All FP machines to be removed from Animal Kingdom by next week and....

[Mad Hattered]

That's why I expect offsite guests to have at least some, if not equal, access to FP+.

I believe it would be much closer to "some" rather than "equal". I just wish we could get to it already. The speculation by all of us here is exhausting.

 

[momof2n2]

Like what's happening at DAK on the 18th...

Mmmmmmm. Yeah. Those will be some Smiling Happy People (ready to Jingle Jam the poor CMs assigned to KS & EE).

 

[momof2n2]

I believe it would be much closer to "some" rather than "equal". I just wish we could get to it already. The speculation by all of us here is exhausting.

It's a bit like watching Old Yeller, ain't it?

 

[Mad Hattered]

It's a bit like watching Old Yeller, ain't it?

Ironically, that movie is our cat's favorite movie. Go figure.

 

[Robo]

Like what's happening at DAK on the 18th...

THIS is more specific info.

And, THIS may or may not mitigate it somewhat.

 

[Laketravis]

Insightful. That is a trick.

Disney can keep hoping that universal keeps adding great new rides, because everyone has convinced me around here that new attractions at universal helps Disney more than park building the rides. Harry Potter London opening this summer should be a gold mine for Disney. So I've been told.

I was really surprised to see that occupancy has fallen to 79% and available room nights has increased to 10,558,000.

Per room guest spending increased $10 to $267 but that is solely due to price increases.

More people going to the parks, less people staying onsite. I'm really intrigued to see how Disney approaches this - can we look forward to an increase in discounts/FD/other perks in 2014 for resort guests if FP+ is also rolled out to offsite guests?

 

[Sammie]

I truly understand your positive attitude about these changes. I really get it that you don't use that many fastpasses and being able to get three in advance will ALWAYS be better for you than the legacy.

But the numbers don't lie. There are only 8000 fastpasses for Kilimanjaro Safaris. Every single person had the opportunity to show up at the park to get one. Now only some people can actually have the opportunity to get one (less than half). I realize you didn't get one if you showed up at 4:00 to the park, but you could have got one with legacy if you showed up at 11:00. There are people entering the park early and by the time they get to the fastpasses they are gone. As someone described earlier in this thread or others.

The fact that the system is better for you, doesn't mean that it is more fair. It is less equitable.

The double and triple dipping didn't have much to do with headliners disappearing, because they are booked in advance of the park opening. No time for double and triple booking (or minimal at best).

So you are saying that all were gone before the park even opened. I find that hard to believe. Not saying your not telling the truth but did you experience that personally. So you mean that all of them are available in advance for book with Fastpass+. That is not what I have been told, that only a percentage are available for advance booking. Cast Members have indicated to us that some FastPass+ reservation times will be held for same-day reservations.

I know on some of the days people on here said everything was gone, I went online and on the day off was able to book many headliners at all parks. In fact on one particular day, they were all available at 9am for that day.

There were many times with legacy that when we showed up at 11am the only thing available was very, very late, or not at all. It is very possible that someone who blocked me out of getting one, had already ridden and pulled another.

Why is that better? The old way I had no way to plan dinner or any thing else, because until I actually pulled the Fastpass, I had no way to know if I was going to get it within the hour, or wait for hours and hours, filling time waiting or even get one at all. Plus I had to use up valuable time going to actual attraction, get a pass or find out they were all gone, only to not ride while I was there. Now I know when I go to the attraction I am actually getting to ride and in a short time frame.

At least this way I can go to another park early, use my booked fastpass+ between 4 and 6 and be at dinner at 7pm, which is a huge improvement over the old way.

The only disadvantage to this system I see, is that you can't get Fastpasses for the headliners more than once, and I personally think that is fair.

 

[Mad Hattered]

I was really surprised to see that occupancy has fallen to 79% and available room nights has increased to 10,558,000.

Per room guest spending increased $10 to $267 but that is solely due to price increases.

More people going to the parks, less people staying onsite. I'm really intrigued to see how Disney approaches this - can we look forward to an increase in discounts/FD/other perks in 2014 for resort guests if FP+ is also rolled out to offsite guests?

As far as the bolded above goes - so what you are saying is that every room is buying the equivalent of about two extra cupcakes per visit.

And yes, bcrook....Diagon Alley should REALLY help Disney out come May/June.

 

[Laketravis]

As far as the bolded above goes - so what you are saying is that every room is buying the equivalent of about two extra cupcakes per visit.

And yes, bcrook....Diagon Alley should REALLY help Disney out come May/June.

Actually, no - because the prices have been increased, they are buying less but paying more for it.

But I do get your point.

 

[momof2n2]

this whole fair thing has to stop.

I'm not about to say to my kids, "It's only fair we go sit through EO so other families can ride Soarin'. It's not their fault they (slept in, got in line for the wrong bus, brought last year's mug and couldn't get their Diet Coke).



My crew wants BTMRR 3-4 times, but never goes on HM, JC, or POTC. What will we do with all our extra time?
Oooooooooooo. Now I get it. Iger thinks I will shop, doesn't he?

 

[momof2n2]

Insightful. That is a trick. Disney can keep hoping that universal keeps adding great new rides, because everyone has convinced me around here that new attractions at universal helps Disney more than park building the rides. Harry Potter London opening this summer should be a gold mine for Disney. So I've been told.

Bcrook - I usually follow you (& agree). But I don't follow you now...

 

[doconeill]

As far as the bolded above goes - so what you are saying is that every room is buying the equivalent of about two extra cupcakes per visit.

More like the price of going to the parks went up two cupcakes...including the cupcakes. In fact I think the cupcakes at Star Wars Weekends were more than $5...

And yes, bcrook....Diagon Alley should REALLY help Disney out come May/June.

I can understand the argument in general though. I don't know too many people who would plan a week's vacation and stay at Universal the whole time. 2, maybe three days. We actually spent two nights at a Universal resort in August as part of our trip.

But with vacations usually in one week increments, and Universal worthy of maybe three days...got 4 more days to kill. "Hey, let's go down to Disney!"

So if HP is enticing more people to come to Orlando, probably a fair percentage are going to wind up at Disney too, who otherwise wouldn't have come at all.

 

[Laketravis]

At least this way I can go to another park early, use my booked fastpass+ between 4 and 6 and be at dinner at 7pm, which is a huge improvement over the old way.

I agree that is a huge improvement. I really liked how that worked when I was online planning 17 days of FP+ and Dining and what parks to visit each day.

I did like others have suggested - planned on being at RD at one park to get whatever we could via short lines, had FP+ reserved for us later that afternoon or evening at another park (I mean, really - who doesn't think being able to reserve a spot on TSM at 4pm is great?) while also being able to make our dining reservations at Sci-Fi for 5:30pm.

And if that is how this all pans out and those advantages are preserved, then I might very well start going to WDW three or four times a year instead of just once.

But what I and others are suggesting based on pure math is that once this is rolled out to more than just test sample populations those advantages have a high probability of disappearing.

 

[Mad Hattered]

So if HP is enticing more people to come to Orlando, probably a fair percentage are going to wind up at Disney too, who otherwise wouldn't have come at all.

We can personally spend 3 to 4 good days there at a time but I do know people who spend the entire week there. The proximity of the parks, the pool hopping, the FOTL, etc. And I totally agree that "When in Rome"....I get that. I know we personally won't be doing that for quite some time, but that's us.

I really do think that some people here actually believe that there is no way that someone would plan a trip to Central Florida just because of Potter, with Disney as an "oh, yeah" moment.

 

[bcrook]

Bcrook - I usually follow you (& agree). But I don't follow you now...

Doc explained the argument.

I shouldn't have brought up the other park. It is irrelevant to this thread.

 

[doconeill]

I really do think that some people here actually believe that there is no way that someone would plan a trip to Central Florida just because of Potter, with Disney as an "oh, yeah" moment.

I know people who have actually done it...

I'm not saying EVERYONE will. And I'm not saying others CAN spend an entire week at Universal.

 

[Laketravis]

I know people who have actually done it...

I'm not saying EVERYONE will. And I'm not saying others CAN spend an entire week at Universal.

We are actually looking at flipping our plans next visit - the new "retro" resort that US is opening has some really great rates for a suite with a kitchenette (like $155 a night) but they are also starting to "tier" their resorts where that one does not get you FOTL access, just early park access. They do have packages that include park access for the entire duration of your stay though.

We've never been to US, always to WDW, but depending on what FP+ turns out to be we might try staying at US for a week or two and just hop over to WDW instead of staying at WDW.

I mean, heck - we've spent over $25K at WDW over the last 36 months, maybe it's time to be "fair" and start distributing the wealth?

 

[Mad Hattered]

I know people who have actually done it...

I'm not saying EVERYONE will. And I'm not saying others CAN spend an entire week at Universal.

I wasn't disagreeing with you, just for the record.

Our plan usually includes time at the parks and then heading to one coast or the other. We live far from an ocean. We can't live with the fact that we are in FL and are that close to one. It's a habit of ours to at least stick our feet in the ocean. On our last trip in September we visited Daytona. While body surfing the waves outside of Ocean Deck I had a 5 foot shark roll up on top of me. It makes me want to just stick my feet in, at least for now.

And I have to be honest...I would totally choose FP+ over the shark scenario again.

 

[disnut1149]

It was fair. It was level. Everyone had the same opportunity. I haven't seen any post that convinces me that because some people wanted to sleep in and didn't take advantage, that it was unfair. This new system is not on the same level at all. They've taken something that everyone had the opportunity to obtain and offered it to select people only. Now that's unfair and unlevel and everyone does not have the same opportunity.

I absolutely agree with this!!

 

[clsteve]

I was really surprised to see that occupancy has fallen to 79% and available room nights has increased to 10,558,000.

Per room guest spending increased $10 to $267 but that is solely due to price increases.

More people going to the parks, less people staying onsite. I'm really intrigued to see how Disney approaches this - can we look forward to an increase in discounts/FD/other perks in 2014 for resort guests if FP+ is also rolled out to offsite guests?

Their biggest opportunity to increase rev. is an increase in occupancy. They've moved MM+ expenditure (mostly) into op budget. Rasulo's firm on the profitability target. And, we're a quarter into FY14. You're right, it will be very interesting.