Sooooo Frustrated with FP+

I feel for you pcoleman. My family went a few weeks back over the 4th of July week. Problem with us trying to schedule 60 days out was, my son was playing in a baseball tournament at ESPN WWoS. The baseball schedule didn't come out until a week ahead of when we arrived.

By the time we arrived all FP's for 7DMR were taken for the week. So much for getting a fighting chance to ride that attraction. We did however ride it and waited 45-50 min in standby line.

My biggest problem with FP+ is that if we weren't staying on property and we just showed up at the park and spent all that $ to get in and went to get our FP's for the day only to find out that the 1 ride we wanted to go on was "sold out" I wouldn't be happy. Yes, I know we were there during a holiday week. We were at WDW during Xmas week last winter and rode everything we wanted to do with the old FP system. As a matter of fact on Xmas Eve, we were in the MK and with the old FP system the longest queue we waited on all day was Goofy's Barnstormer for 45 min.! We were staying off property at the All-Star Vacation Home Rental. If we did that now we wouldn't be able to get our FP's until we got to each individual park.

As a matter of fact AK was utilizing this system then and my brother and family went there and was totally annoyed by the process. No they weren't 1st timers either. I do see what Disney is trying to do. They want their resorts full, which fills up their parks and keeps as much $ on the property. By increasing the parking and admission prices 2x a year they are doing just that.

Sorry I got off topic a little, but all this goes hand in hand and I'm not buying. At least my kids are all grown and they got to experience WDW at their young age.

I like being able to us my Magic Band and not keep up with passes. Short of that I hate the new system. We are staying onsite in Sept. My DH and I have APs and we are planning to use the 2day tickets toward an AP for my daughter. But, until we get there, she only has a 2day ticket in her name for fastpasses. So it doesn't even matter that we are staying onsite cause we will still only get that day's passes for most of our trip. Then you add in the tier system at EPCOT and DHS. There isn't enough on tier 2 to even make it worth using FP. Most of the tier two rides are walk on anyway.
We were able to ride everything we wanted in a day at each park except MK and EPCOT which usually took two days with the old FP system. We were able to ride our favorites more than once. Now we can't get n all the rides with FP. It is really annoying The new system is not worth the money spent.

Just a few points positive and negative:
I thought it worked fairly well. The last minute choices were plentiful.

I still think they must hold back some availability for the day of arrival bookings. If I am wrong then it's something they need to do so balances out for locals and day ticket holders.

45 minutes isn't bad for the hottest new ride.

Christmas eve is actually the least crowded day of the holiday season.

If you didn't have a smart phone, the kiosk lines were as long as the ride lines.

There is really no reason they shouldn't be able to offer park hopping fastpasses.

Magic bands are better than I thought they would be, but need work. Had to remove them at hotel doors and hotel drive up gates to get proper angle.

Caution....those 2 day tickets are now going to be linked to your name...may be hard to take both of your tickets and have them roll it into an AP for daughter....

Mickey91;2425290 wrote: We are staying onsite in Sept. My DH and I have APs and we are planning to use the 2day tickets toward an AP for my daughter.

Pirate Granny;2425375 wrote: Caution....those 2 day tickets are now going to be linked to your name...may be hard to take both of your tickets and have them roll it into an AP for daughter....

Pirate Granny is correct, if the two day tickets are part of a package you will only be able to use her ticket towards her AP.

Update: So, I ?HATE ?THIS PROCESS even more. Since we are staying at SOG we are considered off site so had to wait till 30 day mak and had to go into system EVERYDAY at midnight to obtain fastpasses. Don't know why Disney won't let SOG link days all together. I get the 60/30 day thing. Have to have something to encourage staying on site. Two of my days Disney was having internet problems and couldn't get in until 2am. One day Disney decided to do a software update. Why they would choose this time is beyond me. With all that said. Huge problems trying to get what we want at the times we want. Is the entire world going this week? I have been stalking the site and last night I was able to grab ONE FP for 7DMT. I had to re-schedule all my passes and pray I could redo times back with est of my family. I will continue to keep trying but we are a family of 4. With all that said, a vacation shouldn't be this hard. I'm the Disney nut in my family and have decided this will be last Disney trip for a long time.

VWL Mom;2425427 wrote: Pirate Granny is correct, if the two day tickets are part of a package you will only be able to use her ticket towards her AP.

You could only ever use one ticket for upgrades to another.

Are you saying that tickets are now linked to a person upon purchase with a package? Used to be upon first use via the ticket tag (biometric) system. That's a pretty big change as well, I never, ever, EVER would do a package, but that would be a little known fact I think needs more attention.

pcoleman;2425622 wrote: ...I'm the Disney nut in my family and have decided this will be last Disney trip for a long time.

I'm hearing this a lot lately...

What people don't understand is i had to go in system every night to make FP only for one day that was released. I don't have a package. I am at Shades of Green. I have 7day tickets. Each night disney will only release one day for these off site tickets. Only those staying on site can make them 60 days out and all at once for entire length of stay.

pcoleman;2425622 wrote: I'm the Disney nut in my family and have decided this will be last Disney trip for a long time.

We said the same thing after our last visit earlier this month

pcoleman;2425638 wrote: What people don't understand is i had to go in system every night to make FP only for one day that was released. I don't have a package. I am at Shades of Green. I have 7day tickets. Each night disney will only release one day for these off site tickets. Only those staying on site can make them 60 days out and all at once for entire length of stay.

Thanks for clearing up staying off site and tickets

pcoleman;2425638 wrote: What people don't understand is i had to go in system every night to make FP only for one day that was released. I don't have a package. I am at Shades of Green. I have 7day tickets. Each night disney will only release one day for these off site tickets. Only those staying on site can make them 60 days out and all at once for entire length of stay.

I didn't think the 30 rule was confusing. I figured that since they don't know how long you were staying, then 30 days was 30 days. The reason 60+ days works is they know how many days you are staying (be it 1 day or even 60). When off site, they don't know and don't want to let someone take fastpasses away from people who are actually staying there.

Disney really needs to be a little more consistent though with on-site vs off-site. Anything ON Disney property I would think should be considered on-site and be given the same perks as such. Because SOG hasn't made a deal with Disney, but Swan Dolphin hasn't shouldn't be up to the guests to deal with/figure out.