We Changed Our Minds About FP+

[Laketravis]

Mom, thanks for posting the details for everyone's benefit while you're there. We know you could certainly be doing other things, for sure!

I was always an avid planner, so either way works for me. My issue is that due to my work I never can really book too far ahead of time. So, with this system, there are some things we just won't be able to get, but that is what rope drop is for, for us.



That is exactly why we always choose to visit during lower crowd times. It is a choice we make to get the most for our time here. I realize not everyone can visit during these times, but when you think about it, aside from the initial 3 FP's that can be claimed ahead of time, the legacy system and FP+ systems were very similar in higher crowds. The legacy system would run out of tickets for headliners by noon or before, and the FP+ system does too. The difference might be that there could be an off chance of a FP popping up for a headliner later in the day with the new FP+ system, even on crowded days. We found that different rides would pop up throughout the day. I think it is definitely something that won't work for everyone though. I am not trying to force it on anyone or say they are wrong. Everyone will have their own experience.



Oh boy, let's see if I can remember. I wish they had a place where you could see your old plans.

I know that Thunder Mountain was our first one at 10:40-11:40 we then went over and ate lunch at Cosmic Rays at my boys' request, which put us in line for our 11:50-12:50 Peter Pan. Our last initial FP was for Buzz from 12:55-1:55 I believe. The thing that I like about FP+ is that you don't have to wait the full hour to get a new one. As soon as you use it, you can go to the kiosk and get another. We did carousel of progress then TTA and headed over to get the boys' hair cut at the barber shop. After that, we got a FP for Jungle Cruise, then Haunted Mansion, then It's a small world, then Speedway and lastly we got one for 6:40pm at Thunder. I know that when we got the one for Thunder it was the only time available and it was 6:19pm. So, it was just one of the random ones that pop up.



I didn't find that we criss-crossed more than we would have with the legacy system. Because we avoid lines over 20 minutes at all costs, we generally zig zag all over the place anyway, just the way we have gotten used to touring. We would rather be walking around for 20 minutes taking in the park to go to a ride with no wait, than standing in a line. I know others tour differently though.

 

[BugsDaddy]

Worked great for me too!

I'd rather pick 3 rides a month or 2 in advance than run across the park to try for a paper FP that may not exist, or may not fit the schedule (ADR conflict) multiple times a day.

I do wish they still had a kiosk back by Pete's



Anti-FP+ crowd in
3....
2....
1

If no one has noticed, the anti-FP+ Crowd must have all gotten together and had a meeting to discuss the perception of themselves on the boards after Pete pretty much called them out on the podcast this week.

As more positive FP+ reviews have come in, they fall over themselves gushing about how happy they are that the poster had such a great time and then will (very nicely) explain to the poster that their good time had some sort of external influence such as lower crowd levels (even though the poster explains that crowd levels were not all that low) and had nothing to do with FP+ in itself.

Score one for Pete.

 

[Alfalfa]

If no one has noticed, the anti-FP+ Crowd must have all gotten together and had a meeting to discuss the perception of themselves on the boards after Pete pretty much called them out on the podcast this week.

As more positive FP+ reviews have come in, they fall over themselves gushing about how happy they are that the poster had such a great time and then will (very nicely) explain to the poster that their good time had some sort of external influence such as lower crowd levels (even though the poster explains that crowd levels were not all that low) and had nothing to do with FP+ in itself.

Score one for Pete.

Ignorant comments like that are exactly why I said I didn't want to report on my recent trip because it sure seems like when somebody has something bad to say they get all jumped on like you just did.

 

[Planogirl]

Ignorant comments like that are exactly why I said I didn't want to report on my recent trip because it sure seems like when somebody has something bad to say they get all jumped on like you just did. At least the people you are talking about are nice. Go look at the thread where the person said they didn't have a good time and how everybody is jumping on her. Looking at your posts you seem to be a mean person so maybe you don't even know that what you said isn't nice.

I'm just sad because no one invited me to the get-together.

Otherwise, I agree that the comment was ignorant.

 

[Shaden]

Relevant.....but complete?

That's what I don't really like about how some people, be it Josh or people around here, present some of this stuff. Information without context, or full discussion, can be misleading. Some are only happy to use it as such, others maybe do it inadvertently.

Yeah, we were at the MK on a busy day right after New Years. Very busy. Sure, we went by HM when it had a 40 minute line. Guess what, we rode it a couple hours later walk on. Walk. On. Even Lake proved to us on his last trip, that when he was in Epcot, between 12:00 and 12:15, SSE had a 45 minute wait. Yes, it did, at that moment, but the wait for the other 11 hours and 45 minutes the ride was open the line was shorter. For most of those hours much shorter. The data at our fingertips proves that. But, it becomes so easy to generalize that FP+ causes the SSE SB to be 45 minutes, period. FP+ causes HM SB to be 35 minutes, period, even on the slowest day. But is that true in the absolute?

Hey, I suppose some would say I'm guilty of the same in reverse.......but I hate, hate, hate when someone, anyone, cherry picks a worst case moment and says 'ah, ha! this is what you get with FP+!!!' I just don't see the value in it.

FP+ causes SB lines to be longer on average, period.

 

[Shaden]

If no one has noticed, the anti-FP+ Crowd must have all gotten together and had a meeting to discuss the perception of themselves on the boards after Pete pretty much called them out on the podcast this week.

As more positive FP+ reviews have come in, they fall over themselves gushing about how happy they are that the poster had such a great time and then will (very nicely) explain to the poster that their good time had some sort of external influence such as lower crowd levels (even though the poster explains that crowd levels were not all that low) and had nothing to do with FP+ in itself.

Score one for Pete.

Really ? Because I still see unique posters coming on here and posting their negative experience. I still see articles in the Sentinel, the Huff Post, and other major publications about how FP+ has diminished their vacations. I did watch an entire podcast without pete present (coincidence ???) where basically the entire panel pointed out how negatively they feel about FP+ and how so many of their clients are complaining about it as well ....

Score one for the guy who limits discussion and negative feedback on FP+ indeed.

 

[DisneyKidds]

FP+ causes SB lines to be longer on average, period.

You just reinforced my point.....

Hey, that's a beaut of a bullet point on the WT & Co. Power Point presentation.

However, taken as a standalone statement, without sourcing, identification of what 'average' is being referenced, specific standby data on lines, and requisite discussion/context......well, it really doesn't provide much useful information to the general community. I guarantee none of that will be forthcoming, that wouldn't be WT & Co. style.

But, as bullet points go, it sure fits the talking points!

 

[DisneyKidds]

FP+ causes SB lines to be longer on average, period.

Let's see what mileage we can get out of this. As devoid of useful planning information as I find it to be, that's a pretty emphatic statement.

Forget all the guests who have been and have used FP+. Each of those people has their own opinion and it's pretty darn clear that minds aren't being changed. Let's focus on the 'never been with FP+/never been at all' crowd. This is a Planning board, people come here to get information that will help them plan their trips. For better or worse, plan them down to the day/hour/ride.

So, WT & Co. is giving a presentation to that particular crowd. You wish to convey not just a message or prove a point, you are standing in front of the crowds to help them plan....to the day, to the hour, to the ride.

What, exactly, is the information you wish to convey to the audience about what that statement means in the course of their planning?

 

[Cormoran]

Ignorant comments like that are exactly why I said I didn't want to report on my recent trip because it sure seems like when somebody has something bad to say they get all jumped on like you just did. At least the people you are talking about are nice. Go look at the thread where the person said they didn't have a good time and how everybody is jumping on her. Looking at your posts you seem to be a mean person so maybe you don't even know that what you said isn't nice.

Thank you for saying this. It's exactly how I feel. I also think it's ironic that the person on the podcast who has the most to lose from negative FP+ publicity, is being held up as being right.

 

[jo-jo]

FP+ causes SB lines to be longer on average, period.

On POTC, using FP+ we were the only people in the boat, while the SB line had people in it. This was early Dec.

 

[mom2rtk]

On POTC, using FP+ we were the only people in the boat, while the SB line had people in it. This was early Dec.

This is one of the key reasons so many of us were against adding FP to rides like this.

 

[Cormoran]

On POTC, using FP+ we were the only people in the boat, while the SB line had people in it. This was early Dec.

How does FP+ benefit people when things like this happen? I know it's probably CM related, but honestly is it so hard to make sure all of the attraction capacity is used?

 

[JimmyV]

If no one has noticed, the anti-FP+ Crowd must have all gotten together and had a meeting to discuss the perception of themselves on the boards after Pete pretty much called them out on the podcast this week.

.....
Score one for Pete.

Really? What his podcast performance actually showed was how poor he is at seeking and interpreting data.

0% "Love" it. (Or maybe not. We'll never know because he didn't ask.)
51% "Like" it.
39% Currently do not think it is "good" and will only like it if changes are made.
10% "Hate" it.

By my tally, that is 51% who like it, and 49% who do not like it, at least in its current state, some of whom could be won over in the future and others who are a lost cause. Hard to say that anyone was "called out" when the feelings of a small group of anal retentive, uber-planning, go-every-year, poll responders was split right down the middle.

 

[jtowntoflorida]

On POTC, using FP+ we were the only people in the boat, while the SB line had people in it. This was early Dec.

This is one of the key reasons so many of us were against adding FP to rides like this.

How does FP+ benefit people when things like this happen? I know it's probably CM related, but honestly is it so hard to make sure all of the attraction capacity is used?

Definitely a CM training issue, because they do have the ability to reroute those coming in from the SB line over to the FP+ side when FP+ usage is low. We've seen it done, and have done it ourselves.

 

[HM]

Did you find that you did a lot of crisscrossing that way? Or did you try to choose the nearest attraction with the closest time? We only tried to get additional Fast Passes once on our last trip, so I feel like we didn't think use FP+ as much as we could have. Of course, we tend to go on party days when MK closes at 7, so I'm not sure we should count on any availability.

We did criss cross a bit.
Our biggest problem was that they had a kiosk on the map in the Circus area and we were in New Fantasyland, so went there. When we get there, a CM told us that it was no longer a kiosk area, but a rest area. So, we had to go back to the area outside Mickey's Philharmagic to get our next FP, which I think ended up being Little Mermaid....then Jungle Cruise, then Pirates.

 

[HydroGuy]

Oh boy, let's see if I can remember. I wish they had a place where you could see your old plans.

I know that Thunder Mountain was our first one at 10:40-11:40 we then went over and ate lunch at Cosmic Rays at my boys' request, which put us in line for our 11:50-12:50 Peter Pan. Our last initial FP was for Buzz from 12:55-1:55 I believe. The thing that I like about FP+ is that you don't have to wait the full hour to get a new one. As soon as you use it, you can go to the kiosk and get another. We did carousel of progress then TTA and headed over to get the boys' hair cut at the barber shop. After that, we got a FP for Jungle Cruise, then Haunted Mansion, then It's a small world, then Speedway and lastly we got one for 6:40pm at Thunder. I know that when we got the one for Thunder it was the only time available and it was 6:19pm. So, it was just one of the random ones that pop up.

Thanks for your detailed and thoughtful responses! Testing your memory some more do you recall what the SB line wait times were when you used your FPs?

 

[DisneyCowgirl]

I have been a hater of FP+, but now see it is going to work for us on our next trip when we are not planning to head to the park until late afternoon. I can still get our 7DMT, Space Mt and Peter Pan FP+ and we'll wait in standby for a few other things before Wishes and the second MSEP. I used touringplans to help get an idea of how long waits would be and when I should shoot for my FP+ window.

Plus, now that our youngest is out of the stroller but still doesn't have a lot of stamina, we can't be running back and forth across the parks anymore. We need to hit things in order, so booking FP+ online or with an app helps.

It's taken me a while to adjust my thinking and planning (I've gotten a lot more detailed in my planning), but I'm starting to like FP+ a little more now.

I still hate the $10 per person charge for not cancelling an ADR 24 hours in advance.

 

[WDmommyof4]

Thanks for your detailed and thoughtful responses! Testing your memory some more do you recall what the SB line wait times were when you used your FPs?

For rides like the Haunted Mansion, the SB times were 25-30 minutes most of the time when we used FP's that day. I believe Peter Pan was at 80 minutes when we used our FP's.

For a different perspective, today was called to be a 5 out of 10 and I believe it was at least that. There were people everywhere all day. We did not choose to ride the Mine Train at rope drop and headed to Thunder Mountain instead. We arrived just about at 8:45, so were at the back of the pack. We rode Thunder three times in a row tried to go on Pirates but it was down, much like it was the rest of the day, and then rode the carpets before heading to our first FP at 10:15. We were about to use a total of 8 FP's today, even scoring an immediate use FP for Thunder Mountain shortly after 7pm. We had a fantastic day, road everything and even did the Pirate League as a walk-up, which I know was likely more luck than anything else.

I will say, the FP that we got for Thunder Mountain at 7pm was originally for the Little Mermaid. While we were riding the TTA, I checked the app a few times and was able to grab Thunder Mountain when it popped up. I also feel the need to stress that this was not obsessively checking, just once or twice, and yes, I am aware it was luck. Also, we had a FP for Pirates and since it wasn't working, it automatically changed our FP in the app to one that could be used for the rest of the day once at any of the listed attractions. I didn't have to activate it, and was able to get another FP immediately, essentially having two active FP's at the same time. Something to keep in mind if it happens to you.

We had a magical trip. I honestly thought this might be the last year we would go since it seems so many little magical things are being taken away, but we honestly had just as good a time as ever if not better. I know FP+ is not for everyone, and I am not trying to convince them to fall in love with it, just offering my perspective.