A note for offsiters...

[OurBigTrip]

Many people onsite are reporting that they are not getting them at 60 days.

Yep.

And quite frankly, if I'm paying the additional $$ to stay on-site, I expect additional perks, including first chance at FP+.

 

[rajak73]

Or you could use their cheaper version called Qbot. People seriously need to educate themselves about Universal if they want to talk smack about them.

Just Google Universal Orlando Qbot. It's a forbidden site so I can't link it.

So if I'm staying offsite, (traveling in a 5th wheel and Universal does not have campground) I could pay for Express Pass or Qbot but still not have access to the most popular Harry Potter attractions, Escape from Gringotts, Hogwarts Express, Wand Shops, Forbidden Journey according to Universal website?

 

[jcjen519]

I do get the frustration from OP but don't see anything wrong with offering extra perks to onsite guests. Quite frankly I had trouble getting A&E fastpass in June staying on site and it was a 9 day trip. I was only able to get it for the day before we went home. I'm sure Disney is aware they will frustrate some guests and lose some as well. However, I'm guessing they believe that the money earned off the number of guests who will choose to stay on site will outweigh the loss.

There are also other ways at disney besides staying on site to skip lines although they are more expensive. disney offers various VIP tours including two new ones ...one that includes the mine train. they're not cheap but you don't have to stay on site to utilize them.

 

[AmyB2006]

If you have even the slightest plan to take advantage of fastpass, you should probably think again! Make sure you plan a 100% standby line only trip.

Just tried at bang on 12:00 am for MK, Sep 5th (low crowd day). Anna and Elsa? Nope. SDMT? Nope.

I figured that since I paid full price for my tickets, I deserve the same opportunity for FP+. Apparently that isn't the case. Fortunately, I already planned for Disney to treat me like this, since I've pretty much resigned myself to second class citizen status due to my lodging preferences. Can't want to use a FP for Peter Pan, Philharmagic, and Barnstormer. LOL.

Ahhh well, not to worry! Universal is shaping up to be darned exciting for next year's Orlando vacation!

I think you're blowing things out of proportion. Not saying that FP+ is all that, however, you're complaining about not getting a FP+ for the two most popular attractions there right now.

I'm staying onsite and even I couldn't get a FP+ for A&E. I managed to get a FP+ for 7DMT on our last day there because all the other days were standby only already.

Have fun at Universal! I can't wait to go there next year with my kids. Which I will be staying onsite there as well to take advantage of their "FP" or whatever you call it there.

 

[Kellykins1218]

We did a spur of the moment trip in June and stayed offsite. We purchased our tickets with reward points on Sunday and I made FP+ reservations that night for Mon-Thurs. With less than 12 hours advance, I got everything but 7DMT... we didn't care about A & E. We hit MK at rope drop and only waited 35 minutes for 7DMT. I don't think staying offsite is a bad thing. We saved a ton of money and still did everything we wanted to do. You don't need to stay onsite.

 

[michsig]

I was able to get MIL and FIL FP+ for 7DMT today, as they just set up their MDE. We are 36 days out.

 

[CapeG]

We are staying off site and I have FP for A&E and 7DMT. We leave in 2 weeks and I just was able to get 4 A&E yesterday. I need to find two more and play with the changes.
I have found the best way to do it is to go in one at a time. Grab whatever you see and then you can play with the times. I have been seeing 7DMT a lot of our 10 day time frame.
Just keep trying!

 

[Reddog1134]

When they reduced EMH (both in length and frequency) everyone said they would have to come up with something else to entice onsite guests. I guess FP+ is it.

 

[chapie1968]

If you have even the slightest plan to take advantage of fastpass, you should probably think again! Make sure you plan a 100% standby line only trip.

Just tried at bang on 12:00 am for MK, Sep 5th (low crowd day). Anna and Elsa? Nope. SDMT? Nope.

I figured that since I paid full price for my tickets, I deserve the same opportunity for FP+. Apparently that isn't the case. Fortunately, I already planned for Disney to treat me like this, since I've pretty much resigned myself to second class citizen status due to my lodging preferences. Can't want to use a FP for Peter Pan, Philharmagic, and Barnstormer. LOL.

Ahhh well, not to worry! Universal is shaping up to be darned exciting for next year's Orlando vacation!

I'm staying offsite in 2 weeks. Had no problem getting any FP except A&E(which people are even having trouble with at 60 days and fortunately we didn't need anyway) and the 7DMT. But I kept trying for the Mine Train on and off for a week and I was able to secure 4 FP for everyone in our party with not too much effort.

Suggestion for Mine train, try for the FP for each individual person. Over the course of a little time you should be able to get as many as you need in the same time frame.

 

[DopeyDame]

How does not being able to get a FP+ for two attractions - the two most crazy popular attractions - equate to "100% standby" trip.

Were you not able to get FP+ for the dozens of other e-ticket rides at the four parks? I haven't heard of people having trouble getting FP+ for most rides at 30 days out, or even at 1 day out. if you weren't able to get any FP+s that would be news indeed.

 

[Virtucomp]

Or you could use their cheaper version called Qbot. People seriously need to educate themselves about Universal if they want to talk smack about them.

Just Google Universal Orlando Qbot. It's a forbidden site so I can't link it.

SO QBot is like spending a small boat load for limited fastpass access instead of spending the full boatload. I'm still spending over $30 a person for one day of qbot. How is that better than free?

 

[Mad Hattered]

SO QBot is like spending a small boat load for limited fastpass access instead of spending the full boatload. I'm still spending over $30 a person for one day of qbot. How is that better than free?

You mean like how the Magical Express is free? How Free Dining is free?

I have a Universal AP and got our room for $150/night onsite at Royal Pacific. The 2 park Express Pass (not unlimited - one time ride at each attraction - not including HP) costs $100 per person plus tax for a day when we are there. So...if I planned on buying the Express Pass for one day it would cost me over $200. Does that mean I got a free Deluxe room since those come with unlimited park to park Express for everyone in my room?

Sometimes it's cheaper to book a throwaway room onsite at Universal and you get two days of Unlimited Express pass. It's a pretty sweet deal if you can do it. But now back to Disney.

 

[chapie1968]

Sometimes it's cheaper to book a throwaway room onsite at Universal and you get two days of Unlimited Express pass. It's a pretty sweet deal if you can do it. But now back to Disney.

that's exactly what we did. An Unlimited Express Pass for 4 is $360 a day for a total of $720 for two days. We booked a room for one night at Portofino Bay for $240 and we get Express Pass for both days and a room close by to go back and take a mid day break. And going in August with the higher crowd levels the Express Pass will really help out in saving some wait time. Unfortunately we still have to go commando at 0600 to get to Diagon Alley.

 

[disnut8]

How does not being able to get a FP+ for two attractions - the two most crazy popular attractions - equate to "100% standby" trip.

Agree with this. The OP did get three FastPasses but not the ones that person wanted.

The thing is - everyone's trip is different. If I were at Magic Kingdom, I wouldn't care about the meet and great or the Mine Train, I'd want Splash Mountain so I'd be happy.

To the OP - I think you trip will be a good one if you just push out the "I couldn't do this....." from your mind. Think about what you are doing and then enjoy. Life is way too short to think about things your and your family didn't do. Think about the things are are and will be doing. Much less stress.

 

[shepd]

I think you're blowing things out of proportion. Not saying that FP+ is all that, however, you're complaining about not getting a FP+ for the two most popular attractions there right now.

I'm staying onsite and even I couldn't get a FP+ for A&E. I managed to get a FP+ for 7DMT on our last day there because all the other days were standby only already.

Have fun at Universal! I can't wait to go there next year with my kids. Which I will be staying onsite there as well to take advantage of their "FP" or whatever you call it there.

I might be railing a bit hard on Disney for this, but really, being first in line with anything else has always netted me an advantage. Maybe I'm just upset because Disney has some weird rules that make it impossible to gain that time vs. money advantage and instead turn it into a lotto (seems that if I just keep hammering eventually something will magically exist). I've just never been a fan of lotteries. I prefer a bit more... structure.

And I am excited about the next trip. Wife was laughing about how I plan 1 or 2 trips ahead of the current one. Already have mid next-year's trip to Dollywood halfway figured out. LOL.

You don't even want to know the detail I've planned the Disney trip to. I'm surprised nobody's throttled me over it yet. Wife keeps telling me 30 pages is enough detail.

 

[MrInfinity]

Just tried at bang on 12:00 am for MK, Sep 5th (low crowd day). Anna and Elsa? Nope. SDMT? Nope.

I figured that since I paid full price for my tickets, I deserve the same opportunity for FP+. Apparently that isn't the case. Fortunately, I already planned for Disney to treat me like this, since I've pretty much resigned myself to second class citizen status due to my lodging preferences. Can't want to use a FP for Peter Pan, Philharmagic, and Barnstormer. LOL.

You didn't pay the same amount. You bought the same right to enter to the park, but you declined to buy the hotel stay which comes w the perk of getting first shot at a quick ride on the newest hottest rides. You paid the $100 but skipped the $400/night room. Then want to enjoy your savings and still get all the same benefits -- just for less. Crazy! Like Disney should give the fastpass to you for buying a $100 ticket instead of a resort guest who's paying $5000 in hotel costs. Why would they do this? The whole goal of operating a park like this is to leverage the rides to fill profitable hotel rooms.

And FastPass worked for everything else, right? Just not the two hottest attractions?

Tho it won't ease the frustration of offsiters, you have to consider the # of ridings possible on SDMT, and the fact that Disney can (does) fill these all via resort guests -- they have no reason to deny those resort guests a ride so that someone staying elsewhere can ride instead. This is not a factor of FastPass, rather Disney building a new ride, and using that ride to sell rooms.

If your gripe was you were staying at a Disney resort and you could not get a FP to SDMT despite the room cost, then I think you'd have a gripe against FP. They should be able to accommodate all their resort guests that want it or it's a problem.

 

[shepd]

Agree with this. The OP did get three FastPasses but not the ones that person wanted.

The thing is - everyone's trip is different. If I were at Magic Kingdom, I wouldn't care about the meet and great or the Mine Train, I'd want Splash Mountain so I'd be happy.

To the OP - I think you trip will be a good one if you just push out the "I couldn't do this....." from your mind. Think about what you are doing and then enjoy. Life is way too short to think about things your and your family didn't do. Think about the things are are and will be doing. Much less stress.

Oh, it'll be decent. I'd be a total liar if I didn't say Disney had the most compelling parks. I did anticipate this situation and I've already planned to Rope Drop all the A+ rides, but it does change the trip from being something leisurely to "Oh crap it's 8:15 and we haven't hit the road yet. Stuff-the-kid-in-the-car-while-I-start-it!"

Just wish I had the additional foresight to book a throwaway campsite. I suppose you can stuff me in the "butthurt over weird complicated changes" category. I'd already planned to visit Universal next time, anyways... gotta keep things fresh.

 

[AmyB2006]

I might be railing a bit hard on Disney for this, but really, being first in line with anything else has always netted me an advantage. Maybe I'm just upset because Disney has some weird rules that make it impossible to gain that time vs. money advantage and instead turn it into a lotto (seems that if I just keep hammering eventually something will magically exist). I've just never been a fan of lotteries. I prefer a bit more... structure.

And I am excited about the next trip. Wife was laughing about how I plan 1 or 2 trips ahead of the current one. Already have mid next-year's trip to Dollywood halfway figured out. LOL.

You don't even want to know the detail I've planned the Disney trip to. I'm surprised nobody's throttled me over it yet. Wife keeps telling me 30 pages is enough detail.

It is frustrating. I get it. Especially if they're limiting the SB line now too, for A&E. You can never be too detailed

 

[SimonSez]

If you have even the slightest plan to take advantage of fastpass, you should probably think again! Make sure you plan a 100% standby line only trip.

Just tried at bang on 12:00 am for MK, Sep 5th (low crowd day). Anna and Elsa? Nope. SDMT? Nope.

I figured that since I paid full price for my tickets, I deserve the same opportunity for FP+. Apparently that isn't the case. Fortunately, I already planned for Disney to treat me like this, since I've pretty much resigned myself to second class citizen status due to my lodging preferences. Can't want to use a FP for Peter Pan, Philharmagic, and Barnstormer. LOL.

Ahhh well, not to worry! Universal is shaping up to be darned exciting for next year's Orlando vacation!

And because of Epcot's tiering system, we have a FP for Imagination lol

 

[shepd]

You didn't pay the same amount. You bought the same right to enter to the park, but you declined to buy the hotel stay which comes w the perk of getting first shot at a quick ride on the newest hottest rides.

You see, this is the confusing part to me. Disney advertises themselves as a theme park, not as a resort destination. Now that I've got the place figured out as a resort destination that happens to have a theme park attached, next trip will go smoothly. Honestly, it would simply make more sense for Disney to offer two different tickets, one on-site, and one off-site, so off-site guests can immediately understand they're being treated to a different class of experience and make a more informed choice, avoiding disappointment. Then again... perhaps they are worried those they can't convert might just not come at all.

I'd say Disney has plenty of financial incentive to appeal to offsite guests, though. I imagine park capacity is several times hotel capacity. But what I'd do and what Disney does are, well... a difference of opinion.