not a fan of fast pass plus

[crayon3448]

With a child that young you should treat it like the park hopper strategy. Arrive at rope drop and go stand by til lunch. Head back to the hotel for nap then back in the evening where you can use your FP+. The whole negative aspect of FP+ won't be apparent to you for a few more years. Once your little one gets older and wants to (and can) do more, you'll feel the pinch.

My youngest is now 7 and can go all day. Unfortunately we're done with WDW til they fix the mess they've created. I can't justify telling my kids they only get to ride TSMM once (without a significant wait) when just two years ago we rode it four times in one day.

That is our plan! And hopefully by the time she'll be able to go all day there will be a better system!

 

[glamdring269]

That is our plan! And hopefully by the time she'll be able to go all day there will be a better system!

I really think the 'better system' will be one where you can use FP+ at multiple parks in a day. That way if you rope drop you get the benefit of rope drop plus some FP+ while you're at that park. Then since you're having to pay to park hop anyway that counter should get reset so you have some passes in the afternoon as well.

More FP+ in each park would be nice as well but I would settle on up to 3 at each park per day.

One can only hope...

 

[Luckybee]

Personally I don't care if people pay for a campsite they don't use, I do think they should only be able to book FP+ reservations for the # of nights they pay for though.
It will be interesting to see if Disney cotton on and start over selling the sites...

We are firmly in the camp of booking a throwaway room for our next trip. Interestingly however we were planning on doing so for the days of our trip that we would be at the parks. Our original plan was to do 4 or 5 days at Disney before we were aware of FP+ and all the problems. Once we came back to the boards and saw all the changes thats when we decided to only do 2 or 3 days at D and do so with a throwaway.
Until I began to read various threads I had no idea that one could book more days of fp than one was staying for. I firmly believe that by the time we go (Sept/Oct) that one will only be able to book for the days one has a hotel booking. But I do also believe that D will be selling FP as well for offsite guests. Think about it....they are well aware that there are many willing to book throwaway rooms...in order to get 3 FP's booked in advance. With a throwaway it cost disney more as they have to staff the property as though the person is "staying" in the room. They dont know who is and isnt when the booking is made. I cant see how they wouldnt go to the next logical step and charge x amount per day for offsite guests to use fp+ in whatever form it will be.

 

[d-r]

There needs to be a way to have more control over the times. Like this summer when star wars weekends comes, we'll be there early to get fast passes for celebrities. We won't know in advance what time the autograph session we get will be. They are usally sometime between 10 and 5. Ideal for that would be a fast pass for toy story mania at like 9:00 and a fast pass for star tours at like 6:00. That way, we could sign up for jedi training at rope drop, get in to a toy story mania, do star wars stuff and have a star tours fast pass in time for the hoopla. But I haven't seen any set of three "generated plans" that would separate the times that. Last week we didn't have any luck last week in changing just one selection time or activity. It had to be the whole set. My understanding is that before the big legacy roll back day that people were able to change just one day, so maybe they pulled that and it will be back later. Maybe not. Impossible to say right now.

The thing is, though, IMHO January 14 changed what you know about touring strategies. A person can start figuring that out now and thinking about it and how it works for their needs or they can wait for someone to write a guidebook about it. Like the above example, what a person could is make the fast passes with a toy story at 9:00 and the star tours at 10, then after riding toy story hit the ap and change the remaining star tours time to 6:00.

That should work. If you are going on a low crowd day it won't matter, but if you are going during spring break or summer I would start thinking about it.

 

[Marcy Mouse]

Just some food for thought:

Disney Cruise line when they go to Nassau - a lot of people will book a room through comfort inn and suites so that their family of four can go to the water-park at Paradise island much cheaper than paying through Disney Cruise line and have no intention using the room.

If it's Disney's policy to let someone book one night and have a fast pass plus available to the length of ticket then that's the issue - the person booking isn't doing anything wrong.

I remember when EMH came out the discussion was the same - what if a family books the $39 camp site so that they can have at the use of two days of EMH and many thought that was inappropriate too.

Just some Radom thoughts

 

[diskev]

I really think the 'better system' will be one where you can use FP+ at multiple parks in a day. That way if you rope drop you get the benefit of rope drop plus some FP+ while you're at that park. Then since you're having to pay to park hop anyway that counter should get reset so you have some passes in the afternoon as well.

More FP+ in each park would be nice as well but I would settle on up to 3 at each park per day.

One can only hope...

Unfortunately, three just isn't enough for me or my family. A better system will be one where it returns to the old paper FP system. It doesn't have to be paper, but it should work the same. On our Thanksgiving 2012 trip I pulled three FP for TSMM alone. Even with that I was still able to pull multiple sets for Star Tours and Rockin Roller Coaster. All of this at a park with limited choices. Imagine what I was able to do at Magic Kingdom.

I believe in value for my money and the new system just doesn't have it.

 

[wisblue]

There needs to be a way to have more control over the times. Like this summer when star wars weekends comes, we'll be there early to get fast passes for celebrities. We won't know in advance what time the autograph session we get will be. They are usally sometime between 10 and 5. Ideal for that would be a fast pass for toy story mania at like 9:00 and a fast pass for star tours at like 6:00. That way, we could sign up for jedi training at rope drop, get in to a toy story mania, do star wars stuff and have a star tours fast pass in time for the hoopla. But I haven't seen any set of three "generated plans" that would separate the times that. Last week we didn't have any luck last week in changing just one selection time or activity. It had to be the whole set. My understanding is that before the big legacy roll back day that people were able to change just one day, so maybe they pulled that and it will be back later. Maybe not. Impossible to say right now.

The thing is, though, IMHO January 14 changed what you know about touring strategies. A person can start figuring that out now and thinking about it and how it works for their needs or they can wait for someone to write a guidebook about it. Like the above example, what a person could is make the fast passes with a toy story at 9:00 and the star tours at 10, then after riding toy story hit the ap and change the remaining star tours time to 6:00.

That should work. If you are going on a low crowd day it won't matter, but if you are going during spring break or summer I would start thinking about it.

You can do this now, and it's an example of one of the benefits of FP+.

Just take one of the options that you're offered and change the times of the individual attractions so they fit your schedule. For example, in your case, you could choose an option with 3 choices in the middle of the day. Then you could change TSMM to 9 AM and Star Tours to 6 PM, and do whatever you want with your other tier 2 attraction (like Tower of Terror).

Once you know your autograph times on the day of your visit, you could try to change your FP times, but if you can't you still have something.

 

[diskev]

To use the other posters Analogy of buying a limited game system...
I don't see it so much as buying a limited number game system and using it only to play movies, so much as I see it as buying it and then just tossing it out. You're not going to use it, but now you have effectively made sure no one else can either.

The flaw in your logic is your analogy has the buyer getting no value for their money, save for the joy or kicks in taking something away from somebody else. In contrast, booking a "throwaway room" results in actual value for the buyer. The buyer gets access to Magic Bands and pre-booking FP+. Convenience and time savings. Value for money.

 

[nugov2]

If Disney closes the loophole, they better raise the prices on the campsites. People who would have done 1 night at a value will switch to a week at a campsite. A lot of people will gladly pay $350 for a week to have access to FP+. Who wants to stand in line at a kiosk, stand in line in the FP line and also the SB line Not fun!!

I also don't get the argument that it is wrong. It is bought and paid for...end of story. I would guess there are few people who didn't buy something at one time or another just to get the perk/freebie that came with it. That is why companies do it, so you buy the item to get the promotion. WDW is getting exactly what they wanted...people to pay for on site. They don't care if you stay there or not. They will be laughing all the way to the bank.

As for feeling bad for the family scrimping and saving and can only afford a campsite or nothing, yes I feel bad for them...but they have the same opportunity to get the site as anyone else. What about the family scrimping and saving and cannot afford a campsite b/c they can't buy camping gear and is now off site and missing out on the perks. What about the family scrimping and saving and then mom/dad loses their job. I feel bad for all of these people. In reality there will always be someone missing out on something because you got it...toy, car, book, hotel room etc. Is there some certain level of enjoyment we have to have or amount of use something should get before it is deemed worthy of you buying and getting it? My family had a house with a pool on our last trip...we didn't use it every day...is that wrong? I bought the last copy of a book once and didn't like it and never finished it...is that wrong? I once bought cereal I didn't want so my kid could get a mini book that was inside...is that wrong? I mean where do we draw the line between what is ok and what isn't. The whole thing is ludacris.

ETA: sometimes I even buy Happy Meal toys for my kids and not the happy meal b/c we just want the toy and now Jimmy might not get that toy in his happy meal, but now he has to get the leftover from the last promotion

 

[xie]

Just some food for thought:

Disney Cruise line when they go to Nassau - a lot of people will book a room through comfort inn and suites so that their family of four can go to the water-park at Paradise island much cheaper than paying through Disney Cruise line and have no intention using the room.

If it's Disney's policy to let someone book one night and have a fast pass plus available to the length of ticket then that's the issue - the person booking isn't doing anything wrong.

I remember when EMH came out the discussion was the same - what if a family books the $39 camp site so that they can have at the use of two days of EMH and many thought that was inappropriate too.

Just some Radom thoughts

The thing that bothers me the most is that people want to book the campsites because they are cheapest. The campsites, particularly the partial sites for tenting, are THE most scarce room type on property. There are a lot of people who genuinely want to camp getting shut out by people who want to game the system.

If you must do it, go do it at a Value where they have thousands of rooms to throw away.

 

[jimandami]

There needs to be a way to have more control over the times. Like this summer when star wars weekends comes, we'll be there early to get fast passes for celebrities. We won't know in advance what time the autograph session we get will be. They are usally sometime between 10 and 5. Ideal for that would be a fast pass for toy story mania at like 9:00 and a fast pass for star tours at like 6:00. That way, we could sign up for jedi training at rope drop, get in to a toy story mania, do star wars stuff and have a star tours fast pass in time for the hoopla. But I haven't seen any set of three "generated plans" that would separate the times that. Last week we didn't have any luck last week in changing just one selection time or activity. It had to be the whole set. My understanding is that before the big legacy roll back day that people were able to change just one day, so maybe they pulled that and it will be back later. Maybe not. Impossible to say right now.

The thing is, though, IMHO January 14 changed what you know about touring strategies. A person can start figuring that out now and thinking about it and how it works for their needs or they can wait for someone to write a guidebook about it. Like the above example, what a person could is make the fast passes with a toy story at 9:00 and the star tours at 10, then after riding toy story hit the ap and change the remaining star tours time to 6:00.

That should work. If you are going on a low crowd day it won't matter, but if you are going during spring break or summer I would start thinking about it.

Are you speaking as on off-site guest when saying you couldn't split your times up like that? You can definitely do that on MDE, but obviously, idk if you can at a kiosk or not.

 

[Marcy Mouse]

The thing that bothers me the most is that people want to book the campsites because they are cheapest. The campsites, particularly the partial sites for tenting, are THE most scarce room type on property. There are a lot of people who genuinely want to camp getting shut out by people who want to game the system.

If you must do it, go do it at a Value where they have thousands of rooms to throw away.

I understand what you're saying but the people that are scrimping and saving and can only afford to go in value season when the sites are $49 Can book that site as the site becomes available and won't have to worry.

 

[NickyKnack]

The flaw in your logic is your analogy has the buyer getting no value for their money, save for the joy or kicks in taking something away from somebody else. In contrast, booking a "throwaway room" results in actual value for the buyer. The buyer gets access to Magic Bands and pre-booking FP+. Convenience and time savings. Value for money.

I think the better answer would be for Disney to offer pre-booking to offsite guests at a fee of say 50 dollars per group. (The price of the campground in question). Then offsite gets their perk for pay, and those who can't afford more then that and want to stay on property, still can.

Wins all around.
That is if Disney doesn't stop with the massive money grab and just let off-site book 50 days ahead of time for free, which frankly I would fully support. That's still a 10 day head start for On Site, so perk established but it doesn't screw over Off-site.

 

[NickyKnack]

The thing that bothers me the most is that people want to book the campsites because they are cheapest. The campsites, particularly the partial sites for tenting, are THE most scarce room type on property. There are a lot of people who genuinely want to camp getting shut out by people who want to game the system.

If you must do it, go do it at a Value where they have thousands of rooms to throw away.

 

[Krissy562]

To use the other posters Analogy of buying a limited game system...
I don't see it so much as buying a limited number game system and using it only to play movies, so much as I see it as buying it and then just tossing it out. You're not going to use it, but now you have effectively made sure no one else can either.



In my opinion the night they stayed would be better, the rest of the time they stayed would be the same issue.



I think that goes back to something I stated in the very first post I made on this subject, I think it all comes down to availability. In my mind it only becomes an issue when you take advantage of something with a limited capacity which is in high demand and thus likely to keep someone else from having mom something they need. (Whether the word need is actually applicable here is also debatable, but according to my definition of the word it applies.) There are dozens upon dozens of yucky rooms available on Orlando on any given night, so you no one was denied anything they couldn't replace.



You do, I do, they do.
I'm not going to tell anyone how to live their life, short of the point where they harm someone else in an undeniable way. That's not my place, and it's a job I wouldn't want even if it were on offer. I didn't say anything to those who were talking about this directly, as I wasn't going to wave my finger and say "no, you can't do that." I just wanted to point out when the prior poster implied that the reason everyone who thought it was wrong did so because it was cheating Disney by not paying their "fare share". I could care less what it does to Disney, my concern is for the poorer families who may only be able to stay at Disney by taking advantage of one of those 49 dollar camping lots. That once in a lifetime trip for a mom, a dad, and their child/ren who have always dreamed of staying on property and this is the only way they could ever pull it off. And who for whatever reason can only pull it off during that time. I know the odds sound astronomical - but I know several families who are like that. They are already planning to use that kind of set up when they go and they are trying like crazy to make family, both their time off from work, school, ect all align so that they can take that one vacation their kids have been asking for.

My post wasn't meant to tell anyone what to do, just to remind people that there were other people who might be effected by their choices. Not to tell them what to do, but to ensure that all sides were considered before a choice was made. All I can do is make sure that all sides get heard, after that it's none of my business what anyone else wishes to do.

You obviously put a lot of thought into this post, and I appreciate the effort that went into explaining your position. I don't necessarily agree with you, because I think that everyone has equal access to those campsites, but I do understand better where you're coming from.
Well said.

 

[redrosesix]

The thing that bothers me the most is that people want to book the campsites because they are cheapest. The campsites, particularly the partial sites for tenting, are THE most scarce room type on property. There are a lot of people who genuinely want to camp getting shut out by people who want to game the system.

If you must do it, go do it at a Value where they have thousands of rooms to throw away.

Yeah, tell that to the people who are trying to get a Sunday night check-in at a busy time and end up having to spend the first night off-site.

The trick with the values and the campground is to book early -- up to a year in advance -- with your approximate dates and hope it all comes together. Everyone has the option of doing that, so really nobody can complain since they only have to pay a 1 night deposit (which can be transferred to their new reservation if they have to re-book it all when the flight times are available to book)

 

[nugov2]

I think the better answer would be for Disney to offer pre-booking to offsite guests at a fee of say 50 dollars per group. (The price of the campground in question). Then offsite gets their perk for pay, and those who can't afford more then that and want to stay on property, still can.

Wins all around.
That is if Disney doesn't stop with the massive money grab and just let off-site book 50 days ahead of time for free, which frankly I would fully support. That's still a 10 day head start for On Site, so perk established but it doesn't screw over Off-site.

I agree, I think that is what they should do. It is WDW creating the mess. I can't fault people for wanting to get access to the perks that they once had access to. I am one family that stays of site b/c WDW doesn't have anything that meets our needs and not to save money, so I will gladly pay to get some perks. The problem is, FP was always a free equal opportunity perk for all park guests, WDW rewrote that for now, so people are doing what they need to so their family still can get there and have as good of time as they can. Remember that family booking a throwaway room may be heading out for their once in a lifetime trip they have been saving for years for and now had these changes just thrown at them. Why should their trip be ruined or have to deal with a lot more hassle if they can have access to FP+ prebooking and in turn make the trip more enjoyable for them.

 

[MelissathePooh]

Are you speaking as on off-site guest when saying you couldn't split your times up like that? You can definitely do that on MDE, but obviously, idk if you can at a kiosk or not.

No we were onsite. (I am dr's wife). We tried multiple times to use that option (that was listed on the app), but it would not ever let us continue ro make any changes. We could only use the first replace option. We eventually did go to the kiosk at AK guest relations and had the same problem. We could chanhe the whole set, but not the individual attractions. It was maddening!

We stopped on our way out to ask one of the kiosk CMs and the highest up CM in the most formal suit said that was correct. One of the other CMs was surprised, but he insisted that was now the case.

I don't know of that changed since fp- is gone or what. We only went to AK and MK and experienced it in both parks multiple times.

DR has a fairly new Moto X android - the rest of the app would work (although slow and clogged), but not that function for individual changes. We are AP holders and had our tickets linked to the bands - don"t know if that had anything to do with it or not. That one CM said this was the case though and the kiosk machine was the same thing...

 

[diskev]

The thing that bothers me the most is that people want to book the campsites because they are cheapest. The campsites, particularly the partial sites for tenting, are THE most scarce room type on property. There are a lot of people who genuinely want to camp getting shut out by people who want to game the system.

If you must do it, go do it at a Value where they have thousands of rooms to throw away.

These people aren't gaming the system. They've selected a room type that meets their requirements: Low cost and provides access to on site privileges such as Magic Bands and pre-booking FP+. How somebody chooses to use their room shouldn't matter to any other visitor.

 

[Spacecase1]

We went in October and had a good experience with FP+, however, it did make some lines that did not previously have long standby lines very very wicked long. 1.25 hours for princesses (may have been bad before but I never experienced that).
However, because we are staying offsite next trip, we actually deep sixed the plans for June and are pulling the kids out of school in Sept. We are going with a newbie family and I think the lines would terrify them forever. Compound that with the FP+ craziness and it makes for an expensively miserable time. So I am diligently watching how the forecast for the parks will change so to rethink my touring strategy. Man, this has become more complicated than my PhD dissertation!!!!