Planning not as fun anymore

[OhioDVC]

We are not a fan of the new fastpass system. It take too much prior planning and you can no longer make last minute changes.

 

[tjkraz]

We are not a fan of the new fastpass system. It take too much prior planning and you can no longer make last minute changes.

Care to share any examples?

 

[lugnut33]

Care to share any examples?

I haven't been able to get 7DMT for the last month or so.
A&E are a no-go.
Have to do Soarin' at rope drop if I want to do Test Track.

 

[tjkraz]

I haven't been able to get 7DMT for the last month or so.
A&E are a no-go.
Have to do Soarin' at rope drop if I want to do Test Track.

Those are certainly (isolated) drawbacks but don't really substantiate OhioDVC's comments. Personally I've found that the new system requires only very modest advance planning (the exact items you list) and there's a great deal of same-day flexibility.

 

[Kidanifan08]

Those are certainly (isolated) drawbacks but don't really substantiate OhioDVC's comments. Personally I've found that the new system requires only very modest advance planning (the exact items you list) and there's a great deal of same-day flexibility.

Hey Tim -

We just returned from a week at WDW and FP+ worked well for us, although we did have some trouble getting some of the coaster within two days prior to our planned park day. Admittedly, we did not use all of our FP+ selections, as we really did not want some of them, but were forced to make selections.

What is more disturbing is that I am currently working on FP+ selections at Epcot for 10/2-10/4, and Maelstrom is not an available option for any of those days. I am assuming that it is because of F&W and the relative lack of good tier 2 options at Epcot, but concerning none-the-less. Granted, the standby is never very long, although during our recent July visit, the posted wait times were 30 minutes during the mid-day most of the days we were there. We have generally been used to that ride being a walk-on, but FP+ seems to have changed that.

Despite that, we are currently fans of FP+. We still get to the parks for RD, so it allows us to ride the premium rides more than once and at the times that we want to ride them; we can even do premium rides at night if we aren't going to be at the park in the AM. We really like that option.

 

[PetePanMan]

There are pros and cons to any change - you adjust.

 

[tjkraz]

What is more disturbing is that I am currently working on FP+ selections at Epcot for 10/2-10/4, and Maelstrom is not an available option for any of those days. I am assuming that it is because of F&W and the relative lack of good tier 2 options at Epcot, but concerning none-the-less.

Multiple sources are reporting that Maelstrom will close at the end of September for an extended refurbishment. ("Frozen" overlay seems likely.)

That's probably why you aren't seeing any options there. Maelstrom is not the one attraction in all of Walt Disney World that will see its FastPasses exhausted 50 days in advance.

 

[Kidanifan08]

Multiple sources are reporting that Maelstrom will close at the end of September for an extended refurbishment. ("Frozen" overlay seems likely.)

That's probably why you aren't seeing any options there. Maelstrom is not the one attraction in all of Walt Disney World that will see its FastPasses exhausted 50 days in advance.

Bummer! We didn't get to ride it last month!

 

[twinklebug]

I haven't been able to get 7DMT for the last month or so.
A&E are a no-go.
Have to do Soarin' at rope drop if I want to do Test Track.

This is one of the most glaring flaws of the new FP+ system. In EPCOT They will give us either TT or Soarin as a FP, but not both, and all the other FP options aren't needed at all. That programming decision is the first time a piece of software has changed my feelings about a park.

What we found is if you FP Soarin and ride TT as single rider you'll do okay. Unless you're planning on getting a group pic from the ride, you really don't interact with your family on the ride anyway.

 

[tjkraz]

This is one of the most glaring flaws of the new FP+ system. In EPCOT They will give us either TT or Soarin as a FP, but not both, and all the other FP options aren't needed at all. That programming decision is the first time a piece of software has changed my feelings about a park.

What we found is if you FP Soarin and ride TT as single rider you'll do okay. Unless you're planning on getting a group pic from the ride, you really don't interact with your family on the ride anyway.

That's a pure numbers game. Unfortunately TT and Soarin just don't have enough daily capacity to accommodate every guest entering the park. Not even close. Allowing guests to advance book both would result in no same-day availability.

Fortunately it sounds like you figured a way around it...just as we all had our own techniques for maximizing the old FastPass system. Another approach would be to simply arrive early before the Standby queue backs up. That's pretty much what folks had to do under the old system just to get a FP ticket for later that same day.

 

[Jennasis]

If the rumored addition of a THIRD Soarin' theater comes to fruition it will go a LONG way to helping lines at the attraction come back down to a normal level.

 

[Sur]

That would be great, and not difficult to do. They could add a Carsland too. I'd skip Soarin' for that.

 

[edk35]

I haven't read beyond the 1st page but I did want to throw in my opinion. We just returned Sunday night from a 9 night trip. I am love planning and hanging out on here but I have to say it is stressful planning ADR's and FP's now. This was NOT our best trip. The fast pass planning was ok and we even changed it on the fly, but GONE are the days of spontaneity. Seeing/hearing all the chatter about the new system... we know it is definitively affecting lots of people. We were in the hot tub at OKW and heard a family arguing about it. You hear the chatter in ride lines, on buses, waiting to get into the parks. It is a BIG TO DO. We made a few ADR's but none were places that are hard to get into. The next FP+ system did affect the way WE USED to ride and we are on the fence about it. Some of the magic is definitely not there and we saw that in many areas this trip.

 

[edk35]

I haven't been able to get 7DMT for the last month or so.
A&E are a no-go.
Have to do Soarin' at rope drop if I want to do Test Track.

We rode 7DMT once and were all underwhelmed. To the point that we cancelled two other days that we had fast passes for it.

 

[keishashadow]

We rode 7DMT once and were all underwhelmed. To the point that we cancelled two other days that we had fast passes for it.

same here. I did add it to upcoming trip just to give it a 2nd whirl...was thinking maybe we missed something or our expectations were so high they were unrealistic

 

[DenLo]

We rode 7DMT once and were all underwhelmed. To the point that we cancelled two other days that we had fast passes for it.

same here. I did add it to upcoming trip just to give it a 2nd whirl...was thinking maybe we missed something or our expectations were so high they were unrealistic

Me too. It is a glorified kid's ride IMO. I guest since it is in the New Fantasyland area I should have known. I can't decide if I want to waste a FP+ on for our next trip.

 

[BlazerFan]

I heard when you use your 3 fast passes you can try to get another one. I'm guessing this does not work well if one of your fast passes is for the fireworks or MSEP. Is this correct?

 

[edk35]

same here. I did add it to upcoming trip just to give it a 2nd whirl...was thinking maybe we missed something or our expectations were so high they were unrealistic

Unless they give out more FP+ per day..I will be skipping this one. If the wait time was 10-15 min. I would try it again. We know that is not going to happen anytime soon though.