharts and programming code teamed up and decided that by manipulating numbers and tying this database to that database and linking this credit card to that wristband, that somehow the human beings visiting in the parks would change their planning, touring, eating and shopping behavior "just so" and would open up their wallets by a precisely determined amount. ($11 per visitor per day if I recall correctly)

Walt used to walk into the park, line up and buy a hotdog, and sit on a bench and watch very carefully what people were doing, what they were talking about, what they were buying and even where they were tossing their trash. You can't make a spreadsheet or a flowchart for that, but obviously (?) you're going to get 100 times more insight into people's behavior from real experience than from manipulating hypothetical numbers and a lot of little rectangles and arrows on a computer.

 

[Mkrop]

You won't know till the day of if you're guaranteed good weather. But really, it's so rare for it to rain all day, that we never worry about it. We watch for tropical storms because those can be different, but those you know about way in advance. Out of 7 days, you're going to get more than 2 nice days so that's really not a huge concern.







I didn't suggest getting in long standby lines. Believe it or not, there are other things to do in every park besides get on "rides".


You may be right- if ALL you want to do is get on "rides".



.

Have you gone in Dec, you can have many days where the pool is not an option or the weather changes day to day.

And yes we go for the RIDES, we dont go to snack, shop and only want to occasionally people watch. All of those things I can do at my local mall, I cant ride WDW rides anywhere else.

I was wondering if you ever did Disney World without FPs. You stated you relied on FP to make your trips enjoyable. Just wonder if you did any trips before FP, and if you found them not enjoyable. Did being able to use FP really make or break your trips? I liked the system, don't get me wrong. But I had a great time in the parks before FP and I will have a great time (and have twice already) using FP+. I find it a bit sad that someone's good time at WDW is tied to one system. I would hope that you could find something to love about WDW, FP, FP+, or no FP system.

You didnt ask me directly but I will say it, DH and I went prior to FP and we swore never ever again. We did not enjoy it all, too long lines. We researched when DS#1 was 4, read up on FP and fell in love with the place and the ease of touring. And from there we have been back a lot and bought DVC.

 

[clsteve]

This may be the problem - a bunch of beancounters with their heads buried in spreadsheets in the finance department and a bunch of computer geeks with their heads buried in computer flowcharts and programming code teamed up and decided that by manipulating numbers and tying this database to that database and linking this credit card to that wristband, that somehow the human beings visiting in the parks would change their planning, touring, eating and shopping behavior "just so" and would open up their wallets by a precisely determined amount. ($11 per visitor per day if I recall correctly)

Walt used to walk into the park, line up and buy a hotdog, and sit on a bench and watch very carefully what people were doing, what they were talking about, what they were buying and even where they were tossing their trash. You can't make a spreadsheet or a flowchart for that, but obviously (?) you're going to get 100 times more insight into people's behavior from real experience than from manipulating hypothetical numbers and a lot of little rectangles and arrows on a computer.

Humans are the hardest herd on the planet to control, by a large margin - worse than cats

Time and space get in the way and we're in a different world now, but how much fun would it have been to watch Walt in that board meeting when Accenture (allegedly) pitched NextGen/MM+ for the first time

I'm never one to bring up the ghost of Walt. But when they were about on the 150th PowerPoint slide showing how they could get guests to spend more time and money in the park without providing any additional value while also decreasing CM headcount ---

And then when he asked about the price tag ------

Well, I just think we would have seen a different side of him than I was used to seeing on Sundays during the Wonderful World of Disney....

 

[Suvadoo]

 

[cakebaker]

Have you gone in Dec, you can have many days where the pool is not an option or the weather changes day to day.

Yes. Spent 2 weeks from the week before Christmas thru New Years Day. December is not a very good time for water parks any day of the week. There wasn't a single day we were there when temps were warm enough, nevermind the rain. We wouldn't even attempt a water park that time of year. It's much to high a chance that weather will be awful.

And yes we go for the RIDES, we dont go to snack, shop and only want to occasionally people watch. All of those things I can do at my local mall, I cant ride WDW rides anywhere else.

I didn't say you would go to Disney for all these, but they are things to do that are enjoyable and better than standing waiting for time to pass- there are shows, stage and street. There are rides like Hall of Presidents that rarely has a line. But if nothing interests you but rides, there's going to be times you have nothing to do.

You didnt ask me directly but I will say it, DH and I went prior to FP and we swore never ever again. We did not enjoy it all, too long lines. We researched when DS#1 was 4, read up on FP and fell in love with the place and the ease of touring. And from there we have been back a lot and bought DVC.

I'm not getting into a contest over who does Disney more. It's completely beside the point.

The point being, FP+ is here to stay. You can either rail against it or figure out how to work it where it works the best it can for you. Being a DVC member, you don't really have the choice of just not going. Disney already has your money.

There are all kinds of scenarios where fp+ won't work well, just as there are all kinds of scenarios where legacy didn't work well. That one is better than the other is determined completely by each individual family's style of touring.

You're not stupid because you don't like it, and I'm not bitten by pixie dust because I do. I just think that since it's here, just like we did with legacy, learn to use it as best you can.....or don't. But it's not going away. There are ways to minimize the problems people have with it, but if all you want to do is complain about it rather than change what you need to change to make it work, then there's not much anyone can do.

 

[Cyrano]

Time to put this thread to bed