Is it just me?

[BrokeMack]

FastPass+

-not-

MagicBands

Both of which were rolled out as part of the same program but fine, for the sake of being pedantic, change mb to fp+ when you read my post and continue.

 

[wisblue]

I can tell you that any company that makes such a sizable capital investment and is as adept at social marketing as Disney would establish as part of that project a team of marketing interns who's sole purpose in life is to seed social media with positive comments.

Then, wouldn't it stand to reason that any major competitor of such a company would also have a team of marketing interns whose sole purpose in life is to seed social media with negative comments?

In other words, it's good to take everything you read on forums like this with a healthy helping of salt because you never know the agenda of whoever is posting.

 

[Laketravis]

Then, wouldn't it stand to reason that any major competitor of such a company would also have a team of marketing interns whose sole purpose in life is to seed social media with negative comments?

In other words, it's good to take everything you read on forums like this with a healthy helping of salt because you never know the agenda of whoever is posting.

I'm not suggesting that less-than-moral companies wouldn't practice what you mention, but I think there is a huge value difference between one company that would crank out happy thoughts about it's organization or programs and another company that would launch negative comments against a competitor.

While the first would be considered professionally acceptable, the second is most definitely not. I don't believe that Universal/Comcast minions (pun intended) would post less than flattering information about WDW any more than I think WDW would do the same about Universal.

In fact, the social media campaigns that I have seen "encourage the public posting and promotion of positive claims and statements" while specifically prohibiting any competitive negativity.

 

[BrokeMack]

Netflix had this problem when they allowed user reviews. The director's brother or someone would write a five star review when all the others were like one star. Amazon has the opposite problem with competitors hiring people to write bad reviews. There was a lawsuit settled recently over it. I will refer to my first post: you hear from the extremes more than the middle (just like politics).

 

[sonofanarchy]

My two cents?

After your other thread about not going back (after you get this next trip in ), you have the nerve to call out others for being "too Giddy"? Now that's funny.

What's funny about it?

I love the ROTFL emoticons. They so eloquently express the frustration a poster feels who can't think of anything witty to say.

 

[sonofanarchy]

What category does this fall into "Theme Parks Attractions and Stratagies"

Or is this a stab on something you don't like so your trying to convince others not to like it.

Why would I do that? Would it help change anyone's mind? And would that convince Disney to change theirs? If so, I truly had no idea I was so persuasive.

In that case, everybody reading this PM me for my paypal address and send me $50!!!

 

[sonofanarchy]

Netflix had this problem when they allowed user reviews. The director's brother or someone would write a five star review when all the others were like one star. Amazon has the opposite problem with competitors hiring people to write bad reviews. There was a lawsuit settled recently over it. I will refer to my first post: you hear from the extremes more than the middle (just like politics).

Makes sense.

 

[Postal68]

Or do the proponents for FP+ who are sharing their experience seem unbelievably giddy about it? Those that don't like it seem to admit that if certain parts were run differently it could be ok. I guess what I am trying to say is it seems as if the proponents are trying awfully hard to prove those whose opinion differs woefully wrong.

Just my 2 cents.

Yep,

don't worry, when it is put into full effect and they can only ride 1, maybe 2 E Ticket attractions a day they will be some of the people that will be crying the most because they are going to be blind sided since they think it works so great.


Standby lines are going to grow and move slower. FP will be unavailable on the day of visit and because they are all booked months in advance there will be no time to change your FP's to, even though that's what Disney is touting as a major benefit of FP+.

 

[Postal68]

Not sticking up for Disney, but that's just not true.

uh, yeah, it is

 

[nansmama]

I wouldn't say I was "giddy" but we had absolutely no problem with FP+ and it actually benefits our style of touring. So yeah, I am pretty happy about the changes.

 

[bumbershoot]

I don't think that is the appropriate place to voice your opinion if your goal is for the creators of it to listen and change. That is where you want to voice a negative opinion to make others feel negatively towards the whole thing. Like this whole website. Let people have their own experiences. Disney has phone numbers and email addresses if you want to voice a complaint.

However there end up being NO place to give real criticism, because by giving them thoughts and ideas you are submitting those things, an they don't accept such things. So it's only down to surveys. Which are haphazardly given.

Really, the blog would be a great place for them to learn from, but they have veto power. We can hope they read them even when they don't allow others to do so.

 

[staceymay00]

Personally I have noticed more "unbelievably" negative posts. Am I giddy about FP+? No, but we did like it. And no, we did not double dip. We could have double dipped...triple dipped, actually, since we had KTTW cards and APs..but we didn't. We had no need, really, since FP+ met our wants and needs. Everyone is different and I have no problem that some don't like it. We are all free to spend our money at different theme parks or other destinations if we so wish.

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[The Hub]

Yep,

don't worry, when it is put into full effect and they can only ride 1, maybe 2 E Ticket attractions a day they will be some of the people that will be crying the most because they are going to be blind sided since they think it works so great.


Standby lines are going to grow and move slower. FP will be unavailable on the day of visit and because they are all booked months in advance there will be no time to change your FP's to, even though that's what Disney is touting as a major benefit of FP+.

Sending more guests through standby would probably not have a drastic increase in the wait time. If anything, 5 minutes at minor attractions and 10 minutes at the headliners. The standby wait times, at this time, are affected moreso by the amount of FastPasses that are distributed. The reason being, we have to do ratios when at FP Merge.

We have three phases. Not all attractions are the same, but most have the same ratios. Phase 1 is usually for every 1 guest from standby, send 4 guests from FastPass. Phase 2 is for every 1 guest from standby, send 4 guests from FastPass, then send an additional ten guests from FastPass. Phase 3, which has been much more common due to MagicBands creating a backup at FP Return is 1:4, add a zero. We usually send 10 guests from standby and 100 guests from FastPass.

If it is a busy day in terms of FastPass Distribution, the coordinators will add FP Merge Point 2 to the rotation and possibly FP Return 2 to help out. If it is very busy, we will usually have a coordinator at FP Merge helping everything out and keeping the line moving.

Another thing that affects wait times would be ride stops, faults, intrusions and downtime that doesn't require an evacuation. Some days, some rides just keep stopping. Most ride stops are caused by one of two things: assisting a guest with a disability board or just a guest crossing a control line, being unsafe or acting stupid. We have seen everything and each day, something new gets added to "everything." Some days, Cast Members are just happy with their handpack remotes or at the load consoles and like to do a lot of ride stops and station stops.

Faults can be anything and each ride has their own common faults. Some faults can include turntables (Spaceship Earth and Peoplemover have a lot of these) vehicles not coming in properly straight at omnimovers, and plenty of other ones. Each type of ride has their own faults.

Intrusions are usually from guests exiting ride vehicles, but there are multiple types of intrusions. There are pressure sensitive mats, infrared beams, cameras, black/yellow lines and more. With the exception of the black/yellow lines, all other ones will cause an automatic emergency stop.

Most ride problems that cause a downtime will require an evacuation, but not all will. If it is a problem that only maintenance can fix, the attraction will have minor downtime until maintenance gets there and usually will be fixed within 2 minutes. If this happens, Cast Members will still allow guests into the line, but the wait time clock will disappear and it will read as Temporarily Unavailable on your My Disney Experience app. In this case, your FastPass+ may or may not be able to be used later in the day or at another attraction, depending on if you get an email or not. As this downtime would not require an evacuation, your paper FastPass will still only be valid during this timeframe.


On to your next point, a percentage of FastPass+'s will unlock within 5 minutes of the official park open time for same day FastPass+ reservations. They will not read available and can show completely booked 10 minutes before park open, but once it opens, they will magically appear. Same day changes will still be based on availability.

 

[vdoucet78]

Or do the proponents for FP+ who are sharing their experience seem unbelievably giddy about it? Those that don't like it seem to admit that if certain parts were run differently it could be ok. I guess what I am trying to say is it seems as if the proponents are trying awfully hard to prove those whose opinion differs woefully wrong. Just my 2 cents.

We liked FP+, I wouldn't say giddy but we prefer it to the old system. We booked before tiering was instituted and we don't visit during peak seasons so that could be part of why it worked well for us. It had a few issues for us, but for the most part we liked it a lot. Everyone is different though, and what works well for some doesn't work at all for others. It made our vacation more relaxing, we slept in a few times for the first time ever on a Disney trip knowing our FP for the afternoon were taken care of. We have some rides we like to ride more than once, but we had multiple days in each park so it worked ok for us. A lot of things we only did once and were fine with that. On an 11 day trip, we only pulled paper fastpasses once.

 

[Mousemommy1]

I am neither "unbelievably giddy" about it, nor am I extremely negative about it. I haven't used the system yet. I do think there will be some positives for my family and the way we tour, but I will reserve judgement for after we've actually used it.

I think the negative threads about FP+ far outweigh the positive on this planning thread and it appears to be the same 9-10 posters rehashing the same criticsms over and over again, leading to epic length threads.

The positive FP+ threads rarely make it past one page, because people like to dwell on the negative for some reason, IMHO.

If you read some just back reports on trip reports or resorts board, you will see a lot of "we used MB, FP+, it was fine"...and the person moves on to other topics. Not exactly "unbelievably giddy" in my eyes.

But, it will work for some and not for others....just like everything else. That's what it comes down to.

 

[beer dave]

I am neither "unbelievably giddy" about it, nor am I extremely negative about it. I haven't used the system yet. I do think there will be some positives for my family and the way we tour, but I will reserve judgement for after we've actually used it.

I think the negative threads about FP+ far outweigh the positive on this planning thread and it appears to be the same 9-10 posters rehashing the same criticsms over and over again, leading to epic length threads.

The positive FP+ threads rarely make it past one page, because people like to dwell on the negative for some reason, IMHO.

If you read some just back reports on trip reports or resorts board, you will see a lot of "we used MB, FP+, it was fine"...and the person moves on to other topics. Not exactly "unbelievably giddy" in my eyes.

But, it will work for some and not for others....just like everything else. That's what it comes down to.

Agreed. If someone would look for the reasonably positive threads and comments, one could find them.

 

[sonofanarchy]

I'm not very good at times with articulating myself. Let me try it another way:

Some of the posts I have seen that have been incredibly positive about MB and FP+ are just odd to me. I'm not saying the system isn't working well for those people. By all means, it probably is, and I HOPE it is, as I hope it will work for me in July. But here's the thing - Some (not all) of these posts have been claiming that BECAUSE of MB and FP+ it was their best Disney vacation ever. It was their smoothest ever. It was the easiest ever. This all, I don't get. I simply don't buy that any of that is attributed to either MB or FP+:

-Is it easier being forced to plan what rides you want to do at specific times 60 days in advance?

-Is it really that much easier to use your wrist to open your door, get into the park and charge purchases than it is to swipe a tiny card? Enough so that it made your vacation the best ever?

I just don't buy it. These comments sound like they're directly from Disney's marketing department, or from someone who refuses to say anything bad about Disney.

Again, I'm not saying the MB and FP+ are not working for anyone. But to start a thread claiming how they enhanced their vacation just doesn't make sense to me.

 

[AmyB2006]

On to your next point, a percentage of FastPass+'s will unlock within 5 minutes of the official park open time for same day FastPass+ reservations. They will not read available and can show completely booked 10 minutes before park open, but once it opens, they will magically appear. Same day changes will still be based on availability.

Thank you for confirming this. If Disney wants people to book the day of, it would seem like this would have to happen. Glad to know that there will be open slots, the day of.

As usual, thank you for your helpful information

 

[AmyB2006]

Some (not all) of these posts have been claiming that BECAUSE of MB and FP+ it was their best Disney vacation ever. It was their smoothest ever. It was the easiest ever. This all, I don't get. I simply don't buy that any of that is attributed to either MB or FP+:

-Is it easier being forced to plan what rides you want to do at specific times 60 days in advance?

Well, I'm not one that has started any of these threads, but I can tell you that our last October trip, was our smoothest ever. My family loved being able to "show up" at a ride and get on with little to no wait.

But, we never really used the old FP system that much. Which I think makes a huge difference with regards to FP+, of whether you're going to like it or not.

If we showed up to TT and the standby line was long, we'd look to see if there were FPs left, if not, we moved on. If there were, we'd grab one and come back.

This time, whenever our FP+ was scheduled for, we walked up, got in the FP return line and got on. They loved that aspect of it.

As far as easier to open doors, pay, enter the park with the band... Sure it's easier. I liked not having to dig out 4 cards, making sure I got them all back and safely put away. It was mildly easier than swiping a tiny card.

As far as the planning aspect, I love to plan. I'm kind of an over planner. So that didn't bother me.

So I don't think one thing more than another made it a smoother vacation than before. I think all of it combined made it smoother.

My DH hates Disney. I'll say it. He hates it. MK mostly. He tolerates the rest, for me and the kids. He actually uttered the words, "This time it wasn't so bad", on our last vacation. LOL

We leave in 2 days to head up there again, and I hope it goes just as smoothly.

But, not a fan of the tiered attractions. All of our FP+ for this trip in a few days were booked before tiers. So once we have to take a trip with that, I don't think I'll be as happy. And I'll admit in the beginning, I was a big proponent of this whole system. I still am. But not the tiered attractions.

 

[Mousemommy1]

I'm not very good at times with articulating myself. Let me try it another way:

Some of the posts I have seen that have been incredibly positive about MB and FP+ are just odd to me. I'm not saying the system isn't working well for those people. By all means, it probably is, and I HOPE it is, as I hope it will work for me in July. But here's the thing - Some (not all) of these posts have been claiming that BECAUSE of MB and FP+ it was their best Disney vacation ever. It was their smoothest ever. It was the easiest ever. This all, I don't get. I simply don't buy that any of that is attributed to either MB or FP+:

-Is it easier being forced to plan what rides you want to do at specific times 60 days in advance?

-Is it really that much easier to use your wrist to open your door, get into the park and charge purchases than it is to swipe a tiny card? Enough so that it made your vacation the best ever?

I just don't buy it. These comments sound like they're directly from Disney's marketing department, or from someone who refuses to say anything bad about Disney.

Again, I'm not saying the MB and FP+ are not working for anyone. But to start a thread claiming how they enhanced their vacation just doesn't make sense to me.

Again, different strokes for different folks, so maybe the MB and FP+ did enhance someone's vacation. Why is that so hard to believe? Unless you've already decided that it's horrible and it won't work, which (no offense) it sounds like you've done.

I think it's just as likely that someone would post their positive experience especially because there are so many negative ones that they may have read ahead of time and then went on their trip and found the experience to actually be positive?

OP, I honestly, truly hope that the MB/FP+ issue is not the disaster you think it will be be. And I hope you have a fantastic trip!