Fastpass Plus Mess

[Christhegr8]

It is worrisome at the least, these changes. I go once a year and used the old fast pass system to basically avoid ever waiting in lines more than 20 minutes. Also I used more then 3 FPs a day for sure. And like many have said they aren't going to change it, they spent billions on this system. I understand trying to keep people in the park as long as possible but I do believe they are going to lose a lot of long time customers. I will never ever stay on site, I have rented out a pool home for the last five years and I just can't see the value on staying on site. Each home we have stayed in has had a private pool a full kitchen 4-5 bedrooms 1-2 living rooms, a grill, multiple bathrooms and we stay for multiple weeks. This year we are staying 16 days for $1,100 in a luxury pool home. I can't imagine how much more it would cost to stay on Disney Property as well as all of the privacy and luxury we'd give up. The owners of these homes are always willing to negotiate and I recommend staying in an off site pool home to anyone wanted to get the most for their money. Sorry i got side tracked but I am worried that Disney may have ruined what made them great. I do believe they will be able to get more people to stay on site but they will push away people like us that know it is am immense waste of money to stay on site. Oh well

 

[sjhym333]

I appreciate your insight. A persons experience is what it is. I have had a very different experience with FP+ and as with most new systems I have learned a lot about using it and Disney seems to be trying to fix the problems. Here are some of my observations:

1) Disney has added Kiosks and personnel at the Kiosks quickly since the beginning of the year. I think they have heard the complaining and are adding CM's to handle that. Part of the problem is that the newness of they system means that guests do not understand the system and seem unprepared to make choices by the time they reach a CM. This past weekend (spring break is going on and the parks were packed) I watched several families get to the CM without an idea of what they wanted to ride despite the fact that everyone who entered the kiosk queue were handed a list of attractions and instructions. A tip: 2 different CM's told me that the kiosks at Hall of President tend to be the least crowded most of the day due mainly to location. Both times I stopped there this weekend I waited less than 5 minutes, though other kiosks were packed.

2) I found the kiosk CM's to be amazingly helpful. The Legacy FP system only allowed you to get the time the machines were dispensing. Every time I have used a kiosk the CM has worked hard to get me times that worked with my schedule for the day. This weekend the CM kept refreshing his screen until a time we wanted opened up. He gave me this tip: since so many people are constantly changing their times for one reason or another times open up all the time that are more convenient. He said the trick is to keep refreshing your screen.

3) The Pooh incident had nothing to do with FP+ but was clearly a CM error which would have occurred under the old system as well. The person at merge either had no understanding of the role of the merge point person or chose to ignore that. There is a prescribed ratio of FP and non-FP guests. However if there is no one coming up the FP entrance the CM is supposed to load from the Standby Line. Standby is not meant to be a punishment.

4) The great thing for me with FP+ is my ability to change it, even a kiosk. If I have a 3pm FP for an attraction but at 2-2:30 feel I may not make it for one reason or another I can attempt to dash across the park and try to make my window (which was also true for Legacy FP's) or I can stop at a kiosk and try to change my time for later. And if another time is not available I can also choose to change my attraction choice. To me that is a win/win situation. Plus I have found that the kiosks get slower as the day progresses. I would also say that like the Legacy FP it is my responsability to plan my day to get back to an attraction within my FP window. If I have a 1pm Future World FP I probably don't need to be at the American Adventure at 12:50

5) While staying off property may make using FP a little harder it is not unreasonable to understand that a person paying $500 for a night at the Polynesian is the guest that Disney really wants to make happy. It is not like a off-property person is being blocked from using FP, but as in the past it behooves a person staying off site to get to the parks early to ensure that the FP's for the attractions they must ride are available. As with Legacy FP's getting to the parks early will help in getting the FP's you want to use during the day. I don't find the 3 choices either unreasonable or unfair. Choosing your 3 wisely though is key.

My experience with FP+ has been very positive. I am now able to make FP+ reservations from home because I am an AP Holder. I will say that when I have left my house at mid-day to go to the parks I have been able to get FP's for any attraction I wanted to ride. This has allowed me to ride attractions that I usually would bypass because there were no longer FP's available or because the times were too late. I assume that if I can leave my house at 11:45 am and can grab a 2pm FP for Toy Story Mania before I leave home that a person in the park at a kiosk can also do that. When was the last time you were able to do that since TSMM opened?

 

[GoofGoof]

It is worrisome at the least, these changes. I go once a year and used the old fast pass system to basically avoid ever waiting in lines more than 20 minutes. Also I used more then 3 FPs a day for sure. And like many have said they aren't going to change it, they spent billions on this system. I understand trying to keep people in the park as long as possible but I do believe they are going to lose a lot of long time customers. I will never ever stay on site, I have rented out a pool home for the last five years and I just can't see the value on staying on site. Each home we have stayed in has had a private pool a full kitchen 4-5 bedrooms 1-2 living rooms, a grill, multiple bathrooms and we stay for multiple weeks. This year we are staying 16 days for $1,100 in a luxury pool home. I can't imagine how much more it would cost to stay on Disney Property as well as all of the privacy and luxury we'd give up. The owners of these homes are always willing to negotiate and I recommend staying in an off site pool home to anyone wanted to get the most for their money. Sorry i got side tracked but I am worried that Disney may have ruined what made them great. I do believe they will be able to get more people to stay on site but they will push away people like us that know it is am immense waste of money to stay on site. Oh well

I think this is part of the plan. From the beginning the business model for this new system was described by executives as a way to increase per guest spending. Rather than increase capacity in an attempt to grow the customer base they are looking to increase revenues with the same number of guests or less. From a business prospective WDW has become a hotel and resort business with theme parks and food/merchandise as ancillary revenue streams. The most lucrative part of the business is the resorts and room occupancy is down vs where it was a decade ago. Part of the goal is to get more guests to stay on property. It's not that they don't want day guests or people visiting who stay off property, but the focus is to increase hotel room occupancy even if that means losing some customers in the process.