Off site, AP - FP+ wasn't a total horror

LaurenT

DIS Veteran
Joined
May 27, 2009
Messages
8,402
So, I was a huge fan of the old system. Spent President's week at Disney, staying off site with an AP.
There are a few things I'm rather displeased about, but it wasn't a total fail.

The good things:
I no longer have to be a "FP runner", parking my family somewhere as I tear across the park to grab passes when I see they are at the window I want.
There were plenty of slots available for the rides I wanted when I booked my FP+ upon entering the park.
I can plan in advance to ride Soarin one last time on my way out of the park - in the past this would have required walking back to The Land from World Showcase in the middle of the day.

The bad things:
I'm still a RD person, I think anyone trying to book FP+ beyond that first hour will find some rides unavailable or limited. We booked right after our first ride of the day (one day they didn't have any mission space available... I have to believe that was a glitch). I also didn't try to book TSM, so I can't say for sure that was available - we rode that first and then booked RnRC.
The lines to get a FP+ at some points during the day were absolutely ridiculous. We only waited in line one time - but it is absorb to wait in a long line to get a FP to keep you from waiting in line! Again, the only way to avoid this was to be there at RD.
The tiering stinks. Once you book Soarin or test track, you can have some fun deciding whether you'd like Captain Eo or Nemo..... Totally pointless. Even Maelstrom is a tier 1 ride.

I was told many times by CMs that they are still in testing phase and they are sure the kinks will be worked out and everyone will be happy.

We still had a great trip, some things gave us a leg up.
Again, we got there at RD - nothing else will contribute more to easy touring than being there for those first two hours (I realize this isn't for everyone, a lot of people like to sleep in and don't care about lines or getting on every ride)
My DD was finally willing to try the single rider line (she just turned 11). This made it possible for us to ride RnRC, Test Track and EE many many times without a wait early in the day.... More times than I could ever have gotten FPs for in the past!

So, just wanted to give my view. I'll try to answer any questions if I can.
 
Hi Lauren,
I'm glad it wasn't terrible for you. Couldn't you book FP+ ahead of time as an AP holder with (I'm guessing coz you go a lot) an onsite stay in the past?
 
No questions here but was very happy to hear things worked out for you!!! My DD will turn 16 this week and she still dislikes the single rider but I'll share with her what you reported. Maybe I can convince her it's not so bad!
 
Hi Lauren, I'm glad it wasn't terrible for you. Couldn't you book FP+ ahead of time as an AP holder with (I'm guessing coz you go a lot) an onsite stay in the past?
Not this trip. Our last onsite trip was August and we were not selected for MB testing. So I didn't have a MB linked to my account. We will be staying at AKL in August, but by then I'm sure they'll have a different precession in place.
 

The bad things:
I'm still a RD person, I think anyone trying to book FP+ beyond that first hour will find some rides unavailable or limited. We booked right after our first ride of the day (one day they didn't have any mission space available... I have to believe that was a glitch).


We may have been there the same day because we booked FP+ immediately after rope drop and we couldn't get mission space either (Thursday of President's Week). It wasn't a huge deal because we did that second and there was basically no wait, but we would have liked not to have to run across the park from Soarin to Mission Space.
 
No questions here but was very happy to hear things worked out for you!!! My DD will turn 16 this week and she still dislikes the single rider but I'll share with her what you reported. Maybe I can convince her it's not so bad!
Yes - my friends daughter just turned 10 and also did single rider. They both had to be strongly coaxed to try it. We told them if they tried it once and didn't like it, they didn't have to do it anymore. They LOVED getting on the ride so quickly! And for Test Track you can totally skip the design segment and get right on the line to board a car!
 
We may have been there the same day because we booked FP+ immediately after rope drop and we couldn't get mission space either (Thursday of President's Week). It wasn't a huge deal because we did that second and there was basically no wait, but we would have liked not to have to run across the park from Soarin to Mission Space.
I am more convinced now that there is a glitch for mission Space. We actually got FP+ for it on Thursday - right after riding Soarin at RD! It was Monday that we couldn't get it.
 


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