Question for the folks who don't like FP+

[CinqueTerre]

I've noticed a lot of threads complaining about SB wait times and the fact that 3 FP+ are not enough to tour a park and ride headliners multiple times.

For the folks who left unsatisfied with FP+, did you arrive at the park at rope drop? Or did you arrive at your standard time (whatever that may be)?

 

[NMAmy]

Yes, we've always been rope drop people. We're early birds. Lines were long almost immediately upon park opening.

 

[kapoof]

That's not good to hear...people have been saying the only way to avoid long lines is to arrive at rope drop.

 

[CinqueTerre]

Yes, we've always been rope drop people. We're early birds. Lines were long almost immediately upon park opening.

When was your last visit?

 

[estherhead]

We are here right now and have only done one day. But for us FP+ was a huge success. We'll see how today goes.

We started at AK on an EMH morning. So 8:00. They let us in at 7:45. We went to the Safari but it was closed until 8:15. So we dashed to EE and walked right on and then headed back to the safari for a less than 10 min wait. We went ahead and did Pangani trail as the crowds weren't bad and we like seeing the animals. Then we did Primeval Whirl which was a walk on. And then we did Dinosaur which was a 10 min wait.

Then we ran into our first snag as Dino broke down and we had to be evacuated. They gave us fps and we were glad as Kali was at 25 min by that time. This was right before 11:00 am.

After that we slowed down more & ate lunch and saw the bird show and Balloo & Louie. Which put us in a 30 min line for ITTBAB. That was right at noon.

It's spring break & a level 9 and AK was the not recommended park. Yet we did it by 1:00 with many issues and slowly and didn't use FP+. So I feel rope drop is still the best option.

We then switched to Epcot and used our FP+ on TT which had a 105 min wait at 5:00, & SE and Maelstrom. And I didn't see FP+ lines out into walkways. Today we do MK & DHS so I'm interested to see if we run into issues there.

 

[CinqueTerre]

We are here right now and have only done one day. But for us FP+ was a huge success. We'll see how today goes.

We started at AK on an EMH morning. So 8:00. They let us in at 7:45. We went to the Safari but it was closed until 8:15. So we dashed to EE and walked right on and then headed back to the safari for a less than 10 min wait. We went ahead and did Pangani trail as the crowds weren't bad and we like seeing the animals. Then we did Primeval Whirl which was a walk on. And then we did Dinosaur which was a 10 min wait.

Then we ran into our first snag as Dino broke down and we had to be evacuated. They gave us fps and we were glad as Kali was at 25 min by that time. This was right before 11:00 am.

After that we slowed down more & ate lunch and saw the bird show and Balloo & Louie. Which put us in a 30 min line for ITTBAB. That was right at noon.

It's spring break & a level 9 and AK was the not recommended park. Yet we did it by 1:00 with many issues and slowly and didn't use FP+. So I feel rope drop is still the best option.

We then switched to Epcot and used our FP+ on TT which had a 105 min wait at 5:00, & SE and Maelstrom. And I didn't see FP+ lines out into walkways. Today we do MK & DHS so I'm interested to see if we run into issues there.

Great post. Please come back and let us know how it goes at MK and DHS.

 

[glamdring269]

Today we do MK & DHS so I'm interested to see if we run into issues there.

Which park are you starting with today? Would be very interested in hearing how you handle this one. DHS is 'highly recommended' so I'm thinking a TSMM+RNR+TOT+ST might be doable without high standby and without using FP+. At least that's the hope...

 

[HBGdancermom]

We are here right now and have only done one day. But for us FP+ was a huge success. We'll see how today goes.

We started at AK on an EMH morning. So 8:00. They let us in at 7:45. We went to the Safari but it was closed until 8:15. So we dashed to EE and walked right on and then headed back to the safari for a less than 10 min wait. We went ahead and did Pangani trail as the crowds weren't bad and we like seeing the animals. Then we did Primeval Whirl which was a walk on. And then we did Dinosaur which was a 10 min wait.

Then we ran into our first snag as Dino broke down and we had to be evacuated. They gave us fps and we were glad as Kali was at 25 min by that time. This was right before 11:00 am.

After that we slowed down more & ate lunch and saw the bird show and Balloo & Louie. Which put us in a 30 min line for ITTBAB. That was right at noon.

It's spring break & a level 9 and AK was the not recommended park. Yet we did it by 1:00 with many issues and slowly and didn't use FP+. So I feel rope drop is still the best option.

We then switched to Epcot and used our FP+ on TT which had a 105 min wait at 5:00, & SE and Maelstrom. And I didn't see FP+ lines out into walkways. Today we do MK & DHS so I'm interested to see if we run into issues there.

Thanks for your post! Please check back in tonight!

 

[Lyndarella]

My problem with FP+ was the MB itself. I was there in Feb. and arranged FP+ ahead of time. On two of my five park days (Day 2 & 4) the MB said I had no FP+. One of the days I complained, was given a "your choice" FP, and then the MB started working later in the day! I did go to the parks early and rode what I wanted then, but would have liked to have the FPs I'd set. When it did work it was nice to be able to ride TSM in the afternoon with it. The FP lines were never long when I was there.

Beside the MB issues, which seem to affect a lot of people, I think that FP+ has major flaws. You have to choose between the major rides in each park, and between parks each day. Therefore the only sure way to ride what you want is to go at Rope Drop. And riding the same ride more than once a day is difficult. IMO the old FP system worked better.

One more thing - I will never stand in line at a FP kiosk to find out when I can stand in line for a ride! I will always have a Plan B with me instead.

 

[Marionnette]

I've noticed a lot of threads complaining about SB wait times and the fact that 3 FP+ are not enough to tour a park and ride headliners multiple times.

For the folks who left unsatisfied with FP+, did you arrive at the park at rope drop? Or did you arrive at your standard time (whatever that may be)?

I think that you are making the assumption that the dissatisfaction lies with not being able to do enough attractions. My beef is with how restrictive it is. I don't like that all 3 selections need to be in the same park. I would prefer to make mine between 2 or even 3 parks like we could with legacy FP.

I dislike that I have to pick 2 "throwaway" tier 2 choices at EPCOT and HS if I want a FP+ for a tier 1 attraction. I would much rather be able to port those two selections to another park, where I could choose something that I would like to ride or see.

I would like to be able to grab an additional FP+ once mine are used, if there are slots available.

I don't like how FP+ at the minor attractions has created much longer standby lines for those attractions. In the past, those were the places that we went while waiting for our FP- windows to open.

I don't like that Disney has not been able to get a handle on posted standby times with the current FP+ model. I waited 75 minutes in the standby line at HM last week where the posted wait time was 40 minutes. I can understand being off by 10 or even 15 minutes. But the wait time was almost double what was posted. It gave me the impression that they do it on purpose to make their numbers look better on paper. The HM example was the most extreme wait, but it was not the only time that standby times were off by a lot.

But to answer your question, we did rope drop at only at EPCOT, but we only had 2 full park days for our visit. I really dislike waiting in an ocean of humanity and then stampeding to get to an attraction. I also was having issues with my hip and didn't relish the idea of standing for a long period of time just to gain an advantage over someone with better mobility than me. I have a PAP and 3 more trips planned. I will be back and I will eventually get to enjoy the other attractions that I didn't get to do this time around.

 

[JimmyV]

We went over President's Day weekend with crowd levels between 8 and 9. We stayed at the Dolphin, so that was considered "off site" so we could not pre-book our FPs. The only workaround was to utilize Rope Drop. This allowed us to book our FPs within the first 10 minutes of park operation and the longest we waited for a CM/Kiosk was about 7 minutes. Those who did not enter at Rope Drop faced lines that were 30-45 minutes in length. And by getting our FPs early, we got everything we wanted except ETWB which was "sold out" for the day except late at night. Knowing which rides we were going to FP, we concentrated on other rides between RD and 11:30 and did pretty well. We used to be people who would make RD about half the days of our vacation, but with FP+, we made the effort to be there at RD every day. It really is the best solution to the limitations placed on you by only getting 3 FPs, tiering, and not being allowed to repeat an attraction. As long as you don't mind being a commando for the first 2 hours of the day, you can circumvent most of the restrictions of FP+.

If you want to tour at a more leisurely pace and only do a handful of rides plus the ones that you have FPs for, then RD is not critical. For example, if you are not committed to doing both Soarin' and TT on the same day, then you can get a FP for one of them and stroll into the park well after RD and ride things like Sum of All Thrills, Mission Space, Spaceship Earth, Nemo/Living Seas, Ellen's Energy, and Figment (in that order) with modest waits while the rest of the park shuttles back and forth between TT and Soarin' in the first couple of hours. Then, use your FP+ for your headliner and move on to World Showcase. But if you want to do both TT and Soarin' on the same day, you either have to get to the park at RD or resign yourself to a 70+ minute wait at the attraction for which you do not have a FP.

Same goes for DHS. If you want to ride TSM, RnR and ToT all in the same day, RD is your friend. If you want to skip RnR for that day, then RD is not essential. Just book your FPs for TSM and ToT at your convenience and get to the park after it opens. You will be able to do Star Tours, GMR, Muppets, and see some sit down shows, (Beauty, American Idol, Indy) without much problem while the rest of the park shuttles between the "Big Three" from 9:00-noon. In sum, FP+ coupled with RD is essential if you want to do every ride in the park in a single day. If you are content with skipping a few rides and perhaps visiting each park more than once during your trip, you can enjoy half-day visits without using RD. This is what Disney is hoping that you will do.

 

[ferd]

We are APs and pretty much always do rope drop since we have a 2 year old and we're up anyway. We are local (about 30 min drive from the parks) and we often go to MK for a few hours before our toddler falls asleep on weekend days. On the old system we used to easily be able to do several rides and attractions with smaller standby lines and/or using the legacy FP+ system before we were ready to leave (early afternoon.) But now it seems we're lucky to do one, maybe two things the lines are to a very untolerable place to wait with a small child. We usually try to do the things that don't have FP+ (Tink, Tiana, Merida, etc) before hitting the rides or utilizing FP, and by 10am or so things like It's a Small World lately have been at least a 25 minute wait (when it used to be a walk on.)

On Saturday we park hopped over to MK in the afternoon after starting at AK. We had 3 FP+ for MK pre-arranged, but decided to wait to see Rapunzel and Snow White at PFTH. The posted time was 25 minutes. When in reality we waited in standby for 60 minutes.

For those people who want to spend the day in the parks, the 3 FP just aren't enough to make their time in the parks enjoyable (IMHO.) The standby waits are just getting longer and longer and now as it seems some people are having to fight to get the FP+ choices they want. Honestly, it makes me feel really, really sorry for the one day guests. And don't even get me started on the whole park hopping thing.

 

[Lizard Valley]

For the folks who left unsatisfied with FP+, did you arrive at the park at rope drop? Or did you arrive at your standard time (whatever that may be)?

Rope drop is still the most efficient way of getting more rides in, but the SB lines are getting long very quickly, and this reduces the likelihood of getting multiple rides in without using FP+.

Ex: We were at HS for RD on Feb 28th, a crowd level 3-4 and HS was the most recommended park. We were the second family in line at our turnstile. And I'll add that we go the same week every year, so it's pretty easy to compare crowds and flows.

- We went straight to TSMM and it was a walk-on. By the time we got out at 9:03, the SB wait said it was 30 mins but the line was solid, right out the door, and winding through the outdoor ropes. In previous years, we'd be able to ride SB a second time with a posted 15 min wait but actually it would still be a walk-on.

- We then went to RnRC, arrived there at 9:09. The wait time board wasn't working but MDE said 20 mins. We walked right in but had to wait outside the recording studio for a little bit. In the past we'd be walking straight into the recording studio, and it would be even a little later in the morning (9:30) because we'd have ridden TSMM another time. We were in line to get on a car at 9:21, out at 9:27.

- At 9:27, MDE said 30 mins, but the SB line was all the way at the bottom of the ramp. So we used the single rider line for our second ride (10 mins to get to the car). By the time we got out at 9:43, the single rider line said 20 mins. Normally, before 10am, we would have been able to ride a third time, all as a walk-ons.

- We went to TOT (MDE said 10 mins), and that was dead-on.

- Muppets was a 20 min wait arriving at 10:55. The line was so long that we didn't get into the current show; they cut off the line and we had to wait for the next show. I don't think this has ever happened to us for Muppets at any time of the day.

- We rode ST twice (10:29 and 11:30). Both times were 10 min waits. The Jedi training show was still in in full swing both times.

So, while we did get a lot done using RD (compared to a later arrival), we got about two thirds as much done as we used to when we could use FP- at RD:

TSMM 3X (2 SB and 1 FP w/ 9:40 return)
RnRC 3X (2 SB and 1 FP w/ 10:30 ish return)
TOT 1 X
ST 3X (2 SB and 1 FP)

 

[2Tiggies]

For example, if you are not committed to doing both Soarin' and TT on the same day, then you can get a FP for one of them and stroll into the park well after RD and ride things like Sum of All Thrills, Mission Space, Spaceship Earth, Nemo/Living Seas, Ellen's Energy, and Figment (in that order) with modest waits while the rest of the park shuttles back and forth between TT and Soarin' in the first couple of hours. .

Epcot has proven to be the trickiest of all the parks to figure out a plan for FP+ for us. DHS is not so bad because we don't care much about TSM and with RnR and ToT being our favorites, we can get a FP for both on one day which helps.

Epcot on the other hand .... I think we are just going to forget about Soarin unless we can get on at rope drop with a FP for TT later in the day. We are stuck with too many Tier 1's we want there but only one Tier 2. It's a pain!

 

[JimmyV]

Epcot has proven to be the trickiest of all the parks to figure out a plan for FP+ for us. ...
Epcot on the other hand .... I think we are just going to forget about Soarin unless we can get on at rope drop with a FP for TT later in the day.

The lesson we learned from our last visit is to plan on 2 days at Epcot and make one a TT day and one a Soarin' day. On the day we tried to do both, we went straight to Soarin at RD and walked on (more or less). I think we waited for one ride cycle to pass. We then found a CM to help us book our FPs and got one for our second turn on Soarin', one for Spaceship Earth and a throwaway. (Living With The Land). We then made a beeline for Test Track. By now it was 9:35. By all accounts, the SB line should have been 20 minutes. As we got in line, the reported wait sign had just flipped from 20 to 30 minutes. OK. Not bad. We...Waited...75...Minutes. Blew our plan out of the water.

On the last day of our trip, we had a few hours to kill before we had to head to the airport. So my daughter and I went back to Epcot. This time, we tried out the "What if we only do one of those rides" theory. Worked like a charm. We arrived at 9:10 (after RD), got a FP for TT for 10:30 and then roamed the park from 9:15-10:30 doing whatever we wanted with no waits at all. We did SoAT, toured the Green Energy Home at Innoventions, rode some other stuff, and felt as if we had the park to ourselves. Granted, this was on the Wednesday after the 3 day weekend, so the crowd for that day was probably a 5 or 6 tops. But by conceding that we were not going to do the commando rush to both TT and Soarin', our day became a lot more enjoyable. I haven't waited in a 75 minute line like....ever! And I hope that I never do again. FP+ works great for people who don't want to ride every ride. (Maybe that should be the FP+ tagline!)

 

[ktlm]

We always arrive at rope drop or within 15-20 minutes of it. We hated FP+. We did feel that we got less done. We were locked into our FP+ well before our trip, which had to be based on total guesses as to what the lines would be like for those attractions, and where we would be in the park at a certain time of day. Even though we are annual visitors, our guesses were not correct. We had FP+ we would not have needed with the lines that day. We were there before they opened FP+ up to the masses, and MDE was glitchy and mostly did not work within the park for us to change them to something that actually needed FP+ that day, or it would tell us none were available. Now with FP+ opened up for everyone, the chances of being able to change a FP+ as you need them on the go, is going to be about impossible. Instead of doing areas of the park as we have always done in the past (i.e. grab a FP for the thing in that area that needs one, and then do everything else in that area and even shop a little as we wait for it to kick in), we found ourselves having to criss-cross the park trying to make our FP+ times, as we never seemed to be exactly accurate as to where we would be other than for the 1st FP+ of the day. I found it actually really cut in to my shopping time. I would shop while waiting for a FP time to kick in after doing some other attractions, or after our FP and before moving on to the next area. Now, we had to leave areas before we were done with them to make FP times. If we came back, it would be to pick up other attractions we missed, not to shop. My shopping time was mostly deleted by the time spent moving back and forth across the plus for FP+. Lines were longer to get through FP+, mostly because people weren't familiar with the scanners, and that the scanners took longer to register than a CM just taking a quick glance at a piece of paper. Some of the standby lines did seem longer due to FP+ being added. Even though we always arive at rope drop or shortly thereafter, we really felt like we got less done this trip than we were used to getting done in the past. We also felt much more tied to our phones, which we try to get away from at WDW. We spent a ton of time messing with the glitchy app. FP+/MDE really felt inefficient to us.

 

[JanaDee]

Is this another "you're doing FP+ wrong because you didn't like it" thread?

 

[WillAustin]

I haven't waited in a 75 minute line like....ever! And I hope that I never do again.

I never will...at least not on purpose!

 

[TravelAgentJen]

We are here right now and have only done one day. But for us FP+ was a huge success. We'll see how today goes.

We started at AK on an EMH morning. So 8:00. They let us in at 7:45. We went to the Safari but it was closed until 8:15. So we dashed to EE and walked right on and then headed back to the safari for a less than 10 min wait. We went ahead and did Pangani trail as the crowds weren't bad and we like seeing the animals. Then we did Primeval Whirl which was a walk on. And then we did Dinosaur which was a 10 min wait.

Then we ran into our first snag as Dino broke down and we had to be evacuated. They gave us fps and we were glad as Kali was at 25 min by that time. This was right before 11:00 am.

After that we slowed down more & ate lunch and saw the bird show and Balloo & Louie. Which put us in a 30 min line for ITTBAB. That was right at noon.

It's spring break & a level 9 and AK was the not recommended park. Yet we did it by 1:00 with many issues and slowly and didn't use FP+. So I feel rope drop is still the best option.

We then switched to Epcot and used our FP+ on TT which had a 105 min wait at 5:00, & SE and Maelstrom. And I didn't see FP+ lines out into walkways. Today we do MK & DHS so I'm interested to see if we run into issues there.

I'm curious where or how u ate lunch bc this doesn't seem realistic to me or for my family at least.
"This was right before 11:00 am. After that we slowed down more & ate lunch and saw the bird show and Balloo & Louie. Which put us in a 30 min line for ITTBAB. That was right at noon."
So it's just before 11am and u eat lunch, watch the bird of prey show, meet Balloo+Louie and are standing in line at ITTBAB by noon? Maybe u got something quick and ate it while u walked, really quickly. Not being negative here, I was actually comparing to my tentative touring plan for helpful planning purposes.

 

[JimmyV]

I never will...at least not on purpose!

Yup. We were blind-sided. Thought it would be 20-30 minutes. The length of the line looked like it would be 20-30 minutes. The Touring Plans Line Calculator predicted 20 minutes. The "Reported Wait Times" showed 20 minutes. But then the FP+ returnees started streaming in and cut us all off. Who gets a FP for 9:30? Seriously. Well, enough people did to put a complete halt to the line. By the 30 minute mark, we were less than half way through the line. Wife wanted to bail. We out-voted her and said "it's now or never". And her general impression of the ride? (This was our first time on Test Track 2.0). She never, ever wants to do it again. The 75 minute wait burned an indelible mark on her soul such that she hates the ride with a passion now.