Limiting all guests to 3 FP+ choices per day

[Disneyfamily4]

I still fail to see why these bands were even needed. Despite what some people say, they ABSOLUTELY DO NOT get you into the park any faster. For instance, you still need to wait in line at the security check point and wait while they check bags and strollers. Then after that, you still need to go to the entrance, put the wrist band up to the machine as well as still getting your finger print scanned. So guess what, putting the card in a machine and placing your finger in the finger print ID, takes just as long as placing your wrist to a machine, waiting 3 seconds for it to read, then still having to put your finger in the Id slot and wait for that to read.

Some people will argue and say " now we don't have to wait for people to look for their tickets in line". But I think we can all agree that is dumb. Everyone at the check points have their tickets out all ready, or at least they have their tickets ready while waiting in the turnstile line.

Also, when you go to a restaurant, before you had to swipe the card to get your dining credits checked off. Now you have to put your wrist up to a machine. Anyone saving that much time?

Sure you can put money on the wrist bands, but that is the guests doing Disney a favor, not the other way around. As I said before, if you have 100 dollars in your pocket and your kids want a 20 dollar balloon, a parent will most likely say no. But now if there is a 100 dollars on your band, with the psychology of the mind not actually seeing money get spent, you may then allow the balloon to be bought.

And there is a lot more psychology involved with these bands. First off, you can only have fast passes for one park. With all this technology, why would Disney not allow 2 parks three choices????? The reason is, Disney would prefer their guests to stay in one park. Sure the people still can Park Hop if they want to, but again, the psychology will be that the majority of guests will most likely stay put in one park, knowing that they can go to the other park the next day and have a fresh start with new fast passes. During Peak Seasons, There will be thousands of people, who will not park hop, knowing that after they take all that time to transport to the new park, they will then also have to wait in super long lines. There will be no point in a lot of peoples minds.

In the end, people are not leaving the park for a few hours to transport. When people do leave the park to go to another park, they tend to get exhausted much quicker and then leave the 2nd park early and call it the day, feeling satisfied they went to two parks. However now, people will stay at the first park a lot longer, more money will get spent by the end of the day.

 

[EvilQueen-T]

E ticket is just a left over term from when you had to buy individual tickets to the rides. It's used here all the time to mean the rides that have the longest lines. JlsHouston gave you a good list of those rides. If you make the parks at rope drop, use all emh's the fastpast + can actually be a good thing if you park hop. The one thing we didn't have any trouble with on our November trip with the magicband was our fastpasses. It worked every time. I think we'll all learn how to finesse the magicband fastpass+ just like we did with the paper fastpasses.
I do really hope they give us more than 3. I can live with three in non-busy times, but it will really put a crimp in our vacation if we only have 3 during peak times.

We've used the bands 3 times with mixed results. The first two trips the bands worked fine (hate the 3 limit and not being able to choose rides like sorin and test track on the same day) but that aside on our last trip one member of our group (a 9 y/o...but a well seasoned disney ap holder vet) for whatever reason the band kept thinking she wasn't in the park. We were sent to guest services 4 or 5 times over a 3 day weekend and they never did fix it, although each time they assured me it was "fixed". It was really frustrating. Never had a problem using it to enter a park or open a door but in terms of her fp+ we would get pulled aside and had to pull up the info on my phone each time until they finally started just giving us a blue ticket for her to use each day in each park . The fact that they could never get it to work despite multiple trips to who ever they sent us to was the most irritating part. It was a lot of time in line without positive results so I'm not holding my breath once they fully roll this out. A cm friend of my daughter who works in tomorrowland tells us the front line cm's are really frustrated with the new system too.

 

[Horizons19]

All of us who had bad experiences with the new system should write/email and tell Disney. I did. Things will never change if they don't hear about our experiences and how it adversely affected our trips.

 

[wdwgreek]

So wait, I am sure its been mentioned somewhere, but how will park hoping work? If i say want to spend the am in Animal Kingdom, and only want a fastpass for Everest or Dinosoar, and spend the evening at Epcot, could i still get a Soarin Fastpass or any epcot fastpass too?

 

[Horizons19]

So wait, I am sure its been mentioned somewhere, but how will park hoping work? If i say want to spend the am in Animal Kingdom, and only want a fastpass for Everest or Dinosoar, and spend the evening at Epcot, could i still get a Soarin Fastpass or any epcot fastpass too?

No. All three FP+ have to be at the same park, as it is now.

 

[Allygator]

Good Evening all- This is my first post ever
Like many others, I am very frustrated with FP Plus. I have been going to WDW for years. We have 8 year old twins and we have been taking them here since they were 2. We have come to master the legacy Fast Pass System. We always average 8-10 fast passes a day easily and I am furious that we can no longer do that. My husband would stay with the kids and head to a ride and wait in line and I would run to a ride across the park and grab Fast Passes. We had a Fast Pass in play at all times. Last year we rode TSM at HS 5 times in one day (we did score a bonus FP from SciFI diner because my husband ordered two Reubens and the waitress did not believe he could eat it and he did so she gave him a FP LOL)!! It is so unfair that they are punishing people that want to make the absolute most of their vacation and ride as many rides as they can. I see NO benefit to this Fast Pass + and limiting us to only 3 Fast Passes a day AND only at one park. I cannot figure out why they are doing this. We are headed there in May and I am already stressed about this. And the tier FP at Epcot and HS are ridiculous. Who would ever FP Nemo or Indiana Jones etc. The choices in the tiers are crazy. The fact that you cannot FP Soaring and TT is insane. Those are the only two rides you need a FP there. I hope and pray they up the number before we head there in May! I love Disney so very much but right now I am one very disgruntled and disappointed fan!

I'm planning on going in May too. I was hoping to win over my husband but I don't think it will happen. I'm waiting for something to change or we may be canceling our trip.

 

[wdwgreek]

No. All three FP+ have to be at the same park, as it is now.

Sigh that's upsetting under legacy fastpass that was the not the case. I sorta makes me less inclined to purchase a park hopper with my ticket.

 

[Disneyfamily4]

I think the majority agree with you, on questioning whether or not, the park hopper is worth it anymore.

I am hoping that Disney sees a decline in Park Hoppers Purchased.

I know some people think that this new system is awesome and that they will still get the park hopper. People have written that they will schedule their fast passes for the second park they go to and start the day early at another park and wait in lines for the rides.

This would be a good idea for September-Feb when the park is dead, but during peak seasons, 100,000 other people have that same idea and as I have seen in the past, 20 minutes after the park opens, Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain and Splash already had a 45 minute wait times.

 

[coachwnh]

And after reading that after Jan 14 all legacy FP are removed from MK, this limit if three will only get worse. This entire thing stinks

And after reading the changes for this year to TIW for passholders, I'm almost glad we have decided to take a Disney break after our passes expire this August. The decision to not renew won't sting nearly as much

 

[ford91exploder]

All of us who had bad experiences with the new system should write/email and tell Disney. I did. Things will never change if they don't hear about our experiences and how it adversely affected our trips.

Many of us have - and Disney does not even deign to answer.

I suspect all the complaint letters go into the shredder except for a few so that the perception all is well with this project is maintained. I expect that going to PlanetFeedback or sending registered letters to the president's office will be the only way forward as well as complaining on as many social media sites as you have access to.

 

[ford91exploder]

Currently @ WDW. We are a bit irked by the limit of three FP's as well. The real annoyance to me is that we paid for hoppers and can't use them to their full advantage because our FP choices are limited to one park. Concierge here told me that this is not how the system will remain but it is what it is for the time being.

The plan is to give you LESS - like perhaps 3 FP per day but only 1 per park, Think of how Disney can give you LESS for MORE money and you will have an answer

 

[Graham9]

Someone really needs to do something about this whole MB/FP+ thing. My experience of it was the whole thing stinks. We wanted 'one' FP to an attraction, we were given 3 without asking for them. We tried to cancel and couldn't. Then the 'system' even changed the times for them.

If there is one thing which will kill Disney, its this.

 

[Lord_Vader]

Space Mtn was down for our FP+ time over Christmas. We got an email stating we could use any other rides on the emailed list that day or by closing time at MK the next day. As it turns out, we didnt read the email until after we did ride Space Mtn during out slotted time. It must have been a brief shut down. So they do cover that situation should it come up. And giving you until the next day I thought was fair as well.

Based on the question posed by @mousehockey37, the return options I received on the 3rd when BTMRR went down were for the day of at the same park and not through the following day and any park.

 

[Disneyfamily4]

I remember the days when Disney prided themselves on the old fast pass system and how Disney's system was so much better than what Universal does for fast passes.

 

[Rob562]

Based on the question posed by @mousehockey37, the return options I received on the 3rd when BTMRR went down were for the day of at the same park and not through the following day and any park.View attachment 42708

You'll only be given the option to use the "wildcard" FP+ the next day if it's within an hour or two of scheduled park closing. On January 3rd the MK was open until 1am. Thus your 7:10pm FP+ replacement was only good for day-of.

-Rob

 

[Lord_Vader]

You'll only be given the option to use the "wildcard" FP+ the next day if it's within an hour or two of scheduled park closing. On January 3rd the MK was open until 1am. Thus your 7:10pm FP+ replacement was only good for day-of.

-Rob

Okay, thanks for the clarification!

 

[Lord_Vader]

I still fail to see why these bands were even needed. Despite what some people say, they ABSOLUTELY DO NOT get you into the park any faster. For instance, you still need to wait in line at the security check point and wait while they check bags and strollers. Then after that, you still need to go to the entrance, put the wrist band up to the machine as well as still getting your finger print scanned. So guess what, putting the card in a machine and placing your finger in the finger print ID, takes just as long as placing your wrist to a machine, waiting 3 seconds for it to read, then still having to put your finger in the Id slot and wait for that to read.

There seem to be many more entry points now than there was turnstyles. While I have not counted the old turnstyles, there are at least two golden Mickey's where each turnstyle used to be based on space when I looked last summer and at Christmas with all the entry points being new the lines were never longer than 4-6 guests except NYE which was nuts anyway, buses, security and gates. Each individual may take just as long or even slightly longer but if there are twice as many entry points the number of people should be roughly double. You don't have to wait for the light to change on the MB/card reader before placing your finger on the reader either even though most guests seem to wait.

I can honestly say I have never waited LESS during the holidays (13 years and counting) to get into any of the parks when past security than we did this Christmas vacation.

 

[Tuvalu]

And after reading the changes for this year to TIW for passholders, I'm almost glad we have decided to take a Disney break after our passes expire this August. The decision to not renew won't sting nearly as much

What are the TIW changes? I have not read anything about them.

 

[Disneyfamily4]

There seem to be many more entry points now than there was turnstyles. While I have not counted the old turnstyles, there are at least two golden Mickey's where each turnstyle used to be based on space when I looked last summer and at Christmas with all the entry points being new the lines were never longer than 4-6 guests except NYE which was nuts anyway, buses, security and gates. Each individual may take just as long or even slightly longer but if there are twice as many entry points the number of people should be roughly double. You don't have to wait for the light to change on the MB/card reader before placing your finger on the reader either even though most guests seem to wait.

I can honestly say I have never waited LESS during the holidays (13 years and counting) to get into any of the parks when past security than we did this Christmas vacation.

But as you said, there are more entry points to get into the park.

Therefore It may not be the bands themselves making it quicker, it is the added entry points that give people the illusion that the bands are getting you into the park quicker.

 

[coachwnh]

What are the TIW changes? I have not read anything about them.

Blackouts the entire WEEK of thanksgiving and christmas! not just the eves and days. in other words, if you are an AP holder and you spend weeks in Disney several times a year during the holidays, you can't get a discount for dining at some of the more popular restaurants (ex. 1900 PF, Chef Mickeys, etc) The TIW card means nothing. V and A is no longer taking the card either. thats the only one that dropped this year.

The full list is on Disney food blog