WOW, FP+ is worse than I even imagined

rastuso

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jul 20, 2010
So, after realizing about a year ago that FP+ was going to ruin WDW vacations, and in spite of the many who "love the flexibility of only getting 3 rides, but they can sleep in", I had my first encounter with this abomination today.

First up, even with my MNSSHP tix in the system, and set up, the site gave no indication that I would actually be able to choose FP+ today. It just allowed it at midnight. My wife said there was no Dwarf Hill or Belle FP+ available then, big surprise, so she didn't get anything.

I get on today to try and at least get SOMETHING. So, I get HM for all of us, Then Splash Mountain, then Big thunder. Even though I know my son and I will ride Splash late, and BTMRR too.

Later, I think "hmmm, I wonder if individual FP+ are available for DH or Belle". Sure enough, some are, so I get 2 overlapping FP+ for Belle, but not a third. it's hours before. That's fairly worthless, unless we can scam in the third, which is unlikely.

Then I realize how horrible the site is. I can change the time of an FP+, or look for another FP+ with THOSE EXACT SAME TIMES ONLY! WTH? Why on Earth can I not see everything that's available, and choose something new?

So, I see you can cancel on FP+. So, I cancel one of the Splash Mountains, since my wife will most likely not ride it anyway. Well, HEY! You can't reschedule that 3rd FP after you cancel it, it's just GONE!

ARE YOU FRICKIN' KIDDING ME!

What an absolute piece of garbage system.

And 30 days out, in early October, availability is slim. This morning there was some stuff, but not, at noon, everything worth having after about 2 is gone. Remember all the delusional people who said everything would be great except for Spring Break and Summer?

So, essentially, unless you are staying on Disney property, FP+ is fairly worthless.

Disney World, I've visited you probably 25 vacations, for well over 100 days of my life, all using regular tickets, not season passes. Add another 100 days for my wife and son. However, you won't be getting another normal day entry ticket from me any time soon. It will probably take Star Wars to get me back at this point. And that will be ONE day.

You have made visiting your park way too complicated, and have so severely lowered the value of the visit, I'm not will to spend the money. And I'm hardly someone who is on a tight budget.

I hope MNSSHP will be fun, as it always has been. But when it's over, we will retreat to Universal, where they treat guests properly.

-Jason
 
Next time explore a FP+ thread which has lots of tips and tricks so what happened to you doesn't happen to you.

Oh and FYI as long as you aren't interested in A&E you can ride any and all rides you just have to stand in line
 
We are finally used to it and I see the advantages of it now, but I am still happy that we are going to DLR next month to go back to the old system. We always stay on-site though, so that makes things much easier.

If you are going to MNSSHP, you will be able to walk on nearly any ride. We got on 7DMT with a 10 minute wait during the party this week.
 


Just for clarity's sake: you only have one MNSSHP ticket? So you're trying to make FP+ for a single 3 hour window, 30 days out?

I can definitely see how that experience would be worthless. But that doesn't mean FP+ doesn't work for other people.
 
I didn't have any problems at 30 days out (we stayed offsite a few weeks ago), other than Anna and Elsa and the Mine Train. We never got A&E and saw them in the parade and the sing-along at DHS, so that worked out well. We rode MT at rope drop.

I was just booking as a group of 4 though, so nothing complicated with different FPs for different people. I did notice that there was really nothing left for the 4th FP, but it was so hot when we were there that we were pretty much done by the point anyway.

On the other hand, our onsite days at Universal really were fun and relaxing. Zero planning which was awesome. And ride after ride after ride, duplicate rides, on and on. So yeah, win for Universal there.

Good luck, I hope you can get what you want eventually.
 
We used it this past week and I thought it was a great system. I had my reservations after reading so much negativity on here. However, it worked flawlessly and times were available when needed for fourth pass and on. I really believe it has to do with the time of year you are in the parks. I also heavily relied on Josh from easywdw for park recommendations and that helped tremendously in planning! Good luck next time around pixiedust:
 


I'm sorry you were unsatisfied with your experience. Fortunately, having been able to use FP+ several times now, it has never "ruined" my vacation. I was even able to change one of my FPs for my trip next month from Splash to SDMT. It works for a lot of people.
 
So, after realizing about a year ago that FP+ was going to ruin WDW vacations, and in spite of the many who "love the flexibility of only getting 3 rides, but they can sleep in", I had my first encounter with this abomination today.

First up, even with my MNSSHP tix in the system, and set up, the site gave no indication that I would actually be able to choose FP+ today. It just allowed it at midnight. My wife said there was no Dwarf Hill or Belle FP+ available then, big surprise, so she didn't get anything.

I get on today to try and at least get SOMETHING. So, I get HM for all of us, Then Splash Mountain, then Big thunder. Even though I know my son and I will ride Splash late, and BTMRR too.

Later, I think "hmmm, I wonder if individual FP+ are available for DH or Belle". Sure enough, some are, so I get 2 overlapping FP+ for Belle, but not a third. it's hours before. That's fairly worthless, unless we can scam in the third, which is unlikely.

Then I realize how horrible the site is. I can change the time of an FP+, or look for another FP+ with THOSE EXACT SAME TIMES ONLY! WTH? Why on Earth can I not see everything that's available, and choose something new?

So, I see you can cancel on FP+. So, I cancel one of the Splash Mountains, since my wife will most likely not ride it anyway. Well, HEY! You can't reschedule that 3rd FP after you cancel it, it's just GONE!

ARE YOU FRICKIN' KIDDING ME!

What an absolute piece of garbage system.

And 30 days out, in early October, availability is slim. This morning there was some stuff, but not, at noon, everything worth having after about 2 is gone. Remember all the delusional people who said everything would be great except for Spring Break and Summer?

So, essentially, unless you are staying on Disney property, FP+ is fairly worthless.

Disney World, I've visited you probably 25 vacations, for well over 100 days of my life, all using regular tickets, not season passes. Add another 100 days for my wife and son. However, you won't be getting another normal day entry ticket from me any time soon. It will probably take Star Wars to get me back at this point. And that will be ONE day.

You have made visiting your park way too complicated, and have so severely lowered the value of the visit, I'm not will to spend the money. And I'm hardly someone who is on a tight budget.

I hope MNSSHP will be fun, as it always has been. But when it's over, we will retreat to Universal, where they treat guests properly.

-Jason

You can replace or change the time of something without cancelling it. This lets you see what's available and for what times before going through with the change.

I've been changing my FP all over the place for my upcoming trip and haven't had much of a problem with times for 5 people... Hope it perks up for ya.

Also, Dwarf Hill? :lmao:
 
You can replace or change the time of something without cancelling it. This lets you see what's available and for what times before going through with the change.

I've been changing my FP all over the place for my upcoming trip and haven't had much of a problem with times for 5 people... Hope it perks up for ya.

Also, Dwarf Hill? :lmao:

He's upset it that when he tried to replace his FP+ it wouldn't show him things available at other times. But with a MNSSHP ticket, you only have 3 hours worth of FP+ to plan. The system wouldn't have shown him something at other times, because those other times would have conflicted with his remaining two FP.

At least that's what I think happened.
 
OP, I bet your issue was that at first you picked a slate of times that were close to when you actually wanted to experience your FP picks. As counter-intuitive as it seems, making selections actually works better and easier if you pick a slate that is FARTHEST from your times you want and then you adjust from there. If you pick a slate of 3 where they are closest to your desired times, then the system will not show you all the availability because of the overlap.

Yes, this is not exactly user-friendly, but if you follow that trick, you may have better luck.
 
We've done 2 trips with FP+ (our 3rd is in 2 weeks). Outside of the big two, I had not trouble getting anything we wanted. The past two FP+ trips we have moved fP+s the day of and even switched parks on the way to the park when we decided we did not want to visit the park we were schedule for. The only issue we had was TSM (pre A&E and mine train). And our last trip was May, so everyone had FP+ by then.

I am not a huge fan of the new system. I can take it or leave it. I would be totally ok if Disney switched to a ticket add on FP system like Universal has. But everyone on here would be up in arms over that! :rolleyes:
 
Next time explore a FP+ thread which has lots of tips and tricks so what happened to you doesn't happen to you.

Oh and FYI as long as you aren't interested in A&E you can ride any and all rides you just have to stand in line

Wow, I never realized that, I guess standing in long lines is an excellent alternative. Who needs fastpass, when long lines are there.

But really, FP+ will have minimal impact on our visit, since it's a Party, but this little glimpse into it's inner-workings solidify my belief that the only people who like it are those that are happy with 3 rides a day, and allow Disney to kidnap them at the airport.

The FP+ threads would only have helped the one detail of deleting a FP and not being able to reschedule. But that is hardly one of the highly publicized "features", and it took me quite a while to find info regarding it in a search.

The threads would have done nothing to make FP+ more available to me.

-Jason
 
OP, I bet your issue was that at first you picked a slate of times that were close to when you actually wanted to experience your FP picks. As counter-intuitive as it seems, making selections actually works better and easier if you pick a slate that is FARTHEST from your times you want and then you adjust from there. If you pick a slate of 3 where they are closest to your desired times, then the system will not show you all the availability because of the overlap.

Yes, this is not exactly user-friendly, but if you follow that trick, you may have better luck.

Good advice in general, but again not applicable when using an MNSSHP ticket. The system could only show him available FP+ between 4 and 7 PM. There's not much wiggle room there!
 
Wow, I never realized that, I guess standing in long lines is an excellent alternative. Who needs fastpass, when long lines are there.

But really, FP+ will have minimal impact on our visit, since it's a Party, but this little glimpse into it's inner-workings solidify my belief that the only people who like it are those that are happy with 3 rides a day, and allow Disney to kidnap them at the airport.

The FP+ threads would only have helped the one detail of deleting a FP and not being able to reschedule. But that is hardly one of the highly publicized "features", and it took me quite a while to find info regarding it in a search.

The threads would have done nothing to make FP+ more available to me.

-Jason

I've always been able to do more than 3 rides using FP+. Maybe you shouldn't paint with such a wide brush.
 
Good advice in general, but again not applicable when using an MNSSHP ticket. The system could only show him available FP+ between 4 and 7 PM. There's not much wiggle room there!

Actually one of the glitches is that is allows you to book for the entire day. I assume OPs day is going to be really busy.
 
He's upset it that when he tried to replace his FP+ it wouldn't show him things available at other times. But with a MNSSHP ticket, you only have 3 hours worth of FP+ to plan. The system wouldn't have shown him something at other times, because those other times would have conflicted with his remaining two FP.

At least that's what I think happened.

No, it actually shows windows for all day, which surprised me. I have a FP+ for a time I won't even be allowed in the park for. Wonder if I could demand entry!:lmao:

To be clear, I knew this was coming. I was very active in the anti-FP threads early this year.

The folks that say "it worked great for us" are clearly either
1. staying on site and nabbed FP+ at 60+ days out
2. not big riders, and more than happy with 3 rides a day
3. lucky with MDE
4. going when FP has historically been unnecessary


-Jason
 
Wow, I never realized that, I guess standing in long lines is an excellent alternative. Who needs fastpass, when long lines are there.

But really, FP+ will have minimal impact on our visit, since it's a Party, but this little glimpse into it's inner-workings solidify my belief that the only people who like it are those that are happy with 3 rides a day, and allow Disney to kidnap them at the airport.

The FP+ threads would only have helped the one detail of deleting a FP and not being able to reschedule. But that is hardly one of the highly publicized "features", and it took me quite a while to find info regarding it in a search.

The threads would have done nothing to make FP+ more available to me.

-Jason

Everyone I know see that's down there now has been posting wait times of 0 - 10 minutes.... what long lines?! :confused3
 
To be clear, I knew this was coming. I was very active in the anti-FP threads early this year.

The folks that say "it worked great for us" are clearly either
1. staying on site and nabbed FP+ at 60+ days out
2. not big riders, and more than happy with 3 rides a day
3. lucky with MDE
4. going when FP has historically been unnecessary


-Jason


Well, I'm glad you were able to use this very limited and irregular usage of the new system to reinforce your preconceptions about the new system. :thumbsup2
 
I don't agree with any of the 4 things you listed. That being said, you are certainly not shy about how you feel and shouldn't be. Your next step should be to copy and paste that whole first post into an email to wdw guest relations.
 

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