Tiered FP+ Complaint

[Guzzi]

So, when i read about the tiered system for FP+ at both epcot and HS, i got really pissed. by tiering the attractions they prevent you from getting a FP+ for RnR and TSM on the same day and at Epcot TT and Soaring.

This really annoyed me, while we appreciate the atmosphere, 3 of the 4 of us are ride people. So politely in an email i thanked both DVC and Disney Corp Offices for de-valuing our DVC membership.

I heard nothing from Corp. I got the auto email from DVC saying they would respond. Well last week i get a phone message asking me to call a nice young lady at DVC HQ.

So i called her back and vented about the tiers and its effect on our touring. She kept telling me that they are testing and still figuing it out (all that $, they should have figured it out already). I stressed to her that had this system been in effect when we first visited i dont think we would have become DVC members and shared thoughts of selling the time share and my 14 year old sons view of why dont we skip WDW this year based up the tier restrictions.

Well she was very nice; she said that DVC was fielding "alot of complaints" from its members regarding the system and tiers. She also indicated that as DVC owners are WDWs most loyal customers, they were actually listening to the complaints. She also indicated that there would be special perks for DVC members under FP+ but gave no specifics. She also told me that the folks in charge of FP+were at DVC HQ as we spoke, I told her i would be happy to speak with one of them, but she politely told me that the probably wouldnt take the call.

I wish i had paid specific attention when she said 'perks' for DVC, cause i would have asked her questions, but i was too busy venting and listening to myself talk to ask intellegent questions

 

[Maverick]

I think as things progress, Disney will make lots of changes to the FP+ system. If you think about it, MDE will finally give Disney enough information (assuming everyone links their information online) to easily discern between DVC members, AP holders, on-site resort guests with AP's, on-site resort guests without AP's, off-site guests, etc.

That may actually play in the favor of DVC members if Disney uses it as a way to add 'perks' for us and also create additional tiers for other passholders/guests.

As an example: Maybe DVC'ers get 5 FP+'s per day with no tiering requirements in their atttraction choices, annual pass holders get 4. On-site guests get 3 with no attraction tiering and off-site guests get 3 with tiered attractions.

They could take that a step further with preferred dining experience times for DVC'ers or AP holders. Suppose they could even offer earlier or later extra magic hours based on tiers. (DVC'ers staying on-site get in 30 minutes ahead of other on-site resort guests, etc.)

They will even have the ability to get down to the individual level with real-time promotions like 'We noticed you haven't bought a turkey leg recently... While you are at MGM today (determined from wi-fi connectivity or magic band usage), stop by Toluca Legs in the next 90 minutes and get $2.00 off your purchase.' And magically when you pay (using your magic band of course), you get a $2.00 discount.

With the amount of guest data Disney will have from the MDE venture, the sky is kinda the limit on what they can do. The question is... How much effort are they willing to put towards an individualized / tiered personal experience? If it has an expected return on investment that meets or exceeds their capital hurdle rate, you can expect some interesting efforts in this arena.

The cool part is they will have this data RIGHT NOW and your smart phone or other wi-fi enabled device will be their communication vehicle.

With any new system or process, I think there will be positives and negatives for each of us. Just remember there will be bumps in the road along the way.

 

[DebbieB]

So, when i read about the tiered system for FP+ at both epcot and HS, i got really pissed. by tiering the attractions they prevent you from getting a FP+ for RnR and TSM on the same day and at Epcot TT and Soaring.

This really annoyed me, while we appreciate the atmosphere, 3 of the 4 of us are ride people. So politely in an email i thanked both DVC and Disney Corp Offices for de-valuing our DVC membership.

I heard nothing from Corp. I got the auto email from DVC saying they would respond. Well last week i get a phone message asking me to call a nice young lady at DVC HQ.

So i called her back and vented about the tiers and its effect on our touring. She kept telling me that they are testing and still figuing it out (all that $, they should have figured it out already). I stressed to her that had this system been in effect when we first visited i dont think we would have become DVC members and shared thoughts of selling the time share and my 14 year old sons view of why dont we skip WDW this year based up the tier restrictions.

Well she was very nice; she said that DVC was fielding "alot of complaints" from its members regarding the system and tiers. She also indicated that as DVC owners are WDWs most loyal customers, they were actually listening to the complaints. She also indicated that there would be special perks for DVC members under FP+ but gave no specifics. She also told me that the folks in charge of FP+were at DVC HQ as we spoke, I told her i would be happy to speak with one of them, but she politely told me that the probably wouldnt take the call.

I wish i had paid specific attention when she said 'perks' for DVC, cause i would have asked her questions, but i was too busy venting and listening to myself talk to ask intellegent questions

I think the issue will be when its fully rolled out is there will not be enough to go around if you could pick any 3. If you decided to book a trip at 30 or 45 days and all the headliners were gone, what would you do? I was there 2 weeks ago, I picked TSM, RnR, ToT, probably what a majority would pick. I think they have made a mess out of this because they truly do not understand their audience, they never seem to correctly gauge reactions. This is what they need to "figure out".

 

[WILDERNESS FAN 55]

I know I'll catch hell but ....Disney has been in the theme park business a looong time (invented it basically) I think they know what they're doing. It may take a while for it to become clear to its guests but they know what they're doing.

 

[Sammie]

I know I'll catch hell but ....Disney has been in the theme park business a looong time (invented it basically) I think they know what they're doing. It may take a while for it to become clear to its guests but they know what they're doing.

No heck from me, I agree, it is not the final copy. I just don't understand all the angst and sky is falling attitudes over this.

Not only do I think they will get it right, I think they will get it right for the majority of guests. Now, that does not mean that majority will also be the majority of DISers but you know there are many guests out there besides those here.

 

[DebbieB]

No heck from me, I agree, it is not the final copy. I just don't understand all the angst and sky is falling attitudes over this.

Not only do I think they will get it right, I think they will get it right for the majority of guests. Now, that does not mean that majority will also be the majority of DISers but you know there are many guests out there besides those here.

The funny thing is many people complaining have not actually experienced it, they are just going by what they read.

When I was there, I loved it. I know it might not be the same on my next trip in May, but I'm taking a "wait and see" attitude.

I agree that Disney is not going to lose business on this long term, they will make adjustments to make people want to come back.

 

[disneynutz]

Disney knows it's business and Disney knows people. They will adjust the system some how to make you feel good about paying more or having less of a perk. They may take something away but they will give you something else to replace it.

Disney spent a billion dollars on the new NextGen initiative to increase revenue by moving people around and through the parks and to make buying easier.

As far as DVC getting involved with Fast Pass + and MDE, I was told that Disney told DVC that they would field calls and correct errors even though DVC had nothing to do with implementation. It bugs me that members have been negatively affected with long contact wait times because Disney decided to make DVC help with correcting errors.

Bill

 

[twinsouvenirs]

As far as DVC getting involved with Fast Pass + and MDE, I was told that Disney told DVC that they would field calls and correct errors even though DVC had nothing to do with implementation. It bugs me that members have been negatively affected with long contact wait times because Disney decided to make DVC help with correcting errors.

Bill

Is DVC doing the fielding for just DVC members or Disney in general? Because if DVC is handling just for DVC members, I'm fine with that.

 

[LisaS]

This is a huge project and I appreciate that they are taking the time to test it thoroughly, analyze how it's working and make adjustments based on what they learn. We can't make a judgement call on how quickly a major project like this ought to be completed simply by looking at the amount of money that has been spent when we have no idea of the scope.

Re: tiering of FP+, back in October they had the opposite problem. The were giving away FP+ to popular attractions like Test Track to guests who didn't ask for them. Forcing guests to choose the maximum number of FP+ to which they are entitled takes FPs away from other guests who really want them. I hope in the final implementation they allow more flexibility. Perhaps if guests like me are allowed to choose fewer FP+s on days when we have other things going on, there will be more left for guests like the OP.

 

[Donna M]

Perhaps if guests like me are allowed to choose fewer FP+s on days when we have other things going on, there will be more left for guests like the OP.

Same with us; they gave me fastpasses that I don't want and I can't delete them; I have to have 3.

I want to see the availability of acquiring fp in more than one park a day, even if it is only a total of 3.

 

[tjkraz]

IMO, it's better to have DVC reps knowledgable and ready to help on MDE rather than handing-off folks to a different department. I'd rather see overall wait times slip a bit rather than being told "I'm sorry but I don't know anything about that. You'll have to call another department."

 

[Aunt Michelle]

Same with us; they gave me fastpasses that I don't want and I can't delete them; I have to have 3. I want to see the availability of acquiring fp in more than one park a day, even if it is only a total of 3.

You can individually cancel the ones you don't want using the MDE desktop app. I posted step by step instructions in another thread... but I can't find it!

 

[HtomSirveaux]

You can individually cancel the ones you don't want using the MDE desktop app. I posted step by step instructions in another thread... but I can't find it!

Here you go...

 

[Aunt Michelle]

Here you go...

I like you.

 

[HtomSirveaux]

I like you.

Gawrsh...

Though to be honest I mostly hunted it down since I needed it myself...

 

[LuvFFPlus]

I believe the tiers is needed now since many people want the same ride and double/triple dipping is still going on. As we approach the holiday season with higher crowd levels not everyone can ride as much as they want out of everything. This was only introduced for a couple of weeks and people made it sound like you will never be able to ride much in the future.

I just spent a whole day on the planning board with people stating to me that this is the worst idea and they are done with Disney or selling DVC.
Many have not even used FP+ at the parks yet. Just simply the fear that they are not able to ride the same ride 4 to 6 times in a day.
No one knows where the tiers will be at the end. It's a software now and they may implement a system that is both flexible and majority of people will like.

As for the people who only want to ride the same rides multiple times in a day? I don't believe they will ever be truly happy in life. Given time when there are more capacity to the rides who would even need FP? Just walk on for the 5 min standby as I had been earlier this month. It's just pure supply and demand.

 

[LuvFFPlus]

The funny thing is many people complaining have not actually experienced it, they are just going by what they read.

When I was there, I loved it. I know it might not be the same on my next trip in May, but I'm taking a "wait and see" attitude.

I agree that Disney is not going to lose business on this long term, they will make adjustments to make people want to come back.

This is the same with my experience as well.

 

[staceymay00]

We just returned from a 6 night stay using FP+ and liked it. We booked before the tier system was put into place, but could have lived with the tier system because we will still go to the parks at RD on some days. We did not even need FP+ (or FP-, which we could have also used throughout our trip but did not) on our MK day except for Peter Pan. We arrived at MK at 7:45 for 8am opening and rode the following with minimal standby waits: Space x2, Buzz x2, BTMR, Splash x2, Pirates, Jungle Cruise, Haunted Mansion and Peter Pan. All of that by 11am using FP only for Peter Pan. Just like with the old FP system, arriving at RD is still the way to maximize attractions and minimize waits.

Here is what I liked about FP+:

* checked into BWV at 5pm and headed over to EP for TT and Soarin' using FP+ (now with tiers we would have only done TT along with a lower tiered attraction - we're ok with that because with FP- we could not have ridden either without waiting an hour in standby)

* no mad dash to TSM at RD - that has been the worst RD situation in all the parks in my opinion

* on our checkout day when we switched resorts for the last two nights we dropped by DHS to ride TSM and RnRC (now would have to pick one or the other, but still better than without FP+ because we would not have waited in line to ride either standby)

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[LuvFFPlus]

We just returned from a 6 night stay using FP+ and liked it. We booked before the tier system was put into place, but could have lived with the tier system because we will still go to the parks at RD on some days. We did not even need FP+ (or FP-, which we could have also used throughout our trip but did not) on our MK day except for Peter Pan. We arrived at MK at 7:45 for 8am opening and rode the following with minimal standby waits: Space x2, Buzz x2, BTMR, Splash x2, Pirates, Jungle Cruise, Haunted Mansion and Peter Pan. All of that by 11am using FP only for Peter Pan. Just like with the old FP system, arriving at RD is still the way to maximize attractions and minimize waits.

Here is what I liked about FP+:

* checked into BWV at 5pm and headed over to EP for TT and Soarin' using FP+ (now with tiers we would have only done TT along with a lower tiered attraction - we're ok with that because with FP- we could not have ridden either without waiting an hour in standby)

* no mad dash to TSM at RD - that has been the worst RD situation in all the parks in my opinion

* on our checkout day when we switched resorts for the last two nights we dropped by DHS to ride TSM and RnRC (now would have to pick one or the other, but still better than without FP+ because we would not have waited in line to ride either standby)

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

It's great that you would be able to enjoy your trip using the system.
I too was able to get TSM without RD using FP+, and too me it was a good point.
I don't expect that I will get TSM multiple times in the same day but I still get to ride it once.
The people who will be hardest hit are the ones who ride the same ride multiple times in a day.
I hope Disney will find a way to give them happiness as time goes.

 

[Nabas]

I know I'll catch hell but ....Disney has been in the theme park business a looong time (invented it basically) I think they know what they're doing. It may take a while for it to become clear to its guests but they know what they're doing.

With over 30,000 rooms, WDW is no longer in the theme park business. It's in the hotel and timeshare business.

Since DAK opened in 1998, WDW has added 10,000 rooms with no new theme parks in the foreseeable future.

The theme parks are an excuse to help Disney book those hotel rooms and sell those timeshares.

Those in upper management who had a real passion for the theme parks were "retired" years ago.