FP+ Confusion

[barbiegirl314]

So from what i understand about the new FP+ system Disney guests will be allowed to book 3 FP per day for one park.

What I don't understand is why Disney is adding more attractions onto the FP system, and the attractions they are adding are ones that have lines which typically move right along, such as Spaceship Earth at Epcot and the Great Movie Ride at HS.

It's going to be difficult enough as it is to try and decide which "high demand" attractions I should plan for ahead of time with a limited number of FP tickets, but know they are increasing the choices with attractions that have never been FP attractions :confused:

[gerald72]

Because when they run out of "in-demand" fast passes they can give unsuspecting guests unneeded fast passes, and they think they are getting a value.

[Mrs Bus Driver]

My 2 gripes with fp+ are, only 3 per day and only at 1 park. I have always used parkhopper this seems to discourage hopping. And while many times I don't use more then 3 in a day sometimes I do. So while this may end up being a good thing after all, I think Disney will have to work a few bugs out of the system. :confused:

[VWL Mom]

I have always used parkhopper this seems to discourage hopping.

And I was thinking just the opposite lol. When I can get the troops up and out in the morning we really don't find a need for FP but the afternoon park is usually more crowded. I had always thought it would nice to be able to get FP for the afternoon park while in another park. Uh oh, maybe FP+ is my fault. :blush:

[EeyoresBestFriend]

We used it during the test run.

Biggest complaint was that we had two rooms (2 ressies) and that we couldn't get our fastpasses to coordinate for all of us to get the same fastpass times. :(

Anyone know if this has been solved? Totally, stupid since the all of us want to ride together.

[Polynesian Dweller]

At this point the whole thing is in test mode not final production mode. They are testing facets of the system and limiting the number of variables during testing. What the final system will be nobody knows yet, probably not even Disney until they see the results of the testing. It also seems that there is a lot of testing to go.

So, I wouldn't jump to conclusions of how it works, how many FPs you can get and so on until there is an announcement of the final system. It's a safe bet that what you are seeing now is not what it will be when the full production system goes into service.

[Susan A]

Forgive me if this has been posted, but when would this new and final FP be put into place?
Thanks!

[Polynesian Dweller]

Forgive me if this has been posted, but when would this new and final FP be put into place?
Thanks!

No one knows at this point. Disney has given no indication of the time frame for this. It's probably open ended which would be a good thing. I'd rather they keep testing and testing until they get it as perfect as they can.

[Aurora]

We used it during the test run.

Biggest complaint was that we had two rooms (2 ressies) and that we couldn't get our fastpasses to coordinate for all of us to get the same fastpass times. :(

Anyone know if this has been solved? Totally, stupid since the all of us want to ride together.

Did you let them know of your problem? Since you're an official tester, they'll be listening to any dilemmas you had -- that's the reason for the testing. If you haven't already, please let them know that needs to be fixed.

[chefmickey3]

We have been watching the developments closely because we are active fp users. If it would be implemented as it is being tested now, we would likely visit park A in the morning and ride without fp while there are short or no lines and save our fp for park B for later in the day when we still want to ride and now the lines are longer.

My concern is that they would use a system like the old Year of a Million Dreams fastpasses where there was a Donald list of attractions and a Minnie list of attractions. Donald would be the A-list rides while Minnie was the other stuff. Of your 3 FP you are allowed, 2 could come from the Donald list and one would have to come from the Minnie list. I hope they don't micromanage our vacations to this extent!

[Susan A]

Wow! My head is spinning!
:silly:

[The Horned King]

To be fair they have messed about with the original fastpass system. Haunted mansion used to be on it. Then it was taken away. Large capacity rides like that really don't need fastpass.

I don't tend to use them as I like talking to people in the queue and looking at some of the detail, especially on Everest etc. I still think that rides such as peter pan would have a smaller wait time if there was no fastpass. Or at least the queue would seem to move faster! :p

[VWL Mom]

We used it during the test run.

Biggest complaint was that we had two rooms (2 ressies) and that we couldn't get our fastpasses to coordinate for all of us to get the same fastpass times. :(

Anyone know if this has been solved? Totally, stupid since the all of us want to ride together.

Did you link all the person icons in your reservations together? I thought that was where you could pick how many in your traveling party wanted each FP+


Did you let them know of your problem? Since you're an official tester, they'll be listening to any dilemmas you had -- that's the reason for the testing. If you haven't already, please let them know that needs to be fixed.

:thumbsup:

[alliekat]

My DH spoke to Disney yesterday regarding this. We got an invitation to try the new system. We were told that the 3 FP plus options were in addition to regular fast pass. And did not effect the traditional fast passes you get in the park. I hope the cast member was right.

[PETE FROM NYC]

After reading all of these posts about the new FP system, I think I need a good stiff drink.
And I don't drink!!!

[Opus X]

Here is an amazing idea.......why not wait until its completely out there for everyone and then lets have an opinion...cause now...nothing but rumours.
I.E. i have heard...3per day value resort.
4 per day mod and 5 for deluxe...

I'll save my opinion when i can actually use it.

[Opus X]

My DH spoke to Disney yesterday regarding this. We got an invitation to try the new system. We were told that the 3 FP plus options were in addition to regular fast pass. And did not effect the traditional fast passes you get in the park. I hope the cast member was right.
Oh, and i have also been told..that WDW/DLR will NOT eliminate traditional FP even when plus is out.
So, who knows....but in the end, I'll figure it all out.

[alliekat]

We got the invite yesterday for our trip from 8/20-8/28. We have to do it by 8/10 to have our bracelets delivered to us by 8/20. Going to set it up in the next few days. I will keep you posted throughout the process. I'm anxious, curious but mostly excited. :mickey:

[alliekat]

Here is an amazing idea.......why not wait until its completely out there for everyone and then lets have an opinion...cause now...nothing but rumours.
I.E. i have heard...3per day value resort.
4 per day mod and 5 for deluxe...

I'll save my opinion when i can actually use it.

I think people are just sharing thoughts & ideas. Brainstorming if you will. This is a huge change up. Change is exciting but can be scary. All opinions are valid I think. So I say share away :)

[Tekneek]

My DH spoke to Disney yesterday regarding this. We got an invitation to try the new system. We were told that the 3 FP plus options were in addition to regular fast pass. And did not effect the traditional fast passes you get in the park. I hope the cast member was right.

That may, or may not, be the case during your trial. If you have "magic bands", you will not be able to use FP in the parks (you won't have any paper media to insert into the kiosks). Disney's own published material around the "paperless tickets" ("magic bands") says you will no longer be able to do the other FP system once on them.

While these tests help Disney make sure their backend systems are functioning for FP+ needs, the one thing it will never tell them is what impact scheduling FP+ times for traditionally non-FP attractions is going to have on the rest of the guests. Nobody can really know what will happen there until FP+ is in production.

[Tekneek]

Oh, and i have also been told..that WDW/DLR will NOT eliminate traditional FP even when plus is out.
So, who knows....but in the end, I'll figure it all out.

If they choose not to eliminate FP, they will have to retrofit every FP kiosk to dispense FP for paperless ticket media. Or they will be saying that you can choose the old ticket media and have access to old FP, or take new ticket media ("paperless tickets" / "magic bands") and be restricted to use of FP+ only.

That situation would be way more confusing for the guests. That would seem to be the least desirable route for Disney.

[alliekat]

Thanks for your reply. We have annual passes & were told by the CM over the phone we would be able to use both the bracelet for the 3 FP+ & our passes for traditional paper passes. I guess I'll call again today.

[Tekneek]

Thanks for your reply. We have annual passes & were told by the CM over the phone we would be able to use both the bracelet for the 3 FP+ & our passes for traditional paper passes. I guess I'll call again today.

The AP situation is somewhat complicated, though. The new AP tickets are considered "paper media", as they are cards, but they also have RFID enabled. I do not know if it is possible to have both media active at the same time (paperless "magic bands" and the AP cards) in the parks. I have heard of AP holders being able to link their AP with MDE (for scheduling FP+) and using FP, but not being able to use a bracelet and the AP at the same time.

The CM may have been right, but it wouldn't be the first time that a CM has given somebody information that ends up being wrong once you're on site.

[Giggy]

Keeping both active sounds a reasonable compromise to me, resort guests and/or obsessive plannrs can get their little bit extra without it harming the experience of others. It would just mean getting the balance right to make sure the right number of each FP and FP+ was printed. This may explain why FP+ is limited to 3 tickets per day.

[VWL Mom]

I was told that during testing you would be able to get FP and FP+ but when it goes resort wide FP would be phased out. We'll see.

[ckaranassos]

We leave in 14 days and are testing the fast pass+. I have made our fast pass selections that consisted of a choice of 3 attractions with an assigned bonus attraction for magic kingdom. I was able to pick times that worked best for us and so far it seems pretty cool. They use dining reservations and such to plan the best choices of times based on all your reservations that day. For example they considered my crystal palace breakfast time and then gave me 4 choices of times for my selected attractions. They are grouped based on proximity to each other and our breakfast. I have two reservations that I linked on My Disney Experience as well as listed everyone as "family or friends" on there as well. I was able to select whomever i wanted to make these fast pass selections. As to whether we will be allowed to use the old system while we are there I will have to report back to everyone. We are prepared for glitches and are 10 pretty laid back folks so we will take it as it comes. Will keep you posted.

[GoBlueLacheta]

It seems like it would be a lot easier for DW to simply cover the FP kiosk that do not have any left then to eliminate all of those systems and leave a lot of people much more confused.

Also, there are really only a handful of rides that actually truly need FP and if you back to a regular operating schedule on other rides it could take some of the "planning" burden off individuals. Use the 3 to get on the 3 super-headliners at some point throughout the day guaranteed and then go from there.

Personally, planning 3 blocks for the major rides isn't too much of a burden when you really almost have to do it anyway with the current system and even have less of a "known" factor. If you go to TSM and all thats left is 540:640 and you have a 530 ADR somewhere, and with them no longer accepting late FPs it can leave you in a bind.

[VacationDisney]

Think I'll just skip the rides where a FP is not necessary:thumbsup:

[Mitzie]

We got the invite yesterday for our trip from 8/20-8/28. We have to do it by 8/10 to have our bracelets delivered to us by 8/20. Going to set it up in the next few days. I will keep you posted throughout the process. I'm anxious, curious but mostly excited. :mickey:

We have been following these FP+ threads. We will be at AKL the end of October. We noticed on our account page that some things were looking different then in the past. Does this mean we will be part of the test group. Are certain resorts only included. Does using DME come into play? We are flying into Sanford this trip and driving ourselves in. We were hoping to utilize the new FP+ system.

[mgmnut]

We have been following these FP+ threads. We will be at AKL the end of October. We noticed on our account page that some things were looking different then in the past. Does this mean we will be part of the test group. Are certain resorts only included. Does using DME come into play? We are flying into Sanford this trip and driving ourselves in. We were hoping to utilize the new FP+ system.



I believe everyone can see the fastpass+ related links in My Disney Experience, I do not believe that alone indicates you have been chosen. We leave next week, have not been chosen and I can see those links also.

[JerseyDad]

....our Magic Bands arrived today (nice colors) , and my wife just showed me our official WDW itinerary and the FP+ 'agenda' we have on the Disney web site

....I agree that 3 rides per day for only one park ...is a bummer ....because we always have the park hopper option .....and we always are at 2 parks (minimum) per day. Maybe it's a part of a WDW plan for 'crowd control' ....keeping persons at one park for a longer time?

....it's a little too much 'planning' for my mind ....but we'll see how it works .....and ....


....how I feel about being WDW's FP+ ..'lab rat' :D (anyone got some cheese? ....squeak ...squeak)

[WDWdriver]

I was told that during testing you would be able to get FP and FP+ but when it goes resort wide FP would be phased out. We'll see.

This is true. At some time in the future after the complete roll out of FP+ the existing FP distribution machines will be removed and paper FPs will no longer exist. FP access will be via wristbands or plastic cards with embedded RFID chips.

[11290]

This is true. At some time in the future after the complete roll out of FP+ the existing FP distribution machines will be removed and paper FPs will no longer exist. FP access will be via wristbands or plastic cards with embedded RFID chips.

For "day guests" or those not "pre-booking" through the MDE app, there will be iPad stations staffed with Guest Relations cast throughout the parks where you will select your FastPasses for the day. Some are currently operating in the parks on a limited basis.

Similar to what is currently operating but will use the RFID ticketing media.

[waymickey]

My DH spoke to Disney yesterday regarding this. We got an invitation to try the new system. We were told that the 3 FP plus options were in addition to regular fast pass. And did not effect the traditional fast passes you get in the park. I hope the cast member was right.

Sorry the CM was wrong. Once you take the FP+ band you get 3 maybe 4 FP+ for one park each day.
You can not use regular fast pass at all if you have the band. this is how it was working last week. It keeps MK very crowded and the standby lines super duper long!

[hauntedmansiongirl]

We are going in September- I'm curious to see how it works with the smaller fall crowds vs. summer peak crowds...:mickey: