Actually I think one of the interesting things is that this is the most clearly stated I've ever seen it that the guest whose experience Disney is hoping to improve the most with FP+ / MagicBand is not the repeat visitor, it is the first-timer. And in the context of the first-timer, I think most of the quotes/implications in the article about improving spontaneity, reducing choices actually improving people's experience, etc., are true. One of the reasons I think this is that I would say that over 50% of the first-timers stepping through the gates of a park have almost no plan other than what they want to see. I think that because although people occasionally post about why two crowd calendars have different values for the same day, for the most part crowd calendars agree with each other pretty well. Which means that if everyone was using them, they wouldn't work as well.
From http://touringplans.com/walt-disney-world/park-recommendations:
If FP+ is making sure that a higher percentage of these people are, at a minimum, going to achieve their three must-dos in every park without waiting in a long line or stressing about whether or not they will be able to fit it in, or if that will end up being the only thing that they do because the line is so long -- then Disney has succeeded in the goal of improving the experience of the first-timer. Even if it is more stressful to do the planning, by the time they arrive on vacation that frustration is in the past, and so it may be true that a higher percentage of first-timers will report feeling that they were very spontaneous on their vacation compared to interview results from pre-FP+ first-timers.
There's no question there are repeat visitors who like FP+ better, and no question there are repeat visitors who like FP+ worse. What is the ratio? I don't think we really know, and personally I would not even be surprised to find that it changes over time as people's expectations adjust.
First-timers, though, don't have anything to like better or worse in comparison, so the question is different. The first-timer question, which I don't think any of us know the answer to, is: given finances not being the obstacle, does FP+ improve the first-timer vacation experience enough to convert a higher percentage of those first-timers into repeaters? And even the ones who are financially prevented from returning -- do more of them go home and tell their friends how amazing it was, and totally worth the money even if you can only do it once?
We did the "trip of a lifetime" when I was a teenager -- my grandparents paid, and we went with a copy of the unofficial guide. My father swore never again. Knowing my father though, and knowing how FP+ can potentially change the experience, I wonder if that would have been his opinion if we re-did the same trip today.
From http://touringplans.com/walt-disney-world/park-recommendations:
Reverse Psychology - Should I avoid the park with the lowest crowd level because everyone will go there?
"If everyone sees that Animal Kingdom has the lowest crowd level," you ask, "won't that quickly become the most crowded park?" Unfortunately, no. While we would love to dictate the ebbs and flows of crowds at Walt Disney World, we just ain't that big (yet). We estimate that a small percentage of people in any park have seen our Crowd Calendar, so consider yourself one of the lucky ones. We monitor wait times every day at every park, so if we do start to influence crowds, we'll be the first to notice.
"If everyone sees that Animal Kingdom has the lowest crowd level," you ask, "won't that quickly become the most crowded park?" Unfortunately, no. While we would love to dictate the ebbs and flows of crowds at Walt Disney World, we just ain't that big (yet). We estimate that a small percentage of people in any park have seen our Crowd Calendar, so consider yourself one of the lucky ones. We monitor wait times every day at every park, so if we do start to influence crowds, we'll be the first to notice.
If FP+ is making sure that a higher percentage of these people are, at a minimum, going to achieve their three must-dos in every park without waiting in a long line or stressing about whether or not they will be able to fit it in, or if that will end up being the only thing that they do because the line is so long -- then Disney has succeeded in the goal of improving the experience of the first-timer. Even if it is more stressful to do the planning, by the time they arrive on vacation that frustration is in the past, and so it may be true that a higher percentage of first-timers will report feeling that they were very spontaneous on their vacation compared to interview results from pre-FP+ first-timers.
There's no question there are repeat visitors who like FP+ better, and no question there are repeat visitors who like FP+ worse. What is the ratio? I don't think we really know, and personally I would not even be surprised to find that it changes over time as people's expectations adjust.
First-timers, though, don't have anything to like better or worse in comparison, so the question is different. The first-timer question, which I don't think any of us know the answer to, is: given finances not being the obstacle, does FP+ improve the first-timer vacation experience enough to convert a higher percentage of those first-timers into repeaters? And even the ones who are financially prevented from returning -- do more of them go home and tell their friends how amazing it was, and totally worth the money even if you can only do it once?
We did the "trip of a lifetime" when I was a teenager -- my grandparents paid, and we went with a copy of the unofficial guide. My father swore never again. Knowing my father though, and knowing how FP+ can potentially change the experience, I wonder if that would have been his opinion if we re-did the same trip today.
