I'm guessing our family is done with Disney

[DisMomme]

FP+ actually allowed us to sleep in without having to make rope drop to do our favorite rides. I'm sorry you have decided to bail without even attempting to make it work to your advantage. We certainly did, and loved the new system.

This exactly! I hated getting up at the break of dawn to run to get fastpasses. We always planned what park we would be in for the day, now we can plan the fastpasses too.

 

[MrInfinity]

I could not change my FP+ times, because MDE would block hours blocks around my ADRs. With 2 ADRs per day, most of my day was artificially blocked.

How would you go on rides during a meal?

The cc guarantee for all restaurant reservations is extremely inflexible. You should be able to cancel up to 1 hour in advance without penalty. Trust me, they would fill those tables.

This isn't to fill the tables, this is to prevent ppl who would book things they aren't going to use from taking those spots from other ppl who actually want them.

For every ADR you double book and throw away at the last minute some other family wasn't able to get one. Before ppl would book every restaurant at the park then just show up to the one they want. That's really rude and should be stopped if you think about it...

See you at Disney!

 

[Angel Ariel]

How would you go on rides during a meal?

IIRC, the fp+ system blocks you from reserving rides in the windows 1 hr prior and 2 hrs after an adr. So if you have an 1130 am ADR for lunch, and a 5pm ADR for dinner, you wouldn't be able to make ride reservations between 10:30-1:30 and 4-7. That only leaves 2.5 hrs to make 3 ride reservations (if you don't make morning fp+ because you are at rope drop and don't need them then, and leaving the parks earlier in the evening to get a small child to bed).

We only do 1 ADR/ day, but on our trips with DD we frequently got to the parks around 930/10 and left for the night around 7/730...so *if* we did do two adrs/ day, I could definitely see being frustrated with the Fp+/ADR restriction.

 

[MrInfinity]

IIRC, the fp+ system blocks you from reserving rides in the windows 1 hr prior and 2 hrs after an adr. So if you have an 1130 am ADR for lunch, and a 5pm ADR for dinner, you wouldn't be able to make ride reservations between 10:30-1:30 and 4-7. That only leaves 2.5 hrs to make 3 ride reservations (if you don't make morning fp+ because you are at rope drop and don't need them then, and leaving the parks earlier in the evening to get a small child to bed).

We only do 1 ADR/ day, but on our trips with DD we frequently got to the parks around 930/10 and left for the night around 7/730...so *if* we did do two adrs/ day, I could definitely see being frustrated with the Fp+/ADR restriction.

Are you sure about this? We have ADRs for 8am and 5pm, yet I'm able to pick FPs for any time 9:00 on... including right during my dinner reservation. Not that I'd want to do that...

 

[Angel Ariel]

Are you sure about this? We have ADRs for 8am and 5pm, yet I'm able to pick FPs for any time 9:00 on... including right during my dinner reservation. Not that I'd want to do that...

I have read quite a few reports of people who have discussed the restriction. I think there is some workaround...depends on which you schedule first (fp+ or adr), but I'm not entirely sure what it is.

 

[Queen2PrincessG]

I had 3 FP+ and two adrs. Never had an issue. I think the issue is 50 Disney 50 user.

The "Vet's abused the OG FP system and took advantage of Disney Cms in many ways. Not everything was great about the old way. I did not want to wake up at the crack of dawn for a FP. Some days we did some days we didn't. It was blissful this last trip because we were able to take our time and enjoy the little things without having to worry about FPs, they were made months in advance.k

This new system allows for the good old days of a leisure vacation and not packing everything into one trip. That is not relaxing to most people. Also this system is now going back to the day of actually standing in line and enjoying the little details that imagineers have worked their butts off thinking about. Take time to actually immerse yourself in it. Put your phone down and look around. Take a moment to actually be there versus planning every little detail and minute. That is what all the A types are missing.

 

[btk2333]

It's not just the FP+ issue. It's that the changes being made, made our last vacation not feel very "vacationy." Here are some reasons, all stemming from changes in the last few months:

I completely disliked having to select in advance times for FP+. We only used 1-2 FP+ per day, but used FP 3-5 times per day that trip. Now that FP is defunct, we would need to go with FP+ times.

Personally, I am a big fan of schedule times- it let's me plan my day with ADR's and RD without doing the FP run that we used to need to do. It's also always been easy to switch FP+'s out for different times/attractions, which was not possible with legacy.

I could not change my FP+ times, because MDE would block hours blocks around my ADRs. With 2 ADRs per day, most of my day was artificially blocked.

I've heard this from other people; however, I've always been able to book overlapping with my ADR's (November, December and February). As a matter of fact I just tested it for next week to see if something changes by booking an ADR for next week and then trying to book overlapping FP+'s, I was able to do it no problem... (don't worry I immediately cancelled everything- not holding FP+'s and ADR's from others) On our last trip we had several FP+'s that overlapped

The cc guarantee for all restaurant reservations is extremely inflexible. You should be able to cancel up to 1 hour in advance without penalty. Trust me, they would fill those tables.

I disagree- the reasoning for the CC guarantee is that they were NOT filling those tables and there were many people making reservations for several restaurants at once and then just picking the one they wanted to go to. I find the new system very helpful, we have been able to snag very last minute reservations (BoG and Le Cellier the morning of) making the dining parts of our trips more flexible. The CC guarantee would not have been necessary if so many people weren't abusing the system.

Their ADR system will not show reservations unless you are at least 2 hours out. So, if you suddenly have the desire to eat, you better plan 2+ hours in advance.

Well if you are closer than 2 hours out, then you're not really making a reservation... Just go to the restaurant and check in- it's not like call ahead seating at a local restaurant.

Not enough not being made in new rides, or truly new experiences.

While I always wish more were opening, I can't complain about New Fantasyland and Storybook Circus. I'm not a fan but Avatar is being built at DAK. There's plenty of new things to keep me coming back. We've always been able to find something we've never done before and we've been close to 30 times.

We got the impression they are cutting down on non-ride experiences and parades. The week we were there, MSEP was cancelled a few weeks prior for the Monday. That left only 2 days that week to watch the parade. Guess what? It rained and we could not see the parade. I think they got rid of the daytime parade too.

This is a common complaint of going at slow times. You trade crowd levels for lower staffing and fewer nighttime entertainment.

Overall, it just seemed like the WDW vacation has taken a turn towards scheduling in a way I don't care for on vacation. With so many other things my family can do for the $$, we will likely wait a few years before thinking whether we want to return.

I think you have reached a good conclusion for your family. We are big schedulers- I want to know where I"m eating and what I'm doing as much as possible before even leaving on vacation. It makes the vacation much less stressful- if we want to call audibles we can; however, having plans helps give our day a skeleton. I hope you are able to find vacation destinations that meet your goals- there are many great places to visit!

 

[btk2333]

Are you sure about this? We have ADRs for 8am and 5pm, yet I'm able to pick FPs for any time 9:00 on... including right during my dinner reservation. Not that I'd want to do that...

I've always been able to overlap my ADR's too- I've been confused by people who claim this because I change my ADR's and FP+'s rather frequently and have never run into this block before...

 

[AmyB2006]

IIRC, the fp+ system blocks you from reserving rides in the windows 1 hr prior and 2 hrs after an adr. So if you have an 1130 am ADR for lunch, and a 5pm ADR for dinner, you wouldn't be able to make ride reservations between 10:30-1:30 and 4-7. That only leaves 2.5 hrs to make 3 ride reservations (if you don't make morning fp+ because you are at rope drop and don't need them then, and leaving the parks earlier in the evening to get a small child to bed).

We only do 1 ADR/ day, but on our trips with DD we frequently got to the parks around 930/10 and left for the night around 7/730...so *if* we did do two adrs/ day, I could definitely see being frustrated with the Fp+/ADR restriction.

I have not found this to be the case. I have 2 ADRs every day, breakfast and dinner, and IF I wanted to, (but why would I? LOL) it would let me schedule FP+ right through my ADRs.

It doesn't originally schedule them that way when you select them new and pick the best option maybe, but when you go in to change the times, every hour pops up from 8 or 9 am till close.

 

[Luckybee]

I have not found this to be the case. I have 2 ADRs every day, breakfast and dinner, and IF I wanted to, (but why would I? LOL) it would let me schedule FP+ right through my ADRs.

It doesn't originally schedule them that way when you select them new and pick the best option maybe, but when you go in to change the times, every hour pops up from 8 or 9 am till close.

Isn't that a problem though in and of itself ? Dh and I are not wd regulars by any stretch. We have never been uber planners for our infrequent trips to
Disney. Other than those here who are I would suspect that most using the app or online wouldn't have a clue that they would have to rejuggle their choices and change the times to force them to work. If I was booking, and had not seen this here I would have likely been frustrated as heck as was the poster who raised this issue, which I suspect many others are with these issues.

I would hazard a guess that there are more like me that there are experts.

Imho the biggest problem with the entire testing mess is a complete and utter lack of official info. Little on the web site about how to correct problems, nothing about when various groups get access, little about tiers. I could go on and on. One should not have to go on a scavenger hunt throughout the web to obtain info on a system operated by Disney, or any company for that matter. One should not have to pay a small fortune for holidays to be a "tester" only to have repeated problems with no compensation. It's why hotels doing renovations, or that have restaurants closed offer discounted pricing. With all the problems that so many have found who have utilized the system only to be told "its still in testing" one can't help but wonder what were they thinking. It is almost like D assumed that everyone using the new system had both super knowledge of all things Disney, and were IT proficient and that imho is the biggest problem of all.

 

[AmyB2006]

Isn't that a problem though in and of itself ? Dh and I are not wd regulars by any stretch. We have never been uber planners for our infrequent trips to
Disney. Other than those here who are I would suspect that most using the app or online wouldn't have a clue that they would have to rejuggle their choices and change the times to force them to work. If I was booking, and had not seen this here I would have likely been frustrated as heck as was the poster who raised this issue, which I suspect many others are with these issues.

I would hazard a guess that there are more like me that there are experts.

Imho the biggest problem with the entire testing mess is a complete and utter lack of official info. Little on the web site about how to correct problems, nothing about when various groups get access, little about tiers. I could go on and on. One should not have to go on a scavenger hunt throughout the web to obtain info on a system operated by Disney, or any company for that matter. One should not have to pay a small fortune for holidays to be a "tester" only to have repeated problems with no compensation. It's why hotels doing renovations, or that have restaurants closed offer discounted pricing. With all the problems that so many have found who have utilized the system only to be told "its still in testing" one can't help but wonder what were they thinking. It is almost like D assumed that everyone using the new system had both super knowledge of all things Disney, and were IT proficient and that imho is the biggest problem of all.

Well I won't disagree that this whole process has been a small disaster, LOL, but, no, I don't see it as a problem, because why would you want to schedule a FP+ during or too close to an ADR that you might miss?

I think that's probably built in by Disney on the initial selections to avoid people choosing those times and then realizing they have an ADR at the same time.

If you don't like a time you can go an change it. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not crazy about the system either. I would rather it pop up all the available times, and allow me to pick the times I want, but I think Disney wants to have more "control" than that. They want to "guide" people to certain times. Again, not crazy about it, but I'm not a rocket scientist and I figured it out.

I'm hoping that once it's fully rolled out it might be a little different but who knows.

 

[Luckybee]

I think you misunderstood me. Whether you or I might wish to book close or not to an ADR isn't the issue, someone else might.

By problem what I meant was that no where is there material telling people that they would get the various forms of different results if they go in and do the gerrymandering work arounds to "tweak" their results. So the person, such as the poster who raised this, did not realize that he/she could have rejuggled and not had the large blocks of time they couldn't use and were unhappy with.

My point is that the "official" information on this multi billion dollar plan is sorely lacking. A company's customers should not have to find alternative sources for "how to use " info

 

[vinotinto]

IIRC, the fp+ system blocks you from reserving rides in the windows 1 hr prior and 2 hrs after an adr. So if you have an 1130 am ADR for lunch, and a 5pm ADR for dinner, you wouldn't be able to make ride reservations between 10:30-1:30 and 4-7. That only leaves 2.5 hrs to make 3 ride reservations (if you don't make morning fp+ because you are at rope drop and don't need them then, and leaving the parks earlier in the evening to get a small child to bed). We only do 1 ADR/ day, but on our trips with DD we frequently got to the parks around 930/10 and left for the night around 7/730...so *if* we did do two adrs/ day, I could definitely see being frustrated with the Fp+/ADR restriction.

This was my experience for every single day / every single ADR, including ones that were in the park, less than 5 minutes away from the FP+ ride. I made the ADRs first, not sure if that was the problem, but I could not make FP prior or 2 hours after ADR, and then I could not overlap FP+. Frustrating to hear others were able to overlap with ADRs and we weren't. I knew I didn't need the equivalent of a 3 hour block of time for eating, especially since our lunches were at the parks.

 

[Sid8er]

I've always been able to overlap my ADR's too- I've been confused by people who claim this because I change my ADR's and FP+'s rather frequently and have never run into this block before...

Me too. I don't know what people are talking about. Has not been my experience at all. I have a FP+ at enchanted tales from 3:20-4:20, then ADR at BOG at 4:20. The hour of the ADR is blocked, but nothing before or after.

 

[vinotinto]

It is almost like D assumed that everyone using the new system had both super knowledge of all things Disney, and were IT proficient and that imho is the biggest problem of all.

Yes. Not everyone feels comfortable enough with technology. I did all the reservations for my mom, who doesn't even have a smartphone. And FP+ requires a certain level of knowledge about WDW.

I cherish the vacations where I leave the phone in the safe.

They've been gathering a lot of feedback through surveys, so I'm hopeful that things will change.

 

[vinotinto]

Me too. I don't know what people are talking about. Has not been my experience at all. I have a FP+ at enchanted tales from 3:20-4:20, then ADR at BOG at 4:20. The hour of the ADR is blocked, but nothing before or after.

I wonder if they are "testing" the amount of time around ADRs. It's the only explanation I can come up with. I even went to the concierge to see if he could override it and he could not!

 

[Angel Ariel]

Well I won't disagree that this whole process has been a small disaster, LOL, but, no, I don't see it as a problem, because why would you want to schedule a FP+ during or too close to an ADR that you might miss?

I think that's probably built in by Disney on the initial selections to avoid people choosing those times and then realizing they have an ADR at the same time.

If you don't like a time you can go an change it. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not crazy about the system either. I would rather it pop up all the available times, and allow me to pick the times I want, but I think Disney wants to have more "control" than that. They want to "guide" people to certain times. Again, not crazy about it, but I'm not a rocket scientist and I figured it out.

I'm hoping that once it's fully rolled out it might be a little different but who knows.

It seems the poster in question was unaware of how to change the times as you were able to with yours. It may not be rocket science, but it shouldn't take as many steps as disney is making it take either. I get that they want to guide people where to be and when, but most meals do not take 2 hours.

 

[Planogirl]

The lack of information has been ridiculous. It was so odd when resorts were changing one after the other and people only found out due to CM's being kind enough to post information. Disney never said a word.

I believe that if travelers were better informed then there might not be nearly as much worry about all of this.

 

[HerbieCart]

Just hope you don't show up on a day after they have implemented an upgrade. My Disney experience will be like visiting health care.gov. Have visited multiple times a year (except Christmas because I am not that crazy) and have never experienced the wait time a for snoozer rides that FP+ had now created. 45 minutes for Pirates? !? Not liking the new system at all. I realize it is in test mode but YUCK.

 

[practicallyperfect77]

The lack of information has been ridiculous. It was so odd when resorts were changing one after the other and people only found out due to CM's being kind enough to post information. Disney never said a word.

I believe that if travelers were better informed then there might not be nearly as much worry about all of this.

A-freakin'-men! The lack of info is what frustrates the heck outta me. It was a great feeling to stay at Pop and be the only resort guests on MB only and not able to pull paper FPs back in Dec. I had a great trip but definitely wasn't able to ride as much as I could have if I had access to paper FP.