Frustrated planning first trip with FP+

[Donalyn]

To all of you Disboarders out there - I need your help getting excited for FP+.

We are returning to the World for the first time in 4 years. Our last trip was just as FP+ was coming on line and we were able to get some decent FPs the day of in every park other than Epcot. Last year, we went to DLR and had a wonderful time with the old paper fast pass system (which I had down pat).

But now returning to the Disboards on the WDW side (I only lurk when we are planning a trip, otherwise I'd never get any work done), I'm daunted by adding FP+ planning to the already pretty detailed planning that goes into a trip. So, what do you like about the system?

 

[kiford]

So, what do you like about the system?

The fact that, for the first time in several trips, we were able to get on TSMM. That I don't feel that I have to get up early on vacation in order to get a fastpass to popular attractions or have to skip them entirely. The fact that I don't have to run across the park to get a fastpass and don't have the option of picking a convenient time.

 

[MickeyWaffles]

Before our first FP+ trip I hated it. I hated having to decide what FP I wanted. I had a 12 month old for that trip and didn’t want to have to decide when we wanted to go on certain rides so far in advance.

Then I used it. And I realized, wait a minute. With paper FP, you could have ended up with so many random return times and be running all over the park. With FP+, we can really do the different lands with much less walking. Being able to see on my phone what FPs are available and when after the first 3 are used is amazing. So, for us ... less walking. Less stress in the parks.

We went to Disneyland a few months later and enjoyed using the old system but the parks are so much smaller that running around isn’t as much of an issue.

Went back to WDW in Sept. and our 1yo from the first FP+ trip was 2.5 and we also had a 1yo - his first trip. I am officially an FP+ fan. I still don’t like booking them ahead of time and having to make those decisions but when I’m there I love it. So much less running around and the ability to switch things up based on how my kids are doing is key. When our 1yo took an unexpected nap, we modified the FP time for Peter Pan. Modifying them in the park is awesome. Obviously availability affects the modifications you can make, but for some things we could change it up on the fly.

 

[hiroMYhero]

Were you offsite or onsite in 2014? Offsite still had a 30-day booking window back then - did you not like planning 3 FPs in one park?

Now, the FP system has been tweaked for better park hopping usage. You can pre-book 1 FP and then the day of book 2 FPs for the 2nd park of the day.

This thread is set up for more advanced FP usage:
https://www.disboards.com/threads/f...al-tier-1-booking-fps-for-long-stays.3538258/

 

[AngiTN]

So, what do you like about the system?

I like that I, or anyone in my group, doesn't have to run around to machines and pull FP
I like that I know what time the FP will be for, not stuck with whatever time happens to come out of the machine
I like that I know I'll have a ride (or 3) on some specific rides no matter what time we opt to show up to the park. No need to be there at ohdarkthirty for rope drop to chase down a hard to get FP
I like that I don't have to worry about where we'll be or what we'll be doing when the time for that randomly gotten paper FP comes
I like that I can book additional FP for a 2nd park if we plan to hop later that day

 

[Jimmy Mouse]

It’s a love hate thing for me. What I love is knowing we can ride our favorites at least once without a long wait. What I hate is the fact that people that live around the park will book a throwaway room so they can book 60 days out. I know this because a good friend of mine that lives right outside Orlando told me they reserve one night at the campground or something like that. He said it’s less than $50. They book once a month for him and multiple friends. They never stay there. For them it’s like $10 or less each. To me it’s unfair to those that take a once a year vacation and have a hard time booking the popular rides.

 

[g-dad66]

The only thing that I like about it is that on our arrival day in mid-afternoon, we can do three of the popular attractions without much wait. The rest of the trip, I will be longing for the good old gather-as-many-paper-FPs-as-you-can days....

 

[srwarden1928]

I don't love FP+. If I got to choose, I would prefer the paper FP system. FP+ is the system WDW has chosen to use. I learned to use the system to my advantage. It is a lot more trouble to plan. It takes more planning. It takes away flexibility. You have to choose ONE park for FP+ way ahead of time. If you change your mind about what park to be in, you lose your FP. Disney makes the rules. We use those rules to our advantage to make our trip the best it can be. I understand how to use FP+ to my advantage. I don't have to like it to benefit from it.

 

[Lightsoutx12]

Local AP holder here, I love it since I can make some fastpasses either before or on the day I am going to the parks and can make a quick trip to Disney. It is the best to have FP made for my favorite rides, get off work, meet up with some friends and enjoy a park for a few hours.

 

[Tomh]

It is indeed just one more thing to plan ahead, but believe me when I say that it makes the day in the park just that much easier.

With FP+, you go into the park with 3 ride times already set aside. You hit a couple of the headliners as soon as the park opens, before the lines get long, and then use those 3 FP+. After you finish those 3, there is a pretty decent chance you will be able to get a 4th, and maybe a 5th after you use the 4th. 4 or 5 fast pass rides, plus what ever stuff you are able to do at rope drop before the lines get long adds up to a pretty full day of rides.

If you are the kind to sleep in, and get to the parks later in the day, you aren't absolutely out of luck when it comes to the headliner rides. You can get an FP+ for Soarin, or Frozen Ever After, or Toy Story, and choose a time later in the day, say noon. You can arrive at the park at 11, and still get to do those rides with a short wait.

 

[tlmadden73]

The fact that, for the first time in several trips, we were able to get on TSMM. That I don't feel that I have to get up early on vacation in order to get a fastpass to popular attractions or have to skip them entirely. The fact that I don't have to run across the park to get a fastpass and don't have the option of picking a convenient time.

This.

I have now gone on TSMM twice with this new system after having skipped it for years after its opening.

Going now with small children I am glad I don't have to ditch them to run all the way to an attraction to get paper tickets.
Going with small children I am glad I can get Fast passes for rides I couldn't get before .. any skipped line is a savings of time especially when you are going with pre-schoolers.

I like being able to "roughly" plan my morning or afternoon around my fast passes. Knowing I can get on a certain ride (say like Seven Dwarves Mine Train) without having to worry about when the (using the old way) Fast Pass Kiosk tells me to come back later.

I found the old way very inefficient .. as you had to walk to an attraction twice and you didn't know when the comeback time was going to be (which is why I always skipped TSMM). I never wanted to "RUSH" all the way back there just to get a paper fast pass, and when I did, it was for way later in the day anyway .. talk about a downer. Now I know I have my ride scheduled at 9:30 AM or something when I want.

To me, it makes the parks that much easier and actually MORE flexible as long as you make them sensibly and don't try and jam your day full of ADRs as well. (Because then you just feel like you are running from one reservation to the next).

 

[dlavender]

FP+ is great for those that don't get to the parks early.

For example, we will be arriving on a busy Friday around noon. With the old system, we'd have to pull what was left for FP's, with return times most likely much later in the day. Then we'd have to wait in some long lines (although, IMO, the lines would be shorter, but that's for a different debate).

With FP+, we have 3 FP's for headliners already.

I still don't like being locked into a park so far in advance, but it is what it is.

 

[AngiTN]

To address something that's come up a few times, being locked in to a park or loosing FP
This is simply not the case. Now, you may not be able to get perfect FP for perfect times for preferred rides but it's absolutely possible to change plans on the fly and go to a different park, and use FP.
We have done this on every single trip at least once. Sometimes it's that morning while waiting on a bus, sometimes it's a day or two out. And we've gone at busy times like Thanksgiving and summer breaks.
All you have to do is open the app (or website) and change the FP to some for the park you've decided to go to. There will be some FP there for that park, for most rides even. Maybe not FoP or Mine Train, probably not for FEA. But we've found FP for every single other ride, even TSMM (now that they've added a track). We've also gotten a 4th FP for those rides, even FEA and FoP, on more than one occasion.
Just mentioning this, not to change the minds of those who have posted about it but to point it out to those who haven't used the system yet. Didn't want you to think you couldn't change the FP last minute.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

I never used FP- but having to split up to have someone run around and collect them doesn’t sound like a way we’d want to spend our family vacation time (kids are young).

What I like best about FP+ is that when my kids decided that Soarin was the best thing ever last year and doing it again before we left the park was a must do, I was able to work some strategies (divide up into small groups, refresh often) and in 20 mins as we walked over I had a set of FPs for us. It made everybody’s night.

 

[dlavender]

To address something that's come up a few times, being locked in to a park or loosing FP
This is simply not the case. Now, you may not be able to get perfect FP for perfect times for preferred rides but it's absolutely possible to change plans on the fly and go to a different park, and use FP.
We have done this on every single trip at least once. Sometimes it's that morning while waiting on a bus, sometimes it's a day or two out. And we've gone at busy times like Thanksgiving and summer breaks.
All you have to do is open the app (or website) and change the FP to some for the park you've decided to go to. There will be some FP there for that park, for most rides even. Maybe not FoP or Mine Train, probably not for FEA. But we've found FP for every single other ride, even TSMM (now that they've added a track). We've also gotten a 4th FP for those rides, even FEA and FoP, on more than one occasion.
Just mentioning this, not to change the minds of those who have posted about it but to point it out to those who haven't used the system yet. Didn't want you to think you couldn't change the FP last minute.

Some have seemed to have better luck with this than we have.

With a party of 5, its pretty hard day of to get FP's where you want them for things like: Space Mountain, 7DMT, Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh, Jungle Cruise, FOP, FEA, Tower, RnRC.....But you can always get secondary attractions.

You can try breaking up the party and try to find overlapping times, but that needs to be a long bus ride....

 

[DisneyFive]

To me, the best features of FP+ are:

1. Sleep in, or not. We like to schedule our first FP+ of the day at around 10am (and use it later in that 10am-11am window). That way we have the option to rope drop and do the popular rides standby with little wait, ... or we can sleep in knowing that we have FP's ready for us when we get to the park.
2. Having FP's for your arrival day. We fly from Michigan, so the earliest we make it into a park is early afternoon. In the past, all of the "good" paper fastpasses were already gone by the time we got to the park.
3. No back and forth and extra running around the park just to get FP's.

To me, the worst features of FP+ are:

1. Tiering. I can't stand that I can't prebook FP's for the three rides that I actually want at HS, EP, and AK. You are FORCED to ride some of your favorites standby.
2. Even MORE inflexibility in our schedule. Not only are we locked into a particular park due to dining reservations 180 days ahead, but now FP's compound the issue.
3. Having my face buried in my smartphone at Disney instead of enjoying my surroundings.

Dan

 

[Realfoodfans]

I found it stressful planning so far out (if it was just for us two not a problem) but it was better with little ones - I just wish once you've used one you could book another! I also hated the MDE kept crashing!

 

[dlavender]

Having my face buried in my smartphone at Disney instead of enjoying my surroundings.

I know as a society we have moved towards always having our face looking into a screen, but this is a huge drawback to MDE, IMO.

I know, you don't have to pull it up at all. But the temptation is pretty hard to overcome when you see IASW at 45 minutes and you know you can do better.....

 

[dlavender]

I found it stressful planning so far out (if it was just for us two not a problem) but it was better with little ones - I just wish once you've used one you could book another! I also hated the MDE kept crashing!

I think once you use one you can pick another one..

But MDE can be finicky, and I wish you could choose multiple parks in advance.

For example, we were finally able to snag a FEA 30 days out, problem is, it was for 7:05 PM. This means that we were either locked into EPCOT for our evening with no other Tier 1 FP's, or going to another park earlier with no FP's....

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

I like the fact that I can actually vacation with my husband. That he isn't always going somewhere else to pull a fastpass, then coming back to ride a ride.

We've been able to stop and smell the roses.