Just got back anyone else feel the same?

[Networth]

My fiancée and I just got back from a 8 day vacation at the Grand in WDW yesterday and we had a great time. Never did nor will do rope drop. Got to ride Toy Story Mania(finally!!) and twice. Hit all the rides we wanted durning peak times with our FP+ and all the others in stand by with 20-30 min waits/single rider. We have AP but never even used paper old FP even though we could have.

I talked to one of there survey people apparently Disney is aware of the park hopping issue and the 3 a day and plans to implement changes once the old machine are gone for good. Anyway just wanted to chime in and say this was one of the better trips we have had and loved the MB/FP+. The bands worked for everything charging, room access, theme park admission(omg so much quicker), FP+. Never once saw a "blue" Mickey. I can't wait till the next trip and hopefully the changes will be in place my only grip is hopping and tiering. Anyone else have anything positive to say from first hand use?

(Oh and if your going to Jellyrolls bring a CC that was the only time we had trouble with the bands)

 

[mesaboy2]

Glad you had a great time!

 

[jaceraden]

We were pretty pleased with our recent trip and MB/FP+. It's not a perfect system but nothing is. We still enjoy Disney immensely. Though I do hate the tiering - was only subject to it on one occasion mind you.

 

[morethananyonex]

I think FP+ probably work out great for childless trips where you don't do RD. No afternoon breaks or meltdowns to plan around (hopefully ) so you can use FP+ when they're most valuable. Glad you had a good time!

As for what you said about changing FP+ once the machines are gone, crossing my fingers over here!!

 

[btk2333]

Glad you had a good trip! We've loved our mb trips so far too- we combine fp+ with rd but glad to hear a positive review from a non rope dropper! I can also say that we had trouble with mbs at jelly rolls- glad I had a credit card! Love jellyrolls though it's a blast

 

[MouseMomx2]

Yup, we love the new system too. We are Rope Droppers, but we head back to the resort in the afternoon and then hit another park in the evening. We ride Standby in the morning and use our FP+s at the evening park. We are leaving next week and can't wait to use FP+s again. Last time we went for NYE we rode almost nothing in the evening. This time we know we will have three headliners every night. My teens can sleep late and we can still all ride together with FP+. To me, that is priceless!

 

[DisneyChristmas]

My fiancée and I just got back from a 8 day vacation at the Grand in WDW yesterday and we had a great time. Never did nor will do rope drop. Got to ride Toy Story Mania(finally!!) and twice. Hit all the rides we wanted durning peak times with our FP+ and all the others in stand by with 20-30 min waits/single rider. We have AP but never even used paper old FP even though we could have.

I talked to one of there survey people apparently Disney is aware of the park hopping issue and the 3 a day and plans to implement changes once the old machine are gone for good. Anyway just wanted to chime in and say this was one of the better trips we have had and loved the MB/FP+. The bands worked for everything charging, room access, theme park admission(omg so much quicker), FP+. Never once saw a "blue" Mickey. I can't wait till the next trip and hopefully the changes will be in place my only grip is hopping and tiering. Anyone else have anything positive to say from first hand use?

(Oh and if your going to Jellyrolls bring a CC that was the only time we had trouble with the bands)

We were there last week. Initially I had been questioning MB and all of the rest. How crazy! We LOVED the MB / FP+ / MDE app ! It was a huge enhancement to our vacation.

 

[Donnya]

We just got back and also loved MB and FP+. Got on everything we wanted without having to be there at rope drop. MB's worked for everything!

 

[weetot]

Thanks so much for a positive thread about MB/FP+! I'm planning our first ever trip to WDW and was beginning to worry that it would be a hectic mess. Hearing that there are positive experiences has left me feeling hopeful and excited.

 

[Sam33]

Glad you guys had a good time! I've been getting nervous about my trip with all the negativity but most of the complaining has been by people with different styles, ages and groups.
Me and my mom are pretty laid-back and a small group so I think we'll enjoy it (other than no hopping ) But I can totally understand how having a bigger group and children and families that typically get 7-8 FP would hate it.

Glad to see similar groups as us are enjoying it.

 

[ktmo]

Sounds like you had a great trip. I am glad to hear that they might allow more then 3 FP+ for those with hoppers. If that happens, I will be planning a trip.

 

[BlueStarryHat]

We were just there December 6th-11th and we LOVED every minute of it! The Magic Bands and FP+ worked perfectly for both of us and we really like this new system.

Already scheming to go back.

 

[maxiesmom]

Just got back on Monday from a quick 5 day trip, and we loved FP+ and Magic Bands too. My nephew and I did do rope drop plus took afternoon breaks, but found we didn't even need all of the FPs I had pulled.

The first hour at MK we did--Pirates, Splash, BTMRR, Haunted Mansion, and we getting in line for Small World. It was walk on, walk on, walk on, walk on, and then short line for Small World. Our MB times were for early afternoon, so we used those and then took a break. Loved it!

 

[MaryKatesMom]

If these are recent trips the crowd levels are 1-2 , very low the first two weeks in Dec.

We used to go every year until my DD started high school. Most everything was walk on.

Now we have to travel during peak season9-10 levels and that is a whole different animal.

 

[3CW]

Anyone else have anything positive to say from first hand use?

We just got back (literally just checked out this morning) and agree. We have never been rope droppers, so this was our first trip ever where we got to see the Toy Story FP queue! In the past we always had to suck it up and wait in a 60-120 minute standby to ride. I would hope that the final system doesn't include tiering and does allow hopping, but even if things stayed exactly as they are, it'd be an improvement for us.

A couple times during the trip we were even able to ride one of our FP rides (thus freeing up that timeslot), and quickly change a later FP to a time just minutes later. For example, we rode Mission:Space at 12:15, then moved up our Soarin window, which had been at 6 pm, and were on Soarin at 12:50. Could never do that with paper FPs!

And just from a tech standpoint, the Magic Bands worked perfectly for us starting with Magical Express check-in at the airport, all the way to entering our room the very last time. Dining plan, room charges, FPs, room entry, park entry...both of our bands worked without issue. We saw blue Mickeys once or twice but better band placement always fixed the problem.

The MDE app could use a little work; it was a little glitchy at times. We found it faster to consult a paper times guide for the holiday storytellers in Epcot rather than trying to drill down through several menu choices in the app. But for wait times and changing FPs on the fly, it was great.

 

[3CW]

If these are recent trips the crowd levels are 1-2 , very low the first two weeks in Dec.

We used to go every year until my DD started high school. Most everything was walk on.

Now we have to travel during peak season9-10 levels and that is a whole different animal.

I don't think 1-2 exists anymore. This past week was 4-6 according to Josh/easyWDW. Today is a 9 and from there it's 10s through New Year's Day, so we'll soon be seeing reports from those who've braved peak crowds.

But for my two cents' worth, we were even happier to have our 3 FPs locked in on our busier days than we were on the slow days! We were in AK on a day that was a 4, and our Everest FP seemed fairly useless because the standby was only 15 minutes. But the day when even Spaceship Earth was 30 minutes...well, we were much happier to have that SSE FP than we ever thought we'd be.

 

[maxiesmom]

If these are recent trips the crowd levels are 1-2 , very low the first two weeks in Dec.

We used to go every year until my DD started high school. Most everything was walk on.

Now we have to travel during peak season9-10 levels and that is a whole different animal.

Actually the lowest EasyWDW has any day in the first 2 weeks of December is a 4. And they go all the way up to 6 and 7 on the weekends. December is not as quiet as it used to be.

 

[Fjobe]

Thanks for sharing. It's fun to hear the positive feedback.

 

[dmoore718]

Super helpful feedback! I am looking forward to not having to sprint to TSM for fastpasses and agree that the tiering sucks since the only FP we usually do at Epcot are for TT and Soarin.

 

[RandFamily]

I just got back today from a 4 day trip and the magic bands were terrific! So much easier than keeping track of cards and we had no technical issues at all.

I've never been in December before the christmas rush and what a pleasure!!!! I would definitely go this week again - you get almost all the benefits of Christmas with very low crowds. It was a wonderful trip and a great present to us all!