We were sort of neutral about it. IMO, using peripheral hours is just as useful as ever. Not sure why anyone is saying otherwise. then again, I've long felt late night hours are far more useful and relaxing than rope drop.
Previously, I felt like we had the the old fp system down pretty well. I have rarely waited more than 20mintes to ride anything in quite some time.
That said, under old FP, we almost never got more than 3fp in Epcot, HS, or AK. Once in rare while we got multiple fp for one attraction. So most of the impact is felt in MK.
Most of the time, under old FP by my calculations, it was not worth using a fp if the line was 20min or less.
The benefit of new fp is that you walk into the park already having fp, unless you are one of the folks who have to obtain them in the kiosk lines. I could see where those are a pain.
So for us, the trade off we felt was that in MK we had to use standby lines more than we once did. I think we still came out ahead, but before we used to send one person to get the fp for the group, and now the group had to stand in the queue. But again, it was namely only in MK- so considering the time savings in the other three parks, we probably came out a little ahead.
I did like using the new band to access our room. If you come back to your room with your hands full, it's nice to have the band.
although the card readers slow the queue down a tad at EMH, it nearly balances out by folks not having to dig out their card. Once WDW adds a few more card readers, that will balance out.
One thing the freaked folks out, was the card readers at the attractions. Instead of a line forming inside the attraction, the FP line forms OUTSIDE the attraction. (band has to be read to enter the FP queue) Like we saw a line at Buzz, that stretched back past Monsters INC. Folks were freaking out, but it actually moved pretty quickly. WE were there ona pretty busy weekend.
WDW will have to adjust for that, or get more /faster card readers.
So overall, it was kind of neutral. The only other trouble we had was that I was unable to make day-of-use changes using my smart phone. (I could make changes before w were at WDW, just not same day) If I wanted to make changes, my option was the kiosk in the park. I didn't think it worth the time spent in line, so we kept our original fp.
If WDW adds more than 3 fp per day, it will be a benefit. I suppose we also did not like the e-ride limitation of fp+. I would have picked a fp for both RnRC and TSM.
Probably this new system is a bit more fairly spread. newbies probably get a benefit, and onsite guests currently get a benefit.
