Just Back... FP+ Pros & Cons

[DisneyJade]

I found the "Just Back" threads to be super helpful when planning my vacation, so I wanted to return the favor. I'll post most of my "Just Back" stuff on the trip reports board, but I thought I'd do a FP+ specific one here for folks who are planning to use it for the first time.

Pre-trip FP+ thoughts:
As a big fan of legacy FP, I was really worried about how FP+ would work for us.
We are the type who like to ride the biggest attractions over and over rather than ride everything once. Legacy FP was ideal for this kind of touring.
Also, while I LOVE planning my trips down to the very finest detail, it did bother me that I felt like my planning was pretty set in stone once I got my FP+ at 60 days out. I wasn't able to tinker much after that, and I definitely was not able to change my park days in the weeks before the trip, because the FP+ I wanted were no longer available or were at bad times on the other days.

What I liked:
- Not having to run around the park to pull FPs and then backtrack to the rides later (I mean, I really REALLY liked this! Made touring/walking so much more relaxing)
- Not having to keep track of tiny FP tickets
- One big positive surprise was the ability to ride TSMM twice. In the past, we had to run for the ride at opening and then choose whether to get in the FP line or the standby line. If we chose standby, by the time we got out the FP options would be late at night, after we'd already planned to leave the park. THIS TIME, we rode standby and rode again just an hour later with our FP+, so that was cool.

What I didn't like:
- Other than the TSMM AM/FP+ combo strategy, this new system really did limit our rides. We only rode RnR once, since we couldn't get an FP+ for it. Got on during the first 30 minutes of park opening and still waited almost half an hour (on a low-crowd day). By the time we got out, the wait was over an hour. Similar situation with Test Track and Soarin' at Epcot. Only one ride on each of those this trip.
- Getting a 4th FP+ was a hassle. We had to walk to a kiosk, wait in line to use it, only to discover at Noon that there were already no good rides left until late at night. Seemed like a big waste of our time to even try. I heard they are working on integrating 4th FP booking through the app. This would be much better!
- My biggest gripe with FP+ was the waiting between "appointments." Not sure why this felt so different from legacy FP, but we found ourselves sometimes early for an FP+ and, not wanting to backtrack to another part of the park to find another ride, we would just sit and wait for our FP window to open. (I suppose this may be part of the WDW strategy here, as it did encourage us to browse a gift shop or buy an extra snack while we waited.)

A Comparison:
I have to include this, because it really shaped our view of FP+.
We did a split stay with Universal, which I've never done before, and since we stayed at a Universal resort with the Express Pass perk, we were able to compare Express with FP+.
And Express kind of makes FP (both + and legacy) look like an over-complicated mess.
The express passes are limited to certain resorts and to day guests willing to pay a bundle for them. Because the allotment is small, guests with EP are able to bypass the line for almost ANY ride at ANY time as OFTEN AS THEY WANT. (Exceptions are the 3 major Harry Potter rides... Gringotts, Forbidden Journey, and Hogwarts train.) We rode our favorite Universal rides 3 or 4 times each with those Express Passes. They were really amazing, and had we visited Universal BEFORE Disney, we would have been severely disappointed by FP+.
It's worth noting for this comparison, though, that Universal in general seemed much less crowded/less popular than Disney, which helped the EPs work. Also, when the Universal parks did get crowded, the EP lines still had short waits (maybe 10 or 15 minutes compared to the 90 minute standby wait), while we never waited more than 5 minutes in an FP+ line at WDW.

Conclusion:
The Pros and Cons of FP+ were kind of break-even for me. I really can't say whether I prefer + or legacy better, but I can say with certainty that I MUCH prefer the Express Pass at Universal.

Anyway, those are all just my personal experiences/opinions, but maybe they'll help someone planning their vacation.

 

[agame2323]

Great report Jade. May I ask what your dates were and how was the weather?

 

[rwdavis2]

The EPs are great. It's worth the cost of their hotels with the bonus that their hotels and service, IMHO, equal or beat WDW. Love the Hard Rock.

 

[JimmyV]

Thanks for your thorough and well thought out post. Sounds like FP+ did to you what it was intended to--reallocate rides on headliner attractions away from repeat riders and over to other guests. In a nutshell, this explains the great divide. The people who are given the rides are happy and the people from whom they are taken are less happy. Or downright angry.

 

[DisneyKidds]

Thanks for posting. Nice to see an objective accounting of both pros and cons. Your observations and experience are very consistent with what we've found.

On the whole for you it sounds like the impact on your WDW experience was kind of a wash? Things you liked, things you didn't, things that were different, but on the whole just as good as before? That's kind of where we are, although our touring under FP+ is more relaxing, and I'm happy to take that trade off for a couple less rides each day.

I also think that Disney may have found some of the success they had hoped for. With less time crossing the parks to run down/get to a FP- we find ourselves sticking in certain parts of a particular park longer, grabbing a drink or a snack and relaxing. Works for us, but I can see how it might not work for someone whose focus is maximizing the number of attractions they see. Glad you enjoyed your trip using FP+ even though you previously enjoyed maximizing attractions.

 

[DisneyBum303]

- My biggest gripe with FP+ was the waiting between "appointments." Not sure why this felt so different from legacy FP, but we found ourselves sometimes early for an FP+ and, not wanting to backtrack to another part of the park to find another ride, we would just sit and wait for our FP window to open. (I suppose this may be part of the WDW strategy here, as it did encourage us to browse a gift shop or buy an extra snack while we waited.)

OMG, THIS!!

We felt exactly the same way! And I just couldn't get my head around why it felt so different, but it definitely did. Sometimes, my Mom and I actually admitted we were bored waiting for our rides. We waited for legacy FP times, so why the difference? What's wrong with me?!?!?!?

We went last April before the extra FP+ were available after you used your three. It was three and done. Looking forward to getting the opportunity for more this time around.

 

[nkereina]

OP - agree with your entire post. We had nearly identical feelings, even down to the Universal EP when we visited Universal for the first time this past November.

I do think integrating a system like EP at WDW would be a challenge since it sees so much more traffic than Universal does. I think that's why Universal works so well. The number of people on site at Universal is much less than the number onsite at WDW (3 hotels onsite with EP vs 15 or so onsite at WDW). I also think more people would be willing to dole out the $$ for a Disney trip which is much more sacred to people than Universal is. More "once in a lifetime" trips at WDW than Uni.

Only other positive I had with FP+ is that later in the week after we've hit all the parks and headliner rides once, we didn't feel pressured to make rope drop when repeating parks. We slept in and moved at a more leisurely pace, because we had a second ride on the headliners scheduled with FP+ for the afternoon. We would not have done this with legacy FP because we'd be using rope drop as a means to ride the headliners again.

 

[JimmyV]

OMG, THIS!!

We felt exactly the same way! And I just couldn't get my head around why it felt so different, but it definitely did. Sometimes, my Mom and I actually admitted we were bored waiting for our rides. We waited for legacy FP times, so why the difference? What's wrong with me?!?!?!?
.

Maybe you are just too intent on using your FP the minute the window opens? If you are 15-20 minutes "early" for your FP time then you are 75-80 minutes from its expiration. Plenty of time to go and do other things. I don't really understand the concept of killing time waiting for the window to open. I've done this at RnR and ToT where we had a FP for one and rode SB for the other, and the time it took us to do the SB ride was less than we anticipated. Killing time eating ice cream seemed to be the better choice than to crisscross the park back and forth. But other than that, the idea of putting the engine in idle while waiting for a window to open seems odd.

 

[Laketravis]

I can understand the frustration to some extent. We'd often look for something else to do in between FP's and that would invariably lead to us getting in a Standby Line that we convinced ourselves gave us plenty of time to get thru and not miss our next FP.

But then we'd be constantly checking the time while in SB and worrying that we were going to miss our FP. A couple of times, we actually did because the SB time grew beyond the posted time and we didn't give ourselves enough margin.

 

[erc]

The "how to spend your time waiting for your FastPass return time" deal hasn't changed though right?

I was actually happily surprised when I reserved FP+ to see a 60 minute window. For some reason I thought a co-worker had told me it was something tight like like 20 minutes which was strictly enforced. Was it 60 minutes with the old FP?

 

[ArwenMarie]

Yeah, it's a feeling of "Hurry up and wait"

I don't know why it feels so different from Legacy FP.

It could be partly because FP+ has caused a lot of attractions to have longer standby waits. So it's not as easy to just pop around and do other stuff, especially if you don't want to criss-cross unnecessarily.

 

[kelmcg]

We also did a split stay...6 days at WDW, 3 days at US. The Express Pass at US is awesome, we could ride as much as we wanted.
The downside to US, after 6 days at WDW, was not having a Magic Band. The magic band did everything for us at WDW. At US we had our hotel room key (x4) which we all had to show for early entry, we had our park tickets (x4), we had our express passes (x4), we had tickets (8) for the 2 breakfasts that were included in our package, and then we also had to carry cash/credit card.

 

[Laketravis]

We also did a split stay...6 days at WDW, 3 days at US. The Express Pass at US is awesome, we could ride as much as we wanted.
The downside to US, after 6 days at WDW, was not having a Magic Band. The magic band did everything for us at WDW. At US we had our hotel room key (x4) which we all had to show for early entry, we had our park tickets (x4), we had our express passes (x4), we had tickets (8) for the 2 breakfasts that were included in our package, and then we also had to carry cash/credit card.

LOL! I just posted in another thread how we had the exact same situation with all of the different cards, and I kept asking DW "why can't they just do it like WDW and put everything on one card or a band?"

I suspect the profit margin on those lanyards is pretty high

 

[DisneyJade]

Great report Jade. May I ask what your dates were and how was the weather?

Monday, 1/5 - Thursday, 1/8
The weather was decent Monday and warm Tuesday but downright COLD Wed & Thurs. BRR!

I just couldn't get my head around why it felt so different, but it definitely did.

Yeah, it's a feeling of "Hurry up and wait"
I don't know why it feels so different from Legacy FP.

So strange, right?!

But then we'd be constantly checking the time while in SB and worrying that we were going to miss our FP. A couple of times, we actually did because the SB time grew beyond the posted time and we didn't give ourselves enough margin.

This makes a lot of sense. We definitely avoided SB lines while waiting for FP to open out of fear of missing the window.

The downside to US, after 6 days at WDW, was not having a Magic Band. The magic band did everything for us at WDW. At US we had our hotel room key (x4) which we all had to show for early entry, we had our park tickets (x4), we had our express passes (x4), we had tickets (8) for the 2 breakfasts that were included in our package, and then we also had to carry cash/credit card.

I SO AGREE with this. They definitely need to integrate all of those tickets/passes into at least one key card. Very annoying after the simplicity of Magic Bands!

Thanks, everyone, for all of the replies!

 

[norybell]

- My biggest gripe with FP+ was the waiting between "appointments." Not sure why this felt so different from legacy FP, but we found ourselves sometimes early for an FP+ and, not wanting to backtrack to another part of the park to find another ride, we would just sit and wait for our FP window to open. (I suppose this may be part of the WDW strategy here, as it did encourage us to browse a gift shop or buy an extra snack while we waited.)

OMG, THIS!!

We felt exactly the same way! And I just couldn't get my head around why it felt so different, but it definitely did. Sometimes, my Mom and I actually admitted we were bored waiting for our rides. We waited for legacy FP times, so why the difference? What's wrong with me?!?!?!?

We went last April before the extra FP+ were available after you used your three. It was three and done. Looking forward to getting the opportunity for more this time around.

I can understand the frustration to some extent. We'd often look for something else to do in between FP's and that would invariably lead to us getting in a Standby Line that we convinced ourselves gave us plenty of time to get thru and not miss our next FP.

But then we'd be constantly checking the time while in SB and worrying that we were going to miss our FP. A couple of times, we actually did because the SB time grew beyond the posted time and we didn't give ourselves enough margin.

That whole waiting-for-an-appointment feeling drove me nuts, too. I think all the pre-planning that's involved now (and the lack of flexibility when changing them at the last minute) makes FPs feel much higher-stakes than they used to. And for me, anyway, when the stakes feel higher, I'm much less likely to take a chance that I might miss that particular opportunity. So for our last two FP+ trips, I would sit, wait, look in vain for a bench, and think about how much I missed flexible-return-time legacy FPs. (People watching is all well and good, but less so when wrangling a toddler in the September heat.)

I'm trying to come up with a way to NOT tour that way next time, so we don't spend so much time sitting around getting frustrated, or looking at our watches feeling stressed. It's going to require some sort of psychological shift on my part. We'll see if I can manage it.

 

[wdw4rfam]

We tried FP+ In September, and not fans at all. Long story short it was the last straw that pushed us out. I am looking forward to using EP at universal in a coupled months, and enjoying not having to over plan anything. I think what did it for me was how little we got to do compared to previous year trips, and we went in SEPTEMBER. Really hate to see how these work peak times, because I know we rode/ did half or less what we always used to.

 

[DisneyKidds]

It really does seem that touring style plays such a huge part in highlighting or mitigating some of the potential shortfalls of FP+. No one touring style is best, and I wouldn't presume to tell anyone how to tour. I can certainly see how certain situations or touring styles could lead to the "hurry up and wait" observations, or people experiencing less attractions using FP+ than they have under previous systems. Less than half seems severe, sorry that is what you experienced.

Fortunately, we have not personally experienced either of those negatives to any significant extent, and I think it is mostly due to our touring style, which may not be everyone's cup of tea. Yes, a couple of time we may have had 10 or 20 minutes to kill waiting for a FP+ window to open, but that is no different than we found under legacy FP. I've also agreed/said many a time, we get less attractions in per day than we used to, but we are still doing 80% of what we used to do, not 50% or less. Our reduced rides is pretty much the loss of re-rides. Used to be able to get things like Soarin', Test Track, TSMM, and RnR (the headliners) twice a day (sometimes more) under legacy FP, now it's just once. During our trips under legacy FP we'd see things like Spaceship Earth and PotC multiple times, which longer SB lines under FP+ makes more difficult. So I get that criticism.

Like I said, I do think our touring style helps us avoid some of the observed negatives. We are not usually in any park for longer than a 6 hour stretch. Hit a park at rope drop, get a ton done (helps to keep the attraction count up), bail by noon when the crowds arrive and take a breather at the hotel, back to the park in the late afternoon/evening with FP+ stacked back to back, which doesn't leave us needing to wait hours between FP+ experiences. By the time we use the 3 FP+ and eat dinner it is getting later in the night and SB lines are starting to come down, allowing us to experience more attractions, even if not quite as many as we might have under legacy FP. At the end of the day, for us FP+ is a bit more of a relaxed experience, not running back and forth to get legacy FPs (I was the runner) and cross-crossing the park multiple times to use them, so the reduced rides is an acceptable trade off for us, where it might not be for someone else.

I can certainly see how things could be quite different for someone who perhaps can't do rope drop, or is in the park all day, with FP+ times scattered throughout. I think I had that very observation on Jan 1 when we were in the MK. We didn't hit rope drop that morning as we were out late at Epcot for NYE. However, we did our typical mid afternoon arrival with stacked FP+. The park was still quite crowded, but we efficiently used our 3 back to back FP+, with the only down/waiting time in those 3 hours being 20 minutes during which we enjoyed a LeFou's Brew by the 'fire' in Gaston's. But as we were making our way around during that time, around 4:00, I saw many tired looking guests sitting on benches, not looking happy in a very crowded park. I was probably off base, but I imagined they had been there all day, probably waiting for a FP+ window to open, frustrated by the crowds and long standby lines. In my mind was glad I wasn't them. After we used our FP+ we scheduled a 4th and left the park for a nice sit down meal. Returned around 9:30 and by the time we used our 4th FP+ the SB lines for a lot of things had shortened and we got a bunch of rides done. We were only physically in the park for about 7 hours, but we did 12 attractions in the MK that day.

He's hoping for better experiences in the future for those that didn't enjoy their FP+ experience!

 

[DisneyKidds]

Another negative we have observed, even with our pretty effective touring style, has to do with rope drop. While rope drop can still be an extremely effective strategy, there is now no margin of error. Under legacy FP you didn't have FP returns filtering until an hour past park opening. You could get to something like TSMM during the first 30 minutes the park was open and still have a relatively manageable SB wait. If you were at the head of the pack you could even ride twice. Not anymore. Now, if you aren't at the very front of the pack you are looking at a 60 minute wait only 10 or 15 minutes after opening. You really have to be there early and stay ahead of the pack. Adds a little pressure to your rope drop mornings at DHS and Epcot. Rope drop at AK and MK is more leisurely, like it used to be.

 

[Cyrano]

Appreciate you coming back and giving your input, which may help others with their trip planning.

Thank you for using the Trip Report board for other highlights of your trip and keeping this post to FP+

 

[DisneyKidds]

Me?

Everything I said related to FP+ and how it can be used by some to potentially avoid negative experiences people have had, like having significant down time between FP+ returns or experiencing less than half of the attractions they used under legacy FP. The negatives are out there, and it would seem that FP+ threads should try and help people avoid them.

I could simply say we like FP+ because it leads to a more efficient and relaxed touring style, but that kind of blanket statement without some detail and context really isn't all that useful IMHO.