My experience with MDE/FP+

[Mome Rath]

Just back from our trip, and this was my first experience with FP+, and the full use of MDE, on our prior trips, the magic bands were restricted to hotel room keys.

The Magic Bands worked flawlessly from the hotel, to tickets, to fastpasses. MDE worked well, was able to book fastpasses early when I wanted, and on the day of use, I was also able to pick them. The only one that we had to "work around" was TSMM, as there was only one hour available when I was booking the day of. It was also the only one where we had to wait any amount of time in the Fastpass line; waited around 5 min. (We didn't have any kids with us, so no Anna and Elsa madness).

I'm of this generation that is used to dealing with tech, and smartphones, and apps, etc... My husband actually writes apps for smartphones, so we know how they work, the problems they can encounter, the effects of multiple users all trying to access accounts at once. I can say that I was pleased with the app, esp. knowing just how many people are accessing it a day. There was only one time were I had a "loading glitch" the whole time we were there. With a smartphone you can also go into MDE via an actual web browser, so there are always 2 ways into your account, which I really liked. What change would I make? Make it easier (one click/action) to cancel any Fastpasses you don't want/don't have to use.

I also noticed that in clothing, art styles, etc... Disney is indeed targeting my age and younger more and more, and I do believe that is why there is now a shift to using social media and apps, rfid's and such in the parks. It is taking time to work things through, but that is the future. It has been far less painful for my family in this switch than that awful pepto-castle nightmare

The standby lines were all predictable; I've been going to Dis multiple times of the year since the 80's and all the standby lines were inline with wait times from other trips. The only change I can really see is that rope drop is a better bet for walk-on's than Extra Magic Hours, however, we didn't stay all that late for EMH. Flower and Garden booths were great, and most of the time you didn't even have to wait in line.

Loved the full use of the magic bands thus far, and liked fp+ better than fp-. The only "wish" we really didn't get this trip had nothing to do with any of that, but rather that we didn't get in the Mine. lol They were running empty cars when we were there, but never saw anyone on it.

 

[ajwolfe]

Glad you had a great trip and it all worked wonderfully!!

 

[Bugdozer]

Thanks for your take on things. Nice to hear positives not just negatives on how things work

 

[Mome Rath]

Glad you had a great trip and it all worked wonderfully!!

Thanks for your take on things. Nice to hear positives not just negatives on how things work

I can see the positives and negatives for the different touring styles. For us, it just works.

 

[Tasmen]

We are a pretty tech savvy family as well (I work in technology). I'm pretty happy to see Disney moving toward using more technology. I've been a huge user of independently written and maintained line apps, etc. the last few years when we've gone to Disneyland or WDW. Glad to hear it worked out great for you. Gives me hope for our upcoming trip and yet another reason to be attached at the hip to my smartphone (not that I needed another reason).

 

[Mome Rath]

We are a pretty tech savvy family as well (I work in technology). I'm pretty happy to see Disney moving toward using more technology. I've been a huge user of independently written and maintained line apps, etc. the last few years when we've gone to Disneyland or WDW. Glad to hear it worked out great for you. Gives me hope for our upcoming trip and yet another reason to be attached at the hip to my smartphone (not that I needed another reason).

For obvious reasons my husband always prefers working with apps, whereas I prefer websites. I feel more comfortable with websites and like having my computer with me on vacation. Having said that, with my phone now, and trying to go really light this trip, I only took my phone and kept it charged so I could use it when needed. I did go into the website via a browser when I was doing things like looking at my photopass pics, just because it is my preference and the only glitchy time was when I was using the app.

 

[Missymouse18]

Thanks for the positive report. Glad you had a good time!

 

[Tasmen]

For obvious reasons my husband always prefers working with apps, whereas I prefer websites. I feel more comfortable with websites and like having my computer with me on vacation. Having said that, with my phone now, and trying to go really light this trip, I only took my phone and kept it charged so I could use it when needed. I did go into the website via a browser when I was doing things like looking at my photopass pics, just because it is my preference and the only glitchy time was when I was using the app.

Oh don't get me wrong, I'm also quite fond of my computer as well. I'll have my laptop with me (in case of work emergency and for photopass snoopage). But when away from the computer, I am all about the phone - phone for twitter, phone for pictures, phone for line wait apps, etc.

 

[Mome Rath]

Oh don't get me wrong, I'm also quite fond of my computer as well. I'll have my laptop with me (in case of work emergency and for photopass snoopage). But when away from the computer, I am all about the phone - phone for twitter, phone for pictures, phone for line wait apps, etc.

 

[Mome Rath]

Just FYI; I received a very detailed survey today about my experiences this trip. They are asking specific questions about FP+ and MDE, including the differences between the app and the website, specific problems, etc... It was the longest survey I've filled out for Dis thus far.

 

[Bugdozer]

Glad to hear they are following up with surveys. Hope they asked about getting 4th FP on app instead of Kiosk. I hope someday this can be done unless the purpose of using the kiosk is slow down the time it takes to get additional FP