The Incredible message for my trip :)

[ArwenMarie]

If that is the case, then when we had infrequent visits due to not living in Florida, I found our 2012 to be the most frustrating ever. For us, even though it was under legacy, it did not make the trip and cheaper. I hated the prices we paid for the tickets and from a psychological standpoint, I struggled with ensuring we got our money's worth. We had fun, but it was one of the most stressful trips we had.

It is unfortunate that those who do get to go frequently have their opinions discarded. Makes one wonder why those who have not used FP+ are given more merit.

It's not that I am discarding anyone's opinion. An opinion is an opinion.

For me, and again, focusing on blogs and podcasts and the like, I am finding more and more I don't relate to locals' opinions on touring. It's not meant to be disparaging, it's just a fact for me, and something I have noticed since FP+ came on board.

 

[JimmyV]

The quote was "this will allow you even more time to be spontaneous".

Do you now that they were intending this sentence to apply only in the parks and not to the planning stages? As has been shown over and over again in this thread, the use of FP+ has resulted in many positive benefits. But increased in-park spontaneity isn't among them. (See post #47).

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Thanks for asking.

No, here's what I was doing. I was legitimately asking if she was serious, because it sounded like the kind of statement that could be offered facetiously. I didn't know whether that was the case, so I wanted to ask. I *try* not to assume to much. It gets me into trouble.

Then, I offered my experience (which is probably what caused me to ask whether she was serious). My experience *seemed* to be very different that what she described. Doesn't mean either of us is wrong.

When two people have had wildly different experiences at the same theme park, there could be lots of things going on to account for those differences. The only answer is not that she's wrong, or lying, or misrepresenting. That wasn't my allegation and I'm glad I could clear it up. It's actually why I asked the question, rather than assuming.

Back to the original question: Does FP+ allow for more spontaneity? My opinion is no. Others can have their opinion. My default position will never be that Disney told me so, so it must be so. I run the question through my brain, plug in my experiences and form an opinion. In my experience, there is still room for spontaneity in a Disney vacation. There was always a great degree of planning required for us to do what we wanted. Sure, you can plan things on the fly, but that potentially left us out of experiences we wanted. So spontaneity always took a hit. I think it took an additional hit with FP+. I think there are still room for spontaneous moments, but I think it's really a stretch to say it allows for MORE spontaneity.

That is all. To be clear, I don't hate FP+. As I said, upthread, I don't even mind the extra planning. I'm one of those weirdos who loves the planning. It's why I'm here (on the boards so much). But I am not under the illusion that when I am booking my FPs, it's a spontaneous activity or that when the family actually has those experiences, that there was anything spontaneous about it.

And the truth is, spontaneous doesn't equal good, and planned doesn't equal bad. They're just different.

Thanks for clarifying!
(No I am not being facetious--it really didn't sound like you and glad you came back to clarify!)

 

[amg35]

*THIS* in MY OPINION these two types of visitors are on completely opposite ends of the spectrum. The level of anxiety for someone taking a 5-, 7-, or 10-day trip paying thousands of dollars JUST for airfare for their family, not to mention having to find a place to sleep -either on or offsite- assuming they do not have relatives in the area; to do AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE in their once every 2 or 3 or 5 year trip is very, very different than a local. Not discounting EITHER touring style's experiences; I expect there are negatives to touring as a local just as there are to touring as a well ...tourist.

And I feel opposite - - I find the planning for a 10 day trip every few years not stressful at all. 10 days is more than enough time to see everything twice, at the very least. Going every year for 6 days or less would stress me out way more, deciding what to see and what to miss each trip, I would totally second guess myself.

I've said this before, we are going on a RC cruise in a few months....no planning at all, so different! Not bad, just different.

 

[itchin2go]

After watching the short video, I suppose I interpret the message a bit differently.

The only reference to spontaneity is at 1:51 with the statement that FP+ will "allow you even more time to be spontaneous".

They didn't say FP itself is spontaneous. In fact, I would interpret it to mean that FP+ is not spontaneous but using it affords more time to be spontaneous. As in, you've quickly used up your 3 FP's for the day - now what are you going to do?

And that is truly spontaneous!

I think you interpreted it exactly as others on this thread have. Here's where I have trouble following the interpretation. You could always spend the day riding standby, going from whatever experience struck your fancy to the next. How are things MORE spontaneous now?

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Do you now that they were intending this sentence to apply only in the parks and not to the planning stages? As has been shown over and over again in this thread, the use of FP+ has resulted in many positive benefits. But increased in-park spontaneity isn't among them. (See post #47).

I am unclear on your question.

From a language standpoint, they spend the first portion of he video touting prebooking. They then transition saying it allows more time to be spontaneous. The langauge is rather plain, so I don't know how one would conclude, without parsing words, that the spontenity referred to the pre-booking. It really is not how any if their marketing talks about it anyway.

There are plenty of experiences either way. We do not know which holds true for the majority of guests. So what post 47 says really does not price your claim over Disney's.

 

[itchin2go]

I am unclear on your question.

From a language standpoint, they spend the first portion of he video touting prebooking. They then transition saying it allows more time to be spontaneous. The langauge is rather plain, so I don't know how one would conclude, without parsing words, that the spontenity referred to the pre-booking. It really is not how any if their marketing talks about it anyway.

There are plenty of experiences either way. We do not know which holds true for the majority of guests. So what post 47 says really does not price your claim over Disney's.

I actually think it was a purposely vague statement.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

*THIS* in MY OPINION these two types of visitors are on completely opposite ends of the spectrum. The level of anxiety for someone taking a 5-, 7-, or 10-day trip paying thousands of dollars JUST for airfare for their family, not to mention having to find a place to sleep -either on or offsite- assuming they do not have relatives in the area; to do AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE in their once every 2 or 3 or 5 year trip is very, very different than a local. Not discounting EITHER touring style's experiences; I expect there are negatives to touring as a local just as there are to touring as a well ...tourist.

I can relate to this. This was me for my 2012 trip when moving back to Florida was in "never going to happen" mode and we had not been to Disney in 2.5 years since we used our Give A Day, Get A Day comp ticket.

I don't discount that it is different because it most certainly IS different.

My question is, that was legacy. Did people not feel that way when it was legacy? I challenge that the answer is they did. It was not cheap then just like it isn't cheap now. We had DVC, but it was still a pretty penny and it was stressful trying to squeeze it all in.

I was jealous of the locals and hated to have to pay the out of state rate for tickets. And our next trip was going it be a quarter past never as we did not know how to make it feasible without breaking the bank. And that was all under legacy.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I actually think it was a purposely vague statement.

The video?

Given that it clearly means different things to different people, quite likely.

 

[ArwenMarie]

There's a reason the "experts" like Josh all live locally. It's the only way to really get a handle on the day to day changes in the parks.

Those who only visit for a day or visit very infrequently don't have enough knowledge to know first hand what the trends are. A one time shot does not show much.

I disagree. There are some "tourist" type bloggers/YouTubers I follow and I am way more interested in their strategies than the locals', on the whole. And I have stopped following a lot of locals since FP+ because I find more and more that we just aren't working from the same constraints, namely time. I think you can be an "expert" tourist. (I will say Josh's work is the exception among local bloggers/podcasters)

Again, this is regarding touring and using FP+, not stuff like dining or the actual attractions, etc.

I don't find the information from locals bad. I do find much of it not pertinent to my touring style and priorities. The locals who post here are extremely helpful in a lot of things, but their FP+ priorities will usually be different from mine.

Dining questions, character questions, things like that ...... I find it very helpful to hear from the locals.

But FP+ (which is what this thread is about) is another matter.

Right, just about touring and FP+.

 

[mom2rtk]

My question is, that was legacy. Did people not feel that way when it was legacy? I challenge that the answer is they did. It was not cheap then just like it isn't cheap now. We had DVC, but it was still a pretty penny and it was stressful trying to squeeze it all in.

There was no need to feel that way with legacy. If you started early you could get FPs for all the headliners, many times including repeats.

 

[amg35]

There was no need to feel that way with legacy. If you started early you could get FPs for all the headliners, many times including repeats.

I had anxiety for legacy - went on a short trip in 2011 and we had to make sure we were at parks by rope drop (making everyone get up!) to get the fast passes for the "big" rides before they were gone. Now by anxiety, fun anxiety, but it was there.

Felt way less anxiety when I knew I already had a fast pass for The Mine Train this past trip.

 

[Angel Ariel]

I can relate to this. This was me for my 2012 trip when moving back to Florida was in "never going to happen" mode and we had not been to Disney in 2.5 years since we used our Give A Day, Get A Day comp ticket.

I don't discount that it is different because it most certainly IS different.

My question is, that was legacy. Did people not feel that way when it was legacy? I challenge that the answer is they did. It was not cheap then just like it isn't cheap now. We had DVC, but it was still a pretty penny and it was stressful trying to squeeze it all in.

I was jealous of the locals and hated to have to pay the out of state rate for tickets. And our next trip was going it be a quarter past never as we did not know how to make it feasible without breaking the bank. And that was all under legacy.

I can very honestly say that I did not stress at all on our legacy trips the way I did on this fp+ trip. Touring really was that much different for us. I don't doubt others could say the opposite, but I can only speak to my experience.

 

[cakebaker]

If you started early....

Yes, it worked IF you toured the way you did.

Problem is, a lot of people didn't and I don't know what it is that makes the way you chose to tour the way everyone should have to in order to do what they want.

 

[ArwenMarie]

The best way to increase spontaneity under FP+ is to either go to the parks often so you're not as concerned about what you ride on any given day or stay for a longer number of days to increase your chances of hitting everything you want to hit while filling the rest of the time with "spontaneous" experiences. I could see that.

I also think that there are huge variations in what people consider a good day in the parks. I admit, I'm probably on the low end of what many folks on here would consider a worthwhile day and I still don't think that FP+ has improved my trips. The biggest hit to spontaneity has been not being able to move park days around easily. I didn't realize how much I did that before until it was made so much harder.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I can very honestly say that I did not stress at all on our legacy trips the way I did on this fp+ trip. Touring really was that much different for us. I don't doubt others could say the opposite, but I can only speak to my experience.

I am sure others don't. That could feasibly related to--that is what they know.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

There was no need to feel that way with legacy. If you started early you could get FPs for all the headliners, many times including repeats.

No need?

I stressed.

We had used legacy countless times prior. Did not make it any less stressful that we had to squash it into a limited 5 days with no park hopping.

We also roped dropped and hit all we wanted.

But you didn't ask. You assumed.

 

[sharonped]

From Lisa loves Pooh: "My question is, that was legacy. Did people not feel that way when it was legacy? I challenge that the answer is they did. It was not cheap then just like it isn't cheap now. We had DVC, but it was still a pretty penny and it was stressful trying to squeeze it all in."

For *US* legacy was a much, much better experience than FP+. Full disclosure: we've only used FP+ once since it was instituted; but our experience went from "wow" to "meh" (for reasons stated many times in the FP+ threads); so we're leaving for Hawaii tomorrow. I've migrated from "we're never, ever going back" to "we'll see how things look in another 4 years". DS will have a high school band trip in 2019 that I can't see us missing, no matter how much FP+ sucks for us - not everybody!

Edited to add: Sorry I messed up the quoting function.

 

[Angel Ariel]

I am sure others don't. That could feasibly related to--that is what they know.

I'm confused...I was trying to say that I'm sure others had more stressful legacy trips and find trips less stressful now. I don't doubt their experience. It just wasn't mine.

I hope I clarified. I could see how my other post was worded weirdly.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I'm confused...I was trying to say that I'm sure others had more stressful legacy trips and find trips less stressful now. I don't doubt their experience. It just wasn't mine.

I hope I clarified. I could see how my other post was worded weirdly.

I am sorry I did not make it clear.
What I meant is had folks who live far away have no choice but to plan a certain way. You will always be non-local in how you visit so you have greater experience with that.

For our 2012 trip, I had not traveled to Disney as a non-Florida resident trip since the 1980s. My "local" trips were possible since 1997.

So traveling as an out
Of stater, non-local was a very different type of experience. That is what was stressful. I would have appreciated FP+ At that time actually.