Without worms spilling all out the can what is the problem with the new fast pass system?

[Tom]

Well. I am on property with a magic band. FP+ is kind of crappy. Not only are you limited at certain parks by tiering but they ran out of FP+ today for all the E ticket rides at EPCOT and MK by 3. I know because I tried to change mine.

We started around 9:30 this morning at AK. Walked on safari. By the time we got to EE it was a 40 minute wait so we did single rider. My first time on EE. Then we went over to dinosaur and walked on it. Then we waited about 35 minutes in Kali on stand by. Those were the 4 rides. In between we had breakfast and lunch and the DG7 got badges. One m&g with Louie and the tall guy. Pretty busy at the park by 11 am and when we left at 3. We decided to go swim at the resort and I was going to change our FP+ and that is when I found out that the only time we had at EPCOT for Soaring was it and TT was out too.
Nothing worth FPing at MK was left either or HS.
So I just cancelled FP for the day.
Now my conclusion is planning on the fly with FP+ during high crowd times is misleading compared to legacy. With legacy you knew what you had to do by certain times at each park for specific rides. It kind of looks like with FP+ you run out even sooner for the E ticket rides at 3 of the 4 parks now during high crowds.

With legacy FP, it was also nearly impossible to get a FP for an E-Ticket any time after noon on a crowded day....or even a regular day.

Crowds are very high today, based on reports from others. It's not surprising that you can't get FP+ for high profile attractions when you're trying to get them at 3pm.

 

[jlsHouston]

With legacy FP, it was also nearly impossible to get a FP for an E-Ticket any time after noon on a crowded day....or even a regular day.

Crowds are very high today, based on reports from others. It's not surprising that you can't get FP+ for high profile attractions when you're trying to get them at 3pm.

Today I went to the concierge desk early to tweak the rest of the days we have left on property FP selections. Basically what this guy told me was 2 pmish has been about the cut-off for making changes to FP selections on high crowd days involving the E ticket rides. Now I distinctly remember my DD29 pulling a legacy FP for Peter Pan the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving last year at 4ish for a 10:30pm return window. I also don't remember BTMRR running out that early last summer in August. Soaring and TSMM were the ones that might make noon before they ran out but the others would make late afternoon and into evening often times. I've never been to WDW except during high crowds, like Easter, summer including 4th of July, and the week of Thanksgiving. Definitely MK is very busy this week. But it's no busier than summer or Thanksgiving. Gosh the weather is great too. I swear I'm getting to Epcot tomorrow.

 

[DisLuver]

Let's see if I can enumerate the most common complaints from those staying onsite:

1. The MagicBands have been temperamental. Works fine for most but some have had problems at gates, hotel rooms, redeeming FP+ selections, etc. Some have reported their FP+ selections disappearing from My Disney Experience.
2. Limit of 3 FP+ selections per day.
3. All FP+ selections must be at the same park. No FP+ selections at 2 parks on the same day.
4. Attraction tiering at Epcot and DHS. For example, both Soarin' and Test Track cannot be selected at Epcot.
5. Long (but quick-moving) FP+ return lines. (Except for some attractions that previously did not have FP, Standby lines have not been impacted.)

In addition, for those staying offsite:

1. Long FP+ kiosk lines, depending on crowd levels and time of day.
2. Limited FP+ availability. Those booking in advance (i.e. staying onsite or AP holders) get first access. This doesn't mean offsite guests get none, only that availability for offsite guests can run out quickly.
3. Related to the previous item, still having to do the morning drop rope dash to get the best FP+ selections.
4. Having to return to the FP+ kiosk to modify selections.

Eventually, offsite guests with multiday tickets should be able to use My Disney Experience to make selections 60 days before arrival, but there is no firm date for this.

For several of the above issues, Disney is working on solutions but, again, no clear date for when these might be addressed.

In general, Disney continues to look for ways to improve FP+. Today's problems might be gone tomorrow, but new problems might pop up. FP+ is a work-in-progress.

I'll add to this. As onsite guests, with APs, just a few short weeks ago, the dang app RARELY worked. Over the 7 days we were there, it worked twice. We always got the blip message. So, even having access to MDE, we had to wait in kiosk lines for 15-20 minutes to make changes, and we used the shorter lines.

 

[jlsHouston]

I'll add to this. As onsite guests, with APs, just a few short weeks ago, the dang app RARELY worked. Over the 7 days we were there, it worked twice. We always got the blip message. So, even having access to MDE, we had to wait in kiosk lines for 15-20 minutes to make changes, and we used the shorter lines.

Totally agree, they need to get their money refunded from AT&T, I got those blip messages all day today at MK. I could only alter FP times and choices twice from the app successfully.

 

[jlsHouston]

Overall, at the conclusion of my spring break vsit using FP+, overall I'm not really impressed. The app was tempermental the majority of the time, requiring me to seek out kiosks or concierges so no convenience making selections or changes. I made the mistake one day of waiting til 3 to change my FP's & that is the equivalent of thinking you can walk in at 3 & get a FP legacy for Soaring or TSMM after lunch. Not happening. It appears on high crowd days FP's run out by afternoon for ALL Eticket rides, whereas usually EE, Space, Splash, Peter Pan, and BTMRR would still have them available at least til 4.
Queues back up at BTMRR and Space where the first MB scan occurs in the FP line, but it moves pretty quickly.
The tiering sucks, in a word. And limiting FP to one park REALLY sucks.
I have loved being at the World this week but not because of FP+ or MM+.

 

[scoobygirl39541]

Personally, I love FP+ WAY more than I was expecting to. I remember reading about it for months and anticipating all the possible things that could go wrong, but guess what? None of those bad things happened! It was actually one of the better Disney experiences we had. Maybe we just got lucky, but even so, they're really working to fix the bugs.

As far as the "cons" go... it's all realitive I think. We never used more than 3 FP's in a day anyway! Plus I've never had a TSM FP in my life, with FP+ I can get one for the time of my choice without having to wake up early and run to the attraction!

Also, I'm sure they're working on the park hopper problem. They wouldn't want to lose those ticket sales.

 

[stevehousse]

Personally, I love FP+ WAY more than I was expecting to. I remember reading about it for months and anticipating all the possible things that could go wrong, but guess what? None of those bad things happened! It was actually one of the better Disney experiences we had. Maybe we just got lucky, but even so, they're really working to fix the bugs.

As far as the "cons" go... it's all realitive I think. We never used more than 3 FP's in a day anyway! Plus I've never had a TSM FP in my life, with FP+ I can get one for the time of my choice without having to wake up early and run to the attraction!

Also, I'm sure they're working on the park hopper problem. They wouldn't want to lose those ticket sales.

I agree! Reading about FP on here really had me worried but we ended up having a wonderful time, changing things on the fly, and only experienced one back up at the FP entrance but it literally took only 5 minutes to get through that initial scan band line.

Depending on the time of year you go definately has major play into availability though. I guess we got lucky when we went...

 

[Tracy girlie]

We were at WDW the first week of Feb, and our experience wasn't horrible like some others, but did leave a lot to be desired. Did our FP+ work? Yes. Did we have any issues with the bands? Only one on the second day where mine decided to no longer function as a room key, but that was fixed with the lobby concierge in a couple of minutes. Aside from the Tiered FP+ issue at some parks, our main complaint was that the standby lines were completely out of whack. 35 to 45 minutes as the Haunted Mansion and POTC. I've never waited longer than 15 to 20 minutes for either ride. Even the Maelstorm had a 20 minute wait. It seems that by installing FP+ at some attractions, all Disney has done has created a wait time that would make people want to FP instead, but with 3 per day only, (and don't even get me started on the tiers) you were guaranteed to spend a lot more time waiting all over the place to get the same number of rides we would have been able to do the year before. So, instead of shopping, we were waiting in lines. After seeing how all the standby lines were affected during a 'quiet' week, I am now terrified with what will happen with our WDW visit this summer.

 

[wogwog]

Do you use Fastpasses?

If you do, since you will be staying off site, the biggest difference that you will see is that you will need to get your 3 FP+ when you enter the park from one of the kiosks around the park, instead of running to each ride like you used to. You will also be limited to 3 FP+ per day, and they must be in one park.

The line to get your FastPass minus seletions is said to be very long and time consuming on busy days even though more and more kiosks are being opened all over the parks. Disney now has several hundred cast dedicated to this task but some some of the more visible locations at MK seem to always have a long slow moving line according some frequent local visitors I know. Like off site guests AP holders were just recently given the same access. Something is not right with this nonsense.

 

[sjhym333]

My experience has been nothing but positive, even at busy times. Since I am a local AP holder my decision to go to the parks tend to be last minute and every time I have gotten on my computer before leaving the house I have gotten every attraction I have wanted within a reasonable time. Last week during Spring Break I got a 2 pm Toy Story Mania time at 11:45 am. I keep hearing other peoples horror stories on discussion boards but that has not been my experience at all

 

[horizons82]

Here's the thing about Fastpass as I've experienced it during my last few visits as an AP...

The earlier in the day it is, the longer the lines are to get Fastpasses, but the better the chances are you'll get FPs for the more popular attractions. (Unless you are there with an hour of rope-drop or so).

The later in the day it is, the shorter the lines are to get Fastpasses, but it's more likely the more popular attractions will be 'sold out' of FPs.

Of course, there are variations depending on weekday vs. weekend or which park is the busier park on a given day will may cause swings in this, but this is basically what I experienced with the FP system before getting the advance FP access for APs.

I will say that a 20 or even 30 minute wait in ONE line to get 3 FPs is still better than waiting 20 mins, 30 mins, or even longer in each line for 3 separate attractions.

 

[DisLuver]

Three things:

1) There seems to be kiosks with shorter lines, but those same kiosks had less stations and fewer CMs, so they moved as slowly (or sometimes slower) than some of the more crowded/linger line area. Choose your lines wisely. It's easier to pick the faster moving line at the grocery store. The lady with 500 coupons and an overflowing cart, but no one else in line or the line 8 people deep but no one with more than 15 items....

2) In all honesty, I can't say the magic-less bands ( ) were a complete disaster at all times, but we consistently had a problem or two (at a minimum) every.single.day. we were there. Most of the time they were minor, but add up all those minor inconveniences and we wasted several hours--half a day, maybe--out of our trip. It made it a fail.

3) I had never seen certain lines so long, and this was slow season. Usually we go during school breaks (Thanksgiving, Spring Break). I have never seen the Buzz FP line down along the bridge leading from the hub into Tomorrowland. I had never had to wait in a FP return line for over 15 minutes for Buzz (I really did time it), and we didn't even have to get in it when it was massively long. I have never had to wait in Pirates or Haunted Mansion for over 20 minutes without an obvious breakdown.

 

[sjhym333]

I do think that FP+ is making changes in guests patterns that are just beginning to emerge now that all the resorts and AP Holders are using the system. Is it pushing guests to attractions that traditionally have had a short wait time? I looked at Small World the other day with a 40 min wait and thought that it was long considering how crowded the park looked. Like any new system I am sure we will begin to see patterns in guest usage and flow and learn (like we did with Legacy FP) how best to use the system. I have never been a fan of FP at all. I was not looking forward to FP+ but I like it a lot more then I thought I would and I like it better then legacy FP.

 

[reptar77]

I actually like the new system. I really like not having to make a mad dash to get a TSMM FP. The only thing I don't like it not being able to park hop.

 

[jlsHouston]

I agree! Reading about FP on here really had me worried but we ended up having a wonderful time, changing things on the fly, and only experienced one back up at the FP entrance but it literally took only 5 minutes to get through that initial scan band line.

Depending on the time of year you go definately has major play into availability though. I guess we got lucky when we went...

I agree that many factors as to whether the FP+ versus Legacy will be perceived as a better experience for the park goer including: crowd levels, whether the app is working on a phone, expectations of the day, park or parks the guest want to visit on a particular day...
In some ways I almost felt that FP+ was a very limiting factor on this last trip and I was never a big user of legacy FP. I think I kind of had some perceptions as to the flexibility of FP+ versus Legacy.

 

[jlsHouston]

Three things:

1) There seems to be kiosks with shorter lines, but those same kiosks had less stations and fewer CMs, so they moved as slowly (or sometimes slower) than some of the more crowded/linger line area. Choose your lines wisely. It's easier to pick the faster moving line at the grocery store. The lady with 500 coupons and an overflowing cart, but no one else in line or the line 8 people deep but no one with more than 15 items....

2) In all honesty, I can't say the magic-less bands ( ) were a complete disaster at all times, but we consistently had a problem or two (at a minimum) every.single.day. we were there. Most of the time they were minor, but add up all those minor inconveniences and we wasted several hours--half a day, maybe--out of our trip. It made it a fail.

3) I had never seen certain lines so long, and this was slow season. Usually we go during school breaks (Thanksgiving, Spring Break). I have never seen the Buzz FP line down along the bridge leading from the hub into Tomorrowland. I had never had to wait in a FP return line for over 15 minutes for Buzz (I really did time it), and we didn't even have to get in it when it was massively long. I have never had to wait in Pirates or Haunted Mansion for over 20 minutes without an obvious breakdown.

Yah we skipped Buzz this time, it was one of those we'd grab a legacy if we had time otherwise we would wait til the standby was practically walk on. Every time I checked the app when it worked the standby was never less than 45. We spent about an hour in Tomorrowland on Saturday doing Space and CoP and PeopleMover and snacking and the Buzz standby kept fluctuating 40-45 minutes...so I think they were tracking wait times.

We once again had an issue when we resort hopped, the park ticket didn't transfer to the new room magic band. But no big issues with the MB opening doors or charging ability this time THANKFULLY.

I thought it was so funny, my boyfriend liked wearing that band. He came with me at the last minute and so he got gray ones and he really liked the bad for the door and park entry.

Still kind of awkward doing the Mickey to Mickey thing but we have gotten adept.

My conclusion remains that this a a tremendous outlay of cash for so little benefit to the guest. I was perfectly okay with legacy. I liked my KttW cards too. Planning my rides in advance ultimately does not work for me. Every single day I was changing those picks and I learned the hard way that FP+ runs out just like legacy did on E ticket rides and FP+ actually runs out faster on ALL E ticket rides in EVERY park on a high crowd day and I had never seen that happen with legacy.

 

[Redhawk]

Every single day I was changing those picks and I learned the hard way that FP+ runs out just like legacy did on E ticket rides and FP+ actually runs out faster on ALL E ticket rides in EVERY park on a high crowd day and I had never seen that happen with legacy.

I wonder, could this be for the simple reason that more people are now using FP+ than used legacy FP. FP+ has been heavily promoted, whereas legacy FP was just there and many guests didn't know how to use it or used only 1 or 2.

 

[jlsHouston]

I wonder, could this be for the simple reason that more people are now using FP+ than used legacy FP. FP+ has been heavily promoted, whereas legacy FP was just there and many guests didn't know how to use it or used only 1 or 2.

You know what you could be totally correct. There are still alot of people who stay off property that I bet have no clue about FP+. And onsite guests that never did much with legacy (like me) suddenly find themselves going after those 3 "given" FP's a day and it is shifting the stand by times around and filling up all the E ticket rides much quicker than legacy did.

 

[wdisney9000]

My conclusion remains that this a a tremendous outlay of cash for so little benefit to the guest.

That sums it up in a nutshell. It was a TON of money for very little in return. Heres what I think is funny;

People that enjoy FP+ speak how they love to make FP+ selections in advance, but then they also mention how they love to make FP+ changes "on the fly". Whats the benefit of making a FP+ selection a day or a even a month early if your just going to change it? You wasted all that time pre-planning your day from home or the night before only to have it all go out the window due to weather, kid issues, ride breaks down, etc. If you apply that same amount of time to actually walking to the attraction and pulling a paper FP its probly not much difference and now you havent wasted ANY time. The time you spend walking to an attraction is time your spending with family, not on your phone or laptop. My brother and I still tell our stories of rushing to Space Mtn at rope drop racing kids and adults to be the first in line. We would all get there and laugh and hi five each other. I remember high fiving some 40 year old dad and his kid because we raced there and I barely beat them and then we all walked the Star Tunnel laughing and joking. It was awesome. We loved it. How will my kids stories sound? "Hey Dad, remember getting on our Iphone that one night and booking that FP+ while we sat on the couch!"

FP+ selections still run out by afternoon for E tickets and offsite guests still have to get there at rope drop to get those E tickets or wait in line at a kiosk, which again, is probly same amount of time it takes to walk to attraction. And ya, I know, you can make all 3 FP+ selections at the kiosk, but what if you have to change it? What if you dont have a smart phone? Now your back at the kiosk.

Are there advantages to FP+? Ya, a few small ones, but not worth the price they paid by far. Whats the problem with FP+? The amount of money it cost and the amount of money the continue to spend every day on it. Standby wait times are all wonky now and FP+ is no quicker than it was before. Wheres the gain? Oh yeah, you can get on your phone while riding Spaceship Earth and change the time of your next FP+. The FP+ you probly spent a half hour planning around the night before. lmao. Whoopty-Doo. Just for the record, I have used FP+ on a few different trips. It doesnt ruin your trip in any way, its just nothing better than what we had and it costs a bazillion dollars. I hope people are really enjoying all the magical, much needed infrastructure. The infrastructure that NO OTHER Disney park requires or is even beginning to install.

 

[Redhawk]

It seems to me the biggest advantage for on-site guests is that you can get your FP in advance, especially if you're like us and have no interest in getting to the parks at rope drop, and know that no matter when you arrive you'll have three attractions you'll basically walk right on.