MK feels different.

[iheartpeterpan]

No, we would mostly pull FP for the 3 mountains and Peter Pan, which used to be the rides that had what I thought to be unbearable lines. The rest we would ride standby. We'd also get fastpasses for attractions that were off the system, including Mickey's Philharmagic, Dumbo and visiting the Princesses or Mickey at Town Hall (you either just "got" those, or they would spit out at another ride as a bonus).

We usually ended up giving away fastpasses we didn't use at the end of the day.

 

[mefordis]

Yep, my last trip wasn't as bad as yours because they were only testing the Magic Bands and F+ and I could use both.

From now on it's Universal and DLR for us.

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.

 

[slickpoetry]

No, we would mostly pull FP for the 3 mountains and Peter Pan, which used to be the rides that had what I thought to be unbearable lines. The rest we would ride standby. We'd also get fastpasses for attractions that were off the system, including Mickey's Philharmagic, Dumbo and visiting the Princesses or Mickey at Town Hall (you either just "got" those, or they would spit out at another ride as a bonus).

We usually ended up giving away fastpasses we didn't use at the end of the day.

I guess what I would say is I wonder if 8,9, or 10 FP in the old days meant that you got more "value" out of your day at MK. Its easy to believe it does, since a 3rd grader can tell you 10>3 and thus better...but the question of "value" deserves more consideration. If 6 of your FP were for rides where the SB line wasn't all that long anyways, what was the real value? Like I read about people grabbing FP at Rope Drop for an early AM ride. But in other threads I read that most rides don't have long lines in the early AM. So grabbing the FP almost seems like a waste of time.

 

[redsbe]

No, we would mostly pull FP for the 3 mountains and Peter Pan, which used to be the rides that had what I thought to be unbearable lines. The rest we would ride standby. We'd also get fastpasses for attractions that were off the system, including Mickey's Philharmagic, Dumbo and visiting the Princesses or Mickey at Town Hall (you either just "got" those, or they would spit out at another ride as a bonus).

We usually ended up giving away fastpasses we didn't use at the end of the day.

So among the many FP you pulled include those that were unnecessary (Mickey's Philharmagic) and some never used, so really you were not using as many FPs to any advantage. The mountians and PP make sense as FP (but still would require some timing and need to be at those locations to get them), thus a strategy and effort especially of we are looking at multiple FPs through the day, and assuming those FPs were not gone by mid day when on busier crowd days (and on low crowd days FPs even for those would not be needed).

I guess I still question the value and effort in securing 6 or more FPs in a day, the timing and whether it was worthwhile, unless your efforts were targeted for the mountains and PP and not when crowds were high and FPs gone.

 

[WillAustin]

Like I read about people grabbing FP at Rope Drop for an early AM ride. But in other threads I read that most rides don't have long lines in the early AM. So grabbing the FP almost seems like a waste of time.

Immediately getting a FP for TSMM would let us get 3 rides in before 10am with very little waiting in line, and that was in mid-July. Definitely not a waste in that case.

 

[slickpoetry]

Immediately getting a FP for TSMM would let us get 3 rides in before 10am with very little waiting in line, and that was in mid-July. Definitely not a waste in that case.

Fair enough. I'm sure there are many specific cases that make the strategy valuable. I guess what I am trying to say is that we shouldn't always assume that 10 FP automatically makes your day in the park better.

 

[redsbe]

Immediately getting a FP for TSMM would let us get 3 rides in before 10am with very little waiting in line, and that was in mid-July. Definitely not a waste in that case.

This can be a very effective strategy for any of the major busy attractions at WDW, even more so when crowds are smaller, but certainly also works on the most crowded days as it is amazing on how even a 8 or 9 level park day how much you can get done at RP in the first hour or even two hours.

 

[Kristine316]

All right, I think there has been enough flaming people for expressing a concern about overcrowding at MK. I have no idea if she was able to post 10+ old Fastpass tickets a day, or not, but what I do know is that the essential argument she was making was about Disney letting in too many people. Now, was it an obvious peek time? Yes. Was it a time that a very popular TV show was filming? Yes. But Disney still has a ton of crowd control upgrades to make.

The new FP+ system now enables you to get me more FPs during the day once your initial three are used up. Additionally, everyone going to disney should be looking ahead to know which days are best to get to each of the parks. If you don't, than not doing everything you want to do sis entirely on you. You get as much out of Disney as you put into it. I've been planning my July trip for six months and know for a fact that even though I'm going to be in the park during one of the very last weeks before school starts in most areas, I'm going to do everything I wish to do.

The everyone being equal argument, I would have to agree is ridiculous. Las summer I remember running to opposite ends of The park to get fast passes and knowing that there was no other way to do it. The people that didn't do that, well they were out of luck. We both had equal opportunity, I'm just the one who actually took it.


All in all we should not be putting somebody down because they are expressing a feeling they had at Disney. We don't have to agree with her, but her experience obviously upset her enough that she wanted to talk about it. Disney has a bar to reach that is so high it falls short for people at times. There is no other brand in huge world where so much is expected. People go to Disney and expect perfection. When the hey don't get it their disappointment becomes obvious.

Take Disney for what it is. Maybe next time your experience will be more magical. I know I'm looking forward to July with all of my heart!!

You are new here so, welcome to the board!!

I agree with you here but, you will see soon enough that the replies OP received are typical of anyone who posts anything negative about WDW.
No matter what the complaint some people will jump to Disney's defense and question the OP's credibility or make it seem like it was somehow the OP's own fault they experienced anything negative. In this case some are suggesting the OP didn't plan well and never should have gone to WDW during this time of year to begin with.

It sounded to me like the OP did their planning and maybe they had no choice but, to go during this time. There is a reason times like Christmas and Spring break are so darn crowded.. because school is out and many families can only take a vacation when school is out of session. Not every parent will take their kids out of school during slow times to go to WDW.

 

[morethananyonex]

I think a lot of people are forgetting only a small handful of attractions ran out of FP early in the day, especially during non peak times of the year. It was very easy to pull multiple useful FP at MK, you could pull multiple FP for each mountain and still use FP for Fantasyland rides and of course the detached FP. At a park like MK, it was relatively effortless to use more than 3 FP.

Even the much talked about TSMM could be done multiple times with FP at the right time.

 

[slickpoetry]

It sounded to me like the OP did their planning and maybe they had no choice but, to go during this time. There is a reason times like Christmas and Spring break are so darn crowded.. because school is out and many families can only take a vacation when school is out of session. Not every parent will take their kids out of school during slow times to go to WDW.

I feel very bad for people who can only go during peak times of the year. I think the only way to handle the parks on these days and not lose your sanity is to approach your trip with dramatically lower expectations. Its the only way to avoid the disappointment of not being able to get everything you want.

 

[JennaDeeDooDah]

I guess I can not figure out how that was possible when WDW started enforcing the return time windows. And you would still have to move around the park as the major FP attractions are distributed all through out the park.

We would only collect 3-4 FP each day, but it would still require someone to crisscross back through one section of the park to another to get those FPs unless we were already there.

And you still were limited by the time you were allocated to pick up another FP, so plenty of limitations and restrictions with FP, it was not as easy as simply walking through the park and collecting as many FP as possible when and where ever you liked, it did require some effort and strategy.

Plus it was still limited by the crowd size during that day making picking up numerous FPs much harder when they would be gone by mid day or earlier for the most popular attractions when crowds were level 7 or higher.

It was possible. I didn't know that they didn't enforce the FP return time until they announced that they would be enforcing it. Didn't do me any good at that point. Now, getting 10 fast passes wasn't my norm, but it was doable and I did do it once or twice. I certainly grabbed more than 3 in each park, except Animal Kingdom. Heck, I'd use 3 for Soarin' and Tower of Terror alone. And, again, I never ran anywhere in any park, never did our party split up for someone to grab fast passes, and never did I cross the park for the sole intent of grabbing or cashing in a fast pass.

 

[iheartpeterpan]

So among the many FP you pulled include those that were unnecessary (Mickey's Philharmagic) and some never used, so really you were not using as many FPs to any advantage. The mountians and PP make sense as FP (but still would require some timing and need to be at those locations to get them), thus a strategy and effort especially of we are looking at multiple FPs through the day, and assuming those FPs were not gone by mid day when on busier crowd days (and on low crowd days FPs even for those would not be needed).

I guess I still question the value and effort in securing 6 or more FPs in a day, the timing and whether it was worthwhile, unless your efforts were targeted for the mountains and PP and not when crowds were high and FPs gone.

I would say that was the ONLY one we pulled (and we didn't really pull it, it came out with Peter Pan) that was unnecessary. And, we got to ride Splash Mountain multiple times in a day (our favorite), and all of the mountains at least once or twice. Remember that you could use those FP any time and not on the time, so we would hoard them up for later in the day (no flames please, that is how the system worked and how we used them). So we would ride SB in the morning when the lines were low, and use the FP in the late afternoon/evening when they were crazy. This allowed us to do what we wanted, all day long. Take a break mid-day, come back later to ride the rides we wanted to ride with no lines.

We were unable to do this on our trip in March. We rode Space 1x, BTMRR 1x and PP 1x all on FP+. Splash was closed for refurb. I was unable to get on Pooh or Jungle Cruise at all. We rode HM 1x (we usually ride it 3-4 times standby with little wait) because the change in the system has redistributed lines and made SB waits longer on all the rides We rode Pirates 1x.

I am comparing apples to apples because we always go at the same (busy) times of the year. The new system changed how we tour, so that we went from being able to ride dozens of rides, to a handful of rides. It is a disadvantage to my family and the way we tour. If I hadn't been to Disney so often and with such a good plan, meaning if this were my first trip down, I would probably think the system is great.

I'm not saying my way is right or wrong, or your way is right or wrong, but for the way WE toured, the new system has totally destroyed our ability to do it so we will have to figure out another way if we are going to continue to visit the parks as frequently as we have been.

 

[Kristine316]

"I went last week and it does feel that they are jamming people into MK"

WDW does not "jam" more people into the parks, it is simply a reflection of spring breaks weeks, a terrible winter in the NE of the US, and an improving economy. Plus FP+ is redistributing people throughout the park and into SB and FP+ lines. WDW does have crowd control measures and means of using staged levels of crowd controls and "limiting access" to the parks as needed. There is no evidence that WDW is letting more people into the park then what the permitted capacity is. If people want to come WDW will welcome them all.

I keep hearing about how the improving economy is the reason WDW is so busy. Sure compared to 2009 the economy is better but, things are not so great out there, we still have high unemployment, gas prices are up and the markets are taking a major hit right now.

We are in a very sluggish recovery and the economy is still teetering.

I agree with you about the horrible winter helping tourism in Florida.. but, I think the biggest reason is because Disney is brilliant with marketing.

 

[redsbe]

I think a lot of people are forgetting only a small handful of attractions ran out of FP early in the day, especially during non peak times of the year. It was very easy to pull multiple useful FP at MK, you could pull multiple FP for each mountain and still use FP for Fantasyland rides and of course the detached FP. At a park like MK, it was relatively effortless to use more than 3 FP.

Even the much talked about TSMM could be done multiple times with FP at the right time.

Really depends on time of day plus crowd level. In October 2012 FP for TSMM were gone by 1100a on an average crowd day.

I have no doubt it was possible to pull 10 FP in the same day, but that it depended on crowd size and for which rides and thus questioning how useful all those FP would have been if SB lines would have also been short by the time using some of those FP (clearly not for the major rides and during peak crowds). Plus still took strategy and time to collect that many FPs as you could not simply walk through the park during the day collecting them at random and once return times were enforced you could not stockpile.

 

[andrews_dad]

Don't ever go at Xmas week if you think March 26 is not bearable. I go every year Xmas-New Years and just hope we get in before they close for capacity!!!

 

[redsbe]

I keep hearing about how the improving economy is the reason WDW is so busy. Sure compared to 2009 the economy is better but, things are not so great out there, we still have high unemployment, gas prices are up and the markets are taking a major hit right now.

We are in a very sluggish recovery and the economy is still teetering.

I agree with you about the horrible winter helping tourism in Florida.. but, I think the biggest reason is because Disney is brilliant with marketing.

I travel on business several times a year and have done so regularly since 2000, and in the last six months business and vacation travel has most certainly increased as seen by level of activity at airports, hotels, restaurants etc...

And when it comes to WDW there is also the impact from non-US visitors as many other countries are seeing even greater economic growth.

I am not suggesting that the economy is booming, as there remain many challenges, but it is certainly improved over recent years, plus a pent up demand for vacation travel. My company tracks consumer spending very carefully and we have experts that do a very good job following increases in all forms of spending and although the economic growth is slow, and still tough in some areas of the country and sectors, overall it is improving.

And I agree marketing and promotion is also key and Disney is one of the best at it.

 

[andrews_dad]

10 is very doable, and has been done by me. Rope drop to late .. Branstormer and Dumbo were "freebies". Bonus fastpass usually popped for PhilHarMagic that was a bonus/freebie. If you are at the kiosk to get the next pass the moment it comes open, as I always was, you could hammer MK!

 

[OnSpaceshipEarth]

I'm on vacation to relax and have fun with the kids and they'll ride something then want ice cream then do a couple of other little things then they want to eat then they want to buy something, etc, etc.

Everybody is different though, I just can't imagine running around all day trying to ride as many things as possible. It wouldn't be as fun for us. I get tired just thinking about it

Love your post ponyboy...hilarious!

 

[reneeryan99]

So you go when you know it is going to be crowded, and then complain because it is crowded?

I have already stated that:
1. It's never been that crowded late March when I've been there before.
2. According to a popular site, it wasn't expected to be crowded that day.

So, if you had read what was actually written, you would clearly know that I did not expect it to be that crowded that day. Thank you.

 

[tim123]

So you go when you know it is going to be crowded, and then complain because it is crowded?

I went to Disneyworld at Spring Break and July 4th and Christmas Eve and on New Years Eve. The parks were so CROWDED! I will never go to that place again Walt Disney World S**ks!