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

[PollyannaMom]

Just back from my first trip under the new system.

I was nervous at first, "micro-planning" in advance, but it ended up working out for my particular group. I think it helped that there were only three of us, and we had been a few times before, so we weren't out to do absolutely everything. We're also early birds by nature, so we were there soon after rope drop, even though we didn't actually need to be, and found it much less crowded than we expected for a good stretch of the morning. (It was still huge in the afternoon, of course, but we knew what we were getting into.) I do think now that folks can ride what they want most without getting there early, more sleep in.

The only real issue I had was trying to change FastPasses to a different park. (We had decided to change our "bonus day" at the end of our stay.) I could not manage it on the web site and had to go to the concierge desk at the resort, but the CM there was able to do it.

 

[AustinTink]

You simply have no idea if that is true or not.

Neither do you. Only time will tell.

 

[cakebaker]

Neither do you. Only time will tell.

I didn't make the claim, you did.

 

[AustinTink]

I didn't make the claim, you did.

And I believe it to be true.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Agree. I'm gonna state the obvious here but I think most guests who are now splitting time between Uni and WDW has more to with HP and less to do with FP+.

This was us last year. We stayed at Disney and kept the band on and returned after our day with Harry Potter.

 

[Laketravis]

You simply have no idea if that is true or not.

That could certainly be said about anyone who disagrees.

It's easy to initially counter that one doesn't "think" it happens at all, but when there are visual accounts of large numbers of people in one park wearing bands that work in another the argument turns to "we don't know" why that's the case and can't definitively credit FP+ for it.

Yet I don't know AustinTink, and AustinTink doesn't know me. But both of us have apparently and just recently broken out of habit and tried visiting two park systems during the same vacation. And liked it. And FP+ made it possible.

Anecdotal, sure. But probabilities come into play - how could two people, in the same city, who don't know each other, then post to the same internet boards, of their similar experience within weeks or months of it. That is a mathematical foundation that statisticians could easily extrapolate from.


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[cakebaker]

And I believe it to be true.

It may be your opinion, but you stated it as though it were a fact and it most certainly is not. It's just an opinion based on nothing more than you want it to be true.

 

[jade1]

I was under the impression that offsite guests could purchase magic bands now - is that not correct?

I'm kinda (but only kinda) kidding. I cannot prove that at all, but I can say we do that and love the result, probably not the only one. Our UNI/IOA day is one of the best now with FP+ for that evening back at WDW. But so is our Clearwater Beach , Bass Fishing and Golf days as well.

 

[cakebaker]

This was us last year. We stayed at Disney and kept the band on and returned after our day with Harry Potter.

We ( at least I did) wore our bands at Universal and we were done with our stay at WDW. lol Just got used to wearing it and failed to take it off.

 

[AustinTink]

It may be your opinion, but you stated it as though it were a fact and it most certainly is not. It's just an opinion based on nothing more than you want it to be true.

Why would I WANT anything to be true? I don't wish ill on Disney, the place I have been going every year since my honeymoon. I just stated that X amount of people are defecting to UNI because of FP+, judging from my family, some here on the Dis and others I have spoken to in the "real world". Hence, my more than the Disboards could possibly reflect statement. Again, only time and real stats over the course of time will tell.

 

[jade1]

We will be doing the opposite. Heading to MK for the day and back to UNI for the Mardi Gras concerts and parades, then a short walk back to our comfy Loews on-property hotel. Universal has gotten so much right in the last 5 years. No one can deny that.

The 2 things we don't like on this plan are the HP attractions are early entry if we stay there-no EP after that hour, so it makes a lot of sense to do those in the AM if onsite IMO. Just as it makes sense to do FP+ the evening after UNI-esp since it closes early. And we enjoy the WDW night shows better anyway-and the hotels actually. But if you like those night shows better and hotels better-heck yea.

 

[erc]

Anecdotal, sure. But probabilities come into play - how could two people, in the same city, who don't know each other, then post to the same internet boards, of their similar experience within weeks or months of it.
.

I conclude that people from Austin hate change.

 

[Laketravis]

I conclude that people from Austin hate change.

I know you're kidding, erc, because it has nothing to do with change. Like Jade has pointed out, it's made getting more done much easier - whether that "more" is another park system or golf or deep sea fishing or ...........



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[AustinTink]

I conclude that people from Austin hate change.

Over 150 people move to Austin each day. We are growing our hater army.

 

[Luckybee]

We're from Canada...we must not like change either

 

[cakebaker]

We're from Canada...we must not like change either

No, there has to be 2 Canadians that agree - then it's a mandate.

 

[wisblue]

Exactly my point..

Your original point was that FP+ works BEST for frequent guests. Maybe some frequent guests have found value in spending just 3 hours a day in a park, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't work even better for the infrequent guest that can reserve times for 3 of their highest priority attractions in advance and experience more things than they would have with paper FPs.

As long as you label the point about FP+ working best for frequent visitors as your opinion, then I accept that, and disagree with it.

Personally, I think FP+ works best, and provides the best value, for someone who spends more than 3 hours in a Disney park.

Perhaps, but I put more weight on all of those people at Universal I saw sporting a Disney magic band. Lots of them. And for me that speaks to action rather than commentary.

For as long as I can remember there have been a lot of people at WDW sporting things like "Thing 1" t-shirts. So, there has always been evidence that a number of people have visited both WDW and Universal on their Florida trips. We have visited Universal a few of times, once when we stayed offsite and a couple of times more recently, mainly to see the Harry Potter areas. It tells us absolutely nothing about how many more people may be doing split stays.

 

[wisblue]

I know you're kidding, erc, because it has nothing to do with change. Like Jade has pointed out, it's made getting more done much easier - whether that "more" is another park system or golf or deep sea fishing or ...........
.

...or spending time in a Disney park in the morning and using those FPs at a time when the parks are most crowded and standby lines are the longest.

So, it sounds like where we are going is that FP+ allows a lot of different types of people to do more, unless that guest's idea of "more" requires getting several FPs a day for one very popular attraction.

 

[Planogirl]

I also disagree that visiting a Disney park for a couple of hours, using 3 FPs, and then leaving is an efficient or economically sensible approach for very many guests. It definitely isn't the way the family on their once in a lifetime dream Disney vacation is going to do things.

You are also putting more weight than I would on the people on the Dis who say they are now going to split their stays. I start with my opinion that the regular posters on the Dis are not representative of the typical Disney visitor. I also think that the percentage of Dis posters who are suddenly doing split stays who wouldn't have done them otherwise is pretty small. What I do see is several posters who have made the same point literally dozens of times.

I also think there's a big difference between split stays that involve some full days at Disney and other full days at US or somewhere else, and trips that involve spending some time at both Universal and Disney Parks on the same day. I'm betting that the latter are pretty rare because they only make economic sense for people with APs to one or the other or both. The typical guest that only has about a week or less to spend in Florida isn't going to do that. But, I think people who want to jump into a park for a couple of hours and then leave are doing both Disney and the other guests a favor. It's a lot better than if they spend all day in a park gathering up 3 or 4 FPs for one very popular attraction.

If you buy multi-day tickets to both Universal and WDW then the increased cost is negligible. I can buy 7 day passes for WDW for just a bit more than 5 day and use a few of those days for only partial days. The same is true of Universal. We might be rare but it's easy and not all that much more in cost.

 

[Laketravis]

If you buy multi-day tickets to both Universal and WDW then the increased cost is negligible. I can buy 7 day passes for WDW for just a bit more than 5 day and use a few of those days for only partial days. The same is true of Universal. We might be rare but it's easy and not all that much more in cost.

And if I'm going to stand in line for something before/after I've used my three FP's, I can see where it might be more attractive to stand in line for something like Harry Potter.

Glad to hear they are now working on expanding I-4. Seems there's a lot of traffic between WDW and USO.


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