Lines at the FP+ entrances

[Disneyfamily4]

I get where you are coming from, but I think that you are really only looking it from your own perspective, at least based on what you're written. If they were to charge for FP, there would be even more of a backlash than there is for the current change in system. Disney can't win 100% of the time in changing the system because there will always be people who preferred the old system to the new.

As for the aspect of spontaneity, I think you're making a pretty big assumption when you say that "everyone who goes on vacation likes the spontaneity of being on vacation." I disagree with this entirely. There are some who like being on vacation because they don't have to follow a schedule or plan their day. There are some who like to be on vacation and know what they've got in store so they can get excited and make sure they hit each thing they want to hit. In both cases it's about not being stressed, and that is the thing that I think people universally desire in a vacation. The problem with that is that some folks get stressed if they DON'T have a plan to see everything and some people get stressed if they HAVE to plan everything.

I've posted in other threads that I think people have to make a choice, either plan your trip in advance and get to make the best use of FP+ at the expense of spontaneity, or maintain spontaneity at the expense of taking advantage of FP+. I realize that everyone wants to have their cake and eat it to, but it seems like Disney is saying you can't.

Like I said in previous posts. This system is brand new and the reviews now are based on low crowd levels at this time of year. The comments about the positives of what people like about these bands right now, will change after peak season. Wait to see what people post about this system From March - July. I will be there March 24-April 7th. It will be our first time with bands and no paper to fall back on.

 

[doctornick]

I hear ya, but really, look how much work is going into this vacation. We are all WDW dorks here and know the ins and outs. Joe Public, not so much. Look how many people have smart phones and are clearly not smart enough to do anything with them other than text, talk, and look at kicks to the groin videos on YouTube.

But here's the thing. I think it is actualyl easier to use FP+ at a basic level than paper FP. To wit: family not well educated with Disney books a package with a resort room. They get the pamphlet or flash drive in the mail months ahead of time. They use it and go online and get the little video training and register for MM+. They get an e-mail at days saying "you can book FP+" so they go on, either click on rides or let the computer choose them (there is some sort of "quick pick" choice) and get rides reserved for each day.

They either print out their choices or they are on their phone/tablet to view. Or when they check in, the front desk could offer to print them out for them. when they get to the parks, they just use the FP+ when the time in and go on those rides with less wait.

It's really not that complicated and, for someone overwhelmed with planning for Disney, it's pretty easy to just click on some rides you've heard are good and let the computer give you times to ride.

Heck, in some cases, you might see travel agents setting up MM+ accounts and making ride reservations for people, so they just get the itinerary with rides. Even easier.

There's nothing complicated about "you have x ride reserved at 1:30-2:30" and going to ride it. And, for many people, it will be less stressful having this done ahead of time than having to debate with their spouse about where to go next or how does FP work or whatever when you are in the thick of the overwhelming craziness of WDW.

 

[Disneyfamily4]

Some of this is funny. I know people will lie, but a lot of the positives that have been written are from people who havent even used the bands yet and have no clue on what to expect. I was there in September. I even was chosen last March to participate. The only reason why it was good AND I mean the ONLY reason why it was good, is because the paper fast passes were still given out. On the way back to the resort, I talked to everyone who also had a band and these positives written on this thread were never mentioned by people who used the bands.

Am I the only person in this forum who goes to Disney, wakes up in the morning and says to my family "where do you all want to go today"? Then we hop on a bus or boat and go. I hated planning my fast passes and locking into a park, knowing if I change my mind, I got to sit in front of a computer.

 

[lobelia]

I might be willing to pay for additional FP+s if I can choose from the the top tier (think mountains). Other than that it's worthless for me to pay for it. If it was set up like Universal's Fastpass I would stay at a Disney resort for that benefit. What a pleasant experience it was for me and my family to bypass all standby lines at Universal when we stayed at the Royal Pacific. Nice resort and aside from getting up early to go to the World of Harry Potter our day was relaxing. We even went back to the resort to take a nap mid-day (by boat, no buses involved) and still felt satisfied with our Universal Experience. However, I prefer WDW's atmosphere.

 

[Lord_Vader]

Nevermind, I found the answer I was looking for. So they are checking TWICE for the bands. WOW!

Not any different than checking the FP tickets at the entrance and checking/collecting them at the merge point.

 

[Lord_Vader]

Some of this is funny. I know people will lie, but a lot of the positives that have been written are from people who havent even used the bands yet and have no clue on what to expect. I was there in September. I even was chosen last March to participate. The only reason why it was good AND I mean the ONLY reason why it was good, is because the paper fast passes were still given out. On the way back to the resort, I talked to everyone who also had a band and these positives written on this thread were never mentioned by people who used the bands.

Am I the only person in this forum who goes to Disney, wakes up in the morning and says to my family "where do you all want to go today"? Then we hop on a bus or boat and go. I hated planning my fast passes and locking into a park, knowing if I change my mind, I got to sit in front of a computer.

We rarely plan which park to visit in the morning but almost always planned the park we would be at in the evening if we were park hopping. For FP+ we simply made our reservations in the park we would be visiting later in the day and decided which park to go to in the morning. If we decided to not park hop I simply changed my reservations from Park A to Park B with little to no hastle, most of the time while I was in line for something or finishing up lunch.

 

[Lord_Vader]

Like I said in previous posts. This system is brand new and the reviews now are based on low crowd levels at this time of year. The comments about the positives of what people like about these bands right now, will change after peak season. Wait to see what people post about this system From March - July. I will be there March 24-April 7th. It will be our first time with bands and no paper to fall back on.

I would hardly call Christmas week low crowd levels. We had no problems with the bands at all over two weeks, rarely double-dipped if ever and had a great time. In fact we only used the KTTW cards twice the entire time for regular FP at MK and never pulled them out of my wallet again. The thing I hated about FP was the return times were usually hours out resulting in us having to backtrack constantly or give the FP away, with FP+ we saved a lot of time by simply modifying our touring strategy a bit. The FP+ reservations usually had us going one direction or another, we simply started on the other side of the park and worked our way around to our first FP+ reservation or park hopped when our times were getting close.

EDIT: A lot of guests are also complaining very loudly about how they are going to hate it before they have ever tried it too.

 

[bhg469]

Just put a toe in first and make a dining reservation on your phone while waiting in line at Space Mountain.

That could work, as long as you don't want to eat for 4 months after the ride is done.

 

[bhg469]

They don't want you park hopping.

At first I thought this sort of comment was tin foil hat material but there is no other feasible explanation. In addition they do not want you visiting unless its for 4+ days. They do not want you if you're an adult who doesn't care about princesses. They don't want you if you plan on visiting more parks on your visit anywhere else. The do not want you unless you plan every detail of your trip months in advance. I'm sure there is more but that is all i could come up with.

 

[Master Yoda]

At first I thought this sort of comment was tin foil hat material but there is no other feasible explanation. In addition they do not want you visiting unless its for 4+ days. They do not want you if you're an adult who doesn't care about princesses. They don't want you if you plan on visiting more parks on your visit anywhere else. The do not want you unless you plan every detail of your trip months in advance. I'm sure there is more but that is all i could come up with.

or they have not added park hopping yet.

 

[Disneyfamily4]

They don't want you park hopping.

This is 100% true.

The one thing I do know for a fact is that Disney is very good at looking in terms of psychology when it comes to their decisions. Which is no different than any other huge enterprise in America.

When people stay in one park, typically, they will be there from morning til late at night. However, if they park hop, people tend to leave in the early afternoon and since they are out of the park for a while, no money is being spent until they reach their next destination. But then, after people get to the next park, people tend to get exhausted a lot quicker, then call it quits a lot earlier than they would have, rather than if they would have just stayed at one park.

As I mentioned in other posts, the psychology of this is exactly why Disney will allow people to put money on the bands as a form of credit. I know I have used this saying before, but I will say it again. If you have 100 bucks in your pocket and your kid wants a 20 dollar balloon, most parents will say no. But if the 100 is in the form of a credit on the band, then parents will be more inclined to make that impulsive purchase, because psychiatrically speaking, they have already written that money off and they are not really seeing their cash being spent. Again, it is brilliant business, but it does come at our expense.

Anyone here who stays at resorts can tell you about the Disney bounce back offers. When you put a deposit for the following year, for the next several months, Disney sends surveys. These surveys are not being read by a 9-5 minimum wage guest relations worker for giggles. These are getting read by people with masters degrees in business analysis. In these surveys, if people are asked about souvenirs and they put down they are to expensive, Disney does not lower the price as a result. They sit there and figure out how to appease the mind and pretty much trick them into buying these souvenirs. Bingo, Magic Bands.

 

[Pixie VaVoom]

I stayed offsite last week and was one of the "no magicband - seccond class citizens" last week...but I found the experience pretty easy and accomodating. when DH and I went to the parks each day - since I had the benefit of getting advanced advice from all of you kind folks on the forum here - I hunted down the first CM I saw and ASKED them where the FP+ stations were. I had an average of 8-12 minutes wait for an available kiosk and CM, then we told them our choices and the timeframe that we would be at the park for the day. They scanned our tickets and we made our selections, and I told them that I didn't have availability to an electronic device while in the park. They were without fail, happy to just write our times down on our selection sheet. DH and I just kept the sheet handy and we were good for the day.

It was nice, and we generally got what we wanted - I think we only missed out on one ride - but when I got to it...the standby line wasn't that bad - so awesome.

 

[Pixie VaVoom]

The other thing I noticed was at the FP+ return lines. in some of the queues the lines were not well marked, nor separated, so you would just have this general mash of people pressing towards SOME entrance to the ride...only to clog up the line when the CM would not let them through - they did NOT have a FP, but refused to get out of the way for those that did. Also I saw several times when groups of teens would be walking back OUT of the FP line between the 2 check points - again, NO PF, and the CM at the final checkpoint caught them. Because if the length of the return FP+ lines - most CM would give you a little lenience about your return time, but I did have ONE who was hard nosed about it.

 

[bhg469]

I have never had an ADR at a Disney restaurant, and yet I've eaten at many of the be top-rated ones. During the busiest times of year, I'm sure it is nearly impossible to get in, especially a family of 4 or more. But to assert that no one can possibly get a reservation day of is just wrong. Depends on when you're there, when you want to eat, etc.

Well the top rated restaurants aren't always the most quick to fill... Victoria and Alberts is probably going to be open when chef Mickey's is overbooked... I was being halfway sarcastic with my comment but I have been there during free dining and have been SOL when we just didn't want to eat dinner when our reservations were made months in advance.. I would argue that only dead times of the year, not just slower, is the only time I would expect you to be able to get dinner at popular places on the day of.

 

[flynnibus]

or they have not added park hopping yet.

But what they have done now actually required effort to block park hopping... It's not like it just hasn't been added to the menu yet. They explicitly blocked it.

It simplified the variations but I think it has more to do with the people movement shaping... Not just 'it is not finished'

 

[wdisney9000]

Some of this is funny. I know people will lie, but a lot of the positives that have been written are from people who havent even used the bands yet and have no clue on what to expect. I was there in September. I even was chosen last March to participate. The only reason why it was good AND I mean the ONLY reason why it was good, is because the paper fast passes were still given out. On the way back to the resort, I talked to everyone who also had a band and these positives written on this thread were never mentioned by people who used the bands.

Your right, people will lie. They will exagerate for either side of the argument. Whats funny to me is the people who love it and say how great it is but ONLY used it during early testing phase last year, when it was at one park, for a few specific resort, with very limited test participants, no tiered levels, you could still double dip, and Disney had about 5 MM+ techs on hand for every guest that was trying it. The speak as if thats what it will be like when its fully rolled out. I visited twice during early testing phase and as recently as last week. The difference in the system then and now is quite noticeable. Even those that used the bands during Christmas/New Years time were still using it in a limited roll out scenario. Even though last week more of it was rolled out, they still had paper FP machines at EPCOT and MK so it was still not a full roll out and January is a slow time of year and there were still many issues with FP+ like long lines at FP+ entrance and malfunctions with bands. Like other have said, wait until spring and summer time when its slammed. I doubt Disney will have these current issues worked out by then and thats not accounting for unseeable issues when there is five times as many people using the system.

We had 2 sets of bands (we did a split stay between BC and AKL and had 1 set for each resort we stayed at). My bands were fine but both of my wifes bands had issues with resort room door and park entrance. Many other guests we spoke with had similar issues. Not ONE person I spoke with was extremely excited or had positive opinions of the overall system. Long FP+ lines and having to be on the phone too often or the system not letting them know if a ride was down were the most common complaints. The only features people liked was the room charge and that the kids (young ones) liked to use the band. But the kids using them is where I think a problem lies. The young children are not (and wont ever be) very efficient at using the band. They usually dont scan it correctly the first time and the bandits on their band dont make it easier for them. A few parents said they wanted to just scan it for their kid but the kids made a fuss because they wanted to do it themselves. I got sick of hearing CM's and parents repeat "Mickey to Mickey", to adults and kids alike. I think its great that kids love em, but it can occasionally slow things down. In the end, MM+ didnt ruin our vacation by any means, it was just a little irritating at times. I was DEFINITELY on my mobile waaaaaay more than I ever have been before and the spotty wifi at the parks didnt help either. I see no benefit of MM+ versus the old ways. I know..."It still isnt fully rolled out", but I cant see it getting much better.

 

[MaryJaneP]

Was there week between Christmas and New Years (last month). Not a low crowd time. Our MB's worked and we (5 of us) did not see or hear of anyone having a problem with MB or FP+. Now, back to your regularly scheduled doubting thomases.

 

[wdisney9000]

Our MB's worked and we (5 of us) did not see or hear of anyone having a problem with MB or FP+. Now, back to your regularly scheduled doubting thomases.

Our problems with the bands were quite real and there was only two (2) of us. The problems were limited to not opening the room door and a few times at park entrance. Not the end of the world, but problems we never had before. I wouldnt say Im being a doubting thomas because I can live with the new system. I just dont see any advantage (for the guest) for the money they spent

As far as you not seeing or hearing of anyone else having a problem with their MB, I would have to ask if you truly engaged other people in a conversation (longer than 1 minute) or you just didnt see anything? I had lengthy coversations and probly spoke with about 25 different people between the bus ride, waiting in line and the bars around Boardwalk and Epcot. The bars at the resorts at the end of the day is when I had longer conversations with others. Ive done the same thing on my last 3 visits with roughly the same amount of people so I can truly say Ive spoke with many people. Not just a few on the bus for one visit

edit: its funny how the people that defend this are the ones who resort to name calling (doubting thomas, doom and gloomer, etc) at a person who simply stated their opinion (without name calling or being offensive)

 

[asianway]

Our problems with the bands were quite real and there was only two (2) of us. The problems were limited to not opening the room door and a few times at park entrance. Not the end of the world, but problems we never had before. I wouldnt say Im being a doubting thomas because I can live with the new system. I just dont see any advantage (for the guest) for the money they spent

As far as you not seeing or hearing of anyone else having a problem with their MB, I would have to ask if you truly engaged other people in a conversation (longer than 1 minute) or you just didnt see anything? I had lengthy coversations and probly spoke with about 25 different people between the bus ride, waiting in line and the bars around Boardwalk and Epcot. The bars at the resorts at the end of the day is when I had longer conversations with others. Ive done the same thing on my last 3 visits with roughly the same amount of people so I can truly say Ive spoke with many people. Not just a few on the bus for one visit

edit: its funny how the people that defend this are the ones who resort to name calling (doubting thomas, doom and gloomer, etc) at a person who simply stated their opinion (without name calling or being offensive)

Because to them Disney is a religion & you are questioning their deity.

 

[Disneyfamily4]

Was there week between Christmas and New Years (last month). Not a low crowd time. Our MB's worked and we (5 of us) did not see or hear of anyone having a problem with MB or FP+. Now, back to your regularly scheduled doubting thomases.

And you had paper fast passes as well. Like I said, I was chosen last year at boardwalk. These bands would have sucked if it wasn't for the paper to go along with it. Now back to your regularly scheduled koolaid drinkers