Some FP+ Info

[mcd2745]

If FP utilization goes up then it follows that less SB riders will get on the ride, which means the line will get longer.

With increased FP utilization, I'll accept the argument that it may take longer for, say, the 20th person in the SB line to get on the ride than it does currently. However, the overall number of people in the SB line has to be less. There's an important distinction there (it may certainly be "slower" but certainly should not be longer - in terms of number of people). So let's say currently, the average wait time in SB is 90 seconds per person ahead of you. So if you are 20th in the SB line, you're wait will be 30 minutes. Then, with the increased utilization, the time doubles to 180 seconds per person ahead of you because they are taking a higher percentage from FP. However, since more people are using FP and riding SB less overall, you'er only 10th in line now. So your SB wait time is still 30 minutes.

 

[golf4miami]

With increased FP utilization, I'll accept the argument that it may take longer for, say, the 20th person in the SB line to get on the ride than it does currently. However, the overall number of people in the SB line has to be less. There's an important distinction there (it may certainly be "slower" but certainly should not be longer - in terms of number of people). So let's say currently, the average wait time in SB is 90 seconds per person ahead of you. So if you are 20th in the SB line, you're wait will be 30 minutes. Then, with the increased utilization, the time doubles to 180 seconds per person ahead of you because they are taking a higher percentage from FP. However, since more people are using FP and riding SB less overall, you'er only 10th in line now. So your SB wait time is still 30 minutes.

Your logic is correct if you want to imagine everyone will have FPs that want to ride and that people won't want to ride multiple times. Once I use my FP for a ride and I want to ride it again I'll have to go SB no matter what as will anyone else who was unlucky enough to not get a FP for that ride as they used their 4 on some other rides.

 

[WillAustin]

With increased FP utilization, I'll accept the argument that it may take longer for, say, the 20th person in the SB line to get on the ride than it does currently. However, the overall number of people in the SB line has to be less. There's an important distinction there.

Not sure I agree with that completely. Moving people from the SB line to the FP+ line could potentially bring more people to the SB line who wouldn't have joined a longer line. The number of people in line at any given time isn't a constant.

We already know the wait time estimates are inaccurate at best, so I still see potentially longer SB lines.

 

[bcrook]

I agree, the incentive will increase but do not know if that would still be powerful enough for people to abandon their vacation mentality that they will not get up early for RD. Inversely, there will be those that previously did RD for attractions such as TSMM that will no longer do so because they have a FP+ for it later in the day. They may want to use their FP+ on it and then try to do SB at closing when the SB lines are shorter.

You may be right about DHS, FP+ may decrease the intense demand to get to TSMM for a FP. More people will be able to hop to DHS now in the afternoon that wasn't a real option before (if TSMM was a goal).

But I do think net users of rope drop will increase simply because the payoff will be alluring. BUT, there is a law of diminishing returns here too. If Rope drop reaches a point that neutralizes the benefit of going people will be more casual about going to the parks.

That is what is bothering a lot of the "regulars". It has been said many, many times. If this system works perfectly (I know Robo - I know!!!) then the imbalances in the schedules will balance out.

Rope drop becomes less a value, if EMH goes away there won't be the "opposite" parks to go to for lighter schedules, and those special little holes in the schedule (like Animal Kingdom from 4 to close) could disappear. All through the magic of Fastpass +. I get it, that for the WDW entity this is better, but for those regular customers, to lose all those special times it is difficult.

We can only hope unexpected new patterns will appear, and we will be able to enjoy those.

 

[bcrook]

Unfortunately, we won't really know anything until the magicband bracelets are in full usage. One Resort at a time won't tell us anything.

These first customers will get their bracelet, hook up to the feed, book some rides in advance and have a grand old time. They will have first pick at the rides and book before they even get to the park. The reports will be widely favorable. There won't be any problems. Those without the bracelets will have plenty of regular FP.

The first group of magicbanders might even get 4 FP+ and 2 etickets as a test. The first group might get 4-5 Bonus fastpasses a day for Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean, and maybe even Splash Mountain or Dinosaur or Star Tours.

The Reports will be awesome... But as more and more resorts, AP users, and off site guests climb on board those perks and advantages will slowly drop away (think Disney Dining Plan).

So sadly, we won't really know how this will shake down for quite a while.

 

[golf4miami]

Unfortunately, we won't really know anything until the magicband bracelets are in full usage. One Resort at a time won't tell us anything.

These first customers will get their bracelet, hook up to the feed, book some rides in advance and have a grand old time. They will have first pick at the rides and book before they even get to the park. The reports will be widely favorable. There won't be any problems. Those without the bracelets will have plenty of regular FP.

The first group of magicbanders might even get 4 FP+ and 2 etickets as a test. The first group might get 4-5 Bonus fastpasses a day for Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean, and maybe even Splash Mountain or Dinosaur or Star Tours.

The Reports will be awesome... But as more and more resorts, AP users, and off site guests climb on board those perks and advantages will slowly drop away (think Disney Dining Plan).

So sadly, we won't really know how this will shake down for quite a while.

Which is exactly why I'm scared for my trip in September if the rollout is going to start here soon like the rumors are suggesting.

 

[mcd2745]

Your logic is correct if you want to imagine everyone will have FPs that want to ride and that people won't want to ride multiple times. Once I use my FP for a ride and I want to ride it again I'll have to go SB no matter what as will anyone else who was unlucky enough to not get a FP for that ride as they used their 4 on some other rides.

Well, from what I remember about any of Disney's official statements (which we all know aren't many) regarding NextGen/FP+, reading between the lines, they almost want to discourage people from riding the same attractions over and over. I remember a lot of people had a problem with that perceived sentiement.

 

[mcd2745]

Not sure I agree with that completely. Moving people from the SB line to the FP+ line could potentially bring more people to the SB line who wouldn't have joined a longer line. The number of people in line at any given time isn't a constant.

We already know the wait time estimates are inaccurate at best, so I still see potentially longer SB lines.

So now we have an attraction with increased numbers of people in both the FP line and SB line? That means somewhere in the park, there's a probably a shorter than expected line. Maybe that's when they send a mesage to everyone's phone: "Currently only a 5 minute wait for XXXXXXX". Who knows? All this specualtion is starting to make my head hurt.

 

[mom2rtk]

Unfortunately, we won't really know anything until the magicband bracelets are in full usage. One Resort at a time won't tell us anything.

These first customers will get their bracelet, hook up to the feed, book some rides in advance and have a grand old time. They will have first pick at the rides and book before they even get to the park. The reports will be widely favorable. There won't be any problems. Those without the bracelets will have plenty of regular FP.

The first group of magicbanders might even get 4 FP+ and 2 etickets as a test. The first group might get 4-5 Bonus fastpasses a day for Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean, and maybe even Splash Mountain or Dinosaur or Star Tours.

The Reports will be awesome... But as more and more resorts, AP users, and off site guests climb on board those perks and advantages will slowly drop away (think Disney Dining Plan).

So sadly, we won't really know how this will shake down for quite a while.

Yep. Sort of like the glowing reports from those who participated in the test. Well DUH. Of course they loved it.

I almost think they will structure it in such a way that there's no way people wouldn't love it initially. Especially after getting a less than stellar reception out of the little bits of information released last month. Instead of taking that as a message the people might not like this system, they will take it as a message to control their message better on rollout.

 

[mikegood2]

But I do think net users of rope drop will increase simply because the payoff will be alluring. BUT, there is a law of diminishing returns here too. If Rope drop reaches a point that neutralizes the benefit of going people will be more casual about going to the parks.

Interesting! I see where your coming from, but I can just as easily see rope drop staying the same or even dropping. If people are able to pre select their 3 or 4 FPs than they may be less inclined to show up at rope drop. Then again, you may have an increase in people combining rope drop and hopping? Using the FPs for their afternoon park and open another? Like so much of this we won't know until everything is in effect.

Rope drop becomes less a value, if EMH goes away there won't be the "opposite" parks to go to for lighter schedules, and those special little holes in the schedule (like Animal Kingdom from 4 to close) could disappear. All through the magic of Fastpass +. I get it, that for the WDW entity this is better, but for those regular customers, to lose all those special times it is difficult. /QUOTE]

While it wouldn't surprise me if EMH gets dropped eventually, I just have trouble seeing it in September because of the addition of FP+. Won't they need more time to iron out all the bugs for FP+ ? Wouldn't dropping EMH that early just tax the FP+ system too much, especially if they still would be utilizing both FP systems?

 

[mom2rtk]

Interesting! I see where your coming from, but I can just as easily see rope drop staying the same or even dropping. If people are able to pre select their 3 or 4 FPs than they may be less inclined to show up at rope drop. Then again, you may have an increase in people combining rope drop and hopping? Using the FPs for their afternoon park and open another? Like so much of this we won't know until everything is in effect.

Except if you ever want to ride something a second time, rope drop might become the only reasonable way to do so. Want to do TSMM twice? Rope drop now seems even more important than ever.

 

[golf4miami]

Yep. Sort of like the glowing reports from those who participated in the test. Well DUH. Of course they loved it.

I almost think they will structure it in such a way that there's no way people wouldn't love it initially. Especially after getting a less than stellar reception out of the little bits of information released last month. Instead of taking that as a message the people might not like this system, they will take it as a message to control their message better on rollout.

Yes of course they loved it because right now they can us FP+ AND regular FP. So I wasn't surprised when I saw that they loved it after being able to easily obtain 8,9, or 10 Fastpasses for their day by gaming the system.

 

[bcrook]

While it wouldn't surprise me if EMH gets dropped eventually, I just have trouble seeing it in September because of the addition of FP+. Won't they need more time to iron out all the bugs for FP+ ? Wouldn't dropping EMH that early just tax the FP+ system too much, especially if they still would be utilizing both FP systems?

I don't know if or when EMH gets dropped. Right now it is a perk for staying on site. Until FP+ somehow becomes an on-site perk, I would think EMH would stay in some capacity. BUT, the advantage of the "opposite parks of EMH" could still be neutralized by the FP+ system, Disney will be able to nudge people to parks to balance out the schedule. The Disney Fastpicks along with the proposed "ideal" touring plan will be a powerful tool by Disney to level the park attendance out.

 

[mom2rtk]

Yes of course they loved it because right now they can us FP+ AND regular FP. So I wasn't surprised when I saw that they loved it after being able to easily obtain 8,9, or 10 Fastpasses for their day by gaming the system.

There really was nothing NOT to love about that test. Well, except that we weren't included in it. Our friends were so we got to see it in use up close. All of the good, none of the bad. SHOCKING that people loved it!

I'm honestly curious to know how they used that test though. If it was to test reaction and opinion, then they stacked the deck and are kidding themselves. I hoped (and still do) that maybe it was more of an operational test, to find what system issues they would encounter.

 

[dadddio]

Your logic is correct if you want to imagine everyone will have FPs that want to ride and that people won't want to ride multiple times. Once I use my FP for a ride and I want to ride it again I'll have to go SB no matter what as will anyone else who was unlucky enough to not get a FP for that ride as they used their 4 on some other rides.

You are assuming that no other FPs will be available while in the park. That contradicts what the OP was told and how the beta tests were run.

 

[golf4miami]

You are assuming that no other FPs will be available while in the park. That contradicts what the OP was told and how the beta tests were run.

You do realize that they have said that in the end regular FP will be going away and it will just be FP+ right? Therefore the beta test is full of crap because those who were in it were able to use BOTH systems when everyone on this board knows once rollout happens you will have to choose one or the other.

 

[dadddio]

Yes of course they loved it because right now they can us FP+ AND regular FP. So I wasn't surprised when I saw that they loved it after being able to easily obtain 8,9, or 10 Fastpasses for their day by gaming the system.

There's no reason to believe that we won't still be able to preselected FPs and get some same-day. As you pointed out, that's how the tests worked.

 

[bauer1168]

It will be interesting to see if the value of being there at RD increased/decreases. A good example by UNCFanatik about DHS and TSMM.
If the people who normally like to sleep in are the ones who will miss out on the afternoon and evening FP+ slots and can only get slots for the morning (between 9am-10am for example) due to the potential fact they may not get up early enough when the booking period starts for them, then they may be faced with the decision of either not using their FP+ slots, or breaking their usual routine of sleeping in and actually having to be there at RD.
Alternatively, they may be able to switch parks and get FP+ slots that are more beneficial for them, depending on how their touring plans are.
But as has been said many times, we just won't know until its on full swing

 

[dadddio]

You do realize that they have said that in the end regular FP will be going away and it will just be FP+ right? Therefore the beta test is full of crap because those who were in it were able to use BOTH systems when everyone on this board knows once rollout happens you will have to choose one or the other.

That depends on how you define 'regular FP'. Certainly, people who choose to participate in MM+ cannot use the current FP system because their bands won't work with the machines

 

[Cinderumbrella]

Unfortunately, we won't really know anything until the magicband bracelets are in full usage. One Resort at a time won't tell us anything.

These first customers will get their bracelet, hook up to the feed, book some rides in advance and have a grand old time. They will have first pick at the rides and book before they even get to the park. The reports will be widely favorable. There won't be any problems. Those without the bracelets will have plenty of regular FP.

The first group of magicbanders might even get 4 FP+ and 2 etickets as a test. The first group might get 4-5 Bonus fastpasses a day for Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean, and maybe even Splash Mountain or Dinosaur or Star Tours.

The Reports will be awesome... But as more and more resorts, AP users, and off site guests climb on board those perks and advantages will slowly drop away (think Disney Dining Plan).

So sadly, we won't really know how this will shake down for quite a while.

As usual, ITA with you!

Again, still wish we knew WHEN it would start to roll out.

I *think* it will be soon as they have a lull beginning next week until, maybe through the 2nd week of March, when the Spring Break crush begins. That would allow a little bit of tweaking if there are widespread issues with the first users.

I also think it will be "soon" now that the Android app got its update yesterday/today to match the iOS app.