Wow! Big news.

[Msmithmd]

Can't say this was unexpected. But timetable is pretty quick. And Josh at easywdw is 100% reliable in my experience.

http://www.easywdw.com/news/magic-kingdom-going-fastpass-only-beginning-january-14/

 

[rkold]

Wow, I wonder what sort of issues this is going to cause. That is the day we were planning to visit MK on our upcoming trip!

I'm so glad I upgraded my cell phone so it can run MM+

 

[sweetdana]

I guess this is certainly a way to make it a benefit for staying on site.. No way do you get spectromagic parade or illuminations day of event..

I suspect once all things settle.. changes of getting PP.. will likely come to a hault too.. .. but hopefully it works bugs out.. like old tickets not attaching to file, or randomly forgetting all FP...

 

[DebbieB]

There is a long thread on the Theme Parks board for more discussion:

http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3219433

I'll be glad when they phase out FP- for good. I think that is when we might see some "tweaks" to FP+ to allow for more.

 

[DenLo]

With all the money Disney is spending on the RFID technology I don't blame them for pulling the legacy FP kiosks as quickly as possible. We found during our November 2013 stay that we did both FP+ and Legacy FP. And many others were doing the same. Until all of the legacy FPs go bye-bye Disney will never know how the FP+ system is really working.

 

[udflyer00]

I haven't had a trip yet using the new FP+, but I do agree that you need to be able to either get more in a day after you've used the ones you've already signed up for, or they should have an allotment per segment of the day as someone in the article comments stated, 2 morning, 2 afternoon, 2 evening. Sometimes the park is open until 3 AM in the summer and you could snag a lot of paper fastpasses at the park when their open that day, and I used that a lot to our advantage to ensure we got to see all the big rides and shows... Again I haven't used FP+ and MagicBands yet, i'm excited about the ability to prebook fastpasses in advance, but not being able to park hop and get fast passes and the new park is a real bummer, and only being limited to your top 3 out of all the available choices...

 

[MinnieGi]

We were there over Christmas week and actually found the magic band FP+ system very good and perfer it over the old. The reason being - I can change my FP+ selections on the fly! Loved that! We often are in the parks at rope drop and walk on a slew of rides. For instance my kids rode Everest 5x in a row in the first 45 min the park was open. (DH and I made it 3x, before we bailed) LOL! Anyway I had a FP for Everest already that day, so I just moved it to a later time so we could all get back on after we did some other stuff. And this was when AK had already removed FP legacy from parks.

Another day we were early at MK and rode everything that requires a FP by stand-by walking on and this included several Space mtn rides. We decided we rather do FP at Epcot later that evening - so I changed them all and got Test Track for later that night.

Everyday in the parks I was constantly changing our times or experiences so it better suited to what we were really doing at the time.

Now the only thing we really would have liked would have been to book a FP's for two different parks in the same day. Where we start at in the morning is not always the park we do in the evening. Now I also have to say I really also did not like the tier system for Epcot especially - no fun choosing between Soarin and Test Track! At DHS it didn't bother us as much because we would do FP for TSM and then do stand-by for RNR and TOT when the park opened and could walk on. But it was nice not seeing the "stampede" to TSM upon park opening, felt safer walking in!! LOL!

 

[MagicJourney]

Hope we could get more FPs as a DVC benefit. 3 FPs per day are definitely not enough .

 

[wiigirl]

Hope we could get more FPs as a DVC benefit. 3 FPs per day are definitely not enough .

x2

 

[debdisneycruiser]

Quote" Now the only thing we really would have liked would have been to book a FP's for two different parks in the same day. Where we start at in the morning is not always the park we do in the evening."


Our thoughts exactly. It kinda hinders the "Park Hopper" option. On Sunday before Christmas we visited HS, AK and finished at MK since it was closing at 3 am. The FP+ system only allowed for choice of passes for one of those parks. It will keep me from going with the PH in the future if they stay with this system.

Personally from our experience and our always park hopping this is a step backward for us.

 

[hakepb]

Quote" Now the only thing we really would have liked would have been to book a FP's for two different parks in the same day. Where we start at in the morning is not always the park we do in the evening."


Our thoughts exactly. It kinda hinders the "Park Hopper" option. On Sunday before Christmas we visited HS, AK and finished at MK since it was closing at 3 am. The FP+ system only allowed for choice of passes for one of those parks. It will keep me from going with the PH in the future if they stay with this system.

Personally from our experience and our always park hopping this is a step backward for us.

1 park FP+ can be a benefit to your evening plans (if you pre-book at the evening park, making it possible to arrive late at DHS, go on TSM, then watch F!)
But it lessens the morning park, but lines in the am are relatively short, so it still works OK near rope drop.

 

[EPCOTatNight]

Quote" Now the only thing we really would have liked would have been to book a FP's for two different parks in the same day. Where we start at in the morning is not always the park we do in the evening."

Our thoughts exactly. It kinda hinders the "Park Hopper" option. On Sunday before Christmas we visited HS, AK and finished at MK since it was closing at 3 am. The FP+ system only allowed for choice of passes for one of those parks. It will keep me from going with the PH in the future if they stay with this system.

Personally from our experience and our always park hopping this is a step backward for us.

For us,it enhances the hopper option. We have NEVER had the hopper option before, but will do so in the future. We are rope drop people, so morning fp are not that important. We plan on reserving evening fast passes at one park and rope dropping at another.

Sent from my IPad using DisBoards.

 

[debdisneycruiser]

1 park FP+ can be a benefit to your evening plans (if you pre-book at the evening park, making it possible to arrive late at DHS, go on TSM, then watch F!)
But it lessens the morning park, but lines in the am are relatively short, so it still works OK near rope drop.

Because we are frequent the parks at least twice a year, we seldom "pre-book" anything beside dinner reservations. We choose PH so can choose as the day plays out and the crowds are disbursed. ANd the lines in AM are definitely not short at Toy Story at Hollywood. So simply stating that for our preferences and the way we enjoy Disney, this is a step backward, unless they allow for FP at more than one park a day.

 

[PoohsFan1]

Hope we could get more FPs as a DVC benefit. 3 FPs per day are definitely not enough .

x2

x3

 

[gtrist4life]

I know the company has spent a tremendous amount of time and money on this.
Good luck with the roll out and look forward to the progress/enhancements it brings. We don't have a park trip planned this year, but will definitely appreciate the options when we do!
Peace!

 

[pyrxtc]

Do you really have to have valid park tickets linked to your magic bands to do fastpass ? I don't want to add my 10 days passes yet.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Do you really have to have valid park tickets linked to your magic bands to do fastpass ? I don't want to add my 10 days passes yet.

In order to reserve FP's - yes. If not then anyone could reserve and block out FP's and then never even show up - which still could happen but without that requirement it could really get out of control.

But personal experience is that you can reserve a day before or even day of for most or all attractions. As it stands now you don't need to reserve 60 months in advance or else be concerned about not getting FP's.

 

[Msmithmd]

Do you really have to have valid park tickets linked to your magic bands to do fastpass ? I don't want to add my 10 days passes yet.

Is there a reason that you don't want to link your tickets? Because they are going to make you do this the day you get there and want to enter any park, if you haven't done it ahead of time. Just wondering.

 

[nabi]

I'm not sure what that posters reason is, but have 10 day non expiring, and often use APs. I'm unsure how that will work. I've read the AP will take precedence, but want to be sure.

 

[DisneyRegulars]

We were there over Christmas week and actually found the magic band FP+ system very good and perfer it over the old. The reason being - I can change my FP+ selections on the fly! Loved that! We often are in the parks at rope drop and walk on a slew of rides. For instance my kids rode Everest 5x in a row in the first 45 min the park was open. (DH and I made it 3x, before we bailed) LOL! Anyway I had a FP for Everest already that day, so I just moved it to a later time so we could all get back on after we did some other stuff. And this was when AK had already removed FP legacy from parks.

Another day we were early at MK and rode everything that requires a FP by stand-by walking on and this included several Space mtn rides. We decided we rather do FP at Epcot later that evening - so I changed them all and got Test Track for later that night.

Everyday in the parks I was constantly changing our times or experiences so it better suited to what we were really doing at the time.

Now the only thing we really would have liked would have been to book a FP's for two different parks in the same day. Where we start at in the morning is not always the park we do in the evening. Now I also have to say I really also did not like the tier system for Epcot especially - no fun choosing between Soarin and Test Track! At DHS it didn't bother us as much because we would do FP for TSM and then do stand-by for RNR and TOT when the park opened and could walk on. But it was nice not seeing the "stampede" to TSM upon park opening, felt safer walking in!! LOL!

We just returned from a trip 1/3 to 1/11 and had a very similar experience to yours. We were able to move FP+s around on the fly as they would suit our needs. My favorite was when we would have a FP+ for say Pirates at 1:35 and it was 1:15, no problem, just move the FP+ up to 1:20 and walk right on. So easy!!! And so flexible. I actually loved the system.