My year of Disneyland observations

[mom2rtk]

As a passholder and who lives down the street... I don't see the love with the FP system here, it sucks only being able to pull one every 2 hours and THEN hopefully it is at a reasonable time... we have not had a good experience with the paper ones here except our Buzz ones lol

Maybe occasional visitors are more likely to stay all day, so times aren't quite as critical?

And maybe since occasional visitors can't come back next week to catch what they miss this week, having a limit on FPs would be more frustrating to them?

What I have seen on the WDW side of things is that a number of attractions book up ahead of time, making spontaneous changes to your schedule more complicated than under legacy FP.

Once you open rides up to pre-booking, things can become scarce. Not everything of course, but the ones you care about most.

Granted, things might be very different if/when it ever rolls out at DLR.

I love that every morning when we enter the park at DLR, every single FP is still available. All things are still possible.

 

[TACK]

I'm also doing the "year" which I started in April. I also went September and attended the first Halloween party. My Christmas trip is coming up this Monday and then my final trip will be back on April before the pass expires. Originally I was going to do January and take in more Christmas but after I heard what was being offered, I decided to cancel that one. The crowd levels is not what I'm used to as I had been an annual passholder many years ago when it was less expensive and crowds were reasonable. I am keeping my fingers crossed that it won't be too crazy for my week trip coming up.

 

[clambert1273]

Maybe occasional visitors are more likely to stay all day, so times aren't quite as critical?

And maybe since occasional visitors can't come back next week to catch what they miss this week, having a limit on FPs would be more frustrating to them?

What I have seen on the WDW side of things is that a number of attractions book up ahead of time, making spontaneous changes to your schedule more complicated than under legacy FP.

Once you open rides up to pre-booking, things can become scarce. Not everything of course, but the ones you care about most.

Granted, things might be very different if/when it ever rolls out at DLR.

I love that every morning when we enter the park at DLR, every single FP is still available. All things are still possible.

have to disagree on this one lol I would love to be able to select 3 FP's ahead of time.... I would love to select more than one now... just because we have AP's doesn't mean we don't spend a large amount of time in the park.. the days we do roll up its usually first thing in the morning until we can't take it anymore which was 6pm last time. We pulled a star tours one day in the early afternoon and it brought us back at 8pm... we laughed and never used them. Not to mention that there are a ton of rides that don't even have FP which is another blow...

I am sure that Disney will get their wish one day and push all the locals out which will be a sad, sad day in SoCal... but then I guess onwards to Knotts..

 

[Angel Ariel]

As a passholder and who lives down the street... I don't see the love with the FP system here, it sucks only being able to pull one every 2 hours and THEN hopefully it is at a reasonable time... we have not had a good experience with the paper ones here except our Buzz ones lol

When we have gone to dlr in the past, we were able to get around 6 FPs on average per day, even on our 2011 trip which was last minute and over spring break season. And no, we don't do commando touring or fp runners.

On our last trip to wdw, all we got was the 3 prebooked fp+ /day they give you up front. We got a 4th fp+ just once on our trip, and it was for the indy stunt show (which didn't really need it, it was just all that was available when we got through the line to the kiosks to book more). Needless to say, it made us appreciate our dlr experience more!

 

[clambert1273]

When we have gone to dlr in the past, we were able to get around 6 FPs on average per day, even on our 2011 trip which was last minute and over spring break season.

On our last trip to wdw, all we got was the 3 prebooked fp+ /day they give you up front. We got a 4th fp+ just once on our trip, and it was for the indy stunt show (which didn't really need it, it was just all that was available when we got through the line to the kiosks to book more). Needless to say, it made us appreciate our dlr experience more!

You won't get that many today.... the most we have pulled on any day is 3 here... the crowds are/were just too much.

 

[Angel Ariel]

You won't get that many today.... the most we have pulled on any day is 3 here... the crowds are/were just too much.

That may be the case. But I'd rather make those plans and choose them day of than deal with the prepLanning at 60 days at WDW (and still getting shut out of fp+ for somethings completely even being online the moment the window opens).

I know if I show up at RSR at rope drop I will get a fp, no matter what, there will be one available. I may not like the time, but I will have a choice to take it or not.

That was not the case when I went to go book a fp+ for a&E last year. They were all gone, for all 5 days of my trip, before my 60 day window even opened.

 

[clambert1273]

That may be the case. But I'd rather make those plans and choose them day of than deal with the prepLanning at 60 days at WDW (and still getting shut out of fp+ for somethings completely even being online the moment the window opens).

I know if I show up at RSR at rope drop I will get a fp, no matter what, there will be one available. I may not like the time, but I will have a choice to take it or not.

That was not the case when I went to go book a fp+ for a&E last year. They were all gone, for all 5 days of my trip, before my 60 day window even opened.

They didn't even have FP here for A&E ... we had to wait 2.5 hours in the 100 degree sun... like I said, just something we will disagree with.. I am waiting for them to bring FP+ here.. FP was better when there wasn't a hold on what you get or how many, my DH used to go through and grab them all. Now we just use our pass and go in at open, ride the little one's favorites and bail.... haven't even watched fireworks or parades this year at all. We even just pick one park on the day we go - much easier to manage. DCA is a very short day for us since she won't ride 90% of what is there but we can normally hit Radiator Springs first thing on stand by for about 20 min wait then we are done with that one.

My husband has been here all his life and has been going for over 35 years and even he can't stand how it is now. We do what we do and leave so we are really looking forward WDW in 2016.

 

[mom2rtk]

That may be the case. But I'd rather make those plans and choose them day of than deal with the prepLanning at 60 days at WDW (and still getting shut out of fp+ for somethings completely even being online the moment the window opens).

I know if I show up at RSR at rope drop I will get a fp, no matter what, there will be one available. I may not like the time, but I will have a choice to take it or not.

That was not the case when I went to go book a fp+ for a&E last year. They were all gone, for all 5 days of my trip, before my 60 day window even opened.

Plenty of people scheduling ahead for FP+ at WDW get no say on the time either. They are just happy to get one for certain attractions.

 

[mom2rtk]

They didn't even have FP here for A&E ... we had to wait 2.5 hours in the 100 degree sun... like I said, just something we will disagree with.. I am waiting for them to bring FP+ here.. FP was better when there wasn't a hold on what you get or how many, my DH used to go through and grab them all. Now we just use our pass and go in at open, ride the little one's favorites and bail.... haven't even watched fireworks or parades this year at all. We even just pick one park on the day we go - much easier to manage. DCA is a very short day for us since she won't ride 90% of what is there but we can normally hit Radiator Springs first thing on stand by for about 20 min wait then we are done with that one.

My husband has been here all his life and has been going for over 35 years and even he can't stand how it is now. We do what we do and leave so we are really looking forward WDW in 2016.

They didn't have FP for A/E in 2013, but by 2014 they had moved to a system that was exclusively FP. Within less than an hour of park open, there was no opportunity at all to meet them if you weren't there for the feeding frenzy of FP distribution. I saw person after person completely turned away. They didn't even have the chance to choose whether it was worth a long standby wait.

The good news is that we stopped in to see Anna/Elsa at the tail end of early entry a couple weeks ago and there wasn't a single other person in line. LOL. My, how times do change.

If you're booking a long trip and stay onsite at WDW, then your odds of getting the FPs you want are fairly high (because of the +10). If you have a short trip or are not staying onsite, there might be things you get closed out of. Not the least of which will be the new Frozen ride that opens in May.

 

[wildflower329]

You won't get that many today.... the most we have pulled on any day is 3 here... the crowds are/were just too much.

In August, we pulled between 4 and 6 on most days that we were there and possibly could have pulled more.

 

[clambert1273]

In August, we pulled between 4 and 6 on most days that we were there and possibly could have pulled more.

and in WDW we pulled way more than 3 every day... used our 3 reserved early and pulled more all day long.... so again.. something I will not agree with. I am not going to get up and go to DL and pull fastpass first thing because I can just get on the ride at that point. Pulling them around lunch (depending on the ride) got us returns at almost 8pm... that isn't happening.

 

[Angel Ariel]

They didn't even have FP here for A&E ... we had to wait 2.5 hours in the 100 degree sun... like I said, just something we will disagree with..

My point wasn't about what rides it was offered with. Take out a&E and replace with SDMT. Within 5 mins of my window opening, those were all gone for my entire trip. If I'm at RSR 5 minutes after rope drop, I will have an choice to get a fp or not. Those who signed on 5 mins late the night I got my fp+ no longer had the choice of SDMT at all.

I am waiting for them to bring FP+ here.. FP was better when there wasn't a hold on what you get or how many, my DH used to go through and grab them all.

AFAIK, there has always been the limit of whenever your window opens or 2 hrs, whichever comes first...same as now. Now, it used to be allowed to collect them in the morning and use them in the evening well after their return times, yes, but IME there was always a limit on when they could be pulled.

My husband has been here all his life and has been going for over 35 years and even he can't stand how it is now. We do what we do and leave so we are really looking forward WDW in 2016.

I hope your experience with MDE and FP+ is better than mine was. Truly, I do hope you have a great trip.

 

[Angel Ariel]

and in WDW we pulled way more than 3 every day... used our 3 reserved early and pulled more all day long.... so again.. something I will not agree with. I am not going to get up and go to DL and pull fastpass first thing because I can just get on the ride at that point. Pulling them around lunch (depending on the ride) got us returns at almost 8pm... that isn't happening.

I highly recommend avoiding wdw's party's season if you want more than 3 per day. It seems like the already short hours because of the time of year combined with closing MK early for parties a few nights a week make the fp+ availability much less than it is when the parks are open from 8 or 9am til midnight every night of the week as they are during busier times. That was our problem last year.