Josh is the voice of reason on FP+

[wdwfreak]

Any of you familiar with Josh and easyWDW.com know that he is funny, insightful, sarcastic, and, during these uncertain (and mostly negative) FP+ times, the voice of reason. He tried the MK out with FP+ and, if you scroll down to the bottom of the piece (although I highly recommend you read the whole thing) you may feel a bit better about your upcoming trip. I know I do. We need Josh in times like these. Read on...

http://www.easywdw.com/uncategorized/magic-kingdom-cheat-sheet-day-1-with-fastpass/#more-12783

 

[Laketravis]

Way to go Josh!

My favorite quote from his post: "These are strange times."

 

[Poohforyou]

Wow, a voice of reason in uncertain times. Maybe he should consider running for public office.

 

[karenklo]

We were there for NYE for a week and loved FP+. No more running across the park to get a piece of paper! WE used RD to our advantage when we needed it. But is we felt like sleeping in, then we could and know that our FP+ were already in place! Reading Josh's plan is just what we did. FP+ later in the day and RD the rides in the am. Had no issues! I would like more than 3 and I hate the tiers. I understand at EP the need due to too few rides, so we just RD Soarin and FP TT. Josh at least showed what is possible.

 

[declansdad]

Apparently some people think FP+ is the sign of the apocalypse. People need to chill, it's WDW and there has always been waiting involved at WDW.

 

[sunkissed4]

Loved reading his report. We were there the same day, but didn't get there until 8:45 after our breakfast ADR and were only able to get half of his list done.

For MK I think RD is more important than ever with FP+, especially during the busy days.

His pictures with the princesses are hilarious! Thanks for posting OP.

 

[PlayaMan]

Enjoyed Josh's observations. I especially liked this part in the comment section:

Joanie January 21, 2014 at 11:15 pm
Quote: “Meeting characters as a single adult male at 8am on a Saturday is extraordinarily awkward.” Can’t you just tell the princesses you are a somewhat infamous blogger and millions of people infatuated with the Dis Boards are depending on you to do all their thinking for them?

josh January 21, 2014 at 11:22 pm
I feel like that goes without saying.

 

[wisblue]

Different people will draw different things from this report but, if nothing else, everyone should look at the conclusion:

Touring with FP+ is different. But different isn’t always worse. The three FP+ cap at Magic Kingdom is limiting. There is no getting around that, but there are positive takeaways too. It was really nice being able to walk into Enchanted Tales in the afternoon with a FP+ reservation made earlier that day – something that wasn’t possible before. I accomplished everything I wanted to that morning with virtually no waits, even with people being able to schedule FP+ first thing in the morning. The only thing I wasn’t able to do was run around Magic Kingdom collecting paper FASTPASSes to re-ride a couple attractions later in the afternoon. Is one less re-ride going to keep you away from Walt Disney World? Is it worth stressing over? Is the world ending because you find yourself on a relaxing Liberty Square Riverboat ride instead of huffing and puffing back to Big Thunder Mountain to ride for the third time that day? This is your own business. But I can assure you that it’s going to be all right.

If this doesn't provide assurance to people with trips coming in the near future, when crowds figure to be lower until President's Day, nothing will.

 

[Hopefully]

Any of you familiar with Josh and easyWDW.com know that he is funny, insightful, sarcastic, and, during these uncertain (and mostly negative) FP+ times, the voice of reason. He tried the MK out with FP+ and, if you scroll down to the bottom of the piece (although I highly recommend you read the whole thing) you may feel a bit better about your upcoming trip. I know I do. We need Josh in times like these. Read on...

http://www.easywdw.com/uncategorized/magic-kingdom-cheat-sheet-day-1-with-fastpass/#more-12783

If I want to read Josh's review and opinions I will go to his site.
And I do

 

[KatieCharlotte]

I appreciated all the detailed information. Although that was an 8 a.m. opening, I am hoping RD will continue to be excellent touring time.

Those are some strange wait times. The mountains are not that long, while others are surprisingly long. PotC is only five minutes shorter than the Space Mtn line and longer than Jungle Cruise? That part is not reassuring.

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

I'm a FP+ fan, but I think this guy is overly optimistic. All those pictures of an empty park? This is not going to be the typical experience.

 

[ckelly14]

I last went to MK last Feb, and I think Josh's experience in the early morning is exactly the same as mine. I came at RD for a 9 AM opening and did walk on PP and Little Mermaid. I headed to Frontierland, I remember standing in the long walkway on my way to BTMR and it was COMPLETELY empty at 10 AM. So, no, I don't think he is being overly optimistic.

 

[FireDancer]

No matter how bad FP+ ends up it isn't the plague or famine. It will be ok. No one will die as a result. Worst case scenario? The about 1% of the planet that goes to Walt Disney World will have to wait in a few lines. Won't someone think of the children?!?!

I have never seen a bigger outcry over something so small in the grand scheme of life. If Disney ever does something that makes me not want to go I will....just not go. I'm optimistic that my trip in February will be great, FP+ or no FP+.

 

[JillShari]

Thanks for posting this....

the last time we went in 2009, we had one 3.5 year old and we only got two fastpasses the entire trip. We knew we needed a Toy Story one and then we got a Peter Pan one which wasn't needed...

I guess it depends on your touring style if you really utilized the paper FP system or not as to whether this greatly affects you.

AND... this was showing us what one of the busiest days looked like.... so it looks like everything will be fine.

 

[Minnie222]

Such an interesting read in the morning.

LOL when he said he meets Rapunzel at 8am is awkward. I agree. One must LOVE a princess to run straight to her at 8am.

I never thought about the noise factor at the Meet and Greet lines. This is a great tip.

It is also great to see all those "10 minute wait time" sign there. To me, it doesn't look realistic as I often see "50 minute" when I was there.

 

[aubreysmom09]

I really liked his blog. It puts some things in perspective for me. It's been 2 years since we have been, and this is my first time staying onsite. I think we will make sure to be there at RD. I'm glad we are morning people The only thing is i'm trying to figure out what to ride first since our DD is 4 and only 43". Should we hit Space Mountain do the parent swap first to get it out of the way, or head to some thing DD can ride??

 

[fishhunter]

I typically take my family to Disney during their busiest time if the year, Christmas. We are usually the first ones at the rope in the morning and ride all marquee rides with hardly any wait time at all with no FPs. I purchase park hoppers so I do use FP if I attend another park that day. If I do get FPs it’s only about two anyway. My attendance of another park is determined by my dinner reservations. If you make the rope drop and plan your route out you will have very few problems.

 

[ArwenMarie]

Good post. Funny as usual.

So rope drop is going to continue to be important..I guess we kind of knew that, but it's cool to see it in action.

The one thing I would disagree with was the comment where he said something like what's the big deal if you don't get to ride BTMRR one more time and you ride the Liberty Belle instead. I think that is definitely true if you live locally or if you travel there a few times a year. But for the family who has to save up, buy expensive flights, hotels, and gets to go maybe once every year or two years, losing those re-rides in the afternoon is a huge takeaway.

 

[PrincessJo]

I last went to MK last Feb, and I think Josh's experience in the early morning is exactly the same as mine. I came at RD for a 9 AM opening and did walk on PP and Little Mermaid. I headed to Frontierland, I remember standing in the long walkway on my way to BTMR and it was COMPLETELY empty at 10 AM. So, no, I don't think he is being overly optimistic.

This was our experience as well. We were in the parks Dec. 31-Jan. 6... one of the busiest weeks of the year. I have photos of the parks that show how few people were there at times. We rode everything we wanted to. No problems at all.

 

[shalom]

Those are some strange wait times. The mountains are not that long, while others are surprisingly long. PotC is only five minutes shorter than the Space Mtn line and longer than Jungle Cruise? That part is not reassuring.

I've seen speculation that there are more FP+ offered per ride than there were legacy FPs, but my suspicion is that there are fewer per ride, but more overall since more options exist. Add in the 3 FP+ cap, with no repeats, and that will mean some of the most popular rides will have shorter stand-by lines.

I haven't been following the eight gazillion FP+ threads, so this may not be an original thought, but my theory is that The Powers That Be figured out (or decided) that people who get multiple FPs for the same ride are "not spending enough" -- i.e., not spending as much as people who enjoy a wider variety of rides -- so FP+ is designed to shorten the lines for those who are more likely to spend money when not riding.

I've heard people who could really work the Legacy FPs say they'd bought most of the souvenirs they were ever likely to, and a lot of them didn't do sit-down meals at the parks, either. If the major FP users spend less, on average, per hour than people who didn't use the FP system or who only got a couple of FPs a day, then Disney wants fewer of the major FP users, and more of the people who never did much get use out of FP. Shortening the lines for those who don't understand the system while cutting off access to multiple times on the same popular ride is a good way to do that.