The Incredible message for my trip :)

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I legitimately don't think I could handle the summer. Hats off to those who can. We had one trip in early October and it was too hot for us.

January has been my favorite time of year to go ... by far. I liked Food and Wine in October, but the weather was less than ideal. I enjoyed November better. Trying March next year. January just no longer works because of my daughter's school schedule.

The advantage of living here is had I have to put up with summer anyway. So why not get in a few rides if the opportunity presents itself?

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Makes more sense.

Did not know that there were meet and greets in DHS without FP. My daughter is 13 and was not into meet and greets last trip. We did 1. I actually miss that aspect of trips, but it makes other things easier. Seems as though it would make sense to have MORE FP eligible attractions at DHS, rather than less. Curious why they don't offer that. On second thought, it probably has to do with constructing new Mickey readers?

Meh--didn't they have to make those anyway???

That would be a great idea to toss in Meet and Greets at DHS.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

You've given enough info in your posts that if someone wanted to, they could easily figure out where you were on what days. People don't need to be logged in or members to read here.

Seems kind of creepy.

Gives some credence to being careful about what you post.

 

[MataHari22]

A classic case of "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

I love The Princess Bride.

 

[JimmyV]

December---pre-Christmas Party days.

Pardon me while I weep in its memory.

There might have been *some* waiting. But in those days--Early December was a ghost town. At least when we went. (I don't have specific years, unfortunately as it was so long ago.)

We did early to mid - December in '91 when the "big event" was The Jolly Holidays dinner in the Contemporary conference center. The parks were indeed ghost towns. In some perverse way, this experience is what caused WDW to be so crowded now. Word got out that the decorations were beautiful and the parks were empty. Pretty soon, everyone wanted to go.

 

[itchin2go]

I ask every trip why hey do not have a fp+ for that m&g. My grandson is as obsessed with those 2 characters as any little girl is with A&E. We checked that line every trip into HS and never found it below a 30 minute wait posted and by experience we know that is not accurate- it's longer. Our last trip to HS we finally caved and waited in line.

I'll miss it when he's no longer interested in the meets- it's just adorable right now and it's what makes me cave and stand in those lines.

You know - we did the M&G with Tinker Bell back in the days before there were FPs for meet and greets. It was a long, painful line, but the pictures I have are adorable, and I wouldn't trade the experience. Some things are worth waiting for.

 

[Planogirl]

I appreciate the clarification earlier from some posters about the rope drop issue. After thinking about it, I think that it makes a big difference whether you go to the parks for just a few days or many.

We choose to visit the Disney parks at most for 4 days nowadays but many people don't actually have a choice. Going to one park over and over again won't work for everyone when their time is limited. Hoppers could still help but you have to be willing and able to spend the extra money of course.

 

[MataHari22]

My best friend told me that he saw a Disney commercial the other day and that it was saying how easy and stress free and spontaneous everything was, I'm guessing maybe he saw this one. He said he just laughed because he knows how much time I spend planning my trips. Actually, he only knows about 5% of how much time I spend planning and he thinks that is crazy. He said as he was watching the commercial he kept thinking that they were making it sound so easy but he knew otherwise..... lol.

 

[WillAustin]

I appreciate the clarification earlier from some posters about the rope drop issue. After thinking about it, I think that it makes a big difference whether you go to the parks for just a few days or many.

I think it makes a huge difference. Having APs lets us spend more days in the parks, and we can literally go to the parks only for our FPs and then leave if lines are long. We don't have to hurry up and fit everything into 1 or 2 or 4 days. If we only spent 3-4 days at WDW, with MyMagic+ tickets, I'd feel like we didn't get enough value. It's an entirely different proposition if you have APs or are local and can come back another day. Cost vs. time waiting in line is what matters to us. We do a lot more outside the parks than we did before.

It's an entirely different equation from someone taking a once in a lifetime trip.

 

[Planogirl]

I think it makes a huge difference. Having APs lets us spend more days in the parks, and we can literally go to the parks only for our FPs and then leave if lines are long. We don't have to hurry up and fit everything into 1 or 2 or 4 days. If we only spent 3-4 days at WDW, with MyMagic+ tickets, I'd feel like we didn't get enough value. It's an entirely different proposition if you have APs or are local and can come back another day. Cost vs. time waiting in line is what matters to us. We do a lot more outside the parks than we did before.

It's an entirely different equation from someone taking a once in a lifetime trip.

We do a lot more outside the parks too now and park time is actually decreasing steadily. We do like to check out new attractions and visit old favorites though and I have yet to figure out how FP+ helps us in any way.

 

[cakebaker]

You know - we did the M&G with Tinker Bell back in the days before there were FPs for meet and greets. It was a long, painful line, but the pictures I have are adorable, and I wouldn't trade the experience. Some things are worth waiting for.

I did character meets with my girls back when there weren't organized meet n greets. Characters randomly appeared without a schedule and it was chaos as people rushed the characters and tried to form their own lines.

Any line beats doing that!

 

[itchin2go]

I did character meets with my girls back when there weren't organized meet n greets. Characters randomly appeared without a schedule and it was chaos as people rushed the characters and tried to form their own lines.

Any line beats doing that!

I'm guessing that was a recipe for guest on guest violence ... or at least words. I never experienced the impromptu meet and greets, and it seems charming in many ways, but I'm guessing it caused ... issues.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

We do a lot more outside the parks too now and park time is actually decreasing steadily. We do like to check out new attractions and visit old favorites though and I have yet to figure out how FP+ helps us in any way.

There is so much to do in Central Florida beyond the parks. So while that doesn't make folks necessarily feel better about changes at Disney, it does widen the horizon on possibilities.

 

[Planogirl]

There is so much to do in Central Florida beyond the parks. So while that doesn't make folks necessarily feel better about changes at Disney, it does widen the horizon on possibilities.

I could spend an enormous amount of time just exploring local communities such as St. Augustine. Locals having access to that plus the beaches is what makes me a bit jealous.

 

[Cee]

I book my FPs when I'm there. It surprises me how much is available. If I do it 60 days out, I'm going to be trying to change it anyway. I might as well wait!

 

[JimmyV]

I think it makes a huge difference. Having APs lets us spend more days in the parks, and we can literally go to the parks only for our FPs and then leave if lines are long. We don't have to hurry up and fit everything into 1 or 2 or 4 days. If we only spent 3-4 days at WDW, with MyMagic+ tickets, I'd feel like we didn't get enough value. It's an entirely different proposition if you have APs or are local and can come back another day. Cost vs. time waiting in line is what matters to us. We do a lot more outside the parks than we did before.

It's an entirely different equation from someone taking a once in a lifetime trip.

It is impossible to overstate how important this is when discussing FP+ and "spontaneity". There is an active post asking if 5 days is enough for a trip. And many people, (myself included), have commented that it is, and often, that is all the time we have. Many others have commented that they could never do a trip that short, and they typically do 10 or more days. For the people who do 10 day trips, it might make perfect sense to arrive at a tiered park at 10:30, use your FPs, hit up a few other minor attractions, and leave the other headliners for another day. And these folks will insist that spontaneity prevails. For the people doing 5 day trips where they spend 2 days at the MK, one day at AK, one day at DHS, and one day at Epcot, the "come back later" approach does not work. The options for those people are to:

• Arrive at RD to hit the headliners that they cannot FP
• Arrive later and opt not do certain headliners
• Arrive later and wait in long lines for headliners that they cannot FP, causing them to have to skip other attractions as the trade-off.

In order to feel like you are getting enough value, the only real option is the first....unless you know that you are going to be coming back frequently. And this Board leans heavily toward habitual visitors, so I think they lose sight of the fact that arriving late and skipping rides is like fingernails on the chalkboard to people who go far less frequently. So when you are more or less funnelled (I won't say "forced") into having to arrive early to hit up headliners before using FPs, the visits become fairly formulaic and spontaneity seems like a lofty, but unattained goal.

 

[ArwenMarie]

It is impossible to overstate how important this is when discussing FP+ and "spontaneity". There is an active post asking if 5 days is enough for a trip. And many people, (myself included), have commented that it is, and often, that is all the time we have. Many others have commented that they could never do a trip that short, and they typically do 10 or more days. For the people who do 10 day trips, it might make perfect sense to arrive at a tiered park at 10:30, use your FPs, hit up a few other minor attractions, and leave the other headliners for another day. And these folks will insist that spontaneity prevails. For the people doing 5 day trips where they spend 2 days at the MK, one day at AK, one day at DHS, and one day at Epcot, the "come back later" approach does not work. The options for those people are to:

• Arrive at RD to hit the headliners that they cannot FP
• Arrive later and opt not do certain headliners
• Arrive later and wait in long lines for headliners that they cannot FP, causing them to have to skip other attractions as the trade-off.

In order to feel like you are getting enough value, the only real option is the first....unless you know that you are going to be coming back frequently. And this Board leans heavily toward habitual visitors, so I think they lose sight of the fact that arriving late and skipping rides is like fingernails on the chalkboard to people who go far less frequently. So when you are more or less funnelled (I won't say "forced") into having to arrive early to hit up headliners before using FPs, the visits become fairly formulaic and spontaneity seems like a lofty, but unattained goal.

Length of trip makes a huge difference. It's kind of the same idea as being a local really, although on a smaller scale. You are probably more relaxed or spontaneous or whatever the word is when you know you are coming back soon.

 

[JimmyV]

Length of trip makes a huge difference. It's kind of the same idea as being a local really, although on a smaller scale. You are probably more relaxed or spontaneous or whatever the word is when you know you are coming back soon.

And this fits in perfectly with the design of FP+ that many people ignore or overlook. The system was designed to be the antidote to Harry Potter World. It is intentionally a "ride governor" that limits how much one can do in a day, and allows people to "relax", "slow down", "do other things". All good things in theory, and intentionally designed to get people to occupy their entire 7 day vacation at WDW instead of doing 5 days at WDW and 2 days at Universal. Disney wants you to fill up all 7 days on its property, and wants you coming back more often. Anyone who thinks that FP+ was designed to allow guests to crunch what used to take 6 days into 4 doesn't even begin to understand how Disney accounting works. They want to stretch out what you used to do in 5 days into 7. Not the other way around. So go ahead and relax. Be spontaneous. Enjoy adventures other than theme park headliners. And when you plot out your vacation, you will find that you are now staying 7-8 days in a Disney resort instead of 5-6. It is rather brilliant when you think about it.

 

[ArwenMarie]

And this fits in perfectly with the design of FP+ that many people ignore or overlook. The system was designed to be the antidote to Harry Potter World. It is intentionally a "ride governor" that limits how much one can do in a day, and allows people to "relax", "slow down", "do other things". All good things in theory, and intentionally designed to get people to occupy their entire 7 day vacation at WDW instead of doing 5 days at WDW and 2 days at Universal. Disney wants you to fill up all 7 days on its property, and wants you coming back more often. Anyone who thinks that FP+ was designed to allow guests to crunch what used to take 6 days into 4 doesn't even begin to understand how Disney accounting works. They want to stretch out what you used to do in 5 days into 7. Not the other way around. So go ahead and relax. Be spontaneous. Enjoy adventures other than theme park headliners. And when you plot out your vacation, you will find that you are now staying 7-8 days in a Disney resort instead of 5-6. It is rather brilliant when you think about it.

Exactly. I've been saying for a while now, I think the goal is to get people to spend about six hours a day in a park. 3 FPs, a meal, a parade, maybe some second-tier stuff, get out. There is probably some cutoff where after that point they know people don't spend more money in the parks and they are just taking up space. And yes, spend more days to get to do everything you wanted to do.

Hmm, maybe the ad is right, you will be more spontaneous with all of that free time to fill.

 

[JimmyV]

Exactly. I've been saying for a while now, I think the goal is to get people to spend about six hours a day in a park. 3 FPs, a meal, a parade, maybe some second-tier stuff, get out. There is probably some cutoff where after that point they know people don't spend more money in the parks and they are just taking up space. And yes, spend more days to get to do everything you wanted to do.

Hmm, maybe the ad is right, you will be more spontaneous with all of that free time to fill.

And if one needs any more convincing, just go back to the "Are 5 days enough" thread and count the number of posts where people have suggested skipping Universal and spending all the time at WDW. When the almost unanimous consensus is to skip Universal, Disney's plan is working perfectly. No one on that thread has suggested that the new FP+ system will allow the OP to breeze through WDW in 4 days leaving a day free for Universal.