I’m only 778 days!
In one aspect of this you are correct - the existence of the FPP system increases wait times in the Standby lines, and overall there is zero net benefit, as the throughput of the rides has not changed. However, the system is of great benefit to those people who carefully plan their FPP reservations for maximum benefit, choosing to use them for attractions/times where they get the greatest advantage and going for the Standby line where there is less of a benefit.
Yes, this benefit comes at the expense of those people who do not plan carefully and/or make selections that appear to make sense on the surface, but hey, but if God did not intend them to be sheared, he would not have made them sheep.
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I don’t know who Walt really was, either, although he certainly learned to grab opportunity at his parents’ feet. But remember, Club 33 has been around since the Walt days and it’s exclusivity suggests that Walt would probably be okay with things as they are, as long as the magic was there for the rest of the guests.
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If the FPP system were done away with, the same people who carefully plan can still carefully plan and get just as much of a leg up in that regard.
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I agree that a planner always has an advantage (the TP data clearly shows this), but I think that the current FPP system gives a planner even more of an advantage.
I am curious as to @len and the stats team’s opinions on whether the FPP system actually provides a benefit to the user - after all, queuing theory as applied to theme parks is their thing, and they have the patents and dissertations to prove it! 
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You wait less for the few attractions for which you have FPPs, but the presence of FPPs at ALL attractions drives up the standby times for everything for which you don’t have an FPP. More simply put, you save time an 3 or 4 rides, but wait in longer lines for all the others.
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There are hypothetical situations where even for the planner, the FPP system can hurt someone more than help.
Let me take you back 36 years (cue spooky time transition) to my first trip to WDW. Space Mountain was the THING to do. And while we rode other things, the truth is all we really wanted to do was ride Space Mountain.
So, the wait was longish. 30 minutes, although it varied some depending on time of day. We rode it once, twice, three times, and then my brothers did another 4 or 5 times. Even if the line was always 30 minutes, they got in maybe 8 rides in 4 hours (240 minutes).
(cue spooky transition back to present)
With the FP system, however, it’s great (or is it?). You get in line and wait maybe 5 minutes! But then you used your FP. So, the standby line is 40+ minutes. To get those same 8 rides in, you wait 7 times 40 plus 5 minutes. 285 minutes!
So, the FP system works (sort of) if you do NOT wish to ride multiple times. But if you love a ride and wish to do it repeatedly (possibly to the exclusion of other rides), you end up harmed because you really can get in fewer ride opportunities in the same time frame.
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For me, if the effect of FPPs is to smooth waiting times then I’m happy. I’d rather wait 3 x 30 minutes than 1 x 60 and 2 x 15.
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In a way, it is doing just the opposite.
You get to ride one ride for a wait time of < 5 minutes, but the other wait times have increased considerably as a result. You might only have to wait 5 minutes for Frozen now, but instead of waiting 30 minutes on Soarin’, now you will wait an hour as a result. So, it UNSMOOTHED the wait times.
There is a LITTLE smoothing in that the rides that would have had very little wait time before now will have longer wait times.
In the end, it all balances out to roughly the same amount of standing around.
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Well, I like the Universal Express Pass system. It makes things really easy. Well, easy for me when I buy one. Alton Towers in the UK uses the same system.
That being said, there can be something soulless about running from one ride to the next, without any real waiting.
I think we’re fairly certain that FP+ is a mixed bag, as @ryan1
- Standby waits have decreased at the top tier of popular attractions
- Waits have increased at the secondary tiers of popular attractions
In short, FP+ levels out crowds more evenly around the parks. It’s not perfect, but there’s a lot to like about that, especially since it’s free.
I’m still reasonably sure that capacity cuts have increased standby waits more than FP over the last 3 years. It’ll be interesting to see how hard Disney runs rides next month and in June.
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My brother and his family went to Disney immediately after the 9/11 attacks. As you can imagine, the place was practically empty. And while they had ZERO WAIT on everything in the park, he mentioned that it was not only eerie, but kind of made it feel less magical. There needs to be at least SOME wait, I think, to add to the experience.
5 minutes is enough, though. I’d be happy with 5 minute waits! 
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I feel your pain. My next trip is not for another 429 days!
Oh, well except for the one that’s in 62 days. But that doesn’t really count.
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I’m really questioning your claim to be one who teaches math…
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I like the FPP system, it suits us as we don’t want to do full days and I enjoy planning how to optimise our time.
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I don’t.
I teach maths.
Ahem.
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25 June to 2 July
Right. I forgot. You’re the people who also go to Hospital, rather than go to THE hospital.
I take back everything I’ve ever said or thought about you.
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