Observations and Experiences on FP+/MB/MDE from our trip this week

[HydroGuy]

Glad I have so many fans over here on WDW DIS about my DLR tips!

 

[tstottle]

Great review! I am gearing up for our first FP+ in July and trying to keep a good attitude! I appreciate hearing about your experiences. And the spider bite---wow! Was she allergic? That's one doozy of a bite. I agree that the ability to do the FPs remote is a big benefit.

 

[TwinPrincessMermaids]

I think last year for us, the FP+ almost killed us. We seriously considered DLR because of it. Clearly, the roll out spring last year had massive issues to work out. Stand by lines were ridiculous, crowds were horribly mismanaged. (Hi Hydroguy!)

In the meantime, we literally ended up moving here instead of visiting DLR! Its been a year to fix the bugs. And for APs, MDE and FP is the best ever. Its so easy to book three things, even same day, and go. Or a day or two in advance. Sometimes I book a few weeks out, not very often. We've even gotten 7DM FP the same day! It's guaranteed three or more walk ons, and its super easy to book something and go. Its changeable, free, and nice to have if we need but not the end of the world if we end up being a few mins late. Our AP experience would be vastly different without it. And since the times are pretty open, we find ourselves exploring at a more leisurely pace new things since we don't have to wait in line. Saw the baby gorrilas at AK while waiting for FP at safari. What a treat! Probably wouldn't have bothered going down the trail if we hadn't had twenty min to burn waiting for the time to open...

 

[Anesthesia Fine]

Oh man, this is great. Your DLR thread for WDW vets was one of the deciding factors for us in checking out DLR (not for a while, unfortunately, but still!) and this was a fantastic review.

And I hope that bite getting better! That sounds terrifying.

 

[SimplyGoofy]

Thank you for your excellent review. I was a champion at collecting multiple Fastpasses under the old system, and although some things won't be possible anymore, it was great to read about a positive yet balanced experience with the new system.

I'm feeling much more calm about my upcoming trip!

 

[grecorj]

Thank you for your excellent review. I was a champion at collecting multiple Fastpasses under the old system, and although some things won't be possible anymore, it was great to read about a positive yet balanced experience with the new system.

I'm feeling much more calm about my upcoming trip!

Keep Calm and FP+ On

Lol.

 

[SimplyGoofy]

Keep Calm and FP+ On

Lol.

Well played.

 

[larryz]

Glad you had a good trip. May MB/MDE/FP+ never darken the turnstiles of DLR...

 

[HydroGuy]

Great review! I am gearing up for our first FP+ in July and trying to keep a good attitude! I appreciate hearing about your experiences. And the spider bite---wow! Was she allergic? That's one doozy of a bite. I agree that the ability to do the FPs remote is a big benefit.

No it was not an allergy. With a little internet research and comparing online posted images with her arm we are convinced the spider was a brown recluse. The bite happened 8 days ago and she had a fever flying home yesterday. She went to the doc at home today and has a secondary infection in her lymph nodes. She had to get additional and different antibiotics.

 

[HydroGuy]

Glad you had a good trip. May MB/MDE/FP+ never darken the turnstiles of DLR...

I am not as afraid of that prospect as I was before this trip. Still, DLR would have some huge hurdles in implementing this.

 

[ktlm]

You are a DLR expert! I'm very sorry to hear about the spider bite, and hope it gets better soon. I'm glad that you otherwise had a great trip.

As far as your take on FP+, I enjoyed reading it and have nothing to criticize; however, based on our 2 FP+ trips, I would say that you had really good luck. We have not had those same type experiences. We had a DL trip in between our 2 WDW FP+ trips, and it was wonderful to be back in the land of FP and total flexibility. I can certainly see how if you had late sleepers and only cared about 1 of the tier 1 attractions in the tiered parks, it would be nice to have 3 guaranteed FP+ in advance. I will say that I do enjoy not having to make the morning park opening run to get the top priority FP (particularly TSM and Soarin), and that you can often get a decent 4th FP+ in MK. Other than that, based on our experiences, we do not like FP+ at all. We feel that we lose a lot of flexibility, that we run around in a hurry to get to places more, tiers are very limiting and a big problem for us, we have dealt with several annoying glitches; and we have experienced increased standby lines and things we are used to being walk on in the afternoons have had half hour lines (including Figment, Nemo, Small World, Haunted Mansion and Pirates among others). Typically, we go during a week when the crowd levels are listed as 5-7. Usually it is 6 and 7 on the weekends, and 5 most of the weekdays.

 

[jtowntoflorida]

No it was not an allergy. With a little internet research and comparing online posted images with her arm we are convinced the spider was a brown recluse. The bite happened 8 days ago and she had a fever flying home yesterday. She went to the doc at home today and has a secondary infection in her lymph nodes. She had to get additional and different antibiotics.

Wow. That's terrible. I hope she's better soon!

 

[larryz]

Wow. That's terrible. I hope she's better soon!

Agree... you buried her story in that graf about the FP+ spontaneity debate, and those just make my eyes glaze over...

Sorry she had to go thru that!

 

[HydroGuy]

You are a DLR expert! I'm very sorry to hear about the spider bite, and hope it gets better soon. I'm glad that you otherwise had a great trip.

As far as your take on FP+, I enjoyed reading it and have nothing to criticize; however, based on our 2 FP+ trips, I would say that you had really good luck. We have not had those same type experiences. We had a DL trip in between our 2 WDW FP+ trips, and it was wonderful to be back in the land of FP and total flexibility. I can certainly see how if you had late sleepers and only cared about 1 of the tier 1 attractions in the tiered parks, it would be nice to have 3 guaranteed FP+ in advance. I will say that I do enjoy not having to make the morning park opening run to get the top priority FP (particularly TSM and Soarin), and that you can often get a decent 4th FP+ in MK. Other than that, based on our experiences, we do not like FP+ at all. We feel that we lose a lot of flexibility, that we run around in a hurry to get to places more, tiers are very limiting and a big problem for us, we have dealt with several annoying glitches; and we have experienced increased standby lines and things we are used to being walk on in the afternoons have had half hour lines (including Figment, Nemo, Small World, Haunted Mansion and Pirates among others). Typically, we go during a week when the crowd levels are listed as 5-7. Usually it is 6 and 7 on the weekends, and 5 most of the weekdays.

As I think is clear from the OP I was commenting on my particular experience. I am aware others like you have had different experiences and I do not know how to generalize from the differences. I doubt we will get back to WDW until at least 2017 (post AvatarLand is my guess) and a lot will probably change by then. If I had a more negative experience with FP+/MB/MDE it would likely deter me from going back anytime soon like it may have with you and others. For me by far the biggest negative this trip (aside from the spiders! ) was the heat. I avoid July and August trips to WDW for a reason. I did not expect July and August conditions in early May!

Thanks for your comments!