Step away from the ledge: An optimists view on FastPass+

[mrsmorrow]

Never mind the kids, *I* want to ride some rides multiple times!

I appreciate the idea that it's a relief to some to not have to race from one FP machine to the next. It's just that I've never felt the need to do that. We usually arrived within the first hour of opening, went to our favorite ride first and then moved through the park at a leisurely pace, riding pretty much everything. If the line was 15 min or less, we did Standby. If it was longer, we grabbed a FP and rode later. Went on our favorite rides several times with FP. That touring style is no longer possible and I'm really sad about that. I actually had a nightmare about being at the MK, having used my 3 FP+, and facing nothing but Standby lines. That's going to be the reality from now on, no matter how optimistic you want to look at it. And it sucks in my opinion.

One more thing: The Single Rider line is now often mentioned as a great way to minimize wait time. But I want to enjoy the rides with my family, not by myself. One of the best moments of my last trip was riding BTMR with my daughter at night, looking at the illuminated castle and thinking, I want to do this with her when I'm 90! So it's less about the ride itself and more about having fun together.

With FP+ that fun for families like us is going to be limited, there's no other way to put it. Not being negative, just realistic.

I couldn't have said it any better. Will my family enjoy our upcoming trip? Absolutely. But we also have the good fortune of having been many times and knowing we will continue to return. I am laid back and generally go with the flow but also plan our trip to maximize our fun. In general, change is hard and I get that and want to be optimistic(and am!) but I can see everyone's views. This is a complex and multi-faceted issue for sure and simply put - people will have strong opinions on both sides.

 

[ArwenMarie]

OP, I think that's great that you are excited for FP+. Sounds like it will be a benefit to you and your mom. I would be interested to hear what you think when you get back from your trip. I know when we went in the fall, I felt rushed and at the same time felt like we were waiting around a lot, as we were trying to make our ride "appointments." It was very odd! Anyway, have a great trip and happy planning

 

[Suzie3126]

...I love Rope Drop too!

 

[Lolsmum]

My kids certainly do ask to ride the same ride over and over again. We either allow it, if the lines are short enough or we are willing to wait again, or we don't and move on to something else. And yes, sometimes I want to ride the same ride over and over and then I either stand in line again and do it or move on, the same way I do in any other amusement park.

On another topic, I think it's hilarious that someone will chose to read a post then accuse the OP of forcing an opinion down their throat.

 

[PoshMom]

I agree with the op. I'm excited about not having to walk/run across park to get fastpasses with three little ones running with us. Each trip is different even with same group of people. So, yeah, I'm a little nervous about what rides I will get in between fp+ rides. But it will definitely not take the magic out of our trip. And imagine the possibilities of the evolution of this system within next few months.
We go in June. I'm optimistic that many glitches will be smoothed out by then and hopefully modify to where you can get fp+ from more than one park per day, and hopefully more than 3 a day. I have to remember we can only move as fast as our little ones. So don't think it will be quite as big a deal as some on the boards.

 

[Suzie3126]

Thanks for all the responses- it's been a fun first thread for me!

 

[agavegirl1]

I like Rope Drop for how much I can fit in before lunch. However, FP+ does reduce a certain amount of planning anxiety on my part and I am grateful for that. My anxiety now is due to the IT glitches within the system that are not allowing it to work as planned. The nervousness and edginess is now transferred to park entry, room entry, charging and whether or not the Mickey reader will show my FP+ as valid.

 

[gdrj]

Come back when you have children who want to ride the same ride 10 times in a row.

There are many of us that LIKE rope drop.

There are those, (I won't say many because I know what shape the average American is in), that have no problem with traversing the parks to go from one ride to another, and don't find walking a problem.

But, if FP+ works for you, great. Just stop trying to shove sunshine down my throat. Your single person with your parent vacation is completely different than a family with children.

Then again, I did choose to read and respond to this post. Moving on....

Wow, kind of sad. Not the opinion, just the attitude.

I'm sure there will be times when I am there in April, I will wish I could get FP in multiple parks. Of course I could do rope drop at one park until the lines get long than either use my FP there or another park.

When in the parks I'm sure we've all seen the crazy family that seems miserable, kids are exhausted and everyone is screaming... (being positive here) Hopefully they are the ones vowing to never comeback

 

[BubMunkeyBles]

There's definitely some nice aspects to FP+. I love that we can have a flight that arrives at noon and be able to still ride major title rides in the evening we arrive. I do find I'm spending less time the parks since we've rode most the majors and the minors don't tend to have long lines, no more waiting on FP windows to open since you can get all your FP in a three hour period. Not sure how that helps Disney out though, lol.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

This is exactly how my wife an I leveraged FP+ in January and it worked beautifully. With this attitude, you will have a great trip!

 

[alhurricane]

Wow, it's pretty sad when a positive opinion is referred to as 'shoving sunshine down somebody's throat'. I'll leave it at that.

After reading countless FP+ threads, there are obviously pros and cons to the current way things are being done. How will this affect our second ever trip in late May? I'm not sure. I do share some of the optimism of the original poster. Especially, for our AK day, when we will likely get there later in the day. I know in advance that we will get to ride the 3 things we want to fairly close to when we want to. I would be as positive with HS/EP if tiering was not in effect. That is a definite con. For MK, we are rope drop people as it is. Our kids don't sleep in ever, so it's nice to be able to start the day early, ride a lot of what we want to and then have FP+ for the late afternoon/evening guaranteeing us rides when we know the lines will be busy.

Obviously, I will save full judgement for after our trip. However going in with a negative attitude seems counter productive and a big waste of precious vacation money.

 

[Dis703]

OP I'm righ there with you. Being able to plan our rides ahead of our trip and not do the mad dash to get FP is a big plus for us. DH overheats easily from a medical issue and frankly I have no desire to leave him with the kids so I can do the run alone. And as we aren't morning people we did miss out on big attractions in the past. Now we don't have to miss out on anything.

Of course we have no need or desire to hit all the big thrill rides either. So it works pretty well for us. I used it with just my 5 year old in the fall and loved the ability to change FP plans if we found they weren't needed or we just changed our minds.

So many of these negative FP+ posts make statements of how awful it is as if that is the fact for everyone but that definitely is not the case.

 

[JeremyGNJ]

The problem is that most of the people here have grown to expect that they are entitled to go to Disney World and "do almost everything" at each park in a single day.

Some would argue that expectation evolved because you could "game" the previous system of FastPass.

But the fact of the matter is that at just about every theme park in the country, you can generally only do about half the stuff there is to do in a single day, unless you go off-off-season. (or you go to a park like Six Flags Great Adventure when you can pay an extra $70/day to bypass all the lines)

Most guests DONT expect to do a accomplish everything when they go to Disney, but with FP+, the casual guest can KNOW they will be able to do their 3 most important things. If there's no FP+ available for one thing they really want to do, it wont be as bad to wait in line, because they know they have 3 others things they can do with no waiting.

It's generally a better system for everyone "on the whole", but not a better thing for the people who feel they should be able to do everything they want without waiting in any lines.

I personally don't care...I'm going to Disney to have a memorable time with my family. That will happen even if we just wander around and do almost nothing except take in the "experience" of Disney World.

 

[heathsf]

I'm trying to take the same point of view, OP! At first I was really disappointed and worried about how this would affect my vacation. But at a certain point I realized I'd rather be at Disney than anywhere else in the world, no matter how many FP I can get in one day!

 

[Suzie3126]

But at a certain point I realized I'd rather be at Disney than anywhere else in the world, no matter how many FP I can get in one day!

I agree! I know they have just started with implementations and improvements. Disney is still my favorite place to be!

 

[kylekatemom]

Never mind the kids, *I* want to ride some rides multiple times! I appreciate the idea that it's a relief to some to not have to race from one FP machine to the next. It's just that I've never felt the need to do that. We usually arrived within the first hour of opening, went to our favorite ride first and then moved through the park at a leisurely pace, riding pretty much everything. If the line was 15 min or less, we did Standby. If it was longer, we grabbed a FP and rode later. Went on our favorite rides several times with FP. That touring style is no longer possible and I'm really sad about that. I actually had a nightmare about being at the MK, having used my 3 FP+, and facing nothing but Standby lines. That's going to be the reality from now on, no matter how optimistic you want to look at it. And it sucks in my opinion. One more thing: The Single Rider line is now often mentioned as a great way to minimize wait time. But I want to enjoy the rides with my family, not by myself. One of the best moments of my last trip was riding BTMR with my daughter at night, looking at the illuminated castle and thinking, I want to do this with her when I'm 90! So it's less about the ride itself and more about having fun together. With FP+ that fun for families like us is going to be limited, there's no other way to put it. Not being negative, just realistic.

We have the same touring style as you and I too am nervous about our upcoming trip and not being able to ride as many rides or ride some rides multiple times. I feel so restricted by 3 FPs. Mixed feelings :/

 

[jensen]

I wanted to chime in on the Fastpass+ situation. In full disclosure- I'm an optimist, so if that's not your thing, feel free to skip to the next thread.

I have been to Disney theme parks about 10 times, including Paris and Tokyo. While I realize I'm no expert, I am one of those people that enjoys researching Disney for fun and getting all the information that I can. There seems to be a lot of negativity and uncertainty surrounding the new FastPass+ so I wanted to add some positives to this.

I understand we are still in the testing phases and believe me, I know that the app hasn't reached it's full potential, amongst many other uncertainties. But just think for a minute - won't it be nice to not have that frantic, twitching, anxious feeling at rope drop? Maybe actually catch the opening show at the Magic Kingdom instead of sprinting off into the parks, dodging strollers, grandparents, and cast members on the way to Space Mountain?

I have a whole new outlook on Disney World now that I'm an adult (30 next week- eep!). When I visit, it's usually with my "senior" mother - at least that's what her AARP card says. I darn near killed her last visit, demanding we get to the parks at rope drop so that I could grab her ticket and sprint to Soarin' or Toy Story Mania. I was impatient with her, urging her on to the next attraction or show before sprinting to the opposite end of the park to grab us another FastPass. By about mid-day, I was the one who felt like a senior. I could have gone for a Dole Whip and an afternoon siesta. I exhausted myself by running around like a crazy person making sure we got to do "the big ones". All of that back and forth between FastPass kiosks had me in tears on night 1 (I should also mention that besides my optimism, I can also tend toward the melodramatic).

That being said, when I first started to hear about FastPass+, it was like Disney threw a life preserver to me. With FastPass+, I'll be able to plan "the big ones" in advance. I won't have to criss-cross the parks at a frantic pace and hope that there is a FastPass available, in a time that works for me. I can work around ADR's more readily. I won't be as exhausted from the extra mileage, I can take more time to really look around and pay attention to the small details that are what makes Disney so amazing. And even though the FastPass+ will have designated times like the old FastPass, it still offers an hour of flexibility for whatever other explorations might strike my fancy.

My next trip is scheduled for December 2014 and I'm really excited to see what FastPass+ brings to the table. From my perspective, being able to have a plan (that is changeable, if needed) is a huge relief. I don't want to fly through the parks dragging my poor mother behind me. I don't want to fizzle out before the afternoon parade. I don't want to be chugging caffeine just to make it through the day. Maybe I won't hit everything in one day, with longer standby lines. But maybe, just maybe- FastPass+ will enable me to really take time to look around, be present in the moment, and enjoy the time I have with friends, family, and the magic that Disney creates.

I'm with you OP! We loved FP+ on our trip in January and can't wait to see how great it is when it's fully rolled out and we can park-hop our fastpasses... plus maybe grab an extra one or two if it strikes our fancy. It's going to change the way we tour, for sure... but, in the best way possible!

Let's keep these "happy" threads going, so we don't get drowned out by all the naysayers!

 

[btcrane]

My sentiments exactly OP! A DW veteran, I'm taking my boyfriend and his 3 kids for their first "real" DW vacation next week. They are not early birds, my BF is NOT a planner, and the FP+ system has allowed me to guarantee rides on most of the headliners without being forced to make RD and without making my BF feel hemmed in. We will relax and just enjoy spending time together, and the magic of Disney. Using the old system, I know I'd be dashing to each FP kiosk trying to make sure they experienced as much as possible on this first trip. I'm looking forward to the new touring plan!

The only thing I'm just a teensy bit worried about... we are tent camping at Fort Wilderness. I've been in charge of planning the parks, and my BF the nonplanner (and the veteran camper) is in charge of camping. He'd better hold up his end of the bargain!