Please tell me they're not thinking of getting rid of FOTL...

[holcomb-mania]

Been away from the DIS for a while and I see that they are now enforcing FP return times at WDW and are planning some xPASS garbage where you basically reserve every moment of your trip ahead of time. Yippy. So much for "discovering" the parks.

7-year DVC member here. We went to Orlando last summer and stayed in AKL for a few nights (pool time + 2 days in SW, ZERO WDW parks), then moved over to Portofino Bay at UO. I now PREFER UO to WDW, and I'm not pleased to say that (due to my investment). We did EVERYTHING we wanted to in the parks and spent tons of time at the pool. We LOVED PBH and the whole UO/IOA experience (wasn't our first trip, either, just first on-site).

TBH, I'm not sure I want to return to WDW. I love AKL, but the parks with these changes and the growing crowds....not sure. OTOH, can't wait to get back to PBH. Unfortunately, it will be a few years.

Long live FOTL!

 

[Metro West]

Nothing is happening to unlimited Express...where is this coming from?

 

[RMulieri]

Universal Express pass isn't going anywhere.AS for Disney now enforcing the return times on its FP, it is effective March 7th.Disney simply sees it as enforcing a policy it already had in place and chose not to enforce before.Next Gen FP has been mentioned as the reason, but NOTHING has been confirmed regarding it or how it will work.Why would Universal change anything? Disney and Universal have marched to different drummers regarding FP and express pass for years now.

 

[holcomb-mania]

As I said, haven't been here in a while. Just wanted to make sure that UO wasn't tinkering with something that sets it above, without searching every thread. Not trying to start a rumor.....

 

[Bluer101]

If they got ride of the hotel express pass there would be no reason to stay onsite for me. Just like a Disney, I do not stay onsite.

 

[nytimez]

No one here knows for sure what they're thinking... but Express Pass is THE major selling point of on-site stays. I doubt you'll see that change anytime soon.

 

[mesaboy2]

I too do not understand the relationship between the two.

 

[CampbellScot]

FOTL Pass is the one and only reason we spend the money to stay on site. We stay one night and use the pass the day we arrive and the day we check out. Then we head over to WDW. Also a DVC member here. I will always love Disney, but i am also becoming increasingly aware of the decline in the experience. I don't know if the "enforcing" of the FP return times will change much. I haven't ever experienced being allowed on a ride before my FP time or after except for once and that was on our honeymoon on the day Hurricane Ernesto came through...and in that case they let us stay on the rides until we screamed we were done!! (8 times around on Splash Mountain before the music got to my husband!!)

We went to UO for the first time last year and we thoroughly enjoyed the parks and appreciated early entry and the FOTL pass. LONG MAY IT REIGN!! We loved PBH, but would never pay that price just for the heck of it. We are doing Royal Pacific this year.

 

[macraven]

I too do not understand the relationship between the two.

pass the popcorn, i don't get it either......

 

[anorman]

We loved PBH, but would never pay that price just for the heck of it. We are doing Royal Pacific this year.

You will love Royal Pacific! We stayed there last year and it was a beautiful resort with a wonderful decor. You can't go wrong with this choice!

 

[Momw/aplan]

I must say, I was a tiny bit nervous about Universal's thoughts on the future of the Onsite Express after the last survey of their's I participated in.

The longest portion of the survey focused on various possible new onsite hotels. They would show you three different room options, with pics, and details about each room including sq. ft., bed types, walking distance/transportation to the parks, early entry, onsite perks such as Unlimited Express Pass, etc.

You were supposed to choose the one room out of each grouping of three that you would prefer to stay at (and there were about a dozen groupings or so in the survey).

As the survey went on I started to notice that all of the basic features stayed the same (room size/ bed types/ etc) but they would just scramble around which room came with express/early entry. After that, the survey went much quicker for me, because I automatically found whichever one had those perks and choose it regardless of beds/size/layout/etc.

I really do hope they understand that even though the hotels are beautiful and make for a nice place to stay, the MAIN reason my family chooses onsite is FOR THOSE PERKS. Period. If they don't realize that, and if they really ARE thinking about tinkering with it...