Just a FP+ Thought...Don't Have to Like My Opinion!

[mrsltg]

What makes you say you can't do headliners multiple times? Have you tried? This week we rode all the headliners at least twice. We rode Everest four times in succession. Could easily have gone six times but we moved on. There were headliners that we rode twice and then decided to move on (space mountain, tower of terror, rockin roller coaster).

You are very vocal about how bad fp+ is but have you been yet? I can't understand bad mouthing something until you try it.

As I said I went in a sceptic. Didn't like the whole preplanning my days. It has proven to be extremely flexible.

Caveat - I haven't read to the end of this thread, so if someone has already made this point, I am not trying to pile-on. I simply have not seem it.

That said, you went during one of the least crowded weeks of the Disney year. You can't compare this to much of anything, because once crowd levels are average, the scenario changes significantly. I went early this month and my stay straddled the end of the holiday week and the beginning of the dead time. The end of the holiday week with FP+ was awful, to put it mildly. I did not enjoy it, the lack of flexibility, being tied to my phone so I could change stuff (IF I could), and finally getting frustrated enough to walk out of MK. That was not fun. Even less fun was returning to my room to play the "which Magic Band will work this time" game to get us into our rooms. Really, really unfun.

I respect everyone's opinion. There are those who think FP+ is the greatest thing since sliced bread. That's great! My experience was different. I will talk about my negative experience, and I did contact Disney about it (both at WDW and from home). I am not new to the WDW game (15 trips in 12 years), and I do not like the direction this is taking. Everyone has a different take on the situation.

 

[quandrea]

Caveat - I haven't read to the end of this thread, so if someone has already made this point, I am not trying to pile-on. I simply have not seem it.

That said, you went during one of the least crowded weeks of the Disney year. You can't compare this to much of anything, because once crowd levels are average, the scenario changes significantly. I went early this month and my stay straddled the end of the holiday week and the beginning of the dead time. The end of the holiday week with FP+ was awful, to put it mildly. I did not enjoy it, the lack of flexibility, being tied to my phone so I could change stuff (IF I could), and finally getting frustrated enough to walk out of MK. That was not fun. Even less fun was returning to my room to play the "which Magic Band will work this time" game to get us into our rooms. Really, really unfun.

I respect everyone's opinion. There are those who think FP+ is the greatest thing since sliced bread. That's great! My experience was different. I will talk about my negative experience, and I did contact Disney about it (both at WDW and from home). I am not new to the WDW game (15 trips in 12 years), and I do not like the direction this is taking. Everyone has a different take on the situation.

I was here through the Martin Luther king week/weekend and am still here so I've seen the holiday week/weekend crowds. No troubles at all. I've seen the holiday crowds.

 

[jeneric997]

We are here now and having a great time. We have been able to ride rides we have never been able to because of fp+. My kids got on toy story for the first time. We will be riding dumbo for the first time this week. We have been here over thirty times. We are rope drop people but only spend the morning in the park. Late fast pass return times never worked for us. Now I book ahead, we tour in the morning efficiently and are experiencing new things. It's great.

Your touring style describes us until last year- kids are older now and don't want to get up as early.

Maybe all your other trips weren't at this time a year, but a more crowded one, but we have gone January and October for 13 years and only 1 time did we have a problem with getting TSMM for a morning time if we FP it first. It was for 3pm and we gave it to a disappointed family who was at the machines.

I'm just surprised you weren't able to ride these in all your trips being RD people. Much like your experience this time riding headliners multiple times in a row, it has been our experience at those times a year- except TSMM.

We skipped Dumbo a lot over the years because the kids didn't care and I didn't want to wait 30+ minutes. The new Dumbo moves very quickly and my kids don't play in the interactive area so it's not something we would FP+ at those times a year. I will say we like the new Dumbo a lot, rode it 4 times in a row in October during Wishes (they told us we could stay on), highly recommended, the water and lights are beautiful at night.

 

[Anonomom]

In response to the posters who say that they experienced things they never did before, and those who say it's time to stop and smell the roses… Shouldn't these kinds of things should be an individual's choice? If you wanted to climb Swiss Family TreeHouse or sit and people watch, you could choose to spend your time that way. Unfortunately, now with FP+, Disney is elbowing you into experiencing other rides and seeing other things because there's no other choice. You CAN'T ride whatever you want as many times as you want, because FP+ makes you choose between your favorite rides and stand in LONG lines if you want to experience them again. Those other attractions were always there, you just never chose to ride them because you had other interests. NOW you see them because Disney has pushed you to them. Does Disney really know best in how you should spend your vacation time? Big Brother, anyone?

Also… if you didn't experience FP+ without KTTW cards for legacy fastpass, and if there wasn't tiering in effect, and all resorts and offsite weren't on FP+, I really don't think you experienced FP+ in all its "glory" and will in all likelihood have a VERY different experience when next you travel to WDW.

I did experience FP+ without KTTW cards, after Legacy was turned off at all the parks we visited, with tiering in place, on a very busy holiday weekend. We had a great time and rode every single ride we wanted, many of them more than once. Like other posters have noted, we could have ridden some of the headliners several times without waits, but chose instead to do a larger variety of rides one or two times each instead. For us, the app worked perfectly, as did our MBs. We had no trouble with phone battery life and didn't have trouble tearing ourselves away from our phones. We made our FP reservations no more than 3 days in advance and on our HS day, we were able to make our FPs at 7 am and get a great time for TSMM.

In short, FP+ worked great for us. I don't think it's perfect and I'm not trying to discount other people's less positive experiences. But it seems like any time anyone says they have a positive experience, there's a line of people either trying to claim they didn't experience the "real" FP+ or simply ignoring that poster.

 

[JimmyV]

We are here now and having a great time. We have been able to ride rides we have never been able to because of fp+. My kids got on toy story for the first time. We will be riding dumbo for the first time this week. We have been here over thirty times. We are rope drop people but only spend the morning in the park.

You've been to WDW 30 times, go to the parks at RD, and have never before ridden TSM or Dumbo?? What rides were you going to first thing in the morning all these years? You never once thought to yourself: "Hey! Today, let's go straight to TSM!"? I'm glad that FP+ is working for you now, but your previous touring strategies seem so far removed from the norm that it is difficult to draw any conclusion as to how this will extrapolate over to others' experiences. I'm guessing that the percentage of people who have been to DHS at RD 5 or more times and never once headed to TSM for their first ride (or for a FP-) is less than 1%.

 

[WillAustin]

You've been to WDW 30 times, go to the parks at RD, and have never before ridden TSM or Dumbo?? What rides were you going to first thing in the morning all these years? You never once thought to yourself: "Hey! Today, let's go straight to TSM!"?

During the summer with level 8 crowds, we were able to ride TSMM 3 times before 10am. I grabbed the FPs, met the family outside the line, rode standby twice in a row, then it was time for our FP at 9:40.

 

[quandrea]

Your touring style describes us until last year- kids are older now and don't want to get up as early.

Maybe all your other trips weren't at this time a year, but a more crowded one, but we have gone January and October for 13 years and only 1 time did we have a problem with getting TSMM for a morning time if we FP it first. It was for 3pm and we gave it to a disappointed family who was at the machines.

I'm just surprised you weren't able to ride these in all your trips being RD people. Much like your experience this time riding headliners multiple times in a row, it has been our experience at those times a year- except TSMM.

We skipped Dumbo a lot over the years because the kids didn't care and I didn't want to wait 30+ minutes. The new Dumbo moves very quickly and my kids don't play in the interactive area so it's not something we would FP+ at those times a year. I will say we like the new Dumbo a lot, rode it 4 times in a row in October during Wishes (they told us we could stay on), highly recommended, the water and lights are beautiful at night.

We usually travel October, December, January and March. No trouble with most of the headliners ever, but toy story and soarin were always a no go. It's been nice this time. I was never willing to wait for dumbo, soarin or toy story. My family won't wait more than twenty minutes for any ride. Fast pass plus has been a really positive experience. I also tried it out mid November with good results, although legacy fastpass was still around at the time.

Looking forward to dumbo later thus week. I think my little ones will love it. That coupled with a visit with a fast pass to bog should be great. Their desserts are peanut free and my dd will be able to have a cupcake. Not all the changes are bad. Lots of fun still to be had.

 

[JimmyV]

During the summer with level 8 crowds, we were able to ride TSMM 3 times before 10am. I grabbed the FPs, met the family outside the line, rode standby twice in a row, then it was time for our FP at 9:40.

Ditto. I've been one of the first people to the FP machine, gotten in the SB line with my family with a 5 minute wait, rode again immediatley with a 25 minute wait, and rode again with a FP. Anyone arriving at RD who has not ridden TSM is simply not trying, or is not interested in trying.

 

[quandrea]

You've been to WDW 30 times, go to the parks at RD, and have never before ridden TSM or Dumbo?? What rides were you going to first thing in the morning all these years? You never once thought to yourself: "Hey! Today, let's go straight to TSM!"? I'm glad that FP+ is working for you now, but your previous touring strategies seem so far removed from the norm that it is difficult to draw any conclusion as to how this will extrapolate over to others' experiences. I'm guessing that the percentage of people who have been to DHS at RD 5 or more times and never once headed to TSM for their first ride (or for a FP-) is less than 1%.

We always did rockin roller coaster first or tower of terror using baby swap. While dh rode I would book it over to toy story first thing, only to find a fast pass return time for too late for my family. I would be at the fp machine no later than nine fifteen. Not everyone can stay all day at a park. You try it with three year old triplets.

 

[JimmyV]

Not everyone can stay all day at a park. You try it with three year old triplets.

Sure. I get that. But if TSM was even remotely a priority, then once....just once in your 30 visits, you might have wanted to try going there first. If the ride isn't that interesting to you, or not interesting enough to make it a priority, then that's fine. But don't make it sound like FP+ is the solution to your problem. You had the solution to your problem in hand all along. You just didn't avail yourself of it.

 

[mom2rtk]

We always did rockin roller coaster first or tower of terror using baby swap. While dh rode I would book it over to toy story first thing, only to find a fast pass return time for too late for my family. I would be at the fp machine no later than nine fifteen. Not everyone can stay all day at a park. You try it with three year old triplets.

So if you knew return time was an issue, why not have one of you head to TSMM first, then meet the other at RnR and ToT to do the Baby Swap 20 minutes later?

 

[jeneric997]

We always did rockin roller coaster first or tower of terror using baby swap. While dh rode I would book it over to toy story first thing, only to find a fast pass return time for too late for my family. I would be at the fp machine no later than nine fifteen. Not everyone can stay all day at a park. You try it with three year old triplets.

I had a hard time with 2 kids three years apart, so you rock! You would have had a problem riding TSMM with three kids under 7, since they have the rule that anyone under 7 must ride with someone 14 or older. It's a newer rule, so maybe that doesn't affect you. Not sure how bigger families deal with that!

With that being said, maybe you just had really bad luck with TSMM FP- we have always been able to ride all three. RnR and TOT multiple times with and without FP- those times a year and we rarely stay past 2pm.

 

[Lindaland]

I just read that in the voice your avatar used on Erin Andrews, it was great.

Don't you EVER talk about me! I'm the best hater in the game!

In all fairness, this thread had a provocative title. I hope you don't think the phrase you don't have to like my opinion is indicative of a "positive" thread that didn't invite argument and debate.

It was just an observation from previous threads, the same characters always come out to play. I was referring to positive FP+ threads in general. Most only get a few positive posts before the creepers come out and start slinging mud around at all who dare to believe.

 

[mom2rtk]

It was just an observation from previous threads, the same characters always come out to play. I was referring to positive FP+ threads in general. Most only get a few positive posts before the creepers come out and start slinging mud around at all who dare to believe.

Creepers? OK.

 

[quandrea]

I had a hard time with 2 kids three years apart, so you rock! You would have had a problem riding TSMM with three kids under 7, since they have the rule that anyone under 7 must ride with someone 14 or older. It's a newer rule, so maybe that doesn't affect you. Not sure how bigger families deal with that!

With that being said, maybe you just had really bad luck with TSMM FP- we have always been able to ride all three. RnR and TOT multiple times with and without FP- those times a year and we rarely stay past 2pm.

Thanks for the kind post. I also have a nine yo daughter. We have encountered the under seven rule this trip for the first time. Rockin roller coaster and tower of terror were always higher priority than toy story. I always thought that getting dh on his first ride while I ran with the kids for fastpasses was a good use of time. Perhaps not. Maybe we are a unique family (the less than one percent if I recall), but fast pass plus has really made park touring easier for my family. I think disney has a sense of where they are headed. Any roll out has its blips. All I know is our trips are better and perhaps that is all that matters. Thanks again for the kind post.

 

[quandrea]

Sure. I get that. But if TSM was even remotely a priority, then once....just once in your 30 visits, you might have wanted to try going there first. If the ride isn't that interesting to you, or not interesting enough to make it a priority, then that's fine. But don't make it sound like FP+ is the solution to your problem. You had the solution to your problem in hand all along. You just didn't avail yourself of it.

It has obviously not been around for all thirty visits and I suppose no ride is that high of a priority for me. I will never do cartwheels to get on a ride. I know I'll be back and I always keep that in mind.

 

[mom2rtk]

It has obviously not been around for all thirty visits and I suppose no ride is that high of a priority for me. I will never do cartwheels to get on a ride. I know I'll be back and I always keep that in mind.

No cartwheels necessary. You could have done that ride on any trip you desired to.

 

[annaaidan99]

It has obviously not been around for all thirty visits and I suppose no ride is that high of a priority for me. I will never do cartwheels to get on a ride. I know I'll be back and I always keep that in mind.

I understand what you are saying completely. I'd like to ride it as well, but haven't for similar reasons. I tour the same way, it makes sense to me.

 

[Jennasis]

I also had never ridden Dumbo. Lines were always ridiculous. FINALLY got to ride it on our last trip (Sept 2012)...no original recipe FP or FP+. We went up to it and found absolutely no wait...no wait at all. In fact we were the only ones on the ride (at least the one side). It was late morning, maybe 10:30ish?

 

[mom2rtk]

I also had never ridden Dumbo. Lines were always ridiculous. FINALLY got to ride it on our last trip (Sept 2012)...no original recipe FP or FP+. We went up to it and found absolutely no wait...no wait at all. In fact we were the only ones on the ride (at least the one side). It was late morning, maybe 10:30ish?

Isn't it just beautiful what doubling a ride's capacity can do? (cough cough)