Is This The Reason For FP + ...

I love October trips, even tsm is like a 45 minute wait, we tried in may this year and it was awful.

FP+ has zero to do with guest satisfaction.

I don't know the actual reasoning behind FP+. Disney will say it was made to improve the guest experience but I don't buy it. From what I've read online, there are some arguments made it was only done to force people to stay at the more expensive Disney resorts because now they charge extra for a Magicband if you're staying off property and that band is necessary for FP+ reservations and such. Others may say it was done to re-distribute the lines for rides in a way but things haven't really changed in terms of the big ticket ride lines running out of FP+ and now, the rides that were once standbys are now becoming more crowded and longer. But I firmly believe that the pressure cooker tests for FP was going to be from March to August of this year and so far, mixed results and not everyone is on board with it. I think the next pressure cooker test for FP+ will be Christmas break where the crowds are even larger than the summer months. October should be more managable but keep in mind Yom Kippur (October 4), Columbus Day Weekend (October 11-13) and Diwali (October 23) are the major holidays besides Halloween so those days you may see more crowds.

I know I've said it before but the hype machine fans cause online is the problem for a lot of these things.

When I first visited 20 years ago nobody really knew what was at disney world unless they had been before, all we knew was what was on the planning VHS, in the travel agents brochure and stories from friends and family looking at their photos and home movies.

We didn't know where we were going to eat 180 days before we went and we certainly didn't know what was on the menu at these places. Like all things there are good and bad points to what the internet has brought but the disney hype is getting out of control, evident by Anna and Elsa, Be our guest, TSM and Soarin'. There isn't one blog or tips site that doesn't suggest running to these rides, making sure you get fast pass ect.

Disney is reacting to this hype and trying to make your vacation enjoyable again, this trip we have all the mountains, Everest, TSM, Tower of Terror, Soarin', Anna and Elsa, the mine train and Arial in the bag. The times are set the worry is over every thing is planned after 10 so we can enjoy rope drop walk down main street and enjoy the less popular attractions first thing, then hit the head liners and then the shows. then take resort breaks and then head back in the evening to a different park or something else on site.

remember every moment you are in line you are not spending and if you go peak time and pay alot to be there and don't see the attractions you want you won't come back

Disney did not drop $3 billion on Magic Bands to make our vacation more enjoyable. I don't think they did this so that people who sleep till noon and show up at DHS can ride TSM without a long wait.

My vacation was much more enjoyable when I could get fast passes for Soarin and Test Track on the same day. When I could do headliner attractions at two parks on the same day. When I didn't have to spend hours on the phone with cust svc trying to straighten out my account. Hell rope drop is fun. Its better than being on line at midnight to get FPs.

People are still getting shut out of rides ,as much as ever. Lines are no shorter now. Number of guests/# of attractions = wait time. FP+ does nothing to solve that problem. It just gives you an appointment for a limited number of rides. Just like legacy FP did.

If Disney wanted to shorten lines they could have opened more attractions or increased operating hours. The $3 billion they spend on magic bands could have went a long way.

Magic Bands are a very sophisticated way to track guest movement and spending and the whole thing has the goal of harvesting more money from the guest. I understand they are operating for profit, but as a customer, I don't have to like it.

I do agree that it does feel like Disney is focusing on guest movement and I do think they are putting profits over everything else. Not only with FP+, but they keep raising the ticket prices, hotel room prices and the dining plans every year. I read on another forum that Disney seems to be appealing a lot to the one and done visitors and towards international visitors. As an example, on the Disney Parks YouTube channel, I see ads in Portuguese and offers that apply only to Canadian visitors. So by the looks of it, Disney sees Canada and Latin America as the two biggest markets for selling WDW vacations. They seem to have a lot of money to spend and because it may be a one and done trip for those people, they're willing spend anything for their trip. They're willing to pay roughly 40 bucks for a character meal per person, they're willing to pay for the t-shirts that costs over 30 dollars and even tack on other treats with it. And summer time prices at the hotels? No biggie for them.

I think Disney is somewhat resting on complacency because with so many foreign visitors coming and spending more money in the parks and resorts, why bother re-investing in the parks? The one and done person doesn't give a hoot about the disco yeti from Everest, the Imagination ride with no Dreamfinder or Soarin' with a filthy screen and a film that hasn't been updated. This, in turn, alienates the core WDW fans in my book. We feel cheated about the high prices in Disney that we're always begging for how to save money on just about anything when it comes to planning our trip. The lack of new top quality, top of the class attractions and if applicable, a bigger tolerance on operating rides without giving a hoot about functioning animatronics, makes die hard fans questioning if it's even worth going back. I mean, sure, they try to show they "care" and try to make us go back by sending us free dining plans or room discounts, but is that really enough? For some, the answer to that is no.

And it is frustrating to see that out west, Disneyland in CA seems to know how to handle and run their parks better. They've kept the legacy FP. They addressed the big problems with California Adventure by adding Cars Land, World of Color and re-themed for the better with Buena Vista Street, Carthay Circle and Paradise Pier. I give them props for willing to shut down Big Thunder Mountain for an entire year but make improvements on the ride to make it a more thrilling and jaw-dropping experience. And to rub salt in the wound, they have a lot more variety of characters compared to WDW. And in terms of prices, the ticket prices are high but 96 bucks for one day at Disneyland over 99 bucks at the Magic Kingdom? In a tight economy like this, three dollars difference can be huge. I think Disneyland knows their park guests a lot more compared to WDW because by the looks of it, they give them what they want.

What has WDW done? Sure, they added New Fantasyland though there are some arguments it was not really necessary because the Magic Kingdom was a park that didn't really need a big change. I think some will argue Disney sold out by way of the princesses with New Fantasyland. In the AK, they're in the process of adding Avatar Land, which is a very questionable decision given the lack of relevance of the film and zero ties with Disney at the moment. And their rumored attractions are supposedly a more glorified Jungle Cruise and Soarin'? What kind of additions to the AK is that? Hollywood Studios seems to be resting on Frozen with their parade and stage shows but how long will it last? And to raise more concerns, there are no confirmed new rides or new land for Star Wars even with the vague statement about "Star Wars presence" we heard earlier. And for Epcot, a possible overlay of Frozen in Norway is also very polarizing and some are questioning that decision if indeed the rumors are true. Epcot hasn't a brand new ride since Soarin' back in 2005 and a simple re-theming of an old attraction and labeling it as "new" as Epcot has done in the past most recently along with luring people to Epcot for Food and Wine along with Flower and Garden festivals makes me wave a red flag that they are settling for complacency. I know a lot will compare WDW to Universal at the moment because Universal is playing hardball with Harry Potter and all their new attractions. But in terms how to run and make the parks better, there is potential for that if done the right way and maybe Disneyland in CA is probably a better model to look at.

I've said this before that people could say the exact same thing what I just wrote, but say in a more snarky and snobbish way. But even so, as I much as I love Disney World, I just have to wonder if I'm being valued as a customer and by the looks of it, probably not. I said in the past my next trip would come around 2016-18 for personal and financial reasons but I'm not even sure if things will change for the better by then. I want to believe that my next trip will be the perfect time for going back to WDW and everything will turn out all right whenever the next trip maybe but so many potential downfalls and changes for the worse, how am I supposed to believe in it? I'm not angry, I'm just highly concerned about WDW at the moment.

Damn you disco yeti!

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