This just in from Disney Parks blog!

[Tarheel girl 1975]

Fuzzy - for once you and I agree. =) I am struggling to see how it works for headliners. With folks prebooking 3 I don't see there being good availability left. Maybe....I hope they prove me wrong. But I think that pesky math is going to get in the way. Neither FP- nor FP+ has the ability to change capacity or number of headliners which in my opinion is the real issue.

I think MK is the only park with enough ride capacity to allow for the extra FP. Although, if they don't enforce tiers for the extra FP, it might be possible to get a FP for Maelstrom. I am guessing that most people are getting FP for TT or Soarin instead.

 

[DWillowBay]

I leave in 3 days!! Step it up, Disney pals!!

 

[MaryKatesMom]

Count me in as one of the few that is fine to skip Soarin'. I'll usually ride it once at RD, but that's it. Test Track, on the other hand, I love. (Not so much the theme, however...preferred the original version) I mostly just like to walked around WS and eat/drink my way around the world.

I was with you for the afternoon. Plus, I love all the entertainment.

Alas, I am in FW those afternoon waiting for my FP+ return times.

 

[Love Tink]

Ha ha!!!!!!!!!!! This is kinda silly doncha think?????? The pro FastPass folk did not cancel their trip!!!!!! They were the ones who agreed to "test" FastPass+ and provide feedback to Disney. They believed and said all along that changes will come and this was a "test" and they were patient and did not jump to conclusions. Others "proclaimed" that it wasn't really a test. I'm happy to have listened to the pro FastPass+ people because they were right about that all along!!!!! I hope it gets better too!!!!!!!

45 punctuation marks in 8 sentences. Maybe you should lie down for a bit.

 

[MaryKatesMom]

I think MK is the only park with enough ride capacity to allow for the extra FP. Although, if they don't enforce tiers for the extra FP, it might be possible to get a FP for Maelstrom. I am guessing that most people are getting FP for TT or Soarin instead.

I was thinking the same thing. Maelstrom is probably the only ride that wouldn't see longer SB lines due to FP+ because it didn't have many takers.

 

[BJSforVols]

I am trying to understand what you are asking.

The old system did not start at 9:00. The old system generally started at 9:40. So there was almost an hour at opening where stand by could move without any interference from FP, and then another hour where FP was minimally invasive.

Now FP+ starts at 9:00. The 9:00 (and 9:10, 9:20, etc.) slots are unattractive to most people because they seem "a waste." Even so, there has been an effect on lines in the morning.

With this new development, the early slots won't be seen as a waste anymore, and I think the effect on the early lines will become even more pronounced.

None of this has anything to do with what "options" one had with the previous system and the new system.

You're calling the difference from 9:00 am start to 9:40 am (questioning this start as well. I'm fairly certain we had some fast passes earlier than a beginning window of 9:40 am in the past.) start significant when the parks remain open until midnight at times. Yes, it does have something to do with having "options." The old system defaulted to the earliest available slots with no option to delay it. In other words, the morning slots were being filled for certain. Early slots were not considered a waste with the old system. AT rope drop you rushed to get your old style fast pass and then went to ride a short big attraction standby. Once you used the fast pass you got before riding anything, you got your next fast pass.

 

[ontheuptick]

45 punctuation marks in 8 sentences. Maybe you should lie down for a bit.

I agree. But, their username is TooExcitedCantSleep, so I doubt the lying down will help.

 

[Ariel on Land]

I think this is progress, and I appreciate that WDW is listening to the guests, my biggest concern is how it will affect SB lines, especially in the morning. Although really, IMO, the best fix would have simply been to fix the tiering business, and just add extra FPs to MK, as that's really the only park that needed it. I guess time will tell, but as of now, I'm still glad we are going in September!

 

[clsteve]

And those in THAT line were only offsite people. Now EVERYONE would be in that line.

And the early morning bus line.....

Gotta hand it to them- 9am FP ressies, now another FP after you use the first 3, a way to keep the kiosks (and the investment in them) relevant, and now Mousekeeping can start on more rooms earlier in the day. You don't spend money when you're sleeping in......

 

[JanaDee]

Ha ha!!!!!!!!!!! This is kinda silly doncha think?????? The pro FastPass folk did not cancel their trip!!!!!! They were the ones who agreed to "test" FastPass+ and provide feedback to Disney. They believed and said all along that changes will come and this was a "test" and they were patient and did not jump to conclusions. Others "proclaimed" that it wasn't really a test. I'm happy to have listened to the pro FastPass+ people because they were right about that all along!!!!! I hope it gets better too!!!!!!! Disney will not ever bring back the Legacy FastPass. So- those guests have to adjust to the new normal or they will be out of luck.

I tested FP+.

 

[lugnut33]

While I'm glad they are doing this I wonder what the unintended consequences will end up being? I could definitely see lines at second tier attractions getting even longer.

I guess my plan would be to get there at rope drop and kill off some of the main attractions using a combo of rope drop and the 3 scheduled FP+, then select a FP+ for whatever ride has the longest wait, and just keep doing that until the park closes. With wait times increasing, getting the maximum amount of FP+ in a day will be the best way to optimize touring.

 

[fbb]

I think MK is the only park with enough ride capacity to allow for the extra FP.

Depending on what the park-hopping FP+ scenario looks like, the MK could be the only park I will use FP+ in at all.

 

[2Tiggies]

Ha ha!!!!!!!!!!! This is kinda silly doncha think?????? The pro FastPass folk did not cancel their trip!!!!!! They were the ones who agreed to "test" FastPass+ and provide feedback to Disney. They believed and said all along that changes will come and this was a "test" and they were patient and did not jump to conclusions. Others "proclaimed" that it wasn't really a test. I'm happy to have listened to the pro FastPass+ people because they were right about that all along!!!!! I hope it gets better too!!!!!!!

Disney will not ever bring back the Legacy FastPass. So- those guests have to adjust to the new normal or they will be out of luck.

Wow! (One exclamation mark).

How is it that the Pro FP people decided to test FP? Testing was offered in stages to all resort guests initially and there came a point fairly quickly where you couldn't opt out of it. And who jumped to conclusions? You have clearly missed the discussions of late on here. Both pro and con arguments have raised valid points and there was almost always some common ground for agreement between both 'sides' somewhere along the line.

I don't think anyone is seriously under the illusion that the old FP is coming back either.

I think you accidentally deleted the last line of your post. "So there" followed by a sticking his tongue out emoticon would have fitted in quite nicely.

Good grief!

 

[lugnut33]

And the early morning bus line.....

Gotta hand it to them- 9am FP ressies, now another FP after you use the first 3, a way to keep the kiosks (and the investment in them) relevant, and now Mousekeeping can start on more rooms earlier in the day. You don't spend money when you're sleeping in......

After reading your post Bob Iger just sprouted devil horns when I think of him.

 

[MrInfinity]

Again, this only applies in peak season. And I think you might also be surprised the number of people who don't actually go for those rides. Even "regular" grown ups. But lots of smaller kids, lots of older people as well, no interest or ability to ride those attractions.

Do the same calculation on an overall 5 or 6 day with Epcot as the most recommended park ... or a 4 or 3 day .... MUCH different.

This is true. I'm hoping.

The days I'm at EC it's only a 5... so... we'll see. If I'm able to pull a 4th that's in any way useful w/o having to change my afternoon ones to being earlier, then I'd call this a good change. There's also the fact that we will be more proactive about obtaining that 4th than the typical guest, which could also bode better for the FP- lovers.

 

[mcd2745]

Count me in as one of the few that is fine to skip Soarin'. I'll usually ride it once at RD, but that's it. Test Track, on the other hand, I love. (Not so much the theme, however...preferred the original version) I mostly just like to walked around WS and eat/drink my way around the world.

Soarin' is in my opinion the most overrated attraction at WDW - and it's just that, my own opinion, and I realize everyone has their "most overrated". It's good, but not worth the RD frenzy and long lines it always has.

Anyway, regardless of where you rank each attraction, I just don't get the idea behind people wanting to ride certain things over and over. There's so many different attractions at WDW, and I always focus more on trying to experience as many different ones as possible, not experience the same ones over and over. If one of my favorites has little to no wait, then maybe I'll give it a second go, but that's not something I'm planning on doing from the beginning.

 

[MaryKatesMom]

If Disney's entire motivation was keeping people stuck in a park, they could easily make the system where you could have 5 or 6 passes pre-scheduled per day, but the system requires you to have them spread out. 2 in the morning, two after lunch, two after 7 PM. And the thing is, people would agree to it. they would go along with the requirements.

Disney understands that people want their vacations to be somewhat flexible, so they did not implement a system like this. And it sounds like the changes they are going to roll out will result in more flexibility, not less.

No. With more users and finite ride capacity there will be less, flexibility, less "on the fly"

I'm thinking about Epcot now specifically. We have cut the time we usually spend there to half (if not less) for our upcoming trip because we used to ride TT and Soarin the rope drop, zig zag SB/FP style with FP-

It has been the most difficult park to try schedule FP's for this year as we have to pick one of our two favorites but aside from that, I had trouble choosing Tier 2 attractions because in a twisted way, I feel like I may as well just join the SB line for Figment, Nemo and SE when we think it's reasonable enough to wait and when we are in that part of the park. Like we used to. So fast forward to the changes that have been announced and I started wondering what I'd do with one more FP+ in that park. I don't expect TT or Soarin to be available. So that takes me back to Tier 2. So I've come back to where I was and thinking now that the addition of one more makes no difference to us there. Except that it may make standby lines at the lesser, available attractions remain long until park closing as people take what they can get and/or feel compelled to take a fourth or fifth FP just because they can. I have mixed feelings about this until we have more information.

I wish they had given a start date. It is getting close and I don't want to move my FP+'s to mid-day yet.

A agree with this. I think Disney wants the additional FP to function more like legacy FP, which requires you to be in the park. Otherwise, they'll just get used up by people in a different park. I wondered why they couldn't just make this a feature that works only when you were in the park and the remembered that the App barely works to begin with. Since everone will be using their 3rd at a different time, I am hoping that will spread out crowds at the kiosks. It's also likely that some people will not book a 4th FP.

If the extra FP+ affects SB lines like the 3 have, then a 45 minute wait to get a FP+ will look like a bargain compared to a 70 minute wait everywhere else.

Haters going to hate comes to mind reading this. My only issue now is fix the app and increase headline ride counts. I always liked FP+ but I think this won over most people moving forward.

Please disney don't give out toooooooooo many FP+ though. stand by should still get rides.

Name calling isn't productive.

How about you explain why you think the FP+ is better?

Why do you think longer SB lines are better?

Why do you think this won't affect RD?

I don't see that being more than the next Disney vacationer. $5k is average or even low for a Disney vacation. It's not like your paying a premium to get special treatment.

I'm paying rack rate over Easter. I made my reservations for BC over a year ago. I'm not asking for special treatment but I'm not happy to have (as I've said many times) the "Theme Park" taken out of my "Theme Park vacation". For 1/2 of the price I could go to South Beach and have a relaxing beach and pool vacation, with better food, I might add.

It looks like even me making the special effort and getting up early and hitting RD isn't going to help me avoid long lines. I am getting less for the same amount of money.

I am trying to understand what you are asking.

The old system did not start at 9:00. The old system generally started at 9:40. So there was almost an hour at opening where stand by could move without any interference from FP, and then another hour where FP was minimally invasive.

Now FP+ starts at 9:00. The 9:00 (and 9:10, 9:20, etc.) slots are unattractive to most people because they seem "a waste." Even so, there has been an effect on lines in the morning.

With this new development, the early slots won't be seen as a waste anymore, and I think the effect on the early lines will become even more pronounced.

None of this has anything to do with what "options" one had with the previous system and the new system.

Yes. I still haven't seen a logical explaination of why this won't happen.

 

[JeremyGNJ]

Here's what the "4th FastPass" really means:

So, you're the type of person who will be in the park long enough to use all 3 of your FP+ and then get a 4th, and hang around until that time slot comes up? You're likely spending a lot of money here....you've earned that 4th FP.

Next it will be printed on your purchase receipt:
"Congratulations, you've spent $300 in the park today and have earned a 5th Fastpass!"

 

[johde]

That's fine and all...
But Soarin and TT handle 17,000 and 13,000 riders, or 30,000 total.

At 70% FP vs Standby, that's only 21,000 FP+ available, total. Even if you go 100%, that's only 30,000 available.

Now 50,000 guests prebook, and pretty much everyone trys for a TT or Soarin.

How do you see there being any left by 2pm? When 50,000 guests got to pick months ago, and many guests pulled a second as soon as 11:15? You're going to have to spend your FPs immediately to have any chance of anything decent being left.

EVERYONE has had a chance to pull them already. In FP-, you could get multiples because most ppl did not pull any - ever. But with FP+, pretty much everybody going is going to have pulled a ticket way before you can hope to get a second.

Sure you can probly get a FP to MS, or maybe even SE. But if it doesn't help you to get on the rides you want I don't see it as being great. Guess I'm just wondering why ppl who don't like FP+ are now cheering... as if they are actually getting a return to FP-. This is simply a return to FP- in which every single guest got to pull 3 tickets from home well in advance -- which is really nothing like FP-.

I see a lot of this depending on what time of the year you are going. For example, the latest estimates put EPCOT's annual attendance at 11 million people or a little over 30,000 people a day. So, if you go during a slow period, I think you're odds are pretty good at getting a second good FP+ (TT or Soarin') at 2:00. If you go on NYE, I can see Soarin', TT, Maelstrom etc. booked solid during prebooking. But that's little different than FP- in the Afternoon on NYE under FP- your choices were Living with the land or Living With the Land for FP's.

 

[MrInfinity]

I wish they had given a start date. It is getting close and I don't want to move my FP+'s to mid-day yet.

Agreed. I don't know if I should reevaluate or leave alone.