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

[Virtual Toad]

This thread is about FP+ being fully deployed to all guests. With that acknowledged, what limited exposure I've had here at AKL (and at VGF & BWV during Thanksgiving) suggests to me that MM+ in general and FP+ specifically will not be the game changer it once was hoped to be. The few thousand who regularly post on WDWMagic.com and other WDW fansites aside, I just don't see casual guests getting particularly excited about or particularly disliking FP+.

Right now, it seems to me that FP+ is not influencing a lot of people's vacation plans, one way or the other. They want to vacation at WDW because it has theme parks, water parks, shopping, hotels, etc., not because of FP+.

Recently, Disney rushed ticket and parking price increases to try to boost numbers and, undoubtedly, will claim some sort of financial success associated with MM+. However, I cannot imagine how MM+ ever makes back its investment.

Want to see WDW vacationers get excited? Open Star Wars Land.

Want to see WDW vacationers get confused? Deploy FP+.

Well said. As I mentioned earlier we overheard quite a few VERY disgruntled folks at the parks unhappy with FP+ and wondering what happened to their tried and true legacy FP machines. These were VERY unhappy guests. For those of us who've been following the saga, we have an advantage and are happier guests as a result.

But is a business plan that makes 70%* of your guests extremely unhappy** a good long-term strategy?

* totally unscientific statistic
** totally speculative based on one week of in-park observation

 

[Aurora1]

Now that FP+ early reservations are open to off site guests, where are the best places to buy tickets? I've heard of websites that offer discounted prices, but are any of them legitimate?

 

[sporadic]

So you are saying that the Frozen M&G was booked for FP+ on June 1st? Wow.

May 31st and June 1st actually. We got one for June 4th and there were only 3 time slots remaining. That was as of 6:30am this morning. Basically if you're only doing MK on the first day of your trip, you're screwed until it settles down.

 

[jlsHouston]

May 31st and June 1st actually. We got one for June 4th and there were only 3 time slots remaining. That was as of 6:30am this morning. Basically if you're only doing MK on the first day of your trip, you're screwed until it settles down.

No kidding....I've been terrified of FP+ since our trip during spring break, the 8-16th. I gather it wasn't even as busy that week as last week was. And now we have AP's and off site guests who can book in advance at the 60 day window with a valid ticket.
Honestly I am nervous about the ability to get FP's for my favorite rides

 

[BigTxEars]

We hit 60 days today. Being in Texas I was able to start FP+ selection yesterday at 11pm local time (midnight in Florida) so I did that so I could book the Frozen M&G. It was my first time using FP+ as well.

Overall it is very easy to use and gives great automated options on times IMO. You can choose time options that let you do a 1/2 day at that park and go to a second park. I booked all of mine either with morning afternoon hours or evening hours as a set. That was nice. As we are park hopping with ADRs it worked out perfectly.

I am not crazy about the tiers but I can live with it. In a lot a ways it's like legacy, you have to pick one FP to get each time, FP+ is not as flexible as legacy but both are limited so it was no huge deal to me with tiers. I never really "worked" the older FP system so I may have missed out on knowing how to do that

I was able to get everything I wanted with times using FP+ so I am happy with that.

I did change a few FP+s today, and that was very easy as well. It also lets you "play" around and see what else is available without losing what you already booked, that was nice.

I am no huge planner, and I am not a "ride it all each park" type person. But it is cool knowing I have FP for Toy Story for example already, lets me not have to worry about the dash to FP machines the day of. Also something crazy like the Frozen M&G, I have a FP for that already, no worrying about that the day of. Good stuff!

Over all I am impressed, I will se sit in person soon and judge that then but at this point I think Disney has a winner on their hands here.

Now if I was staying offsite, or just visiting the park one day or not nerdy enough to be on here (come on you know we all are!) and know a little about FP+ already then I might hate FP+ when I was not prepared the day of my visit.

 

[JimboJones123]

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.

No kidding. Cutting out CMs STILL is sickening.

 

[EOD K9]

Not for nothing with the new system and the way things are now, if I was on my first visit, I'd feel/be extremely overwhelmed. I'd be so overwhelmed that it could be a one and done trip.

 

[BigTxEars]

May 31st and June 1st actually. We got one for June 4th and there were only 3 time slots remaining. That was as of 6:30am this morning. Basically if you're only doing MK on the first day of your trip, you're screwed until it settles down.

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.

 

[BigTxEars]

Not for nothing with the new system and the way things are now, if I was on my first visit, I'd feel/be extremely overwhelmed. I'd be so overwhelmed that it could be a one and done trip.

I can see that for sure. But then I might say, OK now that I understand the system I can come back next year and kick it's ......."

 

[spacemt354]

I can see that for sure. But then I might say, OK now that I understand the system I can come back next year and kick it's ......."

Others though might say "why am I paying top dollar to be confused?" And "why am I paying top dollar to do so much extra work?"

This is especially true for families who's parents or grandparents pay for trips. They might not be in touch with the technology. What might seem like common tech to us, might be very foreign to others. They might decide to spend their money elsewhere

 

[Figment2005]

Others though might say "why am I paying top dollar to be confused?" And "why am I paying top dollar to do so much extra work?"

This is especially true for families who's parents or grandparents pay for trips. They might not be in touch with the technology. What might seem like common tech to us, might be very foreign to others. They might decide to spend their money elsewhere

This could also have been said about the legacy system.

 

[AndyP]

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.

Another problem I saw everywhere was queues for FP return. The system is slow at letting people in the actual FP queues. Often it would take 5-10 mins (space mountain and thunder mountain on Sunday) just to get to the return point and the problem is the queues are proper queues but those made by guests with no real order and often interfering with other walkways etc. There are several reasons this is happening. Firstly, it takes several seconds for even those clued up with how it works to get a green light and go through, several more for those who need cast member direction. Secondly, many are turning up at the incorrect times because they don't hold a slip/photograph/mobile phone with the times on. Cast members then (rightly) turn them away but then this results in holding up the queue to tell the guests what time they hold and so on. Those planning in advance are likely to know their times, how about incorporating a printer into the FP+ booths so there can be an option to print a summary for those who don't? I know CMs have pens to write them down at the moment but this makes the FP+ station queues longer too.

Thirdly, another thing holding things up is the cast members and the system itself. Most FP+ returns have 2 entry systems at the return point,one on each side for showing your band/ticket to. Countless times I have seen others or myself be called back by a cast member to do it again (after entering correctly) because they didn't see the green light as they were busy helping someone else. I know they want 'open' gates but I think it would avoid confusion if they had normal turnstiles that only let you in with a green light. Otherwise, just have one entry system so a CM doesn't get confused trying to watch two sides at once.

At Animal Kingdom last Thursday I saw the FP+ queue so overwhelmed that they asked only one pass per party be scanned because the queue to get in was blocking the normal walkways. Once inside they weren't asking for anyone to scan at all. Quite surprising.

So that's some negatives about the whole system. But actually there are some positives. If they refine it, I do think it has potential. They need to make it easier for people who don't have mobile phones to check their times for a start. There are several manned FP+ stations but why not a quick scan automated booth near the major rides?

Tomorrow I've pre-booked 3 fast passes in a row at Epcot, including Soarin' which I only selected 2 days out and every time slot was available. A massive advantage for those who travel with Multi-week tickets and make many trips to the parks over that period is that you can basically FP everything over the time you visit. I've already made one afternoon trip to Epcot and tomorrow is another, I've been able to FP everything I want to do. I like that and I'm happy to plan ahead. If you normally visit one park for a full day and that's it on the regular tickets you are more disadvantaged. It all depends how you normally visit the parks as to whether the system will work for you.

I imagine it will take a while to refine the system as Disney get an idea of how many no-shows there are and how many fast passes they can therefore release. I assume the number of no-shows will be much higher than previous owing to the fact that people can pre-book 'just in case' - for example I can currently book fast passes all of this week on my ticket option but I may not go to the parks. It's going to take a while to work out how many people do that and I guess that at the moment they will air on the side of caution and not release too many passes, so while things are booked up quickly at the moment, a year from now it may seem more available as they factor this in (hopefully).

 

[BigTxEars]

Others though might say "why am I paying top dollar to be confused?" And "why am I paying top dollar to do so much extra work?"

This is especially true for families who's parents or grandparents pay for trips. They might not be in touch with the technology. What might seem like common tech to us, might be very foreign to others. They might decide to spend their money elsewhere

True enough. I can see people getting upset, no doubt. But I still think the benefits outweigh the draw backs in this system. With as so many bodies walking thru WDW yearly I think no matter what system Disney comes up with some of those are going to be upset with it. I guess they are trying to balance new and return guest as best they can. Imagine the poor folks folks overseas trying to work this new system out....

 

[Takeitforgranite]

I just made FP+ reservations for our trip in May.

Let me preface by saying my wife and I were power FP users. We've been 5 times together, and the last time we went, we were able to double dip.

I bet I spent 4-5 hours staring at park times, events, ride options, etc. trying to come up with the best strategy for our week long trip. This time, we are bringing our niece and nephew (9, 12 yrs old), so I wasn't expecting to be able to hit it as hard as before anyway. I still was concerned about the new system because of the additional level of planning. I enjoy planning, and this even seems like a burden. I also liked having the freedom to adjust plans, say, if we were able to ride BTMRR more than expected, we can focus on other rides later. I am concerned we won't be able to do much changing less than a couple days out.

I chose not to even bother making FP+ for Epcot. I just felt like I was wasting 2. I'm trying to condition the wife that making rope drop is even more critical now.

 

[BigTxEars]

I just made FP+ reservations for our trip in May.

Let me preface by saying my wife and I were power FP users. We've been 5 times together, and the last time we went, we were able to double dip.

I bet I spent 4-5 hours staring at park times, events, ride options, etc. trying to come up with the best strategy for our week long trip. This time, we are bringing our niece and nephew (9, 12 yrs old), so I wasn't expecting to be able to hit it as hard as before anyway. I still was concerned about the new system because of the additional level of planning. I enjoy planning, and this even seems like a burden. I also liked having the freedom to adjust plans, say, if we were able to ride BTMRR more than expected, we can focus on other rides later. I am concerned we won't be able to do much changing less than a couple days out.

I chose not to even bother making FP+ for Epcot. I just felt like I was wasting 2. I'm trying to condition the wife that making rope drop is even more critical now.

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.

 

[Goofnut1980]

I just had a friend go last week and she said she was not happy about the bands... She asked what was the point of PAYING for park hoppers with this dumb band, because she could only get 3 FP for the entire day at 1 park... She likes to hop around and get a few FP from each park... She said next trip in a year, they wont get her "paying" for park hoppers. So they will lose money in the end. - I could only laugh at her!

 

[jlsHouston]

This could also have been said about the legacy system.

Not really. You didn't have to be a techie, or have access to a computer or a smart phone to grab a legacy FP.

 

[englanddg]

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.

How could you cheat the old system? The only way I could think of is CMs not enforcing the return time windows, which they corrected a few years ago.

By double dipping, it means that both systems were active during their visit. So, they used both systems...which, isn't cheating anything either.

 

[Figment2005]

Not really. You didn't have to be a techie, or have access to a computer or a smart phone to grab a legacy FP.

That may be true, but clueless guests are still clueless regardless of the media being used.

 

[BigTxEars]

Not really. You didn't have to be a techie, or have access to a computer or a smart phone to grab a legacy FP.

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!