FastPass+ Too Much Planning?

[Theodore]

Count me as uncertain whether FastPass+ is simply too much. I've already told family members about my itinerary for which parks I'm going to be in and where as well as where and when I have dining reservations. They already think I've lost the spontaneity in the trip. I don't mind planning up to this point.

But do you think planning which rides you are going to ride and when is a bit much? I mean, you have to sit down and figure out an hourly itinerary for what rides you are going to be on and when even before you arrive. I think I would rather stick with the old-fashioned Fastpass that spits out from the machine inside the park, thank you.

Just wanted to add my two cents here... You don't have to set your FP+ times before you even leave for your trip. The good thing about FP+ is you have that option but you can also book your FP+ stuff in the mornig before you leave the hotel of the night before or even while you're at the park and unlike the old FPs you don't have to head to the attraction to pick them up.

 

[Auntrosie]

Planning our trip is a big part of the fun and enjoyment for my sister and myself. Down to the outfits the children will wear and the souvenirs (purchased in advance) they will receive each day of our stay on property. We'll spend countless hours over the next year planning every detail, researching every offering of every park and our resort leading up to our Sept 2014 trip. Also known as "Disney 2014".

We love to do it! It doesn't hurt anyone and it doesn't make us fat. My Number one motivation is MONEY. My most valuable possession is time. We don't skimp on our trip between the three families we'll be investing over $15000.00, a large sum by any measure, in our trip. Our goal is to optimize our time.

The more of our 9 day stay we are able to plan in advance the more time savings tips we incorporate the less minutiae the group has to contend with while at our resort and in the parks.

My sister and I encourage the group to participant in the planing. We are both fine with committee rule. Just not after we arrive, not at $600 a night.

If FP+ will eliminate the seven of us standing around discussing for 20 mins which attraction the group will head to next, three times each day. .....That is 9 extra hours to enjoy the parks totaled for the week. We are in!!!

 

[Victor Kelly]

I have always had a plan to tackle the parks. FP did little to change that. FP- wil make things harder to do. The scheduling rides 60 days out is utter BS.

 

[Auntrosie]

Ok then you shouldn't do it. I am though. I'll skip the mad dash to get a fast past. Have a snack point lunch at the Sunshine Seasons and than right over for a ride on Soarin. I'll be chilling by the pool with a cold drink by 2:30. I'm psyched!

 

[DisneyJoe]

I have always had a plan to tackle the parks. FP did little to change that. FP- wil make things harder to do. The scheduling rides 60 days out is utter BS.

I found my park touring to be 100x easier this trip with FP+. I had only made 3 FP+ for one park on my first day (Epcot, for the top 3), the rest I made on a day by day basis, sometimes same day, sometimes the day before - and some I even changed the day of. No more "fastpass dash" in the morning either.

 

[MausCouture]

I'm not liking Fastpass+
Too much planning ahead of time. Personally, I want to enjoy my trip without running across the parks from one attraction, to the next.

IMO...I'm confused on why you would want to start planning your fastpasses 60 days in advance??

Will I be using Fastpass+? Yes, but, I'm not going to be arranging fastpasses everyday 60 days in advance and, have my whole trip revolve around making those specific wait times.

 

[Bairstow]

It's not nearly as regimented as people seem to think it is.
Up to 4 reserved times at the Magic Kingdom, and each window is an hour.
This means that you have just under 2 hours to skip the lines on two attractions. If you've picked something like Splash and Big Thunder, this isn't really going to constrain anyone.

Plus, just because you've picked out a reservation time doesn't mean you have to go. Wait in line like everyone else if you want to. The alternative, as it exists now, is to run around, or at least send someone from your group to run around collecting paper fast passes ahead of you. How is that an improvement? Then you have to stay in the general area until that paper fast pass goes active.

 

[ford91exploder]

I have a few questions @Jody Harris .

Did you "park hop"?
Did you feel limited in any way by the number of FP- reservations per day?
Would you feel differently about the experience about FP- if they hadn't given you free ones?
Prior to FP-, did you ever use more than 3 Legacy FastPasses in a given day?
Prior to FP-, did you ever "park hop" utilizing Legacy FastPasses at more than one park in a given day?
Prior to MM-, did you ever use advance dining reservations?
Did you notice any attraction interactions that did not exist prior to MM- and your Magic Handcuff?

While I currently am not a fan of the new system, (made clear by my jabs in the questions) I really am looking for feedback from regular visitors.

*1023*

1 - Yes of course!
2 - Yes
3 - Yes
4 - Yes
5 - Yes mainly for dinner shows though - DVC eat in villa a lot

 

[ddrongowski]

Planning our trip is a big part of the fun and enjoyment for my sister and myself. Down to the outfits the children will wear and the souvenirs (purchased in advance) they will receive each day of our stay on property. We'll spend countless hours over the next year planning every detail, researching every offering of every park and our resort leading up to our Sept 2014 trip. Also known as "Disney 2014".

We love to do it! It doesn't hurt anyone and it doesn't make us fat. My Number one motivation is MONEY. My most valuable possession is time. We don't skimp on our trip between the three families we'll be investing over $15000.00, a large sum by any measure, in our trip. Our goal is to optimize our time.

The more of our 9 day stay we are able to plan in advance the more time savings tips we incorporate the less minutiae the group has to contend with while at our resort and in the parks.

My sister and I encourage the group to participant in the planing. We are both fine with committee rule. Just not after we arrive, not at $600 a night.

If FP+ will eliminate the seven of us standing around discussing for 20 mins which attraction the group will head to next, three times each day. .....That is 9 extra hours to enjoy the parks totaled for the week. We are in!!!

 

[ddrongowski]

Ok then you shouldn't do it. I am though. I'll skip the mad dash to get a fast past. Have a snack point lunch at the Sunshine Seasons and than right over for a ride on Soarin. I'll be chilling by the pool with a cold drink by 2:30. I'm psyched!

So your FP+ is for 10:00am?

 

[ddrongowski]

Well FP+ will make tour groups leader work harder, but hey that's what they get paid for.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Thanks!

Sorry I didn't post sooner, but we had a really nasty start to our trip that's going to take some time to resolve. I can tell you that my parents used AAA tickets like that and had no problems activating them at guest relations at MK. We were both essentially given the same style plastic card tickets from guest relations...i.e. green ones with individual characters on them. My parents didn't have MBs so they just used the plastic tickets, but I was able to link mine in to our MBs. I was able to book FP+ for our first park day, but it wouldn't let me do a thing for our 2nd park day. So, we wound up having to do traditional FPs on that day. A woman I spoke to said it may be some kind of system glitch with since certain ticket types present more problems than others. Supposedly, the system doesn't understand complimentary tickets as well as normal tickets...hence the glitch.

 

[Disneyhead'71]

It's not nearly as regimented as people seem to think it is.
Up to 4 reserved times at the Magic Kingdom, and each window is an hour.
This means that you have just under 2 hours to skip the lines on two attractions. If you've picked something like Splash and Big Thunder, this isn't really going to constrain anyone.

Plus, just because you've picked out a reservation time doesn't mean you have to go. Wait in line like everyone else if you want to. The alternative, as it exists now, is to run around, or at least send someone from your group to run around collecting paper fast passes ahead of you. How is that an improvement? Then you have to stay in the general area until that paper fast pass goes active.

Yeah, it's only 4 FP+s so it's not too regimented.


Oh, and at least 2 ADRs (character breakfast and dinner), so that's only 6 prescheduled things. Not really all that bad.


Oh, I forgot about the 3:00pm parade. So that makes 7.

Oh, I also forgot about Celebrate the Magic. There's #8.

Wait, there's the MSEP. #9

And we always have to see Wishes! So that makes 10 etched in stone times that UberPlanner Moms (the ones who plan down to the socks the kids will be wearing what day) is going to make absolutely sure that the family gets to.

Sounds like vacation Hell! to me.

Ya'll knock yourselves out. I would rather have a root canal than do that to my much deserved downtime.

(PS: I can imagine ONLY "stay-at-home" Moms think this is an acceptable way to vacation).

 

[JohnD]

Sorry I didn't post sooner, but we had a really nasty start to our trip that's going to take some time to resolve. I can tell you that my parents used AAA tickets like that and had no problems activating them at guest relations at MK. We were both essentially given the same style plastic card tickets from guest relations...i.e. green ones with individual characters on them. My parents didn't have MBs so they just used the plastic tickets, but I was able to link mine in to our MBs. I was able to book FP+ for our first park day, but it wouldn't let me do a thing for our 2nd park day. So, we wound up having to do traditional FPs on that day. A woman I spoke to said it may be some kind of system glitch with since certain ticket types present more problems than others. Supposedly, the system doesn't understand complimentary tickets as well as normal tickets...hence the glitch.

Thanks. Since I'm going to MNSSHP on Sunday I would rather not exchange the card for pass in MK. I'll take care of that at DTD earlier (driving from DeLand anyway and check in to POFQ).

Doing it the "old fashioned" way doesn't really bother me if it comes to that.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Thanks. Since I'm going to MNSSHP on Sunday I would rather not exchange the card for pass in MK. I'll take care of that at DTD earlier (driving from DeLand anyway and check in to POFQ).

Doing it the "old fashioned" way doesn't really bother me if it comes to that.

They had me keep my cards handy "just in case." We never needed them (MNSSHP or regular park time) - well, minus the FP issues, but it was nice having the cards handy as a back up plan.

 

[Auntrosie]

They had me keep my cards handy "just in case." We never needed them (MNSSHP or regular park time) - well, minus the FP issues, but it was nice having the cards handy as a back up plan.

 

[stevehousse]

I think for the most part planning FP+ was very easy. The method I applied was to just change the times to where I thought I be. Say starting in Tomorrowland so have space mountain in the early morning, and if we work our way around the park, we would be over near Frontierland for splash and BTMR for our 4-5 and 5-6 FP.

The only park I actually had trouble planning was DHS. Not only do we have our 3 FP picks, but we also want to see 2 shows as well. What really throws our DHS day into the unknown is that my oldest wants to do Jedi Training, and with signing him up for that, there is no guarantee of anytime we will get until we r physically there And see what show he is placed in! That alone can really throw our plans out the window!

 

[Bairstow]

Yeah, it's only 4 FP+s so it's not too regimented.


Oh, and at least 2 ADRs (character breakfast and dinner), so that's only 6 prescheduled things. Not really all that bad.


Oh, I forgot about the 3:00pm parade. So that makes 7.

Oh, I also forgot about Celebrate the Magic. There's #8.

Wait, there's the MSEP. #9

And we always have to see Wishes! So that makes 10 etched in stone times that UberPlanner Moms (the ones who plan down to the socks the kids will be wearing what day) is going to make absolutely sure that the family gets to.

Sounds like vacation Hell! to me.

Ya'll knock yourselves out. I would rather have a root canal than do that to my much deserved downtime.

(PS: I can imagine ONLY "stay-at-home" Moms think this is an acceptable way to vacation).

Well, then don't book 2 ADRS on a full Magic Kingdom day on which you also want to catch both parades, the street show, and the fireworks.
The only real change full-implementation of FP+ will make is that it will reward guests who book the busiest rides in advance, and to be honest this will probably only be a major sticking point for things like Peter Pan and Midway Mania.

 

[Auntrosie]

Deciding at the bus stop which park you'll visit each morning and going with the flow. "Is" a plan. Use the kiosk for FP+ when you get there, if you want to or don't . Maybe hunt around for a short line. Quick service for lunch. If that works for your group...

We plan every aspect for many many reasons here are two good ones
I like the kids to look good. No debates I hand them an entire outfit with socks.
Keeps us both fresh for the morning.
If we are going to spend time talking let it be about all the great things we'll see that day.
If our group did debate and negotiate each day what park to hit or during the day what attraction to head over to. My sister would be completely silent. When we finally reached a consensus among the 6 of us. Silent sister shrugging her shoulders the entire time will begin to frown and start to pout. She's 53 years old for goodness sake. That's when I imagine myself smothering her in her sleep. Did I mention my brother in law will argue because he likes to.
And than there's me if I can't sit calmly and enjoy a decent meal at least every 4 hours I turn into the she devil from a very bad place my niece is the same way . If you have never listened to her ask every 15 seconds when is dinner you haven't really lived.
You bet your bippiddie boppitti Boo I plan our vacations. And we have a lovely time. Everyone is free to stick to the plan or head out on their own. So far only my silent sister has tried it. She said next time she'll plan it better. My hand to goodness she did. We all had a good laugh.

 

[BigTxEars]

Big fans here of both FP+ and MBs, the good far outweighs the bad in our experience.