OK, just got back 3-22 loved FP+ and Magic Bands

[DSLRuser]

I was skeptical. Buy we loved it.

We were doing a last minute trip, so I didn't get to book my FP+ until the 1st day we got there.

The one thing I found, which is opposite of what a lot of people thought before trying the new system, is Park Hoppers are a must. The reason being, is since you only have 3 FP+ for a park, you end up going super commando, and just doing what ever rides have the least wait times. Also, since you can schedule your fast passes for what ever time you want, you can easily do one park in the morning all on stand by, and a park in the evening using only your fast passes.

The second thing I noticed, is out side of you 1st day of planning, it is useless to schedule FP+ for your entire trip. Because of what I mentioned above, we were constantly riding what ever had the least wait time. We walked by Under the Sea with Ariel at MK one night around 10:00pm and were able to walk on. Meaning I was free to change when I had a FP+ for that ride another day.

So, armed only with an iPhone 5, I was happily able to manage our FP+ and Dinning reservations with ZERO issues. Not a single mishap, no glitches, no technology errors.

I will add this. Because of the new system, I will never stay off site again. As long as you move your FP+ stuff around at least the night before, you can basically get what ever ride and what ever time you want. But the day of, its a crap shoot. That's when all the off site guests cram into the FP+ kiosks and take up the scrap left by resort guests. And those kiosk lines were horrible in every park.

I do not want Disney to add the ability to Park Hop and schedule FP+ at multiple parks. But I do think the 3 FP+ limit needs to be bumped up to 4.

Bottom line is, Disney did their homework. The new system is designed very well and it JUST WORKS.

 

[catra121]

I'm glad you had a great time.

I think, as with FP- before, that as time goes on everyone will be able to come up with a FP+ strategy that works best for them. I personally liked having all my reservations set up prior to the trip because I just feel much less stressed when I have a plan. Others feel MORE stressed when they have plans like that.

Once all the rules are finalized, people will be able to work out strategies to maximize and use the system to its fullest. The biggest issue right now is that there's no guarantee that the way things are today is the way they will be a month from now due to the fact that they are still "testing."

That said...I am definitely a fan of FP+ and enjoyed it when I used it and would be happy with it staying exactly as it is now. I will also be happy if they make some of the changes people want (no tiers, being able to get more as you use your three, being able to use in more than one park, etc).

 

[smellyia]

We had a good experience as well last month. Only thing was I felt like the MDE app was a little difficult to navigate. If I wanted to change just one FP+ they sometimes made me mess with all three and wouldn't give me a time option prior to changing and them ending up with a time 6hrs off my original! That could be done a little easier. Or it could've just been user error . But overall our strategy was the same as yours and worked really well. We had a great time and I'm about to start scheduling for our May trip this week.

 

[Elizamarie763]

I'm really glad to hear it went so well. I've been trying to stay positive and tell myself that we'll have an awesome time even if things with FP+ don't go as planned, but I'm glad to hear that at least one person had a very positive experience

 

[MichelleVW]

I was skeptical. Buy we loved it.

We were doing a last minute trip, so I didn't get to book my FP+ until the 1st day we got there.

The one thing I found, which is opposite of what a lot of people thought before trying the new system, is Park Hoppers are a must. The reason being, is since you only have 3 FP+ for a park, you end up going super commando, and just doing what ever rides have the least wait times. Also, since you can schedule your fast passes for what ever time you want, you can easily do one park in the morning all on stand by, and a park in the evening using only your fast passes.

The second thing I noticed, is out side of you 1st day of planning, it is useless to schedule FP+ for your entire trip. Because of what I mentioned above, we were constantly riding what ever had the least wait time. We walked by Under the Sea with Ariel at MK one night around 10:00pm and were able to walk on. Meaning I was free to change when I had a FP+ for that ride another day.

So, armed only with an iPhone 5, I was happily able to manage our FP+ and Dinning reservations with ZERO issues. Not a single mishap, no glitches, no technology errors.

I will add this. Because of the new system, I will never stay off site again. As long as you move your FP+ stuff around at least the night before, you can basically get what ever ride and what ever time you want. But the day of, its a crap shoot. That's when all the off site guests cram into the FP+ kiosks and take up the scrap left by resort guests. And those kiosk lines were horrible in every park.

I do not want Disney to add the ability to Park Hop and schedule FP+ at multiple parks. But I do think the 3 FP+ limit needs to be bumped up to 4.

Bottom line is, Disney did their homework. The new system is designed very well and it JUST WORKS.

Glad you had a good time! We were there March 9-14 and I think I had the first three days tentatively scheduled but I think I switched those around a few times too. Went to Animal Kingdom and rode everything standby with no wait one morning but my oldest wasn't feeling well and had to skip Everest. So she asked if we could come back another day and ride it again... so we booked a Fast pass for Thursday afternoon for Everest, the Safari and Dinosaur. Didn't end up going to Dino again...but it was nice to be able to know that no matter what even though she missed Everest Tuesday morning we could go back Thursday afternoon and she could ride it then.

 

[DSLRuser]

That said...I am definitely a fan of FP+ and enjoyed it when I used it and would be happy with it staying exactly as it is now. .

agree 100%. and will just roll with what ever tweaks they make.

 

[DSLRuser]

I want to add, the cheerleaders were there last week.

the only place they were an issue was on haunted mansion. they all insisted on being in the same scare room, and just rushed past everyone.

 

[kmc]

Good to hear, we are planning the same thing. One park in the morning do what we can and save fast pass for the evening park. That seems to be whats working best for people who have had a positive experience

 

[alicemouse]

Glad to hear! We also had a very good experience in early December. We did have a few very small glitches. The app and the website are still buggy, but it seems to be getting better. We also had two missing photopass photos, but we never order them anyway, so it wasn't a huge deal to us. To be honest, I'm not 100% certain that they scanned my band, so that may have been the issue. Otherwise, the experience was flawless for us. We did meet up with some friends who had some minor MB issues, but it certainly didn't ruin their trip.

On a side note, listening to some of the problems that people are experiencing, I wonder if they have found defects in a portion of the bands. Maybe a manufacturing problem? go-to resolution seems to be to replace people's bands.

 

[snorkelyn]

Glad to hear a some positives about FP+. Thanks for the review.
Question for you that have used it-
Will I be able to switch parks? If I made my 3 FP+ at MK, then decided the day before- or the day of- to go to a different park, can I change my FP+ to the new park?

 

[JimmyV]

The reason being, is since you only have 3 FP+ for a park, you end up going super commando,

Is this supposed to be a positive? I thought that one of the primary benefits of FP+ was to shave away the "commando" advantage.

Also, since you can schedule your fast passes for what ever time you want, you can easily do one park in the morning all on stand by, and a park in the evening using only your fast passes.

This is one of my beefs. I don't want to use up time hopping from park to park just so that I can use 3 FPs and then leave. Taking a bus to the MK, going through bag check, walking through the park, just to ride Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain and Buzz seems like a big investment of time just for three rides. But when I get to the park at 2:00 p.m. and the SB lines for everything else are 45+ minutes, I'm not sure what incentive I have to stay. Again, this touring style works for many people, and it certainly worked for you. But for our touring style, hopping from park to park just to do three things is not a plus.

But the day of, its a crap shoot. That's when all the off site guests cram into the FP+ kiosks and take up the scrap left by resort guests. And those kiosk lines were horrible in every park.

This was our experience as well. And to make matters worse, we stayed at the Dolphin which is booked through Disney Central Reservations, but we were treated as "off site guests" even though we were treated as on site guests for purposes of EMH. Odd. In the end, I think that it is sad that Disney created a system that so greatly impairs the enjoyment of the majority of its guests. Hopefully this is changing and if it does, that will make a huge difference.

It clearly JUST WORKS for many. But certainly not all.

 

[sonofanarchy]

Bottom line is, Disney did their homework. The new system is designed very well and it JUST WORKS.

Glad you had a good time, but this is kind of misleading. It worked for you. It works for others. It doesn't "just work" for everybody.

 

[glamdring269]

I do not want Disney to add the ability to Park Hop and schedule FP+ at multiple parks. But I do think the 3 FP+ limit needs to be bumped up to 4.

Just curious, why would you not want the ability to park hop? If you have a max of 3 or 4 and paid for hoppers why would you not want to be able to use those 3 or 4 across multiple parks?

 

[cammie810]

We just got back today. I have an annual pass but did not buy my husbands until we got there. I could have booked my fast passes in advance but since I couldn't book my husbands I waited. Saturday night I was able to book Sunday morning fast passes for Animal Kingdom for 4 people with no problem whatsoever. I had looked up the schedule of shows I wanted to see and modified the time of the fast passes so that I wouldn't have to criss cross the park a million times. I do agree the lines at the FP+ kiosks were really long and there are a lot of people who have no idea how the system works or that it even exists!!

 

[mickeyluv'r]

The one thing I found, which is opposite of what a lot of people thought before trying the new system, is Park Hoppers are a must.

Shhh!

I agree, though maybe for slightly different reasons.

Simply put, there are not three (generally ) attractions in Epcot to FP. There are barely three in HS, and barely three in AK.

My small confession is that we're fine with skipping Soarin'. Skip that one attraction, and all that's left is Test Track. Do TT at RD, or late at night, and our FP were free for the day!

I'll add that my Jan trip was only three full days. We did AK, Epcot/HS split, full day MK and a half day in MK.

So the new system in our minds also favor hopping. It especially makes sense to do RD in Epcot, then FP+ in HS. Maybe hop back to Epcot for dinner, or stay in HS for a late hours. If I was at WDW for a full week, I'd also do an Epcot/MK combo most likely.

During EMH at HS, we rode RNRC multiple times and got in line for TSM just before the end of EMH. (we actually took a late afternoon break/had dinner)


FP+ also means that it makes great sense to go to a park on arrival/departure days, especially MK! In our case, AK was open late on our arrival day.

I'm not sure I agree with the idea of rescheduling your FP+. I mean I can see how that would appeal to some folks, but we were mostly happy to stick with what we had. There was only one FP I would have changed on our last day in MK.

For us, we spent slightly more time in slightly) standby lines than previously, but they usually moved fairly quickly. HOWEVER, we also spent no time obtaining fastpasses. Under old FP, we often spent a good deal of time crisscrossing the parks to USE our FP, and time sending a FP runner to obtain them. It was nice not having to do that any more.



I think most people just don't like change. To me, FP+ gives me a chance to rethink they way we tour. I see 'touring optimization strategy' as kind of fun. We had things down pat under the old system. The new system is an opportunity to shake things up a bit, and rethink.

Maybe we rode a few less e-rides. Instead we slowed down a bit and spent a little more time appreciating things like the new HM queue.

 

[ZoZo]

Glad to hear a some positives about FP+. Thanks for the review.
Question for you that have used it-
Will I be able to switch parks? If I made my 3 FP+ at MK, then decided the day before- or the day of- to go to a different park, can I change my FP+ to the new park?

Yes, you can definitely change all of your FPs to a different park. It's pretty easy, actually.

We went on a 7-day trip last month and had good luck with FP+ (no glitches). I had made all of our reservations in advance, but changed them every day because our plans kept changing. With a smart phone, it was quite easy to make the changes "on the fly."

Without a smart phone, though, I think it would have been a real pain. We would have had to go to the kiosks, and the first thing in the morning, the lines can be very long. What a time-waster!

I was sort of dreading FP+, but it ended up working fairly well for us. I still strongly prefer the old "legacy" FP program, because it provided much greater flexibility. I don't like to schedule that many things in advance - we literally had FP+ changes every single day. Plus, I don't like being limited to three FPs/day; I don't like the tiering; I don't like having to have all of my FPs in the same park; and I don't like the fact that you can't get "repeat" FPs for the same attraction on the same day if you want (like you could with the old system). But since I can't change any of that, I tried to go with the flow as much as possible, and liked FP+ more than I thought I would. I give the current FP+ system a grade of "C+."

 

[Marionnette]

Yes, you can definitely change all of your FPs to a different park. It's pretty easy, actually.

We went on a 7-day trip last month and had good luck with FP+ (no glitches). I had made all of our reservations in advance, but changed them every day because our plans kept changing. With a smart phone, it was quite easy to make the changes "on the fly."

Without a smart phone, though, I think it would have been a real pain. We would have had to go to the kiosks, and the first thing in the morning, the lines can be very long. What a time-waster!

I was sort of dreading FP+, but it ended up working fairly well for us. I still strongly prefer the old "legacy" FP program, because it provided much greater flexibility. I don't like to schedule that many things in advance - we literally had FP+ changes every single day. Plus, I don't like being limited to three FPs/day; I don't like the tiering; I don't like having to have all of my FPs in the same park; and I don't like the fact that you can't get "repeat" FPs for the same attraction on the same day if you want (like you could with the old system). But since I can't change any of that, I tried to go with the flow as much as possible, and liked FP+ more than I thought I would. I give the current FP+ system a grade of "C+."

The bolded part is true IF you are an onsite guest who can manage your FP+ using the MDE app. If you are an offsite guest who had to obtain your original FP+ from a kiosk, it's not as easy as going to a kiosk in another park and switching out the experiences. We found that out this week when we changed our plans to stay in the MK with our nephew, who was there with his high school band. Our nephew's band was staying offsite, so his FP+ had been done on a kiosk in another park. In order to "dump" those FP+ and get new ones that we could all use together, he had to get his choices "erased" at guest relations before he could choose new ones at the MK.

I know that this will change when everybody has access to the FP+ system on the MDE app. But for now, it is a real problem for the offsite guests who want to ditch the park they made their FP+ selections in, in favor of another park.

 

[pad406]

Without a smart phone, though, I think it would have been a real pain. We would have had to go to the kiosks, and the first thing in the morning, the lines can be very long. What a time-waster!

Just curious, have not seen mention of it in any other threads, but does anybody know if they have, or intend to install FP+ kiosks in the hotels. Seems a few discrete ones in the hotels might be of benefit to on-site guest that don't have a smartphone

 

[Robo]

Just curious, have not seen mention of it in any other threads, but does anybody know if they have, or intend to install FP+ kiosks in the hotels. Seems a few discrete ones in the hotels might be of benefit to on-site guest that don't have a smartphone

None at resorts.

Anything is possible in the future.

 

[DSLRuser]

Glad to hear a some positives about FP+. Thanks for the review.
Question for you that have used it-
Will I be able to switch parks? If I made my 3 FP+ at MK, then decided the day before- or the day of- to go to a different park, can I change my FP+ to the new park?

As long as you dont go into the park, you can still change things.

I found that making changes as late as 1:00am the day i enter a park, i was still able to select basically what ever i wanted.