We Changed Our Minds About FP+

[WDmommyof4]

Sitting at home, I just knew that I was going to hate the new FP+ system. It had worked okay for us earlier this week, but it really shined yesterday at the Magic Kingdom. Because I was not able to book 60 or even 30 days in advance, I couldn't get a FP for SDMT even after continually checking the system. No worries though, we got there at rope drop, got ran over by several strollers, refused to run and push, but were still near the front of the line. After that, we rode some other rides as a walk on before our first FP at Thunder Mountain.

After using up our first three initial FP's, we just kept going back again and again for another FP. The boys thought it was great. We ended up using 10 FP's in all. I appreciated being able to get a FP for Frontierland while in Fantasyland without having to run across the park to that specific ride. Also, our last FP for the night was at 7pm for Thunder Mountain, with the previous paper fastpasses, the FP's would have been sold out by 6:40pm when we scored our 7pm FP for the ride.

I have completely changed my mind about the new FP system. It works well if you know how to work it. For instance, the boys wanted a FP for the Speedway, when we checked at 3pm, the next available time wasn't until after 6pm. Instead of getting it and waiting, we got one for Jungle Cruise, and then another for Haunted Mansion. After that, we checked again and there was one available that we could use right then and there. So, don't think you have to take the one that is hours away, new FP's pop up on the system all the time. We are just not a line family, the boys know I won't wait in a line that is longer than 15 minutes, with this system, we never had to, not once all day.

 

[DebbieB]

Sitting at home, I just knew that I was going to hate the new FP+ system. It had worked okay for us earlier this week, but it really shined yesterday at the Magic Kingdom. Because I was not able to book 60 or even 30 days in advance, I couldn't get a FP for SDMT even after continually checking the system. No worries though, we got there at rope drop, got ran over by several strollers, refused to run and push, but were still near the front of the line. After that, we rode some other rides as a walk on before our first FP at Thunder Mountain.

After using up our first three initial FP's, we just kept going back again and again for another FP. The boys thought it was great. We ended up using 10 FP's in all. I appreciated being able to get a FP for Frontierland while in Fantasyland without having to run across the park to that specific ride. Also, our last FP for the night was at 7pm for Thunder Mountain, with the previous paper fastpasses, the FP's would have been sold out by 6:40pm when we scored our 7pm FP for the ride.

I have completely changed my mind about the new FP system. It works well if you know how to work it. For instance, the boys wanted a FP for the Speedway, when we checked at 3pm, the next available time wasn't until after 6pm. Instead of getting it and waiting, we got one for Jungle Cruise, and then another for Haunted Mansion. After that, we checked again and there was one available that we could use right then and there. So, don't think you have to take the one that is hours away, new FP's pop up on the system all the time. We are just not a line family, the boys know I won't wait in a line that is longer than 15 minutes, with this system, we never had to, not once all day.

Thanks, it's good to hear actual experiences.

 

[g8torphan]

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

 

[OurLaughingPlace]

That's great to hear you had such a positive trip with FP+. We were really worried about it too, but ended up having a great time as well. I still might prefer the old way (probably just because I'm still so used to it), but the new FP+ is definitely better than I thought it would be. It is nice having everything on one magicband. Thanks for sharing.

 

[SeilerBird]

I have been using the system for the last few months and I think it is awesome.

 

[Angel Ariel]

I'm glad you had such a great time! That sounds like an awesome day in mk! If that had been my experience with fp+, I would have changed my mind too!

 

[Texas Barbie]

We liked the new system, too. It was awesome to get there fairly late on our first day and have 3 good rides reserved. Touring with an infant, we find 3 rides is about all we can get in before he needs some down time anyway. I believe it's just a learning curve, and once people learn how to use it, they will accept it.

 

[dpswift]

We did it wrong. When we were planning we thought that it would be better to schedule our FPs for later in the day when the park was busier. We still did fine, but never scheduled addditional ones.

 

[Laketravis]

Glad you had a great time!! Sounds like the decision to do MK yesterday when it was a "1" instead of Tuesday was a good one? Did the wait times look better than they did last week when you were looking at which day to go?

 

[Laketravis]

We did it wrong. When we were planning we thought that it would be better to schedule our FPs for later in the day when the park was busier. We still did fine, but never scheduled addditional ones.

That's not always wrong - it's really going to depend on when you go. On busier days it's smart to have your FP's scheduled for later in the day and take advantage of rope drop for shorter standby lines in the morning because even by noon there could be a poor choice of FP's left at the kiosks, especially at Epcot or HS. On much less busier days like 1's and 2's, it makes more sense to schedule your FP's early and get more at the kiosks like OP did because there will be a better selection longer in the day on those days.

 

[JimmyV]

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

Won't happen. Even the most hardened Anti-FP+ person understands how well it works on days such as:

Crowd Level:
What we predicted: 2 out of 10
What we saw: 2 out of 10

There is no real argument to be made against FP+ on such days, (other than, perhaps, the unwillingness or disinterest to pre-plan, but that is more of a character issue than a failure of FP+).

 

[WDmommyof4]

Glad you had a great time!! Sounds like the decision to do MK yesterday when it was a "1" instead of Tuesday was a good one? Did the wait times look better than they did last week when you were looking at which day to go?

They definitely looked better at times than Tuesday at times. However, in my experience, I definitely would not have considered the crowds yesterday a 1. It used to be, even until 11 or even 12 you could walk on most rides. By a little after 10am yesterday, even the smaller attractions had some longer waits of 30 minutes or so. At one point, Peter Pan was up to 140 minutes. I would think the crowd was more along the lines of a level 3, but I am definitely not an expert.

 

[JimmyV]

I would think the crowd was more along the lines of a level 3, but I am definitely not an expert.

My post above shows what TP considered the crowd to be. Splits the difference between 1 and 3.

 

[IrishNYC]

After using up our first three initial FP's, we just kept going back again and again for another FP. The boys thought it was great. We ended up using 10 FP's in all. I appreciated being able to get a FP for Frontierland while in Fantasyland without having to run across the park to that specific ride. Also, our last FP for the night was at 7pm for Thunder Mountain, with the previous paper fastpasses, the FP's would have been sold out by 6:40pm when we scored our 7pm FP for the ride.

I have completely changed my mind about the new FP system. It works well if you know how to work it. For instance, the boys wanted a FP for the Speedway, when we checked at 3pm, the next available time wasn't until after 6pm. Instead of getting it and waiting, we got one for Jungle Cruise, and then another for Haunted Mansion. After that, we checked again and there was one available that we could use right then and there. So, don't think you have to take the one that is hours away, new FP's pop up on the system all the time. We are just not a line family, the boys know I won't wait in a line that is longer than 15 minutes, with this system, we never had to, not once all day.

That's great! It sounds like you used it exactly how it's meant to be used, especially the bolded part.

We never went under the old FP system, but had started planning a trip at one point before we decided DD was just too young. Neither DH nor I were looking forward to the ridiculous running around involved in that system. I kind of hate all the pre-planning that goes into it now, but I much prefer it to the old system.

 

[HM]

I have completely changed my mind about the new FP system. It works well if you know how to work it. For instance, the boys wanted a FP for the Speedway, when we checked at 3pm, the next available time wasn't until after 6pm. Instead of getting it and waiting, we got one for Jungle Cruise, and then another for Haunted Mansion. After that, we checked again and there was one available that we could use right then and there. So, don't think you have to take the one that is hours away, new FP's pop up on the system all the time. We are just not a line family, the boys know I won't wait in a line that is longer than 15 minutes, with this system, we never had to, not once all day.

That is exactly how my DD and I used it in August. We took the closest time at something we wanted to do and then went back after to set up a new FP.

 

[JanaDee]

Sitting at home, I just knew that I was going to hate the new FP+ system. It had worked okay for us earlier this week, but it really shined yesterday at the Magic Kingdom. Because I was not able to book 60 or even 30 days in advance, I couldn't get a FP for SDMT even after continually checking the system. No worries though, we got there at rope drop, got ran over by several strollers, refused to run and push, but were still near the front of the line. After that, we rode some other rides as a walk on before our first FP at Thunder Mountain.

After using up our first three initial FP's, we just kept going back again and again for another FP. The boys thought it was great. We ended up using 10 FP's in all. I appreciated being able to get a FP for Frontierland while in Fantasyland without having to run across the park to that specific ride. Also, our last FP for the night was at 7pm for Thunder Mountain, with the previous paper fastpasses, the FP's would have been sold out by 6:40pm when we scored our 7pm FP for the ride.

I have completely changed my mind about the new FP system. It works well if you know how to work it. For instance, the boys wanted a FP for the Speedway, when we checked at 3pm, the next available time wasn't until after 6pm. Instead of getting it and waiting, we got one for Jungle Cruise, and then another for Haunted Mansion. After that, we checked again and there was one available that we could use right then and there. So, don't think you have to take the one that is hours away, new FP's pop up on the system all the time. We are just not a line family, the boys know I won't wait in a line that is longer than 15 minutes, with this system, we never had to, not once all day.

It's a good thing you visited in January then. The lack of crowds were the main factor in your positive experience.

 

[Jennygt]

Thanks for sharing that info! I know FP+ is here and as much as I might not like it, I need to know how best to use it, thanks for the tip!

 

[jenniferyawn]

Wow! We haven't been in three years since all the changed and I was actually getting nervous about it, so it is great to hear good news! Going in October! You have amped up my excitement! Thank you for sharing and for the advice!

 

[amg35]

Wow! We haven't been in three years since all the changed and I was actually getting nervous about it, so it is great to hear good news! Going in October! You have amped up my excitement! Thank you for sharing and for the advice!

I wanted to tell you that we went this past October (not a slow time as everyone keeps pointing out to the op ) and we had a great time and fast pass worked well for us.

No, we couldn't get 7 Dwarves day of , but we were able to change times for rides like Soarin and TOT the night before our scheduled times! And the waits for our fast pass rides were very short, I was surprised.
Also, the lines in the mornings were so short, we were able to ride the more popular rides a few times.

Great time to go! A bit of crowds sometimes, but nothing to be worried about.

 

[jtowntoflorida]

FP+ definitely works optimally during low crowd times. We had a great experience (similar to yours) with it in last August when crowds were in the same range. So it was a rude awakening in mid-December, with moderate crowds, to only have IASW, Philharmagic, Aladdin, Haunted Mansion, Little Mermaid, and the Teacups to choose from for our 4th and subsequent FP+s (full disclosure: POTC was having a lot of problems the week we were there and was down for most of the day on most days we went to MK. The one day it was operational, we were able to pull FP+s for it as a 4th, but only for overlapping times for the 4 of us).

For our next trip in October, I'm definitely changing my strategy and not booking all of our FP+s for mid-day (done by 2:00) assuming we'll have FP+ #4, #5, #6 for later.