Just returned. Swan guests. FP+review.

[epcotprincess]

We returned yesterday from a quick 3 night girls trip to WDW with my mother and sister. Since this was a last minute decision for us, we ended up at the Swan for pricing and location purposes and we were part of the FP+ testing.

We arrived at rope drop and had immediate service at the FP+ kiosks. We got all the fast passes we wanted for the correct times and were even able to pair up with the FP+ schedule of other family members staying at BCV.

The rides we were unable to get Tier 1 FP+ for were the very next place we went in the park after scheduling FP+, and we were able to ride those rides with short wait times without a fp. (For instance at Epcot, we scheduled FP+ for Soarin' and went immediately to TestTrack and waited only about 15 minutes.) I am certain if we didn't have to take 10-15 minutes of time after rope drop to arrange FP+ with a CM, the wait times on those attractions would have been even less.

We loved not having to send a FP runner/ wait to get FP's just to return to that attraction at a later time. We loved not having to base our day around a fastpass time we didn't select, but rather unpredictably received as with the FP- system. When Spaceship Earth broke down, we were able to get a new time for that ride or a different ride immediately.

Overall, I was very happy with the FP+ system and I'm really looking forward to using it this summer with my husband and 2 small children. I do think 3 FP's may be too few, but for us it was just fine. The only consideration we needed to make was to be to the park early to hit the other headliner that we did not choose for a fastpass and would predictably have a long wait. For us, that worked out just fine.

 

[HappyGrape]

Thanks for sharing your review, glad to hear positive experience

 

[mom2aandj]

Good info! Curious if anything was said about this being a long term plan for Swan and Dolphin-- or if they will ever get to schedule ahead of time?

 

[lugnut33]

Was there much of a line when you came up to the FP+ station?

 

[PrincessJo]

Wonderful! I'm glad you had a fun trip. We can't wait to try the MBs and FP+. I hope ours goes as smoothly as yours

 

[minnie-apple-mouse]

Good to hear.

So each park has a dedicated S&D kiosk? Or how did that work?

Could use many details if poss.

Did you ever check throughout the day? How did you change the SE FP+?

When you arrived-how was the selections laid out? By time of day. or afternoon/eve etc?

Was there a lot avail? How where the other parks etc?

Thanks.

 

[epcotprincess]

Was there much of a line when you came up to the FP+ station?

No, not at all. We had to wait for one couple ahead of us, once. Every other time, we were the only people to be waited on.

 

[HopperFan]

We loved not having to send a FP runner/ wait to get FP's just to return to that attraction at a later time. We loved not having to base our day around a fastpass time we didn't select, but rather unpredictably received as with the FP- system.

I think this is going to be appealing to many guests. I was there in September (I know, a slower time to go, part of my touring strategy) for 12 days. We had FP+ which we booked all 12 days. We never pulled a FP-. Having the FP+ with times we liked allowed us to approach the days with more relaxation than ever, and we got more done than we usually do! We rode rides, went in shops, tried snacks we have never done or had before. For our family it was a very positive experience.

Is 3 FP+ enough? Do I like Tiers? I think in the end when the AP, Offsite and Partner hotels are figured out that this may have final tuning. For many reasons I can see EPCOT and DHS staying pretty close to what it is now. I can see AK staying as is until Avatarland opens then I can see Tiers added there. The tricky one will be MK. I think they've already tested the 4 FP+, we had 4 each day. I think the SDMT will receive a crush of interest and would not be surprised if MK goes to Tiers when it opens. The plus is there are enough rides there that they could offer 4-5 FP+ by spreading them out over 3-4 Tiers. The old A-E ticket concept.

 

[epcotprincess]

Good to hear.

So each park has a dedicated S&D kiosk? Or how did that work?

Could use many details if poss.

Did you ever check throughout the day? How did you change the SE FP+?

When you arrived-how was the selections laid out? By time of day. or afternoon/eve etc?

Was there a lot avail? How where the other parks etc?

Thanks.

Yes, each park had a dedicated kiosk with the S&D logo on a placard. CM's are easily identifiable in teal shirts with lime green Mickey heads on them. There were also more than one kiosk, for instance, Epcot had one near guest relations/ Innoventions and also had one at the International Gateway entrance. (There could have been more but we only used these two.) This was how we changed the SE FP. We initially made all our FP+'s at the IG entrance, then made the change due to SE breakdown at the kiosk near Guest Relations.

The CM initially asked me what 3 rides I wanted. I was presented with the iPad that had two columns (tier 1 and tier 2) and told to select one from tier 1 and two from tier 2. Then we worked on times together. Almost every time slot was available that we requested. Plenty of availability.

The other park we attended was DHS, and we used the kiosk to the left of Crossroads of the World. We got everything we wanted there... our other family members were staying at BCV and were able to set their FP+ up in advance. We took a sheet of paper with their times on it, and the CM at the FP+ kiosk matched the times within a few minutes for us.

 

[minnie-apple-mouse]

Yes, each park had a dedicated kiosk with the S&D logo on a placard. CM's are easily identifiable in teal shirts with lime green Mickey heads on them. There were also more than one kiosk, for instance, Epcot had one near guest relations/ Innoventions and also had one at the International Gateway entrance. (There could have been more but we only used these two.) This was how we changed the SE FP. We initially made all our FP+'s at the IG entrance, then made the change due to SE breakdown at the kiosk near Guest Relations.

The CM initially asked me what 3 rides I wanted. I was presented with the iPad that had two columns (tier 1 and tier 2) and told to select one from tier 1 and two from tier 2. Then we worked on times together. Almost every time slot was available that we requested. Plenty of availability.

The other park we attended was DHS, and we used the kiosk to the left of Crossroads of the World. We got everything we wanted there... our other family members were staying at BCV and were able to set their FP+ up in advance. We took a sheet of paper with their times on it, and the CM at the FP+ kiosk matched the times within a few minutes for us.

Thank you so much.

Could I ask what was available at DHS? Thanks.

 

[lugnut33]

Is it recommended to get there as early as possible? Do you know if you could get to Hollywood Studios at around 11 and still get a FP for Toy Story?

 

[Wishes Count]

Is it recommended to get there as early as possible? Do you know if you could get to Hollywood Studios at around 11 and still get a FP for Toy Story?

Very unlikely.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[Brian_WDW74]

Per the Looking for the Live Report and Just Back Threads? sticky thread, I have moved this to the Disney Trip Reports board.

 

[Dan Murphy]

That sounds great. Thanks for the heads up. This will be helpful for those asking about S/D FastPass +.

Oops, now on the trip report board, so now most folks won't find it.

Maybe a posting where you do not actually state you were there and therefore not considered a report. I know a number of people have been asking about S/D FP+.

 

[epcotprincess]

Is it recommended to get there as early as possible? Do you know if you could get to Hollywood Studios at around 11 and still get a FP for Toy Story?

Per touring plans, our park crowd level was 3 and fast passes for TSM were gone by 10 a.m. for the entire day.

 

[Deb0323]

My family visited the Swan Thanksgiving week. Because it's normally a very crowded time, I was very apprehensive going in to the trip, thinking all of the FPs would be unavailable by the time we stepped into the parks. However, we seemed to have the best of both worlds. The folks at the S/D kiosks were very accommodating, with minimal to no waits, and we were always provided with plenty of options for Fastpasses, even later in the day. In fact, we arrived at International Gateway about 2:00 pm our arrival day, and were able to grab a FP+ for Soarin through their Ipads - we went right there and walked on, right past the 70 minute wait in Standby. Interestingly enough, there was a sign by the legacy fast pass machines saying they were all gone for the day.
In addition (and this is what I mean by having the best of both worlds), we were able to use our park tickets to pull Legacy FPs
So with easy availability same day of FP+, and the ability to pull regular FP, we were able to ride everything we wanted, and some twice - I actually started to consider that maybe being at rope drop isn't as necessary as it used to be!

 

[Viva Las Disney]

I'm here now and haven't pulled a single FP- all week despite having a KTTW card, I just haven't needed any. Hitting majors early and then again with FP+ has been super convenient. So far I love the MB's and haven't had any scheduling problems with FP+. Despite lots of little glitches with the website and my FP+'s not always showing when I scan (just show them the FP+ in plans on MDE and they'll let you through) count me as a positive vote for my magic.