Where are the people who have actually used MB/FP+ and hated it?

[MinnieVanMom]

Would someone tell me even though I have a smart phone, how I am suppose to pull up my FP times, etc to show them on the wifi? I have phone from Europe and it would cost an arm and a leg.

 

[Robo]

Would someone tell me even though I have a smart phone, how I am suppose to pull up my FP times, etc to show them on the wifi? I have phone from Europe and it would cost an arm and a leg.

Turn on your phone's Wi-Fi.
Turn off your phone's cellular web service.

(One way to do this is to switch ON "Airplane Mode" on the phone,
followed by turning ON the "Wi-Fi.")

There will be no charge from your phone carrier.

 

[RedHeadedFairy]

And, Christmas Week is still 2 weeks away...

I really feel for everyone visiting this holiday - I'm sure the majority will have wonderful trips filled with great memories.

But..... with all this FP+ business & the constant last-minute changes, I'll admit, there's a teeeeeeny part of me that is on the edge of my seat waiting to see how it goes.....

 

[waltslostnephew]

I have not been since last Feb. 2013. My feelings are I do not like the new fastpass rules. I used to love to stash a couple of FP's to a busy ride for late in the day, and then would go ride the rides late at night. Can't do this any more.

 

[sonofanarchy]

Not us - we loved FP+ and MBs. Have "tested" them 3x now.

Well, you live in Florida and as you say, you've "tested" them out 3 times now. Not as important for you to see everything on one trip.

 

[RedHeadedFairy]

Well, you live in Florida and as you say, you've "tested" them out 3 times now. Not as important for you to see everything on one trip.

Whoa! Not at ALL true for every FL resident holding an AP. While it may be geographically closer for us than many out of state visitors, we still have limitations to deal with like everyone else.... kids, work schedules, vacation time, etc. Even if we are taking multiple trips they are often FAR shorter in duration & make seeing as much as possible as important to us as to anyone else.

Just yesterday I read a post from an AP holder that lives somewhere like Wisconsin, but visits 3x per year, for 3 wks at a time..... that is FAR more than we as FL residents have EVER visited in one year. Does his geography make his/her need to "see everything in one trip" greater than my own because I live closer? You are passing a lot of judgement in that one little sentence, IMO.

 

[sonofanarchy]

Whoa! Not at ALL true for every FL resident holding an AP. While it may be geographically closer for us than many out of state visitors, we still have limitations to deal with like everyone else.... kids, work schedules, vacation time, etc. Even if we are taking multiple trips they are often FAR shorter in duration & make seeing as much as possible as important to us as to anyone else.

Just yesterday I read a post from an AP holder that lives somewhere like Wisconsin, but visits 3x per year, for 3 wks at a time..... that is FAR more than we as FL residents have EVER visited in one year. Does his geography make his/her need to "see everything in one trip" greater than my own because I live closer? You are passing a lot of judgement in that one little sentence, IMO.

I think you should re-read the post in which I was responding to. The poster claimed they had tested it out 3 times already.

I never said it was true for all FL residents. I was referring to this particular one. Seems you are the one passing judgement.

 

[RedHeadedFairy]

I think you should re-read the post in which I was responding to. The poster claimed they had tested it out 3 times already.

I still don't see where that has any bearing? I was there 3x in Sept/Oct for 2-day weekend trips. Does that invalidate my opinion?

 

[sonofanarchy]

I still don't see where that has any bearing? I was there 3x in Sept/Oct for 2-day weekend trips. Does that invalidate my opinion?

Who said anything about invalidating opinions? I'm simply stating, that the more you get to visit the parks, the less of a negative affect FP+ will have on you.

If that doesn't apply to you, then fine. I'm not belittling anyone who lives in Florida and gets to visit more often.

 

[diskev]

Count me in as somebody who hates FP+. I'm still willing to wait and see how things wind up when the system is complete but for now, it sucks. Three FP is nowhere near enough. Add in the tiers and it gets worse. MagicBands on the other hand are great. We had no issues with ours and found them to be very convenient. I hope the are able to correct the problems others experienced.

For those going this month, take your old KTTW. It doesn't matter if they had tickets associated with them, they still might work. (Mine did).

 

[RedHeadedFairy]

Who said anything about invalidating opinions? I'm simply stating, that the more you get to visit the parks, the less of a negative affect FP+ will have on you.

If that doesn't apply to you, then fine. I'm not belittling anyone who lives in Florida and gets to visit more often.

And while you entitled to your opinion, it is nothing more than JUST your opinion.... not truth. I'm not debating it back & forth, but you cannot make a blanket statement like that. I've read your posts, I KNOW you are angry about all of the changes & for the most part I agree with you.

But FP+ affects US ALL. Period. Regardless of what kind of ticket you have, whether you stay on site or off, how close you live or how many times per year you are able to visit.

 

[AmyB2006]

Who said anything about invalidating opinions? I'm simply stating, that the more you get to visit the parks, the less of a negative affect FP+ will have on you.

If that doesn't apply to you, then fine. I'm not belittling anyone who lives in Florida and gets to visit more often.

This is the case with us. We live in FL and go 3x a year usually as well. I would tend to agree with you because if we miss something one trip, it's not the end of the world. We'll get it next time.

 

[Ofinn]

I don't think it really matters where you live. If your an AP holder missing something isn't that big a deal because you know you'll be back. We were AP holders for a couple of years. Some trips we barely went to parks because we got so tired of them.

 

[Peanut Giggleface]

Who said anything about invalidating opinions? I'm simply stating, that the more you get to visit the parks, the less of a negative affect FP+ will have on you.

If that doesn't apply to you, then fine. I'm not belittling anyone who lives in Florida and gets to visit more often.

I don't know...we're in FL with AP and since we haven't booked a hotel stay we don't have access to FP+ at all. So it's a pretty big negative impact here. Last time I was in the parks I asked when MB were going to be issued to the locals. I was told sometime between Jan and March. I'm of the opinion that when this whole thing is fully rolled out, we won't be able to get a FP at all since they will be prebooked by vacationing families.

We don't plan months in advance when we will be in the parks, it's more of a last minute decision. For example, my daughter just said last night she wants to hit DHS to see the lights before the christmas crowd comes to town. Now we're trying to figure when we'll head over to do that. So without having a predetermined date in mind to schedule a FP for, we're kind of out of luck.

Prior to all of this, we would get to the parks in the evening, pull a FP for something, get a bite to eat or do some shopping while waiting for our FP return time. Now if we don't have access to FP at all, then there will really be no point in going as we're not gonna want to wait ridiculously long times for a ride that lasts at the most 5 min. We could just wander around, get a bite to eat and do some shopping, but then we could do that at DTD for free.

So depending on what the FP+ program looks like when everything is fully rolled out and everything is said and done, local AP holders might get the worst of it.

 

[RedHeadedFairy]

I don't know...we're in FL with AP and since we haven't booked a hotel stay we don't have access to FP+ at all. So it's a pretty big negative impact here. Last time I was in the parks I asked when MB were going to be issued to the locals. I was told sometime between Jan and March. I'm of the opinion that when this whole thing is fully rolled out, we won't be able to get a FP at all since they will be prebooked by vacationing families.

We don't plan months in advance when we will be in the parks, it's more of a last minute decision. For example, my daughter just said last night she wants to hit DHS to see the lights before the christmas crowd comes to town. Now we're trying to figure when we'll head over to do that. So without having a predetermined date in mind to schedule a FP for, we're kind of out of luck.

Prior to all of this, we would get to the parks in the evening, pull a FP for something, get a bite to eat or do some shopping while waiting for our FP return time. Now if we don't have access to FP at all, then there will really be no point in going as we're not gonna want to wait ridiculously long times for a ride that lasts at the most 5 min. We could just wander around, get a bite to eat and do some shopping, but then we could do that at DTD for free.

So depending on what the FP+ program looks like when everything is fully rolled out and everything is said and done, local AP holders might get the worst of it.

Exactly, thank you. We are definitely being treated like the RedHeaded StepChildren here....

Since we're 3 hours away by car & often do not know until just days before that we are going, I'm not likely to take a chance on going all that way & getting DD amped up to stand in line all day for every ride except Captain EO.

While in the PAST we could have/would have said, "meh, we'll catch it next time", that is not the case any longer due to FP+. In the past we could have also tried to work around lower crowd times, but even THAT may change once this FP+ rollout is complete. As it is we are seeing more & more reports of busier "lower crowd" times than ever before. Now we have to plan much more aggressively & get much more out of our days than we did before, in my family's case.

 

[Peanut Giggleface]

Exactly, thank you. We are definitely being treated like the RedHeaded StepChildren here....

Since we're 3 hours away by car & often do not know until just days before that we are going, I'm not likely to take a chance on going all that way & getting DD amped up to stand in line all day for every ride except Captain EO.

While in the PAST we could have/would have said, "meh, we'll catch it next time", that is not the case any longer due to FP+. In the past we could have also tried to work around lower crowd times, but even THAT may change once this FP+ rollout is complete. As it is we are seeing more & more reports of busier "lower crowd" times than ever before. Now we have to plan much more aggressively & get much more out of our days than we did before, in my family's case.

What!!??!! No Captain EO for you?? Might I suggest a stop at the Disney kool-aid kiosk. I'm sure your MB will be accepted there.. Sorry, couldn't help myself.

Yeah, we've noticed consistently higher crowd levels than what we've seen in the past. I think a lot of it is curiosity by people who were thinking of a Disney vacation and they want to see what these MBs are all about combined with a better economy.

We'lll just have to see what FP+ looks like when it's all rolled out. I'm hoping with people changing plans there will still be availability for those of us who visit on the fly.

We are definitely feeling like the ugly step kids, though.

 

[kbelle8995]

I have counted about much time I've spent at Disney World and it's pretty equal to someone who comes for eight days once a year. And my time is just as precious. I split them up so its spread out over the year. And I am spending just as much money. Oh and I'm a Florida Resident. Not everyone from Florida is like me and visits. I'm far enough away that a day visit does not work. So as a AP holder how FP+ will be applied is important. AP Holders spend just as much money as a guest who has come from a long Distance. I don't hate the program but it does have a few parts (Booking so much time in advance) that makes me wary.

It's just a slightly different way of touring for most Floridians.

 

[dragon23]

We used these on our October trip, we are FL residents and passholders. I really enjoyed the bands, the ease and convenience. Just like many of you though, I am so disappointed by the scheduling in advance.

I don't book my vacations that far in advance, and we have two little ones. To schedule everything so far in advance makes me cringe. I can't commit to what I have for dinner tomorrow night how can I commit to rides a month from now.

It's stupid.

 

[aribelle]

Would someone tell me even though I have a smart phone, how I am suppose to pull up my FP times, etc to show them on the wifi? I have phone from Europe and it would cost an arm and a leg.

While Robo's suggestion will work....turning things on and off is a pain, so, if all you need is to keep track of the times, etc (i.e. NOT make changes), then just go to the kiosk, scan your Magicband, and when it shows your itinerary, just use your camera to snap a photo of it. Or, if you already have your plans made on your computer, snap a photo of it.

I have a smartphone, but couldn't get the app to work reliably, and it drained my battery quickly....so we just kept the photo handy so we could check the times.

You can also go to any ride and the FP+ CM can see your NEXT FP+...can't see all 3, only the next, but that was helpful.



For those that can receive email in the park, the kiosk has an option of emailing your itinerary to yourself, then you have the email to check. For me, the photo was easier because we have our own domain and the email address is long, lol.


Keeping those times in my brain was just not working, lol.

We never had to "prove" we had a FP+, but I would imagine showing them the photo of their FP+ kiosk page would suffice.

 

[anelson81993]

Ok, I really think we need a new thread, just accepting the MB's as fine and moving on to people only using FP+. We've got numerous reports on "double dipping". I'd like to hear from someone who used to use legacy FP's who only used FP+ on their trip and how they felt.

I posted this way back on page 24, but I copy/pasted for your convenience (or inconvenience? it's a little long...). Longtime legacy FP user forced to use only FP+ with almost no notice immediately after the change at Pop Century (and a someone who has visited before FP, during legacy FP, and now with only FP+, I can unequivocally say that legacy FP was the best time period for my family and our touring style). We hated FP+. Full (probably excessively long) report:

My family returned last week from a trip staying at Pop Century. We checked in 48 hours after the announcement that we would no longer get KTTW cards. We had 6 people, who had been on 13-16 previous trips depending on the person, and we knew exactly how we like to tour. Our group was all adults, including two seniors who don't ride many of the rides. As a previous poster mentioned, the resort chose not to notify the guests arriving immediately after the decision not to give KTTW cards; we would not have known in advance at all had I not seen it on a blog the night before we left.

Because we know how we like to tour, and because we were under the impression that we were still going to get regular FP- during our trip, we actually didn't book FP+ until about a week out. We weren't really tied to using most of them at that point--we really only wanted ones for RnR (since there were no FP+ available at TSM by that point), Soarin', FotLK, and Under the Sea, but the system insisted on giving us three FP+ each time I tried to book the single rides we wanted. We booked after tiering, which we all hated since it meant we could not have any FP for either Soarin' or TT, and either RnR or TSM--and all four of those rides are must-dos for several members of our party.

We aren't uber-planners; the most we used to plan for a vacation was dining reservations, and those we didn't even book at the 60-day mark. I can't imagine having to plan my day at a park at 60 days to get rides on some of my favorites, but after experiencing the parks during low season with extremely limited FP, I'm fairly convinced that I'll have to once roll-out is complete. It was especially difficult for us, since many other guests had access to FP-, which is actually what we would have preferred had we been given a choice between the two.

I will say that our MagicBands worked perfectly. We never had troubles getting into our rooms or charging, and while two of our party members had trouble getting into the park both days at Epcot, ultimately it was handled very well and fixed with no real delay to our park touring. Only two members of our party actually wore their MagicBands and none of us thought they were comfortable, but much like the KTTW cards they were perfectly easy to keep in a pocket.

However, I have nothing positive to say about FP+. We didn't use several of ours, simply because we didn't actually want them, they weren't conveniently timed, and/or we had already seen the attraction with minimal wait and we'd have to cross the park to get back to it.

Of the Fastpasses we did use: they worked just the same as FP-, only with the unfortunate side effect of having to be planned weeks in advance. Because I was not planning our vacation days more than a week out, I was not able to get the times I wanted, so that advantage to FP+ was pretty much nonexistent for our group. None of the people I traveled with own smartphones, which made changing our FP+ on the go pretty much impossible. There are too few kiosks in the park, and not conveniently located (who made the decision to put FP+ kiosks in the constantly and incredibly crowded restrooms/walkway between Frontierland and Adventureland?). We did have an iPod Touch traveling with our group, which meant that on the one occasion it actually did work, we were fully able to change a FP+ on the Disney website after only 45 minutes and most of the iPod's battery life. I don't see how that is an improvement to paper Fastpasses. I could have ran and gotten them from the attraction faster than I could have changed them using only kiosks or the Disney website.

There was nothing, however, that we hated more than the tiering/3 FP+ limit/only 1 FP+ per ride limit. Our family is one of those who (gasp!) likes to ride the same ride more than once. Our two senior companions, for example, could spend the entire day at Epcot on Spaceship Earth and Soarin', with an occasional stop in the WS for the Voices of Liberty and Fife and Drum Corp (we actually did spend about two and a half hours one of our Epcot days in America watching the Voices of Liberty and the Fife and Drum Corp). We all have been a few times and know what we like, and we have no problem riding our favorite rides as many times as we'd like and seeing the shows we like. With FP-, we could ride Soarin' at least twice on each of our Epcot days, which for us is pretty much the dream. We also could ride both TSM and RnR without waiting in the standby line for either. After thoroughly experiencing the standby line for TSM during slow season for a little over two hours (and this was only 45 minutes after park opening!), we're pretty much convinced that we never want to do that again. I have no idea how WDW expected us to make them some merchandise money while standing in a two-plus hour queue, but at least they knew exactly where we were.

We didn't want to repeat that experience at the Soarin' line, so we only got to see it with our two FP+ on each of our Epcot days. While our trip wasn't ruined by any means by not getting to see it more than once, Soarin' is one of the group favorites, and we would have preferred being able to see it more than just the one time per day. We waited standby for Test Track twice--once 30 minutes at park opening, and the other 40 minutes also at park opening. Had we not gone at park opening, we would not have seen Test Track at all because we were not able to get a Fastpass for it, and we weren't able to see it again due to lines.

Had we had access to FP- as we had expected to have, this is what would have been different:
-We would not have wasted FP+ on rides we did not want or need FP+ for
-We would have been able to see our favorite rides more than once, which to us is more important than seeing all the rides
-We would not have had to wait in the two-hour line to see TSM once, or 30-40 minutes to see TT
-We would not have had to have planned our day-to-day park touring way in advance to get the FP we actually wanted
-We would not have had to toy for rather excessive amounts of time with an impossible system just to try to obtain FP, or find an illogically and inconveniently placed kiosk to get our FP
-We would have gotten FP for the rides we wanted, at times we could tolerate/plan around, in the quantities that we wanted

During the slow time in which we visited, with only the exceptions I already mentioned, this probably doesn't matter that much. Most of the rides had short-enough waits--I think the longest we waited for anything that I haven't mentioned was maybe 20 minutes. I can't imagine being forced to use only FP+ and standby during a busy time of year. We are annual visitors, and while I don't think this ruined our vacation or will cause us to stop going to WDW, it was definitely not the experience we were looking for, either. I'm not sure what was broken with the old FP- system that caused them to replace it with this--the only issues I see are with capacity, not the queuing system. It's frustrating to see a great system reduced to this, and while MagicBands are tolerable to us, we hate the new Fastpass+ system after trying it without access to FP-. I'm really hoping that after these tests, the designers will take a good look at this and either stop the madness or at least solve the problems that we experienced.