Misled by fastpass plussers

[maxiesmom]

On a high crowd day with the old system, anyone could easily get more than 3 FPs if they wanted to.

Maybe. Would they always be for rides you really wanted to ride, or for ride times that fit in with the rest of your day? Maybe.

 

[bluezy]

On a high crowd day with the old system, anyone could easily get more than 3 FPs if they wanted to.

They still can if they want to. We had no problem getting a 4th, 5th, etc. FP+ on crowd level 8 & 9 days in June. And we were a party of 5. I didn't even bother trying to split us into groups of 2 and 3 because there was availability for 5. We used at least 4 FP's in each park and actually used 10 in MK even with taking a break at our resort in the afternoon. We found we used about the same number of FP+'s in each park as we did with FP-, but in a shorter amount of time.

This is certainly true for us. We spend less time in the parks now than we did before.

We also spend less time in the parks and more time at the resort now. Not sure if that's because FP+ allowed us to better schedule things or if we go often enough now that we don't feel like we need to do "everything" on each trip.

 

[maxiesmom]

At 2 billion they could have added five 100million dollar price tag rides to each park. Aka headliners. That would have fit the bill for almost everyone here!

They are spending money hand over fist. New Fantasyland cost an estimated 600 million. The Animal Kingdom is getting major work done. The Disney Studios is expanding. Disney Springs, aka Down Town Disney has been a construction zone for a while now. And don't forget the new, improved Norway

 

[3DisneyFanz]

Maybe. Would they always be for rides you really wanted to ride, or for ride times that fit in with the rest of your day? Maybe.

There was still a chance. Under the current system there is virtually no chance of getting what you really want and you're no more likely to get great times either. You're not getting TSMM and RnR, you're not getting 'Soarin and TT and your odds of getting PP, 7dmt or A&E are pretty slim.

 

[bluezy]

Maybe. Would they always be for rides you really wanted to ride, or for ride times that fit in with the rest of your day? Maybe.

Exactly. I much prefer the new system specifically for that aspect. It is much easier to go to a kiosk and look at *everything* that is available for all the times available and make a decision based on that broad amount of information. We schedule something close by that can be used quickly and then repeat the process. It's much better than needing to run across the park to find out that the return time for the ride we're interested in is hours away and then deciding that maybe we should have gotten a FP for that ride on the *other* side of the park that has a return time of 1 hour.

 

[momof2n2]

You mean like by expanding Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios?

Maybe if they'd done that first they'd never have needed to start rationing rides.

 

[flicx]

Maybe if they'd done that first they'd never have needed to start rationing rides.

Bingo!!!!!!!

 

[momof2n2]

I don't think that the emotional reaction comes so much from Disney not catering to a particular touring style as it does from the fact that they blew up the touring style of a large segment of its most loyal customers. I understand why they did it. But it doesn't make the disappointment any less. There is a difference between not catering to something or someone and marginalizing them.

I have half a mind to save this and quote you again and again.

I feel like it took a solid 18 months before a nice chuck of the FP+ fans on this site acknowledged exactly what you are saying here. For me, having my POV recognized went a long way.

The old system worked exceedingly well for my family. We are giving up quite a bit with the new system.

 

[disneyjunkie]

Maybe. Would they always be for rides you really wanted to ride, or for ride times that fit in with the rest of your day? Maybe.

Maybe????

I was always able to get several FPs a day for headliners. We only travel during peak times.

This time around (Easter week as usual)when I tried to get a 4th FP, we had the "pleasure" of picking Stitch or Laugh Floor.

I like both attractions, but wasting a FP or standing in a 40 minute line for either one is crazy.

 

[disneyjunkie]

There was still a chance. Under the current system there is virtually no chance of getting what you really want and you're no more likely to get great times either. You're not getting TSMM and RnR, you're not getting 'Soarin and TT and your odds of getting PP, 7dmt or A&E are pretty slim.

Exactly

You shouldn't have to waste a FP on rides/shows that were pretty much walk ons under the old system.

 

[disneyjunkie]

People are still hitting rope drop heavy and possibly even heavier because they can't get the FP they want or at HS and EPCOT you can't get the two things you might really want. On top of that it certainly seems a lot of people are talking about everything they're doing off property which isn't really helping Disney. Even some of the biggest supporters are talking about what they're doing offsite which is counter productive to what they wanted.
.

We heading to Universal during our spring break 2016 trip. This will be a first for us. In all of our trips, we have only left disney property once and that was for grocery run during our first trip.

Once we check into our resort, we stay on property until it is time to head to the airport.

Next spring I'm planning to purchase express passrs and spend 2 days at Universal. If it's a hit, then we will do a split stay in spring 2017.

 

[JimmyV]

On top of that it certainly seems a lot of people are talking about everything they're doing off property which isn't really helping Disney. Even some of the biggest supporters are talking about what they're doing offsite which is counter productive to what they wanted.

They're primary focus with it now is that people are spending less time in the park which may or may not be a good thing for them.

This does seem to be the big miscalculation. They succeeded in getting people to spend less time in the parks. But is Disney capturing their discretionary spending? Some yes. Others, no.

 

[JimmyV]

It is much easier to go to a kiosk and look at *everything* that is available for all the times available and make a decision based on that broad amount of information. It's much better than needing to run across the park to find out that the return time for the ride we're interested in ...

True. But an entire overhaul of the system was not needed to cure this problem. All Disney had to do was make universal FP machines instead of dedicated machines for each attraction. FP- could have functioned with kiosks spread around the park that let you insert your ticket and choose a ride. You wouldn't have had your pick of times and instead would have gotten a FP for whatever time slot was being distributed at that moment. But let's be honest. You don't have your pick of times for popular attractions now. To the extent that you can go to a kiosk and zero in on a FP for exactly the time slot that serves you best, it is probably for a ride that doesn't need a FP in the first place. I said for years that the FP machines should have been made universal so that you could be in Frontierland and pull one for Space Mountain. Had they done this, your concerns would have been met.

 

[AllieBoo]

what a crock people who defend fast plus+. I had numerous fears about fp+ but was hopeful because of all the people who said "oh it's great". It's great if u want to sweat in long lines at rides like haunted mansion that should never need a fastpass. 60 minute wait right now at 3:30. Ariel ride at noon-I couldn't believe how many people were doing fp+ for it. It's fast loading, why on earth would you fp it???? People actually fp small world. It's madness. all the stories of how great it is are "misleading" at best.at worst well.........

I personally love FP+ and have posted about my positive experiences with it, as have many others. Nothing that I have posted or have seen others post, was "misleading". Just because you don't like something, doesn't mean you should get on here and bash other people who have shared their experiences. Grow up.

 

[Nancyg56]

I personally love FP+ and have posted about my positive experiences with it, as have many others. Nothing that I have posted or have seen others post, was "misleading". Just because you don't like something, doesn't mean you should get on here and bash other people who have shared their experiences. Grow up.

For a LONG LONG time, there were two kinds of threads. The "I love FP+ and nothing you say will change my mind and I will argue that your point has not value" thread or the"I harte FP+ and think that it is the devis and no matter how it might help other, they mean nothing to me" thread.

Now tha many of us have actually used it we can have a thread like this one, an honest discussion about how it works, how it has affected us individually, and how it, along with MDE needs improvement. As much as I am okay with FP+ and think it works oky for me, I recognize that the system is no where near completed as it works now. It has numerous errors associated with it, and is pretty inconvenient if you want a 4th FP and get stuck behind the family from Hell..

I do not think that anyone deliberately misled the OP but if all he was able to read prior to his trip was the sunshine and roses posts about this system he was sure in for a letdown once he arrrived.

If his bands had issues, our did, several time to the point my son was pretty annoyed, whereas I was thankful the last glitch was discovered before we hopped over to Epcot and found our hoppers never made it onto the band) or his FP were lost, or any number of other glitches happened, he would have found out the hard waay that this is a work in progress, and would have had every right to be upset.

I do not think anyone should "bash" anyone else here, and that includes those folks who feel the need to correct others. There is a way to disagree politely.

 

[3DisneyFanz]

I think many posters have different experiences using the system and unless you really know what their travel style is then it's easy to get confused. People will say things like they never waited more than 20 minutes for a ride but then will later admit that they just skipped anything with a line longer than that and didn't ride a number of things. Some will say they got everything they wanted and it turns out all they were after were the mountains and not the real hard to get items. Others say they see lots of same day availability for things but that again doesn't mean that it's for the hot ticket items. Of course now with the way SB has been impacted you appreciate the FP+ for things you used to be able to walk onto. People also talk about the great availability for 4th FP but again it's not always on things that people really focus on but if you want to do Dumbo or Mermaid it's an option plus it's such a hastle for a lot of people they just aren't going to do it.

Disney is the only group intentionally misleading people about the program. At this point from a marketing standpoint they don't have much choice but they're creating a huge part of people's dissatisfaction with their decisions.

 

[JimmyV]

Disney is the only group intentionally misleading people about the program.

"If you used Fast Pass in the past, you are now going to get fewer Fast Passes in the future. But that's OK, because the people who didn't use it before will now get the Fast Passes that we've taken away from you!"

and

"If you used to get Fast Passes for TSMM, RnR and ToT all in the same day, well, those days are over!"

...would be really hard marketing positives to sell to the public. So all they are left with is..."Lock it in" I would love to have been sitting at the conference room table where the suits were trying to figure out how to sell FP+ to the public.

 

[3DisneyFanz]

"If you used Fast Pass in the past, you are now going to get fewer Fast Passes in the future. But that's OK, because the people who didn't use it before will now get the Fast Passes that we've taken away from you!"

and

"If you used to get Fast Passes for TSMM, RnR and ToT all in the same day, well, those days are over!"

...would be really hard marketing positives to sell to the public. So all they are left with is..."Lock it in" I would love to have been sitting at the conference room table where the suits were trying to figure out how to sell FP+ to the public.

It's not just the customers who knew the old system. When you ride around Orlando all of the billboards and car wraps advertise the headliners you are going to struggle to get. So basically they are advertising to new customers the ability to reserve all these cool things and then not delivering. By the same token though you're right that they couldn't say
"Want to ride the new Seven Dwarves Mine Train! Well sorry that's not available but here's a FP for Teacups it's still a ride! Want to see Peter Pan? Oops he's sold out but come see Ariel in her Under Sea Adventure and don't forget you can always grab It's a Small World as a bonus."

It gets even more ridiculous with the tiering which they don't address at all. On one stretch of roads we saw a FP+ billboard for TT followed by one for 'Soarin but oddly the next one didn't say "Just not on the same day."

 

[bluezy]

True. But an entire overhaul of the system was not needed to cure this problem. All Disney had to do was make universal FP machines instead of dedicated machines for each attraction. FP- could have functioned with kiosks spread around the park that let you insert your ticket and choose a ride. You wouldn't have had your pick of times and instead would have gotten a FP for whatever time slot was being distributed at that moment. But let's be honest. You don't have your pick of times for popular attractions now. To the extent that you can go to a kiosk and zero in on a FP for exactly the time slot that serves you best, it is probably for a ride that doesn't need a FP in the first place. I said for years that the FP machines should have been made universal so that you could be in Frontierland and pull one for Space Mountain. Had they done this, your concerns would have been met.

I agree, they could have done something similar with the old system and in fact I remember them testing that at AK...maybe other parks as well. There was a central location with a single FP machine for each of the FP rides. The thing they couldn't do with the old system but can with the new one is to give guests the ability to change their mind about the FP they chose at the kiosk and modify their choice on their smartphone. With the old system, once you pulled the FP, you were stuck with it and either had to use it as is or wait for the time to expire before getting something else...and hope that something you wanted would still be available. Now you can make that change on the fly.

I can't speak for other guests' experiences but I know for our family when pulling 4th or higher FP's -- especially at MK -- we were pulling FPs for rides that still had long (30-60 minute) standby waits but getting a convenient/quick return time with FP. In our book, those rides still required FP. If something had a less than 25 minute wait, we didn't waste a FP on it. That's why we only used 10 FP's at MK one day -- by 10:00 at night, all the rides (other than 7DMT and A&E) were down to 20 minutes or less and most of them were less than 10 minutes. Not worth my time to get a FP for those.

 

[grimley1968]

I think this is a natural evolution and it'll get there... maybe not just wide open. I see the potential for allowing extra FP's on a phone, to turn into essentially the old FP- problem. That is, he who optimizes the system the fastest, rides the most. That is not likely a design goal, to enable one to... pull FP, ride a ride... pull a FP, ride a ride... over and over. That benefits the people who will find the most optimal path around the park that let's them maximize pulls, like before. Rather, if this comes to be, I think it will have some sort of throttle, like pull FP, ride a ride ... but then you can't pull another for 2 hours, so that other people who are wandering more aimlessly will have the option to pull some, too. Or if the remaining supply is scant enough that you can only pull 1 anyways before they're gone, then perhaps the throttling isn't needed. In some form or another tho, I think the dependency on kiosks will be reduced. There is no reason to not further utilize the technology we all carry in our pockets already.

As to the bolded, it's too bad this was never thought of before.

Oh, wait ...