My husband and I just returned from a short adults only trip to WDW. It was our first trip with the new system in place, and I thought I'd give our FWIW observations. We have been to WDW many times with our son (who is now 18) doing things commando and doing things in a more relaxed style, so I tried to look at this system from both perspectives.
Our Magic Bands worked perfectly -- no glitches. Our room opened every time with both our bands. Our annual passes were synched and allowed us into all parks on the first try every time. (This is, incidentally, a big improvement. We've spent a lot of time in the past trying to get our fingers scanned with our ticket media or passes.)
We scheduled our FP+ a month ago or so, but I wasn't too quick about it because I knew that my husband and I were traveling together and that rides weren't going to be our biggest priority. Even not scheduling at 60 days, I got all the FP+'s that I wanted, when I wanted them. (Fireworks, Expedition Everest, some of the new FantasyLand rides, Big Thunder Mountain -- I didn't schedule ToT or RnR this time because my son is my coaster buddy, and he wasn't coming on this trip.)
I was able to schedule ToT on the fly last night -- at about 5:30, I got a FP+ for it at 7:30. So, it seemed to be pretty fluid. I canceled a few FP+'s when we got tired and wanted to leave the parks early. (I had scheduled Fantasmic!, and we were ready to head out.)
I think if my son had been there, we would have done rope drop at one park, hit the headliners there, and then scheduled FP+'s for another park for the evening. That seems to be a good plan for the "want to do lots of headliners in one day" traveling style. I did notice lines at Pirates of the Caribbean and Living with the Land (they did seem to move fast). It will be interesting to see how Disney deals with that when peak seasons occur.
So, I think the system has possibilities, and I think there are things that Disney will need to work on. But we found it to work for our trip.
Julie
Our Magic Bands worked perfectly -- no glitches. Our room opened every time with both our bands. Our annual passes were synched and allowed us into all parks on the first try every time. (This is, incidentally, a big improvement. We've spent a lot of time in the past trying to get our fingers scanned with our ticket media or passes.)
We scheduled our FP+ a month ago or so, but I wasn't too quick about it because I knew that my husband and I were traveling together and that rides weren't going to be our biggest priority. Even not scheduling at 60 days, I got all the FP+'s that I wanted, when I wanted them. (Fireworks, Expedition Everest, some of the new FantasyLand rides, Big Thunder Mountain -- I didn't schedule ToT or RnR this time because my son is my coaster buddy, and he wasn't coming on this trip.)
I was able to schedule ToT on the fly last night -- at about 5:30, I got a FP+ for it at 7:30. So, it seemed to be pretty fluid. I canceled a few FP+'s when we got tired and wanted to leave the parks early. (I had scheduled Fantasmic!, and we were ready to head out.)
I think if my son had been there, we would have done rope drop at one park, hit the headliners there, and then scheduled FP+'s for another park for the evening. That seems to be a good plan for the "want to do lots of headliners in one day" traveling style. I did notice lines at Pirates of the Caribbean and Living with the Land (they did seem to move fast). It will be interesting to see how Disney deals with that when peak seasons occur.
So, I think the system has possibilities, and I think there are things that Disney will need to work on. But we found it to work for our trip.
Julie
