Frustrated planning first trip with FP+

[SaintsManiac]

I was stressed before booking them this time, but I became a pro at modifying them. Now I have everything lined up the way we want it and we know we are guaranteed 3 good rides a day during a busy holiday week. I'm also very comfortable modifying now, so I hope to use that to our advantage while in the parks.

We like to sleep in for some of our vacation. I'm happy to know I don't have to rush to the machines and grab whatever it spits out at me.

 

[Realfoodfans]

I think once you use one you can pick another one..

But MDE can be finicky, and I wish you could choose multiple parks in advance.

For example, we were finally able to snag a FEA 30 days out, problem is, it was for 7:05 PM. This means that we were either locked into EPCOT for our evening with no other Tier 1 FP's, or going to another park earlier with no FP's....

No it wouldn't let me until all 3 were used!

 

[NYCgrrl]

No it wouldn't let me until all 3 were used!

You are right. Use all three FPs and then you can book another until the park day runs out.

 

[Donalyn]

I never minded the running for the fastpasses. DH would take the kids to the restroom or get them a snack or walk leisurely to the next stop and I would go get what we needed, easily catch up and adjust the day as we went. I was pretty much always able to get what I wanted. Also, it worked great when the girls were little. We were able to maximize adult FP rides, using their tickets to get more big kid rides. (Best trip ever was a party of 10 at DLR with only 3 that liked big kid rides. We were able to completely maximize the system.)

We are rope drop people, so between that and old FP, getting to ride the headliners we wanted to ride was never a problem.

For our 2014 trip, it was a last minute thing and I didn't do much planning for it. We were off-site and I was caught uninformed about the change over.

One more question - what is it doing to the lines on the rides that didn't used to have FP?

 

[dlavender]

One more question - what is it doing to the lines on the rides that didn't used to have FP?

It's been debated a few times, but in my opinion, it has caused higher than usual waits at attractions these attractions. But it depends on timing. Sometimes a large block of FPers arrive at once. Sometimes you get lucky and the FP returns are low when you are in stand by. Really just depends, but overall, I think wait times have increased on these other rides due to FP+.

 

[Frozen2014]

We used FP+ on our WDW trip in 2014. We just returned from DL for the first time and tried Paper FP and MaxPass.

My least favorite is paper FP. I didn't like having to first walk to the ride, find the FP machine, and then return in the window that it gave you. Better than nothing but very inefficient.

Next vote goes to FP+. I'm a planner and so had 'fun' doing all the research and figuring out what FP we wanted to get. I loved that before we got on the plane, we already had 3 FPs booked each day. I liked as well that you could pick the time (assuming that it's not one of those 'impossibe ones to get'). What I didn't like is the tiering...how you can pick Soarin OR Test Track but not both (as an example).

My first vote goes to MaxPass at DL. Yes it costs $10pp per day, but it is so worth it. You book the FP on your app (with a shorter wait time between being able to book your next FP). Worked great for park hopping, and even at the same park not having to first walk to the machines.

We'll most likely be returning to WDW in a few years. It'll be a change to again return to FP+ but I do welcome it.

 

[loves to dive]

We rarely used the old system and don't really use the new system that much but we use it more than the old. For us, it's nice to be standing in a line for a ride and while you are waiting book something for another ride. I kind of enjoy hoping on MDE and seeing what is available, I find myself going "huh, such and such is available in 30 min. and we haven't ridden that in years, let's get that". I've ended up riding rides I haven't done in awhile just by looking and seeing what is available. I rarely book more than the day before, usually the day of and usually while standing in line.

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

One more question - what is it doing to the lines on the rides that didn't used to have FP?

It seems the point of a fast pass is to spread out the crowd. So, to me at least, it seems that by design, yes the lines at rides without fast pass are longer than they were. But also, crowd levels are much higher now.

 

[sponica]

I never minded the running for the fastpasses. DH would take the kids to the restroom or get them a snack or walk leisurely to the next stop and I would go get what we needed, easily catch up and adjust the day as we went. I was pretty much always able to get what I wanted. Also, it worked great when the girls were little. We were able to maximize adult FP rides, using their tickets to get more big kid rides. (Best trip ever was a party of 10 at DLR with only 3 that liked big kid rides. We were able to completely maximize the system.)

We are rope drop people, so between that and old FP, getting to ride the headliners we wanted to ride was never a problem.

For our 2014 trip, it was a last minute thing and I didn't do much planning for it. We were off-site and I was caught uninformed about the change over.

One more question - what is it doing to the lines on the rides that didn't used to have FP?

We went last minute (and offsite) in 2014 and were flabbergasted by FP+, our trip in May will be the first onsite trip since everything has become so automated. I miss the days of sending one person to get a Mission Space FP and sending the other person to Test Track. And collecting a ton of fast passes (I swear I went one day in 2004 and there must have been a glitch in the system, my sister and I ended up with a FP to almost every ride in MK).

That trip in 2014, I swear Pirates of the Caribbean had some of the longest standby lines I'd ever seen.

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

We went last minute (and offsite) in 2014 and were flabbergasted by FP+, our trip in May will be the first onsite trip since everything has become so automated. I miss the days of sending one person to get a Mission Space FP and sending the other person to Test Track. And collecting a ton of fast passes (I swear I went one day in 2004 and there must have been a glitch in the system, my sister and I ended up with a FP to almost every ride in MK).

That trip in 2014, I swear Pirates of the Caribbean had some of the longest standby lines I'd ever seen.

Didn't you have to have their ticket to get fast passes? Or was there another way to "maximize" the old fast pass?

 

[sponica]

Didn't you have to have their ticket to get fast passes? Or was there another way to "maximize" the old fast pass?

Yeah you needed their ticket, but it's not like they were using it for anything else once they got into the park. So person 1 would go get the FP for Mission Space while person 2 stood in line at Test Track.

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

Yeah you needed their ticket, but it's not like they were using it for anything else once they got into the park. So person 1 would go get the FP for Mission Space while person 2 stood in line at Test Track.

And then what? One person got fast passes for everyone, but they didn't get to ride Test Track?

That was actually something that I didn't like about the system. My husband ended up missing rides with our son, because he was halfway across the park pulling our next fast pass.

We also only pulled one at a time, which I think was normal.

 

[Dug720]

And then what? One person got fast passes for everyone, but they didn't get to ride Test Track?

They were probably THAT PERSON butting their way through the TT line to “meet up with family”.

 

[luvsJack]

We liked the old system but aren't totally against the new one either. We love rope drop for one thing. Just something about being in the parks early morning that we love. Now there have always been rides that I don't do so maybe that was a plus for us. But, say we were going to DHS. At rope drop, dh and dd would head straight to RNRC (I don't ride it) and I would head to TSMM and grab fp for all of us. Then we would meet back up (usually half way between) and go together to get something for breakfast or go ride something else or whatever, together. Because there were things I didn't ride, it wasn't like I felt like I was missing out on anything. At AK, they usually went straight to EE while I got FP at Safari. So whichever ride they wanted to do that wasn't on my list of "to do", they did first while I got FP for whatever we wanted to do together that we felt we needed FP for. Usually after that first one, we just got them as we went. So I didn't have to "run ahead" or even all over the park.

The only park where this sometimes gave us trouble was MK. But we always made it work and no one felt like they were being left out of stuff or missing anything. In fact, sometimes when they had a longer wait at the ride, I enjoyed my stroll back to meet them.

BUT, I also like the new system for park hopping. We didn't hop as much in the past because we knew we wouldn't be able to do any of the favorites. We only hopped if we knew we were willing to wait in line or we had particular things planned that didn't involve FP. Now, you can start out at one park ar rope drops and ride with limited waits, take a break and then go to another park and have your three FP in that park.

 

[clarklink]

I've not been to Disney in 20 years so no prior experience, but had no trouble using it for our upcoming trip. We won't be leaving our resort room until 10 AM every day and separated MK & Epcot into zones for the 3 & 2 days will be at each respectively so it was pretty easy to look at the data on busiest rides in that zone and select an hour window for three. I have the added layer of planning for DAS which I understand is similar to the old FP system.

 

[Bronte]

We have been going to Disney for over 10 years now ...

We liked the old system. We did so much more each day but that might have been because crowds where smaller and we where younger
I got use to the new system. We sleep in a lot more and spend more time at the resort but we are also staying deluxe most of the time.
DH would like the entire system to go away and we all just wait in line period. Fast pass plus makes everything longer and harder to plan.
We would not like MAX where we have to pay per day to use fast pass. We have been AP holders for many years, own many DVC points, go to occasional special hard ticket events each year and are only 2 hrs from Disney so we go ALOT and spend ALOT. More money everyday just to optimize the fast pass system, I can already hear my husband complaining.

 

[Princess_Lisa]

It’s a love hate thing for me. What I love is knowing we can ride our favorites at least once without a long wait. What I hate is the fact that people that live around the park will book a throwaway room so they can book 60 days out. I know this because a good friend of mine that lives right outside Orlando told me they reserve one night at the campground or something like that. He said it’s less than $50. They book once a month for him and multiple friends. They never stay there. For them it’s like $10 or less each. To me it’s unfair to those that take a once a year vacation and have a hard time booking the popular rides.

To be fair, without throwaway rooms, many local passholders would never get to do FoP. Resort guests still get an advantage over throwaways due to the 60+Length of Stay FastPass window. If you stay 7 days, you still have a 6 day jump on the one night throwaway.

 

[hsmamato2]

I hate all the ridiculous planning so far ahead of time.

 

[dlavender]

We have been going to Disney for over 10 years now ...

We liked the old system. We did so much more each day but that might have been because crowds where smaller and we where younger
I got use to the new system. We sleep in a lot more and spend more time at the resort but we are also staying deluxe most of the time.
DH would like the entire system to go away and we all just wait in line period. Fast pass plus makes everything longer and harder to plan.
We would not like MAX where we have to pay per day to use fast pass. We have been AP holders for many years, own many DVC points, go to occasional special hard ticket events each year and are only 2 hrs from Disney so we go ALOT and spend ALOT. More money everyday just to optimize the fast pass system, I can already hear my husband complaining.

Im with your DH on that. I really would like to see what a day would look like with no FP at all. To me, it was the best part of doing the Halloween party. Just get in line and ride with decent times. Now I know the parties are less crowded than a normal day, but I still believe waits across the board would be lower without any FP. But, we are never going back to that.

 

[TiggerBouncy]

DW likes to sleep in. I like that she can do that and I don't have to freak / panic that we are going to not be able to ride our most important choices.