Old FastPass vs FP+

[dancemonkey]

I was a beta tester on the system several years ago. It has gotten a lot better. It's easier to use and getting a 4th and 5th pass is pretty easy. Another thing sometimes we let a fast pass go on an attraction we've done a lot or were just not in the mood for. Plus I love the magic bands!

 

[AllieBoo]

We used FP+ for the first time last summer and loved it! We arrive early to the parks, but not right at RD and we never liked having to sprint to Soarin or Peter Pan as soon as we got there to try to get a fastpass. With the new system, I was able to schedule our fastpasses 60 days out and I got everything I wanted. We were able to ride 7DMT and Soarin multiple times on our trip and my daughter did the Anna & Elsa meet and greet. One night, we decided we wanted to sleep in and stay at the hotel to swim until lunchtime, and I was able to log on and switch our fps to later in the day without losing any of them.

 

[AngiTN]

I think another reason we are fine with FP+, we don't repeat rides. Once per trip is good for most rides. There are a few we may do if we go back to that park but only a few. And we never ride again on the same day. Unless you count DGD and Barnstormer. She will ride that over and over and over again. Thank goodness she's over 7 now and can ride alone

 

[Mikie]

There were many threads debating the merits of old FP vs FP+ on the boards in the early days of FP+ and you can probably find them in the Everythg FP+ sub-forum if you want to. I don't want to be a debbie downer but I think most folks who were "super-users" of original FP are not fans of the + version. If you collected tickets and used them past the return window, and like lots of re-rides on favorites, there's just not much of a way to duplicate that now. There are also several threads about cheats and loopholes people have found to get more than their 3 FP per person per day to try to mitigate FP+ limitations.

I personally got a bit frustrated at the planning process of FP+ (stress at planning so far out, not knowing how it would execute in the park) but I really enjoyed it in the parks. I love that you pick your time vs just seeing what spits out on your ticket and hoping it doesn't conflict with other plans. I like not having to walk to the ride once for the ticket and again to USE the ticket. I liked not having to arrive 45 minutes before park open to wait in a crowd and dash to a ride or FP machine to start grabbing tickets.

 

[elaine amj]

We were super users of the old FP. But by and large, we like the new FP+ (We have gone twice with FP+). it's nice not having to run across the park to get an FP. I'm even too lazy now to hunt down the kiosk for the 4th FP and we just do standby stuff! I really like the the app is pretty up-to-date about wait times (better than relying on those old crowd-sourced wait times which I had to do at DLR). Very excited about being able to book 4th FPs from our phones.

The app is pretty good - with maps to guide you to where things are. My niece asked for a name of a store and I was able to use the app to figure it out within minutes. I like that I can pull up all the menus easily too - I did a lot of that. I also changed a lot of dining reservations with the app too. I find calling a hassle, so the more I can do with the app for myself, the happier I am. I used wifi only and while it was occasionally flakey, closing it and opening it again usually did the trick. I didn't save a screenshot of my FP+ but had no issues pulling it up. You use a LOT of battery though so make sure you have a an extra battery pack or some way of recharging. I have the iphone 6S, which has a super long battery life - but I would only make it until dinner. (I referred to the app a lot).

We did DLR last summer and did our usual collecting of FPs. But there were times I found myself missing FP+ (who would have thought?!). I do miss multiple rides on our favourites though. That's not as easy with FP+. Oh well, we adjusted our touring style a little (we still go at Rope Drop to maximize our time) and still had lots of fun.

The one thing we LOVE (and I was meh about it when announced) is Magic Bands. We used to all wear lanyards and now, we just scan our bands. I thought it was a pretty silly gimmick in the beginning since RFID cards did the same thing - but there is something fun and very magical about scanning Mickey to Mickey My kids LOVE it.

 

[BestAunt]

I love the FP+ mainly because I get to choose when I go to a ride. With the old system, you were at the mercy of the system to tell you when to show back up for each ride and it led to me having to walk from one side of the park to the other. I don't stress about having to pick my parks out in advanced mainly b/c I had to do that before anyways. I like to make ADR's for at least 2-3 of the parks, so my park days were known much earlier then 60 days in advanced.

 

[scrapquitler]

Would like to get many of your take on this:

I used to love planning a disney trip!!! It was always me vs Disney when it came to touring the parks. I loved being the FastPass runner and seeing how many attractions we could hit and how many fast passes we could collect. I felt like we were rewarded for getting to the parks early and following the most basic disney touring principles of collecting fast passes at the earliest possible windows etc. I was really upset when they started enforcing the one hour window of return but I could deal with that. I could go on and on about how much I loved the old system, but now.....onto the new.

My first question is why the change??
Secondly, it is what it is and I will adapt, but it seems difficult to me to plan fast passes,etc 30-60 days out. Our first trip with FP+ comes in July.

For those of you fellow Disney Lovers out there, give me your take on FP+ and if and why you like the new system.

How difficult is securing fastpasses when you want them??

Sorry so long but it just seems to me that FP+ Takes some of the magic away. I'm hoping some of you can convince me otherwise.

For us, the biggest benefit is KNOWING that we have the FP+ for the things we want the most. I can go to the MK in the morning, and know that I am going to be able to ride Test Track at 6PM when we hop over to Epcot. With the old system, someone in our party had to physically walk over to teh ride to (hopefully) obtain paper fast passes for some (unknown) time later in the day. There was no guarantee that they could even obtain the FP for that particular ride, and there was no way of knowing what time it might be for.

 

[SnipsNSnails]

I thought I was going to hate FP+. We were very good under the older system of getting the FP as we went and getting a lot done. But sometimes, the return times weren't what you wanted with ADRs or were further out than you wanted. I had no trouble getting the FP+ that we wanted and the times I wanted at our 60 day window. I liked having them and not having to run ahead to get them. Disney is a lot of walking and it was even more walking for me when I had to run ahead to get the FP. I liked being able to change times and attractions. I made several adjustments before we left and we used this feature several times from my ipad in the parks. Didn't think we were going to be able to make our ST FP, just moved it after lunch. Already rode Dumbo twice, changed it to POTC for the next day. Some people want to ride SM, change those that don't want to ride Splash to SM so we have FP for that. We never got a 4th FP the whole time. We just didn't need them and the lines for the kiosks were sooo long. We were on a long trip so multiple days in all the parks except AK (and we could have hopped back if we wanted to). We were usually done with our goals for the day by 2 and headed back for a rest before dinner. I was afraid that FP+ would mean less done and longer waits but we never waited more than 30 min. for a ride. I'm not sure how I'd feel about it for a shorter trip where you want to pack more into a day. For a longer trip, we could skip things with long waits easily and had FP for all the major headliners. I'll be interested to see if we use the 4th FP option on our next trip once you can get them from your mobile device.

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

There were many threads debating the merits of old FP vs FP+ on the boards in the early days of FP+ and you can probably find them in the Everythg FP+ sub-forum if you want to. I don't want to be a debbie downer but I think most folks who were "super-users" of original FP are not fans of the + version. If you collected tickets and used them past the return window, and like lots of re-rides on favorites, there's just not much of a way to duplicate that now. There are also several threads about cheats and loopholes people have found to get more than their 3 FP per person per day to try to mitigate FP+ limitations.

Yep. Super users, when the new system first came out were very upset about the new system.

Now, many of them have figured out how to scam the new system. In my opinion, that is crazy. Just use it like it was designed to be used.

I personally got a bit frustrated at the planning process of FP+ (stress at planning so far out, not knowing how it would execute in the park) but I really enjoyed it in the parks. I love that you pick your time vs just seeing what spits out on your ticket and hoping it doesn't conflict with other plans. I like not having to walk to the ride once for the ticket and again to USE the ticket. I liked not having to arrive 45 minutes before park open to wait in a crowd and dash to a ride or FP machine to start grabbing tickets.

I really enjoy the fact that my husband gets to spend his park time with the family instead of dashing ahead to get a fast pass. We never got to walk in to a park together.

 

[HopperFan]

My name is HopperFan and I am a FP+ lover.

I was not a avid FP user because it was a pain to do so much backtracking.

We also are not morning rope droppers, we prefer to close the park.

Disney wants parks full all hours so I feel we were just as important to bottom line as rope droppers.

Therefore I was happy they added the ability to book it for times that work for everyone.

It is also a huge plus for park hoppers.

I find the system very easy to use and change around.

I will often jump in a short line for a FP+ I have and change it while in line.

Was there holidays with DS and we probably rolled around 10-12 on a Saturday.

Could have gotten more but we were tired.

Disney has non-stopped fine tuned the app and it's always getting better.

Expect it to continue to improve and really hope Disney will close many of the holes that allow people to get more than the others.

 

[myers2170]

Thank you all for your informative input. I am feeling more positive about the FP+ but have another question....

We have always been rope droppers. And tries to secure as many FP as possible. Before they started enforcing the return time window, we would eat in the morning and use in the evening. Do you all suggest scheduling them for morning and then adding more as you can during the day or would you schedule them for the evening when returning from a break etc??

 

[siskaren]

Thank you all for your informative input. I am feeling more positive about the FP+ but have another question....

We have always been rope droppers. And tries to secure as many FP as possible. Before they started enforcing the return time window, we would eat in the morning and use in the evening. Do you all suggest scheduling them for morning and then adding more as you can during the day or would you schedule them for the evening when returning from a break etc??

The thing is, while certainly the goal for most people is to have as many short lines as possible, it isn't always necessary to have a FP for a short line. You said that you've always been rope droppers, and typically, for the first couple hours, you can experience short lines without FP. Although I admit that I haven't used the FP+ system yet, I don't think I would schedule FP for the first two hours, but would instead wait til late morning or early afternoon to start scheduling. (I will concede that doing that way means that at Epcot and DHS in particular, you're not likely to get anything good for your 4th (and later) choices, but wasn't that also pretty much the case under the old system? I mean, were you likely to get a FP for Soarin' or TTMM in the afternoon under the old system?)

 

[myers2170]

I agree with you that getting a FP during the first two hours seems like a waste. Many of you have given me ideas on how to go about the FP+ and I am looking forward to trying it out!! Thanks to all!!

 

[AngiTN]

Thank you all for your informative input. I am feeling more positive about the FP+ but have another question....

We have always been rope droppers. And tries to secure as many FP as possible. Before they started enforcing the return time window, we would eat in the morning and use in the evening. Do you all suggest scheduling them for morning and then adding more as you can during the day or would you schedule them for the evening when returning from a break etc??

I never schedule a FP prior to 10:00.

 

[bigbabyblues]

We were also "super users" of the old FP system, and we enjoyed those trips very much. We would leave the park for our break with several FP to use later in the evening. My son wanted to ride ToT ten times on his tenth birthday and that was possible. Our last trip was in 2013, before FP+ started but after they were enforcing the return times. We did less repeat rides on our favorites, but we still had a great trip. We found that we spent more time in the pool or at the water parks in the afternoons, some evenings not bothering to return to the main parks, but it was fine.

Our first (and likely last) trip with FP+ is in June. We haven't made our FP yet, but I think I know what we want, except for MK. Our kids are older, and the list of things they want to do in the parks is much smaller. We are planning to do the parks from RD until lunchtime, as always, then hit one of the water parks after lunch most days. We will return to each park at least once for the nighttime shows. We have 2 days in each park except AK, and I am thinking that I may schedule some of our FP for the evenings.

I am not sure we will like FP+, but I'm trying to keep an open mind about it. My biggest issue is know what times to book them. There are some advantages, such as knowing we can sleep in if we have FP scheduled for later in the day, or possibly going to a water park until they close and then going to a park with all of our FPs made for the evenings,

 

[elaine amj]

I have been doing all my FP+ in the late mornings/afternoons. After 2 trips, I still haven't made the effort to get a 4th FP+, and I was a power FP- user. My days have worked out just fine.

I do find morning rope drops rides are busier and standby lines are longer because of FP+. But still not a big deal.

 

[Anal Annie]

We also preferred the old system as we could FP a lot more rides that way and got a lot more done. The big thing that irks me with FP+ is that you can only use them in 1 park / day. For us, that means we never use them at Epcot as there aren't enough rides (plus the ones they DO have are tiered). We never seem to go to Epcot now in the evenings - we only go at rope drop and leave. Means less TS dining there for us at EP and fewer times going just to see Illuminations. HS is almost as bad with all of the changes going on over there. Our touring plan now is to do rope drop at a park in the mornings and ride everything standby then schedule our FP's for our afternoon / evening parks. This system means we have some parks that we rarely do in the evenings. Also because we save our FP's for evenings the availability for a 4th FP is limited - but we HAVE been successful a few times booking them at the kiosks (can sometimes get POC or HM). But overall, NOT fans of the current FP+ system.

I could get behind it tho if they would expand it to enhance park hopping or allowed a few more per day.

 

[alwaysmom]

I will admit right off that I did not read the entire thread. I am so frustrated right now with Disney Planning and what is worse is that I am not even at my fastpass window. The pressure that this new fastpass system puts on you is ridiculous. You have to have a plan, then you have to have a back up plan, then you need to have a somewhat plan for the back up plan just in case. BUT....you already no that if you need the back up to the back up you are screwed because by the time you hit that plan it's too late.

I do not have small children so I can be flexible but I think about the family going for the first time with their little girl, who dreams of meeting Anna & Elise. Her parents spend countless hours preparing to do everything absolutely possible to ensure their little girl gets to meet her princesses and BAMM - Nothing left.

I know I was obsessed with trying to book a surprise fireworks cruise on a certain day and FAILED. I cried out of frustration. Not because I didn't get it but because the odds are against you right from the get go.

I do not like this new system.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

There are pros and cons. I think for my group FP+ is better than the old system. Planning in advance isn't that big of a deal since thanks to dining reservations we already know where we'll be each day and we know what rides we like.

Last trip we did change an Epcot day to MK and were able to get good FP+ the night before. The 4th FP+ is pretty much a joke though, the only park we were really able to get anything was at MK.

 

[spinandmarty]

For me and my family there is no question the original fast pass was much better for us.. I will say we usually went in what was!!! a slower time of year. Late Oct. to late Nov. Never once did we run for a fast pass, we are an early rising family so being at rope drop was never a problem for us. We would enter at park opening walk to or chosen ride grab a fast pass, then ride standby. Usually fast pass would be good in less than 20 minutes so we would reride with fast pass. If it was something we wanted to ride again we would grab another fast pass then off to do something else, using this system we were able to ride our favorites several times a day. We never used a fast pass after it expired. Under the new system we are lucky to ride our favorites once a day, without a long wait, and I know it's Disney but there is nothing I will wait for over 20 minutes to ride. I feel that with all the change and cutbacks and how much more crowded the parks seem to be, that I get so much less value, but pay more and more each year, that I did not go with my family this year. For 2016 my wife who has been almost every year for twenty years, surprised me by saying she is not going this year. She was so disapointed in her Oct. trip... No we are not done with Disney forever, maybe 2017 after some of the new stuff gets open, maybe 2018... Actually heading to the dark side in a month, got a super deal with her AP. And the only planning we have had to do is what resort do we want to stay at...