The FP+ Saga - spoiler alert: its terrible.

[Robo]

That's a really good point - if they feel they can't accurately forecast because they aren't getting enough guests to participate in pre-planning activities it could explain the continued marketing efforts to encourage everyone to do so and survey questions geared to determine if those efforts are being heard.

But then, scarcity of select FP's so soon into the planning window seems to indicate a high percentage of participation.

I don't see a scarcity of FP+, in general.

I do see a scarcity of FP+ for the HEADLINERS and TIER 1 rides.
Lack of enough headliner attractions is the core of all of this.

And, that lack is, as I see it, the raison d'être for FP+.

 

[Angel Ariel]

. But for me, the best improvement would be being able to select each and every FP according to all times available, rather than getting preselected menus of choices. I think Disney uses their pre-sets to try to steer us to certain times, but they could still offer "simple search" with a big button for those who aren't going to finesse down to the minute and a tiny little "advanced search" button for those of us looking for things at more specific times.

I agree..this would be a huge improvement. It's so frustrating to not be able to see all availability. I get not "allowing" us to make overlapping FP+ reservations, but there are ways to do that without limiting what times we are seeing. If we overlap a FP+ time, have the same warning that pops up for ADRs (or something similar) - that the conflicting FP+ needs to be modified (or cancelled) in order to book.

It would make the process so much faster.

 

[lugnut33]

I think it's time to remember what Disney tells us about FP+

Something for Everyone
For one park per day of your visit, secure up to 3 FastPass+ selections for popular attractions like Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Mission: SPACE and entertainment choices such as Fantasmic! and Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular! There are even FastPass+ picks for Character Greetings where you’ll meet the likes of Mickey Mouse and Cinderella, and special viewing areas for parades and fireworks.

Make a Dash for FastPass+
We recommend you make your FastPass+ selections early in order to have a greater variety of options to choose from. Since all attractions and Character Greetings provide standby entrances, you’re also free to simply plan as you go.

 

[DisDadDVC]

The FP+ selection process is really geared for the uninformed Disney visitor. If your 3 choices aren't available, they want to spread you out to the other attractions. They also want to spread the times out. So the "default" choices they give you are rarely the ones you actually want. The rookie probably doesn't know any better and thinks their fastpasses need to be 6 hours apart. The easiest thing to do is to select the times you DON'T want and then to adjust manually to what you do want after the fact.

 

[Mikie]

I agree..this would be a huge improvement. It's so frustrating to not be able to see all availability. I get not "allowing" us to make overlapping FP+ reservations, but there are ways to do that without limiting what times we are seeing. If we overlap a FP+ time, have the same warning that pops up for ADRs (or something similar) - that the conflicting FP+ needs to be modified (or cancelled) in order to book.

It would make the process so much faster.

It seems like all they'd need to do is show us all available times with conflicts grayed out. If not available at all, you see nothing, if available with conflict, you see gray - then you'd know you could rearrange other plans to make something fit if it's important enough to you instead of having to play "what's behind door #2?"

Possibly this isn't as big a concern for those outside the DIS types. For myself, I actually planned for 12 people last October (when many people were saying FPs seemed to be less plentiful) and didn't have to do any of the gyrations to get what we wanted at the times we wanted - but we would have if we had wanted A&E or fireworks. I feel like maybe if even under those conditions it wasn't such a huge exercise, perhaps there isn't too large a number of us wanting (or telling Disney about wanting) such a change. They seem much more geared to making things "simple" than flexible.

 

[Jennytoon]

Sorry it was such a pain. Group planning has so many challenges of its own without another layer of complexity.

When I see discussions about FP+, I usually see the most common criticisms/suggestions being a desire to make the 4th from a phone, allowing hopping, no tiering. But for me, the best improvement would be being able to select each and every FP according to all times available, rather than getting preselected menus of choices. I think Disney uses their pre-sets to try to steer us to certain times, but they could still offer "simple search" with a big button for those who aren't going to finesse down to the minute and a tiny little "advanced search" button for those of us looking for things at more specific times.

Speaking from a software development standpoint, I think at least part of the reason that they don't do this is that there is likely a hold on the blocks they offer you as you go through the process.

When you book a flight on Orbitz (or any other site I've tried), that "Book now, only X seats left at this price" thing isn't kidding. I've gotten all the way through the booking process to the last screen to find that someone booked that seat from under me, had to go back and re-do the search, then book a seat at the new price.

Although it is true that people sometimes error out of the system and then can't find the times they were shown the first time for FP+, I think they have it set up so that those options they show you have a temporary hold on them -- as long as you choose within a reasonable window, you will not find that someone has booked them from under you. They couldn't possibly do this if everyone could see every time.

When you go back to change a single experience, the selection process is much faster, so they can show you a wider range of times because they only have to block others off for a very short window of time.

Note that I have no actual knowledge of how any of Disney's systems are programmed. But I have the experience to know that this is an issue they would have to deal with (not having people book times out from under), and showing only a limited selection is a common strategy to handle this problem. I also think this is why sometimes people have better luck booking the next morning -- some of the lack of availability that people see at midnight is not actually FP that are booked by others, but rather times that are on temporary hold by other people being in the middle of the booking process.

 

[Angel Ariel]

It seems like all they'd need to do is show us all available times with conflicts grayed out. If not available at all, you see nothing, if available with conflict, you see gray - then you'd know you could rearrange other plans to make something fit if it's important enough to you instead of having to play "what's behind door #2?"

Possibly this isn't as big a concern for those outside the DIS types. For myself, I actually planned for 12 people last October (when many people were saying FPs seemed to be less plentiful) and didn't have to do any of the gyrations to get what we wanted at the times we wanted - but we would have if we had wanted A&E or fireworks. I feel like maybe if even under those conditions it wasn't such a huge exercise, perhaps there isn't too large a number of us wanting (or telling Disney about wanting) such a change. They seem much more geared to making things "simple" than flexible.

Perhaps...but for ADRs they let you select times in a better way than they do for FP+. Search for a time you want, and the system brings up the available options (whether you have another ADR in that time or not). If nothing else, at least make the two systems similar in procedure. You'd think that would absolutely help simplify the experience across the board.

 

[10-4 Good Buddy]

I don't see a scarcity of FP+, in general.

I do see a scarcity of FP+ for the HEADLINERS and TIER 1 rides.
Lack of enough headliner attractions is the core of all of this.

And, that lack is, as I see it, the raison d'être for FP+.

Definitely agree. But for the sake of forecasting and just running thru some possibilities: If we look at one of those Tier 1 rides that do seem scarce (Mine Train?), and a day that is 60 days out doesn't have any FP's available, and Disney knows they've allocated 70% of that rides daily capacity to FP (20790 x 70%), then they could know that at least 14,553 people plan on being in the park that day. Combine that with historical gate entries on days with similar numbers (like 95% of days with 14,553 reservations had no less than 34,500 visits) and it might still prove useful for forecasting.

Very interesting.

 

[DizBelle]

The simple fix for most of this is to eliminate the +10 and just book FASTPASSES 60 days in advance of when you want them.

I know what you're thinking. "Stay up at until midnight for 5 (6, 7, or however many days) in a row to book FASTPASSES?!?!?!?" But think about it. You would only have to book FASTPASSES for ONE day. That would take only a few minutes. And if the +10 is eliminated, I think more FASTPASSES would be available at 7:30am (or later) because all of the people doing the +10 wouldn't have been able to gobble them up before you even had one opportunity to get any FASTPASSES. For the first day of my trip, there were no FASTPASSES for SDMT even for a party of 1.

Eliminating the +10 gives everyone (staying on property) the same opportunity for FASTPASSES on a given day. As it is now, all of the people arriving in the 10 days before you do have an opportunity (many days of opportunities) to get FASTPASSES on your arrival day before you have your first chance.

 

[DoingDisney]

A follow up to answer some questions:

The Copy feature was not working, I don't know if its just that the exact times weren't available, but copying didn't seem to be an option. In fact I was counting on / hoping that that was exactly all I would have to do was copy. *Edited to add: Just went on and WAS able to copy, I am guessing it was just a system error the night I was trying to book

I agree with some of the people who suggested more options should be available even an "Advanced Options" Tab that would allow people with more experience the ability to see all the times that were available instead of just what Disney wants us to see. I don't know if they do this for crowd management reasons or just for simplicity's sake, but either way I would like to see all availability.

The Idea of ending the +10 in 60+10. As much as this might be a bit of a pain, I still see the value in this. I read not too long ago people talking about "Even Playing fields" its very clear that legacy FP was an even playing field (all people had access to every FP at park opening every single day) and the FP+ is not an even playing field. People have a (10, 9, 8, 7 , 6 , 5 , 4, 3, 2 ,1) head start to booking FPs for your trip on your (1, 2, 3, 4 ,5, 6,7,8,9,10)th day. If people can literally book every single fast pass before you even get a chance to log in and try to book, that's not an even playing field, its not equal opportunity. One solution to this would be ending the +10.

Of course Disney would have to make sure their systems actually worked well and could handle the traffic they would be getting each night at Midnight ... but they created this system in the first place, the least they could do was make it work well for everyone.

 

[hsmamato2]

But then, scarcity of select FP's so soon into the planning window seems to indicate a high percentage of participation.

I'm assuming the same..... if I go in and 6 or 7 days are already booked for that mine train ride and I am not even able to book yet till my 60 day mark, WTH? It's a nasty new system they have set up,and doesn't endear me to the Disney process anymore. I am doing it out of some necessity, but I don't like it. I am in agreement with OP. I don't mind running around and doing things when I'm actually there, but midnight at 60 days and so forth is just annoying.

 

[momof2n2]

The simple fix for most of this is to eliminate the +10 and just book FASTPASSES 60 days in advance of when you want them.

I know what you're thinking. "Stay up at until midnight for 5 (6, 7, or however many days) in a row to book FASTPASSES?!?!?!?" But think about it. You would only have to book FASTPASSES for ONE day. That would take only a few minutes. And if the +10 is eliminated, I think more FASTPASSES would be available at 7:30am (or later) because all of the people doing the +10 wouldn't have been able to gobble them up before you even had one opportunity to get any FASTPASSES. For the first day of my trip, there were no FASTPASSES for SDMT even for a party of 1.

Eliminating the +10 gives everyone (staying on property) the same opportunity for FASTPASSES on a given day. As it is now, all of the people arriving in the 10 days before you do have an opportunity (many days of opportunities) to get FASTPASSES on your arrival day before you have your first chance.

I think the simple fix is go back to same day FP, and just sleep your normal hours all those nights 60 days before.