MyMagic+ and FastPass+

[Laketravis]

I thought this was an interesting and frank discussion about these two WDW elements and their impact on park experiences:

MyMagic+ and FastPass+




.

 

[Suvadoo]

I thought this was an interesting and frank discussion about these two WDW elements and their impact on park experiences:

MyMagic+ and FastPass+
.

Thanks for the link.
It was nice to finally see the Dis Unplugged podcast crew give their honest opinions on FP+ and MDE: spontaneity gone, glitchy app, people looking at their phones rather than enjoying the parks, feeling overscheduled, FP+ created long SB lines on rides like IASW, POC, HM.
There were 7 hosts on the Dis Unplugged panel and no one was particularly complimentary about MDE or FP+.

I also thought it was interesting when they were talking about their Dreams Unlimited clients who didn't visit WDW very often and didn't know about MDE and FP+. The client reaction was basically described as incredulous when they were told about making ride reservations.

 

[tweak89]

I enjoyed it as well. Having hit my 60 day mark and making my FP+ reservations, I'm thinking this will be my last visit for a while.

Sitting there having to guess at what/where I might want to be on any given day was a chore. But, we'll see how it goes.

 

[Suvadoo]

I enjoyed it as well. Having hit my 60 day mark and making my FP+ reservations, I'm thinking this will be my last visit for a while.

Sitting there having to guess at what/where I might want to be on any given day was a chore. But, we'll see how it goes.

Seriously, I think it's ridiculous making ride reservations.

 

[mom2rtk]

I listened to this just today. I was surprised how much they all disliked it considering that they are locals. I actually thought even I might start to like FP+ if I was local.

 

[tweak89]

I listened to this just today. I was surprised how much they all disliked it considering that they are locals. I actually thought even I might start to like FP+ if I was local.

I wasn't surprised at all, FP+ takes away from the local experience unless they plan ahead. This why I think FP+ will be a disaster (if it stays in its current incarnation) when they introduce it at DLR as it is way more of a "locals" park than WDW.

 

[soniam]

I wasn't surprised at all, FP+ takes away from the local experience unless they plan ahead. This why I think FP+ will be a disaster (if it stays in its current incarnation) when they introduce it at DLR as it is way more of a "locals" park than WDW.

I like it at WDW, but I can definitely see locals not liking anywhere. My hope would be to do FP+ for Radiator Springs Racers, because waiting in line for an hour for an FP and then an hour+ for the FP line is ridiculous. It's a fun ride though. I think everything else would be fine to be just FP, because I think the lines are generally not too bad at DLR during the week, even in the summer.

 

[Shaden]

Holy crap, very interesting stuff here.

Especially some of the comments about clients, meaning, you know, average people ... not Disney experts, not Disboards people.

Very contrary to what we hear here about the average every day person loving FP+.

 

[Shaden]

Dang, I really can't get over the comments they are making about their clients. It really doesn't sound like the common person is enjoying this ...

@26:30 is a great example of this...

 

[mom2rtk]

I like it at WDW, but I can definitely see locals not liking anywhere. My hope would be to do FP+ for Radiator Springs Racers, because waiting in line for an hour for an FP and then an hour+ for the FP line is ridiculous. It's a fun ride though. I think everything else would be fine to be just FP, because I think the lines are generally not too bad at DLR during the week, even in the summer.

If only they would decide to do it for just one ride. But they won't. Nor do you really probably want them to. I have often thought that FP at WDW was overhauled into FP+ because of all the complaints about how hard it was to get one for TSMM. (In reality all you really had to do was get there early and it really was not that hard). Now it sells out ahead of time making it very difficult to swap around park days if the weather turns bad or you change plans last minute for a myriad of reasons.

Not sure how things went over the peak days of Christmas, but lately RSR has been less of a hassle to get because they have now connected it to the FP system and can't double dip.

But basically this....... be careful what you wish for. Yes, it would be great to get online and schedule a FP for RSR. But that will never happen in a vacuum. It would likely happen along with a whole host of other changes you might not like. (limit of, addition of FP to rides you don't have one for or want it on, sell-outs of popular rides in advance of the park day).

 

[Suvadoo]

I think what was reported on the podcast is more representative of the average person then what is reported on these boards. Everyone who visits these boards is a trip planner. Regardless of the destination, they research their trips. But I don't think that's respresentative of the whole travel population.

Holy crap, very interesting stuff here. Especially some of the comments about clients, meaning, you know, average people ... not Disney experts, not Disboards people. Very contrary to what we hear here about the average every day person loving FP+.

If RSR had FP+, I can just imagine the problems. The DLR guests would book at 60 days and then local AP holders would book at 30 days, in case they might visit DLR. I just think this would make RSR even harder to get. At least now, if you're willing to arrive at RD, you can get a FP.

But basically this....... be careful what you wish for. Yes, it would be great to get online and schedule a FP for RSR. But that will never happen in a vacuum. It would likely happen along with a whole host of other changes you might not like. (limit of, addition of FP to rides you don't have one for or want it on, sell-outs of popular rides in advance of the park day).

 

[soniam]

Maybe RSR has gotten better since we went in Summer 2013. We got there at RD and had to wait at least an hour in line just to get our FP. The return time was pretty late in the day too. Once in the FP line, we waited more than an hour to ride. We got in line at the beginning of our FP window and didn't ride until after the window had closed. It's worse than anything I've seen at WDW, including TSM and 7DMT. Anna and Elsa may beat this though. I hope it has improved.

FP+ does seem to mess up the locals, which I think is the majority of visitors to DLR.

 

[mom2rtk]

Maybe RSR has gotten better since we went in Summer 2013. We got there at RD and had to wait at least an hour in line just to get our FP. The return time was pretty late in the day too. Once in the FP line, we waited more than an hour to ride. We got in line at the beginning of our FP window and didn't ride until after the window had closed. It's worse than anything I've seen at WDW, including TSM and 7DMT. Anna and Elsa may beat this though. I hope it has improved.

FP+ does seem to mess up the locals, which I think is the majority of visitors to DLR.

The change to connect RSR to the rest of the FP system (preventing pulling another FP for 2 hours) occurred mid to late 2014. Reports are that FPs are lasting longer now.

We have had longer than normal waits to ride it with FP, but never an hour. I do know it has a reputation for going down a lot. Maybe you got there after it had been down for a while?

One advantage legacy FP has in this situation is that FP+ distributes the entire day's FP ahead of time. With legacy FP they turn off distribution at the machines while it's down, mitigating some of the backlog they get when it goes back online.

And I agree that DLR will likely have issues with the large local fan base when this rolls out (if?). It will be fascinating to see.

 

[grimley1968]

I enjoyed it as well. Having hit my 60 day mark and making my FP+ reservations, I'm thinking this will be my last visit for a while.

Sitting there having to guess at what/where I might want to be on any given day was a chore. But, we'll see how it goes.

These have been my thoughts recently as well. We're booked for October, which will be our first experience with FP+ only (we last went while they rolled out FP+ but still had the legacy machines), so we won't hit the 60-day mark until early August. We normally try to plan which park we might go to on each day, according to crowd calendars, our experience, etc. We were pushed into doing that so we could make our ADR's such a long time before trips and not have to make huge treks just to eat. But to get down to the minutiae of planning each attraction 2 months in advance just seems even more ridiculous to me, and a lot like work.

 

[SuperTink]

After seeing what passes as a Level 3 crowd in January, I was really glad to have FPs for our afternoon parks.

I was less thrilled to wait stand-by for 30 minutes for Haunted Mansion on a Level 3 day, but that's the way it went.

 

[SeanTomorrow]

If I were a travel agent, I'd try to frame FP+ and ADRs as an opportunity, not an obligation. Seems like a missed opportunity to create magic for new visitors.

Client A: "How do I know what time I want to go on which rides two months out? This is stupid."
Client B: "From what you described, these 3 rides sound like the most fun. You mean you can guarantee my family a low wait time at each of them? For free? All we have to do is show up within an hour window? Sign me up."

Basically, I think you can create more Client B's by the description you use.

 

[Suvadoo]

After seeing what passes as a Level 3 crowd in January, I was really glad to have FPs for our afternoon parks.

I was less thrilled to wait stand-by for 30 minutes for Haunted Mansion on a Level 3 day, but that's the way it went.

I think that's what the Dis podcasters were saying. If Disney had just changed to FP+ on the same rides that had Legacy FP it wouldn't be as bad. But now there are long SB waits for the classic rides.

IMO that podcast reflected all of the issues I have with FP+ . I'm interested in seeing the results of their Facebook poll next week. Of course, most of the people who watch/listen to the show are hadrcore Disney fans. It would be more interesting to see the results of a WDW exit poll, but we'll never see that.

 

[Suvadoo]

If I were a travel agent, I'd try to frame FP+ and ADRs as an opportunity, not an obligation. Seems like a missed opportunity to create magic for new visitors.

Client A: "How do I know what time I want to go on which rides two months out? This is stupid."
Client B: "From what you described, these 3 rides sound like the most fun. You mean you can guarantee my family a low wait time at each of them? For free? All we have to do is show up within an hour window? Sign me up."

Basically, I think you can create more Client B's by the description you use.

I sincerely doubt the Dreams Unlimited travel agent/ podcasters are telling clients that FP+ is crap. I doubt any travel agent would say that, regardless of what they may think.
On the podcast, they were giving their personal opinions about FP+ and providing their customer feedback, both positive and negative.

 

[SeanTomorrow]

I sincerely doubt the Dreams Unlimited travel agent/ podcasters are telling clients that FP+ is crap. I doubt any travel agent would say that, regardless of what they may think.

Not telling folks that it's "crap" is a pretty low bar, though. I'm talking about the effect of positive positioning on how visitors feel.

For example, you can tell clients that they'd better make ride reservations because lines are so long nowadays (negative positioning). Or you can tell them that they can get three magical opportunities to move to the front on their favorite rides (positive positioning). Same system, but I bet clients would feel more excited about the second one.

 

[SeanTomorrow]

Oh and just to be clear, I'm not arguing that they're bad travel agents! And of course, I don't know how they actually describe things to their clients.

It's just a thought experiment about how would you get someone in a more positive frame of mind.