Fast Passes, Am I Doing it Wrong?

[ThanxForNoticin]

We have mastered FP+. One day at the MK we made & used 10 of them ��

That certainly sounds like a very effective use of the FP+!!!

[Giggy]

With regard to TSM, you moved the goal post. Your first post said FP was unavailable at rope drop. Now you say at mid morning.

Its a terrible system because of why it was created. It was NOT created to increase the guest experience. It was created for Disney to pack as many people in the park as possible by artificially spreading out the crowds and doing so with 60 days notice. Its all about the corporation and nothing about the guest. Its like an internet provider "throttling" your bandwidth so they don't have to spend money on more capacity. No one likes that.

When Walt talked about "plussing" an attraction, he referred only to increasing the guest enjoyment. Not Disney's management of the park.

Whether you realize it or not, Disney is planning and taking total control of your vacation. If you choose X attraction, you can't choose Y. If you want to eat at A time, you can't because you have a FP at B time. You have to choose 3 FPs, even if you have no plans to use them if you want a second FP for an attraction in the same tier.

FP+ is not about the guest; never was, never will be. To the Disney sycophant , that doesn't matter.

its a horrible system based upon its intention.

Technically I said "if you don't arrive at rope drop you won't get a FP" in my first post, so I did not move any goal posts. I recall lots of stories of people reporting long lines for a FP at rope drop but wouldn't be able to comment on whether those people all got a FP or not.

Though the main point is that "terrible" is an opinion. A fact would be to state "FP+ increased/decreased my average wait time by X minutes" or "FP+ increased/decreased my number of rides per day by Y. Obviously some people feel it is terrible, some people think it is good, some have no strong opinion - all 3 evidenced by this thread.

As to whether the motive makes it terrible. One could easily argue that original FP was made with the selfish motive of getting you to spend less time in lines and therefore more time buying food and souvenirs. That is getting into a debate of motivation versus outcome, ie: if someone does something bad but it actually helps you then is it good or bad. But that is way too philosophical for a Wednesday evening!

[Imalismom]

This is how I try to set up my fast passes - note when making your fast pass, the system makes you wait at least 1 hour in-between times. I choose a 2 hour wait.

FP#1 - Tier 1, at 9am
FP#2 - at 11am
FP#3 - at 1PM

Once you have scanned your magic band (I go in at 8:55), you are cleared of the one hour wait. I then
move my FP#2 up to 9:30 (If I can't move my #2, I move my #3).

At 9:30 - once I have gotten through the magic band scan for FP #2, I then can move my last FP up in time.

This then now frees me up to booking a FP - using it, and booking another.

I have had very good success with this method.

[RunDMV]

This is how I try to set up my fast passes - note when making your fast pass, the system makes you wait at least 1 hour in-between times. I choose a 2 hour wait.

FP#1 - Tier 1, at 9am
FP#2 - at 11am
FP#3 - at 1PM

Once you have scanned your magic band (I go in at 8:55), you are cleared of the one hour wait. I then
move my FP#2 up to 9:30 (If I can't move my #2, I move my #3).

At 9:30 - once I have gotten through the magic band scan for FP #2, I then can move my last FP up in time.

This then now frees me up to booking a FP - using it, and booking another.

I have had very good success with this method.

How can that much complication / planning be enjoyable? I do that level of planning 49 weeks a year at work. I don't want to do that on vacation.

And you left out the part that other than Tier 1, you didn't need the other FP+s anyway. On a recent trip, I couldn't get any Tier 1 FPs. I got HM, JC and PoC FPs. None of them required it. Total waste. Of course, that also dictated when I could make Table Service reservations.

[Imalismom]

Living right by WDW helps - I really don’t have
to plan a lot . — when you only do it a day here
or a day there.

[RunDMV]

Living right by WDW helps - I really don’t have
to plan a lot . — when you only do it a day here
or a day there.

And that's even worse, unless you can "plan" your one day 60 days out.

FP+ was not about the guest experience (even though some Disney egghead said it increases spontaneity), it's about spreading out the throngs so they can pack more people in the park.

Was there really a that many people clamouring for Disney to create a system that limited choices, increased confusion/frustration, and required up to the minute plans 60 days in advance? Who asked for such a horrible system?

I don't see many people who say, "This is exactly what we needed." I do see some people say, "I can tolerate it."

[dlpmikki]

I dislike FP+ for a couple of reasons. I dislike planning so far in advance and I can see how much longer the standby lines are because of fastpass. Maybe WDW is just busier than ever (it is) but FP have made it worse. I went to Disneyland this year and used Max pass. Love that concept! You can't get anything until you are in the park but you can get a fast pass for either park no matter which you are in. Lines were nothing like as crazy and it worked well. I'm likely to be voting with my feet. I don't like WDW nearly as much as I used to and I will probably head to Disneyland if I need a Disney fix. I also had a short trip to Disneyland Paris and was shocked to find that was now better than WDW in organisation terms!

[jiifigment]

This is SO therapeutic! I'm SO glad I'm not just frustrated alone! We haven't been to WDW in a few years. Admittedly, we had the old FP system DOWN. But I've spent the last few months planning for our January trip. I booked our dinner ressies AT 180 days out. I booked the PSD package on the day it came out. I spent the last week planning our entire trip almost down to the minute. I had studied SO LONG and SO HARD about FP+. I got up this morning at 4am made sure I had everything ready, and the MINUTE FP+ became available I started with the "hardest to get" ones and worked my way down the list.

I got exactly ZERO of the ones for which I had planned.

Wait. This is the 2nd week of January. It's supposed to be value season. And I can't even get ANY FP+ for FEA in the morning 64 days in advance? Never mind planning within my original window!

Now, I get to go back and replan all the schedules I spent so much time originally planning, just to find that now we will spend more time walking and more time watching our phones than ever before.

I just feel exhausted and defeated, and this is the most expensive WDW trip we've ever done.

I'm trying to find a bag of pixie dust...and hoping for the best, but this trip is WAY too much work.

[RunDMV]

This is SO therapeutic! I'm SO glad I'm not just frustrated alone! We haven't been to WDW in a few years. Admittedly, we had the old FP system DOWN. But I've spent the last few months planning for our January trip. I booked our dinner ressies AT 180 days out. I booked the PSD package on the day it came out. I spent the last week planning our entire trip almost down to the minute. I had studied SO LONG and SO HARD about FP+. I got up this morning at 4am made sure I had everything ready, and the MINUTE FP+ became available I started with the "hardest to get" ones and worked my way down the list.

I got exactly ZERO of the ones for which I had planned.

Wait. This is the 2nd week of January. It's supposed to be value season. And I can't even get ANY FP+ for FEA in the morning 64 days in advance? Never mind planning within my original window!

Now, I get to go back and replan all the schedules I spent so much time originally planning, just to find that now we will spend more time walking and more time watching our phones than ever before.

I just feel exhausted and defeated, and this is the most expensive WDW trip we've ever done.

I'm trying to find a bag of pixie dust...and hoping for the best, but this trip is WAY too much work.

I feel your pain. It's a horrible system. the thread above talks about booking FPs and letting them expire so you can get another Tier 1.

[dudeman1975]

I remember the days with standby only. Everyone was on an equal footing. There was no taking 300 people in fastpass to 1 standby. It seemed that we used to get on all the attractions back then with minimal waits. The fastpass slows down the standby lines.

[Daisy'sMom]

There is to much planning with this new system. It reminds me of the people in the movie, Logan’s Run, at the age of 30.