please help my understand the evil of MyMagic+ & Fastpass+

[BigGreen73]

I am one of those that doesn't really have a big problem with the new system. I don't like the only 3 FP limit on one hand, but on another, it does ensure that you will at least be able to ride 3 rides of your choosing.

Maybe not. Just like ADR's, by the time you can book FP for your trip all the headliners could be booked. There's a reason that WDW has added FP+ to pretty much all the attractions. Got to have something to book. Nothing available for TSM, guess I'll take Muppet Vision 3D.

In limited testing, I have read a lot of positive feedback for the most part. Being able to change FP times on the fly, booking a FP for the top rides before leaving home etc. BUT this is limited. Once it's all in, I think it will be different. IE can't get times you want, can't get the headliner you want, buses are running late and you're going to miss your time and can't re-book because all full etc. It's gonna be fun.

Me, I like the regular FP system. It gives you more flexibility etc depending on how you feel or want you want to do. I wish they just changed it up a bit regarding how many are issued per dayand how the return times worked. Oh well.

I was hoping to get in one more WDW vacation before this all rolls out, but it's not looking good.

 

[newdeal]

I am fine with it as a perk to onsite guests as long as regular fastpass stays in place. The biggest problem I have with it is that for a Disney rookie it might be very overwhelming trying to set up rides so far in advance with time windows when they have no idea what the rides are or how long things take and will end up wasting a whole lot of fastpasses because people can't make their time. Yes they can change the time but that adds so much chaos to the trip and I prefer not to bring my smartphone into the park its too distracting

 

[TDC Nala]

This is what I thought too. I am confused why everyone seems so confident that offsite guests including AP holders are going to be able to prebook.

It's also rather premature to assume that they are NOT going to be able to prebook.

 

[2girlsmom]

Nobody's actually seen anything from Disney yet regarding who will get fastpasses and how many and who can book ahead of time, because they're still testing.

If it's OK for offsite guests to prebook, then they'd need a ticket linked in MDE to do so. That would preclude anyone who doesn't buy their park tickets ahead of time. Brilliant marketing! Guests might not want to wait until they arrive to buy tickets.

Not entirely true, Disney released T&C which did indicate ANYONE with a ticket will have access to FP+. And I can tell you as a passholder with a band that we CAN prebook ahead of time, and I have seen reports from several others who have also been able to prebook offsite, as once you HAVE the band they don't "turn it off".

 

[eliza61]

First I am not trying to tell anybody they are wrong for feeling the way that they do or that they are getting it all wrong and this is all magic and pixie dust I am just trying to gain some understanding
Please help me understand why people are going to stop traveling to WDW because of the new systems being put into place.
I will admit I have not read every thread about them but have tried to gain a decent understanding. I just don’t get what is there to keep me from not going back. Is it just that it is change? Is there some inherent evil that I am not seeing? I used to plan out every last detail now we make an outline of what we want to do and then I kind of figure out what park on what days to try to see everything. Some trips we never even get a fast pass. Doesn’t bother us as we (DW and I) remember touring before there was such a thing as fast pass and we have ways to amuse ourselves as we stand in line either with a scavenger hunt that we make and print out before we go or take in all the little things that Disney has put in the waiting queues to look at. (There are more distractions in waiting lines at Disney then there is in people watching at Wal-Mart on a Sunday afternoon and there can be some real oddities there let me tell ya lol)
If it is the change thing maybe it won’t be that bad once worked out. I remember being the remote for our TV growing up (hey Dave get up and turn the channel or turn up the volume), only having three channels of TV. And trying to get the channel a little clearer but moving the antenna a bit. That technology seemed to work out (maybe not for the better of society with the 200 channels of garbage that is on but that is another topic)
Is it having to plan every little bit before hand and put it on your phone or wrist band?
Has everybody that is negative about it tried it yet?
Please help me understand because I am not getting it.
Goofydad621

First let me reemphasize, these are my opinions and also let me also say that I have been going to the world for some time so unfortunately I do tend to compare it to the "glory" days.

It is not ONLY magicpass+. for me it's a combination of things.

1) mediocre food. It's been a while since I've had an extrodianary meal at wdw. I'm sick of having "meh" meals on vacation.
2) I am not a planner. while disney claims there will still be regular fp's available. I'm betting good money that in 3 years that will change. Yes I'm crystal grazing but that's my prediction. I hate making adr's 6 months in advance, actually I no longer do it. I certainly don't want to be forced into making reservations for rides.
3) I'm also not a "scheduler". I don't want to do adr's, I don't want to have to be a X spot on Y hour. That's called the army. LOL. my real life is regulated enough, thank you kindly.
4). Main street bakery. sorry, I've been back and it's a starbucks. It's exactly like the one in Chestnut hill Pennsylvania.
5) mediocre service. I can only speak for the deluxes because that's where we stay. Last 3 visits involved cigarettes butts on balconies, tv remotes that don't work and rooms not cleaned until 6 pm. While nothing for me to have a horrible vacation but simply not what I expect paying over 350/night.
6) I've discovered many other places that give me better quality for the same money. Last April I went to Paris/DLP for almost the same money. better food, better accomodations.


Our last three trips including the one last April at Saratoga Springs have been "ok" nothing special. Yes we had fun but it was no more special than had we gone to Ocean city Maryland.

I have another trip planned in 10 days, primarily because I've got a event in Orlando and I've got points and an annual pass.

I do also accept that fact that I maybe suffering from major burnout.

We have no plans on returning 2014 or 2015. I'm banking my points

Personally all technology has not improved our lives. yes we have a remote and we also now have a nation of fat people who can't get off the coach and we celebrate laziness. We have cell phones that I see folks glued to the entire day on vacation and more teens texting than actually being in the moment. Possibly a broad generalization but not totally off the mark.

 

[Mkrop]

When I first heard about FP+ I was excitied, but my excitement has waned if WDW continues to cut into flexibility while on vacation. If it turns out there is a good amount of day of FP+s available I might be excitied again.

I am planner, I know what parks, what parks have EMH, I have a spreadsheet but I also have things planned that if something throws a wrench into that plan we can bounce back and enjoy our trip. We have had too many trips that have involved sickness, weather or just wanting to change things up, that I feel FP+ might hinder.

If the weather is bad, and I can not change my FP+s to a park that is more accomdating for the weather I am going to be annoyed. If anyone remembers Dec 2010 with 30 degree temps, they will get why I might want to change AK day with FPs for EE and KS for a day later in the week when it was 80. And yes there was that crazy of a change in weather. Beg of week, winter clothes, last day of vacation swimming at the hotel.

If my kid wakes up sick, and I want to make today our nonpark day but instead I have FP+s for MK and if I cant switch them to later in the vacation I am not going to be a happy camper. I am NOT standing in long lines.

There are things already that have changed that we dont like, that has affected how we tour- the enforcement of FP times has already made touring a pain in the neck, we find ourselves hanging out longer in lands than we want to waiting for our time to open. Sorry we are not big shoppers and there are only so many snacks and bathroom breaks to take.

And the $10pp charge on meals has made it so I book very few meals at those restaurants. I refuse to be tied to a place that will charge me if my kid is sick or we change our minds or once again weather and we give them signifcant notice to cancel. Charge me if I am a true no show. But if I call you that morning to cancel a 6pm Crystal Palace ADR, do not charge me $40.

I also have no desire to be up at the crack of dawn on my first day to book FP+ just so I can ride TSMM. I dont get up now for the hard to reach ADRs but dont mess with the rides thank you very much.


So for me it is not just FP+. although none of us want to be tied to our phones, it is all of these things that are taking the flexibility out of our trips.

I will ultimately wait and see before deciding what the future holds for us and our future trips.

 

[TDC Nala]

4). Main street bakery. sorry, I've been back and it's a starbucks. It's exactly like the one in Chestnut hill Pennsylvania.

It is a themed Starbucks. But it is indeed a Starbucks. They said there would be some Disney baked goods there, but it's apparently limited to cookies and cupcakes.

 

[2Pirates2Princesses]

We are testing FP+ in a few weeks, and depending on how that test goes for our family, we may stop going to Disney for a few years.

Our issue with FP+ is that I have two unpredictable children, who are not the easiest to deal with in a theme park setting. Some kids are very easy going, deal with changes in environment well, and have predictable behavior patterns. My boys, unfortunately do not. All of our Disney vacations have had their challenges, but we have still been able to enjoy ourselves because of we can maintain flexibility.

All of this started to change with the ADR cancellation fees and the enforcement of FP return times, which both have negatively effected our vacations, but not to the point where we are ready to throw in the towel.

Right now if we have to miss a FP time due to any myriad of issues that may arise, we can usually (with the exception of TSMM, and sometime Soarin'), just grab a FP for a later time in the day and try again. This "internal reset" of our day allows us to maintain some flexibility, and allows us not to wait in long lines.

With FP+ once you miss a FP, you are out of luck, there is no way to get another, and there will likely be little ability to switch things around on the day of.

With my two boys, standing in long lines is not "fun" its not a vacation, its torture, and if standing in long lines are our only option, I'll have to put Disney on the vacation back burner for a few years, until they get a little older and more mature.

This is not hysteria or a knee-jerk reaction, and we are going to give FP+ a fair test in a few weeks, but if it causes us more grief than joy, we are going to change our vacationing habits accordingly.

My concerns are very similar to yours as I have one child with significant special needs and my other kids are known to change their minds and be temperamental based on what mood they're in or how the day is going, so I have my reservations about how practical it will be for my family to keep a scheduled FP+ time for a ride without having the ability to reschedule if needed. Keeping ADRs is tough enough for my family and on our recent trip this past May we only had three ADRs because of being concerned about that 24 hour cancellation policy. The reinforcement of FP return times on our trip this past May also changed how we toured the parks in comparison to our trip in 2011, and I can definitely say we missed that flexibility. We also stayed offsite in a condo for this past trip and had enough of a good experience with that to say we may very well stay offsite again and I am concerned that if we stay offsite again we won't have the same enjoyable experience in the parks if we are limited in how many fast passes we can get or if we will even be able to participate in FP+ at all (without paying a hefty fee for it). In a way I am glad we had our most recent trip before FP+ comes fully into play; but the Disney fan in me tells me to think positive and just wait and see

I look at it this way. Disney is not in business because they are in general stupid. they have spent a lot of money doing modeling, market research, scenarios, studies, forcasts, etc.

The people who are complaining about it have spent no money modeling or doing market research or anything.

if I were a betting man, I would put my money on disney.

that said, I would expect there will be short term pain as they work out the kinks; and thats to be expected in any sufficiently complex system.

I would even expect that Disney knows what many of those kinks will be and has a timeline for how long in general it will take before the system is operating "smoothly".

I understand your point and this is why I feel like I need to just wait and see how it all works out in spite of how much I don't like uncertainty. We haven't had as many Disney trips as many other people here on the DIS but in the couple trips we had we always came away from them with the impression that (from an operational standpoint) Disney knows the ins and outs of giving its guests a top notch theme park experience compared to their competitors. So I am holding on to that thought for now