My husband didn't believe me about FP+

[GaryDis]

That's weird. Space just broke down on us this past trip after we had scanned at both FP points, and we got paper anytime FPs that were good for a week. It has happened to us on TSMM as well and we got the same thing (on a previous trip but with FP+) Maybe that is just something they don't do at Dumbo?

While I wouldn't be getting a FP for Dumbo, I suppose it's theoretically possible that they don't do the anytime FPs at some rides. But if it were a ride I cared about, I'd be elevating the issue, starting by asking the CM to call a manager.

Maybe the only allow the more experienced CMs to issue the special case FPs, and Dumbo gets the most junior CMs? (Just idle speculation.)

 

[ArwenMarie]

While I wouldn't be getting a FP for Dumbo, I suppose it's theoretically possible that they don't do the anytime FPs at some rides. But if it were a ride I cared about, I'd be elevating the issue, starting by asking the CM to call a manager.

Maybe the only allow the more experienced CMs to issue the special case FPs, and Dumbo gets the most junior CMs? (Just idle speculation.)

Yeah, could be a ride by ride thing or a CM decision.

 

[grnflash]

The culture of the LA locals seems to be very different than Orlando, at least as far as I can tell from listening to the DLR podcast. Most if not all of that team has experienced fp+ at wdw, and I don't think many (if any at all) of the podcast team thought bringing fp+ to dlr would go over well with the CA locals.

I'm in CA so a DL'er. I follow these threads with interest, as I enjoy regular FP here and try to keep up on any clues that things may change at DL and thus be prepared for FP+. What I find so interesting in all this though is how differently DL treats it's base (AP's) vs WDW (tourists.)

I'm amazed and shocked really. Here they throw us parties, send us calendars and limited edition prints, reopen refurbed rides to AP's exclusively for the first week or two etc. etc. They plus the park in little ways to enhance the "specialness" of the place - the return of the Hatbox Ghost, the addition of The Little Man of Disneyland, etc. And of course we get discounts. All for what I consider to be amazingly low AP prices. I never understand when people complain about the overall value of an AP.

But at WDW the base must pay a much higher price for the experience and yet seems to be at such mercy of ever-changing practices, oft mistunderstood procedures (by CM's), and regularly poor-performing it dynamics. While I'll be clear that my hope is to never get FP+ here, I'll deal if and when it happens. But to deal with it in the way WDW has rolled out the program, that's another matter. Whether or not I would like FP+ is not the question, I can handle change and go with the flow. As long as the flow doesn't require midnight hurdles to maybe, or maybe not, get a ride. Or maybe it's not midnight. Maybe it's 1am. Or maybe once I get my 3 rides, one (or all) will vanish. For one of us, but not the other. Or the app won't work. Or I'm sent through a series of revolving doors to resolve a "glitch", possibly to no fruition. Or. or. or.

I'll be honest. I don't get it. This isn't about whether FP+ touring would work well for us or not. It's about FP+ itself working. Not to mention being user friendly, reliable, et al. And at the cost of a WDW vacation, wow, I just don't get how Disney thinks it's ok to have their guests jump through hoops and then still deal with the frustrations and disappointments they seem to have caused many guests.

Since FP+ has not been implemented in any way out here yet, I do think they are actually reconsidering or at least revamping any future implementation at DL. At least I hope that's the case.

 

[flicx]

I just don't get how Disney thinks it's ok to have their guests jump through hoops and then still deal with the frustrations and disappointments they seem to have caused many guests.

Since FP+ has not been implemented in any way out here yet, I do think they are actually reconsidering or at least revamping any future implementation at DL. At least I hope that's the case.

There is a vast number of us who wonder the same things. As far as Disneyland goes I hope I make it there before this glitchy, high maintenance, uber planning system does!

 

[xmansmom]

That's weird. Space just broke down on us this past trip after we had scanned at both FP points, and we got paper anytime FPs that were good for a week. It has happened to us on TSMM as well and we got the same thing (on a previous trip but with FP+) Maybe that is just something they don't do at Dumbo?

This happened last year so I assume they weren't really prepared for all the "what ifs" It sounds like they've fixed this problem. If it had been for a different/better ride we may have pushed the issue. When I chose the FPs it was really slim pickings. It was more the attitude and the fact that they weren't better prepared to handle this issue that ticked us off.

 

[safroim]

There are unintended consequences with having to make ADRs or FP+ reservations so far in advance, and not being able to get everything you wanted. It's the feeling of already being disappointed in your vacation long before you even get to take it. Those folks who take infrequent trips to WDW and want to be able to meet A&E, ride 7DMT and eat at BOG all on the same day are a lucky few, while the rest who want to do the same but find out months ahead that they won't be allowed to have to change their expectations and end up feeling that their trip has somehow been lessened.

Not true at all. You can still do all of those things, you just have to wait in the stand-by line. People would stop being so upset about FP+ if some would stop creating such hysteria about it. Just because you can't get a FP for 7DMT doesn't mean you can't ride it. You just don't get to skip the line. If that ruins your vacation, you've got bigger problems than FP+.

 

[safroim]

Sadly you're right and they won't care until John and Sally stop vacationing there. The Guest Services CMs have been told to stop passing along complaints about the new system to management which is the first sign they don't care about the end user experience.

You realize that's not going to happen right? Every every family that stops vacation at Disney, there's five more that start. Attendance is at an all time high and short of a serious recession, that isn't going to stop anytime soon. Disney is one of the biggest, most profitable companies in the US, possible the world, #11 on the Forbes list. They have some of the best people in their industries working them, they certainly aren't going to let people that don't like FP+ cut into their bottom line.

 

[crostorfer]

I'm in CA so a DL'er. I follow these threads with interest, as I enjoy regular FP here and try to keep up on any clues that things may change at DL and thus be prepared for FP+. What I find so interesting in all this though is how differently DL treats it's base (AP's) vs WDW (tourists.)

I'm amazed and shocked really. Here they throw us parties, send us calendars and limited edition prints, reopen refurbed rides to AP's exclusively for the first week or two etc. etc. They plus the park in little ways to enhance the "specialness" of the place - the return of the Hatbox Ghost, the addition of The Little Man of Disneyland, etc. And of course we get discounts. All for what I consider to be amazingly low AP prices. I never understand when people complain about the overall value of an AP.

But at WDW the base must pay a much higher price for the experience and yet seems to be at such mercy of ever-changing practices, oft mistunderstood procedures (by CM's), and regularly poor-performing it dynamics. While I'll be clear that my hope is to never get FP+ here, I'll deal if and when it happens. But to deal with it in the way WDW has rolled out the program, that's another matter. Whether or not I would like FP+ is not the question, I can handle change and go with the flow. As long as the flow doesn't require midnight hurdles to maybe, or maybe not, get a ride. Or maybe it's not midnight. Maybe it's 1am. Or maybe once I get my 3 rides, one (or all) will vanish. For one of us, but not the other. Or the app won't work. Or I'm sent through a series of revolving doors to resolve a "glitch", possibly to no fruition. Or. or. or.

I'll be honest. I don't get it. This isn't about whether FP+ touring would work well for us or not. It's about FP+ itself working. Not to mention being user friendly, reliable, et al. And at the cost of a WDW vacation, wow, I just don't get how Disney thinks it's ok to have their guests jump through hoops and then still deal with the frustrations and disappointments they seem to have caused many guests.

Since FP+ has not been implemented in any way out here yet, I do think they are actually reconsidering or at least revamping any future implementation at DL. At least I hope that's the case.

Disneyland's bread and butter are it's local annual passholders. TDA knows this, and caters to you as such. You are needed, and appreciated. Disney World's clientele is a different demo, and the percentage of daily visitors that are locals is dwarfed by the first time visitor, only time visitor, and foreign visitor. For many families, WDW is a once in a lifetime experience. TDO knows this, and won't cater to their locals as such, because they don't need them, (or at least they don't need them as badly as DLR does.) I think Anaheim figured out very quickly that FP+ won't work for their parks, I doubt we will ever see it there.

 

[3DisneyFanz]

Not true at all. You can still do all of those things, you just have to wait in the stand-by line. People would stop being so upset about FP+ if some would stop creating such hysteria about it. Just because you can't get a FP for 7DMT doesn't mean you can't ride it. You just don't get to skip the line. If that ruins your vacation, you've got bigger problems than FP+.

You might want to contact Disney marketing then since they are the ones making the hype implying it allows you to skip lines for whatever you want. They show people running up to all the headliners not Journey Into Imagination or the Teacups. Clearly when they tell people they can walk right up to Anna and Elsa and then they find out that isn't true it's not going to build good feelings for the future.

 

[3DisneyFanz]

You realize that's not going to happen right? Every every family that stops vacation at Disney, there's five more that start. Attendance is at an all time high and short of a serious recession, that isn't going to stop anytime soon. Disney is one of the biggest, most profitable companies in the US, possible the world, #11 on the Forbes list. They have some of the best people in their industries working them, they certainly aren't going to let people that don't like FP+ cut into their bottom line.

They would love if their attendance figures were growing that fast but that's more along the lines of Universal's growth. Every company is susceptible to poor choices hurting business but it rarely happens overnight so growth now doesn't mean it continues 3 years from now. Disney's history is full of sponsors who were once the top company in their industry and later found themselves either completely out of business or struggling to maintain their presence in the market. I realize the odds are long on this happening to Disney based on their diversity of products but each component of the company can see its own impact. Clearly they've figured out though that rubber bracelets and ride rationing isn't the solution to long term success or they wouldn't have announced all of the expansion at HS. Just think of all the cool stuff you could be doing if that 2 billion investment had gone into attractions that benefit the guest.

 

[BostonJP]

I'm in CA so a DL'er. I follow these threads with interest, as I enjoy regular FP here and try to keep up on any clues that things may change at DL and thus be prepared for FP+. What I find so interesting in all this though is how differently DL treats it's base (AP's) vs WDW (tourists.)

I'm amazed and shocked really. Here they throw us parties, send us calendars and limited edition prints, reopen refurbed rides to AP's exclusively for the first week or two etc. etc. They plus the park in little ways to enhance the "specialness" of the place - the return of the Hatbox Ghost, the addition of The Little Man of Disneyland, etc. And of course we get discounts. All for what I consider to be amazingly low AP prices. I never understand when people complain about the overall value of an AP.

But at WDW the base must pay a much higher price for the experience and yet seems to be at such mercy of ever-changing practices, oft mistunderstood procedures (by CM's), and regularly poor-performing it dynamics. While I'll be clear that my hope is to never get FP+ here, I'll deal if and when it happens. But to deal with it in the way WDW has rolled out the program, that's another matter. Whether or not I would like FP+ is not the question, I can handle change and go with the flow. As long as the flow doesn't require midnight hurdles to maybe, or maybe not, get a ride. Or maybe it's not midnight. Maybe it's 1am. Or maybe once I get my 3 rides, one (or all) will vanish. For one of us, but not the other. Or the app won't work. Or I'm sent through a series of revolving doors to resolve a "glitch", possibly to no fruition. Or. or. or.

I'll be honest. I don't get it. This isn't about whether FP+ touring would work well for us or not. It's about FP+ itself working. Not to mention being user friendly, reliable, et al. And at the cost of a WDW vacation, wow, I just don't get how Disney thinks it's ok to have their guests jump through hoops and then still deal with the frustrations and disappointments they seem to have caused many guests.

Since FP+ has not been implemented in any way out here yet, I do think they are actually reconsidering or at least revamping any future implementation at DL. At least I hope that's the case.

My SIL is a Disney employee and went to the parks with us last year using her maingate pass. It was similar to your AP in that we didn't have the opportunity to plan months in advance and could only reserve rides once actually in the park. Prior to the trip I hated the idea (I really liked the old ticket system that is still in place in DL). However once we actually got into the parks it wasn't so bad. There were some limitations and restrictions because we went on some REALLY busy days however we still got to see and do what we wanted, despite the fact that 50,000 other people potentially may have made ride reservations before us.

I do still prefer the ticket system but I'm not as opposed to FP+ as I was before I tried it.

 

[mom2rtk]

Disneyland's bread and butter are it's local annual passholders. TDA knows this, and caters to you as such. You are needed, and appreciated. Disney World's clientele is a different demo, and the percentage of daily visitors that are locals is dwarfed by the first time visitor, only time visitor, and foreign visitor. For many families, WDW is a once in a lifetime experience. TDO knows this, and won't cater to their locals as such, because they don't need them, (or at least they don't need them as badly as DLR does.) I think Anaheim figured out very quickly that FP+ won't work for their parks, I doubt we will ever see it there.

Agreed. WDW could survive without the local APs. DL could not.

 

[Mkrop]

Not true at all. You can still do all of those things, you just have to wait in the stand-by line. People would stop being so upset about FP+ if some would stop creating such hysteria about it. Just because you can't get a FP for 7DMT doesn't mean you can't ride it. You just don't get to skip the line. If that ruins your vacation, you've got bigger problems than FP+.

Well of course we can stand in line but who really wants to do that. And WDW's marketing machine tells you that you don't need to do that, just log on before your trip, and voila! you will have a FP+. So when they do not get FPs for the things that are important to their family, they are going to experience disappointment. A first time visitor may not know that you can get in line for A&E bc they have read that the lines are super long and they know their 4 yr old cant handle that and so they are disappointed and now anxious about their trip...so according you that should not feel that way?????

Even long time veterans are disappointed when they log in at 60 days only to be shut out of things when the old system never shut out people who got to the park at a decent time. We always got FPs for our faves, even several and rarely stood in lines, why would I suddenly be excited about a new system who is now making me wait in long lines and shutting me out of my faves before I even walk into the park. I toured well and now all of that has changed...but per your post I should just accept this change to how we efficiently toured and get in the long line and not be hysterical about it.

I mentioned before that my DH does not read any sites, just goes by the marketing and literature that WDW sent and he was extremely disappointed when he got online at 60 days and could not get some of the things we wanted. He thought that WDW mislead him. He felt mislead again when the marketing made it sound like you can add more FPs with ease or change things around, and yet every time we tried it did not work in our favor. Things that we wanted were not available and now we are faced with 60 minutes + lines, who would be excited about that when under the old system we never faced that...that is not hysteria, that is facts and great disappointment!

 

[Lucius Best]

Just because you can't get a FP for 7DMT doesn't mean you can't ride it. You just don't get to skip the line. If that ruins your vacation, you've got bigger problems than FP+.

Thanks for the insight, but that's the point. I might have missed it, but I didn't see anyone on here saying their trip was "ruined" by not getting a FP. But it's certainly understandable that someone might be frustrated or annoyed if they are smartly planning their trip months in advance and can't get the FP they want. Of course it doesn't mean they can't ride 7DMT, but it throws a wrench in those plans, instead of Plan A, now they're on Plan B or C. Maybe now you're rope-dropping to hit 7DMT instead of heading to Frontierland first or sleeping in. Or maybe you're re-arranging what days you're going to which park depending on which FP were available, which could mean visiting a park on a less ideal day in terms of crowds, or could affect the ADRs you made months ago. Or maybe you're spending time every day checking FP availability in case something opens up. The vacation isn't "ruined", just less convenient.

People would stop being so upset about FP+ if some would stop creating such hysteria about it.

Not sure what "hysteria" is being created, but when I come to these boards, I want to hear about the good AND bad experiences with FP+, rides, restaurants, resorts, etc. At some point I'll be planning my next WDW trip, I definitely want to read about the strategies or tricks of people who love FP+ and are using the system successfully. But I also want to know what problems people are having booking FPs and ADRs. If someone is angry that they can't get 7DMT FP at 60 days, that's not hysteria, that's information.

 

[safroim]

Well of course we can stand in line but who really wants to do that. And WDW's marketing machine tells you that you don't need to do that, just log on before your trip, and voila! you will have a FP+. So when they do not get FPs for the things that are important to their family, they are going to experience disappointment. A first time visitor may not know that you can get in line for A&E bc they have read that the lines are super long and they know their 4 yr old cant handle that and so they are disappointed and now anxious about their trip...so according you that should not feel that way?????

Even long time veterans are disappointed when they log in at 60 days only to be shut out of things when the old system never shut out people who got to the park at a decent time. We always got FPs for our faves, even several and rarely stood in lines, why would I suddenly be excited about a new system who is now making me wait in long lines and shutting me out of my faves before I even walk into the park. I toured well and now all of that has changed...but per your post I should just accept this change to how we efficiently toured and get in the long line and not be hysterical about it.

I mentioned before that my DH does not read any sites, just goes by the marketing and literature that WDW sent and he was extremely disappointed when he got online at 60 days and could not get some of the things we wanted. He thought that WDW mislead him. He felt mislead again when the marketing made it sound like you can add more FPs with ease or change things around, and yet every time we tried it did not work in our favor. Things that we wanted were not available and now we are faced with 60 minutes + lines, who would be excited about that when under the old system we never faced that...that is not hysteria, that is facts and great disappointment!

Nobody said you should be excited about FP+. But if you're Disney vacation is that disappointing for you because you can't get a FP+ for a few attractions amidst thousands of things to do or you have to wait in the stand-by line, perhaps you should consider not going? As I mentioned in a previous post, it's not going to hurt Disney's bottom line.

 

[ArwenMarie]

Nobody said you should be excited about FP+. But if you're Disney vacation is that disappointing for you because you can't get a FP+ for a few attractions amidst thousands of things to do or you have to wait in the stand-by line, perhaps you should consider not going? As I mentioned in a previous post, it's not going to hurt Disney's bottom line.

I'm not sure about the bottom line, everything counts there. But I do agree that Disney doesn't care if you complain about something or even cancel a whole trip. They actually are in that enviable position right now. But maybe that is part of the problem from a customer POV.

 

[itchin2go]

Nobody said you should be excited about FP+. But if you're Disney vacation is that disappointing for you because you can't get a FP+ for a few attractions amidst thousands of things to do or you have to wait in the stand-by line, perhaps you should consider not going? As I mentioned in a previous post, it's not going to hurt Disney's bottom line.

I think Disney is concerned that it will hurt their bottom line, hence the recent surveys concentrating on FP and the recent promo regarding spontaneity. Regardless, there's no way for us to know whether it's hurting their bottom line.

 

[Robo]

The proposed premise is that nobody should mind having to wait in attraction lines.
But, it was Disney who just spent a few of their extra bucks on building a new system...
so that guests would not have to wait in attraction lines, and they spent a few more of their dollars advertising this new system of guests not having to wait in attraction lines.

I think it is more than just a few guests who thought that waiting in attraction lines was not a positive.

 

[safroim]

I'm not sure about the bottom line, everything counts there. But I do agree that Disney doesn't care if you complain about something or even cancel a whole trip. They actually are in that enviable position right now. But maybe that is part of the problem from a customer POV.

I think Disney is concerned that it will hurt their bottom line, hence the recent surveys concentrating on FP and the recent promo regarding spontaneity. Regardless, there's no way for us to know whether it's hurting their bottom line.

True. Only time will tell. However the one huge advantage that Disney has is often times is considered a one and done destination, so repeat customers doesn't need to be at the very top of their business model. As long as people keep having kids they have a constant new customer base.

 

[ArwenMarie]

True. Only time will tell. However the one huge advantage that Disney has is often times is considered a one and done destination, so repeat customers doesn't need to be at the very top of their business model. As long as people keep having kids they have a constant new customer base.

True, that seems to be their strategy. I think that's why they leave shows run way past their prime, for example. Everything is new when it's your first time. Same for cutting parades and other entertainment...if it's your first time, you don't notice.