Unfair :(

[North of Mouse]

We never stay on property any more either so I completely agree with you. Their transportation is so bad it is just not worth it nor a perk I don't have 2-3 hours a day

Wow, where did you go on the buses that kept you captive for 2-3 hours in one day?

Thankfully, Disney gives everyone a choice of where they want to stay, etc.
Just can't understand all the ranting about it. You either think it's worth it, or you don't, and stay offsite - everyone's privilege. We think it's worth it, and have stayed onsite since the parks first opened in 1971.

Have yet to have more than a few glitches with the transportation service and have never used our own vehicles. We love it and are glad everyone doesn't like to use it.

Have a feeling that what we think of the transportation system is in what our expectations are. When you are transporting as many people as Disney does in one day, in my book they do a pretty terrific job. Perfect? No!
Driving, and getting from the parking lots to the park isn't perfect either!

 

[WilsonFlyer]

removed

 

[goofy4tink]

A 'perk' is something that is offered to a particular group of people that is in addition to what they are already getting. So.....those paying the somewhat ridiculously high rates to stay in any onsite WDW owned resort, get certain perks that come with those high rates.....charging back to your room account, having purchases delivered to your resort, transportation between your resort and the parks..be it a boat, bus, monorail, or by foot. You get to make ADRs a bit more easily than those not staying onsite. You get to participate in free dining.
So...if Disney decides to come along and make FPs more easily available to onsite guests, as a perk of paying those rates, then so be it. Those staying offsite, can still get them, but they will have to wait until they are standing there, at the kiosk...that's probably what will happen. The parks are all a part of the Walt Disney World Resort...it all falls under that one umbrella...along with the actual resorts. So, yes, it is basically all one. If someone chooses to stay offsite, they are going to find that they are not able to participate in some things that Disney offers..plain and simple.

I mean, seriously, as it is, the S/D don't get nearly as many 'perks' as those resorts owned by Disney. They get some, but they pretty much pay for them and they are on WDW property.

Back in the day (late 90's), anyone could buy an E ticket for the night. Disney had E-Nights. You paid about $12 or such, and you got to stay in MK for an addtl 3 or so hours. Anyone could do it...offsite, onsite. It was great. Then Disney changed it up and came up with EMHs. This whole FP+ thing is just one more tweak..and not everyone is going to like it, especially those that choose to stay offsite but still want all the 'perks' of staying onsite.

 

[Disneyholic]

How do you like AKL? I would like to stay there someday. I have never even been there but the pictures look gorgeous.

My point is there are different perks people get based on tier of resort/ on site vs off site that roughly correspond to the amount of money they are paying. Everyone pays about the same to get into the parks so there shouldn't be any perks available to some people who pay the same amount to get into the parks as those who don't get the perks.

We enjoy having a Savanna view room where we can sit on our balcony relaxing & watching the animals. For people who just want to use the room as a place to sleep it is probably not a good fit, but we spend time at the resort winding down. That, for us, is what vacation is all about.

I really don't want to get into an argument over this FP stuff because we seldom us FP. I've noticed on most rides the FP line bypasses all the unique Ques that Disney designed. On a lot of the rides I actually prefer the regular line as a place to relax and take in the neat things along the way. The line may take longer, but we talk, check our e-mails and relax while we wait. I don't do parks commando, never have. I am on vacation to have a good time, but I am not going to kill myself doing it. We have never made rope drop & I never intend to. I am not a morning person. I will stay out later at night. I don't do well in sunlight so later in the day is better anyway.

You pay the same to get INTO the parks, yes, but Disney has decided that once you get in they are in control of who gets what. The ticket just gets you in the gate. Nothing more, unless they decide you get more.

 

[nugov2]

As some others have said...it's not exactly unfair....
However, it is elitist and that's not what Walt was about...

I always laugh when I see people say this. It hasn't been about what Walt wanted or was about since he was no longer involved. I'm sure lots of companies started by people and taken over by others no longer are on the same track the creators thought it would be. Doesn't matter what he wanted only matters what is.

 

[nugov2]

[QUOTE I really don't want to get into an argument over this FP stuff because we seldom us FP. You pay the same to get INTO the parks, yes, but Disney has decided that once you get in they are in control of who gets what. The ticket just gets you in the gate. Nothing more, unless they decide you get more.[/COLOR][/QUOTE]

I agree with you and if they do not offer it to off site I won't cry unfair. I will cry dumb. If WDW doesn't want to take the extra money I would pay for FP/MB that is fine with me. It won't change where I stay it won't make me not go, but it will make me change my several days in the park to just one. I will always go to the place that is most convenient and Uni/IOA is just as fun so I will spend a couple of day there and also SW. I think it would be bad business to exclude a large group of visitors.

 

[jctwizzer]

I always laugh when I see people say this. It hasn't been about what Walt wanted or was about since he was no longer involved. I'm sure lots of companies started by people and taken over by others no longer are on the same track the creators thought it would be. Doesn't matter what he wanted only matters what is.

Which is why, after 20 years of going four times a year, we only go once a year now and will probably stop that.....they've diluted a great product to
the point it's not worth the effort.

 

[aubriee]

I think the difference between you and I on this issue is that I see the resorts and parks as separate entities. Since everyone pays the same amount for park tickets I feel no one should get more time in the parks or access to more rides in the parks as anyone else. If people choose to stay onsite, for whatever reason, they get perks such as better pool, Disney themes, access to DP, transportation, etc. If they stay at the GF, Poly, or CR they even have a monorail right outside their door to take them to EPCOT and MK. Those are perks that should be, and are, tied to resort tier. I don't think the parks should be included in that.

 

[aubriee]

Which is a moot point, IMHO, since they have stated that fp+ will be available to day guests! eventually. They are just not testing right now.

The problem is some of us have trips planned right now and because we are staying offsite will not have access to FP+. and in some instances it is too late to change/cancel the trip (prepaid resort reservations, air fare, park tickets already puchased, etc), so we are stuck. At the time I spent over $1800.00 for three annual passes, and made our resort and airline reservations last spring, FP was the same (and fair) for everyone. WDW changed the rules after I bought annual passes and booked airfare/resorts and it's too late to switch now. I didn't realize how bad it would be for offsite guests until I was actually there in Sept and experienced it. If I had known, I would not have purchased those annual passes, could have saved that $1800.00, and made other plans.

In my case it's affecting not one but two of my trips and maybe a third. It affected me when I was there in Sept and will again in Dec, and who knows if it will affect our April trip. There is a good chance that even though we are staying at Bonnet Creek again in April and that the resort is right there inside the Disney gates, and we all have annual passes, that we may not even go into the WDW parks and if we do, it will only be for maybe 4 days, instead of the 9-11 days that we usually spend in the parks each trip. We also have annual passes for Universal and right now Sea World is offering their Fun Passes for $92.00 good for now and all of 2014. There are too many other things to do in Orlando to play their games. For our Dec trip we have already decided to decrease our days from the nine WDW days two Univeral days we had planned down to only four or five days in the Disney parks.

 

[BeerMe]

Disney's Parks and resorts - Disney's rules. They may lose business, but I bet they don't.

 

[sargenca]

....... Back in the day (late 90's), anyone could buy an E ticket for the night. Disney had E-Nights. You paid about $12 or such, and you got to stay in MK for an addtl 3 or so hours. Anyone could do it...offsite, onsite. It was great. Then Disney changed it up and came up with EMHs. This whole FP+ thing is just one more tweak..and not everyone is going to like it, especially those that choose to stay offsite but still want all the 'perks' of staying onsite.

I remember doing the E-ride Nights. It was for resort guests only. It wasn't open to all park goers.

 

[sargenca]

A 'perk' is something that is offered to a particular group of people that is in addition to what they are already getting. So.....those paying the somewhat ridiculously high rates to stay in any onsite WDW owned resort, get certain perks that come with those high rates.....

We use to pay the somewhat ridiculously high rates until we tried the Pop! We have paid $85-$120 a night there which I think is a good value. Pun intended.

 

[goofy4tink]

I was there in Sept.....my trip wasn't impacted at all. Of course, at that time, a very small number of people had the bands. I go to WDW twice a year, sometimes more. I'm heading down in a week, staying at the Dolphin, and again in Dec, with a MB. I get one, maybe two, FPs each day. I will be interested to see how my stay in a week works out, without a MB. I doubt it's going to be a big deal.
Having said that, I can't imagine that Disney is going to exclude off-site guests from the FP+ program. They will probably allow these guests to make FP+ choices in the parks, the same as the S/D are doing this month. I doubt they would charge for something that has been free....that would be stupid on their part.

This Dec trip will probably be my last WDW trip for awhile. Dh and I will travel to Ca next Dec to visit friends and go to DL for the first time. I'll be interested to watch and see what happens with the MBs as time passes. There is always a big ruckus when Disney rolls out something new like this. Then, six months later, no one even remembers when it any different.

 

[Planogirl]

We all have our own ideas as to what Disney should offer or not offer and what is "fair" but ultimately it's up to Disney and hopefully SOMEDAY we'll know where they're going with this. And this is actually my biggest gripe, the not knowing. I have never seen a company be so mysterious about things as Disney has been lately.

We have a trip scheduled in December and it was all set up long before all of this FP+ stuff popped up. We stay both onsite and offsite and this trip just happens to be offsite. I don't want anything extra - I never have. However it's daunting to not know how to tour and to realize that something we always got is disappearing. Plus as I've said before, Disney won't even let me pay extra for what we always got before for free. It's just strange.

We'll see the decorations (never have), ride what we can and spend significant time visiting their competitor like we have been doing. Everyone's feelings about these changes are different but for now I just plan to wait and see before I decide about any future plans.

 

[WillAustin]

I have never seen a company be so mysterious about things as Disney has been lately.

I think it's because they have no idea how it will actually shake out yet. They can't predict with any degree of certainty whether same-day FP+ will be widely available or how many people will book FP+ far in advance. They won't know if they need to further ration the FP+s until these testing phases give them some more data.

Unfortunately, I think what they'll end up with is a mediocre in-between system that doesn't offer much benefit for most guests.

 

[Cadyrose]

Disney is an ever-evolving business...they are always looking to update and add so that people keep coming back...

The nature of the beast is that there will most likely not be one part of the year that doesn't miss out on something...whether that is refurbishments, construction and testing...all of these things can't happen separately from the park/resorts operating because it directly affects how they work...

Did I...or any other guest at the time, spend a lot of money to go last December and have that beautiful view of the Castle marred by a ginormous crane? Nope and it was disappointing at first but I didn't make it a big deal because I knew in a year and a half, it would be worth it to be able to go on a great new mine coaster...

That same trip, we were picked for FP+, pre-bands...got told about a week prior to leaving...we didn't even use them all because we weren't willing to move around our parks for the 4 days with all the holiday events we were trying to fit in....but that was ME guests only and only if you arrived on a few select days, not every onsite guest got them...

We were able to go again in August...yes there were testing onsite guests...but not all of us...we were at GF with no testing yet Pop was testing...should I have gotten mad that I paid more for a deluxe room than a guest did for a value room yet didn't get that "perk" of testing? Did I plan that trip for 8 months just to not be given the same options as other onsite guests? No I didn't and I would have loved to try the MBs...my kids have sensory issues (my daughter wouldn't wear the party bracelet the first time because of how it felt). I would have liked being a Guinea pig even to just let them know how it works for guests with sensory issues...

Not even a 3 months ago, half of the onsite guests were in the same boat that off site guests are in now but again, that is how testing works...first it was us on ME, then it was certain resort guests, now onsite and next will be all guests...and my guess is that for a short time during a full park test they will probably still keep the old FP open as that large roll out when all guests have access work out the kinks...

I'm not a Disney apologist but being that I work in public schools, I am big on perspective...and I don't mean that someone always has it worse and just be thankful you're at Disney. Is it disappointing when it feels like you are being left out? Yup...and it's more than understandable to be angry, frustrated, upset, concerned...that's what you feel when things don't go accordingly to planned...

If you go every year or two, it sucks when things are not available (Jungle Cruise down for almost the whole month of August kinda sucked!) but I know next time I will get to experience them...

For those families that scrimp and saved....yeah that was us out first trip as well. We saved and planned and being that neither one of us went as kids, we thought that yearly trips would be out of the question and that we should make that one the best we could...yeah, well that first magical walk down Main Street had the beautiful background sounds of my kids crying from being overtired...the pictures of their first character meal...well didn't happen as my son flipped out running into Donald in the restaurant and needing to be carried out while he melted down...everything that could go wrong pretty much did but it was still great! We thought it was our one trip so even with everything falling apart and little understanding of how it all worked since I didn't research like I do now...it was still magical cause we never thought we would be able to go...

In life, if there is anything we can count on, it's that things almost never go as planned...weddings, birthday parties, Disney or any other vacation...weather can change, things in your house or car break down and we can't control that. But in the end, I think we all end up enjoying these experiences overall...

To me this isn't saying Disney can do no wrong or that guests aren't justified in feeling shortchanged...businesses make mistakes (guests not knowing about refrigerator removals until they checked in was not great business this summer) and we have a right to get upset as consumers...but this really doesn't have to do with fairness as much as accepting that when there is an event that can take a long time planning, things will happen that we can't control...

 

[Jeslynb]

We all have our own ideas as to what Disney should offer or not offer and what is "fair" but ultimately it's up to Disney and hopefully SOMEDAY we'll know where they're going with this. And this is actually my biggest gripe, the not knowing. I have never seen a company be so mysterious about things as Disney has been lately.

We have a trip scheduled in December and it was all set up long before all of this FP+ stuff popped up. We stay both onsite and offsite and this trip just happens to be offsite. I don't want anything extra - I never have. However it's daunting to not know how to tour and to realize that something we always got is disappearing. Plus as I've said before, Disney won't even let me pay extra for what we always got before for free. It's just strange.

We'll see the decorations (never have), ride what we can and spend significant time visiting their competitor like we have been doing. Everyone's feelings about these changes are different but for now I just plan to wait and see before I decide about any future plans.

Same here. I wasn't super-excited to hear about what was going on, but the good news is, we haven't bought our park tickets yet. We've never been to Universal and I was on the fence.

Our friends were at WDW this past week, returning today, and they were disappointed with FP+ and MB and ended up spending some unplanned time at Universal, which was the highlight of their trip.

So instead of spending 5 days at WDW, we're going to do 2 or 3 and spend the rest at Universal.

While at first I was bummed to learn about onsite perks that I was unaware of when booking, now I'm really happy. We're going to the MVMCP, Hoop-de-Do, have lots of great ADRs and we're touring a whole new park. I feel like we're going to get the while Disney holiday experience and, yes, magic, ride what we can, and leave.

Disney can put out whatever changes it likes - it's all good. We're flexible and can work around them by spending our dollars more wisely both at WDW and elsewhere. And we'll see how it goes...

 

[Planogirl]

I think it's because they have no idea how it will actually shake out yet. They can't predict with any degree of certainty whether same-day FP+ will be widely available or how many people will book FP+ far in advance. They won't know if they need to further ration the FP+s until these testing phases give them some more data.

Unfortunately, I think what they'll end up with is a mediocre in-between system that doesn't offer much benefit for most guests.

Mediocrity has been popping up way too much in the last several years.

 

[pilferk]

The problem is some of us have trips planned right now s.

Yup.

But f you look at the original post I responded to, that wasn't their point. It was in referenence to fp+ being a perk for on site guests.

It's not. It's just testing with on site guests for, I think, obvious reasons relating to control and analysis of guest information.

I get it's inconvenient for off site guests right now. I get the frustration. But the reality is...they have to test prior to rollout. And it's going to be easiest for them to test with those staying onsite.

 

[Planogirl]

Yup.

But f you look at the original post I responded to, that wasn't their point. It was in referenence to fp+ being a perk for on site guests.

It's not. It's just testing with on site guests for, I think, obvious reasons relating to control and analysis of guest information.

I get it's inconvenient for off site guests right now. I get the frustration. But the reality is...they have to test prior to rollout. And it's going to be easiest for them to test with those staying onsite.

I expect that it will continue to be a better perk for onsite than offsite unless they come up with a way to charge for FP+. Offsiters having to line up to get same day FP+ looks all too likely IMO.