“Refresh” is my new favorite strategy

[Babe the Blue Ox]

Yes it works well but it also takes way to much time.

I didn’t find that to be the case at all.

 

[DizneyMommy]

Yes, this. Ssshhhhhhhhhh....

DizneyMommy,
It's as easy as it sounds. It's nothing more than refreshing the MDE screen when trying to get a 4th, 5th, etc...FP+. There are variations in how you can do it, but essentially let's say you want a 4th FP+ for Test Track. Pretend you finish your third FP+ at 1pm. As soon as you tap into it, pull up MDE and look for Test Track. If nothing shows up at all, click on a new time at the top of the screen, say 1:30pm. It will "refresh" the screen and look again. Rinse and repeat (you can hit the same time, in this case 1:30pm, or a new time). An alternative method is to pull up Test Track and grab whatever is there...say 8pm. Then go back in and modify it, constantly hitting 1:30pm to alter the time.

We NEVER wait in standby lines more than 20-30 minutes, and even that's a rarity.

So I have to ask... if it is this easy WHO on earth is waiting in 120 minute standby lines, and WHY???

 

[JETSDAD]

So I have to ask... if it is this easy WHO on earth is waiting in 120 minute standby lines, and WHY???

Most people have no idea....others seem to think it's too good to be true....some have no idea what a FP is or how to get them (we were stopped while walking through the FP line for Space Mountain by someone in the SB line who asked where to get FP's and how much they cost).

 

[marcar12]

Yes it works well but it also takes way to much time. There were times I would be staring at my phone the whole time, while walking, while waiting. It took away from my experience staring at that screen hoping to get something.. I did that 60 days before fast pass. I am not going to do it again when I get to the park.

In the end I need it to be a vacation also and not a equation I need to solve and stare at for long periods of time

I wonder about this. We have never done Refresh because it has been 6 years since we have been to WDW, but we will be there in Oct and I am learning about all the strategies I plan to try for 4th/5th FPs, but I don't want my face in my phone all day long. I have 4 kids, including a 2-year-old, that probably wouldn't allow me to do that anyway, haha!

 

[phyllis1966]

Oh, how I wish we knew about this last month! Learn something new every day.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

So I have to ask... if it is this easy WHO on earth is waiting in 120 minute standby lines, and WHY???

I think people are still used to the old FastPass system where they eventually ran out for the day.

Even if you knew how to look on the app for a 4th FP, you may not try again if it said the attraction was unavailable or maybe only available late in the evening.

Refresh works so well because the system is now dynamic and guests are constantly changing of rearranging their reservations.

 

[DizneyMommy]

Most people have no idea....others seem to think it's too good to be true....some have no idea what a FP is or how to get them (we were stopped while walking through the FP line for Space Mountain by someone in the SB line who asked where to get FP's and how much they cost).

That’s bananas to me. But then, we live at Disneyland and Fastpasses are life. I couldn’t image not researching enough to at least know that!

 

[anomamatt]

Refreshing works amazingly well. I have been doing it for a year or so and you can pretty much get anything (except FOP). It may seem like a pain, but really it only takes 5 mins of constant effort to get nearly any FP on demand (usually for a near immediate time too).

Sometimes I do not even pre book 3 FPs because it’s more efficient to book one and then just grab them one after another.

This isn’t my video and I have posted this elsewhere, but this is a good overview for people who don’t already do this:

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

That’s bananas to me. But then, we live at Disneyland and Fastpasses are life. I couldn’t image not researching enough to at least know that!

If everyone knew about it then it wouldn't work as well. You actually want some people to be oblivious about some things.

 

[StacyStrong]

That’s bananas to me. But then, we live at Disneyland and Fastpasses are life. I couldn’t image not researching enough to at least know that!

There are just so many people that aren't technologically saavy or are used to the "old way". Then there are people who think it's an upcharge or that 3 is all you can get.

We have to remember that most visitors don't stalk boards like this the same way we do.

 

[DizneyMommy]

This isn’t my video and I have posted this elsewhere, but this is a good overview for people who don’t already do this:

Mind. Blown. This makes me feel like all of the time planning is wasted, they make it look so easy to stack them so close together!

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

By the end of our week, we had rode all of the major attractions multiple times. The was mostly due to the refresh option. Of course, short lines at night after all FPs had expired also helped.

We never arrived at a park before 10:30 am and usually only spent 4-5 hours or less at a time in each park. We did stay until closing several nights after a nice afternoon break.

 

[TBGOES2DISNEY]

So if I have 7 people in my family, would I have better luck if I search in groups of 3 at a time?

 

[Klayfish]

If everyone knew about it then it wouldn't work as well. You actually want some people to be oblivious about some things.

Yes, totally. I very much hope this doesn't become wide spread knowledge. I think it works very well because on the grand scheme of things, a very small % of WDW guests know how to do this, or want to.

Truth is that it takes very little time "staring" at the screen, it's a very mindless activity. As I've said before, I do it while standing in a FP+ queue and it doesn't really require much attention at all. Plus my kids think it's cool because it's like playing the slot machine and watching the wheel spin...hoping for a match.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

So I have to ask... if it is this easy WHO on earth is waiting in 120 minute standby lines, and WHY???

I wondered that, walking past an hour long line at TT where I had gotten an FP 20 min earlier.

To those who haven't tried this yet, please be a little bit cautious here. Don't ditch your RD plans and sleep in on your FP booking day just yet. Refreshing is a variable experience. People don't seem to have the same experience with how easy it is to get the harder to get FPs. It blows my mind to see people saying 5-10 for everything including headliners. I've been refreshing for the last two trips during May (definitely not a crowded time) and my experiences is 5-10 mins for everything expect for 7DMT, FEA, FOP, Navi, and KS at dusk. Some of the M&Gs were more like 15 mins of refreshing. I also have difficulty in the morning getting times that are earlier than afternoon I was not able to move up things like EE). I was able to get FPs I listed after about half an hour of refreshing so the pps warning about spending too much time on the phone was something I felt came into play sometimes. I spent half an hour at dinner trying to get FEA for DS5 and DH (so party of two) because DS really wanted to go on it again. I was happy to do it that once but I don't want to spend half an hour each meal doing that.

All that said, I still loved rolling FPs, it worked great for us for everything other than the hardest to get rides. I did also get FOP after 10 mins of refreshing once which was awesome but the second time I got it, it was more like half an hour so I feel like I just got lucky that first time. So for us, I really need to prebook FPs for those hardest to get rides or I would either have to spend a ton of time on my phone to get them or be disappointed. There are also reports here of people not having luck with the mountains and other popular but not top of the tier rides. So try it out before you bank on being able to get anything you want If it works great for you and 5 mins is all it takes then cancel all your FPs and sleep til noon. If not, you're at least covered with good pre-booked FPs and you should at least get a lot of good middle tier rides at a mnimum by refreshing and you'll probably do better than that.

Oh and we're a family of 5 with not everyone being a thrill seeker so sometimes I'm looking for 5 and sometimes as few as 2.

 

[motherof5]

I had read about it here quite a bit recently, but had no idea how effective it was until I tried it for myself.

For a family of 5, it was very easy to get additional FP+ for virtually any attraction, often within minutes of trying. There were a few times where I had to initially book something for later in the day then refresh a few more times to move it up earlier.

The only thing I completely struck out on was Navi, so we ended up waiting in standby for that one. I think this was the only standby line longer than 5-10 minutes that we encountered during our entire 7 day visit.

Thanks to all who posted details for this strategy, especially @Klayfish

It saved us a ton of time, we got to ride everything multiple times and never once had to arrive anywhere near rope drop.

What time of year did you go?

 

[Klayfish]

I wondered that, walking past an hour long line at TT where I had gotten an FP 20 min earlier.

To those who haven't tried this yet, please be a little bit cautious here. Don't ditch your RD plans and sleep in on your FP booking day just yet. Refreshing is a variable experience. People don't seem to have the same experience with how easy it is to get the harder to get FPs. It blows my mind to see people saying 5-10 for everything including headliners. I've been refreshing for the last two trips during May (definitely not a crowded time) and my experiences is 5-10 mins for everything expect for 7DMT, FEA, FOP, Navi, and KS at dusk. Some of the M&Gs were more like 15 mins of refreshing. I also have difficulty in the morning getting times that are earlier than afternoon I was not able to move up things like EE). I was able to get FPs I listed after about half an hour of refreshing so the pps warning about spending too much time on the phone was something I felt came into play sometimes. I spent half an hour at dinner trying to get FEA for DS5 and DH (so party of two) because DS really wanted to go on it again. I was happy to do it that once but I don't want to spend half an hour each meal doing that.

All that said, I still loved rolling FPs, it worked great for us for everything other than the hardest to get rides. I did also get FOP after 10 mins of refreshing once which was awesome but the second time I got it, it was more like half an hour so I feel like I just got lucky that first time. So for us, I really need to prebook FPs for those hardest to get rides or I would either have to spend a ton of time on my phone to get them or be disappointed. There are also reports here of people not having luck with the mountains and other popular but not top of the tier rides. So try it out before you bank on being able to get anything you want If it works great for you and 5 mins is all it takes then cancel all your FPs and sleep til noon. If not, you're at least covered with good pre-booked FPs and you should at least get a lot of good middle tier rides at a mnimum by refreshing and you'll probably do better than that.

Oh and we're a family of 5 with not everyone being a thrill seeker so sometimes I'm looking for 5 and sometimes as few as 2.

I never really time exactly how long it takes me to get another FP+. Sometimes it's nearly instant, other times it does take a while. However, I guess I just see it as such an easy thing to do that I don't think much of it. I'm not staring at the screen constantly. I hit refresh and glance back down to see what shows up. Doesn't take away from talking with my family, etc...and the times I am staring at the screen constantly it's because the kids are staring at it with me to see what we get. It's actually such an odd change of pace for me, because outside of WDW I almost never have a phone screen in my face. I don't do social media like FB, don't watch YouTube, don't even text (seriously, I've never sent one). So I'm almost never in my phone.

As for RD, we never, ever do it anymore simply because of refresh. It has completely eliminated the need to wake up early on vacation. When we show up at the park at 10am, we can get every bit as much done in the same time period as the person who showed up at 7:30am.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

I never really time exactly how long it takes me to get another FP+. Sometimes it's nearly instant, other times it does take a while. However, I guess I just see it as such an easy thing to do that I don't think much of it. I'm not staring at the screen constantly. I hit refresh and glance back down to see what shows up. Doesn't take away from talking with my family, etc...and the times I am staring at the screen constantly it's because the kids are staring at it with me to see what we get. It's actually such an odd change of pace for me, because outside of WDW I almost never have a phone screen in my face. I don't do social media like FB, don't watch YouTube, don't even text (seriously, I've never sent one). So I'm almost never in my phone.

As for RD, we never, ever do it anymore simply because of refresh. It has completely eliminated the need to wake up early on vacation. When we show up at the park at 10am, we can get every bit as much done in the same time period as the person who showed up at 7:30am.

I guess it depends on how easily you multitask. I tend to not multitask so well. I have also had the experience of refreshing becoming so rote that if I'm not paying attention my brain sees that the difficult to get FP I want at the perfect time has just come up half a second after my finger has tapped the time to refresh again. Nooooooooooooo!!
.
I can carry on a stilted conversation while on the phone but it doesn't have my full attention. DH actually told me not to try for FOP because to him it wasn't worth me not being fully present (so I did it while he was on a ride with the two youngest ). But most of the time and for most rides, I agree that 5 or 10 mins of staring at the phone while in the FP line is definitely worth saving 30 mins in the next standby line.

 

[Mamapapa]

On a side note to this conversation, how is the park wi-fi in regards to refreshing? I have a work phone so my data plan is limited. If i'm planning on using park wi-fi only, will I still have success refreshing? The last time we visited was in 2015 and wi-fi was kind of crappy then...

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

What time of year did you go?

We went last week. June 2-9