FP+ is now completely worthless if you are staying offsite.

[Suvadoo]

They weren't available at midnight 60 days out for onsiters??? Then where do they go?

They were available to onsiters who were staying for more than 10 days. 3-7 day onsiters have a limited advantage.

 

[ArwenMarie]

I don't think off-siters should get any FP+s

Why should Disney reward you when you won't stay at their hotels?

People who stay at Disney hotels eat all their meals at Disney restaurants. They buy their souvenirs at Disney stores. Off-siters eat their meals off site, they buy their souvenirs at Target. Why should Disney reward you with any FP+?

You want to go to the parks, great. But you should have to wait in line for everything. The very few FP+s should be a benefit to those who are willing to stay on site and give Disney more of their money.

Well then why don't they just make it an all-inclusive?

 

[amg35]

They were available to onsiters who were staying for more than 10 days. 3-7 day onsiters have a limited advantage.

Going next week (which everyone says October now is so crowded) and got Mine Train 3 different days during first 6 days of trip on the night my 60 day fast pass window opened. Day 3, 5 and 6. Your statement is not always the case.

 

[jcemom]

I don't think off-siters should get any FP+s

Why should Disney reward you when you won't stay at their hotels?

People who stay at Disney hotels eat all their meals at Disney restaurants. They buy their souvenirs at Disney stores. Off-siters eat their meals off site, they buy their souvenirs at Target. Why should Disney reward you with any FP+?

You want to go to the parks, great. But you should have to wait in line for everything. The very few FP+s should be a benefit to those who are willing to stay on site and give Disney more of their money.

Not necessarily. I know many who stay onsite and eat offsite. We stay onsite but we don't buy souvenirs at all, other than the one stuffed animal DD usually ends up with. My cousins went last year, stayed offsite, and spent FAR more money on souvenirs in the parks than I have spent in my last four or five onsite trips combined.

With all the resorts Disney has, I really don't think they have the capacity to house ALL the visitors at busy times of year. Disney needs offsite hotels. Think of all those would couldn't afford to visit Disney or just wouldn't be willing to spend that much to stay onsite, who are still spending money on tickets, souvenirs and food INSIDE the parks. They bring in a lot of revenue for Disney annually.

 

[jcemom]

Going next week (which everyone says October now is so crowded) and got Mine Train 3 different days during first 6 days of trip on the night my 60 day fast pass window opened. Day 3, 5 and 6. Your statement is not always the case.

I'm not sure why it seems to be so hit or miss, but it is. My SIL's November week is only rated 2-3 on the crowd calendars and I had no luck with FP+ for her (staying 6 days, party of 4). How many are in your party? I know groups of 2 seem to have a WAY easier time getting FP+ than larger groups.

 

[Sarahleigh]

So basically, unless you stay onsite, you will not get fast passes to anything really good, because the onsite peeps with their 60 day window get to pick and choose first. So now, after 9 years of multiple Disney trips a year, I am left with the left overs.

Later baby. This is our last Disney trip. It was fun. Now it just sucks, and its a waste of money. Maybe we will manage to receive some leftover scraps and my daughter will be able to meet Anna and Elsa at the Christmas party or something.

It's not just because you're offsite. The system really leaves even some of us staying onsite feeling the same way. I was able to log on at midnight for our 60 day window and still wasn't able to get 7DMT.
I was on several times a day trying to get overlapping fastpasses for the 6 of us and it was only thanks to a post on the November 2014 Trip Planning facebook group when more fastpasses were dropped due to the extended hours that I was able to grab late night fastpasses for the Mine Train.
I feel your pain

 

[momto3boysillbe]

Wow I feel sorry for you people. I am an AP holder and I obviously live off site. I go to WDW four times a week, once in each park. I get my FPs a week in advance and never have any problem getting the rides I want. I could not be happier with the new system.

I don't know how many people you are getting fastpasses for, but getting a single FP for the popular rides like 7d or Anna and Elsa is fairly easy. However, for a family, getting 5 FP to show up after checking for the millionth time just doesn't usually work out. I've yet to see even two 7d FP together for our day there and I have continually checked.

 

[tecdavidt]

We stayed off site last trip. When we planned the trip Disney hotels were full. Trip was Oct. 3 - Oct. 14. We bought the souveiners at Disney, never set foot in a Target and we had ADR's at Disney restaurants. Don't assume all off site guests want to be off site. We prefer onsite but there were no rooms. We also are AP holders. As long as there are stand by lines, we were OK. Daughter in law got FP over several days of planning prior to our trip. DH always is in charge of ADR's. We were in the Toy Story test. We missed riding due to no standby when at a park level of 5 standby should be no issue.

Fp+ is not fast. It is an advanced attraction system. To fix it the attractions that were not in the original FP should be removed. Fireworks and Parades just do not need it.

The problem is Disney redesigned que areas in attractions such as pirates to accommodate FP+ and the old que handled people great. That ride moved a lot of guest fast but not now. They should have experimented first to see if that attraction even needed the new system before spending on the remodeled que.


The saying Don't fix what isn't broke has been around for a reason, it is accurate. Disney has created a huge mess in the parks. Having almost every attraction as a FP is not needed. First time guest are clueless, they think they have to get FP for everything offered and are doing less than what they would have done under the old system


HM had FP under the old system and then they removed it because they learned it was not needed. Learn from the past. Kathy

 

[kmb584]

I don't think off-siters should get any FP+s

Why should Disney reward you when you won't stay at their hotels?

People who stay at Disney hotels eat all their meals at Disney restaurants. They buy their souvenirs at Disney stores. Off-siters eat their meals off site, they buy their souvenirs at Target. Why should Disney reward you with any FP+?

You want to go to the parks, great. But you should have to wait in line for everything. The very few FP+s should be a benefit to those who are willing to stay on site and give Disney more of their money.

Spilling your drivel over here as well, I see.

Who says "off-siters" eat off property and buy souvenirs at Target? We're staying offsite next month and I have ADRs scheduled for every day of our trip. Meals that aren't TS will be QS. Souvenirs will be purchased in the parks or resorts, not at Target. My daughter and I are also AP holders and visit the parks 18-21 days per year, so Disney easily sees at least $8,000-$10,000 from me per year, double that figure if we're staying onsite.

Your posts are very delusional.

 

[Ametista]

Spilling your drivel over here as well, I see.

Who says "off-siters" eat off property and buy souvenirs at Target? We're staying offsite next month and I have ADRs scheduled for every day of our trip. Meals that aren't TS will be QS. Souvenirs will be purchased in the parks or resorts, not at Target. My daughter and I are also AP holders and visit the parks 18-21 days per year, so Disney easily sees at least $8,000-$10,000 from me per year, double that figure if we're staying onsite.

You're posts are very delusional.

Exactly.

We stay offsite so we can afford to do more character meals, do special events like MNSSHP, and buy lots of ridiculous lighted balloons and other completely unnecessary stuff at the parks. And we fly to Orlando from Denver 3 or 4 times a year so we can spend our money that way. We stayed onsite once and were so claustrophobic in that tiny room (watching the Endless Stacey!) that we stood outside our room and talked at night. It was not as fun for us as staying offsite.

Somebody did the math on here once and only about 14 or 15% of DW guests are onsite. The major bulk of the cash flow is from ticket sales, the majority of which are obviously purchased by off-siters.

 

[BandMom1]

I don't think off-siters should get any FP+s

Why should Disney reward you when you won't stay at their hotels?

People who stay at Disney hotels eat all their meals at Disney restaurants. They buy their souvenirs at Disney stores. Off-siters eat their meals off site, they buy their souvenirs at Target. Why should Disney reward you with any FP+?

You want to go to the parks, great. But you should have to wait in line for everything. The very few FP+s should be a benefit to those who are willing to stay on site and give Disney more of their money.

Not even worth bothering to respond to.

Spilling your drivel over here as well, I see.

Who says "off-siters" eat off property and buy souvenirs at Target? We're staying offsite next month and I have ADRs scheduled for every day of our trip. Meals that aren't TS will be QS. Souvenirs will be purchased in the parks or resorts, not at Target. My daughter and I are also AP holders and visit the parks 18-21 days per year, so Disney easily sees at least $8,000-$10,000 from me per year, double that figure if we're staying onsite.

You're posts are very delusional.

Agree. Saw pp's thread this morning too...negative, offensive, & confrontational about covers it. Glad that folks like this are a rarity on DISboards.

 

[DisneyParkLover]

Maybe it's just me, but I still think Disney is pretty awesome for offering this at all. All the other theme parks we go to charge for this type of service. My husband and I have never been willing to pay and we have waited up to 2 hrs for things we really wanted to ride. I think it is nice of disney to offer this service for free. And I think there should be a benefit to onsite guests (although I think the same benefit should be extended to AP holders and DVC members). It just makes sense to give incentives to people willing to pay to stay onsite. And maybe that means that I will have to choose between having more FP options or paying less to stay elsewhere. But even if I don't get all my top choices, disney has still given me 3 skip the line passes with the possibility to get more in the parks. And this is 100% free! To me, that makes Disney way better than other parks.

 

[KimBean]

I have not read this thread. Wanted to comment on this but can't be on for very long (until I get kid's fed and then I'll be back, lol.)

I think we all need to keep FP+ in some perspective...

This is the first time I have ever planned to stay on-site. In my 8 off site trips I was never able to book ADR's at 180+10 and was not able to enjoy EMH. everyday for 7-8 days I had to log in at 6am and get my ADR's for 1 day knowing that other guests had most likely snagged up the best times to the best restaurants. I knew it was affecting my experience but I also wasn't paying through the nose to stay on-site. It's a trade-off.

At 60 days, the second the window opened, I was able to snag an A&E and 7D. No parades or Wishes were left. I was only able to get A&E and 7D 7+ days into my trip. So, those that are staying 4-5 days onsite are screwed as well.

My point is, WDW has never really been fair to all. Those that are willing to pay more get better perks. But, even those that pay, don't get it handed to them. In my little thread the other night of about 20 people I think I was the only one who reported getting A&E. So it doesn't work out for all.

But, what I wanted to share is I think we have unrealistic expectations at this point. To wait in line at WDW is something we have all done. I remember the last trip we got in line for Tinkerbell. Said it was a 15 minute wait. We waited and waited and waited some more. At the 30 minute mark my husband found someone to ask (she was in adventureland and no CM around.) Oh sorry, Tink had to take a break. She should be back in 15 minutes. Our total wait time ended up being 70 minutes for tinkerbell. We could have left but since we were first in line we figured we waited this long to get back in the line later would add up to the same thing. I think we've all experienced this on some ride. Where we waited over 60 minutes for something unexpected. So knowing ahead of time that you will have to wait 60 minutes for A&E, I'm just not seeing what the big deal is. I am sorry that you couldn't get it. But, we all only have 3 FP+ a day, so that means that most of us are going to wait for something.

 

[Tarheel girl 1975]

We stayed on site and I booked our FP+ as soon as the window opened. I never saw fast pass choices for any of the parades, but I wouldn't use a FP on them anyway. It's just not necessary. We always watch from Liberty Square or Frontierland and never have a problem. Anna & Elsa did meet during the MNSSHP and the wait was not long. I would do 7DMT at rope drop and so ETWV and A&E at the party. You still have access to plenty of other great rides.

 

[Suvadoo]

Going next week (which everyone says October now is so crowded) and got Mine Train 3 different days during first 6 days of trip on the night my 60 day fast pass window opened. Day 3, 5 and 6. Your statement is not always the case.

I'm sorry you're right

 

[KTR]

I couldn't get A&E or 7DMT at 30 days either. I wasn't interested in parades and none were available at 30 days, but I did notice them pop up available every once in awhile while trying to search for the first two. I also was only able to secure ETWB on my third day with only an inconvenient time. We went the first week of October which was reasonably busy.

Thanks to this board I was able to get 7DMT for my entire party (cancellation thread) and 2 A&E passes. Just moments before we pulled out to drive to Florida I checked one last time and I lucked out and got A&E passes for my entire family at a great time on our first day. Then while in the park our first day we saw the wait for ETWB wasn't that bad and just did standby do we wouldn't have to use our inconveniently timed pass. We even managed to do 7DMT for a second time at rope drop and were off the ride at 9:07. I was amazed, I thought it would take longer. Basically, what I'm saying is it all worked out and we were able to do everything we hoped to do.

 

[EvangelineG]

I don't think off-siters should get any FP+s

Why should Disney reward you when you won't stay at their hotels?

People who stay at Disney hotels eat all their meals at Disney restaurants. They buy their souvenirs at Disney stores. Off-siters eat their meals off site, they buy their souvenirs at Target. Why should Disney reward you with any FP+?

You want to go to the parks, great. But you should have to wait in line for everything. The very few FP+s should be a benefit to those who are willing to stay on site and give Disney more of their money.

This is a silly assumption. We stay offsite and eat all our meals on site, and spend a ridiculous amount on souvenirs. The only revenue that Disney is losing from us is the actual accommodation charge. For the amount that we spend on these Disney trips we could be going to Europe. We fly from Canada, it is an expensive vacation, and I don't like the idea of being treated like second class guests because we need to stay offsite.

That being said, I think it is a sound business model for Disney to offer perks to their on site guests, and I have never thought of stuff like EMH as being unfair. It makes sense. I just hope that Disney can find a way to continue to offer value to their on site guests, without their offsite guests being shut out.

For example- I don't get a complimentary magic band, but if I don't like not having one I can purchase one for myself. Perfect. The on site guests get extra value, but for a fee I can have this same convenience if I want it.

The lack of FP+ availability at 30 days out is worriesome, and the FP lunches at BOG only for on site guests and then shutting down the standby line completely is downright upsetting. If this becomes the trend then I can't fathom spending 8k on a vacation to be second class. There are a lot of other choices for the money.

Also I am with the PP that has talked to many first time visitors to WDW who did NOT enjoy their trip. These people were mostly on site guests who had no idea about how to plan anything, and came home complaining about heat, crowds and lines, and feeling ripped off for the money they had spent. Disney is asking for way too much pre planning from their guests, which is fine for us DISboard types and not so good for the average Joe.

 

[lahobbs4]

I am staying onsite and was unable to get any of those at my 60 day window, so I don't see the comparison.

 

[Tink415]

Big surprise. Really. OMG I didn't see this coming at all!!!!! Its my 30 day window, I sign in for my fast pass selections at midnight eastern time, but lo and behold everything good has "ended for the day".
This includes:
1. 7DMT
2. Meet and Greet with Anna and Elsa
3. Enchanted Tales with Belle
4. Main Street Electrical Parade
5. Festival of Fantasy Parade

So basically, unless you stay onsite, you will not get fast passes to anything really good, because the onsite peeps with their 60 day window get to pick and choose first. So now, after 9 years of multiple Disney trips a year, I am left with the left overs.

Later baby. This is our last Disney trip. It was fun. Now it just sucks, and its a waste of money. Maybe we will manage to receive some leftover scraps and my daughter will be able to meet Anna and Elsa at the Christmas party or something.

Well, we stayed onsite this past July and of your list the only FP+ we could get at 60 days was 7DMT. None of the others were available. And they haven't been available in any of our trips the last few years while testing FP+.
I wasn't willing to keep checking over and over, too exhausting.
We were able to get Meet and Greet with Anna and Elsa the day of our visit, just one FP for our DD. Actually, the FP was for my DH and DD wore his magic band.

I'm sure someone knows, but I think some FP+ are released different dates.
Everything was not available to us at our 60 day mark!

 

[jtowntoflorida]

This is a silly assumption. We stay offsite and eat all our meals on site, and spend a ridiculous amount on souvenirs. The only revenue that Disney is losing from us is the actual accommodation charge. For the amount that we spend on these Disney trips we could be going to Europe. We fly from Canada, it is an expensive vacation, and I don't like the idea of being treated like second class guests because we need to stay offsite.

But you're discounting the fact that the accommodation charge is pretty big. We're booked in a one bedroom at VWL. That is the single biggest expense of our trip--more than tickets, more than dining, more even than our airfare (which Disney doesn't get a piece of...it's just for perspective). Unless you're buying $3000 worth of trinkets, our vacation spending at Disney is going to outpace you by quite a bit because of the accomodation charge.


As for the lack of FP+ availability. We went to Disney in August, and are going again in December. Our August trip was mainly to take advantage of the Frozen stuff at DHS, so we did two days there and one at MK. I had no troubles getting 7DMT for exactly the time I wanted and only had to work a little to get overlapping A&E FP+s in the late morning timeframe, which is when I wanted them. This was the Saturday of Labor Day weekend, with evening EMH, and MK was the last day of a 3 day trip.

Fast forward to earlier this week, when I made FP+s for our December trip. The situation was completely different. We were able to get FP+s for our party of 4 for 7DMT on our arrival day, but not at an ideal time. The FP+s for 7DMT I got for our second day were OK, but not at the time I wanted (no morning slots were available). The FP+s I got for later in the trip for 7DMT were ideal. However, A&E wasn't available, even for one person, until day 7. I was able to get overlapping times that work for us on day 7 and day 8 (departure day). I looked at every other day of the trip, and even for one person, no A&E all day.

The complaints about lack of FP+ availability at the MK started right after Labor Day, which coincided with the commencement of party season. I really think it's the parties, and thus all the early closures, that are wrecking havoc on FP+ availability right now. I'll be curious to see whether this FP+ situation resolves itself after party season ends.