Lines at the FP+ entrances

[TalkingHead]

All most of the guests know is that they're in Florida, at this Disney place with a bunch of parks and things to do. Expecting anything more is asking to be disappointed. Most of any pre-arrival education Disney will attempt will go in one ear and be out the other by the time they arrive in Florida. And anything they try to do at the parks/resorts...it will fly right over their heads.

Think of the guests who call Magic Kingdom, "Disney" and can't figure out which parks belong to WDW or Universal or SeaWorld.

Those are the guests that are being asked to put more thought into their vacation. And I thought CMs were underpaid before...

 

[JerseyDad]

One of the things that annoyed me that would be easy to fix is to allow more flexibility in selecting your FP+ times. As it is now, you rank the attractions in order of importance, which seems to have some bearing on the times, but seemed pretty random to me.

It would be great to have the option to pick a general time like morning, afternoon, or evening, allowing you to park hop or to have more control over where you are right before/after your dining reservations. This would be an easy fix that would add a lot of value to the system (especially for online bookings weeks in advance), but right now it's just a hassle to try and get what you want

....that sounds as if you'd like to schedule all your FP+ reservations ....bunched together ...instead of spread out.

....that might lend itself to a guest ...who has shelled out considerable $$ ...actually having control over the vacation. Heaven forbid!!

....that's the kind of scenario that WDW wants to avoid at all costs. The WANT you committed to a park ...for as long as possible ....that way they have a greater length of time to get their hands into your wallet. They stated that last year ...that's their motive behind the whole mess.

 

[YankeeMouse]

I think the best benefit of FP+ is being able to reserve a FP for the late afternoon or evening. Mine are set up for the March trip and I don't have any for the mornings, just the evenings. The timing of being able to do that is an advantage over the old system, where you had to be present at a certain window of time to get a FP for the evening. I have FP reserved for Soarin in the evening when that was always the time we would wait in a long line at the end of the night.

 

[JerseyDad]

The kiosks are not labeled on the park maps because they have not yet redone the new park maps with FP+ info just yet. I'm assuming the next set of park maps will have this information. There are however "buck slips" (like the times guides) with info and location of kiosks around the park. And near the location of these kiosks there are signs saying "FP+ kiosk" directing you to the location. The unattended kiosks are not made aware of. They are just kind of there for self service if a guest comes across them, like the one in City Hall.

.....it's likely they are still in the testing / research phase to determine the 'best' locations for the kiosks. Not ...best for the guests mind you ...best for WDW. A "best' location is one that has the guest traveling a select path ...past venues for gifts, food, drink, merchandise ...that might have the 'liitle ones' ...and impulse shoppers, stirred into an, "I want that ...I need that" frenzy.

....why do you think the bread, eggs, and milk are at the most remote point in a supermarket?

 

[openendedsky]

Also, it was easy under the old system to spot the issue--now, the machine doesn't say "10 minutes early" or "wristband misread" or "never actually had a Fastpass attached to this wristband." It's up to the CM to deduce this. In a hectic theme park environment. Often with guests whose first language is not English.

Actually, it does. Unless the system is lagging, but in which case the guest will be asked to verify by loading their time on the app, or having a fp+ cast member verify on a mobile.

 

[dreamfinder]

One of the things that annoyed me that would be easy to fix is to allow more flexibility in selecting your FP+ times. As it is now, you rank the attractions in order of importance, which seems to have some bearing on the times, but seemed pretty random to me.

It would be great to have the option to pick a general time like morning, afternoon, or evening, allowing you to park hop or to have more control over where you are right before/after your dining reservations. This would be an easy fix that would add a lot of value to the system (especially for online bookings weeks in advance), but right now it's just a hassle to try and get what you want

You can go in and modify the times afterwards to your hearts content (assuming availability of course). They needed to weigh the balance of completely overwhelming the guests/taxing the system with allowing you to immediately tailor your day. I've found that of the 4 options presented, one tended to cluster them in the AM, one in the PM, and the other 2 were more scattered. People may complain about having to do 5 clicks (or whatever it is now) to make your selections, but having to go through and say I want this one in the AM, this one in the PM, and this one just before lunch really complicates the initial process. By "randomly" or whatever method they are using to assign the times, it helps to naturally balance out the crowds. I believe their system also over allocates the time you need to get to your other reservations, dining included, as people tend to underestimate how long it takes, and then end up arriving late. It all works out.

 

[ford91exploder]

Actually, it does. Unless the system is lagging, but in which case the guest will be asked to verify by loading their time on the app, or having a fp+ cast member verify on a mobile.

But this speaks to broken design, Instead of having the reader provide the same data the turnstiles used to on the display we now need to have a CM do a manual lookup on a handheld device.

 

[Fractal514]

It is amazing, over 1 billion dollars spent on this and Disney apparently cant afford to let people park hop and get 2 passes for one park and one for another. As if that would collapse the entire system.

There is nothing about these magic bands that benefit the guests. We get limited fast passes, cant park hop and have to deal with errors and glitches from their new system. It is a shame. As much as I love Disney more than Universal, I hope Universal steals the magic away and Disney's stock falls.

Here are my thoughts on why you can't park hop. The current system gives you three fast passes, but in some cases limits them by tiers. If you were able to park hop with FP's, you'd be able to get around the tier system by scheduling a FP for Toy Story Midway Mania in the morning, Soarin at noon, and Space Mountain in the evening. That sounds great for the person, but it removes three highly desirable FP's from the system.

It seems to me that a big aspect of the new system is equity, meaning everyone (in theory) has a shot at one great FP and two good FP's. Allowing Park Hoping as you want would defeat that, which is probably why you want it.

This system also rewards people who stay in one park for the entire day, or who choose to do rope drop at one park and then an evening at another.

 

[Disneyfamily4]

Here are my thoughts on why you can't park hop. The current system gives you three fast passes, but in some cases limits them by tiers. If you were able to park hop with FP's, you'd be able to get around the tier system by scheduling a FP for Toy Story Midway Mania in the morning, Soarin at noon, and Space Mountain in the evening. That sounds great for the person, but it removes three highly desirable FP's from the system.

It seems to me that a big aspect of the new system is equity, meaning everyone (in theory) has a shot at one great FP and two good FP's. Allowing Park Hoping as you want would defeat that, which is probably why you want it.

This system also rewards people who stay in one park for the entire day, or who choose to do rope drop at one park and then an evening at another.

There is so much wrong with that rationale. First off, Disney charges a lot extra for park hoppers. So being that we are rewarding them with spending extra money on hoppers, why would they then go ahead and "reward" others for buying the cheapest base ticket and staying at one park.

Secondly, why would they even care about the tiering for park hoppers. Again for a family of 4 with a 10-day park hopper, vs. just the base ticket, why is it even a big deal.

 

[Fractal514]

There is so much wrong with that rationale. First off, Disney charges a lot extra for park hoppers. So being that we are rewarding them with spending extra money on hoppers, why would they then go ahead and "reward" others for buying the cheapest base ticket and staying at one park.

Secondly, why would they even care about the tiering for park hoppers. Again for a family of 4 with a 10-day park hopper, vs. just the base ticket, why is it even a big deal.

I agree that it doesn't make sense for Disney to disincentive the Park Hopper, but everything I've seen/read indicates that though they want people buying it, they don't want people using it, unless it's to head into Epcot for dinner, just my opinion.

As for the tier thing, I thought my post made it clear what the issue is. If you take top tier passes across three parks, you aren't taking the lesser passes, which in this new system would impact someone else by limiting their access to those extra top tier passes you got.

 

[Disneyfamily4]

I agree that it doesn't make sense for Disney to disincentive the Park Hopper, but everything I've seen/read indicates that though they want people buying it, they don't want people using it, unless it's to head into Epcot for dinner, just my opinion.

As for the tier thing, I thought my post made it clear what the issue is. If you take top tier passes across three parks, you aren't taking the lesser passes, which in this new system would impact someone else by limiting their access to those extra top tier passes you got.

If a person spends more money for the park hopper, People who park hop to go on the best rides available should be the least of Disney's worries. After all, in their eyes, for a 10-day park hopper price compared to just the base ticket, the person who pays more, then has paid for their right to do so.

 

[hpyhnt 1000]

Except there is no "current return time" as it is always changing depending if people modify or cancel their selections, new options can turn up at any time.

True, but for certain attractions, time slots do reach their maximum allotment and any changes that may occur would open only a small number of FPs. I still feel there needs to be a way of communicating to off-site guests what times are available for different attractions BEFORE they begin using the touch screen kiosks.

Except anyone who has a Magic Band should have received information about FP+ via mailing materials at home, as well as being informed about how the system worked when they checked in/picked up their online checkin in packet. So as long as the MB are kept for resort guests only, guests have no real excuse for not knowing what they need to do.

Oh, I'm not saying guests have a valid excuse for not knowing. I was just commenting that FP+ seems to have added another wrinkle to the process compared to the old paper system.

 

[DisneyDebRob]

Why do I get a awful headache when reading about all the new "magic" happening in the parks? Ugh...

 

[Disneyfamily4]

What will be interesting is to see what Universal Studios does in the future. Being that the majority of guests do not like this new system, I think it is safe to say that the executives from Universal are salivating over this.

Disney has been on top so long, because they have treated their guests better. And because of that treatment, dedicated fans made Disney the number one family vacation spot in the world.

Right now, there is nothing about this new system that benefits those dedicated fans of Disney. This new system has taken things away from their guests and created a way to take more of our money out of our pockets.

As my kids get older, they always ask if we can stay in a Universal resort this time. As Disney lovers, me and my wife always say no. However, if our yearly vacation during the peak season is not as good as our past trips, Universal resorts will get a chance at my money. After all, they also have great rides, a dining plan and they allow their resort guests to get front of the line access.

 

[doctornick]

What will be interesting is to see what Universal Studios does in the future. Being that the majority of guests do not like this new system, I think it is safe to say that the executives from Universal are salivating over this.

I'm not sure that message boards are a good representation of "majority of guests". Messages boards tend to reflect the opinions of frequent and well informed visitors the most -- the precise people who tended to be "superusers" of paper FP and will be hurt the most by the new system.

 

[Wildflower]

What are the wait times like in the regular lines? Have they decreased at all on average now that FP+ has been rolled out?

Seemed to us that there were longer standby lines for some attractions that previously had no fastpass associated with them (imagination having a wait beyond a few mins, spaceship earth @ 40mins and pirates nearing an hour multiple times), but could have been purely situational?

 

[Disneyfamily4]

I'm not sure that message boards are a good representation of "majority of guests". Messages boards tend to reflect the opinions of frequent and well informed visitors the most -- the precise people who tended to be "superusers" of paper FP and will be hurt the most by the new system.

I know it is only an assumption on my end, but logically, I think it is safe to assume the majority of guests will hate this system.

Disney has peak seasons and off-peak seasons. During off peak seasons, the park is so empty, Disney has to lure people in with free dining promotions and things like that.

During peak season, the park is at the most crowded. These people are considered the "Majority". And the majority would rather have the paper system to get as many fast passes as they desire, rather than being limited to 3 only at one park.

The only peak season guest who will say they like the limit of 3, is really just the off peak season person, who is lying and saying they go during the peak season just to win an argument to dispel this theory.

 

[Lord_Vader]

Then, the reader takes around 3 seconds per band. Before, one person could hold everyone's ticket and the CM could just glance at all of them. Now, each member of the party must "check in."

The readers were registering blue/green almost immediately (within a half second or so) during the Christmas holidays, very fast. The biggest issue I saw was people not prepared when walking up to the readers.

 

[lebeau]

If a person spends more money for the park hopper, People who park hop to go on the best rides available should be the least of Disney's worries. After all, in their eyes, for a 10-day park hopper price compared to just the base ticket, the person who pays more, then has paid for their right to do so.

But the person who paid for the 10-day PH paid less per day than the person who bought a one-day base ticket. Disney would rather sell 10 1-day base tickets than 1 10-day PH.

PH enables you to ride all the good rides in less time = a shorter vacation = less nights in a Disney hotel.

You can see why Disney is less than enthusiastic about Park Hopping despite the extra income.

 

[Glasgow]

Does anyone else hate how this new FP+ "benefit" has now put the onus on guests by making them responsible for more efficiently managing how many attractions they ride instead of WDW just .. I don't know .. ADDING MORE RIDES. Those of us who knew how to effectively use the old system got around the parks just fine. I understand what they're selling, but I'm not buying it. Note .. I do think the integration of all of your tickets and cards into a MB is a good thing tho.

I just feel like they're trying to bamboozle everyone with the flashy new technology but all it has effectively done is transfer the responsibility of providing a full attraction touring experience to the guest. Shenanigans, I say. Would love to have seen the business case in this project .. I can only imagine the rhetoric