MK feels different.

[reneeryan99]

My daughter and I went to MK on March 26 - off-site peeps. Bought our tickets in advance. Got to the gates before 8am for a 9am opening. It was a VERY chilly morning. We found an employee and booked our 3 Fastpasses each for mid-afternoon - the 3 Mountains.

Rope dropped a few minutes early - we went with the crowds to Space Mountain and were in the first car on. It was fabulous and exciting. Came out and went on Pooh, wanted to go on Peter Pan but the line up was already 25 mins long and we had more impt rides to do. Between 9-11, we did 5-6 rides and were happy with our pace. Then the crowds came. And with only 3 fastpasses to use, our day changed.

Major issues:
1. The crowds were ridiculous, if not dangerous. If we had to rush out of there, children would be trampled to death. There is a major capacity issue here. MK does NOT have the capacity to handle the amount of people it lets in. Trying to navigate crowds like that completely sucked the fun out of the day. And 120+ minutes for a ride? No, thanks.

2. FastPass+ sucks. In the past, we made the most of the fastpass system and it would keep us going all day long. It even made the crowds more bearable as long as we could still get on rides. 3 fastpasses vs the 10+ we would normally get clearly changed out day.

Overall, the day started well but we left at 5 pm on a sour note. In the past, we have stayed all day and for the fireworks. By 5 pm on this day, the crowds were disgusting and our 3 FastPasses had been used. Not willing to wait in ridiculous line-ups, there was nothing left to do. We left.

My daughter is 16. I honestly cannot imagine taking small kids to Magic Kingdom. With the frustrated parents and crying kids all around us, I think a lot of people felt the same way. And for the cost to go there, Disney is clearly just printing $$. I used to be able to overlook / ignore the commercialism because the place was so wonderful. That is no longer the case.

My daughter and I have had such a magic relationship with Disney and MK. It's faded. We spent THREE days at Universal and the magic is transferring.

 

[alan_renfroe]

10+ fastpasses a day? Seriously?

 

[reneeryan99]

10+ would have included the unconnected Barnstormer and Dumbo rides. But 10+ was definitely possible. From rope drop to fireworks.

 

[Nebraska_Disney]

Yes, 10+ FP's was our norm as well. If you got there at rope drop, grabbed a fast pass for a mountain and then ride standby on others, use your FP and repeat, you could easily do 10+ FP's in a day/night at MK. What was best about the legacy system is that if I wanted to ride space mountain 5 times, I could keep using my FP option to do so. Now, not so much. You have rope drop and your 1 allotment for that ride and then that is it.

The "game" was to ride as many rides possible using FP's while picking up "other" rides in between. Some people were masters at it and it made a day full of fun possible.....

 

[cousineddie]

We were there that morning, until lunch when the son and I hopped a bus and used our park hopper to go to AK and then Epcot.

I agree with you, it was crazy full! Add to that the filming of the Middle Season Finale clogging up Main Street, and it was a chore to get around.

Somewhere I read/heard the parking lot was closed and over capacity.

That's what we get for going during spring break, but I've got two teenagers and my wife is a teacher, so we take what we can when we can.

 

[ArwenMarie]

I agree that they are letting too many people in there.

 

[brockash]

10+ fastpasses a day? Seriously?

Yes, @MK we often pulled and used 8,9 10 fastpasses a day and it really wasn't difficult.

 

[Sparkly]

You still got on 8 rides though. And you described the day as crowded. (It's almost Easter and still spring break, no surprise the parks are packed!

 

[Tribe]

Here is what I don't understand about posts like these: if you pulled a legacy fastpass on a very crowded day for Space Mountain around midday, wouldn't you be locked out of any other fastpasses for several hours, maybe even after 7:00-8 pm? That is why a lot of us don't buy that you were pulling 10+ fastpasses on a very busy day. I believe people are forgetting that they probably would have a similarly bad time on capacity days even with the almighty legacy fastpass.

 

[smitch425]

Here is what I don't understand about posts like these: if you pulled a legacy fastpass on a very crowded day for Space Mountain around midday, wouldn't you be locked out of any other fastpasses for several hours, maybe even after 7:00-8 pm? That is why a lot of us don't buy that you were pulling 10+ fastpasses on a very busy day. I believe people are forgetting that they probably would have a similarly bad time on capacity days even with the almighty legacy fastpass.

That is not how the old system worked. You could get another fast pass two hours after you pulled the first one, or as soon as your time window for the first FP opened (if less than two hours from when it was pulled). It was very easy to get more than 8 FPs a day at MK.

OP, you picked one of the worst times to go to MK. Several schools were on Spring Break. Crowds are always bad this time of year. 25 minutes for PPF is amazing. I would happily ride standby. It can be an hour long, and we go in October.

 

[disneyfantotheend]

OP were your prior experiences pulling 10 FP- during busy spring break?

 

[agame2323]

Here is what I don't understand about posts like these: if you pulled a legacy fastpass on a very crowded day for Space Mountain around midday, wouldn't you be locked out of any other fastpasses for several hours, maybe even after 7:00-8 pm? That is why a lot of us don't buy that you were pulling 10+ fastpasses on a very busy day. I believe people are forgetting that they probably would have a similarly bad time on capacity days even with the almighty legacy fastpass.

The legacy FP system allowed you to basically go from ride to ride grabbing Fast Passes. We always did Space Mountain in the morning, afteroon and evening. Rinse and repeat with Haunted Mansion, Splash, Big Thunder. That's 12 Fast Passes right there.

 

[agame2323]

However, you would NEVER be able to pull 10+ FP during Spring Break

 

[disneyfantotheend]

The legacy FP system allowed you to basically go from ride to ride grabbing Fast Passes. We always did Space Mountain in the morning, afteroon and evening. Rinse and repeat with Haunted Mansion, Splash, Big Thunder. That's 12 Fast Passes right there.

I don't remember HM having a FP machine before FP+. Did it?

 

[JeremyGNJ]

However, you would NEVER be able to pull 10+ FP during Spring Break

I'd FP+'s fault...not my own poor planning.

 

[agame2323]

I don't remember HM having a FP machine before FP+. Did it?

You're right. My mistake

 

[Planogirl]

I agree that it wasn't hard to get several fastpasses during busy days. We usually just used 4 or 5 at MK but we could have gotten more.

It's a shame when a place gets so crowded that it becomes unpleasant. We used to go during Spring Break and while it was busy we still managed quite well.

 

[mom2mickeyfan]

Here is what I don't understand about posts like these: if you pulled a legacy fastpass on a very crowded day for Space Mountain around midday, wouldn't you be locked out of any other fastpasses for several hours, maybe even after 7:00-8 pm? That is why a lot of us don't buy that you were pulling 10+ fastpasses on a very busy day. I believe people are forgetting that they probably would have a similarly bad time on capacity days even with the almighty legacy fastpass.

If you pulled a FP at noon that had a return time of 7:00, then you could get a new FP at 2:00. The wait to get a new FP was the start of the FP you just pulled or 2 hours later.

During the second week of June last summer with a crowd day of 8 or 9, our family pulled 9 FPs. I kept count because I had started reading about the FP limit that was coming. We were in the park about 15 hours and was rewarded for spending our entire day there.

This is what we pulled.
Winnie the Pooh - 1
Buzz - 1
Splash - 3
Big Thunder - 3
Jungle Cruise - 1

And there aren't any of the unconnected ones in that list. It wasn't hard to do.

 

[Nebraska_Disney]

However, you would NEVER be able to pull 10+ FP during Spring Break

Yes you could and very possible at MK. My last 3 trips were in March each time (i.e. Spring Break season) and we had no trouble playing the FP game as it used to be.

 

[Dznefreek]

HM did have FP machines for a brief period. . . . . .