We are on our way home from Disney World. We honestly had a great week but MM+ really didn't make things any easier for us. Like others, the FP+ ride reservations made the day feel so rushed that it was ridiculous (except for a few days that is). I really enjoyed the touch to enter and touch to pay aspects of MM+ but I think 60 days out to reserve is far too long. I understand that so many people making reservations at one time could bog down the system but they could fix that.
Day One: MK and MNSSHP. We arrived at Art of Animation at 11am and our room was not ready. We walked around the resort and took some pictures until we got the text saying our room was available. We go to the room 2nd floor Ursula building and fine that my band and my son's band worked but my wife's did not work to open the room. Off to Animation Hall to get that fixed. This fix was super simple and there were no problems; it took all of 5 minutes. We had FP+ reservations for JC, LM, and something else all back to back at 3pm, 4pm and 5pm. I really hated that you can't overlap the times because most of the lines were so long that, in trying to do another attraction in the middle would mean we may miss our next FP+. We then did the party and it was great, but unfortunately my magic band popped off and I didn't notice until we were almost back to the room on the bus. Anyway, a quick trip to the front desk and I had a new magic band and the idea to use the glow in the dark slider (that we were given upon arrival) to secure the band further. Placing the slider over the place on the band where it snaps made it much more difficult for the band to pop off.
Day Two: Epcot. This day went ok but felt the most rushed of any and our FP+ reservations were spread out over the entire day. We also had lunch at Biergarten and did the Behind the Seeds tour. Throw in some of the F&W festival and you have an extremely busy day travelling back and forth between WS and FW. The one great thing about our times in Epcot for MM+ was touch to pay for F&W. The food lines seemed to run very smoothly. I was never carded even though I had my ID. The band did that miniscule amount of work for me.
Day Three: Animal Kingdom. Of all of the parks MM+ worked best here. We had FP+ for Nemo, Lion King, and the Safari. We were able to switch the FP+ from the Safari to Kali very quickly and that was great. We were able to do everything except Everest during this day because of the FPs for the shows. No standing in line forever to get into a show. Then went to Boma at AKL for dinner.
Day Four: DHS, Epcot, and MK. Had initial FP+ for TSMM, Star Tours, and tGMR. There was only one problem on this day. The MDE app was lagging so far behind that when I changed my reservation time for tGMR from noon to 4, the reservation did not show up in the app for about 30 minutes. I was unsure if it had went through or not. More on this later. Anyway, took the boat to Epcot for some food and wine then monorailed to MK for reservations at BOG.
Day Five: spent the morning at the beach then Epcot for more F&W. We had cancelled our MK FP+ for the morning so we could go to the beach. For this, we paid the price for not planning. Arriving midday, there were no FP+ or regular FPs available for Test Track or Soarin so we took what we could get. Nemo, SSE, and Turtle Talk, all of which, depending on the time of day, do not need FPs. Again, touch to pay was the best part of the whole thing.
Day Six: MK. Had FP+ for Splash, Big Thunder, and the M&G with Cinderella. Splash was down for a good portion of the day and we missed our reservation because of it. I did not receive the email about using the existing fastpass until 8pm. It is a good thing that I have explored how the system works and knew that I could just use the FP+ for some other attraction without having to make a reservation. We went back to splash anyway when it opened and had no issues with our bands at the time.
My thoughts before the MM+ experience: I thought that it would be great but wanted to reserve my actual opinion until after trying it. I thought the 3FP limit was ridiculous but was willing to give it a try.
Afterthoughts: I loved touch to enter and touch to pay. This, although a small portion of MM+ made things much easier, especially not fumbling to find a card to open a door with a stroller and shopping bags from the parks. Touch to pay was very easy, but made overspending extremely easy. I absolutely hate the way FP+ works. The limit of three means that those that go during busier times may not experience anything other than those three as all of the lines are inflated. According to Touring plans, we experienced days at parks ranging from two to seven. Even on days with miniscule crowd levels, the standby lines were upward of 20 minutes for every attraction, including those that usually have no wait. Also, photos taken from photopass photographers are usually available the next day if they scan your band, so I can see how PP+ would be great for some people.
