There isn't any Disney Magic in this process!!

[Hokie2000]

There's nothing Disney does that makes me mad at other customers and I don't get mad at other customers when they have a problem with Disney.

But looking over some of the comments, I suppose it's a good thing the "haters" can take cheap shots all day long and not get upset about it while still responding with reason.
.

Oh those poor, unfortunate FP+ "Haters." Their patience is only surpassed by their wisdom.

 

[JanaDee]

Mom.....I firmly believe the proof is in the pudding. Come back and see me when u got some puddin'!!!

Seriously, you don't know how well the system will work for you, on the whole, until you put it to work for you.

I got puddin'. Still don't care for FP+.

 

[BugsDaddy]

Isn't it wonderful that people can post their opinions and experiences here and not get attacked, ridiculed, or chastised for doing so?

It's a pleasure to see how opposing views and opinions can be discussed in a rational and constructive manner.



.

It's snide comments like this that continue to contribute to the problem.

 

[JanaDee]

I actually tried FP+ and you know what. I didn care for it at all. Not the way I like to tour.

Us, either.

 

[JanaDee]

It's snide comments like this that continue to contribute to the problem.

There are plenty of snide remarks to go around, on BOTH sides, by all the players, including you and myself.

 

[mom2rtk]

I think the part of the point they were trying to make is that it would be taxing on the person trying to make all those reservations on the same day. The system would be fine.

That person would need to be ambidextrous with both sides of the brain operating logically (vs. creatively) for being able to book FP+ and ADRs simultaneously to be advantageous.

I'd be good with starting one at 6 AM and one at 7 AM.

 

[wisblue]

*

 

[JennaDeeDooDah]

I got puddin'. Still don't care for FP+.

I'm about to have my fifth helping of pudding. I don't like it. I don't like how much planning I have to do - and I have always really enjoyed the planning before. I don't enjoy how far out I have to do the planning. I don't enjoy how few fast passes I get. I don't enjoy the fact that I can't double dip. I don't enjoy the fact that is is next to impossible to change my plans and still get a high demand fast pass that fits with my schedule I am required to spend so much time planning so far out from my actual vacation days. I don't like that I am supposed to know exactly what my family will enjoy doing enough to use fast passes for it so far out. I do not like the longer lines for certain rides while also not shortening the high demand ride queues enough for me to stand in them. I am truly struggling to find something I like about FP+.



Edited to add: Let me be clear here. I do like knowing that there will be 3 rides that I will be able to ride with minimal wait. That's great. So, I do think it is fair to say that I enjoy having FP+ more than not having any form of fast pass at all. That said, I cannot think of anything I like about FP+ that wasn't already there with FP.

 

[shalom]

They could do it at all 4 parks no problem. There are numerous empty spaces in the other three parks. We saw mickey at epcot in innoventions a few years back. They had nothing elaborate for him.

Mickey wasn't getting slammed the way A&E were, and there was only one of him; they need two pairs of the ladies in order to keep the lines down to reasonable. Mickey's also in all four parks because he has a lot of flexibility in terms of theme (Sorcerer Mickey, Skywalker Mickey, etc.), so if they fling up something for him to stand in front of, the lines to it are not going to interfere with anything.

The Frozen shows at HS are actually pretty brilliant; they're able to let a LOT of people see the ladies without making people stand in line, and they did that while using structure that was pretty much already in place. Shifting A&E over to the Princess Fairy Tale Hall was the same sort of thing -- the structure was already in place, so a few cosmetic changes did the job. But they only seem to have started the "two lines to one character" thing within the past few years, so there aren't many places they can do that. One of them, happily, was in Fantasyland, which fits the Frozen "theme." Sounds like they're adding another one to Norway, ditto.

Disney is notoriously slow when it comes to structural changes. Even things that were planned long time back take forever to implement. I would guess they use the same crew (or crew pool) for all their projects, and pulling that crew off the planned stuff in order to whip up a new hall for the Frozen ladies would set all the other projects back considerable if not carefully planned. Disney also doesn't move quickly when it comes to characters who're suddenly popular; they've seen popularity die off just as fast as it kicks up too many times to commit much money to exploiting it.

 

[mom2rtk]

*

I'm so glad you agree.

 

[cakebaker]

I'd be good with starting one at 6 AM and one at 7 AM.

You might be, I wouldn't. I bet a lot of people who have to be at work early in the morning wouldn't either, especially since they may not be able to get back to their computers until that evening. And there's the problem- what works for you doesn't work for other people.

It's working now just fine as far as I can see. No one is going to die because they had to stay up a few hours for a few days at most, especially since no one is making them do it. Really, all you have to do is grab A&E in any combination they give you. You can always go back and tweak it later. I don't see the big deal- much ado about nothing.

The others simply are not gone that quickly. I note that 7dmt, for 5 people is still available 30 days out and for quite a few other days earlier than that.

 

[DisneyKidds]

I got puddin'. Still don't care for FP+.

And I completely respect that.

Fact of the matter is there are pluses and minuses, I think we can all agree on that. It's also a fact that some people like FP+ and some people don't. I've always appreciated people who can objectively and honestly bring those varying view points to the table.

 

[wisblue]

Oh, I'll get there. I'm kicking around a plan right now. Which is why I keep up to date on this side of the board.

I've had am amazing time at DLR the past 2 years though and was very happy with the value for the money spent.

Would you rather I have taken that expensive and very short spur of the moment trip (in peak season) then come back and complained about how long the standby line was for the 7DMT? I know what I value. And I know what will diminish an experience for me. But I've been having WDW withdrawal lately and am trying to get back sooner rather than later...... in spite of the fact that I'm currently holding APs for DLR.

It doesn't matter to me one way or another if you choose to stay home instead of taking a short trip to WDW because you were afraid that you might not be able to get a FP for one attraction.

But, as long as you asked, as long as someone is going to be complaining anyway, I would rather have him or her complaining about something that actually DID happen instead of about something that he or she is afraid MIGHT happen. Of course, my real preference would be for people to stop complaining altogether, or at least find something different to complain about.

As far as your amazing trips to DLR, I seem to recall that you had the luxury of visiting during low crowd times in early December. Now, when someone reports that they liked FP+ after a visit on low crowd days, it doesn't take long for someone to say that that was more a result of liking low crowds than liking FP+. It seems like the same reasoning should apply to your trips to DLR. We visited DLR between Christmas and New Year's and we had a great time even though the availability of FP's was next to nothing once you got past the first few hours of the day. If you wanted a lot of repeat rides those days, FPs weren't going to help you. We did what we wanted by getting to the parks early and riding the most popular attractions before the lines got too long instead of getting FPs with return times that were many hours in the future. After we got and used one FP there was nothing available that was going to do us any good.

 

[Laketravis]

Isn't it wonderful that people can post their opinions and experiences here and not get attacked, ridiculed, or chastised for doing so?

It's a pleasure to see how opposing views and opinions can be discussed in a rational and constructive manner.

It's snide comments like this that continue to contribute to the problem.

The problem is that what would normally be considered complimentary comments such as those are instead assumed to be "snide" based on real conditions.

And that is truly unfortunate.



.

 

[trainingupmy4princes]

Ok, my argument for why 30 (resort) and 10 (offsite) is not appropriate.

Disney wants you to pay at 45. This is a no-brainer. FP window for resort guests should be longer than 45. Because, they want you to be thinking about your trip, and have exciting things planned on it, before that big bill hits and you have to chunk out $5,000. Otherwise, if FP is at 30, when 45 hits, people might think... Oh, money is tight, and we have 2 days at Epcot, so we can cut that down to 1 day, shave off here, and pay $4,400 instead. Done. But... by it being 60, now the thought is... "Oh, money is tight, and we have this day where we're doing Soarin, Nemo, and Figment, and this day where we're doing Test Track, Mission, and Spaceship... which should we cut... hmm... nothing really works. Ok we'll keep it. Pay $5,000.

So Disney did not "lock you in" per se, but they want families thinking about their trip before they have to pay their trip off. They want you to have things booked... so you are not sacrificing just another day at a random park, to instead.. be sacrificing riding the Mine Train and visiting Rapunzel. By having activities planned, you are much more likely to keep what you planned, or even try to add more.

10 days is awful. By 10 days, it's now last minute. People should have their days planned well before this, cuz by day 10 you are practically in packing mode, trying to get advance homework done, trying to meet teachers, tie up ends at work, etc. The 10 days immediately preceding a trip are not best spent planning the trip any more. That should have been done a month ago.

So. I still think 60/30. I strongly disagree that your 30/10 is better. Above are just a few reasons.

While, I can agree with you about the whys of 60/30. Then another solution would be for them to better lock down their hours before the 60. I don't mind if they add extra hours at night as that won't affect booked ADRS or FP+ but shortening hours or adding a morning EMH shouldn't be happening as that damages people's hard earned plans. Can we not agree if Disney makes you jump through hoops then they shouldn't be yanking the rug out from under your feet when you land?

 

[BugsDaddy]

While, I can agree with you about the whys of 60/30. Then another solution would be for them to better lock down their hours before the 60. I don't mind if they add extra hours at night as that won't affect booked ADRS or FP+ but shortening hours or adding a morning EMH shouldn't be happening as that damages people's hard earned plans. Can we not agree if Disney makes you jump through hoops then they shouldn't be yanking the rug out from under your feet when you land?

I agree with this. Although there are probably emergency exceptions, Disney should not be changing schedules around with such short notice. They cannot expect people to plan around those things.

 

[Cormoran]

. We visited DLR between Christmas and New Year's and we had a great time even though the availability of FP's was next to nothing once you got past the first few hours of the day. If you wanted a lot of repeat rides those days, FPs weren't going to help you. We did what we wanted by getting to the parks early and riding the most popular attractions before the lines got too long instead of getting FPs with return times that were many hours in the future. After we got and used one FP there was nothing available that was going to do us any good.

So. FP's were still available, but you didn't like the return times, correct?

 

[JanaDee]

I'm about to have my fifth helping of pudding. I don't like it. I don't like how much planning I have to do - and I have always really enjoyed the planning before. I don't enjoy how far out I have to do the planning. I don't enjoy how few fast passes I get. I don't enjoy the fact that I can't double dip. I don't enjoy the fact that is is next to impossible to change my plans and still get a high demand fast pass that fits with my schedule I am required to spend so much time planning so far out from my actual vacation days. I don't like that I am supposed to know exactly what my family will enjoy doing enough to use fast passes for it so far out. I do not like the longer lines for certain rides while also not shortening the high demand ride queues enough for me to stand in them. I am truly struggling to find something I like about FP+.



Edited to add: Let me be clear here. I do like knowing that there will be 3 rides that I will be able to ride with minimal wait. That's great. So, I do think it is fair to say that I enjoy having FP+ more than not having any form of fast pass at all. That said, I cannot think of anything I like about FP+ that wasn't already there with FP.

I agree with everything you said. I've used FP+ 3 times.

 

[soar2014]

Oh my Glob! Really people? 279 posts over this subject in less than 24 hrs?

 

[cakebaker]

Mom.....I firmly believe the proof is in the pudding. Come back and see me when u got some puddin'!!!

Seriously, you don't know how well the system will work for you, on the whole, until you put it to work for you.

I've had pudding twice, getting ready to go back for my 3rd and I love the puddin'!

This coming from someone who was convinced originally that I would despise it. More pudding please!