My experience with FP+/MDE app on moderate crowd week

[DisneyParkLover]

We just ended an 8 day trip and wanted to share our experiences with FP+. This was Jersey Week, last week of Food and Wine, and the wine and dine half marathon week. Predicted crowds were between 4 and 7 (actual was about the same). We couldn't go based on recommended park because we had certain dining reservations that were difficult to get and we just had to work around what was available. So some days we went to recommended park and some days we went to least recommended. We did have a couple things that worked in our favor: 1) ability to use rider swap and 2) were able to book a couple tier ones on the same day during recent glitch (but I think we only had two days like this and each one of those had two tier ones).

For background, this was our 6th trip. We have been with no FP, with paper FP, as FP+ testers, and now with FP+ fully rolled out.

Cons:

DH's magic band had a couple issues that caused his FP+ not to work, so we had to fix that in Guest Relations.

We had one ride where the system did not recognize our FP, but CM let is through after I showed her on my phone.

Wish they didn't have tiering. I understand why they do, but if you only had one Epcot day you would have to do standby for Test Track or Soarin. As we had several adults and a 15 month old, we were able to do single rider lines, but a family with small children that needs to ride together would have to wait.

It was difficult to have to plan that far in advance. We had one day we would have liked to go to a different park than what we had planned, but didn't because we knew we wouldn't get the FPs we wanted at the other park.

Plus:

I loved not having to run around the park like crazy. With a baby and grandparents, it is definitely a plus to be able to minimize having to run around getting FPs.

I loved being able to have FPs planned for days we didn't get to the parks early (like arrival day). We planned a couple sleep in days after late nights, and it was nice having the FPs booked for later in the day.

I thought the system/app were easy to use. I did go on right when my window opened at 60 days, but had no problem getting any of the FPs I wanted. I also had no trouble using the app to make changes.

I really liked being able to make changes on the fly. I used the app to change times or attractions if we changed our minds or were running ahead of/behind schedule.

I thought there was pretty good day of availability. No 7DMT, A&E, or TSMM, but basically everything else was available day of. We went to the kiosk at 5:30 one night at MK, and still lots of choices.

Overall:

I liked the system. Most days we used a system of arriving at rope drop, riding a few rides, then using our FPs starting about 10, then getting extra FPs when the first 3 were done. We were able to ride everything with little wait. I think our longest wait was about 10 minutes. It required a great deal of organization and planning to pick what rides and what times would work best and then to work in what rides would likely still be available for 4th FP and which ones never have a very long line. For us I think I like the FP+ better than paper FP. Yes, it requires more planning and allows for less spontaneity, but with having to book dining so far in advance, we usually have to plan out our days anyway. And I really like that you can get a late start or have FPs for arrival day. I love not running around and being able to change the FP to a different attraction/time immediately from the phone if we change our minds.

Hope that helps someone! Feel free to ask questions!

 

[aprilfoolwed]

This is a really nice review, and give me a little more hope about using this system. We are not staying on Disney property, so we can start arranging our FP+ this week at 30 days out. I am hopeful something will be available.

 

[busywdwfan]

DisneyParkLover, do you think it would be at all possible to book FP+ this late with any success for Thanksgiving week? We are considering a last minute trip.

 

[DisneyParkLover]

I think it would definitely be possible. Even 7DMT might be had if you stalked it until then checking for one person at a time. Everything else besides A&E I don't think would be tough to get.

ETA:

Just checked now (we upgraded to APs this trip), and found availability for everything except A&E. Even 7DMT I was able to get to show up by searching one person at a time!

 

[busywdwfan]

Thanks! That was one of our big concerns, but not something we could check on without booking. We have been twice over Memorial Day weekend, but we used the paper FP system for those trips. FP+ makes me nervous due to my inexperience with it.

 

[DaisyNY]

Great to hear that things worked out well for you...we too like being able to sleep in, especially after a MK party night and still be able to ride headliners the next day if we get to parks later.

 

[Mikie]

Glad to hear it worked for you! You said "it required a great deal of organization" and I agree - I see why people don't like that. For me, though, ADRs and crowd calendars were the biggest drivers of that and FP+ just added another layer that was a stress for planning, but worked very well for us once we were there. We also had little ones all the way up to grandparents and FP+ is really great for mixed ages like that - get headliners without running and still get rest days/breaks.

 

[Mambo Junkie]

Most of our fps are for later because we are not early risers and we have 2 little ones. Is it hard (or a long wait) to get on rides like POTC, Dumbo, mickeys Philharmonic etc? We only have fps for the hard to get stuff like 7DMT, A&E etc. what about restaurant wait times? My only concern is our BOG lunch fp and getting to 7DMT on time. We have an 11:45 -12:15 BOG and a 1:30- 2:30 7dmt.

 

[Rozz]

I think it would definitely be possible. Even 7DMT might be had if you stalked it until then checking for one person at a time. Everything else besides A&E I don't think would be tough to get.

I am glad to hear you had a good experience and were able to get extra FPs and make changes on the fly when delayed in the parks. My husband is still upset with how FP+ works, tiering, etc. I reminded him you can get more FPs after last pre-planned one.

I have a question about how it works when you check for available FPs one person at a time. If you do this, will all the FPs for the family be at the same time? I am not up to speed on the ins and outs of FP+ so this sounds like individually secured FP+s could result in different return times for each family member.

Thank you!

 

[Mikie]

I am glad to hear you had a good experience and were able to get extra FPs and make changes on the fly when delayed in the parks. My husband is still upset with how FP+ works, tiering, etc. I reminded him you can get more FPs after last pre-planned one.

I have a question about how it works when you check for available FPs one person at a time. If you do this, will all the FPs for the family be at the same time? I am not up to speed on the ins and outs of FP+ so this sounds like individually secured FP+s could result in different return times for each family member.

Thank you!

When you have to check singly, you try for times that overlap such as a 10-11 FP, and a 10:10-11:10 and a 10:15-11:15. You don't get identical times, but you have from 10:15-11:00 when everyone has overlap and you use the FP during that narrower window.

 

[Rozz]

When you have to check singly, you try for times that overlap such as a 10-11 FP, and a 10:10-11:10 and a 10:15-11:15. You don't get identical times, but you have from 10:15-11:00 when everyone has overlap and you use the FP during that narrower window.

Thank you Mikie! I really appreciate it. That's the only way I could think of it working, overlapping times, unless the system was set up to allow you to tell it to sync selected FP+s for same ride to the same time. I couldn't really see it having that functionality since it would have shown availability for the group to begin with.

Thanks again!

 

[NewRVLady]

I redid all my FP on WED last week when we decide to do a different park THURS and got everything I wanted


I did like he system- but not the tiering in Epcot

 

[meowmarie]

My question is - what is the likelihood of booking Wishes or MSEP after the first FP's are used? I'm holding 5 Wishes spots but I really hate tying up my FP's all day. However after our last experience trying to watching the fireworks, and this time going with my father who would not be able to watch the fireworks with all the crowds, I decided to grab it while I could. I don't know why they won't let you get more after you use like 2 of them, or make the parades and rides seperate

 

[Mikie]

My question is - what is the likelihood of booking Wishes or MSEP after the first FP's are used? I'm holding 5 Wishes spots but I really hate tying up my FP's all day. However after our last experience trying to watching the fireworks, and this time going with my father who would not be able to watch the fireworks with all the crowds, I decided to grab it while I could. I don't know why they won't let you get more after you use like 2 of them, or make the parades and rides seperate

I would say definitely don't count on it! Parades and fireworks often "sell out" at 60 days out and are considered a hard-to-get FP. I don't know if people ever cancel them day-of, or if extras are ever released later, but if you really need the FP for your family to enjoy the fireworks, I'm afraid you should keep them and miss out on other FP opportunities.

 

[meowmarie]

I would say definitely don't count on it! Parades and fireworks often "sell out" at 60 days out and are considered a hard-to-get FP. I don't know if people ever cancel them day-of, or if extras are ever released later, but if you really need the FP for your family to enjoy the fireworks, I'm afraid you should keep them and miss out on other FP opportunities.

Thanks! That was my fear and that's why I've continued to hold them. I'd rather do the dessert party honestly, but I haven't been able to get that either lol. It will be great either way, we'll be at Disney!

 

[itchin2go]

Wish they didn't have tiering. I understand why they do, but if you only had one Epcot day you would have to do standby for Test Track or Soarin. As we had several adults and a 15 month old, we were able to do single rider lines, but a family with small children that needs to ride together would have to wait.

I thought your post was great, except for the above, but maybe I misunderstood.

Is it really such a hardship to have to do standby for ONE lengthy line in Epcot? I only have my own experience to draw from, and we've always done rope drop, and had minimal lines for Soarin and TT, without even using FP-. Maybe I don't have the full picture.

The other thing I thought is that maybe this wasn't THAT big of a deal to you, but you thought it was worth pointing out.

Regardless, good post ... and it made me feel a little more hopeful about our upcoming trip. Glad you had a nice time!

 

[mom2rtk]

I'm curious what your thoughts would have been if you had not had rider swap available to your party (as many do not) and were not able to get in on the tiering glitch.

 

[DisneyParkLover]

The other thing I thought is that maybe this wasn't THAT big of a deal to you, but you thought it was worth pointing out.

This! Was not a hardship at all for us, as we could do single rider. And even if we couldn't, I don't mind waiting in a few long lines. I'm glad to have FP in any version rather than have to wait in every line. I just thought it was worth pointing out as I do think it can be a negative to the new system. But if you do multiple days per park, you can do Soarin one day and TT on another. If you only have one day, you can FP one and ride the other at rope drop. All in all, we were pretty happy with the new system.

 

[Ava]

I'm curious what your thoughts would have been if you had not had rider swap available to your party (as many do not) and were not able to get in on the tiering glitch.

I don't think Rider Swap is a huge advantage for Test Track & Soarin' unless you have an even number of eligible riders and can split your FPs 50/50. We had 3 riders and 1 non-rider. So if we'd split our FPs 2/1 for these rides, one of the adults would've had to ride one of the rides alone, and DD5 would have had to wait and only been able to ride w/ the 2nd adult using the Rider Swap pass. Since we had an 8am ADR at Akershus, we opted instead to ride Test Track standby at rope drop and use our Tier 1 FP for Soarin'. It worked out well, I think DW and DD waited ~15-20 minutes in the standby line.

Honestly, I don't think Rider Swap in general is a big of an advantage as many people think it is. It's a nice perk to help out families with small children, but it still took longer for all of us to experience an attraction than it would have if we were able to all ride together. There were also times when we didn't have time for the 2nd adult to use the RS pass right away because we had an ADR to get to, or a FP for another ride and we were closing in on the end of the window. Then we either had to make a point to go back to that ride later in the day, or the 2nd adult just had to miss out on riding it.

 

[wisblue]

We just returned from a short trip to WDW and spent 4 days (Thursday-Sunday) at the parks.

This trip was a little unusual for us because it came at a less busy time of the year, though it was Jersey Week and the Wine and Dine Half Marathon, the last weekend of the Food and Wine Festival, the first Christmas party, and the unveiling of the Osborne Lights probably boosted attendance. It was also unusual because we entered the parks each day on a CM Main Gate Pass and did not have any advance FPs. But, because we were staying onsite, we were eligible for EMH and we took advantage of that on 3 of the 4 days.

The most striking day for me was Friday, the 7th because that was the one day without AM EMH. We went to Epcot for a 9 AM opening; Easy WDW listed the resort crowd that day as a 7 and had Epcot as "Not Recommended". Touring Plans reported the resort crowd for the day as a 4 with Epcot as a 5. So, I figure it was generally an average day crowd wise and maybe a little above average.)

Anyway, we arrived at the park about 8:30 and entered a few minutes before 9. From there we:

1. Went right to Soarin and walked right into the loading area. I think we were in the first ride cycle of the day on the right side.

2. We then walked over to Test Track where we walked into the Single Rider line (posted 10 minute wait; I think standby was posted at 30 or 40 minutes). We walked right through to the loading area where there was nobody in front of us, and we were placed in the next loading cycle in the same car (front and back) with a party of 4.

3. Went to Mission Space Orange and were into the first preshow boarding area within 2 minutes. We exited MS at about 10 AM.

4. Went to Spaceship Earth where the posted wait time was 25 minutes, but it didn't look that long, and we were on in about 15.

5. Went to the Seas where the posted wait time for Nemo was 10 minutes but we pretty much walked on. We spent a couple of minutes looking at the marine exhibits and then headed for the World Showcase. But, because it was still only 10:45 , we stopped at Figment where the posted wait time was 10 minutes (instead of the traditional 5) but we walked right on the same as always.

6. We then went to the World Showcase and walked on to the Mexico boat ride before swinging around WS.

The bottom line is that on an average crowd day WITH NO FASTPASSES, we were able to do the 4 major rides in FW and 2 minor ones in about 2 hours. Combined with a similar experience this summer on a busier day, I am satisfied that, at least for us, all of the angst over FP+ and tiering at Epcot is much ado about nothing.

For anyone who doesn't care about doing anything multiple times, I don't see much of a problem doing essentially everything in FW with short waits. With 3 FPs, it shouldn't be hard to add Turtle Talk, Living With the Land, Captain EO, and Universe of Energy to the schedule and be done with all of them by 1 PM. If it were me, I would get FPs for TT, SE, and MS starting no earlier than 10:30 or so, start at Soarin, spend as much time as you want on the west side (Seas, Land, and Imagination) then use the FPs and do UOE whenever (since there is virtually never a wait there.) After finishing FW you can head to WS and spend as much of the rest of the day there as you want. If you want to throw in Sum of All Thrills and/or the Character Spot and pass on a few of the others, that should work too. I don't think there are many guests who consider every one of those things "must dos".