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

[wisblue]

I should also add that, by taking advantage of AM EMH, not having advance FPs was no issue for us at DHS on Saturday the 8th. That was a resort level 8 day per easywdw with DHS as "Not Recommended" and a crowd level 6 day at DHS per Touring Plans.

We arrived at about 7:30 for an 8 AM opening and entered the park a couple of minutes before 8. We went right to TSMM, but the ride had a technical problem and wasn't opening right away, so we made a U Turn and headed to RNRC. We usually do single rider there, but that line wasn't open yet. The posted wait was 20 minutes, but we were into the preshow studio in less than 5 minutes. After RNRC we went to TOT and walked right into the library. We exited TOT about 8:30 and went back to TSMM. By then the ride was open and had a posted wait time of 40 minutes. But, we were on the ride in 25 minutes, before any FP returns.

Again, like Epcot, no FPs in advance did not keep us from doing everything we wanted. We did Star Tours, Beauty and the Beast, and Indiana Jones later, and I did the Animation Academy while my adult daughter waited to get a picture with Hiro and Baymax.

We did not do TGMR because we were able to do that the day before after leaving Epcot. That day we entered DHS at 4 PM mainly because we wanted to be there for the Osborne Lights debut. When we entered, we went to one of the FP kiosks to see if we could get anything that we could do before the lights came on. We were able to get one for GMR with an almost immediate return time. We also were able to walk on Star Tours (20 minute wait posted) before heading over to the lights.

 

[itchin2go]

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.

Do you think Disney may be inflating the standby wait times to make FP+ look more attractive? Like, if the wait times were posted accurately, maybe people would think their FPs were not as valuable ....

 

[DisneyParkLover]

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 actually don't think either thing made that much difference. With the rider swap we could at least use the swap pass later in the day, but it still took extra time for both groups to ride. The tiering glitch was helpful, but it only changed two out of 8 days. One DHS day we had TSMM and RNRC and one Epcot day we had TT and Soarin. But with our group, if we hadn't had that we would have just done single rider lines (which were quite short). I do think it would be tougher if you couldn't utilize the single rider lines (I'm sure I will get experience with that in a couple years!).

 

[ArwenMarie]

This isn't about your review specifically, so please don't take it that way it's more of a general comment! .....I am always sort of curious when people say they like FP+ but don't like the tiers. Tiering is FP+...it's a critical part of the rationing system. FP+ doesn't work without the tiers. If you don't like the tiers, how can one say they like FP+?

I was actually on board with the idea of FP+ until they put the tiers in. Then I realized that there was no way that it would be better for our family than the old paper FP.

 

[DisneyParkLover]

Do you think Disney may be inflating the standby wait times to make FP+ look more attractive? Like, if the wait times were posted accurately, maybe people would think their FPs were not as valuable ....

I agree that none of the lines seemed as long as the posted times. 20 min posted was more like 10. Maybe it is inflated? I don't know. I think the arrive early and do late morning FPs for rides that will have longest waits (I used mesaboy's list to prioritize) is going to work well, even on higher crowd times.

 

[wisblue]

Do you think Disney may be inflating the standby wait times to make FP+ look more attractive? Like, if the wait times were posted accurately, maybe people would think their FPs were not as valuable ....

I don't think it's that because, in our experience, posted wait times have always been inflated much more often than not and I don't have enough personal experience to know if it's any different now than it used to be.

I do think, though, that they may be increasing posted wait times a little more than usual because of the possibility that guests arriving with FPs will cause the standby line to move more slowly. So, while they have always tried to err on the side of overstating posted waits, they may be giving themselves an even bigger cushion now. And, if a longer posted wait time at Haunted Mansion, Jungle Cruise, or POC encourages more guests to try the "anytime" attractions like the Tiki Room, Country Bears, and Hall of Presidents, then Disney will have accomplished one of its objectives.

 

[wisblue]

This isn't about your review specifically, so please don't take it that way it's more of a general comment! .....I am always sort of curious when people say they like FP+ but don't like the tiers. Tiering is FP+...it's a critical part of the rationing system. FP+ doesn't work without the tiers. If you don't like the tiers, how can one say they like FP+?

I was actually on board with the idea of FP+ until they put the tiers in. Then I realized that there was no way that it would be better for our family than the old paper FP.

I don't think anyone "likes" tiering, but some folks (including me) just don't see it as a big deal because being able to get 3 FPs in advance (when we can do that) at times we can pick outweighs tiering many times over.

I would compare this to someone saying they liked paper FP but do like being able to choose their own return times. For the many people who tour like we do, inconvenient return times was paper FP, it was the critical part of the distribution system that made it largely useless to us.

Here's a simple example. Yesterday we spent the morning at DAK where we easily did a Safari, Dinosaur, and EE without FPs (although we had to return later to do EE in the single rider line because it was down when we got there early. Because we wanted to see the Lion King and Nemo shows at 10 AM and 11 AM, we got FPs for them when we entered the park, though we didn't expect to need them (which we didn't).

We then went to MK and arrived at about 1:30 PM. Our main objective was to see the parade at 3 PM, have dinner at LTT at 4:30, and see the castle lighting at 6:15. When we arrived at the park we went to a kiosk to see if we could get a FP with a 3:30-4:30 return to use between the parade and dinner. We were able to get something for BTMRR; to get something like that with paper FP would have required a walk to the attraction, some real good luck, and a return trip later.

Even on Thursday when we went to MK for AM EMH, at 9 AM we were able to get FPs for Space Mountain (because that was down when we got there after 7DMT), Haunted Mansion, and Jungle Cruise with return times before 2 PM when we planned to head over to Epcot for F&W. We got all 3 in one convenient stop, something that would not have been possible with paper FP. Before using the FPs we were able to do Buzz, Pooh, Splash, BTMRR, and POC with very little wait for any of them.

 

[DavidNYC]

LOL - we must have been following you around. Just back as well from Wed - Sunday. Because of tiering, we didn't think it was worth it to use any FP+ at Epcot. We also arrived at about 8:40, let in at about 8:55 and basically walked right on to Soarin (we walked briskly but did not run). Quickly went to TT right after and got it with a 30 minute wait. Rope drop turned out to be key for us as TT was over 60 by the time we exited and Soarin was up to 60 as well. But we did Soarin and TT without FP by 10am! Everything else was only a moderate wait so did a few more before heading to MK where we had our FP+ for afternoon and evening.

Overall, FP+ was fine. Of course I much preferred it when I knew every trick in the book with the paper FP+ but have to say FP+ seems to working fine and as intended. Headline rides were actually slightly shorter than I was used to seeing while things that were walk on now had 5-20 minute waits. Basically, it's succeeded in spreading people around the park more.

Did I wait in lines more than I used to. Yes. But I honestly think that's only because I knew every exploit for the old system. I think for your average user they're better off. I know some have had technical kinks but I have luckily yet to hit any.

My only complaint - and I'm shocked they haven't fixed this - is that when you change a fastpass on the iphone to a different time - it says you're changing it for your current time slot but might give you a much later time slot without warning you before it confirm it. They have to get that fixed. It works at kiosks correctly so they should be able to do it on the phone.

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".

 

[DisneyParkLover]

This isn't about your review specifically, so please don't take it that way it's more of a general comment! .....I am always sort of curious when people say they like FP+ but don't like the tiers. Tiering is FP+...it's a critical part of the rationing system. FP+ doesn't work without the tiers. If you don't like the tiers, how can one say they like FP+?

I was actually on board with the idea of FP+ until they put the tiers in. Then I realized that there was no way that it would be better for our family than the old paper FP.

I agree that the tiering is a negative compared to the previous FP system. That's why I listed it under cons, even though I understand it is integral to the system. But for me, the advantages still outweigh the disadvantages. Sparing the running around, being able to adjust time or attraction from my phone in seconds, and being able to sleep late outweigh the tiering issues and planning required.

 

[ArwenMarie]

I don't think anyone "likes" tiering, but some folks (including me) just don't see it as a big deal because being able to get 3 FPs in advance (when we can do that) at times we can pick outweighs tiering many times over.

I would compare this to someone saying they liked paper FP but do like being able to choose their own return times. For the many people who tour like we do, inconvenient return times was paper FP, it was the critical part of the distribution system that made it largely useless to us.

Here's a simple example. Yesterday we spent the morning at DAK where we easily did a Safari, Dinosaur, and EE without FPs (although we had to return later to do EE in the single rider line because it was down when we got there early. Because we wanted to see the Lion King and Nemo shows at 10 AM and 11 AM, we got FPs for them when we entered the park, though we didn't expect to need them (which we didn't).

We then went to MK and arrived at about 1:30 PM. Our main objective was to see the parade at 3 PM, have dinner at LTT at 4:30, and see the castle lighting at 6:15. When we arrived at the park we went to a kiosk to see if we could get a FP with a 3:30-4:30 return to use between the parade and dinner. We were able to get something for BTMRR; to get something like that with paper FP would have required a walk to the attraction, some real good luck, and a return trip later.

Even on Thursday when we went to MK for AM EMH, at 9 AM we were able to get FPs for Space Mountain (because that was down when we got there after 7DMT), Haunted Mansion, and Jungle Cruise with return times before 2 PM when we planned to head over to Epcot for F&W. We got all 3 in one convenient stop, something that would not have been possible with paper FP. Before using the FPs we were able to do Buzz, Pooh, Splash, BTMRR, and POC with very little wait for any of them.

But you aren't getting 3 useful FPs in advance in Epcot and DHS. You are getting effectively 1 in Epcot. Possibly 2 in DHS, depending on which rides you like.

I see your point about arriving later at MK. But I think for Epcot and DHS, FP+ really reduces people's ability to tour without long lines compared to paper FP (assuming you knew how to use paper FP even at a minimal level).

 

[wisblue]

But you aren't getting 3 useful FPs in advance in Epcot and DHS. You are getting effectively 1 in Epcot. Possibly 2 in DHS, depending on which rides you like.

I see your point about arriving later at MK. But I think for Epcot and DHS, FP+ really reduces people's ability to tour without long lines compared to paper FP (assuming you knew how to use paper FP even at a minimal level).

We knew exactly how paper FP worked and could have used it more than we did if we had been willing to adjust how we like to tour WDW. But, for those of us who like the rope drop-break-different park approach, it just didn't work well. Especially on those high crowd days.

I consider FPs for things like Spaceship Earth, Mission Space, Tower of Terror, and Star Tours to be used in the late afternoon or early evening to be very useful. If I can get 2 of those, in addition to one for one of the "Big 2" in either park, that is a great benefit to us and lets us do a lot more later in the day than we could have before. And the impact on what we have been able to do earlier in the day without FPs has not been noticeably affected.

I can see that if someone is only interested in doing two different rides multiple times, and considers all of the other rides useless, then tiering would be a big negative. Just like paper FP didn't work well for guests that didn't plan to spend all day in one park, which was pretty much necessary to get a lot of FPs with return times you could use.

If we could have made advance FP reservations on our recent trip, we could have done more things in the evenings in addition to all of the things we did at rope drop every day without FPs. I'm really not getting into this just to rekindle the paper FP vs FP+ debate. I'm just pointing out that it is extremely easy to enjoy a lot of attractions even without booking FPs in advance. It's another example of how the statements that with FP+ you can only do 3 or 4 rides without long waits are flatly untrue, and not even close to accurate. Unless someone considers ANY wait without a FP to be too long.

 

[PaHunter]

nice review, will be an interesting experience since the last time I was to WDW there was no FP at all.