I'm guessing our family is done with Disney

[magicbob]

I've never said that MM+ won't have financial implications - merely that they aren't reflected in THIS annual report. I absolutely question what the 2014 and 2015 statements are going to look like. But posters making insane sweeping generalizations like "attractions are going to close because Disney is practically hemorrhaging due to MM+" is more than I can take right now. I have presented a reasonable and rational viewpoint all along. I like FP+ and I think both it and MM+ have a TON of potential. I also feel that they aren't fully realized yet and to speculate on those kinds of actions at this point in time is lunacy.

I mean they just broke ground on the Avatar expansion last week they just completed the Grand Floridian Vacation Club, they have broken ground on the Polynesian Vacation Club, they are finishing up the Fantasyland Expansion...not exactly signs of a company that barely has the capital to run it's current attractions as others are speculating.

And everyone thought MY predictions were "doom & gloom."

 

[magicbob]

Now I have a "mash-up" of the Batman theme and "Raiders March" stuck in my ear.

 

[redrosesix]

Maybe I missed something, but the impression I got re: MM+ costs affecting rides wasn't about current rides. It was about the overspending on MM+ resulting in cutting projects in development - things like the rumored new Star Wars land in DHS. As for where that speculation began - I believe it mostly started with a MiceChat article



It then goes on to list a bunch of projects and their current status.

Please be clear, I'm not saying this is an authoritative source - I really don't know, I don't read much there. I'm just saying I think this is much of the basis for comments about how MM+ expenditures are affecting the future development plans.

Yup, this. And that information has been repeated by stock analysts as well -- lots of conjecture, etc. The point they make is that WDW hasn't sent out 20 press releases saying SUCCESS!!! And while it takes a lot for an analyst to reduce their rating from a strong buy to a sell, when they say wait it's as good as saying sell.

tbh, I was more upset about them taking Minnie's House out than FP+ but many on this thread wanted to make it just about FP+. But when I tried to set up mine for a week from now, the Great Movie Ride was no longer available!! and we're not feeling very magical about having to choose between RnRC, TSMM and F!. It just isn't possible to have a great vacation when you add 3 hours per day of waiting in lines. And we have hoppers but they'll be useless to us if we feel the parks are too crowded, since we have to go to the park that we have FPs in.

So I totally understand why the OP is not planning to go back.... which is what this thread was always about. Some people just don't want to wait 3+ more hours per day, they don't want to be in terribly crowded parks. And it's not going to get any better for a long long time. The parks are a very very small part of their business.

 

[magicbob]

But when I tried to set up mine for a week from now, the Great Movie Ride was no longer available!!

They must be holding them all back for "day of."

 

[Robo]

They must be holding them all back for "day of."

FIXES!

We need more FIXES!

 

[magicbob]

FIXES!

We need more FIXES!

...and fixes to fix the fixes that fixed the fixes.

Say that 10 times fast!

 

[Laketravis]

...and fixes to fix the fixes that fixed the fixes.

Say that 10 times fast!

And tweaks... don't forget the tweaks...

Tweak the fixes, fix the tweaks.

 

[Cee]

I have been reading posts about Fastpass for years and there have always been pros and cons. Personally, I've never used a Fastpass and probably won't. After so many years of enjoying WDW, there is no attraction I would stand in any line for. Just being there is enough.

This is only my opinion and experience I share here. It is in no way meant to suggest that others should feel or vacation the same.

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[redrosesix]

They must be holding them all back for "day of."

 

[Yellowstonetim]

"FastPass+ backlash. Virtually every discussion and message board conversation these days seems to evolve (devolve?) sooner or later into an indictment of FastPass+ and its effects on the parks."

What he fails to mention is that this happens because of a small minority that insist on taking every conversation down this road. The number of people is relatively small.

If you go across all the forums and visit a lot of threads on this board you will find that a small group of critics argue with a small group of defenders over and over. While thousands of posters ignore this argument and talk about their favorite ride, their upcoming visit to their favorite resort, ask about which room is the best, etc.

If you look you will see all these people with lower post numbers participating where it matters to them. Most are happy as clams and avoid the arguments. I frequent the POR forum and there are lots of people coming and going saying, "It was an awesome trip!", "I can't wait ten days to go!", etc.

So if you look at threads, there are a large number that are either negative or devolve into arguments. But if you look at posters, the majority do not participate and appear to be happy. There was even a survey of this board where the majority were happy with MM+ and had no, or minor, issues. And that was DURING TESTING! My goodness, for every hater there were people saying, "I can't wait to get my bands!"

This fits with my experience, the friends I know who are Disney fans, what I saw in the parks and the people I talked to, and this board.

Thou protesteth too much.

I think that Disney needs to find out how successful they are at educating people in the use of bands and FP+ (Seems to me a LOT more people are going to be using it then used old FP) and then they will know how many FP+ they can allow. They are starting conservative, seeing how things shake out, and then there will be more availability according to use. They will want to have the most possible FP's used to make the most people happy. That will take a little time to figure out.

In the meantime. I will have a great visit and lots of fun as will the majority of people. Disney knows this.

 

[goofydad621]

we just returned from 8 days at WDW, there was some hiccups with the FP+ but for us it worked great, the night before if we did not already know what park we would be going to due to ADR's or parade etc. We would decide and make FP+ before going to bed, usually making the first time around 10:30 or so, Then when we got to the parks and if we could walk on or wait less the 15 minutes for something we had a FP+ for before the time window we would either 1) ride it without a FP and ride a second time with a FP or 2)we would change the FP on the fly for another attraction later in the day.

This worked well for us and we never had to real problem for the way WE like to tour the parks.

YMMV

goofydad621

 

[Laketravis]

If you go across all the forums and visit a lot of threads on this board you will find that a small group of critics argue with a small group of defenders over and over.

Are you sure about that? I keep hearing over and over from the same small number of "highly vocal" lovers how it's only a small number of "highly vocal" haters who have an issue with FP+.

Yet, WDW's own Facebook page is literally filled with over a thousand negative comments. In fact, the very prominent "Reviews" section on the upper right is consistently filled with 3 poor ratings for every 1 good rating.

WDW Facebook

 

[crostorfer]

"FastPass+ backlash. Virtually every discussion and message board conversation these days seems to evolve (devolve?) sooner or later into an indictment of FastPass+ and its effects on the parks."

What he fails to mention is that this happens because of a small minority that insist on taking every conversation down this road. The number of people is relatively small.

If you go across all the forums and visit a lot of threads on this board you will find that a small group of critics argue with a small group of defenders over and over. While thousands of posters ignore this argument and talk about their favorite ride, their upcoming visit to their favorite resort, ask about which room is the best, etc.

If you look you will see all these people with lower post numbers participating where it matters to them. Most are happy as clams and avoid the arguments. I frequent the POR forum and there are lots of people coming and going saying, "It was an awesome trip!", "I can't wait ten days to go!", etc.

So if you look at threads, there are a large number that are either negative or devolve into arguments. But if you look at posters, the majority do not participate and appear to be happy. There was even a survey of this board where the majority were happy with MM+ and had no, or minor, issues. And that was DURING TESTING! My goodness, for every hater there were people saying, "I can't wait to get my bands!"

This fits with my experience, the friends I know who are Disney fans, what I saw in the parks and the people I talked to, and this board.

Thou protesteth too much.

I think that Disney needs to find out how successful they are at educating people in the use of bands and FP+ (Seems to me a LOT more people are going to be using it then used old FP) and then they will know how many FP+ they can allow. They are starting conservative, seeing how things shake out, and then there will be more availability according to use. They will want to have the most possible FP's used to make the most people happy. That will take a little time to figure out.

In the meantime. I will have a great visit and lots of fun as will the majority of people. Disney knows this.

I see a large chunk of the people who say they enjoyed FP+ were people who used it in October, November, and early December. To love it then, and then love it now, are very different things. If anyone used it while legacy FP was still available and prior to tiers being instituted, I'm sorry, but I discount their opinion. It's a different animal now.

There are people returning from January trips saying they had a great experience, but there are an equal number saying that it wasn't. I've seen several posts specifically complaining about the standby lines at HM and POTC. The "vocal minority" you keep pointing out is growing steadily. I've also seen several people use it in Oct/Nov and then again very recently and state that they don't care for any of the changes now.

If you are one of those people that is willing to pay $5-8,000 to just "be in Disney", then good for you. Far be it from me to tell anyone how to spend their hard earned money. For me and my family, however, the value doesn't compute. I can spend far less money to be some place amazing to just "be". But, then again, that is just us. Plenty of people will still go, and that is fine. We just won't be among them.

 

[redrosesix]

They must be holding them all back for "day of."

"FastPass+ backlash. Virtually every discussion and message board conversation these days seems to evolve (devolve?) sooner or later into an indictment of FastPass+ and its effects on the parks."

What he fails to mention is that this happens because of a small minority that insist on taking every conversation down this road. The number of people is relatively small.

If you go across all the forums and visit a lot of threads on this board you will find that a small group of critics argue with a small group of defenders over and over. While thousands of posters ignore this argument and talk about their favorite ride, their upcoming visit to their favorite resort, ask about which room is the best, etc.

If you look you will see all these people with lower post numbers participating where it matters to them. Most are happy as clams and avoid the arguments. I frequent the POR forum and there are lots of people coming and going saying, "It was an awesome trip!", "I can't wait ten days to go!", etc.

So if you look at threads, there are a large number that are either negative or devolve into arguments. But if you look at posters, the majority do not participate and appear to be happy. There was even a survey of this board where the majority were happy with MM+ or and had no or minor issues. And that was DURING TESTING! My goodness, for every hater there were people saying, "I can't wait to get my bands!"

This fits with my experience, the friends I know who are Disney fans, what I saw in the parks and the people I talked to, and this board.

Thou protesteth too much.

I think that Disney needs to find out how successful they are at educating people in the use of bands and FP+ (Seems to me a LOT more people are going to be using it then used FP) and then will know how many FP+ they can allow. They are starting conservative, seeing how things shake out, and then there will be more availability according to use. They will want to have the most possible FP's used to make the most people happy. That will take a little time.

In the meantime. I will have a great visit and lots of fun.

I applaud your enthusiasm, truly I do. I wish I felt that positive. I also wish they had fixed the system better before spring break because I think a lot of people will be disappointed.

We'll be ok -- since we can't get on TSMM (had to choose RnRC) we're going to do MiB at US, Forbidden Journey instead of Soarin (yeah we could have added it but we wanted to do Epcot as a half day morning park).

People need to remember that not all resort guests will be able to do FP+ in advance -- we are there for a competition so we just got our tickets yesterday. Other groups get theirs when they check in to their resort. With off-site guests being able to book ahead of families like ours that have been booked for nearly a year, it's going to be very unmagical when I log in next year to find there is nothing available before we arrive. So I would be better off staying at HRH.

 

[lovethattink]

tbh, I was more upset about them taking Minnie's House out than FP+ but many on this thread wanted to make it just about FP+. But when I tried to set up mine for a week from now, the Great Movie Ride was no longer available!! and we're not feeling very magical about having to choose between RnRC, TSMM and F!. It just isn't possible to have a great vacation when you add 3 hours per day of waiting in lines. And we have hoppers but they'll be useless to us if we feel the parks are too crowded, since we have to go to the park that we have FPs in.

So I totally understand why the OP is not planning to go back.... which is what this thread was always about. Some people just don't want to wait 3+ more hours per day, they don't want to be in terribly crowded parks. And it's not going to get any better for a long long time. The parks are a very very small part of their business.

And originally missing Mickey's Starland and that Darkwing Duck show.

redrosesix, after experiencing FP+ as both an onsite and offsite guest AND going to all 4 parks in the last couple weeks AND hopping, I've come to the conclusion that this new system is perfect for HALF day touring. It presents too many obstacles for a full day's worth of touring.

3 to 5 hours of touring is our style, so it worked well for us, but not without some kinks. We consistently averaged 4 attractions in those 3 to 5 hours.

Magic Bands, we loved them. Didn't have to dig in our wallets or pockets except when needed AP or TiW for a discount. It was great to swim and wear the band and not worry about a room key in a pool bag.

DS has neurological and cognitive problems and it was difficult for him to position Mickey on Mickey at times. Eventually he discovered it was easier to use the Mickey Scanners on the left hand side, rather than right. And opening our room door with his band, he looked like a contortionist.

MDE on the smart phone had too much lag time. I wish the main menu popped up upon entering the app, rather than the map and here and now. I found MDE easier and quicker to manage from my laptop at home than the smart phone in the park. Wifi was spotty for me with too many dead zones and my Sprint data couldn't get a signal either. When I did get good reception, I wasn't always able to do what I was trying to do. So I got to the point where I figured it's better to just leave things scheduled as I had them.

Our trip is over and we are home. I am still able to schedule 7 days of FP+ over the next 60 days.

Yesterday I was working on scheduling FP+. I was unable to get the times I wanted for Enchanted Tales with Belle, Peter Pan and Buzz. However, I was able to get the time frame I was looking for with PP, Buzz and Speedway. So I picked them. I then was able to change Speedway to ETWB at the exact same time (actually it gave me times spreading throughout the entire day to choose from). So in the end, I got the times and attractions I was looking for, but it took a round about way to get them.

 

[Laketravis]

I've come to the conclusion that this new system is perfect for HALF day touring. It presents too many obstacles for a full day's worth of touring.

I totally agree. If Disney's objective was to keep people in the parks longer, I don't think it's going to work that way. We found ourselves spending less time in the park(s) because we scheduled our FP's in a tight 3 hour window. Hit our FP's within a 90 minute span of time, didn't want to wait in lines for anything else, and typically left the park after only 3 hours or so to head to another one.

It worked great for that.

 

[lovethattink]

I totally agree. If Disney's objective was to keep people in the parks longer, I don't think it's going to work that way. We found ourselves spending less time in the park(s) because we scheduled our FP's in a tight 3 hour window. Hit our FP's within a 90 minute span of time, didn't want to wait in lines for anything else, and typically left the park after only 3 hours or so to head to another one.

It worked great for that.

It was perfect for ds. He can't sweat and it was hot Sunday and Monday. I scheduled the FP+ around sunset. We arrived just before FP time and left as soon as we were finished.

We ended up spending less this stay than any other stay. With the schedule of our FP, it was easier to grab a bite on the run. The only TS we did was Beaches & Cream before we hopped from Epcot to DHS. Only in park meal we ate was at Pecos Bills between FP times.

 

[missmary]

I totally agree. If Disney's objective was to keep people in the parks longer, I don't think it's going to work that way. We found ourselves spending less time in the park(s) because we scheduled our FP's in a tight 3 hour window. Hit our FP's within a 90 minute span of time, didn't want to wait in lines for anything else, and typically left the park after only 3 hours or so to head to another one.

It worked great for that.

I'm wondering if this won't be "fixed" as things progress as Disney realizes people are skipping out after 3 hours and the system will then make you pick one "morning", one "afternoon" and one "evening FP+.

I can't decide if they actually want people to spend less time in the actual parks, assuming they will then go shopping at DTD or golf on property or go bass fishing. Or, if they won't like that and will want people in the parks all day because otherwise people are heading to Sea World.

 

[shalom]

WDW's Biggest Challenges and Opportunities

FastPass+ backlash. Virtually every discussion and message board conversation these days seems to evolve (devolve?) sooner or later into an indictment of FastPass+ and its effects on the parks.

This is just not my observation. Even on the Dis, there are plenty of threads that could devolve into a discussion like that, but instead it's one negative comment and then the rest of the posters "go about their business." Most of the FP+ discussions are between the same small group of people on either side, while most posters here don't even want to talk about it.

And the Dis is by far the most negative Disney board I'm hanging out on when it comes to FP+. And outside of Disney boards, casual Disney fans seem pretty positive -- one posted to my Timeshare board, "Every year, there's plenty to look forward to at Walt Disney World, but 2014 will be especially magical at Walt Disney World," going on to list the Mine Train, new parade, Spice Road Table, etc. Not what I expected when I opened a thread entitled "Disney World 2014."

 

[lovethattink]

I'm still sold that their target audience is changing. Looking at the commercials I see, it's showing young families. Disney is even a host of Family Day Out. I have not seen any commercials touting Disney thrill rides.