The Incredible message for my trip :)

[ElsaColon]

On the contrary, liking FP+ is not an unpopular opinion. We love that you love it.

What we don't like is when folks try to tell us we're WRONG for not liking it, because: (pick a reason) we're doing it wrong, we're resistant to change, we were abusing loopholes, or we are part of some anti-FP+ conspiracy.

Ok. Well I don't think anyone is "wrong" because we are all entitled to our own opinions. I was just stating why it was that I like it so much. You can hate it as much as you want and I will consider your feelings very valid. What works for me won't necessarily work for anyone else.

 

[DoingDisney]

But we get told we are wrong or ficticious reasons why it worked for us.

There are issues of causality to be considered ... like, you didn't RD with legacy FP, you RD with FP+ and got a bunch more done ... hrm... was it FP+ that allowed you to get more done, or the fact that you went to RD ???

 

[itchin2go]

For Mine Train, it's still a huge wait even with rope drop, so we wouldn't even be able to take advantage of anything else at rope drop and later on in the day the wait was over 2 hours when I went. That's why I felt way less anxiety knowing I already had a fast pass for that ride.

Yes, but if SDMT had been around pre-FP+, you (presumably) wouldn't have had any trouble pulling a legacy FP for it, being there at rope drop. That's one of those things that seems like a wash for me.

Ok. Well I don't think anyone is "wrong" because we are all entitled to our own opinions. I was just stating why it was that I like it so much. You can hate it as much as you want and I will consider your feelings very valid. What works for me won't necessarily work for anyone else.

I see the hopping thing brought up quite a bit. We don't hop so that aspect of FP+ doesn't really impact our trips. Just curious why you didn't like visiting Epcot in the mornings?

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

There are issues of causality to be considered ... like, you didn't RD with legacy FP, you RD with FP+ and got a bunch more done ... hrm... was it FP+ that allowed you to get more done, or the fact that you went to RD ???

I always went it RD, so it is not a factor other than it changed how I did rope drop. Just as legacy did when it came along.

And yeah, sometimes I don't actually "do" rope drop. But in terms of my preference and extremely dominant touring style--you will find me as close to rope drop as is humanly feasible for my family. We even made rope drop for the 24 hour day.

In a very fruitful thread once upon a time, we did get into a discussion how there are just so many factors that it is difficult to pin point one precise thing that made things better or worse. I believe the discussion was over lines, crowds, FP+, the chicken, and the egg.

 

[mom2rtk]

There are issues of causality to be considered ... like, you didn't RD with legacy FP, you RD with FP+ and got a bunch more done ... hrm... was it FP+ that allowed you to get more done, or the fact that you went to RD ???

You mean like the recent thread that mentioned in the title that they did something like 25 rides one day because of FP+? Turns out they had been collecting rider swap passes all week and redeemed them that day.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Yes, but if SDMT had been around pre-FP+, you (presumably) wouldn't have had any trouble pulling a legacy FP for it, being there at rope drop. That's one of those things that seems like a wash for me.



I see the hopping thing brought up quite a bit. We don't hop so that aspect of FP+ doesn't really impact our trips. Just curious why you didn't like visiting Epcot in the mornings?

Hopping for us went away when they charged for it. They didn't lower prices when the took it away. So when we had to buy non-AP tix, we declined paying extra for they feature.

I can see how FP+ would justify paying to add the hopping feature.

 

[itchin2go]

Hopping for us went away when they charged for it. They didn't lower prices when the took it away. So when we had to buy non-AP tix, we declined paying extra for they feature.

I can see how FP+ would justify paying to add the hopping feature.

Right you are. Against my better judgment, I am considering adding hoppers for our next trip. I don't want to. I don't like the expense of them and we have been successful without them, but the wheels are turning in my brain anyway.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

You mean like the recent thread that mentioned in the title that they did something like 25 rides one day because of FP+? Turns out they had been collecting rider swap passes all week and redeemed them that day.

That wasn't me, but I do try to disclose RS usage. It would be unfair to not mention it especially if it is used to get multiple rides for members if the party rather then ensuring every member gets to ride once.

It stinks when people have a special FP situation that cannot be replicated such as Rider Swap, comped passes, or even found fast passes--but fail to disclose they has playing a huge role in the results they achieved.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Right you are. Against my better judgment, I am considering adding hoppers for our next trip. I don't want to. I don't like the expense of them and we have been successful without them, but the wheels are turning in my brain anyway.

I was quite miffed when that was dropped.

I think, but am not sure, that you could add them while there. Takes time on the ticket line. But allows you to decide after you get there. That way you don't feel obligated and stuck using them less the money be wasted.

 

[itchin2go]

I was quite miffed when that was dropped.

I think, but am not sure, that you could add them while there. Takes time on the ticket line. But allows you to decide after you get there. That way you don't feel obligated and stuck using them less the money be wasted.

I know - that's what I've always told myself - we'll add them if we need/want them. And we never do.

But with FP+, you kind of want to know before-hand for planning purposes (spontaneity, anyone?). Anyway, my trip isn't until March 2016 so I have some time to puzzle it out.

I blame my hopper dilemma to some extent on FP+, but I think the blame probably lies more with the sad state of DHS. My daughter wants to do several attractions there, but blowing a whole day on the place just boggles my mind.

 

[JimmyV]

On the contrary, liking FP+ is not an unpopular opinion. We love that you love it.

What we don't like is when folks try to tell us we're WRONG for not liking it, because: (pick a reason) we're doing it wrong, we're resistant to change, we were abusing loopholes, or we are part of some anti-FP+ conspiracy.

What amuses me are the posts that proclaim certain benefits of FP+, (rightly, I might add), and it turns out that the benefits being touted are the same benefits that one could have derived from FP-. Only to find out that the poster didn't use FP-, or rarely used FP-, or didn't understand FP-, and/or thought that people who used lots of FP-s were somehow abusing the system.

 

[JimmyV]

Hopping for us went away when they charged for it. They didn't lower prices when the took it away.

Right you are. Against my better judgment, I am considering adding hoppers for our next trip. I don't want to. I don't like the expense of them and we have been successful without them, but the wheels are turning in my brain anyway.

We are right there with you. We simply don't hop enough to pay for it. When it was included in the price, we hopped once, maybe twice over the course of 6 days. Now, we just stick with a single park and find other things to do during the day if we find that we have spare time.

 

[itchin2go]

We are right there with you. We simply don't hop enough to pay for it. When it was included in the price, we hopped once, maybe twice over the course of 6 days. Now, we just stick with a single park and find other things to do during the day if we find that we have spare time.

The only time we ever hopped was from DHS to Epcot .... for lunch.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

What amuses me are the posts that proclaim certain benefits of FP+, (rightly, I might add), and it turns out that the benefits being touted are the same benefits that one could have derived from FP-. Only to find out that the poster didn't use FP-, or rarely used FP-, or didn't understand FP-, and/or thought that people who used lots of FP-s were somehow abusing the system.

One of those situations where the inverse could also be true.

 

[ArwenMarie]

Right you are. Against my better judgment, I am considering adding hoppers for our next trip. I don't want to. I don't like the expense of them and we have been successful without them, but the wheels are turning in my brain anyway.

I'm sure I am missing something obvious, but how would hoppers make FP+ better? Not sure if I am wording this right...How would FP+ make you more likely to buy hoppers?

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I'm sure I am missing something obvious, but how would hoppers make FP+ better? Not sure if I am wording this right...How would FP+ make you more likely to buy hoppers?

Speaking only for me and having gone to Disney since the 80s and having enjoyed the hopper concept for all that time until they made it a purchases feature...

Once I had to pay for it, I saw no benefit. The claim was giving guests what they needed and let them compose their ticket their way by paying for extra options. Hopping was just not something I did often enough to warrant paying for it. (For comparison, at the time we did not do E-ride nights either because we didn't want to pay extra. Though in hindsight, it was a steal.)

Fast passes were usually swooped up or at really late times. So meh. I did not want to pay to hop.

FP+ would allow me to guarantee 3 attractions for my hop. Thus, since I know I would get some cool rides, I could see paying for the hop. Maybe.

We have a family of 6 with 5 tickets we had to buy in 2012 and adding park hopping was pricy. So we did MNSSHP instead. Not quite as cheap as parkhopping, but a better use of the money for us.

We have APs at this time, so it is a non issue for us.

 

[itchin2go]

I'm sure I am missing something obvious, but how would hoppers make FP+ better? Not sure if I am wording this right...How would FP+ make you more likely to buy hoppers?

I haven't fully synthesized the whole thing in my brain. I'll pull you through my whole thought process and maybe you can help.

The cost of hoppers has always put me off, and they just seemed unnecessary. We have had great trips without them, and the truth is, when we did have them, we hardly used them.

My daughter really wants to do a few things in DHS. There's not enough to do for us to make a day out of it. On our last trip, for Thanksgiving day, I decided we needed a nice easy-going day. We would just have dinner at DHS and then see Osborne Lights. What a festive way to celebrate the holiday, right? And it truly was. Then, I realized, hey - we're not going to a park earlier in the day. We can make a few FPs so the family can ride a few rides on the way to dinner. Bonus! That, too, worked out well.

So now, for this next trip, she wants to duplicate that night, but we're not going over Thanksgiving, and I really don't have the same rationale for not going to the parks on a certain day. So, I'm thinking - hoppers.

Then, I'm thinking - hoppers? For, essentially, 2 rides? Plus, no Osborne Lights this time.

So then, I think - how ELSE can I use hoppers in my trip? To make it worthwhile ... Epcot dinners? Best use I've found so far.

And because of FP+, I feel duty bound to figure this out before my FP window opens up (which is not for a good long time, thank goodness). Because then I will have to decide whether to use the FP+ in the first park or second park ... assuming I factored in hopping on multiple days.

So, that's why I really am considering hoppers. Thoughts?

 

[LOL!]

I think the more often you go to WDW, the more park hoppers make sense. Seen thru the eyes of a first time visitor or someone who hasn't been back in years, there is probably enough to do and see in Epcot or Studios or Animal Kingdom to keep one busy for a full day. But once familiarity begins to creep in, multiple parks each day might be necessary to provide the same level of stimulation.

 

[DoingDisney]

I'm sure I am missing something obvious, but how would hoppers make FP+ better? Not sure if I am wording this right...How would FP+ make you more likely to buy hoppers?

I think the usual logic is RD one park, do all the rides you want and then hop to a second park with your 3 FP+s, knowing you can parkhop and still have 3 FPs later in the day, not worrying about them being gone.

That makes some sense, though I don't see how it necessarily makes hopping more attractive per se.

Essentially at that point after 2 days you would be reversing your hopping.

Day 1 MK RD, Epcot Park Hop
Day 2 AK RD, HS Park Hop

Ok... then what ?

Day 3 Epcot RD, MK Park hop
Day 4 HS RD, AK park Hop.

You might as well have just done MK RD, taken a break or whatever you do between hops, then MK again in the afternoon with your 3 FPs. It doesn't actually get you any more rides or what not, just changes the order in which you get them. And of course, you are doing so at the sacrifice of the time you could have saved in the mornings pulling FPs in your RD park. Now sure before 10:30 or 11 those often don't save you much time, but even saving 10-20 mins on 3 - 5 rides adds up, esp when many other rides literally have waits under 5 mins. You could be doing 3 rides instead of 1 by pulling FPs in the morning ... (well under legacy you could)

 

[cakebaker]

I'm sure I am missing something obvious, but how would hoppers make FP+ better? Not sure if I am wording this right...How would FP+ make you more likely to buy hoppers?

Just to clarify how we do things before I answer this- We rope drop. We have always rope dropped- every trip nearly every day. We don't sleep in- ever. Even if we don't hit a rope drop, we don't sleep in. We've always park hopped, every trip, every day. I can't recall a time we didn't. I've always thought rope drop was the "best" way to attack the parks although I think it's great now that those who don't like to get up early don't have to.

Now as to the advantages of park hopping with FP+ vs regular FP. With hopping, I can now make the MK a morning park most days and ride what we want to ride without FP+. We then can go to Epcot or HS and ride headliners as our evening park. We'll put in a couple of evenings at the MK to ride the headliners, but other than SDMT and A&E- along with catching the fireworks, there's not much we have trouble doing at the MK in the mornings using rope drop. Hopping works quite well for us to make use of EMH evenings by visiting a different park in the evening, then going to the MK for emh's.

We always hopped before with paper fp because we like the afternoon breaks. We paid a price for that because most times Epcot and HS headliners would be out of fp's by the time we got there. We had to do fewer mornings at the MK because we had to make Epoct or HS a morning park more often to get fp's.


On the child free issue- I've had it both ways. We went originally when my girls were young, then had many, many years of all adult trips. We're now back to trips with a little one with my grandson. I loved, loved, loved the child free years! It was so nice not to have to deal with potty breaks, melt downs, nap times and all that goes with little ones. And now I love, love, love going with my grandson and seeing the reactions from someone who it is all new to. It's amazing and makes all those potty breaks worth it.