MK 1-25-14 My FP+ Opinion

[angel23321]

We just got back from a trip that was not supposed to include Disney. We have friends who got us in for free so we took it just as it was...a gift and whatever we could get done, we'd get done. I wouldn't normally go to Disney on a Saturday but we didn't have a choice. We met our friend at 10am and half our group was in a few minutes later, the other half had to wait for a ticket issue (which had nothing to do with Disney).

While we waited to get in, DH and friend took the kids to ride some rides. (I will say the guest relation line was INSANE! I couldn't believe how long it was.) We met up with them a little past 11am and they had already ridden the carousel, Ariel, Barnstormer and were getting on Dumbo. At this point, I said we should try and get some FP's. Since we were just thinking about the kids and not us this time, we got Buzz for 11:30, Rapunzel M&G at 2:30 and Peter Pan for 6pm. I found no line at the FP+ area and the CM helped us quickly get our passes. We continued riding standby and returning for our FP+ times. There were no lines when we went back at our FP+ time, just walked right on to Buzz and the M&G. Later that evening, my older DD wanted to ride the speedway which was at a 50 minute standby wait. Since she didn't want to ride Peter Pan, we went back to the FP+ area and switched it for the speedway. Again, no line to get the FP changed and they were able to change it to the current time so we just walked her right over to the speedway. She waited maybe 5 minutes to get on the ride. We then took my younger DD to Peter Pan where we waited about 5 minutes to get on the ride (standby time was 80 minutes).

We rode pretty much every ride except Space Mountain, Small World, Pirates, Stitch and the Belle Interaction. I think our longest wait was for Jungle Cruise at 30 minutes. We stayed for the parade and then left. Overall, a very enjoyable day.

I will say I was VERY skeptical about FP+ and our ability to get any as we were arriving past rode drop and we were day guests so unable to preselect FP+. I'm happy with what we got and how easy it was to change them. I think if this was one of our big trips, I would be upset with the limit of 3 especially if we were park hopping. Although I appreciate the not running all over the park to collect FP's, I think 3 is very limiting and I hope they change that or tier the system. I think they definitely have work to do with the system but overall for us for this one day, it worked. There's my 2 cents for those that want it.

 

[AlexLovesCats]

Thank you so much for sharing your experience!! You definitely eased my mind a little for my trip next week. That's great you were able to change some fast passes to current times and get right in the fast pass line. I'm glad your family had a nice Saturday!

 

[JimmyV]

Thanks for sharing, and the level of detail that you have provided. This is all good stuff!!

Sounds like the sky might stop falling if Disney will simply bump the number of FP+s up to perhaps 5, scrap the tiering concept and allow park hopping. Not sure of the metrics that make these unworkable for Disney. Seems as if all of these things were possible under FP-, so they should be workable under FP+. Based on the grumbling that I have seen, these three things would sere to satisfy most people. Another option might be to allow 3 FP+ per "park day". If you have a 6 day pass, you get 18 FP+ to be used however, whenever you want. When they're gone, they're gone.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

Thanks for sharing, and the level of detail that you have provided. This is all good stuff!!

Sounds like the sky might stop falling if Disney will simply bump the number of FP+s up to perhaps 5, scrap the tiering concept and allow park hopping. Not sure of the metrics that make these unworkable for Disney. Seems as if all of these things were possible under FP-, so they should be workable under FP+. Based on the grumbling that I have seen, these three things would sere to satisfy most people. Another option might be to allow 3 FP+ per "park day". If you have a 6 day pass, you get 18 FP+ to be used however, whenever you want. When they're gone, they're gone.

I agree - these are my only complaints.

To the OP - thanks for posting, and I am glad that you had a great trip!