My 60 Day FP+ Window just opened....

[LMN]

11pm CST tonight my 60 day window just opened for FP+. I have been reading about FP+ here on the boards for quite awhile and had kept an open mind, but after the frustrating 1 hr + that I just spent (and will never get back, btw) I can tell you I am about ready to cancel our vacation and do something else. What a cluster this is! OMG! From the poorly planned website to the frustration over time windows. Not everyone in my family wants to ride every ride! So either I book all 5 of our FP's together, knowing that 1-2 will go to waste for some rides or I book 3 of us here and 2 of us there and then we end up splitting our time up and not having the family vacation that we planned! I am so ready to just take my chances with standby except for that doesn't sound like much of a vacation either! Thank you for letting me vent. I'm going to bed. UGH

 

[Shaden]

11pm CST tonight my 60 day window just opened for FP+. I have been reading about FP+ here on the boards for quite awhile and had kept an open mind, but after the frustrating 1 hr + that I just spent (and will never get back, btw) I can tell you I am about ready to cancel our vacation and do something else. What a cluster this is! OMG! From the poorly planned website to the frustration over time windows. Not everyone in my family wants to ride every ride! So either I book all 5 of our FP's together, knowing that 1-2 will go to waste for some rides or I book 3 of us here and 2 of us there and then we end up splitting our time up and not having the family vacation that we planned! I am so ready to just take my chances with standby except for that doesn't sound like much of a vacation either! Thank you for letting me vent. I'm going to bed. UGH

Yuuuuuup .... now do that with a party of 12 like we did ...

 

[bookwormde]

Yes in an attempt to devise a single interface they have made it so "simple" that you are information starved, and it is a struggle if you do not travel as a pack.

When I say simple it is not that it could not be a much easier interface, just that you are kept within a very narrowest set of confines.

They should have developed this simple interface, but should have also created a check box interface that works on FP at a time with all the available times and check box for each person in you group.

One thing I will say it that Disney IT is consistent, consistently weak.

 

[cruisingmom1977]

I'm sorry. I don't mean to trivialize your unhappiness but I'm confused. If you don't all want to do the same rides wouldn't you be splitting up anyway? How is that the fault of FP+? We are going in Sept (Grandma, Grandpa, Dad, Mom (me) and 2 small kids). I know my DD wants to meet every princess possible and my kids can't do the bigger rides (Splash, Space, Mansion, etc) so I will be taking them to meet characters while DH and his parents ride the big rides. I will have to make sure everyone has different past passes but that's the way it would be either way. Are you saying that without FP+ some members of your family would wait while others did what they wanted? Wouldn't it be that way either way? Again, I'm not trying to start a fight, I legitimately want to know what the difference would be under the old system...

 

[alicat8]

Ughhhh with 2 parents who like some big rides, my husband and I who need roller coasters, and a 2 year old, I'm expecting a similar problem. I don't get the pleasure of booking for 2 more months, but I had an anxiety dream about it the other day. We couldn't get to any ride in our window and the app wouldn't work, so we just wandered around til the day was over. Woke up in a sweat!

 

[alicat8]

I'm sorry. I don't mean to trivialize your unhappiness but I'm confused. If you don't all want to do the same rides wouldn't you be splitting up anyway? How is that the fault of FP+? We are going in Sept (Grandma, Grandpa, Dad, Mom (me) and 2 small kids). I know my DD wants to meet every princess possible and my kids can't do the bigger rides (Splash, Space, Mansion, etc) so I will be taking them to meet characters while DH and his parents ride the big rides. I will have to make sure everyone has different past passes but that's the way it would be either way. Are you saying that without FP+ some members of your family would wait while others did what they wanted? Wouldn't it be that way either way? Again, I'm not trying to start a fight, I legitimately want to know what the difference would be under the old system...

With the old system, you didn't have to play a matching game for the rides you all wanted vs the rides that only some people wanted. If you all wanted a FP for the same ride, you all just got it at the same time. Now, you have to find ways to fill availability times for all the different rides you want plus the ones you want to ride together. So if those plans don't mesh in the system with availability, you could be split up for all 3 FP instead of just the ones that you wanted to be different.

 

[mom2mickeyfan]

11pm CST tonight my 60 day window just opened for FP+. I have been reading about FP+ here on the boards for quite awhile and had kept an open mind, but after the frustrating 1 hr + that I just spent (and will never get back, btw) I can tell you I am about ready to cancel our vacation and do something else. What a cluster this is! OMG! From the poorly planned website to the frustration over time windows. Not everyone in my family wants to ride every ride! So either I book all 5 of our FP's together, knowing that 1-2 will go to waste for some rides or I book 3 of us here and 2 of us there and then we end up splitting our time up and not having the family vacation that we planned! I am so ready to just take my chances with standby except for that doesn't sound like much of a vacation either! Thank you for letting me vent. I'm going to bed. UGH

Yuuuuuup .... now do that with a party of 12 like we did ...

Oh yeah! And I'm trying to plan with a party that really doesn't understand the need to be thinking about what they want to ride at 60 days out. They won't be able to stay in the park all day because of health issues but they still just aren't getting that we need to pick out rides.

But even with our family of 3, the limit of 3 isn't good. My DS loves Splash and wants to ride more than once without waiting an hour. So RD for ride 1 and then a FP for DH & DS for ride 2. I don't want to ride. I don't want to ride anything alone. So that 1 FP for me isn't even usable to me for an enjoyable trip. I won't use it.

 

[McKelly]

11pm CST tonight my 60 day window just opened for FP+. I have been reading about FP+ here on the boards for quite awhile and had kept an open mind, but after the frustrating 1 hr + that I just spent (and will never get back, btw) I can tell you I am about ready to cancel our vacation and do something else. What a cluster this is! OMG! From the poorly planned website to the frustration over time windows. Not everyone in my family wants to ride every ride! So either I book all 5 of our FP's together, knowing that 1-2 will go to waste for some rides or I book 3 of us here and 2 of us there and then we end up splitting our time up and not having the family vacation that we planned! I am so ready to just take my chances with standby except for that doesn't sound like much of a vacation either! Thank you for letting me vent. I'm going to bed. UGH

This is what I was afraid of......traveling with a party of 9 in December. Hoping it gets ironed out by then!

 

[RadioFanatic]

How does it work with two families with two reservations but want to do everything together?

 

[mom2mickeyfan]

I'm sorry. I don't mean to trivialize your unhappiness but I'm confused. If you don't all want to do the same rides wouldn't you be splitting up anyway? How is that the fault of FP+? We are going in Sept (Grandma, Grandpa, Dad, Mom (me) and 2 small kids). I know my DD wants to meet every princess possible and my kids can't do the bigger rides (Splash, Space, Mansion, etc) so I will be taking them to meet characters while DH and his parents ride the big rides. I will have to make sure everyone has different past passes but that's the way it would be either way. Are you saying that without FP+ some members of your family would wait while others did what they wanted? Wouldn't it be that way either way? Again, I'm not trying to start a fight, I legitimately want to know what the difference would be under the old system...

The problem I see isn't the fact of splitting at times. It is the limit of 3. Before it wasn't a big deal to ask the older kids to FP PP and Winnie the Pooh because you could still FP Space and Splash. So yes, you would split up for those that didn't want to ride a ride but now you are forcing those guest to have to pick only 3 to FP. Do you want to ask your 12 year old boy to FP PP, Winnie the pooh and a princess m&g and have to do all long SB lines for his favorites? Before you were able to get many more than 3 so those hard choices didn't have to be made. The 12 year old could get his favorites and it wasn't a big deal to do the little sister's favorites as a family with a FP too.

 

[OB1]

How does it work with two families with two reservations but want to do everything together?

You will have to friend each other, then you can book for the entire group. For dining, you may find it better to book as 2 groups instead of 1.

 

[mom2rtk]

The problem I see isn't the fact of splitting at times. It is the limit of 3. Before it wasn't a big deal to ask the older kids to FP PP and Winnie the Pooh because you could still FP Space and Splash. So yes, you would split up for those that didn't want to ride a ride but now you are forcing those guest to have to pick only 3 to FP. Do you want to ask your 12 year old boy to FP PP, Winnie the pooh and a princess m&g and have to do all long SB lines for his favorites? Before you were able to get many more than 3 so those hard choices didn't have to be made. The 12 year old could get his favorites and it wasn't a big deal to do the little sister's favorites as a family with a FP too.

Yep, that about covers it. With a limit of 3 each FP takes on new importance. This system makes splitting up the only way for many families to do all of what they want.

Thanks Disney.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

... and then we end up splitting our time up and not having the family vacation that we planned!

If this is your concern, FP+ made it easier for us. We split up often, but now we know when/where we will all be before we enter the parks. Makes it easier to plan times when we can be together, not harder.

Can't help you with the FP+ limitations, but FP+ can actually help with some of this stuff if you let it.

Your life - your choice.

 

[mom2mickeyfan]

Yep, that about covers it. With a limit of 3 each FP takes on new importance. This system makes splitting up the only way for many families to do all of what they want.

Thanks Disney.

Is this what they call Disney magic??

 

[2Tiggies]

Yuuuuuup .... now do that with a party of 12 like we did ...

You should write a trouble shooting guide (with relaxation techniques at the end of each section).

The problem I see isn't the fact of splitting at times. It is the limit of 3. Before it wasn't a big deal to ask the older kids to FP PP and Winnie the Pooh because you could still FP Space and Splash. So yes, you would split up for those that didn't want to ride a ride but now you are forcing those guest to have to pick only 3 to FP. Do you want to ask your 12 year old boy to FP PP, Winnie the pooh and a princess m&g and have to do all long SB lines for his favorites? Before you were able to get many more than 3 so those hard choices didn't have to be made. The 12 year old could get his favorites and it wasn't a big deal to do the little sister's favorites as a family with a FP too.

This.
The whole system (when it works) is fiddly. Why in the world can they not just let you view a list of the available attractions to choose from from the first step of the booking process, with a drop down selection of all available times alongside each? They have a website that has never handled traffic as is. Now they are making it pretty much mandatory to use, and promoting it to encourage all guests to use it. It keeps buckling under the pressure of the high demand and use, yet they want you to spend extra time on each because you have to repeat each step after they have told you what they want you to think you want to ride and when they think you should think you want to ride it and you need to choose from those options before you can go back and painfully edit everything one by one to get it to what you knew you wanted in the first place. It's not difficult. It's just a PITA.

 

[mom2rtk]

If this is your concern, FP+ made it easier for us. We split up often, but now we know when/where we will all be before we enter the parks. Makes it easier to plan times when we can be together, not harder.

Can't help you with the FP+ limitations, but FP+ can actually help with some of this stuff if you let it.

Your life - your choice.

Some families actually go to Disney to spend time together as a group. If you prefer to split up, that's great for you. But this system actually forces some groups to split, which I see as very unfortunate.

Is this what they call Disney magic??

Yeah. Something like that.

 

[mom2mickeyfan]

If this is your concern, FP+ made it easier for us. We split up often, but now we know when/where we will all be before we enter the parks. Makes it easier to plan times when we can be together, not harder.

Can't help you with the FP+ limitations, but FP+ can actually help with some of this stuff if you let it.

Your life - your choice.

So for my family of 3 that was able to FP PP (my favorite) and Splash, Buzz and BTM (DS's favorites) will have a better trip this year? I have no desire to ask my DS to give up one of his FP and a short wait for a ride that he doesn't even like. Could I and would he? Yes, but I have no desire to ask that of him on our Disney vacation. It doesn't make me feel very magical. Now we have my FPs that I don't want to use because I have no desire to ride anything alone. So Disney's limit of 3 has honestly limited me even more. DH just wants to ride with the family and is okay with whatever we ride.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

Some families actually go to Disney to spend time together as a group. If you prefer to split up, that's great for you. But this system actually forces some groups to split, which I see as very unfortunate.

The reality, the world can be broken down into two large groups - those who maintain a positive attitude and those who maintain a negative attitude. Those with a positive attitude will learn to make the best of any situation.

I have learned that there are MANY ways to leverage FP+ to my advantage because that has been my focus. I don't waste my time whining about the things that I have lost. Instead, I have focused on the things that I have gained, or can gain, if I work with the new system.

Also, on my trip coming up later this month I have 6 FP+ scheduled each day - not 3. That is only possible because of the time and energy that I have placed into learning this new system and how to leverage it to my advantage.

 

[4 The Love Of Disney]

The reality, the world can be broken down into two large groups - those who maintain a positive attitude and those who maintain a negative attitude. Those with a positive attitude will learn to make the best of any situation.

This

 

[mom2mickeyfan]

The reality, the world can be broken down into two large groups - those who maintain a positive attitude and those who maintain a negative attitude. Those with a positive attitude will learn to make the best of any situation.

I have learned that there are MANY ways to leverage FP+ to my advantage because that has been my focus. I don't waste my time whining about the things that I have lost. Instead, I have focused on the things that I have gained, or can gain, if I work with the new system.

Also, on my trip coming up later this month I have 6 FP+ scheduled each day - not 3. That is only possible because of the time and energy that I have placed into learning this new system and how to leverage it to my advantage.

With 6 FPs a day, it isn't as big of a deal. 3 extra could make a huge difference in a day. But most families don't have the option of having 2 tickets per person.

I don't think anyone in this thread has said they won't have a good time. I will be happy while I am there. I will be happy that my DS is getting to ride his favorite rides with a short wait. But was I happier when we could ride my favorite AND my DS's favorites with a FP without having to make hard choices? Yes!! It is silly for me to pretend that the new system will somehow actually make the trip better. No matter how "positive" I am, this trip will not be better in terms of riding favorites. Good thing it isn't all or nothing. We will still have a good time even though Disney is taking something away from me. But I'm not going to clap my hands and say "woohoo" about it.