Fastpass+ or Legacy Fastpass

[CTDisneyfan816]

BUt there are only 4 kiosks areas in MK. When I was there, I had to wait in a line just to find out what rides even had availability. With legacy FP, I was able to use the Disney app to check FP availability before walking to teh actual ride.



There are changes they could make to FP+, that would improve my opinion of it. Shortening the advance planning window. Decreasing the number of advanced FP+ slots to allow for more in park choices. Removing teirs and allowing re-rides.

Four is still better than one. And if you have a smart phone, you don't even need to wait in any lines, just bring it up on your phone!

 

[EMom]

We loved legacy FP and used it all the time. We like to repeat the headliners several times a day and could easily pull 7-9 FP every day. We managed our time well.

FP+ is a huge negative for our family. We will not wait in a long standby line, so if we don't get a FP+, the odds of riding certain attractions is slim to none. The ability to ride headliners multiple times per day is also slim to none. FP+ has created long waits at attractions that didn't have waits in the past.

It was such a negative that it seemed a waste to spend thousands of dollars for a greatly diminished experience, so we canceled our last WDW trip and we started going to Universal instead. IT IS SO EASY!!!! No stress, just go and have a good time. Yes, we do spend the money to stay onsite so we get FOTL, but with FOTL you don't need to stay as many days so it evens out.

FP+ turned WDW into more work than vacation and that sent us to its competition. We may do DLR someday, so long as they do not adopt FP+.

WDW should have spent that $1+ billion on new attractions instead of FP+.

 

[secretpantssam]

Disney could have easily converted legacy FP to a paperless electronic system using MBs as the ticket medium, so the paper savings could have been accomplished without FP+.

I vote for this! I don't mind having the fastpass on my magic band and if it's one at a time I'll be able to remember easier. I just hate having to pick things 60 days out and having to choice 3. And the tiers make it annyoing to to to see the rides I would need a fastpass for.

 

[Tarheel girl 1975]

Four is still better than one. And if you have a smart phone, you don't even need to wait in any lines, just bring it up on your phone!

Where was there only one kiosk? And that functionality isn't available for 4th FP or beyond. You have to use a kiosk.

 

[Mikie]

I'm torn. I think FP+ worked better for my family because:
- we didn't have to physically go to the ride to pull a FP
- we weren't shut out of FP for headliners.

By "shut out" I mean FPs fully distributed by noon (TSMM or Soarin) or that have such late return times as to be useless to me (Space mountain, sometimes Splash mountain, Test Track, Everest, RockNRoller Coaster)

Legacy could have addressed my first issue by simply making the app and adding centralized kiosks but still distributing them day-of. I thnk only advance booking solves the second issue for non-rope droppers.

I didn't like trying to imagine the flow of my day at 60 days out, but once I was in the park enjoying my trip, it was much better for my family. We toured more efficiently knowing we had favorites booked at certain times and didn't waste steps criss-crossing the park. Definitely a trade off.

 

[jamieann]

I voted for legacy just because when I was in school in Florida my friends and I would plan our days so well that by the end of the day we had used 8 or 9 fast passes. We always went rope drop to close and knew exactly how to get the most bang for our buck out of fast pass. I do think FastPass+ will work well for upcoming trips now that I live back in KY and have visited the parks many times. Since I don't feel the need to do every ride on every trip, we're a bit more leisurely so not having to be at the gate for rope drop every morning is a welcome change. I miss some aspects of legacy fast pass, but I'm trying to embrace FastPass+ and its benefits.

 

[ZoZo]

I don't have a smart phone so I cannot even carry my "scheduled" times with me or easily see alternate times, etc.

Also, as an annual visitor with no children, there are certain rides that I prefer to ride multiple times. FP+ doesn't give us much of an option to ride our favorite rides multiple times during a short trip.

I agree - I really liked the old system better, for several reasons:

I don't have a smart phone, so must keep track of my FPs on a notecard! And it's not a convenient to make changes if you have to go to a kiosk every time.

I don't like to have to plan ahead much. I used to have a loose plan of which park on which day, but it was nice to know I could change my mind at the last minute without having to go to a whole bunch of extra work changing FPs. It's especially hard when you don't have a smart phone! I feel like FP+ has killed a lot of the fun spontenaeity of my trips.

I was also a "super user" of FP-, often using 6 or 7 FPs per day.

I liked repeating the same rides more than once. That was pretty easy to do with FP-. Especially since there wasn't any tiering!

I used FP+ for the first time February of this year, and that was when we were strictly limited to 3 FPs per day, period. That was awful! It was very limiting. Now that they let you have extra FPs after you use your first three, I think I'd like it better, but I don't like the fact that you have to use a kiosk for those, and be present in the actual park you're using them for if you park-hop. What a pain.

I "sort of" like FP+, but definitely preferred the legacy FP system. Oh, well - nothing to do but adapt to the new system!

 

[AndreaA]

I have to go with legacy, even though we barely used it. FP+ causes longer standby lines for tier2 attractions much earlier in the morning. We do RopeDrop and the advantage of doing so is quickly diminishing.

 

[flicx]

This will be a blow out. Legacy will win by a large margin.

 

[BuzzinDownToDisney]

Personally I like FP+ more. There was nothing worse than getting to the parks an hour after opening, heading to Space Mountain and getting a return time for 6pm. Even worse now that I have a kid, I'd hate to get one for between 2-5pm when we are taking a critical midday break.

 

[PEC]

This is a myth, and TSMM was the exception to the rule (and has become the poster child for MDE). I never saw any other attraction run out of FP- prior to mid afternoon, at least not until they were performing FP+ testing and were drawing off the same pool.

Soarin and Test Track were gone around noon often times. Peter Pan would have a return time about 4 or 5 hours out by mid to late afternoon. I remember tracking the Peter Pan and knew I would get a FP- after our Dinner and had it figured out that between 3-4 PM the FP- would be availavable around 7:30 to 8:30.

 

[Dawn68PA]

I don't have to "commando" mornings anymore! I can choose what time to have my FP. I could never have a "spa" morning before. Now I can and make my FPs for later in the day. There's no mystery to what time my FP will be for like when I used to get them in the park. Sometimes we'd have to hang around for hours just to use them. Wasted day. Solid planning now. I work the new system around dinner, golf and relaxing at the resort!

 

[johde]

I'm torn. I think FP+ worked better for my family because:
- we didn't have to physically go to the ride to pull a FP
- we weren't shut out of FP for headliners.

By "shut out" I mean FPs fully distributed by noon (TSMM or Soarin) or that have such late return times as to be useless to me (Space mountain, sometimes Splash mountain, Test Track, Everest, RockNRoller Coaster)

Legacy could have addressed my first issue by simply making the app and adding centralized kiosks but still distributing them day-of. I thnk only advance booking solves the second issue for non-rope droppers.

There was a test at AK with doing centralized legacy FP distribution back in July/Aug of 2009. The FP machines were moved to the "It's a Bug's Life" FP distribution area. You could get your FP there or at the attraction. It lasted a few weeks and was never seen again.

 

[ncdj2013]

What I miss about the old system was that we often had 4 people in our party, 3 adults and 1 child. We could get 4 FPs for something like Peter Pan and then DD could ride with 1 adult and then ride again with another adult. This didn't increase the line for anyone, but DD got to ride the rides she loved multiple times. That was nice.

You can still do that. Just swap Magic Bands.

 

[LoraJ]

I am really not liking it so far. Each time I plan a Disney trip they are catering more and more to the over-planners which makes it more and more stressful for someone like me who would prefer to be spontaneous. I like to plan based on weather. Now I have to know where I want to eat 90 or 180 days in advance. And now I have to pick a time for when I want to ride rides?

We always got to ride what we wanted to with legacy fast passes. This time I doubt I will get to ride Soarin' or TSM. We just don't like standing in long lines. Yes, I know it is Disney and we should expect to, but for years we got around that with legacy FP. We do not go when it's a busy season for a reason. And now I have been peeking at ride wait times and can't get over the long waits for rides that you could basically walk on in past trips.

I liked being able to go to the parks and grab a fast pass for our top ride and then ride another before lines got too long. Then as the day went on you could judge by standby wait vs. FP return time.

I still do not really understand this system and why it was giving me FP's for rides I had no desire to go on lumped in with Test Track. I do not like that I have park hoppers and can only use FP's for one park and hope I get something for the next. If this is as bad as some are reporting, we will probably also be done with WDW for a while. I hope Disneyland does not go this direction.

 

[Shaden]

This is a myth, and TSMM was the exception to the rule (and has become the poster child for MDE). I never saw any other attraction run out of FP- prior to mid afternoon, at least not until they were performing FP+ testing and were drawing off the same pool.

I have, Soarin' was more often than not gone shortly after noon, at least when I've gone, same with Space Mountain.

Another advantage of FP+ that I forgot to include. You don't have to walk to the actual ride to get it. So no more mad dashes and knocking past anyone you have to in order to do so, to run to TSM or the popular ride at each park to get it. Just at the comfort of your own home or even if you wait to get there, any kiosk to get the FP.

Absolutely true- and by early afternoon, forget TOT or Everest, just to name a few more. By early evening, the list included most all the headliners. It's not a myth, it's a fact.

And that's not even including the problem of being able to get one at noon, but the return time was late at night. Once they stopped allowing you to use them with expired times, it became even worse.

Lug has already done a good job of this ... but here goes ...

This is a terrible argument, FPs running out for headliners happened under legacy, sure, but we were able to pull fps for just about any ride even well into the evening. This is in February and May. The busy days 7+ crowd levels only make up about a third of the year. On lower crowd days legacy fps could be pulled throughoutthe day.

Crowd level is important, its important under both systems. But if your worry is availability, the new system is decidedly worse. Now its possible ( and happens) that the fps you want are gone before you even get a chance to book them. At least underlegacy if you wanted a fp, and you showed up at rd , or even near rd, you got the fp you wanted, even on the busiest day of the year. Not so anymore.

 

[JoshuaShaw]

I think my biggest complaint about FP+ has less to do with the actual system and more to do with the implementation. One of the reasons I prefer legacy to + is because it was only available at select, high-demand rides. Expanding the FastPass system to all attractions has inflated wait times at previously low-wait attractions, even people-eaters like Pirates of the Caribbean, Spaceship Earth, and The Haunted Mansion.

 

[flicx]

I think my biggest complaint about FP+ has less to do with the actual system and more to do with the implementation. One of the reasons I prefer legacy to + is because it was only available at select, high-demand rides. Expanding the FastPass system to all attractions has inflated wait times at previously low-wait attractions, even people-eaters like Pirates of the Caribbean, Spaceship Earth, and The Haunted Mansion.

A very valid point! One that often gets overlooked.

 

[flicx]

Lug has already done a good job of this ... but here goes ...

This is a terrible argument, FPs running out for headliners happened under legacy, sure, but we were able to pull fps for just about any ride even well into the evening. This is in February and May. The busy days 7+ crowd levels only make up about a third of the year. On lower crowd days legacy fps could be pulled throughoutthe day.

Crowd level is important, its important under both systems. But if your worry is availability, the new system is decidedly worse. Now its possible ( and happens) that the fps you want are gone before you even get a chance to book them. At least underlegacy if you wanted a fp, and you showed up at rd , or even near rd, you got the fp you wanted, even on the busiest day of the year. Not so anymore.

I agree 100% here. We didn't go the busiest times of the year and we always got fast passes for what we wanted to see. Even when soaring and TSM first opened. We weren't rope dropping either we went with in the first hour or 2 of opening. If anything ran out it was always afternoon. Legacy worked it wasn't broken. They could have streamlined it, sure. I am not so sure the idea of kiosks all over the park that allow you to grab legacy fast passes one at a time with the 2 hour window in between passes isn't the right answer. No more walking, everyone has an equal shot, and I think the lines subside for the non top tier attractions. They could keep their fancy bracelets and just use them to get the legacy fast pass. Disney still gathers data guests are happy and so on. As an added perk Disney could have a fast pass machine installed at the resorts so you could grab one while your on the way. That way the people who sleep in could have a shot too.

 

[Suvadoo]

I agree 100% here. We didn't go the busiest times of the year and we always got fast passes for what we wanted to see. Even when soaring and TSM first opened. We weren't rope dropping either we went with in the first hour or 2 of opening. If anything ran out it was always afternoon. Legacy worked it wasn't broken. They could have streamlined it, sure. I am not so sure the idea of kiosks all over the park that allow you to grab legacy fast passes one at a time with the 2 hour window in between passes isn't the right answer. No more walking, everyone has an equal shot, and I think the lines subside for the non top tier attractions. They could keep their fancy bracelets and just use them to get the legacy fast pass. Disney still gathers data guests are happy and so on. As an added perk Disney could have a fast pass machine installed at the resorts so you could grab one while your on the way. That way the people who sleep in could have a shot too.

IMO this is a reasonable solution, if they went back to just the E attractions only. It really bugs me that POTC and HM are FP attractions. Also, I can't believe disney had the audacity to make Figment and EO FP+ attractions. I though it was kind of insulting to their guests.