Fastpass+

Will fast passes remain as a physical ticket.... or will they be incorporated into magic band?

I'll never be a fan of this change. I don't like the idea of adding another item to the list of pre-trip planning. For families that don't plan ahead, getting on many rides will be even more of a struggle now. It forces guests to be much less sporadic and always stick to a game plan, another thing I don't like. Just seems like they're fixing something that wasn't broken and didn't need to be fixed. That's all.

Right. What I'm saying is, when you're in the park, there's no ability to be sporadic and get a fast passhere, fast pass there. You have to have a strict plan. Takes a little fun out of the day.

Don't you think too that Disney will have another source of revenue selling charms for the magic bands? It would be better for them to go paperless and have another product to sell.

My only objection to the new Fastpass+ system is that you never know what rides will be busy on the day/time you are there. For example, we were going to grab a fastpass for BTMR last time we were there but then when we walked up it only had a wait time of 10 min. so we did standby and grabbed a fastpass for something else instead. I decide whether to get a fastpass based on the standby wait at any given time and I feel like this system would kind of hinder that. I would have been disappointed if I had scheduled a fastpass for BTMR that day when it was easy enough to walk on...it would have felt like kind of a waste of a fastpass slot that I could have used instead on Space Mountain that had a 40 min wait.

Mandy - As you can see from my signature, I'm going in February. What are you expecting this system to be like at this time? Any idea?

That still doesn't help with the concern Alli described, unless I'm misunderstanding you. I've also had the experience of going to get a FP, then realizing I can walk on the ride (last year, rockin roller coaster - walked on over and over and over again) - unless I can change it as I'm standing in front of the ride at my assigned FP time, there's a good chance I'm burning Fastpasses on rides that I don't really need to fastpass. And since I'm only allotted a certain number, that's annoying. At least if I have to go physically get a FP from the machine, I can scope out the situation (and the crowds) and make a decision on if I should FP or not. From what I understand, there will be no ability to get fastpasses in the park??

I think this will be good for something that you KNOW need a fastpass (Toy Story Midway Mania, anyone?) but otherwise takes away so much flexibility from my vacation. Not really sure I'm on board with this. Although guess my only other choice is to become a die hard Universal fan and stop loving Disney....

It's sort of a trade off. Everything the band is bringing is awesome. I love it. but man this whole fastpass plus is a big downer for me. I think planning what park you want to be in is enough, now you have to plan what top rides you want to ride?

So what rides are we really going to NEED FP+ for..
The new Belle thing at FantasyLand (if they're going to have it FP+)
Space Mountain
Splash Mountain (pick one of these two mountains, reserve FP for one, then ride other first thing)
Soarin'
Toy Story Mania
Expedition Everest (??)

That's not many rides. Others you can find a way on the ride in less than 20 minutes at some point in the day, which means you don't need a FP, and if you did reserve that ride and it's less than 20, then you just wasted it. I could see it becoming real frustrating. Here's to hoping Touring Plans has a reasonable solution for tourists real quick.

See but Splash Mountain and EE I never saw over a 15 min wait on when I was there in October, but I know that these are usually crazy busy rides. Other then Soarin' and Toy Story Mania, rides that are consistently busy no matter the time of year, how do you discern which are worth getting a fastpass slot for if you don't know which ones will be busy? If you're going during the summer, Christmas, or other busy time of year you can just assume they all will be, but on lower seasons it's a lot more difficult of a choice. Like JMU said, it's still not an advantage to me to be able to switch my fastpass reservation the day of unless I'm able to possibly delete it during the fastpass time frame and hope to goodness that there are still other fastpasses open for other rides at the same time.

That's another downer in my book. I'm a park hopper by nature.

This is really good to hear. Now I'm convinced. The wristbands are awesome. Because if you're not there during peak time, you should easily be able to switch out your FPs if needed. If you are at a peak time, you know what rides you'd usually be getting FPs for anyways. Still limits being sporadic at peak times, but it's not too bad of a trade off for what else you're getting with the band, IMO.

But if you're in a park in the morning, you're not going to need fastpasses. Make selections for park you're going to in evening because it will be more crowded. Catch my drift? It's not perfect, but I think that's the best solution to your problem.

Unfortunately that isn't necessarily true, plus I usually park hop between parks several times a day.

I'm not meaning to come across as a downer about the new system, I love the idea of the Magic Bands as a whole. There are just several drawbacks I see to the Fastpass+ system that are going to take some getting used to

I'm excited because when I was there in February, I never rode Toy Story because the wait was never shorter than 75 minutes and FastPasses were gone, of course. So I'm excited to be able to say "Yes, I'm going to ride Toy Story on THIS DAY at THIS TIME!" but for everything else, I'm not so sure I need THAT much planning. I don't know, I'll have to see. I may end up loving how everything works with it.

I think the biggest disappointment for me is the restriction to one Park per day for FP+. Like Allie, we hop a lot - we're not early birds so we look for FastPasses in each Park. This will be a big change for our touring plan.... ....like every change - it will take some getting used to....

Yep, I a park hopping maniac too. I think I visited 3 parks a day on my last trip.

i can't upload pics of the magic band accessories.

I said a big downer for me..lol.

I did read that they ate going to fastpass BOG for lunch. I could get down with that!!

DFB said they're trying it out. Definitely interesting.