The FP+ Gripe

[MickeyMinnieMom]

Most are taught at a young age to not judge prematurely (try something before your say you don't like it). In the case of FP+ I'd suggest trying it before deciding you like it or dislike.

But... "I'm waiting to make an informed judgment" doesn't fill up a gazillion pages and multiple threads... BORING!!!

That said... I get people sharing concerns here. I just don't get the judgment made by some people that this WILL be a disaster -- that's all. As I said (quoting DH): "If you're SO SURE this will be a "debacle"... short Disney stock -- you'll be RICH when this rolls out and flops!!"

 

[Lisa0620]

I see two lines of thought when griping about FP+...

1. The people who don't want to be limited to 3 FPs and who are good at getting there at RD, getting FPs, and really maximizing their days at the parks. Totally legitimate complaint IMO.

2. With regards to planning....People like to plan, but the problem with FP+ is that you can't change your plans as much once you are there. Kid gets sick one day, can't really move those FPs to another day as easily. That kind of thing. Where with the old FP system, you could just move your days around, etc.

JMO!

Totally agree with this post. We are testers and although I was initially freaked out and wanted to "opt out" if possible, I'm now looking forward to trying it out. I would be less enthusiastic if we were going during a crowd level 9 week vs. crowd level 4 or 5 though.

I found out about the test last Tues am at 5:45 am and went in and spent about 2 hours making and editing my FP+ choices. As others have reported all headliners are available, but I found that for us Wishes and MSEP were never an option and Fantasmic! only showed up for one day and was for the second showing. So there may have been some "tiered" options for us because we have discounted convention tix, I'm not sure.

Several times last week I went in to change my selections after rethinking my strategy and the headliners were still available but at less desirable times. Now at less than a week from starting I'm at the point where I can't really do any more editing because of availability. Example: I booked FP+ for my party of 4 for 12:05 for BTMRR and after watching a youtube video my younger son has said he will not ride it. When I try to edit the FP+ for just DH and him for a different ride I get "we're sorry, there are no other rides available during this time." Less than a week from when booking started and I can't even get so much as a Philharmagic FP? Really? I could get something if I changed the time to 2 pm but we'll be long gone by then.

The interface for choosing FP+ is clunky. I will often have to log in and enter my password 3X during an attempt to change a FP+ attraction or time. I will also get a stuck screen where it is "loading" and never gets there. I won't want to be fiddling with that on my phone while in the park for sure.

So far my perception is that if we are able to go during a less busy time there's a chance the good may outweigh the bad. If I were going during a busy week I would really be questioning whether the resort and ticket prices were still worth it.

 

[ckrisie]

I dont understand why people want it to fail. Even if it is a disaster will Disney drop it? I just dont think they will because of all the money invested in the idea. I really hope that it goes pretty smoothly and people adjust. Rather than have thousands of guests suffer through months of tweaks. Fingers crossed.

 

[mbrittb00]

Welcome back! The T&C are still there.

Thanks. Just poping in to see what the latest info is.

At least for now, this does not appear to be the case at all. For example, for an evening that we are planning to hop to HS, I was able to book ToT, RnRC, and TSMM. All back to back before our 8:00 ADR.

This would be welcomed. In all of the early testing the FP+s were tier based.

And people talk about the FP police but now we have a new FP+ police. The ones that look for every post that even hints at any and all optimism about the FP+ system and then tells them how wrong they are for having said optimism.

And its the same handful of posters you see in every FP+ thread spreading their FP+ doom and gloom scenarios. They are hoping it fails and jumps on any and all initial issues in these roll out phases. They refuse to see anything good because they want to to fail so badly.

I don't know if I'm one of the ones you are talking about, but if so I'm not wanting this to fail. However based on the evidence we have there are a lot of potential problems. And those problems are being brought up here. I don't know if anyone from Disney reads these forums or not (I suspect that they do), but consider that in the early phases of testing each the FP+ selections were tiered and you could only get one FP+ for the headliners. That was one of the major complaints that people had (based on how people believed that the system would work). It appears now (based on recent testing) that you can select any three attractions. Has this always been the case or was that change brought about by the complaints / comments on this forum.

This new system (as it is believed that it will work) will be great for people who don't want to, or can't get up early enough to get to RD. It will also be great for people that want to plan their entire vacation 60 + 10 days in advance. (BTW, can anyone tell me what 60+10 means? Why not just day 70?) And be even better for those who do both. It will however be horrible for those that want to be spontaneous and decide which park to go to that day when they get to the bus stop, or just want to flow around the park as "the wind blows them". You are of course still allowed to do that, but the FP+ selections for the best attractions will be VERY picked over by that point.

For us, we will book our three FP+ selections 60 days in advance (for the afternoon) and STILL get to RD. Even with the first FP+ selections moving to park opening (rather than 40 minutes after), the first few hours of the day will still be extremly magical. After all when else in the day could you be on New York Street in Hollywood Studios all by your self without another person in site. This happened to me on our last trip (heading back to JTA signups to meet the rest of the family after getting FPs for TSMM), and will probabaly never happen again, but a memory that I will never forget.

 

[WillAustin]

(BTW, can anyone tell me what 60+10 means? Why not just day 70?)

The idea is that on 60 days out from the first day of the trip, you can book up to 10 days worth of FP+ for your trip. Still no confirmation that this is even going to happen.

 

[mbrittb00]

The idea is that on 60 days out from the first day of the trip, you can book up to 10 days worth of FP+ for your trip. Still no confirmation that this is even going to happen.

That's like ADRs right? (My wife normally does all that booking). What if you are staying more than 10 days? Do you get access to the 11th, 12th, 13th, etc reservations 59, 58, 57 etc. days out from the start of your vacation.

Also, back to FP+, is there any information as to if it will be avaliable to those staying offsite? And if so, how do they determine the "start" of your trip? What if you make reservations/selections and your trip dates change?

 

[TIME4DIZ]

The positive historical reference I have is grabbing multiple FP for Soarin' & TSMM. They are messing with that. Yes. I'm unhappy.

I wrongly assumed that you have had positive disney experiences like outstanding guest service, magical cast members, maybe a little pixie dust scattered along the way. Imaganitive resorts, creative theming, interesting theme park/resort dining, etc.
If you are going to disney over and over, year after year so that you can pull FP- for Soarin' and TSMM then you probably won't like FP+. Not sure what you did before FP, soarin or TSMM but apparently disney appealed to you somehow.

 

[WillAustin]

That's like ADRs right? (My wife normally does all that booking). What if you are staying more than 10 days? Do you get access to the 11th, 12th, 13th, etc reservations 59, 58, 57 etc. days out from the start of your vacation.

Exactly.

Also, back to FP+, is there any information as to if it will be avaliable to those staying offsite? And if so, how do they determine the "start" of your trip? What if you make reservations/selections and your trip dates change?

So far, every indication is that it will be available to anyone with a valid ticket. How they handle the rest remains to be seen.

EDIT: I'll add that the August test is basing the dates on resort reservations, but since I am an AP holder, I noticed I can book FP+ from the beginning of my stay out to 60 days from today, regardless of when my trip ends. Current facts to go by.

 

[TIME4DIZ]

Exactly.



So far, every indication is that it will be available to anyone with a valid ticket. How they handle the rest remains to be seen.

Is it too soon for me to say I don't like how they handle the rest?

 

[momof2n2]

I wrongly assumed that you have had positive disney experiences like outstanding guest service, magical cast members, maybe a little pixie dust scattered along the way. Imaganitive resorts, creative theming, interesting theme park/resort dining, etc.
If you are going to disney over and over, year after year so that you can pull FP- for Soarin' and TSMM then you probably won't like FP+. Not sure what you did before FP, soarin or TSMM but apparently disney appealed to you somehow.

We are off-site guests who visit Florida and go to Disney. We used to visit multiple times a year, then annually, then biannually, now more like every three years. It's the rides & shows we go for - RD to close.
It just happened that TSMM came along as my kids were old enough to enjoy more of DHS. Now it's the thing they talk about the most from our last trip. When they were younger, it was Pooh.

Only the last two trips found us excited for ADRs as DH & I were looking for things to enhance our trips as we could go the rest of our lives not seeing FOTLK or parade. (But we still do both of those for the kids.)

I'm admittedly NOT the biggest Disney fan around. But I'm a huge VACATION fan. And if a WDW vacation is looking sub-par, then I'm going to consider other options.

I've got 7 months til our 60 day mark... So lots of time for data collection. But what I read here so far suggests WDW won't deliver like it has before and that makes me sad.

 

[WillAustin]

Is it too soon for me to say I don't like how they handle the rest?

Actually, no, it's not. If you have comments and suggestions on how they might best handle it, please feel free to share them.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

Is it too soon for me to say I don't like how they handle the rest?

Thx for the morning laugh!

Incidentally... odds that this thread turns out any differently than the others after being around for a bit: 0.0%. Yes -- I have data to back that up...

I'm off to the Tot 10-miler and F&W threads for now... need some nothing-but-happy threads...

 

[mom2rtk]

That's like ADRs right? (My wife normally does all that booking). What if you are staying more than 10 days? Do you get access to the 11th, 12th, 13th, etc reservations 59, 58, 57 etc. days out from the start of your vacation.

Also, back to FP+, is there any information as to if it will be avaliable to those staying offsite? And if so, how do they determine the "start" of your trip? What if you make reservations/selections and your trip dates change?

Yes, that in theory would be like ADRs. So if you are taking a 14 day vacation and want to be sure to get all the ADRs and ride experiences you want, even with the +10 you would have to get up early at 180 days out, then 170, 169, 168 and 167 for ADRs. That would be followed by day 60, 50, 49, 48 and 47 for FP+. If you're staying offsite or they don't do the +10 on FP+, then there will be more days of that. But at least you can sleep in on vacation.

No word on how it will be handled for offsite guests. It appears to be tied to your ticket, so it wouldn't matter what your start date was. They would probably just allow the same number of days as your ticket over the course of a 14 day period. I would expect that you could change your dates if your trip dates change. But the offsite piece of this will likely be one of the last pieces put into place as it rolls out.

 

[TIME4DIZ]

We are off-site guests who visit Florida and go to Disney. We used to visit multiple times a year, then annually, then biannually, now more like every three years. It's the rides & shows we go for - RD to close.
It just happened that TSMM came along as my kids were old enough to enjoy more of DHS. Now it's the thing they talk about the most from our last trip. When they were younger, it was Pooh.

Only the last two trips found us excited for ADRs as DH & I were looking for things to enhance our trips as we could go the rest of our lives not seeing FOTLK or parade. (But we still do both of those for the kids.)

I'm admittedly NOT the biggest Disney fan around. But I'm a huge VACATION fan. And if a WDW vacation is looking sub-par, then I'm going to consider other options.

I've got 7 months til our 60 day mark... So lots of time for data collection. But what I read here so far suggests WDW won't deliver like it has before and that makes me sad.

We are similar in that we like to vacation and chose a variety of destinations. One of the nice parts of NOT visiting disney every year is that it changes each time we go. The change is in part because as kids grow their interests change and also because disney is always adding and enhancing. I'm hoping FP+ is the next enhancement.

 

[glimtwinss]

We'll be there in 21 days We're not part of the testing group. ( I wish we were) I'll be watching very closely to see how this works or not works. Also would love to talk to someone when we're there who's using them to get REAL feedback..............

 

[BeerMe]

Attendance at WDW exceeds 45 million annually. There are 446 thousand members of the DIS Boards. There are probably 100??? people posting constantly about FP+ and many of them are extremely negative about a system that is still in testing and which they've never used.

To say that this is a representative sample is nothing less than hilarious. If you asked 10,000 people on the street about FP+ the common response would be HUH?

Things are being blown WAY out of proportion. It is actually good for a chuckle.

Will I like FP+? I don't know. Ask me after I've sampled it.

 

[TIME4DIZ]

Thx for the morning laugh!

Incidentally... odds that this thread turns out any differently than the others after being around for a bit: 0.0%. Yes -- I have data to back that up...

I'm off to the Tot 10-miler and F&W threads for now... need some nothing-but-happy threads...

I'm glad you see my humor.

 

[hookedonears]

Who is kind of surprised when they see people who LOVE to plan their Disney Vacations (down to the minute) gripe about pre-planning their FP+?

I would almost think if I enjoyed planning out my WDW vacations that much, I would LOVE the ability to book FP+ 2 months in advance!

Are the gripes about MDE being overblown? I see people saying their are not going to Disney World anymore because of it. They're angry because they say Disney is wanting to use this system to make more money and accuse them of being greedy. If the Disney company had no profits, there would be NO Disney World.

Walt Disney himself and the Disney company have always considered themselves to be on the forefront of technology, going digital (and paperless) for fast passes seem to be a natural progression. It's no surprise they are trying out newer technologies.

Way way way back in the day when Disney World introduced the KTTW so that it was your room key, park pass, your credit card, etc... I wonder how many people were so adverse to that change.

Sure, right now, there are some bugs to work out with the Magic Bands, FP+, etc... that's why it's still in the testing phase. Usually, Disney does a pretty good job at implementing new tech... In 5 years it will probably seem pretty natural to book your WDW trip, customize your band and wear it to the park so you don't have to keep up with your KTTW card.

I'm not saying that this new program doesn't have it's disadvantages, but it seems no one is talking about it's advantages either.

To me some of the advantages are:

1) Possible quicker park entry because we're not diggin' for cards and quicker check out lines at the gift shops
2) Not being forced to keep a card tucked away in a bag or pocket
3) The ability to customize your child's experience (if you to choose to opt-in and share the information)
4) Touch and go
5) If someone loves to plan, plan, plan - this gives them the ability to plan even more of their trip

Any other advantages I'm not thinking of?

Someone once told me... "Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it"

Not trying to start a flame war, I would just like to see some folks point out the positive points of the MDE with magic bands, FP+, etc... for me.

No. I think a large number of people who say things like that, know that Disney pays attention to this board, and they're hoping to influence Disney's decision making in some kind of way. The vast majority of these type threats are hollow.

 

[mom of princessx2]

In the case of FP+ I'd suggest trying it before deciding you like it or dislike.

That would be great because I am very curious about FP+, however with this system if I don't like it I am still stuck with it. Once you make yourself eligible for FP+ there is no going back to use regular FP. In my case I have a AP and I don't want to be stuck with the unknown for a year.

 

[delmar411]

Attendance at WDW exceeds 45 million annually. There are 446 thousand members of the DIS Boards. There are probably 100??? people posting constantly about FP+ and many of them are extremely negative about a system that is still in testing and which they've never used.

To say that this is a representative sample is nothing less than hilarious. If you asked 10,000 people on the street about FP+ the common response would be HUH?

Things are being blown WAY out of proportion. It is actually good for a chuckle.

Will I like FP+? I don't know. Ask me after I've sampled it.

Well I've used it and I'm currently using it and I can tell you that I was able to start my day at 1pm yesterday in a PACKED MK and still pulled 3 standard FPs from 1pm to 4:35pm. That was just pulling FPs as I was by a machine, no running involved. I pulled buzz light year, big thunder and space mountain. We left the park by 5:15pm.

Keep in mind I was using the FP+ system and used it at buzz, enchanted tales with belle and big thunder. So I'm not really a fan of how this system is very limiting to people who know better. I suppose if you didn't know better, then you might think it was great. And I will admit that walking into the park in the middle of the day and using FP at a ride that doesn't offer FP to anyone not using the FP+ is pretty sweet but this is a very limited time bonus of testing.

I've already said the positive things about the band which have nothing to do with the FP+ part of it. The ease of payment, keeping your key with you when swimming, having to carry nothing if you don't want to. Less chance of losing your 'key'. The band itself is no good though. I really have no idea how they decided on this specific design but were likely limited by the need to be waterproof with an extremely long battery life.