Josh is the voice of reason on FP+

[MichiganDVC]

It seems like you are having trouble understanding that there really are families out there different than yours. Shocking, I know. There really are people out there who want to see everything when they visit (sometimes multiple times) because they do not get to go multiple times a year, every year, every second year, or even more than once in their lifetime. They really do exist, I promise.

Those zero ride trips you speak of are absolutely not the norm for most people.

I am simply giving my example of my family when I was a child, what I know from my sister's family trips to WDW with her kids and my current touring style as an adult. Agreed that zero ride trips are not the norm (it was Food and Wine), but the point was that not every day and every hour for everybody needs to be dedicated to being on a ride. There are times and places within the World can be enjoyed without being on a ride.

It isn't a hard concept to grasp. Some people like to ride rides and sometimes *gasp* even more than once.

And at the idea of taking my 17 year old six foot son to the bathroom and spanking him if he dares to disagrees with me.

I think the "how old is too old for my son to be in the women's bathroom" is a different thread.

 

[skater]

Um, isn't "vacation" spending time with your family or whomever you're with?

I know what you're saying...you don't want to "do nothing" while at a park, but I'm always curious about people who lament "doing nothing" at Disney while arguing that their next trip will be at the beach.

Personally, I have spent entire trips at WDW where I went on zero rides. Each trip is different for me. Yes, I am an adult. And yes, I know that kids want different things. And I'm also pretty sure that when I was ages 2+ and went to Disney every summer (before FP!) my parents would tell me "NO" when I wanted to ride something again if there was a long line. And if I had a meltdown, I would be taken into the bathroom and summarily spanked. My parents weren't harsh or abusive...they just had this concept that if they said, "No" that I was supposed to listen and oblige.

As a 25+ visitor in my 35 years of life, I don't feel like any of the magic was spoiled by not riding "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride" 15 times in a row when I was 8 years old. But that's just me...

Honestly, I'm having a hard time understanding what being a bad parent who can't say no has to do with the desire to ride a favorite attraction more than once.

We enjoyed several years where we had complete freedom in Disney. We all enjoyed riding Soarin' 4 times if we chose to. Or maybe hopping from Epcot after using a couple fp's there and still being able to snag a couple at MK. Nobody in my family is throwing a fit, but I can't say its thrilling to pay more money for less than we used to have.

I also can't get the connection between Disney and the beach. We go to the beach to enjoy some laying around doing nothing time. We go to Disney to run around and enjoy lots of attractions together. Walking past SE because the lines which used to be non-existent are now long is simply less than what we used to have.

Now, I do enjoy some aspects of fp+. I like the magic bands. And I like having scheduled fp's for my arrival day. But I would trade all of that for the flexibility I used to have.

 

[Sammie]

I love Josh's site and would expect no less from him to give a well thought out, non-emotional, review.

Funny, though that others on here have done the same thing, and they were accused of drinking the Disney Kool-aid.

 

[Angel Ariel]

The more pressing question for Disney isn't you (general you) maximizing your ride count or keeping it where it was last trip. I think they are looking at the average attraction count of all guests and trying to push the extremes into the fat middle. I would wager your experience that day was on the high end of the ride count while some other people are on the low end. If your ride count goes down and theirs goes up Disney has succeeded at their goals. The people already in the fat middle will very likely not be affected and the fat middle, by definition, is the majority.

Everyone had the same opportunity to have a similar day to the one I had We didn't employ any complicated touring strategies or schedules, FPs didn't run out for headliners in the morning (not til mid-late afternoon/early evening, IIRC). Maybe we were an "extreme" that day, I don't know, but not because we did anything extreme to make it that way. Before your post, I would have said we were average guests that day as we didn't go out of our way to maximize anything.

 

[dsw13]

I'm not much of a thrill seeker but I love Universal. That aside, I do agree that riding certain things multiple times is part of the fun. I'll be VERY interested in what happens to the lines at Star Tours since that ride is one of the few reasons we even bother with DHS. I hadn't even thought about that.

I was at DHS on Sunday, which still had legacy FP in conjunction with FP+. We rode Star Tours with FP+ at about 4:45. The posted standby wait at that time was 20 minutes and the standby line extended into the first room. We went back around 7:00 and, although the posted standby wait was still 20 minutes, we walked right on. I'd be surprised if the removal of legacy FPS would make things worse.

We were at WDW this weekend (MK on Sat. DHS on Sun. and Epcot for late morning/early afternoon on Mon.) Overall, I thought the standby lines at MK moved more quickly with only the FP+ system in place than DHS or Epcot with both systems going at once. Also, I don't recall if was was in this thread or in the replies to Josh's blog, having been at MK the same day as Josh (Saturday), I did not find that the posted standby times were under exaggerated (at least for the most part). We rode PP some time between 9:45 and 10:15 with a posted wait of 20 minutes and only waited about 15. We rode Under the Sea right after with a posted time of 20 minutes and walked right on. In the early evening, Under the Sea had a posted time of 25 minutes and it took about 15. Finally, after lunch, Buzz Lightyear had a 30 minute posted wait, and it took about 25.

 

[morethananyonex]

I am simply giving my example of my family when I was a child, what I know from my sister's family trips to WDW with her kids and my current touring style as an adult. Agreed that zero ride trips are not the norm (it was Food and Wine), but the point was that not every day and every hour for everybody needs to be dedicated to being on a ride. There are times and places within the World can be enjoyed without being on a ride.

I totally agree with you that there are many things that are enjoyable within Disney that are not attractions.

However, that isn't the case for everyone. There are families who do not vacation to WDW often, or even more than once, and for those types of families it is absolutely important to them that they see everything they possibly can. They don't have the luxury of returning next year to see it. There is nothing wrong with being disappointed if you miss a ride, just as there is nothing wrong with not being disappointed if you miss one.

I take exception to the attitude that people are overreacting if they are upset that they don't get to ride everything they could have in the past. These changes hit some families harder than others. It is not helpful when people get all "well go to Universal instead", I do know that was not you.

 

[JanaDee]

So you are not going back?

NM means never mind. There will always be people that continue to visit, no matter what Disney does. Those are the people that Disney loves. My family is not one of them.

But to answer your question, no, we don't plan on visiting WDW unless something drastically changes there regarding FP+.

 

[MichiganDVC]

Walking past SE because the lines which used to be non-existent are now long is simply less than what we used to have.

Does anyone know how long the queue has been up at Spaceship Earth? I think I remember that snaking line to the left of the entrance for at least a decade if not longer. Please correct me if the line is new.

But since I don't think it is, one can assume that those likes ARE existent. Maybe just not in early December or at Rope Drop or during Illuminations. But obviously they have the corral for a reason...

 

[rteetz]

NM means never mind. There will always be people that continue to visit, no matter what Disney does. Those are the people that Disney loves. My family is not one of them. But to answer your question, no, we don't plan on visiting WDW unless something drastically changes there regarding FP+.

well nothing drastic is going to change so have fun going else where. There will be changes made as time goes on but your not going to see crazy changes anymore to FP+.

 

[skilesare]

Nothing will beat the good old days of getting there at rope drop, riding the headline attractions (several times), collecting fast passes until around 1pm, heading to the room for a break, and then heading back and using all those collected fastpasses you on the headliners again. Oh, and then staying late in the night so you could ride the same ride over and over again without any wait. Ahhh, glory days.

What if you were able to get there at rope drop, ride the headline attractions (several times), not collect fastpasses because you already have made the reservations the night before on your phone, head to the room for a break at 1 and then head back to use your FP+ on the headliners again. And then stay late into the night and ride the same ride over and over without any wait.

How many FP- could you collect between 9-1 before? 4?

 

[rteetz]

Does anyone know how long the queue has been up at Spaceship Earth? I think I remember that snaking line to the left of the entrance for at least a decade if not longer. Please correct me if the line is new. But since I don't think it is, one can assume that those likes ARE existent. Maybe just not in early December or at Rope Drop or during Illuminations. But obviously they have the corral for a reason...

I think it's been there for a while I don't think it's new

 

[Angel Ariel]

What if you were able to get there at rope drop, ride the headline attractions (several times), not collect fastpasses because you already have made the reservations the night before on your phone, head to the room for a break at 1 and then head back to use your FP+ on the headliners again. And then stay late into the night and ride the same ride over and over without any wait.

How many FP- could you collect between 9-1 before? 4?

We held 3 w/i 5 mins of entering the park last March (probably aroudn 930 or so) 1 for Mickey (disconnected), 1 for Dumbo (was a bonus given when we got Mickey), and 1 for the Princesses with an 11am return time. At 11, we were able to get Buzz or Space (can't remember which), which was only 30mins or so out, at which point we could get another...so that's already 5 by noon...

 

[JanaDee]

well nothing drastic is going to change so have fun going else where. There will be changes made as time goes on but your not going to see crazy changes anymore to FP+.

We will, thanks. It always cracks me up when people seem to believe Disney is the only vacation destination in the world.

 

[skater]

Does anyone know how long the queue has been up at Spaceship Earth? I think I remember that snaking line to the left of the entrance for at least a decade if not longer. Please correct me if the line is new.

But since I don't think it is, one can assume that those likes ARE existent. Maybe just not in early December or at Rope Drop or during Illuminations. But obviously they have the corral for a reason...

I know that there can be lines there. But my normal wait has been 5 minutes or less. My experience in October was that SE and several other attractions had much longer lines than I am used to seeing. It is possible that this will get better when the dust clears. I'm going back in Feb. It will be interesting to see how this ends up.

 

[rteetz]

We will, thanks. It always cracks me up when people seem to believe Disney is the only vacation destination in the world.

well it's not the only place in the world but it definitely is pretty much the only place we ever go. And we will continue to go no matter the situation with FP.

 

[glamdring269]

I love Josh's site and would expect no less from him to give a well thought out, non-emotional, review.

Funny, though that others on here have done the same thing, and they were accused of drinking the Disney Kool-aid.

I think MK is the exception. It's not very hard to be effective at MK if you just show up at rope drop and have a plan in place. Many will be unable to be as efficient as Josh as well.

Let's see how well FP+ works at a place like DHS with tiering in place at peak times. I imagine you head straight to TSMM at rope drop and maybe ride it twice (3x if lucky), head back and ride ToT and RnR until it's FP+ time and then you're basically screwed the rest of the day. Just my guess.

 

[declansdad]

I'll be honest. I prefer the old way. We like being able to re-ride without waiting in long lines so the old way worked very well for us.

With that said, I'll get on board with the new way as soon as they cave on the only one park per day. It should be 3 FP+ per park each day. That way those folks who pay for park hopper are getting full benefit.

Or they could end up adding a 2nd tier of Park Hopper. Park Hopper Standard (current hopper) and Park Hopper + (FP+ at multiple parks). I would very likely pay for that.

How were you able to re-ride without waiting during peak times?

 

[rteetz]

I think MK is the exception. It's not very hard to be effective at MK if you just show up at rope drop and have a plan in place. Let's see how well FP+ works at a place like DHS with tiering at peak. I imagine you head straight to TSMM at rope drop and maybe ride it twice (3x if lucky), head back and ride ToT and RnR until it's FP+ time and then you're basically screwed the rest of the day. Just my guess.

I agree with you especially when crowds build during peak times like spring break.

 

[declansdad]

NM means never mind. There will always be people that continue to visit, no matter what Disney does. Those are the people that Disney loves. My family is not one of them.

But to answer your question, no, we don't plan on visiting WDW unless something drastically changes there regarding FP+.

Sorry I thought you were answering Not Me.

Curious, have you tried the new system yet?

 

[morethananyonex]

I think MK is the exception. It's not very hard to be effective at MK if you just show up at rope drop and have a plan in place. Many will be unable to be as efficient as Josh as well.

Let's see how well FP+ works at a place like DHS with tiering at peak. I imagine you head straight to TSMM at rope drop and maybe ride it twice (3x if lucky), head back and ride ToT and RnR until it's FP+ time and then you're basically screwed the rest of the day. Just my guess.

IMO it's the opposite.

There are just so many attractions at MK it's hard to get everything done even with RD and FP+. The other parks are easy with RD, even with tiering, assuming you can make it there early enough. At DHS you can reserve 2 out of the 3 rides that draw bigger lines, leaving one for RD. At Epcot you can reserve 1 out of the 2 rides that draw big lines, leaving the other for RD. It gets complicated when you want to re-ride or can't make RD, but that is true for every park now thanks to FP+.