Just back from WDW...my reflections on FP+

[Manders77]

Haven't experienced FP+ and will not till 2015 so many changes probably will be made until then. I like the idea of scheduling the FP's. Under the old system, we never knew what time the FP's would be for until we got there to draw them. Majority of the times were never when we wanted them. When the CM didn't enforce the times, we would get them and use them later in the evening after naps at the resort. And with little kids, we can't run from attraction to attraction to obtain FP's.

Now when we go in 2015 we will do rider swap since DS3 probably won't be 40 inches yet to ride some of the headliners. DD6 has just surpassed the 40 inch mark recently so DH and I will swap with her so she can ride twice.

I do believe changes need to be made, but so far from what I read, this will work for my family. I know others it doesn't, but hopefully Disney can make improvements for all.

 

[edk35]

Okay I am another Dis Vet and I want to make sure I understand how this works? I am not liking all the negative threads about this new process ....for US DIS FOLKS that ride a lot of rides, used lots of the old fast passes on every trip and rode things multiple times in one day. UGH

We can schedule our FP's 60 days out...once we purchase tickets?
Do we pick the times or do we get assigned times to choose from?

Am I correct in that I should ONLY schedule the HEADLINER rides such as Toy Story and Soarin.... Space Mt. the new Mine Train Roller Coaster...things like that and TRY AND GET ON THE OTHER RIDES using ROPE DROP strategies?

Should I choose FP times for late afternoon and evenings if we plan on arriving for ROPE DROP?

 

[edk35]

today is my official 60 day mark and i am dreading the thought of trying to figure out my ride times. We have been going every year the past 8 years some years 2 and three trips. It's bad enough to plan dinning times for the few nights we are doing sit down dining let alone plan out my whole day. We do not enjoy having our days planned out down to the minutes like this.

i agree!!

 

[ibela]

I still have a few months before I can book my FP+ BUT trying to get things straight. Do the tickets need to be linked to my onsite reservation in advance? I'm planning on getting annual passes but probably won't have them by then. Or I may have my voucher from a phone order in advance, would that be enough?

 

[tb1972]

I share some of the concerns with FP+. Our last trip in Nov., I made a mistake and chose Beauty and the Beast live show FP. I love that show and keep hearing rumors is is going away. Anyway, once we saw the theater was half empty, I quickly changed the FP to SW. My sign on showed the correct change, but our bands didn't scan properly when we went to SW. The line was 10-15 minutes so we just waited in line.

For May, I will be more careful with the FP selected 60 days in advance.

 

[dsneprincess]

Okay I am another Dis Vet and I want to make sure I understand how this works? I am not liking all the negative threads about this new process ....for US DIS FOLKS that ride a lot of rides, used lots of the old fast passes on every trip and rode things multiple times in one day. UGH

We can schedule our FP's 60 days out...once we purchase tickets?
Do we pick the times or do we get assigned times to choose from?

Am I correct in that I should ONLY schedule the HEADLINER rides such as Toy Story and Soarin.... Space Mt. the new Mine Train Roller Coaster...things like that and TRY AND GET ON THE OTHER RIDES using ROPE DROP strategies?

Should I choose FP times for late afternoon and evenings if we plan on arriving for ROPE DROP?

You can schedule FP+ 60 days out, IF you have tickets linked in the app. The FP+ option will become available once you link the tickets. You pick your park, then your 3 attractions and you get options a,b,c, &d to pick from which have all different times and order. You can then change your times to get different times or order of attractions. I think there is a block out window around ADRs from what I read on these boards, I didn't actually make any.

If you plan on park hopping, I would make my reservations at my 2nd or 3rd park for the day and use rope drop it the am. I would FP, TSMM as soon as you know your DHS day, if you want a prime day slot. I booked it for 2 days, about 20 days early and got 12 and 1pm. (i booked my DHS fast passes for morning/afternoon, even though we park hop sine we always start at DHS and don't go late. DS3 favorite ride ended up being TSMM, so I tried to add a 3rd day there and they were NOT available at all; app said stand by only.)

DHS and Epcot are difficult because of the tie ring. I booked Soarin', DS3 ended up being intimidated by the loud noise that is TT, so older DS and I used single rider line. You will see crazy things with FP+ usage. We waited SB for Disney Junior on stage and saw people scanning their FP+ bands for entry with no stand by line. I was not successful in changing my FP+ ressies on the fly(maybe our android is too old?). TBH, I didn't use any FP+ at all the day we met our Florida friends at AK, we just waited in safari line and we let multiple expire because we weren't able to get to our times. For example, DH and DS13 left TSI at 2:15 for a ride on the Haunted Mansion standby(posted 20 minutes) and we had 3:20-4:20 FP+ at Buzz. They finally made it to Tomorrowland at 4:35 due to line not being 20 minutes, but closer to 60 then, ride shut down multiple times. dS3and I almost missed because TTA took us almost 35 minutes to make our round trip. We ended up trying (and was no problem) or bands about 4:30. We couldn't reschedule the 2 we didn't use. Epcot is tough because of Soarin, TT, and Maelstrom all being tier 1, choose 1: so what to pick and use for other 2 Captain EO and Figment? Just annoyed us, because you want those other 2 later at MK when PP is 70 minutes, KWIM?

Happy planning and have a great trip!

 

[Mom2Stitch]

OP-great post-you seem to be spot on.

Having just made our FP+ selections yesterday I completely understand the frustration of not know which attractions to pick.We are WDW veterans, have always had our days and plans down to a science using the old ways. The obvious choices are, well, obvious. The difficult choices come when trying to decide if I'm going to need a HM or POTC FP for the day we are there. My previous trips tell me no I don't need those, standby is just fine. But reports of 40 minute lines lead me to 2nd guess my own experience. Add in some other variables-first trip in May, dgs's first trip, trying to coordinate 2 rooms, etc., and all of a sudden I feel like a newbie

The tiers at Epcot are crazy, it just seems to completely waste 2 out of the 3 picks you get to have for the day.

We are so, so happy that we get to have this trip and we will have a great time no matter.

 

[jtowntoflorida]

You can schedule FP+ 60 days out, IF you have tickets linked in the app. The FP+ option will become available once you link the tickets. You pick your park, then your 3 attractions and you get options a,b,c, &d to pick from which have all different times and order. You can then change your times to get different times or order of attractions. I think there is a block out window around ADRs from what I read on these boards, I didn't actually make any.

Another very important qualification--you HAVE to be staying onsite to book in advance. If you're an offsite guest, there is no prebooking. You go to a kiosk at the beginning of the day to book your FP+ experiences for the day. This is how things stand right now. They could change.

 

[cmurray234]

OP-great post-you seem to be spot on.

Having just made our FP+ selections yesterday I completely understand the frustration of not know which attractions to pick.We are WDW veterans, have always had our days and plans down to a science using the old ways. The obvious choices are, well, obvious. The difficult choices come when trying to decide if I'm going to need a HM or POTC FP for the day we are there. My previous trips tell me no I don't need those, standby is just fine. But reports of 40 minute lines lead me to 2nd guess my own experience. Add in some other variables-first trip in May, dgs's first trip, trying to coordinate 2 rooms, etc., and all of a sudden I feel like a newbie

The tiers at Epcot are crazy, it just seems to completely waste 2 out of the 3 picks you get to have for the day.

We are so, so happy that we get to have this trip and we will have a great time no matter.

The Epcot thing is incredibly frustrating. There are two attractions worth FPing. Soarin' and Test track. Having Captain EO on the list at all makes me offended on behalf of anyone new.

I've been a disney regular for a decade and this is the first time I've ever sent a customer service e-mail to them. The long and short of it is that this FP system is, to some extent, cashing in on its misinformed guests. It seems...un-Disney-like.

 

[Arsenal1982]

This is probably mean but I think I would laugh if I saw someone arguing that they felt duped about booking a FP for Mickey's Philharmagic.

 

[funshipm174]

I looked at this thread because we are going in August and my son told me about the new FP+ system, and I don't want to say I didn't believe him, I just didn't think it was to the degree some have mentioned!

I didn't go through all the threads due to time constraint reasons, so I apologize if this was mentioned, but my 16 year old son said to me that with this system, he feels it really takes a way from the some of the purpose of the Park Hopper pass.To be able to go from one park to another and enjoy some of both worlds.
This really doesn't seem like a good system from what I am reading and hearing about it.

 

[Arsenal1982]

I looked at this thread because we are going in August and my son told me about the new FP+ system, and I don't want to say I didn't believe him, I just didn't think it was to the degree some have mentioned!

I didn't go through all the threads due to time constraint reasons, so I apologize if this was mentioned, but my 16 year old son said to me that with this system, he feels it really takes a way from the some of the purpose of the Park Hopper pass.To be able to go from one park to another and enjoy some of both worlds.
This really doesn't seem like a good system from what I am reading and hearing about it.

I don't agree. I don't think takes it away from Park Hopper in the least.

Put it like this: Let's say you want to go to Magic in the morning to early afternoon (1 or 2pm). If you get there at RD, you don't need to book any FP+ for that part of your day. Just get to the park and ride, you should be able to ride a ton. Then let's say you want to go to Epcot at night. Great! So you know that Soarin, Test Track, and possibly Spaceship Earth are going to have decent waits around 5 or 6pm. So book a couple of those as FP+. And then maybe book Maelstrom which can get up to a 30 minute wait at times.

 

[cmurray234]

I looked at this thread because we are going in August and my son told me about the new FP+ system, and I don't want to say I didn't believe him, I just didn't think it was to the degree some have mentioned!

I didn't go through all the threads due to time constraint reasons, so I apologize if this was mentioned, but my 16 year old son said to me that with this system, he feels it really takes a way from the some of the purpose of the Park Hopper pass.To be able to go from one park to another and enjoy some of both worlds.
This really doesn't seem like a good system from what I am reading and hearing about it.

As it stood a week ago, there was still no way to get more than 3 FPs on a given day from a single park. This does indeed seem to negate most of the benefits of park hopping.

The rumor is that Disney is working on this issue and it's likely that the policy will have been altered in some way before your trip in August.

 

[funshipm174]

I don't agree. I don't think takes it away from Park Hopper in the least.

Put it like this: Let's say you want to go to Magic in the morning to early afternoon (1 or 2pm). If you get there at RD, you don't need to book any FP+ for that part of your day. Just get to the park and ride, you should be able to ride a ton. Then let's say you want to go to Epcot at night. Great! So you know that Soarin, Test Track, and possibly Spaceship Earth are going to have decent waits around 5 or 6pm. So book a couple of those as FP+. And then maybe book Maelstrom which can get up to a 30 minute wait at times.

Arsenal1982,

Sounds like it is doable without any issues what you are saying.

My son said there is a limit of Three FP all day, is that correct?


Thanks

 

[funshipm174]

As it stood a week ago, there was still no way to get more than 3 FPs on a given day from a single park. This does indeed seem to negate most of the benefits of park hopping.

The rumor is that Disney is working on this issue and it's likely that the policy will have been altered in some way before your trip in August.

Thanks. I agree with Arsenal it is doable, but it dose limit the benefit of being able to PH and get the most out of the FP system.

 

[Mad Hattered]

Thanks. I agree with Arsenal it is doable, but it dose limit the benefit of being able to PH and get the most out of the FP system.

The new system forces you to be at Rope Drop at one park if you have FP+ set up for afternoon ride times in another park. It works fine for PH if you are used to or OK with that.

 

[Shaden]

The new system forces you to be at Rope Drop at one park if you have FP+ set up for afternoon ride times in another park. It works fine for PH if you are used to or OK with that.

Works fine, yes, as well as the old system ? Not most of the year.


Really this system only works well about 1 third of the year, during the busiest times of year.

The rest of the year, you were able to pull FPs thoughout the day, especially if you followed the touring plans and went to the appropriate parks.

Ie: RD the busy park, pull FPs all morning, Hop to the not so busy park in the afternoon/evening, pull FPs all afternoon/night.


The system can work, but it DOES decrease the benefits of PH, because you can only pull FPs in ONE of those parks. That is a major downgrade from previous Parkhopping.

 

[Mad Hattered]

Works fine, yes, as well as the old system ? Not most of the year.


Really this system only works well about 1 third of the year, during the busiest times of year.

The rest of the year, you were able to pull FPs thoughout the day, especially if you followed the touring plans and went to the appropriate parks.

Ie: RD the busy park, pull FPs all morning, Hop to the not so busy park in the afternoon/evening, pull FPs all afternoon/night.


The system can work, but it DOES decrease the benefits of PH, because you can only pull FPs in ONE of those parks. That is a major downgrade from previous Parkhopping.

Oh, I totally agree. Please don't think for a second that I think paying more for less is acceptable. I don't have to deal with it anytime soon. Neener, neener neener!

 

[Shaden]

Oh, I totally agree. Please don't think for a second that I think paying more for less is acceptable. I don't have to deal with it anytime soon. Neener, neener neener!

Buahahaha I would never have thought so ....

 

[g3pak]

I don't agree. I don't think takes it away from Park Hopper in the least. Put it like this: Let's say you want to go to Magic in the morning to early afternoon (1 or 2pm). If you get there at RD, you don't need to book any FP+ for that part of your day. Just get to the park and ride, you should be able to ride a ton. Then let's say you want to go to Epcot at night. Great! So you know that Soarin, Test Track, and possibly Spaceship Earth are going to have decent waits around 5 or 6pm. So book a couple of those as FP+. And then maybe book Maelstrom which can get up to a 30 minute wait at times.

This would be fine if they did not have tiering at Epcot. You can only get a FP for one ride on the first tier, and the first tier includes Soarin', Test Track, and Maelstrom.

I do think this is the best strategy under the current system- RD at a park, then hop to another and use FP. I didn't want the other poster to expect to get all of the top rides at Epcot with FP in one day.