Who else is glad they do NOT have a trip planned right now?

[Magpie]

I know that some families enjoy waiting in lines and talking to people, but that is NOT something my family enjoys. I mean we DO like talking to people, but not standing in line for 2 hrs. We have always used 6-8 or even more fp's per day, and limiting them to 3/day and only one being an E ticket ride, will seriously put a damper on our park days.

We do like to spend time at whichever resort we are staying at, so that will not be impacted by the new changes, but park days will definitely have to be reworked. We can do maybe one or two ropedrops, but not more than that. We need our sleep....

So, I think when we do Orlando this year, it will just be at Universal. We love love love staying onsite for the unlimited express passes there. No split stay this year for us.

Maybe when peeps on the DIS figure out a way to see and do more with the new system, we will try again. I do love WDW, want to stay at Beach Club and AKL again some day, but not this year I don't think.

I just have to point out that we were there in December, didn't use legacy FP, rode everything and never waited more than 15 minutes in line.

It's really not that hard! Even if you can't do ropedrop, just pick your FP+ wisely, and stay until park close instead. Test Track? Use the single rider line, and ride during Illuminations. Everest? Be at Animal Kingdom for the last couple hours of the day - you'll be walking onto everything (keeping in mind that the Safari does close early).

I've never stood in line 2 hours in my life, with or without FP-.

 

[fairyprincess88]

I know that some families enjoy waiting in lines and talking to people, but that is NOT something my family enjoys. I mean we DO like talking to people, but not standing in line for 2 hrs. We have always used 6-8 or even more fp's per day, and limiting them to 3/day and only one being an E ticket ride, will seriously put a damper on our park days.

We do like to spend time at whichever resort we are staying at, so that will not be impacted by the new changes, but park days will definitely have to be reworked. We can do maybe one or two ropedrops, but not more than that. We need our sleep....

So, I think when we do Orlando this year, it will just be at Universal. We love love love staying onsite for the unlimited express passes there. No split stay this year for us.

Maybe when peeps on the DIS figure out a way to see and do more with the new system, we will try again. I do love WDW, want to stay at Beach Club and AKL again some day, but not this year I don't think.

This is mostly what we've decided too. I do love WDW but our last trip, where we were at Pop and relegated to just FP+ did not work for how we like to do the parks. We ended up checking out of WDW and headed over to Universal three days earlier than scheduled.

Honestly, there is just too much planning and scheduling involved with WDW now. I don't have issues getting up early for rope drops or any of that, but scheduling what ride I want to ride and when I want to ride it, and having to plan out when park hopping could work and when it won't and ect ect is just not my idea of a fun theme park vacation. And yes, I do want to ride rides. Unless it's Harry Potter I am not going to be enthralled with standing around looking at things(this is not a dis on Disney-I'm a Potter nerd) so while I do like the shows, fireworks and the atmosphere, it's not enough to spend thousands of dollars on without the rides.

So for us at this point, Universal is the better choice. The Express Pass access can't be beat and they have Potter so it's a win win. I do not plan to give up Disney entirely, it's a huge part of my childhood and I do love it, but I will probably just do one of the parties or maybe do one day here or there on our Orlando trips.

 

[glocon]

Wow! You are really lucky that you never wait more than 15 minutes in line. Keep on giving us your tiips for this!

Thanks in advance....

(And I am not being sarcastic, I really want tips for keeping our wait only 15 minutes in line).

 

[Magpie]

Wow! You are really lucky that you never wait more than 15 minutes in line. Keep on giving us your tiips for this!

Thanks in advance....

(And I am not being sarcastic, I really want tips for keeping our wait only 15 minutes in line).

Mainly it's a matter of knowing the best times to visit and the best times to ride.

I'm at Magic Kingdom at 6pm an EMH night, crowd level 7 with no FP? I'm not going to try to get in line for Haunted Mansion. I'm going to take this opportunity to check out the PeopleMover, The Carousel of Progress, The Country Bear Jamboree, etc... If I want to ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and the Jungle Cruise with no wait, I'll get on during one of the Main Street Electrical Parades. If I can stay for the 11pm to 1am EMH, the crowds will thin out considerably and I'll be able to walk onto rides like the Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean and everything in Fantasyland as the kiddies go home to bed.

Plus, I do love rope drop! Our usual pattern is ropedrop, lunch, back to the resort for a nap, then off to another park.

FP+ works wonderfully for this kind of touring, as I generally use it in the evenings. Except when I'm staying late at Animal Kingdom, because that park doesn't ever need FP.

P.S. I should clarify that I didn't wait more than 15 minutes in line during our last trip. I certainly HAVE waited more than that in the past. The first time I ever rode Nemo, for example, I didn't realize how long the queue was! Every time we got to a new room, I thought it was over. I probably stood in line for half an hour - seemed like forever. My whole family got trapped in the old Barnstormer line for 40 minutes when it broke down -not fun! Also, I waited 25 minutes for my first ever ride on TSM a couple years ago. The line was out to the end of the avenue but with no FP returns it was moving fast. The guy ahead of me kept melting down, because he thought his family had trapped him in line forever, and his wife kept pointing out that we were still moving. Very stressed family! I ended up ahead of them, though, because there's a single rider line inside after Mr. Potato Head that merges with the FP entrance (which was empty).

 

[SmallWorld71]

Wow! You are really lucky that you never wait more than 15 minutes in line. Keep on giving us your tiips for this!

Thanks in advance....

(And I am not being sarcastic, I really want tips for keeping our wait only 15 minutes in line).

In all sincerity, our absolute max wait for getting in a line for a ride is 20 min., we prefer 10-15. If it is longer than that, we simply don't get in the line. The one exception is if there is a character that we really want to see, and a short wait isn't possible. A good current example of this problem would be Anna and Elsa. For us in the past it has been the fairies, Merida etc...

Anyway, some of the ways we accomplish this:
1) Rope Drop - I'd rather arrive at the park in advance and do a little waiting in the morning than do a lot of waiting later.

2) Understand the ebb and flow of lines and be willing to walk on by and come back later. It's a Small World is a good example of a ride you should never wait long for. We don't go on it in the morning because we are busy riding some of the headliners. On our last trip we walked by in the late afternoon/ early evening and the line was 45 minutes. So, we kept on walking and spent some time in Storybook Circus. When we passed by again about 1 1/2 hours later, the wait was down to 10 min. The same thing happened with Haunted Mansion, Buzz and Winnie the Pooh.
If we see a line that is long, we pass that ride by and make a mental note to come back to it later when the line is shorter.

3) Fast Pass - I know this is a moot point now, but at MK we would just always make sure that we had a FP for something at all times. We weren't commando about it/ didn't plan it in advance but when we were able to get another one, we did. A typical MK day for us would use about 6 FP's: our last trip we used FP for: Space Mountain, Peter Pan, Splash Mountain, BTMRR, Dumbo, and Barnstormer (this was one day).

4) Prioritize your day - If you accomplish your #1 priorities, you won't feel bad if you have to skip something later because of a long line. I always ask the rest of my group to give me their top 3-5 things (depending on group size) that they want to do and I work those into the plans.

FWIW - I mentioned earlier in the thread that I can only go during school vacations. I haven't been at Christmas time, but have been President's Week, Easter time and the summer and we don't wait in long lines. I don't think the FP+ will change this for me at Epcot, AK, or DHS but I am still trying to wrap my head around how to tour MK with the limited number.

 

[bbutler100]

Not too excited that legacy FP are going away, but will give it a try.

 

[Sammie]

I think anyone who has experience using MDE and has spent time trying to set up their vacation from the Disney website has a viable opinion.

On MDE, yes, on using Fastpass+, no.

I still for the life of me can not understand the problems some are having with MDE, it has been effortless from day one for me and everyone I personally know.

I have to at times wonder if some of the issues are on the user end, i.e. browsers, connection speed, device.

 

[Sammie]

I haven't seen anyone say it's the end of the world.

Here are some of the things I don't like:
1. Being restricted to 3 FP
2. Being stuck with the leftovers after the onsite guests have prebooked
2. Not being able to get FP in more than one park on the same day
3. Not being able to get 2 FP's for Splash if we want to ride it in the afternoon and again in the evening.
4. Not being able to get a FP for Rock n Roller Coaster AND Toy Story on the same day.
5. Not being able to get a FP for Soarin AND Test Track on the same day

Can you honestly say I need to try FP+ before I can have a valid opinion on those things?

Notice that only one of the items in my list is related to riding the same ride more than once.

For the record, our strategy was always to be at rope drop, hit the most popular attractions first, then start getting FP's when the wait times got over 15 minutes. We planned the first hour or two of each day, but were pretty open and flexible for the rest of the day.

With that touring style, we could easily use 7 or 8 FP's in a day at MK and we almost never waited in a line longer than 15 minutes. Now we only get 3 and it will be almost impossible to avoid long waits on many rides. Gee, how could I possibly have a negative opinion about that.

Now just to be clear, I'm not saying it's the end of the world or that I'm giving up WDW. Like all other changes, we will adapt to whatever FP+ ends up being and I'm sure we will still manage to have a great vacation. I think our new strategy will probably be to get FP's for the most popular rides in the afternoon and continue to do rope drop to hit the others when they are least crowded.
But there is no doubt that in the current state, the changes are negative for anyone staying offsite and for anyone who liked the old FP system and had a good strategy for using it.

I have no problem whatsoever when someone who is pro FP+ voices their opinion. But I find it annoying when the pro FP+'ers act like anyone who has a negative opinion is either a gloom and doom'er or doesn't have the right to a valid opinion because they haven't used it yet.

#2 is not accurate, not all Fastapasses can be booked in advanced. A percentage is held for same day bookings.

Yes you are correct, your style of park touring and use of Fastpass is over and you are not going to be happy with the changes.

People who were able to get multiple Fastpasses for headliners on the same day and even in different parks are going to be disappointed, as that is one of the main reasons for the changes.

Because what has happened is they have listened to the complaints of the masses that never got "any" fastpasses at all due to those that had multiples.

So yes you are right, I will coincide that some will be unhappy their way of touring at the expense of hundreds, thousands of others will end. You were not wrong to do this because it was allowed. But they have seen the error of the old system and fixed it to please more people.

 

[Laketravis]

#2 is not accurate, not all Fastapasses can be booked in advanced. A percentage is held for same day bookings.

Has this been confirmed?

 

[Sammie]

Has this been confirmed?[/QUOTE

What do you consider confirmed? Have I spoken to several people in position to actually know this, yes I have. Have they all said the said thing, that not all Fastpasses can be booked in advance, yes they have.

I mean how would people that are not staying with Disney have any chance if not and those that did book in advance be able to change them.

During the busiest days, during peak holiday time, I was able to go into my account and on the same day find available all headliners in all parks.

As to the percentage, that I don't know. Much like no one but a select few know how many tickets are sold to Halloween and Christmas parties.

And it is possible the percentage held changes due to crowds.

 

[surferdave]

A percentage is held for same day bookings.

.....that is one of the main reasons for the changes.

Because what has happened is they have listened to the complaints of the masses that never got "any" fastpasses at all due to those that had multiples.

But they have seen the error of the old system and fixed it to please more people.

This may be your belief but I don't think Disney has ever said any of these things.

 

[Planogirl]

I'd like to see statistics on these masses of people who complained about legacy fastpasses. Until then, I have my doubts.

Not that it really matters. Whatever the purpose, Disney took away legacy and what we have right now probably isn't the final plan either. Time will tell.

 

[larryz]

Here are some of the things I don't like:
1. Being restricted to 3 FP
2. Being stuck with the leftovers after the onsite guests have prebooked
3. Not being able to get FP in more than one park on the same day
4. Not being able to get 2 FP's for Splash if we want to ride it in the afternoon and again in the evening.
5. Not being able to get a FP for Rock n Roller Coaster AND Toy Story on the same day.
6. Not being able to get a FP for Soarin AND Test Track on the same day

As someone else posted on another thread, all of these can be solved by buying two tickets per person... except for your number two -- the no advance reservations thing. For that, you'll have to stay on site.

 

[Laketravis]

As someone else posted on another thread, all of these can be solved by buying two tickets per person... except for your number two -- the no advance reservations thing. For that, you'll have to stay on site.

If you had two tickets, wouldn't you have to enter the park twice? Or does that not matter with FP+?

 

[SmallWorld71]

On MDE, yes, on using Fastpass+, no.

I still for the life of me can not understand the problems some are having with MDE, it has been effortless from day one for me and everyone I personally know.

I have to at times wonder if some of the issues are on the user end, i.e. browsers, connection speed, device.

I ended up cancelling my Feb. trip (not because of MDE or FP+) and the very kind CM I spoke with offered to cancel my dining reservations for me. She got about 1/2 way through until the technology started acting up on her and wouldn't let her cancel any more. She was very apologetic and told me that such things had been happening a lot and that she had dealt with a lot of very frustrated people due to glitches with the technology.

 

[MotoWifey185]

Sadly enough, I am also glad we don't have a trip planned. It would have been our first trip to WDW and I didn't want it to be this stressful. As a DLR regular I was already feeling overwhelmed with how much different WDW was when I first started planning, and then they rolled this out! Our top choices for a vacation this year were WDW or Hawaii and they made it easier for us to chose Hawaii!

 

[Texas Barbie]

As for me, I consider myself blessed to have 2 trips planned for this year. Can't wait to try FP+. It may actually force me to give up commando-style touring and relax more. Perhaps we can be constructive about this. Aside from giving everyone who wants them a dozen FP's a day, which would essentially turn the FP lines into standby lines, what would you suggest as a remedy to this? Anyone?

 

[Peanut Giggleface]

Well we don't have a trip planned since we are local, but I do regret buying an AP. We moved here in June of last year and we were so excited to be close to the parks that we purchased APs very shortly after settling in. It just figures this is the year they roll out this program. Now I don't have a lot of gripe about FP+ in general, with the exception of the tiering, but I do have a big complaint about how Disney has treated their local passholders.

The one time we had the opportunity to stay at a resort for the kids' birthdays, it was not participating in the testing. So, didn't get in on the MBs. As time went on and the rollout progressed, the more alienated we felt as guests. Onsite guests were provided MBs, as well they should. Then limited offsite guests were provided MBs, but nothing for the locals. Then they started pulling out the FP machines. Great!! During this whole process we received no communication from Dis on how this would affect us or that we are still valued customers. We did get the Mickey Monitor that mentioned we would receive MBs "soon." Other than that we've received no communication on when we should expect them.

I guess it all boils down to feeling appreciated as a customer. Good companies make every effort to ensure a consistent product and a good, consistent experience. What we are experiencing now versus what we have experienced in the past are vastly different. We are definitely feeling like second class citizens in Disney's business plan. I'm not looking for a red carpet for my family or me, but I do want to feel like my business is appreciated. Right now it's not. For our family, the cost vs. benefit analysis is very much high cost and little benefit.

This whole experience has left such a bad taste in my mouth that I highly doubt we will renew our passes. I guess I'm still hoping Disney does something which will help change our minds, but I'm not holding my breath. We're just watching to see what happens.

Disney, I want my money back!!

 

[pooh136]

I never thought I would say this, but I really am glad I don't have an upcoming trip planned. I feel bad for those who get to be the guinea pigs for the FP+ mess.
We haven't been since 2011 and I'm really wanting to go again, but I'm definitely waiting until the testing is done and things have stabilized.
Actually, I'm thinking maybe a Universal/Sea World trip later this year and hold off on Disney until 2015. Yes, I know Universal doesn't have free Express, but at least I already know how everything works there and how to make it work for us.

We just decided in the past week to take our 3 children to Disney in September, so I logged onto the disboards for the first time in over 3 years. We haven't been since September 2010, and I was surprised to see how many things have changed. FP+, Photopass+, RFID tickets...I have been so overwhelmed seeing all the new terminology and have a lot of reading to do. our trips in 2009 and 2010 were 18 months apart, so I felt like I had everything down to a science and now feel like I am starting from square one again. My DH and I have actually decided to take a quick weekend trip this spring using some old tickets we have days left on just to try to figure things out.

 

[Laketravis]

I guess it all boils down to feeling appreciated as a customer.

Peanut, they've already got your money. They're done earning it.