My Magic + details ...

[ddrongowski]

Sorry if this has already been answered and I missed it, but is the "normal" fastpass we have now being eliminated?
I really hope not. Pick your 3 fast passes 60 days in advance, and then at the park you can get more. I hope they keep the current system and use the next gen system just because I could get around 8-9 fastpasses a day with the current system, as opposed to 3 with the new one

The existing FP system will be taken away and never be seen again, once FP+ is implemented. That is what they have said as of now.

 

[flynnibus]

Yep, you'll get a band. You'll need it to enter your room. But without a ticket, no FP+ reservations.

I think there is wiggle room here. There is no reason I can think of for Disney to not allow you to make FP+ without the ticket purchase.. they already have your 'id' the reservations will be assigned to. Your FP+ is associated with your profile.. and your band will be associated with your profile when its allocated.

By requiring a hotel reservation first.. there is a relative barrier to prevent gaming the system by making lots of reservations you don't intend on using.

 

[afar28]

I was there last August when they launched it on the parks...it was terrible then as well.

So was I. It didnt wanna work anywhere. I was there the first day they set it up at Epcot. It was horrible

 

[rael ramone]

The only decent part of the MDE app is to search for dining ressies for RIGHT NOW.

So, when you go to to a restaurant that is 1/2 to 3/4 empty that they claim can't take walk-ins, instead of calling WDW-DINE right in front of the host/hostess to get in, you use the MDE app...

 

[bubbles1812]

From what I have read, I believe that regular Fastpass is not being eliminated, and that only the Fastpass+ is limited to 3 per day in one park only. This is a good idea so that all the fastpasses are not used up before the park even opens in the morning. I'm just looking forward to the MyDisneyExperience site to be fully operational so I can add the rest of my Park Hoppers (bought from undercover tourist) to my reservation. It will only let me enter one Park Hopper for myself at the moment, and not for anybody else in my family. Tech support told me that should be ironed out in a month.

The goal is to eliminate the old FP system. It's been stated numerous times but you're new, so I will cut you some slack. (Welcome by the way.) But, I fail to see how having the ability to reserve and keeping the old system would solve the problem of FPs being gone in the morning. You would have a chunk of FPs that were reserved, which would most likely mean less day of FPs would be available... And thus they would that much more quickly. Ergo, they would be gone that much faster in the morning, and we'd still have the same problem. But that would be contingent on the keeping the old FP system... Which they won't be.

 

[flynnibus]

Okay, bear with me. Under this scenario, two to three years from now, FP+ has become so unpopular and worthless that the entire system collapses. FP+ will have killed off the FP system entirely and we can all go back to the much more sane routine of assessing lines and adjusting our park visits on the fly.

There is a hybrid of this... (which we've mentioned lots before). Since the # of FPs each person can get is so limited... it's possible to give out basically unlimited FPs... because the # of potential consumers is so limited. Now the only constraint is Disney controlling how much FP they want in a line at anytime..

This could have the effect of 'I have a much better chance at getting a FP then I did before...' with the tradeoff being 'I can use this power less frequently than before'.

So instead of a system of those who 'mastered' it being able to take advantage of those less informed... we have a balanced system where everyone has great access to FPs.. but you can't use it as often.

I can only think that last scenario is what they'd like... it removes the big complaint of 'there are no more FPs available!!' and puts Disney back in the driver seat to shape allocations -> FP demand on an attraction at any point in the day.

I think it's a 'trimming' of FP so to speak... reel back the monster, make it smaller and hence more controllable.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

I think there is wiggle room here. There is no reason I can think of for Disney to not allow you to make FP+ without the ticket purchase.. they already have your 'id' the reservations will be assigned to. Your FP+ is associated with your profile.. and your band will be associated with your profile when its allocated.

By requiring a hotel reservation first.. there is a relative barrier to prevent gaming the system by making lots of reservations you don't intend on using.

Currently you can make dining reservations without a park ticket or hotel reservation. I wonder if that will change too?

 

[ddrongowski]

I wonder how people that buy their parks tickets the day of arrival, be it at a WDW resort or just the TTC are going to like FP+. After all how many FP+'s will be available for them to get setup even with a smart phone. Glad I schedule my WDW vacations 9 months in advance. But with these changes I may not go to WDW anymore. They aren't the only vacation place. Yes they are a nice vacation destination, but that was because it wasn't so stressed of planning everything out. The most I have ever done planning is for a primary and secondary park for each day. I have never ever used the ADR system in 13 years, and I always get to eat where ever we have gone.

 

[englanddg]

There is a hybrid of this... (which we've mentioned lots before). Since the # of FPs each person can get is so limited... it's possible to give out basically unlimited FPs... because the # of potential consumers is so limited. Now the only constraint is Disney controlling how much FP they want in a line at anytime..

This could have the effect of 'I have a much better chance at getting a FP then I did before...' with the tradeoff being 'I can use this power less frequently than before'.

So instead of a system of those who 'mastered' it being able to take advantage of those less informed... we have a balanced system where everyone has great access to FPs.. but you can't use it as often.

I can only think that last scenario is what they'd like... it removes the big complaint of 'there are no more FPs available!!' and puts Disney back in the driver seat to shape allocations -> FP demand on an attraction at any point in the day.

I think it's a 'trimming' of FP so to speak... reel back the monster, make it smaller and hence more controllable.

There is a much cheaper way to do that, if that is indeed the goal. Just remove Fastpass altogether.

And then, with the 1 to 2 rumored billion, build some more rides.

 

[rael ramone]

People get nuts enough as it is when rides break down without planning and expecting a particular experience for two months…yeah, I don't expect Guest Relations to be a very happy place.

Sounds like a reason to put the kiosks in front of Guest Relations.... Create a massive bottleneck in front of Guest Relations, so for a person who actually wants to go to GR, they have to wade through a crowd like NYE at the MK after fireworks with all the monorails and the ferries all down... then pat themselves on the back for all the complaints that they aren't hearing...

 

[maxairmike]

That is the only positive I can think of to this whole mess. It allows Disney to ween guests off of the FP monster in a selective and "gentle" way, and opens the door to more profitable models. I doubt Disney will every blatantly charge for FP+ access (well, most can see right through the idea of more FP+ for more expensive resorts, but it isn't the same as just charging $20 for another FP+ or two), but building costs into already large sticker prices will become very easy if they want to.

 

[sublimesting]

How will this work for people that aren't buying tickets or, in our case, APs until we get there? Do we even get magic bands? We're going in October.

 

[flynnibus]

There is a much cheaper way to do that, if that is indeed the goal. Just remove Fastpass altogether.

And then, with the 1 to 2 rumored billion, build some more rides.

But then you don't have this great FP concept to swoon people with... and lets drop the hyperboyle about FP+ being the only thing NextGen dollars are about.

 

[flynnibus]

I didn't read through all of the posts so I apologize if this has already been covered, but how would this work with outside tickets? We usually buy tickets from MWR (military tickets) or undercover tourist. Would it be more difficult to use these tickets? Is this a way for Disney to push out outside sellers?

You'll just associate your ticket with your account. The difference will be is 'when' you secure your tickets.

But this is an easy problem for Disney to solve... just make it so anyone can make FP+ reservations up to 60days in advance. There really is no reason to require having the tickets first. It's not like your tickets are only good for certain days...

 

[PhotoDave219]

So, when you go to to a restaurant that is 1/2 to 3/4 empty that they claim can't take walk-ins, instead of calling WDW-DINE right in front of the host/hostess to get in, you use the MDE app...

I've done that several times. It really annoys the cast member when you do that.

 

[rael ramone]

The goal is to entirely replace FP with FP+. No 8-9 FPs for you anymore. And you LOVE it! Right? ... Right? Anyone? Bueller?

Perhaps an avalanch of FP+ complaints are desired.... To distract the masses of the massive datamining operation and the absolute colossal SPAM dump you (and your minor children) will get upon returning home...

 

[wdwfan22]

I don't see fastpass+ being a hassle at all. Once it goes live guests will go with it, some will understand how it works and some will not. There are still some guests that don't understand fast pass now or park hopping or how to make a dining reservation. It will also go live at Disneyland resort just like they intended it to. Some said they would never be able to force the return times at Disneyland but they now do so they will be able to handle Fastpass+.

 

[englanddg]

But then you don't have this great FP concept to swoon people with... and lets drop the hyperboyle about FP+ being the only thing NextGen dollars are about.

Fine. What other major guest benefits does NextGen provide that didn't already exist?

Tap to pay?
Barely useable Wifi?
Data modeling?

 

[Nemo14]

Fine. What other major guest benefits does NextGen provide that didn't already exist?

Tap to pay?
Barely useable Wifi?
Data modeling?

Plastic baubles?

 

[Virtual Toad]

FP+ could also become more like the Surprise Fastpasses that might make you feel good but that no one ends up using.

Family X books Splash Mountain, Coursel of Progress and Pooh. It rains so they don't use Splash... they walked by CoP earlier in the day and the standby wait was negligible so they went ahead and did that without using their FP+... and little Timmy had a stomach ache so they left for the day without riding Pooh.

End result: 3 FP+s booked 60+ 10 days out... 0 FP+s used.

(Plus, on their next trip.. they don't bother booking FP+ at all because the payoff wasn't worth it.)

Repeat enough times and the standby lines become quite tolerable for everyone once again because fewer and fewer FPs are actually being used.

Fingers crossed but I like many others will gladly wait on the sidelines to see how this all pans out.