Peace of Mind w/ FastPass +

[DISness Casual]

First off, I just want to say that I am a first time Poster but long time Lurker. Managing a team of individual project managers as my day job, my wife kindly handed me the reigns of planning our WDW trips for us and our DD (now age 6) as I am very 'deadline oriented' and just have the patience to wake up at 6:00am in the morning 6 months before a trip to book dining reservations and such. Since we have never had a bad trip, I keep on doing it formulaically.

Our next trip is in 9 days (staying at Wilderness Lodge as it is our favorite location to stay at during the Christmas season). This is also our first time using FastPast Plus. On the 60 day window, I managed to get 7DMT and A&E on the day that we wanted (however the 10PM time for A&E was all I could snag but was grateful for it). With the help of the DISboards, I was notified when new times opened up for A&E (swapped that late night one for a 11:00am one for us) and even managed to get a Festival of Fantasy parade for us by shear diligence of checking out these boards when people communicate when new times open up. For that, I kindly thank you all.

Even though I have not yet experienced FastPass+ while in the Parks, the fact that I already know that I have FastPass times for us already for such popular rides such as TSM or Soarin gives me a certain peace of mind for my vacation. I feel we can now enjoy an early morning table service meal, either in the park or at resort, without having to be there at Rope Drop, running to a ride along with the rest of the crowd to get a FastPass and ride on it standby. I never found that to be relaxing, btw. This is supposed to be a vacation, not a rat race, right? I understand Disney's reasoning for implementing the new system (evening the playing field, redistribution of rides, etc.). Frankly, I am glad that families that are new to WDW and do not know WHY they should be planning so far ahead can experience those popular rides for their kids. They have shelled out enough for the trip, they all deserve to have fun.

Otherwise, while my family counts down to the days till our trip, I will see if my impression changes of FastPass + while I am there. But right now, I am very happy with it and if all goes well, it can only enhance our trip. Just as much as we enjoy the rides, we take the time to do pin trading with CMs, playing SMK, shopping, and just smellin the roses. FastPass + is not going to affect that at all.

 

[wisblue]

Have a great trip.

It's always interesting to hear the different perspectives. Some people think that having something scheduled in advance makes their vacation too stressful, while others think it lets them relax more. Just goes to show that it is impossible to satisfy everyone.

 

[KimBean]

Have a great trip.

It's always interesting to hear the different perspectives. Some people think that having something scheduled in advance makes their vacation too stressful, while others think it lets them relax more. Just goes to show that it is impossible to satisfy everyone.

Yeah, I just posted these same sentiments on another thread but I really do think whether you like the changes comes down to personality type. My personality, I love the planning. I love the maps, and the schedule guide, and coordinating stuff. It is one of the reasons I love Disney vacations. I love my spreadsheets, and my touring plans, and my lists. Oh how I love my lists...

But, that is only some of us. I feel for those others that organization and scheduling is like a torture. I know my personal frustration at wasted time or indecisive people. Makes my head want to explode. Therefore, I can sympathize with those people that say, I have to know where I want to be, where I want to eat, what rides I want to ride months in advance?? Probably seems like torture.

 

[chloelovesdisney]

Since I have been the family fast pass runner for many years, I was happy to be able to book them ahead of time. I do wish they kept some available to be released the same day for folks that have last minute plans or just change their minds.

We still made changes in our plans during our trip, but they were all changes in the late afternoon/evenings after our FP+ were used. I canceled four adrs over a 7 night trip two weeks ago because we decided to hop or didn't want to hustle to an early breakfast.

The app didn't work on my iphone 5 for the entire week which was annoying and I do wish that they would put in more kiosks all around the parks. I would also like to be able to use the kiosks to book the 4th FP (or more) to be used in another park.

 

[OB1]

Great counterpoint to all the FP haters. It is just different. There are always pros & cons when anything changes. I agree with you - instead of running to get a FP, and then returning back hours later, now you can have things set. We don't even plan that far out, but without kids, we are also traveling at an easier time of the year.

GOOD LUCK with the weather, and you will have a great trip.

 

[DISness Casual]

Thanks!

I am hoping for good weather....the one thing Disney does not allow you to plan in advance.

 

[chris1212]

I definitely agree with your points. It was such peace of mind knowing we would for sure meet A&E and ride SDMT during our trip. Rather than crossing our fingers and hoping we would get there in time to get passes.

 

[KimBean]

Thanks!

I am hoping for good weather....the one thing Disney does not allow you to plan in advance.

You didn't pay for the perfect weather pass? That is too bad...

 

[msmama]

I think FP+ will work well for our touring style, too. We don't do the mountains or anything too fast and my son is afraid of princesses so I feel like we will do really well with our FP's. I think, assuming kiosk cooperation, we are the kind of people that could do well with getting multiples after our 4 are used.

I wonder, too, if many people are slowing down now with FP+'s? There's SO MUCH more to Disney that just rides. (When my son and I went to Disneyland, we rode maybe 10 rides max over the 2 parks in 4 days, but we were never bored or lacked for things to do)!!!

 

[Mikie]

You didn't pay for the perfect weather pass? That is too bad...

Weather+ ? MagicWeather app? It's coming soon. . . I imagine a cartoon cloud over those who don't buy the add-on!

 

[GillianP1301]

OP, I totally agree with your perspective and it's exactly how I feel.

I've done 2 trips now with FP+ (first one was early test though, so doesn't quite count). This last trip in August was amazing and FP+ really worked well for us and for the reasons you state. I loved having a lot of the must do's already accounted for and not have to worry about running around the park to get paper FP.

The only frustration I did have, and it was minor, was that the kiosk lines were very slow moving when we went to book our 4th and beyond FP in the parks. There were still far too many people who had no idea what to do and needed a lot of CM help to work through it. The CM's were always pleasantly surprised when I would get there and get through my selections with no help in about a half minute or so. I do believe that will improve with time though, as people get more familiar. I'm even more hopeful that Disney will add the ability to make these additional reservations via their app.

 

[DISNEYD14]

The one thing I liked was being able to pre book my FP+ for TSMM at HS . This park has not been an 'all day' park for my family in years. We have younger kids who don't do TT or RR but we do like to stay for Fantasmic.
It was nice to have a FP+ for TSMM, ST and Frozen show late day with finishing off with Fantasmic. My kids can't hang at the parks more than 6-7 hours at a time. I have early bird bed time kids. If we want a late show like this or Wishes at MK those late scheduled FP+ were wonderful.

It also worked well for us at AK. I don't like running section to section. I see a lot of touring plans that have people doing that. We walk to Africa, do the safari first thing after Tusker House Breakfast and then we tour Africa all morning. Affection Section and Consevation Station our my families fav things. My DD spent 30 minutes watching a procedure at the clinic. We also spent 20 minutes admiring the new baby Gorilla born when we were there in October on Pangani Trail.

We finish up morning with Lion King show then head to Asia. We like knowing we secured FP+for EE and Kali sometime after lunch in heat of day.

It makes our morning feel a little more relaxed then it did in the past, we just love AK and take our time with animals.

 

[IWannaBuildASnowman]

You know, I feel the same as OP - now. At first I LOATHED the rushrushrush competitiveness of FP+, particularly for things like A&E and 7DMT. But now that I have the reservations I want, I feel much lighter. Now, if I didn't have those resos I would still be bitter, so.

 

[SCDisneyfanatic]

I am in complete agreement. We like to do "Extras" while at Disney like play on their beautiful golf courses...FP+ allows us to get in a round in the morning and still know we have FP for attractions that evening. In the past, it was impossible to do both without long lines. FP+ allows us to do late dining (party of 10, so they like to do ADRs after 8:00pm), hang out, maybe have a few cold adult beverages, and not lose sleep because we need to hit RD the next morning or miss out on big attractions. Yes, it took some planning (but I love planning...that and anticipating are part of the fun of any vacation), but nothing extraordinary to come up with a sensible plan for each day. Heading out in 19 days...I'll let you know if it worked as well as it seems on paper!

 

[Goofdad]

the fact that I already know that I have FastPass times for us already for such popular rides such as TSM or Soarin gives me a certain peace of mind for my vacation. I feel we can now enjoy an early morning table service meal, either in the park or at resort, without having to be there at Rope Drop, running to a ride along with the rest of the crowd to get a FastPass and ride on it standby. I never found that to be relaxing, btw.

exactly
I have no concerns now about "missing" anything - what I won't "miss" is the stampede to TSM and the "rat race" of the old FP- system.

To me, a Disney vacation has never been an "easy" vacation - it's always required planning and strategy to maximize your time there. As both the crowds and attractions at WDW get bigger, so too does the need for planning.

 

[DISness Casual]

With the old FastPass system, the ticket you received (if there were still any left in the afternoon on rides like TSM, Soarin etc), were based on the times WDW dictated. With FastPass Plus, its based on what YOU choose. We now have more control over our WDW vacation it seems. If I can dictate my own FastPass times, I can now build my vacation around other non Park things we want to do such renting Mouseboats, enjoying a table service meal, etc without having to do the WDW equivalent of the "Running of the Bulls in Pamplona" for a FastPass ticket at Rope Drop.

 

[Lavitz]

+1 to this entire thread.

Also,

Yeah, I just posted these same sentiments on another thread but I really do think whether you like the changes comes down to personality type. My personality, I love the planning. I love the maps, and the schedule guide, and coordinating stuff. It is one of the reasons I love Disney vacations. I love my spreadsheets, and my touring plans, and my lists. Oh how I love my lists...

But, that is only some of us. I feel for those others that organization and scheduling is like a torture. I know my personal frustration at wasted time or indecisive people. Makes my head want to explode. Therefore, I can sympathize with those people that say, I have to know where I want to be, where I want to eat, what rides I want to ride months in advance?? Probably seems like torture.

+1 to this post.

It must be terrible if you hate planning. For me, I couldn't care less if online pre-bookings become the norm everywhere. In fact I kinda hope it does, so much less time wasted compared to waiting in lines at counters or waiting for a rep to become available on the phone.