What gets me most is the hypocrites on this board

[BayouMickey]

All this talk aside.. I don't get the hypocrite part of the title of this thread?

 

[saskdw]

Well, look at it for the locals - it's even harder for us now.

We can't get into any restaurants that are gigantic favorites anymore (Ohana, for instance - forget about finding anything in the next month and honestly, how do I know I want to plan exactly what day I want to go and what I want to eat when I go on a random Saturday? That's part of the "fun" of living behind WDW - NOT having to plan far in advance). We can't get Fast Passes anymore. We basically walk around the park the entire day, looking for the shortest line, and just get into that.

I personally don't like the idea of the whole Magic Band/Fast Pass +. Honestly wish Disney would scrap the whole thing and go back to how they were when they first opened - no Fast Passes, just get in line and go with the flow.

As I stated in my post above I think this new system and policy's will make things better for the larger majority of WDW vacationer's once it's fully rolled out. However, I do sympathise with your situation. I would like to think they will build something into this system for local AP holders. The people who aren't actually vacationing at WDW, but going for regular day visits.

 

[surferdave]

All this talk aside.. I don't get the hypocrite part of the title of this thread?

That accusation usually appears on message boards because someone assumes two contradictory positions were taken on a topic by the same person, or more likely by multiple people within the same hive-mind they they perceive. In this case I think that the OP believes that the same individuals bemoaning the long wait times and FP shortages are the ones who are causing the shortage by "double dipping".

 

[magicbob]

I'm no apologist, but I just don't see why people are making mountains out of molehills.. You don't NEED to preplan.. you can use MDE or a kiosk at the parks and reserve a FP+ while there. It's not forcing you to do anything 60 days out.. It's just available 60 days out.

Please don't take this as a personal attack, but I think this is a very naïve, rose-colored glasses, Pollyannaish view. In THEORY, you can use MDE or a kiosk the day of, but the odds of there being any availability (especially for popular attractions) is very low. You don't HAVE to book 60 days out, but guess what? Others ARE booking then and you will have only the picked over leftovers available on the day of your visit.

Fastpasses have been running out for popular attractions halfway through the morning lately; I woudn't advise anyone to try this strategy unless they plan to fastpass all secondary rides and shows.

Exactly.

But isn't that true anywhere? Those people who do their research are always better off than the people who don't. If I book a trip to Europe but get stuck at the airport because I don't have the proper documentation, is that my fault or the airline's fault? If I show up at 9am on Black Friday to get a flatscreen for $20, and the store advertised that deal as only available between 3-4am, is it the store's fault that I didn't read the ad?

If I don't know that I should book Space, Splash and Thunder on my one and only trip to WDW (and presuming my family and I love coasters), then clearly I haven't done a lick of research. Otherwise, why would I book PP, iasm and L&S? And if I'm not going to do any research for this incredibly expensive vacation I'm taking, then is it my fault or Disney's that I now have to wait 100 min to ride a "mountain"?

Even under the "old" FP system, there were plenty of people who didn't know anything about FP. There are posts all over the DIS where people make fun of people who stand there and give dirty looks to the FP lines because the "newbies" didn't do their research. How is your scenario different?

One would hope that if someone's going to spend the same amount on a vacation that they would on a car (ok ... a used car), they'd do at least a little bit of research before getting to the front gates.

The difference is that even those of us who do research are going to find ourselves UNABLE to get a FP+ time for the rides we want and WE will be the unhappy guest standing in that 2 hour standby line.

 

[BayouMickey]

Please don't take this as a personal attack, but I think this is a very naïve, rose-colored glasses, Pollyannaish view. In THEORY, you can use MDE or a kiosk the day of, but the odds of there being any availability (especially for popular attractions) is very low. You don't HAVE to book 60 days out, but guess what? Others ARE booking then and you will have only the picked over leftovers available on the day of your visit.

Now why would I ever take offense to that?
It's not naive.. In fact I'd be willing to wager on my thanksgiving week trip, I could go to MK and get a FP+ to Space Mountain at some point in the course of the day.

Let's go a step further, the night before, you pretty much know which park you are going to the next day. So you should be able to reserve FP+ the night before without too much hassle because the FP- aren't tapping in yet...

 

[ktlm]

This is exactly why I'm going to like MB/FP+! I always hate having to rush through the parks not taking in everything there is to see just because I need to go secure a FP for something. We don't generally park hop nor use more than three FP's a day anyway. I have been through it yet, but I'm actually looking forward to it for all the reasons you mentioned WDsearcher!

After spending 9 days using it, we felt the exact opposite. Even though we are WDW vets and I spent a full 3 hours 30 days before our trip trying to get my FP+ organized so that they would hit when we were in certain areas of the park and wouldn't have to run across the park, that is not what happened when we got there. We felt like FP+ killed our spontaneity- we felt like we were constantly watching the clock and that I was more attached to my cell phone than I've ever been on vacation. We felt like we were running back and forth across the park more than we ever have. We felt like we weren't finishing whole areas before having to run over to another area to make a FP+ time. We felt very rushed- more so than we ever have at WDW. DH and I both agreed that FP+ was making our trip less enjoyable and more stressful. The only thing we liked was having a FP+ for the one thing that I usually make a run for when we arrive at the parks (TSM, Soarin, Safari (would be Peter Pan, but it was closed), and having them for parades and Illuminations (but that was because the areas weren't full-if they start packing people in like sardings that will change).The first FP+ of they day was great-you aimed for that area to start your day- it was trying to get to those later 2 times, which was a pain. During the 2nd half of the week, we finally decided that we weren't going to stress about it anymore, if we made our FP+ times fine, but we weren't going to run all over the place to get there and we were just going to rely more on the paper FP system as it was much more convenient than relying on a plan for the day that we made 30 days previously. Changing any FP+ times while in the park was near next to impossible- either MDE didn't work at all - or there weren't other available times.

:I haven't seen anything confirmed (and Disney hasn't been confirming that sort of thing anyway), but I noted while I was there that available FP+ times on MDE tracked out right along with the posted FP- availability. If Soarin' or TSMM fastpass time were out to 10:30 pm, that was the soonest you could get a replacement FP+ for that attraction. If they ran out at the machines you couldn't get them on MDE either.

The only exception I could see to that was that if someone did free up a FP+ selection for earlier in the day it might show up briefly, and I doubt that was reflected on the legacy FP machines, but I don't think this would help very often for the scenario you gave.

If anyone observed it differently I'd like to hear about it. !

This was not our experience at all. When we did get MDE to work at DHS at around 11:00a.m., I was attempting to change our time for Star Tours as we weren't going to make it over there in time - it told me there were no other available times the entire day. I was able to walk over to the ride and pull a paper FP that kicked in 45 minutes later.

We consistently saw that happening the week we were there. If MDE worked when we wanted to change a time- which was rare- we would get maybe 8:00 p.m. as our only possibility at 10:00 in the morning, or no times at all, and once even a no attractions are available for FP+ so you can not change- and every time you could go to the paper machines and pull a FP- usually that kicked in not more than an hour or so later (except for the big ticket rides like Soarin and TSM)

:I'm no apologist, but I just don't see why people are making mountains out of molehills.. You don't NEED to preplan.. you can use MDE or a kiosk at the parks and reserve a FP+ while there. It's not forcing you to do anything 60 days out.. It's just available 60 days out. !

Maybe if you want a FP+ for Small World. Based on our experience this will not be possible for any of the headliners. I was trying to change our EPCOT FP+ times the day before from our resort. It told me there were no other available times for either Soarin or Test Track at all for the next day. It is like ADRs- you aren't forced to make them 180 days in advance- but if you don't make them well before your trip, don't expect to be able to go to CRT, or Akershus, or 1900 Park Fare or Tusker House, or Crystal Palace, etc.

__________________

 

[jillgunter]

You can plan them, but change them later. We are hear now and I have changed them no problem for things we wanted. So if something had a short wait, we did it and changed the fast pass. If you have a smart phone, they have a app for it. We are really enjoying our magic bands a lot. 2 min wait to see Ariel with a hour wait without

 

[saskdw]

The difference is that even those of us who do research are going to find ourselves UNABLE to get a FP+ time for the rides we want and WE will be the unhappy guest standing in that 2 hour standby line.

I don't want to have to get out of bed at 6am on my vacation to get the FP's you are wanting under the old system so I guess we're at a standoff?

WDW is betting that there are alot more of us than you I guess? We'll have to wait and see how it all play's out. This idea didn't come from nothing. I'm sure its based on alot of survey's and customer feedback. MOST people do not want to get out of bed at 6am to get their family ready, fed, and to the park for ropedrop or EMH, which is whats required for getting the FP's you are talking about under the outgoing system.

 

[ktlm]

Now why would I ever take offense to that?
It's not naive.. In fact I'd be willing to wager on my thanksgiving week trip, I could go to MK and get a FP+ to Space Mountain at some point in the course of the day.

Let's go a step further, the night before, you pretty much know which park you are going to the next day. So you should be able to reserve FP+ the night before without too much hassle because the FP- aren't tapping in yet...

Darn- I wish I would have seen that before I posted- I would have taken that wager!!!

See my post above- not our experience at all.

Unlike the speculators, I lived this thing for 9 days the week before last with them having more resorts/people using the system than in August or September. I have firsthand experience with the thing- and I didn't care much for it. We did really like the magic bands themselves though- it was FP+ and MDE we had issues with.

 

[BayouMickey]

Darn- I wish I would have seen that before I posted- I would have taken that wager!!!

See my post above- not our experience at all.

Unlike the speculators, I lived this thing for 9 days the week before last with them having more resorts/people using the system than in August or September. I have firsthand experience with the thing- and I didn't care much for it. We did really like the magic bands themselves though- it was FP+ and MDE we had issues with.

yet jillgunter is there now with a total opposite experience.

 

[surferdave]

Let's go a step further, the night before, you pretty much know which park you are going to the next day. So you should be able to reserve FP+ the night before without too much hassle because the FP- aren't tapping in yet...

That may work for awhile, but I've got my doubts about long term when the real volume hits. I still have access for a few more days, so I just tried reserving some Epcot Fastpasses for tomorrow (I'm doing this at about 3:30 in the afternoon). The earliest I could get Soarin' for tomorrow was 2:20pm-3:20pm. I presume that by 6pm I would get worse choices.

 

[magicbob]

Now why would I ever take offense to that?
It's not naive.. In fact I'd be willing to wager on my thanksgiving week trip, I could go to MK and get a FP+ to Space Mountain at some point in the course of the day.

Let's go a step further, the night before, you pretty much know which park you are going to the next day. So you should be able to reserve FP+ the night before without too much hassle because the FP- aren't tapping in yet...

I didn't say you wouldn't be offended. I have no control over what might offend others. I merely said it was not a personal attack, which it wasn't. Keep putting your eggs in that "plenty of availability the day of" basket and let us know how you fare.

I don't want to have to get out of bed at 6am on my vacation to get the FP's you are wanting under the old system so I guess we're at a standoff?

WDW is betting that there are alot more of us than you I guess? We'll have to wait and see how it all play's out. This idea didn't come from nothing. I'm sure its based on alot of survey's and customer feedback. MOST people do not want to get out of bed at 6am to get their family ready, fed, and to the park for ropedrop or EMH, which is whats required for getting the FP's you are talking about under the outgoing system.

As others have said, it won't be long until you have to get up at 6am to book your FP+ times at 60 days out or you won't be able to get them for popular rides.

 

[Victoriasmom98]

Ok, I must be missing something. Are Magic Bands going to be how EVERYONE gets their park tickets now?? I mean, I thought non-Disney resort guests will not have the MB option. I'm probably wrong, but if the non-resort guests still have cards as tickets, wouldn't the legacy fast pass machines still be necessary? Sorry if I should have known this answer already.

 

[Tigger's ally]

Darn- I wish I would have seen that before I posted- I would have taken that wager!!!

See my post above- not our experience at all.

Unlike the speculators, I lived this thing for 9 days the week before last with them having more resorts/people using the system than in August or September. I have firsthand experience with the thing- and I didn't care much for it. We did really like the magic bands themselves though- it was FP+ and MDE we had issues with.

Once again, you had first hand experience with the Testing phase. You, like all others in the world have not had first hand experience with the roll out. You were part of a test and I hope you passed your troubles onto Disney via email or survey.

 

[MikeandReneePlus5]

That may work for awhile, but I've got my doubts about long term when the real volume hits. I still have access for a few more days, so I just tried reserving some Epcot Fastpasses for tomorrow (I'm doing this at about 3:30 in the afternoon). The earliest I could get Soarin' for tomorrow was 2:20pm-3:20pm. I presume that by 6pm I would get worse choices.

I suppose it depends on what they do with the FP+ slots.

Maybe they will release a whole bunch early... but always hold some back for day of/day before planning.

then they can tweak that ratio based on usage statistics to get the mix right.

 

[saskdw]

Darn- I wish I would have seen that before I posted- I would have taken that wager!!!

See my post above- not our experience at all.

Unlike the speculators, I lived this thing for 9 days the week before last with them having more resorts/people using the system than in August or September. I have firsthand experience with the thing- and I didn't care much for it. We did really like the magic bands themselves though- it was FP+ and MDE we had issues with.

There is of course no way they will please everyone. I'm hoping some of the issues you had will be ironed out over time. Having just booked 10 days worth of FP+ for are upcoming Dec trip there is very good flexibility for spreading out the 3 FP choices or moving them closer together. It takes a little tinkering in some cases, but the flexibility is there. I'm looking forward to trying it all out. I think December will be closer to the finished product.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

The ability to double or triple dip is the biggest factor in how they are getting people to agree to being part of the test. If they only allowed 3 FP+ for testers, hardly anybody would sign up.

Now, that being said what it currently being tested is not what the system will really be. This is a fantasy MB system and alot of people love it, unfortunately for them, when it is fully implemented, it will be quite different.

If you don't want to get to the parks early and don't want to schedule your FP+s well in advance, yes, you are going to hate this new system.

Personally, for the times of year we go and how we tour when we are there, I think it will benefit us a good bit.

But the double and triple dipping is skewing the results. Of course they LOVE FP+ because they still can do this. What are they going to think when "you got your three fast passes, yes one of them was lunch, and that's all you get" And this "get to the park early" Have you heard about what's been happening.. Even with "early" on a Wednesday in October the big rides were out at "New Years Day line" levels according to the folks at Touring Plans (who make a living doing nothing but studying lines) Even they seem to be saying "you are going to be screwed even using our touring plans if you don't have a FP+ for the biggies!

I expect some of the "this is great" are going to turn into the whiners they claim some of the rest of us are. "Wait you mean I can't ride Soarin' twice today unless I wait in an hour plus line" Or what do you mean I can only ride two E tickets since I used a fast pass for lunch LOL!

As for the don't go... I am seriously looking at that option. I was there two weeks ago without the FP+ option since the Swan isn't a part of it yet. Was not pleased with what I saw and expect it's going to get worse not better before someone at Disney wakes up and starts firing folks!

I am not an early booker. I have been known to call Disney for a place to sleep from the airport. Hmm.. Now I can go walk around gift shops when I do that or stand in LONG lines because while Disney will happily take my $$$ they expect me to plan this trip long in advance if I want to actually do anything.. Uh NO! LOL!

And this is NOT a test. A test uses "REAL conditions" (AKA as no double dipping) and has "REAL" feedback (AKA as asking you how it went, not assuming that since you didn't go rip someone's head off in guest relations it was great LOL!)

 

[Postal68]

Fastpasses have been running out for popular attractions halfway through the morning lately; I woudn't advise anyone to try this strategy unless they plan to fastpass all secondary rides and shows.

and that's part of my point. Basically if you don't reserve your FP 6 months out, your odds of getting one at the park are slim to none because they'll all be gone(at least for the main attractions) And because every FP is gobbled up the stand by lines are impossible unless you feel like spending a quarter of your day at each attraction

 

[Postal68]

OP.... I think you SHOULD go! Before you blast a system that you haven't experienced, see how the "crap fastpass+ system" really works. Check out how many people are actually double and triple dipping. You might be surprised at what you find out. Maybe you'll discover that it's not so bad, or you actually like the system.

I was there last week

 

[andyman8]

With FP+, things have clearly gotten out of hand. When this system first began development, it was just going to be a benefit available to just Disney Resort Hotel guests operating alongside standard FP with only 10% of FPs at each attraction being set aside as FP+s.

Then the folks in Finances and Ops got their hands on it and now we're dealing with a situation where FPs are consistently being used up by 10am at extremely popular attractions and wait times are skyrocketing. To those who hold this fallacious belief that this is all a fluke, it's not; last Wednesday, Disney implemented the new FP to FP+ distribution ratio where FP+s were taking somewhere near 70 to 80% of FPs for that day. It's only downhill from here too. As more people use FP+ (umm...aka all those offsiters who initially complained about the initial idea for the system not being fair), fewer and fewer FPs will be distributed day of and availability for FP+s for popular headliners will become more like getting an ADR for a popular restaurant.

I was fine with the new system until my last trip when I saw all of this in action and had one of those moments when I looked at my phone and saw a schedule for my vacation and no FPs available. It's going to be an interesting couple weeks!