LOVE or HATE FP+ Anyone's mind been changed ??

[Shaden]

Spread more equally is exactly why we are getting way MORE done XMAS week than before. As is anybody that arrives later in the day that week-assuming they reserved FP+ like we did. They were long gone in the past, and headliners were 90 to 180 minute waits.

Fair enough, I could pull the standard FP+ enthusiast response and argue something like "but you could have always gotten more under the old system, you just chose not to." But that's crap when it comes from them and would be crap from me too...

So I amend my statement, excluding people like yourself, or people who are simply considering the absolute maximization possibility, its difficult if not impossible to argue you are getting more for your vacation dollar under FP+ than the old system, when it comes to maximizing attractions.

 

[Born 2B a Princess]

Great numbers, well done. Point well made of course.

Of course, this then comes down to questions of WDW's priorities. It becomes pretty clear you are able to get a lot less done per dime spent all else held equal. FP+ didn't improve that, it tried to spread it around. People still see value in a WDW vacation, and that's great. But objectively, when you consider the price increases, the greater number of people in the parks, the minimal increase in capacity and now FP+ making sure what is available is spread more equally, I don't see how anyone could argue that everything else held equal, they are still getting as much out of WDW in terms of attractions as in the past.

Where people's breaking points are, well that is purely personal choice.

I completely agree. Our upcoming August trip is our first post-FP+ trip and I'm incredibly stressed about it -- the planning process has become more stressful than fun for me, and it's never been that way before. We'll see how the trip goes and how FP+ impacts the way we like to do the parks....but right now, I'm not sure we'll be going again for quite some time after this trip.

 

[Cormoran]

I completely agree. Our upcoming August trip is our first post-FP+ trip and I'm incredibly stressed about it -- the planning process has become more stressful than fun for me, and it's never been that way before. We'll see how the trip goes and how FP+ impacts the way we like to do the parks....but right now, I'm not sure we'll be going again for quite some time after this trip.

The process of making the FP reservations isn't that difficult, but the problem is trying to figure out what to reserve. At Epcot, for example, the tier one attractions include Living with the Land. My family enjoys this attraction but is it worth that tier one FP? How long will the wait be if we don't burn a FP for the attraction? Then at MK some of the classic rides and all headliners are FP+, so what do you pick?
IMO, FP+ has indeed sucked the fun out of planning the trip. I wonder what the SB lines will be like for FP+ attractions like HM, POTC, and IASW. A lot of posters suggest doing RD. But wasn't not having to do RD one of the many benfits of FP+? I just don't see it.
This is our second time using FP+ and I was hoping my opinion would change, but it really hasn't. Frankly, Disney doesn't care about the guest experience. If they did, they would change the daily starting time you can make your FP+ reservations.

 

[mom2rtk]

You know, your comment on Living With the Land made me think. Maybe they should have just called these "group A" and "group B". That's what they did when they ran the Celebrate promotion and "Give a Day" promotion when they gave out fastpasses. That way it seems like just 2 separate groups and avoids the ridiculous situation where it seems they want us to believe LWTL is actually "worth" a tier 1 choice.

 

[Laketravis]

I changed my mind once. I wish I had my old one back.



.

 

[srauseo]

I agree with FuzzyLogic. Overall, I really like what FP+ allows me to do with my schedule. I don't mind booking in advance. I stay up late or get online at odd hours to buy concert or baseball tickets and it's not much different. I like knowing that I have a few headliners reserved at a convenient time for me and I'd rather not spend my park time pulling fast passes. On our last trip, we never felt the need to pick up any additional FP after we used up our three. I agree that the technology can be glitchy and I know that some people have had some major malfunctions with MDE which would put me through the roof. But since my experience has been pretty smooth, I'm liking it. Would I like more FPs? Sure. Would I like to get rid of tiers? Sure. But on my last trip (mid-August) we accomplished everything we wanted to, and in some cases more, and I think FP+ helped.

 

[MrInfinity]

I could pull the standard FP+ enthusiast response and argue something like "but you could have always gotten more under the old system, you just chose not to." But that's crap when it comes from them and would be crap from me too...

What on Earth is the point of positing "I could make this argument, but it would be wrong... so I won't"

And as a FP+ enthusiast, I don't think I've ever made that argument. That's not even a FP+ type argument... it's an argument one who liked FP- would have made toward people who didn't use FP- to say FP- isn't broken. i.e. you could have used it, you just chose not to.

So I amend my statement, excluding people like yourself, or people who are simply considering the absolute maximization possibility, its difficult if not impossible to argue you are getting more for your vacation dollar under FP+ than the old system, when it comes to maximizing attractions.

It's not at all difficult to "argue you are getting more for your vacation dollar under FP+". I am getting more for my vacation dollar under FP+. Most guests do. Most guests get more, that is why those who loved the old system are not happy w the new system, cuz now most guests are indeed getting those extra rides on things that you and I used to get for ourselves.

Same number of rides.
Different people getting them.
Time saved due to cutting out FP- waste.
More profitable for Disney.
Some guests upset, but more guest experiences improved than hurt.
= Net "+" for FP+.

Not saying it's a + for you, just that it's a + for Disney in general and most of its guests. It will never be a + for you if you used to pull 3 FP-s to Soarin and TT. You can't do that now, period -- so it will be a - for you. But you do have to accept that pulling 3 FPs to Soarin and TT was not the standard guest experience. It was something only a small handful of people did. For these people, FP+ is a -. For everyone else who pulled no fast passes at all, it's now a +.

I don't get why it's so hard to separate your experience from the experience most people got. Most people who stood in line while you'd walk past them over and over in the FP- line.

Right? You simply cannot truthfully say "most people would pull 3 Fast Passes to Soarin before. Now they only get 1". It's just not possible. Soarin only handles 17,000 riders. It's not physically possible that 50,000 guests were pulling 3 fast passes each to it. So you are mistaken to keep insinuating that because FP- was awesome for you, that it was equally awesome for the other guests. When you come to the realization that FP- was awesome for you because most guests did not use it, then you begin to see why FP+ was created and why it's a + in general even tho it's a - for you.

Oh and I gave an explanation of why FP+ is good for us here... (Post 20, bottom of page)
http://www.disboards.com/threads/love-or-hate-fp-anyones-mind-been-changed.3373606/#post-52964697

 

[kbelle8995]

I don't why three is the magic number (Okay now I'm thinking Schoolhouse rock) Why do you have to get three FP why not 1 or two. No you have to have three. And I don't think this systems works well for everyone. It's like trying to get everyone to wear the same shoe. It's great for Disney by locking you into the park for the time of the 3 FP.

I am intrigued to see how this will work at Disneyland, where you have a large population who does not schedule their trip to the parks months in advance.

 

[flicx]

It's great for Disney by locking you into the park for the time of the 3 FP.

That pretty much sums it up!

 

[jade1]

I don't why three is the magic number (Okay now I'm thinking Schoolhouse rock) Why do you have to get three FP why not 1 or two. No you have to have three. And I don't think this systems works well for everyone. It's like trying to get everyone to wear the same shoe. It's great for Disney by locking you into the park for the time of the 3 FP.

I am intrigued to see how this will work at Disneyland, where you have a large population who does not schedule their trip to the parks months in advance.

Just cancel 2.

 

[kbelle8995]

Just cancel 2.

Tried that. Got irritated with the countless warning about you still have 2 FP+ to book. And It wouldn't let me out of the system. This was still early on hopefully they changed that. Still don't care for it.

 

[mylittlebuttercup]

I originally thought I would hate it compared to the old Fastpass because DH and I used to be able to ride the headliners multiple times with the old system, and with the new system, you can only get the headliners once per day (other than the revolving FP if available.) But now that we have a toddler, we tour differently, so I actually ended up really liking Fastpass+ for our new touring style. I liked being able to book ahead of time, changing reservations on my phone on the fly, not having to send someone ahead to get FPs first thing in the morning. I do miss being able to give away a Fastpass we decided not to use because it often seemed to brighten the day of the people we gave them to.

 

[Mickey&Mouse]

I completely agree. Our upcoming August trip is our first post-FP+ trip and I'm incredibly stressed about it -- the planning process has become more stressful than fun for me, and it's never been that way before. We'll see how the trip goes and how FP+ impacts the way we like to do the parks....but right now, I'm not sure we'll be going again for quite some time after this trip.

This is where I am as well, planning our trip for May. The fun that used to be associated with planning has now been replaced with anxiety.

I’m happy for people that love FP+ for various reasons, one of which is how it works so well for latecomers. However, for people that have limited days at WDW and need to maximize their park days & rides per day- FP+ presents a challenge. We’ll be starting our FP reservations earlier in the day so that perhaps we’ll be able to obtain additional FP’s for later- trying to maximize the entire day.

In the past we were able to repeat so many rides- from secondary attractions to headliners. Most of the secondary attractions were not FP-enabled so we could just jump on in a short line, then jump back on again. This was such a highlight of our trips. It sounds like with the new FP+ system, jumping quickly onto certain rides may not be possible anymore. That will be disappointing. I think that people repeating headliners more than 2-3 times/ day were in such a minority as to be inconsequential in the grand scheme. We would typically repeat headliners with a FP just once, and on rare occasion twice.

I know it’s stated frequently that too many people were unaware of Legacy FP while it was in operation, but whenever we were there it appeared to be the opposite. We used FP wherever we felt it was necessary, and so did many other people. The FP return lines were never empty, and every time we went to pull a FP at the machines there were many people doing the same. Sometimes we’d have to wait for a few minutes for a FP machine to free up because they were so busy. Also, the times we’ve gone to Busch Gardens, Kings Dominion, or Hershey Park and stood in lengthy lines- there’s often comments made by people in line saying things like, “Too bad they don’t have FP like Disney.” While that may be anecdotal, I tend to believe that more people knew about FP than did not. It wasn’t complicated at all, the machines were at the rides with CM’s standing alongside, the front of the rides would have the FP return time displayed, etc. Thinking back to our first trip with FP, we had already heard from a family member about it prior to our trip. So between word of mouth and the in-park presence, IMO it was harder to not know about FP.

I do miss being able to give away a Fastpass we decided not to use because it often seemed to brighten the day of the people we gave them to.

I will also miss giving away FP's- that was always such a fun thing to do!

 

[Cormoran]

I am intrigued to see how this will work at Disneyland, where you have a large population who does not schedule their trip to the parks months in advance.

My question is will it be implemented at DLR? I just can't picture it. First of all, there's the space issue. DL is pretty small and the attractions are close together. How will they be able to create SB and FP lines for additional attractions especially in Fantasyland? Then if it is implemented, how are they going to convince guests to make ride reservations prior to arriving at the parks? If I were a DLR local, and FP+ was implemented, I'd make FP reservations just "in case" we ended up at the parks.

 

[rtbreneman]

I couldn't keep up with this entire thread, but my two cents is that, frankly, FP+ wasn't built for the folks that are on this website and have an intricate knowledge of the parks, etc. It's more so there for newbies who buy their tickets and go, "oh, wow, I can make sure I get to ride POTC," or whatever floats their boat. It gives those who are new to the park an opportunity to hit a couple of rides they can't live without. I read somewhere that only 25-30% of visitors were using the old FP system, and this is a way for more folks to be aware of the system before they get to the park and just stare at the castle not knowing what to do next.

The problem is that to help those newbies out so they get a few good fastpasses, there are fewer out there for us that know what we were doing and could get 7 or 8 in a day and really take advantage of our time. Disney is willing to make that trade-off, because the folks on this board are most likely going to come back, anyway....

 

[MrInfinity]

My question is will it be implemented at DLR? I just can't picture it. First of all, there's the space issue. DL is pretty small and the attractions are close together. How will they be able to create SB and FP lines for additional attractions especially in Fantasyland? Then if it is implemented, how are they going to convince guests to make ride reservations prior to arriving at the parks? If I were a DLR local, and FP+ was implemented, I'd make FP reservations just "in case" we ended up at the parks.

Hi Cormoran,
I don't have any info that you don't have... but based on the objectives of FP+/MM+... I have to say yes, FP+ will come to DL. The space is not an issue. Whether the line is here... or there... it's still just a line and they'll fit it in. A couple of the rides have really bad lines already... like the Matterhorn, it kind of wraps around the central mountain hub, and it's awkward cuz there is little queue built up for it. But they'd deal w this like they do now.

FP+ prevents AP holders from booking everything up by limiting the # of days you can reserve, right? So that's not a problem either. And if there is a case of overbooking, then it will only take a little study to figure out their "conversion rate" or whatever... if 90% of FPs booked get used, then allow overbooking by 10%.

And many have surmised that it would work better in DL, cuz there's only 3 resorts, not 20 like in Florida. I agree w this... based on the higher number of rides per park, mixed w the lower number of resorts, locals would be able to say "hey lets go this weekend" and could get online and see pretty much everything available. Even RSR. DCA has 3 mega-draw rides, so you just group it with TSMM and California Screamin (maybe even Soarin too) and there will not be an issue w capacity like you see at Epcot.

But then you have to ask if it would benefit the mostly-locals crowd as much as it benefits the mostly-vacationers crowd in WDW. I'm mixed on this. It is definitely relevant for WDW where people plan their trips 6 mo in advance, not sure at DL where most guests come from within CA. So my intuition is that FP+ will hit DL. But it'll take time. I'd say you've got a comfortable 2 years of DLR FP- goodness to enjoy.
Fuzzy

 

[jade1]

Tried that. Got irritated with the countless warning about you still have 2 FP+ to book. And It wouldn't let me out of the system. This was still early on hopefully they changed that. Still don't care for it.

I meant at a later date.

 

[VanessasMom]

I like the fp system, I always use my 3. I also love the idea of getting more, but that is a problem. They are frequently available, but you spend more time waiting in line for a kiosk to book them than you probably would if you just went and stood in line for the ride. I wish you could book more on the app after the first 3 were done. I still like it better though...

 

[FantasiaMagic]

I like FP+. I think it is useful and helps you plan for attractions that you really want in advance. Disney has them reserved for you, as long as you decide to use them! You can still go with the flow with your plans,just make your FPs close together in the morning or the evening. I think it makes things easier, IMHO.

 

[hedberg1661]

While I liked the legacy FP system I really have to say I love FP+

I am an uber planner and so for me to pick 3 attractions that I want to do that day really gives me a nice base plan for the day.

I think the hardest thing for folks to get over is the fact that if you miss a FP you miss it. So what? If your ADR runs over an attraction it isn't the end of the world. Generally, if you make them at 60 days out (assuming you are an on property guest) you should have no problem getting the ones you want. If for some reason you don't get 7DMT or Soarin then rope drop that attraction.

I love the Magic Bands. I wish they had expanded functionality such as linking a Credit Card and allowing the CM to know you are an AP or DVC or Disney Visa so they know to give you the discount. No ID, No additional items that must be presented. I am sure Disney is working hard to get the system to that point. Clearly they are seeing record revenue from this new process so it is only a matter of time.