This Mom just booked 1st trip in years and now regretting it.

[PolynesianPrincess]

I called Disney 4 times in a row, and got 4 different people and they all said the same thing. I asked them if we should use one of our FP+'s for Fantasmic or will we get mixed in with the standby line and all of them specifically said that not only will we be in a separate line but it will be completely roped off seating and it will be "center". I called back 4 times to see if a few of those reps just didn't know the facts.
So you're saying this isn't the case?

The first time we used FP+ for Fantasmic was in September during the testing phase. We had our own section, right in the center. This worked great for us since we love Fantasmic but hate having to get there so early for good seats. So we booked Fantasmic FP+ for our trip in November. Imagine my surprise when we arrive during our return time window of 6:55-7:25 at 7pm and found not only was there no section specifically for FP+, but we had to find seats wherever was open. Once we got to the top of the amipitheater, the two lines just merged. Since it was 7:00 and it was a 7:30 show, the only seats open were on the end. The middle 3 sections were reserved for the dining package. I asked a CM about it and she told me "there is no section for FP+" so I asked her what the point of having FP+ was. Her response was that it guarantees people who have FP+ booked a seat. So I inquired even further and said "OK, so it's 7:10 right now and the ampitheather is almost full (and it was full by the time I finished talking to her) Say I return at the end of my FP+ time at 7:25 and the place is full... But I'm guaranteed a seat.. Are you going to make a family who got here early for their seats get up so we can sit down?" She had no response to that. So unless they have changed anything since then, there is no certain section and if you want a good seat, you still have to show up just as early as you had been before. And to me, why waste a FP on that?

 

[Lord_Vader]

The old FP system wasn't a problem. If we went to get a FP for Soarin but the time wasn't right, say it overlapped with a meal, we knew we could wait a little bit longer and get a FP with a later return time becasue we KNEW for fact later return times would be available at some point that day. Now, when you sign into MM+, the times available day of are the times you get. There is no waiting to see if some other better time comes up. Unless you want to keep checking your phone every 5 minutes and who wants to do that?

We tried to change my Toy Story Mania FP back in September at 10am... guess what? Nothing available. So I couldn't use it. Once FPs are booked in advance by everyone, you're going to be hard pressed to find anything day of if you want to change plans.

We were able to make changes day of and sometimes an hour before our time over Christmas week the day of for virtually everything except TSMM on one occasion. The think I liked most about FP+ was the ability to select a window while changing times, we could then select one that best matched when and where we wanted to be and not based on an assuption or a pre-defined path Disney expected us to follow.

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

We were able to make changes day of and sometimes an hour before our time over Christmas week the day of for virtually everything except TSMM on one occasion. The think I liked most about FP+ was the ability to select a window while changing times, we could then select one that best matched when and where we wanted to be and not based on an assuption or a pre-defined path Disney expected us to follow.

Then maybe it's just us because I've been trying to alter my times for FP+ for 2/1 for a week now and there is tons of morning stuff open but from like 2pm on for Tower of Terror there is nothing until 7pm, which is when Fantasmic is. Same thing for TSMM. And we won't be to the park til like 2pm, so we need those afternoon times that aren't available!

 

[joejccva71]

The first time we used FP+ for Fantasmic was in September during the testing phase. We had our own section, right in the center. This worked great for us since we love Fantasmic but hate having to get there so early for good seats. So we booked Fantasmic FP+ for our trip in November. Imagine my surprise when we arrive during our return time window of 6:55-7:25 at 7pm and found not only was there no section specifically for FP+, but we had to find seats wherever was open. Once we got to the top of the amipitheater, the two lines just merged. Since it was 7:00 and it was a 7:30 show, the only seats open were on the end. The middle 3 sections were reserved for the dining package. I asked a CM about it and she told me "there is no section for FP+" so I asked her what the point of having FP+ was. Her response was that it guarantees people who have FP+ booked a seat. So I inquired even further and said "OK, so it's 7:10 right now and the ampitheather is almost full (and it was full by the time I finished talking to her) Say I return at the end of my FP+ time at 7:25 and the place is full... But I'm guaranteed a seat.. Are you going to make a family who got here early for their seats get up so we can sit down?" She had no response to that. So unless they have changed anything since then, there is no certain section and if you want a good seat, you still have to show up just as early as you had been before. And to me, why waste a FP on that?

Yea I see your point. It can be very frustrating to speak to CM's on the phone who tell you one thing, and then to have the CM's actually at the amphitheater say things like "there is no section for FP+". I even asked the CM rep on the phone and one of them specifically told me that "people that use one of their FP+'s get center seating because they are using one of their three available".

Seems like this system is flawed when it comes to stuff like this.

 

[Lord_Vader]

Then maybe it's just us because I've been trying to alter my times for FP+ for 2/1 for a week now and there is tons of morning stuff open but from like 2pm on for Tower of Terror there is nothing until 7pm, which is when Fantasmic is. Same thing for TSMM. And we won't be to the park til like 2pm, so we need those afternoon times that aren't available!

Ouch, TSMM was the one we could not move at all one day. DHS really needs more attractions to balance things out, provide enough variety to support the ability to move/change times. That was the one park I was truely worried about making reservations for b/c of expected high demand on TSMM. Add to that 2/1 is a Saturday which tends to get busier as well. Try the day-of too, they do hold back quite a few slots it seems as there were some days we could not change in advance but day-of was no problem.

 

[BearsMom2011]

So I've been watching another thread on this site about fastpass+ and tiers and booking in advance. TODAY a woman posted a bunch of stuff about her husband getting so many conflicting answers from Disney CMs about the tier system in connection to their June trip, that he asked to speak to a manager. He was told by said manager that yes there were tiers (they had been told there were not any tiers by two CMs) but that when they went to book their FP+ (in mid to late April), the tiers would be GONE. That it had to do with Spring/Easter break. Now hey. That is NOT fair. Booooooo

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

So I've been watching another thread on this site about fastpass+ and tiers and booking in advance. TODAY a woman posted a bunch of stuff about her husband getting so many conflicting answers from Disney CMs about the tier system in connection to their June trip, that he asked to speak to a manager. He was told by said manager that yes there were tiers (they had been told there were not any tiers by two CMs) but that when they went to book their FP+ (in mid to late April), the tiers would be GONE. That it had to do with Spring/Easter break. Now hey. That is NOT fair. Booooooo

As far as I know, there is no plan to remove the tiers. Unless this has changed recently, they made the tiers so that no one could pick more than 1 E-ticket at Epcot (Soarin or Test Track) so the FPs would be spread out so more people had a chance at at least 1 E-ticket,.

 

[StarWarsGirl]

We tried to change my Toy Story Mania FP back in September at 10am... guess what? Nothing available. So I couldn't use it. Once FPs are booked in advance by everyone, you're going to be hard pressed to find anything day of if you want to change plans.

Having had some recent experience with FP+, it really depends on the attraction. TSM I wouldn't expect to be able to change...then again, on the old system, FPs were hard to come by as well for that one. But I was able to push back a Soarin' FP the day of with no issue. I did it several times with different attraction with no issue. Don't get me wrong; I don't really like this system either, but changing FP times was not one of those issues.

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

Having had some recent experience with FP+, it really depends on the attraction. TSM I wouldn't expect to be able to change...then again, on the old system, FPs were hard to come by as well for that one. But I was able to push back a Soarin' FP the day of with no issue. I did it several times with different attraction with no issue. Don't get me wrong; I don't really like this system either, but changing FP times was not one of those issues.

Maybe they don't release them all in advance, I don't know, but it would make sense that they would have to hold some back for day of guests to have. Which might explain why you were able to change it the day of. I do know once off-site people and APs start making them ahead of time, people probably won't have that same luck changing them the day before since more people will have access to making them ahead of time. We've had experience with the FP+ also on two trips and both trips we came across some issues, just as we're having issues finding ANY times of Tower of Terror past 2pm and TSM past 2pm on 2/1 that works with our schedule.

 

[StarWarsGirl]

Maybe they don't release them all in advance, I don't know, but it would make sense that they would have to hold some back for day of guests to have. Which might explain why you were able to change it the day of. I do know once off-site people and APs start making them ahead of time, people probably won't have that same luck changing them the day before since more people will have access to making them ahead of time. We've had experience with the FP+ also on two trips and both trips we came across some issues, just as we're having issues finding ANY times of Tower of Terror past 2pm and TSM past 2pm on 2/1 that works with our schedule.

Well, I just got back from my January trip, and I had no issues changing them the day before or the day of. And it was pretty crowded the first few days. I will give it another go in August and see what kind of experience my parents have (they are leaving today) but changing times has been a non-issue. I do agree with previous posts about you couldn't change a FP on the legacy system. But then again, when I planned, I planned so that it wouldn't overlap with ADRs and such just as I would have on legacy.

My biggest issue is that it takes so long to tap the bands that it creates a line outside of the FP queue.

 

[Lord_Vader]

Maybe they don't release them all in advance, I don't know, but it would make sense that they would have to hold some back for day of guests to have. Which might explain why you were able to change it the day of. I do know once off-site people and APs start making them ahead of time, people probably won't have that same luck changing them the day before since more people will have access to making them ahead of time. We've had experience with the FP+ also on two trips and both trips we came across some issues, just as we're having issues finding ANY times of Tower of Terror past 2pm and TSM past 2pm on 2/1 that works with our schedule.

We had the same issues with moving times around before our Christmas trip but in the morning a lot of times opened up and it was very easy for us to swap around with little to no exception. Later in the day attractions like TSMM and Soarin' were more difficult but not impossible and this was during Christmas week.

 

[Lord_Vader]

My biggest issue is that it takes so long to tap the bands that it creates a line outside of the FP queue.

I had the same thought for the lines outside the FP+ queue but quickly realized that the line inside was usually zero so it all evened out, our average time to ride was still ~10 minutes with the lines outside the attraction. I would say only TT, SM were the outliers for the most part.

 

[StarWarsGirl]

I had the same thought for the lines outside the FP+ queue but quickly realized that the line inside was usually zero so it all evened out, our average time to ride was still ~10 minutes with the lines outside the attraction. I would say only TT, SM were the outliers for the most part.

True, it's just finding the end of the line that's the issue. If I were Disney, I would just reduce the line to the one checkpoint inside the attraction. Given how a lot of the readers weren't working (for Safari, I went once and then went a week later and both times the readers inside were not working) I guess that's not possible right now.

 

[Wikkler]

The attractions you need to prioritize are in order in this ordered list from greatest to least:
Magic Kingdom (Plan on going to one land in the morning and using your FPs at the other side of the park in the afternoon and evening):

1. Enchanted Tales with Belle
2. Peter Pan's Flight
3. Main Street Electrical Parade
4. Space Mountain
5. Splash Mountain (when temperatures are above 80 F)
6. Rapunzel at Princess Fairytale Hall
7. Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
8. Cinderella at Princess Fairytale Hall
9. Mickey at Town Square Theater
10. Tomorrowland Speedway
11. Wishes
12. Jungle Cruise
13. Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin
14. Splash Mountain (when temperatures are below 80 F)
15. Haunted Mansion
16. Barnstormer
17. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
18. Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid
19. Ariel's Grotto
20. Dumbo the Flying Elephant
21. it's a small world
22. Pirates of the Caribbean
23. Magic Carpets of Aladdin
24. Mad Tea Party
25. Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor
26. Mickey's PhilharMagic

Epcot Tier 1 (If you did one of the first two, rush to the other in the morning):

1. Soarin'
2. Test Track
3. Character Spot
4. IllumiNations
5. Maelstrom

Epcot Tier 2:

1. Mission: SPACE Orange
2. Spaceship Earth
3. Living with the Land
4. Mission: SPACE Green
5. Turtle Talk with Crush
6. The Seas with Nemo & Friends
7. Journey Into Imagination with Figment
8. Captain EO

Hollywood Studios Tier 1:

1. Toy Story Mania
2. Rock 'n' Roller Coaster
3. Fantasmic
4. Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage

Hollywood Studios Tier 2:

1. Tower of Terror
2. Great Movie Ride
3. Voyage of the Little Mermaid
4. Star Tours
5. Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular
6. Disney Jr. Live on Stage
7. Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show
8. Americal Idol Experience
9. Muppet Vision 3D

Animal Kingdom:

1. Kali River Rapids (when temperatures are above 80 F)
2. Adventurers Outpost Mickey and Minnie Meet
3. Kilimanjaro Safaris
4. Expedition Everest
5. Kali River Rapids (when temperatures are below 80 F)
6. Primeval Whirl
7. DINOSAUR
8. Finding Nemo: The Musical
9. It's Tough to Be a Bug

 

[jackson1954]

With the new FP+ strategy, we've changed the type of tickets we purchase. The fact that you only receive 3 FP+s, and that there are tiers, and that you can only select for 1 park each day, we are not getting the park hopper tickets this year.

Normally, we get the 3-day park hoppers. This year, we are getting the 6-day non park-hoppers (with a free 7th day because of the special offer), and we are actually saving about $25 per person.

You have to visit both Epcot and Hollywood Studios in order to get an FP+ for all the tier 1 rides, so we plan on doing about a 1/2 day at each of these parks on 2 different days. The rest of those 1/2 days, we are going to sleep in, or relax at the resort. I am hoping that, overall, it is a more enjoyable experience for my family.

 

[Hot Lava]

I agree that this FP+ is all stressful. But just be glad that you are in the know and are able to plan ahead. This will soon be implemented for everyone. So imagine if you were a daytripper or stayed off property and didn't do any research. You would get to the park and find out the old fp was gone and now you must go to the kiosks (or get yourself a MDE account quickly).

I also do not know when to get FP+ reservations for. We would have the added wrinkle about leaving the park in the afternoon for naptime. If I was still doing parks open to close, I would make my fp+ reservations for early afternoon. Get there at rope drop and ride all you can early. Then with your afternoon fp+ you could ride again reasonably well (I guess anyway. ). Perhaps this strategy is not good, I do not really know; but it has been my thinking.

Do you use or have you thought about using touringplans? They are re-engineering all their plans as all these changes come out. Also if you are using their plans online (including on your phone), you can change them on the fly. I also think that you can input your reservation times into a plan and it will go from there.

At the very least, go and look at their blog. They have had some articles about the new fp+ system, which rides you really need them for, and when the best times are to book. The articles may help you also.

 

[jgd250]

What did you do before if you had a FP and wanted to change it? At least you can now.


As opposed to get to the park for rope drop to get a legacy FP before they run out, or run too late in the day to be used. And even still, this is a temporary issue, it's already been disclosed that off site guests will get advanced access and to the app too.

Debbie Downer, you're just too invested in the old system. It had many, many issues, but you were just used to them and took them as par, or 'the way it is'. Fact is, you do not have to plan - but you can if you want to.[/quote]

 

[SagamoreBeach]

I'm kind of at a loss to describe how sad I am about all this magic band business and FP+. I get to book our FP starting in 5 days and I am at a complete loss as to how to strategize it all with the tiers and only one park etc etc. And quite frankly I'm pretty ticked off that I have to strategize it to this degree so early! We have dinner reservations, which was already exhausting as I had to get everyone's opinion first and navigate through the website. It's not that easy. So what if some of these aren't a good plan when we get there? Maybe they won't work with the FP's I book. Or maybe we'll get tied up somewhere or be just plain exhausted and want to skip sit down and get a quick salad and rest. I just learned you have to cancel 24 hours in advance or you are charged $10 per person. What? I never double book reservations and would always cancel if I wasn't coming but 24 hours in advance? That's unreasonable. I'm no babe in the woods about Disney and we have always done pretty well time wise. But then again I'm not one of those to carry around copies of touring guide plan for everyone either. I am afraid this will make my husband, young adult kids and me just miserable at one of the happiest and most expensive places on earth. Sorry to be a drag, but I've never felt like I've been set up to fail like this before and geez...it's DISNEY.

Sorry you feel like that. I have to admit that I have never done advance reservations for anything. Most of the time not even resort reservations. Just show up enjoy and be flexible. I always had a great time.