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Do I REALLY need to pick FP 60 days in advance?

ten822

Mouseketeer
Joined
Mar 26, 2005
I'm all for planning but I'm finding it hard to do this so far in advance. What is the norm? Do the FP run out quickly? Has it been easy to change FP while in the park?
 
Two that might be suggested as early as possible may be the Frozen ladies and the Mine Train ride. Others not so much.
 
If you want specific attractions (like Anna and Elsa) and you are fussy about particular times, then the earlier the better.
 
Last trip, I opted out of magicbands because we have AP's. But this trip we are doing it. You can book it the morning of or the night before. Some people, especially some who really want certain things and to make sure they get it done, will book in advance. But it's entirely up to you!
 


I will be booking 60 days in advance. When we went back in November, we didn't purchase our tickets until we arrived so we had to wait on FPs. We found that a lot of things were already booked up which was a big bummer. I figure having anything is better than nothing!
 
If you already have a basic plan of what parks on what day I would go ahead and make them. It does not take long and you can book into some of the popular rides if you want to ride them.

You can then just forget about it until your trip gets closer or obsess over it everyday for 60 days....lol
 
I'm all for planning but I'm finding it hard to do this so far in advance. What is the norm? Do the FP run out quickly? Has it been easy to change FP while in the park?

It depends on what you mean by "need to".

1. The Mine Train and Frozen Meet and Greet are FP's that are difficult to get the closer you get. Sometimes these are gone at 60 days out. If you can get some closer, there may only be 1 or 2 times available. If you have a big group, the earliest you can book the better, especially for Anna and Elsa.

2. The sooner you can book, the better chance you have at getting a time you want. Times do fill up for certain rides so you might end up with a time that you don't want.

3. It depends on what you mean by "easy" Yes, you can change your FP experiences and times, however you will get whatever is available. Most of the headliners will be gone or very few times are available.
 


FP booking opens up at 12:00AM EST. I know this because I just booked for my trip in August. We were up at midnight so we booked then.
 
Does anyone know what time in the morning you can book your fast passes? Is it like dining reservations at 6am?

12 am EST.

As far as booking 60 days out, why wouldn't you want to (unless you plan to purchase tickets when you arrive)? If you don't mind waiting in the 7DMT, TSMM, Anna and Elsa or any other popular ride line then no you don't have to book. Other not so popular attractions may have day before or day of openings, but what if you're a night owl and could have secured PM FP+ 60 days out and the only times available are in the morning or an inconvenient time? I'm guessing you've already booked your dining reservations so you have some idea of where you will be each day. Just book FP+ around the dining reservations.
 
I'm still debating on whether or not I want to book FP+ 60 days out. While I do like to plan which park we are going to which days, and a few ADRs, I find it stressful to book attractions down to the time. I've always been more of a "wing it" kind of person when it comes to WDW. There are certain attractions that I'll probably get a FP+ for, but in the past, we never really used paper FPstoo much anyway.
 
i think the only FP you will be locked out of if you don't do it right when the window opens is the Anna & Elsa meet and greet. I think for the others, as long as you book before the general public does (isn't that still 30 days out?), then you will have fine availability. I even booked TSMM FPs about 28 days ahead of time for my trip earlier this month, and did not have a problem getting decent times.

Obviously, the closer you get to your trip, the less availability there will be, but I think in most events, SDMT (for the time being) and TSMM will be the only other ones (other than A&E) in danger of booking up prior to a few days in advance.

Curious as to how long SDMT will be in such high demand.
 
We just got home last night and if you are going during a busy time I agree about the 7DMT & A&E. We were behind a family at 7DMT right after RD and I heard them talking about not being able to get a FP+ for the ride the whole week they were there at any time. The wait for this ride was 90 minutes when we got off at 9:15.
 
I'm still debating on whether or not I want to book FP+ 60 days out. While I do like to plan which park we are going to which days, and a few ADRs, I find it stressful to book attractions down to the time. I've always been more of a "wing it" kind of person when it comes to WDW. There are certain attractions that I'll probably get a FP+ for, but in the past, we never really used paper FPstoo much anyway.

I would pick them anyway. There is no downside. It takes a few minutes and you can change them any time you want.

I did mine about 40 days out. I didn't try Anna and Elsa so I don't know if they were available or not. The earliest Mine train for our MK day was about 1pm. Everything else looked pretty wide open.
 
I think a lot depends on your party size. I am here solo right now and have been changing FP around daily and have had A&E and 7DMT available to choose from. But the larger your group is the harder it becomes to get everyone in together at the last minute.
 
I think a lot depends on your party size. I am here solo right now and have been changing FP around daily and have had A&E and 7DMT available to choose from. But the larger your group is the harder it becomes to get everyone in together at the last minute.

We were trying for 7DMT for the past Sat. on Friday night for a party of 3. Nothing came up for our party but I could find 3 solos. 2 in the afternoon but nothing overlapping and one starting at 8 something.
 
I'm still debating on whether or not I want to book FP+ 60 days out. While I do like to plan which park we are going to which days, and a few ADRs, I find it stressful to book attractions down to the time. I've always been more of a "wing it" kind of person when it comes to WDW. There are certain attractions that I'll probably get a FP+ for, but in the past, we never really used paper FPstoo much anyway.

What is the downside to going ahead and booking SOMETHING?

Even if you change them on down the line, or cancel them altogether?

I'm just not seeing why NOT to book something ....
 

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