MyMagic+ and FastPass+

[ArwenMarie]

I agree. A smart move on Disney's part.

I no longer complain about "only 3" just because it would require too much energy to then launch into the discussion about why B rides that didn't previously need a FP at all just don't count as a 4th FP at all in my book. To me it's still ostensibly "only 3".

Right. And it's not even *really* even 3 at DHS or Epcot.

 

[frenchieSteven]

I listened to this just today, didn't have the time before.
And I wanted to share my experience with MDE and FP+ during my trip last christmas.
I can't compare it with the old FP because it was my first trip in disneyworld so it will be just how I felt about using this actual system. And it's a positive review.
So coming from France it was a trip I had to plan to enjoy the most of it.
The context was : I didn't stayed in a disney resort and I bought a 5 days ticket.
Like I said I didn't knew the old FP (my last trip in Disneyland Paris when I was young it was the beggining of FP and I didn't use it), so I discovered the FP+ after buying my ticket online, and came here to have more informations.
And I thought it was great, I could be sure to do some rides I really want to do. So I start planning it, and it was very exciting, like planning any trip, you can already imagine the magic of what you will do. And it was not only planning 3 rides, it was planning globally the day to be efficient, and it's important when you come from so far and won't be back anytime soon. I could choose the things I wanted to do and say "ok at this time I do this so I will do others attractions around before moving to another part of the park for my next FP+", so you plan the hours of your 3 choices according to these.
And globally I was able to choose a few weeks in advance every attractions I wanted except for meeting Anna and Elsa.
Seeing that you could add another FP after you used your 3 FP+ I decided to put them all in the morning and beginning of the afternoon.

So all that was before the trip. And here is what really happened :
my first day was in magic kingdom, I was there early before the opening because I wanted to enjoy as much as possible. And I had a second day planned in this park so I was really cool, ready to walk slowly in the park (that's why I was there early, to do a lot but without being stressed). I don't remember exactly what was my choices of FP+, I think the 2 in the morning were in adventureland and frontierland so I went directly to adventureland. And discoverd that in the morning there was noone, so I did the normal line for the attractions.
And then I had this FP+ that I wasn't going to use... I had the app on my iphone but I wasn't going to use data with my french operator. So I tried the wifi, I've read before that it wasn't good in the park, and it worked, pretty good. So I used MED and changed my FP+ for others attractions. So it was really really great. Or maybe I was lucky.
So after this first day I change all the hours for my others FP+ on the other days and change the way I would explore them. And I was again lucky, because during this day I did an attraction that I had scheduled at first for my second day in MK, so I changed it and discovered there was a time for meeting anna and elsa.
But even with those changes I kept adjusting my experience every day in the parks with the app if some attractions I had a FP+ for where with a small normal line.
The only park where I could'nt access to the app with the wifi was EPCOT, but it didn't affect my day because I had planned it pretty well.
And with all this I always used only the 3 FP+, except in Hollywood Studio, I used the kiosk to add one more (here lucky again because I couldn't have fantasmic before and get it just one hour before the show).
So it was pretty great using this system, using FP+ when the lines were long, and when there was like 20 minutes to wait I saved my FP+ for something else.

But like I said I've never used FP before so I can't say if it's better or not, I can only say that it was good for me.
Now that I'm back in France I've decided to take an annual pass for disneyland Paris (I'm at 3 hours of train of the park) so I will discover the FP system and be able to compare after.

And another thing about this topic, the magicband, even if I wasn't in a disney resort I decided to buy one (just a simple blue one), to have my ticket on it and my memorymaker too, and it's a souvenir too. And that was cool using it instead of getting your ticket out of your pocket everytime. I wish I could use it one day in Disneyland Paris.

 

[DisneyKidds]

Frenchie, thanks for sharing your experience. Nice to see how a new visitor, staying off-site, during one of the busiest times of year was able to have a positive experience in the parks that allowed you not only the assurance that you could see the attractions you wanted to the most, but the freedom to change your plans on the fly in the parks to get even more done. I guess the system may not be that prohibitive for all WDW 'newbies', and spontaneity is not necessarily entirely dead!

 

[WillAustin]

So I agree that part of legacy wasn't intuitive - but it also wasn't using the system as intended (not wrong, but not as intended). FP+' intent is to be able to schedule not just what rides you want, but when you want them...so, to me, that's a lot of non-intuitive aspects for something that you are supposed to be using the system for.

I agree. FP+ is far from intuitive, easy, or well-designed.

 

[Laketravis]

I just noticed a few comments Josh made on his website last week:

"Back to a busy evening on the 20th where Tomorrowland Speedway has a whopping 50 minute wait at 5:45pm. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that many switchbacks in use."

"FastPass+ lines at Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin have gotten so long that Disney built a permanent extended queue behind the shuttered FastPass+ kiosks."

"Extended queues at PeopleMover are a daily occurrence. Subtract two years and it would be unheard of this time of year."

"The website had an extended analysis of how FastPass+ is affecting wait times all the way back in March of last year. The post would be nearly identical if it was written today with the same trends we’ve discussed over the last year continuing. FastPass+ continues to push up wait times at historically secondary attractions, particularly the ones that didn’t previously offer FASTPASS, while at the same time decreasing waits at headlining attractions that have historically seen the longest waits. That is not a debatable statement."

Click here for the complete post

 

[Angel Ariel]

FrenchieSteven - I am glad you had such a great experience on your trip. If I had encountered the flexibility in rescheduling FP+ that you did, I would likely feel similarly to you.

 

[Suvadoo]

I just noticed a few comments Josh made on his website last week:

"Back to a busy evening on the 20th where Tomorrowland Speedway has a whopping 50 minute wait at 5:45pm. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that many switchbacks in use."

"FastPass+ lines at Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin have gotten so long that Disney built a permanent extended queue behind the shuttered FastPass+ kiosks."

"Extended queues at PeopleMover are a daily occurrence. Subtract two years and it would be unheard of this time of year."

"The website had an extended analysis of how FastPass+ is affecting wait times all the way back in March of last year. The post would be nearly identical if it was written today with the same trends we’ve discussed over the last year continuing. FastPass+ continues to push up wait times at historically secondary attractions, particularly the ones that didn’t previously offer FASTPASS, while at the same time decreasing waits at headlining attractions that have historically seen the longest waits. That is not a debatable statement."

Click here for the complete post

Where's the benefit in reducing headline attraction waits and increasing waits for secondary attractions? I just don't see it. I don't mind waiting longer for a headliner, it's popular I expect a wait. I don't want to wait for People Mover, I love that ride, but I never waited for it!