OK how would you fix FP+

[sapdaddy2]

I haven't been to the parks since FP+ was created and only know how it works from the research I did and reading the forums. A lot of forums are just complaining about it but my question is how would you implement the system? You have complete control.

Me I like the idea of the bracelet for everything.

I would have FP+ stations all around the parks for access to the system for any FP+ ride in any park.

You go to a FP+ station and get a FP+ for any ride but you can only have 1 per 1 hour time slot. Lets say I get to MK at 9:00 and get a FP+ for Space Mountain and it says arrive between 9:00 and 10:00. I then have my FP+ for SM. While I am in the FP+ line a FP+ station is in the Q. or I can ride the ride and go find a FP+ station and pick up a FP+ for any other ride or if I want ride SM again. Remember you only get 1 at a time and it is good for 1 hour from the time you access the system. While I am in the Q waiting to ride SM I got my FP+ and it is good from 9:15 to 10:15 to ride say buzz light year. You go thru the day going from ride to ride all day using FP+. With this system you stay in the park for 8 hours you have the possibility of getting 8-9 FP+. If the FP+ for the ride you want to go on is full it will give you the earliest possible time but in will lock you out of getting a FP+ until you have entered the line for the ride. If you miss your time then the system removes you from that ride and you have to get another FP+ or wait in standby. The system will not let you enter the FP+ Q before or after your time.

Yes smart phones can access the system but the same rules apply as above.

I would allow for hopping and you could get a FP+ at the MK to ride test track but remember you now have 1 hour to get over to Epcot.

I would give a bonus to WDW resort guests to access FP+ starting the day they check in and limit them to 2 rides per day no matter the park. The guest could set the times but they couldn't access the system in the parks for that hour you have the guest FP+ for. The guest reserves a FP+ for EE at AK for 11:00 to 12:00, while in the park they can't have a FP+ from 11:00 to 12:00 until they are in the line for EE.

The system would allow one person in the party to get a FP+ for all members in the group or a couple or just one person. I would allow any member of a group to have a FP+ for the same time but different rides, for example my DS13 and I want a FP+ for BTMRR, MY DW and DS16 want to ride space mountain again all between 2:00 and 3:00 that would be fine.

Now what would you do?

 

[DSLRuser]

simple. No scheduling of FP+ until you are at the park.

Make it just like the old FP system, without having to send runners back and forth.

 

[disneymom1229]

I also like the MBs. However, I would keep the system as it was with FP- and either retrofit the existing FP machines or create a new machine that you could scan your MB/RFID ticket rather than insert a KTTW/park ticket. It would load the FP on your band. With the ability to book the FP for all guests associated with your reservation/ticket. The FP- rules would apply as far as return times, when you could pull more and park hopping.
Thus no paper (greener???) and also implements the other features of MM+ that Disney made available.

 

[White_Sox_Fan]

I also like the MBs. However, I would keep the system as it was with FP- and either retrofit the existing FP machines or create a new machine that you could scan your MB/RFID ticket rather than insert a KTTW/park ticket. It would load the FP on your band. With the ability to book the FP for all guests associated with your reservation/ticket. The FP- rules would apply as far as return times, when you could pull more and park hopping.
Thus no paper (greener???) and also implements the other features of MM+ that Disney made available.

^ This.

Plus maybe the ability to reserve in advance one FP+ for the attraction of your choice,either an actual attraction or fireworks, parade, meet & greet, etc.

 

[ktlm]

I would allow everyone onsite and offsite to book 1 FP+ per day in advance. You would still have to have a ticket or AP purchased and linked to MDE because unlike an ADR your FP+ has to link to something you can scan- so with their new system, there would be no way to get around that.

Then, once you are in the park, it would run just like the old FP system, but by smart phone and kiosk (WDW isn't going to give up its new technology- so it will have to work within that). You have the same waiting period you always did before getting the next FP. You could get a new FP after each waiting period. There would be no tiers or limits (there would not need to be- the one at a time and the waiting periods would build in the limits just as they always have). It would run largely the same as it always had with the exception that instead of running to the ride to get the FP, it would be booked on the smart phone or kiosk. My concern is that our experience was that MDE/wifi did not work well in the parks. They would have to fix the overload/technical issues with that for the system to work. I would also substantially increase the number of kiosks in the parks, so that when their were MDE issues, that people could easily find a kiosk in the area where they were and would not have long waits at the kiosks.

I really think this would be workable. Now, the system is flooded/booked and offsite are having trouble getting decent FPs at decent times because everyone gets 3 from the outset. With the old system not eveyone grabbed the exact same things and not everything was booked at once because you were limited to one at a time. Everyone didn't start the day holding 3. It was diffused between the rides because you had to select just 1 at a time, and then wait to get another. (TSM FPs ran out fast because of the fact there are no other rides totally friendly for pre-schoolers at DHS and that won't change, but at least offsite would be on a level playing field. Soarin runs out fast than Test Track because it is a mild "thrill" ride that many with physicial issues that keep them off most thrill rides, including Test Track (like me MIL), can ride. Again, that won't change, but at least the onsite/offsite playing field is even). Now, things must be booked before anyone even knows what their day at WDW is going to be like. You have to plan in advance and get 3 you don't even know that you need. For example, if someone was walking by and saw Safari only had a 15 minute line at 10:00 a.m., they would probably just get in that line instead of grabbing a fast pass and then after riding would move on to other things afterward, instead of bypassing it because they have a FP+ for 1:30 p.m. They would have been one person less in the FP+ line at 1:30, because they never would have grabbed a FP because they didn't need it. Now, they don't ride it when the line is short because they have a FP+ for later, and they come back and get in the FP+ line at a time when the ride itself is more crowded. I've seen reports on here this week that people have experienced a 25 minute FP+ line at Safari in the afternoons. I also saw a report here this week of an offsite guest with a preschooler who got to DHS before rope drop to try to get to a kiosk and get a TSM FP for the day so her child could ride. She still had a 15 minute wait at the kiosk and no TSM FP+ was available- by the time she left the kiosk and got to the ride, the line was an hour. We never stay offsite so that doesn't affect me, but to me it is totally unfair and unacceptable. She never had a chance.

We had no problems with the Magicbands. We did not expect to like wearing the wristbands, but they did not bother us at all. WDW does also need to work out the technical issues with those. We only had 2 minor glitches:1. My magic band wouldn't let me enter the park one morning- but it was fixed by someone with an IPAD within a couple of minutes and 2. DD's would not open the room door one day, but we were with her to open it (we never reported the 2nd glitch, but DD's band was working again the next day). We did meet lots of other people who had major glitches. I am hopeful that WDW can get the IT issues worked out.

 

[summermac]

I want to see it in conjunction with legacy. Allow how many reservable per day but keep legacy FPs around as well. Keep the tiers if you must for the reservable but allow ppl to pull legacy for extra rides on those big attractions as available.

I actually could see FP+ becoming a resort guest perk....

 

[White_Sox_Fan]

I agree with everyone, reserve one or two FP+ a day and reserve the rest like before at kiosk or on a personal device. Make FP+ and onsite perk, I think that is what they want to do any way to get more people onsite. EMH isn't really a big perk when you consider that even a lot on onsite guest avoid those parks on EMH days.

 

[tlady]

I haven't been to the parks since FP+ was created and only know how it works from the research I did and reading the forums. A lot of forums are just complaining about it but my question is how would you implement the system? You have complete control.

Me I like the idea of the bracelet for everything.

I would have FP+ stations all around the parks for access to the system for any FP+ ride in any park.

You go to a FP+ station and get a FP+ for any ride but you can only have 1 per 1 hour time slot. Lets say I get to MK at 9:00 and get a FP+ for Space Mountain and it says arrive between 9:00 and 10:00. I then have my FP+ for SM. While I am in the FP+ line a FP+ station is in the Q. or I can ride the ride and go find a FP+ station and pick up a FP+ for any other ride or if I want ride SM again. Remember you only get 1 at a time and it is good for 1 hour from the time you access the system. While I am in the Q waiting to ride SM I got my FP+ and it is good from 9:15 to 10:15 to ride say buzz light year. You go thru the day going from ride to ride all day using FP+. With this system you stay in the park for 8 hours you have the possibility of getting 8-9 FP+. If the FP+ for the ride you want to go on is full it will give you the earliest possible time but in will lock you out of getting a FP+ until you have entered the line for the ride. If you miss your time then the system removes you from that ride and you have to get another FP+ or wait in standby. The system will not let you enter the FP+ Q before or after your time.

Yes smart phones can access the system but the same rules apply as above.

I would allow for hopping and you could get a FP+ at the MK to ride test track but remember you now have 1 hour to get over to Epcot.

I would give a bonus to WDW resort guests to access FP+ starting the day they check in and limit them to 2 rides per day no matter the park. The guest could set the times but they couldn't access the system in the parks for that hour you have the guest FP+ for. The guest reserves a FP+ for EE at AK for 11:00 to 12:00, while in the park they can't have a FP+ from 11:00 to 12:00 until they are in the line for EE.

The system would allow one person in the party to get a FP+ for all members in the group or a couple or just one person. I would allow any member of a group to have a FP+ for the same time but different rides, for example my DS13 and I want a FP+ for BTMRR, MY DW and DS16 want to ride space mountain again all between 2:00 and 3:00 that would be fine.

Now what would you do?

Sadly, there is no true "fix" to this mess other than Disney committing, over a period of years/decades, to build many more park rides/attractions. They need a huge new investment in their park infrastructure. Absent that, this problem with the ride wait times will continue and may even get worse as more and more people begin using FP+.

Yes, they could tweak some things about FP+ that may help in a small way. But the biggest problem is that Disney rolled out this new system and is actively encouraging every park goer to participate in it (FP+). In doing so, they apparently did not take into account that their current infrastructure simply cannot handle the markedly increased demand. Or maybe they simply didn't care as long as there are still enough acolytes willing to pony up their $$$ and wait in these ridiculous lines.

What you've got now are 100% of future guests being told about the wonders of FP+, blah, blah, blah. So, the bottom line is that a far, far greater percentage of current park goers are now using the sadly misnamed "Fast pass" system. A far greater % than used or were even aware of how to use the old FP system.

What Disney's meddling has done is to basically even out the ride lines so that FP is not all that much shorter than the standby lines. Under the old system, let's say you had 500 people waiting to ride a big attraction. Under the old FP system, maybe 100-150 of those would ride it using FP and the remaining 350-400 would be standby. But under this new system, you almost have an even split of 250 using FP+ and 250 using standby. In some cases, I'll bet the number using standby is actually less than those waiting in the FP+ lines. All because Disney is touting the usage of FP+ to anyone and everyone.

What they have sadly neglected to do is to increase the number of rides in the parks over the years. Had they been steadily putting profits into this part of their empire, we wouldn't be faced with the mess we now have in terms of wait times for nearly every ride in every park. Instead of investing in park infrastructure, far more $$ and attention has been invested in increasing the total number of resort rooms. The end result is easy to forsee - more & more people in the parks, competing for ride times on a pretty stagnant number of attractions.

Simply put - the parks cannot handle the increased percentags of guests now using FP+, period.

If you allow more than 3 per day, you will only increase the current mess, exponentially. Dropping tiering might help in a small way. But the big elephan in the room remains the lack of enough rides/attractions to handle the crowds, whether it be in the FP+ lines or the standby lines.

How Disney can continue, with a straight face, to market a system (FP+) that is proving to be anything but "fast" is beyond me. And the fact that a certain number of park goers are buying into this is even more astonishing.

 

[Q-man]

OK how would you fix FP+

Nuke it with extreme prejudice.

 

[ArthurKing1220]

Just to chime in on the magicband aspect (since I see it coming up in the discussion): To me, the magicband experience and the fastpass+ experience have been unnecessarily linked together--at first by none other than Disney itself. I feel like this was part of their strategy to try and get buy-in for fastpass+, i.e., point to the cool / efficiency factor of the magicband and then sell fastpass+ as part of that package. When, in reality, you could have fully implemented magicbands without ever rolling out fastpass+. In fact, you even could have kept the rules of the old fastpass system and linked it to magicbands, e.g., you go up to a machine, it flashes the time for the ride, and if you like it, you put up your band and it gets locked into your profile.

 

[ArthurKing1220]

Sadly, there is no true "fix" to this mess other than Disney committing, over a period of years/decades, to build many more park rides/attractions. They need a huge new investment in their park infrastructure. Absent that, this problem with the ride wait times will continue and may even get worse as more and more people begin using FP+.

Yes, they could tweak some things about FP+ that may help in a small way. But the biggest problem is that Disney rolled out this new system and is actively encouraging every park goer to participate in it (FP+). In doing so, they apparently did not take into account that their current infrastructure simply cannot handle the markedly increased demand. Or maybe they simply didn't care as long as there are still enough acolytes willing to pony up their $$$ and wait in these ridiculous lines.

What you've got now are 100% of future guests being told about the wonders of FP+, blah, blah, blah. So, the bottom line is that a far, far greater percentage of current park goers are now using the sadly misnamed "Fast pass" system. A far greater % than used or were even aware of how to use the old FP system.

What Disney's meddling has done is to basically even out the ride lines so that FP is not all that much shorter than the standby lines. Under the old system, let's say you had 500 people waiting to ride a big attraction. Under the old FP system, maybe 100-150 of those would ride it using FP and the remaining 350-400 would be standby. But under this new system, you almost have an even split of 250 using FP+ and 250 using standby. In some cases, I'll bet the number using standby is actually less than those waiting in the FP+ lines. All because Disney is touting the usage of FP+ to anyone and everyone.

What they have sadly neglected to do is to increase the number of rides in the parks over the years. Had they been steadily putting profits into this part of their empire, we wouldn't be faced with the mess we now have in terms of wait times for nearly every ride in every park. Instead of investing in park infrastructure, far more $$ and attention has been invested in increasing the total number of resort rooms. The end result is easy to forsee - more & more people in the parks, competing for ride times on a pretty stagnant number of attractions.

Simply put - the parks cannot handle the increased percentags of guests now using FP+, period.

If you allow more than 3 per day, you will only increase the current mess, exponentially. Dropping tiering might help in a small way. But the big elephan in the room remains the lack of enough rides/attractions to handle the crowds, whether it be in the FP+ lines or the standby lines.

How Disney can continue, with a straight face, to market a system (FP+) that is proving to be anything but "fast" is beyond me. And the fact that a certain number of park goers are buying into this is even more astonishing.

I'm not saying I agree (or disagree) with this, but, if you took this view, i.e., that the only way to alleviate the FP+ problem is to build out the parks, well, wouldn't that make Disney appear to be doing nice planning rather than making a boondoggle? Meaning, if you step back and look on paper, you have a bunch of stuff in the pipeline, including, most prominently, Avatar and Star Wars (with credible rumors of efforts to bring in Marvel). So maybe the sequencing is a bit off -- something that should have been rolled out in 2016 rather than 2014 -- but, under your theory, isn't Disney basically just laying the groundwork for the future where there are additional build outs?

 

[SashaFarce]

Make MK have 4 FP reservations. That's about it. I like the rest of the system.

 

[Networth]

Three things.

1. Monetize the system, if I pay/spend more I would like more FP's and/or no tiers.
2. Remove the Tiers
3. Make park hopping with FPP possible.

 

[rluey29]

I also vote for it to work like the old system, with one ride reservation per day. After in the parks schedule like the old system.

 

[Nole95]

If they were going to keep tiers, I would be fine with a hybrid of the old and new system. Let anyone schedule 3 FP+ ahead of time.

For example, I schedule FP+ rides as follows:

Space - 12-1
Buzz - 1-2
Splash - 2-3

Once I enter the park, I can immediately schedule a FP as long as it does not conflict with any of the scheduled times I already have.

So, I schedule a FP for BTMR from 10-11. While that FP is active the same rules apply as they do now. I cannot get another FP until the window opens on that one or two hours have passed.

If they simply removed the tiers as they stand now and allow guests to schedule four or five at MK (more rides available), I think would be fine with the system as is.

 

[sonofanarchy]

I'd fix it as such:

The people who praise Toy Story Mania Plus, er, um, Fastpass Plus, are generally people that like to sleep in and not worry about rope drop. Fine - Those people who wish to use FP+ can do so, just as it is, but they can't enter the park until after 12:00PM. Anyone who enters before that time, can use Fastpass the way it was meant to be.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

Monetize it. The rest will take care of itself.

 

[Praying Colonel]

I also like the MBs. However, I would keep the system as it was with FP- and either retrofit the existing FP machines or create a new machine that you could scan your MB/RFID ticket rather than insert a KTTW/park ticket. It would load the FP on your band. With the ability to book the FP for all guests associated with your reservation/ticket. The FP- rules would apply as far as return times, when you could pull more and park hopping.
Thus no paper (greener???) and also implements the other features of MM+ that Disney made available.

+1

/endthread

 

[gorkt]

I like the general bones of the MB/FP+ system, but I would clean up the app and make it easier to navigate. I would eliminate tiering entirely and perhaps raise the FP+ limit to 4-5 rides, especially at MK. I would also let off site visitors pre-register FP+ instead of having to wait at Kiosks.

 

[damo]

Since there don't really seem to be any issues with FP+ at MK, it seems obvious that the issues are more to do with ride capacity at the other parks. There really isn't anything that can be done with the FP+ to change capacity, so ride capacity needs to increase there.

Other than leave the system the way it was at the three other parks or only make it available to deluxe hotel guests, there's really nothing that can be done.

I don't think we'll even see the real impact of fastpass+ until everyone is allowed to book at the same time.