Does anyone else miss the spontaneity

[bdoyledimou]

we have many many trips without planning -- just taking the day as it came -- but FP+ has changed all that.
This is the first year we will be doing ADRs - and this is because we have to know what parks we will be in on what day for our FPs.

And to be honest -- i am struggling with ADRs. I have 10 days to plan for -- and so far have 4 meals reserved. i still have a few more weeks to sort those out -- yeah i know not 180 days!! before i have to deal with FP+ -- the good news is -- i know my families taste in attractions so FP will be easy.

 

[mom2rtk]

You dont HAVE to do that to ride test track. You could be as spontaneous and show up at Epcot at a given day and get in the standby line or even single rider line. Disney isnt requiring anyone to book a ride. It is done by choice. Of course, that will come with a tradeoff.

You don't even really have to show up at the park. Disney would be happy to just take your money. Just think of how much you could save on air fare.

With Disney booking a reported 70-90% of all ride slots through FP+, standby just isn't the option it used to be.

 

[PlutoMars]

It is not required but if you want to do it you must! I have visited many many times, the past 8 or so years if not planned for a lunch/dinner basically cant go. It did not used to be that way. The castle was available same day not that long ago.

It is only a must when it comes to dining at some of the more popular restaurants if you want to ensure a seat. One could be totally spontaneous still and just go up to the front door and may be lucky enough to get a table on the same day because of cancellations.

But it is certain not a must for the rides.

 

[jade1]

Have not been yet-but it will be much more spontaneity for us it seems.

We will spend 5 minutes 60 days out locking down 3 late afternoon/early evening FP+, park choice will be easy and heavy on MK and DHS.

Then EVERY day will be open to whatever spontaneity we want that day, knowing we have a nice efficient evening planned including either Wishes or Fantasmic-or back to EPCOT for Illuminations if we want.

Will RD AK one day as usual.

This means every night can be what we want as well, ESPN Club, EPCOT wind down, DTD bars, or hit the hay early and open any park we feel like the next day.

It also will allow every morning to do anything we want and not have to worry about the diminishing FP's in the back of our minds. Bass fishing, golf, sleep in, brunch, followed by pool time at SAB-just the perfect situation.

 

[mare1203]

If I want to ride Test Track during a busy period, I will likely have to decide what day way in advance and accept a time. In the old days I could decide to go to the park that day when I woke up and get fastpasses when I got there. Going back even further, we went to kiosks early in the day to book restaurants at Epcot which was fun.

You are making an assumption here that just hasn't been proven. I have not seen reports of people going into the park and not being able to get a FP for rides they want day-of. We will see with mine train, but at this point you can easily go into a park and book your FP for rides. And Epcot tiers, so you have 1/2 the people choosing Soarin' and 1/2 choosing TT, so the odds of all of them being gone are slim to nil. I'm not going to include characters/parades/fireworks here because they seem to be different animals with FP+.

 

[PlutoMars]

You don't even really have to show up at the park. Disney would be happy to just take your money. Just think of how much you could save on air fare.

With Disney booking a reported 70-90% of all ride slots through FP+, standby just isn't the option it used to be.

But standby is still an option for one to be spontaneous.all about tradeoffs. People have different touring styles and some do not mind waiting in long lines. Some will even wait in 90 minute lines at DL to see A&E. Imagine that.

Disney isnt forcing anyone to plan out their whole day.

 

[kbelle8995]

You don't even really have to show up at the park. Disney would be happy to just take your money. Just think of how much you could save on air fare.

With Disney booking a reported 70-90% of all ride slots through FP+, standby just isn't the option it used to be.

That's the experience I had. However if they want more money, they better put more variety of merchandise.

They don't say you have to do FP+ and but it's awfully hard to avoid it. And Disney wants you to stay and never leave.

 

[mom2rtk]

But standby is still an option for one to be spontaneous.all about tradeoffs. People have different touring styles and some do not mind waiting in long lines. Some will even wait in 90 minute lines at DL to see A&E. Imagine that.

Disney isnt forcing anyone to plan out their whole day.

They are if you aren't happy to settle for what happens to be left over when you arrive. For those who go often, it might work out fine. For those who get there once a year or once in a lifetime, not booking in advance could lead to a lot of frustration and disappointment in the parks. Or it might not. Who wants to risk $5K on that?

 

[PEC]

You don't even really have to show up at the park. Disney would be happy to just take your money. Just think of how much you could save on air fare.

With Disney booking a reported 70-90% of all ride slots through FP+, standby just isn't the option it used to be.

Actually due to the fact Disney is not a 501 c3 or other charitable organization, they may not be happy just to take your money due to tax implications. OF course I am sure as a Fortune 500/Dow Jones Company they probably have accountants smart enough to shift that money to a charity that they aare either part of or give to.

 

[mom2rtk]

But standby is still an option for one to be spontaneous.all about tradeoffs. People have different touring styles and some do not mind waiting in long lines. Some will even wait in 90 minute lines at DL to see A&E. Imagine that.

Disney isnt forcing anyone to plan out their whole day.

So glad you're enjoying my trip report. You really should pop in and say hi.

If FP was in place for that meet and greet at DL, the standby wait would have been much longer. I enjoy having spontaneity in my day so that on odd occasion we can CHOOSE to wait in a longer line. Or not. But still do the things we enjoyed.

It was far easier to do that knowing that we had FPs in hand to do other things as soon as we were done. When we walked in the park that morning, there wasn't a single experience we had to worry about being shut out of. Not one spot had been reserved in advance. If my daughter said, Hey, let's do RSR today, we could have switched parks and still been able to get on the ride with a minimal wait, because nobody had been booking spots for the prior 60 days.

And that is why we're heading west again this year. Would you like me to PM you when I start my next trip report?

 

[mom2rtk]

Actually due to the fact Disney is not a 501 c3 or other charitable organization, they may not be happy just to take your money due to tax implications. OF course I am sure as a Fortune 500/Dow Jones Company they probably have accountants smart enough to shift that money to a charity that they aare either part of or give to.

You mean I couldn't buy a ticket and never use it? They must be asleep at the switch.

 

[ArwenMarie]

But standby is still an option for one to be spontaneous.

Until they give 100% of the ride slots to FP+ (if they haven't already)...

 

[surferdave]

You mean I couldn't buy a ticket and never use it? They must be asleep at the switch.

If there was any disadvantage to them at all for guests to let park tickets go unused they wouldn't let the reservation system default to including park tickets for guest's days of arrival and departure. I'm sure I've let a day of park tickets go unused every trip because I rarely change the default and never go into a park on our departure day, and I'm guessing that's not very rare.

 

[2Tiggies]

Where is Disney requiring people to plan out every detail of their vacation?

Even people who love being spontaneous, at least have some rough plan in place when they enter a park. There are hard time events like shows and parades that they may want to see.

But I certainly agree that people are all over the spectrum when it comes to their touring and vacation styles

They may not be saying it in as many words, but not only is it what they want as many people as possible to do, but they are counting on us to see the necessity of committing to set appointments in advance. While it's easy to say that nobody is being forced to pre-plan, the reality is that the spontaneous guest (much like the former super users) can do less under the new system than they could previously. When everyone is being encouraged to plan ahead, there is more need for everyone else to plan ahead. Where the spontaneous guest could count on walking up to Figment with a 0-5 minute wait while deciding what to do next, they now have to join a line to ride - a line that almost never previously existed.

So however you choose to read Disney's spin on this, if you opt not to pre plan, you will get less done than you would have by going with the flow a year ago.

 

[PlutoMars]

They may not be saying it in as many words, but not only is it what they want as many people as possible to do, but they are counting on us to see the necessity of committing to set appointments in advance. While it's easy to say that nobody is being forced to pre-plan, the reality is that the spontaneous guest (much like the former super users) can do less under the new system than they could previously. When everyone is being encouraged to plan ahead, there is more need for everyone else to plan ahead. Where the spontaneous guest could count on walking up to Figment with a 0-5 minute wait while deciding what to do next, they now have to join a line to ride - a line that almost never previously existed.

So however you choose to read Disney's spin on this, if you opt not to pre plan, you will get less done than you would have by going with the flow a year ago.

This has nothing to do with Disney spin, drinking koolaid, or wearing rose colored glasses. As I have pointed out, spontaneity is possible but as i have said multiple times now, it comes with tradeoffs. It is all about what a particular person values the most. Unless, Disney moves to a 100% ride reservation system, then people can always CHOOSE not to plan. Just as people in the past chose not to use the FP system and wait in long lines.

I agree with your premise about Disney's intent that they want people to pre-plan because it "locks" them into the parks.

And I would wager that the percentage of 100% spontaneous people in the past was very low because people would still have a rough plan on hard time events that they scheduled their day around.

 

[mom2rtk]

This has nothing to do with Disney spin, drinking koolaid, or wearing rose colored glasses. As I have pointed out, spontaneity is possible but as i have said multiple times now, it comes with tradeoffs. It is all about what a particular person values the most. Unless, Disney moves to a 100% ride reservation system, then people can always CHOOSE not to plan. Just as people in the past chose not to use the FP system and wait in long lines.

That is correct. People can choose to settle for leftovers.

 

[PlutoMars]

So glad you're enjoying my trip report. You really should pop in and say hi.

If FP was in place for that meet and greet at DL, the standby wait would have been much longer. I enjoy having spontaneity in my day so that on odd occasion we can CHOOSE to wait in a longer line. Or not. But still do the things we enjoyed.

It was far easier to do that knowing that we had FPs in hand to do other things as soon as we were done. When we walked in the park that morning, there wasn't a single experience we had to worry about being shut out of. Not one spot had been reserved in advance. If my daughter said, Hey, let's do RSR today, we could have switched parks and still been able to get on the ride with a minimal wait, because nobody had been booking spots for the prior 60 days.

And that is why we're heading west again this year. Would you like me to PM you when I start my next trip report?

I am glad we agree about tradeoffs. You made a tradeoff for a 90 minute wait for A&E for shorter waits at RSR. Just like someone else could wait in 2 standby lines that were each 45 minutes long instead of using that 90 minutes for a character meet. Both of you could come away with the feeling of spontaneity.

No one is going to be "shut out" of a ride at this point. Restaurants & the A&E craziness at WDW would be wear people could miss out without advance planning. But even with the most popular restaurants, you still hear reports of how people were successful with just walking up and getting a table.

 

[kbelle8995]

I am glad we agree about tradeoffs. You made a tradeoff for a 90 minute wait for A&E for shorter waits at RSR. Just like someone else could wait in 2 standby lines that were each 45 minutes long instead of using that 90 minutes for a character meet. Both of you could come away with the feeling of spontaneity.

No one is going to be "shut out" of a ride at this point. Restaurants & the A&E craziness at WDW would be wear people could miss out without advance planning. But even with the most popular restaurants, you still hear reports of how people were successful with just walking up and getting a table.

I don't know if the people who are trying to see Anna and Elsa will agree with you on that. You have to either get a rare FP+ appointment or wait in line for 3 to 5 hours. That is just insane.

And I have tried to walk into a restaurant at a flexible hour and do that. It does happen but it has become a lot more rare.

 

[mom2rtk]

I am glad we agree about tradeoffs. You made a tradeoff for a 90 minute wait for A&E for shorter waits at RSR. Just like someone else could wait in 2 standby lines that were each 45 minutes long instead of using that 90 minutes for a character meet. Both of you could come away with the feeling of spontaneity.

No one is going to be "shut out" of a ride at this point. Restaurants & the A&E craziness at WDW would be wear people could miss out without advance planning. But even with the most popular restaurants, you still hear reports of how people were successful with just walking up and getting a table.

Yes, but A/E was the only attraction on that trip that required a very long wait. If you choose not to use FP+ at WDW, that could happen over and over in the course of the day. I like having that be the exception and not the rule. We were able to FP everything else likely to have a long wait. We were able to walk in the park knowing with 100% certainty that we could do our favorite rides with a short wait. When 70-90% of the ride capacity is taken with advance bookings, that is no longer the case. And when I can only get to the parks once a year (at best) those are not odds I prefer to work with.

And finding a table open at one of the popular restaurants would also be the exception and not the rule. Hearing reports of something happening is not the same of being able to predict that you will get to do it yourself.

I think it's awesome that not booking FP+ in advance works for you. It sounds like you are much more flexible in what you will settle for each day than I am. And I'm sure that accounts for our differing opinions on the system.

 

[surferdave]

Jeez, Pluto, stop arguing like a lawyer defending Disney as if they were being sued for forcing people to do things. The OP and repliers say they miss spontaneity. Twist it all you want but Disney has definitely (and rather purposefully) reduced the opportunity for spontaneity.