Just returned - the sky is not falling!

[JMBCILLINOIS]

We just got back from our trip. We were there Thanksgiving week Nov 24 - Nov 30. We had 5 day MYW tickets that did not include park hopper. We stayed offsite so did not have the MB or FP+. FP- was available to us at the parks. We are a family with two boys (9 & 7). We have been to the World three times before during "offseasons" - once in April and twice in mid-October. Our major concern was the crowds for Thanksgiving week.

We booked this trip 3 1/2 weeks before leaving, so we didn't have a lot of time to plan the trip.

I am writing this because all of the negative/downer posts on the boards recently had us concerned for our trip.

This trip was our best ever!

We got our tickets through UT. Ordered at the end of October and received the credit card type ticket. No problems.

Our strategy going in was to come up with a gameplan of what we wanted to do at each park and get there when the park opened. I can't stress that second part enough!!!

We came up with a general gameplan of what we wanted to do at each park. We did not use a specific touring plan from touringplan.com, but came up with our own plan taking into consideration the plans offered by the unofficial guide and easywdw.com. We had an idea about what parks we wanted to go to on what days, but changed that when we got there and went to the parks suggested by the UT crowd forecast on the UT app.

We were able to ride all headliners multiple times just by getting to the parks at open and strategically using FP-. Seriously, we went through each park waiting for the other shoe to drop and have to stand in hour long lines, but it just didn't happen. The longest we waited was 35 minutes for RR at HS. That is only because we made the decision to get fast passes before riding TSM in the stand by line, so that we could ride that twice. We knocked out all of the major rides in the mornings, went back to our offsite condo for lunch/naps, then came back to the parks in the afternoon to see shows, the boys did the various "scavenger hunt" maps (these are very cool for this age group), evening parades & fireworks.

Do not get overly stressed out. I did not notice anything different from the three previous trips that we have gone on over the last 6 years.

If you do nothing else - get there when the parks open! That and a general idea of how to use the FP system and you will be set. We were there on days the crowd forecast was pretty much all 9's.

Go and enjoy. Staying offsite was wonderful!!

From,

Set manageable expectations and have fun!

 

[Ava83]

Thrilled you had a wonderful time!

I find if you go with a realistic expectations on any vacation you will make it work!

 

[MsThumper]

Thrilled you had a wonderful time!

I find if you go with a realistic expectations on any vacation you will make it work!

Ditto this.

 

[mrsmorgan]

So glad to hear this we will be there at the end of January and we are looking forward to our trip despite all the negativity. We have always traveled with small children (girls are just now 6 and 8) so probably had lower expectations about what we were going to do than others. This is our first trip where the girls will be tall enough for the headliners but I've been getting discouraged by all the posts.

 

[cuteinnocent]

How long was TSM standby line in the morning after getting FP?

 

[Kampta80]

It is so good to hear this

We are off on Saturday (from the UK) and this is our 4th trip. We always stay offsite and must admit we rarely even bother with the fp- so I was not stressing too much about all this fp+ business!

Dare I say the only thing that doesn't work for us is the 'get there when the park opens' advise that ABSOLUTLEY everyone seems to say. We just really are not morning people. Plus with our 2 DD (will be 4 and 5 this time), there is no hope of them lasting out until the evening parades, etc if we have all got up at the crack of dawn. We are not 'afternoon nap' type people either (plus we would find all the coming and going to and from the park quite a hassle (not just because we are staying off site, but just due to the sheer size of the parks). Plus when we were there 2 years ago, I remember walking straight on many rides in Epcot after arriving in the afternoon, when maybe most of the people had already made their way round to the World Showcase? I know this theory doesn't work for everyone, but it seems to work for us.

We go our tickets from UT too. They are just normal paper card tickets.

I'm hoping the week beginning 9th Dec will not be mega busy anyway (shouldn't be according to the crowd calendars), but to be honest we'll just be happy to be there whatever!

5 sleeps to go......

 

[lizabu]

Thank you for sharing. I have a trip coming up in March and we bought tickets from UT too. They're plastic and each one has a character on it...Mickey, Minnie etc. I read on here that you have to have a card with an RFID chip in it. Do these cards have a chip or did you have to exchange them at the park? Honestly, they look the same as the UT tickets we had 2 years ago.

 

[Silock]

I'm glad you had a good time.

However, the common thread among all of the positive reviews so far has been the availability of FP-. Once that goes away, the sky may indeed be falling.

 

[tim123]

So glad to hear this we will be there at the end of January and we are looking forward to our trip despite all the negativity. We have always traveled with small children (girls are just now 6 and 8) so probably had lower expectations about what we were going to do than others. This is our first trip where the girls will be tall enough for the headliners but I've been getting discouraged by all the posts.

please no not get discouraged!!! You'll be there in January! I just came back last month. MagicMYFP+ was wonderful inspire a few little glitches that were quickly and pleasantly resolved on the spot..just be sure you have your iPhone with app on it with you. You will love just walking on to the rides you booked at home…and there will be FP regular as well and short lines for standby. That was my experience off season last month…it was a super duper WDW love fest….inspite of the negative stuff presented here. Do not fret…Have fun!

 

[OurDogCisco]

Lucky you.... We didn't get to ride TSM. I'm sure the key is to arrive early about 1 1/2 hours early but we never had to do that in the past for TSM. We were at the ride at 9:15 am and the standby time was 105 minutes and the FP- return time was 5:30 to 6:30 pm with a CM saying if you get in line they might run out before your turn is up. This was for Friday after Thanksgiving. I'm sure there were better days to go. I thought DHS and Epcot were the most Challenging parks to visit. I'm glad you had no problems though.

 

[JMBCILLINOIS]

Our wait in the standby line for TSM after getting FP- was about 15 minutes.

The plastic UT tickets with the character pictures on the front sound like the same tickets that we had. They have the black magnetic strip on the back. We did not have to do anything with the tickets at the park. The tickets worked just fine.

 

[lizabu]

Our wait in the standby line for TSM after getting FP- was about 15 minutes. The plastic UT tickets with the character pictures on the front sound like the same tickets that we had. They have the black magnetic strip on the back. We did not have to do anything with the tickets at the park. The tickets worked just fine.

Awesome! Thank you.

 

[wiigirl]

Glad you had a great time.

 

[Gr8t Fan]

I'm glad you had a good time.

However, the common thread among all of the positive reviews so far has been the availability of FP-. Once that goes away, the sky may indeed be falling.

This! When FP- goes away entirely it's going to be a whole 'nother ballgame and that is projected to happen after January 1, 2014. If they would simply leave FP- in place it would give everyone a chance to ride the headliners with little to no wait if they arrive at park opening and draw a FP-, especially at DHS and Epcot.

 

[zetachi]

We have an offsite visit planned for !2/26-1/3 and this is encouraging news. Bookmarking in hopes of others adding their positive and/or negative (hopefully not ) reports.

Thanks

 

[crazyventures]

Thank you for reporting! I was getting a little worried for my offsite trip next Thanksgiving. Glad to know you were able to make it work.

 

[morethananyonex]

That's great you had a good time at all, but none of what you're reporting changes any of the negativity that surrounds FP+ and Magic Bands. Truly, I haven't seen many people worried about offsite visits if FP- is still going.

You didn't have to deal with MB and their issues. You still had access to FP-, who knows how much longer that will be lasting. You weren't tied down by FP+ reservations and had the ability to change your plans on the fly if you wanted to. The vast majority of people's worries at this point have to do with bands not working, choosing FP+ way in advance (and tiering/no hopping), FP- access going away and the MDE app not working to modify on the go. With all due respect, your experience has nothing to do with any of that.

All it really tells us is that you managed the crowded Thanksgiving week well. That's great, but I'd bet that FP- is a thing of the past come next Thanksgiving anyways.

 

[UpstateMick]

That's great you had a good time at all, but none of what you're reporting changes any of the negativity that surrounds FP+ and Magic Bands. Truly, I haven't seen many people worried about offsite visits if FP- is still going.

You didn't have to deal with MB and their issues. You still had access to FP-, who knows how much longer that will be lasting. You weren't tied down by FP+ reservations and had the ability to change your plans on the fly if you wanted to. The vast majority of people's worries at this point have to do with bands not working, choosing FP+ way in advance (and tiering/no hopping), FP- access going away and the MDE app not working to modify on the go. With all due respect, your experience has nothing to do with any of that.

All it really tells us is that you managed the crowded Thanksgiving week well. That's great, but I'd bet that FP- is a thing of the past come next Thanksgiving anyways.

Exactly! As I was reading her post, I thought the same thing...how can you offer such a positive report on a new system when you used the old one? For those of us going in February, we will not have that option (probably) so we will be relying on FP+ and a tiered system...no matter what anyone says, that will restrict our ability to ride more attractions.

 

[Tigger's ally]

Exactly! As I was reading her post, I thought the same thing...how can you offer such a positive report on a new system when you used the old one? For those of us going in February, we will not have that option (probably) so we will be relying on FP+ and a tiered system...no matter what anyone says, that will restrict our ability to ride more attractions.

They didn't say their post was about magic bands and FP+. I think the problem is how you read it, not how they wrote it.

 

[Bouncin-Tigger]

I am glad you enjoyed your trip. We were there for mnnshp and had one of out best trips using the fast pass plus system. Good to hear a positive expierence rather than it's the end of the world like most threads and from someone who has used the system.