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FastPass+ restricted to 1 major attraction at Epcot
- Thread starter CTXRover
- Start date
007mickey
Well-Known Member
This "only one major attraction" must be just for November right now (although derelicte 19 didn't have any problem booking more than one for the 1st week in Nov). December does not seem to be affected, or at least it wasn't yesterday. This all seems odd, why would they wait till Nov is already here and everybody has already booked their FP+ to go ahead and implement this policy?
I think I'm the only one who thinks all this planning Disney is forcing guests to do will backfire and get them off property.
"Since we have all our FP+ reservations in the evening at Epcot, let's spend the day at SeaWorld or Universal."
When people start getting into this highly detailed level of planning, it becomes easier to squeeze in things you hadn't planned. If management at Universal is smart, they would start exploiting that.
danv3
Well-Known Member
Maelstrom is a "major" ride?
And FTR, this is a huge step towards making a bad program even worse.
GeekDad
Active Member
I just check the MDE app and even December has this restriction now. That was not the case earlier in the week when I booked soaring and the character m&g (was out if ideas sense we will have two 2 year olds in our group). I'm guessing the 4 preferred were booking quickly. This is similar to how FP+ was originally introduced. The original plan had three groups of attractions for each park and you could only pick one from each group. We will have to wait and see what kind of an impact this has. I'm sure a lot of people wont like it understandably so.
007mickey
Well-Known Member
Wow I'm glad I went on yesterday (60 day mark) and reserved mine for our one day trip (Dec 30th). All attractions were available. As a legacy FP veteran, I do not like this. There can't be many folks out there that weren't getting FP's for at least 2 "E tickets" per day under the old system.
Weather_Lady
Well-Known Member
No, you're not the only one who thinks that! I agree with you. I think that WDW INTENDS for NextGen to keep people around longer, which is why I was citing that motivation as the driving force behind the changes, but I don't believe it's going to work, either.
Take my family for example. We're not going to spend an extra minute or an extra dime at WDW because of NextGen -- in fact, our dissatisfaction with what we've heard so far has spurred us to: (1) scuttle our plans to do add-ons like the Wishes Dessert Party or extra TS meals during our upcoming trip, because we figure we'll need that time to account for the extra minutes we'll spend in standby lines; and (2) forego parkhopper tickets, because they've been devalued by the inability to get FP+ in more than one park per day. What we will do is spend the same amount of time in the parks, and if we're spending a longer time in line, we'll be leaving with a bad taste in our mouths about how our experience has gone downhill. WDW has added virtually NOTHING to the parks in the past several years -- for almost every attraction they've added, another has been removed -- but that was easier to swallow when I at least felt like we could tour what was there efficiently, thanks to Fastpass. Now there will be no Fastpass (just FP+, which gives us only a fraction of the same benefit), and STILL nothing new to see, with the same capacity problems with the same attractions that have always had them...
I think many other guests will be similarly disenchanted, particularly those who don't want to have to plan their vacation so many months in advance, or who are unfamiliar with (or impatient with) the technology involved. Nor has Disney made that technology particularly user-friendly or reliable.
Also, as you say, having pre-scheduled FPs means that the rest of your day is "free." There's no need to rush to a park in the morning anymore, so why not explore what else the Orlando area has to offer?
The simple fact for my family is, we are attractions people. The more we do (which is a function of the length of the lines in which we wait), the happier we are, and that's how we tend to measure "value" for our vacation dollar. I don't want to pay thousands of dollars for our once-every-2-years "big family vacation" so I can go to WDW and feel like the "good old days are over" and that it doesn't offer us as much as it used to, thanks to FP+ and the other form-over-substance NextGen changes. I'm not going to stress myself out, digging ever deeper and more desperately for the "magic" that is seeping like rainwater into dry ground, and I'm certainly not going to throw money at it. Not when there are other vacation venues, in Florida and elsewhere, that stand poised to give us more for our money, and inexpensive means to bypass long lines...
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awoogala
Well-Known Member
well, it does back up. If you're wanting to ride in the evening, that line get can get ridiculous. It's better than a fp+ for living with the land.Maelstrom is a "major" ride?
And FTR, this is a huge step towards making a bad program even worse.
Donal Duck
Member
That's ridiculous. Why would they do that ? There making it very difficult for us.
It's bad enough to be limited to only 3 per day.
I had already made mine last week. I don't think they can change selections already made.
It's bad enough to be limited to only 3 per day.
I had already made mine last week. I don't think they can change selections already made.
TheMouseFan
Well-Known Member
I went in earlier today to check mine and they were all still there. I made sure to print out a copy, then I went in to see what would happen if I tried to change them. I was given the option to only choose 1 from TT, Soarin', Maelstrom, or Character Spot, and 2 from the others. Therefore, I cancelled right out of that screen and double checked that my original ones were intact. They were! However, when I went in to just change one experience, I chose to try to change Maelstrom, and the only option they gave me was for Character Spot. I'm guessing because I already had FP+ for the other tier 1 attractions?
awoogala
Well-Known Member
whew. I am so glad I switched hotels and picked my fp+ all last week. I am already way too stressed over this vacation. Honestly? The anxiety I have endured arranging fp+ for the last week has been way too much. Yes, I get to pick and assure the fp+ rides I need. Yes, I know I can get on the big rides ahead of time. But now it is SO much pressure! If the day comes, and I picked bad times/the wrong times? *I* screwed up our day.. it is all on me. It is a LOT of pressure to schedule everything, and have your family/party judge your choices on the day, depending on how it plays out.
Used to be packed park= we'd change our plans. Log lines= switch to another park. Now Disney has placed it's crowding issues/ride line distribution on my shoulders. ugh.
TheMouseFan
Well-Known Member
I know where you are coming from. It wasn't such a big deal this trip because it is just me and my husband and we can easily just go with the flow. Our trip in June, however, is another story. We are going with my parents, my brother and SIL and their 4 year old twins, and our 3 kids. Talk about a lot of pressure!! My brother's family has never been and I have been put in charge of planning everything! Luckily, my parents are very laid back and are just along for the ride, but unfortunately, my SIL is not being very helpful when I ask for any kind of input! I can just see everything falling apart because of the uncertainty of this whole MM+ and FP+ thing!
wogwog
Well-Known Member
The only park I have been to in the last several weeks was the MK. As of two days ago the paper FP machines were still working. But, about half of them have been converted to the new wonder machines that require a tech at each one to make it work for you. Sign of things to come.
Jeff456
Well-Known Member
I must say and I don't want to be negative and I would like to give this a chance but MM+ is fast making me less excited for my trip next year.. I liked the legacy FP system if it isn't broken (which I don't believe it was) it didn't need fixing. I understand the MagicBands and they do have some benefits but FP+ in particular is worrying me.
PolynesianPrincess
Well-Known Member
I agree with you 100% on this! We, too, are attraction people. If the parks get crowded and the lines get longer not only will we not wait in line for attractions, we will DEFINITELY not be spending more money in the gift shop. A LOT of families traveling to WDW are traveling on a budget with only so much money to spend on souvenirs, snacks, etc... Just because of Next Gen, that doesn't mean they are going to have more money all of a sudden appear in their wallets to spend in the parks. It wouldn't shock me in the future once everything is "smoothed out" for FP to cost extra, or only be available for guests staying on property or even at certain hotels (moderate and above, just deluxe, etc..) They want to get people to stay on property but unfortunately for us, our timeshare isn't with DVC so every other year, we have to stay off property. If that were to mean no FP for us, we simply wouldn't go. I don't think there was ANYTHING wrong with the old FP system. Once they started enforcing return times, I think it was fine. They're adding longer lines to attractions that normally wouldn't have long lines. So now when we have time to kill before an ADR and no attraction has a wait time of less than 15 minutes, we're not going to use that time shopping. No chance. We will just check in early for our ADR and sit and wait. They are not going to be getting a dime more from me souvenir-wise.
I can safely say that this trip next week will be the last one (or second to last if we can't get a discounted cruise for February) for a LONG TIME for us. Our APs expire in May and we're venturing out to Disneyland in April. If we weren't bringing our cousin for her first trip next week, my sister and I would both scrap the idea and go elsewhere. The cruise line will be getting our money and while I know it's owned by the same company, I will still feel better knowing I'm not wasting my dollars at WDW. I used to recommend WDW to everyone I knew. Not anymore. I've been telling them to avoid it and go elsewhere because it's becoming way too stressful and "plan plan plan" and less go with the flow. And that's not relaxing. It's stressful trying to make it to every attraction right on time. No thanks.
75disney
Well-Known Member
I know how you feel. I literally have had nightmares about our new touring plans (we had a good system with the old FP) not working well for us. I have thought and planned and rethought and replanned our schedule. Too much stress!!!! And everyone is looking to me as the Disney expert to plan our days. The pressure!! Luckily, I booked my Epcot FP+ at the 60 day mark for our upcoming Nov. trip and I was able to do TT, MS, and Soarin' all in the same day. I really don't like how they keep changing the rules daily.
ford91exploder
Resident Curmudgeon
Or a stay anywhere else where they actually want your business
ford91exploder
Resident Curmudgeon
A 'glitch' will wipe them all out - so sorry you need to re-book rides under new rules.