People Who Actually Like FP+ and MBs

[disneylovin24]

I know FP+ and MBs have been getting a lot of hate on here, but how about us people that actually like them?

I know I am not an only one so I thought I would start a thread where people can come and talk about their positive experiences and why they like them I don't want to hijack threads of people's negative experiences/start fights so I think a positive thread is overdue!



Going in to my last WDW I loved the idea of MBs and they did not disappoint. We had NO problems with them working and it was just so darn convenient having everything on your wrist! Our APs were even synced to them before it showed online which was great the first night at EPCOT when we went to get our paper APs out and didn't have to.

As for FP+, this I was hesitant about going in. I personally had no problems with only 3 FPs a day, but I didn't like things having to be scheduled months in advance. In the end, FP+ pleasantly surprised me. It was also convenient and didn't bother me having to be at a certain park planned in advance. We even got Soarin' FP for noon the day of which was great. In the past the way my family tours we never would have gotten on rides like Soarin' or BTMR without FP+.

So, who else likes the new system?

 

[crostorfer]

I'm waiting with baited breath to see how many positive responses you receive here.

Good luck.

 

[expressyourself08]

I am hopeful for them for a July trip with a softball team!! I think it will be good to know that we can schedule afternoon FP's for the big things, even if we can't be there at RD to do them before the crowds!! That being said....I don't like the you HAVE to be here at a certain time...that is why I never was a huge fan of the DDP.....I felt like everything revolved around food reservations!! And I am a type A planner...and it seemed a bit much!!
Here's hoping it's a good thing!!

 

[Missyrose]

If you look

Here
Here
Here
And here

You'll find what you're looking for.

 

[your friend]

I liked them. We used FP+ and just planned accordingly. The only pain was we were in one long wait for the FP line which shouldn't happen. When we got to the front to see what was happening the hold up was a family measuring each of their 10 or so children in their party.

 

[disneylovin24]

I am hopeful for them for a July trip with a softball team!! I think it will be good to know that we can schedule afternoon FP's for the big things, even if we can't be there at RD to do them before the crowds!! That being said....I don't like the you HAVE to be here at a certain time...that is why I never was a huge fan of the DDP.....I felt like everything revolved around food reservations!! And I am a type A planner...and it seemed a bit much!!
Here's hoping it's a good thing!!

Good luck with your trip!

For me, not having to rush to RD was a big plus. Even if we got to EPCOT at RD I don't know if we could have gotten Soarin' for the time we did!

 

[cfw213]

We used them on our October trip and we really liked them. We are rope drop people so we made FP+ reservations for the afternoons so we were able to do all of our favorites a few times. We loved the convenience of swiping them to use everything.

Now that FP are tiered we might have a different opinion during our May trip...

 

[minniemous]

My family had a great experience with MB and Fast Pass on our vacation this past November. We loved the MB from beginning to end. The fun starts with the customizing of the bands and then presentation on receiving them is fun too.

Of course most importantly is how they worked for us. We used the MB for our room key, charging merchandise, dining plan, dining reservations, park tickets and fast pass. We liked all application of the MB. We had very minor problems. Once on entering the park the scanner machine at MK for some reason was not registering my finger print but a CM quickly dealt with it.

It was so nice always having your room key on your wrist and when using the dining plan very convenient to not have to go digging in your bag for cards or cash.

The fast pass was great. There are definite issues but it was very nice being able to set up fast passes prior to going to the park and then you can change them on your phone app if it looks like you are not able to make it on time. Also cool because if you see that the line for something you have a fast pass for is very light you can change the pass for something else as long as you do it before entering the attraction.

I understand peoples issue with the number of passes especially if they had a good system worked out prior to the MB and FP but we never did have a system of getting fast passes and we never utilized the FP system much in the past and this Mb made it so much more convenient for us. I am sure others may not agree and have good reasons.

The overall ease we experienced with this all in one band coupled with the Disney app was very positive experience.

My biggest issue was the sporadic reliability of the the cell phone app. I had the newest I-phone available at the time I left so I know it was not an issue with the speed or capabilities of my phone. I would constantly get Disney error messages when trying to change reservations so that was a pain. Hover it was really cool when it all worked well. Each evening I could cancel dining reservations I was not going to use the next day and set up fast passes.

Just make sure you set up passes for the toy-story and Sorin rides well in advance if you wait until the night before be prepared to get the last spot of the day or worse get none at all!

 

[aaarcher86]

We are excited to use FP+ in about 2 weeks. We never grabbed too many FP anyway since we go in the off season, so being able to schedule 3 things ahead of time works with our touring style.

This an adult trip, so I might feel differently with the kids, but I doubt it. We were glad we could schedule some things that we haven't been able to do with the kids since they're smaller. We've got 1 day in the parks after a cruise so planning out times is helpful with a short period of time.

 

[Liberator]

We tested the MBs in September at Pop Century

We customized the Bands and the my-disney-experience-system said that the Bands will be sent immediately. Well we are international guests so they have not been sent to us, we received them at check-in. This was a little bit weird because we were told to get them by mail.

Everything worked out well, we received our customized bands and were very happy to test them. It was fun to use, because we had no problems with it. FP+ was great, we switched some things and a CM told us some legal glitches how to fool the system.

We missed two Fastpasses at MK and CMs were very nice and let us in anyway.

I paid some things with my Band and was happy to have this yellow thing on my arm so that I do not need to grab my KTTWC or money out of my pockets.

To sum it up we found MagicBands and FP+ great!
We had a split stay, the first nights were at Wilderness Lodge without MagicBands and FP+. Everything was fine during these nights, but with the MBs later at Pop Century, things were a little easier.

 

[kate2961]

I LOVED both the MB and FP+.

MB are convenient. No fumbling at the door to get into my room. I can have my hands full and still get in. Very easy to make purchases and use dining plan. As others have said, I would love for them to add a watch.

The downsides were getting into the park and having to still take out AP to get discounts. First point is a problem IMO and should be addressed. Second point is minor. On getting into the park, I just don't understand why we can't have the old turnstiles. Everyone seems confused and is not using both MickeyHeads to enter. People can just walk past the CM and get in to the park. It's slow and disorganzied IMO. I'm sure there is a solution.

Are the MBs coming to DCL? Oh, that would be so wonderful!

On FP+, we loved being able to reserve FP+ for TSM in advance. No mad dash for the machine. We could arrive at the park late and still ride. That was soooo nice. We were also able to modify the FP+ on the day and time of the FP+ when we could not use it. How cool is that? I got to change the time to work for me. And that was during Christmas week.

Are there things I would change if I were the Queen of WDW? Yep. I think 4 - 5 FP+ per day for everyone would make more sense, especially in MK and especially since some FP+ is used for FW or parades. But I would be willing to consider/study what happens to standby if everyone is really only allowed 3 FP+. Maybe they would only need extra FP+ at certain busier times of the year? Not sure.

Anyway, we did really love the FP+ and thought it worked very well. But then we never really used more than around 3 - 4 FP- a day in the past so I don't feel like WDW took something away from me.

Kate

 

[disneylovin24]

My family had a great experience with MB and Fast Pass on our vacation this past November. We loved the MB from beginning to end. The fun starts with the customizing of the bands and then presentation on receiving them is fun too.

Of course most importantly is how they worked for us. We used the MB for our room key, charging merchandise, dining plan, dining reservations, park tickets and fast pass. We liked all application of the MB. We had very minor problems. Once on entering the park the scanner machine at MK for some reason was not registering my finger print but a CM quickly dealt with it.

It was so nice always having your room key on your wrist and when using the dining plan very convenient to not have to go digging in your bag for cards or cash.

The fast pass was great. There are definite issues but it was very nice being able to set up fast passes prior to going to the park and then you can change them on your phone app if it looks like you are not able to make it on time. Also cool because if you see that the line for something you have a fast pass for is very light you can change the pass for something else as long as you do it before entering the attraction.

I understand peoples issue with the number of passes especially if they had a good system worked out prior to the MB and FP but we never did have a system of getting fast passes and we never utilized the FP system much in the past and this Mb made it so much more convenient for us. I am sure others may not agree and have good reasons.

The overall ease we experienced with this all in one band coupled with the Disney app was very positive experience.

My biggest issue was the sporadic reliability of the the cell phone app. I had the newest I-phone available at the time I left so I know it was not an issue with the speed or capabilities of my phone. I would constantly get Disney error messages when trying to change reservations so that was a pain. Hover it was really cool when it all worked well. Each evening I could cancel dining reservations I was not going to use the next day and set up fast passes.

Just make sure you set up passes for the toy-story and Sorin rides well in advance if you wait until the night before be prepared to get the last spot of the day or worse get none at all!

A bit off topic, but NYE week we had phone service problems ALL week for everything. Probably was too many people trying to use the system but wow, what an pain!

I LOVED both the MB and FP+.

MB are convenient. No fumbling at the door to get into my room. I can have my hands full and still get in. Very easy to make purchases and use dining plan. As others have said, I would love for them to add a watch.

The downsides were getting into the park and having to still take out AP to get discounts.
This was a bit of a pain and the same goes with DVC membership. Nothing major but you think that could pop up when you scan the band!
First point is a problem IMO and should be addressed. Second point is minor. On getting into the park, I just don't understand why we can't have the old turnstiles. Everyone seems confused and is not using both MickeyHeads to enter. People can just walk past the CM and get in to the park. It's slow and disorganzied IMO. I'm sure there is a solution.

We had issues one day with entering and long lines at the MK. Once we got to the front of the line you could tell how to scan in was confusing a lot of people, a common problem seemed to be people not knowing to scan their finger.

Are the MBs coming to DCL? Oh, that would be so wonderful!

On FP+, we loved being able to reserve FP+ for TSM in advance. No mad dash for the machine. We could arrive at the park late and still ride. That was soooo nice. We were also able to modify the FP+ on the day and time of the FP+ when we could not use it. How cool is that? I got to change the time to work for me. And that was during Christmas week.

Are there things I would change if I were the Queen of WDW? Yep. I think 4 - 5 FP+ per day for everyone would make more sense, especially in MK and especially since some FP+ is used for FW or parades. But I would be willing to consider/study what happens to standby if everyone is really only allowed 3 FP+. Maybe they would only need extra FP+ at certain busier times of the year? Not sure.

Anyway, we did really love the FP+ and thought it worked very well. But then we never really used more than around 3 - 4 FP- a day in the past so I don't feel like WDW took something away from me.

Kate

Nice to read a few others have had good experiences also!

 

[disneylovin24]

The watch thing is a good point! My family all had problems fitting both their watches and MB on the same hand, so they either had to wear no watch or wear it on the other hand. Putting a watch on the MB or maybe having the option too would be convenient.

 

[Mkrop]

We used MBs and FP+ in Dec with a split stay at AKL and BWV. I liked the MBs. I like having our tickets on the band, I like bing able to charge, we had no issues getting in our room, for that I am grateful.

For the most part we liked FP+, but we got in before the tiers and we were able to pull FP-, so that experience made it good. We had one day where we had an issue getting to the park on time and we were less stress bc we had an early morning FP+ set up for TSMM. We wanted to make it for a little later and we were unable to change the time. The app would not load and when it finally did there were no times left. We needed to keep it early bc we had plans that evening. So I am skeptical when people say they can change on the fly.

So if MB/FP got rid of the tiers, if we were able to prebook, and then pull more if they were available for the rides, if things are easy to change on the fly if someone gets sick or there is poor weather etc, than I will move out of the not a fan club. So I think it has potential but I think the capacity of this moving forward will make the program have challenges

 

[MsThumper]

We also like the magic bands. As others have said, I like the idea of everything being on the band. I don't have to pull out our AP's for entry to the parks and then make sure both mine & DH's make it back into my purse. We used the magic bands for the first time in November. We were even able to link our old paper AP's in MDE with no problem. We had one slight glitch where our pin number wouldn't work the first time we tried to charge something, but they took care of that back at the hotel in less than a minute.

As far as FP+, I like that too. We are an older couple, so we have never had a "runner" to go around and gather fast passes for us. I'm a 58 year old female, and believe it or not, my absolute favorite attraction in all the parks is Toy Story Mania. If I don't get on it at least once per trip, I'm very disappointed. 30 minutes is about my limit as to how long I will wait for any attraction. Now that there is FP+, I know I will have at least one chance to ride it.

 

[Coach81]

We are experienced Disney vets.. and at first we did not like the way the FP+ system was set up when we first scheduled our FP for our upcoming Mardi Gras vacation... we thought it was limiting.. but as we have had some time to process it... we think it might be something that could be better in some ways....

We are very cautious about our next trip in May.. as we will have to juggle both FPs AND ADRs...

Crossing our fingers....

 

[minniemous]

Oh and forgot to mention that Disney is working really hard at trying to get people familiar with the uses of the MBands. A family member that is going in August just showed me a really cool flash drive they received from Disney with again a very fun boxed presentation that teaches you about the Mbands and FP.

The Flash drive was in the shape of a mickey head and when you insert it into your drive the Mickey mouse lights up green. The presentation was fun and customized for the family that was going. We did not get this before we went.

They have not even paid off the vacation yet and they are not going until August and they received this around Christmas.

Also when we got back we were inundated with questionnaires on how the experience was and how it could have been better. So my guess being a new system they will be tweaking it in response to guests experiences.

It was a great experience with some issues and I think in the end it will be something most people will be happy with!

 

[babydoll65]

We went in November and had no problems. We even did early ticket pickup without problems. Everyone tours differently so for some families who get in more than three fps a day I can see where some problems have come up. Before mbs, we didn't do much more than three fps a day but we have always gone to wdw during slow times so the crowds were low and lines were short. We were able to double dip during our vacation but didn't feel the need since the lines were so short( we went second week of nov ) . Once these mb become second nature I'm sure we will find something else Disney is doing to complain about like the new avatar land there building in animal kingdom.

 

[disneylovin24]

Oh and forgot to mention that Disney is working really hard at trying to get people familiar with the uses of the MBands. A family member that is going in August just showed me a really cool flash drive they received from Disney with again a very fun boxed presentation that teaches you about the Mbands and FP.

The Flash drive was in the shape of a mickey head and when you insert it into your drive the Mickey mouse lights up green. The presentation was fun and customized for the family that was going. We did not get this before we went.

They have not even paid off the vacation yet and they are not going until August and they received this around Christmas.

Also when we got back we were inundated with questionnaires on how the experience was and how it could have been better. So my guess being a new system they will be tweaking it in response to guests experiences.

It was a great experience with some issues and I think in the end it will be something most people will be happy with!

That's really cool that they got a USB drive with all of that. Considering the money Disney has spend on this, no surprise that they are trying hard to get people used to it.

 

[disneylovin24]

Someone mentioned FP+ for fireworks and parades, that I just don't get. Last week we got great spots for MK parade, Wishes and Illuminations all without FP+. I just don't see the point of it, I guess people don't want to stake out spots in advance but we got in front of the castle for Wishes at 9:30 for a 10 show. I personally wouldn't want to waste FP+ on shows or parades when I don't see it necessary. I think people should know that FP+ viewing areas do not take up all the good spots!