Detailed report on 4th (and more) FP+, including one day using 11 FPs

[famy27]

I promised a detailed report on our trip. I tried to take notes as best I could, but I may be missing a few things here or there.

I'll start with the list of what FPs we got and then share my thoughts and observations.

Saturday, May 31st
Arrived at Epcot at 6:30 pm
Prebooked FPs:
Soarin’ from 6:30 to 7:30
Extra FPs: none. We got a later start than planned, so we only had time to do one pre-booked FP, which we rode twice with rider switch.

Sunday, June 1st at MK
Prebooked FPs:
Buzz at 9:30 am (everyone)
BTMRR at 10:30 (boys)
Rapunzel & Cinderella at 10:30 (girls)
Space at 11:45 (boys)
A&E at 11:35 (girls)
After lunch at CRT, we started booking our extra FPs

Extra FPs:
LM at 2:20 (booked at 1:38; SB was 25 mins)
Barnstormer at 4:05 (booked at 3:35, SB was 30 mins)
WtP at 4:45 (booked at 4:15, SB was 40 mins)
Mickey at 4:55 (booked at 4:35; SB was 25 mins)
JC at 6:50 (booked at 6:38; SB was 25 mins)
PotC at 7:25(booked at 7:17; SB was 15 mins)
BTMRR at 9:30 (booked at 7:45; SB was 30 mins)
Tinkerbell at 10:30 (booked at 10:26; SB was 10 mins)

Monday, June 2nd at EpcotPrebooked FP:
Soarin from 10:00 to 11:00
I intentionally cancelled my tier 2 FPs prior to arriving at the park to see if I could immediately book another Tier 1 after riding Soarin. I was able to do so.

Extra FPs:
TT at 5:00 pm (booked at 11:45; could have had 1:55, but had 2:00 ADR)
Character Spot at 12:30 (booked at 12:15; used RS for Soarin’ so one of us showed that we hadn’t redeemed a FP; SB was 15 mins)
Maelstrom at 7:25 (booked at 7:15; SB was 20 mins)

Tues June 3rd at AKPrebooked FPs
Dinosaur from 9:30 to 10:30
KS from 10:30 to 11:30
EE from 11:30 to 12:30 (EE was down, so we switched to FOTLK)

Extra FPs:
Hopped to Epcot
Maelstrom at 7:35 (booked at 5:15; could have had earlier time but had ADR at 6:00; SB was 20 mins)

Wed June 4th at MKPrebooked FPs
Speedway from 12:00 to 1:00
A&E from 1:35 to 2:35
Mine Train from 2:35 to 3:35

Extra FPs:
PotC at 3:45 (booked at 3:30; SB was 20 mins)

Thurs at June 5th at HSPrebooked
TSMM from 10:30 to 11:30
ST from 11:30 to 12:30
ToT from 12:30 to 1:30

Extra FP
GMR at 2:05 (booked at 1:00; SB 10 mins; half of group)
RNRC at 6:00 (booked at 1:00 pm; SB was 45 mins)

Friday, June 5th AK in morning (no FPs; MK in afternoon)
Prebooked
? (don’t remember, as this expired before we arrived)
Tinkerbell at 2:25
Mine Train at 3:25

Extra FPs
Buzz at 7:35 (booked at 7:29; SB was 25 mins)
PotC at 8:10 (booked at 7:58; SB was 15 mins)

Overall thoughts
Having the ability to add extra FPs is a HUGE improvement over the 3-only system. However, there are still improvements to be made. Having to use the kiosks was a giant pain. The lines were generally fairly short (other than at the kiosk by Buzz), but it still took time.

MK, as expected, was where the extra FPs were most valuable. For me, they were least valuable at HS. We were able to get RNRC, but it was for five hours later. We saw some shows and did the backlot tour while waiting for that one. TSMM was completely gone by the time we went to the kiosks. We probably would have been smarter to only prebook TSMM and ToT and to be at the kiosk to get another Tier 1 at 10:15 or so. That will be my strategy for the next trip.

The kiosks themselves are a big ol’ mess. We found that unless you booked every FP for all members of your party, the kiosks got glitch and started separating your group into sub-groups. You couldn’t book for everyone, and so you ended up with staggered times, where someone in your group had a 7:20 return time and everyone else had 7:25. The CMs said there is no way to fix this, but that the system resets each day and relinks everyone in your group. It did, but since we rode things separately with the RS, this happened to us pretty much every day.

We also found it very annoying that we couldn’t cancel our extra FPs once we made them at the kiosk. Somehow, the system gave my niece a RNRC FP (even though she wasn’t selected on the screen). She is too short, so we knew she wouldn’t be able to ride. We tried to change to GMR with her parents, but we had to pick another Tier 1. We couldn’t just delete the Tier 2 and start over. We ended up having to switch RNRC for BatB and letting that one expire before we could add her to GMR.

I think the CMs are probably very tired of having to repeat these new go-to phrases every five minutes “glitch” “new system” “working out the kinks” “can be kind of buggy,” and everyone’s favorite: “in testing.”

Being able to prebook in multiple parks, having a rolling 3 FPs, and not having to book at kiosks would make me completely content with the system. Fixing the app would be super, too.

It was a fantastic trip. Crowds were pretty manageable and weather was decent, especially for the first four days. We accomplished more than I thought we would, and we are really looking forward to our Labor Day trip.

 

[SplashMo]

Wonderful report! Thanks for sharing! I really appreciate that.

 

[Perruchon]

Thanks a LOT for this report! This is exactly what I was looking for.... It is really appreciated

 

[csmith041177]

Thank you for the information and the honest assessment!

 

[Gru]

Thanks for your report! How many people were in your group? We are a family of 6 and are a little worried it will be hard to get extra FP+ for everyone in our party at the same time.

 

[AlixaLock]

Thanks for the great report ... you used some great strategies! I've heard the same feedback about separating the groups from several sources and I've basically told my group of 7 that we are staying together unless I hear they've worked the kinks out! LOL!

Question ... on June 3rd, did you hop to Epcot first and then book additional passes or were you able to book Maelstrom from Animal Kingdom?

Thanks again!

 

[FlightlessDuck]

I intentionally cancelled my tier 2 FPs prior to arriving at the park to see if I could immediately book another Tier 1 after riding Soarin. I was able to do so.

This kind of makes the idea of tiers silly.

 

[mousekatool]

I'm confused. I had read that if you let your FP expire, you could book another of any tier, but you stated you cancelled your tier 2s and were able to book an additional tier 1 at Epcot. So, you can just cancel and rebook another tier 1? That doesn't seem plausible, based on how whackadoodle the system is. Are the return times far out in the day? I would be nervous to cancel a known for an unknown, if that makes sense. Maybe someone can explain this to me.

 

[mrsdrake625]

Thanks for this. I'm looking at planning a trip for 12 people with very different interests soon, and I am banking on everyone being able to split up after the original 3 FP+s are gone.

I'm hoping that we can do "group" stuff in the morning and then let everyone just take care of themselves after that - one family has three small children, one childless couple, one couple with a baby, and one set of grandparents. Oy vey!

Thanks for the info and details!

 

[Beer Me]

I'm confused. I had read that if you let your FP expire, you could book another of any tier, but you stated you cancelled your tier 2s and were able to book an additional tier 1 at Epcot. So, you can just cancel and rebook another tier 1? That doesn't seem plausible, based on how whackadoodle the system is. Are the return times far out in the day? I would be nervous to cancel a known for an unknown, if that makes sense. Maybe someone can explain this to me.

I think OP found a loophole. It's interesting but I probably wouldn't try it either.

I haven't used FP+ yet but his criticisms ring true. The tiering thing stinks. I also think a park hopper pass should give you the ability to get FP for any park. And if you could do it on your smartphone and not visit a kiosk - perfect.

 

[famy27]

Thanks for your report! How many people were in your group? We are a family of 6 and are a little worried it will be hard to get extra FP+ for everyone in our party at the same time.

We had eight in our group, but only seven of us who needed FPs, since my younger DD is just turning 2. Because she is too small for all of the height requirement rides, we did a lot of riding separately with RS. That is what caused the issue with the groups.

For the two days when we all stuck together, we had no problems getting FPs for all seven of us for the same time (PotC, for example). It was just when the system separated us into groups and wouldn't link our bands when we scanned that we had issues getting the same times. We were always able to get the same ride with overlapping times, but the start times were often staggered by 5-10 minutes. It was just the annoyance of having to book twice and keep track of which ones were at which times.

 

[famy27]

I think OP found a loophole. It's interesting but I probably wouldn't try it either.

I haven't used FP+ yet but his criticisms ring true. The tiering thing stinks. I also think a park hopper pass should give you the ability to get FP for any park. And if you could do it on your smartphone and not visit a kiosk - perfect.

I guess you could call it a loophole, but as the PP pointed out, you do risk the known commodity of two FPs that you can prebook if you cancel them in advance. To me, it was worth it to take the risk. For someone that definitely wants to do Turtle Talk or Mission: Space at a particular time, they might prefer to keep the Tier 2s. I had read that this strategy worked for others, so I wanted to try it for myself. We did have a few days at EP, so it wasn't a big risk for me.

 

[famy27]

I'm confused. I had read that if you let your FP expire, you could book another of any tier, but you stated you cancelled your tier 2s and were able to book an additional tier 1 at Epcot. So, you can just cancel and rebook another tier 1? That doesn't seem plausible, based on how whackadoodle the system is. Are the return times far out in the day? I would be nervous to cancel a known for an unknown, if that makes sense. Maybe someone can explain this to me.

I cancelled my Tier 2s a week or two after I booked them, long before getting to the parks. We had only Soarin' as our prebooked FP. We rode Soarin' and went to the FP kiosk immediately after. We were offered a choice of any available ride, whether Tier 1 or Tier 2. I didn't look for Illuminations, but I know for sure TT, Soarin', Maelstrom, Character Spot were all available as of 11:45. We could have had a TT for as early as 1:55, but we had a lunch ADR at Via Napoli at 2:00, so we selected a 5:00 pm return time and made a leisurely trip back through WS, doing a few Agent P adventures along the way.

I had intended to get to EP earlier and be at the FP kiosk at closer to 10:00, but my family decided to sleep in a bit. I suspect that around 10:15, there would have been FP availability for Tier 1s for even earlier times.

I will be using this method again on my Labor Day trip, including booking only 2 FPs at HS instead of prebooking three. To have any chance at a second TSMM, I will need to be at the kiosks much earlier than I was during this trip.

 

[famy27]

Thanks for the great report ... you used some great strategies! I've heard the same feedback about separating the groups from several sources and I've basically told my group of 7 that we are staying together unless I hear they've worked the kinks out! LOL!

Question ... on June 3rd, did you hop to Epcot first and then book additional passes or were you able to book Maelstrom from Animal Kingdom?

Thanks again!

I hopped to Epcot first. We were only able to book additional FPs in the park we were in at that moment. Being able to book before changing parks would have been a big improvement.

 

[TwinPrincessMermaids]

What! I am floored. 11 FPs, thats more than we ever got with Legacy (cuz we didn't really need them except for just a few rides.)

Was this even available on May 4? Or is this something new that they are making up as they go along? Because no one gave us any indication we could get any more than the 3 we booked on MDE.

But I'm glad they are fixing it. Because just possibly maybe I might come back some time.

 

[dreamit]

Thank YOU for taking the time to document and post this information for everyone!

 

[AlixaLock]

I hopped to Epcot first. We were only able to book additional FPs in the park we were in at that moment. Being able to book before changing parks would have been a big improvement.

Thank you! I totally agree ... I've had a lot of luck with FP+ in general, but I see some real drawbacks. The biggest is that we are HUGE park hoppers and they system just isn't accommodating that.

Adding the ability to make additional FP+ reservations on the app from any park AT any park would make it a real win for our family...

 

[Frozen2014]

Sounds like a great trip. Thanks so much for sharing your experience and findings. I do have one confirmation though

I promised a detailed report on our trip. I tried to take notes as best I could, but I may be missing a few things here or there.

I'll start with the list of what FPs we got and then share my thoughts and observations.

Monday, June 2nd at EpcotPrebooked FP:
Soarin from 10:00 to 11:00
I intentionally cancelled my tier 2 FPs prior to arriving at the park to see if I could immediately book another Tier 1 after riding Soarin. I was able to do so.

Extra FPs:
TT at 5:00 pm (booked at 11:45; could have had 1:55, but had 2:00 ADR)
Character Spot at 12:30 (booked at 12:15; used RS for Soarin’ so one of us showed that we hadn’t redeemed a FP; SB was 15 mins)
Maelstrom at 7:25 (booked at 7:15; SB was 20 mins)

Does this mean that if you want both Soarin (Tier 1) and Test Track (Tier 1), that one trick is to only pre-book a FP for Soarin. Then after you ride, you can go to the kiosk and try to get a FP for Test Track? These are obviously that two most FP attrations at Epcot so would be worth to not bother with any others if it meant you could get these two.

 

[famy27]

Sounds like a great trip. Thanks so much for sharing your experience and findings. I do have one confirmation though



Does this mean that if you want both Soarin (Tier 1) and Test Track (Tier 1), that one trick is to only pre-book a FP for Soarin. Then after you ride, you can go to the kiosk and try to get a FP for Test Track? These are obviously that two most FP attrations at Epcot so would be worth to not bother with any others if it meant you could get these two.

You are correct. We cancelled our Tier 2s in advance. After we used our only remaining prebooked FP, we were given every ride as a choice at the kiosk (both Tier 1 and Tier 2). We could have had a TT as early as 1:55 as of 11:45, with SB running at 60-70 minutes. We had planned to ride Soarin' even earlier, but we were at MK late the evening before and got a slow start. I would think that if you booked Soarin from 9:00 to 10:00 and were at the FP kiosk before 10:00, you should be able to get another Soarin' or a TT with a decent return time.

 

[snayak]

I hopped to Epcot first. We were only able to book additional FPs in the park we were in at that moment. Being able to book before changing parks would have been a big improvement.

In my opinion (the little its worth) I feel that having physically be in a park for the 4th FP is good - it prevents people from booking "nice to have" FP+ (above their original 3). Same with having to go to kiosks and only 1 at a time after 3 pre-bookings. In theory it should keep it fair for everybody in the park, and is similar to the FP-...you couldn't get a fastpass for another park's attraction unless you were there either!