My 2 cents on FP+

[dianna18]

I know there has been much discussion on FP+ but this is my first visit using FP+ and I feel compelled to add my two cents. Just booked our FP+s this week for a November/December visit and this is, by far, the most frustrating experience I've had in planning Disney trips over the past 25 years!

The FP+ process is extremely tedious and their website's response is embarrassingly slow (or should be) considering the technology we have seen come from the Disney camp in the past. Going from one screen to another literally took 2-3 minutes at times.

Add to this the fact that very few of our first choices were available (even later in our visit). We felt like all of the time we spent planning our days in the parks was wasted and we are now starting over.

We have put so much more planning into this visit than any other visit to Disney because of the changes they've made (FP+ being a big part of this) and, quite frankly, it's taken much of the enjoyment out of our trip planning experience. For me, it's getting to the point of being not worth the effort it takes to plan a week at Disney. This will be our last trip for a while based solely on this experience.

Thanks for letting me rant!!!

 

[LuvDaisy&Minnie]

I'm sorry you have had a bad experience. I really like FP+ and enjoy the planning. I have never had trouble getting the Fps I wanted so maybe that's why I like it. First time I can't get them, I may change my tune. Chances are you will end up with the ones you want if you keep trying. People change their plans pretty often, especially close to time and while you are already there even. It doesn't sound like you enjoy the constant looking for them though. I'm a bit obsessed and enjoy the thrill of the FP hunt. Hope you still enjoy your trip...

 

[boufa]

Keep it in perspective against the old system. You would get 1 fast pass, and to get that fastpass you would sometimes have to run to a fastpass machine. Imagine A&E with paper fastpasses...You would have to be there at Rope Drop... period, and then sprint to the machine and hope. There was no planning beyond that 1 moment. If you didn't get the fastpass then all the effort was for nothing, and you had hopes and dreams that were shattered right there and then. There is nothing magical about entering the MK and someone in your party takes off with your tickets to the back of the park to get a FP for everyone. Maybe you get it, and maybe you don't. So planning wise, when is that A&E fastpass? Can't make any plans, don't know when that window will be. So your runner comes back triumphantly with the FP's, but they turn out to be at a time when you had an ADR, or you were planning to hop to another park, or worse, mid day, you miss the parade, or you don't get to go back to the resort for the mid day rest. Of course, now you can't get anymore FP's for a few hours, and you rearrange your plans on the fly to head not where you want to, but working your way towards the next FP ride you would want, so when you can get another FP you are near the machines that you needed.

FP+... you know which FPs you are going to get. Your "pre" planning might get ruined by not being able to get the ones you wanted, but you have 60 days to adjust your plans to fit. You get to walk into the MK as a group, and go. Enjoy the moment, the reveal from under the train station, the stroll down main street, and seeing the shops, and the windows. Nothing is more magical than that first walk down main street each time you visit WDW. Enjoy the moment, rather than having groups run to FP machines. You want planning, set up a FP for BTMRR, or Splash during Wishes. You pick your FP times and have a significantly greater chance of planning that moment on the new system vs the old system.

One other point... You should keep checking. Availability opens up all the time. Right up the the day you are in the park, heck, even in the park. I managed to get locked out of A&E and SDMT when my 60 days opened up last year. But I had both before I arrived. I even got a SDMT while playing with the app waiting in line for another ride.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

and you had hopes and dreams that were shattered right there and then

Yes...at least now the hopes and dreams can be shattered 60 days in advance!! LOL!!

Ok...I just had to say that because that statement was just asking for a punchline! Please no flames!!

 

[Jenni12kk]

It seems like too much of a hassle. Is it necessary to do in advance or will I end up standing in lines all day if I dont?

 

[Trackerbee]

u will wait in line either way. it is a pain in the butt. we miss the old way.

 

[ArwenMarie]

It is a lot of preplanning, especially for a few rides that last a few minutes!

Hope you have a good trip now that it's all done.

 

[Lucius Best]

Keep it in perspective against the old system. You would get 1 fast pass, and to get that fastpass you would sometimes have to run to a fastpass machine. Imagine A&E with paper fastpasses...You would have to be there at Rope Drop... period, and then sprint to the machine and hope.

Imagine A&E with FP+ when there is nothing available 60 days in advance. You have to be there at rope drop, head to A&E first, and hope that the standby line isn't too long (unless you don't mind waiting in an hour long line). And to keep the old system in perspective, if you were there at rope drop, you could walk to any FP kiosk and pull a paper FP for that ride. No sprinting necessary, and you were never shut out.

 

[dianna18]

Keep it in perspective against the old system. You would get 1 fast pass, and to get that fastpass you would sometimes have to run to a fastpass machine. Imagine A&E with paper fastpasses...You would have to be there at Rope Drop... period, and then sprint to the machine and hope. There was no planning beyond that 1 moment. If you didn't get the fastpass then all the effort was for nothing, and you had hopes and dreams that were shattered right there and then. There is nothing magical about entering the MK and someone in your party takes off with your tickets to the back of the park to get a FP for everyone. Maybe you get it, and maybe you don't. So planning wise, when is that A&E fastpass? Can't make any plans, don't know when that window will be. So your runner comes back triumphantly with the FP's, but they turn out to be at a time when you had an ADR, or you were planning to hop to another park, or worse, mid day, you miss the parade, or you don't get to go back to the resort for the mid day rest. Of course, now you can't get anymore FP's for a few hours, and you rearrange your plans on the fly to head not where you want to, but working your way towards the next FP ride you would want, so when you can get another FP you are near the machines that you needed.

FP+... you know which FPs you are going to get. Your "pre" planning might get ruined by not being able to get the ones you wanted, but you have 60 days to adjust your plans to fit. You get to walk into the MK as a group, and go. Enjoy the moment, the reveal from under the train station, the stroll down main street, and seeing the shops, and the windows. Nothing is more magical than that first walk down main street each time you visit WDW. Enjoy the moment, rather than having groups run to FP machines. You want planning, set up a FP for BTMRR, or Splash during Wishes. You pick your FP times and have a significantly greater chance of planning that moment on the new system vs the old system.

One other point... You should keep checking. Availability opens up all the time. Right up the the day you are in the park, heck, even in the park. I managed to get locked out of A&E and SDMT when my 60 days opened up last year. But I had both before I arrived. I even got a SDMT while playing with the app waiting in line for another ride.

I really do get all of your points here. They're great ones. I guess it's the process itself that's brings me to my level of frustration. Think of it this way. Would you want to wait 2-3 minutes for the next page to load EVERY time if you were online? That's the experience I had. Also, we have 10 people going on this trip all with different FP+ requests (I know, I could've reduced my anxiety by having them book their own, but I never dreamed the process would be so tedious). The speed of the site (or lack of it) resulted in me spending 1 hour and 45 minutes booking FP+'s!

I don't have an issue with the FP+ concept in general. But Disney needs to "fix" the mechanics of it such as improving the intuitiveness of the FP+ process and providing the resources to improve the speed of the process (they know when online traffic increases). I'm a person with some IT experience so I tend to focus on these types of issues. And I know the effort to fix them is somewhat minimal.

 

[subtchr]

Add to this the fact that very few of our first choices were available (even later in our visit).

I'm sorry for your justifiable frustrations!

Which, exactly, of your first choices were unavailable?

At 60 days, my understanding is that A&E and 7DMT are usually not available, but are there really many others? "Very few" of your first choices available?

I'm honestly just curious, not trying to dismiss your frustrations!

 

[Lucius Best]

Add to this the fact that very few of our first choices were available (even later in our visit). We felt like all of the time we spent planning our days in the parks was wasted and we are now starting over.

I am certainly not going to defend Disney's FP+, or their computer systems, and agree totally that planning our first WDW FP+ trip with MDE was more time-consuming and frustrating than any previous vacation we have taken anywhere. But I'm curious what your first choices were that were not available. Sounds like you were booking 60 days out, the only rides/attractions you should have a problem with 60 days in advance would be in MK: A&E, 7DMT, and the parades/fireworks.

I see now from your last comment that you were booking for 10 people, maybe that had something to do with it. The work-around for that would be trying to book overlapping FP+ windows for smaller groups, i.e. instead of 10 people on 7DMT at 11am, maybe try 4 people at 11:05am and 6 people at 11:15am. But of course now you're spending even more time trying to get what you want.

 

[dianna18]

I'm sorry for your justifiable frustrations!

Which, exactly, of your first choices were unavailable?

At 60 days, my understanding is that A&E and 7DMT are usually not available, but are there really many others? "Very few" of your first choices available?

I'm honestly just curious, not trying to dismiss your frustrations!

I should have been clearer in my original post. I was able to book FP+'s for all of the rides/events we wanted (we got A&E for my 4yo DGD on the last day of our trip) but the timing of the FP+'s didn't align with our desired plans. We had to book FP+'s on the dates desired at Disney's recommended times and then go back and modify the times to better coincide with our plans or, in some cases, completely revamp our plans for that park. Add to this the lethargic responsiveness of the website AND, admittedly, my first time booking FP+'s, and 1 hour 45 minutes later I'm totally annoyed with Disney.

 

[Spoiledraf]

It can be a bit frustrating but I like knowing where and when I have a FP. The old FP had its downfalls as well. You may get the ride you want but the pass might be for 6 or 7 hours later.

 

[MrInfinity]

Which first choices were not available? I ask because we did ours for a party of 10, and today, almost a week into our 60-day, I can still change around most of my passes. Everything at Epcot, Animal Kingom, and Hollywood Studios has times available for a party of 10, and only A&E at the MK is unchangeable.

Regarding the frustration, I agree it wasn't as easy as you'd think it should be, but like you, we were able to get thru it. Think of it this way... the Hour and 45 minutes you spent last night will save you hours upon hours in the parks, later! For us, that's 24 lines we'll get to skip. These will save us around 40 minutes each on average, or around 16 hours of line-waiting avoided.

 

[ELSA711]

I'm sorry you are so frustrated with it. I guess we are not a hard core touring family because we love it! I love knowing I can get our 3 must haves every day even if we want to show up to the park after 10am. We hate to the 'rope drop' plunge and race to TSMM for a FP+ or any other must have ride. I like knowing I have it. We are not ride junkies....3-6 rides per day are cool for us. We visit multiple amusement parks each year and WDW is definitely not one we do for the 'rides'.

After years of going, this system has made me love WDW more and after experiencing it last year, we booked again for this year which we never book back to back years.

I did not have the same experience when picking FP+, WDW system is slow, but I have never found it slow with dining and FP+ selection, just the actually reservation process.

 

[Lucius Best]

We had to book FP+'s on the dates desired at Disney's recommended times and then go back and modify the times to better coincide with our plans or, in some cases, completely revamp our plans for that park. Add to this the lethargic responsiveness of the website AND, admittedly, my first time booking FP+'s, and 1 hour 45 minutes later I'm totally annoyed with Disney.

That makes total sense. Strategy is to select the recommended times that are furthest away from what you actually want (if you want morning FPs, then take the ones in the evening), and then modify them all individually to get what you really want. Very time consuming, and you need to move the "right" ones first (i.e. the most popular ones with least availability).

If the website was slow, did you try the MDE app to see if it was quicker? It seemed like it was easier for us in our family to modify FPs on the app. But still, it was not quick or easy, and there was a "feature" on the app that after I selected a FP to modify, it would default to "today", not the date of the FP I wanted to modify.

 

[LuvDaisy&Minnie]

It seems like too much of a hassle. Is it necessary to do in advance or will I end up standing in lines all day if I dont?

I don't know when you are going, but there is no way I would go without FP already made. You CAN make them when you get there, but for me, I would rather do it from my house without eating into valuable park time. For example, when I was in line to make probably our 7th FP (for 9 people) at Magic Kingdom, I talked to a lady that had somehow just learned of FP. She had spent the entire day waiting...they had done 4 rides (I can't remember which) and waited upwards of an hour for all. She had not come to MK until about 10:30 so the lines were already long by then. You can certainly get more done without FP if you plan on being there at rope drop. We had done about 12 rides in the same amount of time, most with FP. I felt bad for her. She said her son hated it so far. I just don't like to wait if I don't have to. Unfortunately, Disney's website/app is glitchy and sometimes you will have a negative experience like the OP. I have not had one of those. Making FP reservations has been easy and fun for me. I am making some more at the end of the week for a friend, so I hope for a positive experience! Whatever you decide, I hope you have a great trip!

 

[Lucius Best]

Which first choices were not available? I ask because we did ours for a party of 10, and today, almost a week into our 60-day, I can still change around most of my passes. Everything at Epcot, Animal Kingom, and Hollywood Studios has times available for a party of 10, and only A&E at the MK is unchangeable. We didn't want Parades, so can't check those.

OP already answered that question, problem wasn't rides not being available, it was modifying the FP+ times which was time-consuming.

There's also a handy website which shows the rides/attractions that have limited availability:
http://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=835236

Regarding the frustration, I agree it wasn't as easy as you'd think it should be, but like you, we were able to get thru it. Think of it this way... the Hour and 45 minutes you spent last night will save you hours upon hours in the parks, later! For us, that's 24 lines we'll get to skip. These will save us around 40 minutes each on average, that's around 16 hours of line-waiting avoided.

That's right, FP+ will save you hours upon hours in the parks, compared to not using FP+.

 

[jon18uk]

if you were there at rope drop, you could walk to any FP kiosk and pull a paper FP for that ride. No sprinting necessary, and you were never shut out.

If you were there at Rope Drop. We would often arrive half hour after park opening and there would be no FP for TSMM or Soarin'. Some people were better with paper FP, others with FP+. Peronally I liked paper FP in general, except for Soarin' and TSMM as I never managed to get a FP. Will see in a years time if I like FP+.

 

[tlmadden73]

People mistakenly look at Fast Pass + as .. "If I can't get a fast pass I can't ride the ride!"
It is just a perk .. a bonus to let you skip the lines of 3 (or more) lines.
Why complain about a perk? Would you rather there be NO fast pass and you would have to wait in line for everything?

Just because you didn't get a Fast Pass for Seven Dwarves Mine Train .. you can still ride it. You just have to wait in line. (Just like you would if Fast Pass simply DID NOT EXIST).