Lines at the FP+ entrances

[Fractal514]

Once again, we have a comment from someone who has not even been to Disney to use the bands yet.

Here is an example from someone who actually used the bands. Prior to my September trip, On August 13th, I was forced to decide what ride I wanted to use a fast pass on for September 13th. So I chose Buzz at 9am. However 30 days later, at 9 AM, there was only a few minute wait for Buzz in the stand by line. So I quickly had to go on my phone, to try and switch my fast pass from Buzz to another ride, so I can then just wait in the stand by line of Buzz and still have 3 fast passes left. Sadly, Disney offers extremely slow WIFI, and inside the park there is a very weak signal. In the end, I got screwed out of a fast pass, because I couldnt switch it due to their terrible system. Last year, without the bands, this would not be a problem. I would have woken up, went to Tomorrowland, saw there was no line and me and my family would ride. This year, we have to use our psychic ability to forecast what the park will be like. We are limited to three and when technology fails, we I get 2.

In all seriousness, why the heck would you ever choose a FP for anything before 10 am?

 

[Disneyfamily4]

Another problem we foresee for our next trip in March is concerning my 7 year old daughter. And trust me, there will be a lot of families who will realize this and experience the same problem.

My daughter is 7 and is afraid of space mountain, since she has to sit alone and it is dark. My 12 year old son loves space mountain, as do me and my wife. So now my entire family gets only 3 fast passes. Of course I cant tell my son we cant go on space mountain, so all of us will have to use a fast pass for space mountain and kid swap with my daughter who will not go on. Being we cant make a fast pass for a ride for her to go on all alone, My daughter then loses out on a fast pass.

 

[Fractal514]

Completely agree the problem is a lack of must do rides. But, on one of the days we arrived at park opening, my son ran for Soarin' fastpasses while we headed over to Test Track. After that we headed straight over to Soarin' then across to Norway and there was already a 2 hour queue for Maelstrom, well before lunch.

The crowds were light in MK so we caught the monorail there instead.

My main problem is being tied to UK summer holidays, we pay the highest prices to stand in the longest queues in the hottest weather. But, I'm in Disney so its worth it (just).

I do not doubt your experience, but what is "well before lunch" since World Showcase doesn't open up until 11? I guess it's possible for Maelstrom to have that long a line, I've just never seen it before mid-afternoon.

 

[Fractal514]

My thoughts have been 24 hour advance FP+ for 'on-property' guests regardless of media, "Day-Of" access for all other guests, This still provides a perk for on property guests but it avoids the 6 Month madness which surrounds ADR's, 60 Days out I have NO CLUE what park I want to visit,

PLUS weather and family mood will determine what park I want to see, If it's going to be rainy perhaps AK as lots of shelter exists.

This restores the basic egalitarian nature of FP while giving 'on property' guests an advantage and perk and does not 'punish' those who do not pre-plan for whatever reason by exhausting ride capacity.

But why take away something from those of us who DO know what we want at 60 days out? Again, this is just another tweaking of the system to suit YOUR needs specifically, which I totally get and appreciate, but this is about all visitors, not just one specific set.

 

[Disneyfamily4]

In all seriousness, why the heck would you ever choose a FP for anything before 10 am?

Honestly, with the paper fast passes still being able to be used, I was not angry about it. But what I was pointing out was that, right now, with fast pass paper being eliminated. If this situation happens in March, we will be getting screwed.

I travel a lot and my work pays for my Iphone. I have the very best data plan that money could buy. I never have a problem logging into things anywhere I go, and that is even when i am in the woods camping. But in Disney, my wife can barely log into her facebook page. The signal and wifi is weaker than any place I have ever been.

 

[Fractal514]

Another problem we foresee for our next trip in March is concerning my 7 year old daughter. And trust me, there will be a lot of families who will realize this and experience the same problem.

My daughter is 7 and is afraid of space mountain, since she has to sit alone and it is dark. My 12 year old son loves space mountain, as do me and my wife. So now my entire family gets only 3 fast passes. Of course I cant tell my son we cant go on space mountain, so all of us will have to use a fast pass for space mountain and kid swap with my daughter who will not go on. Being we cant make a fast pass for a ride for her to go on all alone, My daughter then loses out on a fast pass.

But your son gets to ride it twice. You could also ask for a child swap at the exit of the FP line and only make a FP for you and your son, then allow your wife to ride with your son. Unless they've change the way child swap works since October.

Then your Daughter and wife could do FP for BTMR and then she could get an extra ride on that as a trade off for waiting for her brother on SM.

 

[Fractal514]

Honestly, with the paper fast passes still being able to be used, I was not angry about it. But what I was pointing out was that, right now, with fast pass paper being eliminated. If this situation happens in March, we will be getting screwed.

I travel a lot and my work pays for my Iphone. I have the very best data plan that money could buy. I never have a problem logging into things anywhere I go, and that is even when i am in the woods camping. But in Disney, my wife can barely log into her facebook page. The signal and wifi is weaker than any place I have ever been.

But again, why did you take a 9am fast pass at all? I mean, to me that seems like an intentional effort to have the system not work.

 

[doctornick]

But why take away something from those of us who DO know what we want at 60 days out? Again, this is just another tweaking of the system to suit YOUR needs specifically, which I totally get and appreciate, but this is about all visitors, not just one specific set.

Yeah. I'm not thrilled with certain aspects of FP+ (to put it kindly) but the ability to schedule FP+ before I go to the parks is a very big plus in my mind. We are already deciding the parks we go to each day due to dining reservations anyway so getting ride reservations in hand from the comfort of my home without having to have a runner go to individual fastpass machines is a nice perk.

I would love to have a mix where you can reserve a certain number of FP+ per day ahead of time and then also have access to additional "day of" FP+, but I don't want to see them take away the ability to reserve rides in advance.

 

[Lord_Vader]

Once again, we have a comment from someone who has not even been to Disney to use the bands yet.

Here is an example from someone who actually used the bands. Prior to my September trip, On August 13th, I was forced to decide what ride I wanted to use a fast pass on for September 13th. So I chose Buzz at 9am. However 30 days later, at 9 AM, there was only a few minute wait for Buzz in the stand by line. So I quickly had to go on my phone, to try and switch my fast pass from Buzz to another ride, so I can then just wait in the stand by line of Buzz and still have 3 fast passes left. Sadly, Disney offers extremely slow WIFI, and inside the park there is a very weak signal. In the end, I got screwed out of a fast pass, because I couldnt switch it due to their terrible system. Last year, without the bands, this would not be a problem. I would have woken up, went to Tomorrowland, saw there was no line and me and my family would ride. This year, we have to use our psychic ability to forecast what the park will be like. We are limited to three and when technology fails, we I get 2.

I'll grant you 100% that the in-park WiFi is lacking, downright pitiful at best but I had no issues using LTE (AT&T on iPhone 5) last summer and during the Christmas holiday. I had a VERY responsive app experience while using wireless data and turned off my WiFi completely.

I know not everyone has access to mobile data in the parks, I would guess mostly international visitors will be at the most disadvantaged.

 

[Disneyfamily4]

But again, why did you take a 9am fast pass at all? I mean, to me that seems like an intentional effort to have the system not work.

Sadly you are missing the point. In March and April, which is the peak season. Even at 9 am, all the big rides will have a 40 minute wait times in the morning. But if a ride doesnt have a long wait, it is not easy to switch your fast pass to another ride, as some people say it is. Like I have said, last year we wake up and go. This year the planning adds to being a second job.

 

[Lord_Vader]

Honestly, with the paper fast passes still being able to be used, I was not angry about it. But what I was pointing out was that, right now, with fast pass paper being eliminated. If this situation happens in March, we will be getting screwed.

I travel a lot and my work pays for my Iphone. I have the very best data plan that money could buy. I never have a problem logging into things anywhere I go, and that is even when i am in the woods camping. But in Disney, my wife can barely log into her facebook page. The signal and wifi is weaker than any place I have ever been.

Wireless signal is greatly dependant on carrier, AT&T coverage in the parks is much better than it has ever been. It was so much better this Christmas than in the past I turned off WiFi unless we were in the resorts.

 

[Disneyfamily4]

Wireless signal is greatly dependant on carrier, AT&T coverage in the parks is much better than it has ever been. It was so much better this Christmas than in the past I turned off WiFi unless we were in the resorts.

I hope it is better. Every year, and this past September being the last time we were there, the signal was weak. Epcot is the exception. Never had a problem there.

 

[Lord_Vader]

Sadly you are missing the point. In March and April, which is the peak season. Even at 9 am, all the big rides will have a 40 minute wait times in the morning. But if a ride doesnt have a long wait, it is not easy to switch your fast pass to another ride, as some people say it is. Like I have said, last year we wake up and go. This year the planning adds to being a second job.

Guessing the park we want to be in 60 days out seemed like a bit much to us too. We did make nearly all of our FP+ reservations for well after 2PM each day at a park to make sure we had something locked in, changed them early in the morning if we decided not to go to the park originally planned, we did it at the bus stops most of the time. The idea that planning out like this becomes a second job is a bit much. My wife and I sat down, said we wanted to visit MK 6x, EP 4x, DHS 2x, AK 2x and randomly chose days in a round-robin fashion, except Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Years Eve which we did all MK. All our FP+ times were late afternoon or night so we could randomly choose our park or go to the park we had reservations in, no pressure, not a lot of thought and planning either and most importantly NO STRESS.

 

[Lord_Vader]

I hope it is better. Every year, and this past September being the last time we were there, the signal was weak. Epcot is the exception. Never had a problem there.

AT&T has been adding a lot of micro-cells and full blown towers after their new agreement with TDO. Using a speed test I downloaded at 31Mbps on Main St. USA on Christmas Day.

 

[71jason]

It is mind boggling, the amount of people who want to claim that the planning several months in advance is a positive.

It's an online Disney message board, there's a lot of provincialism. Someone on here with even 5 posts still knows more about WDW than the average guest, probably 80% of guests. Being online, there's also an assumption that "everyone" has a smartphone and is proficient in using it. It's easy to start to believe that all WDW guests should be "smart" ("aware"?) enough not to get a FP for PotC, or not to get a 9:00 am FP.

And then you talk to a CM buddy and he tells you the vast majority of tickets sold at the gate are 1-day non-hoppers ... even after he tries to explain how much they could save with a 5-day ticket since they'll be here all week. And others tell you about guests asking daily where they can find Spider-man and Harry Potter.

In other words, I'll be shocked if by Christmas 25% of guests are planning rides months, or even days, in advance. But I'll also be shocked if anything less than 90% of WDWMagic posters are not.

 

[71jason]

The signal and wifi is weaker than any place I have ever been.

Eh, it's worse at Universal, particularly IoA. (Happy, fanbois?) It does seem to depend on crowds; was useless Fourth of July and during MNSSHP, but pretty decent on slow nights.

 

[Disneyfamily4]

It's an online Disney message board, there's a lot of provincialism. Someone on here with even 5 posts still knows more about WDW than the average guest, probably 80% of guests. Being online, there's also an assumption that "everyone" has a smartphone and is proficient in using it. It's easy to start to believe that all WDW guests should be "smart" ("aware"?) enough not to get a FP for PotC, or not to get a 9:00 am FP.

And then you talk to a CM buddy and he tells you the vast majority of tickets sold at the gate are 1-day non-hoppers ... even after he tries to explain how much they could save with a 5-day ticket since they'll be here all week. And others tell you about guests asking daily where they can find Spider-man and Harry Potter.

In other words, I'll be shocked if by Christmas 25% of guests are planning rides months, or even days, in advance. But I'll also be shocked if anything less than 90% of WDWMagic posters are not.

When it comes to planning, I never minded planning dining reservations several months in advance. With the park hopper tickets, even if we decided to start the day somewhere else, getting to the park where we will eat is not hard.

But now, after my March trip, I will not spend the extra 300-400 on park hoppers ever again. That means now planning a dining reservation sucks, because that now locks us into a park in 180 days in advance. So therefore not only will I not buy park hoppers, I will not buy table service dining. I will then save money to just to quick service. Making a 180 day reservation and locking myself into one park is something I will not feel comfortable doing. That is why I am surprised Disney wants to eliminate park hoppers. If people stop buying them and stop buying table service dining, they will lose a lot of extra money. They are foolish to think they will get it back by keeping people in one park.

 

[ford91exploder]

It's an online Disney message board, there's a lot of provincialism. Someone on here with even 5 posts still knows more about WDW than the average guest, probably 80% of guests. Being online, there's also an assumption that "everyone" has a smartphone and is proficient in using it. It's easy to start to believe that all WDW guests should be "smart" ("aware"?) enough not to get a FP for PotC, or not to get a 9:00 am FP.

And then you talk to a CM buddy and he tells you the vast majority of tickets sold at the gate are 1-day non-hoppers ... even after he tries to explain how much they could save with a 5-day ticket since they'll be here all week. And others tell you about guests asking daily where they can find Spider-man and Harry Potter.

In other words, I'll be shocked if by Christmas 25% of guests are planning rides months, or even days, in advance. But I'll also be shocked if anything less than 90% of WDWMagic posters are not.

Exactly correct, MM+ would have been much better if the team had worked as front line CM's for a while, When I was hired as a Network Architect by a major university years ago my first three months were spent with a cable crew and helpdesk stints so I would KNOW in my bones what the issues and challenges were for when I began designing things those were the most valuable experiences in my career.

Unfortunately MM+ was designed in a boardroom with limited input from front line CM's and it shows.

 

[Lord_Vader]

When it comes to planning, I never minded planning dining reservations several months in advance. With the park hopper tickets, even if we decided to start the day somewhere else, getting to the park where we will eat is not hard.

But now, after my March trip, I will not spend the extra 300-400 on park hoppers ever again. That means now planning a dining reservation sucks, because that now locks us into a park in 180 days in advance. So therefore not only will I not buy park hoppers, I will not buy table service dining. I will then save money to just to quick service. Making a 180 day reservation and locking myself into one park is something I will not feel comfortable doing. That is why I am surprised Disney wants to eliminate park hoppers. If people stop buying them and stop buying table service dining, they will lose a lot of extra money. They are foolish to think they will get it back by keeping people in one park.

Who is it that keeps saying Disney wants to eliminate park hoppers? I have been under the understanding that FP+ will be extended to multi-park at some point in the future just not right now, just like off-site and APs.

 

[71jason]

That means now planning a dining reservation sucks, because that now locks us into a park in 180 days in advance. So therefore not only will I not buy park hoppers, I will not buy table service dining.

Understand your reasoning, but a bit of friendly advice--table service restaurants in the resorts (rather than the parks) generally take walk-ups during all but the busiest weeks. Hop a monorail or exit out the back gate of EPCOT. Or if you'll have a car, I can recommend at least a dozen places within a 15-minute drive.