Moneypenny
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Feb 6, 2009
- Messages
- 344
Details:
2 adults, 1 9-year old; January 24th -31st, stayed on-site at POR; 5th trip
Caveats:
low crowd time; cool, rainy weather for two days made crowds even lower; skeptic of FP+
Magic Bands
We really liked the bands. They worked about 98% of the time (the only issues we had were at a couple of table service meals when the server's thingamabobbie didn't have an internet connection). I didn't realize how much of a pain it was to keep track of the KTTW cards, photopass card and paper fastpasses until I didn't have to do it anymore. I didn't find mine the most comfortable thing in the world to wear, but it was fine.
MDE
Could be good; needs improvement. The site worked sporadically both on my laptop at home prior to the trip and on our phones in the parks. I don't think I had as much trouble as some, but I would often (probably about 50% of the time) experience a "blip in the network" or an "unexpected error". When it worked, it was really nice to see all our reservations in one spot. Wait times were painfully slow to load and I often just gave up on that and we would hoof it over to the attraction or nearest wait time board.
FP+
This wasn't as bad as I feared, but we certainly echo the common feelings about the limitations of what you are given. I had no problem getting the reservations we wanted (from what was available due to tiering and other limits, of course) 60 days out and was almost always able to change them the day before or even day of. Due to the glitchiness of the app, it was frustrating to try to change on the fly, but when it worked, slots seemed to be available. The only crazy FP+ return line we experienced was for the safari at AK. The CMs actually just ushered us through without having us touch the turnstyles because the line was so backed up it was impeding foot traffic in the area. The limits of FP+ at this time did overshadow what I felt were the four positives:
1) It was nice to get to an attraction to use a FP+, see the SB line at 5-10 minutes, so change the FP+ to something else. You couldn't do that with paper FP.
2) It was nice to be enjoying something longer than we expected and not have to leave it to get to a FP attraction since I could move our FP+ to a slightly later time. You couldn't do that with paper FP.
3) It was nice to not have to criss cross the parks to get paper FPs.
4) If you are not a rope dropper, you can sleep in knowing that you aren't completely missing out on your FP+ chance. We are rope droppers and were able to ride the headliners multiple times.
I'm curious about the effect higher crowds will have on #'s 1 & 2.
If you have any questions, just let me know.
2 adults, 1 9-year old; January 24th -31st, stayed on-site at POR; 5th trip
Caveats:
low crowd time; cool, rainy weather for two days made crowds even lower; skeptic of FP+
Magic Bands
We really liked the bands. They worked about 98% of the time (the only issues we had were at a couple of table service meals when the server's thingamabobbie didn't have an internet connection). I didn't realize how much of a pain it was to keep track of the KTTW cards, photopass card and paper fastpasses until I didn't have to do it anymore. I didn't find mine the most comfortable thing in the world to wear, but it was fine.
MDE
Could be good; needs improvement. The site worked sporadically both on my laptop at home prior to the trip and on our phones in the parks. I don't think I had as much trouble as some, but I would often (probably about 50% of the time) experience a "blip in the network" or an "unexpected error". When it worked, it was really nice to see all our reservations in one spot. Wait times were painfully slow to load and I often just gave up on that and we would hoof it over to the attraction or nearest wait time board.
FP+
This wasn't as bad as I feared, but we certainly echo the common feelings about the limitations of what you are given. I had no problem getting the reservations we wanted (from what was available due to tiering and other limits, of course) 60 days out and was almost always able to change them the day before or even day of. Due to the glitchiness of the app, it was frustrating to try to change on the fly, but when it worked, slots seemed to be available. The only crazy FP+ return line we experienced was for the safari at AK. The CMs actually just ushered us through without having us touch the turnstyles because the line was so backed up it was impeding foot traffic in the area. The limits of FP+ at this time did overshadow what I felt were the four positives:
1) It was nice to get to an attraction to use a FP+, see the SB line at 5-10 minutes, so change the FP+ to something else. You couldn't do that with paper FP.
2) It was nice to be enjoying something longer than we expected and not have to leave it to get to a FP attraction since I could move our FP+ to a slightly later time. You couldn't do that with paper FP.
3) It was nice to not have to criss cross the parks to get paper FPs.
4) If you are not a rope dropper, you can sleep in knowing that you aren't completely missing out on your FP+ chance. We are rope droppers and were able to ride the headliners multiple times.
I'm curious about the effect higher crowds will have on #'s 1 & 2.
If you have any questions, just let me know.
