FastPass+ now fully deployed to all guests - let's reset the conversation and hear your views

[englanddg]

True. The way the world is headed though. It use be easy to rent a movie and watch it at home. Around here it's all by machine like Redbox or over the internet like Netflix, both computer based. Heck when I go to the theater I buy those tickets out of the auto mated machine there.

Where are we gonna be in 10 years? Yikes!

 

[Dwarful]

11 PM Central time last night was our open window for our May 31 - June 8 trip. IF we wanted A&E meet and greet it was unavailable until June 5th...so day 6 of our trip. Guests on shorter trips might not see the headliners they hope to.

I don't like the Tier system. I too feel that FP's at Epcot would be a waste of three FP's but then if we don't pay for the hopper it would be unused FP's. So it was a tough call for me...do I spend the extra $$$ for hopper options to be used on two Epcot days and possibly one AK day? Right now we opted to save the $$$.

I also don't like the limit of 3 FPs. I also don't like the limit of one ride per day. We are always at the parks before rope drop and would head to our favorites.....for example at MK one day we would be there early, go straight to SM, grab FPs and get in line to ride immediately. We could easily go through 6 -8+ FP's a day. We will see how it goes once we use it.

 

[dreamscometrue]

As the head of the family, I REALLY enjoyed not having to race around the park to get paper FPs, and the best part of all? NOT HAVING TO GET UP EARLY ON VACATION! That meant only riding Toy Story Mania once instead of twice, but we got to sleep in and didn't have to participate in the mad dash. HUGE WIN and much more relaxing.

This! Especially the "NOT HAVING TO GET UP EARLY ON VACATION" part. Our past 2 trips (Sept. 2013 and March 2014) with FP+ allowed us, for the first time ever, to not set an alarm clock and truly relax knowing that we could get our fave attractions for sure each day. If we woke up early and wanted to head to a park for rope drop, fine. But we did not feel it necessary as we have on our other dozen trips we've been on the past 6-7 years. We were able to sleep in (and still do our favorite attractions later), play morning golf (and still do our favorite attractions later), have a long, leisurely breakfast at BOMA (and still do our favorite attractions later), sit by the pool one morning (and still do our favorite attractions later) and go to Downtown Disney in the morning (and still do our favorite attractions later)...you get the idea. The last 2 WDW vacations have been the most relaxing, and we still got to do practically all we wanted, because of FP+. There still is lots of room for improvement, but we give it a big thumbs up for the aforementioned reason.

 

[Hobnail Boot]

Android isn't their top priority, it's a courtesy to guests that use it. Everything MDX related runs on iOS for the most part. Therefore it's always going to take priority.

I completely understand. But if they're going to support something then support it fully. I shouldn't have to feel like a second rate guest because I don't like iPhones and thus have to use a buggy android app.

 

[Marc Gil]

I used FP+ for the first time about 2 weeks ago at Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and DHS. Of course the system was still unavailable to non-resort guests, but it worked out beautifully.

I'm trying the system again on the 24th at MK. I already made my reservations for all the mountains. I hope it goes as smoothly as the first time.

 

[BigTxEars]

I could take the little on out in a fight, but I would run from Zwoody....

 

[JohnD]

The advanced window setup is a broken implementation. We hit our 60 day window today and were able to make selections for the entire trip (7 days). As of 6:30am, Anna and Elsa were already on standby only for our first day.... 60 days out. Luckily we were able to book a day later in our trip since were going to MK twice. The system should restrict people to reservations based upon the day they're making them, not the start of their trip.

I disagree. As soon as the 60 day window opens for the 1st day of an upcoming trip, it would be completely unwieldy to the guest to keep making them log in each next day to get the 60 day window for that day. I like the way it is now. When the first day of the 60 day window of the trip arrives, all the days for that trip opens up. That's how it should be.

 

[Takeitforgranite]

Can I have those tow at Epcot?

Not sure what "double dipping" is in your post and if I am wrong I apologize ahead of time. But if it means you "gamed" the old FP system then honestly you are the type of person that may have helped cause the new FP + to happen. I know it is also about park capacity but I think the FP+ was also designed to elimante some of the old FP system ability to be cheated. I like the old one, so far I like to new one so I am good with either at this point.

We had FP+ and access to paper FP.

We've only ever tried to make the most of what was honstly available to us. I never understood why the old system was so underutilized. I felt like it was a good sysytem that rewarded those who put in some effort. Unfortunately, we live in a world where everyone gets a trophy.

 

[JohnD]

My opinions on FP+ are well known, That said the biggest problem is the extended advanced booking window for the attractions as it causes the headliners to fill up to the detriment of the day guest or those who do not plan their vacations extensively. A more reasonable solution would have to have given onsite guests say 7 day advanced booking, AP without a hotel 24-48 hours advanced booking.

We usually choose the parks based on the weather and no one has been able to reliably predict the weather two months in advance but a week would be reasonable. Such a system would also ensure that the FP+ slots were actually USED.

True. Except when you need to be in a park on a certain day. I'm going to HS on a SW weekend. You can't pick and choose the park based on the weather. I arrive mid-Saturday. For that reason I plan on HS all day that Sunday for SW weekend. Your other points about advance FP+ are valid. While made them yesterday, I could wait if that was how the system was programmed.

 

[JohnD]

Oh boy… That's ... That reinforces the disdain that upper management has towards the people at work here.

Interesting as there is a billboard across from Wawa at 535 & Poinciana Boulevard advertising Disney's fast pass plus.

If a CM is bitter about the guests whom they serve having better access than they do and thereby paying their salary then their priorities are out of order.

 

[twebber55]

today started my 60 day window...seemed pretty easy a straight forward, more flexibility than first thought

 

[epcot2004]

We stayed off site and booked 3 fast pass+ for the following day (first day available). Did not think I would like planning our day around attractions that were pre-booked but it worked very well! We love the potential to have fast passes for another park for the afternoon while spending the morning in another park. Much easier to use the iphone then run around to the kiosk and get the paper ticket and even then you could only have on at a time per park ticket. The only part I don't like is the 60 day window. As another poster mentioned I would prefer to see the window shrunk to a week or two for pre selecting fast passes. Maybe someone mentioned this earlier but I don't understand why you have to go thru the second verification after touching the fast pass entry when entering the que.

 

[Rob562]

Maybe someone mentioned this earlier but I don't understand why you have to go thru the second verification after touching the fast pass entry when entering the que.

The two sets of FP+ touch points take the place of what the CMs did manually before. Originally the entrance CM would look at your FP ticket and let you in, the second CM at Merge near the front of the line would collect the paper ticket.

Now under FP+ the first post checks that you have a valid FP+, the second "collects" that FP+ and marks it as used. If they didn't have the second post, it would open that queue up to line-jumpers who hop over from the Standby line into the FP Return line and walk on the ride. Having the second post ensures that people walking past that post are supposed to be there.

-Rob

 

[JohnD]

11 PM Central time last night was our open window for our May 31 - June 8 trip. IF we wanted A&E meet and greet it was unavailable until June 5th...so day 6 of our trip. Guests on shorter trips might not see the headliners they hope to.

I don't like the Tier system. I too feel that FP's at Epcot would be a waste of three FP's but then if we don't pay for the hopper it would be unused FP's. So it was a tough call for me...do I spend the extra $$$ for hopper options to be used on two Epcot days and possibly one AK day? Right now we opted to save the $$$.

I also don't like the limit of 3 FPs. I also don't like the limit of one ride per day. We are always at the parks before rope drop and would head to our favorites.....for example at MK one day we would be there early, go straight to SM, grab FPs and get in line to ride immediately. We could easily go through 6 -8+ FP's a day. We will see how it goes once we use it.

So everyone has access to the system as rolled out now. I would call that "Phase 1." I hope they move to a "Phase 2" to address tiers, limiting to 3/park/day, and thereby adding park hopping.

Obviously, there are implementation issues, the most pressing being the person at the scanner having a problem for one reason or another. It stops the FP+ line in its tracks.

I'll be at WDW this weekend, so will get to experience the implementation first-hand.

 

[NearTheEars]

We are 60 days out today, I just checked all 7 days for the Frozen M&G for FP+.

Starting Sat May 31st..is blacked out full, Sun is blacked out full, Mon is blacked out full, Tues still has openings, 2:20pm being the earliest, Wednesday is blacked out full, Thursday is blacked out full, Friday has openings with 9:55a being the earliest, Saturday June 7th still has openings 9:15a being the earliest.

Crazy huh?

I booked last night at 11pm (it was 61 days but since I am in Texas 11pm here is midnight in Florida so it was 60 days out at that point) and we did get our Frozen M&G on Tuesday at 2pm.

Considering the line I've seen at EPCOT, I'm not even a little surprised to see the FPs getting booked quickly to meet Anna and Elsa.

 

[surfsupdon]

Groups are also not included for advance Fastpass+, but only day of.

We just came back from our Senior Trip at Caribbean Beach. Even as Resort Guests, we had to make FastPass+ reservations the day of at a Park. Our students felt this was not fair.

 

[Fractal514]

My opinions on FP+ are well known, That said the biggest problem is the extended advanced booking window for the attractions as it causes the headliners to fill up to the detriment of the day guest or those who do not plan their vacations extensively. A more reasonable solution would have to have given onsite guests say 7 day advanced booking, AP without a hotel 24-48 hours advanced booking.

We usually choose the parks based on the weather and no one has been able to reliably predict the weather two months in advance but a week would be reasonable. Such a system would also ensure that the FP+ slots were actually USED.

No, the advantage of booking in advance is you get first choice of FP+, the advantage of waiting to see what the weather is going to do is that you get to be spontaneous and easily adjust your plans. You do not get to have it both ways. I understand why YOU want the system the way YOU have described it, but that's not the way others want it and it isn't the way it is or will be.

 

[surfsupdon]

Limiting three Fastpasses per day is also very poor. It was common for our family to have near 8 each day, depending on our plans.

Our overall ride count was severely down, so our overall value for price paid is extremely low.

Having to use Standby more often, we quickly realized that MANY of the Disney rides are not worth the Standby wait.

 

[Fractal514]

Groups are also not included for advance Fastpass+, but only day of.

We just came back from our Senior Trip at Caribbean Beach. Even as Resort Guests, we had to make FastPass+ reservations the day of at a Park. Our students felt this was not fair.

Your students got to go on a senior trip to Walt Disney World, how is that fair in the first place? I sincerely hope they gain perspective on what is and isn't fair in life at some point.

 

[orky8]

I'm an offsite guest and I've been using the system this week, having to register for FP+ once in the park over the last week. The parks have been busy and the biggest problems I've seen are headliner fast passes being unavailable after 30 mins of park opening. It's not really fair, I think, that someone who is visiting the park and isn't quite that clued up can't experience the best attractions unless they know in advance. Not so much of a problem for those of us on here anymore, offsite or not.

Every attraction can be experienced -- they just might not get a FP for it. Now that everyone is on a semi-level playing field, this argument holds no merit (although it appears frozen M&G FP may be "selling out" before the 30 day window). Yes, the system may be a little complicated, but if people don't take the time to learn it (and it's not that complicated), then they might not get to skip the longest lines. BUT, they can still experience every attraction.

Of course, whether this leads people to not enjoy visiting WDW is another issue. But fair? This system is actually exceedingly fairer than I anticipated it would be, as I thought Disney would give even more advantages to their resort guests.