pjammer
Active Member
You must be trying to do that with a party 6+ because I never have that problem with a party of 2
-
Welcome to the WDWMAGIC.COM Forums!
Please take a look around, and feel free to sign up and join the community.
Fastpass+, a solution to "overwhelmingly negative" responses from families
- Thread starter napeterson18
- Start date
Yeah 68 is nasty even on a normal Saturday. I'm in ChampionsGate btw.
xdan0920
Think for yourselfer
Checking out of this one. As they say you can't argue with a.... eh, forget it. Enjoy your evening.
Funny nobody else seems to have a problem with me, including those with whom I disagree. Sorry you don't care to engage in conversation. Maybe we'll get a beer the next time you're down here.
PhotoDave219
Well-Known Member
No, I dont have that many imaginatry friends
Usually its just two. The line I always get is "We're full" or "You need a reservation"
pjammer
Active Member
No, I dont have that many imaginatry friends
Usually its just two. The line I always get is "We're full" or "You need a reservation"
Well Le Celliar might be signature that you need to plan because it should be special but there is still options just as good such as San Angel Inn, Nine Dragons, Biergarten, Tepon Edo, Toyko Dining, Chefs de France, and Garden Grill.
PhotoDave219
Well-Known Member
Average mexican? I can drive to Rocco's Tacos for cheaper on Sand Lake. Average Chinese? I can think of two; Cirtus Garden on I-Drive & China One in the Water Tower Shopping Center. German Buffett? Eh, No. Japanese? I'd rather go to Kimonos over in Swan & Dolphin for some tone-deaf karaoke by ten year olds. Chef de France? thats the go to place anymore and I can only eat so much of that delicious french onion soup. Garden Grill? Overpriced character buffett. Wasnt good last time.
I dont plan; I live here.
ParentsOf4
Well-Known Member
Thinking about the bolded statement, is the problem at WDW a relatively recent one created by the convergence of FP and the Internet?
In the pre-FP, pre-Internet days, parents simply would take their families to WDW to have fun. There seemed to be considerably less preplanning. After booking a hotel and flight, planning a trip to WDW in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s largely consisted of arriving at the parks, grabbing a map to see what had changed since the last visit, and just going to whatever was new.
Then FP was introduced in 1999 while the Internet simultaneously exploded, going from under 20M world-wide users in 1995 to over 500M by 2001. Suddenly so much more information was available to so many. People were posting WDW touring strategies, which were made more complicated by the introduction of FP. Some time before 2005, it no longer was possible to simply go to WDW. Now, a strategy was needed. Then Disney introduced the Dining Plan in 2005. Planning a trip to WDW turned into mapping each day to a degree never required before.
FP+ accelerates this preplanning even more, essentially forcing guests to not only schedule their attractions and Table Service restaurants, but their parades and meet & greets as well. Heck, FP+ even introduces the concept of reservations for Quick Service restaurants. It's like having to schedule trips to McDonald's
The saddest part is Disney is trying to solve a technology problem with even more technology, rather than simplifying.
It's enough to make you wonder how much more will FP+ grow the next time Disney tries to solve a problem with even more technology.
GrumpyFan
Well-Known Member
I'm not sure I would call it a technology problem, as much as I would a desire for everybody to get what they think they are entitled too. I think Disney is partly to blame because they have created the ultimate vacation destination that everybody wants to go to, and for some its even become kind of a rite of passage. Rides such as Dumbo, It's a Small World, Space Mountain and others are almost legendary types of experiences that an entire generation has experienced, and now wants to share with their children, the next generation. However, due to the popularity, demand has outpaced the supply for many guests during their available vacation period, making it extremely difficult for many to share this experience. Then, when they do have the opportunity to experience it, the high price, and long waits make it a strenuous exercise that falls short of their expectation. Put this together with society's fast pace, "I want it now, and I don't want to wait" attitude makes for a highly unsatisfactory experience for many.
FP+ and the other NextGen technologies may help alleviate some of the wait for some, and it may even offer some new features that will increase guest satisfaction levels for a while, but I believe it will be short-lived if the issue of supply isn't addressed to deal with the continuing rise of demand in guest levels.
HatboxGhost
Well-Known Member
Amen to that!!!!!!It also was more fun when everyone's head wasn't stuck in their smart phones.
Virtual Toad
Well-Known Member
Dave is right. There are restaurants that will not take walk-ups. I have done the same thing, stood at the podium of a half-empty restaurant calling Disney dining to make a reservation. They make it for one hour later (because for some reason, they cannot schedule it any sooner).
Even though its for an hour later, they staff will then seat me. They usually apologize and say that they have to do it that way - Disney policy.
Some places will take a walk-up. Some (seriously) will not...even if they aren't that busy.
They never get mad at me. But I'm nicer than Dave.
See, it's stuff like this that has really soured the WDW experience for me. How many hoops do we have to jump through to enjoy things we used to do with ease? It's a #%$&@ theme park restaurant for goodness sakes! Doing things at WDW requires constant hyper-planning and even "working the system" as the above example illustrates. And FP+ is another layer of complication added to the mix.
My question is this: at what point do people realize the product isn't worth the effort? At what point does the hassle-to-payoff ratio turn the tide? I used to love going to WDW because it was fun and relaxing.
It's a lot harder to lose yourself in the experience when you spend your time on rides thinking about keeping you and your party on schedule.
luv
Well-Known Member
Restaurant Marrakesh is a good option. So is France! But you, like everyone else, left out Marrakesh...which just happens to be my favorite. They will take walk-ups, too.
Agree about the over-scheduling.
I usually remember to call now before I go in, so the fact that they don't always take a walk-up is just not a big whup for me. There are some that I know will - LTT in the MK is good about taking walk-ups when they aren't busy - but for most I call first.
Another funny thing is that even if you tell them that you're standing n the restaurant, they still read off that, "Allow 60-90 minutes travel time" thing.
But it would be so much easier without ADRs. If they just went back to having the restaurants be open, that would be nice.
Don't see it happening any time soon, though!...I've also stood at a hotel desk on the phone with Disney reservations. Hotels can't do walk-ins if you're using an AP rate, lol. They can do a regular walk-in, but not with that rate. So I stood there and called reservations, pressing all the buttons and stuff, held for the operator, made the reservation, hung up and checked in. Only had to go through it once, though. Always called ahead after that.
It's kind of funny, in a way.
Party of two? None of the sit downs we ever try can accommodate us on the day. For a party of two. It's got to the stage where I call a manager to complain about ADRs.
So, this is the reason for FP+? What a smokescreen. By all means, allow those who want to book a zillion days in advance and have micromanaged spreadsheets ready. But not at the expense of everyone else.
flynnibus
Premium Member
Don't mistake silence as agreement...
luv
Well-Known Member
I've been told no two-tops were available, hung up, called back and booked a table for four. I've done it many, many times.
They don't like a couple people. They want every seat filled. I get that. I'm just a wild-child, rule-breaking kind of girl there. Don't mess with me. I'm bad.
They don't like a couple people. They want every seat filled. I get that. I'm just a wild-child, rule-breaking kind of girl there. Don't mess with me. I'm bad.
RSoxNo1
Well-Known Member
If that's the case, eliminate Fastpass altogether and employ @lentesta from touringplans and convince more guests to use their optimized touring plans. Getting a significant portion of park guests on board with using an optimized touring plan that's governed by Disney themselves would result in every guest seeing more and waiting less.
flynnibus
Premium Member
Ehh... you do realize if everyone used the same plan.. it would no longer be useful right?
And yes, this type of model is competition for the touringplan models in many ways.
Yes - which is basically what I said this model pushes people towards.. through FP allotments and times Disney is distributing up front.. Disney is shaping the crowd movements.
RSoxNo1
Well-Known Member
Back to the original "nightmare" post. By putting Fastpass and Dining reservations on your phone, isn't that nightmare resolved? Is peace of mind for the Total Type A planners worth upsetting everyone else who doesn't want their day governed by appointments that were determined 180 days ago? I posted my solutions elsewhere, and I stand by them.
Day of Dining reservations need to be made available again to park guests, and Fastpass should be treated as a guest service as opposed to a point of discontent.
Day of Dining reservations need to be made available again to park guests, and Fastpass should be treated as a guest service as opposed to a point of discontent.
Mawg
Well-Known Member
I like fast pass. Fast pass+ goes too far. If they did not want families to have to break up. All they had to do was keep the current fast pass syestem but smart phone enable it. When you are in the park, you can look at the fast pass window on your phone without having to run over to it. Decide if you want it and get a digital copy of it on your phone also it could let you park hop. No need to schedule them way in advance or limit to 3 a day. Same system just done smarter.
RSoxNo1
Well-Known Member
Thanks for taking the bait... Listen to Episode 1165 of WDW Today. Don't think of this as a paper touring plan, think of it as a way to optimize the movement of every guest in the park. On the most recent episode, Len explained how their latest algorithm allows for increased use of their software in the parks on any given day. While 100-200 people using the software a day doesn't typically result in disruptions in the data once it gets much higher than that they need to make modifications. If 500 people are using Optimized Touring plans on Lines, and they all show up at rope drop, they may all be directed to Space Mountain. That means that it works well for the first person that gets to Space Mountain, but not the 500th.
What Disney can do is take the distribution of guests who have pre selected all the attractions that they want to see (the basis of the optimized touring plan) and direct them around the park accordingly. That means that not everyone would be sent to Space Mountain first thing in the morning, it means that distribution will be made more evenly around attractions and guests wouldn't have to plan, Disney would do the planning for them.
That's what Touringplans is doing, and it's very impressive. Touringplans doesn't have the same access to the same proprietary information that Disney has access to, yet their software is capable of more than Fastpass+ is planning. That's inexcusable.