No FP+ for me

[Mrs Bus Driver]

Okay so I have a trip planned for last week in January and I feel like I need to vent. DD and I will be going with a few friends who haven't confirmed yet. DD is a free spirit when it comes to which park when we head out. She enjoys catching the first bus that comes and park hopping and I like doing it with her. So how could I possibly get FP's ahead of time? Not knowing for sure who is going with us or when they will get their tickets makes getting them for others ahead of time impossible. So after thinking it over I won't be using FP+ until day of when we know where we are. I know we are going in what amounts to the off season which is what I prefer. So I don't expect long lines but this could mean no FP's for us. This shouldn't be a problem but then again it could be with no FP's available for headliners. This really bothers me that we may not be able to do SM because we don't want to be stuck waiting over an hour to ride. Also won't be using the dinning plan, just don't want to be told what I have to eat. Don't want desert at both lunch and dinner, sometimes just want apps and soup. May only make 1 or 2 dinner reservations ahead of time. We will be eating a lot of our meals in the room because we are DVC and have a stove and fridge. If we end up eating counter service the whole time we are in the parks, so be it. I do believe we will have fun but have to wonder how my lack of planning will effect my trip. I will come back and report on how the trip goes

[JerseyDad]

...your 'trip style' sounds a lot like how we "do" WDW. There's a 'plan' ...but then again ...it's not set in stone and changes WILL happen regarding what park is visited. We only do a few ADR's ...90% of which are in Epcot (our favorite park) ...and the rest of the meals are counter service ...but we do more than just burgers and such ...so it's all good.

....I'm sure you'll have a good time.

[EJS-Houston]

My last trip we did what you're about to do dining-wise...we didn't make any advance reservations, and mostly just did counter-service...making a couple reservations the morning-of using my brother's Android app. It worked beautifully. I enjoyed myself much more than I did previously making advanced reservations every single evening. We were able to be completely spontaneous, and isn't that what the park-hopper option is supposed to be about?

[minnie04]

You sound exactly like our family... We have always been a "play it by ear” family, but we were always able to get on the rides we liked the most without FP's. Now they are making it so hard to get on any ride if you don't have a FP+. We don't mind waiting, but it was so bad on our last trip that we are probably not going back until it changes. I am on a schedule all week long and that's the last thing I want on vacation :mad: We always go in big groups and to try and get everyone on board with the new system is just not going to happen.

[1DisneyNut]

We are the same when it comes to dining. We had free dining a few years ago and we spent hours debating on which restaurants, where and when. We set them up and then absolutely hated it when we were actually there. We were constantly having to think about how much time we have and what attractions we could do until we had to head to our ADR's. The second day we had enough of it and cancelled all the remaining ADR's for the week and just went about dining off the cuff like we normally do and it was so much less stressful. They can keep their ADR's as far as we are concerned.

When it comes to the parks and FP's, I generally have always planned what parks on what days by avoiding certain parks on certain days depending on EMH's and which parks tend to busy on a given day, etc but sometimes it does change due to weather, crowds, events going on that I didn't know about ahead of time, etc. Then there are the days when we get to the park and everybody seems to be heading in one particular direction and we decide to head the other and we grab fastpasses at some particular ride that we know will be busy later. So just like ADR's, I don't want to be tied to a FP+ that ends up being on the complete opposite side of the park from where I end up at that time of the day.

[waymickey]

On all except our last trip we picked a park in the morning, usually did EMH, then left that park for another park and then went back to the hotel, swam, showered, and hit a third park at night. This has always worked fine. Grabbing fastpasses along the way and eating where ever .

Last trip with FP+ & Magic bands testing it did not work at all. We planned to go in 2014 but most likely we will cruise instead. Last trip left me frustrated and sad.:(

[spoiledraf]

It's a great way to tour as long as you realize there's a likelihood you won't get into a lot of the more popular restaurants and probably some rides. And that happened to us even before FP+. We never get to the parks til after 10 which means TSM and soaring are either unavailable or well beyond the time we plan to be in the park. We make ADRs, but usually late at signature restaurants. But then again we are empty nesters and don't do the late hours at any park. FP+ will make it nice to catch some rides we usually miss due to a late arrival. I can deal with picking a park in advance as we check out the suggested parks with the planning calendars first.

[MickeysBestPal]

This really bothers me that we may not be able to do SM because we don't want to be stuck waiting over an hour to ride.

Which SM?

[VWL Mom]

Which SM?
I'm hoping :fingers: Mrs Bus Driver is referring to Space Mt since Splash Mt will be closed during the last week of January.

[Mrs Bus Driver]

I'm hoping :fingers: Mrs Bus Driver is referring to Space Mt since Splash Mt will be closed during the last week of January.

Sorry I meant Space Mountain :mickey:

[Johnno52]

I agree totally with Mrs. Bus Driver to the point where it could have written this post. We are also going to WDW in Jan. We decide where we go that morning, where and what we eat when we are hungry.
We enjoy visiting the other resorts and do this quite often. We drive down so we always have a vehicle to go to either parks or resorts.
We also have a DVC however we only get studios and we do little cooking. We enjoy counter service and seldom go to the service restaurants inside WDW. We find (most likely due to the dining plan) they are overpriced and have limited choices. We go out of the resort for these.
If this FP+ is going to severely curtail our usage then we will not buy park tickets and as mentioned, just enjoy the resorts as we have done on some visits.
I also feel that WDW does not want to cater to a large sector of the population, "retirees". We have gone through a lifetime of schedules and don't need them anymore!